Starting Out Right

Oh my goodness!!! Two posts in one day!




As you can see last night I had a little help packing my suitcase.




This morning I was all ready to go, one last day of work and three and a half weeks of sweet, sweet freedom!



I stopped for my last descent cup of tea before entering the US (according to my Dad descent tea does not come in a paper cup). Sadly my southern friends just don't know what a good cup of tea is, I'd rather go without for a week.

My drive down to Syracuse was uneventful which is what we all want. The border crossing was actually pleasant this time, had a bit of a chit chat with the US Customs guy. I have to say its "quite boring" sticking to the speed limit.






To try to start relaxing I treated myself to a pedicure... There is also the fact that I was so exhausted last night I just forgot to do it and my red chipped polish was quite unsightly.



I had dinner in bed...



I'm about to pick up my stitching, I've packed Cirque des Circles by Ink Circles for this next week. Here it is before I pick it up, I last worked on it during my Dominican Experience trip this past February. This is becoming a well travelled piece!

I'm up early tomorrow morning for my flight, next time I'll be blogging from Charleston, S.C.


- thanks for reading!

Summertime Adventures!

After today I am offically on my SUMMER HOLIDAYS!  This year it seemed like it took a long time to get here and I'm so ready to be off of work for three and a half weeks!!!

My first adventure starts after work today.  I'm driving down to Syracuse, NY where I'll be flying out early tomorrow morning to spend a week with my best friend Claire in the Charleston, SC area!  I'm looking forward to checking out the LNS Keepm 'em in Stitches.  When I return a week Wednesday, I'm landing early enough in the day that I'm going to have time to go check out Stitcher's Garden near Syracuse before I drive back home.

I may follow this up with a drive out to the East Coast to visit Tracey at her cottage in Cape Breton.  It'll all depend on what the budget looks like after this first trip!   Hopefully I'll find a little time to blog here and there from my ipad on my Summer 2013 Adventures!

Happy Dances and Road Trips

Happy Dance Alert!  Happy Dance Alert!

I had a happy dance on Wednesday night, but I wanted to keep it to myself until I could show the piece to the owner.  Which I did on Friday, so now I can share it with you.

How I received Kathy's ABC Christmas Sampler

Last September a group of us were stitching at Kathy's she was going through her pile of WIPs and made a comment wishing that this piece would just show up "finished".  I took it and put it in my stitching bag, there were immediately offers by others to help finish it up, but I had this little plan in the back of my head that I would try to finish it myself... or work on it until it ticked me off.  Either or.

ABC Sampler - Kit

cKrista Hamrick

Kit by Design Works Inc.

Towards the end I was getting a little tired of seeing it, but here we are!  I triumphed and can proudly say that I finished it for Kathy!  The last time she had seen it (the day I got the call that my Mum was in hospital) I was just starting letter "V".  In a month I managed to finish it off.

After visiting with Kathy on Friday for a few hours, to help her with some finishing I popped down the road to Ann's and Knowledge and Needles.  I spent the afternoon stitching with her "Friday Stitchers", Bonnie was able to take the afternoon off to come stitch as well!  Thanks Bonnie!

Chatelaine - sorry hard to photograph

Mystic Stitch

Ann had two new framed pieces to show off!  They are just awesome, a completed Chatelaine and a huge Mystic Stitch!

Ann's husband Dan also had something of his own to show off as well!  On Friday evening he threw me the keys to this.... and let me take it out for a spin on my own!

My shit-eating grin while driving Dan's 'Vette

It was a joy to drive his 50th Anniversary Edition Corvette ... convertible and he impressed me by having a 6 speed manual transmission.  A sprots car with an automatic transmission is just a waste of metal!  Oh my what a pleasure it was to drive!  It had a gorgeous purr/rumble, I didn't mind downshifting for a change, the power was there when I wanted it, and the transmission was nice and tight!  Thanks Dan for letting me take her out for a spin!!!

I worked on a couple of projects this past weekend.

I put in a little more on this travelling chart, Life's a Stitch by Lizzie Kate.  As you can see I'm working with my own colour choices.

Christmas Tags

Kit - Cross Stitcher Issue 260

I finished up these little "Christmas Tags" one of those little kits that come with the British Magazines.  I finished up the Candy Cane and the Red Mittens on Friday night.

Saturday that left me with a new start!  Yes, I had plenty of other projects to stitch up but I have this gift that needs to be done.  I can only show you a wee corner since the recipient is known to read my blog.  I'm now over 1/2 way done this piece, and its looking great!

So that's it for my wee road trip, I had a great visit with friends, and got a lot of stitching in!  Oh wait and I did get a little stash!  I picked up the latest JBW Wreath Charts and a piece of pretty fabric!

PhotoHunt : Flamboyant

This week's PhtoHunt theme is: Flamboyant

I ran into "Mr. Gold" in Quebec City when I went there with my Mum a few years ago for a real visit to the city.  He was a very flamboyant street performer.

My first trip there I don't remember I was only just walking, my second trip was in 2001 but I was there for a Taekwon-Do seminar so there was no time to play tourist.  Quebec City is beautiful and worth the visit!  I'm glad I got to discover it with my Mum as an adult.

Belated TUSAL and Travel Plans!

Its been some time since I've participated in the TUSAL

As you can see I've replaced my vase with this great jar I found in a Junk/Antique store!  I just love it!  The miniature roses were a nice little gift from Christin's Mom.  They came up here to take me out to lunch this past Saturday ... so nice!

Claire and I during her visit to Canada 2010

I'm very excited, I now have travel plans for my upcoming summer holidays!   July 24th I'm hopping on a plane, flying out of Syracuse because I got an insane price much cheaper than flying out of my home airport!  I'm going down to Charleston S.C. (Summerville area) to spend a week with my BEST FRIEND from High School, Claire.  Since Mum passed I've had a serious case of wanderlust and I think this just might do the trick... I think I also need a huge hug from Claire.

If any of you can let me know of any needlework stores or must see/must dos in the Charleston/Summerville area please let me know!

I'm off this Friday and I'm hopping in my cute little Red Rio I'm going to stop in and see Kathy for a few hours before I head on down to visit Ann, my favorite dealer, ahem I mean needlework store owner.  I'm looking forward to sitting in on Friday stitching at the shop and seeing some friends!

Beads... Wow

My Mum was a crafter, from an early age I could remember her making me dresses, doing macrame, needlework, and more.  She finally settled on just two main crafts over the last 20 years, quilting and beading.  Out of us kids, I'm the only one who has inherited the passion for crafting.  My Mum taught me how to cross stitch when I was about 12 or 13.  I of course didn't keep up with it much when I was a teenager... it was as an adult I fully embraced stitching.

Being the only crafty child, this has left the task of sorting through all of my Mum's crafting supplies to me.  A few weeks ago I brought home what we think is all of my Mum's beading supplies.  I'm not sure what else I may run into when we finally tackle what was stored in her room.  It took me a couple of weeks to go through all of the beading supplies.  Passing some of it on and organizing the rest.

I tried to express to Christin the other night just how many beads I had inherited... she just couldn't picture it!  So Christin this post is for you!!!

 Watchmaker cases and tick tack boxes of seed beads

Second box full of seed beads and pony beads, this one is tick tack boxes and baggies

Just to give you an idea of what size the box is,  5x6x10 in

Pearls and Swarovski Crystals

Assorted beads

 Assorted beads and seed beads

 Delica Beads

 Small watchmaker cases full of assorted beads

 

 Findings, etc.

 This is what I originally had for beads... Delicas

 Assorted beads

 Assorted beads, charms, chain and findings

I don't know what I'm going to do with all of this... the seed beads I'll use for finishing on stitching, the fancier beads I'll use for scissor fobs, and maybe adorning ornaments, etc.  Who knows but its ALOT and I don't think I need to buy any beads for a very long time!

Today, I made a scissor fob, using some of my Mum's beads, I can assure you this did not make a dent in the collection!

Candy Crush Addiction

I have been stitching, but Candy Crush has been eating up too much of that time!





Now that I've reached the end of the road ... Until the next update maybe I can make some real progress.


- thanks for reading!