Its a Start & Photo Hunt 125 : Beautiful

Well I survived the first day of school... and the second. I am pooped and my foot is sore, LOL big surprise.



I've gotten a start on Vonna's Neighbourhood Round Robin, it was MIA for awhile but one of our members went and got since we had a good idea of where it was and she didn't live too far away. I wish I had more progress than this to show (the roof) but this is one of my busier times of year.


I am going to try my best to get back at Photo Hunting! I've had a few commenters telling me they miss my participation. So here's last week's theme : Beautiful

This picture was taken back in 2005 when my Mum and I last went to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Being someone who lives inland and too many hours from the ocean, there's nothing more beautiful than a beach with the ocean waves lapping up on the shore.

When I weighed in last night the scale didn't budge an ounce!!! I suppose this is a good thing since I didn't track a single point all long weekend long!

Thank you everyone for your kind comments lately, I really appreciate each and every one!

Kathy's Labour Day Stitchy Weekend Report

Wow! What a fantastic weekend, for friends, for stitching, for the weather, and for TOO MUCH food (mmmm weigh in might not be good tomorrow I didn't track a single point all weekend)!!!

Sadly Thursday night I received a phone call from Judy, she wasn't able to join us for the weekend due to a family emergency. Judy you were talked about (don't worry in a good light), you were missed and we're all looking forward to meeting you in the near future!!!

Friday after work Christin (thank you for helping the ladies at work all day!) and I loaded into my poor little car (I think I've put on 6,000 KM since the end of July) and set off to Kathy's place on the shores of Lake Ontario outside of Brighton, Ontario. I pulled up to Kathy's happy to see that Beatrice's car was already there. We were warmly welcomed and not too long after arriving Kathy had a nice dinner ready for the four of us. It didn't take us long to get stitching, since I was soooo tired I pulled out Paradigm Lost, it was about the only project I was capable of focusing on. We stitched late into the night.

Kathy showing off her gift! Look familiar?

Before lunch on Saturday the gang started to arrive!

Here's Saturday's group shot... not the best unfortunately I didn't take the lighting into account, but we so wanted the lake in the background.

Front : Nan, Judy, Angie, Lynn, Me

Middle : Beatrice, Ann, Barb, Kathy
Back : Christin

Christin

Lynn

Nan

Lunch and dinner were both pot luck, and once again we stitched late into the night. Spending the night on Saturday were Lynn, Christin, and I.

Beatrice

Ann

Me with hat head (thank for taking this Beatrice)

Lynn and Kathy

The Turkey I found while out for a walk.

Sunday once again, before lunch some people showed up for a second day of stitching, and some new faces.

Here's Sunday's group... a much better picture this time!

Front : Me, Lynn, Adriana, Kathy, Rebbecca

Back : Ann, Christin, Beatrice, Angie, Barb, Judy, Sharon

Here's a picture of me and Adriana, who was recently featured as Thea Duek's stitcher of the week.

Judy and Barb

Rebbecca

On Sunday I couldn't quite settle on what I was working on... I worked on Paradigm Lost, a week bit of Pomegranates and Pears, a little on Blackstone Fantasy Garden, and two ornaments (they match).

Sadly this morning Christin and I had to head back home... I wish Kathy lived much closer!!!

Last Night's HD

Last night just before midnight I finished up my August ornament! I was just too tired (also Miss Cranky Pants too) to post last night.

1992 Santa

c1992 Pam Brunke - The Prarie Schooler Inc.

Stitched On : 25ct Potato Lugana, over one

Stitched With : DMC cotton

I also finally picked up some buttons to finish off Hallowscornu, and here it is 100% finished!



Finally, it was too late tonight to really go digging around and get a start on one of my two Neighbourhood RR's that I currently have. So I pulled an old project out of the WIP basket. This is Jeannette Douglas's Pomegranates and Pears, a class I took last October at the Cross Stitch Cupboard's Retreat. Since I'll be going again this fall (with Kathy!), I figure I should come back with the project finished... right?

The long weekend is coming up here in North America, and I'm really looking forward to it! Kathy is hosting a stitching weekend at her place on beautiful Lake Ontario! A number of stitching bloggers will be in attendance as the weekend progresses! I'll be heading down with Christin and on our way we'll be picking up Judy at the train station. We'll be staying at Kathy's and I'm sure on Friday night we'll also see Beatrice since they're best friends! On Saturday I know I'll also be seeing : Ann and Lynn. I'm hoping on Sunday Rebbecca will be able to make it for the day! Of course I will get to see a lot of the wonderful Brighton Ladies who don't blog. Now besides the dishes I wonder what I should work on for the weekend?

Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you that at last night's Weigh In I only lost 0.5 lbs. I know a loss is a loss and each one is to be celebrated, but I was hoping for a little more as I ran three times last week and I was very good with my foods and points. There's always next WI.

Awards Galore!

Once again it seems to be award time in blogland and I have received this latest award twice! Thank you to :

Lindsay of Caring Stitcher and Artystitches for this latest award!

1. The winner can put the logo on their Blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other Blogs.

4. Put the links to those Blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the Blogs of those you've nominated.

I'm going to bow out of passing this one along as its going to go to the same bloggers I sent awards to last time! My fantastic stitching/blogging friends! Also there are just so many fantastic blogs out there!

Here's my progress on the next little piece I'm focusing on to finish! I picked it up yesterday afternoon after I finished the stitching on my biscornu. Today I had a lot of time to work on it as well, its the Pararie Schooler 1992 Santa (he's for Todd) stitched over one on 25ct Lugana. It won't be too much longer before he's finished and I can move onto my Neighbourhood RR's!

Its a Cute HD!!!

Its been a few days since I've blogged ... again. I've been busy at work getting ready for the new school year which starts on September 2nd. When I've not been at work, I've been stitching. Yesterday while I was out stitching with Rebbecca and Lynn at Cathy (of no blog...who we all got to meet for the first time) I finished the stitching on my latest start Hallowscornu. When I got home I did the finishing on it, minus the button which I'll need to go out and buy.

Hallowscornu

c2008 Barbara Ana Designs

Stitched on : 28ct Blueberry Joblean by Wichelt

Stitched with : DMC cotton & DMC Colour Variations

Just Call Me... Beatrice

My dear friend Beatrice loves new starts and does so frequently, of course she's retired so has a lot more stitching time than I do!

Well it seems I'm taking a page out of Beatrice's book lately, I've got another new start for you! I just fell in love with Hallowscornu by Barbara Ana Designs! So of course I bought it and started it! I'm stitching it on Wichelt's 28ct Blueberry Joblean hand dyed fabric. Here's my progress since Sunday evening's start.

I had a great weigh in yesterday at Weight Watchers! I'm down another 3lbs which makes up for my 1.5lbs gain last week plus some. Unfortunately this most likely isn't enough to make my goal of 40lbs total for the first day of school as I'm now sitting at 35.5 lbs total. I've got one more WI before school starts. Of course it could be totally possible that I will make that 40lbs on the first day of school, since I have a WI that night.

Knowledge & Needles Retreat 2008 - The Report

Greetings Blog Readers! I'm back home (again) and rested enough that I feel ready to blog. I had a wonderful weekend, and I'm sure that fact that I just wanted to lie down for a nap when I got home was testament to that.

Christin at Retreat

Friday after work Christin and I headed to our first stop for the weekend, Kingston. Christin was going to spend the night with her family and I was invited to Beth's house for the night. This is what we used to do several years ago and I missed my sleep over at Beth's. It was nice, and as usual she cooked up a wonderful dinner!

Beth at Retreat

Saturday morning we got back in the car, picked up Christin and it was time to head off to Brighton for the Knowledge and Needles retreat! Ann has hosted this retreat for 8 or 9 years now, she started it before she opened her store. This retreat is only for the day, and it has a great price tag, food for the potluck lunch and dinner... and your gas to get there. We were told that we could show up around noon, well we showed up 15 minutes early and I have to say... there were a lot of stitchers already there and settled in!

A new feature of the retreat this year was a display of stitcher's work. In past years it was more of a show and tell to those sitting in the room you were in. If you were in the room when someone pulled out their finishes and WIPs you were lucky to see them, if not you might of missed something pretty cool. So this year Ann and Dan set up racks in the garage (thanks for painting the floor Dan, it looked great!) for us to display our pieces on. It was a great exhibit!

The day was great, it was seeing faces you haven't seen in a year. Stitching, talking, and eating. There are no official events to the day, its just a great big get-together! I think I'll let some of the pictures do the talking.

Clare - who I have e-mailed back and forth with from time to time, so it was wonderful to finally meet her!

Beatrice

Ann & Barb looking at Christin's "Book"

Marie Paul

Marg, Colleen & Carmen

Isolde & Marjorie

Angie

Rebbecca

The Gang - Again about 22 stitchers in attendance.

And ... Me! Since I had my tripod out I figured it was about time to take a picture of myself.