Knowledge & Needles Timberhouse Retreat March 2012

I am so lucky that my favourite LNS (not so LNS for me) owner hosts three... count 'em three!  Retreats each year!  This will be our last one for awhile now, until November.  This was the tale end of my March Break and I look forward to it!

Christin and I drove down Friday morning, started by having a nice breakfast out and making stops along the way.  We arrived in the early afternoon.  Once we got all of our stuff inside the girls settled while I took advantage of the nice day and went out for a run first before settling in on my behind for the weekend.

Friday we stitched and ate into the night!  (Stitch, eat, sleep isn't our motto for no reason!)

Saturday afternoon we headed over to Ann's house where her husband Dan and his Maitre'd Fran had a lovely lunch prepared for us!

 Maitre'd Fran

Chef Dan explaining the menu

Our table settings with "loot bag"!

Dan preparing our plates 

Rebecca reading the menu

 Kathy, Carmen and Colleen chatting while they wait for lunch

Everyone enjoying lunch

 Paddie is saying "hello" to Sharon

Some people stayed behind to shop after lunch I was very restrained and bought one piece of fabric... just because it was pretty!

I'll let the pictures do the talking!

 This weekend was Ann's birthday was this weekend of course we celebrated  it with cake!

Kathy working on her gorgeous over one wolves!

Beatrice stitching away

Judie

L to R : Bonnie, Rebecca, Clare, Me, Chrsitin & front Beatrice we all started Ink Circles Seasonal Mandalas in January!

PhotoHunt : Play

This week's theme is PLAY!  I have the most perfect picture for it too!

I took this photo again while I was in the Dominican Republic in February at our beach day.  Here is one of the kids playing in the waves.  I just can't believe how PERFECTLY I caught this moment!!!

I am at retreat this weekend so I'll have lots of stitching progress (I hope) to share with you when I get back!

An Evening With "Ken"

When my Mum was ill last year, it took her awhile before she was willing to plan anything in advance or think too far ahead.  Awhile ago she heard that William Roache who plays "Ken Barlow" from Coronation Street was coming to Ottawa.  So we bought tickets and made plans!

We had a lovely evening out and William Roache was SOOO entertaining.  The cool thing I found out is that one of his son is an actor as well (actually both of them are) and his oldest many of us would recognize. His son Linus Roache was ADA Michael Cutter on Law & Order and he played Bruce Wayne's father in Batman Returns.  Who would of known?  Of course if you look at pictures of the two of them it makes sense!

Pre-IHSW Report & Retro PhotoHunt

This upcoming weekend is the IHSW... and I'm off to the Knowledge and Needles retreat, so not a lot of opportunities to hermit, but I have been hermitting a lot of this week while I've been on March Break.

I can see myself potentially working on three different projects this weekend and here's where they stand as of today.

The Accolade

Count Your Blessings

Seasonal Mandalas - Winter

Back on March 27, 2010 the PhotoHunt theme was Fresh

I came across this pot with tomatoes growing in it one summer when I was parked in a lot behind an apartment building.  I just love the character of the brick wall in contrast to the green plant!

Playing PhotoHunt Catch Up & A New Start

I haven't been playing nicely at all lately when it comes to the Saturday PhotoHunt, in fact I haven't played since February 4th.  So I've taken some time today, sat down at my computer and went through my photos to make up for the last 5 weeks!

Here's from latest to oldest...

Saturday March 10th - Symbolic

This is a photo of the henna tattoo I got on the beach when I was in the Dominican Republic a few weeks ago near the end of February.  I was there with a group of students, who I was taking on a Third World Experience.  "Together" became our motto on this trip, so we all decided to get the Spanish word for together "Juntos" as a temporary tattoo at the beach to symbolize this trip.

Saturday March 3rd - Drop

This picture I took in the fall over Thanksgiving Day Weekend.  Its a picture of the locks that connect the Rideau Canal to the Ottawa River downtown Ottawa... the Capital of Canada.  These sets of locks will drop a boat several levels to get down to the Ottawa River.

February 25th - Loud

This photo was taken this past summer at Ottawa Bluesfest, one of my favourite Canadian bands Billy Talent!  There's nothing much louder than a good rock concert!

February 18th - Point

This photo was taken at the end of July during our trip to Quebec City.  We were on the walls of Vieux Quebec.  You can just imagine Todd pointing and shouting "fire".

February 11th - Heart

This photo was taken last year in the Dominican Republic.  Nothing is more manly than a heart shaped lollipop!

On Monday I received one of the Travelling Patterns that is out there in Blogland from Julie, this pattern initially started out with Sharon (aka Daffycat).  Yesterday I got a small start on it, and took it with me to Tuesday Night Stitching (which I would like to start going to more often now that the better weather is here and I have a more reliable car!).  It was perfect to work on because I'm stitching it on 28ct and the light isn't the best at the church the Tuesday Stitchers meet at.

March WIPocalypse Report

The official Full Moon was on March 7th which means it is time for my WIPocalypse Report!  First I was going to do it Friday night but then I got so busy stitching that I didn't want to post... then on Saturday I had a magnificent Happy Dance and well I wanted to let that hang for awhile at the top of my blog!  Then I was going to do this last night, and well life got in the way... so its Monday and I'm finally getting around to it!

First I'm going to show you the only "in progress" piece I've worked on in the last Moon Cycle.

This is "The Accolade"  I haven't worked on it much during this last cycle as I was first of all busy and stressed out at work.  Secondly, I was fixating on Enchantment of Winter.

During this Moon Cycle I actually managed to finish up a couple of WIPs!  Kinda amazing considering what stitching time I had was precious!

Snowman '10 I finished up just a few weeks ago, a lot of it got stitched up during my time on the plane to and from the Dominican Republic.

These next  two were technically finished up AFTER the new moon but I did work on them both during this cycle.  I finished this biggie up on Saturday afternoon!  Enchantment of Winter.

Then on Sunday this wee guy was close to being finished so I decided to polish off Polar Friends - Day

So that's my WIPocalypse report for the month of March!

Big Honkin' Eggie Happy Dance!!!!

Last year, my Dad was turning 70 so I knew I would have to do something special for his Birthday!  When I was young he travelled a lot around the world for work.  One of the places he did get to go was Russia, and he's seen St. Basil's Cathedral in St. Petersburg.  My Mum had also mentioned once that he saw this piece stitched up in the LNS we used to have when they went there to pick up a gift certificate for me.

I had originally bought this chart to stitch for myself because its just so pretty, and I love Faberge Eggs!  Really, this was the perfect birthday gift for my Dad!  I thought I had started it with plenty of time (February 15, 2011) to get it done for November 2011, but as you know life often conspires against you!

 Enchatment of Winter

c2001 Dimples Designs - Terrance Nolan

Stitched on: 32ct Stoney Point Linen

Stitched with: DMC, Soi D'Alger, Kreinik BF and Mill Hill Beads & Treasure

So I finished it today!  One year and almost one month after I started it!  It is just magnificent and I'll be framing it... I'm imagining something gold and ornate! 

Here are assorted closeups of the piece: