Whew! What a Weekend!

Well, I should correct that by long weekend!

Wednesday night Christin gave me an early Christmas present! She just didn't want to store it at her place. I had been drooling over this scrap booking caddy in Michael's. I could just see the possibilities! A great way to store and tote around all my sewing and finishing bits and pieces!

Our adventure started Thursday morning, bright and early! Christin and I hopped in the car and off we went. The very first stop was in Kingston at the Die cast Model Gallery where we picked up models for Todd for his Birthday (its on Monday). Back into the car and we hit Ann's doorstep at 11:30am just as planned! There were greetings and hugs, and getting our stuff into the house. Soon we were joined by Beatrice and had a wonderful lunch before Ann's Thursday stitchers arrived. Ann's group have grown immensely in the last year there were about 14 ladies there! There was so much to see... and show off (I was asked to bring my finished projects by Marie Paul, one of Ann's ladies), I never got a stitch in!

Once the ladies thinned out it was just the four of us having a quiet stitch until it got close to dinner time. Christin headed off for an overnight visit with Beatrice (as I said they've become good friends). Ann prepared a fantastic lasagna for dinner and we stitched all evening long! It was just decadent!

Friday Ann and I had the day to ourselves for the most part... again lots of decadent stitching! I got to witness Ann's happy dance (I'm sure she'll be sharing on her blog shortly). We were joined in the afternoon by Wendy for more stitching! Beatrice brought Christin back at about 7:30 and the four of us stitched even more!

Saturday Christin, Ann and I did... guess what? Stitching! I've been a little stressed lately and I guess it all hit me on Saturday. I woke up with one shoulder up around my ear... I was tight from ear to shoulder and a huge knot in my shoulder blade. I was also exhausted! So I had to be rude and excuse myself for a nap before lunch. Then after lunch I just had to lie back down... I tried to stitch but made so many mistakes I knew I was useless. I was finally feeling much better by late afternoon, and soon Beatrice joined us again as Dan made us a fantastic dinner (Kudos to Ann for all the prep-work!). More stitching after dinner, where Beatrice finished the piece she was working on (I'm sure its up on her blog by now!). Saturday night was an early night for all of us... that stitching must really exhaust a girl!

Sunday ... today we were treated to a Dan breakfast! More stitching. Early afternoon Christin and I paid for the stash we had set aside at Ann's. I bought a number of boxes of DMC Colour variations (the dark blue I used in my Hedgehog Quaker) that I will use for Paradigm Lost in the fall. I got a piece of 32ct Natural linen for the Fair and Square exchange. Two charts happened to pop into the pile too! Elizabeth Designs Green Old Garden, for some reason it really caught my eye one the shelf, and JBW's French Country - Love. On the way home we stopped in and visited Rebbecca and her wonderful family. The boys actually let us stitch and Rebbecca served us a lovely dinner. I wish we could of stayed longer but I had to get Christin home... she has to work tomorrow. We also made a short stop to get my bangs trimmed. I finally got home after 10pm!

Soooo I have to say a huge thanks to Ann and Dan for letting me stay for so many days and making me feel at home! Also thanks to Rebbecca for letting us stop in with only an hour's notice.

Finally here's my Noah's Sub progress... as usual I didn't get as much as I hoped done, but what can you expect when you're visiting friends!

7/8th done!

Yay!

Well of best laid plans for today none of them happened as I envisioned! I was imagining lots of stitching time. I managed to find enough to finish up my current page on Noah's Sub.

This morning started off with a lot of phone calls. First was the lawyer we've been waiting to hear from (no worries nothing serious) so we could get in and sign some papers before I leave. He made an appointment with us at 2pm downtown. Then I got a call from a co-worker she was hosting a lovely lunch open to all the female staff at work. I told her to give me a call if she needed some help. She took me up on that offer to it was into the shower and out in the car. Unfortunately I couldn't stay too long I had to pick Todd up at work and get downtown.

By the time we were done with the lawyer it was getting close to 3pm so instead of taking Todd to work then driving back into the city to pick up Christin we drove over to her place of work. Her boss was kind enough to let her leave 30 minutes early. A quick stop at her place for her stuff, and a trip to take Todd back to work. It was 4pm by the time I finally got home! I passed out on the couch for a bit while Christin entertained herself with her stitching. We got to go out for a nice dinner... finished my page and now I'm ready for bed!

On Vacation!!!!

Well I've started my summer holidays just right I think... staying up late to stitch last night (I made it to about 1:30am) and had a nice sleep in this morning. I have this alarm clock that's black and furry and starts making a nuisance of himself at 9:30am. I'm finding it a little hard to get going this morning so I'm sitting here blogging with a nice cup of tea listening to my favourite radio station.

I'm really looking forward to being off of work despite nothing amazing or earth-shattering planned... I don't go back to work until August 13th! Yay! Also Todd will be on his holidays next week so we'll be able to spend some time together at the family cottage (which we reserved for next week). The beauty of the cottage is its all of 15 minutes from our house and if the weather's nasty, I need floss, a new stitching project, feed the boys, or for any other reason its really no big deal to pop home.

My only true plans start tonight. I'll be picking up Christin and a pizza for dinner, we're going to stitch the evening away. Tomorrow morning, bright and early we're hopping in the car and heading down to stitch with Ann's group of ladies in Brighton and staying on for a few days for a nice visit. Christin and Beatrice over the last few years have forged a fast friendship and Christin will stay with her... I know Beatrice is looking forward to it!. Christin and I have met a lot of ladies through Ann, like I said Christin has become great friends with Beatrice and I've become close friends with Kathy. The center of it all is of course our great friend Ann (and we can't forget her DH... he cooks and cleans cars)!

I'm really looking forward to going to stitch with Ann's group of ladies. Its always such an enjoyable afternoon, and often I can be an evil enabler or teach a thing or two. I wish I could find a group like this in my area. Ottawa is a funny city, there are guilds and groups out there but I find they take themselves just a little too seriously and my LNS doesn't run a stitching night like quite a few out there do. What I really should do is set up my own little informal stitching group.

So that's my only specific plan. I need to find something neat to do, or place to go, or someone to visit the week of August 6-10. As much as I love stitching my good friends know I don't like to be in one place too long. Even if I can find someone to go stitch with that will do nicely.

Tonight I'll give you folks a Noah's Sub update... so stay tuned!

Well I typed this up this morning... and life got in the way so I had no chance to post it. So here it is now more than 12 hours after I typed it.

Photo : one of my daylillies from my garden 2007

Post Weekend Sub Progress

Well I really was dreaming... thought I could finish my page this weekend. But I didn't ... LOL just not enough hours in the day! Also silly things like grocery shopping, out to lunch with Mum, making meals and doing laundry just get in the way too much!

Two days of work and then I'm on holidays! I can't wait!

Ort Jar

Well I forgot about a few inquiries I got about my ort jar when I mentioned it in the last SBQ I answered.

Louanne wondered "When you go looking through the jar, how do you know for sure the floss you pick is the right color?"

and...

Judy SC (sorry no link) came up with this fantastic image ""Ort jar diving" - I love the phrase and my mind's eye conjures up a tiny dragon swimming through a pile of orts lookin' for just the right one... "

Well, I have cats... that's one reason for having an ort jar... it keeps them out of the paws and mouths of little furry beasts. Also I used to pile them up on the back of the couch and they'd end up in interesting places... in my quilt... on the floor... on someone's behind. So I grabbed a large mason jar and I put all of my orts in there. Its neat to see throughout the year how the layers of floss develop. If you look at my ort jar right now there's a lovely layer of blues and blue-greens from the water and hull of Noah's Sub.

As for "ort jar diving" I don't actually do it very often and I really don't bother for DMC... I keep a full set plus extras on hand. It comes in handy for specialty fibres and they're often easier to pick out and I tell you I can't afford to keep extra of those on hand! I also don't dive too deep, if I need a little extra of something its often at the top.

I have a lovely little ritural on New Year's Eve... I empty out my jar and start out new.

Someone Put the Fire Out!

Can you smell the smoke coming off of my needles? This is my pre-weekend progress update. I took Friday off so my weekend has started and I put in mega hours this evening!

Now, I've had a few questions piling up in my inbox (I have my comments e-mailed to me so I don't miss a single one!)

Karin and Margaret asked if the flower from one of my recent posts was from my garden.

-- Yes it is. I have a narrow bed (which we're expanding) along the side of my house that's pretty much all daylillies.

Louanne asked if I plan on stitching Fish City someday... its by the same artist.

-- No. I was excited to hear about Fish City before it came out and when I did see it, I was disappointed to find it had no appeal to me at all.

800th Post Draw Winner!

And the winner of my 800th Post Super Fantastic Amazing Draw is.....

Judy of Crazee4Books-Cross Stitch-Cats

So Judy, drop me a line at tkd_chick at hotmail dot com with your full name and mailing address! Now I ask you to please be a little patient I would like to make something just for you and I need time to figure out what, get it stitched (and maybe finish Noah's Sub in between). If you could include a list of likes dislikes, favourite colours that will help!

I'm still plugging away at the Sub I'm at that stage where it feels like its never going to end!!!

I'm tired and off to bed.