Epic Stitching

Finished ... Dragons

2012-01-27T18:23:00.002-07:00

Okay it's not finished. Just another row but it's still very exciting. Only three more rows to go!!!
Doesn't add much from the last time you saw the design as his head is there and such, just filled the space in around. As I work on the next page you'll start to see the second dragon come into view better (the blue stuff on the left side is the beginning of that dragon).
I think that a bunch of the rest of this pattern is going to go much faster as the scales are no where near as elaborate as on the green dragon and there is sky over water which is much more solid.
I'm always excited to make progress on dragons. Here they be so far:

And from an angle:

I need to remember to put a coin or something next time I take a photo as it helps with the sizing. My MIL saw it in person for the first time a few weeks back and commented on how she really wasn't sure what it's sizing was or how tiny the stitches were from just seeing it on my blog. Noted to myself to do that next time.

After success with dragons I picked up Soul Mates for a bit and got through most of another half page. I just have to fill in some holes with one colour. So soon I will have more blue blob to show you. Ohhh... how exciting! :)

Not too much else up, just got my February cottage in the mail and need to finish those snowflakes on January. Some small progress with Rose at other people's places that I've gone to stitch lately. That's about all for now.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my beading last time around. I really appreciate it. Haven't done any since but I'll get back to it (eventually) and try something different next time.
Thank you for all your comments!

Beading (that actually worked)

2012-01-16T12:37:00.004-07:00

I'm so tickled this morning! I was able to spend some time doing a pattern out of Bead & Button Magazine (while watched Green Bay fall apart) and it actually worked out!!
As you may or may not know I've been trying to play around with beading and making bracelets and the like. I am allergic to metal so it's hard to find pieces I can wear. So I starting thinking why not make my own? Right... that's easier said than done.

So after a year of stashing beads, playing with simple things and receiving beading magazines I finally saw a pattern I thought I knew enough about to tackle. It showed the idea of making diamonds with beads in steps which was just great.

So step 1 was making just a basic stranded bracelet (using the basic concept that the more elaborate bracelet would need). This is what I ended up with:

It was easy enough so I thought I would move onto the next step, these cute little diamonds. After taking over an hour to get 1 complete, I had it down. So I went onto make four more and linked them together with a the simple strand technique above.
Thus ending up with this bracelet here:

I know it's nothing super special but to me it's progress and a step forward. That I can in fact read these bead patterns and stand a chance of making beautiful items. A huge breakthrough for me!

I did also work on dragons (getting close to a page finish on them) and the Raven project (which I need to photograph and share, I'll do that this week).

I am also halfway through my stash re-organization and must have at least 50 patterns/magazines to giveaway! So watch for that soon too.
I will also do the pirate giveaway later this week.

It's really cold here (-27C with windchill -37C) so I'm looking forward to hunkering down tonight and stitching. As no one wants to do anything when it's this cold. (though we still all come to work in this city. Too bad really, imagine all the stitching that could happen during a snow day!)
Hope you're all doing well and will be in touch later this week with some prizes. :)

WIPocalypse #1! (January Cottage)

2012-01-09T15:56:00.002-07:00

It's full moon day which means it's WIPocalypse time. I just love this idea it's adorable that Measi came up with. (want more info click the graphic in my sidebar for the details).

This weekend and for most of the past two weeks I've been working on my January Cottage. So it's what I will share today with you. I've not done the snowflakes yet as I'm waiting for some Kreinik's to come in to pick from. And the black french knots are not done as I am using scroll rods so don't want to get them squished.
Other than that.... lol... it's done!

I got a bunch done on Dragons yesterday as well. I'm going to keep him going all week to see how close to a page finish I can be. I'm at just past 1/2 way on the page right now. (this will be a complete row so I can't wait to get it done).

Anyone interested in my WIPocalypse goals check out my 2012 goals in my sidebar. There they be. Plus the 100 charts I want to stitch that I already own at home. I really do hope the world doesn't end this year, so much stitching still to do. LOL!!!

It was a busy weekend for the most part so I haven't gotten my stitching closet reorganized or the new storage bought, but it will happen soon, and then the promised giveaways!

Though... I did notice I had 284 followers today! Wow! you all continue to flatter me so much! So here's the deal there will be lots of giveaways this year as I decrease older or gifted stash, but how about we do a PIRATE GIVEAWAY!
Just gotta hit 300 followers and I will have at least one Sue Hillis pirate pattern to give away, plus some goodies. (those that are not familiar with the pirates they were popular a few years back, I have almost all of them, sad but true).
Let's get that follower number up! :)
*hugs*
Mel.

2012 new starts & goals

2012-01-04T16:57:00.002-07:00

Well... apparently it is 2012. Where does the time go!
I have many new things to share with you all and then I have my goals of course.
First up is a project I am just loving and am so excited that Vonna let me know about the SAL. It's a cottage stitch-a-long from Country Cottage Needleworks. The SAL is sadly closed (on the blog) but you could always just decide to do it anyways! :)
These are sooo not my kind of patterns. But for whatever reason I still like them. They are so cutsey which I often don't do much of. But I love them anyways. I decided to do them on 40ct (over 2 threads with one thread) to keep the final size down. I'm doing all 12 of them (as they are released each month) on one piece of fabric (three to a row). I am just loving this 40ct linen it's so soft and nice, easy to stitc with surprisingly. Haven't had to pull the magnifier once. Here is my January start:

From there I did have another start called the Raven by L-D-Da. No pics yet as I frogged almost all of what I'd done out when I realized I had an error. It's on a nice brown 30ct (I think it's Weeks Dye Works) the linen is a quite uneven and causing me some problems (and I'm using silks so it's a touch slippery on the thread). What should be an easy project turned into a bit of a nightmare. But I'll get it back on track and show you progress soon!

Right before Christmas I finished another Little Needlehouse Works ornament "Presents under the tree" (I think is what it is called). A fun, quick, cute stitch. Forgive me for the crappy photo. Here she be:

I've been shopping a lot online and on ebay recently as I've stopped shopping at my LNS. It's been great, good deals and all, good customer service. And it's forcing me to plan my projects a bit ahead as I have to wait to get materials etc. Amoungst all the many things I've bought recently was 150 DMC skeins from a lady who used to have a store. 150 skeins on the table looked too fun! I almost hated to sort them and put them in their respective number homes. But here's a picture of the fun that came before the sorting:

Moving onto the goals section.
I did really, really well on my 2011 goals. I finished them all except for 1/2 a page on Dragons. Plus I fit in about 10 extra projects!!! I had 16 finishes this year, 3 1/2 pages of dragons, 2 pages of Soulmates. Not too shappy. I'll post a slideshow tomorrow that has all of the 2012 finishes in it.

So onto 2012. What is the list you ask?
Well it's gonna be a bit more encouraging than last year, as now I know I can do a bit more. But leaving room for those flexible times in ornaments and mill hill kits.

Of course we start with:
- Judgement Dragons: finish 4 1/2 pages (complete row)
- Swan Songs (HAED: finish 1 page
- Soulmates (HAED): finish bottom row of partial pages (3 remain)
- Cottages (Country Cottage Needleworks): finish all 12 months
- Raven (L-D-Da): finish project
- Once Upon a Tree (Jeanette Douglass): finish project (not yet started)
- Counting Bats (Just Nan): finish project

- Rose SK (HAED): finish project (1 1/2 pages remain)

WIPs I should work on but am not making goals for:
- Romantic Rose Garden (Chatelaine): (1 of 9 pages complete)
- Winter Woods (Mill Hill kit) (1/3 complete)
- Teal Mask by (Mill Hill kit) (1/2 complete)

UFO's that I am just ignoring still:
- Elfland by HAED (1 of 3 pages)
- Castles in the Air by Papillion Creations (6 of 24 sections)
- Checkers the Pumpkin by Kreinik
- Faerie Bride QS by Heaven & Earth Designs (0 of 12 pages)
- Argh Pirate by Sue Hillis Designs

There you have it. The list. It seems like a lot at first glance but I know it's doable. Just got to stay committed to Dragons a lot and work the other stuff in. :)

Hope you're all enjoying the beginning of 2012.
I do have some future fun stuff happening. My stitching area is being expanded about 1/3 of it's size, and in doing it I have to reorganize all my stuff... what does that mean for all of you?
MORE GIVEAWAYS!
I'm gonna have a fair bit of stuff to get rid of me thinks. So stick around so you can enter. :)

Finishes & HAED awesomeness

2011-12-20T10:03:00.001-07:00

Okay I can barely contain my excitement ladies!!!
I won the HAED challenge to "find Bob" in one of their patterns online. I came in second or third last year and it was so sad, but somehow I managed to find him in only 1/2 hr of looking this morning! Amazing. :)
Michele and Bob are so great and the prize for this contest is one free pattern for each month of 2012. That's 12 new HAED patterns for the year I will get. Wow, I hope I win the lottery so I have time to stitch everything. On top of the 20+ I already own. If you are not familiar with their stuff you have to check them out, they are what makes my stitching "epic" as per the name of this blog. And they are easily one of my top 5 fave designers.

I do have other things to share... I got 2 ornaments finished from the Little House Needleworks line. These always turn out so great. Love them! Both are on 28 ct (I think... I didn't have these pieces marked) and I've used whatever colours I had on hand, as per usual.
Here's Bringing Home the Tree:

I've just realized I forgot to take a picture of the other one which is "toys under the tree" (I think). So I'll get that up shortly.
I've been busy, busy as we all are at this time of year. Starting Friday I have at least 10 days off and can't wait for it!
Though sometimes I find the holiday time off at Christmas is so busy that I get almost no stitching done! Let's hope that's not the case this year.

In case I don't make it back before the big day I hope you all have a fantastic holiday and get to spend some time chilling with a needle in-hand.
*hugs*
Mel.

Dragon has a Head!

2011-12-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

I normally wouldn't post again about dragons so soon after just finishing a page. But this was a milestone that I'm just so excited about and wanted to share.
The first of the two dragons in the piece has a head!! Check out his head:

And which means now... he's a real dragon:

It's so exciting to see this piece really coming together and looking like something. Those who've been following on this long (years) journey of mine probably remember when it wasn't much more than blue or green blob (much like Soul Mates is now, lol).
While still only just over halfway complete I really feel like it's just stitching up so much faster. I think I've really improved my over one skills in the years since I started and am just more proficient at it than before.

I've got some bracelets made up in different fibres that I've been using (all Kumihimo) and I started another mill hill kit (mailbox with bird) but I keep forgetting to take pictures! Sorry I will see if I can remember later this week.

Thanks for visiting and all your lovely comment. I really appreciate them!

Mill Hill Finish & HAED Soulmates Update

2011-11-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

I've got a few pictures to show you today of pieces that haven't been seen in forever!
First up is a Mill Hill Santa. I just adore their bead kits. They are easy to do when I am having a bad day and don't feel so great. (I don't work on HAEDs or anything too complicated then as usually I just end up frogging it all out the next day).
This little guy I finished late last week. He's one of the Southwestern ones.

With a few finishes out of the way I've been working on some really big projects that I haven't touched in forever.
Maybe some of you remember Soulmates from HAED that I kitted up last year? I barely did that's for sure. lol. I picked her up and got one of the teeny tiny 1/10 of a pages from the bottom row done. So here's what it looks like so far:

(essentially a blue blob. Not so exciting, but it's progress. Click here for a link to what it will look like.)

Winners from the giveaway your packages went in the mail last week. Please give them some time to get to you. They are all going to the US and from Canada at this time of year it takes even more forever than usual to arrive.

I hope everyone is doing well. I worked on a number of Kumihimo bracelets this weekend with some different fun fibres. I'll try and remember to take some pictures for the next update. I also picked up on the next page of Dragons, and even some of the first page of Swan Song.(one bonus to dropping my stitching guild, I now feel less pressure to do group projects and things and can go back to stitching all the things I want to stitch! I think that will mean some serious progress on my HAEDs and dragons.)

Thank you so much for all your comments I really appreciate them!

Dragons... finally an update

2011-11-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

It's been over 3 months since I had a page finish on Dragons. I know that means I'm a bit behind schedule (dratted Halloween Rules ate up a lot of summer time!). Maybe I'll be able to somehow, magically get the fourth page of the year done by Xmas... but i doubt it. Ah well in the long run of the years I've been working on this I suppose a few extra months here or there won't really matter.

So here Dragons be, with one page past halfway complete. I love that you can finally start to really see what it is and the one dragon, can't wait to see that second one up above show up!

Finishes & giveaway winners announced

2011-11-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

I've got just a few finishes to share with you all today!
(and the winners of giveaway packages are at the end of the post).

First up I'd love to share with you my finish of Jeanette Douglass' "Take Time for Friends" piece. I LOVED working on this piece. So much that I'm going to start Once Upon a Tree when I get the fabric I ordered. I just love all her neat little stitches and the way it all stitches up. This didn't take me long at all to complete. On 32 ct linen using the thread pack:

Next up I did up a bunch of ornaments and items for a friends fundraiser. The basket included some homemade Christmas cards I made and other sweet goodies (Including a framed picture of one of my BFs amazing frost photographs). The basket brought in $70 which made me happy! These are all the ornaments I finished up for it:

In other news... the piece that I donated to JDRF (juvenile diabetes research foundation), my Cheryls Bouquet that won ribbons this past year in competition brought in $275!!! I am so pleased with that. :) And now it hangs in some strangers home. A bit odd, lol, but I'm so happy I gave it away. (but kept the ribbons of course)

And the reason you're all here... to see if you won!
As I said in my previous post, everyone got entries for doing specific things. How I do it is that for each entry you get a number, then I just go to a random number generator online and it picks my winners.
They are:
1) Mindi
2) Nancy (little bit of stitching)
3) Linda (Blu)

If each of you can please contact me (or answer the email I sent you) and let me know some of your likes, ie: butterflies, dragons, hearts, turtles, religious, beaches etc. Whatever it is you like to stitch the most and I am going to put together packages that are unique for each person (and hopefully to their taste!).

Later this week: I'm got exciting news for later this week. I've got a dragons page finish! But I didn't want to overload this post... so I'm saving it for a few days from now. So be sure to come back and check it out, I'm over the halfway point in the dragons piece now!

Beading, finish & GIVEAWAY!!!

2011-11-04T23:33:00.001-06:00

After many trial and error moments in beading I think I finally found a type that I really understand. So far it's been the square stitch. This pattern is from Bead & Button magazine. I've changed the colours for Christmas. Its very time consuming So far it looks like this:

Further from that I've been working on some ornaments to donate to a friends charity event. Today in a few hours I finished this 2009 Just Nan pattern "over the top" tin. Here's the stitching (I am going to finish it this weekend):

Finally. Why you're all here. Lol.
A new giveaway. As always rules are:
1) you have to be a follower
2) You have to have an email address in your post or on your profile. If I pull your name and can't get your email within a few minutes then I will pull another.
3) post a comment to be entered on this post
4) if you post about this giveaway on your blog you get a bonus entry (just make a note in your comment that you did please!!)

The prizes:
There will be 3 packages. 2 stitchy ones. And 1 beading one. Once I have winners I will ask for likes, dislikes etc and customize the package for you!! :)

Finally, it's been a tough week. Especially with some stitchy stuff. But it's gotten better and I'm so glad to have my online community. You guys are great.
Good stitching!
Mel

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2 finishes/2 wips (and a retreat)

2011-10-25T20:27:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile, however that does mean I have some photos of stitchy stuff both in progress and completed to share.
Let's start with the biggie. This was our Guild stitching project for last year. I actually finished it awhile ago, but seem to have forgotten to post it. It's a Carolyn Mitchell pattern called "Pocket with a View". I changed the colours to orange/red/peach tones as I was not a fan of blues she used. Each member in our guild that did this project used different colours and it was amazing to see how different they all came out.
Check mine out:
FRONT

BACK

My other finish is just a little ornament that I am going to finish to donate to a friends silent auction for an Xmas basket. I'm going to try and finish a few more (one you'll see as a WIP today) to donate as well. This one is on linen I think it's 28ct Mushroom (it was in stash) and the thread is Holly by Carrie's Threads. I love her threads and variegations. The pattern is from this year's Just Cross Stitch Magazine, ornament edition.

I also have two WIPs to share. The absolutely gorgeous Jeannette Douglass piece I am working on called "Time for Friends". I love all the stitches (okay except the queen stitch it was a pain) and the way it all looks is just great. Jeannette has a series of these you can check out. I used her thread pack that makes it much more affordable to use all the nice silks etc. I love her pattern and work so much that I already went and got a few more of hers (including Once Upon a Tree from JS Magazine) to do up even though I haven't finished this one!
This is on 32ct linen, sorry can't remember the colour, probably natural or something like that.

Lastly I have the an ornament from 2010 ornaments series #8, frosty flakes. I substitued the colours for some threads I have on hand. The background is 40 ct linen, I think it's called Mocha.

The last comments I have to make are more personal. I attended a retreat this past weekend (same as last year) and it was so disappointing. Many things were just not right for me, plus then there was more bad news as the weekend progresses. Out of respect to people involved I will not divulge any details but let's just say it made stitching a bit sour for me this weekend. So now this week I'm hunkering down when I can to try and get some stitching done that I had hoped to get done at the retreat.

However, in an effort to feel awesome about stitching again and be reminded that I have lots of stitchy friends (really supportive ones here at home that have been awesome) and of course all of you my online friends I am going to host a giveaway on the next post. I will not promise when as I'm so bad at making those deadlines (and have to not make up stupid deadines that cause stress)... however it is coming, watch for it!
Thanks for reading this far. :)

Ornament finish and new start

2011-10-09T13:20:00.001-06:00

I have been stitching tons as always. Set up a few new projects including Swan Song by Nene Thomas designed by HAED. Another epic piece (like I needed more). Lol.

However I have s finish to share. A little ornament that will be part of a gift basket for a silent auction. It's on 32 ct blue spruce linen with #4 silver 001 silver Krenik. The pattern is from this years Just Cross Stitch magazine by Courtney Collection called Twinkle.

I have another new start. A gorgeous pattern from Jeannette Douglass called "Take Time for Friends". I love the varigations in this silk. Threads are from the pack that goes with this pattern. It's a 28 (I think) linen.

Overall I've been doing really well. Reclaiming my life, smiling and in less pain. It's a great feeling. Thanks to all of you who've been on this hard journey with me. It will never be perfect but really what is.
Happy stitching!

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2nd Stocking Finish

2011-09-25T20:13:00.001-06:00

After a 12 hour stitch day at my LNS yesterday I have the second stocking for my little brother done. Here it is:

I also had a pretty brutal day on Thursday and had the most lively surprise when I got home. My man has been with me for years. And he's never once brought home flowers. He always brings me great gifts like books or music. But Thursday I had a huge surprise. He brought me home gorgeous flowers. Here ae the lilies and roses:

They smell amazing!!

Not too much else to share. I've bought a bunch of new stitchy stuff. But will share as I start things. I did start a new Jeanette Douglass pattern that I'll share soon.

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Another finish and an amazing gift

2011-09-19T20:49:00.001-06:00

Housekeeping: a number of people asked me about the dragon piece from last post. My bad for not posting the designer bits Joan Elliott. From her book "bewitching stitching". I got my copy from Amazon.

So believe it or not I actually have another finish. I think in the last few months I have tripled my finishes for last year. :)
I finally got around to doing one of the stockings on the list for this year. This one is for my sister:

I also got an amazing gift from my BFF. She is living in the Netherlands right now so I am missing her tons.
The other day in the mail she sent me this adorable little needle holder that she made:

Included inside one of the pockets to this wonderful gift was her stitching for Renes memory piece!! It's so adorable and tiny and has a place of honor on my stitching table. So thoughtful!

It is the first (besides Evalinas model) that I have seen stitched up and I just love it. Keeping the memory of Rene alive.

That's all for now. I have been stitching dragons again, have another stocking to do up. And as always tons of new charts and projects coming in that are just begging for attention.

Thanks so much for reading. I love and adore everyone's comments.

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Halloween rules finish

2011-09-13T22:13:00.001-06:00

For the first time in forever I managed to actually finish a "larger than an ornament" piece in less than 6 months!
This summer I spent a huge chunk of time stitching up Lizzie Kates Halloween rules. It was such a fun stitch. Here's my finish on lime green 32 ct linen with various overdyed threads:

I have a few other things to share. Amazingly two more finishes! Though little ones. Both I did over the summer. (yes dragons has been neglected but I'll get back to it)
Here's a cute ornament from this years Xmas ornament preview from Just Nan. I changed the colours to some silks i had on hand. And you can see that it makes it much less christmasey.

The last finish is one of a three set. The first is a dragon. The next two are a snowy owl and a unicorn (of course can't wait to do the unicorn).

Even more amazing than 3 finishes. I think I'm keeping them all!

I've got a few other things in the works. I know I'm not posting as much but maybe I'll get better as I get back into the swing of things. I picked up the Halloween book from just cross stitch magazine and can't wait to do the geometric sampler in it! My favorite: geometrics and Halloween! If it had a unicorn or dragon it would be perfect. Lol.

Hope everyone is stitching away. And enjoying the colours as the leaves start to change.

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Free Pattern - Rene's Frog

2011-08-19T10:56:00.000-06:00

As a graphic designer many people have encouraged me to design my own cross stitch pattern. With the help of a friend who is an amazing artist and a great friend and stitcher to do up the model for me I've finally managed to put one together.

Rene's Frog as Stitched by Evalina

The free pattern you can download below is in memory of Rene LaFrog. Rene was a kindhearted friend and stitcher to the blog community but also one of the moderators on the ILCS Yahoo Group. Over my time with ILCS and blogging I had the pleasure of chatting witih Rene and getting to know her a bit more. While I never met her in person I truly felt as though we knew each other so well. As I know many of us feel about our blogging friends.

The last year of Rene's life was a tough one for her. Not knowing what was happening was scary for her as her body was shutting down and causing her pain and grief. At one point I had sent Rene a newly released Victoria Sampler pattern. She loved their designs and as it was brand-new so I figured she hadn't seen it yet. I was tickled with she received the friendship pattern and was so excited. Her email to me was so cute and thankful. She even said she'd do the project up for me! That's just the kind of lady Rene was. She'd always give back when given to. While I know that only a few stitches went into that project before she was sent for hospice care I will always treasure the memory of bringing her a little bit of happiness near the end of her days with us.

So I put my foot through the door of designing patterns and came up with this cute and happy frog in memory of Rene. Please feel free to download this pattern, copy it, send it to others and share it with anyone you feel would love it. The blog button in memory of Rene that I created in January was so well received by the community and still prominently featured on so many blogs that I thought (and hope) that there are stitchers out there who would want to do a small stitching project for Rene. I'm so proud to release this first design in memory of an amazing lady and friend.

I encourage everyone to use your own colours in this project. Dig into your stash and see what you have. Pick colours and fabric that remind you of Rene.
In addition if you wish just stitch the frog. He could brighten any area with his endearing smile.

A huge thank you to Amy Vickery, the artist that drew the frog for me before it was charted, and to Evalina Marie, a blogger and stitcher I know many of you know. She has been a very dear friend to me these past couple of years and she graciously stitched the model for me and confirmed that the pattern makes sense and is stitchable!

So please, enjoy this pattern. I'm so pleased to share it with everyone.
And finally to Rene, know that you are missed and not forgotten my friend.

Link to download pattern.
(clicking on this link will automatically download a PDF with the pattern enclosed).

Dragons update - officially halfway

2011-08-04T07:37:00.001-06:00

As promised last week I have an update on my dragons piece. Following with my schedule for the year (I'm a few weeks behind but not too bad) I got another page finish in the last 3 months. This officially brings me up to the halfway point!!
Though I must admit that I was sick of it for a bit. But with Lizzie Kates "Halloween Rules" as an easy stitch break it's been better. So here is the page finish:

And the whole piece to date:

I just adore how this looks from far away and am so pleased as it progresses.

coming soon: the pattern that is going to be available for free in memory of Rene. I cannot wait to share it with you all. But I have to finish the title page first. :)

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Halloween Rules

2011-07-25T20:51:00.001-06:00

Thank you sooo much to everyone that has commented to welcome me back and the congrats on the ribbon. It's so great to hear from you all!! :)

As many people have asked the ribbon pattern is Cheryls Bouquet by Needlemania. It's available for free online. I stitched it with Wildflowers thread. Just love their variegated stuff.

I have a share for today. This is Lizzie Kates "Halloween Rules". I chose a lime green fabric (it's 28 ct linen I think) and changed a few of the overdyed threads because of the contrast. So far I'm quite pleased with it. It's fun and easy stitching which is a lovely change as well. Here's the latest (about halfway finished):

I'm using my iPhone to facilitate updating my blog. It's camera is pretty good. However if anything is odd or looks funny in this post please let me know as it may be related. it's my first official post like this.

Coming up in the next little bit:
a dragons update (I have another page done) and The memorial pattern for Rene.

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The Return! (and a Ribbon!)

2011-07-23T00:44:00.000-06:00

First I want to thank all my dear friends here in the virtual stitching world for all your supportive emails and comments when I closed this blog down for a bit. I am very pleased to tell you that it's back up and running for business!

I have left my crazy job from before and start at a new and promising workplace on Monday. Doing the same thing I did (design work) but hopefully in a fun and enjoyable new environment. I can't wait to try it all out.
In and amoungst all that turmoil I have gotten more health things under control. Still medicated, still in pain sometimes but can actually manage to eat out once and awhile and went to a movie this afternoon which was sooo exciting! So things have improved for sure.

In stitchy news... I was voted VP for my local needlework guild in June and look forward to that position starting in the fall. And the biggest news.....
I WON A RIBBON!!!
It's only third place (at the Western Showcase for the Calgary Stampede) but hey it's a ribbon.
So I won third place in the linen category. Here is a pic of it on display at the showcase:

Lots of other things going on. I'm stitching Halloween Rules (Lizzie Kate), got a sweet package of items I ordered from Karen at Wasatch Needleworks, and am trucking along on dragons (another page is done). I will share these things and more in the next little bit and continue on with my epic stitching chronicle for those interested in following.

The other big piece of news... for all of you who knew Rene LaFrog that we sadly lost at Christmas time. I have done a personal design (with help of a friend whose an artist) that I will be distributed for free via this blog in the next few days.
A huge thanks goes out to Evalina who stitched up the final model.
So please watch for this and perhaps we can all take a night to stitch up a memorial frog for Rene.

I'm happy to be back... however this is a twist. I have cleared out my entire blog list (I had over 400 blogs on it that I followed) and am starting fresh. So if you post here I'll add you to the following list of course, if your profile is not connected to your stitchy blog then please feel free to post it in the comments.

Thank so much everyone and looking forward to catching up and sharing more with you all soon!
Mel.

A Little Break

2011-04-08T09:23:00.000-06:00

As many of you know I have been battling some medical issues for the last 14 months.
I have finally gotten some more stable medication and am in less pain than I have been all of last year. However, I have things to sort out, and some issues to address.

As I am not able to visit everyone's blog and comment, or even post to my own it seems, I'm going to take a bit of a hiatus. I hope to be back to this blog in a few months when I have things more sorted out and it's calmed down a bit.

I will still be stitching, and I'm in the process of designing and finishing a memorial piece (with a frog of course) for Rene. I will share the pattern as soon as I finish it up for anyone to stitch if they like.

But for the time being I want to thank all of you soooo much for your support in my stitching and personal life. It means a lot to me.
Thank you for visiting and caring about what I have to say and what I stitch on.
Hopefully I will be back soon.

*hugs*
Mel.

PIF Giveaway

2011-03-29T12:18:00.000-06:00

I won Meari's Pay It Forward a few weeks ago. And now need to do my own. If you're like to participate, you will get a package from me according to the rules below. And then you need to Pay It Forward yourself using the instructions below.

Here are the rules:

1. I'll send no less than 5 stitching related items per person within the next 365 days.

2. Items can be DMC, other threads, stitching needles, straight pins, buttons, scissors, ribbons, etc. - a combination of items such as 3 threads, 1 pack of straight pins and 1 pack of stitching needles or just 5 threads.

3. The items must be new and not used.

4. If you win, you must be willing to post this PIF on your blog and do the same for at least 2 people. This PIF is very simple and easy to do, so I hope you will join me.

I will "Pass It Forward" to 2 people who comment on this blog entry by Tuesday, April 4.
Just comment on this post that you'd like to be entered.

I have been still quite sick lately, but am getting a bit better, slowly. I'm at least in less pain than before so that is an improvement. I have been stitching on easy little things, and have a few starts to show you of Mill Hill, but it's been busy and I haven't had a chance to get some photos.
We're also coming into busy time at the office, so things get a bit tighter. I will post later this week (I hope) a stitchy update.

Thanks for all your well wishes on my previous post!

Finish, WIP, Gift & Updates

2011-03-18T14:42:00.001-06:00

I have one of everything to share today, a finish, a WIP pic and a gift I got! Plus I'll fill in some details on why I've been away. So let's get to it!

First up a WIP of HAED Faerie Bride. Still moving soooo slowly. A snail would be faster! But what can you do, here she is so far:

Up next, a gift from Meari! She sent this a birthday gift, it's a bit belated, but hey that's just fine. Gifts are awesome no matter what! I adore this fabric and the colours are all so me. And of course more Halloween! You can never have enough Halloween. Here's the lovely package she sent me:

Last pic of the day is a finish!!!! This is a Mill Hill pattern that Evalina lovingly sent me at Christmas time. I have sooo enjoyed working on it and plan to do many more on perforated paper. I will still cut it out and make it into an ornament but here he is in all his glory with all the stitching and beading done:

And an update... my apologies for being not around so much lately. I have fallen ill with kidney stones. But they are not even the worst of my problems. As many of you will remember last year I had surgery, I have been plagued with many health problems since then, they started getting bad again after Christmas, but I had been hoping they would "go away". They are not just going away. :( So I have started more aggressive drug control to try and get myself out of pain. Including a drug that is making me kinda foggy and shaky. I tried to stitch last night and was having some real problems concentrating. We believe I just have to get used to it and are hopeful that I will adjust as the drug has really helped my pain control. I'm not 100% pain free but it's soooo much better.
So forgive me if I am a bit "off" as it's the drugs talking. lol.
I will try and update more often, and yes I need to put a giveaway together. It's just been crazy with doctors, tests and some time at urgent care. But I think we're on a better path now, even though it's a medicated one. I've tried for the last year to do other things instead and it's just not helping, so western medicine wins this round.

Thank you all for your well wishes on my last post. And thanks for sticking around!!! Really appreciate all the comment.

Been Sick

2011-03-15T12:06:00.000-06:00

Forgive me everyone I've been down and out with kidney stones that are aggravating my GI issues since gallbladder surgery last year.
Things are getting a bit better, I haven't passed the stone(s) yet but am hopeful that they are moving and today will be the day.

I do have lots of stitching updates to share, a gift I received and even a finish. But I need to feel better first.
There is still a giveaway to come. Just really late this time around b/c of all the blah issues.
I will be back promise. Just wanted to let you all know I'm still here.
Thanks so much!
Mel.

Dragons Page Complete & Faerie Bride Update

2011-03-08T15:00:00.004-07:00

I have an exciting update for everyone on Dragons.
But first a question to answer.

A few people asked me on my last post what the canvaswork will be. It will be a scissors holder. So it folds in half and then has a little flap. Thanks for all your encouraging and wonderful comments on it!

Up first today, Faerie Bride from HAED. She's moving really slowly. Seriously can't believe how much colour change there is in her. But here she is to date:

Alright, and onto the most exciting update for today. I finished another page of Dragons on the weekend. This is the first page finish for the year. And it's almost a whole month early! That hopefully means I am cruising along to make my goal of at least four pages complete by year end. Maybe I'll get lucky and get more done. A girl can hope.
Here is the page I finished:

And here is the piece to date:

I recently took dragons into my LNS for a stitching night and the ladies were all so complimentary. It really made me feel awesome. So a big thanks to them and to all of you who continue to make me feel like my stitching doesn't suck as much as I sometimes think it does.
Really appreciate it!!

Oh, yes and a giveaway. I know I suck. I'm working on it. Really I am.
Coming up soon, maybe before the end of the week if I get things together. Not been feeling 100% lately so a few things have fallen to the wayside. The giveaway was one of those. I promise to get on it.
There will be two packages to win as always.

Thanks for all your comments!

PS.... I'm working on something special and different that I will be sharing soon (who doesn't love a little teaser/intrigue). it will be to commemorate our dearly passed friend Rene...

All kinds of Project Updates

2011-02-28T11:33:00.001-07:00

Where does the time go?
I can't believe how fast February went by!

Well had my birthday and it was awesome. Got some gift cards and things for stitching/beading stuff.
Also got this amazing heart in the mail from Evalina. She is too kind and sends me so much great stuff!
Here it is:

My canvaswork is coming along. Some sections better than others. But have a few. This little piece will the top flap:

There is a mistake in the large one on the left-hand side. I haven't decided if I'm frogging it or not, for now I'm leaving it.
And this is the main body (it also folds into two).

I'm also working away at beading. I'm really pleased that I have odd-count peyote worked out. It looks so tiny here to me, it took forever just to get that much done! This one will be a gift for my sister:

And finally… the Santa from Mill Hill. Here he is with all the cross stitches done. Now just onto the beading.

I know I promised a giveaway, but it's been snowy and very cold here (-30C) so I haven't had a chance to get to the store to see about some new stuff. I do have a few things at home… so I will see if I can put together something this week.

I am close to a page finish on Dragons. Will be working that one this week.
Thanks for all your comments! I love each and everyone of them!

Frog Exchange!

2011-02-16T11:58:00.001-07:00

On my ILCS Yahoo Group we held a frog themed exchange in memory of Rene.
I received mine the other day and it's sooo pretty!
This is from Amy. I have never stitched a biscornu so it was lovely to get one that I can put on my stitching table. I just love it. And the threads to go with it are awesome and colours I adore. Can't wait to find something Halloween related to use that orange one with.
Thank you, thank you Amy!

Bracelet & Gifts

2011-02-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Finally got a picture of my first attempt at peyote stitch. The b/f helped me out, these beads are so tiny it's impossible for my little camera to focus on them, so we had to get the big guns out. :)
So this is peyote (odd-count) stitch. I'm gonna get some more beads and make up some basic bracelets to start. But it's really easy to do actually and quite quick. I like it!

My birthday is next week, but I've already got some early gifts coming in. A HUGE thank you to Evalina who graciously gifted me with a HAED pattern I'd been dying to get. It's Swan Song. Sooo pretty!

I also did a little bit of my own pre-birthday shopping last week, got the first three in the new Lizzie Kate Halloween set called "Halloween rules". It's just too cute. The whole piece looks like this:

And since my gift from Evalina (again, I know she's awesome right!) at Christmas I am loving the perforated paper that my Santa is on. So I got these cute masks from Mill Hill also done on the paper.

More updates coming later this week with some progress pics.
Giveaway will be next week (likely closing after my birthday on the 22nd, watch for it!)

Faerie Bride HAED & Wedding Sampler

2011-02-10T11:45:00.001-07:00

I have updates of Faerie Bride and the Wedding sampler to share with you all. Forgive the bad photos. I didn't realize how bad they were until I got them on my computer. I will do better next time promise.
Here's Faerie Bride (HAED). I am hating the confetti on this one, dunno why it's different from other confetti but I really don't like it. So having to force myself to get through it. Thankfully I think I"m past the worst of it for a bit. To date:

The other piece I've worked on a lot more (and it's quick to stitch) is the Big Toe Designs Wedding Sampler for my friends. I'm liking this one alot, it's quick and easy. But it's also on a gorgeous linen with silks. This picture does not do it justice unfortuantely, but here it is regardless:

I had a breakthrough on my canvas piece that I was really struggling with last night. So an update of that coming up.
Also last weekend I taught myself to do odd-count peyote stitch, but none of my photos of the little practice bracelet turned out (all blurry) so I'll get B/F to take a pic with the fancy camera for next time. Up on the agenda is to learn even-count peyote stitch, I'm struggling with the turn around, so any tips would be appreciated!
(I know as if I needed more different crafts to do, but what can you do) :)

Teaser: My birthday is coming up near the end of Feb. So watch for another blog giveaway later this month. It will be multiple different packages to win again as that seems to be the post popular, smaller packages but more winners! :)

Happy Stitching!

Wedding Sampler & Santa Updates

2011-02-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a 12hr stitch at my LNS. I couldn't seem to stay on one project for long that day but did get some progress on my canvaswork and some great progress on the wedding piece for my friends.
I was lazy and didn't take it off the scrollbars... forgive me. It's stitching up quite quick which is nice. Here it is to date:

I have also been picking up my Mill Hill Santa when it's later at night or I'm just tired.
It's so nice to have one project that is simple, especially when I'm fighting with learning canvas.
Here is the Santa to date:

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Dragons Update

2011-01-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Since Christmas I have been cruising with stitching Judgement Dragons.
I'm quite pleased with how much I got done between Christmas and New Years (when I was off work). If only I could always have that much time! ;)

Here is dragons so far in it's entirety:

And a snapshot of the page I am working on. I'd say it's more than 1/2 done.

Thanks for all your comments on Cronus. The vet has told us that if he hadn't told her about his weird behavior (which consists of tapping his head on the glass and flipping on his back and trying to move) she would think he was fine. So it may just be that he was dropped on his head as an egg or something. Figures that I pick out the retarded snake. We've got a few tests to do and we'll see if anything comes of that. But likely he's just a weirdo.

Hope everyone is staying warm. We have a snowfall warning here for tonight and tomorrow. So I'm hoping that I can still get to my 12-hr stitch at my LNS. *fingers crossed*

Wedding Sampler & Canvas Starts (and Cronus)

2011-01-19T10:26:00.002-07:00

Disclaimer: There are 2 stitching pictures to start this post, then there are pictures of Cronus my Kingsnake. Just so those who don't like the snakes can avoid the last of the post. :)

Well I survived the first canvaswork class last week. There is ALOT of counting in canvas. Just worked on the outer border, done with all continental stitches. I am not even halfway done the border, so wanna try and do that before next week's class if possible. Here it is to date:

I also started on the weekend on the wedding sampler for my friends. The fabric is actually more of an ivory colour than this picture shows (sorry it's a bit blurry too). I am much happier with the replacement of this grey than the one I was using. There is almost no colour change now but I think that's actually better in this platform).
This design is from Big Toe Designs and is on 32ct Linen (I think, might be 30 actually…):

As many people ask me about Cronus I thought I'd share a few more pics and talk a bit more about him. For those that haven't been following Cronus is the hatchling Kingsnake that I got in the summer. While we have two other snakes they are really the B/F's more than mine. this one I picked out. And of course I managed to pick the weird one. We're a bit concerned about his behavior these days, it's very odd. So we've decided to suck it up and pay to get him into the vet this weekend. I think he's probably fine (and just a weirdo) but I need the peace of mind.
Here is his new set-up. (he has been upgraded to a larger tank, sorry don't have a picture of Onyx's new home yet…)

And here he is hanging out in his branch area. He's about twice as long as he was when we first got him. I think he's over two feet now I think:

Got lots of errands to do this week it seems. But hopefully I'll find some stitching time in there. And American Idol starts tonight, so gonna PVR that and stitch to it at some point. Will be interesting to see what Steve Tyler is like.
I have been stitching on Dragons and will do a pic in the next post. I'm almost halfway through the first page of the year already!

HAED SAL Start

2011-01-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

I only have a small start to show you. It is this year's SAL on the HAED BB, I picked Faerie Bride. I gridded to the bottom left of the page so I could start where I am comfortable. (they give you the pages from top right and I always reorder and start bottom left, but on SAL's you only get one page at a time so this is my compromise to still stitch in the direction I like best). Here is the tiny part I have done so far:

We've been busy moving terrariums around in our office/snake room to fit Onyx's new home. It is a four foot tank and finally enough space for her. I will take some pictures of the new step-up and show you how big Cronus (my hatchling snake) has gotten in the next little bit. That is why there is less stitching than usual to share. I do have progress on dragons from Christmas still but haven't had a chance to pull it out for a picture. My apologies. Soon I'll get to it.

Thank you so much to everyone that commented on my post about Rene. I really appreciated all of your comments and the mutual support everyone has around the community.
I hope everyone is staying warm! It's freezing here at -22C (-30C with windchill), for my American friends that is -8F and -20F. Brrr...

2011-01-10T15:03:00.002-07:00

A few people have asked me about the little image I created of Rene's frog stitching. If you would like to use it on your blog I am more than happy to share. You can grab it right from here, or you can email me and I will send you a file.
*hugs* to all as we grieve.

Remembering Rene

2011-01-10T11:24:00.003-07:00

Yesterday a beloved member of our blogging stitching community and moderator of ILCS Yahoo Group passed away. I'd like to take a moment to remember Rene and all that she contributed to our virtual world.

Rene was always very sweet whenever I spoke with her or exchanged with her. I gifted her with a pattern a little while ago as I knew she was not doing all that great and she answered with "I'll stitch it up for you". When I told her that it was meant for her to stitch and keep she told me that it was all about paying it forward. It was so sweet of her.
Unfortunately that piece will now remain unstitched by Rene as she progressively got worse.

I'm thankful that she is no longer in pain. Even though she will be dearly missed.
It feels as though there are a few less frogs in the world as of yesterday.
I wish to cherish her memory and time with us, and recognize her huge contribution to our stitching community.

This little frog was stitched by Rene awhile back. She always loved the frogs, but we always love when the frogs don't visit our stitching pieces.

Stashing!

2011-01-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

I got a gift certificate to my LNS from my Mom for Christmas. And have already spent it all. lol.
Mostly b/c I got the supplies for a class I am taking on Canvaswork. It will be my first Canvas. I am so afraid, the instructions are so complicated. I briefly glimpsed at them.
We are doing a Carolyn Mitchell, Pocket with a View. Carolyn was lovely enough to give us permission to use her pattern.
I have changed the colours to oranges and reds from purples and blues. Just more my speed.
Here is the supplies (excuse my ugly carpet, it was late and I didn't spend time to put a nice sheet behind it):

I also got fabric to start the latest HAED SAL Faerie Bride. She's being stitched over one on 25ct evenweave called Potato. Gonna get going on this one this weekend once i have another set of scroll rods (getting those tonight). I now have so many projects on the go I need more scroll rods! Scary stuff as I have six or seven sets in different sizes already. Here are some of the threads and the pattern:

I also got a new thread that will work much better for the wedding piece for my friends. So that has been frogged and I will be restarting it very soon.
I have an angel stitch to do up for a friend, so can't share it until it's been received.
And of course the stockings. But those at least aren't urgent.

Whew, I tire myself out just listing only half my projects on the go! lol.
Dragons has not been touched all week, I know bad me, but I need to take a pic and share my holiday progress so will do that for next weekend.
Hope you all have a good one!

Family Stockings

2011-01-04T12:05:00.001-07:00

My Mom has asked me to do up stockings for the family with little cross stitched motifs on them. She did one for my Dad (who had no stocking) many, many years ago. So we went on a hunt for these Charles Craft stockings, only to find out they don't really make them anymore. So I got lucky and Deborah happened to have some she was wiling to part with. Thank you Deborah!!
Here's what my Dad's stocking looks like, the others will be modeled after it:

We got some blue ones, a red one and a few others for my siblings to pick from. My Mom's intention was that she would stitch them up, but alas she doesn't remember how to stitch and can't see very well anymore, so it has become my job to finish up the job for the family.

My sister and brother both picked out these nice dark blue ones:

And my brother picked out this cute little Tree from a Just Cross Stitch ornament preview to go beside his name:

I will have to modify the tree a bit to make it fit, but I think it will work.
So that is one of my projects for the year is to make my. It will be a bit odd for me to stitch as it's 14ct Aida on the stockings… and I haven't stitched on Aida in quite some time.
I'll let you know when my Sister has picked her motif out and of course post progress pics as I get into working on them.

Thank you for your words of encouragement on my past blog entry about goals. Progress is progress it's true. And I stitch cause I love it, but finishes are good too!

Coming up: This week I will have an update on Dragons, I got almost a half page done over holidays! And updates on my Father Christmas ornament & Rose.
(also I'm getting lots of things I need by this weekend from my LNS so I'll share the goodies once I have them)

Did I make it?

2010-12-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well... I've been dreading posting how badly I did on my goals from the beginning of last year. But hey things get in the way.
It's been quite the tumultuous year. Between my emergency operation and multiple hospital visits, to my Grandfather passing away, to having to put down one snake and getting a new one. It has been a learning and growing year for me and for my B/F. It will be two years in February that we moved into our place "officially" together. And while we've had a challenging year I can't imagine having done any of it without him. I am so thankful to have such a compassionate and considerate man to share my life with.
Okay... enough of the sappy stuff right. ;)
Onto how badly I did at my stitching goals this past year.

- Judgement Dragons - 4 pages (at least) 4 pages complete DONE!
- Romantic Rose Garden Chatelaine - finish (9 pages of cross stitch) 1 page completed
- Soul Mates - all half pages & 3 regular sized pages - 1 half page complete
- Elfland HAED SAL SK - Finish it (2 pages) 1 page completed
- Castles in the Air SAL - at least 6 parts Part 4 complete
- Ornaments - 2 or 3 (yet to be picked out) #1 Smoke - Complete, #2 Fa la la - Complete, Autumn Ornament - Complete DONE!
- Pirate - Sue Hillis Argh Pirate finish
- Cheryls Bouquet - finish DONE!

Added on Projects for the year:
- Hummingbird bell pull Complete
- Rose HAED SAL SK

Yes pathetic I know.
So... for next year, I will have less goals and ones that I know I can achieve, and then everything else on top of that is just icing on the cake.
So here they are:
- Judgement Dragons - 4 pages (at least)
- Wedding piece -finish (wedding is in July so there is no choice)
- 3 small Stockings - these are for my Mom and two siblings. They are to pick out their patterns shortly and I'll share with you in the next little bit what is happening with this, the stitching part is just ornament sized.

That's it! I know I can do these. :)
A few new starts for this year will include:
- HAED QS SAL, I chose Faerie Bride. Got the first page the other day just have to get some more supplies and start it.
- Wedding piece, I started this one but one of the colours is an issue, so need to get to the LNS and pick another one, I will share that one soon as well. (It's barely been started as I knew right away I had a colour issue)
- Canvaswork Carolyn Mitchell piece, yes you read that right. I'm gonna learn canvas! My guild is doing a class for it that starts in mid-January. I still have to get to my LNS and get my supplies (see a theme here, I really need a trip to the LNS, but it snowed this week and the roads were too bad to get on the highway to get here, gotta get there next weekend).

And there will be other projects I'm sure.
In the meantime... I will be stitching Dragons most of this weekend, maybe some work on Rose as well. I have almost a half page finish on Dragons, as I have been off all this week. (I could have had more but a video game I got for Christmas was too addictive, lol).

Hope you all have a lovely New Years and see you all in 2011 for more stitchy fun!

We have Winners!

2010-12-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

I've got winners (generated from a random number draw) for the blog packages. Thank you to everyone who commented and entered. There were 80 entries into the Christmas package and 71 into the Halloween one. Absolutely awesome!
Without further ado... the winners are:

Package #1 goes to Terri (bronzemom)!
Package #2 goes to Lisa V!

I have sent you both an email for your addresses.
Congrats!

I hope that everyone has had a fantastic holiday. Mine has been good. I've been stitching away and video gaming. I got an awesome new game for Christmas and it's very addictive, but I'm making sure I stitch too! Might even have a half-page on Dragons done by the end of the week. (it will be sad to go back to work after all this progress that is for sure).

I had a lovely surprise in my mail on a day when I needed a pick me up.
The lovely Evalina sent me an awesome kit for Christmas. It's from Mill Hill. I've already started it!
It's the first time I've used perforated paper and I gotta say it's a nice change from the usual small stitches I do. Thank you sooooo much Evalina.
Here is the one she sent me:

Hope everyone is doing well. Especially those that have been having bad weather and snow. We've got snow today, I figure it's because I wanted to go to the stitching store that is out of town. Maybe I'll get there tomorrow. (I got gift certificates for Christmas that I am itching to use to get more stuff!)

Winner Announcement Delayed

2010-12-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry everyone, I will not be announcing the winner of my giveaway today.
There has been some very sad news in the stitching community this morning and I just can't bring myself to compile names and set it all up for the draw. Forgive me.
I promise to do it after Christmas.

However, I do want to wish everyone a wonderful, happy, safe and warm holiday! I hope that everyone has time to catch up with family, friends and some stitching.
All the best to you and yours.
Mel.

Cheryls Bouquet & Row on Dragons FINISHED!!

2010-12-16T15:04:00.001-07:00

I'm very pleased to announce two finishes. (okay one finish, one row complete)
Let's start with the official finish. Cheryl's Bouquet. This is a free pattern by Needlemania. I used Rainforest thread from Wildflowers as the variegated colour. I chose not to do the square border that is in the pattern and will instead frame it as a square. I'm quite pleased with the colours and how it turned out. Here she is:

The second 'finish' is not really a finish but it's a huge milestone for me. I have completed a row on Dragons!! This was my goal for the years, to complete one row,which is four pages, and I have done it! It was very exciting to put in the last stitches of this row last night. Only three more rows to go. This piece is about 1/3 of the way done now. Here it is to date:

If you haven't already, check out my previous post and enter my giveaway. You still have time drawing is not until Yule (Dec 21).

I have confirmed that I am not working at all next week, or the week after! I am sooo excited. I see some stitching time in there for me. And of course hanging with some friends and family and such. We are celebrating Christmas #1 with B/F's family on Saturday. Should be fun as my nieces and nephews love presents (they are kids of course they do, lol).

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm. it's snowy and cold here. But I know other places have been getting way worse snowstorms than us!

200 Followers Giveaway

2010-12-14T13:51:00.001-07:00

Well I've *finally* got my act together and have the giveaway ready.
It's going to be two different ones as the consensus seemed to be that more people winning is better.

Giveaway Rules:

There will be two packages and therefore two winners.
All winners must have their email address available in the comment they leave or in their profile. (If I cannot find your email address another winner will be drawn).
You must enter by December 21 at 5:00pm MST.
Ways to enter:
1) Comment gets you an entry for both packages (if you don't want to be entered in one of them let me know, otherwise I'll assume everyone wants in on both).
2) If you are a follower you'll get a bonus entry (just let me know in your original comment that you are).
3) If you post on your blog you get a bonus third entry (please post that you did this).
I will ship anywhere in the world. Shipping will occur AFTER Christmas so I don't have to stand in a huge long line-up.
The packages all contain brand new items.

Package #1 - Christmas (forgive the slightly blurry photo)

Package #2 - Halloween (cause how can I not keep giving away things for my fave holiday)

I want to thank everyone so much for your continuing support and for reading my blog. I read all the comments and enjoy each of them (except the spammers, lol).
I have made so many fantastic friends online through this blog! So thank you, thank you.

Coming up: I will have the dragons page done before the week is out, so watch for the row finish. Cheryl's Bouquet is pretty much done, I have to make some decisions and then I will post a pic.

Ooopss...

2010-12-10T08:45:00.001-07:00

Forgive me, I got caught up in a bunch of stuff last night and forgot to take pictures for the giveaway... so it's delayed until next week. But I promise it's worth the wait.
Sorry everyone... :(

Rose & What's Happening

2010-12-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well as Christmas approaches it seems that things just get more and more frantic. But I did manage to get 1/2 of my Christmas shopping done. All the easy stuff. lol. ;)
We are having two Christmas' this year. One on the 18th with B/F's family and then with mine on the 25th. Seems odd to me to celebrate twice… but hey should be twice the fun then right?

As for stitching. I have been at it. Cheryl's Bouquet is closing in for the motif (then it's just the border which will be super fast I think). Dragons got neglected this past week but I will get that page done before the end of the month.
However, it was the last SAL for the second half of the year SK from HAED. So here is Rose. I gridded down (something I rarely do) so that I could still work from bottom to top. There is a giant section not stitched at the top, it's all one colour so I figured I'd save it for a day when I don't want to think at all and just stitch rows and rows.
Here she is:

Giveaway will be posted before weeks end. There is one Christmas item, One Halloween item and maybe some bonus stuff. I might split it into two haven't decided yet. I guess maybe I could get opinions. Do people rather have one big win, or two smaller wins so that more than one person gets picked?

I will also post some Cronus pics soon as he is growing so fast! We got him a new water dish that is larger and he seems to like it. So watch for more on my snake hatchling soon (and if you don't like snakes then don't watch for it. As always I will have a warning at the top of the post that there are snake pics below as I know some people just cannot deal with them due to fears)

Hope you are all staying warm and stitching!

I'm not dead! :)

2010-11-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Did you think I was dead?
Cause I was even wondering myself. :)

Well it's been crazy, but work has finally become normal hours again. And I'm starting to get organized for December and all the fun that comes with that.
So there hasn't been a lot of stitching, but there has been some.

I did work on dragons and am getting close to a page finish, so will make the goal of the end of the year for the row. Pictures to come on that one in the next week or so.

Onto ones I do have pictures of. Here is Cheryl's Bouquet. I was hoping to have it finished by the end of the year. But I don't think that will happen. Though I am giving it way more attention.
To date:

I've also been playing around with beading bracelets and different things since taking the classes at retreat. Made a few more rings for friends and such. Made this bracelet the other day to see if I could get the knots to work, it's just cheap Walmart beads, but hey turned out not bad I think. Check it out:

That is sadly all the pics I have right now.
But things while still busy, are less crazy so I will be back to regular stitching time to some degree and of course regular updates! I have missed chatting with all my stitching buddies in the last few weeks. Forgive me, I'm back now.
Hope you are all doing well and stitching away!

And a Happy Turkey Day to all my American friends. :)

PS: I just noticed that I hit 200 followers!!! So watch out for a giveaway in December in celebration.

Ornament Finishes

2010-11-06T14:37:00.000-06:00

I got a great surprise in the mail the other day. I had sent three ornaments off to Meari for her to finish for me as I am really bad at it. And I'm SOOOO pleased with the outcome. They are just awesome.
These are finishes from 2009. There is Moon Mirror, Smoke project & Coffee Cat.
I think they have turned out just amazing. (I will be adding trim to Moon Mirror just haven't gotten to it yet). Thank you, thank you, thank you to Meari for doing this for me!

I have been stitching a little tiny bit. Mostly this week I have been working.
However I did attend my guild night on Wednesday and learned how to do a turkey stitch! I'll show my sample next post after I have a chance to get a picture. (the picture above was borrowed from Meari with permission).

Hope you are all doing well. In about two more weeks I will be very happy as overtime at the office should be over and I can get back to a more structured routine.
Until next time happy stitching!

Exchanges, Fabric & Dragons (oh my!)

2010-10-28T17:05:00.001-06:00

I have a few things to share today. Even though it's been a very busy week in my world and will only get busier for the next three weeks, mostly b/c of work (overtime). I will just have to try and "keep swimming, just keep swimming" and hopefully still stay in touch with everyone!

First up, I received my exchange from Lily in the ILCS Yahoo group Autumn/Fall ornament exchange. She sent this lovely scarecrow my way along with a few goodies. Thanks so much Lily!

Next up, I picked up my fabric for the Glendon Place Witches Wheel. This fabric has been specially dyed for the project and you have to buy it as is essentially. But it's just gorgeous so I don't mind at all!
All the stitching on the wheel is in black, I chose to do it on Bell Soie silks. And the colour you see in the pattern (check out pattern here) is beads that I do have but forgot to put in the pic.
Here's the fabby:

And last, but never least I have dragons. Well on my way to my goal of finishing this last page in the row before the end of the year. (that will be four page finishes for the year). However I was lazy and didn't take it off the scroll rods for the picture, also there is nothing to compare where I was at anymore because it's the end of the row. So here's a pic of the area I am working on, and a pic of the pattern colored in what I have done on the page (the symbols are blurred for copyright reasons, your eyes are just fine, lol):

That's all for this week folks.
I'm headed to the store tonight to pick up a little something that will eventually be a gift for a friend, and to chat and hang out. And fit some stitching in there. Depending on how much I have to work overtime on the weekend will depend on stitching time. So here's hoping I get some in.
Hope you've all been having fabulous weeks and been stitching away!

Lots of stitching & Cronus

2010-10-21T15:29:00.000-06:00

I participated in an autumn/fall exchange with ILCS Yahoo Group. And have just gotten word that my partner, Lily received my package. So now I can show you the ornament I worked on in September. Here's the ornament:

I was very proud of myself for managing to finish it. Only took 10 minutes to thread the sewing machine this time. Sadly that is faster than the hour I fought with it a few months ago. ;)

Later last week I finished up the last 'corner' piece of Rose Garden, which means I am onto a new page!
I will likely work from the top first I think and get that gate in... but gotta look at what makes the most sense for the next step. Here is Rose Garden to date:

I also SAL'd with Cheryl's Bouquet this past weekend. It's really starting to come together and I'm finding it hard to put away. So it may get a bit more attention… we will see.
Here it is to date:

Finally I did get some new pictures of Cronus (warning snake pictures below). Poor guy has had a heck of a time lately. We think he was very hungry and that is why he was striking… but to be safe for the meantime we are wearing gloves to ensure he doesn't strike us. We wanted to feed him a bit more as we thought he was hungry, so we moved him up from pinky mice to fuzzy mice. (difference in age and size). But the fuzzy mouse was almost too big for him. It took him awhile to get it down. And then… that same night he tried to shed, quite unsuccessfully it fell apart in pieces instead of in one nice long piece. So he got a bath to try and help him out.
At any rate, here are some new pics of him in his cage… (they 'yawn' after eating, we are not sure why, but we know it's cute!):

His home... just a cute little terrarium for now.

Why are you staring at my Mom? (this is what I imagine him saying to me as I take pics through the glass) :)

Mouth open!

I have some more intense ones of him with his mouth open... except they are all blurry... so next time I will try and do better.

This reflection was achieved by accident, but I kinda liked it.

That's all I've got for now to share.

The election is over that I was volunteering for, just in time for overtime at the office to start. But I'm home this weekend for some time so here's hoping that some stitching gets in! I need to stitch up my name tag for Guild before the end of the month. Guess I should get going on it.

And of course, gotta get back to Dragons too!

Hope you are all have stitchy good weeks!

We have a Winner! (and a pirate)

2010-10-13T11:48:00.000-06:00

Hello, hello. First up today, I wanted to address some questions from last week's post:

Evalina wanted more pics of Cronus - I don't have new pics of Cronus right now as we have been leaving him in his cage. However I will try to get some more on the weekend when we take him out and feed him. I'm hoping he will have settled by then, he's still really aggressive.

Qsnap Lover wanted to know how long Cronus will get - Cronus will likely be between 4-5 feet. He could get as high as 6 but it's highly unlikely. Onyx, our black snake, is also a kingsnake and she is about 4.5 feet (we are pretty sure she's done growing, she's about 5 yrs old)

Angel Parker wanted to know about Canadian Thanksgiving - Tradition (in general) is usually to have a turkey dinner (kinda similar to what you might do at Christmas) and spend time with family. Other than that I don't think there is much else to the tradition… it's almost always the last long weekend before snow and therefore lots of people get outside for those precious few last times. We also have Canadian football that is played during the day on the Monday (just like NFL in the US on the Thurs of Thanksgiving.) I think that is about it. :)

And what you have all been waiting for. We have a winner for the latest giveaway. (winners are generated by giving each entry a number and then a random number generator picks a number)

So without further ado…. the winner is Babs in Belgium!!!
Congrats!
Babs I have emailed you for your address.

In other news I pulled out my Rose Garden for the first time in months! I will share a pic of it when I have the next grouping done, probably get it done this weekend. And then I will be putting it away for a bit to go back to my other projects. I want to get that last page of dragons done before the end of the year, and get Cheryl's Bouquet complete so that I can start on the wedding piece for my friends who are getting married in July of next year.
However, I realized I hadn't shared a pic of the pirate in awhile. I know, I know really that's all I've gotten done. Well… sadly. Yes. Still have the backstitching *ugh* and the letters to go. I am disappointed in the coverage on him... but not enough to restart.
Here he is to date:

Coming up for me this week. It's the last week of push for mayoral elections here in town. I have been campaigning and supporting one candidate which is where lots of my time has been going. However, Monday night it will all be done. It's a super tight race between three so it's gonna be interesting (and nerve racking).
I will be stitching some this weekend, especially during the day on Saturday. So hopefully by next time I will have an update on dragons, rose garden and probably Rose as well.

Thanks for visiting and commenting. You all keep me motivated and remind me to find time for the things I love, especially stitching!

Rose, Cronus & Giveaway

2010-10-05T14:33:00.001-06:00

Does it ever feel like life just never slows down to anyone else?
It seems sooo fast and busy to me these days. So I apologize that this is a bit later than I wanted it to be. But better now than never.

A few people asked about Cronus (our latest addition to the family, a Kingsnake hatchling). They wanted to know how big he will get. Likely he will be about 4-5 feet in length. And will of course get fatter than he is right now.

Cronus tried to eat my finger on the weekend. lol. We were handling him before feeding him for the first time and after about 10 minutes he decided he'd had enough and wanted food. Apparently I was the potential food. The good thing about the snakes when they are hatchlings is that they can't hurt you, more tickle you. (adult ones however can strike hard and break the skin and it really hurts I am told). But I think he's settling in okay so that is nice.

Stitching… well this past weekend was the Rose HAED SK SAL. So I pulled her out. I love her, big solid areas of colour something I am not used to getting to do. :)
Here she is so far:

And now for the giveaway…
It's a Halloween theme. My favourite season of the year! :)
I'd like to thank each and every one of you that has followed, commented and sent me emails etc in the last 150 posts. It's been a ride hasn't it!
Let's hope the next 150 posts have less issues and more fun.
As for followers, I can't believe that 182 people care about what I have to say. It still baffles me.
But I am so happy to share it all with you, and to follow your own blogs. I have made some fabulous friends via stitching blogging!.
So thank you, thank you.

This time around it's just one package as I wanted to make it a little sweeter.
So it's three spools of Krenik, two are #4, one is #8 braid. 30ct Linen. I love this purple linen, it's a cut of about 4" x 4" so great for a Halloween ornament! And a brand new, unused pattern!

The rules are:
1) Leave a comment that you want to be included in the giveaway (make sure you leave your email if your profile doesn't have an email attached to it)
2) Have to be a follower to be eligible.
3) You'll get an extra entry if you re-post on your own blog, please comment and let me know you have reposted.

I will ship internationally. This giveaway will close in one week, at 5:00 MST on Monday, October 11 (Canadian Thanksgiving!!)
Good luck!

It's a long weekend this weekend coming up for me. It's Canadian Thanksgiving. I'm hoping there will be some time to get some stitching in. I also have my second Guild meeting tomorrow night, so some stitching time then too. I need to get back around to dragons and get on that last page of the row soon!
Thanks for visiting and commenting!

New addition to our household, and being busy

2010-09-29T12:40:00.002-06:00

Well things changed a lot over the weekend, multiple different times.
I didn't end up going to 12 hour stitching because of some other things that came up. So I got almost no stitching done. I did finish the stitching and beading on my autumn ornament, but I can't share pics until it's been received by my partner (it's being finished this weekend and then sent next week).

I've not had a lot of time to stitch as I have been working on a political campaign here in town. So that has been taking up A LOT of time.
So no stitchy pictures, sorry.

(please note the next section of the blog is about a new baby snake and there are pictures. If you prefer not to see I understand and hopefully we'll see you back later in the week for my stitching giveaway)
Those that would like to see me share our new pet please proceed below the white box. He's really cute! :)

However I do have some exciting news… we got a new snake!
Many of you will recall that we had to put down Kihone (one of three snakes we had) back in May.
Well it was the reptile show this weekend and there was a guy with lots of hatchlings. As it was my decision to pick out which one (so long as B/F agreed) it was very exciting for me. This is the first animal I've ever had that has been my choice. I adore his plaid looking pattern.
So meet Cronus (named after the Greek Titan), he is a Florida (Brooks) Kingsnake. Just hatched in July.

Isn't he adorable??? :)
I love him already. We can't take him out for a few more days now so that he gets used to his new home. He was very very stressed out when we brought him home from being moved.

Giveaway: I know I promised one. I have not forgotten. I am at my LNS tomorrow night and gonna take a peak around, see what catches my eye. I have package 1 already at home that will be in the giveaway just need to get a package 2. (as I like to have two winners.) :)
So watch for it later this week or early next. It will be coming…

Cheryl's Bouquet & Car Update

2010-09-22T14:28:00.000-06:00

Is it really Sept 22 already!?! Where does the time go?
I feel like I am doing well on somethings, like Dragons, and poorly on other projects, like Rose Garden & Papillion SAL that I have not touched in months! But I'm getting over it and just going with it all.
This week however was the Cheryl's Bouquet SAL weekend (these SAL weekends are great as they really force me to put in some stitches on some projects). I frogged almost ALL my stitches from last month… or darn close… as apparently I can't count. *sigh* But it's all fixed up plus some now. Here she is:

As for the car… thank you all for your comments and opinions. We have decided to keep the vehicle. It went in for some service today and everything seems fine. So just have to call the insurance company and get it all sorted out. We will have PLPD insurance on it, so if we hit someone we are covered. Just no collision for the actual car itself. This will allow us to put away the money that would have been car payments for things like our trip to Europe (my BFF moved there so we gotta go visit!) and a house down payment. It will be nice to have a little bit of money in the bank that is for sure.

Coming up this weekend I have another 12 hour at the Stitching Corner. However I am leaving it a bit early for football. I should also get some stitching in tonight and tomorrow evening. It is busy, busy with lots of things going on. Just a lot of stuff going on, so trying to make sure I find some stitching time so I can relax.

I've just realized that this is my 150th post… and the followers list is at 177! Thank you all so much. So there will be a giveaway next week!! Watch for it...
Gotta see what the store has this weekend and come up with something awesome for the giveaway.
In the meantime hope you are all doing well and stitching up a storm. I am, as always, trying to get around to everyone's blog but sometimes it's just tough.

Page Finish!!! - Dragons

2010-09-15T15:36:00.000-06:00

Yep you read that headline correct. I got the dragons page finished a few weeks sooner than schedule! So that is awesome. One more page to finish for this year to meet my goal which shouldn't be a problem (I hope). So that is exciting. (even if all my other goals won't be met b/c of it, dragons is the 'focus' project)
Here is the page area I just finished:

And here they are to date: (there is starting to be dragon looking items in there)

In other news... we had a bit of a mess on our hands yesterday (and it continues to be a mess).
(you can skip this to the last paragraph if you only want to read about stitching)

My car had gone in as scheduled (last week) to get the hail damage from the huge storm two months ago done. It had been quoted on and approved by insurance for the repairs.
So a week after dropping it off I get a call (yesterday) that the car is now a write-off because their estimator totally botched what it should have been double what they said it would be. (so essentially it would cost more to repair the car than to just pay me out for it).
So here's where it gets messy, we have 2 options:

1) Give the car to insurance and get a payout. (about 75% of what the payout will be has to go on the loan against the car, so we'd see 25% of the money)

2) Keep the car, and get 70% of what they offered above (almost all of which would go immediately towards the loan against the car). The car is drivable, a 2005 Corolla with 106,000 kms. It's mechanically awesome. Just has lots of dents from hail. However if we do this we can't have collision insurance. Which means if I hit someone or someone hits me I won't get anymore money for the car, it's value is $0.

So... what it really comes down to is this:
Option 1: means that we essentially have to refinance a new car almost from scratch as the 25% of money we keep from my current car is about 1/6th of the cost to buy a new one. So then have to pay each month a chunk of money to have new car. However in this case you have new car so no problems, warranty, insurance etc.

Option 2: Keep the car with no insurance, but pay off loan as well. This means I would have no payments to make on the car, and my insurance would be dirt cheap. Which puts money in my pocket right away. (I can gain back the 25% that they would have give me in option 1 in a year just on car payments alone).
So that would mean that so long as the Corolla doesn't get smashed up and keeps running we have extra money in hand. (maybe to buy a house, or you know more stitching stuff, lol).

I'm very torn on the issue... it's a tough call. So anyone that wants to chime in their thoughts by all means.
However this is the main issue that is stressing me out this week. But what can you do.

Coming up in my stitching, I am working on my autumn/fall ornament exchange for ILCS. As it's meant to be a surprise there will be no pics until my partner has received it.
Also gonna get some stitches into Rose and Cheryls Bouquet this weekend I hope!
Thanks for reading and your lovely comments.

Retreat!!!

2010-09-08T15:53:00.001-06:00

I have lots to share, so grab a coffee or tea, settle in and I hope you enjoy this picture filled post, full of lots of stitching amoungst some other neat things. :)

First off, the retreat was amazing. I loved sitting around with everyone and just stitching for three days! There was a lovely group of ladies that took me under their wing and really made me feel at home. The pieces people are working on are just stunning. It's so great to see so many different techniques, fabrics and all the rest.

Of course, I did a lot of stitching while I was out there. I had a finish! This is Little House Needlworks Ornament #1 (in their series of 12 this year) called Fa La La. Stitched on Cafe 28 ct linen. (I substituted a some colours b/c I wanted more than just red and green in mine.)

Wanna see where I stitched this all up? This is a pic of my 'work' station at the retreat: (I do not have any other photos of the building or people as I want to ensure privacy is kept for everyone)

They also gave us the awesomest name tags! I will cherish mine forever. :)

And then there were classes! I took two classes. One on making bracelets with wire. The technique is eyelets and not that hard at all actually, perhaps hard to get perfect, but to just do up it wasn't too bad. I also took one on making a cute little ring. This was my first foray into wire work with jewelry, and I now have a plier set on order to make more! Here they are:

And more and more stitching. I worked on my HAED Rose SK as part of the SAL on the BB. Here she is so far:

There were also giveaways!! Our welcome package was this cute bag with some bonus little extras in it:
(there were also lots of free patterns and other little things through the weekend as well)

And then I won this awesome scissor fob that I will have to put together. More beading. Looks like I will need to learn how to do it all! :)

Who could let a weekend go by without buying stuff?! I got this pattern from Glendon Place called Sleepy Hollow. The fabric is just divine. The B/F also liked this pattern so it may get moved up on the list to be stitched soon.

Last, but certainly not least. Dragons. I have spent a lot of time with Dragons lately. I know I haven't shared them too much this month, but here they are. I am very close to a page finish and should be on par to get this page done by end of Sept, which is my goal, and then have the next row complete by end of the year. (at this rate it will only take three more years to finish, lol). Page to date:

Full piece to date:

Thank you so much for visiting and reading this far!
I am going to be catching up on BB's, groups and blogs over the weekend.

Fa La La Start & A Gift

2010-08-31T12:17:00.000-06:00

I started Fa La La by LNH last week on holidays. I have changed the colour in the first girls dress from green to purple (just wanted to give it some more colours). It's stitched on Cafe 28ct Linen. Here it is so far (this is a sad pic, sorry I was tired when I took it):

I got a lovely surprise in the mail the other day. Becka who won one of my giveaways last months sent me the cutest cross stitched card and a few skeins of DMC. THank you so much Becka!!! Here is a pic of what she sent:

I did not take dragons out yesterday as it was BF's birthday and we have so much going on with a dear friend of mine permanently moving to Europe at the end of the week. So I may have to wait until after retreat on the weekend to update you on Dragons. But if I get a chance I will see about updating Thursday before I go.
I can't wait!! I am taking a bracelet class at the retreat, hopefully it turns out good. I also need to kit up my autumn/fall ornament for the ILCS Yahoo exchange that I enrolled in. So lots to come for sure!

Thanks for visiting and all your kind words on Cherly's Bouquet and my holiday pics.
I am terribly behind on commenting and checking out blogs. My apologies, I will try to get around in the next few days.

Holidays & Stitching

2010-08-27T18:22:00.000-06:00

We are back from holidays. This update has mostly holiday pics but will also have an update on Cheryl's Bouquet at the end. (so those who just want stitching just scroll down).

We had a great time in Panorama. It is a secluded mountain village just outside of Invermere. We were in a condo (that we got for uber cheap, so awesome). It was sunny and beautiful. We hung around the pool, had great food and enjoyed a short hike at the top of the sightseeing lift. Here are a few pics. (keep in mind these are in the BC Rockies so less impressive, if you will, than the Canadian Rockies that are near our home, but still mountains, just less pointy) ;)
This shot is from the bridge just behind our condo. You can see the building where we stayed on the side of the river (it's taken at dusk so the colour is off, my apologies).

This next shot is from the top of the sightseeing lift. You can see the resort below There is a bit more to the resort than you see, but this is the main area with the pools and such.

From the top of the sightseeing lift this is the gorgeous view. This is more than 5000ft above sea level.
Very high! This is from the downhill World Cup route that is an open clearing on the hike we went on.

We went into Invermere, another resort style town (they have a big lake) for an afternoon and found this huge Inukshuk. So here is me pretending to also be an Inukshuk. ;)

We had dinner in Invermere at this great place called Ray Ray's on the beachfront. This fountain was also just next to it. (can you see the rainbow?)

On the stitching front I worked on Cheryl's Bouquet last weekend and made great progress:

I started on Fa La La ornament from the LNH 12 ornaments series. But didn't take a pic yet. I know bad me. So a pic of that, and an update of dragons will be due in the next few days (and trying to finish up on the bellpull for Hummingbirds, so will share that when it's done). It's a bit crazy this coming weekend/week as my best friend is moving to the Netherlands and we are doing lots of stuff for her before she goes. BF's b-day on Monday and then retreat next weekend. Whew, and I gotta go back to work. lol. So lots coming up to share in the next few weeks.
I will also be holding another giveaway later in the month, likely a Halloween/Fall theme as it's my favourite time of year! (I just signed up for the ornament exchange for Fall on ILCS Yahoo Group... so gotta get cracking on that too). Wow, I've exhausted myself just typing all the things I have to do.

Thanks for visiting and for all your comments. :)

Hummingbirds Finished!!

2010-08-19T10:13:00.000-06:00

Sorry I have been away for awhile. I was not feeling great at the beginning of the week and it just threw everything off. I think I have things back under control for now. Here's hoping it stays that way for a bit.

I do have an exciting finish to share with everyone. I got the Hummingbirds for my Grandma complete. Here they are:

And here is a perspective shot:

I am going to make this into a bell pull. So I did the first coat of paint on the bars last night. It will still need a second one. And then I have to back it and sew it on. Hopefully it turns out good. (I would love to have this complete by Sunday so I can show my Mom when I see her)
Here are the bars:

Thanks so much for continuing to visit me. I know I'm not quite as active as I once was. I am still hopeful that I will get there again.

Next week the BF and I are on holidays. We are going away for four days to a condo in the mountains. So I will be offline for sure most of next week. However we'll be sure to take lots of pictures and share them with all of you. And I am hopeful that I can get some good stitching time in! (If the bell pull gets done or I have anymore exciting updates before Monday I will post here, otherwise I will be back at the end of next week)

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

PS... when I get to 175 followers there will be another giveaway. this time it just might be some Just Nan items...

Rose SAL update & BSB

2010-08-10T14:38:00.000-06:00

It was the Rose HAED SAL weekend on the BB. I still love working on her sooo much! But it was a busy weekend so didn't get much stitching in.
Worked on an art project for my friend that is moving to Europe in a few weeks during my stitching time, so still time well spent, but not anything I can share sadly.
Here is Rose to date:

I also had the opportunity to see the Backstreet Boys (BSB) on Sunday night. What a great blast of the 90's. I loved them as a pre-teen/teenager and gotta say it was nice to be taken back. They still have it.
Here is a pic from the show:

(I took almost 100 photos and can you believe this is the only remotely good one, sad I know).

This week continues to be quite busy with errand things like haircuts and dentist, plus of course work. Though I am hopeful to get more work on Dragons in later in the week.

Thanks for visiting! And as always I appreciate each and everyone of your comments! :)

12 Hour Stitching & A RAK

2010-08-04T10:56:00.001-06:00

I had a lovely long weekend this past weekend. It included 12 hour stitching at my LNS. These are so great b/c the company is awesome and I get lots stitched! (even if I have to frog now and again b/c I loose my spot from talking). :)

First up today. Dragons.
I have really cruised on this one in the last five weeks. I have 1/3 of the next page already complete! :)
The page I am working on:

The piece to date:

Next up. Hummingbirds
I am very pleased with how these are turning out. Even if I hate doing the backstitch. Here we are with three hummers complete. Just need to do the third border and then just one more to go! I am hoping to complete this by my retreat (on the first weekend in September) so that it can be part of show and tell!

Elfland.
I am still trying to get this one done. I actually gridded down to the bottom of the next page (these are done opposite of how I like to stitch b/c that is how we receive them in the SAL). I was a bit nervous that my count would be off, but so far so good. (sorry this pic didn't come in very good, too dark)

And the most exciting part of my week: I got a RAK from Louanne!
I helped out with the redesign of the Our Friends SAL Blog so that it looks more like the HAED brand. (thank you to Michele for allowing us to use it) and Louanne soooo graciously sent me this HAED chart as a RAK!

Thank you, thank you Louanne!

Our summer has been very cold this year... and it doesn't look to be getting much better. But hey it makes for lots of stitching time. ;)
However we are on holidays in a few weeks so I am looking forward to that. B/F and I have a condo (that was generous donated to us for four days at no cost) that we are going to. It will be our first 'real' vacation with just us! I'm looking forward to it. And of course then my first retreat in September! I just got the info for the weekend and am sooo excited. It is being put on my LNS (where I go for 12 hour stitches).

Everyone has such great looking projects! I have been getting around to blogs, still slow but hopefully I'm getting to everyone's.
Thanks for visiting and happy stitching.

Winners!

2010-07-29T09:46:00.000-06:00

We have winners for the giveaways posted last week.

They are:
Giveaway #1 (Snowmen):
Becka

Giveaway #2 (Footprints):
Karen

Congrats ladies! And thank you sooo much to everyone that has commented and visited my blog. It really helps keep me going!

I meant to take a pic of Dragons as I'm almost 1/3 done the new page already! But I forgot. :(

I will have a bunch of photos to share of progress after this weekend as it's 12 hour stitch at my LNS again on Saturday! I am very excited.
It's a long weekend in Alberta this coming weekend so more time away from the office is always a good thing! We will be hiking again as well on the Sunday. Not sure where but I'll post some pics if it's a good day next week as well.

In the meantime hope you are all stitching away!

GIVEAWAY - 151 followers!

2010-07-22T14:59:00.000-06:00

Wow, you have all blown me away, I am now at 151 followers!
Thank you all soooo much for following my blog, caring about what I have to say and share about stitching and life.

As promised I have a giveaway to do. There are two different packages again (cause I hate just picking one person).

Giveaway #1
It's Christmas in July, as traditionally celebrated by the stitching community. For this one I have a Mill Hill Snowman bead design. Unopened and with all the supplies you need to make it!
The other item is snowman earrings with Swarovski Crystals. You have to make them but everything you need to do it is in the package. Here is a pic:

(excuse my carpet in the background I didn't think to grab a blanket instead to grab the shots on)

Giveaway #2
For some reason I have three or four variations on the Footprints in the Sand poem. This one here, in the giveaway, was in one of the many boxes that I inherited from either my Mom or a friend's Mom who no longer stitch.
It's gently used, there are some creases and wear and tear, but the pattern is still completely legible. I know I won't stitch all of the variations I have, so figured this one could have a new home! This package comes with #24 needles as well.

And of course all packages come with other little treats in them once I figure out what those are. :)

How to enter:
It's easy, you have to:
A) be a follower
B) leave a comment on this post that you wish to be included (let me know if you prefer Giveaway 1 or 2 or both, I know not everyone always wants to be included in each one)
C) for a bonus entry post the giveaway link on your blog and you will be entered again

The only other thing to be sure of in entering is that you have your email in your Profile, or include it in the comment. If I don't have your email I can't send you a notification that you won to get your address.

Entries will be open until Tuesday, July 27. I will post a winner on July 28. (winners will be chosen either by random number generator or names into a hat).

Elfland Page Finish, Cheryl's Bouquet & Pillow Pets

2010-07-20T10:11:00.000-06:00

I actually got some stitching in this weekend!
After our crazy busy weekend last week we decided to take it a bit easy. Which means, stitching!

I worked on Cherly's Bouquet in the SAL weekend, she is coming along and should be in line for a finish this year if I put a few extra hours into her:

I also got a page finish on Elfland!! Even though the new SAL SK has started I still want to get Elfland finished. One more page to go on her.

I picked up my travel light at my LNS from Daylight. I am a bit disappointed that it doesn't have a cover over the bulb, as the bulbs are very expensive and I worry that I may hit it with my scroll rods. But we will see. It looks like there is a new one on their site that twists and has a cover (for the same price!) but I am not sure if it is available yet. But anyways doesn't matter as this is the one I have. It's to take to 12 hours that away from home and retreat in September!

And finally we got the cutest pillows ever at the Stampede (they have a vendor area that is always fun to walk through). These are called Pillow Pets and I gotta tell you it is the softest coziest little pillow I've ever had! They fold in to be a larger pillow:

Or they fold out to be flatter:

The turtle is mine (his grumpy face reminded me of my Grandpa so had to have him) and the penguin is the B/F's. They are just awesome! it's like being a five year old again in the comfort of your own home. and the quality is just unbelievable.
My turtle works great in place of my traditional pillow (when he is folded out) to hold my stitching on my lap.

I know I am very behind on posting comments to people's blogs. I am sooo sorry. I will try and catch up again. There are just too many great blogs out there!

I had an influx of followers this week, up to 149! I promised a giveaway at 140, so I will do one for sure in the next week. I just didn't have a chance to get it together in time for today. But I promise later this week you'll see one. And who knows maybe we will be celebrating 150 by then! :)

Thanks for all your comments and for following! :)

Calgary Stampede & Hummingbirds

2010-07-14T14:55:00.000-06:00

My apologies it's been awhile. We've been busy entertaining my cousin and her man from Ontario. His first time out West and she hasn't been in a long time. It was their first Calgary Stampede as well.
What is the Calgary Stampede? It's a 10 day exhibition with fair grounds, a huge parade, rodeo, shows etc. It's a huge party time.

On Friday we went to the parade, it's the longest and largest parade in Canada and takes about three hours to watch! Here is Round-up Band (I was in this marching band once), they are junior high school students (I didn't take too many other pics of the parade, sorry, my bad):

On Saturday we had a Stampede breakfast to attend at my parents place(traditional pancakes, bacon and such), about 50 people came and it's my job to server up the pancakes.
Then we went down to the Fair Grounds, where it proceeded to pour rain! :(
But it was still a good time. Here is a pic from the skyride over the grounds:

Sunday we went to Banff and Lake Louise, showed them all the major sights. Here are a few pics (it was cloudy this day too).
The Banff Springs Hotel:

Downtown Banff (that is Cascade Mountain in the background):

And Lake Louise, it was a terrible day for photos, it's sooo much prettier than this but this is what we got on the weekend for a photo:

And then back to work. My Grandma is also here visiting so we saw her last night and just haven't been home in days it seems! But it's tapering off. I am at the Stampede with some girlfriends one more time tomorrow night and then I need some sleep. lol.

I have not stitched much at all. But did get a few stitches into Hummingbirds the other day. Here they are so far (have I mentioned that I find backstitching a huge PITA, I frogged three times on one section, but it looks nice so I will suck it up):

Not too much else to report. Just really tired from all our activities and such.
I got the cutest Turtle pillow ever the other day and will post a pic of it soon.
Also watch out, as I will be holding another giveaway when I hit 140 followers (just need 1 more!) :)

Hope you are all doing well and love hearing from you and reading your blogs.

New HAED Start & Canada Day

2010-07-06T15:06:00.000-06:00

I have lots of fun photos to share with you all today. Hope you enjoy.

First up, a few more pictures from our mine ruin walk two weekends ago as promised.
Here is me (I actually like this picture of me which is so unusual):

And better ones of the ruins:

It was Canada Day on July 1st. And the B/F and I both got the Thursday and Friday last week off. It was sooo nice. We went climbing in the Rockies, it was cloudy so no pretty blue sky this time around; here's the B/F on a rock face (yes we have all the training and safety gear):

Then it was a Canadian Football League game in the evening, where our team the Calgary Stampeders won! Here are the fireworks from after the game:

And finally I started a the HAED SK SAL that started on July 1st. This is going to be Rose. She is a dream to stitch. I am loving her so much I find it hard to put her down. This is my progress so far:

And what she will look like when done:

(I like her sooo much more than Elfland, but I will try to finish Elfland too!)

We have a busy weekend coming up with lots of family coming into town including my cousin from Ontario, my Grandma and my siblings. All for the Calgary Stampede (it's a big outdoor western festival that runs for 10 days). It will be exhausting but hopefully fun! So pics of that to come next week. And any stitching I manage to sneak in there too.
Thanks for reading and for all your comments, past & present!

Hummingbird Stitching & the Ghost Town

2010-07-01T08:20:00.000-06:00

have been trying to find time to update this blog for days. My apologies to everyone.

First up some stitching goodness. Here is the beginning of hummingbirds. It will be four hummingbirds in slightly different positions and it will be finished as a bellpull. Here is the start:

And we did go to the ghost town. It was a beautiful day. This ghost town is near Lake Minnewanka just outside of Banff. It was an old mining town from about 1908 to 1930ish. They were getting coal from the mountains to use for the railroad at the time. Many of the buildings/homes have been moved as heritage sites (years back) to Banff or Jasper. But foundations and a few buildings still stand.
Here are some pics (the B/F has more great ones but hasn't downloaded them yet, so I may share more in a few days).
The scenery:

The ruins:

Some mountain goats on the road on the way out:

We have lots more great photos of the ruins but they have to get downloaded. So I will try and share them soon. (also my new meds are awesome as they are allowing me to get back into the mountains I missed it sooo much!)

We have a big day ahead of us, it's Canada Day!!! (like July 4th in the USA but for Canada). So most people are off today and took tomorrow off cause really what's the point in working. it's gorgeous here about 21C (70ish F) and we are headed back to the mountains to do some rock climbing!
I will post some pics later.
(and the new HAED BB SAL started today so another new start for me, I know terrible, I will have pics as soon as I get some stitching done)

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my blog. I appreciate every one of them!
And to my fellow Canadian, Happy Canada Day! :)

Page Finish!!!!

2010-06-25T15:04:00.001-06:00

I have finished another page on Judgement Dragons!!! I am so pleased.
And one week ahead of this years schedule. (okay every other project I am doing is way behind but I've made sure this one is not).

Here is the two pages that I finished this year so far:

And here is the whole piece:

I'm so happy that I am finally making good ground on this piece.
6/20 pages done.

In other news:
I got some great mail the other day from Karin.
They are these awesomes goddess bracelets and prayer beads that she sells. Here are the prayer beads. (my photos of the bracelets didn't turn out. :( I will see about getting more photos of them next week)

It's been a ridiculous week at work for me. But I am looking forward to tomorrow when the man and I are getting out of town into the mountains for a short hike to an old mining ghost town.
On the health front, all biopsy reports came back normal. So I'm just medicating for the time being and see what happens. Also waiting for GI to call me back and book an appt. (they are so useless with their bookings it seems). But I am feeling like I am almost a person again. Perhaps not normal but at least not a hospital case. So that is good.

Next week: Updates on Hummingbirds and Elfland.

New Start: Hummingbirds & Cheryl's Bouquet

2010-06-21T20:52:00.000-06:00

I have a new start to share with you all. It's a Hummingbird bellpull design from Just Cross Stitch Magazine. I think sometime last year. It's on a beautifully dyed 28ct linen (over 2), it looks like sky in the background (the pic doesn't do it all that much justice)
I am doing it up for my Grandmother (who is recently widowed) to try and brighten up the house with some items that are just her.
Here it is so far:

I also worked a bit on Cheryl's Bouquet as a part of two SAL's.
Here it is, the start of the outer motif.

In other news a friend of mine and myself are season ticket holders (new to me this year!) of the Calgary Stampeders. It's Canadian Football League. They had their first preseason game on a very sunny and hot Sunday.
Here are a few pics to share:

Every time our team scores this lady on her specially trained horse rides up and down the sidelines. It's one of my favourite things that is unique to our team!

In other news... tests went well on Friday. So far it has all come back normal, we are waiting for biopsy reports. I see my family doc on Thurs to discuss continuing meds and a plan. So far it seems that we will not get a solid diagnosis and in the meantime are just trying to find a cocktail of meds that keep me going. It's so much better than two months ago so to me it seems brilliant. ;)

Thanks for all your encouragement last week. It really helped me to get through the tests. Ohh. and my flowers are growing! I will share pics of them next time.

Stitching & Flowers

2010-06-18T17:49:00.001-06:00

This update is a week overdue. I apologize for that as I have been so busy and have just gotten back a few hours ago from procedures at the hospital. So if this post appears disorganized or I write things that don't make sense I blame it on the drugs that are still wearing off. ;)
(the procedure went fine, will get results back in the next few weeks)

But enough about that let's talking stitching and flowers!

I had a stitching day with some local stitchers at my house last Saturday. It was great fun. Even if it was smoking hot at my apartment. (which ironically was followed up by a week or straight rain).
But I did get some great progress on dragons. I am sooo close to a page finish and should have no problem reaching my goal of the end of the month for this page.
Here is teaser of what is left to stitch of the dragons page (I will update the full piece when the page is done):

I have also been making some progress on my pirate. Here he is so far:

In non-stitching related news, for the first time ever, I planted my own planters and herbs on the patio. I am sooo excited. The pansies are doing better now than this pic shows. But here are my marigold planter, pansy planter and herb tray:

I also bought a pre-planted hanging basket:

Now the goal is to not kill them. I am hopeful that I can do it. ;)

I also have a new start on some hummingbirds for my Grandma (a surprise for her when I go to visit her, or if I get them done fast enough when she comes here in a few weeks. This is the Grandma that just lost her husband and I just wanted to brighter her house a little bit with something). So pics of that to come soon.
And it is sampler weekend so Cheryl's Bouquet will get some attention. Somehow I managed to miss the sampler weekend last month. But will get back to it this month.

I am so sorry that I continue to have a hard time keeping up with everyone's blogs. I am just not as fast or quick as I used to be it seems. Or just need to sleep and rest more. Stupid medication and such.
But as summer approaches I am hoping to get my life back in order a bit more. And we will see what these latest test results bring back. I am hopeful that we are getting closer to a medication combination that will actually allow me to have a somewhat normal life again.

Thank you all for continuing to read my blog through these last six months, I know it has not been as 'stitchy' lately, but I will get there again I hope.

Winners, Elfland & Stash

2010-06-08T09:13:00.000-06:00

I pulled the names of the winners for the giveaways posted last night...
For the floral set of patterns we have:
DEBORAH

For the religious set of patterns we have:
EMILY

I have sent you both emails to confirm and get your addresses. Congrats to you both. Thanks to everyone who entered.
Everyone else, don't fret... coming up in just a few short weeks, or maybe even next week, I will have another giveaway. This time it will include at least one Teresa Wentzler pattern (and other items I have yet to figure out).

In other news it was the last SAL for the Elfland HAED SK this weekend. So I worked on mine. I am sooo far behind in this. There is a new SAL starting on the BB on the 1st of July and I haven't finished page 1 (of 2) of this one yet! But of course that won't stop me from being a part of the next one. lol.
Here is Elfland so far:

I also had a chance to go to my LNS. I paid for and confirmed a 12-hour stitch at the store in July and RETREAT! I am sooo excited it will be my first retreat, it's on the September long weekend.
I also picked up a few things including this awesome fabric for my Halloween Tree:

That's all for now. I'm chugging along with my dragons. I should be able to make my goal of the page finish by the end of June. And I have a stitching day on Saturday coming up with some girls coming over to my place for the first time ever. I am working out snacks and other goodies to have that day. :)

(oh, for those curious on the medical front... I have another med change yesterday... and a hospital procedure next week, but I'll give more info on it as we get closer, for the time being still alive so that is what counts)

Thanks for visiting! I love all your comments and really appreciate them!

Double Giveaway!

2010-06-03T11:38:00.001-06:00

As promised a giveaway. But there is a bonus, it's actually two giveaways. Two different packages, you can choose to be entered for both or just one, whatever is to your taste.
The items in both giveaways are from stash that I inherited from my Mom (who no longer stitches) and from a friends Mom (who passed away). I know I will never stitch any of these, in the case of the florals I have already done a few of them for projects. They are just not to my taste anymore and I thought maybe they could find a good home where they will be appreciated and used. They are gently used, some have some corners or scratches on them. But they all have all their pages without any markings on them.

So... what are the giveaways you ask?
They are:

Package #1:
This package is a bit of a spring fling, it consists of three books of patterns of florals.
As seen here (clickable thumbnail so you can see them better):

Package #2:
Is three patterns of lovely religious sayings. (religious is just not my speed, but I know that someone will love them, or so I hope!)
As seen here (clickable thumbnail so you can see them better):

How do you enter you ask?
That is easy... just post a comment here, let me know which package you want to be entered for (you can say both, or just pick one over the other, whatever is to your taste).
You have to be a follower of my blog to be eligible (so I can track you down!) and have your email address in your profile OR include your email in your comment. If I draw a name and cannot find an email for the winner I will redraw. (sorry but it's too much work, as I have learned, to try and track down people).

I will ship anywhere in the world.
Drawing will take place Monday, June 7th. So you have until Monday at 5:00pm MST (my time zone) to place your comment to be entered.

Questions? Leave me a comment and I will answer.

I did work some on dragons and soulmates this week but didn't get to taking pics. Those will come in the near future, promise!

I am still alive

2010-05-31T11:05:00.001-06:00

Contrary to what you might believe cause I've been so quiet lately I am in fact alive.
I apologize that I have been away so much. Just getting my life back in order and been quite busy.
And have been video gaming a bit more this past week or two just cause it's a bit easier than stitching when I don't feel great.
However I have gotten some stitches into a few projects. Including pirate. Here is his progress so far:

I do have some stitchy days coming up though. One next Saturday (12th) at my place with a few new stitching friends. I soo can't wait! Need to get that dragon page finished before the end of the month!
And then another at the end of July (a 12-hour) at my LNS.
I also have a ton of stuff to pick-up at my LNS. But because it SNOWED, yep snow at the end of May, this past weekend I didn't get out there. But maybe next weekend I will.

Other than that, just getting life back in order a bit. Working on feeling like something other than crap and waiting for news on test results from the Dr. (also have a procedure on June 18th, so we'll see what that brings up for results as well).

That is pretty much all. Sorry not too exciting here today.
But hey, if I tell you... GIVEAWAY. Coming up soon!!! Soon, I promise. No more claiming I will have one and not doing it. This week for sure I will post one.

Thank you for visiting even though I have not been around much. I have been trying to comment on blogs, but it is time consuming and tough it seems these days. But I love reading them and will try to do better.

A long update...

2010-05-21T15:26:00.001-06:00

(forgive me this is a long post, I just have so much to share!)

We have returned from services for my Grandfather. It's an eight hour drive there and then back again of course. The service has very nice. My B/F and I made a slideshow of pictures for it, and helped to set up the hall and take down as well. I even spoke on behalf of the dozen grandchildren my Grandfather leaves behind. He will be missed.
After the service all the immediate family (22 of us! My Mom has a huge family) stood on the lawn at the farmhouse and released a balloon each that had a little note to my Grandfather (yes we know bad for the environment but it was a great goodbye, and good for my little cousins; youngest is 8).
Here is what they all looked like on the cloudy day as we released them (forgive the spots on the lens, it was raining and I'm just too lazy to photoshop them out right now:

I did get some stitching done... I have the saddest start ever. On another Sue Hillis pirate. I stitched these few stitches in the car:

It will look like this when done:

I also got some stitches into Rose Garden. I had to frog a bit (but with my pretty new frogging needle, pic to come below) which is always annoying. But here it is:

I had the most amazing mail day ever when I returned from my trip. I had FOUR packages in the mail for me!! It definitely helped cheer me up after being at the funeral.
The first was a belated birthday present from Meari. She is tooo kind!
Look at all these goodies. I especially love the scissors. AND I have Summer Unicorn so now I have Winter to go with it!

Next was a frogging needle from Lisa. It's sooo pretty. I do love it! (and it's already been put to good use):

And then two packages of items I bought through private sale for a great deal.
This is an out of print HAED. (more unicorns, gotta love it! :) )

And the last is three patterns I was so pleased to receive:

Whew! Well that is all for now. I have some lab tests to go to later today. Bloodwork and stuff.
But my new meds are helping a bit. And I ate some chicken! I miss meat so much. It was nice to have some chicken. I think we will keep trying to integrate it back into my crappy diet.
It's a long weekend here in Canada and most of it will be spent just chilling out. I can't wait to just sit at my house and stitch and catch up on some shows. Gotta catch up on Idol before the finale next week! :)

Thank you to everyone for all your sweet comments about my Grandfather. He will be missed, but such is how it goes.
I will leave you with a great photo that the B/F took in front of the farmhouse last year of my grandparents.

Sad News...

2010-05-13T22:32:00.000-06:00

I am sorry to tell you all that I will be away from Sunday to Wednesday (likely) this coming week as my Grandfather has suddenly passed away.
I was quite close to him and my Grandmother. Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile will have seen pics from our trip out there last summer and of their cute farm house.
He will be dearly missed.

Please forgive me while we travel to the funeral (it's 8 hours drive away) and spend some time with my family. I will return when I can.
Thank you.
Mel.

Stitch or Die FINISH! (and more health updates)

2010-05-11T14:12:00.000-06:00

I have finally finished up Stitch or Die.
This pattern was dear to be because it was also stitched by my dear friend Evalina. But it became even more important as a lot of it was stitched while I was in the hospital.
So the B/F and I have decided to find a nice frame for it and put it right above my stitching chair in the main room! (this is exciting to me as our walls mostly have items on them. But there is this small piece of wall before the window right above my chair that might work, AND that the B/F is going to let me put up more stitching, lol)

Here is the final product in it's entirely:

And at a cool angle:

I had my appt with the GI specialist this morning. As many of you know I have been getting more and more sick as time goes on. They have changed my meds. One of the ones I now have to take is like Tang flavoured Gravel. You put it in the water, it sort of dissolves and then drink it. It's sooo gross. I don't like it at all. But I will try it and see if it helps.
I now have a 'procedure' in June as well. The only one they didn't do while I was in hospital last. They are doing it to rule out Chron's Disease with this test. And then go from there.
So I just have to hope these new meds like me and help a bit until then. It seems like the longest road ever!

Thank you all so much for your support.
And wow did I have some very lovely comments on dragons. Thank you soooo much. You all inspire me to keep going. I really do appreciate it.

Dragons Update

2010-05-08T14:20:00.000-06:00

I finally have a dragons update for everyone. While I haven't gotten much stitching in the past few weeks (working late and all) I have gotten enough that makes it worth showing you dragons.
There is the page I am working on:

I have a goal to finish this page by the end of June. I need to get stitching! I mark off my charts in coloured pencil crayons, different colour for different days.
Here is what my page colouring looks like so far:

And here is the piece so far to date:

I am working again this weekend and will be working late until next Friday. When hopefully our massive magazine goes out the door and is done!
Then I can get back into more stitching. (and picking up my stash that my LNS has on hold for me).

On the heath front for those wondering... I am managing and have a specialist appt. on Tuesday morning. I will update you all on what they say.

Thanks for visiting and your comments! I really appreciate your understanding while I get through this crazy patch of work and health issues.

Health Update, ComicCon and Smoke Stitching Finish

2010-05-03T16:40:00.000-06:00

Well... I am still alive. Though it feels like barely. And I am still at work. Though very busy.
We had another trip to ER (that was useless) last week. But now I have an emergency GI appointment for next week (if you can believe that is the soonest I could get an emerg appt.) It's been all crazy. But I'm still holding on.

In the meantime I do have things to share with you. Some from quite a while ago. I will start with ComicCon that came to Calgary two weeks ago. I got a chance to go, even though I was pretty sick I managed to get through. I got to meet Tahmoh Pinkett (from shows Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica)
Here is me with him and the autograph I got from him:

I had a hard time getting good photos as the lighting was bad and we weren't allowed to use a flash. But also at the convention were Malcolm McDowell (best known from a Clockwork Orange, or for killing Captain Kirk on Star Trek), Leonard Nimoy (of course Spock) and Peter Facinelli (Dr Carlisle from Twilight). Here are pics of Nimoy and Facinelli (from a far).

It was a pretty good time. Packed like crazy with fans and stuff but good. And I bought all kinds of new comics and things. ;)

In stitching news I have a finish!
It's my Smoke project, design by me, for the smoke project on my friend TulipTree's blog located here.
I will finish it into a little pinkeep or mini needle book I think.
But here is the stitching all done up:

I was very flattered to be a part of TulipTree's project and want to thank her for the chance to participate. (for those that are not familiar with it, it was an interpretation in any creative way of smoke. I choose a sampler as it is the traditional cross stitch. I took the letters SMOKE and used a varigated thread to fade them out. The border is meant to represent smoke and it's transitions).

My last update is progress on my HAED SK, Elfland. From the first half of the year's SAL on their BB. I am behind... we only have one more month left in this SAL before the new one starts. And I am still on page one, not even page two! Ah well... I will see what the new SAL is and decide if I want to join or just finish up all my other many projects on the go.

Dragons update: I have not stopped working on Dragons. Just haven't taken a pic in awhile. It has slowed down a bit, but I am confident that when work settles in two weeks and I am not working overtime that I can catch back up and finish my next page by the end of June (to keep with my 2010 goals). Thank you everyone for your understanding that I am not get around to blogs. I will try and catch up soon. But for now it's just hard to find the time between working lots and not feeling good.

Sorry... I will be back soon... I hope

2010-04-27T15:35:00.000-06:00

I first off want to say that I am sorry to everyone. I have been working late the last little bit (and will continue to for the next three weeks), so I have not been able to get around to everyone's blogs, update this blog or stitch very much.
On top of that I am not feeling well at all in the last 6 days. I have calls into the clinics to find out what is going on, and had another ultrasound this morning. I really hope they can come back with some answers this time. I am no longer convinced of the SOD diagnosis from my last time in the hospital as the drugs they gave me for it are not really making much of a difference.
I will update as I can.

I did attend the Comic Con in Calgary (with much difficulty) this past weekend. I have some pics from it that I will post when I have a second. I also finished the stitching/beading on my smoke project.
All that will follow in the next few days assuming my body decides to stop hating me.

Again I am really sorry everyone. I hope to be back soon.
Thanks,
Mel.

Cheryl's Bouquet, New Quilt & a really old Unicorn

2010-04-19T09:44:00.003-06:00

Somehow I managed to fit some stitching into a very busy weekend; that included working and going to my niece's 10th birthday. (we are coming into my super busy time at work, so forgive me over the next month or so if I can't get around to everyone's blog and am a bit MIA. I will try to make sure that doesn't happen).
Okay, onto stitching. I finished the inner motif on Cheryl's Bouquet. This one is a part of two SAL's so I work on it once a month. I am really loving the colours!

I got a great surprise in the mail on the weekend. My quilt/blanket that Jane made for me arrived. I got her contact through a friend on my ILCS Yahoo Group. And I am soooo pleased! I always sleep with an extra blanket from my B/F. Cause I'm always cold (and he steals the blankets). In the past all my blankets have been made by my Grandma, but she doesn't stitch much anymore since she has gotten older. So I was sooo pleased to be in touch with Jane. The quality is just what I wanted, a light weight cotton, the pattern is so cute and Jane was just lovely to email back and forth with.
If you'd like a blanket like this and want to get in touch with Jane just email me via my email in my profile and I will send you her email. (just so we can avoid putting emails up and getting spammed).
Here is a couple shots of the quilt:

And last, but not least, on my ILCS group we were discussing last week the pieces we are most proud of. Mine is a bit odd... it's probably one of the worst stitched pieces ever. But I did it when I was 16, when stitching was definitely not cool (I like to pretend at 27 that it is now, even though I still get friendly ribbing from some people about my stitching obsession). I used to hide in my room and stitch on it and not let anyone know what I was doing. It took two years to finish... it's Teresa Wentzler's Unicorn. I do love it, even if it's badly stitched, and on aida no less! (I don't think I've touched aida since I moved to linen and evenweave about 5 years ago). Anyhow, here is a pic of it. (just for Meari and Evalina!) :)

Coming up this week: I will be getting back to Dragons this week. Whenever I can find some time. I am working late a few nights this week for sure. So it may be slow going. And I want to get to finishing my smoke project as well. So those are on the bill. (and I feel that I have really neglected finishing Stitch or Die... so that is the third priority).

Part 4 of Castles in the Air COMPLETE!

2010-04-15T09:47:00.001-06:00

I know I just posted yesterday... but it seemed like a significant enough milestone to post again. I finished Part 4 of Castles in the Air. As many of you know I am finding this project a bit of a PITA. My uneven linen is a bit challenging, but getting better, and I frogged those yellow and purple flowers, not once, not twice, but THREE times!
But I made it. Big thanks to Kelly who has been working on the same part and has helped me be motivated to keep at mine.
Here is the picture of this complete piece:

I also put some stitches into my original design for the smoke project I was talking about the other day.
Here it is at about halfway... (beads to come at the end). If you want to know more about this project click here.

Coming up: I am going to get back into Dragons for awhile. We are getting very busy at work... so stitching time will decrease as I work some overtime. But I'll try to still do as much as I can.
In other news... my toe is getting a bit better. Still can't believe how much a stupid little toe can hurt. And I am waiting for the GI clinic to figure out what is going on with my follow-up ultrasound. They lost the paperwork or something. How annoying. But whatever. In the meantime I am still on my rabbit style diet and taking my meds.

Thanks for all your comments about my toe! Really appreciate it. And for all the encouragement for Castles. You are all why you see Part 4 complete above. I don't think I could have done it without you!

Original Design, Castles & Broken Toe

2010-04-14T10:48:00.001-06:00

New Project: So I have a kinda neat project to share with you. A graphic designer friend of mine is doing a project on her blog/site to try and promote creativity amoungst other designers. (for those not aware my day job is graphic design for a magazine).
So she challenged us all to create a project revolving around smoke. It could be any media or platform that we wanted. So I took a crack at it... in cross stitch. I built the font myself for the letters and worked out a design (with the help from the B/F who is also a designer) I came to a final piece.
I have started stitching it but right now only have pics of the supplies to be used... and the sketched out pattern.

Castles update: I have been working on Part 4. I am almost done it. Pics to come soon. And then it's back to Dragons stitching for me. But this was a nice little break.

My Broken Toe: I know as if there wasn't enough medical issues for me right now... yesterday on my way to the doctor to review my meds and stuff for my sphincter issue... I fell and hit the corner of my couch VERY hard... breaking/spraining my baby right foot toe. It's a nasty, nasty hit... My toe is all swollen and bruised and very gross today. I did get to my appt yesterday and then called into work and said, hey I gotta get blood tests and stuff done and then I'm going home cause I hurt my toe really bad.
Silly but true.
I can't believe how much a stupid little toe can hurt! But I have to giggle cause it's just so silly on top of all my way more serious issues. Though it is a real pain to deal with. So I'm working but elevating my toe for the time being.

Coming up: I know, I know... giveaway. I'm not meaning to tease but other things keep coming up. I will try to organize it maybe tonight or on the weekend. So do stay tuned.

Thank you for all your comments on my Castles and the linen. I did restretch the linen abit and reattach it to my scroll rods. It's a bit better. (oh and I ironed it and stuff). I'm working away at it still so I think I'm a bit happier with it.

Unevenly Stretched Linen (and new layout)

2010-04-07T08:20:00.002-06:00

Welcome to the new layout of epic stitching.
Like it? Hate it? Let me know. Having trouble finding someone you like on my blog from before also let me know. I am still working out a few kinks in the layout but I think it's mostly working.

Onto my dilemma... And maybe someone, somewhere knows how to to fix it...

I was working on Castles in the Air the last two nights. I have not been liking this project at all. Even though the pattern is okay (but hard) and I like the colours I am using... I figured out last night why I have been struggling with it so much. My linen is unevenly stretched!?!?
I use scroll rods for all my projects... and for whatever reason (as I have never had this happen before) my Penny Copper 32ct linen is stretched more in some places than others. And we are talking significantly so. :(
Anyone have any suggestions on what I can do about this? (besides start over... I won't do that I'd rather just leave it as a UFO).

Here are some pictures of it to date... I got the first peacock completed from Part 4. (I know I'm crazy behind on this SAL).
This is a big photo to try and show you that the linen is wonky... not sure if you can tell from the photo (if you click on the photo it will get bigger for you). I do know that it could use an ironing, but I don't think that will help the stretched linen...?

Here is a close-up of the Peacock that I just finished working on last night:

And here is the entire piece to date:

Alright... I keep promising a giveaway and not getting around to it. I know I suck. Sorry we are quite busy at the office and with my medical stuff I just keep forgetting. I will do better soon I promise. ;)
Thanks for all your comments on Elfland and about the stupid cold that is still trying to hang on at our house. I am pretty much good, the B/F is still a bit sniffly but I think it's not going to get much worse. So that is good that it didn't become epic for us.

Elfland Progress

2010-04-05T08:34:00.000-06:00

How is it that long weekends always seem to be busier than any other?
I had a great time visiting with my brother and grandparents who came into town for Easter on Saturday. Also seeing my nieces and nephew on Sunday. But it made for a very busy feeling weekend.
I did get a chance to stitch on my Elfland SK from HAED.
Worked on this Friday night and some on Sunday. (though I did take some time to just cuddle with the B/F on the couch to watch the restored version of The Wizard of Oz. I hadn't seen that movie in forever and think they did a brilliant job of restoring it without losing it's true form.

Here is my progress on Elfland:

In other news... I see the specialist on Wednesday for a follow-up on meds and stuff. I have been feeling kinda crappy... thought I was getting better for a bit last week but then this weekend things started to go back downhill. I think it is all food triggers now and it's very frustrating to me.

Also doesn't help that both B/F and I have sore throats and might be coming down with someone. *sigh* It just doesn't end does it. Sad but true.

I will be doing a giveaway here soon. I just have to put it together!
Thanks for your comments and continued support.

12 hour stitch progress & stashing

2010-03-29T15:39:00.001-06:00

Well I made it this time. There was no snow and it was a lovely day to sit at my LNS in Cochrane and just stitch. I made some new friends which was great! And got some stitching done (and was bad and got some new stash)

My first priority was to get a large section of Dragons done. I worked until it was complete. Here is dragons after the last two weeks plus my twelve hour of progress, section I worked on:

Full piece to date:

I also picked up Romantic Rose Garden in the afternoon. I got one new area of the motif done. This piece has stitches and things I have never encountered... so I am finding it good but challenging. Thank goodness that one of the ladies that runs my LNS was there to advise on how to tackle it! Here it is so far:

And last but not least, I needed a break in the evening, so I pulled out Stitch or Die. I am still a bit disappointed in the coverage on this one. Maybe it's because alot of it was stitched at the hospital... not sure. But it's okay it's not like it's huge or a gift or for competitions, just for my stash corner so I will live. Here it is so far:

I also got three new patterns while I was there. The two latest in the ornaments from LittleHouse Needlworks:

And this other pattern that I am just in love with. It's Book of Spells from Good Huswife. I just love it!

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments about Kihone. She will be missed. It's weird walking into the computer/snake room and seeing only two tanks with snakes and hers empty. But time heals lots of things and I already feel better than I did about the whole situation.

Coming soon... another giveaway, probably after Easter, but if I get to figuring it out beforehand it will be sooner.

Kihone passed

2010-03-26T19:57:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to give a quick update to everyone who has been following that we had to put Kihone (that beautiful white cornsnake I posted about the other day) this afternoon.
We tried what we could and the only option left was a surgery to remove the mass stuck in her intestines. The surgery was just not a good option as it was only about 50/50 that she would make it. So we have let her go.

Thanks for all you support up to know and in the future.

Blog Awards and Snake Pics & Info

2010-03-25T12:53:00.000-06:00

A number of people asked me questions about our snakes in my last post. So I have decided to post some pictures later on in this post of our three snakes and some info about them. (this is fair warning to those who may not like snakes or have a fear of them that the pics are later on).

Up first, I have been awarded by a few different people two awards.
Hopefully I have the list correct of who awarded which to me.

I this lovely Beautiful blogger award from Jo and Evalina.

And this lovely Sunshine Award from Jade.

(hopefully I caught all the people who awarded me, please let me know if I have missed you and I will add you to you list).

Here are the rules...

1. Accept the award
2. Thank the person who gave you the award
3. Add a link to the person who gave you the award
4. Put the award on your blog
5. Write 10 things about yourself others might not know
6. Pass the award on to 10 others

Here are my 10 things:

1. I learned to cross stitch when I was only 12 years old.
2. I can't swim (and am terrified of water).
3. I love vampires (that are not Twilight related).
4. I collect unicorns, in any way, shape or form possible.
5. I read about 55 paperback books a year.
6. I love music in many forms including; heavy metal, rock, country, punk and classical
7. I play the piano.
8. My B/F and I dated years back for a year, broke things off for five years, and have now been happily living together for over a year in our re-inspired relationship.
9. I am the art director for a local magazine. I make things look pretty. ;)
10. I love all the people I have met online and through blogging, thank you to all of you for continuing to re-inspire me so, in so many things!

I am not going to pass the award onto anyone... I could make a list of 100 great blogs. Truly there are so many I don't want to miss anyone. So forgive me for not making a list. But thank you sooo much to the lovely ladies that sent these to me. And to those for your visits to my blog and comments. You are the reason why I love to keep this blog going.

On to the snakes... fair warning from here down this post has pictures of snakes.
Thank you all so much for your comments about Kihone.
I got a few questions about our snakes. So I thought I'd share with you pictures of each of them and some information.

First up, the first snake that my B/F ever had, he had this snake when we dated about six years ago. His name is Erinys. He is about eight years old we think. He is a Cornsnake. He has a special pattern, that hourglass on her back repeats across her whole body, making her worth more (and just plain prettier). He is about six feet long in total (and quite fat)

Next up... the sick snake. This is Kihone. We did not take her out to take a picture because she is still quite sick. She is an Albino Cornsnake. And my B/F got her about four or five years ago (we think). She has been doing okay... vet appt tomorrow. Not sure if she will need to be put down or not. She has a mass stuck in her intestinal track. We have tried everything including her hospitalization last weekend to help her. But if she cannot pass it we are going to have to put her down. She has passed a few small masses, so we will see what the vet thinks. Poor thing.

And last but certainly not least is Onyx. She is a Mexican Black Kingsnake (and if I am allowed to have one, my personal favourite). I think she is only about three or four years old. She is just beautiful in my opinion. She is all black except for one small flaw on the bottom side of her head. She is smaller, only about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long. So that makes it easier to handle her. She is a bit skittish sometimes

when we open her cage lid. But has never struck at either of us.

There you are. Our babies (as we call them).
They are all fed mice. We have them frozen (dead), they get unthawed and fed in a container separate from their terrariums so that they do not strike us because they think we have food each time we open the lids. Mostly snakes are a very low maintenance animal. You only feed them once a week. And just want to make sure they have enough water and clean up their excrement after them. it's that easy!
Any other questions about our babies let me know.

Thanks for your comments. I will update on Kihone once we find out what is going on at the vet's.
And I'm totally getting stoked for my 12-hour LNS stitch on Saturday! My fingers are just itching to get at it. :)
(PS. I have clearance for exercise from my surgeon, no other change in the pain or food issues... next appt is in a few weeks... I will update on health as I have more information, for now just continuing to tolerate what I can for food and stuff).

Cherly's Bouquet and other Happenings

2010-03-23T12:08:00.000-06:00

It's continuing to be a bit crazy for me.
One of our snakes, named Kihone, was at the vet hospital for the weekend. We picked her back up yesterday... we have to give her a shot and take her back at the end of the week. It's not looking like great news for her... but *fingers crossed* that she pulls through. (we have three snakes total).

In and amougst that of course I'm still battling meds and stuff. See the surgeon on Thursday, be interesting to see what he has to say. I'm still on the veggie diet and stuff for now. I tried chicken again on the weekend and it didn't go all that well... so gonna stay veggie for a bit (even though I do kinda hate it).

But on to the reason you are really here... STITCHING! :)
It was the HAEDless Stitching SAL this weekend on the HAED BB, so I worked on Cheryls. I love working on this piece. The colours are really coming together for me.
Here it is so far:

I'm getting really excited about this coming Saturday. My LNS is holding another 12 hour stitch at their location. Remember that one in December when my car was stuck cause it snowed so much and I couldn't go? Well... this time there is no snow forecast *knock on wood* So here's hoping I actually get to go!! :)
I have been continuing to work on Dragons and will post a pic later this week if I get a chance.
Also... I think it's almost time for another giveaway.
I have more stash to giveaway for sure. So stay tuned in the next week or two for one.

As always, thank you so much for your comments!

Page Finish!!! (Also HAED Stashing & health stuff)

2010-03-17T14:29:00.005-06:00

Well I have done it. I finished the most recent page I was working on on my Dragons piece.
I am pleased that I got it done as quickly as I did (even with my huge break because of hospital and surgery). I do want to keep trucking on this piece... so more updates for sure on it to come (I want to finish at least three more pages this year!)
Here is a pic of the page I finished:

and here is the whole piece to date (camera skewed it a bit again sorry, it is straight in real life I swear):

I have some exciting news... I won a Bingo on the HAED BB! So I got to pick on full pattern as my prize. I chose "Fly me to the Moon" from Josephine Wall. Here is a pic:

And then... they announced that they are having a one day only 30% off sale for St. Pattys. Soo... I used some more birthday money to take advantage of it and got two more patterns. (I know I'm supposed to stop stashing, but they were so cheap, and B/F decided that I should cause I've been feeling so crappy). So I got Linda Ravencrofts "Dark Queen" and Johnathan Earl Bowers "Invariance". (Love Johnathan's work and he's Canadian so love supporting him). Here's pics of them:
Dark Queen

Invariance

You can of course check out all their awesome patterns and items at (I couldn't get the photos to link up... damn new editor, it's frustrating to be a designer and not be able to make blogger know what I want sometimes)
www.heavenandearthdesigns.com

In other not so good news... I am having some issues. I have pretty bad acid reflux back again. I can taste the acid for the last few days in the back of my mouth. And the clinic where my specialist works out of has not gotten back to me about my appt that is supposed to happen at the end of the month. (they tried to tell me it would be in May, except my meds are going to run out at the end of March and I have the same problem still... so we probably need to up or change meds). this really frustrates me because my discharge from the hospital says they would call me last week to fix it all up and get appts, but when I called yesterday inquiring about it the girl seemed to know nothing about it. *sigh* I really hate the medical system sometimes. Here's hoping that gets worked out. EDIT: So the clinic got back to me just before I posted this... and have changed my meds slightly. It was a complete gong show to get this going and I am not very impresssed. But I guess it is better than nothing. So *fingers crossed*.

Sorry I can't share all good news... but hey, page finish and new stash. I can't complain too loudly I figure. ;)

Thanks to everyone for your comments on my latest posts. I really appreciate them. I am struggling with the new diet still (and still getting acid reflux and pain) so that is frustrating. But fingers crossed that we are gonna get somewhere, in a timely fashion I hope!

Dragons Progress (and more health updates)

2010-03-15T16:23:00.000-06:00

Well... the good news on the health front is I am back at work.
The bad news is that I have a few funky side effects from the meds. But we are working through them.
Also being on a vegetarian diet is hard and kinda sucks. We are slowly adding meat back into my diet, but fatty things have to remain gone indefinitely as well as coffee and coke. :(
But I'm not dead yet, so we'll keep on trucking. lol.

In good news... I worked on some Dragons. I am determined to finish this page (which had a goal of end of Feb, but then I got hosptalized). So I am not working on anything else until I get this page done! Should be end of the week I hope!

Excuse my slight bit of laziness for not taking it off the scroll rods but time is precious right now with meds, new food and being more tired than ever. So I just took a pic of the current page top.

As you can see I am very close. Maybe even tonight! But probably late this week.

I am very sorry I have not been getting around to comment on everyone's blogs. I am going to try and get around this week. However I am a bit overwhelmed to try and catch up from four weeks! So forgive me if I only comment on more recent posts (like the last week or so).
As usual thank you all for your lovely comments and well wishes. I appreciate them all so much. We are managing. There is still a long road to go but at least I am not in the hospital anymore.

Home of the Hospital (and other stuff)

2010-03-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

I am officially home from the hosptial.
After seven days, million of tests, and a bunch of different drugs I am home. With the same pain... But with four drugs to take and try. (they can take awhile to kick in). So I have to try to get my life back in order, make some money, manage some new dietary restrictions and manage the pain. Ah, easy stuff right? lol.

The official diagnosis is Sphincter of the Oddi Dysfunction (SOD), Type III. You can google it if you want to know more. Also I have a back-up of Bile in my stomach, so on acid reducers for that (caused by the SOD issue).

But at least we have a name for the disease and so now can try starting to treat it. No magically solution sadly, it's trial and error. But that's the best we can do right now.

I have so many other things to update you on...
Terri visited me in the hospital on Friday and brought these lovely flowers, along with many hugs:

I was out on day pass on Saturday and Sunday (had to sleep at the hospital). On Saturday my B/F took me to my stitching store to spend some of my birthday money. I picked up two things. Halloween Quaker by Cherished Stitches:

Here's a better look at the colours I picked. (all silks):

And I also got one of two new Sue Hillis Designs "Shiver me Timbers":

As I had no IV at the hospital since Friday I worked a bit on Stitch or Die. Here is where it stands now:

My current plan now is get my life back in order... and stitch on my poor neglected Dragons. I do have to start work immediately tomorrow so we can pay some bills and stuff (and so I don't loose my job). Here's hoping I can manage.

Thank you to everyone for their kind thoughts and prayers. We are not at the end of the road yet, it may be a long one, but at least we have some progress

A hospital Update

2010-03-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

I have been in the hospital since Tuesday morning.
I am home on a day pass right now. What it means is we have to make sure I diligently take my meds and that we are back at the hospital before 10pm tonight (I have to sleep there). Same deal tomorrow. And then more tests on Monday.
I know that the lovely Evalina, Terri and Meari have all been keeping all from ILCS in the loop and to them a huge huge huge thank you!

I cannot access my blog on my phone which was my only source of internet, so my apologies for not updating sooner.

I am hoping to be able to share more info on Monday after my last test.
We have solved one of my problems which was an acid taste in my mouth, caused by bile in my stomach. The meds they are giving me for it are working.
Unfortunately so far nothing is working on the pain. So it may be a bit of trial and error for awhile. Once I have Monday's test I will have more info, (and maybe a name for the disease to share).

I was able to stitch a bit last night from my hospital bed as they took my IV out. It was glorious!

I have missed all of you and hearing about your lives I'm so sorry to have not been around. I know some of you have been having a very rough time with things and do know that I am thinking of you as well.

I will update on Monday when I know more info (and hopefully when I'm home for good)
*hugs to all*

Not dead... yet (and a gift and a bit of stitching)

2010-03-01T19:25:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm not dead yet. But working on it it seems.
We've run into a bit of a hitch with my surgery recovery. The actually recovery from the incisions and all that is okay. But sadly I have the same problem as before back with food (and it's almost worse). I am getting pain when eating and crazy acid back up my throat and into my mouth. :(
So I'm on a liquid diet until at least Wednesday (again!) and go for more tests tomorrow. Both the family doctor and the surgeon are being good and fast about helping us so that is good.
Not eating really sucks. (but I lost a bit of weight, or at least that weight I can afford to loose at 120lbs and 5"1)
So that is why I have been quiet. I'm sorry.

In other much happier news. I did do a bit of stitching. Not alot, it's been a rough couple of weeks, but a bit on Stitch or Die:

Also I got a great Birthday/Get Well gift from my friend Evalina. It's a very cool address book (so I can keep track of all my stitching buddies addresses!), a lovely card, and a book about stories of women in the Yukon. Awesome. And great to read before Stitching in the Midnight Sun in Dawson's City in July. (if you want to get in on this weekend in July email myself or Evalina for more details)
Here is the gift:

I'm so sorry I have been unable to get around to blogs. Please forgive me. I am not sure I will catch up at this rate. But rest assured as soon as I am better I will be back to posting as usual.
Thank you so much for all your comments and well wishes.
Here's hoping the next time I get to post it's with WAY better news!

I made some x's!

2010-02-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

It is perhaps a sad thing when you are so excited to be coherent enough to make small x's in a piece of fabric. But that was me, last night and a bit tonight.
I worked on Stitch or Die last night, and it went well. Pic:

And then picked up Cheryl's Bouquet for my SAL today for a bit. Had to frog a bit as the pain meds are still playing with my head. But it was alright. Pic:

In other news, my parents, brother (who came in from out of town), uncle and his gal all came over for pizza and b-day cake for me. We watched the Canadians lose to the Americans in Olympic hockey. Sad. :( But we're not out yet. Just made it alot harder for us to get to the finals.
Our pizza night was nice, and I'm glad they changed it to come to me as getting around is still a bit hard. But getting better.

I have a drs appt tomorrow just to check out the stabby sites and make sure they are okay. Hopefully goes well. (oh, and apparently it's my b-day. I'm been sooo caught up in surgery, recovery and just moving around and eating I keep forgetting.)
I am hoping to stitch a bit more tomorrow. I will (I hope) go back to work later in the week. We'll see how it goes and if I can drive or not.

Thank you all soooo much for your lovely comments on my recovery I appreciate every single one of them!

Home from Emergency Surgery

2010-02-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well, as some of you know, and others do not. I got admitted for emergency gallbladder removal surgery late Monday night. I have been in the hospital all week. I am home now, and finally back online. So I am trying to catch up but I'll have to ask that you all be patient with me. I'm only about 60% back. And still quite sore. But alive and that is good.

No stitching so far, but maybe this weekend I can work on Stitch or Die, as it's easier and stuff. Still on pain meds so sometimes kinda loopy. But getting there.

Elfland Progress

2010-02-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well no real change on the health front. I am still feeling like I'm dying, but don't want to go back to ER. So we are waiting for the Drs appt on Monday.
I am looking forward to the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics tonight and then more Olympics and Daytona through the weekend. I'm gonna try and just take it easy and not aggravate everything. I'm still following the diet, though it kills me to eat food that tastes bland, but I'm managing I suppose.
Thank you for all your kind comments and well wishes. I will keep everyone posted here as to what is going on.

It was the HAED SAL for the Freebie charts last weekend. I forgot to take a pic until this morning. But here is my progress so far on Elfland. It's not a great pic. Sorry gotta ask the man to show me what I am doing wrong to see if I can get better pics.

I hope everyone has a great and safe weekend. I know some of you are snowed in in the East and I do hope you're doing alright.
And again thank you for all your well wishes.

Stitch or Die... And a health update

2010-02-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

So it's been a trying week. We spent Tuesday at ER because I had new problems on my right side, instead of just my left, and they felt way worse. I'm on a 48 hr watch, waiting to see if I get a fever to indicate an infection (it didn't appear that I had one at ER on tuesday). So far so good. *fingers crossed*
And I got an appt. with my family doc on Monday (even though it's a holiday here she is working). So here's hoping that some answers might materialize from there. I'm still hurting from what might be an ulcer on the left side, and now have new pain on the right... It's a mess really.

But the good news... I'm alive and breathing, so far. lol. I'm hurting but managing for now. I just hope this doesn't go on forever and they can do something to help soon. (also the diet they told me to do sucks, so I'd love to go back to eating real good and not just oatmeal and rice! okay there are more options than that, but not by much)

Alright... onto stitching. Needless to say stitching has been pretty sparse. I was glad that I started Stitch or Die on the weekend, cause it's an easy stitch and I don't have to think as hard. I did also work on Elfland for the HAED SAL but forgot to take a pic...will come tomorrow.
For now, here is Stitch or Die (I am not super happy with the coverage on it, but it's just for me in my little stash area, so I am not too concerned):

Thanks for all your past comments on Friday. I really appreciate all the wishes for good health.

I am really hoping we get some answers soon and then out of that get some relief. It's just no fun to be in agony all the time, let me tell you that. But we'll get through. Cause there is not much choice in the matter.

Also, huge kudos to my BF who sat through no sleep and 9 hours at ER. He was sooo great! And I just got tell you that I feel very very lucky to have him to help me out.

Dragons Update - Almost a Page

2010-02-05T12:52:00.001-07:00

As promised here is an update on dragons. I'm very close to finish this page. Hopefully within a week or two. So that is good. I want to make some serious progress on this piece this year as it's for my Uncle and I feel bad that he's waiting.

Here is the page I am working on (look you can see tips of wings and the orange/green in the scales!)

And here is the full piece to date. This pic doesn't have the greatest colour, but you get the idea:

In other news... I may have an ulcer. Going to get some tests after seeing the doctor this morning in a few hours. And then start some meds. I have been having trouble taking in deep breaths for the past few weeks and stuff. So got it checked out. *sigh*

It's crazy I don't get colds or flus (knock on wood) just other crazy weird things going on.

I'm definitely ready to be not "sick" in anyway. My vertigo is annoying enough. But alas, that is not the way it is meant to be.

This weekend... Go Saints! :) (though I am sad that Super Bowl means football season is over, but Daytona in a few weeks so that is alright, and Olympics and NHL is starting to get fired up for playoffs).

The BF's Photo Blog

2010-02-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

I don't have stitchiness to share right now as it's been a busy week. But tonight I get some great time to sit down and stitch and it will be Dragons that I'm working on (you can see the tips of the wings, it's so exciting). So hopefully a new pic tomorrow of Dragons for you all.

In the meantime though, my dear BF has started a photo a day blog for 365 days. If you want to check it out it's at http://visualabandon.blogspot.com/
There will be lots of photos I'm sure showing the scenery of our area and stuff.

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post. I am hoping to start Stitch or Die on the weekend on that lovely fabric!

Stitch or Die Fabric & WIP Photos

2010-02-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well it's Monday morning again. Weekends just fly by don't they?
Ours was an okay one. Had my quick gift trip out to my LNS, The Stitching Corner in Cochrane. Grabbed some gifts for some people and got the Fa La La ornament pattern.
Also, Evalina gave me this cute Stitch or Die pattern (check out her finish on her blog) so I grabbed some fabric for mine. Here it is, it's 28ct Jobelan hand-dyed:

This seems like a good time to once more plug the stitching weekend that Evalina and I are planning. It's Stitching in midnight sun in Dawson City, Yukon. It will be July 2010 (weekend to be picked, but a later one in the month for sure). Drop me an email or comment if you are interested in join us. It's going to be a blast!

And onto the WIPs photos. Got some stitches into some projects (did work on dragons but have no pics of it). However here is some more work on Romantic Rose Garden:

And Elfland (the flash really blew this one out a bit, sorry):

This coming week we are pretty busy so not sure how much stitching I'll get in.
Thanks for visiting! :)

Giveaway Winner & My Week

2010-01-29T09:54:00.001-07:00

I apologize, I have no stitching photos today. It has been a crazy week (so many ups and downs), between the BF's uncle being a wicked car wreck (he is okay, but really banged up), finding out my BFF is probably moving to the Netherlands for sure this summer, a review at work that was so messed up I can't even describe it, and coming to the realization that we will likely not make it to New York as planned as we just don't have the funds (and the BF's car is broken... again). Let's just say I didn't get a lot of stitching done and just haven't had a lot of patience.
But there were really good things too... one of my maps that I design is going to be on display in large format at the Olympics in Vancouver, very cool. And I got my hands on a pattern for free no less, that I have loved forever a discontinued by HAED called "Eternal Promise" by Matt Stewart (it's Arwen and Aragorn from the LOTR) it's just lovely!

Also amoungst the craziness of my week I am thankful for all the things I do have. My amazing BF, a roof over my head, great friends and of course stitching! I know others have had way worse weeks for sure than I have. I just feel like I'm on a roller coaster and am ready for it to slow down a bit.

Okay enough of my whining that is for sure...
We put all the names down, gave them a random number and the BF picked number 16. Which is... *drum roll*

Katrien!

Congrats my friend! I have sent you an email but if you don't get it please feel free to email me (from my email in my profile) so I can get your addy.

Tonight I am looking forward to stitching all night, and catching up on American Idol and Vampire Diaries. Tomorrow we have to move the BIL. *ugh* but then Sunday I get to go on a special trip to my LNS. So that will be awesome.

Happy stitching to everyone and thank you so much for making this blog a success. I love communicating with everyone and have realized that I have made some amazing friends because of the online stitching world. So hugs and thanks to all.

And don't worry more giveaways to come in the future if you didn't win this round, there will be more chances! :)

Giveaway & Castles Update

2010-01-25T09:03:00.001-07:00

I had a very busy weekend (we hosted a dinner party, had a few friends over on Friday and ran a ton of errands on Saturday, then Sunday watched football, go Saints!). Therefore I got almost no stitching done. However I did continue with trying to get a few stitches into Castles. Here is a pic of the section I'm working on (it's the Peacock):

And here is the entire piece to date (the colour is more accurate in the top one, that brown hand-dyed colour is the true fabric colour, sorry this one didn't work out so well):

Alright... and *finally* the giveaway!
I wanted to offer a giveaway to thank everyone for their support over the last year since I came back to the blogging world. I also hit 100 posts (with this one I think) and now have more than 105 followers! I love all of your comments and really appreciate it! So thank you so much!!!

Here is how it works:
1) You have to be a follower of my blog
2) You have to make a comment on this post (and only this post) that you want to be entered.
3) Please make sure you have an email address attached with your profile or that you post it in your comment (you can leave spaces for spam block if you want).

What do you win?
a) 12"x12" piece of 32 count Belfast linen
b) Black Swan pattern Sweetheart Rose
c) Petite beads in clear white (suitable for the beads on Sweetheart Rose)
d) A backing pattern in pink with white polka dots.
Here is a picture of all the goodies:

Again thank you so much for visiting and best of luck to everyone! I will draw the winner Thursday night and post on Friday morning.

Sorry... giveaway to be posted Monday

2010-01-22T08:55:00.002-07:00

Okay... so this week got away from me.
I'm sorry. :(
I will post the giveaway as promised on Monday (and I'll try to make it extra special good).

I only got about 1/2 hour of stitching done in the last two days. I *finally* picked Castles in the Air back up again, I'm so behind on this SAL. But it's moving along a bit quicker now. I hope.

Because I had a coupon (and it was going to expire) I got a treat and bought another heaven and earth designs pattern. (I know you're thinking I'm crazy, don't worry I agree) ;)
It's another Anne Stokes, I just love her stuff. I can't start stitching it right away of course, just too many things already on the go. But here is a picture of her:

Check it out on their site here.

Again, sorry about the giveaway, just didn't have time to work it out and get pics. But I promise on Monday I'll post it.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!