Sad day, and flowers

This morning we said goodbye to our #2 son and our daughter-in-love and they left to drive from Ontario to British Columbia where they will be taking up residence.  There were tears. 

We will miss them tremendously.

- - - - - - -

On a lighter note,

they gave me this....

.... a belated Mother's Day present.

Now I just have to read up on how to look after it!

Blog break

I'll be taking a few days off from blogging because #2 son and our daughter-in-love are here for the last time before they move out to BC.  They'll be leaving on Monday and I already know it will be a sad day!

Feel free to chat amongst yourselves while I'm gone.

Our neighbours

Jack has been out playing with his new camera and he

took pictures of our neighbours...

Stitching

After leaving my comfy-cozy bed this morning at the unheard of hour of 4:30 am  in order to pick up my S-I-L from her medical appointment, it was nice to spend the afternoon sitting with my stitching.  I completed the next block for my white project and right now it's damp stretching.  Thought I would show you a close-up of one area...

In the centre is a covered button that belonged to my grandmother I think. 

Perhaps if you click on the picture below you can get a sense of how big our baby crows are getting.  They're doing their flight exercises and it's getting harder and harder for them all to fit in the nest.  

Mothers day came early!

Look what I just got for Mother's Day
from my DH!!  I was wanting a plant for 

the corner of our balcony and he decided I 

'needed' this. 
Aren't I lucky?

Please don't look at the peeling paint -

we are told that will be fixed soon!

And...

while we were at the nursery,

we got this....

A very healthy and already in bloom

tomato plant.

The answer

Here you go, the answer to the big 'what is this' question of yesterday....it's a potato!  We ate it for supper and it was good and so sweet to have heart shaped slices of potato on our plates.  So romantic!

Mumblings....

I've actually been doing some knitting, and some stitching....but I don't have a single thing ready to show you.  Our baby crows are now flexing their wings and looking very much like they might topple out of the nest as they balance precariously on the very edge.  The parent birds are certainly getting lots of exercise bringing them food.

Today I started another huge project I've been procrastinating on.  Some of the long-time readers of this blog might remember me typing and having published the daily diaries of my great great grandfather which I finished a couple of years ago.  Since then I've been mustering my courage to type the diaries of my great uncle (son of above-mentioned gr gr grandfather).  These start in 1899 and most probably run for between thirty and forty years.  Lots of typing!!  The current diarist is a whole lot more 'wordy' than the previous one so I think I might end up having to break them up into two books.  It's fascinating, but tedious to spend so much time typing!

And....

what do you suppose this is?

Nests

First of all, DH got a new digital camera last weekend and we've been playing about with it - definitely a huge learning curve.  It certainly has a lot more bells and whistles than my little one does! 

We have been lucky the past week or so to be able to watch a nest of baby crows in the tree outside my studio window.  The babies are getting to be quite a size and pop up with their mouths wide open hoping for food every time any bird flies near.  I think there are three babies.

See?

What`s for dinner and White

On the weekend we had visitors!

Our number 2 son and our d-i-l

and their cat, Stewie,

were here.

Unfortunately he moved before I could get a decent picture!

We had just finished supper and he was sitting there
every bit as if he was looking for his.

AND...

I finished another of the blocks for my white cloth!

The embroidered flowers at the bottom of the upper picture were done by my grandmother and came from what I would call a `tea cloth`.  The cloth itself was pretty worn so I didn`t feel

sad to cut it up.

The crocheted pineapples on the upper left came from a dresser scarf and I`m not sure of the origins of that.  

Beaded beauty!

My friend Marie Alton makes exquisite beaded items - jewelry and beautiful pieces to add to your needlework projects.  I just purchased these two pieces to add to my white projects and I'm really thrilled. 

AND,

here is what I have done with her heart...

You can also see to the left of  the heart a seam treatment I've added.

While at Irene's on Wednesday for our meeting
she showed us how to make a pretty

ribbon embellishment from instructions

HERE.

I, of course, being 'different' had to 

do mine with a twist and now I've

added it to my seam inside out! 
On purpose!

atc's and dolls

Today was our monthly CQTeers meeting and, as usual, we exchanged atcs.  This month our theme was 'Beads or Buttons'.  Below are the ones I received in our trade...

Irene did the one on the upper left and Sue did the one on the bottom which is actually a needlecase which came complete with buttons, thread, needle AND a bandaid (was she trying to tell us something?).  The one on the upper right was from the challenge we had last month using foil and was also made by Sue.

Below is what I made for the trade, including a couple of crocheted bookmarks which incorporated beads too.

This time we met at Irene's house and we had a number of sweet little 'visitors' - unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't take a photo of them all but this sweet little lady came home to live with me....

Isn't she sweet? 
She has a definite snooty attitude!

Thank you Irene!!

TUSAL & ORTS - April

This is my first test of the new 'improved' Blogger - bear with me if it ends up a garbled mess!!

Above is the pile of ORTS I have accumulated since last month.  I haven't been as busy stitching as I would have liked, but it's still a pretty respectable size.  Below you see it added to my jar.  I think it's rather fun to see the layers of colored threads. 

TUSAL = Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long
ORTS - Old Ratty Threads

whaaaaa???

The nerve!  Blog-grrrr changed itself behind my back.

Why,

oh 

Why

Must they mess with what we know?

With courage in hand....

I attempted to cross stitch

this word onto my 

white cloth again 

(remember the oh-oh-ism when I 

sliced the backing the last time?).

This time it worked!!

See??

Another bit of white

This is the latest block I have completed for my white cloth.  I've left the bottom right corner empty because I plan to have an embellishment flow over onto it from the adjoining piece. 

Above is the view outside my studio window.  The tree in the foreground is currently home to a nest of crows - unfortunately we can't see into the nest because it's almost at the very top of the tree.  I don't think you can tell from the picture but the trees beside the river are just starting to show the leaves coming out. 

White cover up and winning ways

Today I have a couple of things to show you.  First, I won this book from a giveaway at 'Craft Gossip'...yay!!  Since I'm currently rather enthralled with felting this book is a perfect addition to my library.  Thank you Craft Gossip!

Specs:  'Knitting Never Felt Better' by Nicky Epstein.  Published by Sixth&Spring Books, c2007,  ISBN -1-: 1-933027-11-8

Next, is a lesson in stupidity, or better known as 'how to learn things the hard way'.  I very happily cross-stitched the word 'courage' onto my latest white block and then, in a fit of extreme oh-oh-ism, I managed to clip through the backing as I cut through the waste canvas.  Oops.

What to do?  What to do? 

 

Well....see that piece of crocheting that's towards the upper right?  Let's just say it covers a multitude of sins.

White - finally!

Above is the latest of the blocks I have completed for my white cloth project.

Below?  Well, that's an OOPS.  

~~
~~
~~

Well, now....next problem is this....
suddenly my computer is telling me I'm over
my photo limit?  

What's up with that???

Good thing my computer guru #2 son is coming
tonight and perhaps he can figure out what on

earth has happened.

In the meantime, you will just have to wait to see a picture of my oops moment!

Journal book

Here's another project I was working on while I

was computer-less.

It's a knitted journal cover and is filled with a combination of

different papers.

Final jacket - for now

While I was unable to post pictures I managed to complete another jacket, which will be the last one I do until late summer/early fall.  I'm taking the rest of the spring/summer 'off' from jackets to concentrate on my white projects and a few other things that need to be created.

Hopefully you won't miss them TOO much!!

Yay - pictures....finally!

I know, you've all been just holding your breath waiting for me to get my computer back and the ability to post pictures!

......................you haven't?.......................

Well, then.  

I know I'm late posting my TUSAL photo so there it is.  I even found a nice new (well, at least new-to-me) container for my ORTS.  Above you see my collection for January, February and March.

NOTE:  TUSAL stands for 'Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long' and ORTS are 'Old Ratty Threads'. 

Spring = Allergies

I have a love/hate relationship with spring.  I love the new growth, the flowers, the birds returning and all the lovely shades of green.  I hate the fact that my eyes swell up, the sneezing, and the sniffling.  I'm sure people must wonder what on earth is wrong with me because I go about looking as though I've been through a huge crying jag.  All this despite living on extra strength allergy meds.  Argh!!  Oh well, once the trees are in full leaf I will be able to breath again (I hope).

ORTS and TUSAL????

Yep, I've been creating LOTS of
ORTS
and I know that the photos for
TUSAL**

are past due for this month.

No photo taking capabilities at the moment,
so will have to post mine later
once my own computer
comes home.

My apologies to those of you
who have been waiting for pictures!

Oh yeah, and I even got a new ORT jar for the occasion!!

** TUSAL = Totally Useless Stitch A Long

EDITED TO ADD:  Oops, should have explained what 'ORTS' are - the little leftover bits of thread from your sewing projects.    AND.....    I also have to apologize because the info regarding who originated the TUSAL was on my ailing computer and not on this one.  If anyone has the correct info would you mind putting it in the comments....thanks!

no mumbling today

weather too nice.

Outside enjoying it.

computer wizards

Hi all - it's me, back again from the computer-less abyss - thanks be to #2 son and his computer wizardry.  Apparently my hard drive fried, for reasons only known to itself, and left me high and dry.  He has installed a new hard drive and is now hard at work re-installing the rest of my programs.  He kindly loaned me the use of his notebook until we can get together and he can return mine. 

I've been curious about using a laptop/notebook and have decided that they really aren't for me, at least not for the long haul.  It's fun to experiment with this little thing but I find the mouse being at the base of the keyboard to be beyond frustrating.  I was a secretary and spent years typing and can't get my head around the keyboard not being at the bottom edge.  I know - I need to get with the times!

Anyway, I'm back in a limited way.  There won't be any pictures for another couple of weeks and you'll just have to put up with my mumblings.  Poor you!!

My Mother is AWOL

Hi there,

This is MA's number 2 son (I think that is how she refers to me).. My mother seems to have a virus... Yes, you guessed right, now I HAVE to fix it! She will be coming to my place on Saturday to have her computer fixed. So go outside and enjoy the weather! She will be back soon!


-Shawn

Completed project - and a bed

Here's the latest
jacket I just
completed.

I know, don't they all
look the same?

and, here's Cosmo
reclining as only

a cat can....

 

Score # 2

Here's another of the books I got at the second hand book store at a REALLY good price!

This book is what could be classed as a 'coffee table book' and was published in 1986 at which time the cover price was listed at $95 US.  I managed to bring it home for $25 which I thought was a steal.  The inspiration in this book is absolutely astounding, even though I have no intentions of trying to make any of these pieces.  I will have fun reading every word though and drooling over most of the pictures (all in colour, I might add). 

Here's one of the pieces I really like...

Score # 1

I was able to feed my book addiction last week and was so thrilled to be able to find one I had been coveting for ages - and at a really (really!!) good price too.....



In the early 19th century Mrs. Beeton wrote the very famous 'Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management' and followed that with an equally fascinating tome about needlework.  I, of course, being a collector of embroidery books, have wanted to actually have a look at that book.  I was amazed to stumble upon it at a used book store - for the princely sum of $4!!!  I nearly fell all over myself grabbing it up!

This copy is facsimile edition published in 1986 - the original was in 1870.  I've included just one of the fascinating pictures here - the 592 page book is filled with hundreds more. 

SCORE!!!   (Tomorrow I will show you the other book I found)

R.I.P - Mitzy

We had to have our 16 year old
cat Mitzy put to sleep

on Saturday.

The house is quiet with only Cosmo left.

Pedal to the metal

Yep, the past couple of days I've been sewing like a mad fiend and have one jacket finished and another one almost three quarters done.  Since you've all seen my jackets before (ad nauseum, I'm sure), I won't bore you with another picture.

Switching gears

Here's the latest bit I've done on my white project...

A friend gave me the mother of pearl (?) belt buckle and it worked perfectly to help ruche an old hankie.  Obviously this piece isn't done because it hasn't been stretched.






This morning I did the grand change in my studio and switched over to working with denim again.  It's not that I want to put my white work aside - far from it, however there are jackets needing to be done and I guess the paying jobs should come first.  I plan to put in as many hours as I can this week to see if I can get at least one done and a good start on another.  Such is the plan anyway!!

A slight rant -

Tonight I have been playing catch-up on some of the blogs I read and am giving up in complete and utter disgust.  WHAT is up with blog-grrrr anyway?  Why do some blogs who are set up for word verification suddenly require TWO words (or combination of letters/numbers)  and why does one of those words look so out of focus and nearly impossible to read???  AND, just to compound the issue....not all of the comments are requiring word verification at all and this is all happening on the same blog??? 

Why must they mess with what works perfectly well?

Another block completed...

Here is the block I just finished last night.  The pocket will hold information about why the cloth was made and when just in case future generations might be interested.  My previous post showed a close-up of the pocket.

This is a closeup of the top of the block showing the little hexagons and lots of french knots.  I crocheted the 'flower' and added a vintage button for the centre.  You can also see some cross stitched hearts.

and, now we have a whole!

...a completed pocket, that is!

Remember a couple of days ago I posted a picture of something
that was only a part of something else?

Well, here's the completed thing....

It's a pocket for my white cloth.

Inside I plan to put information about who did the cloth (me); who taught the class (Karen); and some further information about the origins of the white fabrics I have used. 

Who knows, the pocket might end up holding all sorts of things!!

mumblings, again.....

Not much stitching has been accomplished over the past couple of days so I really have nothing to show you.  

Part of what will be a whole....

This is what I did this afternoon - it will be another addition to my white cloth.  You'll have to wait & see what I plan to do with it!  ooooh - the intrigue.....

Latest piece of white

Beautiful warmth!!

Last night we visited with our friends and

were presented with handknitted sweaters.

Ginette knitted both of these and I
just HAVE to share how
beautiful they are!! 

This is mine.....

The second photo is more 'true' to the colour.

And this is Jacks....

Ginette certainly puts me to shame when it comes to knitting - her attention to detail and willingness to tackle even the most difficult patterns is a testament to her talent.  Not only does she do beautiful work, but she's fast too!!  

Saying 'thank you' for such a labour of love
is simply not enough.