My first SBQ response

A site I read posts a weekly SBQ (Stitcher's Blogging Question). I've never answered one before, but I thought I'd start with today's question.

Many of us have a few pairs of embroidery scissors and some even have a “collection”. How many pairs of scissors do you have? Feel free to share a photo of your favorite pair or pairs with us!

I actually don't own a pair of embriodery scissors. (A shocked gasp goes up from the stitchers reading this post *lol*) Since I use a small craft box, or floss box as I call it, to keep my floss and stitching supplies in, I decided I didn't want a pair of scissors floating around when they won't fit in the box... so I use something that will fit... A pair of nail clippers. (another gasp from the crowd) I find that you can get almost as close when cutting threads etc, and I've not graduated to doing projects like Hardanger with the cut areas etc, so I've yet to come across projects where I can't get by without my trusty nail clippers... And, as a bonus, I always know where to find a pair of nail clippers when our "household" pair mysteriously disappear for days at a time as they do sometimes. *lol*

Rain Rain Go Away...

It's been a few days since I last posted. I haven't had a lot to say lately. Life's been pretty slow around here. I have been stitching quite a bit lately in the evenings so I've actually got another 10 hours done on my "Waiting" cross stitch. That being said, here's a picture of the progress so far.

I've also taken my first foray into the world of eBay! I was looking for some cross stitch patterns and saw a few that I wanted to get. I won the bid on two of them so far. The first one I bid on was a Stoney Creek pattern leaflet called Family Blessings. The pattern they showed on the ebay page was the Family Tree. It's so gorgeous! I HAD to have it. According to the Stoney Creek site the 6 patterns included in the book are "Prosperity Quilt Block Welcome", "Bookmark Vine Border", "Grandchildren", "Our Family Tree", "Irish Marriage Blessing", and "Home" I got this book for the great deal of $3.99 US (apx $4.54 CAN)

Here's the pic of the family tree I desperately want to stitch.

The second one that I purchased is Theresa Wentzler's Egyptian Sampler. I saw some progress pictures of this by someone else and liked it, but when I saw a pic of the finished product at the ebay site, I fell in love with it! I got the pattern for only $1.99 US ($2.26 CAN)

I also bid on two other auctions, but they're not finished yet. I'll find out in a few days if I won those bids or not. They're all from the same seller so I'll be able to combine them to save on shipping... I bid on Theresa Wentzler's English Cottage Sampler and Lavender & Lace's Celtic Spring. I was going to upload pics of them too, but blogger isn't letting me upload anymore pics right now...I'll have to post pics of them another day.

Getting the week off to a funny start

Thought I'd post this cute joke I got this morning.
I've heard it before, but I just love it. Have a good Monday!


COURSE: MANAGEMENT 101


Lesson One

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?" The eagle answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.


Lesson Two

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Management Lesson:
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.


Lesson Three

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Management Lesson:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut


* This ends your two minute management course.

At last it's here

Our new dryer has finally arrived. I just realized that I never posted a blog about the dryer incident yet, so most of you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Monday morning we threw a load of clothes in the washer and mid-morning Jason went to throw them in the dryer and it just made a loud buzzing noise when he tried to turn it on. He was pretty sure it was dead, but just to be sure, he called an electrician friend of his dad and asked if he'd come over and take a look at it. The friend (Ed for those of you who know him) also worked a lot on appliances in the past though he doesn't really do it any more. He wasn't home at the time, so Jason called back that evening and he came by and took a quick look. He told us it was dead. I can't remember exactly what part(s) he said were gone, but that it would be at least $150 in parts if we could find the parts for that old dryer, plus labour costs. He said, if it were him, he'd just buy a new dryer rather than fix an old one that might go again in another 6 months because OTHER parts might go...

So, off Jason goes Tuesday morning to our local Sears depot. Peggy (the owner) keeps some appliances in stock for those who can't wait a week or so for an order to come in, but unfortunately she sold the last dryer on Monday! Jason decides at that point, instead of going home and just ordering the thing from the catalogue that he'll drive the hour to Fredericton where there's an actual Sears store and buy the dryer there. Well... come to find out that after driving an hour in a truck that goes through a litre of gas faster than an alcoholic can down a beer, that Sears in Fredericton doesn't carry ANY appliances in stock. They only have their floor models. So you have to... guess what... order it from the catalogue! Funny for you, somewhat funny for me, but Jason wasn't laughing.

He called me from the cell phone and told me to order it right away, hoping that by getting the order in a bit earlier we might get in early enough to get an earlier delivery date. Peggy had mentioned earlier that if he ordered it that morning we MIGHT get it by Saturday.

Anyway, The dryer showed up today and he drove the 5 minutes to pick it up. (much better than driving an hour to buy one that isn't there!) When he got home he went to wheel it into the laundry room on the dolly he borrowed from his dad. Unfortunately he found out he'd have to take the door off.... Who in their right minds puts a 28" door on a LAUNDRY ROOM... It's not like you're just moving small pieces of furniture in there or anything.
After the door is off he figures it's easy going only to find out he actually has to take part of the door trim off in order to fit the damn thing through... So finally after prying and cursing for the past hour we've again got a working dryer! WooHoo! No more cardboard clothes coming off the clothesline.

That's my rant for the day. Hope you all have a great weekend!

PS: Steve, Tell Ellie that I'd gladly cross-stitch something for her sometime, but I doubt I could do a table cloth... I don't have THAT much ambition. *lol* You guys like native art etc? I saw the pictures of the native artwork you recently got... maybe I'll do something with a native theme or feel. I wish I would have known before Lewiscraft closed down in the mall... they had a killer dreamcatcher kit that I always loved but had no where to put in our house. I would have picked it up when everything was on sale!

Waiting update

I finally managed to get a picture of the Cross Stitch "Waiting" that I've been working on.
Here is my progress so far. Like I said in the post a few days ago when I first mentioned it, I think I've got about 20 hours done on it. It doesn't look like much, but it's a LOT of stitching... It's just that it's fairly boring looking so far being that I've only got part of the panels on the curtains done so far.

"Waiting"
Designed by Linda Gordanier Jary
Stitched over 2 on 28 Count Linnen (DMC)
(Sorry, I can't remember the colour... Mushroom maybe?)
Apx 20 hours completed

I've also been working on a new layout for my blog. Even though I like the look of this one, it's still one of the "standard" layouts that you can choose after you sign up to Blogger. I like to be a bit more unique...The one I'm working on isn't a great artistic achievement or anything like that... It's just a customized version of one of the other layouts... With my own title bar and footer as well as my own background... Not a LOT different than the one I'm working off of, but enough that I'll feel like I no longer have a cookie-cutter blog either... Hopefully I'll be revealing it within the next few days after I've played with it a bit more to make all the final adjustments.

Phenomenal Woman

I was reading one of the blogs I read from time to time called Everyone Picks Their Nose and yesterday she posted one of Maya Angelou's poems. I've read a few of her poems before and while I usually like them to some extent, none I've read have ever struck as much as this one. I love it! So I'm posting it here today. It's called Phenomenal Woman.

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.

I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Maya Angelou

Stitching and Waiting...

It's been a while since my last post and recently I've been wanting to get back into Cross stitching more. I've been reading quite a few stitching blogs and checking out the "WIP" or "Works In Progress" and it makes me want to get back to it. I had picked it up again shortly before my trip to the hospital, but I haven't done much since then. It's hard to find the time with everything going on around here. There's absolutely NO time during the day. I can't dig my stitching out at all because Olivia wants to "help" me. *lol* I had started, on the advice of another stitcher, to take it out about 15 or 20 minutes each evening. It's not a lot of progress at once, but it's definitely better than no progress.

Here's a picture of the pattern I'm working on. It's called Waiting by Linda Gordanier Jary. It was a "free" pattern from Charles Craft I got a few years ago and just recently started on. (read: last year, which is recent for me as Cross Stitch projects go) I think that I've only got about 20 hours on it so far. I say "I think" because until I started stitching again a few weeks ago, I never counted my time. I'm estimating based on the time it takes me to stitch one block. Since I've been stitching solid colours only so far (the panels in the curtain) it's pretty easy to estimate.

When I get the picture taken, I'll upload a picture of the work so far. But for now everyone will have to make due with a very blury scan of the picture I got with the pattern. I think I'll put it in my bedroom when it's finished.

Also, I'm uploading a picture of one of the next patterns I want to stitch. It's from an old magazine I have and it's called Summer Blooms. I scanned it quite a while back so I don't mark up the mag. It's going to go in my kitchen when It's finished, and when my kitchen is finally finished *lol*

I'm finally getting around to it.

I picked these pictures up from Sears almost a month ago but I'm just now getting around to getting them scanned and cleaned up (all the random dots and "noise" that a scanner adds to a picture) We had these pictures done back in May. Rachel was 4 weeks old and Olivia 2 1/2 years. I know that many people are anxiously waiting for them to be posted, so here they are!

You can see her best of all in this picture.

Remind me sometime and I'll post the picture of Olivia that we "copied" this one from.

We've got both pictures (Olivia at 6 weeks and Rachel at 4 weeks) on our living room wall.

I LOVE this one. Jason is holding her and my hand is underneath his.

THIS ONE is my ABSOLUTE favourite. I love that Olivia is leaning over giving her such a gentle kiss... it took about 5 "takes" to get this shot. Olivia wouldn't sit still long enough for the photographer to take the picture once she kissed her... She'd just kiss and run. Very cute!