Woohoo and a little more Woohoo!

Big news for me yesterday.

Last night I had the presence of mind to check my bulk mail folder in my Hotmail account. Good thing I did, there was a very important email sitting in there. I got an email confirming that I won 2nd place for the Medium category in Silkweaver Fabric's Annual "Stitcher's Showcase".

It was for the free pattern "Fairy Celebration" by Passione Ricamo that I stitched late last year. I finished stitching the design on New Years Eve at around 10:30 and promptly took a picture and submitted it to Silkweaver for the contest. The contest ended at midnight on that same night. Am I ever glad I didn't flake on finishing that one. I had thought about not stitching that night and then submitting it the next year since it wouldn't have been finished in time. But if I had, I might never have won a prize!

I'll be getting 10 pieces of 13"x18" hand dyed fabric from www.silkweaver.com to add to my currently dismal fabric stash. (But it won't be dismal for long now!)


This is more than $100 in value since each piece (depending on the type of fabric) could range from $10 to $15 US, plus shipping costs! So the prize value is somewhere between $100 and $150 US! WooHoo!! I'm so excited right now. I got another email today confirming that they'll be shipping my fabric out on Monday!

Here's a picture of my winning entry. Now I just need to find a stunning way to finish it. I'm thinking of doing a wall hanging, but I need to find the right fabric to use for this.

And here's a link to the Medium Finalists on the Silkweaver site. If you want to check out all the entries and finalists in each category you can go directly to the main page for the contest here.

Well, that's my news for today. Hope your day is as great as mine was.

2006 / 2007

Well, the year is at an end. It's about half an hour until we ring in 2007 with a bang and I'm sitting here blogging about it on my computer. lol. What an exciting life I have. The kids are asleep and Jason's watching the 'tube' And me, Well I'm here bragging about having one last final finish in 2006. Yes, you heard right. I finally finished Fairy Celebration!! Woohoo. The only finish this year that didn't involve an ornament. (and only 2 of those!) Needless to say I'm not one of those "power stitchers" out there that stitch an L&L or Mirabilia pattern from start to finish in 2 short months or anything like that. But damn it, when I do get one finished I brag about it to everyone I know. lol

Here's a picture of my newest masterpiece. I plan on finishing it as a wall hanging. I just need to find the perfect material for it. I don't want to get something too busy or it might take away from the amazing fabric it's stitched on. I'd like to get a simple fabric, maybe a single blue or purple with some sparkles in it. When I get that part done I'll post another picture of it then. I should have a little time to look for fabric when I go to town on the 18th.

I've got a doctor's appointment in Fredericton that morning and since my mom is laid off for the winter, I asked her if she'd watch the kids for the day (Thanks Mom!!) to give Jason and I a chance to get out without them. I know, we just got out in December for the day without them, but that was a busy day Christmas Shopping, not much time to just browse around and take our time. We barely stopped the whole time we were away. Still nice to get away from the kids for a few hours, but it's not the same.

Now, on to the part of the post that everyone seems to be posting about the past few days. New Years Resolutions... You know, I hate that term. I REALLY hate it. Everyone breaks their resolution. When people are talking about New Years Resolutions you automatically think Weight Loss, Quit Smoking, Learn Something New, yadda yadda yadda. Nothing new here folks. I gave up making new years resolutions several years ago. Instead, this year I'm making a 2007 To Do list. It's got more on it then a typical resolution, but it's more specific, attainable goals. Not the generalizations that a lot of people usually go with.

So, that being said, here is my 2007 To Do list. Much of which involves stitching. (heh, imagine that.)

1. Play with and read to my kids more
2. Try to keep up with my housework (or at least a little more than usual)
3. Post on my blog at least once a week
4. Post more to the email lists I belong to (no more lurking!)
5. Comment more on other's blogs. - I always complain that no one (or rather very few people) comment on my blog, but I'm guilty of reading and running as well. But not anymore!
6. Try and stitch at least two nights per week (EVERY week)
7. Finish "Waiting"
8. Start "Summer Blooms" (It's the second picture in this post)
9. Finish "Summer Blooms"
10. Start "Fairy Moon"
11. Finish "Fairy Moon" (though not likely!)
12. Stitch "Quilt" (a DMC freebie I picked up online. See the pic here) and make it into a needlebook
13. Stitch and "finish" 3 new Christmas Ornaments for 2007
14. "finish" 3rd Ornament from 2006 (Blackwork Noel)
15. Get started on a scrapbook for Rachel.
16. Make a monthly "to do" list each month to help keep me on track.

So, there it is... I'm done my list and most of them seem pretty attainable. And lookie here there's still 4 minutes to go until midnight. Well, I should go spend the next few minutes with Jason.

(Edit: Well, now that I look back I see one or two generalizations there... play with and read to my kids more? Yeah, it's a good one, but not a very "time specific" - "completable" goal. It's more of a generalization... yeah, you know that thing I was just complaining about... oh well.)

I hope that 2006 treated you well and that you have a wonderful 2007!

Happy Holidays and all that jazz

I came on to post and realized that I never posted an update about Wanda. I guess with all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, once the operation was over and done with I never thought to put it up on here.

Well, everything went wonderfully. The surgeon told Tina (Wanda's daughter) that these were the best set of Donor lungs he's EVER seen and she was able to breathe on her own almost immediately after the surgery. She was kept on the ventilator for a few days because the pain meds she was on were so strong, she slept too deep and occasionally "forgot" to breathe, but once they stepped her down a bit she was fine to come off the ventilator.

She's still in the hospital, but mainly becuase she's waiting for her anti-rejection drugs to arrive. Apparently when you're a NB Transplant patient, you have to wait for the drugs to come from NB. Ontario pays for all the transplant meds for it's citizens, but if you're an NB citizen you only get the anti-rejection drugs paid for... and they have to come from an NB Pharmacy... Not a big surprise there... NB is horrible for their medical coverage, but I assumed that anything paid for by one province would be the same in all the others... I guess I was wrong on that count.

Tina is doing a wonderful job of keeping everyone updated on Wanda's CarePage. It's a free site where a patient signs up and anyone who wants to keep up on their progress can sign up (for free) and subscribe to their updates. If anyone is interested in keeping tabs on her progress and doesn't already have the link, the page is http://www.carepages.com/. You need to sign up and then put her patient name in. (wandanorthrup)

Here's a picture of the Ornaments I (**finally**) finished for Olivia & Rachel this Christmas. This was my very first attempt at "finishing" anything other than to frame it. It's definitely a learning experience. Most of which is trial and error. I've made a few errors, now I know what not to do next time. I still haven't done "Our" ornament (mine and Jason's) I stitched the back piece last night and plan on finishing it before the new year. It never made it on the Christmas tree this year, but at least it'll be finished in 2006 and ready to put on the tree next year. I think I might try to get a few ornaments stitched up soon for next year. Hopefully that means that I don't have to try and do it all at the last minute next year. Not likely, but hopefully *lol*

Christmas went well here. We had a mountain of stuff in the living room under the tree. So much that we sat there looking at it wondering where it all came from. I mean, I know WE didn't buy that much. Santa brought Olivia a Dora the Explorer scooter and some Magnetic letters (for the fridge). He brought Rachel a play center with a "tent" to crawl inside of and a baby doll that squeaks when you squeeze it.

Here are a few "before" and "after" pictures...Before the kids got up and after the carnage! lol

Rachel had so much fun for her very first Christmas! She opened quite a few of her own presents, but when she did, we spent most of our time trying to keep the paper out of her mouth. She had quite an obsession with eating the wrapping paper. Olivia had a good time, because she not only got to open her presents, but about half of Rachel's too.

The girls got a big wagon from my FIL. One of the ones that have the fold up seats and cup holders. It'll come in very handy next summer when we go somewhere. Right now Rachel is a bit too young to spend much time in there, But by this summer it'll be perfect to haul both of them around. It's fun for them and will make my travelling life so much easier. They got a ton of toys and clothes and books. My mom got Rachel her own solid oak rocking chair. She got Olivia one her second Christmas and she saw the exact same one at a store recently and decided that Rachel needed her own as well. We've got Rachel's put away right now, since she's too young to use it now and we don't have enough room downstairs to keep things out that have no chance of getting used. Olivia also got her very own Race Track! She loves it. You "wind" the cars up and put them on the track and they go around and chase each other. It's meant for younger kids, no guns to control the speed, no track that has to be put together every time -- it just folds up when you're done-- and nothing hard they have to do. Another big hit with Olivia was the Care Bears they both got from Rob, Angie and Tyler. Olivia sleeps with hers every night now, and most nights tries to take Rachel's too!

We got so much this year. My FIL got me a Water dispenser that has both hot and cold water and a new pair of Jeans. Now I don't have to heat bottles, I just use the already pre-heated water! My MIL got me a new shirt and got both Jason and I a good shredder. My Mom and her bf got us a $50 GC to the Future Shop and a rain check for a bread maker. Of course, Canadian Tire never has anything in stock when it's on sale, so we're getting it as soon as it's back in. My DH got me lots of stitching stuff. I got a new scroll frame, floss I needed for a project I want to start, a new pattern for my stash -- Fairy Moon by Mirabilia, as well as a few small odds n ends. He also got me a new blouse and some new PJs (both which need to be exchanged).

Jason got a Table saw from his Dad -- which prooves his pet theory that if you think you want something, just borrow it enough and the person you borrow it from will get the hint... He's had his Dad's table saw in our basement for probably 6 months now. lol. His mom and her bf got him a 2gig card for his mp3 player, and the shredder I mentioned above was for both of us. I got him a biscuit jointer, a 4x8 sheet of Pegboard for his workbench and a bunch of the "pegs" to hang the tools on, a case for his mp3 player, a Map book from the girls, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember right now. For those who don't know what a biscuit jointer is, basically it's a tool to join pieces of wood together, especially when building furniture.

I've spent the last few days trying to decide what I'm going to do with my new pattern. I need to figure out which fabric to order. This is the reason I LOVE the "Fabric Choices" page I've linked to here, and in my sidebar. You can try out almost all the designs from some of the most popular designers out there (Miribilia, Lavender and Lace, Passione Ricamo, and Teresa Wentzler) and with many of the different specialty fabrics available from some of the biggest names in Hand Dyed Fabrics (Silkweaver, Sugar Maple Fabrics to name just a few) and using the magic of Photoshop, the patterns have a transparent background, so you can get an idea what the pattern would look like on each individual fabric! Like I said, GREAT SITE. You can also load your own fabric or picture scan to check it out. Anyway, after hours of looking through fabrics from many designers and weighing price and colours I think I've decided to go with Silkweaver's "Enchantment" Linnen. Here's an idea of what this should look like using this fabric. Of course the fabric doesn't look exactly the same every time, but hopefully it'll be close enough, because this is the look I fell in love with.

What do you think?

Well, that's enough for today. I should get a LITTLE bit of housework done before Jason gets up. I started the post at 9:51am and now it's 12:03pm, so I think I've spent long enough on here. lol. Mind you, that's including many breaks to play with the kids and do all the normal "Mommy" stuff. I've probably only been on here half an hour or so in total, it just seems like a lot more.

Getting There (Fairy Celebration)

I decided not to take a picture of my progress at 15 hours because I was so close to finishing the fairy portion. So instead I'm posting a pic I took at 17 hours after I finished Ariana and her wand completely. This was taken a few days ago, but I guess an update is better late than never.

I'm nearly done the border now and once it's done, I'll begin working on the script around the border. The border is going fairly quickly since it's only one stitch wide (with the exception of the embelishments at the corners) The script however will take a bit longer because I changed it somewhat.

The original pattern calls for the words "Fairy Live Here" but I changed it to say "Faeries Live Here". It needed to be plural to make sense, so I plotted it out by taking the letters from elsewhere in the script and copying them to make sure it looks close enough to her original. There was only one letter that wasn't in the original pattern, the "s". I had to try and plot one out that fits. IMHO it looks pretty good, but then again it's only on paper so far. Hopefully it'll look ok with the rest of the letters.

It's also taking a bit longer to finish since I've been working on a few smaller cross stitches for the past few days. I put this one away while I did that because I wanted to make sure I had them done for Christmas, so they take a bit higher priority.

I've got a post with pics of a towel I stitched for Christmas coming up in a few minutes. I would have put them all in one post, but I had the other almost finished when I realized that I never published this post, just saved it as a draft. I came back to finish and post this one first.

Fairy Celebration Update... finally!

Ok, I'll admit it, in addition to ignoring my blogging obligations I've also been ignoring my stitching lately.

I put it off for a few days because I had other projects on the go, and once I finished them I just never seemed to pick it back up. It's been nearly a month since I last posted a progress pic and I've only completed a measley 5 hours on my Fairy Celebration X-stitch... but at least I now have another picture to show... and hopefully will have another in just a few more day.

Fairy Celebration or "Ariana" as I call her at 10 hours work

I call her Ariana after the fairy collection that Partylite carries in their "home party" catalogues. I used to be a Partylite consultant back in the 1999/2000 timeframe and absolutely fell in love with the original Ariana piece (see pic below) but just never got around to picking it up. The Cross Stitch fairy reminds me of her for some reason... Here's a few pics I found on Ebay of the Ariana piece I always wanted. Maybe I should tell Jason. There's always someone looking for ideas for Christmas presents... maybe this would be a good one.

Fairy Celebration first update

I've got 5 hours completed on Fairy Celebration and I thought I might start updating at 5 hour increments instead of 10. I stitch fairly slow most days, so, for me posting 5 hours of work would be about the same number of days as posting 10 hours for most other people.

Anyway, here's my 5 hour picture.

Fairy Celebration

I've got a new project I'll be starting in the next few days. It's a free pattern from Passione Ricamo. You can go directly to the free pattern area here.

The pattern is called Fairy Celebration and it was designed for Fairy Day (June 24) this year. Isn't it gorgeous! I absolutely LOVE it!! It was stitched on 28 ct "Castle View" Lugana fabric from Silkweaver.

I'm currently just waiting for my fabric to arrive so I can start it. I ordered my very first piece of Silkweaver fabric for this project. It's also a 28 ct Lugana, but it's called Starquest. It's not exactly the same as the fabric used in the sample, but has a bit of purple in with the blue. Just my style. (click on the fabric swatch to go to the Silkweaver site. It will open a new window.)

Little Faeries

I recently stumbled on a number of "Fairy Photography Sites". And no, these aren't a bunch of whackos saying they're photographing "real" fairies. They're photography sites that use photoshop etc to retouch the photos to look like fairies, but realistic looking ones, not cartoonish looking...

I was telling my cousin Janice about this the other day and saying that one site had a thing where you could send in your own picture and she'd photoshop it for $150 (australian) to look like a fairy... Mind you, she's GOOD. They're awesome pics and if I had the money I'd definitely send a few pics of the kids in to get them done... We were talking about not having any good pics that would work for this and she was going through her stash of digital photos on her pc to proove this point when I saw it. A PERFECT picture of her daughter Josie at the beach. We also found a few really nice ones of her younger daughter Jenna that would work as well...

I got her to send them to me and I played around for a few days using Paint Shop Pro. (Since I don't currently have, nor do I know how to use, Photoshop) Here are the results. Whaddya think?

I'm not crazy about the wings I used for Jenna. They're tilted wrong for her stance, but they're the best ones I can find for her. I tried the ones I used for Josie on Jenna too, but they seem even worse to me than the ones I have on her...


Here are a few of the Fairy Photography sites that I found for those of you who are interested:

*Fairy Photography by Margaret Dean http://www.fairyphotographs.com/ -- Amazing artist. She's the one I was talking about above. This is her commercial site.

*Fairy Portraits by Margaret Dean http://www.fairyportraits.com.au/index.htm -- This is the site where you can see about sending in your pic to be photoshopped. Has before and after pictures

*Tales of Faerie by Collette http://www.talesoffaerie.com/ -- Good site, she's located in Ontario

*Stonefence Photography http://stonefencephotography.com/ -- Not bad pics, but Instead of the general thumbnails that you click on to see a bigger image, there's a thing that is supposed to look like a book with pages turning, each page is a different picture. And unfortunately the pages of the "book" are the wrong size for the pics... so they all looked stretched and a bit distorted...

*J. Corsentino's Time of the Faeries http://www.timeofthefaeries.com/ - Good site. Lots of great pics.

Hope you Enjoy as much as I do...

Happy Fairy Day!!

Today is Fairy Day!

I thought I'd post a quick link to the Fairy Day website... Visit to find lots of great links including links to a number of great Fantasy Artists connected with this site! Selina Fenech (who's "Motherhood" graphic graced yesterday's post) is one of them.