Walk...walk...walk...

You may have noticed on my sidebar I have a new tag that directs you to Walk with Mel.  Well I have decided to walk with Mel...a mile a day....bad knee and all my other aches and pains. There were a couple of days that I even managed to do more than a mile, but with each mile that I walk, I also bike, or do a cardio or toning workout.  Mel was just the inspiration, motivation, kick start that I needed.  So now instead of talking about doing something about my fat ass, I'm actually doing something about it.  And so far it feels good.  It's a struggle still to get started everyday, because believe me, I would rather be in my stitching chair working on something, but I'm taking the time instead to work on me.  Long slow journey it will be, but I'm on the road.  I even got two jars for marbles.  One for the amount that I need to lose and then one empty one to move the marble over as I lose the weight.  So far...in two weeks...I've moved over 6 marbles!  I'll take that!!  Only 99 more to go!  LOL!

So as I was telling Kati, with being so busy most of the time, the only day that I really do have time to stitch is on Sunday...so the only project that I am really working on right now is humboldt coast, and here is my two week progress pic.  I didn't post last week..my bad!  So here it is in all it's glory.  This was jusst a quickie pic so sorry for the wrinkles.

So Late!

You know I look at my blog everyday, mainly to get to see what all of you are doing on your blogs. And I have stuff to show (updates, finishes) but do I do them?  Nooooo. Too busy?  probably not.  Nothing to say? I always have something to say (as my husband..lol) Too lazy?  Probably.  Argh.  Sorry...I don't mean to be neglectful...it just happens.  But here I am.  All set with some late photos as well.

First.  My Sunday SAL with Kati.  humboldt is coming along, slowly but surely.  We went away last weekend so I didn't get a chance to stitch on it last week, but this sunday I was able to have a little time and sat and stitched.  So here's the progress so far.  It's a cold rainy weekend here this weekend and hubby has to work Sat and Sun., boohoo but it will give me plenty of stitching time so hopefully after all the household chores and grocery shopping on Saturday the rest of the weekend will be dedicated to some serious stitching.

Second.  I finished Jaxon's Christmas ornament..well the stitching part of it, not the "finishing" part of it.  He's in an owl phase at the moment, so one day we can look back at all of them and we'll tell him the story of how he walked around hoo-hooing all the time.  He'll love that when he's 15...don't ya think?  lol I don't know who the designer is on this (sorry)  I found it on the internet and had it saved in my freebies folder, but with no details.

Third.  My TUSAL update.  Orts are from the two projects above, that's it.  Hopefully more next month.

Overdue update

I meant to update last week and then the time just got away from me.  So now this is HC (sunday SAL with Kati) after two Sunday's of stitching.  It's coming along.  And I'm pleased with my progress. 

Didn't do any other stitching during the week.  The weather has been amazing!! 
Feels like winter is finally over, we got all the yard work done....well almost all the yardwork. Still too cold at night to put out any bedding out plants so that still has to wait, but my tulips have blossoms on them, so they should open in the next day or two!  So excited about that, they are so pretty.   We got the patio all cleaned off and the furniture all washed off and freshened up.  Even had our first meal outside on the weekend.  I love eating outdoors. So I was very happy do all the work to end up at that point.   This weekend we're are bringing the 5th wheel out of storage and giving that a good once over before camping season starts.

wooo hooo Hellooooo summer!!!!! 

So I have my fabric in the qsnaps to start a little Christmas owl for Jaxon, and then after that it'll be the sock monkey for Liam. 

Nothing much else is going on.  Work is good, hubby is good, the weather is good.  Life is.....good!  :)

Hermit weekend/Sunday SAL

Well I meant to do way more than just a few hours of stitching on Sunday. I had planned to start stitching an ornament on Saturday and then work on Humboldt on Sunday.  Saturday we ended up going grocery shopping (which is our usual Saturday morning activity) then in the afternoon we had Jaxon's (my grand nephew) 2nd birthday. I can't believe that he's 2 already and that his little brother, Liam, is on the verge of standing and taking off on his own as well.  I swear that little one is going to walk before he can crawl!  They are a couple of precious boys!  So anyway, we were there, stayed for a couple of hours came home, took a nap...woke up and DID NOT feel like stitching at all.  I was in such a cozy state that I just curled up in my chair under my fur blanket and watched movies, and the Roughnecks game on tv (Lacrosse)  big fan!  We have season tickets to all the home games, but they were playing up in Edmonton last weekend so it was televised. (this coming weekend they have a home playoff game....Go Necks Go)  ANYWAY!!  LOL  So I didn't get any stitching done on Saturday. 

Sunday....great day....got up, Skyped with relative in Hungary, and friend in australia and a friend in Kelowna.  (Sunday was a busy skype morning)  Got dressed...went for a lovely brunch with the hubby and the mummy (hehe) came home and sat down to stitch on Humboldt.  Made a good bit of headway on it I think.

So this week I've picked out a couple of ornies that I want to stitch for the boys (yep their yearly ornies already)  For Liam I'm stitching a sock monkey ornament, a couple of years back there was on in the JCS ornie issue, and Liam's favorite toy for the last coupleof months is a sock monkey, so that will mark his ornie for this year.  And for Jaxon I'll be stitching some sort of owl.  There are lots of them out there so I just have to find one that speaks to me.  He loves owls and hoo-hoo's all day long. :) 

So am I the only person that thinks about Christmas and christmas ornies and christmas stitching at least every second day, if not every day?  I wonder sometimes if I'm obsessed, but I think that as stitcher's/crafter's don't we all think about it year round.  Interesting to know if it's just me, or are there others that share in my Christmas madness.  Now I do admit I am a little Christmas crazy...but I love it!

Updates

Hola!  Well ladies, Mexico was wonderful!!!  We had a couple of cool days but that was ok, gave us time to take in some dance lessons and do a little shopping.  And let the burns settle into nice tans.  I will organize some pics and share those here soon.

 

My stitching mojo was a little off since I've been back.  Was busy getting back into the swing of things and just plain being too tired at the end of the day to do anything but sit and watch tv or read, my stitching was one of those things that went by the way side.  It was back in time for my Sunday SAL with Kati on Humboldt Coast.  I am pretty impressed with my progress on Sunday.  It was a cold snowy day, so it was easy to sit in my comfy chair here by the window and watch it snow and stitch all afternoon.

I finished this little piece before I left for Mexico, it's been done by a couple of my favorite stitchers already and I was dying to do it was well, and finally this year I did it.  YEAH  I love it!!

Last and not least...my belated TUSAL.  Just threads from these two projects this past month.  Hopefully more next new Moon.

Ort report, dances and SAL

So here we are again, it's ort report time again!  I can't believe how the months are already racing by this year.  Did February go by in a blink of an eye and already we're sitting in the middle of March?  I can't believe that I'm leaving for Mexico next week Friday already!!!  aaarrrriiiiibbbaaaa!!!  I have everything that I need to go now, I just want to go and buy a couple of new bras!  ARGH!  I hate bra shopping!  Oh well.  has to be done.

I was walking in my front door today and caught a glimpse of some tulips poking thru the ground!  On further inspection there is a whole spread of them popping up.  The parts that are snowcovered are still a mystery, but where the sun has melted it away there are their brave little tips poking out to greet the world.  I just love them, my only hope is that they weren't too eager and freeze.

I was inspired to do some Easter stitching this pas week.

First is my 2013 verion of Bunny Bums...last year I stitched them in pink, this year I went with the green.  Lovely little cottontails...aren't they?  It's a freebie from somewhere on the internet and I don't have the new link, the one that I have on the actual chart that I downloaded, no longer works. Sorry :(

The second one is the Easter Bunny from Prairie schooler.  Also a freebie that can be found here.  http://www.prairieschooler.com/free.htm  love him!

My third offering is me Sunday SAL piece Humboldt Coast that I normally do with Kati, but Kati is off on a wonderful holiday for the next month so I have a subsitute Sunday partner Edit, please do visit her blog, she loves company :)

And last but certainly not least my ort report, along with all the projects that contributed to my little collection this month.

Blizzard stitching

So SAL Sunday comes along and in blows old man winter with a blizzard the likes of which we haven't seen in a while.  But it's typical for us to get a couple of good dumps of snow in March.  Hubby was out ice-fishing at a Derby when it blew in, it was so bad that the guides/organizers had to drive out onto the lake with the GPS to guide them all off the ice because they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces.  And then once they were off the ice they couldn't start for home because they couldn't see to drive, and the highways were closed.  So their little fishing party, piled into the camper...fired up the heat and made themselves some food and sat around and talked until the worst of it blew over.

For me.....well it was a good day.  I sat and stitched on Humboldt Coast and watched the snow falling.  Slid Breaking dawn 1, and then Breaking Dawn 2 into the blue-ray and had a great afternoon. I got a new mug this weekend that I had to share....I love these owls!  I love owls in general, so I'm so glad they're in vogue this year! :)

So this is the progress so far on HC, my Sunday SAL with Kati.  It's coming along...slowly but surely.  I love it...it's actually starting to look a little bit like something, you can see the waves now (sort of...lol).  Didn't have much of a chance to stitch at all the rest of the week, so that's the only progress that I have to show this week.

Had to share this pic of Lulu looking not too impressed with the weather, it's hard for a little dog to pee in big snow!  lol

Hurray for Hollywood!

I just love the Oscars!  I find it perfect stitching television.  And last night was no exception.  I get the room to myself as hubby is not a big fan, so he goes into the bedroom or whichever room he chooses to watch something on Discovery, or the sports channel, and sit back in my recliner with a cool glass of ice tea and my stitching and enjoy the show.  But not just the Oscars....oh no....I must watch all the red carpet shows to see what everyone is wearing.  Lovely lovely dresses...some not so hot, but that's ok.

So I got quite a bit done on Humboldt Coast, I would have liked to have made more progress but c'est la vie.  It's coming along slowly but surely.

Have a couple of finishes to report.  The first being one that I have had in my possession since it was released, but I hasn't gotten around to doing it.  But last weekend during hermit week, I started and finished it.  I just love it.  Not sure how I'm going to finish it yet, so I'll live with it for a bit and see what it developes into.
*** Edited...  This design is by Just another button company and it's called Lovebird.

Then this weekend I started and finished what seems to be the freebie of the month.  Merry Christmas Deer by The Little Stitcher.  Love this one too, and this will definitely be finished as an ornament.

I'm thinking about my trip to Mexico now, and I actually bought our sunscreen this weekend! Weeeeeeeee!!!! and a new pair of flipflops. In the next couple of weekends, I think I`m going to look for a new swimsuit.  Not that I really relish that fact, and I don`t really need one.....I just want one.  We`ll see, still have a while to think about it.

....and a partridge in a pear treeeeee

All done!  YEAH!!!!!  All 12 of my Prairie Schooler 12 days of Christmas are done and I LOVE THEM!!!!  I will make them into ornaments in July...midway thru the year, I will make what I've stitched into ornies for my stitching tree!  I stitched the last stitch into in on Sunday and with a sigh I snipped the last thread off the back.  I love finishing projects...it gives me such a feeling of satisfaction.  But I also love the start of new projects, the anticipation that every stitch will be perfect.  I'll be starting a little bird next.  "Lovebird" it's called by Just Another Button company.  I fell in love with it when I saw it and ordered it right away...now it's been sitting here for a long time waiting patiently for it's turn on the q-snaps.  I'll start that tomorrow.  Tonight I will be sorting and putting away floss!  I have two large ziplock bags full of floss that needs to be sorted and put away....so I think that I will do that while I am watching The Bachelor.

12 Drummer's Drumming - Prairie Schooler

It's Ort Report time!!!  Yep the new moon has rolled around again, and these are the orts from last month to now.  I'm showing month to month ones this year I think...and then I'll show the full cup (hopefully) at the end of the year.

I didn't work on Humboldt at all yesterday. Went out with my hubby yesterday for a bit...just browsing at furniture and stuff, then when for a little lunch. Came home and we had a nap...but when I nap I have a tendancy to wake up with a headache...and that's exactly what happened. So I just relaxed and watched tv, and cuddle with hubby in bed all evening. It was a good day! So I'll work on Humboldt next week and post then.



A good stitchy week!

Two finishes and a good chunk of the blue study done (white has been added to the study).  I would love to pick up Humboldt again tonight, but I won't.  I will be a good SAL partner and lay it to rest.  Which is still ok because I only have one day left to stitch in the 12 days of xmas!  yeah!  So they will definitely make it on my tree this year!

 10 Lords a Leaping - Prairie Schooler

11 Pipers Piping - Prairie Schooler 



Humboldt Coast -Silver lining WIP - SAL with Kati



The stomach flu is running rampant thru our clinic right now.  2 staff down last week, and 3 called in today!  In all this...knock wood....I feel fantastic!!!  In fact this past winter season I haven't even had as much as a sniffle!  Now I know with that I have just jinxed myself and I'll be deathly ill by the end of the week, but that's ok....I deserve a day off now and then too.  LOL

So tonight I settle in with my stitching and some good tv. 

A hermit post

Well I tried to get lots of stitching done over the last couple of weeks but it didn't really happen, with work and commitments and company, I was just glad that when I sat in my chair I could jsut rest.  So I didn't work on my 12 days at all. 

But Sunday!!!  Hockey is back!!!!  That means the my husband turns into a sports guy again and I get to stitch in peace!!!  So during the Sunday of this hermit weekend...I was able to get a good chunk of Humboldt done, the SAL with Kati.  wooo hoo.  I don't think this is going to look like much of anything besides a study in blues and greens until much much farther down the line....but until then...here it is :)

We have booked a trip to the Mayan Riveria, Mexico!!!  ARRIIIIBBAAAA!!!  We'll be going at the end of March and I'm so excited!  We haven't been to a real "fly away" vacation for a couple of years now. So it's long overdue.  I want it to be hot hot hot!  It was a cold day here in Calgary...and frankly I'm sick of it!  Still a long way to wait but I'm sure that the time will fly and it will be here in no time!!!  

2 in one shot

So I had to take two pics today for the TUSAL and to show off my first finish of 2013!  And while I was taking out the camera to take a pic of the finish I decided to just do the ort shot at the same time.  In all honesty it was just laziness. LOL  It's Sunday I'm allowed to be lazy! 

Pot roast is in the slow cooker, all the houseworks was done yesterday.  So today it's just sitting and relaxing and watching the Real housewives that I have PVR'd and waiting for the Golden Globes to start.  Excellent stitching television!  Working on Humboldt today.  Love it!

New Sunday SAL

So Kati and I have been Stitching A Longing for I think a couple of years now.  Every Sunday it's our way of stitching together.  As you know we did the girls by CHS. and loved doing them.  So now that those were done we have decided to work on something a little different, but something that we have both been wanting to work on for years now.  So we decided on Humboldt Coast by Silver Lining!  wooo hoooo 

After pulling out a bunch of fabrics, and purchasing more than I should have to see what I wanted to stitch it on...I couldn't decide whether I wanted it to be a stormy day, or a blue skied day...I finally decided on a dawn or dusky time of day, with some blues and whites and hints of purple.  The fabric that I chose is an older piece of fabric that I had called Romance by Silkweavers.  It's a pretty piece of fabric, so now I have a whole assortment of blues and greys that I can use for future projects!  LOL

Any how!  Here's my progress after the first Sunday night of stitching.  Love my little bluey greeny blob! 

hmmm it looks like blogger changed my uploading picture thingy, so I had to go thru another way to get this up..a bit inconvenient, but oh well, I got it :)

So tonight I am going to work on and hopefully finished 9 ladies dancing. I want to get those 12 days done and then I'll think of something to stitch up on my other days other than Sunday.  I know there are a bunch of ornaments that I wanted to stitch last year and didn't get to, and I have Mirabilia's Elizabeth, all kitted up so maybe I'll throw in the qsnaps after the PS ornaments.

It's a New Year!

I have been such a crummy blogger this past year!  So much happening in my life!

First and foremost we got another member of the family.  Nicola (my niece) gave birth to her second son Liam Edward Frank in August!  YEAH!!! He is the most precious baby...and already looks wise beyond his years.  You look into his eyes and you know that you are looking into the eyes of an old soul.  So calm and watchful.  He's actually mesmerizing to look at.  His big brother Jaxon is as happy as can be and never hesitates to run over and give his baby brother a kiss when he's a little fussy.  Poor Lulu has her hands(paws) full trying to keep out of the grasps of little hands when they come over to visit, but she manages.

Next big news...the manager at our clinic decided to leave us after 18 years of being on the job!  It was a big gutsy move for her, it`s a brave thing to do after such a long time at bing at one place, and we all loved her, but because of differences with certain people in the clinic she felt that the best thing for her to do was to move on.  The bigger news in relation to this is that her position was offered to me.  I have to admit, I was afraid to take the position when they offered me the job.  I knew that there were big shoes to fill, and because D had been there for soooo long there was an almost what I would call legacy in place there.  I just didn`t see that people would respect me the way they respected her.  It`s hard to explain and I don`t think that I am explaining it right even now.  Yet even after all my concerns,  the owner restructured the position after he asked me what my concerns were about the job, and he made it impossible for me to turn it down.  And I must say that after 2 weeks in my new office I don`t regret the decision I made to become manager of the clinic...the staff was wonderful with the transition, the doctors I work for are all relieved that it was me that took the position and not someone that was new and unfamiliar to them.  My boss said the the transition was seamless and that was due in part to how I handled everyone`s concerns.   Although I still feel like I`m missing something, or doing something wrong, because I am not as busy as I was before in my other position!  :)

We got ready for Christmas, that felt like it had to be rushed too, because we got a call from a friend of hubby`s on the 1st of December saying that he was coming to visit and spend the holidays with us from Hungary!!!  What??????!!!!!! And he was arriving on the 15th!  So basically it was a mad dash to the finish.  Not only did I have to decorate the house for christmas and think about menus and get together's and just the usual company that Xmas brings....but now I had a live in guest coming as well.  So that just added more stress and more work...because you know how that is...when you have a guest coming to spend some time with you, you do that extra cleaning that you have to do...the things that you neglect on a day to day basis because it can be done another time.  So THAT all had to be done too.  I had dresser drawers and closet space to clear out for him, and plus it was like a lost a storage space!  Because the spare room where he is staying is also the room where I put all the things that I "put away" for when I have to put my Christmas things out.  So everything had to go downstairs.  I had to go and buy storage rubbermaid bins just to put that stuff in!  LOL  Let me tell you I was losing my mind!  And all this on top of the stress that I was putting myself thru with my job as well  ARGH!!!!!

But in the end it's all good, all great! Accept that my mom does not like this man that is staying with us.  So I feel like I am caught in the middle of this little war between being on my Mom's side and being on my husband's side.  There is definitely a personality clash between the two of them....and neither one of them will let it go!  I can hardly wait until he leaves quite frankly.  Not because he's a bad person, but because the tension in the house is sooooo thick...and I hate to see my Mom upset all the time.  ARGH!!!  Mind you, she does have a tendency to over-react to things...and this I think is the case the majority of the time!  but you know what...she's 78 years old..and set in her ways.  Therefore, we have to be a little understanding of that too.   Anyway, he is leaving on the 4th for Argentina and then coming back for 4 days in February before he heads back home.  I just hope our little family can survive it.

Stitching??  Oh yeah!  I remember that!!!  I used to do that a long time ago!  LOL

Well I didn't get my Prairie Schooler 12 days of Christmas finished!  boo hooo.  I got 8 of them finished and 1/2 of the 9th.  And when I say finished I mean I just finished the cross stitching on it.  Not the actually finishing them into an ornament.  So they will be up on next year's tree :)  that's ok  :)   The two that I did finish though are the ones I finished for the boys.  They turned out sooooo great!  I almost didn't want to give them away.  I was thinking that maybe I can put them on my tree and then they can just see them every year!  LOL  but I was a good Great Auntie and gave them to them.  ARGH!  LOL  but look at them!!!  Aren't they adorable?????

So that's it.  I'm sure I left out a whole bunch of stuff! But I'll fill in the blanks as they come.
 
I signed up again this year with Daffycat's TUSAL (totally useless stitch-a-long)  Follow the link/icon on my sidebar to find out more about it and join us!  Perhaps this year I will post every month.  As I told Sharon...even if it's an empty jar I'll be posting that picture on time!