I never really left

I'm back, but I never really left.   I just haven't had the time, or felt that I even had too much to say.  My blog has been so sadly neglected, I'm surprised Blogger hasn't decided to shut it down for lack of use. My bad!  I have been active on Facebook and Instagram, and even here actually, just not on my own blog.  I have been reading all of your blogs.  I never give that up. And I'm not giving up my blog either, I will try harder.  I promise.

You know I thought that now that we are running our own business, and quite frankly I haven't been in to the shop now to actually work at my office there for over 10 months.  I have managed to make everything so mobile and accessible, that I can work from anywhere in the world.  Mostly my desk from home, but we went to Mexico and was able to still conduct the minimal amount of business ( just checking that everything was running smoothly) and even if we are on a road trip.  Calls are forwarded to my cell phone, email is accessible from anywhere!  So essentially out business is in my "back pocket or pocketbook" so to speak.  Which I love.    That being said you would think that I would have lots of time to write on my blog, to stitch, to read, to do leisurely things.  WRONG!  I do...but to another extent I feel like I am sitting at the computer I should be doing work instead of indulging in personal things.  It's hard to explain.  But needless to say I am going to rectify that. I am going to try to update at least once a week...so you can hold me to it.

I have been doing some stitching.  Here's an update on all the projects I have completed since my last update back in JUNE!!!  Good Grief....well if you look at it that way then I really haven't accomplished too much in the stitching department either.  When I do get to stitch though it is very relaxing.  I have been reading lots too, so that cuts into the stitching as well.

So here we go....

  Snowflake Reindeer by Daffy Cat Designs

 Snowman Trio by CCN

Christmas Chick by Heritage Crafts - Valerie Pfieffer

1st 8 days of Christmas by Plum Street Samplers

The 12 days are all on the same piece of fabric, but for some reason the lighting must have been weird on the 7th day, cause it looks completely different.  These will all be made into ornaments for this year's Stitching Tree.

I feel bad about dropping our SAL piece with Kati and Lynda, I have to pick that up too, I see that Kati has picked her's back up.  And I'm going to work on it on a stitch as I go basis.  I don't get much time to stitch on Sunday's anymore, as we have bought two race horses as well (as if we don't have enough to manage) and they usually race on Sundays.  So we are out watching them on the weekends.  Camping season is going to start up here soon as well, which means Sunday's will be taken up unloading and putting away the camping gear.  It'll all sort itself out.

I also want to finish up the 12 days....and I have a finished piece that I need to take a picture of.  So I am thinking I will have another update here very soon.

Thanks for sticking with me if you are still out there.  I promise I will make time.

Surprise!

Oh My Gosh!!!!  Has it really been since April since I have posted?  That doesn't seem possible!  But I guess it is.

We have been so busy, with the business, with the yard, with the house.  And we've even been busy with taking some time for ourselves, and enjoying the good weather and heading out camping when we can.  Or going on little day trips.  So we have been living life.

I have been stitching too.  So sorry Linda!!!  You must think that I have abandoned you in our SAL.  It's not every Sunday that I get a chance to stitch, but when I do it's not very progressive so there wasn't much to show.  But yesterday I managed to stitch for the better part of the day on Cornwall Cottage so I thought I should post an update.  I'm about to turn a corner here on it soon in the next couple of weeks.

I also needed a little instant gratification a while back and stitched up a LHN - Season's Greetings.  Which will be made into a ornament at some point this year. Mind you even this I finished a while ago and I didn't post it.

We have decided that we are going to make a little long weekend for ourselves this coming weekend, and leave on Thursday after work to go camping.  The temps are going to be up high, so the best place for us to be at that time is beside a lake, fishing, reading, relaxing...and maybe stitching.  But I find that when I'm camping I like to read.  I have been on a reading kick for the last couple of months...perhaps that's why my stitching is kind of taking a backseat.  But that seems to happen to me every summer.  I love sitting out on the patio with a tall cool glass of something and reading.  It's one of my favorite summer pastimes.

Hope everyone is well!

A Border update

Just a short little post I think today.  I was immersed in watching movies and the hockey games on Sunday, so I decided to do the "wheat" border as it as been affectionately named.  This doesn't require me to pull out the chart it's just a repetitive pattern. It's not too bad, cause it has to be done anyway, but it is very time consuming.  Once I took a step back I realized how much really got done, so I'm happy with my progress.  I think I might be doing the same thing on the other side next Sunday.  We'll see.

Ok...so have any of you jumped on this adult coloring craze?  I remember how much I used to love coloring...and when my nieces were still little, after we made the gingerbread house on Christmas Eve we would all sit down and color.  I miss those days.  So imagine my delight when I saw that this is a trend for adults now.  So I am starting to fill my Pinterest with coloring pages.  I had ordered a couple of books from Amazon.  Went to Michael's and bought some coloring pencils.  I am all set.

Now I just have to find time.  LOL

A Little SAL progress

Good Morning Everyone!

Has spring finally arrived everywhere?  It is a gorgeous sunny morning here today as I'm sitting in my office and looking out the window.  Got some yard work done and some spring cleaning done on the weekend, which was good.  I always love the look of the yard after the first cleaning and power-raking of the spring.  It looks like it's just ready to burst into color at any second.  My tulips have definitely decided that it's time and you can almost "hear" them pushing up out of the ground now.  I wouldn't be surprised if I have blooms on them this weekend.

I did manage to get a little stitching done on Sunday, while I watched Wild with Reese Witherspoon.  Such a good movie!  Hubby even sat down and watched that one with me.  After that though he suggested a little drive and some ice cream....well a girl can't pass on that on a sunny day, now can she?  So I tucked my stitching away and went for a drive.  When we got home we bbq'd and then just spent the rest of the evening watching tv.  My stitching stayed tucked away.  So not a lot of progress but I still managed to finish the motif that I started last weekend.

This weekend we have two birthday's.  My sister-in-law and my grand-nephew. (my niece's son).  So we will be heading out to that on Saturday afternoon.  On Saturday evening we're off to Cirque de Soliel - Kuriosity!  I'm so excited!!!  We go to their productions' every year when they come thru, so we look forward to them,

I didn't get a chance to work on any other stitching this week, but I have kitted up and have the fabric in the qsnaps to start an ornament, I just have to find time to get to it.  It's hockey play-off time, so I don't imagine that that's going to be too hard to do, considering the Flames have made the playoffs for the first time in 6 years!  woo hoo!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy belated Easter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.  Hubby and I went for a little mini vacation this weekend.  Left on Friday morning and drove up to one of our favorite places.  Fairmont Hotsprings Resort and spent a couple of days there relaxing and spending some time reconnecting.  We find with the business and our busy lives we have to take a little time for just "us"  No Mom, No Lulu, No Company phones and just be together.  Which was what we did....we relaxed....we ate....we soaked.  The only time we were dressed was when we left our room.  It was VERY nice!  Then On Sunday morning we headed home all refreshed and rejuvenated.  Mom was at my brother's house for Easter Dinner, so we stopped by there on our way home and brought her home.  She was a doll and had made a ham with all the fixings before she went over there, so that hubby and I had an Easter meal for when we got home.  Even though we told her not to she did anyway....and in the end it was greatly appreciated.  It was delicious!

I didn't post last week, because I didn't do any stitching last Sunday.  We were out and about all day last Sunday and by the evening we just sat and watched tv and spent time together, so I didn't pick up my stitching at all.

I did manage to stitch a little bit on Sunday night.  I just took a picture of the new part as I am quite frankly too lazy to take them out of the q snaps at the moment to take a picture.  But you can see my Sunday progress nonetheless.

Also a shot of an old WIP that I haven't touched in months and months, is Mirabilia's Elizabeth.  She is still a long ways from looking like anything, but hopefully soon she'll be somewhat recognizable.

I think that I'm going to have to find a little ornament or something to stitch on this week.  I'm feeling that I'm needing a little instant gratification.  I have a few pieces on my desk that I have to kit up and get to it.

Have a great week everyone!

Another relaxing Sunday

Spent another lovely Sunday watching movies this past SAL (with Kati & Linda) day.  Got all my housework done early.  Hubby went off at 7 in the morning to work on his hobby project. I hate it when he leaves early because I always feel guilty lazing in bed while he's up and gone and doing things with his day already. Same thing happens when I am working at home and he's working in the shop. So I got up, vacuumed, tidied up, put a pot roast in the slow cooker and I was done for the day.  Sat down and watched: The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,  Miss Congeniality 2, and Ghost.  Good movies to spend the day with.

With my stitching in my hands and my Lulu in my lap I had a great day.

And a closer picture of what I accomplished.

Yesterday I pulled my old WIP Elizabeth out again and actually stitched on it.  I pulled it out once before...looked at it and then put it back again.  But this time I actually made a little bit of progress.  I'll be working on that this week if I have time.  I would really like to do another Easter piece, but I can't decide what I want to do, so I just may leave what I have for next year, as nothing seems to be jumping out at me.  We'll see how the week progresses.

It's a grey day today, nothing inspiring to look at out the window.  I do have some paperwork that I should do, but then I think to myself I can do it tomorrow too.  Tonight we are going to see if our names get drawn for a seasonal site at the campsite that we like to go to for the summer.  So there won't be any stitching tonight...which makes me think...should I stitch this afternoon instead?

Border and Bunny Bums

I spent Sunday plopped in front of the tv with my stitching in my lap and binge-watching Empire.  Have you been watching this?  It's fantastic!  I didn't watch it from the very beginning, but did pick it up in the last 4 episodes or so, so when FX said that they were going to show it from the beginning on Sunday, I knew what I was doing.  And I did.  Now patiently waiting for the final episode that airs tomorrow night. Should be good.  With that being said I thought it was going to be a great stitching day and I did have my stitching out, but by the end of the day it looks like I did more watching and my stitching spent more time in my lap than in my hands!  Oh well.  Still ok though.... I worked on the inner border on it...that way I didn't have to pay too much time on the chart. (it's nice to have options)  So in the end...here it is.

Now you know how much I love my bunny bums and I had to stitch them this year too. I couldn't decide which colour to stitch it in, so I stitched it twice.  One day I will actually make them into little pillow ornaments, but for now they are just collecting.  I have 4 now, so I'll have a nice little display of different colour bunny bums.

It's all about the base

I had a lovely day of stitching on Sunday and I was able to get a fair bit done on Cornwall Cottage. The bottom of it is pretty much finished accept for the border, which I'll be working on next Sunday.  I got a start on the new section of it but I didn't get it done as I was starting to make mistakes and when that starts happening my stitching day is pretty much over.

I settled in and watched a few girl movies.  Which is the best way to stitch on a Sunday.  Hubby was out with my brother working on something/somewhere...so I pretty much had the day to myself....so mom and I sat and watched  "Under the Tuscan Sun"  "You've Got Mail" and then "The Devil Wear's Prada"  Next Sunday I think we'll pick some newer ones, but it felt like this past Sunday was good from some older favorites.

I've got a little happy dance to share as well.  This project actually pissed me off a bit, truth be told!  I love it, but honestly started this before Valentine's day, for a V-day finish.  But it surprisingly was very very time consuming!  It just seemed that I would sit and stitch for an hour and I wouldn't have gotten very far with it, but now that it's done, I'm pleased.  The fabric sparkles but you can't tell from the picture.

Becoming a Habit

So here I am again, late with yet another Sunday SAL update.  Can't be helped. I didn't get as much done  or time on it that I had hoped I would on Sunday.  One more corner motif and the bottom border will be finished.  It's so lovely.  I wish you could all see it in person.  Would you all like to come over for some tea or coffee, just to see it?  I would be happy to have you.

This is a short and sweet post, I have dinner to prepare and I figure if I didn't get this posted now, I was afraid that I would be yet another day to getting this up.

I'm Late!

Hello Everybody!

And I think that I posted this prematurely cause my fingers did a gig across the keyboard and posted with a partial title and that's it...so I'm going to rectify that.  Just goes to show you how busy I really have been.

I haven't had a chance to post my Sunday SAL yet so here it is.  Don't you love it?

I really just worked on the inside border on Sunday, which was good because I didn't have to follow the chart, and I could watch the red carpet and the Oscars on Sunday.  I must say I was disappointed.  Not with the winners (because I really don't care about that to be honest)  Half the movies that I like don't qualify for Oscar nominations, so that doesn't matter to me.  I like to watch what people are wearing!  And I have to tell you I thought it was a little lack-lustre this year.  No one's outfit popped out to me as being to die for.  Oh well. Maybe next year.  I do have to say that as far as the show goes, I loved the opening and Lady Gaga...do I have to even say how sensational she was?? Unbelievable...so props to her.

This is just a drive by posting...I will take a couple of pics of my WIP's and hopefully get a chance to post on Friday.

Love you! xoxo

Post Valentine's day

Hello Everybody!

How was everyone's Valentine's day?  This year hubby whisked me away for a weekend of romance and friends, and theater and great food.  Our friend's daughter was stage manager of a performance at the University of Lethbridge and we were invited to go with them.  Taking advantage of it, we decided to make a weekend of it.  Left on Friday after we closed the shop a little earlier and went away for the whole weekend.  It was heaven!  Being pampered and fed and spoiled!  I love my hubby!

That being said I didn't get any stitching done on my Sunday SAL....so I kind of cheated, as this was a long weekend...so I worked on our SAL on Monday instead.  Got quite a bit done, and I'm still loving it!

I started a small piece in the middle of last week for Valentine's day as well, but I didn't get that one finished.  So hopefully I'll get a chance to do that...don't think that I'm going to have much time to stitch this week, as I have lots of work to do, plus out with the girls tonight to see 50 shades of grey.  (I haven't read the books, so I have no preconceived expectations.) And then dinner afterwards.   Tomorrow we have a friend coming over while her daughter is at hockey practice.  And then on Thursday, we are having a family dinner because it's the only time one of my nieces can make it before she heads back to school.  Friday.....I may have a chance to hold needle in hand, but we all know how well laid plans normally pan out.  So I'm thinking sometime this weekend.  I signed up for hermit stitching weekend this weekend (I can't believe that it's already the third weekend of the month) so I'm hopeful!

And how was everyone else's week?

Short and Sweet

Hey everyone!

We have been so busy, that I didn't even get a chance to post yesterday, but I did manage to take a quick shot of my Cornwall Cottage's progress that I did get a chance to work on for a good chunk of the evening on Sunday.  I LOVE working on this and just hate putting it away on Sunday night, but I guess that makes it more exciting.  Perhaps if I worked on it everyday, then it wouldn't be as dear a project.

I haven't had a chance to see how Kati and Linda have done, so I'm going to go scoot over there and see how they have progressed.  I think I'll do some blog-hopping tonight as I haven't done too much of that in the last couple of days.  And I just hate to miss out on anything!  LOL

Feb 1 Sunday SAL Update

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and managed to stay warm and safe in all of the snowstorms that I saw cross over the country....both yours and mine.  We had a nice quiet weekend of watching movies and just hanging out with one another.  It was nice.  No plans, no where to go.  I love weekends like that.  Spent a lot of couch time cuddling and watching the tube.  

Didn't get too much stitching done, but I did get some done. We are not football watchers.  Oh no...I heard your collective gasps as I admit that, but we did peek in from time to time.  Watched the  first 10 minutes, the half-time show, and the last 10 minutes.

As far as stitching goes, I pulled out Elizabeth again on Saturday and did some work on her.  I'll post a pic of that sometime later in the week, as it's in the perfect place in the q-snaps right now and don't want to move it.  And then I stitched a couple of hours on Cornwall Cottage, not as much as I would have liked, but still some.  I still can't say it enough that this is such a satisfying piece to work on.  I love it.

Not much else is new.  Working on year end for the company.  Lots of work to do on that, but it's all enjoyable.  Have a great week everyone.  I might pop in on Wednesday with a WIP update.

Bachelor tonight, hopefully lots of stitching will be done.  However we are taking Lulu for her annual check up this afternoon, which means shots etc.  Might have to spend some cuddle time with her tonight.

It's Friday!

Don't you just love Friday's?  The possibilities of the weekend lay ahead.  Will it be relaxing?  Will you do something exciting?  Will you be with good friends, or make new ones?  Will you try something new to eat or will you go out for an old favorite?   I love Friday's.  It's the start of the weekend, when you get to take an extra couple of minutes in the morning to cuddle with the one you love.

The weather is going to turn a little bit for us this weekend, and we have snow forecast for Saturday, which is ok.  Perfect for a day of stitching.   I have dusted off a forgotten WIP, that I was so excited to start, and then didn't get back to once life took a turn.  So Elizabeth by Mirabilia is all set up in my qsnaps and ready for me to get at it.  I'll be working on that tonight and tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to make some good progress on it.  Then on Sunday, I can hardly wait to get back at Cornwall Cottage!  I love, love, love it!

I did finish my little ornament that I started last week.  Snowbirds by Country Cottage Needleworks from the 2013 JCS Ornament issue.  I love how it turned out on this fabric.   I've put this in my finishing pile, will have to get to that soon.  I'm thinking on the weekend that hubby goes to his ice-fishing tournament at the end of February.

I have to dig out all my Prairie Schooler Santas!  They are blowing up the blog world...and I have to get to them.  I would love a PS tree!  I can picture it in my head already.  LOL  Another tree....my husband may just divorce me!  LOL