A quick post to wish everyone who visits my blog a very Merry
Christmas. Hope that you have a wonderful holiday.

Above picture is of a small portion of our friend Terry's frosty
collection.

DH and I are very, very sick right now. I've been miserable
since Friday night and he's getting steadily worse now too.
We're going to have to post pone our Christmas celebrations
because we can't have my Mom here when we're both so sick.
And neither of us wants to do anything but lay down and die.

I have a ton of stuff to do, wrapping, baking and so on but it'll
have to wait. Don't know when we'll be well enough to do
Christmas, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I'm not able to write anymore now. When my brain is
functioning again I'll be back.

Again, best wishes and much love to all of you out there.

Cheers! Judy

A bit of progress on LHN Bee pin keep design from A Gift of
Stitching. I've been working on this mostly at work because
time at home is being spent on Christmas preparations. So
much to do and so little time.

I spent much of yesterday in the kitchen doing some of my
baking. I made 3 and a half dozen gingerbread/butterscotch
cookies, 2 dozen small and 1 dozen large raspberry tarts,
and 4 small loaves and 1 large pumpkin loaf. I also had to
walk down to the corner store because, as is traditional
every Christmas season, I started baking and realized that
I was almost out of something vital. Many times it's
raspberry jam, but this year it was eggs. Sorta important,
eggs.
And the rest of the day Saturday was spent watching the
weather channel and tracking the progress of this lovely
winter storm that we're currently enjoying. In some
areas of southern Ontario they'll be getting about 40
centimeters of snow from this system. I expect we'll see
about 20 - 25 centimeters here. We had 5 cm yesterday
too but that was lake effect, not related to this storm.

The news stations are advising people to stay home
and off the roads unless absolutely necessary. Thank-
fully it's the weekend so going to work vs staying at
home is not an issue. However, this afternoon is the
family Christmas dinner at the residence where my
Mom lives. Every year they go all out, and serve
about 300 people with a full turkey dinner and all the
trimmings. Since we have roast beef for our Christmas
dinner it's our chance to enjoy a wee bit of turkey
without the leftovers. Not that there's anything wrong
with turkey sandwiches....mmmm!

Probably a lot of the people who'd signed up to attend
the dinner will not be able to make it, which will be
a shame because the residence owner and his staff
have been working hard all week to put this event
together. We will probably go, since we just live a
seven minute drive away, but the final decision will
be DH's. He's gone to church, after shoveling the
driveway earlier this morning, so he'll be able to
gage the driving conditions. He picks up a lady from
the residence to drive to church, so he'll be making
a trial run, so to speak.

Our main concern is that the residence is
surrounded by steep hills. Well, this is the region
of Halton Hills after all. So getting down, and most
especially back up these hills can be tricky. DH is
a most skillful driver, so it's not us that I'm
worried about. It's the other ... hmm... less
capable drivers that I'm leery of. Well, we'll just
have to see what happens.


Meanwhile, here are a few pictures taken from our upstairs
windows to show the snowfall so far. These are dedicated to
Karen in Scotland who was wishing for a nice deep snowfall
for her Christmas. Hey Karen, we're willing to share!!

This week's read was back to Kim Harrison and the next
book in her Hallows series. I really loved this one.

Rachel has a problem. She's agreed to become the alpha
in a werewolf pack with David, a were and her insurance
adjuster. David is a loner who doesn't want to be forced
to join a pack or take on the responsibilities of a full pack
of his own. So he asks witch Rachel to be his alpha, on
paper only, to avoid trouble with the other weres. In
exchange Rachel will get a good discount on her insurance
premiums.

But Rachel finds herself having to defend her roll as an
alpha against a were who wants the position for herself.
After barely managing to walk away from that confront-
ation Rachel realizes that she's got to make plans on how
to handle future challenges and avoid being killed in the
process.

And then things become complicated. A call for help from
the young son of Rachel's pixie business partner Jenks
alerts Rachel to the fate of her former human lover Nick
who'd abandoned and betrayed her.

Nick, along with the young pixie Jax, went up north to
steal a werewolf artifact from a Vampire. And had then
tried to double cross the werewolf faction that had hired
him to steal the artifact. The artifact was hidden, but Nick
had been taken by the werewolves and was being held a
prisoner and being tortured for information to allow them
to find the artifact.

Unable to leave Nick to his fate, and also to retrieve Jax,
Rachel and Jax head north on a rescue run. And then
things really get complicated.

Kim Harrison continues to write books that are fast paced,
humorous, and richly detailed. We learn more about were
wolf society and it's hierarchy and history. The relation-
ships between Rachel and her friends/business partners
Ivy and Jenks continue to develop and evolve, and Rachel
herself must make decisions and choices that affect her life,
her future and her soul.

I've ordered the next book in this series, but will
probably choose another book to read in the meanwhile.
Something light, since this isn't the time of year I can afford
to focus my attention or time to a more intense book.

Thanks for all the kind words regarding the mittens that
I stitched for Dani, and also for the stash that I received
last week. I'm thinking of emailing Bobbie at Stitching
Bits n Bobs about those two skeins of peachy thread that,
to me, look identical even though the names on tags are
different. I've checked online to see pictures of how
each of those colours is suppose to look and I suspect
that a goof has been made somewhere. Don't want to
mess up a project with the wrong colour.

It's been awhile since I posted a picture of the fur babies.
Here they are, under the lamp and on the desk next to
my computer. We're a little cramped for space, and
someone is laying on my mouse pad, but somehow we
manage.

Hope everyone who's receiving attention from this storm
is home safe and is warm and snug and stitching. Take
care all. Cheers.

A rare mid-week posting because I've received word that my
surprise parcel was received safe and sound by it's intended
recipient yesterday, which surprised me since it was only
mailed on Saturday. Above are the two mittens that I stitched
for Dani as a little thank you for the incredibly lovely needle
book that she made for me in the summer.

These are stitched on perforated paper, using DMC threads
and Mill Hill beads. The designs are from an old (1996) issue
of Cross Stitch Ornaments from Better Homes and Gardens.
There are four designs in total and they are really fun to
stitch. The two that I stitched for Dani are my favourites.

I'm so glad that you liked them Dani. Merry Christmas!

And my order from Stitching Bits n Bobs arrived yesterday.
Three Debbie Draper charts, with the ones on either end
also including the floss to stitch the designs with.

A pile of threads, mostly Crescent Colours, to use with various
charts in my stash someday. Is it me or does the two strands
of peach or orange in the centre look the same?? I really can't
tell the difference between them. One is Copper Penny and the
other is Pumpkin Harvest.


And then I ordered some fabric. The pieces above are 28 count
Jobelan in Raspberry Lite and African Daisy and Clay.

And some fabric in Linen and Cappuccino.

Tonight is the Senior's tour of the town to see the Christmas
lights and DH has gone to the senior's centre to join some
fellow choir members to sing carols for the seniors when they
return after the tour for refreshments.

Hope that you're all having a great week. Cheers.

A Spot of Tea 1 - has been sadly neglected in the past month and a
half while I concentrated on other projects. And in the rush and
bustle of Christmas preparations I haven't had time to do a lot of
stitching. But this week I finished the final small motif and the
last big one just needs the date and initials filled in to be done.
Surely I'll be able to manage that small amount of stitching in the
coming week?

I mailed off my secret project to ???? yesterday. I've got
pictures but won't post them until it reaches it's destination. And
then I suspect that the recipient might well be able to take a
better picture then I have. We'll see. Stay tuned.

I'm expecting a shipment from Stitching Bits n Bobs this week and
am tingling with anticipation. This one will be mostly fabric and
thread, with just a few charts. I see that the website has another
sale going on now. Oh boy!! I'll wait a short while until all my
Christmas shopping is done, and then we'll see.

Meanwhile, I ordered some books from the Folio Society a while ago,
and most of them arrived this week.

1) The big one on the bottom is a replication of The First Folio of
Shakespeare, and is just that. All his works in one very, very large
book, reprinted exactly as it was first published hundreds of years ago.

2) The second book is Andrew Lang's The Pink Fairy Book. I'm sure many of you will have read these books at one time or another.

3) After that is Josephine Tey's A Daughter of Time, which is the book
which introduced me to the Richard III controversy. Do you believe
that he was the twisted, power mad monster of Shakespearean and
Tudor propaganda or did he get a bum rap??

4) A sweet children's tale is next. Frances Hodgson Burnett's
A Little Princess. I've never read this one before, but I've seen the
movie starring Shirley Temple many times and am curious to see
how they compare.
My book read of the week was Camilla Gibb's Sweetness in the
Belly. I absolutely loved this story. I found myself totally
immersed in it, and at times lost touch with my surroundings
as I followed the narrative. Which was a problem since I read on
the buses going home from work mostly. Have to remember
to get off at the right stop or I'm liable to end up visiting
Guelph and calling DH for a rescue.

Lily's parents left the security of 1950's England to travel the
world. Lily was born during their travels and for a time the
family moved from place to place without setting down roots.
Their nomadic existence ends in Tangier when Lily's parents
are killed in a drug deal gone wrong, leaving a young Lily to
be raised by a sufi sheikh who teaches her the Qur'an. Lily
grows up a devout Muslim who accompanies a male
companion to the city of Harar in Ethiopia at the age of 16,
to escape the political unrest in her adopted city.

Lily becomes a helper to a widow in Harar with four small
children and eventual becomes a teacher to the impoverished
children of the neighbourhood, teaching them to read and
understand the Qur'an. She becomes a member of the
community, learning their customs and their beliefs and
finding a home in that rich, colourful culture. She meets a
young Doctor named Aziz and they fall in love. But
Ethiopia in the 70's is in turmoil as the aged monarch
Haile Selassie is deposed and a military dictatorship
takes over. Famine and persecution spread and Lily, as
a white woman, is in danger and forced to flee the country
for an England she has never known, leaving Aziz behind.

Trained as a nurse Lily makes a life for herself in England
living with the community of Ethiopian refugees and helping
to run a charitable organization to help reunite scattered
Ethiopian families who have fled the horrors of that
country to all corners of the world. And always looking
for word of Aziz's fate.

The narrative of the book switches from the 70's and Lily's
time living in Harar, to the 90's and her life in England. I
loved reading this book and learning about life in Ethiopia
and seeing that world from a different perspective. I highly
recommend this one. Camilla Gibb has a strong empathy
for her subject, and knowledge of the religion and culture
of the region. She was born in England but grew up here
in Ontario. This is her third book and she is a well
reviewed, award nominated author.

Some more Christmas decorations from around the house. Above
is a new setting, the main village piece being from Avon. It lights
up, which didn't show up in the photograph unfortunately, and
the lights change colour. The lights on the trees also light up, and
the whole thing is very sparkley. Of course it eats batteries like
candy, so I only turn it on once in awhile, but who cares.

This is the den again. The flower arrangement and the potpourri in
the round metal container are both from the craft show that my SIL
and I attended in November. The flower petals are apple slices.
Neat, huh?? And you should smell the aroma coming from both. Ah,
heaven. The enclosed container for the potpourri is great because it
keeps the cats from playing with the stuff. I'm sure that it wouldn't
be good for them to ingest. The little building lights up and is a
library. Well, what else would it be???

My Mom's birthday was great. We had a nice meal thanks to the
food put out for the wine and cheese party, although DH was the
only one who had wine. We gave her some sweaters from Northern
Reflections for her gift and she was so happy. My Mom loves
clothes and dressing up. And we had a nice visit. Since the residence
is only a seven minute drive from here we just kept an eye on
the weather to make sure that the roads weren't getting too bad.
We have to navigate a few steep hills between here and there
and didn't want to get stuck at the bottom of one. This isn't called
the region of Halton Hills for nothing.

Today DH is taking Mom's Christmas tree over for her and
setting it up. It's a table top, fiber-optic tree which just requires
plugging in and fluffing out and it's good to go. He's also having lunch
with her and taking her some things that we picked up for her at the
store yesterday. She loves having her SIL to show off to the other
residents.

Meanwhile, once I've finished this post I'll be doing some cleaning
chores and then I have to make a start on my baking. We picked
up supplies yesterday so I have no excuses now. Is it possible to
slow down the clock for a while?? Time is flying by too fast and I
still have a lot that I want to do. It's the same every year.

Work was exhausting last week, being first of the month and all.
I'm hoping that this week will be calmer so that I can do some
baking, wrapping and bow making in the evenings. I'm off over
Christmas, as is DH and we're both so looking forward to it. I'm
planning another Christmas party this year, but forgot to buy
invitations while we were out yesterday. Drat!! Frazzled...me?

Have a good week everyone. Cheers!

Continuing the refrain of ... "it's beginning to look a lot like..." The
view from our front window this morning. This happened last night
while we slept. Fortunately for us, since we were out for the annual
Christmas dinner put on by DH's place of work for their employees
earlier in the evening. It was a 45 minute drive from here to the
restaurant where we were dinning and the roads were clear then,
and also for the return home about four hours later. It was just
beginning to snow when we hit the final leg of our trip, about 15
minutes from home.

Unfortunately later this morning we're expecting freezing rain to
start, and then it'll turn to rain later in the day. Nice. The snow
looks so pretty, it'll be a shame to see it ruined by ice and rain. We
are going to my Mom's residence this afternoon for their annual
wine and cheese party, which happens to coincide with my Mom's
birthday. My SIL is suppose to be driving here from Toronto to
join us but I think perhaps she'll reconsider because the radio
is saying that it's one of those "if you don't have to be somewhere
don't go out" days.

"Little Snowflake Quilt"
By: Linda Myers
From the leaflet: Favourite Quilt Blocks
Leaflet #80

Looky what I finished!! Finally!! I persevered, and put the last
hour into this project and got it done. What a relief to have this
one done and off the Q snaps. Now I'm concentrating on a finish
of Spot of Tea 1, with one large motif and one small one left to do.
Oh, and I finished the secret stitching that I was doing, and am
getting ready to mail that out. But no pictures of that yet.

I don't like having more then two projects on the go at once. I
realized that when I had the above projects going, plus one other.
I start to feel overwhelmed, and guilty and I loose the pleasure
of stitching.

Books. I did some on line Christmas shopping a week ago and also
ordered a few books for myself, most of which were in their sales
bin, so to speak. The only one not on sale was "Portrait of an
Unknown Woman" which I read about on Michelle's blog. She
was reading it for her book club group and I loved the description
of it that she put on her blog. I knew that it was a must have for
me.

I'm slowly collecting the Alexander McCall Smith books
(both series) on sale from various locations. I've heard good things
about these books, but I refuse to pay full price for such small
reads. I'll keep picking these up as I find them and will read them
when I have a consecutive number, from the first book onwards.


These two books were also on sale. I enjoy stories about Robin
Hood and have several books by various authors, giving each
writer's own vision of the famous legends. So here's book one in
a series by Stephen Lawhead which looks interesting. DH might
read this one too. He was looking through it the other night and
asking me about it.

The last book "Sweetness In the Belly" sounded really fascinating,
and is one of those books that will take me away from the familiarity
and comforts of western life to experience the life of a young white
woman raised in northern Africa as a Muslim, who is forced to flee
to England as a refuge from Ethiopia in the 1970's. I've just begun to
read it, and am enjoying it so far. I finished book three in Kim Harrison's series about Rachel
Morgan, witch and bounty hunter. I enjoyed this one too and
found that it explained a few more things about some of the
species living in this world. We learn more about the elves
and also about the demon world (called "the ever-after" in
the books).

Rachel is a busy gal. Thanks to events in the previous book
she had to make a bargain with the demon Al (don't ask me
to keep spelling his full name). In exchange for his testimony
in court against the Master Vampire Piscary, Rachel has
agreed to act as Al's familiar, although still keeping possession
of her soul. She rescues Al's previous familiar, an Elf woman
named Ceri, who'd held the position for a thousand years,
and she's found a loophole in her contract with Al that keeps
him from dragging her into the Ever-After and using her
as a conduit to store magic for his own nefarious use. Not
that he doesn't keep trying to catch Rachel off guard and
force her physically into the Ever-After.

Meanwhile, Rachel's human lover Nick has fled town and
abandoned Rachel after events in the previous book altered
their relationship and made Nick an unwilling and unintentional
participant in her magical workings. And Rachel finds herself
drawn to Kisten, a living vamp and employee of Piscary, the
Master Vamp that she's put behind bars. Her business
partner Ivy, also a living vamp, is Piscary's unwilling scion,
and back on the hemoglobin, after three years of abstinence
and is jealous of Rachel and Kisten.

I am enjoying this series very much and plan to keep reading
although I am taking a break at this point.

I've pretty much finished my Christmas cards and sent most
of them off. Had to buy another box of cards though because
I just about ran out and I like to have a few handy for people
I've forgotten, or didn't know I knew, who sent us a card.
Next on my to do list is making Christmas bows, more
shopping, and baking. And time keeps slipping away.

And there's the holiday tv specials to watch when I can.
Did anyone see the newest Shrek Christmas special?? It
was pretty good. What's your most favourite holiday
tv special?? Mine is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
Love Burl Ives singing those wonderful songs.

Movies in theatres that I want to see soon include
Enchanted, which has received rave reviews and looked so
good in the previews we saw in the theatres during the
summer. And the Golden Compass, which also looks
amazing in the previews.

I read the Golden Compass series this year in anticipation
of the release of the movie. Read in our local paper last
week that the Catholic High School here in Georgetown
has taken the books off of their library shelves because
of one complaint that they received about the author.
That annoys the heck out of me. If you don't like what's
in the books, or what the author believes in his own
private life then you don't have to read them. But you
shouldn't have the right to order that no one else reads
them either.

Still no sign of Victoria magazine. Have emailed them again.
This is ridiculous. I am so unimpressed.

Barbara, I've put The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue on my
to get list. Since you recommended it I checked it out on
Indigo/Chapters book site, read a description of the story
and it sounds really good.


Finally, a picture of a gathering of snowfolk in our den. Taking
pictures like this will remind me next year of how I like to
arrange my stuff. That is, assuming I remember that I took the
pictures in the first place.

Have a good week everyone.

It's beginning to look a lot like .... well, you know. With deepest
apologies to everyone, I've been a slacker blogger for the past two
weeks. I'm sorry, but it's been a busy time, and I've been a
little uninspired when visiting blog land. I've read many, many
blogs, usually with Phoebe purring in my arms, which also makes
typing awkward to say the least. But no commenting. And I'm
working on a stitching project that I cannot show, so that's
keeping me mum too. But it's Sunday morning and that's my
usual time to type up my blog for the week, so here I am.

I had a wonderful vacation, during the week of November 12th
to the 16th. The highlights....

I had to work on the Tuesday, so Wednesday morning you'd
think, knowing me, that I'd sleep in. So would I. But I woke
up when DH's alarm beeped at 5:30, and after laying in bed
for 10 minutes I realized that I was wide awake. So I got up.
DH just about fell off of his chair when I came into the
kitchen. I made myself some breakfast, and tea for the both
of us. He left for work around 6:45. I cleared up the dishes.
Now what?? I'm on holidays, right? I can do what I want,
right??

So up to the computer room I went. Phoebe following
close behind. I got the computer going, set it to my
favourite talk radio station (CFRB), got out my stitching,
settled in my chair and stitched. It was wonderful!!!
I stitched the morning away. I almost did the same for
the afternoon. Around 1:00 I decided that I really
ought to get dressed (I was still in my jammies, house
coat and slippers at this point).

After a refreshing shower and dressing I had a bite of
lunch, and then, since it was a gorgeous day outside, I
went for a walk. Half an hour through the subdivision
where I live. It was warm enough that all I needed was
a light jacket over my clothes. The sun was shinning,
and the air smelled of wood smoke and falling leaves.
Don'tcha just love it?? I visited with my neighbour
and her kids, gave them a craft pattern that I'd been
promising to lend them forever and kept forgetting,
and they sent me home with homemade applesauce.
I spent the rest of the afternoon stitching.


Oh, and I got a delivery of some books that I'd ordered. Some
Christmas presents, and some for me. Of the four for me, only one
was a full price book. All the others were on sale for under $10.00.
I got book two in the Dublin series by Edward Rutherfurd. I have
all of his books, and they're wonderful historical fiction. I read the
first book in this series and wanted to get the second before it sold
out. It's been out for over a year now. I also got Sue Grafton's
S is for Silence, which has also been out for over a year, and which
had finally gone on sale thanks to the release of her next book, T
is for.... whatever it's for.


While exploring the Indigo/Chapters online book site I searched for
some Victoria magazine books that might be available and on sale.
I found these two to add to my collection. Both under $10.00. What
a steal!! Okay, I'm not technically a mother, but I have a mother,
some of my best friends are mothers, and I mother my cats....so I
got this little book. The bigger book is full of Victoria's trademark
gorgeous photography, and lots of handy, dandy decorating tips.
I now have a dozen Victoria books, which are getting harder to find
as they sell out of them at the book stores and are no longer available.
Second hand they can be quite expensive too so that's not always
an option. And here is my latest reading finish. I read Kim Harrison's
first book Dead Witch Walking last year (I think) and decided
to get the whole series. Supernatural - romance - mystery.
Fast paced, sexy, a nice detailed background history as well
as set rules for magic use, gives this series of fantasy books
a real life feel. I am now reading the sequel to this one, which
is Every Which way but Dead. Kim Harrison has written her
books with wit and imagination and I love them.

Rachel Morgan is an earth witch and a bounty hunter.
A former runner for the I.S. (Interland Security) she now
runs her own investigation agency with her partners Jenks,
a pixie, and Ivy, a living vampire. Rachel is hired,
unofficially, by FIB (Federal Interland Bureau) to hunt a
nasty killer who is targeting witches who use ley line magic.
She suspects the killer to be successful, mysterious
businessman Trent Kalamack, but has to find solid proof before
FIB will act. All while dealing with potentially grave
complications in her relationship with her tormented vamp
partner Ivy, and trying to outwit a demon who's marked her
for his own. Rachel has to try to stay alive and hang on to her
soul and find a killer, who may be targeting her next!!

Darlene (long suffering) was here last weekend to help with
the monumental task of decorating this house for Christmas.
It's a two day job, but this year I made things a bit easier by
spending one day of my holiday packing away the Autumn/
Thanksgiving/Halloween decorations, and also finding places
to hide/store the regular all year decorations to make room
for the Xmas stuff. What a chore. I warned DH to be careful
how he opens closet doors, pulls open dresser drawers, and
reaches into kitchen cupboards. He's liable to be bonked on
the head, or have an overfilled drawer drop on his foot if he's
not careful.

Should be interesting in January, when we're packing the
Xmas decorations away and I have to go looking for all the
hidden all-season decorations to put them out again. Last
Christmas I put one thing away somewhere, and spent
seven months looking for it afterwards. I finally found it
by accident in August while poking around the top shelf of
one of my kitchen cupboards looking for something else!

The Friday of my holidays my SIL and I went to a Christmas
decorating show at the convention centre out by the airport.
There was other, non Christmasy, crafty stuff and home
entertaining things for sale as well. We walked around for
a few hours and bought some neat things. We also went to
Michael's, where I stocked up on DMC thread, looked into
having Faith framed there (and nearly went into cardiac
arrest when they gave me the price to frame it!!) and
picked up some Xmas related trim.

Question: I've seen by the postings of bloggers in the States
that your Walmart's sell DMC thread. Ours in Canada do
not!! Why???? It's most annoying.

I've been spending the evenings during the past week working
on my Christmas cards. Averaging about a dozen a day. I
usually make up between 60 and 70 a year. Didn't realize we
knew that many people. Once the cards are done the next
thing on the list to tackle will be baking!!!! Maybe I should
hire Shannon (blog: This, that, the other) to do this for me.
She's the Christmas Baking Queen for sure!!!

On a sad note, this week my DH's great aunt Elsa passed
away. She was an incredible lady, who possessed a strong
love of family, a phenomenal memory, and a lot of spunk all
crammed into a tiny package. She was orphaned at an early
age, went into foster care and was separated from her three
siblings for many years because of this. She worked hard all
her life, and when she retired she started her own business
selling her crocheting work. She lived in Peterborough in her
own apartment until around the age of 96 and then moved in
with her son and his wife. We tried to visit her at least once a
year, taking her out for dinner and fighting her for the bill
afterwards. She always won. DH loved her homemade
shortbread. She was 101 years old when she died!!!
We'll miss her.

And this is what it looks like when I'm on the computer at
night. I can just barely move my wrist and hand to work the
mouse.

Well, it's time to finish off this posting and get on with my day.
Thanks for all your encouragement regarding the Snowflake
piece. I will finish it. I will. Once I've finished the secret
stitching. I want to get that done, and mailed off.

Sandra, still no sign of my first issue of Victoria. If it's not
here by the first week in December I'll email again. I'm
getting a bit annoyed with them, to say the least.

If you've read to the end of this posting I'd say that you
deserve a medal. Cheers all!!!! I'll be back commenting
to your wonderful blogs this week.

A wee bit more progress on Snowflake quilt square. Just have to put
points on the ends of some of the snowflakes, and stitch a broken line
boarder around the outside of the square, and I'm done. Trouble is
I've lost my mojo for this project. I keep getting distracted by other
projects. So little left to do, and I can't bring myself to pick it up and
do it. Time to stitch at work last week was limited, which didn't help
either.

And when I did have time to stitch I started a new project. This is
going to be a gift for someone, so I'm not giving out details other
then this hint of a picture. You'll just have to wonder.

And I started this project over the weekend. I've been wanting to
stitch this piece ever since I saw it finished by Becky, and a couple
of other stitchers. I love this design so much. I haven't subscribed
to A Gift of Stitching on line cross stitch magazine because I wasn't
sure if my computer could handle it, or how it would work with my
very limited computer skills. But this weekend I decided to bite
the bullet, and go for it. I got the first 21 issues safely downloaded
to my computer and am very happy.

So a start on LHN/CCN collaboration design from A Gift of Stitching.
Love those wee bees!! And the colours used to stitch this. I may
have to back stitch the bee's wings because, once again, I'm not
sure that the white thread is showing up too well on the material
I'm stitching on. This is 28 count Jobelan by the way. I also
really want to stitch the Long Dog Sampler's Mystery sampler
that was published in this magazine. I've seen it being stitched,
and finished, by several stitching bloggers and it's gorgeous!!!

It's Monday morning here, and a long weekend for a select few
of the working populace in Canada who still get a day off for
Remembrance Day, which was officially yesterday. Mostly
just the Banks, the Government, and the Post Office who get
the holiday now. I was taking the entire week as a holiday,
but traded one day with another girl at work who wanted an
extra long weekend for a visit to the States. So I go into work
tomorrow, then I'm off for the rest of the week.

On Saturday DH was busy helping put the church float
together for the annual Georgetown Santa Claus parade,
which was held during the evening on Saturday. Once again
they borrowed a farmer's hay wagon, strung it with lights
and piled it with hay bales for the kids to sit on. Then the
adults and kids rode it along the route, singing carols all
the way and having a great time. He was gone from 2 till
almost 9:30. After the parade they had to take the float
back to the church, remove all the decorations and then
return the wagon to it's owner, so that took time. DH was
pretty pooped when he got home.

Sunday I went to my Mom's retirement residence for
lunch and a visit. I stitched while we talked, she napped
and then we went out to one of the common rooms to
work on a jigsaw puzzle. A mutual obsession of ours.
While we were there we were found and surprised by a
visit by my godson and his mom.

Godson Ian has been away at college since September,
but came home this weekend for Commencement. He's
studying Drama at Fanshaw college in London. He's
having a wonderful time down there, and is loving every
minute of his courses. They've been to Stratford to see
a play, and to Niagara On the Lake for the Shaw festival
and a few plays there. It was wonderful seeing my
"Little" godson, who is 18 and now officially taller then
my DH, which means that he's almost 6'6" tall!!! We
had a nice visit together before they had to leave.



After reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian two weeks
ago, I needed a light, breezy book to "cleanse" my reading palate.
I picked up these two books while grocery shopping, having
heard good things about this author, Debbie Macomber, from
various bloggers. The author is an avid knitter, and wrote these
two books as a way of incorporating that love with her love of
writing.

Lydia is a two time cancer survivor who is making her first
tentative steps towards independence after years of concent-
rating on her battle with the disease. She is using a small
inheritance to open her own yarn shop. Having learned to
knit while battling her first bout of cancer as a teenager
Lydia credits the craft with helping her to get through the
rough times and often harrowing treatments. She wants
to teach others the joys of knitting, and hopefully make
friends along the way. The book focuses on three women
who take Lydia's first beginning knitters class, their
lives, and their problems, as well as the development
of Lydia's first adult relationship. The knitting classes
bring these four women into a lasting friendship, and
they help each other to face their problems, and solve
them.

The story of Lydia and her shop continues in the second
book, with three new characters introduced, and an
occasional appearance by the original three from the
first book along with updates on their lives. A third book
in this series is due to come out next Spring I believe.

These are light reads, which is why I read both in one
week, but they are fun, and well written, and it's easy
to get emotionally involved with at least some of the
characters, and especially Lydia who is tentatively
experiencing life and love for the first time.

Many of you knit as well as cross stitch, so you should
know that each book has a knitting pattern printed at
the front of the book, as a gift from the author to fellow
knitters. And cross stitchers in general can certainly
relate to the love of a craft, and how sharing it with
others can lead to strong, sustaining friendships, as well
as being a means of relaxation and an outlet for
creativity which is good for the soul.

Oh wow!!! I am delighted to discover so many fellow
lovers of The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey
Niffenegger out there. What an awesome book!! I
read this the year it came out, and loved it so much
that I recommended it for the book club that I was
in at the time, and read it a second time in that same
year. I've heard that it might be made into a movie
which has me worried because I'm afraid that
someone will take a wonderful story and make hash
out of it. And who do you guys think could play
Henry and Claire???

The Christmas magazine season is upon us, and I'm
eagerly awaiting the first issue of Victoria magazine,
which I subscribed to as soon as I heard it was being
published again. I picked up Mary Engelbreit's Home
Companion December issue this weekend and am
pouring over it as usual. I love Christmas magazines.

This weekend coming up Darlene is coming for our
annual weekend of decorating the tree and house.
I've got egg nog in the fridge, and the Christmas
CD's close to hand to help get us in the mood. I may
go to Yorkdale Mall on Wednesday to do a bit of
Christmas shopping, and I need to look for this
years Christmas cards. We've had a wee dusting of
snow once of twice, but it's still not cold enough to
get anything serious. It's suppose to rain this afternoon.

Well, this is another long, rambling blog entry. Time
to shut up and finish off. Hope I haven't put anyone
to sleep. Have a great week folks.

Linda has tagged me with this book meme....can't imagine why.

Anyways, I have given this some thought and here's my answers.....

1: Hardcover or paperback, and why?

I prefer hardcovers because I find that they travel well, and they're

easier on my eyes to read, and they stay open on the page by themselves

most of the time. But I do buy paperbacks too because not all books

come out in hardcover, and sometimes I don't want to pay full price for a

light bit of fluff that may or may not be a keeper.

2: If I were to own a book shop, I would call it…

Judy's Books - Go Get Your Own!!!!

3: My favourite quote from a book (mention the title).

I'm too brain strained to remember quotes from books.

4: The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be…

Marie Killilea (Karen / With Love From Karen)

or C.S. Lewis (Narnia series)

or Sharon Kay Penman (The Sunne in Splendor)

or Jacqueline Carey (Kushiels Dart etc)

5:If I was going to a deserted island and could bring only one book, except for the SAS survival guide, it would be…

The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

6: I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that…

Would hold the book for me, turn the pages, and hold the book

open while I read. Oh, and provided perfect lighting for reading.

7: The smell of an old book reminds me of…

My father - who read to me, told me stories, and nurtured and

encouraged my love of reading.

8: If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title) it would be…

Phedre no Delaunay (Kushiel's Dart, Kushiels Chosen, Kushiels Avatar)

9: The most overestimated book of all times is…

hmmmmmmmmm. Don't know off hand. I haven't met a book that

didn't give me some enjoyment or teach me something. I'm pretty

forgiving that way. Oh, can't say that I've been able to get into

anything by the Bronte sisters. Probably me. I'll try again someday.

10: I hate it when a book…

Is too short. Ends too abruptly. Gets preachy.

I also hate when a much loved book ends. I want it to

go on forever. And I hate when an author doesn't know

when to end a series.

Okay then....a progress report on my current Winter project. The
snowflake quilt square is nearing completion and I think that I'll be
able to finish it off sometime this week at work. Can't say that I'm
in love with this piece, but I'll finish it because I don't need anymore
UFO's laying around the place, and making me feel guilty.

Case in point.....this is Sarah's Friends, the companion to the project
pictured last week. About 3/4's done, badly stained by the masking
tape that I use to use to bind the edges, and stitched on stiff, white
Aida (shudder!!). These are so cute, but I can't see myself working
on this material again. And really, there's Aida, and then there's Aida.
The nice, soft high quality stuff, which the above is definitely not!!
I'll hold on to these for awhile, and the almost finished (except for the
french knots) one I may actually finish and do something with
someday, but this one.....
Book stash!! I was browsing through a couple of book blogs awhile ago
and came across a mention of the book Cheaper by the Dozen. It set
me off immediately, as it reminded me of a book that I'd read numerous
times many years ago, and a movie that I also loved. I'd wanted a copy
of Cheaper by the Dozen for my collection for years but had been unable
to find one. I decided to check the book sites again....and guess what??
A lovely hard cover edition has come out. Complete with a wonderful,
retro cover that I love. So I ordered it right away, along with a couple
of other books that I'd been coveting. Happy, happy me!

I also ordered the movie Cheaper by the Dozen, starring the marvelous
Clifton Webb, and the luminous Myrna Loy. I have seen this movie so
many times on tv over the years, I could probably quote the story
from start to finish without looking at it again. But I wanted it for my
movie collection, and since it was on sale, along with the sequel Belles
on Their Toes, I got it. These are comfort movies. You know.... like
comfort food, only on DVD instead of a plate. And no calories.

The Ken Follett book is a sequel to his wonderful book Pillars of the
Earth, which came out over twenty years ago at least and was a
fantastic read. I never expected him to write a sequel to it though,
so this lovely large tome came as quite a delightful surprise in the
book store one day. It's a nice chunky sized one too. So now I'll
have to reread my copy of Pillars of the Earth, because it's been a
few years since I first read it, and then I'll dive gleefully right into
this one. Sigh! I love books.....don't you???

The other book is one that I've read numerous reviews for and
had made a mental note to myself to get one day soon. It's a
fictionalized account of the affair between Frank Lloyd Wright
(the famous architect) and Mamah Borthwick Cheney. I look
forward to reading this one too.
While browsing the book selling site Indigo/Chapters I found some
books on sale for under $5.00.....all in hardcover. The two top ones
are Young Adult, in the supernatural vein, and the two below are
adult fiction. I figured that for under $5.00 you just can't go wrong.
And besides, I really hate to see a homeless, unwanted book.


So this is the book that I read last week. One of the sale books.
I'd read good reviews for this one, and was curious because of
the odd title. On the inside flap of the cover it states "a wise,
tender, deeply funny novel...." Um....well, I suppose it might be
to some readers. It's a bit broad in the "funny" department.
Perhaps what you might term satirical humour, which I don't
get myself.

I remember reading The Nanny Diaries when it
came out. I got it because the reviews said that it was very
funny. Satirical humour. I read the book. I didn't laugh. I
spent most of the book upset at how everyone was treating
everyone else, and by the end, when the Nanny is fired and
not allowed to see her little charge to say goodbye or
explain why she was leaving, I was in tears. So I don't get
satirical humour....at least not on the written page.

Anyways, I read A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
and I didn't laugh much. I winced a few times, and I shook
my head a fair bit, but I didn't laugh.

When Vera, and Nadia's recently widowed elderly father
announces that he's marrying a younger woman from
his homeland of Ukraine, they are shocked and dismayed
at the prospect. More so when they discover that she's
got a son, is still legally married in Ukraine, and is (in
their view) a voluptuous gold digger.

The two sisters are themselves estranged from one
another, and have an uneasy relationship with their
very eccentric, old world, engineer father who sees
the world in quite a unique way.

The book traces the courtship and marriage of the
old man and his brash, younger wife. It also slowly
reveals his past life, how he met his daughters
mother, and gives his view of how their life in pre-
WWII Ukraine unfolded, verses his wife's view as
related by their older daughter Vera. Their
history through the war and on to their emigration
to England and their life there.

Learning of the history of Ukraine was interesting.
Slowly seeing life in England through the eyes of
the "gold digging" younger wife who knows
the western lifestyle only as she's heard of it through
stories and propaganda is a revelation.

This is a book different from what I normally read,
and perhaps not quite my cup of tea, but it made me
think, and may have opened my eyes a little to see
something of how those who have not, see our lives
where we have so much, and think little of it. I
can't say that I ever felt any real emotional connect-
ion to any of the characters, but that's mostly
because I was feeling so annoyed and frustrated by
their motivations, and their behavior. I wasn't in
my comfort zone while reading this book, but I did
want to know how everything would work out.

Hello Shannon. I passed so close to your home and
didn't even know it?? Doh!!! How frustrating is
that??? If only I'd known. Thank you for your
kind words about my mom and her clothes. You
should know that she loves to dress up, and is of
that olde school, where you are always dressed
to your best. Her hair is always neatly styled (she
goes to the hairdresser once a week, and has done
for as long as I've been alive) and she is always
smartly dressed. Very unlike her daughter, who's
a slob!! Lol.

Hi Monique. Ah driving. A bit of a contentious issue
between DH and I. He would love it if I'd learn to
drive...in case of emergencies, you know. But I was
on my own until aged 32, and lived in Toronto where
you had a choice of having an apartment, or a car.
I had an apartment. Plus, in Toronto it's better to
take transit, rather then put up with the hassles
of driving, and the expense of parking. And I'm
just not confident enough in myself to learn to
drive. I'd be terrified behind the wheel. And there
are too many lunatics on the road as it is these
days. DH doesn't mind driving me around, and
the Go bus stops at the end of our street, so there
we are.

And everyone who commented....thanks for the
compliments on my writing. I'm glad you all
don't mind my long and rambling posts. I seem
able to post only once a week, and so there's
usually a great deal to say, and then throw in
a book review or two and the next thing you
know it's the on line blogging equivalent of
War and Peace.

Hope everyone had a nice Halloween. We had
maybe 50 kids total, and still have a fair bit of
candy left over. Some cute costumes, although
my DH was quite disappointed that the two,
kids who went to our neighbours across the
street and were dressed in huge sumo wrestler
costumes, didn't come across to us.

DH is spending this weekend working in the
garden, emptying the flower pots, mowing the
lawn, cutting back stuff, and in general just
putting the garden to bed for the winter. We
have finally had a killing frost over night, and
so most everything is done for the year anyways.

The bird feeders have been busy. The junkos
are back in town, and we've been delighted to
have a pair of red breasted nuthatches at our
feeders. It looks as though they're storing food
somewhere, and plan to spend the winter here.
The gold finches, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals
and blue jays are stuffing themselves, and so are
the squirrels for that matter.

Stitching Bits n Bobs has a Halloween sale on. Sigh!!
So guess what? Sigh!!! I don't know why I don't
just arrange to have my pay cheque direct deposited
to Bit's n Bobs, just to save time, and wear and tear
on my VISA card. Sigh!!!!!

And finally, yes the end is in sight, DH was doing
some book keeping last weekend here and was
sitting at the desk area, with the to drawer of the
two drawer filing cabinet in the closet wide open
so that he could access the files he needed. He
turned around and found.....

Rupert says "Hi Y'all!!!"

Cheers and have a great weekend everybody. Thanks for dropping in.

A special posting because Monique tagged me to tell 7 things
about myself. Please try to stay awake for this....and I'll try
to keep it short (ha!!) and sweet.

1) I have a rare blood type - AB RH negative.

2) I don't know how to drive a car - I've never wanted to
learn to drive a car.

3) I'm an only child.

4) My DH has one sister who never had
kids. So I have no nieces or nephews either. Bummer.

5) I'm a loner. I love being by myself. (See only child
reference above)

6) I find it hard to talk to people, especially people I
don't know.

7) I've been to England 4 times.....with my parents in 1978,
by myself in 1980 and 1982, and on my honeymoon with
DH in 1990. I would love to go again. And to Scotland
(Hi Karen), Wales and Ireland too.

There. Hope I haven't bored you all to tears. I'm not that
interesting a person I'm afraid.

I hope to write a stitchie post sometime this weekend, but
it's going to be one of those weekends where we'll be running
constantly, and be home rarely, so I'm not sure how that'll
work out. So maybe I should just keep going here, instead
of balancing my cheque book, which is what I'm suppose to be
doing.
I don't think that I've ever posted a picture of this piece . I stitched
it back in my first cross stitch period, 10 years ago. It is a Dimensions
design, the designer being Barbara Mock. The only thing left to do on it
(I think) is put french knots (here we go again Dani) around the little
boys head, and that will be his hair. I stitched this on white Aida,
which I don't like anymore. I'm a linen/evenweave snob now. Anyways
I have a companion to this piece which is about 3/4 stitched and I
suppose should be acknowledged as one of my UFO's. It's also on Aida.
It's called Sarah's Friends, also designed by Barbara Mock. Perhaps
someday.....
And what I read this week. This book I admit being attracted
to initially because of the beautiful cover.

"Constance was adopted into the Thorne family. But she feels
herself to be an outsider, even before discovering that she
was adopted. She is a gifted musician, her sister is deaf.
She is dark, while her sister Jeannette is sunny. Her mother
and her sister share a closeness that Constance cannot feel a
part of. But she and her sister fall in love with the same man.

Constance runs from her family problems, forges a
successful career, and finds a refuge in Bali for a number of
years. Then she gets a call from her estranged sister, who
is dying, and suddenly they must both face the bitterness
between them over the past, and find forgiveness."

I'm paraphrasing the description from the back of the book
here. There's also a secondary story running through the
book involving Constance's nephew and a girl he meets in
the streets of London, who's visiting England but wants to
settle there and make herself into an "English girl" rejecting
her life in her homeland of Uzbekistan.

This was an enjoyable book, although at first I thought that
the secondary story was a bit jarring, and wasn't sure I
wanted it intruding into the main story. But eventually
everything fit together, and melded into one cohesive
unit. The characters are well written, and three
dimensional. The background story of the sister's
lives growing up is told in flashbacks, including how they
both fell in love with Jeannette's fiance Bill, and the
inevitable heartache which followed.

I will be checking out more books by this author.

Must go.....Moonlight starts in a few minutes.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Cheers.

Catching up with my stitching...here is the project that I've been
working on for the past three weeks now. This is a Linda Myers
design from leaflet #80 ~ Favourite Quilt Blocks. I am thinking
this might make a nice companion to the red snowflake patterned
piece that I stitched at the beginning of this year. It's not the most
stimulating pattern I've ever stitched, but I have to be on my toes
because I've found 3 errors in the pattern so far. Not hard to spot
them thank goodness, but it makes you worry about what errors
might be there that aren't easy to spot.

I'm going to visit with my Mom and have lunch with her tomorrow
and I'll be taking something to stitch on, plus all my new stash, to
show her. May take Spot of Tea 1 and work to finish that off. I've
missed working on it and the hole with the missing motif is taunting
me.

I've placed an order for fabric from MaryKathryn's on line site,
which is the first time that I've ordered from her. I've ordered the
fabric that she's offering to stitch all the Country Cottage/Crescent
colours design collaborations on together. And fabric to stitch the
Sampler Game Board on, plus other neutral fabrics.

I was cleaning up my craft cupboard last weekend and came across
some stitching projects that have been laying in my finishing drawer
4-ever!! This piece was stitched by my Mom, and I have got to get
this framed. It's so pretty, and I love the colours. Becky, this would
make a nice companion to Bird Bath, that you stitched for your Mom,
don't you think??? We do get all these birds at our feeders by the
way.

I haven't posted about my reading hobby for quite awhile
now, and am shocked about that. So here are two recent
finishes to tell you about...starting with the above by Gail
Tsukiyama. I enjoyed reading this book very much. It
takes place over a span of about 30 years, and follows the
lives of two brothers, raised by their grandparents. One
wishes to train and become a Sumo wrestler, the other a
designer and maker of the traditional masks used in the
Japanese theatre. Part of the story takes place during the
second world war and that alone is an interesting and at
times harrowing period to read about. I will be reading
more of this authors books in the future.

This is only the second book by Pauline Gedge that I've read.
I really need to get the rest of her books because she really is
an excellent writer, especially her books that take place in
Egypt. This book tells of the early life of Huy, a young peasant
boy who's wealthy uncle arranges for him to go to a prestiges
temple school in a large city, away from his home and family.
Huy does well in school, and makes friends with the son of a
wealthy family who treat him like one of their own. Then,
when he's about 12 years old the jealous actions of another
classmate result in a life changing and transforming experience.
As much as this is a story based on Egyptian history, I would
also venture to classify this as a fantasy of sorts as well. I
expect there to be a sequel to this book, since it ends when
Huy is 19 and you just know that there is much more of
his story to be told.

I have to thank Lelia, and Beatrice for nominating my blog for
a "You make me smile" award. I was flabbergasted when I
read your comments and checked out your blogs. It made
me feel quite pleased, although I have to acknowledge that
a lot of the smile inducing credit probably should be shared
with the cats, and Rupert the ham in particular. Thank you
ladies.

Monique, Sandra, Karen and Glenda ~ all new commenters.
Welcome to you and thank you for stopping by and leaving
your comments. It was so exciting to come home from long
days at work, open my computer and read all the comments
that had been left. Then to travel to your blogs and gaze at
the pictures and read the posts. Very relaxing. And very
inspiring.

The first week of driving his new Jetta kept DH on his toes
as he practiced his standard driving skills, and got use to the
quirks and challenges and differences from his old Impala.
The car has endured it's first rain since we got it, it's first
run on the highway, it's first 650 km's, and it's first bird
pooping on the hood. DH has also been kept busy picking
tiny leaves out of the car's nooks and crevices, which fell on
it when it was parked where he works.

We had an Octoberfest barbecue at work on Thursday.
Hot dogs cooked on multiple, extra long barbecues. Quite
yummy. No beer though. I don't drink, but isn't the beer
the whole point of Octoberfest???

We're off to a party this evening to celebrate our friends
Ron and Charlene 20th wedding anniversary. The party
is in the town of Sutton, near Keswick and on the shores
of Lake Simcoe. It'll be a bit of a trip, taking about two
hours. I wish that I could stitch in the car, but find that
there is too much movement. It's subtle, but I do notice
it. Are any of you able to stitch in the car???

I have a day off on Monday...guess what I'm planning on
spending the day doing???? No, go on....guess! :)


Taken on Thanksgiving. After a pile of turkey and trimmings what
do we all do?? My Mom is going to kill me when she sees this.....
(grins wickedly). Cheers all. Have a great week.