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.