Today marks the final day of my first week of holidays for this
year. Sigh!!! Where did the time go??? It was, of course,
wonderful to have the time to do whatever I wished, or to do
nothing if I wished. So what exactly did I do with my time?

To begin with, the latest issue of Victoria magazine arrived
at the beginning of the week and so I spent some quality
time relaxing with a cup of tea, and this magazine. As the
magazine's title says....Bliss!!

It was cool to see a couple of articles that feature Canadian
subjects. The 100th anniversary of the Empress Hotel in
Victoria, B.C. and the gardens of Hatley Castle, also in B.C.
Since my maiden name is Hattey I could just about imagine
that the article was about Hattey castle. If only..... Lol!

Hey, did you know that the publishers of Victoria are also
the publishers for Sampler and Antique Quarterly magazine
and for Just Cross Stitch magazine???


I spent Tuesday morning cleaning the library. I have been
squeezing new books in there with a shoe horn lately as the
shelves are full, the tops of the bookcases are just about
covered and you can only pile them on tables and things to
a certain height before they start to tumble. I was able to
transfer some big coffee table books to a bookcase in the
den, sacrificing nicknack display space in the process, and
thus opened up space for transferring books from the top of
the big bookcase. So now I have space on top of the book
case for new books for another year. Are you still with me??
What will I do next year when that space is full again, you
may be asking......Don't ask!!!

I've been stitching too, of course. I started working on the
next Country Garden square, which is Daisy. This photo is
a bit washed out, because the daisy colour (Magnolia Blossom)
actually shows up quite well against this material. And the
Blueberry Tart used to frame the flower name is very pretty.

And I've been building a bee hive on my older project. I
actually changed something on this design that I wasn't
too keen on. The pink flower was suppose to be a patch,
sort of like what you'd see on the knee of a pair of pants.
I didn't think that it belonged on a bee hive however, so
I took a flower from another design in the book and put
it there instead. There is a green leaf vine to be put onto
the bee hive, which will compliment the flower better
then it would a patch.

Got a wee package from Mary Kathryn this week with more
lovely thread in it. And this sweet chart from LHN which is
going to be a delight to stitch. I've ordered the red silk
thread to stitch this with but they have yet to come.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I met my friend Charmaine for lunch and shopping at
Yorkdale mall on Thursday. We had a lovely lunch,
shopped for books (for me) and children's clothes
(for her....kids) and talked and talked and talked.
I came home footsore, but buoyed by the outing and
our discussions about everything from crafts to kids
(I listened), to politics.

I made use of the new tv some, and watch a couple
of episodes of Medium ~ Season One, which I'd gotten
recently. Good show. I look forward to more of this.
I picked up the first season of Bones while at Yorkdale
since I missed getting into it when it began. Love Mr
Boreanaz ever since Angel.

I found the answers you all gave to my question as to
what books should be made into movies or tv series
quite interesting. Especially since everyone had a
different preference. I have to agree with Wendy,
that seeing Diana Gabaldon's Outlander translated
to tv would be awesome!! It's been optioned and
dropped, and optioned again so many times, but no
one has really been able to get the thing made. A
shame really. But then....Wendy....who'd they get
to play Jamie and Claire????

I'd like to see what someone would do with Stephenie
Meyer's Twilight series too. I see they've announced
the next book in that series Breaking Dawn, which
will be released in August. Great!!! I can't wait. And
the chance to see these books made into a movie or
tv show (whatever) would also be cause for debate.
Who on earth could you find to portray the gorgeous
Edward????

-----------------------------------------------------

It also seems that most of you prefer not to stitch
something that features another country's flag,
unless you were doing it for a gift. Although I
liked Sue's suggestion of stitching something for
each country you've traveled to, if you've been
lucky enough to travel a bit. I'm still liking that
Heart of America pattern by LHN. Especially
after seeing it being featured by Nicole at
Carolina Dreams, with the threads laid out next
to the pattern, and the little buttons to be used
on it.

-------------------------------------------------

Jaimie, we've been watching your leadership
races for each party with great interest here. It's
been the topic of conversation at work, where
one of our girls sits up 'till all hours to catch the
results of each Primary. With the race between
Obama and Clinton garnering the most attention.
The debate as to which of those two candidates
would be best to run for the Presidency is both
passionate and enthusiastic. And we can't even
vote!

I've got to go and get ready because I'm off to
my Mom's for lunch and an afternoon of stitching
and jig saw puzzle solving. DH will be spending
his afternoon trying to hook up the new HD
cable box which arrived this week. He was not
impressed when he saw that box, and all the
cables and stuff that came with it. After spending
last weekend hooking up the new tv to all the
gadgets and equipment, now he has to do it all
over again. I figured it would be best for me to
get out of the house (if not the province) and leave
him to it.

So I'll leave you with another question series:
Will you be watching the Academy Awards show
tonight??? Will you watch the whole thing???
Are you a loyal follower of this awards show???
Have you seen any or all of the movies nominated
for best picture??? What do you love about the
Academy Awards...if anything??? What do you
hate???

And finally....shhhhhh....don't let the cat out of the bag!!!

:) Have a great week everyone. Cheers!