This week I had a yen to stitch on Violet, the fourthsquare in the Cottage Garden set from CCN. The
purple thread used in this, called Amethyst, is such
a pretty colour. I got quite a bit stitched on this
during the week and am well on my way to finishing
by next weekend. Baring distractions.
Meet the distractions. I put in an order at Stitching
Bit's n Bobs and it arrived on Friday.
1) I got my first Waxing Moon Designs charts and
love 'em. Thanks to Sue (Stitcher W) who stitched a
Waxing Moon design during the Winter and was my
introduction to this wonderful design company.
2) Nicole (Carolina Dreams) was the
person to introduce me to Barbara and Cheryl
Present, who's vignettes of urban properties are so
lovely. Solid stitching but fairly easy stitching at
that. This one is really calling to me. Oh dear.
3) One of CCN's latest designs Joyfull Summer,
which I've seen stitched already by several people
around the blog world, including Becky who just
finished hers a week ago. This is one pretty
design.
4) Continuing to build my collection of
Lizzie Kate designs, and adding to my small
collection of "season" sets is the Think
series. Very cute.
After a week of cool temperatures and rain off and
on (usually when I'm leaving work and don't have an
umbrella on me) the garden continues it's seasonal
progression. Our white silk lilac tree is at it's peak
today and the scent is exquisite. Beneath it the
Spirea bushes are putting out their pink flowers,
which make a nice accent.
And here's a view of the stairs leading to the deck,
where many of my pots are located. Everyone seems
pretty happy and contented so far.
DH has been away since Wednesday for his annual
trip up to Temagami and the island cottage of a
friend from church. A bunch of men from the church
go up every year and have a mini vacation. They have
a ball being "guys roughing it", eat lots of barbecue,
swim if the weather allows, dodge black flies and
do odd jobs around the place to help out and
earn their keep. I'm expecting him home sometime
early this evening, dragging a bag of dirty laundry,
in need of a shower, and covered in bug bites. I
can't wait. :)
Friday night, after work, I made my way to downtown
Toronto to meet my friend Charmaine, who was
treating me to a night at the symphony at Roy
Thompson Hall (interior pictured above) as a birthday
gift.
But not just any night at the symphony. This
performance featured the music of Star Trek, and
was being narrated by it's two special guest hosts
John De Lancie and Robert Picardo.
Music from most of the movies, and all of the tv
series (except Enterprise) was performed, and
in between the two actors told a bit of the history
of Star Trek, and added anecdotes from their
own personal associations with the series. It was
so wonderful to hear the movie and tv themes
performed live, and to see two favourite actors from
the series on stage, kibitzing together. And of
course a fair number of people in the audience
showed up dressed for the occasion in uniform/
costume. And there were, of course, Klingons.
I finished reading Fingersmith on Thursday and
needed a nice light read which I could carry in
my purse on Friday during my commute to work
in the morning, and my trip into Toronto after
work in the evening. I'd picked up this Charlaine
Harris book on sale a while ago, and it fit the bill
perfectly.
This is the first installment of a different
series from the Sookie Stackhouse vampire books.
It's a mystery series featuring Harper Connelly who,
after being struck by lightening as a teenager, has
the ability to locate dead bodies and "see" how the
person has died. Harper and her manager/assistant
Toliver (who's also her step-brother) travel the
country, hired by their clients to find the remains of
missing people. It's a light read, with humor and
lots of colourful characters.
Lynn asked how Rupert gets to the top of the clock.Well, he jumps onto the dining room table, leaps
from there to the top of the hutch (which shudders
and sways alarmingly when he does it) and from
there it's a short step, kind of, to the top of the
clock. If I see him making the attempt I try to stop
him, but he's pretty sneaky about it.
Sounds like a thunderstorm is coming up so I'd
best finish this post and get off the computer.
Hope you all have a wonderful week.
Cheers!
14 comments:
I so love your newsy, full posts! :D And what a lot you've been up to lately!! That night at the symphony sounds so neat (and very unusual). I love the picture of the empty hall. Very cool. Your stitching on Violet is coming along so fast! I'm afraid if I got a nice big stash haul like you did, I'd be too busy fondling it and daydreaming to get any stitching at all done. ;) Finally, your garden is incredible. I mean "WOW!".
Wow, you made great progress on Violet. The colors in that one are so pretty. Awesome stash too! Glad you're enjoying the Waxing Moon designs, they are fun. I just got Joyful Summer and have it kitted and ready to go, just need to find some stitching time (which seems to have been in short supply of late). The Symphony sounds like it would have been wonderful, and what fun to have seen the different costumes people wore.
Sue
Can you believe it - blogger let me on. I looked back over earlier posts Good going girl I love Violet - being one of my favorite colors. Your gardens are lovely. We are still working away on ours.
BTW could you email me at drewsgrands@hotmail.com I am having a stitching gathering coming up and would like to get in touch with you. Hugs
Great new stash! How on earth to decide what to do next. I would be tempted to start a few stitches on each as I don't think I could decide. Your garden bushes are looking lovely as do all the pots flanking the deck stairs. All this rain for our lawns and gardens is paying us back with their beautiful colours.
That sounds like quite an unusual concert - full of Klingons and other characters!
Loving your stash, your beautiful lilac (they seem to be poor, stunted things around here--must be the heat), the gorgeous pots around the stairs, and the sweet kitty (looking innocent).
Great stash...lots of lovely charts there :)
Your Violet block is looking beautiful!!
Great stash! I just ordered CCN Joyful Summer myself. Hope you enjoy your Waxing Moon charts. I've stitched a few of theirs and find they're such fun stitches.
Your deck is beautiful! You must really enjoy stitching out there with all your lovely pots.
I laughed when you explained about Rupert's jump. I can just see that hutch swaying!
Sounds like that was an awesome concert. I'm a secret Trekkie and would have love that one1
Looks like you're keeping quite busy!!! Love all your pics :)
Hi Judy,
Another great collection of stash. Your violet is lovely. They are one of my favourite flowers. Love the perfume of them, although when I first started working I bought my self a bottle of Yardley "April Violets" and ended up turning my self off the smell LOL.
It sounds like you had a lovely time at the Symphony. It does us good to go to something lovely like this sometimes. Recharges the batteries. I think my batteries must be dead as I haven't been to a concert in years LOL.
Your garden is looking lovely. I can just imagine the smell from your lilac tree. Lilac's grow up here in the mountains, but not in Sydney where it is to warm. A house a few streets away has a few along their fence line that are quite huge and it is a joy to drive past them in Spring with the car windows open.
Hope you have a lovely weekend - Sandra.
Hi Judy! Thanks for your comments on my blog! To answer your question about the threads on "Primrose Path"....they are Caron Watercolors, Carol Waterlilies, DMC perle cotton #5, and Rainbow Gallery's Sparkle Rays. I suppose you could use any of these for cross stich if the linen is a large enough count, but I have only used these types of fibers on canvas work.
Hi, Judy! Love the Violet! And, just wanted to tell you that the B&N books included the mailing! So, if you still want that 50% off special...they may even mail them to you free! I love your steps to the garden. So wonderful to stitch on your deck and smell the flowers.
Hugs, Deb
Hi Judy, thank you for your kind comments on my photo's. Haven't done much stitching since they were taken. Still on page 3 of Kitty, but she is slowly coming along. She is pretty, but if you look closely at the original, she has a few holes in her. I suppose if we were over 200 years old we would have a few holes in us as well LOL.
Now with the Queen of Denmark. It is easy for us in Oz in recognise her as she has become a little bit like our own Queen. Her son Crown Prince Frederick married an Aussie girl from Tasmania called Mary. A lot of us sat up into the wee small hours a few years ago and watched their wedding and you only have to pick up a woman's magazine and there is usually some sort of story about Mary and the family.
I also believe that the QofD is also very talented with the needle, and is patron of the Embroiders Guild of Denmark. I have read that she designs costumes for the Royal Ballet of Denmark among other things. A very talented lady who I am sure would have found a lot of inspiration of visiting the expo on M-A.
Looks like a nice day today. The sun is shining, yay, but I have heard that we might get very strong winds and cold weather this evening in the alpine areas, which could include us.
Have a lovely Canada Day. I heard on the radio yesterday that it was coming up and somewhere out here (can't remember where) were going to celebrate it. A day of stitching sounds good to me. I might do the same (any excuse) as DH has had to go into work on a Sunday. - Have a lovely week - Sandra.
I can't wait to see you finish this series :o) Do you just have one more to do?
More stash! No wonder you're not stitching, you're rolling in it all ;o) LOL!
We have that exact same tree, with the exact same bushes underneath it! How weird is that?
That sounds like quite a symphony you went to. I'd never heard of it. Glad you enjoyed it though :o)
Violet is coming along just lovely.
I'm so impressed with those tree's. Ann of knowledge and Needles has one too. It smell delicious!
Your deck looks so inviting..beautiful pots!
I love the story of Rupert on the clock. My Holly used to get up on top of the bookcase and swat people as they walked by. She was declawed so never hurt anyone but certainly scared the bejeebees out of a few folks. lol.
Have a wonderful Canada Day tomorrow.
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