Sunday, January 04, 2009


It's hard to believe that another year has gone and we're
now into a whole new year, with all the promise and the
worry that facing the unknown brings. Hope that the
year ahead is a good one for everyone, with more joys
then sorrows.

A lot of you have been setting down stitching goals for
this year, which is very admirable and just a wee bit
scary. As for me, I'm the sort of person who prefers to
rummage in my stash, see what grabs my attention
at the time and pull it out. I don't usually do huge
mega-projects and I don't usually have more then
one project on the go at any given time so I just go
with the flow and stitch without structure. It suits
my personality.


Having said that....at the moment I actually have three
projects on the go at this time, which is almost unheard
of for me. I think some of you stitchers out there may
be having a bad influence on me.

I needed a new travel project after finishing Kitty
Cottage and ended up choosing... a LHN design....
surprise...surprise!! My Needle's Work came with all
it's own threads and just needed me to choose a piece
of fabric to stitch it on. I think this is 28 count Bitter-
sweet. I've been working on it a bit at home thanks
to "new project enthusiasm" and it's looking very
pretty.


I've been stitching on Waxing Moon's Halloween Short
Stack over the holidays and finished the ghost, more or
less. Next is the witches hat and the mouse and then
all the stuff around the main design.

I have one other project on the go which is Prairie
Schooler's November window sampler but I have not
touched it in quite awhile now. I actually had a notion
to stitch on it yesterday but had a seniors moment and
couldn't remember where I'd put the threads for it
(they were right under my nose) so ended up winding
DMC thread on bobbins instead. (I lead such an exciting
life, don't I?) A relaxing activity but one that I tend to get
very behind in.


We had a relatively quiet week at home between Christmas
and New Years, which is what we needed. We did go to
visit our friends Matt and Charmaine one day and were
introduced to the newest member of their family who had
only arrived 24 hours previously. This is Jersey and she is
an eight week old, Old English Sheep dog. Adorable???
Are you kidding?? This is one little bundle of utter cuteness.
She'll grow to be about 65 pounds I'm told, and so this little
furball won't be so little for long.

We spent New Years eve with a group of friends and had
a nice evening eating, talking, reminiscing and laughing.
We watched the final countdown at midnight on TV,
then turned it off and sat talking some more until almost
two in the morning!! I can't remember the last time that
DH and I stayed up that late, but I do know it's been years!
It was half past two when we finally got to bed and New
Years day we didn't do much of anything because we're a
pair of old fogies and can't handle the wild life anymore.

Our refrigerator is stuffed full of left overs, which is
great because it means less cooking is required of me
when meal times roll around. On the other hand, I've
been eating turnip casserole since Christmas and much
as I love turnip I am starting to get a wee bit tired of it.
DH hates turnip so I don't get any help or sympathy
from him.

I can't believe that tomorrow we go back to work, and
probably next weekend the Christmas tree will be taken
down and packed away for another year. It makes me
feel very sad just to think of it.


My final book read for 2008 is the first book in a
series by Robyn Carr. Small town life in Grace
Valley California with all the quirky characters
that tend to fill these types of books. The main
character is Doctor June Hudson who took over
the doctoring of the good people of the valley
from her retired father. Doctor June has
devoted her working life to looking after the
people of the valley where she grew up but
is now at the stage where she realizes that she
can't do it all by herself any longer. And she's
beginning to feel the longings for a family of her
own. Although finding an eligible man in such
a tight knit and somewhat isolated community
is a problem. As it said in the book: this is a town
where you should have picked your husband in
the
ninth grade. There is a half dozen or more
books in this series and I've got most of them here,
ready to read. If you enjoy Jan Karon's books then
you'd probably like these as well.


I forgot to mention and pay tribute to Majel
Barrett, who passed away just before Christmas
from cancer. If you're a trekkie like I am then you'll
know her as the voice of the computer in all the
series, and the movies, as well as Nurse Chapel in
the classic series, and Lwaxana Troi in Next Gen.
She was an integral part of the Star Trek universe
and I was sorry to hear of her passing. I was lucky
enough to meet Majel Barrett at a convention
about 10 years ago after the release of one of the
Next Gen. movies.


Well, DH has just arrived home from church, and we
have to go see Mom this afternoon, plus do laundry and
other fun stuff. So have a great week everyone. Here's
the cats under the Christmas tree to end the post with
furry cuteness.

Cheers!

14 comments:

imnverted said...

your wips look wonderful. I agree, the puppy is fluffy cuteness!

mainely stitching said...

What cozy kitties under the tree!! But the sheepdog is a big no-no in this house. For some reason, the OES across the street sends our Rigby into a fury - he actually dragged me behind him on a mad dash to catch the furry critter one night!

Wonderful projects you have going. I used to be a one-project-at-a-time stitcher too. All kinds of bad influences out there in blogland! LOL!

stitcherw said...

Wow you had a lot going on. Very cute picture of the kitties, and Jersey is adorable. You've made great progress on your two projects. I especially love Halloween Short Stack, to cute. I don't do a lot with goals for the year, pretty much just make a couple of general ones so that I have the freedom to work what calls to me too. I want to finish the SAL my DSIL and I just started, put in some significant work on Flower Dragons for my DD, and make several more cat mats for the animal shelter. Easy goals and lots of room for other things that catch my interest.
Sue

Cindy F. said...

3 projects at once!! Look at you going outside of your norm!!..lol..good for you! I used to be the same way about one thing at a time, but I have so many things I need to make right now...we'll see how it goes.
Great progress on your wips!
What a precious puppy!!!

staci said...

Great projects Judy! And that puppy is downright adorable...and full of energy I'm sure! Your cats are right about my pace :)

Beatrice said...

I'm glad to hear that you had a nice holiday season .The kitties look pretty cozy under the tree.
I'm with you on the goal thing if I started to write things down they would make me panic. I like to stitch things on a certain day but it's not written in stone... relaxed mode for me! No pressure.
That is one of the reasons I don't do RR and exchanges..way to much pressure for me.

I stitch something for someone else it's because I want to not have to.

Good luck with your projects.

I do hope we can stitch together someday in this New Year!
Take care and stitch with happy fingers.
Happy New Year!

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Hey thanks for another excellent recommendation for a book :)
I've written it down!

I also love your new start :) Have this waiting on me to stitch as well...and I love your Halloween short stack!

Your kitties are just the cutest! Hope you had a pleasant day back to work.

Dani - tkdchick said...

Hey Judy, the cold is still here, its nothing more than being stuffy right now. Tonight, I tried to beat it out of myself! I went to Taekwon-Do and Cardio TaeBox afterwards. We'll see how I feel tomorrow morning right?

You knwo I was thinking you talked about hoping to get together in 2009. I don't know of you were aware that Ann in Brighton is having a spring retreat at the Timberhouse where she had her fall/November retreat. I'd be happy to pick you up at the train station on my way in if you're interested. The retreat is on the tail end of March break, March 20-22nd. I know Beatrice will be there, hopefully Rebecca, Christin,and more! You can get in touch with Ann through her shop's website www.knowledgeandneedles.com if you're interested. Just thought I'd pass it on.

Not looking forward to tomorrow's bad weather. If it is bad I might take a sick day and hopefully kick this cold in the butt!

YOu've got a beautiful new start thre and I look forward to all your new projects this year!

samplerlover said...

Hi Judy,
How are you. My youngest is on school holidays, so I don't get much time on the computer these days. He goes back to school at the end of the month.
You sound a bit like me. I usually only have 1 on the go, but I currently have 3. I finished Lois, started Elizabeth, joined the SAL for Beatrix and decided to finish Sarah Moon. All these ladies have interesting names. Lois is now Shirley (my Mum didn't like this name and preferred Betty). Elizabeth will be Elizabeth but will have a slight twist and will also be called Annie May Elizabeth.
It is so hot here at the moment. In fact it is too hot to stitch. I have felt like a wet rag for a few days. Have nearly finished reading my book which I have totally enjoyed. It is the 3 Musketeers. I originally bought it for my eldest how fell in love with Dumas and collected his books. I have started another collection of them for the youngest, but I seem to be enjoying them instead LOL. Always the way.
Had a quite Christmas. Spent Christmas Day with my Dad and Sister. My DH had a extra days holiday so we spent it in the garden pruning. Still have a lot of pruning to go LOL.
Your WIP is looking lovely. It is always exciting when you start something new. It is even more so when you finish it LOL.
My DH bought me the Goodhart Sampler book for Christmas but because of shipping problems it arrived yesterday. Have you seen it. Oh my goodness there are some beautiful samplers there. I hope that some of them will be charted. They gave us a chart for a beautiful Scottish Sampler that is really lovely. That could end up on my "to do list".
Well I better go and unstick myself from this chair and go and start preparing dinner.
Glad Mum is again doing ok. Take care = Sandra.

D Wright said...

Jan Karon invites you to visit her website at www.mitfordbooks.com.
I know you will enjoy the site!

Sonda said...

That is one cute puppy! Love the cats under the tree. I miss having cats that snuggle together. It's such a peaceful picture. Your stitching is looking great!

Michelle said...

Happy New Year! Your new project is a great choice. Love those LHN designs!

Anonymous said...

Star Trek is one of my favourites of all time. My dream is to tell one day "beam me up Scottie" and actually be transported to a ship (not to a Klingon one). I liked "Troy" a lot.
I usually also have only one stitching project. More than one and I tend to disperse myself.
Hope your mom continues to get better.
Here we are with 0ยบ. So a lot of cold to portuguese people (the ones from Lisbon, like myself).
Berst regards

Pumpkin said...

LOL! I was just about to say that you are lying right through your teeth! ;o)

My goals for 2009 are general enough that it gives me room to stitch whatever I want but it also gives me a bit of focus.

I have that in my to-do pile and I just love that design. Your ghosty is looking very cute :o)

OMG that is one cute puppy!!!!