Sunday, February 15, 2009


The border is done, and so is the girl. It's always a relief
when both ends of the border meet exactly where they're
suppose to when you are stitching, isn't it? I always love
LHN borders. Simple, but pretty and a perfect compliment
to the design contained within. Now to finish the flowers
on either side of the girl, and then the heading and then
I'll be done.

Oh yes, and remember the thread that I was worried about
running out of?? I finished stitching the last thing on the
design that required that colour (the border) and had two
strands of the floss left over.

But this week week I'm off work for four days, added to the
provincial holiday tomorrow, so I'll probably stitch on my
home projects during that time. But you never know. I
haven't had the satisfaction or the pleasure of a finish for
awhile now so maybe I'll work on this one a bit too. We'll
see how the mood hits me. I've stitched a bit more on
November window but not enough to share a progress
picture.


Another Ebay win. I've loved these four designs for awhile
now so when they came up together on Ebay I had to try and
win them. And win them I did!! Yippee!! Love seasonal
design sets. Wait till you see what I won last week. Oh boy!!


I also received the final chart that was from an order
from Stitching Bits and Bobs from awhile ago. I've been
admiring the Barbara Ana designs stitched by Carla,
including several models, on her blog and when this one
came up on the sales page at Bits and Bobs I ordered it.
The design is lovely but I don't like the fabric that it's
stitched on in the photo at all. But that's easy to change.
These designs are stitched in such vibrant, rich and fun
colours aren't they?


Well, yesterday I finished the final book in the Inkheart
trilogy, and it was a fantastic finish. These books got
better and better as I read them. They had lots of exciting
action, but the author also made sure that the relation-
ships between the characters was also given an equal
amount of attention. And Cornelia Funke is great at
creating her characters, both major and minor, with
exquisite detail. They literally come alive on the pages,
which, given the subject of this story line, is only fitting.
These are books that celebrate the love of books that
avid readers share and delight in. They are wonderful!!



Of course yesterday was Valentine's Day, and I hope
that all of you had a wonderful day with your sweet-
hearts. It was an early day for us, which was hard
because on Saturday mornings it's nice to sleep in
after getting up for work before the crack of dawn
during the week. DH belongs to a Men's breakfast
club at church which meets once a month to cook
a big breakfast and share fellowship afterwords.
For Valentine's Day the guys volunteered to cook
breakfast for the ladies of the church, plus they put
on a bit of a show, singing a half dozen or so songs
suitable for the day. DH and I were at the church at
7:30 so that he could help set things up. I sat down
in a place that was out of their way and stitched until
it was time for the ladies to arrive an hour later.

The tables were laid with white linen and there was a
rose and a chocolate heart at each place setting. There
were centerpieces with sparkly red hearts on each table
too, and red confetti hearts scattered across the table.
It was very nicely done. There were about 46 women in
total that came out for the festivities. The men all came
dressed in black slacks, white shirts and red bow ties
which suited both the choir singing part and the food
serving parts of the event well.

After the singing breakfast was served, and what a
treat we ladies had. Fresh, home made from scratch,
Belgian waffles, with strawberries and whipped cream
on top, and jugs of maple syrup on the tables to add as
we wished. Tea and coffee and orange juice were offered
as beverages. Oh, it was delicious!

****************************************************

We spent Saturday afternoon, in part, rearranging the

library and putting the new bookcases together and in
place. This required unloading the old bookcases and
shifting them to make room for the new, and while we
were at it we vacuumed behind the old cases, cleaning

away years of dust, cobwebs (UGH!!! EWWW!!) and
crumbled stucco off of the walls. The new bookcases,
plus the six boxes of books that I donated to the
Humane Society thrift store last weekend gives me
lots of room to spread out, at least for a few more years.

I still have cleaning and rearranging to do down there
but once that's done I'll take some pictures to show you.

Driving me to Ikea to buy the bookcases, putting the
bookcases and the extensions together, moving the
furniture and vacuuming behind the bookcases
(because his wife is afraid of spiders and other creepy
crawlies) and not complaining or grousing during any
of it. Who needs roses (that die) and jewelery when
your DH does things like this for you??

Last night I took DH to our favourite pub for a delicious
dinner and his favourite brew, Guinness. Today he's
going to put his feet up and relax. He deserves it.

I'm so glad we had this big desk built into the computer
room. It gives me so much room to spread out and ......
it gives the cats so much room to spread out and snooze
while I perch the keyboard on the edge of the desk and
try not to shift it while typing. Everyone wants under
the desk lamp because of the heat that it puts out when
its turned on you see.

Last week Spring put in an early appearance around here.
The temperature rose all the way to +9 celsius and we had
some really heavy rains and wind, all of which helped to
melt away a lot of the snow that we've been blessed with
this Winter. After several days of dark and dreary the
sun came out and we've had a few days of bright sun-
shine now, although the temperatures are back to more
seasonable numbers. It looks as though we're in for
some nasty weather on Wednesday, which will serve
to remind us that it's still February and Spring isn't due
to arrive for another month. Sigh!!!!

If anybody south of us has signs of Spring (for real)
in your area how about posting some pictures to give
the rest of us some hope that Winter will end......
eventually.


My favourite designs coming out of Nashville remain
Blue Ribbon Designs series, including the above beauty
It's Cold Outside. I love the Brittercup monthly series
too, with those delightful cats.

It's time to bring this weeks post to a close and get
started on laundry and cleaning the library. Hopefully
I can keep from opening each and every book as I
dust it which really slows the cleaning process down.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week, with lots of
quality stitching time. Thanks very visiting.

Cheers!

14 comments:

Maggie said...

It sound as though you had a real special treat for valentines day, what a lovely idea and worth getting up early for!
Great win on e-bay, i havent bought anything from there in ages, must have a look see soon.
I have never come aqcross that series of books, i am still on my Bill Bryson fest at the moment but am only tending to read when i go to bed latley so it's taking me a while to complete a book, still, i'm loving them thats what matters.
Enjoy your mini holiday this week:-)
Happy stitching x

Cindy F. said...

Beautiful progress on your LHN and I love how you had floss left over!!
Enjoy your time off this week:)
and a big AMEN to your comments re: Valentine's Day. My dh is good to me every day in some way....no matter how big or small...so Valentine's we just exchange mushy cards:)

Lelia said...

WOW! What a fun post to read : )

Happy Belated Valentine's Day -- your day was very special.

Excellent progress on your LHN & I agree, great fun when the border comes together without a hitch.

My kidz read the Inkheart books & have told me frequently that I need to add them to my list. Is that the one with the golden compass? I may be confusing the books!

I finished the audio book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I was told the audio was fabulous & have to agree it was worth it == many different readers brought the letters to life. I just loved it.

Your pets look so content -- ours are sprawled out on the floor where the sun is peeking thru the blinds. We have a sunny, chilly day & no snow in the forecast until Tues/Weds.

Enjoy the week-end

stitcherw said...

Wow you've made great progress. Being this close to being done I'd be hard put not to work on her during your time off so as to have a finish. Glad you had enough thread, that would have been a pain trying to match the dye lot if not. Love the new stash. Congrats on your ebay win and Warm Welcome is so cute. I love Barbara Ana designs.

Glad to hear that you liked Inkdeath so much, and that the series just kept getting better, I'm really looking forward to reading this. I had a coupon at Barnes and Noble and combined it with another special and picked up the second in the series quite reasonable. I now have the first two so really need to find some time to read.

The Valentine's meal sounds like it was lots of fun and yummy. Also, you're quite right on with all the help your DH put in with the bookshelves, moving books, and cleaning cobwebs and spiders (huge shudder) that was a wonderful Valentine's Day present. Loved the picture of the kitties on the desk, mine like to lay around the computer and such too. Makes typing and posting quite the challenge on occation.

It's Cold Outside is still my favorite, but you're right the cute monthly Brittercup Kitties are a fun series too. Have you been able to find any of the cotton for your mom yet? If not, let me know and I'd be more than happy to pick up some and drop it in the mail to you for a surprise for her.
Sue

staci said...

Congrats on your lovely girl finish...I know what you mean, it really is a relief when the border lines up the way it should!!!

Your Valentine's breakfast sounds like it was fabulous! Wonderful food, wonderful service, and entertainment to boot, LOL!!!

mainely stitching said...

What a fun post to read, Judy! You've been so busy and having such a great time. I especially liked hearing about your Valentine's breakfast - what a treat! :D And with stitching beforehand, too!

Wonderful finish - congratulations! And also congrats on your big eBay win! Glad your SBB order came in - Barbara Ana's designs are so fun and cheerful.

Hope you have a great week ahead of you! :D

Anonymous said...

How lovely your stitching! and how lucky for such a wonderful St. Valentine's day. I agree teh help your DSH gave you is much better than getting a rose.
After a month of grey days Lisbon is getting to her old self again; it is known has the white city, for its natural light!
Best regards

Cindy F. said...

Hey! I posted an award to you on my blog this week;)

Andrea said...

A great ebay win. Wonderful progress on your LHN piece. Hope your time off has been somewhat restful, it's probably about over by now! Your tales of the bookshelf reminds me I need to have a look at my next book choices, I'm down to my last 1.5 books to read. :)
All of our snow has gone now. It lasted for about a week. I had to walk 3 out of the 5 days. Not too bad. The weather has warmed up a little and we are expecting some rain later this week.
I'm off to catch up with more blogs now. Take care.

samplerlover said...

Hi Judy,

I hope you are having a lovely time off from work. It's always lovely to be able to sit down and stitch away. I like doing that for a little while early in the morning while I finish off my breakfast. (I call it secret stitching LOL).

Your LHN lady is looking lovely. She's nearly done. I also agree that it's always wonderful when the border comes together. I usually start stressing towards the end.

Sounds as if you and your DH had a lovely Valentine's Day.

Still have crazy weather here. The fires are still burning in Victoria and far North Queensland is still flooded. Now some towns in northern NSW are flooded. All during this week we have had a lot of rain and we also had to have our fire going in the house as it got quite cold. But unfortunately the rain never falls where it is really needed. - take care - Sandra.

Kathy A. said...

Hi hon
I see you have been busy as always. Your piece is looking lovely. I think you should stick with and finish. A finish always makes us feel good.
Have a great week off.

Brigitte said...

Whenever I get to your blog I listen to the Mummer's Dance. I've now ordered the CD, it's a wonderful piece of music.
I loved to read about your special morning with the Valentine breakfast prepared by the Men's breakfast club. Such a wonderful idea to appreciate love and partnership.
Your LHN stitching is great. And nearly done. I also have the four charts you won on Ebay but haven't stitched them yet.
Oh, how I'd love to show a sign of spring on my blog but we still have snowfalls nearly daily. The only sign is the fact that it's already nearly day when I go to work in the mornings, and that the birds are already singing in the mornings. But I want to see colours and green pastures and flowers ...

Dani - tkdchick said...

Judy she looks great and I'm waiting for your finish!

Pumpkin said...

You're almost done! She's looking very lovely Judy :o)

I DO have those four pattern. Whew! At least you didn't enable there ;o) I also just ordered a few of Barbara Ana's designs. I have yet to stitch one but I agree, they are so colorful.

Oh wow! Your Valentine's Day sounds like it was a dream! Hopefully I'll be with DH next year and get a homemade breakfast again :o)

ROFL! The kitties look SO comfortable :o)