Finishes are so close you can taste 'em!! All I have left to
do on My Needle's Work is to finish the banner at the top
and she's done. But I'm only working on this as my travel
project so she'll have to take another day or two to reach
the end. I don't mind that. I've enjoyed working on her
and I'm mostly pleased with how she's turned out.

I'll be rummaging through my stash today I think to pick
out my next travel project, to have it ready to go when
needed. I have no idea what it'll be, which is part of the
fun of stash diving and project preparing.


DH took me to Michael's last weekend and I picked up a new
tool/gadget to help me with my away from home stitching.
I've been getting use to working with this magnifier and
light combo this week, adjusting the hanging cord to get
the best placement to see through and have the light hit the
stitching project just right. It helps me quite a bit in seeing
what I'm stitching clearly. I don't have a problem with
seeing the holes in the fabric to put my needle in, but I do
have trouble seeing the crosses clearly as they are stitched.
The little light isn't as good as an Ott-Lite's of course and it's
a yellowish light, which isn't as good as the white light of an
Ott-Lite, but it'll do.

Getting this thing balanced on my chest in just the right spot
was fun. Once in awhile it would slip down and rest itself in
a most .... um .... inappropriate location giving me an even
more impressive "shelf" then I usually have. Not a good
thing, sitting at your desk at work fumbling to adjust your
chest placement!


Another home stretch project is November Window. I
added more verse and a few more tree limbs on Friday
night and this afternoon I plan on working on this some
more. This one may well be a finish by next weekend as
well. Two finishes in one week from me! Can you stand
it???

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS HOOP????


We all have our favourite X-stitching tools, whether it
be favourite needles, Q-snaps, or whatever. Mine is the
item pictured above. It's a hoop with a spring loaded
inner ring that slips easily in and out of any project that
I'm stitching on. Just pinch the blue handles of the
inner ring together and it allows the inner ring to slip
into the fabric and the outer ring with ease. I love this
hoop! I bought it many years ago during my first stitching
phase and I prefer it over all other types of hoops and
frames etc. At least for the smaller projects. The inner
circle of the hoop is 7" by 7", which is perfect for stitching
LHN smaller projects, such as the Cottage Garden series,
or the scripture series.

But my faithful friend is getting old and the blue plastic
frame is chipped and starting to crack. So it'll need
replacing soon. And that's a problem because I haven't
seen it or anything like it anywhere for sale since I
started stitching again five years ago. I don't know who
made it (there's no name on it anywhere) and I don't
even remember where I bought it.

So I'm posting a picture here in hopes that someone out
there might recognize it and know where I can get another.
I guess it's a long shot but I really want to try and find
another of these hoops if I can. Thanks for your help.


Just a bit of stash enhancement this week. Specifically my
monthly Cresent Colours additions from Stitching Bits and
Bobs. Gorgeous colours, even if the photo doesn't allow
them to shine as much as they do in real life.



There's been book stashing though. My wish list on
Chapters/Indigo book site has been growing by leaps
and bounds as some favourite authors have released
new books. Plus I've added books that I've seen
reviewed and recommended on other book blogger's
sites that sounded like excellent reads.

So the books by Caro Peacock and Kate Morton are
new-to-me authors that I look forward to reading
soon. Peacock's is a murder mystery and Morton's
is a mystery story as well I suppose, both of which take
place at the end of the nineteenth or beginning of
the twentieth centuries. The other four books are by
authors that I've read before. Good thing I've made
more room in the library, eh?

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

Friday was DH's birthday. Unfortunately he had to
spend it attending the funeral of a friend who'd passed
away from Cancer. They use to be in the same youth
choir (the Chancellors) during their teens/early
twenties, and that group of young people have
remained close ever since. They are now all in their
late forties or older, with families of their own around
the same ages that their parents were when traveling
and performing in the choir in churches and town halls
all over southern Ontario. They even recorded a few
records (do you all remember records??), performed
on the stage at the O'keefe centre in Toronto, and
went on an exchange trip to Holland. From the
stories that I've heard over the years they had a
wonderful time, making music and making friend-
ships that have lasted a life time. They may not see
as much of one another now as they did in the past,
but when something like this happens they are
sure to gather, to offer support and to pay tribute
and to reminisce and grieve. That's what friends
are for.

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

On Saturday we celebrated DH's birthday in a
more festive manner and tried to brighten the
mood a bit for him. I made him his favourite
meal, Shake n Bake chicken, orange rice and
green beans, while his sister made a birthday
cake. He got a few gifts, books from me, gardening
tools from his sister, and some fun cards.

And for the first time since last August my Mom
was here for a visit. She was so excited!! She
loves coming here to visit the cats, see what's
been going on around the house (check out the
library Mom!!!) look at stuff on the computer
(she loves I Can Has Cheezeburger.com) and
look through my stitching stuff. Did I mention
that she loves to see the cats???


And Rupert loves to see her. He was at the door as
she came in, and spent the rest of the visit following
her wherever she went. And when she sat down he
laid down at her feet, rested his cheek on her foot
and went to sleep. Content.

Is this the face of a happy cat???

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

Last Sunday I wasn't able to post to my blog as I normally
do because DH and I drove down to London, Ontario to
see our godson Ian perform in a play put on by his
graduation class at Fanshaw College. We'd seen him in
high school plays before that were written by the students
as well as performed by them, but this was the first time that
we'd seen him perform in a professionally written play, and
we were mezmerized.

It's so weird seeing someone you've known from babyhood
on, attended birthday parties for, made lego models with,
discussed the merits of the LOTR movies with, etc playing a
mentally unbalanced, acloholic undercover cop. And he
was so GOOD! All the kids were actually. We are so proud
of him and all the hard work he's done for the past few years
to get to this point. And he's having the time of his life,
learning and growing and getting ready to go out into the
real world and make his mark.

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

I'm planning on spending this afternoon doing laundry and
catching up on blogs and stitching. Sounds good, no??? I
owe many of you a visit and comment and hope to rectify
that soon.

We've had warmer temperatures, and lots of rain in the past
few days which we'd like to think means that Spring has
finally arrived. But the reality is that snow and cold are
still viable options weather wise until the end of April
and to get our hopes and expectations up at this point is
just going to lead to disappointment and frustration. But
we'll probably let ourselves hope and dream anyways. We
always do.

Have a great week everyone, and thanks for visiting.
Hope you get lots of time to stitch, read or enjoy all your
other favourite passtimes. Take care.

Cheers!