In Bold are the books I've read from this list.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

This was the second cross stitch project that I did. The pattern came from
a magazine but I don't remember which one at the moment. I stitched this
on the same even weave material that I'd done my first project, a sampler,
on. I remember vividly my elation and relief when I neared the end
of the project, having started with the rose and leaf to the right centre of the
heart and working my way all the way around the heart to the rose and leaf
on the left centre. The tips of the two leaves met on the exact same line,
exactly one space apart, as charted. I gave this piece to my parents and
they had it framed. It now hangs in my Mom's room at the retirement
residence.

Yesterday was a busy, run around day for us. It began when we picked my
Mom up to take her to her second dentist appointment at 10:00. She's
having a series of fillings done, about five in all, and they are being spread
out over about three appointments. Once she was settled in the dentist's
chair DH and I sat in the waiting room, where he read multiple copies of
old issues of Reader's Digests and I cross stitched.

Once done at the dentist we came back here for lunch, and to relax a bit
and to let Mom visit with her grand-cats. Then we took her back to the
residence and dropped her off before heading off on a mission. Last week
Mom's television died a dramatic death, after years of service. She was
given a temporary loaner from the Residence to tied her over until we
could get out and find her a new one.

So DH and I started at the mall, with a visit to Walmart, where I found a
nice 27 inch LCD flat screen tv that would have been perfect for her.
Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock at that store, nor any other
store in the general area. Great. I dithered over other models for sale
there but was rather fixated on the first choice and couldn't accurately
judge the merits of the other tv's because of that. We decided to shop
around some and walked through the mall to Zeller's, which is sort of
Canada's answer to Walmart, only not anywhere near as successful.
Walmart is always buzzing with activity, whereas in Zeller's you could
shoot a canon down any of the aisles and you'd probably only hit the
odd sales person. Zeller's tv selection was a joke. No wonder no one
shops there. So back to Walmart. Still dithering. DH suggested the
Sony tv store in a strip mall down the road from the main mall. Went
there....no luck. Tried Canadian Tire (sells everything, including tires)
but had no luck there either. Running out of options and reluctant to
head out of town we decided to go back to Walmart, of course. I
toughened up my resolve, tuned out the lovely LCD tv that I'd first
picked out, and chose a 27 inch regular tv that still had a nice picture
and over all look to it. Paid for tv, got it brought out to our car,
tied to the back of the car (we were only driving a short distance) and
headed back to Mom's to set it up. Phew!!!

We had dinner with Mom, watched the news on her new tv, which she
loved, and then came home to relax. Spent much of the evening on
the phone with various friends and relations. It was just one of those
nights when the phone kept ringing. Ended the evening reading blogs.

Today is laundry day, and would be cleaning day but my vacuum
cleaner is out for repairs and won't be back until mid week. DH
leaves for his training course in Montreal this afternoon and I'm
missing him already. He's at church right now. I'll work on my
Country Shops project this afternoon since I won't have much
time this coming week to do so. Making my own way to work on
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday means no time to stitch in
the mornings. Nuts!

It's been rainy, foggy and cool this weekend. The crocuses are
up and the flowers would be open, if the sun was shining. The
daffodils are coming up now. Still the odd patch of melting snow
around, but that's disappearing fast. The robins and the gold
finches are back and making a grand feast of our bird feeders.
Oh, and I saw a bunny in our yard this morning too, poking
around the garden and under the bird feeders. DH will be so
pleased. Lol!

Here's Rupert snoozing in the sun last weekend. Laying on his back. Love
his stripes.

Many thanks Shannon for your instructions and advice on how to use my
new hand dyed threads when I'm ready. I think that I'll stitch four of the
Little House Needleworks charts together on one piece of material and
frame them like that for hanging. Eventually I would like to get all of them
in the series. I've been enjoying my new stash so much, and I haven't
even begun stitching any of it yet.

Stash..........

Oh boy! Lookie what I found waiting for me in my mail box today. I am so
excited! This is my order from Stitching Bits 'n Bobs that I sent in a request
for less then a month ago. I've finally gotten three of those awesome little
chart/thread sets from Little House Needleworks and Crescent Colours. I
have been yearning for these wonderful designs ever since I saw the first
one and now I can see them in person at last. The Drawn Thread chart for
Sampler Game Board is another that I've had my eye on for awhile. And
with the SAL going on at the moment for this project I just had to order it.
Finally, three Prairie Schooler designs. Autumn Leaves has been stitched
by many bloggers out there and each and every one of those projects has
been so beautiful. And Autumn is my most favourite season of all. The
other two PS charts are Nursery Rhymes I and II. I saw these stitched by
Ann at Tempus Fugit and fell in love with them too.



This order came from The Cross Stitch Cupboard which is located in
Ottawa. I placed this order in mid January and there are a couple of
specialty threads still to come. I ordered 32 count Summer Khaki and
Willow Green linen and 28 count Cashel linen in light Mocha. These and
the threads will be used for various projects. The charts are Britty Kitties IV
and two by Linda Myers featuring quilt blocks to cross stitch. I don't quilt so
this is the next best thing. The threads are from Weeks Dye Works and The
Gentle Art.

I have never used hand dyed threads before and I'm feeling a little anxious
about them. The tags say that the colours are not colourfast. Does this
mean that I should wash them before using them? If so, do I just rinse them
in cool water? Is there anything else I should know about using hand dyed
threads? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yesterday I stopped off at the little strip mall near where I live to go to the
hair dressers to get my hair chopped. It feels so nice to have it short, short,
short again. It'll be quicker for me to get ready for work in the mornings
too because I won't have to fuss with it and it'll blow dry faster. This is
especially important because DH is going away on a training course next
week. He leaves on Sunday afternoon to fly to Montreal and will return
on Wednesday. This means that I have to make my own way into work
for the first three days of next week. This entails leaving here at 6:35 to
catch the Go bus at the top of my street. Then, after numerous changes
which I won't go into here, I'll arrive at work sometime around 8:30.
I plan to still get up at 5:30, which is our usual rising time, but I'll make
my lunch at night to save some time. Feeding the cats will take up that
little extra time.

After my stop at the hair dressers I visited a little thrift shop located in the
same strip mall, which is run by the Humane Society. I struck gold!!
I collect books about the Titanic and they had this book on sale there for
$12.00. I'd had my eye on the book at the bookstore but never bought it
because it was selling for over $50.00. Wooo Hoo!! And this is in mint
condition. I love when this sort of thing happens.

I took this picture of Phoebe this afternoon while taking the pictures
of all my new stash. She's such a little sweetie.

Finished reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" today. Excellent
read but kind of sad. It's very well written and I highly recommend it.

As you can see I have not yet figured out how to take an unblurry, close up
picture of my stitching. But at least you get an idea of what I've been up to
since Saturday afternoon. This is another of Cross Country Stitching's
"Country Shops" series which will feature a bookshop, a historic society
and the above gift shop. I haven't done any back stitching on this yet, so
it doesn't quite POP like it will once that's done.

On Saturday, after two whole days without cross stitching I convinced DH
to drive me to Acton (20 minutes north west of here) to go to the Needle
Gnome, our LNS. I needed material to stitch on. My orders from the
on line LNS shops were coming via donkey train, with stopovers in Siberia,
Antarctica, Easter Island and the outer rings of Saturn, so I had to do
something to tide me over until they showed up.

I was very good and was only in the store for under half an hour. I
concentrated on picking up several cuts of creme coloured 28 count linen
for a couple of these "Country Shops" and another piece of linen in 28
count in a flax colour which might work out for another piece, the "Sampler
Game Board" by Drawn Thread. I'll have to see when I get the chart.
I browsed through some of the charts in the store but they don't carry many
of my favourite designer's charts and I can order those on line and have
them delivered directly to me at home rather then having to privale upon
DH to taxi me there and back again. Oh, I did pick up one chart at the
shop....Stargazer by Mirabilia. Don't know when I'll get around to stitching
it, but at least I have it here, safe and ready to go.

Since DH was so patient, sitting on a chair in the Needle Gnome and
snoozing while I dithered over fabric, I treated him to a trip to the pub for
lunch and a Guiness to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I skipped lunch
because I'd had a late breakfast, but DH enjoyed a bowl of home made
Leek and Potato soup, and a warm herb scone, fresh from the oven. He
allowed me a nibble of the scone and it was so delicious!

Once back home DH settled for a nap in front of the fire, while Phee and
I adjurned to the computer room to begin stitching my next project. See
above picture.

Saturday night we had tickets to a concert at the Rose theatre in Brampton
where we saw the Irish Decendants, one of our favourite bands. The Rose
theatre opened last Fall and is a lovely little theatre. Not fancy, but quite
elegant and well layed out. I don't think there is a bad seat in the house.
Parking is right under the theatre so you don't even have to venture out-
side unless you want to. And it was free. Can't beat that.

The Irish Decendants are from Newfoundland, and have been together
for about 15 years or so. DH and I have seen them in concert four times
now and we have many of their CD's. The line up on Saturday night
featured the four guys, playing fiddle, accoustic guitar, accordian and
electric guitar, suplimented with various other instruments such as
mandolin and bodhran. The guys also sang acappalla a few times during
the show. The music was a mix of down east tunes and music from
Ireland and Scotland, with lots of humour thrown in. All in all a great
evening.
This is Sunday afternoon, in the living room. I cross stitched and the cats
sun bathed. Tried listening to music while I stitched but we had two
power failures during that time, including one which lasted well over an
hour. Not sure why, but it was quite windy that day so perhaps that was
the reason.

I'm reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards. It's quite
a good book and I've been enjoying it. Should be done reading it tomorrow.

Once more across the floor...

Blueberry House Quilts
From: Cross Country Stitching
Issue dated: October 1995

I started this one a year ago, and I guess I got around 90% done when
something else caught my attention. So this became a UFO and
languished in my stitching drawer for almost a year.

After finishing my PS yesterday I was suddenly bereft of something to
stitch. Such a state of affairs could not be tolerated, so I went looking
for this project to finally finish. I even had the threads for the project
still in one of my little portable storage boxes waiting for the final push.
So today at work I made the supreme effort and finished off some back
stitching, one section of the vine at the top of the project, and all the
back stitch lettering. What I couldn't quite finish at work (they tend to
get a little huffy at the bank when you sit at your desk cross stitching
all day. Don't know why.) I finished here at home this evening.

I really love this piece. The bright colours and the fanciful architecture
of the houses is right up my alley. I love stitching houses. And this is
just one in a HUGE series published in various issues of this magazine
over the years. I think that I have about six or so of them, but there
are in fact probably close to 15 or more. I believe that they all use the
same colours, just mixed up and rearranged to match. I have another
one that I want to do with a Book Store in it. Well, of course.

Thank you to Becky and Shannon for your kind remarks, and hello
Maree and welcome to my blog. So glad that you dropped in. I'll be
coming to visit your blog soon.

Gotta go and spend some quality time with a neglected and annoyed
Phee cat who hasn't had her evening cuddle yet. Cheers all!

(Judy glides gracefully from the blogsphere.......trips over a footstool
and breaks her fanny....)

Shall we dance....

"A Prairie Garden"
By: The Prairie Schooler
Design by: Pam Brunke

Well, here we are. I was so close to a finish at work today it was almost
unbearable to have to put the piece away and settle down to work. So
when I got home this afternoon I sat myself down on the couch in the
living room and got to work. Half an hour later I was done!

I have given the piece a light pressing for now. I have taken the obligatory
pictures. I have even performed the final, official act of closure for any
stitching project. I have gone through my small travel box, removed the
little floss bobbins with the left over thread on them, and returned them to
the 4 big organizers full of DMC threads, where they shall sit and wait until
such time as they are pulled forth into the light again for use on yet another
project.

I left the project on the kitchen table and waited for DH to come home.
When he arrived he greeted the cats, who were waiting at the front door
to welcome him home as usual, stowed his coat and stuff in the hall closet,
and came up to the kitchen. I was getting dinner ready so we talked and
exchanged news while I worked and he put stuff on the table, looked out
the back door, and wandered back and forth.....all without comment.

Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and I planted myself in front of him
and looked him dead in the eye and said....."Well? What do you think?".
He looked at me, beamed and said....."Oh, you got your hair done."

Anybody know where you can dispose of dead bodies without encouraging
any undo attention from the authorities???

This little pattern came from a chart book published by Dimensions called
Country Angels ~ Book three. The designer is Barbara Mock. I stitched
this one awhile ago, and gave it to a friend's daughter as a birthday gift.
It is stitched on Aida cloth.

I love opening up my craft cupboard to get something out, like the chart
for the above project to look up the designing info. I keep some of my
supply of Partylite candles in there as well, and so it sends out a waft of
beautiful scent whenever the doors are opened. Just have to watch that
the piles of cross stitch magazines and charts don't pour out in an
avalanche of thunderous proportions and land on my (bare) foot. They're
balanced a little precariously in there.

This has been such a lazy morning for DH and I and the cats. DH got up
first because the cats were getting hungry and whining about it to him.
I got up next, about an hour later and went down to put the kettle on and
see about breakfast. After a leisurely breakfast with multiple cups of tea
and the latest People magazine featuring their coverage of Oscar Night,
DH headed back to bed for a snooze, with Rupert joining him. Phoebe and
I came into the computer room to do some book keeping and read blogs.
It's coming up on noon now and DH is having a shower and I'm typing this
blog entry before I go in for my own shower. Rupert is still in bed.

Last Tuesday was DH's birthday, which was a quiet affair because of it
being a work day, and I worked a full day and didn't get home until late.
So today we're having his birthday dinner. My mom is coming, and SIL
was suppose to come, but she called earlier to say that she had a nasty
cold and didn't feel up to it. She was suppose to be bringing the birthday
cake, so now I have a problem. Perhaps when DH goes to get my Mom
I'll go too and get him to stop at the store so I can pick up a cake or
something.


This picture shows another of my friend Linda's special creations. I believe
that the pattern for the doll was an Alma Lynn design. I don't know if you
can make it out, but Linda has stitched a little x-stitch pattern on her apron.
Linda use to make things like this and sell them, and my Mom bought this
one for her place. When she was downsizing to move into the retirement
residence a few years ago I inherited her, which delighted me no end
because I love her colours and the fabrics used for her clothes.


This head on shot is a bit dark around the edges, but you can see the
detailing on her apron better. I love her pigtails and her lacy under
drawers.

I've been so naughty this past week. I ordered a pile of charts from
Stitching Bit's n Bobs, including three of the Little House Needleworks
charts with the Crescent Colours threads. I've never used anything to
stitch except for DMC regular threads so I can't wait to try these out.
I also ordered Drawn Threads "Sampler Game Board" chart which I've
seen Lelia and others doing on their blogs and I love it so much. And
I've ordered Prairie Schooler's "Autumn Leaves" chart because I've
been drooling over it forever. I love Autumn themed stuff, and indeed
any charts with a seasons theme.

I'm still awaiting an order from the Cross Stitch Cupboard in Ottawa
which I placed in January. I ordered fabric, threads and a few charts
and have been awaiting them in eager anticipation. After six weeks
had passed I sent an enquiry about the order and have received a reply
that they are waiting for some of the threads to come, as well as one of
the fabrics. They are sending out the rest of the order now and will
forward the rest when they get it.

I should concentrate on building up my supply of fabric and specialty
threads rather then charts because I have a ton of stuff to stitch and
very little fabric, except for Aida, to stitch on. And I love the look of
the fancy threads, but haven't had any experience or first hand exposure
to them as yet.

The weather is wet and grey today, but the temperature is suppose to
go all the way up to +6 which is practically summer after the cold
temperatures we've been enduring lately. I've got three weeks to go
until a weeks vacation, at the beginning of April. I'd really like to be
able to spend my afternoons sitting on the front stoop cross stitching
like I did last year at the end of March when I had a week off. Will it
be possible? One can only hope.

And so, as promised, here is an update on my Prairie Schooler project "A
Prairie Garden". I am stitching the last of 12 squares, although only 6 are
featured here in this close up. I've been wondering what each flower is
meant to be in this project. Some, like the sunflower and the thistle, are
obvious. Others are a little more problematic. This chart doesn't give any
clues, although another PS chart that I have with fruits and veggies does
give a list of what each picture represents.

We had some fun weather on Thursday, which made for a nasty trip home
from work. We'd been hearing warnings about this storm for days over the
radio and the tv so we knew what was coming, and we even knew approxo-
mitly what time of the day it would be arriving. I'd already planned to work
a short day (5 1/2 hours) instead of a full day, so that I could try and get
home before the worst of the storm hit. Well, that was the plan anyways.

The storm was suppose to start around noon in our area. At one o'clock I
checked out one of our few windows and it was still clear, though quite dark
and gloomy. Hmm. Perhaps we'll get off lightly on this one after all. Ha!
Fifteen minutes later someone in the department yelled out "It's Here!!",
and it was. It was snowing like a sonofagun. Big, fluffy white flakes
streaking out of the lead grey sky. What fun!!

I left work at 2:20, even though I could have worked a full day, and would
have been pleased to do so on a normal day. In one hour of snow fall we'd
had significant accumulations already. And the wind was whipping it along
in a solid wall of white. Apparently I wasn't the only one who decided to
head home early either. It was obvious by the traffic on the roads that
most business who could do so were sending their employees home early.
The roads were jammed with traffic.

The first part of my journey, which requires two buses, and usually takes
me about 35 minutes, took me two hours. One hour of which was spent
huddled in a bus shelter with 8 other popcicles...er...people waiting for a
bus to show up. We were not impressed since that bus was suppose to
run every 10 minutes.

Once at the train/bus depot I switch from city transit to the Go system,
which are trains and buses which cover the entire GTA (Greater Toronto
Area). Unfortunatly the Go buses, which travel the 401 highway to
reach us in Brampton, were running about 2 hours late. But at least we
were inside the bus station for much of the time, which was warm and
dry.

From Brampton to Georgetown, which takes half an hour by bus, and
about 20 minutes by train, took me a further 1 1/2 hours to do. The Go
trains start running from Toronto to Georgetown at 4:15. I caught the
first one, which arrrived in Brampton 20 minutes late, at 5:20.
And I was lucky to be offered a ride from the Georgetown train station to
the end of my street by a lady going in that direction. Didn't know her,
she just called out to the people huddled around the train station (which
was closed for the day at that point) that she had room for one person.

I felt badly for the crowd of people waiting for the Go bus to come from
Toronto to take them to Guelph, another 45 minute drive further in
the good weather. I doubt that they would be seeing a bus for hours.

DH left his work at 3:00 and it took him 2 hours to drive home. That's
twice as long as normal. Which isn't too bad, all things considered.

The snow was turning to freezing rain about the time that I got home,
and that's what we had for much of the night. Then it turned to rain,
mixed with freezing rain by Friday morning. The drive to work wasn't
too bad for us. DH dropped me off at my work and then headed off to
his and he said that he was only a few minutes late. The rain/freezing
rain mix ended later in the morning, and the trip home for me at days
end was pretty much normal, although soggy on the feet. Discovered
that my boots leak.

During those two days of sturm und drang I didn't bother to take my
cross stitch to work and so didn't get any significant work done on it.

I did finish reading Nora Roberts book Sanctuary. It was a light read
which was amusing but quite predictable. Nothing special. Got it on
sale cheap so I'm not worried that it didn't turn out to be War and
Peace. I'm now reading Erik Larson's latest book which is called
Thunderstruck. I love his books and have already collected and read
Isaac's Storm and The Devil and the White City. Great mixtures of
history, and crime novel.

Missed watching Lost on Wednesday night for the simple reason that
I forgot that it was Wednesday night. DOH!!

I stitched this chart from an issue of Cross Country Stitching.
I believe that this was one of a set of three, but I only stitched
the one. It's just stitched on white Aida. It's been sitting in
my Done Drawer for quite some time and is not framed. Don't
know quite where I'd put it.

Lelia, you mentioned in your comments on my previous post
that one of your favourite books was written by Brenda Rickman
Vantrease, called The Illuminator. I was curious to know more
about it, so I looked it up on the Canadian bookseller Indigo/
Chapter's site to see if it was available and what it was about.
I found it in hardcover, read the description and was intrigued
by what it was about. Then I checked the price, and discovered
that it was on sale for $6.00 Canadian!!! Well, of course that
clinched it. So here it sits on my desk, ready to be read as soon
as I finish the Nora Roberts book that I'm currently reading.
I might add that the cover is quite lovely. Yes, I'm afraid that
I do sometimes judge a book by it's cover. Thanks for the tip
Lelia. Hope you and your daughter had a lovely weekend
together.

Gina, I'm afraid that I don't have any pictures of DH's old car
handy. I'll have to do some digging over the weekend and see
what I can come up with. I can tell you that the car is two tone
blue, with blue and white interior. It has fins on the back, and
a ton of chrome work, which is in excellent condition. The car
is all original except for one fender, I believe. When riding in it
we tower over all the other cars on the road, except for Vans and
trucks, and it feels strange after driving around in our modern
car.

Did everyone watch the Academy Awards this weekend? I
usually do, but this Sunday night we were out for a pot luck
dinner with DH's Praise Band choir and didn't get home
until after it had begun. I had put in a tape to record it, but
I haven't looked at it yet. I never use to miss watching the
Academy Awards, and looked forward to it every year. Loved
the fashions, and the stars, and sometimes the opening
montage, which was great when Billy Crystal did it. But in
the past few years I've gone off it. And I can't manage to sit
up until all hours watching it anymore. Hanging in until the
bitter end, around 1:00 am, and then getting up for work at
5:30 just did me in. I'd be asleep at my desk by 11:00. But
taping it isn't the same either. I know all the major winners
because you can't miss hearing about it on the news, so that
bit of excitement is gone. I'll bet I end up not watching the
tape at all.

I am on the last square of PS "A Prairie Garden". It won't
be long now. Regardless of where I'm at, I'll post a picture
by the end of the week. Promise.

We had a nice snowfall yesterday, which stuck to trees and
bushes, and covered the dirty bits left from the previous snow
fall and made everything pretty and magical. Big flakes of
snow drifting through the air. It was lovely to walk through.
And I'm a weird person because I enjoy shovelling the drive.
Except at the end where the plow makes a big, soggy mess.
Thursday they're calling for freezing rain. UGH!

Another family member is represented here. This cross stitch
project was stitched by my SIL for DH's birthday a couple of
years ago. It's done on white Aida. I don't know the designer's
name. DH is into old cars.


DH has a 1955 Buick Special, 4 door hard top. He bought it
many years ago, before we met each other. He is only the
second owner of the vehicle, and it's in great shape, all things
considered. Well, it does need some serious TLC to get it in
tip top running shape, but that is an expense that DH is
reluctant to put out right now.


It's too bad because it's an amazing car to ride in. It's been
used many times over the years in many weddings, both for
our friend's, and our own special occasions. It's been used
in movies and in advertising.


I remember one day we were grocery shopping, and were
walking down the aisle where the cleaning supplies were,
and all of a sudden DH did a double take, and pulled a
package of cleaning shammy's off of a shelf. On the front of
the packaging was a close up of the front of our car. There
were about three different styles of packaging for that
product, with a stove pictured on one, our car on another,
and I can't remember what the third one was. But whenever
we were shopping and passed the packages in that aisle,
we'd stop and make sure that a package with our car's
picture on it was on top of all the others. I wonder if we still
have a package around the house.


I am now half way through the stitching of square eleven of
the PS "A Prairie Garden". Getting there. I need to make a
trip to Michael's to look for some more evenweave fabric
for new projects. I've ordered some fabric from a LNS in
Ottawa, but that order is being held until everything that
I requested is in stock, so who knows when that'll show up.
I'd like to stitch Little House Needlework's "The Bookshelf"
next.


I've been reading Stephenie Meyer's books "Twilight" and
"New Moon" which I'd read about on other blogger's sites.
I basically devoured these two books in a matter of days.
They were fabulous! These are suppose to be "young adult"
books, but they are very well written, and I would heartily
recommend them to anyone. The only trouble is that I've
gotten so "into" these books and become so attached to
the main characters that I'm finding it hard to leave them
behind and move on to another book. I picked up a Nora
Roberts book and I'm enjoying it but I keep thinking about
the Meyer's books. I believe that there is a third book in
the series coming out this summer.

This is the second "large" cross stitch project that my Mom did
for me during the time that she was stitching. It sits on the
counter in our kitchen behind the table and it's really nicely done.

I want to thank Barb, Lelia, Becky and Shannon for the
encouraging words regarding my PS project, and the sunflower
"alteration" in particular. I'm so eager to see this one finished
although I have no idea when it'll get framed. I have a friend
who has offered to help me frame some of my projects and I
must take her up on that offer someday soon.

I'm very excited because this year is shaping up to be a musical
year for me. Last year I saw only one live show and that was last
Spring when DH and I saw The Lord of the Rings at the Princess
of Wales theatre. Darlene gave us the tickets for Christmas, which
just blew us away.

This past Christmas I gave DH tickets for us to see The Irish
Descendants at the Rose theatre in Brampton on March 17th. We
have seen these guys twice before in concert and they are fantastic.
Great voices, and lots of humour, which is about what you'd expect
really from a group who hail from Newfoundland. It will be a great
St. Patrick's Day treat.

Then DH gave me an IOU at Christmas for tickets to any show that
I wished to see this year. So when tickets for "We Will Rock You"
were offered through work at a great price I told DH that it was my
choice and we ordered the tickets. That show is in August, while
we are on holidays and I think is at the Cannon (formally the
Pantages) theatre, in Toronto. I love the music of Queen, so this
should be fantastic.

Then I got an email at the beginning of the week from Quinlan Road
announcing that Loreena Mckennitt was doing a North American
tour starting with dates in April at Massey Hall in Toronto. I'm a
member of her fan club (yes, how dorky am I?) and we get first crack
at ordering tickets. So I did. This will be the third time that I'll
have seen Loreena in concert and I can't wait. I so love her music.
My credit card is wilting a bit around the edges, but hey...you can't
hesitate when an opportunity like this comes along. It's been a long
time since Loreena toured and I'm not going to miss her.

And as if that's not enough I see that a live version of Dirty Dancing

is coming to Toronto, also in April. One of my most favourite movies
of all time, with fantastic music and incredible dancing. And Patrick
(sigh!!!) Swayze. I'd love to see this show too but I'm afraid that I
just can't afford it. Drat.

Rupert asked me to thank all his fans for the lovely comments
that they left for him, and to let you all know that he appreciates
every one of them. Above is himself curled up for a nap with
DH around Christmas week. Hmmm...Dignified? I don't know
about that Shannon. He didn't look very dignified that time when
he tried to cram himself into a box that came in the mail with
DVD's from Columbia House in it. Or when curled up in the
laundry basket with a pile of warm laundry piled on top of him.
Or the many, many times he chases his tail....or....well, you get
the idea.


We've had a good foot of snow here thanks to a storm on Tuesday
night and it's been windy and so very cold too. Our neighbours
are down in Costa Rica right now, and we're looking after their
mail and stuff while they're away, so DH shoveled their driveway
and walkway for them and cleared their car of snow, so it looks
like someone is home there. I shoveled our driveway. We got off
fairly lightly compared to Hamilton and other areas south west
of here.

This is a water colour painting done of DH and I by my very dear and
talented friend Elaine as a wedding present 17 years ago. Can you believe
that it's been that long Elaine? Elaine is one of those naturally talented
people who can do anything artsy wise and make it beautiful. She is
blessed with natural talent. This is her first, and so far only water colour
painting. She used several pictures of DH and I to get the look and a bit of
artistic license to compose the final picture. She gave it to us on our
wedding day and it just about knocked my socks off. It is something I
treasure, just as I treasure her friendship. We have known each other for
almost 30 years now and I know that Elaine is always there for me, as I
hope she knows that I am always here for her. I am very lucky to have her
for a dear friend. Oh, and although DH still pretty much looks like he does
in the picture (except for touches of the inevitable grey in hair and
moustache) I don't look much like that any more. Sigh!

I've been stitching away on Prairie Schooler's A Prairie Garden, ignoring
the temptation to start any other projects so that I can concentrate on this
one. I have stitched 9 squares so far and just have 3 more left to do. Seeing
each flower come alive is still a thrill and I am enjoying this piece very much.
Please excuse the wrinkles and the hoop mark in the above picture. I was
stitching this in a Q snap, but in the last few weeks I've started using my
old, reliable spring hoop which I tend to prefer even though there is a lot of
fabric spilling around me when I work with it.

Oh, and I've made a major...er...adjustment with this project. See the
sun flower on the left of the project in the middle row? Well, it's a solid
piece of grid stitching in my project, but the official piece is suppose to look
like this...I ...um...decided to stitch mine as a solid piece and I really like it like that.
And it was so much fun to just sit and stitch it, without referring constantly
back and forth to the chart. At all. So there we are.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Last night was dinner at the pub for Valentine's Day. Aside from the
usual delicious main course and an incredibly scrumptious Caesar Salad to
start, the real treat was the desert platter that they do every Valentines
for couples to share. Servings of at least half a dozen deserts to share
between DH and I, and we even managed to be gracious and make sure
we each got a fairly equal portion of each. Actually, the Valentines
dinner at the pub was being served on the actual day, which I believe is
next Wednesday, but DH and I don't like going out on week nights after
work, so Brenda and Tracy at the pub made a special dinner just for us
last night. And what blog entry would be complete without a picture of Rupert taking
possession of a box in which an order of books arrived from Indigo/Chapters
a week ago. See my book blog for more info about that incident of self
indulgence.

World War 1 era embroidered postcards - Part 2

During my second trip to England (I think) my final stop was in
what we've come to consider our "home" town, which is Chichester in
West Sussex. My Mother's family on her father's side are pretty much
all living in that area. So whenever we go to England we spend at least
a few days there for visiting and exploring of our roots.

The hotel that I stayed at was right across the tree shaded street from
Chichester cathedral, and consisted of two old hotels that were combined
into one many years ago. The names of the two hotels were also
combined to name the single hotel...The Dolphin and Anchor. One of
those old buildings with multi levels, long winding hallways and no logical
floor plan. And uneven floors which made walking along them an
adventure. The Dolphin and Anchor was owned and run by the Trust
House Forte at that time, but I believe that it is now closed and last I
heard was not being used for anything. A pity.

Anyways, while I was staying there they had a small antique fair in one
of the larger rooms, and of course I had to pop in there to see what was
available. I don't remember what all else I might have bought there that
day, but I do very clearly remember the embroidered postcards that one
dealer was selling.

The dealer had at least one, possibly two binders full of these wonderful
postcards. They were a collection put together by someone who had also
obviously loved these small treasures and had gone to a great deal of
trouble to collect and save them. Unfortunately the man had passed away,
and I guess no one in his family wanted them, so they were sold to this
dealer, who was in turn selling them as part of his business.

I regret that by the time that I stumbled upon them the collection had
already been picked over and there were cards missing from the binders
as people bought individual cards that appealed to them. If I'd found the
collection intact I think I would have maxed out my credit card to buy
them and keep the collection in one piece, as it should have been. But I
bought six of the cards, keeping in mind that my Mom had six from our
family, and with the intention of having them framed the same as she'd
done. I made sure that I picked out six cards with sayings on them
different from the ones that we already had.

1) With Love to Mother
2) Happy Birthday
3) To My Dear Wife

1) To my Dear Sweetheart
2) Happy Christmas
3) Remember

It wasn't until later that I sat down to examine the cards closely and
discovered that the one that said "With Love to Mother" had a bonus in it.
Inside the sleeve of the postcard was a little card which said "Forget Me
Not" and a picture of a young man in uniform! I was astounded.
Sadly there was no information on the postcard or on the picture to give me
an idea of who this young man might have been, or what happened to him.
I'd like to think that he survived the war to live a long and happy life, but I
know that that might well not have been the case. But I'll treasure these
pieces, and even if I never know his name I'll still remember him and his
courage in going to war and serving his country. May he rest in Peace.

I'm posting these pictures for Gina, who asked me about the

embroidered post cards from WWI that I have, and were

glimpsed in a picture on a previous post.

Above are the six cards which have been in my Mom's family

since the war. They were sent from France by my Grandfather

Fogden to his family and his girlfriend (who eventually became

his wife). Each one is for a different occasion, and there is

usually a note written on the back of each card.

In the first picture the cards say:

1) Happy Easter

2) I love You

3) Thoughts of You Bring Sunshine.

In the second picture the cards say:

1) To My Dear Sister

2) Allies de 1915

3) Forget Me Not

Each card is so delicate and with bright colours and fine

detail work. It's hard to believe that these could have survived

a trip in the mail, even in an envelope. Especially during a war

time setting.

A busy weekend for us. Yesterday we were suppose to take my

Mom to the dentist for a couple of fillings. She has four teeth

that require fillings and she was to make two visits to get them

done. The dentist is only in on Saturdays once a month, but it

means that DH doesn't have to take time off of work to take her

and I can go too. Unfortunately we got a call from the Dentist's

office at 9:30 yesterday morning to say that the appointment

would have to be rescheduled because the Doctor was sick.

So I called the residence to let my Mom know that she had a

reprieve for a month. She was quite relieved about that because

she doesn't like going to the dentist any more then the rest of us

do, but at the same time it means prolonging the anxiety for

another month.

In the afternoon I went to a friend's annual birthday party. Just

a bunch of girls getting together, sans male partners, to chat and

eat great food made by the birthday girl's older sister. This years

meal was a Chinese food theme. We had Sechuan soup to start,

then the main course of Chinese sweet and sour chicken wings,

fried rice, salad and spring rolls. Desert was sorbet and the most

amazing thing...a basket of flowers made out of fruit. See picture

below. There was cantaloupe, honeydew melon, red grapes,

plain strawberries, and chocolate covered strawberries, and

pineapple. We just plucked the skewers holding the fruit in

the basket out and ate them like popsicles.

After the party ended, around six, DH came and picked me up

and we drove to the pub, our usual place called the Copper

Kettle, for dinner. It was Robbie Burns day this week and we

always go to the pub for dinner to celebrate. However we walked

in the front door of the pub to be greeted by the owner with the

warning that we'd probably not want to stay. Turns out their

furnace had quit during the night and they had no heat. Well,

we kept our coats on and stayed anyways. We had a nice dinner

and a little visit with our friends who run the place, but we didn't

stay as long as we might have done under normal conditions.

All in all it was a busy day.

Gina, I've got more post cards to share pictures of in my next post.

This one is getting a bit long. Cheers.

I stitched these two pieces for my DH's parents soon after we got
married I think. They'd moved from their house to a new condo and
I stitched these to be hung there, possibly as a Christmas gift or for
some other special occasion. I just gave them the stitched pieces
and let them choose the frames to suit the place that they would
decide to hang them in. My Mom-in-law passed away from breast
cancer about 13 years ago now, and Dad-in-law followed her just
over a year later. When packing up the condo we took back these
pieces and they are now hanging in our bathroom.

They are from a Dimensions chart called Romantic Roses and the
designer is Linda Gillum. Publishing date of chart is around 1988.
Very pastel, delicate projects, trimmed with lace and framed in gold.
Cheerful, easy projects.

Last evening was a party for the church choir that DH belongs to.
Instead of having it at Christmas, which is always hectic and busy for
everyone, they started having it in January, when things have settled
down. It's an easy, pot luck affair with about 20 - 30 people attending.
The food is always delicious and every year I keep saying that they
should pool their recipes and print a cook book. The party is at a
different couples house every year too, which is only fair.

Not a late night though because DH had to be up in good time this
morning to attend the men's breakfast at the church. Every third
Saturday each month a group of the men from the church gather to
cook themselves a large, fancy breakfast and to enjoy some good food
and fellowship.

I was saddened to hear today that Denny Doherty of the Mamas and the
Pappas died after a short illness. He was born in Halifax, but was
living near Toronto at the time of his death. He was only 66. I love the
Mamas and the Pappas music, and the wonderful harmonies that they
made, and Denny was my favourite. A great voice, a great sense of
humour and a very Canadian view of fame and success. I wish him
peace.

This sampler was stitched by my Mom for DH and I when we got
married. Its from the same Better Homes and Gardens book that
I got my pink sampler, and my log cabin sampler from. So I've
really gotten my money's worth from that book.

This is a lovely piece, beautifully stitched by my Mom. Her main
craft things were needlepoint and plate painting, doing only a couple
of small cross stitch projects and two medium sized ones. She
doesn't do needlework any more because of her bad back, but she has
rediscovered knitting and loves to do that.

The second picture shows the piece framed and hanging in our
living room. This picture was taken last fall, which is why you can see
all the Halloween/Autumn decorations scattered around. The framed
pieces hanging on either side of the cross stitch are embroidered
postcards from the first world war. Six were from my family, and six
I picked up during one of my trips to England. They are so lovely and
delicate, and I've got a different one for each special occasion.

I'm taking a day off of work today because Winter has officially (finally)
arrived here and we're experiencing either snow, or freezing rain, or
snow pellets depending on where you live. Here, north west of Toronto,
we are getting a bit of freezing rain, but mainly snow pellets. Toronto
is getting mostly freezing rain, and east of the city they are getting snow.
I don't like to take time off work just because of the weather, but when
the trip to work, and the trip home are likely to take almost as long as
the time I spend actually working (5 1/2 hours) then it's just not worth it.

So I'm spending part of the day doing chores, and part of it on the
computer, and part will be spent cross stitching. I should finish either
my Prairie Schooler Prairie Garden, or the red snowflake sampler, but
I have the itch to start a new project. Should I resist or should I give in?
I've seen many stitchers noting in their blogs that they've allowed them-
selves a new start for New Years, regardless of how many WIP's they might
have in progress.

DH and I spent the weekend packing away Christmas, and giving the
living room a good clean. Every year, while packing away box after box
of decorations and ornaments, DH complains that we're running out of
storage space and there's no more room to put it all. And telling me
that I've got to quit bringing new stuff home. But every year he manages
to jam it all into the allotted space somehow.

Rupert has developed a taste for Listerine mouthwash! He keeps getting
into the linen cupboard where I store the big bottle, jumps onto the
shelf, arranges himself on the towels stacked behind the bottle, and
proceeds to sniff and then lick the outside of the bottle neck. I have to
keep chasing him away and then wash the bottle neck. I figure that it
must be the alcohol content, because when I use the non-alcohol type
of mouth wash he doesn't bother. He likes shampoo too. But for that
he prefers to wait until we're in bed, and then he gnaws on our heads/
hair. Does anybody else's cats do this sort of thing?

Hmm. I'm going to have to work on learning how to take pictures
of my cross stitch projects so that they turn out fairly true to the
original colours of the threads used, and are also in focus. I was so
eager to type this post however that I couldn't wait for daylight to
take the pictures.

Anyways, here is my first finish of 2007. It's a Prairie Schooler
design from the 2005 issue of Just Cross Stitch Christmas
Ornaments. The top picture is blurry, but shows up the truer
colours. The bottom one is lighter in colour but is also sharper.
Well, relatively speaking. Just squint your eyes a bit, make 'em
go cross eyed, and keep looking at the two pictures until they
merge together into one clear picture. Yup. It works especially
well after a couple of glasses of boozy stuff.

Tomorrow DH and I start the job that everyone hates after the
Christmas season is over. Taking down, and packing away, the
Christmas ornaments. Ugh! It'll take one day to pack everything
up and store it away. Then another day to clean and get all the
normal nick nacks out of storage and restored to their original places.
That is, if I can remember where all of those original places were.

And then, over the next week or so, DH and I will probably keep
stumbling across Christmas ornaments that we missed in one room
or another, which then have to be "stored" somewhere until next Xmas
season. One year it took us about a month to notice an ornament that
was hanging on the door knob of the door that leads to the lower level
of the house. We passed it every day, multiple times a day, but never
noticed it. Doh!

Remember I warned you about pictures of the cats appearing on this
blog. Above is Rupert in the bathroom cupboard inspecting the
towels for suitable degrees of fluffiness and softness. Really.

Then we have Phoebe, reacting to the flash on my camera. She's
sitting on her cushion, on the desk, here in the computer room.

Two full days of work so far this week. I expect that tomorrow things
should simmer down and I'll be back to part time hours. Good thing
too because I have chores to do, and haven't been home in decent time
to do them.

It's gotten cold out today. Not Great White North cold, but cold
compared to what we've been having so far this weird winter season.
Might even see some snow flurries over night tonight. The one thing
that rain has going for it, that snow doesn't, is that it sounds so lovely
hearing it rain when you're in bed and settling in to sleep. A very
soothing sound. Snow, of course, doesn't make any sound. And yet,
having said that, there is a sort of "silence" that I recognize when
waking up some winter mornings, when I just know before even
looking out the window that it has snowed.

Yes, I know that Christmas is officially over for this season. But I
took these pictures myself with my new camera (which I may have
mentioned in previous posts) and I wanted to show them off. We
haven't taken our decorations down yet. We'll probably do that
next weekend. I find myself a bit reluctant to take the tree down
this year. I think it's because it is a new tree and looks so pretty. It's
a nice feature in the living room.

The top picture, assuming that the pictures remain in the same line up
when I post this entry, is of a family group that my talented friend Linda
made for me many years ago. It's a set of her "profile" bears, so called
because they are wider on their sides then across their fronts. I don't
remember where she got the pattern for these from, but she used photo-
copies to adjust the sizes for a Father, Mother and baby. They are very
beautifully stitched, and are stuffed perfectly. The arms and legs are
movable, with buttons providing the hinging mechanism. She covered
the buttons with the same fabric that the bears are made out of so that
they blend right in. The baby is in a little wicker cart, the father has a
guitar and the mother plays the drum. I put this set on this side table
in my living room every year and it's one of my most prized Christmas
decorations. I have other pieces that Linda made for Christmas as well.

The bottom picture shows a set that I bought a few years ago of a Grandpa
and Grandma bunny reading to their grandkids. This year I placed them
on the floor, in small chairs, in front of an antique table and I placed some
string between two of the legs of the table to hang small stockings that my
Mom knitted for me. It looks kind of cute. You can see the ledge of our
bay window behind the table, with some more of my Christmas stuffies on
it.

I don't know which event I'm most excited about...getting stash in the
mail today.....or that I was able to program my new camera to link with
my computer. So now I can take my own pictures and put them on my
blog. How cool is that?? Okay, humour me here folks, I'm not at all a techie
person (just ask Darlene) so arranging it so that my new camera talks to
my old computer, and not blowing either up in the process is a MAJOR accomplishment for me.

So now I can have a visual blog, which is far more entertaining for the
people who visit here then reading my words, as I tend to blather away
without knowing when to stop. I'm still getting to know my camera,
and learning how to take the best pictures with it, but knowing I can
view thumbnails of each picture that I've taken, and can delete the ones
that I don't like or that don't turn out, gives me a great feeling of
confidence. It's not like I'm going to be wasting film or paying to have
lousy pictures developed.

I have many old back issues of "Cross Country Stitching" but none past
the year 1996. I have always like this magazine and have found some
great designs to stitch, in just about every issue. While browsing their
website I found the back issues area and decided to order some of the
special Alphabet issues. There is some really great stuff in here, and my
fingers are tingling in anticipation of stitching some of the designs.

To those who have included admiration and praise for Phoebe in the
comments section, Phee and I say thank you. You are most kind. I'm
afraid that many pictures of Rupert and Phoebe are likely to be posted
to this blog in the months to come. I tend to be quite the doting "parent"
when it comes to my fur babies. You've been warned.

I've been reading a book of short stories called "Cravings". The stories
are all of the "supernatural romance" genre and the writers who contrib-
uted to the book are: Laurell K Hamilton (who doesn't seem to concern
herself too much these days with the need to actually have anything happen
in her stories except to find excuses to get her heroines into bed (and out)
with as many men, at once, as possible!!). Maryjanice Davidson, Eileen
Wilks and Rebecca York. I've never read any of the above ladies before,
except for Laurell K Hamilton, and I enjoyed their stories very much.