A Farewell to my Fellow Needle Nuts

Last week I got together with the ladies I meet with monthly for an afternoon of Cross-Stitch.

Normally we stop meeting over the summer & go to a play instead, but this time we decided to meet one last time, then go out to dinner afterwards.

I have spent many hours with these ladies, & gotten a lot of helpful advice on how to make proper French Knots (I will master them one day!).  I will miss them all very much.

Fortunately, one of the ladies lives in BC most of the year, not far from where we are moving to, so perhaps we will be able to meet up for an afternoon of stitching at some point!

Snowflake Factory

We’ve been busy making snowflakes here.  Some are being mailed to the Grandparents, but we’re just having a lot of fun figuring out how to make different shapes & designs.  Here Asher demonstrates how to make a snowflake…

My 35th Birthday

Yesterday was my 35th birthday.  I had a wonderful day celebrating, in the most unusual manner.  Had someone told me a few years ago that I would be celebrating by spending the day shopping with 3 ladies who are twice my age, & having the most delightful time, I don’t think I would have believed them!

 

I have been part of a cross-stitching group through my church for a few years now, & the ladies & I have become quite good friends.  We were scheduled to have a stitching day on my birthday, but then Ellen (one of the members) called me & asked if I would like to go to Moncton for the day with the ladies instead.  I thought that sounded fun, so I agreed, then Ellen said, “That’s great… would you be able to drive us?”  Well, I do love to drive, so I agreed to that too!

 

Our first stop was Timmy’s; after the long drive we had to get our caffeine fix!  Then we went to the cross-stitch store, & spent a good amount of time there re-stocking supplies, & browsing.

Then it was off to Montana’s for lunch.  I think I was the only one who had been to a Montana’s before, so I showed them the ropes.

 

Gonda was surprised to be given a Mason jar to drink from!

 

Since it was my birthday I got to wear the birthday hat!

 

And Gonda’s birthday is the day after mine, so she got a hat too!

 

We then headed to Costco, and ended the day walking the mall.  By the time we decided to head home I think we were all shopped out, but it was one of my most fun birthdays!  I’m really glad to call these ladies my friends!

Chancery’s Car

After making Asher’s mode of transportation, Chancery felt like she needed something too.  It started as a box…

 

Then we cut out some wheels…

 

Tape, cut, repeat…

 

Decorate…

What was the front of the car became the back, since Chancery wanted to have a lot of trunk space to hold all the things she wanted to take with her.

 

One simply can’t drive around without a crown!

 

And we have two happy kids with many hours of imaginative places to travel to…

School Project

On the last day of school before March break, Asher came home with a paper stating that he needed to make some sort of transportation he could drive, or would like to drive, & bring it into the class to show everyone.  Well, we read the paper, & then lost it, so we went with what we remembered from the sheet, & started making a big, huge project.  It was too big.  I said “This is too big!  It won’t fit in my truck!  This can’t be what the teacher meant!”  So, I emailed the teacher for some clarification, & was told that most students make a small model, or something along those lines.

 

Back to the drawing board we went.  Asher said he wanted to make a Banzai Bill.  We looked through the recycling bin & created a rocket ship, painted it, & decorated it.  It is smaller.  It will fit in my truck.  Asher is pleased with it.  I think we hit all the necessary criteria.

This is the front view

 

Bottom view, of course it had to have a flying Mario on it!

 

And the top view.

Fashion Design

Chancery has been on a coloring streak making lots of little pictures of people & animals & cutting them out to tape on PChad’s office door.  She also tried her hand at making clothes for her dog Ginger.

 

Here is Ginger modeling a dress & crown.

 

Chancery seems to have abandoned that project since her creations weren’t holding up to her playing with them.  She has said many times though that she now wants to be a fashion designer.  Perhaps we’ll have to ask Grandma for some sewing lessons when we’re visiting this summer!

Birthday Lunch

I received a call a few days after my birthday, that my friend Ellen would like to take Gonda & I out for lunch to celebrate our birthdays since they are one day apart.  Due to sickness & snow, we had to reschedule twice, but today we finally got to celebrate together!

 

These are ladies from church who I have gotten to know through our mutual love of cross-stitch.  They are much more dedicated than I am, I usually don’t pick my cross-stitch up except for our monthly get togethers where we spend the afternoon talking over coffee & needlework.  I have really grown to love the time that we get to spend together, & despite the decades between us, I am glad to call these ladies my friends.

The Stocking Is Done!

This Christmas you may have noticed in some of the pictures, there was an odd stocking.  I finally finished the cross-stitch one I was making for PChad!  I started working on this stocking when I was pregnant with Asher.  Seven years later, I am GLAD to finally have it finished!

 

I started with the plan of making a stocking for every member of my family, but at the rate which I stitch, I’d be lucky to get the kids’ done before they move out of the house!  I think PChad might be the lucky one that gets his own, everyone else can have matching red fuzzy ones.

Lessons In Buckets

With Asher at Pre-Kindergarten 3 mornings a week, we’ve been having lots of interesting conversations of late.  There’s a whole new world of ideas & thought processes that he’s being introduced to, & it has been very exciting watching them play out around the house.

 

Last week the take home lesson was about how we all have “buckets” & we can be a bucket-filler, or a bucket-dipper.  When we do or say nice things, we fill other people’s buckets, & when we say or do mean things, we dip into others’ buckets.

 

Chancery was playing with one of Asher’s paper hats he had taken home from school, & eventually it broke.  She went up to Asher & said, “Sorry, Asher.  I broke your hat.”  It took Asher a few seconds to pay attention to her & when it dawned on him what had happened I heard him wail, “Chancery broke my hat!  She broke my hat & now my heart is broken & my bucket is EMPTY!”

A Night Out On The Town

Last night, the cross-stitch group I am a part of, went on it’s annual summer dinner & theatre evening.

I met up with the ladies for dinner & then it was on to see “Johnny Belinda” at the Montgomery Theatre in North Rustico.  The play was great, and for being in a small town theatre, the acting was superb!

I just couldn’t believe how great the play was.  I hadn’t heard of it & didn’t know any of the story line before we got there, but it really was excellent.  If you have the chance to see this play, I definitely recommend that you go see it for yourself.

Christmas Tour of Homes 2009

I have found decorating to be a bit challenging this year, with all the "help" I've been getting from the little ones.  So, this year, not so many decorations, partly due to the fact that we finally have all our art hung on the walls.  A task that we finally got around to in November, a mere 14 months after we moved in, so I didn't feel like taking all the paintings down to put up the wall hangings.

Of course, the most important way to get in the Christmas spirit is the music, so I started by setting up my playlist, then set to work decorating the tree.

Our Christmas tree has 5 ornaments on it this year.  I started decorating it while the kids were up & they seemed to think it was a fun game to take the ornaments off just as fast as I put them up, so I quit.  It's all I can do at this point, to keep those 5 on the tree.  Chancery keeps taking them off and bringing them to me.

 

I really enjoy having the lighted garland on the banisters with the stockings.  I love the glow from the Christmas lights when the house is dark in the evenings, and the berry lights upstairs are one of my favourite features this year.

One thing that always gets me in the Christmas mood, is lights.  We didn't get outside to put any up before the snow hit this year, but we do have a few sets up in various places in the house.  As I pulled the different strands out of the box, PChad informed me that it's not that useful to have only one strand of each type (is that permission to buy more lights?).





As we strung them up, I concurred. Three feet of lights are a bit difficult to find a spot for, but I did find a window in PChad's office for the snowflake lights.

And we put these star lights up above the window in the living room, by the tree.

Of course, we can't forget the snowman doorstop that I made this year.  He had to be rescued from the floor after Asher decided to rip his nose off.  After a bit of facial reconstructive surgery, I think he'll be ok, but he's recuperating from his ordeal, on the counter.

Click here to see how I decorated last year.  To see other homes on the tour this year, or if you want to join in, click here!

I'm A Nut

When we were first married, since I was new to Canada, I was not allowed to workb/c of immigration issues for about a year and 1/2. We didn't have a TV, so I read alot. Fortunately we lived quite close to the library, so first I read all the John Grisham books, then Sue Grafton caught my eye & I read all of her books. I went through a few more authors I knew & read their books (I had a lot of time on my hands, People!). After that, I started at the "A" authors & found Watership Down by Richard Adams, to be a very enjoyable read. But after awhile I got tired of reading & decided I needed to find something else to do with my time, so I picked up counted Cross-stitch.

I have a Christmas stocking that I have been working on for PChad since before Asher was born. I used to take it to work & work on it during my lunch hour. If there was nothing to watch on TV, I'd work on it at night. When we'd fly somewhere, I'd take it along as well. But since Asher was born, I just haven't really found the time. I find that the attention I have to have to focus on the task is sometimes more than I can give after the kids are in bed, so I've rarely worked on it in the last 2.5 years.


A few months ago we went to a parishioner's house for lunch & I noticed that she was a fellow cross-stitcher. She said that she was part of a group that gets together for an afternoon once a month & works on whatever their current project is. She asked if I'd be interested in coming the next time that they met & I said I would.

So, two months in, I am officially a "Needle Nut". I'm sure it will take quite awhile to finish the stocking, but I'm not too worried about running out of things to work on. After all, I still need to make on for Asher, Chancery & myself. I find it very relaxing to be able to devote a whole afternoon to my project, and it helps that I also get to have a break from the kids for a few hours!



(This is what it's supposed to look like when it's finished)