Festooned!

My 70th birthday was this week. My friends and neighbours made it a very special day. Skip had treatment in the afternoon but the morning was nice and relaxed.

I was given so many wonderful presents.

I met Lorna and Sue in The Big City a week ago Thursday and Lorna had a big bag of birthday treats for me: a painting, some body butter, lip balm and goat's milk soap, dinner napkins,

and a teacup jigsaw puzzle.

She also brought me a Pandora charm she and Francey had bought me while on their European trip - La Tour Eiffel.

Alexa brought me some lovely flowers.

David brought me more flowers and a very cute birthday card.

My neighbour Susan had this beautiful bouquet delivered from our nearby florist. Roses, lilies, a big hyerangea (back right), etc. The lilies are just starting to bloom.

Barb gave me a printed panel for embroidering centres of hexies and hexie flowers, and 3 fat quarters.

Jeanette gave me a very cute beehive panel embroidery kit which included everything: fabric, threads, and buttons, as well as some Purdy's chocolates.

Poppy gave me a coil-bound watercolour painting book and the 'DIY Watercolor [sic] Flowers' technique book. 

She also made me a beautiful needle case 

with 7 coordinating skeins of floss.

Jen1 gave me the Spring Green Pears kit from Annie Beez.

She included the fabric and silk threads. The green-ness of the fabric doesn't show but think 'light pear green'.

I've done the first (red) and second (blue) ones in the series and now I have the third.

Marilyn gave me a Lori Holt quilt puzzle, Jan Hicks' 'Love' - the cardinals from her 'Birds of Colour' series. I'd been wanting this chart so was so happy to receive it.

I hope to have some time to start on of these projects or get back to stitching my 'Live on Little'.

My time is not my own with Skip needing more care so I tend to rest between bouts of activity rather than do some crafting. I'll get the hang of the new routine and carve out time for myself. I'm not a stoic or a martyr. I need to take care of myself and have no problem calling on friends for help or accepting help that is offered. 

I certainly have lots of projects I can work on for my stress management.

I am so grateful for all the folks who care about us and have been so supportive and helpful. We are so fortunate.

A Bit of Progress

I did a bit of work on Live on Little last week. 

Because my first nautical flag was one column wider, I had to move the second set of waves to the right one column. They almost look lined up with the upper ones but I'm not ripping it out.

Any stitching I've done is on the model for Pansy Patch Quilts and Stitchery - #7 in the 'Houses on Wisteria Lane' series. My goal is to have it finished by the end of this month.

I'm on the home stretch crocheting Skip's Hobbes stuffie.

I did the ears at the hospital yesterday during Skip's treatment and started the white oval for the tummy last night. I'm kind of winging it because the white patch needs to be much bigger than the pattern calls for. Once that's done I'll stuff and assemble the pieces, embroider the stripes on the top of the head and facial features. It's going to be so cute. Hobbes is kind of a floppy doll so although his different parts will be firmly stuffed, the joints will be left rather loose. We have had many laughs reading the Calvin and Hobbes books. 

Interestingly, Bill Watterson ceased drawing his comic strips in 1995 due to the formatting demands of various papers. Rather than compromise his art, he chose to stop creating the comic strip altogether. He has also refused any licensing of products featuring Calvin and Hobbes. He remains media-shy to this day. Currently on Amazon Prime Video there is a documentary about him called 'Dear Mr. Watterson'.

At Guild tonight there will be a presentation on 'Stitching Tips and Tricks'. It was inspired by this video. I'll also highlight Nicola Parkman's video on the Pin Stitch. 

Eclipse Day

There was tremendous hype about today's solar eclipse. We were in the area of 99% but it was pretty cloudy. 

I didn't have anything fancy rigged for taking photos but at one point the sun tried to peek through the clouds so I was able to get this shot on my iPhone. 

Very different conditions from the last partial eclipse we experienced in 2017.

We watched the CBC coverage from Niagara Falls, Sherbrooke PQ, Woodstock PE (it was great seeing Jay Scotland again). Heather Hiscox did a really good job excitedly covering the event for about 4 hours - interviewing folks and introducing the various reporters across SW Ontario and eastward. The crowds were so excited and for the most part they all got a good show. In spite of the fact we were a bit out of the area of totality, it did get very dark at about 3:30. 

Of course, at about 6pm, the sun came out and shone brightly but the eclipse was long past. I was very happy for the folks who travelled to see the eclipse. It will be something to remember for always. Next one in our area will be in about 20 years. Not sure I'll be around to see it.

Progress has been made on my Live on Little. I got the sailboat done and have begun the water on the left side. I can do the filling in between the waves while I'm watching TV in the evening.

I also got the nautical flags of my initials done. Each letter of the alphabet has its own nautical flag and the designer, Paulette Stewart, charted them to include with the pattern.

I would love to have it finished by our June guild meeting to put in the TATA but I'm not sure I'll have it done and framed by then.

There's still the rest of the waves and water, church, Canadian flag, bird, some 'stars', and details to fill in on the mermaid, fish, whales, and lobster. And I have that model to do for Pansy Patch Quilts and Stitchery to finish, hopefully by the end of this month.

Skip's CT scan results weren't ready last week because of the Easter holiday. We go back this Wednesday to find out how he's doing and if/when treatment will commence again. 

The Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival is this Saturday. A bunch of us will be heading there for it. 'Twill be a fun day out.