Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. I had a very nice day sheltering at home. I slept in, had a late lunch, and Skip and I ordered takeout from our favourite local Afghani restaurant - Maimana Naan and Kabab. There is also a branch in Ajax on Hwy 2 just east of Salem. We enjoyed Shish Kabab salads - two skewers of meat with fresh salad and yummy dressing.

Gifts were delivered to my front porch.

There was definitely a theme:

The one on the bottom right is a donkey mug. :-)  The beeswax wraps are great for using instead of plastic wrap for cheese or over containers going in the fridge. I've had most of the stuff to make my own for months, except the resin, but am glad to have these instead. The fabric I was going to use for mine ended up being used for masks, anyway.

Marilyn stitched this for me. It's a timely freebie from Drawn Thread. I LOVE the specialty stitches on the bees. There's also a version for Aida cloth.

Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of our guild's spring stitching retreat at Elim Lodge on the east side of Pigeon Lake. Now we'll have to wait until the fall for the next one - hopefully.

I've been working on this 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle for the past three days and finished it late last night.

I'd had the puzzle for years - possibly decades and hadn't even opened it until three days ago. I put my yoga mat on a card table and started in on it only to realize I had it oriented on my mat the wrong way and it barely fit length-wise on the table - leaving no room for the loose puzzle pieces. I used several cookie tins and board place mats to segregate colours and work on them separately. I also added another little table adjusted to the right height to use beside the card table with the yoga mat draping over it as well.

I found  a 500 piece Christmas Peanuts puzzle in the basement that I may bring up and start on.

I have made several masks - many of which I've mailed to various people. Canada Post is very slow these days - I suspect they're having trouble keeping a full complement of healthy employees.

I've also been waiting for a package from Teresa Kogut that she mailed from Michigan on April 3. The USPS tracking's last update was April 7 when it was en route to the next facility. They've had trouble also in the US with keeping enough postal employees on the job.

I haven't started any big stitching projects as a result because once Teresa's kit comes in I'll have to get stitching on it right away to make up for lost time. It might be one of the patterns she wants to release in June. Yikes! She really doesn't put any pressure on us stitchers but still, I'd love to be able to get it to her in time for her desired release date.

This is the teaser she posted on Facebook on April 1 - "Above All". One of the hashtags was #loveOneAnother.

It's going to be aweseome. I can't wait 'til it arrives.