Happy Wednesday!

Just a quick update today on my most recent WIP.

Stitching over one has been a real challenge especially since I'm using two stands of floss. I find an even and uniform stitch is hard to accomplish and I kind of wish I had decided to use just one strand if I was going to stitch over 1 in the first place! Lessons Learned!!! I don't think I'll be stitching over 1 again anytime soon. 

But I cannot wait to finish this WIP to start another!!!! CCN's Santa's House (part one of a  12 part series - OHHHH the stitching fun) came to me in the mail the other day and I simply cannot wait to stitch it! But I keep telling myself to be disciplined and finish what I've got started and then start in on Santa's House. 

Also, if you'd like to possibly receive a RAK this coming year by yours truly be sure to throw your name into the pot! You can sign-up here by leaving a comment :) Sign-ups end December 31!

Ciao for now :)

Melissa

Happy Wednesday!

I've been thinking of doing some Random Acts of Kindness (fondly known as RAKs) lately and thought why stop there???? Especially since it's the season of giving and as a little Christmas Gift to all of you, I thought I could do whole year of stitchy RAKs!

YEY!

Wikipedia describes a Random Act of Kindness as:

"A random act of kindness is a selfless act performed by a person or people wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual person or people. The phrase may have been coined by Anne Herbert, who says that she wrote "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" on a place mat at a Sausalito restaurant in 1982 or 1983.^[1][2] "

If you're interested in getting a RAK from me please email me with your name and email address at k73mmf@mun.ca or sign up below!

For all those wanting to signup, I'd appreciate if you could spread the word by posting about this on your blog! Thanks!!!

I'll be keeping a list of people who sign-up and will begin randomly giving out a least one RAK a month starting in January going on until December 2013!!!

Sign-up's END DECEMBER 31st, 2012!!!!!

xo

Melissa

Happy Monday!

I think the best word to describe what I've been doing lately is "waiting".

Waiting for some long awaited stash to arrive (checking the mail box obsessively everyday!!!). Waiting for job uncertainty to pass. Waiting for  Christmas. Waiting to see people I haven't seen in forever. Waiting to move out of my parents place. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. I hate it. I've never been good with Change but I suddenly cannot wait any longer. I've had it with waiting and I want answers now!

I don't want to make you think I'm dissatisfied with my life, because this is the furthest thing from the truth. I love my life right now! I guess I just have a lot of questions that need answering that are so far outside of my control that it just frustrates me. Alas, I don't think I'm going to be able to ever see into the future to calm my poor mind and soul. I suppose I should just accept that all questions will be answered with time... which ironically involves MORE waiting. See what I'm doing here - going around and around in circles! Ahhh how the mind works. 

Thankfully I only have another 2 weeks before I have nice long break from having to think at all and my only worry being how I'm going to be able to fit another mouthful of turkey into a very full tummy. I took Christmas off from work and I'll get roughly 10days off in total! Sooooooo looking forward to this. All my gifts are wrapped and ready to go, safely tucked away from some very anxious hands :) I literally had to fend off my brother the other day haha. 

I heard this song on the radio the other day and thought I just had to share it! It's a traditional Newfoundland song that depicts the tradition of Mummering in Newfoundland. Have a listen :)

Forgive the poor quality video but this song is near 30+ years old at this point hehe. 

Mummering has been a tradition in NL for many many many years. Mummers go around during the 12 days of Christmas to celebrate the season invading kitchens or living rooms to play jokes and preform a jig or two. Really it's just a big impromptu Kitchen Party. The residents of the unsuspecting home are suppose to host these mummers and try and guess who they might be - thus the funny looking costumes. I've never had the privileged to witness a mummers gathering outside of the city's Mummers Parade as it really is a dying tradition... at least in the city anyway. I've heard people still practice it in our rural communities however! Either way, people here love the idea of mummers. There are songs, stories and even ornaments  honouring this bygone tradition.

Introducing Ambrose the Mummer!

While there's lots of things that 'say' Christmas to me, funnily enough nothing screams Christmas more to me than hearing the Mummering song and thinking of people made up like this little fellow above. Kinda looks a little like a ghost doesn't it!? 

If you'd like to learn a little more about Mummering I found a Wikipedia article that can sum it up much better than I can - Click Here.

As for some personal Christmas traditions, our family's ULTIMATE Christmas tradition it to play Whoville-opoly and eat our Christmas ham at just before midnight on Christmas Eve! Even though we're all grown up and rarely ever play board games anymore this is the one night a year that we all get together and play away to our hearts content. Having two brothers makes this a very competitive event by the way ;) It's monopoly Grinchified! All about getting as many trees and presents you can... and it lasts for HOURS! But I love every minute and it certainly makes those slow Christmas Eve hours slip by. 

I couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve.

Ciao for now my lovelies!

Melissa

Happy Friday!

In celebration of the season I've changed my blog theme!!! Tres belle no?

I even added a bit of wintery snow just to get everyone in the wintery mood if you're not already haha. Not that I need it. Since my last post, mother nature decided to take away all our crunchy snow in favour of some rain and soggyness... then lo and behold - I wake up this morning to find that everything has frozen over once again and the snow is coming down... again. Make up your mind mother nature!!!!

My moose-y WIP is about to get a dusting of the white stuff next too! Here's where I was at last night:

I made a little bitty boo boo in the neck by skipping an entire row but I think I'll just work without it instead of having to rip everything out. Looks ok right???

I also won a giveaway back in November by Tricia over at A Stamper's Stitches that I've been waiting to post about until I got the package in the mail. And yesterday it finally arrived!!! 

3 little mini charts, one of which is the sweetest little card! As you can see, there's also a little tree chart too which will not be waiting too long to be stitched :)  The card Tricia sent was so cute and special. I love it! Thanks for your generosity Tricia!

While I was snapping my pictures last night I had a lazy on looker - prepare yourselves!

Leia.... She was not so subtly telling me to get my big beautiful arse into bed during the photoshoot just below her... especially when she started pawing me in the head. "Like come on missus - why on earth are you taking pictures when you could be curled up in bed with me????". I know Leia - you're just a big sook - I'm just your personal pillow!

Joking aside, I'm surprised she was able to keep her eyes open when I took this little snap-shot hehe. 

Have a great weekend everyone!!! Almost 2 weeks to Christmas!!!!!

Just thought I'd give everyone a friendly reminder to panic :)

Melissa

Happy Tuesday Folks!

Well Old Man Winter brought us a good dose of snow over the past few days. The weather went from somewhat mild to down-right freezing in record time. Sunday was a gorgeous yet cold day so I thought I would take a few photos to share. 

Glassy looking beach rocks on the fringe of our Koy Pond.

I remember, as a child, as soon as I found an icicle I would crack it off and eat it! Not particularly sanitary - but naturally I never even thought of that before devouring one of these things.  I've seen icicles more than a foot long at times, especially common on older houses where poor insulation lets heat escape out the roof - thus melting the snow on the roof and making icicles!!! Don't ask how I know this...

One of my favourite things after a snow storm is seeing the evergreens drooping with the weight of the snow. I was a little too late this time to capture it on camera but I loved how the mid-day sun had begun to melt just a little bit of the snow on this branch!

The holly is VERY vibrant against the snowy backdrop don't you think? Every time I see the holly bush I think of the song "The Holly and the Ivy"...and now it's totally stuck in my head!!!

"The Holly and the Ivy,

When they are both full grown

Of all the trees that are in the wood

The holly bears the crown..."

YOUR TURN TO HAVE IT STUCK IN YOUR HEAD! HA!

And then of course Leia snuck out the door as I was coming in from outdoors. She's been wanting to go out every 5 minutes since the snow came down... utterly annoying but so cute. So you can imagine how hard it was to entice her to come back inside once she escaped! Irish Setters I think have this thing where they freeze when you're calling to them but play deaf and continue on their merry way... Like you're not running after them screaming "treat treat" in the least. 

She looks quite mischievous here, I can just imagine what she's thinking "I see your lips moving but I hear nothing missus!". 

Surprisingly enough, there's a little resemblance between my current WIP and Leia's picture don't you think?

Except this is going to be a moose... eventually. It's "Merry Moose Wishes" from the 2012 JCS Christmas Ornaments mag. I'm stitching this on 28ct blue-ish grey opalescent lugana. I love the fabric... but not the count. So I decided to stitch over 1... I have one word to describe stitching over 1... HARD! But it's looking great and I hope to put a few stitches in tonight. This will be for my brother's girlfriend - who is obsessed with these massive creatures. 

Moose are a dime a dozen here - in fact I remember I was once driving up my street, driving somewhat slowly because my dog was in the back and the window was stuck rolled down... when a big fricken moose comes out behind a house and plants itself solidly in the middle of the road. I stop the car, praying that my dog would not go crazy and jump out at it when I see too little calves cross the road. Only when they were up the embankment on the other side of the road did the mother leave. Very cool and something I will likely remember for the rest of my life!

Oh and I should tell you I've made the switch to Q-snaps! I felt a little guilty leaving my hoops behind at first but as soon as I realized the tension on the fabric lasted a whole lot longer on the Q-snaps I was fully converted! Originally I had decided to try out Q-snaps because of the dirty hoop ring that was starting to make an appearance on cross-stitches. I was none to happy about this development - especially since I'm practically religious about washing my hands period. This problem is practically non-existent now and I love how easy it is to hold!!! Love love love!

Have a great week guys!

Melissa