More than just Cross Stitchin': Our Team Blog

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Our Team Blog

Welcome to Team Blog! Not only are we 'Virgin Bloggers', but 3 members of this team of 4 don't even know yet that I've set up this blog for our Cross Stitch group. Surprise Anita, Jody and Tracey.

For the past 17 years we have been getting together on a monthly basis to Cross Stitch.... and more. Each one of us takes turns hosting for the evening and we all tend to watch what we eat that day because we know there will be a feast of new recipes and snacks to try out. Like I said, 'MORE'!

Our group consists of Anita, Bonnie, Jody and Tracey. Cross Stitching is the reason we started the group, but we don't stop there. Our talents and interests include knitting, laughing, quilting, eating, sewing, laughing, gardening, eating, beading, laughing, cooking, eating, scrapbooking and interior decorating. Did I mention laughing and eating?

We rarely miss a meeting and we're well prepared to reschedule when necessary. Over the years our families have come to understand how important it is to us to get together on 'Cross Stitch Night'. One husband refers to it as our 'monthly cult', one workplace is careful not to let appointments run over on 'Cross Stitch Night' and our children have learned to ASK before eating ANYTHING from the fridge in case it is for Cross Stitch.

We usually end our evening long after midnight and we've gone away on weekend retreats and stitched for 3 days straight. (True cross stitchers understand that, others just don't get it) We have another retreat booked for this May and we are so excited!

Since we have 17 years (x4) worth of projects we won't attempt to post our photos/projects in chronological order. We're crazy, but not that crazy!

Bonnie

3 comments:

staci said...: Welcome to the blogosphere girls!!! I am sooo excited that I will be able to see what all of you are up to :) Just got back from knit-nite, and it was a nice surprise to have Bonnie's email. Happy Stitching (and blogging!); February 3, 2010 at 10:50 PM
Denise said...: I just found your blog and it looks like a winner! I have saved it in my bookmarks along with many others that I read. I do not have a blog myself but I love to see all the lovely stitching of others and get super ideas.
Keep up the good work!; February 8, 2010 at 1:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Welcome to the world of blogging! If you need any help let me know k

Tammy; February 8, 2010 at 10:46 PM

Charlie Brown

Growing up, I had a pet monkey named Charlie Brown. Actually, he belonged to my sister and he came to live with us in 1966. You were actually allowed to have monkeys as pets then and if you can beleive it, he was ordered from an ad in the back of a magazine. Charlie Brown was a squirrel monkey (just like the ones in the Telus commericials).

Everyone in school loved when it was my turn for 'show and tell'. You will see in some of the photos (if the slide show downloads for me...) that he used to wear diapers. Eventually, he learned how to take them off. We had a rope strung across the kitchen from end to the other. We kept a piece of papertowel on the floor at the end of one rope and that's where he did his business. His rope provided many hours of entertainment. At bedtime, if mom and dad were not home when it was bedtime, he would sit on his roap and cry out until they returned.

If I was crying, Dad would put him up to my face to lick away my tears. He would dangle from my hair and lick from one eye to the next. It alwyays made me stop crying. He would play outside and every once in awhile he would swing from tree to tree and end up down the street at the neighbours.

Often you would find the monkey lying in the cast iron pan on the stove. The pilot light from the gas stove provided him a warm and comfy spot. He would also sit on top of the lamp shade for warmth, and if you ever heard a 'pop' - you knew he peed on the lightbulb. It happens...

Charlie Brown used to sit on the wall phone.... until it rang. That was always funny. He brought many years of amusement to us all and I miss him and his antics.

Bonnie

Warm hearts ... and warm toes!

Well since we are talking winter, let's talk about warm hearts ... and warm toes.

A few years ago at Christmas we had a gift exchange. Ironically, both Anita and myself had the exact same idea for a present. We always open our gift bags at the same time, and it was really hard for me to keep a straight face when I saw that Anita had had the same gift idea as me and while she explained that she thought slippers would be a good idea, that way we could carry them in our bag with us at all times. Anita had knit slipppers for everyone and made a little draw-string pouch, with our names embroidered on it, to keep the socks in.

Then they all opened my gift bag and we burst out laughing. I knew how much everyone loved snowmen, so I had stitched faces on white slippers and added a carrot button for the nose. Well we weren't finished with the laughter because I thought we should get a picture with our slippers on. So then we were all sitting on the floor trying to get different positions in order to get everyone in the picture at the same time. We tried sitting up against the wall and taking the picture of our toes all pointing up to the ceiling and then I said, nooooo - that will show the snowman's face upside down. Someone said... (and I won't say who...) "Good point, let's think of something else. What if we lay on our back with our feet in the air - you know... like if our feet were ON the ceiling"

Well then the faces would still be upside down wouldn't they. Spontanious Laughter.

We had to think of something else. It was decided that we would just stand toe to toe in a huddle and we would take the picture from above in order to get everyone in the picture. Sounded like a good plan right?

Well... not if you have a protruding belly and/or big boobs. After the inital light-headedness subsided from sucking in our bellies, we had to deal with the shadow from the boobs.

So we stood in our huddle, adjusting, wiggling and laughing with our arms around each other while we tried not to tip over. It was about that moment when Anita's daughter walked in on us, which of course added to the laughter when we saw the look on her face.

Finally the photo was taken and our toes are doubly warm.

Bonnie

It all started with a tea towel...

Quite some time ago when I was perusing the Dollarama, I came across the cutest autumn tea towel with a teddy bear dressed up like a scarecrow. It immediately reminded me of Jody and I thought 'I'm going to get that for her', and then I thought... why not get one for everybody? And so I did and it was a hit.

From that point on, it's no surprise to any of us if there just happens to be an occasional 'mini gift' exchange on Cross Stitch night. Once when Jody hosted in February, she gave us all a tiny picture frame with a 1" x 1" opening. I had no idea what to do with mine, but Tracey knew immediately. Because it was Valentines day, Tracey stitched a heart.

Mine sat for a good number of months before I could figure out what I could stitch in such a tiny area and not copy Tracey's idea. And then one day it hit me; Jody loves snowmen. I would do a snowman in the frame that Jody gave me. But.... do they make snowman patterns for less than 1" x 1"? I couldn't be bothered looking, so I winged it. And voila! A happy smiley snowman face. I think it took longer to write this posting than it did to stitch that happy face.

We'll have to get a picture of Tracey's heart posted after her renovations are complete as I expect it's packed away for now.

p.s. I wasn't allowed to Blog today unless I cleaned my house. It's half cleaned; consider this half a blog.
Bonnie

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Our Team Blog

3 comments:

Christmas 2016