"H" Stands For...

• Hummingbirds- So excited to see 2 together in my yard at the same time. 
• Hostas- Bigger and more beautiful than ever this year.
• Holidays- Just spent a wonderful long weekend here with some special stitching friends.
• Hand-Dyed Floss- Saw some on the weekend that a friend did herself... would love to give it a try sometime.
• Hydrangea- Love to get a new one every year... just bought a Vanilla Strawberry variety.
• Hanging Baskets- Trying out some new petunias called Rhythm & Blues.
• H- The first letter of our last name!

I first saw this outdoor flag at Michaels about a month ago, and just loved it!  I went online and printed their 40% off coupon, and walked out the door with it for only $11.50!!  

The trellis was already in that spot from Christmas time when I hung my snowman banner on it.  The flowers were beginning to grow up around it, so I just let it be.  I bought a small wooden dowel and spray painted it black, hung the flag on it, and attached it to the trellis with a couple of black, plastic tie wraps.

I think it adds the perfect touch to my summertime garden!

Tracey

Tiny Dancer

When I saw this pattern, I just knew I wanted to stitch it.  It reminded me of when my girls were little and how excited they were when it was time for their dance recitals.   My friend Lisa's daughter Kayla also takes dance classes and she has shown an interest in cross stitching and she has asked  me for some lessons.  So I knew she would love this piece.  

Once completed, I then had to make the decision as to how I would finish the project.  I tossed around the idea of framing it, or making it into a bag for Kayla to carry her dance shoes in.  At one of our meetings, we were talking about it and thought it might be a good idea to make it into a pillow to sit on Kayla's bed.  Who knew fabric shopping could be so difficult for such a simple pillow, but  I could not find anything I liked because every design took away the attention of the dancers.  I finally found some material that had ballerina shoes on it, however once I placed it beside the stitching, I still wasn't happy with it.  So I made the decision to frame the picture and use the material to make the gift bag for it. 

As always... Sushi helped. 

As soon as Sushi sees me setting up the sewing machine,
she's right there to see what project I'm working on.

I mean...RIGHT there... could she get any closer?

Answer... yes, a little bit.

Oh boy - my string!   Wait a minute...
Where's the bell that's usually on the end?

Hang on Bonnie...you need to move your arm just a little more....

Finally, the finished project. 
Thank you for your help Sushi, I think you're done now.

That's what you think Bonnie, we still have some measuring to do.

And don't forget... I get to test the size of the frame first !

Last year I saw this Dance Recital card.  I had never seen one before so I bought it, set it aside and who knew one year later how well it would match the bag !

Time for the reveal.... Tiny Dancer #1

Tiny Dancer #2

Tiny Dancer #3

applause...applause....

Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand..
(Elton John is singing in my head right now....)

Dance, Dance, Where ever you may be.....

Every little girl loves a 'twirly' dress.

Kayla received her gift this week and she was ecstatic. She can't wait for me to give her stitching lessons. 

I'll just have to remind her, "She can visit... but she can't join !" 

Bonnie 

Freezer Sharks ?

Last week when I opened my fridge freezer to get some ice cubes, this is what I saw. 

I thought it would be fun to post the picture on Facebook to see what kind of comments it would receive.

• Is your freezer trying to flip you off? What could you have possibly done to make it angry? :D

• Love it !

• Water must have been dripping off of something in your fridge into your ice tray.

•  ... practical answer...good for you! I was thinking earthquake! 

• Your ice is excited !!! Know what it means! It's a male cube and it's Mating Season !!

• I was going to make an ice boner joke, but I see someone has beat me to it. In a classier manner than mine would have been though.

• Its like a tiny shark has become frozen in your ice cube tray.

• No I think it's a unicorn.

• Ok- so why has no one asked - Why you taking a picture? 

While I am by no means addicted to Facebook I have to say that this is one of the things I DO love about it; the humour.  I find it amusing to sit and read comments as such on many of the postings as I read the News Feeds.   

In closing... let me ask you this; Would you rather read this kind of humour or read about people complaining about their awful day, their headache, their cold, how tired they are - or simply vying for attention by posting something inappropriate?  Or worse yet - finding out on Facebook, the news of the death of someone you know - that perhaps you would have heard from on a personal level, but someone just 'had' to get it out there first.

 

Give me a horny ice cube any day.

 

No really.... give me a horny ice cube !

Bonnie

Christmas In May

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned here before about my love of purses.  With some ladies it's shoes - mine is purses.

A few of the key things when looking for that perfect purse: 

• accessibility (the opening is wide enough to get to everything inside)
• a light or bright coloured lining (so you can see everything inside)
• short to medium length straps, so I don't wear it over my shoulder (my chiropractor will thank me for this one!)
• minimal hardware (don't need all those chains and things hanging all over it)
• not too big
• not too small      

My good friend René shares this same love... but unfortunately she lives in Massachusetts and I live in Ontario, Canada, so it's not very often we can just pick up and head out for a day of shopping.

This past Christmas, René wasn't able to make the trip back home for the holidays, so it was a nice surprise when she called a while back to say she would be in Canada this week! (I hadn't seen her for 1 1/2 years!!)  We got together for a couple of hours today, and I was excited to get to open my Christmas gift from her...

Surprise!!!... she got me a new purse!!! I have never been disappointed with any of the purses she has picked out for me over the years (our taste is actually quite similar), and more than once I have heard René make the comment that she almost took my purse home for herself!  I don't know why, but it seems like there are many more unique styles in the US than I can find here in Canada.

She also had more goodies tucked inside... some hand made crocheted dishcloths and a pouf ; a daily desk calendar of handbags, and a sweet little book of reproduction vintage post cards.  Thanks so much Né!!!

We plan to spend the day together tomorrow- you guessed it- shopping.  Now even though I'm all set with my new summer purse, I may just have to have a peek to see what else is out there.

It doesn't hurt to look, right??

Tracey

Everything is for Eat!

My friend Lori was telling me the cutest story about her grandson.  Once when the family was sitting at the table eating dinner Lori didn't quite finish all her food, but she was done with her meal so she pushed her plate aside.  Her grandson immediately exclaimed, "Everything is for eat Gramma.  Everything is for eat!"

It took her a second to figure out what he meant, but then she realized he was trying to say what his mother tells him when she says, 'finish everything on your plate'.  Laughter ensued and this has become one of their favourite family expressions. 

When she told me this story, I knew immediately that I had to cross stitch this unique expression for her.  While I was thinking about how I would design this piece, I was also trying to decide how I wanted to finish it.  Tracey and I were discussing it and we concluded that a flat-fold would be interesting.  This idea appealed to me because this way Lori can display it right on the table just where everyone can see it at dinner, and when not in use it would tuck nicely away.

This past week we all got together at Anita's to finish off some of our projects and Anita & I tried our hands at our first attempt of a flat-fold.  Silly me, I never thought to take photo's of the process, but below is the finished product.  When I set it down we all stood back to take a look and Tracey exclaimed how much it just 'popped' out at you.  She also commented that it was the perfect size and it reminded her of a reserved sign that you would see on a dinner table.  How appropriate.

And of course,
Sushi had to help with the photo session. 

Then of course she had to check out the gift bags
to see which one was the best fit. 

 

I was so happy to have the help to get this project finished this week because it was Lori's birthday and then she was going to be off for two weeks with her grandchildren so I wanted her to have it as soon as possible.  She was so excited when she opened it and saw what it was.  As luck would have it, the family was coming for dinner that night and she couldn't wait to sneak it onto the dinner table.

The thought occurred to me that I don't need such a sign on my table because I certainly don't have a problem when it comes to Everything Is For Eat! 

Bonnie 

Alphabet Freckles

My niece posted a picture on Facebook this week that I just had to share.  Her initials are TH. Here is the picture and the caption she posted. 

Does anyone else find it absolutely amazing that my initials
are on Ben's left cheek in his freckles?!?!...T H.
True story!

My response, "HAHAHA, that's cool. By the look he is giving, it appears he is not too impressed with his branding. Did you discover this or did he? I suppose if had looked in the mirror he would have seen HT. 

Too funny!!

Bonnie