Ohhhh Sushi

Last week I was going through the closet looking for some sandals to wear and I came across a pair that I picked up when I was in Cuba last November.  I tucked them away when I returned from the trip and then I forgot all about them until I saw them.  I couldn't wait to get them broke in.  I wore them around the house for the majority of the afternoon and then I sat down for a rest and decided it was time time to slip them off.  The moment I took them off the cat came running and she laid down right on top of them. She was still laying on them when I went up to bed, so I just left them.

That week, every time I walked into the room the cat was laying on the shoes again.  Today, this is what I came upon when I walked into the room.  She will take both her paws and wrap them around the strap and rub her face on the instep strap. She sure loves these shoes. 

Ohhhh Sushi ....

Bonnie

Bliss

My favourite Summertime place...

The shores of Lake Huron

To sit and do this...

A Little Love by Lizzie Kate

Hope you got to spend some time this weekend, stitching at your favourite place.

Tracey

Summertime Mantle

Since today is forecast as being one of the hottest days of the season, I thought it would be a perfect time to share pictures of my Summertime Mantle.

If some things look a bit familiar, it's because I "stole" a few of the items from when I've decorated the mantle in seasons past.

Nothing says Summer quite like a Gerbera Daisy

A favourite of mine... a Mermaid I named "Celeste"

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and managing to keep cool during these record temperatures!

Tracey

A Printers Tray Takes On a New Life

A while back, my daughter "pinned" an image on Pinterest where someone had taken a old printers tray and transformed it into something to hold all of their jewelry.  I saved that picture and thought, if I ever come across one of these trays I know exactly what I'll do with it.

Jody has a friend who scours flea markets and secondhand shops for all kinds of treasures that she can get for a song, and then turns around and sells them for very reasonable prices to other people.  So I contacted Meg, and asked her to keep an eye out for one of these drawers while in her travels.  Well, lo and behold, didn't she already have one in her "stash"!

Now for me, I probably would have just left it "as is", but with Chantelle being young and hip, I figured she would prefer something a bit more modern.  I chose the colour Mediterranean in a gloss finish.

Since this was a piece that wouldn't be getting a lot of wear and tear, I skipped the primer stage and just sprayed on 2 coats.

Now all you purists out there... close your eyes while I cover over the letters that were penciled on the tray...

Next, it was time to add the eye screws so the earrings would have something to hang on.  Only for his little girl would my dear hubby sit and drill 89 holes to accommodate all those little eye hooks!

It took a while to get the knack using the drill in such tight sections, so there were a few spots on the drawer where it looked distressed.  Instead of touching it up with the paint, we just decided to go with that look and got the drill back out!

While cleaning the handle, I noticed that the thin piece of plastic and the paper underneath slid out, so I thought a little personalization was in order...

We also added a little piece of doweling to the bottom for some of those extras that wouldn't fit in the top...

Needless to say, Chantelle just loved her birthday gift, and couldn't wait to start getting organized!

Tracey

Brentwood 2012 Part 5, Needle Minders

The first year that we, the Four from Forest, went to Brentwood we were pleasantly surprised with a little gift that was stitched and created in the Brentwood colours, a Needle Card. It is one of my favourite cross stitch accessories.  As noted in the Needle Card link - the following year we decided we wanted to try our hand at a small trinket for everyone and we crocheted dishcloths for everyone. 

For this year's retreat we were so excited to get started on our little projects because we knew exactly what we wanted to do.  Our crafty gal Anita gave us the idea when she gifted all of us with what is called a Needle Minder.  When we each received our gift from Anita, she had presented it in such a sweet package that we all exclaimed "This looks like it came right from a store! The packaging is so neat."   What's a needle minder you ask. Well a needle minder looks much like a covered button and it holds a very strong magnet inside. You place it on your hooped fabric and secure it with another strong magnet on the back, then you place your needle on top so you don't lose it.

Now -- the really really funny part about this story is Anita telling us about sending Jody's needle minder in the mail. Jody was unable to attend the meeting that month and so she did not receive her needle minder at the same time that Tracey and I did, so Anita mailed it to her instead.  However, because there is a super strong magnet inside the needle minder,  this little fact did not even dawn on Anita until AFTER she put it into the mail slot.  Luckily Jody did receive her trinket, but Anita went to bed for a few nights wondering if it was stuck on the inside of the metal mailbox. 

When Anita and her husband were traveling out East, she picked up 4 souvenir tins from Ann of Green Gables.  We had all committed to making our equal share of these tiny trinkets and inside each tin, Anita placed everything we needed to create the needle minders for the Stitching Sisters. It was such a perfect little travel size kit and it went to work with me each day so I could stitch on my lunch hour and it even went to Cuba with me so I could travel light (what's that???) and stitch while on vacation.  

With the patterns in the making, it was time to come up with the design for the packaging.  While sitting at cross stitch one evening, we got to talking about it and rhyming off a few lines and I quickly went to work on a poem.  Anita then completed the design for the package and when we were all finished with our stitched projects, it was time to assemble the Needle Minders. 

One side of the button is covered in fabric,
the other with the stitched pattern.
We set everything out to begin an assembly line production,
and Anita exclaimed,
"Wait!  you have to be careful because the magnets are so strong
and if you don't place them far enough apart ....

... they will all snap together."
I can't tell you how many times this happened,
not to mention how many times it startled us in the process.

I'm not sure exactly what it was that Jody and I
were pondering at this moment.
Perhaps our solution to World Peace??

Here is a shot of the front of the card designed by Anita.

The back side of the card with the poem written for the occasion.

Assembled and finished Needle Minders

Enough for everyone!

At retreat, we decided to set out our trinkets at the table to surprise everyone when they came for dinner.

This year, Jayne made each of us the sweetest friendship flat-fold. I can hardly wait until next year to see what the others ladies come up with.  We've already got our trinket figured out for next year.... shhhhhhh, don't tell anyone.
Bonnie

Brentwood 2012 Part 4, Sittin' & Stitchin'

With the fun set aside for now...let's get down to the serious stuff.  Stitching - and the reason we came to retreat in the first place.  For the most part, we pretty much stitch from the time we get up until the time we go to bed.  In between stitches we take a nap if we feel like it, we sleep in and go to bed when we want to, we go for the occasional swim or hot tub, and we read when we want to. I took a moment to walk about and take some snapshots of the projects everyone was working on, but.... sorry... I neglected to note the fabrics and flosses used.  Enjoy... 

Bonnie