More than just Cross Stitchin': Meet Gigi!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Meet Gigi!

People that are non-stitchers often ask me; when I see a pattern, how do I know that I want to stitch it? That can be a difficult question to answer, but I guess I'd have to say that I follow my heart... that the pattern often "speaks" to me.

Well, I recently saw one of these patterns during my first visit to Linda Lee's blog over at Cross 'N My Stitches. That's where I met Gigi a.k.a. "Gigi's Garden" from By The Bay Needleart.

Linda Lee had just finished stitching her, and I commented on how much I loved the finished product! I had done a search for the pattern on By The Bay's site but didn't have any luck finding it, so I also asked Linda Lee if she by chance knew whether or not it was OOP. Linda Lee replied to me by saying that if I sent her my address, she would send her used pattern out to me in the mail! Her reply caught me completely by surprise and brought tears to my eyes. I thank you again Linda Lee - from the bottom of my heart!!

Linda Lee added a sweet hand written note along with the pattern.

I anxiously awaited Gigi's arrival to Canada and couldn't wait to choose some fabric from my stash, and gather up the needed DMC floss. Once she had reached her destination, I did a floss toss and decided that this 28 ct. Cashel hand-dyed linen called Meadowmist was "Gigi worthy".

As you can see, I'm not very far on her yet, but what I've completed so far has been a very fun stitch indeed! I need to work upwards a bit on her though and get her face stitched... I will then have someone to "look at" while stitching :-)

You may be wondering... why did this specific pattern speak to me and touch my heart when I first saw it? Well, it reminded me of my beautiful, red-headed, blue-eyed daughter Chantelle, and her love of gardening and nature.

Now, thanks to the kindness of a complete stranger, whenever I put my needle to thread while working on this pattern, I feel that Chantelle is physically closer to me than the 3 hours away that she actually is...

...and that truly makes my heart sing.

Tracey

6 comments:

CalamityJr said...: What a beautiful post - both the kindness of a fellow blogger and your reason for wanting that particular design. Enjoy every stitching moment!; August 30, 2012 at 3:35 PM
Bonnie said...: Beautiful post Tracey. I can't wait to meet Gigi.; August 30, 2012 at 8:38 PM
jayne@~an eye for threads~ said...: Cheers to whatever makes your heart sing and, well, just seeing those smiling faces makes this heart sing.; August 31, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Catherine said...: Oh my gosh! That piece is perfect for your daughter!!; September 2, 2012 at 12:08 PM
Leslie said...: That is super sweet!!! Your daughter is gonna love it!!!! Have a great new week.; September 9, 2012 at 7:58 AM
Leslie said...: I almost forgot... I bought that halloween picture at a store called kirklands. They have a website. The coolest part of it is that it lights up. Go check it out!!! : ); September 9, 2012 at 8:24 AM

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

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Meet Gigi!

6 comments:

Christmas 2016