There is a Gun in My Bed

It is loaded with rubber tipped foam bullets. Today's count is 3 bullets in one load of laundry. These are just a couple glimpse of my current life.

Since I last updated my blog, a lot has changed. At the beginning of April I moved to a different province to start a new job. I put my condo on the market, looked for a new place to live and moved in with my brother and his family.

In May I found a condo near my brother's family. It was under construction, so I was able to select the finishes. Late in June I accepted an offer for my condo and late in August I moved my possesions into storage here.

I love my new job. I work for my brother and his partner as office support and production analyst. The business is in construction. A few months ago there was a major flood in the area, creating a lot if work in the industry. Needless to say, work is busy.

My current status is as such. I am currently still living with my brother, his wife and 3 boys (ages 6 & 3). My new condo should be ready in a couple of months. My computer has not had a reliable connection to the Internet, and I doubt it will until I move out. I take my oldest nephew to his piano lessons and supervise his practicing. I go on dates with my nephews. I have joined the local stitching guild. I don't stitch much (see nephews above). There isn't a day the boys don't make me laugh. I miss my old life, but I know I can have a good one here.

Happy on Monday

Just one little thing can make a Monday morning a much better thing. Today it was this:

Note - it will be released TOMORROW! I think I might treat myself with this and season 4 of Leverage this week.

Flashback Friday

A blogging friend mentioned doing Wordless Wednesday and Flashback Friday. Well I did Wordless Wednesday for a while (and I hope to do it some more in the future) but today I thought I would do Flashback Friday. Here are some pictures from over 6 years ago, back when this was the only little boy in my life.

and his mommy!

WIPocalypse 2012 - Wrap Up

So, what is the skinny on how well this worked this year?

I started the year with 7 projects in my WIP pile. I am very pleased to say that 6 of them are done and I've worked on the 7th. Of course, this is the internet, so if there are no pictures, it didn't happen so here we go.

1. Swirly Sampler
January 2012

January 2012

2. On Grandmother's Quilt
January 2012

January 2013

3. Rosebud Lullaby
January 2012

January 2013

Quick story bout the last two - they were for my nephews who are now two. When I was at their place at Christmas I saw them hanging in their bedrooms for the first time. So I told Curly I had stitched them and he thought that was cool. Then later I told Easy I had stitched them and we went and looked at Curly's and Easy said "you colour that one too?" I told him I had and asked him if he had seen Stinker's? So we went and looked at that one and he asked me the same question again. I thought it was so cute how while I told him I stitched it, he interpreted it as colouring. Which is a pretty logical leap to make.

4. Newborn Joy
January 2012

January 2013

Picture now added - thanks M for taking this for me.

5. Blackwork Pansy
January 2012

January 2013

6. My Way
January 2012

January 2013

7. Once Upon a Time
January 2012

January 2013

So in summary 6/7 done, 4/7 framed, 3/7 given away. I also managed to post every month even if it was to say I hadn't stitched. And as they say - that's not all. Let's take a look at what from the New Starts list got done. (All of these pictures indicate current status.)

1. "M" is for Mother
Not much, but it is started

2. Fairy Moon

3. Lost in the Garden - not started
4. Victorian Garden - not started
5. Oh Look Shiny! (let's see what wasn't on my radar at the beginning of the year that got worked on)
a) Boys T-Shirt - although these are a yearly stitch so even if I wasn't thinking about it in January, I usual am working on them in April/May of every year. In fact I'm starting to look for light blue t-shirts in size 5 and up.

b) Happy Go Lucky

c) Lily of the Valley - I think this one will have the honour of being the first one finished this year

d) Seasonal Rays

 

That wraps up the year. Stay tune to see if I participate in WIPocalypse 2013.

Da Boyz

My life is full of little boys! Not a little girl in sight.And they all come in sets of three!
First there are my nephews - Stinker, Easy and Curly.
Next is my CSB (Cross stitch buddy - i.e. cousin and best friend) and she comes with three boys - R, L & F. (Need to figure out internet nicknames for them, I could use their family nicknames, but I have a basic philosophy that I want the boys to talk to me when they are teenagers. The real curious can find their mom's blog in my reading list).
Then my BFF and her husband become foster parents a year ago in October and their first placement is a girl! Okay this could work. But the little girl is just with them weeks and then they had two boys - Lion and Tiger. Then in June they get another little boy - Bear.
They are all 6 and younger. My life is full of little boys! And Lego. And vroom vrooms. And choo choos.

6 out of the 9 all on one couch

Full Moon - Twelfth Month

Okay, let's get this last entry before the end of the world. The last couple of weeks have been consumed by Christmas crafting - I'll show pictures later.

Finished
Nothing new is done.

In Progress
1. Lily of the Valley
This one is so close, but I ran out of thread I needed for the border.
Last Month

This Month

2. Fairy Moon
No more blob - it's starting to look like something.
Last Month

This Month

No Progress
1. My Way
2. Happy Go Lucky
3. M is For Mother

Just Started
1. Seasonal Rays
Yep, I was bad, but I thought I would be done Lily of the Valley by now.

New Starts
1. Lost in the Garden - no change
2. Victorian Blooms - no change
3. Stars of the New Millennium

Oh, Look Shiny!
Nothing in this category this month, but I have plans for new January starts.

Until the next update, Happy Stitching!

Wordless Wednesday - On Thursday

Easy - Looking Good

Wordless Wednesday - Watching Movies

Stinker - Mexico 2010

What - this isn't the way you watch movies?

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Fall Day

Curly - October 2012

Stinker and Auntie At Home Depot

A few days before my brother and SIL came for Thanksgiving (a week late, but that's another story) mom found out about a kids activity at Home Depot to build a fire truck. She signed Stinker up and it fell to me to take him.

When we got to Home Depot there were tables set up with little kits to build a fire truck. We also found out that a real fire truck was coming and would be parked out front for us to check out after we were done the build. So Stinker and I got down to work.

Look how official we are with our orange apron

Time to get down to business - it's important to watch what you are doing when working with a hammer. My contribution was mostly to get the next block placed where it should go.

I'm not a big fan of using my camera for videos, but he was doing such a great job with the hammer, I just had to get the action too (note him playing the director and the actor).

The finished job - note at some point I wrote his name on his apron - he now looks official.

Now it was time to check out the fire truck parked outside.

He doesn't look small very often anymore, but he does here.

The fire truck even came with live firemen to talk to.

Auntie goes for the "artistic shot"

 Since I'm up here, I might as well check out the view from this side.

 Afterwards we picked up fruit smoothies at Tim's and we didn't forget about the littles - they got fire hats and smoothies too.

Full Moon - Eleventh Month

So let's chart the progress for the past month. Well more like three months. I could be saying that to make me feel better about the amount of progress this month, or lack thereof.

Finished
I took a stitching workshop one weekend this month that my stitching guild holds once a year. There were two different projects, a canvas piece and a Hardanger/blackwork piece. Right now I don't consider the Hardanger/blackwork piece a WIP since I don't have any immediate plans to work on it. However the canvas piece isn't WIP either, since it is done.

I will finish it as a scissor case (eventually). But for now it's done. It is designed by Carol Storie (who was our instructor for this workshop) and you can find here webpage here.

In Progress
1. Lily of the Valley
This one is coming along nicely, just the fill (started tonight) and outer border to complete.
Last Month:

This Month:

2. Happy Go Lucky
No real change, just a few more French Knots on the poodle. I didn't even take a new photo this month.

3. My Way
Filled in some more border. This piece has also been re stretched since something in the last month the frame came loose.
Last Month:

This Month

4. Fairy Moon
The only change is it went from being a one colour blog to a two colour blob.
Last Month

This Month

5. M is for Mother

Another one that didn't see any stitching this last month (and no new picture). The only change is that I had a friend serge the edges so that it no longer frayed.

New Starts
1. Lost in the Garden - no change
2. Victorian Blooms - no change

3. Stars of the New Millennium - I ordered another overdyed to see if I liked it for this project. I'm hoping to have it this week so I can take it with me on holidays next week.

Oh, Look Shiny!
Nothing this month, but I plan to do some shopping while on holidays next week.

I've mentioned my holidays. I'm going to spend the week with my cross stitch buddy and we plan to watch TV and stitch all week. Maybe the progress will be epic in next month's update.

Until then, happy stitching.