So yeah.....

It's been a long time since I posted, not sure if anyone has noticed or cares! But I have been crafting a lot this past year, which has kicked into hyper-drive since I started working at a cross-stitch & knitting store. I have taken lots of pictures of what I have been up to since the last post, and I am going to add them very soon....I promise!!!

Christmas 2005 Part Two

Ok, so it's been a while, and I am a bit behind....

So I can't take complete credit for the creation of the featured items in this posting. Jerry and I decided to make fleece blankets for our four nieces and nephews for Christmas, and we were going to make them together(couple bonding and all). This made for interesting "spats" -- "you're pulling too hard, you're making my fringe all distorted" "Oh great, now MY side is uneven!" So to keep the peace, Jerry (who was much better at cutting the fringe than I was) finished the blankets, and I was in charge of wrapping. It went much faster after that! (hahaha)

We have heard that the blankets were a big hit, and not just with the kids. ;) The blue ones were for the girls, and the red for the boys.

We love you, Luke, Hannah, Nolan, and Grace!

Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jerry xoxox

Christmas 2005 Part One

Now that Christmas is over for this year, I can finally reveal what I made as gifts for our family and friends! Well, at least most of them, since there are some still in transit and I don't want to spill the beans. ;)


After my stroke 3 years ago, I took up knitting again as therapy to help with concentration and dexterity in my left hand. I even signed up for some lessons, so I could learn how to read patterns and learn some different skills other than knit one, purl one. One of the first things I learned how to make were dishcloths, and I made a beige one to start, and then Mom asked for one to match her blue and white kitchen. Apparently that one wore out, since I got a custom order for two more this Christmas. I was only too happy to oblige.



These were made for Luke and Grace, our nephew and niece in Canada. I've started to give them both ornaments every year (this was Gracie's first Christmas!), and will be doing that for Hannah and Nolan (our Oklahoma niece and nephew) from now on as well. Luke had his own little tree this year and had fun decorating it pretty much by himself.



Thanks to my friend Kit, I now have a favourite needleworking store in Tulsa, called The Stitchworks. This kit caught my eye almost immediately the first time I visited the store, so I bought it since I wanted a bit of a challenge. I hadn't stitched much using linen, so I thought this would be a nice project to try. When my mom was diagnosed with leukemia in April, I packed up some kits and flew home for three weeks to be with her and my dad. While she rested in the afternoons or chit-chatted with people who came to visit, I would cross-stitch. Mom would keep an eye on me as I squinted over the linen, and we laughed at the fuzzy sheep. I set this aside for a couple of months, fully intending to complete it and find a place for it in my house. Mom is now in remission, and in celebration of that fact, I finished this sampler and gave it to her for Christmas -- good things CAN come out of a hospital room!



I made this for my "Secret Sister" at church. I found the pattern in a magazine -- the winter/forest scene reminded me a bit of cross-country skiing out in the woods behind my home in Nova Scotia. Fortunately my secret sister liked it too!



On Tuesday nights, myself and four other women get together to chat, vent, advise, encourage, and pray. They are a special group, and a lot of fun too! So when I saw this pattern by Lizzie*Kate, I had to make one for each of them. I managed to get one completed in time for Christmas, the other three are on their way (well, soon!). And I managed to get four matching frames, so the finished product is a smidgen different than the above picture, but you get the drift.

Decorations around the house

I tend to give away a lot of the things I make as gifts, particularly the cross-stitched items. But I've managed to keep a couple things for myself, usually seasonal decorations.



This is a cute little kit from a local needlework store that I like. It uses a lot of different specialty threads that I had never tried. I did a chunk of it when Jerry and I were travelling to Nova Scotia in September and we had to stay overnight at JFK airport -- I needed something to keep me amused! My mom-in-law helped me with making it into a pillow.




I made this pillow a couple of years ago, while I was living in Cape Breton with my grandparents. I like the look of "Old World" Santas -- must be the history major in me coming out! The pattern was originally charted for needlepoint, so I converted it to cross-stitch. My Nana J. helped me a lot in making it into a pillow.

Another Santa made in Cape Breton. This one hangs on our front door.

O Christmas Tree...

I have been collecting Christmas ornaments since I was a little girl, and the vast majority of them are homemade (with the exception of my "angel playing a flute" collection, which is another story altogether!). So this year we put up this fantastic fake tree, and as I was decorating it, I realized I had quite a few ornaments that I had made myself....









This one is a couple of years old, but very cute. It was one of those all-in-one kits that I picked up on sale somewhere.




During my mom's smocking phase a number of years ago, I tried making an ornament myself. It turned out nice, but I was never really taken with smocking. I have heard that Mom has unearthed her machine and may be putting it to use again, so watch out! ;)



I made this one in grade school, if I remember correctly. Just some scraps of material, styrofoam ball, and a butter knife are needed to make this -- an easy-peasy activity for kids.



Mom and I made angels like this one year, out of rolled-up doilies or hankerchiefs.

Announcing.....

So my fellow crafter, web-buddy, new US immigrant and proud Canucker Cerise has started up her own blog about the crafts she's up to -- go check it out! :)

http://cerisecreativecorner.blogspot.com/

More pictures will be following soon -- I've been decorating our gargantuan tree (it looked smaller on the picture on the box!) and unearthing some tree ornaments that I have made in past years -- some of them in elementary school. Oh, and the Christmas present projects will see the light of day in here after December 25th. ;)

Nan's apron -- November 2005

This apron -- well, I can't take all the credit for it. I cross-stitched the angel, because my Nana Johnstone loves angels, and my mom created the apron around it. Can you believe that my Nana is 79???

And so it begins....

Well, my computer-geek of a hubster has done it again. First, he sucked me into trying out PC games (I am now officially addicted to World of Warcraft), and now here I am venturing into the world of blogs.

Well, I can't blame him too much. I have looked at numerous other blogs online and wanted to start one myself, but didn't really have a theme or legitimate reason why I should add my ramblings to the millions of others on the internet.

And tonight it happened. The "eureka!" moment, if you will.

I'm going to chronicle all the stuff I make. That's right, I'm gonna dazzle you with my glue gun, my embroidery needle, my lovely wooden knitting needles, and maybe, if you are lucky, my *gasp* scrapbooking sticker stash. Be afraid...be very very afraid!

Over the years I have made lots of things. I get it naturally of course. My grandmother Surette always made the most lovely knitted things, my grandmother Johnstone could make things out of thin air (seriously!) -- her stash of craft supplies and fabrics in the pantry room was always fun to go and rummage in. And then there is my mom and her sisters -- fantastic sewers and crafters themselves. And me? My first love is cross-stitch, and I dabble in a little bit of everything else.

For the past year, I haven't worked in a regular job -- thank you US immigration! As a result, I've been amusing myself a lot with crafts to keep me busy. And I am starting to forget who I have given what to. So this blog will help me keep track. If I can remember who the recipient is, and the circumstances around the creation process, I will include that as well. I hope you like what you see.

Comments, questions, links to craft websites I just HAVE to see are always welcome.