Happy Friday!

Welcome to the long weekend everyone!!!! I am just so excited to take a break from building and spend it with lots of family and friends. Unfortunately that likely means very little stitching will be done… if any. BUT I certainly have made up for it!

I have tons of stitchy stuff to share with you!

First up, I finally finished Old Nantucket by LHN a couple of weeks ago.

I also finished part 3 of Santa's Village just last night - with the help of Annette over at California Stitcher! Here is North Pole Post Office by CCN in all it's glory :)

I also finished Part 1 of LHNs Seasons mystery sampler:

I know… not a finish picture but I'm too lazy to go take ANOTHER picture and then have to upload it and fiddle around with it haha. The couch is too comfy. 

And finally the postman made a visit today:

That my friends is the delicious floss I received after finding out that I was one of MANY winners during Nancy's Birthday Giveaway at The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. I couldn't wait to take a picture and the light was just right to capture how vibrant and beautiful these skeins are :) Thanks Nancy!!!

Have a great looooong weekend everyone!!!

Melissa

Happy Wednesday everyone!!!

Change is one of those constant things in life. Some people like change and some people... well lets say 'fight it tooth and nail' all the way! I would say I'm in the middle ground. I like change well enough, but sometimes if it's a BIG change with lots of uncertainties it makes me nervous. My experience over the last few months however has been that no matter how big the change, everything works out for the better... now I've just got to start believing that.

One change I have to tell you about is... I've just signed up for a beginners Quilting Class!!! That right folks I'm broadening my crafty horizons! I'm not the best with a sew machine but I do know how to sew a (semi)-straight line. Over the past week or so I've been slowly collecting all that I might need to quilt. Cutting board [check!], rotary cutter [check!], fabric scissors stolen from my mother [check!] (hope you're not reading this mom!). There's still a couple more pieces of equipment that I need to get, so I'll pick one thing up every week until the first class. It'll be like picking up supplies for the school year! Building anticipation one purchase at a time :) I don't know too much about the class right now, but I do know 

Another BIG change that has been slowly creeping into my life is my house! Of course 'slowly' is a relative term... The boyfriend and I, dad, brother's and cousin's started building this back at the end of June and here we are today…

In the last 3 weeks we went from having no roof to having the roof completely sheeted in, shingled, windows in, some doors in, stairs on AND have started the exterior foam insulation and siding! PEWF! I even ventured up onto the scaffolding yesterday to help tyvek the exterior... a new brave accomplishment for me! Let's just say heights and Melissa are not two things that go together very well. 

I'd say we're trucking along at an excellent pace so far and are hoping to get in during the winter sometime, which is MUCH sooner than we had anticipated. Is it possible to be scared and excited all at the same time???? I'm terrified of all the new expenses we'll have but at the same time I cannot wait for a bit of independence. Talk about being conflicted about change!!!

Speaking of change how do you all like my new blog layout???? I've been working hard trying to fix some of the bugs and glitches and I've been very busy making it pretty yet fun all at the same time. Send me your thoughts! Like it? Hate it? Does something look like it doesn't work??? Let me know!

Ciao!

Melissa 

***My site is under construction at the moment... going to try and fix those wonky pictures in a couple of hours promise!***

Happy Sunday!

First off, thank you all so much for your kind words on my last post. I really do love you all :)

This summer, seeing as we've been flat out house building, we decided to have a mini stay-cation. We didn't stray far from home and opted to do a bit of camping in Lockston Path Park seeing as we liked it so much last time (did we ever, I wrote THREE posts on the trip haha: On the Discovery Trail; Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)! This time I took a few days off work and we were gone a grand total of 4 days... yup that's what a vacation looks like when all you can think of is HOUSE HOUSE HOUSE. 

Anyway, given that the boyfriend's birthday was coming up I decided to treat him while we were on this mini vacation. We did something that we both have never ventured to do before... and as a Newfoundlander I should have at least done this once before in my life... we hit the open ocean! As his b-day gift, I had decided to take the boyfriend on a boat tour. BUT not just ANY boat tour. This tour was going to be all about the old resettled outport communities in the Trinity area rather than the whale, bird and iceberg tours that are a dime a dozen in this region. Sure that kind of boat tour might have tickled the fancy of some (myself included as I'm a sucker for animals) but for the boyfriend who is a huge history buff and knows more about Newfoundland than I do (and he wasn't even born here!) I thought that this would be right up his alley. 

I tried my very best to keep our destination a secret right up until the very last moment until there was no where else to go but follow the sign that said "RUGGED BEAUTY BOAT TOURS THIS WAY ---->". At that point there was no denying what we were doing.

So down the ramp to old fishing stage we went, where we donned our bight yellow life jackets... not that they'd be much help in the North Atlantic Ocean! One word - Hypothermia... Of course, I hadn't thought of that until we were already headed out of the bay with the salt water lashing our faces. The ocean was a bit choppy that day so getting wet was all but inevitable - another thing I hadn't thought of until it was too late. But despite all this, I never... not even once felt unsafe. I put all of the maybe's and worry out of my mind and had a great time learning and experiencing what it must have meant to live in those isolated communities of old. 

Before I go on any further about the trip there is one thing you must know. Back in the 60's the government sponsored a resettlement program. This resulted in the relocation of hundreds of communities and their citizens to more prosperous locations. Life in the outports was and will always be difficult, and sometimes the fish weren't plentiful or perhaps there had been a disease of some sort, so people would uproot and leave. This had been happening long before the resettlement program was introduced, but of course now people had a monetary incentive. The worst thing about this was all the history and culture that was lost of communities that had been hundreds of years old. Resettlement has become known as a very sad chapter in Newfoundland history. 

One very famous image of Resettlement. Pictures kids watching the floating of a
 house to be transported to another location during resettlement. 

Back to the tour! We visited the communities of Kerley's Harbour, British Harbour and Ireland's Eye (my favourite just because of the name!). The most amazing thing is that while not much remains in these places but for a few modern day cabins, mother nature and the old inhabitants haven't taken away everything. Relics and collapsed piles of wood still dot the harbours of these deceased communities.

Of course, apart from learning about these old communities, we got to experience Newfoundland as it should be experienced! On the ocean. The coastline and sights were spectacular!

Kerley's Harbour

Washed up lobster traps - Kerley's Harbour

Kerley's Harbour

Open Ocean - NL coastline

Collapsed Houses - Ireland's Eye

Ireland's Eye -You can actually still see the remnants of the old Church.

Ireland's Eye

British Harbour - The last remaining saltbox house was restored by the cabin
owner that owns the building to the furthest right. Now that is amazing!

Having a culpa at our guide's family cabin. - British Harbour

Myself and the boyfriend even got to Cod jig for the first time!

An old time Cod jigger!

Of course I could go on and on and on about all the other things we saw on our trip but I think I'll just show you instead:

Best chocolates ever! - Trinity

Trinity

Tide is out! - Trinity

Trinity

Dunfield

Fort Point - Trinity

Trinity

Trinity

Trinity

Kitchen Garden - Trinity

Old Jello packages in a restored general store - Trinity

Headstones from the 1700s!!! - Trinity

Trinity

The morning after the storm! - Port Rexton

View from our Inn, had to take last minute refuge from an unexpected storm
the evening before!!! Turned out to be an amazing evening with
the boyfriend and an excellent bottle of wine all huddled up
in out warm (and dry) room :)

A scene that struck a cord with me from a play we watched in Trinity.

PEWF! My my that was a trip indeed!

I even got to start on LHN's Season's Mystery sampler whilst puting along in the car.

Almost finished part one! As I don't have part 2 or 3 yet I'll opt for getting a start on Santa's Magic... if the fabric would ever get here *note to self... saving 10$ is not worth the sale if you have to wait 5 weeks+ for the fabric...*

Hope you all have a great dayyyyyy!

xo

Melissa

Happy Wednesday!!!

This post is dedicated to all our Stitching Sisters (and Brothers ;) )!

I started this blog more than a year ago and the genuine kindness, caring and giving nature of our stitching sisters and brothers has been almost a daily fixture in my life as I read the many posts floating about the blogosphere. I've seen the gamut from our stitching community - people sharing in the celebrations of huge life moments to the little wins and the many happy dances we do when we finally finish THAT project - and I've seen the genuine concern and support that is offered when someone needs a little pick-me-up right down to those utterly tragic moments in life when you just need someone to tell you 'everything will be ok'. 

Not to be negative, but I think in today's world it's very easy to keep people at arms length and never truly get to experience humanity. There have been days where I've looked back and thought... what have I done for someone else? I guess the point here is, I think it is all too easy to be concerned solely with one's self. Now I'm not about to call out those that are concerned with themselves, because I think we'd be kidding ourselves to say 'I ALWAYS think of others!'. Heck, I know there are days where I really haven't done much of anything for others or I only think about how that person's actions are negatively affecting me.

For example, I was in the car this morning driving to work as per usual when this car cut me off and nearly drove me into the ditch. In that moment I was upset and a few curses escaped my lips as I regained control of the situation. I didn't once stop to think about if that guy had simply not seen me or something... I immediately thought about how reckless the person in that car is and how they were definitely out to get me. See! Allllll negative thoughts. And it managed to ruin my whole drive to work as I fumed for the entire 30mins in the car. NOT a good start to the morning I might add. The moment I started to feel better about the whole thing is when I started to think about the other driver and the different scenarios that could have lead to the near accident. It's about believing in the good in people rather than jumping to conclusions and thinking only about the negative. 

This positive way of thinking is what makes our stitching sisters and brothers so special! We have something truly amazing... a community, that despite not having that day-to-day physical presence - as in I can't walk up to you hand shake your hand or give you a hug - that still manages to be one of the most accepting, caring and supportive groups of people I have ever known. When I say that I am both astounded and inspired almost on a daily bases is an understatement. For me, stitching would not be the same if it weren't for you all.

On this note, I have recently been on the receiving end of a RAK from Annette at California Stitcher. A couple of posts ago I mentioned I had run out of floss for one of my WIPs which was close to a finish. I had lamented that I would likely have to wait sometime before purchasing the necessary floss due to shipping costs associated with online orders, which are my only source of all that stitching goodness ;) Well, that post wasn't up for long before Annette emailed me and offered to send me a spare skein she had in her stash!!! I excitedly sent her my mail info and yesterday I arrived home to this:

Despite only needing one skein of floss, Annette has RAK'd me an entire package! In it was a beautiful homemade card (amazing I might add!), the single skein of floss delicately wrapped, and a whole kit for doing up an amazing orni from one of my favourite designers LHN!!! The boyfriend even was astounded!!! The first words he said when I explained why I had received the package was "those stitching friends of yours are some of the best in the world aren't they?!" I'm serious, he said this!!!! He then proceeded to say, "They are just so giving! You rarely get that even from everyday friends these days. Oh and didn't you get something from one of your stitching friends when you were on EI?" (EI is basically is referring to when I lost my job a few months back.)

I realized then that I had been very tardy! I never posted about the kindness and support I received from Tammy from I Want to do One More Stitch when I was truly down in the dumps. I had been on EI (employment insurance) for a couple of months and had ZERO luck with finding a job... not to mention even getting an interview. It was horrible, I was having sleepless nights and I was worried. Out of the blue I received a card in the mail with L*K's Spring Snippet (which had been on my wishlist!).

Her words of support and encouragement came at the right moment for me. They inspired me to get back to blogging and stitching, both of which had fallen to the wayside for months. I even missed my 1 year blogoversary!!! I was then able to talk about my hardships and got advice and support from many of you stitchers. Your comments brightened my day and within a month of my return to stitching and blogging I had secured a job (WHICH I LOVE). 

These selfless acts are what I'm talking about!!! I am so privileged to be apart of such a unique, caring and loving group of people and I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!

Thank you for everything!

XO

Melissa

PS: Thinking I'm going to have to do something for my stitching sisters and brothers SOON! Watch this space over the next couple of days while I put something together ;)