Hello my lovelies!

My my how time flies when you are having fun. The second week of May is about to bite the dust! Not much in the way of stitching done this week, although I've put some effort into my summer exchange piece (too bad I can't share my progress...).  This entry is decicated to the adventures I've had this week, and shows the very reason why my stitchy-things have sat in their cupboard all this week.

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This week has just been filled with adventures. Sunday on the way back from the cabin myself and my friends popped of to South Brigus to explore. I have never been down the road that took us to South Brigus, despite it literally being around the corner from the turn off to my cabin. Were we EVER rewarded for this little detour! 

Like many a spring day in Newfoundland, the fog had been in since the early morning and the day had a generally overcast dreary feeling about it. After a feed of Eggs Benedict (YUM!) we headed out......... The road into South Brigus was nothing remarkable, through the stumped evergreen woods, past a small pond and some cabins... and then all of a sudden you crest a hill and there it is, a small picturesque fishing village that rural Newfoundland is characterized by. The whole of the village circles the small protected harbour, its neglected fishing buildings still standing atop wooden posts that have seemingly been infused with the ocean over time. Low-tide brings all the smells of the ocean out, and the ocean is literally in the air. It's an odd smell, somewhere between freshness and rot. The exposed seaweed that litters the rocky beach is most certainly the culprit for this, especially since there is no fish to be had in these parts in any real amount any more.  

We continue our walk to the break water and take our adventure to the massive rocks that keep the waters from flooding this little harbour.

 Again low-tide is our friend and allows us to make our way onto the rock ledges you see to the right of this picture.

My daring (and darling hehe) Boyfriend is already exploring...

We revert to our early childhood selves at this point and decide to climb up the rock onto the hill above... not recommended for the average tourist! I'd say growing up in Newfoundland allows one to obtain a certain skill set, rock climbing is just one of them ;) So up we go!

The fruit of our labour = awesome pic ;)

And this was the scene at the top of the hill that greeted us once we had made our way up the crevasses (and yes there was a much easier way to get there... we just wanted to do it the hard way hehe). The wind on this side was MUCH stronger than in the little protect harbour just on the other side. At times the ocean's swell was calm, as much as an ocean can be calm... and just as we were leaving huge waves began to arrive.

Now you see it ...

Now you don't!!! THE POWER OF THE OCEAN!

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Tuesday was my first pottery lesson! YEY. These are some of my creations.

For my first try, we simply stretched and moulded the clay on to a mould. That's the plate you see. 

But by far my favourite part of getting to try the wheel! Oh so fun, and far more challenging than you might think! Trying to control the clay and make it what you want it to do is A LOT harder than it looks. But still, despite it being a bit thick, I think the final product thus far looks great. I still need to paint/glaze it but I'll learn about that next week ;)

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As for my stitchy stuff here's my lone update pic for this week.

The first part of my papillon SAL is officially completed! Now I'm anxiously awaiting the second instalment. 1/24 done :)

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Before I go I want to express my sincere thanks for all the lovely comments on my last post. Thanks so much, you guys certainly know how to make a girl feel good ;)

I'll leave you with this magnificent picture of the Quidi Vidi (sounds like Kitty Vidy) gut that I took yesterday. This hunk of ice was a massive iceberg not that long ago and has been beached in the Quidi Vidi gut for more than a month. As time goes on the ice gets bluer and bluer! Just amazing - this has been the year of the iceberg for sure!!!

CIAO!

Melissa

Wellll... I've officially exhausted my cross stitching budget for this month already and we're only 4 days into MAY! YIKES. I may have a slight addiction forming to online shopping... But I'm not exactly asking to be saved from it haha. In particular I bought a LOAD of new fabric from Silkweaver Fabrics. They have a sale on their Facebook page twice or three times a week from what I can tell... and all of the fabrics are hand dyed unique pieces. Some of the fabrics were so divine, and of course I just couldn't let the opportunity pass me by. So I have 5, 18"x 26" pieces of fabric on the way, they are a mix of Edinburg Linen, Belfast Linen or Lugana. It'll be my first time working on many of these fabrics. But again in typical me fashion - diving in head first. We'll see what happens :)

I've also gotten plenty of stitchy things done this week. Particularily I'm learning how to create a biscornu. I've decided to use the design of the Manka's Mini Mystery SAL on this, I just love the purples!!! So very me. (Sorry for the lack of pictures... I forgot to take a pic of it!) My reasoning for learning how to make a biscornu (even if I fail miserably at it) is because I've been dying for a pin-keep for when I'm working on my cross stitch. Normally the needle ends up in the arm of the sofa just waiting for an innocent bystander to make the wrong move ANNNNND prick.... needle in the arm or other appendage. Logical conclusion to avoid any pain on my part (verbal or physical... god forbid I end up with the needle sticking out of my arm...) is to have a designated place to put my pointy things... TA DAAAAA biscornu. 

Also here's my progress on my Papillon SAL piece. Coming along a little more slowly this week due to my pre-occupation with the biscornu job. 

While I love the colours and the overall look on this heart so far I'm a little concerned with the fullness of the stitches. You can see the canvas between in all of my stitches so far. I guess if I had chosen a smaller count fabric then this wouldn't be a problem... hopefully it doesn't look too bad... That said, the backstitching on each flower certainly adds to them. I've got about half the heart backstitched so far.

Yesterday afternoon the mail man FINALLY delivered my package from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. JOY! I really haven't been waiting all that long for it but the sheer anticipation was killing me. Thankfully my boyfriend was driving after I picked up the package and I was able rip right into the contents. Frankly I'm surprised the envelope survived my anxious little fingers haha. Mr. Envelope thanks me for my kindness :) I also have to mention again the kindness and patience Nancy over at the Victorian Motto Shoppe showed me. Made my first experience with ebay simple and easy. THANKS Nancy!

Doesn't that hand dyed floss look amazing?! So rich! I know the pic of the sampler is not that great... sleepy morning picture taking abilities (or lack there of) on my part. Waiting on some fabric and then this will be my next WIP. 

I don't think I'm going to get much, if any, stitching done this weekend because I'm heading up to the cabin once again, but this time with a bunch of friends. So I'm thinking I'll be playing hostess most of the time, which really doesn't leave a whole lot of time for stitching. But my friends deserve my attention, and I deserve a little break from having my hands into a pile of floss and fabric... as much as I love it. 


Happy Friday everyone and Happy Stitching :)


Melissa

Hello again readers,

Firstly thank you once again for all the wonderful comments on my last post! I hope you will all be able to make it here one day, perhaps even take in a kitchen party or two ;) And welcome to the new follower's I've picked up as well :)

It's been quite a while since I posted last, almost a full week. Wait did I read that right? A full week?! Shockin' I know. I so enjoy posting here and reading up on everyones blog but I seemed to have fallen a little behind this week. SO I spent my morning break and lunch hour reading away and am now feeling inspired.

I have a new start that I'll be beginning today, but shhhhhh it's a little bit of a secret. I'm participating in Stitched With Love Exchanges and this start will represent my beginning my very first exchange!!!! EXCITING! I didn't have a wealth of patterns to avail of to suit my partner, but I have one I think may do the trick. I really want to whip up something nice and the creative juices are flowing! Bright fun colours for the summer months ahead.

Apart from this 'Oh Christmas Tree" really has taken a backseat to the Papillon SAL piece. I know I've said this before, but the combination of the different fabric and the speciality stitches are making this so fun! I can hardly put it down. I have one more heart to do until this part of the SAL is done. I'll be anxiously waiting for part number 2 this week!

On a good note though I'm starting to feel the itch to pick up 'Oh Christmas Tree' again, the complete aversion I had to it last week has dissipated considerably and I think I'll brave the 'green' of the tree very soon.

Putting stitchy news aside, life has been pretty straight forward over the past week. I'll be starting pottery lesson VERY soon (first class was postponed :(  ). OH and here are some lovely little pics of what mother nature decided to surprise us with this morning...  unfortunately that white stuff is not a figment of your imagination... it's snow... The warm, veritably balmy weather of last week has disappeared. I look at the weather forecast and I think, when are those people going to give me some news that's real and not just false hope. For instance, the 14 day trend has predicted this week's forecast to be pretty darn crappy, lots of rain/snow showers and temps that would make anyone cry... BUT I seem to recall the previous 14 day trend last week had predicted this week to be awesome... how very wrong they were. Thing is, this is not a one time thing - it's all the time. If they predict rain, we either hardly have any of what they had predicted OR the sun literally splits the rocks. Take for instance that warm lovely weather I was talking to you about, on all the days it got to 20+ degrees... the weather forecasters had predicted showers and temps in around 10-12 degrees. Talk about discrepancies!!! But I guess I can lament all I want, but that doesn't change what mother nature throws at us in terms of weather, just going to have to truck through it.

Ughhhhhh...

Oh and before I forget! This past Friday was my younger brother's grad. Don't they look beautiful?!!!! What I wouldn't give to have her dress back when I graduated. 

And of course, it wouldn't be a complete post if I didn't add any puppy pics. These two were quite curious of the impromptu grad photo shoot taking place in the back yard. I'm sure they were trying to come up with devious ideas on how they could devour that pretty sparkly purple dress. 

Until next time my dears! Happy Stitching!!!