Inquiring minds wants to know?

I thought I would share with everyone, how to get gum out of your dryer.  My oldest son Jaspar likes to chew gum.  Borrowed a photo of the type of gum he likes (it is called 5).

He just happen to have a pack of purple gum in his pants pocket when I did laundry last week ... yes, I'm a nice mom and do both my son's laundry.  I stopped checking their pockets before throwing them in the washer.   I didn't notice the gum until I took the pants out of the dryer.  The gum was in balls still in the foil wrappers, but the gum had been rolling around in the hot dryer making dark marks on the sides and back of the dryer.

So before starting my laundry today, I had to clean my dryer.  I'm lucky that I have my washer and dryer on pedestals, so they raise them up higher (not as much bending when doing laundry).  I sat a chair in front of the dryer and used a "magic eraser" with a bowl of water and lots of elbow grease scrubbing the sides and back inside my dryer.  It looks brand new again.

No Stitching tonight

I worked late (busy catching up after taking yesterday off) tonight.  We ordered pizza and watched TV, but I didn't feel like stitching.

Tea with a friend

I didn't get any stitching time tonight.  I was visiting a friend this evening.  We had tea and home made chocolate chip cookies.  Kim & I met 14 years ago when her oldest son Tom and my youngest son Jordyn were in the same grade 1 class.  We used to get together more when we were both stay at home moms.  Now we both work full time and only see each other once or twice a year.  We had a nice visit catching up on everything in our lives.  Sorry, images are borrowed from the internet.

No Stitching tonight

I didn't get to the Tuesday Night Stitcher's Club and I didn't get any stitching time at home tonight either.  Dave & I had to take our youngest son Jordyn to Costco to order his new perscription for his contact lenses.  They won't let you order the prescription without trying them first.  They gave him a sample of each lens to put on and walk around the store for 10 minutes or so.  We decided to do some shopping at the same time.

  

St. Patrick's Day

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day. Here is a project I stitched in 2009 for my Nana who was irish. It was returned to me last summer when she passed away. I thought of her today as I wore green, which was her favourite colour.






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Grow Your Blog

Hello my name is Ann. I live in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. I have been married to Dave for 25 years. We have 2 sons Jaspar (21) and Jordyn (19).







I love dogs and cats, but I am alergic to animals with fur. Our family pet is a red-eared slider (RES) female turtle named Frodo. They can live 30-50 years and she just turned 8 years old (December 31). We also have a tank full of fish.





I have been cross stitching for almost 20 years. My mom bought a counted cross stitch kit by Bucilla called Summer Symphony (photo below) because she liked the picture.






When she opened the kit and saw the size of the pattern, she didn't know that they enlarge the pattern so stitchers can see the symbols. She panicked and decided not to try it, so she gave the kit to me. It took me almost a year to complete the project (lots of frogging), but it was worth it. I haven't stopped stitching, it is my creative outlet and my stress release. I have given a lot of my stitching away to friends and family members for special occasions.

I also do some scrapbooking. The first one is a photo diary of all my cross stitch projects.


I record all the important information about every project I have ever stitched (Title/Who it was stitched for/fabric & stitch count/design size/frame size/designer name & chart/kit #/start date/finish date/reason for stitching the project).


Dave & I love going to see live theatre plays, so I have a scrapbook to keep my tickets/pamphlets.


I also enjoy building puzzles (1000+), and playing Animal Cross on my 3DS (video game).




I created my blog "Colourful Cross Stitches" so I could join TUSAL (click icon on left side bar), and all the other fun Stitch-Alongs with cross stitchers around the world. I love reading other stitching blogs to find new designs and finishing techniques.




I hope you enjoy your visit to my blog. If you are a new follower, please leave me a comment so I can follow your blog as well.

Happy Stitching!!
Ann


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Merry Christmas

Now that our sons are adults, last year we started opening all our gifts on Christmas Eve, because the boys like to stay up all night and sleep most of the day. This was our tree before we opened the gifts tonight.








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Birthday gift part 2

I didn't get to stitch tonight. By the time Dave & I got home from Costco, had supper, did the dishes, and then I called my mom. It is now after 10pm and it is time for bed.

For those who read my blog, you will know that my sons bought me a new cross stitch floor lamp and magnifier last month for my birthday, but the magnifier was on back order... it finally arrived today!! I had time to install it on my lamp, I will try it out tomorrow night.





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Christmas Shopping

I haven't had time to stitch since Tuesday night. Dave & I went Christmas shopping at the mall. I bought a new Christmas BluRay - The Bishop's Wife. I have never seen it before and read about it on Edgar's blog.
http://blacksheepsite.blogspot.ca




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Elves' Workshop Update #4

I finished stitching the right side of the house ... Can you spot the difference between the 2 windows? I stitched the left window and then when I started stitching the right one I noticed that I forgot a row of white between the green and yellow. I was at Stitcher's Club tonight, and we were talking/laughing, eating/drinking (juice) and stitching all at the same time.

I know what I'll be doing tomorrow night ... frogging the left window and restitching the white trim.



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Christmas Dinner Celebration

It was my work Christmas Dinner Celebration tonight. This will be my 4th Christmas with my employer. They reserve dinner at a restaurant in Kitchener, Ontario called Verses. It is a church that was renovated into a restaurant.

http://versesrestaurant.ca



This view is inside the restaurant looking at the front window (same ones above).




Food is excellent, service is terrific. We look forward to going here every year at Christmas.

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May IHSW update

I didn't get Santa's House finished, but I did make some good progress on it.



We spent our weekend working on the basement renovation (laundry room), setting up Frodo's old turtle tank for the fish (3 clown loaches, and an algae eater, we will buy some others later), cleaning the house, and finally some relaxing in the backyard.

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April update

Hello? I can't seem to find time to update my blog.  I stitch most weeks, just never update.  I hate blogging without photos.  This weekend is IHSW!!  If you are one of the few who don't know what it is, please go over to http://joysze.blogspot.ca/2012/04/ihsw-april-2012.html and see what all the excitement is about.  I have already joined for April. 

I really miss working on "One project at a time".  I hate the rotational method, it is definitely not for me.  After I finish these two projects (hopefully by the end of June), I can focus on my Victorian Dollhouse.

Here is an updated photo of Happy Stitching. I have completed alot since last month.  The green and white border is almost finished.  Just the white bit at the bottom.

I also started working on the center panels.  The bottom ones are complete. This has become my main focus.  It is a challenge because I usually stitch over 2 on 28ct, but this is 32ct.  I have to use a magnifier.  So it is a little slower to stitch.

Here is my update on The Stitcher's Days of Christmas.  I have finished day four, and almost all of day three.  Just the wreath at the bottom of the scroll frame.  Day two is a problem.  I don't like the 2 Sewing birds, so when I have time, I will look through my books/magazines for something else to swap in it's place.   That's why I'm not in a hurry to finish day three.

As for renovation news, the insulation is all done.  We got the inspection for plumbing & insulation, so next step is the drywall.

Stitching update

This has been a crazy month.  I have had to deal with failed car emissions and retesting before getting  my car stickers. We are also in the middle of our basement renovation.  Every weekend we have been busy moving furniture out of the basement to make room for the electrician, plumber, or inspector.

March photo of my ORT jar is on the TUSAL page.

I had to move all my cross stitching stuff out of the way.  I haven't had much time to stitch, but when I do, I feel like working on Happy Stitching.  Here is a progress photo from Sunday afternoon. 

This is Stitcher's Days of Christmas.  I have finished day four, and started day three.

A little more completed in the living room.  I love this project, but seem to pull more stitches out than I put in.  That's why I haven't got as much done as I'd like to.  I like the white walls between each room, but I'm not sure about the white lattice at the bottom of the house.  I don't like the black outline.  Still trying to decide if I'm keeping it white or if I should change it.