Frederic the Literate - all done!

Did everyone had a good Christmas? I sure did! I had friends over for dinner on Christmas Day, on the second day of Christmas I was resting and stitching, on the third day we were invited to our neighbours, on the fourth day I was stitching and today, on the fifth day of Christmas I finished my Frederick!


Frederick came to me in the spring of 2007 as a RAK (random act of kindness) from Kim. I started the project promptly but for some reason I stopped and poor kitty became an UFO (unfinished object). Well, this year Raymond (a member of my yahoo group) started to stitch exactly same piece. I've got motivated and put my needles to work. I am a much slower stitcher than Raymond but I managed to finish and I am so, so proud of it. Frederick is the bigest piece I have ever finished (so far) and it took me well over 130 hours to stitch.

Merry Christmas from the north of 60

I wish you a Merry Christmas
and a happy New Year!

May all your Christmas wishes come true!

Advent Exchange

I could not resist any longer and I opened all remaining gifts from the advent exchange with Elena from CCS. She really spoiled me rotten as you can see on the picture below. Thank you so much Elena, you are a great exchange partner! Now I have a question. Do you see the heart shaped box? Inside there are 2 smaller boxes. They are made from cardboard and asking for finishing. I never done that before, do you have any advice for me how to finish them?

An update

So far this winter is very nice in the Yukon. Not to much snow and not to cold. But that has changed last night. This morning, -34C - to cold for a drive! Cars really do not like cold temperatures! I decided not to go to work. I had a very reflective time this morning during solstice and later I was working on Frederick. I finished all cross stitches, now I'm working on back stitching, writing titles on book covers etc. It is actually a very joyful experience.

During the day the temperature rose to -30 C (-25 F) but I'm noticing that it is dropping again... I hope tomorrow morning will be a little warmer... I want to go to work!

PIF winners

Thank you so much for a great response to my PIF offer. It is Christmas and I decide that everyone who say that wants to play it should play, so everyone is a winner!

As promised earlier I will send in the next 365 days (and I will not be late this time!) 5 stitching items to Cindy, Kelly, Tempewytch, Rae Ann, Pat, Vicki and Shelley. In return you will:

1. Send no less than 5 stitching related items per person within the next 365 days.
2. Items can be DMC, other threads, stitching needles, straight pins, buttons, scissors, ribbons, etc. - a combination of items such as 3 threads, 1 pack of straight pins and 1 pack of stitching needles or just 5 threads.
3. The items must be new and not used. (Send things you'd be happy to receive.)
4. You will post this PIF on your blog and do the same for at least 2 people.

The day isn't over yet

This afternoon I've got another surprise! A package from "Sock It To Me Santa" exchange‏ has arrived today from sunny California. Thank you so much Marjorie, I love every item that you sent to me:

Priceless hand stitched ornament, adorable socks with pinguins,
lovely "The Reindeer Sampler" chart, the Prairie Schooler chart,
2 skeins of floss from Simply Shaker: harvest basket & pumpkin pie,
yummy, very creamy, peppermint crunch thins
and Christmas card

10 days till Christmas

On the 15 day I received a mousepad with an opening to insert a photo. I think I can put there a cross stitched piece...

Christmas countdown

11 more days til Christmas! Today I received Advent exchange package from Elena and what a surprise!
First day brought me a bookmark with a pattern "A rose is a rose"









Second day: stickers











Third day: ribbons










Fourth day: body lotion (it suppose to relive stress, so I will save it for tax season)












Fifth day: pens










Sixth day: Magnets and note cards




















Seventh day: Magnetic list pad











Eight day: scissors






Ninth day: needless










Tenth day: sticky notes


Eleventh day: a journal!


Twelfth day: note cards with envelopes


Thirteenth day: a magnet! Roses are my favorite.


Fourteenth day: colour pencils
and tomorrow is another day and another gift... stay tunned

Stitching marathon

Thank you so much for all the comments and good wishes. Exam is behind me! I think I did well but the results will be released in 8 weeks.

Last Saturday I joined Mel in the 12 hour stitching marathon. Mel was going to stitch in her LNS and I at home. Things didn't turned out the way we planned. Snow storm kept Mel at home and I had unexpected neighbour visit... but we did a nice progress. Mel had 3 finishes (you are reading right, 3 finishes!) and I worked on my Almost Perfect:

and Frederick:


I didn't work as much on Frederick as I wanted to but I also have a finish. It is an ornament, all finished and in the mail. Because it is a surprise gift I can't show it yet...

Mel and I had such a blast stitching "together", even though we are 1500 miles apart, that we decided to join each other this summer in Dawson City, here in the Yukon, and have a real stitching marathon without any interruptions. She will fly to Whitehorse and we will drive to Dawson City (about 400 miles) enjoing spectacular views, taking pictures, stoping here and there. We will go to the Top of the World, discover the city, stay in a cabin, barbecue and stitch. Our event will take place sometime in July, over the weekend. The exact date is to be decided yet. And we would like also invite other stitchers to join us. So if you would like to have a true northern experience, stitch at midnight sun, have a weekend full of fun, please send us a note.

Exam day

So, it is today... in about 6 hours I will write final exam (Managing Information System). And I'm not ready... my brain is completely turned off. I can't look on textbooks any more, I can't even think... So what did I do? I started a new project! I felt that stitching something small and easy would make me feel better. And it did!


And of course I was taking small breaks between studying different modules and he was waiting (sleeping) patiently right by my desk:

This Saturday I'm joining Mel in 12 hr stitching marathon. I hope that I will finish Frederick this weekend and then I can start on some Christmas stitching.