Thank God it's Friday!

It has been a week from hell - thank God it's Friday.

I had no idea how difficult is to find things that I'm grateful for in a time of guilt, grief and stress. My brain stopped functioning, has been taken over by emotions, and one disaster was followed by another.  So far today nothing bad has happen yet (I guess I'm getting a little more stable), I hope it stays that way.

 Today I'm grateful for:

1. My blogging friends with their encouraging comments.
2. Stitching. While working on the Bluenose Dime - I was listening to 'The Last Runaway' (thank goodness for audio books),  it really had calm me down. Below you can see my progress on this piece.
3. Housework. I thought these words would never come out from my mouth but I've discovered that mopping floors isn't a chore when I'm in a stress - actually quite opposite - it has a distressing effect.

So long my friends,
Evalina

Top Three

Nancy of Chickens & Fine China has a page on her blog when she writes daily three things she is thankful for. I think that's a great idea for a positive mind setting. Here are mine top three for today:

1. Freddy
2. 9+ years with Topaz. We had to say goodbye to her couple of days ago. She came to our life in May of 2004 and left us with many wonderful memories. Now she is on the other side of the rainbow bridge.
3. Blue sky and sunshine

What are yours?

So long my friends,
Evalina

Bluenose Dime

I think this is the best summer since we came north. Nice, warm, long days with a lot of sunshine and not too many mosquitoes. Don't get me wrong, the bugs are here but not as abundant as in the previous years.

My stitching stand went to the carpenter for a little adjustment, it wasn't able to hold bigger frame. In the meantime I'd dig out the Bluenose Dime by Lynn Nicoletti and I've done a lot (in my opinion) for 3 days of work.

 before and after

fabric: antique blue lugana, 32ct

floss: DMC cotton and DMC rayon

Now, I have a dilemma - my stand is back and I can stitch  Ann Kirby again but the Bluenose Dime is really calling my name and I want to finish it... I think I can do it in 10 days or so. It would be one less WIP in my pile and one more finish for the year.

A finish and a new start

I'm so delighted! My M. Quertier 1799 is all done, DONE, DONE!

I've change initials inside the motifs to honor Nicola's blog participants, JP is for Jo who can't think of a clever nick name. Jo is helping Nicola to manage her blogs. NP is for Nicola, the birthday girl who started the Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year  MVV is for Marsha of The Scarlet Letter and of course my own EZ. I left the original 'MQ to MN 1799' and the 'M. Quertier 1799'.
I stitched this piece on the 35ct linen that came with the kit with 1 strand of black silk. I love the silk so much that now I even can't imagine of going back to DMC. Thank goodness that my next project (Ann Kirby Sampler) is also done with silks.

This is the sampler:

and my WIP (work in progress). It's also stitched on 35ct linen with lovely silk threads.

So long my friends,
Evalina

Russian Rooster

Happy fourth of July to all my American friends!

I was stitching! Here is progress on my little tribute to Ayn Rand and Kira Argounova from 'We the living' (see my previous post if you would like to see the whole sampler)

I also was working on M. Quertier and since I'm so close to finishing this project I decided to take pictures after it is all done.


So long my friends,
Evalina

Remembering Rudy Rozsypalek

Years ago, while living in BC I've met Rudy and Tracey. Today I'm saying goodbye to a great guy who had passion for freedom and gliding. Last Friday he died in a plane crash. 

Condolences to his family and friends.

Silence

Last year I participated in a Silence Retreat. It was an amazing experience. Being silent means more than just holding your tongue. It means listening for the softest, most subtle sound of all – the sound of the soul.

Verbal silence invites you to become mentally silent, as well. Thinking has been defined as non-verbal language. One of the first exercises in learning how to meditate is to slow down (or completely stop) the mental activity called the "monkey mind." Like a monkey in a cage, our thoughts usually jump from topic to topic in a rapid and endless motion. By not speaking, you can more easily learn to control the speed of your "monkey mind" and that allows your mind more easily to become silent…the necessary step for effective meditation.

When you do not talk, you become more sensitive to your external surroundings. After four days of silence I felt such intense connection with everything around me – precisely because I hadn’t uttered a word. It was as if all my senses were wide open….

Not only I have become more attuned to my external environment, I have also began to focus more clearly on my internal environment. When you can’t verbally respond to the world outside you, you become more aware of what is going on inside: every little discomfort, your breathing pattern, your pulse and heartbeat, your digestive sounds, etc.

Silence is not just not talking. It’s a place where all things come from. All voices, all creation comes out of this silence. Don't believe me? Take some time to stop talking aloud and internally. You may be surprised at what you can learn about the world around you… and your soul.

So long my friends,
Evalina

Connection with the past

I just finished reading 'We the Living' by Ayn Rand. My soul has never been so pained by a novel. Very few books affect me like this one did. I thought I was familiar with times of revolution and creation of USSR. After all I grew up in Poland that suffered from Soviet regime - after closing the book I realized how very little I knew about communism or what the USSR was like during early years after revolution. Even though the plot is fictional the background is so very real. It took me a while to get back to reality...

This is the first Ayn Rand novel I have read, it is also first novel she wrote. I would highly recommend this reading. It doesn't matter what political views you have - hopefully you'll recognize the danger that communism brings to humanity. Now I'm looking forward to her other novels.

In my stash I have a Russian sampler, I do not care about the whole sampler but I really like the roosters and the middle motif. I think It would make a lovely pincushion.

So long my friends,
Evalina

NaBloPoMo once again

Yep, I did it again - I'd join July's NaBloPoMo. I love to be challenge to write daily (you know - practice makes it perfect) and I'm trying to improve my writing skills. This month theme is awesome, is all about connections. I'm not so sure I can write about connections every day but I promise to do my best.

July is a month full of celebrations - it is MY month - get the party started!

So long my friends,
Evalina