Goodbye 2016

Six more hours and 2016 will be gone forever. As always there were some ups and downs and, for some unknown reason, I'm looking into 2017 with real excitement.

Last January I started the year with minimalism challenge. The idea was to remove what wasn't adding value in to my life and to make room for stuff that is. And let me tell you -I have so much room now that I must to start 2017 with maximalism challenge (if such thing exists).

Definitely I have a lot of room for more love, more compassion, more friends, more money, more finishes, more fun, practically more of everything. I read very few books this year (just 33) and I made very few blog posts (56). Can you agree that I have plenty of room for more?

I'm not setting any goals and I'm not making any resolutions. Instead I'm making an action plan!

As for the stitchy part... I DID IT!!! I finished sixth page of my Guardian Angel and I'm ready to start another one. Here is the finished page:

So long my friends,
Evalina

Merry Christmas!

How was your first day of Christmas? Mine has started awesome! We were driving to our friends for Christmas dinner and there it was... a Santa fishing on our beautiful Cameron Lake.

After dinner we were driving through Ladysmith and enjoyed festival of lights. In reality it was spectacular!

I'm not doing so good with my Guardian Angel and I do not think I can finish that page by the end of the year...

I guess this time Christmas got in the way of accomplishing my goal.

So long my friends,
Evalina

Oops!

It looks like all of the sudden my tunnel got longer, much longer. Santa's 12 Days of Christmas went to the 'to do' basket and Guardian Angel again is brought to the light. I really would like to finish two columns of pages by the end of the year. Here is where I'm now:

There is about 7700 stitches to accomplish my goal for the year. If I can stitch just little over 400 a day I can do it. What do you think?

So long my friends,
Evalina

Guardian Angel update

I stitched about 2,000 stitches since last update and so far I'm not bored with all that gray. I think I will have a page done in a couple weeks.

So long my friends,
Evalina

WIPocalypse!

This time I'm right on time for the WIPocalypse. It is a night with a full moon and I have a finish!  An Irish Prayer is ready for the framer:

 I had some difficulties with deciding what to stitch next, so many projects were calling my name. I think the loudest was Guardian Angel. After all he has been waiting since 2011. Yep, I started this lovely project in January 2011 and I stitched on and off, you know - a little bit here and there... Last time I laid my eyes on it it looked like this:

Now, since I'm stitching only one project at a time it was a major decision to be stuck to same piece for a long time. The whole thing is on 18 pages and I have done 3 of them - I have a long way to go... If I can commit to 400 stitches a day I could be done before Christmas...

So long my friends,
Evalina

Guardian Angel update

I just finished third page of my Guardian Angel and that will make my first column of pages complete. Five more columns to go... well, the last column of pages is only 12 stitches wide so really it is only four more to go.
I've started this project in January of 2011 as a part of the Crazy January Challenge, if this is a speed I'm stitching it will take me sixteen more years to see the final result (@#!$). I guess I have to commit myself to stitching this project more faithfully, just like I did with Strawberry Thief (ST). If I can stitch one page  month (this piece hasn't as much confetti as the ST so it should go faster) then it can go to framers by Christmas of 2016. And I have just perfect spot for this angel in our bedroom...

So long my friends,
Evalina

Hello Summer!!!

It is official, summer is here. After living on the north for ten years where summer lasted just for a blink of an eye it feels like the season here has started a long time ago! I love island living! There is so much to do, sometimes it's hard to choose... I thought I will miss the midnight sun but I DO NOT! I'm having fun watching hummingbirds, working in the garden, visiting the long beach, markets, music festivals and so much more. I wish for more hours in a day.

On the stitching front - I'm working mainly on the Guardian Angel, right now on the third page. Here is a pic before and after:

 as of June 17

and today

So long my friends,

Evalina

Almost gone...

May is almost gone, time to reflect on the past and set some goals for the future.

It was a good month. Finally I have acclimatised in Port Alberni. It took me a while but now it feels like home.  In May I work a little, stitch a little, read a little and train the dog a little. Below is a progress on Guardian Angel (page two is almost done - no more confetti stitches to the end of the page!)

 before

 and after

I also have a new addition to the family

a little kitten was looking for a home and found me. His name is Ragnar. He was born around St. Patrick's Day and I was tempted to name him Clover but after watching him over couple of days I noticed that he is brave, smart and a 'tough cookie' - so he is Ragnar (like the Viking Ragnar Lothbrok).

My goals for June:

Work
 I'm self-employed working from home and I must motivate myself to spend at least 5 hours a day actually working. I think that's a very reasonable goal considering that we are taking care of MIL with Alzheimer's.

Stitching
I would love to finish page three of my Guardian Angel and have one finish from super duper starts

Reading
Same as before - a book a week! Sometimes I combine both, the stitching and listening to a book... I think that counts and it is perfectly fine.

Social Media
1. Blog more often and visit blogs more frequently
2. Learn how to host a digital class
3. Create a Facebook page for #2.

Life
I would like to go hiking more often.  In June I would like to discover two new trails. And I want to spend more time training the dog myself so my dog can understand me and obey.

So long my friends,
Evalina

Long time no see...

My poor Guardian Angel has turned into an UFO (unfinished object) and today I decided to bring him back to life.













I started this project in January 2011 as a part of the Crazy January Challenge. By the end of May I had done just the first page or a little more ( I think...)

 

I did a few more stitches and in March 2012 it went on a back burner. It stayed there until today... I couldn't find my marked page... disaster...  Well, I really like this project and I really wanted to stitch it so I grabbed my water erasable marker, drew some lines, counted stitches and started from row 140 going up hoping that I didn't make a mistake and all colors will align perfectly. So far, so good!

So long my friends,
Evalina

Turtle Trot - January

I'm so glad that Claudette is hosting that program again. Maybe this year I will have a little more finishes (smile). So here are my ten projects I will work on

 Guardian Angel

 Computer Catastrophes

 Seagulls and Sails

 Halloween House

 Love ornament

 Songs of the Season

 A Good Marriage

 Halloween Rules

 Jane A.

Shore Patrol

Wow, it looks like I have a lot going on... Thank goodness that some of these projects are very close to the finish.

So long my friends,

Evalina

more stash...

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. To celebrate I've added one more HAED (Heaven and Earth Designs) chart to my collection:

 I have the chart, floss and fabric are on the way - I think that will be my next start. For now I brought from the darkness of my stitching cupboard the Guardian Angel and decided to work on him for a little while.That's my progress so far...

I absolutely love this piece. Hopefully I can spend a little more time with it.

So long my friends,
Evalina

A milestone!

I've reach a milestone! This is my 200 post - and it is time for a giveaway! The giveaway is a thank you for reading my ramblings and leaving me comments full of encouragement, advice and smiles. Please make sure that I have a way of contacting you if you are the winner! The winner will be announced on Sunday, June 12th. There is no rules for this giveaway, you do not have to be a follower (if you are thank you so much!), you do not have to mention about this giveaway on your blog (if you do I really appreciate it) but you should leave here a comment or two.

This is what you'll get:

Mary Kay mini body lotion set

a chart "Schoolgirl Lessons" from Little House Needleworks,

a piece of fabric and silk floss (Cranberry from Gloriana)

If it happens that the winner is not a stitcher I will stitch it for you!

package of rose-hip tea (grown and made in the Yukon).

Did you know that we have tons of wild roses here?

Stitchy update

Last week I was stitching my Guardian Angel. It was so nice to get back to my little stitches.

8,800 stitches of 112,000. I still have a very long way to go...

And the Royal Wedding goes to...

LiBBiE in Oz!!!

Remember my Round Robin (kind of)? Well, Patty was the winner and she is the host of that RR. Visit her blog if you would like to play.

Have a great week everyone!

Thank goodness is Monday!!!

Something must have been in retrograde mode last week because everything was going wrong. First, my hair. I colour them since I can remember and I never had any problems. Well, last week they'd turn ORANGE!!! I'm not joking, they were brilliant bright orange, more orange than an orange and carrot together! I had to go to work and to my Lions meeting with hair like that... and there were comments:

"Nice hair"

Thank you - I replied

"Nice Colour!"

Oh no, is not a colour, it's a primer! - was my reply

I was stitching "E" is for an egg and screw up the big "E":

I started a "cold war" with my man... and suddenly Sunday evening all stopped... I fixed the "E" and the little heart on the right of the "E" (I frogged that little heart four times!!!!), and I stitched some more

I think I found a new love - "The Sweetheart Tree" I absolutely love this pattern and most of their designs! It has beads and different specialty stitches and looks just fabulous!  There is a little mistake in the "E" (I noticed while back-stitching) but I decided to leave it since it's hardly noticeable.


Don't get me wrong, I still love HAED and I was working a little on the Guardian Angel:

And this morning I fixed the colour of my hair:

made a peace with Freddy and life is good again! 

So long friends,

Stitchy Saturday

It was a lovely day north of 60, quite cold but very sunny. And I did absolutely NOTHING, just studying a little (still these accounting courses!) and stitching a lot. I did quite a bit on my Guardian Angel

and I have a brand new start, "E" Is for Egg from The Sweetheart Tree. I'm trying to put myself in Ester/spring mood and this piece is perfect!

and here is my progress (I'm blaming my camera for not showing true colors, the fabric is summer khaki and floss: DMC ecru).

Heaven and Earth had another sale and I just couldn't resist... I bought another chart... Woodland Guardian, now I just need some floss (have the fabric) and a lot of time...

So long friends,

It was a good weekend!

After a very long week with long hours at work I enjoyed my weekend more than ever. Of course I was stitching! Here is my Guardian Angel:

I can almost see the end of a first page (1 of 18). It doesn't look like much but there are 5,000 stitches already!

On Sunday I pulled out Provence and work on it for a while. What a big difference going from 22ct over one to 28 ct over 2! It took me a while to get used to these big stitches. On the other hand those roosters are done on 28ct over one and it didn't look so small after all..

Kathy is celebrating Rory's birthday and is having couple giveaways. Here is Topaz, wagging her tail and saying "Happy Birthday Rory!!!" Topaz is a Hungarian Kuvasz and she is a Valentine girl. This Valentine was her 8th birthday. She was born in Alaska and she loves the north (and hates swimming!).

 

So long friends,