Thank you very much for all your nice comments on Prairie Sampler. I loved reading every single comment....just as always :) comments are so much appreciated.

I was a bit restless last week and couldn't settle on a project...so I started several new !?!?! and put a few stitches in an older project Toccata 2. Here's a pic of it how took it out my WIP-box


and one how it looked when I put it back in there ;)


On friday I got mail from Jennifer my favorite online store. She's so wonderful nice and friendly and her service is phenomenal. I ordered from her when I lived in Germany and I still do it. ;)

She sent me some 32ct grean teal linen fabric (the darker one) and these WDW fibres:

and so I started a new project immediately..... That's how it looks now. But I definetly want to finish this one soon. The colors on this pictures don't do it justice. It is so much brighter in real life....

Last Monday it was Louis Riel day and we had a day off. We went out for a walk and a little bit tobogganing. It was really cold again. The temperatures are going up and down like mad....

It's finished :-)

I really wanted to finish it yesterday evening but at 1 am I was so tired.....So I stitched the last leaves of the tree while having my saturday morning cup of coffee in bed :)

Prairie Sampler
Little House Needleworks
40ct Sandstone Linen
with yummieh Crescent Colours Belle Soie Silk
started 2008-01-14
finished 2008-02-09

Nothing to show you. Coz' as I wrote yesterday Lisa and I went swimming in the evening and guess who was dead beat after that.......me (and Lisa) LOL
I was so tired I didn't stitch at all I went straight to bed :)

....but tonight I'm stitching up a storm LOL

....and again I put a few more stitches in the Prairie Sampler.

Derek and Lisa picked me up after work and than we went to get some passport pictures. Why do passport pics always have to look so awful? Is it to make the guys laugh you have to show them to???? They make me always look like a criminal... :) Don't worry, I'm not going to show mine... LOL

A little progress on Prairie Sampler but I have to hurry if I want to be finished with this one before starting something new at the weekend. It's not that I don't like stitching on this one any more (the design is a big fun and stitching with the Belle Soie Silk is great) but I LOVE to start new things and at least I want to finish this one (even better if I get the Lovebird finished by then...) before another newstart.....

I decided which colors to use for Glenna's Hello Neighbor RR and started with a tree. I plan to finish this RR in february and send it immediately to Karen in Australia assuming that is OK for her. I was so often late in the past....and never want to be late again. Not to much to see right now....the big white space is some fabric shining through :)


I have to hurry with Prairie Sampler and the little Lovebird....I've a NEWSTART in my mind.........

I decided to put some stitches in AAFG in the evening. Maybe I can finish it this year ... or is that a little bit to optimistic for me? ;-) We'll see.....
I enjoyed stitching on it very much so I will hopefully get back to it very soon.

While we are having a light snowfall the whole day long, I spent a lot of time on stitching my Prairie Sampler. It is so cozy to sit at the window in the livingroom while the snow is falling down.
Lisa is busy with her legos and drawing pictures and DH is looking for a motorbike on the internet ... I love these lazy sundays :)

I was a bit lazy with my stitching during the last days.... I started to unpack my craftboxes and gave my sewing machine a try. But that's not a lot of fun unless I haven't found all the necessary things like the rulers and the cutter and lots of other things you need. So I've just a very small progress on Midsummer Night Designs freebie to show:

It is even colder today.....

brrrrrrrr.... it is sooooo cold.....
this morning it is -32 degrees C (about -25.6 F). We had that before. But with the windchill it is -52 degree C ( about -61.6F). Can it get any colder?????
I dont't walk to work anymore. I dropped off DH and DD and take the car today....chicky me ;-)

Monday evening I attended my first Wheat City Needle Arts Guild meeting and it was such a fun to meet fellow stitchers. And though we did a lot of chatting we still did some needleworking, too :) We met at Riverheights Terrace a very nice retirement home. That'd be a nice place to live beeing a few years older.... ;)
It's just around the corner from where we now live and I planned to walk there but the blizzard monday evening stopped me from doing that.

Nicole posted on sunday about the new Midsummer Night Designs Freebie and I just loved the colors. I had to start it immediately yesterday evening...Not a lot to see right now as my stitching time was very limited yesterday due to some important paperwork that needed to be done but it is a start :)

....And yesterday evening I was off meeting the ladies from the Brandon's Chapter of the Canadian Needleworkguild.....gonna tell you later about that... ;)

DH built some shelves and and a table for my stitching/sewing-room yesterday. He's not finished yet but I can start to unpack my stitching and other crafting stash that is still in cardboard boxes from our big move. I'm so happy about that....

After a late dinner I was so tired that I wasn't in a stitching mood at all. But I forced myself to put in a few stitches at least....but after I did the first stitches I was hooked and stitched till midnight and made a nice progress :-)

Yesterday I went to my local needlecraftshop because they were listed as a retailer on the Glendon Place homepage because somewhere in the net I saw WIP pictures of Glendon Place's Pretty Pumpkins . I love the colors of the pumkins they are so wonderful bright but I don't like the leaves so I wanted to see the chart in real maybe I can just stitch the pumpkins without the leaves.... Unfortunately they didn't have the chart in stock but they are ordering one in for me .... they are so kind. And this lovely lady working there invited me to the guild meeting on monday evening....wohoooo I'm so excited to meet other stitchers.

Though my stitching time was very limited this week I got a little bit on Prairie Sampler done.

Peg, I'm going to set up a blog for the AAFG-SAL and will send an invitation to you. Hopefully we will find some more stitchers to stitch along with us :-)

Lelia, thank you very much for letting me know about CiCi stitchin on AAFG as well. I even found another lady stitching this one: Ranae - The Needle & I. I'm going to write to both of them maybe we can do a SAL.

And I was nosy enough to click on Ranae's link to the shop Needle in a Haystack. I've heard of this shop before, of course, but I've never visited their onlineshop..... And guess what, I'm hooked! They offer an absolute tremendous variety of 40ct linen!!!!! I'm sure I can't stand this goodies.

Yeeeehaaaa, I'm off.........stash-shopping :-)))))

Gazing on the thermomater caught my breath yesterday morning...it was -32 C (that's about -25.6F)!!!!! WOW that is COLD!

To stick with my goal not just starting new projects but finishing some older WIP's I picked And A Forest Grew last night and added a tree and a cute rabbit...I'm sorry for the bad picture:

Nothing else to talk about as we stayed warm at home for a cozy sunday... though the sky was wonderful blue and the sun was shining bright it was very, very cold again today.

Today and tomorrow I have to work again. But I didn't stitch a lot yesterday either as I wasn't in a stitching mood.... Lots of other things to think about that kept my mind busy and my mood on low level. But that was yesterday ... today I'm feeling much better :-)

At least I decided what to stitch on Glenna's Hello Neighbor RR :-)

This morning I don't need to walk to work. I dropped Lisa and her Dad off at the Daycare and at work. 'Cause it's really freezing cold today. The thermometer shows just -25 C but with windchill it's feeling like -38 C *brrrrrr*

So, see you later I have to hurry now.....

Birgit from Gran Canaria spoilt me with the most hilarious knitted socks!!!! Thank you so much. I love them! They are so much appreciated with these freezy temperatures :-) Birgit asked for my size some time ago and I completely forgot about it. It was such a great surprise

And I spent some nice stitching time on Prairie Sampler. These silks are gorgeous to stitch with....

Glenna's Hello Neighbor RR was waiting after work in the mailbox yesterday. I will spend some time today on finding a good addition for this one. I love how creative Deb was adding this velvet ribbon. What a wonderful idea!!!

I started the LHN Prairie Sampler. I was so excited to stitch with these wonderful Belle Soie silks and I love them..... :-) I haven't had a lot of stitching time yesterday as I was looking for a flight to Germany for Lisa and me .... but they are so much more expensive than last year. I really need a kick in the bottom ;-) to bring myself spending that much money....

I had a day off today and spend some time stitching.....and finished Garden Pleasures. LHN designs are always so much fun to stitch and I'm tempted to start another one of their designs that I have already kitted up. :-)

Garden Pleasures

by Little House Needleworks

40ct R&R Iced Cappucino

Started: maybe some time in october

Finished: Jan 14/08

Yesterday DH had to work from noon till 4pm then he watched with Lisa a Peter Pan DVD on the laptop.....until at 5 the phone rang and his boss asked him to come to work again....


Today we went tobogganing at Sprucewoods Nationalpark again...and DH cracked one of his teeth. We should really think on something else to spend our weekends. Do you remember, the first time we went tobogganing he broke our camera. I can't imagine what will happen next time.... Here's a pic of that ride he had that accident:


And a little update on Garden Pleasures:

Tuesday and thursday were my day's off this week. :-)
Tuesday I had my first real apointment with a hairdresser. A lot of people recommended Pantages and that's what I decided to give a try after the disaster last october.... when I let my hair cut with a hairdresser in the Canadian Superstore and that was just awful. Finding out things like where to do your haircut for example is what makes live in a different country interesting and sometimes even difficult. It's often just the small things, life in general is not too different.

But I loved what Krista at Pantages did and so I went there again on Thursday to get some highlights in my hair.

My hair looks very different now and I have to get used to see my new hair in the mirror... :)

While browsing through the net yesterday I saw the "Quilt Mystere" Natalie is sewing and I just love it... You see I'm enabled again....I'm pretty sure I will participate in this one. Part 7 from 12 is already published but this makes me sure that I will like the project in the end ... LOL

I didn't do much stitching on my days off but I had New Year start and here it is:

Victoria Sampler's Heirloom Homecoming Sampler... I got the chart and accessorypack as a birthday gift myself about 2 years ago.

We had a great weekend in Winnipeg. Although the biggest shop in Manitoba won't become my favorite shop :-) The lady who worked there was so nice and friendly but most of the things they are carrying are not my taste... but I think I should try the shop for framing one day.

After visiting Sheena's Gallery where I bought a piece of 40ct linen we drove to Mrs. Twitchets Eyes where I have been before. But this time it was only one of the ladies there and unfortunately it was the same grumpy lady that has been there when I visited the first time.

On our way back we choosed an alternate road to the highway #1 and came through a lot of cute villages. One of them was called Holland, that's the German name for the Netherlands but this Holland wasn't as flat as the European Holland. :) But they had build up a little windmill so I think the first people who settled there have been from the Netherlands.




Today leaving the house after lunch I fell on the ground after not recognizing an icy space... and now my hand, my finger and my knee are really hurting.... :( I really should pay more attention. At least I don't need to go to the doc and I can still stitch :)

I have just a little progress on LHN's Garden Pleasures to show as I stitched a bit on a birthday gift.

We went tobogganing at Sprucewood National Park on New Years Day. And we had a lot of fun :) After driving home to Brandon in the late afternoon we had an early dinner at the Chinese Buffet.....yummieh.

I got a wonderful gift from Dane in an secret exchange. She even stitched a lovely Flatfold for me, though it wasn't necessary to send something crafted with it. It is my first flatfold ever and I LOVE it so much! Thank you so much Dane! Here are all the goodies she sent:


Finally I finished stitching Wendy's Hello Neighbor RR. I haven't had a lot of stitching time in the beginning but I really liked stitching on this one. I mixed parts of designs from Rosewood Manor, Little House Needleworks and Ewe & Eye & Friends. That's what took most of my time. Looking for things that work together.


Hopefully Wendy likes how it turned out....


When I came back home from work a nice little package from Stitching Bits and Bobs was waiting in the mail for me :)


I'm so looking forward to go to Winnipeg tomorrow....and visiting Sheena's Gallery wich is supposed to be the biggest crossstich shop in Manitoba....wooohhoooo

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!

The sun is shining so bright and we are going tobogganing now.
Write later.....

I have a lot of WIP's....and a lot of them are carried over from years before. One big goal is to reduce this pile. But those of you who know me, know that doesn't mean that I won't start new projects :-)

These are (some of) my WIP's in no special order:

01 Findus der Maler - Acufactum
02 Im Reich der Engel - UB
03 Sampler 1852 - Permin
04 Bonjour Sampler - Mariska
05 Tulpe - DMC
06 Lesezeichen Arch - Bent Creek
07 Chicken - french magazine
08 4 Coeur - Anagram
09 Cottage - Lanarte
10 Thistle - Handarbeijdets Fremme
11 Christmas ABC - Vermillion
12 Medieval Town Mandala - Chatelaine
13 Nana's Afghan Freebie - Indigo Rose
14 Catherine Agnes - Indigo Rose
15 Quaker Sampler - Martina Dey
16 Garden Pleasures - Little House Needleworks
17 Daisy Lane Cottage - Little House Needleworks
18 And A Forest Grew - Rosewood Manor
19 Hoehen und Tiefen - Acufactum
20 Birth Band Sampler - Drawn Thread
21 Birth Picture - Vervaco
22 Toccata 2 - Drawn Thread
23 Christmas Treasures Sampler - Victoria Sampler

After finishing the Hello Neighbor RR I allow myself to start the first new project in 2008. :-)))

I'm planning to visit Sheena's Gallery in Winnipeg. The Needlecrafters Travel Companion says it is Manitobas biggest Crossstitch Shop....probably that will cause a new start again....(hopefully just kidding)

Last night it started snowing again and when we woke up this morning everything was covered with clean white snow again. DH could do his workout shoveling the snow ;-)
We had such a quiet and nice sunday today. It was just wonderful. Playing with Lisa, stitching, dainties shopping and having a delicious dinner....

Everyday after stitching on the Hello Neighbor RR I put a few stitches into my Garden Pleasures WIP :-)

Going back stitching Hello Neighbor RR again..... See you tomorrow...

I have to work between the Holidays from thursday to saturday. But I'm very happy that they asked me how many hours I wanted to be scheduled for the upcoming weeks :-) So I'm down to 24 hours per week....so much more time for housework, cooking and STITCHING :-)))))
It is way to much working everyday till 6pm and even some saturdays with little Lisa going to bed at 7pm. I just wanted a job for a few hours to learn better english and because it was too boring being at home alone the whole week.....

I'm still stitching on Hello Neighbor RR during my lunch break and in the evening.....

I don't want to post without a picture so here is one of our house with wonderful snow...

Ich freue mich sehr über die Kommentare aus Deutschland! Wir haben uns supergut hier eingelebt und genießen das Leben in den Weiten Kanadas sehr. Ich wünsche euch einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr und bleibt gesund :-)

Merry Christmas

I hope you all are having a Merry Christmas!

A few days ago we went tobogganing at the Brandon Golf Course...dear hubby fell off the sled during a furious ride down the hill and destroyed our camera. :-( So we will have to buy a new one within the next few days....

I needed a break from stitching the Hello Neighbor RR and so I put the last stitches in the Prairie Schooler Autumn Leaves. I started this one back in June after DH left for Canada and Lisa and I were alone in Germany.

My very first WHITE Christmas!

It started snowing by the end of november in Brandon, Manitoba and the snow is lovely. I don't even care the cold, though it is much colder here than it's ever been in Germany.

And the weather is so much better than in Germany...I'm here for 4 1/2 months now and it rained only 2 or 3 times....in Germany it didn't rain 2 or 3 times during that time ;-)

The view from our livingroom a few days ago.....and we got even a bit more snow yesterday *yay*


Since mid of september or beginning of october I'm working in a trecking shop in Brandon and right before Christmas it is so busy and I have to work so much that I haven't got a lot time for stitching left. In the evenings when Lisa is in bed I'm often so tired that I start sleeping on the sofa in the living room....that's something I usually doesn't like at all.

I did it again....

.... I started something new today. :-) But not much to see yet.

....but tonight I'm going back stitching on Carissa's RR. I love how this one is turning out :-)

@ Von, Joanne, Coral and Carol: Thank you very much for your kind words. They are so much appreciated. Life in Canada is very nice right now. But a lot of things are very different from Germany. One thing is the people are much friendlier and I love that!!!!

@ Barbara, Birgit und Moune: vielen Dank für euere lieben Worte. Birgit, lass dich doch mal wieder im hello blicken oder bist du immer noch in der Sommerpause? Moune, ich hoffe, es geht dir wieder besser!!! Du bist schon etwas vom Pech verfolgt. Ich denke an dich und wünsche dir gute Besserung.

Hello from Canada!

Finally we arrived safe and sound in Brandon, MB. We had a very busy and sometimes even a hard time since DH Derek went to Canada in mid of June. But now that we are here, too, we are very happy :-)

Today is Lisa's first day in daycare...and I can't wait to have her back home. I'm going to wait till she settled in there and then go and look for work myself. I`m sure that will help me to learn more english. :-)

During the last days I stitched on Carissa's RR and I like the design very much. Mailing date is Ocotber 1st.

Thank you very much for all the nice comments. I appreciate them so much!

A little update on my Hello Neighbor! RR Now it looks a bit more like the cozy cabin that it will become :-)


It is becoming reality more and more each day. We are going to move to Manitoba, Canada. Sometimes I still can't believe it. DH has booked his flight for 19th of June. Lisa and I are going to follow later.

It was my big dream since ever to live in North America...and now that it is coming true I feel sometimes very scared about this giant stride. Leaving everything behind and start a complete new live abroad...

Uhh, I will have to change my blog name ;-)

There are a lot of things going on in our family and there will be big changes in the near future. That's what kept me busy during the last months. I'm going to tell you more soon.

I started stitching on the Hello Neighbor RR. First mailing date will be the 1st of June.

Not much stitching during the last 2 days. I got stuck with "Knit one, Kill two" by Maggie Sefton. This cozy mystery is just too much fun to read.

Of course I stucked to my commitment with the Game Board SAL group and stitched two squares (and a few additional letters). Now, there's only some more letters, a part of the inner border and that square where to add the initials.

There are two other pieces I want to show you :-) I took out my Catherine Agnes and stitched 3 spots... It's not very far from being finished any more....but I just realized I missed to take a picture. I'm going to do this and show the picture later.


The other thing is Toccata 2.
I received the needed Kreiniks for this oneplus some additional stash from needleworkplus.
Now I'm just waiting for the Gloriana Thread to arrive. I'm in need of a ONS that carries all thread brands.....

The specialty stitches are so much fun.

I made a bit progress on AAFG. But this owl tree doesn't likes me :-) I'm very glad when this tree will be finished and I can stitch another one....
I found out that not only Carol is stitching this one.
Carissa is stitching it as well but both are doing better progress :-)
Wooohooo girls, go on like this!!!! :-))))

Saturday the 27th was the first Christmas Ornament SAL weekend. It was a big fun though I didn't finish mine in time.... No need for the finishing right now so this will have to wait till autumn probably. ;-)


Pine Tree Hill by Little House Needlewors
Just Cross Stitch Issue Ocotber 2006
Started 01-27-2007 and finished 02-01-2007
I used the asked for threads with one exception. Instead of Crescent Colors roasted chestnut I used WDW Chestnut .... and I love it :-)

During the last two weeks I kept up with stitching two squares per week. And today I will stitch the last house and another motif, hopefully :-) There will only be left some little motifs and parts of the borders then and they are a very quick stitch. I hope to finish this one in february....

A new start :-)

Yesterday I started the Toccata II SAL with Manuela. Manuela started on sunday but due to my DT Sampler Game Board SAL commitment I had to stitch two squares first.

Today I had to bring Lisa to the doctor...It started yesterday in the late afternoon. Her eyes filled with tears and after some time the tears changed to a yellow sticky liquid. And in the night she had a lingering cough. When I switched on the lights I realized she coughed gunk and it was all over her pajama and her bedclothes....poor little thing.

One week without blogging.....

....but with a little bit of stitching.
I put a few stitches in And a Forest Grew but I made a mistake in reading the colorkey and used only two green shades instead of three for the tree constituted of three squares on the left. I'm not going to correct this error :-)



And I stitched two squares on DT's Sampler Game Board: