In Stitches: Canada

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days - we've been busy playing golf, eating well, and staying out of the rainshowers. Yesterday we took a 'tour' (courtesy of Dad) of the Cowichan Valley, and drove all around Arbutus Point, Maple Bay, Cowichan Bay, Cowichan Station and into deepest darkest Glenora - further out than even I had been before. Cowichan is such a gorgeous part of the world. Now all we need is for our EuroMillions ticket to come good so we can buy a nice bit of acreage and build a house :) Dream on...

Progress on Their Song has been steady - H has been distracted by the pool table downstairs, leaving me plenty of time to stitch. I had a small heart attack when I realised that some of the stitching is one thread out, and I thought I was going to have to rip out substantial areas, but after a medicinal peach cider (possibly the cause of the problem in the first place), I realised that the two 'star' motifs to the left of the tree were the culprits, and I had counted 'and very frankly' off them as well. Everything else though was stitched in the correct place, so I've made an executive decision to leave the stitching in place as is - you'd have to know (and probably count threads) to see the error, and it won't affect the final look, so I don't see any reason to take it all out.

Rather helpfully, Mum read the finishing directions for Heart Throb (scissor fob) and also couldn't really work them out (despite 50 years of sewing experience), so I can go ahead with my plan for finishing it without any qualms!

Happy stitching everyone!

We've arrived! After months of anticipation, we're finally in BC. It's wonderful.

I had decided to bring my stitching on the plane to keep me distracted and amused, so I found a couple of freebies to start stitching - a scissor fob design from Drawn Thread called 'Heart Throb' and a small square design which I'm hopefully going to turn into a biscornu - my very first attempt at one, so we'll see how that goes. And, just in time, the threads at left arrived in the post (Silk 'n' Colours Pink Elephant and Needle Necessities Island Butterfly). On Thursday night then, having confirmed on our trip to Dublin the week previous what stitching implements could be brought on board (sewing needles yes, scissors no), I cut all the threads I'd need for these two small projects into useable lengths, got the linen ready, and found a small frame. The 9-1/2 hour flight from Heathrow to Vancouver passed quickly enough, and my progress (Heart Throb top, biscornu bottom) is here:

I'm intending to use the Pink Elephant to replicate this design for the back of the fob, and the Island Butterfly is used for the biscornu. I'm now not convinced that such a dramatically hand-dyed thread was the way to go, but hey it's only my first try and we'll see how it turns out - live and learn.

I'm hoping to finish at least the scissor fob design whilst I'm here as Mum is a champion sewer, and I'm not 100% sure that I understand exactly what the finishing instructions are trying to tell me.

H's flight wasn't quite as comfortable as mine. He'd had a bit of a sniffle before we left, and Thursday was spent on a teambuilding exercise with his company. Whoever was organising it must have a small sadistic streak ... I know, what we'll do is we'll take a number of office-based staff who have minimal DIY skills, give them some rope, barrels, and twigs and ask them to McGyver up a raft! And then they can race that raft on a lake! In April, yes! ... Well, I guess you can imagine what happened next: having far more confidence than was warranted in their floating barrel(s), H and partner set out on the race, only to capsize at the furthest possible point from shore and then have to swim back towing what was salvageable of their former raft. A bit of discussion ensued ('No, just because you were first back with a broken bit of your raft in your hand doesn't mean you won' - 'But the rules didn't say you had to actually be on the raft to win the race' - etc), followed by a prize-giving, and suddenly H had been standing about drenched in lakewater in April temperatures for the best part of an hour. Throw in a bit of chilly recycled air for 9-1/2 hours, and I guess neither of us should have been surprised that he woke up with a full-blown fever and the worst cold he has had in 4 years on our first day here. But he's cheering up, helped no doubt by the gift of a set of golf clubs once we'd arrived!

We spent a couple of days with my sister and her boyfriend, and they took us to Little Mountain, aka Queen Elizabeth Park. Vancouver is beautiful at the moment - all the spring shrubs and plants are in full bloom, and the rhododendrons and tulips are particularly gorgeous. Right is H, sharing some sunny weather in the park with BC's emblem flower - the dogwood. Sister T and A are below, with a bit of the mountains behind them.

I spent a bit time on Sunday doing some stitching - apart from the small designs for the plane, I brought Their Song with me as it has a small number of colours, making it easier to travel with, and frankly I am just loving this design and can't wait to spend even more time on it! An early start on Sunday (for some reason T and A weren't up at 6am...) meant I could devote a few hours to it, and then our trip over to the Island on the ferry meant I had a couple more, so progress is on the left. In fact I'm going to finish off this post and find a quiet spot to get this out again.

Once we arrived on the Island last night, I gave Mum her joint birthday and Mother's Day present - Mum's Heart I. And she loved it! Photo - FINALLY - at right. I'm so glad she loves it, and so glad I can finally post the photos from this project! I'll also now post the Mum's Heart II progress photos, as I know that H's mum will never stumble across them by accident.

I also gave T her (extremely) belated Christmas present, which is a Mirabilia design - 'Titania, Queen of the Faeries' (at right) is I think the full title of it. T has had a life-long fascination with fairies, and also a life-long streak of middling to poor luck, so hopefully this fairy will look out for her and keep her safe. I'm taking it to a framer in Saanich in the next week, and Mum and Dad will pick it up to bring to T for her to finally put on her wall. It's the first big design I ever stitched, and it was so rewarding to see her face light up when she saw it. I have two more Mirabilia charts in my stash pile, and although I was still learning most of the way through it, it still took me 5 months, so I don't know if I'll pick up the next one in a mad hurry. I'll maybe give myself a bit of a rest!

So I think that's brought you up to date for our trip, and I'll hopefully post a bit more when I'm here. I wish everyone as relaxing a time as I am having!