Gifted Gorgeousness - March

It's the 15th again and that means time for Gifted Gorgeousness! Hosted as always by the fabulous host Jo at Serenditipitous Stitching, thank you for making linking up so easy. 

This post will include the last of the DUCJFC projects and the few I've worked on in March. 

Let's start with:

Savannah Birth Record for DD

I switched out the 14 count yellow Aida for some yellow 22 count hardanger, and it's a process. I'm debating about trying 1 over 1 for the rest after I get this bit of the border completed. 

Ocean Curiousity for DD

I like this one a lot and it's soothing to stitch in monochrome sometimes. I hope to get back to this one in the next few months. 

See Ya Later Alligator for DD

I think this will make a great growth chart, so I really need to get a move on and finish it up. I had to unpick all the lettering since it didn't show up enough, so I need to pick a new thread as well. 

 Letters from Nora - L for friend

This is for the same friend that I finished K for last year. She had another baby girl last month and this will make a nice set with A and K. 

Frosty Friends #5 and #6

There are 4 more in the set and I hope to get at least a few of them finished this year. 

Totally Nuts - for a stitching friend

I hope to get this done well before July for her birthday. She's a wonderful friend. 

I think that's it for the GG stitching for the past month. I'll see where we're at next month. I'll be stitching on what I want, when I want, at least as soon as my arm is healed! 

Thanks for visiting, and happy stitching!

Tiffstitch

Top 10 Tuesdays: Top 5 Places to Shop - EDIT for new list poster

Top 10 Tuesday Time again! Head over to Kate's and Keebles' blogs to find out their lists, although they were both on vacation the past week, so they may or may not be posting today. Elliptical Man has also joined us, so check out his list and blog too. 

TOP 5 PLACES TO SHOP

1. Amazon

They have everything now, although I remember when they were just a book store. 

2. Trader Joes

I can't ever explain how much I love this grocery store. They have tons of organic produce at reasonable prices seasonally and I do try and feed DD organic produce if we can. There are so many unique items that you can only find there, and it's saved our grocery budget a few hundred dollars a year. 

Plus all of their store brand products very clearly and obviously state what allergens are present in their packaged food. That is a huge help when you have food allergies. 

3. Gymboree

This is a children's clothing store, and I prefer it to the more commonly known Carter's or OshKosh. They have fun clothes items and I'm looking forward to going to their "sister" store, Crazy Eights on my upcoming conference. I found several fun clothing items last year. I actually found some nice things in the boy's section that worked for Sophia as well, so that may be true this year. The plaid shirts especially don't seem to exist in any girl's section. 

4. Chromatic Alchemy

If you're a follower you know I'm a fan of these fabrics and I like the website design as well. I think she plans to re-vamp it soon, but I know it will still be good. I like that she has a colour selection area on the left and that she made sure to have true-to-life colours of her fabric. You know that what you receive will look exactly the same as it did on the website. I love browsing the site to look at all the colours  and think what I might want to stitch on them. 

Also, you can check the Facebook page for photos of people stitching on the fabrics for inspiration. It's trouble for my wallet sometimes. :)

5. Chocolate Decadence

I had a lot of choices for this last number, but I went with the one I've been looking at most lately. This is a vegan, dairy free chocolate maker. They have fantastic chocolate and I just put my Easter order in. There are often deals/coupons that they email you, so it's worth signing up. If you're a dark chocolate fan, you might want to try them out since their mint truffles are so amazingly good... possibly the others too, but I'm a mint chocolate fan. 

I hope you enjoyed the list and thank you all for your good wishes about my arm. I'm mostly better now, although I didn't finish the owl last night, I took it easy again. Maybe tonight will be a finish, depending on when I get home. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Finishes and an Injury!

Thank you for all your comments on my list of WIPs to finish this year. I know you can motivate me to stick to my list. I didn't plan on not posting again until today, in fact I had plans for a "Finish on a Friday" post, but those plans went awry when I pulled my tricep muscle in my right arm. 

I managed to do this in a pretty creative way when we were getting DD ready for bed. She was a little overtired and started climbing all over my bed and standing up and then falling down. I pulled the muscle by grabbing her as she was about to fall off the far side. So, a worthwhile injury, but still frustrating because the triceps muscle really affects the entire arm. 

Everything hurt that night. I had an ice pack on my arm the rest of the night on and off and it was marginally better in the morning. I had to work that Saturday morning and ended up writing with my left hand occasionally because it was less painful. As the day progressed it became less painful and I could do minimal movement and even pick up DD when she asked! So that was a considerable improvement. Sunday was better still and although I had to work again, I could write with my right hand again thankfully. 

Today it's still a little painful, likely I'm over-using it trying to catch up from Saturday, but the best news was I was able to stitch last night!!

And you may be saying, "Why? Why risk worsening your injury?". And you would be right. But I really wanted to stitch. I had almost finished all the outline of Owl #3 Friday afternoon and had plans to finish it that night. Which went out the window when I hurt my arm. So the frustration of plans not completed is why I stitched last night. But I took my time, and I was careful. It's nice to see this one half-dressed at least. 

You may notice that both eyes are pointing in the same direction, whereas most other Owl #3 have one eye going up and out and the other down and out. I couldn't take it. Looking at it made my brain and eyes hurt, so I made them the same. I'm using Jodyri Parisian Chic for the filling in. I think I might finish tonight if I'm up to stitching. We'll see how I am after working all day. I may be crazy, but I'm not going to push it. 

And for happier news, more finishes!! 

Schroeder! Although it didn't have that charted, I'll ask the recipient if she'd like it written in. 

And:

Celebrate finished into an ornament and sent to my Grandma through my parents. I kept forgetting to post about it. I think it came out pretty well and I hope she likes it. 

So that's my weekend, and I'll link up to the Stitchery Link-up Party, how about yours?

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

WIP Wednesday - A Start

Here we go with a more normal posting schedule. I hope to update my current WIP every Wednesday and today I'd like to list a few things I hope to finish first from my Challenge pieces. These are finishes I really want to get done this year. 

1. Schroeder

This is one I'm stunt stitching for a friend and I've made some decent progress over the last few days:

I hope three more days might see a finish. 

2. Linus

This is another stunt stitch and I will finish this one soon, but I plan to work on something else after I finish Schroeder, then come back to this one. 

3. Letters by Nora S, H, G, L 

These haven't progressed since Jan/Feb, so I may pick these up after Schroeder. 

4.  Rejoice Tree

This is for my Grandma, so I'd like to finish it for her birthday or Xmas. Both are late in the year, but this would be good to get finished. 

5. Everyone Brings Joy

I'm pretty close on this one and I'd like to put it up in our house

6. See ya Later Alligator Growth Chart

I would love to get this one finished this year, and it has several small sections, so finishing each off would be satisfying and a way to change things up, 

7. Frosty Friends

I'd love to get a few, if not all, of these finished for Xmas gifts this year

8. Sleigh Ride Stocking

It would be really amazing to finish this one by Xmas for DD

9. Autumn Elegance

I'd like to finish this for my co-worker

10. Vermont

I'd like to finish this for my business partner

So that's my thoughts right not and writing them out helps me keep it straight as well, so thank you all for being a sounding board!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

Top 10 Tuesday: Top 5 Female Role Models

Keebles has a good discussion about the subject of role models on her blog, but I differ from her opinion in some ways. I think of a role model as someone you can admire and perhaps they might inspire you to do something you never thought you could. I do not think of role models as someone you should copy entirely and you shouldn't be disappointed if they're not living up to your ideals. No one is perfect. 

Check out Kate's list as well to see how we might have different role models :)

TOP 5 FEMALE ROLE MODELS

1. Justine Blainey

I know I talked about Ms. Blainey last year some time, but it's time to bring up her name again. When I was 11 going on 12, there was some discussion if I would be allowed to continue to play hockey on a boy's team because next year would be Peewee, which is when you're starting to body check. Ms. Blainey had made the cut for a high level boy's hockey team, but the league was denying her right to play. The Ontario Human Rights Code at that time allowed gender discrimination in sports.  

There were 5 court cases including an initial loss, then a win on an appeal to the Ontario Supreme Court, and eventually no more arguments were accepted by the Supreme Court of Canada. Ms. Blainey had won the right for all women to play hockey, and subsequently other sports, wherever they wanted. 

What I learned from Ms. Blainey at the time was to never give up. If you want something bad enough, fight for it.

2.  Kaylee Frye from Firefly as played by Jewel Staite

image from space1999nut.wordpress.com

I love Kaylee. She was positive no matter what was happening and always looked for the bright side of things. Most of the time I try and do that as well, and see how things can be looked at in a more positive light. 

Plus she was an excellent mechanic, something you don't find often. She could be girly and she was very open about her needs. Basically she's a pretty good all-around role model. 

3. Agatha Christie

Here's arguably the world's greatest mystery writer, who suffered through infidelity from her first husband and then found life-long love with her second husband. Now, divorce, etc. in her day was certainly not something that took place, and yet she did it. She also possibly planned her disappearance to embarrass her husband and make his infidelity known world-wide. 

Or was this the reason?

She continued writing fantastic mystery novels for years and years and to my young mind she always struck me as a very strong person. Dame Agatha could speak her mind and stand her ground. 

4. My co-worker

I've mentioned my co-worker in passing about how I'm stitching things for her and I stitched up that awesome Zindagi design for her last year. She's a pretty amazing person generally and has a great work ethic. She is happiest when she's accomplishing things and she treats everyone with respect, even if sometimes they don't deserve it. 

So why am I choosing her as a role model? Well, she is a refugee and has been here in the U.S. for 15 years after making the extremely difficult decision to leave her family and war-torn country and emigrate here for a new start. With a one year old! She's here with her son, knows no one, gets a job in retail, working her butt off to give them a chance at a new life. She meets someone here and he's a great father to her son, and they have two more children together. All the while she's working her hardest, oh and suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for most of her life and she's my age (not 40 yet).

She is in pain every day, and she works hard every day. She has a smile or is at least positive most days, pain or not. She speaks with an accent and has put up with harassment and she still works with the general public. She is one of the strongest and most generous people I know. She doesn't do much with technology and she will never read this, but I want to mention what an amazing person she is. I'm very happy to know her and have her in our lives. I feel like if I could be as good a person as she is then I would be successful in all aspects of my life. 

5. Guess who? 

This remarkable woman survived Nazi occupation and malnutrition, was a courier and supporter for the Dutch Resistance and a proficient ballet dancer. She emigrated to England and studied ballet, but was told her "weak constitution" courtesy of wartime malnutrition made prima ballerina status unlikely. She switched her focus to acting.

 While filming, she was noticed by a playwright and cast as the lead in a Broadway show. She received significant acclaim and was then cast in several movies as the leading lady. I can't name any of them or you'll know who she is immediately. :) 

Much of this Academy Award-winning actor's later life was spent in humanitarian efforts, primarily with UNICEF. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work. This remarkable woman is a great role model for turning the experiences of a difficult time in her life into amazing work for less fortunate people. 

Who is she?


Good luck and I hope you enjoyed the list. 

Tiffstitch

You May Think I'm Crazy...

But I started another one! I decided to participate in the HaED challenge on Facebook as well and I started a chart I'd had hanging around for a while. It's only about 8 colours, I've forgotten already) so it wasn't too challenging. 

I'm stitching Dragon Under Glass:

And here's my start:

I was also in Stowe over the weekend for a hockey tournament so I got to visit the amazing store, The Wooden Needle. It was a 5 minute walk from the arena!! Stowe's not huge, but this was too easy. :)

I decided to try out one of Lizzie Kate's Boxers, and I don't think I realized they were in something like a CD case. I'm wondering if they're recycled because I think I've heard that making CD cases are one of the most wasteful things to make energy/resources wise. I'll have to ask on her blog. 

I decided to try out the Foxwood ornaments. They're so detailed and will probably be a pain, but they're beautiful! Plus some beads for one of my Nora Corbett letters and the rest are on order, plus Wisper and Fuzzy Stuff to try on LK's Ho Ho Ho chart. Everything for much less than $50, so I even stayed on budget. 

We didn't win the tournament because there was one team a level above everyone else. We finished 3/5 and that was okay because it meant we didn't have to lose to that team again in the finals. The teams, except for that one, were all women in the 30-60+ age group, so it was a fun time for everyone. 

I hope you've all had a great week!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Top 10 Tuesdays: Top 5 Things I Love That Are Welsh

Firstly, thank you all for your comments on yesterday's post. As you can tell, I still miss Otto greatly and your comments mean a lot. 

Today's Top 10 Tuesday is different, it's only 5 things instead of 10. And it's about Welsh things, which I'm not even sure I could think of 5 off the top of my head. Fortunately Kate (resides in UK) and Keebles (anglophile) have excellent lists I'm sure, so check theirs out for some good ideas. 

Also, thanks to you both for clearing up what "rarebit" is. For the longest time I thought it was some special meat dish I'd never heard of. For anyone who hasn't seen their posts, it's cheese or cheese sauce on toast.

TOP 10 5 THINGS I LOVE THAT ARE WELSH:

1. Tom Jones

What's not to love? Plus at a "grown-up" party when I was little, my Dad dressed up as Tom Jones in a frilly open shirt and a curly wig and sang this. There's some video and photos, although none of it is digital or I might have to share. 

I'm also partial to "What's New Pussycat?" because they often play it at Alouettes games when they're introducing the Hamilton Tiger-Cats team. :D

2. Doctor Who stuff

I've never been and likely never will be, but if you get the chance, there's a Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. It sounds pretty amazing and would be fun to check out all the old and new props. 

3. Timothy Dalton

I had the biggest crush on Timothy Dalton in the 80s when he was James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill. This is a fan video comparison of him with Daniel Craig. And then he was a Timelord in Doctor Who somewhat recently too!

4. John Rhys-Davies

Although many of you may think of him as Gimli, I knew him first as the friend of Indiana Jones, then General Pushkin in The Living Daylights and then the professor in Sliders, a TV show from the mid to late 90s. I always love seeing him act and hearing his big voice. 

5A. Terry Jones

He's always been my favourite Python, although Eric Idle and Michael Palin are closely tied for second. Something about his middle-aged women characters always cracked me up, especially their live at the Hollywood Bowl show. Plus he's a great director in his own right as well. 

5B. Glynis Johns

You may know Glynis Johns best as the "sister suffragette" mother from Mary Poppins, but she was an excellent actor in many other films as well. This is another of my favourites, The Court Jester. This is one of my favourite bits below:

I hope you enjoyed my slightly extended list!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch