Updates, Updates, Updates!!!

I made a book selection!!! I'm now lost in the lovely world of Helen of Troy! Has anyone read this one? I read another one by Margaret George called Mary, Called Magdalene. (Also very enjoyable!)



I went a little buck wild with holds at the library and they're coming in in droves so there will be much fireside reading by Bex coming up! I LOVE IT!!!

Well, here's the picture I promised of me in my new sweater. This is the first sweater that I have ever made and am mostly just grateful that it looks like a sweater and not a potato sack!



Don't I look happy? I'm soooo happy!!!


And at long last here is my update picture for Lissandrea! She's so gorgeous!!! I go to work on her and I find myself staring at her instead!!! Much more stitching to come though. I love the winter because there's so much stitching time in the evenings! January and February are the best months for getting lost in projects!!!



Here are just some random pictures of my hubby and I at a family reunion we went to this past autumn. We look a little goofy but you get the idea!!!





I'll leave you with a final word from the LOL CATS:



Until next time ladies and gents! (Do any men read this...if so PLEASE drop me a line...I would love to hear from you!!!)

Winter Reading

It's been snowing here in Canada and there is nothing like curling up by the fire in the evenings with a good book! That's probably one of my favorite pastimes...after stitching and knitting of course! LOL! The last few days, I have been ENGROSSED in The Glass of Time by Michael Cox. If you haven't read this book, I totally recommend it!!! I love this guy's prose! Just incredible!!! I got it from the library and it is due back today and there are about a million holds on it and so I was determined to finish it before I had to give it back!!! Thus, my life has been completely on hold to accomplish the task!!! The novel is the sequel to The Meaning of Night. They're set in Victorian England at the estate of Evenwood (I could easily move in and happily live my life there!) It has murder and deceit and romance and everything in between!!! Honestly...pick up these books if you can!!!! You will love them!!!

Any recommendation on what to read next?





And here's one more funny kitten just because it made me howl with laughter this morning and I wanted to share the giggles!!!

Dear Santa...

With Christmas just around the corner I decided that it is time for me to write to Santa...

Dear Santa,

I was on the Dimensions website and found a few cross stitch kits that caught my eye. This is only a few of the items that I love...I don't want to look greedy! LOL!

Thanks,
Bex

PS - YES!!! I have been very good all year!


This is The Mighty Samurai and he is the last in a series that I want to go up my staircase wall. I have completed one and am half way through the second.


This is Enchanting Geisha and the colors are incredible! I'm such a girly girl! I LOVE the pinks and purples! LOL!


This is Aurora Cabin. I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights like this! BTW Santa, if the cross stitch kit is unavailable I will gladly take a trip to the cottage instead! LOL!


This is Dreaming of Tuscany and YES I DO!!!! Again Santa, if unavailable some tickets to Tuscany will be graciously accepted! LOL!


This is A Stroll in the Park. I LOVE this era!!! I would glad move right in as long as I could bring a few amenities with me! LOL! The next few are all in the same vein.


This is M'Lady's Chateau. Again Santa, the chateau in the background would be a wonderful surprise...don't worry about fitting it under the tree...we'll work something out! LOL!


This is Gracious Era. Gracious indeed! I LOVE it!!!


This is Romantic Floral. I don't normally go in for stuff like this but it really calls my name for some reason!


This is Innocent Guardian. I wonder if my guardian angel is this well dressed?!


Last but definitely not least, this is my ALL TIME FAVORITE: Ballerina Beauty. I was a ballet dancer for many many years and it was my first true love! This lady looks nothing like me but I might be able to adapt her into a brunette! I remember having a costume just like this one! It was soooo lovely! I miss dancing but if I tried it again now after so many years off I'd probably look like a drunk bear in a tutu! LOL!

So Santa...please remember that I have been VERY good this year! I look forward to your visit...do you want milk and cookies again this year or something different...maybe pizza and beer? LOL!

Giggle Time

This post is completely not stitch related but not to worry....it's GIGGLE TIME!!!! I love these "LOL CAT" pictures and I wanted to share them with you! These are a few of my recent favs. Take a break and have a chuckle from your buddy Bex!!! (I might have gone a bit over board with the amount but it's so hard to choose!!!) LOL!

BEX IS BACK!!!!!!!

I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!! And so happy to be back in this happy blogging world. Not sure what happened to me...my life took a brief turn into insanity. However, all is well and I am positively giddy to be blogging again! I missed you!!! Thanks to everyone who wrote me such kind notes!

So....what have I been up to lately. I'm still stitching and I will post some pictures of my progress shortly but I seem to have ended up in a knitting frenzy! I'm loving it! I finished my bamboo scarf and it's super comfy and with the chilly weather here in Canada it's coming in very handy!

Next I did a pair of pedicure socks for my Mom! What are pedicure socks you ask? Well! They're basically socks with no toes in them. The idea is that you can pop on you're pedicure socks and flip flops so that you're feet stay nice and warm and not have to stuff your feet back into regular socks and boots and ruin your lovely pedicure. They're a great idea and my Mom loves them! I plan to make more of them for Christmas gifts but my Mom got the prototype! Here's a picture and no those are not my feet! LOL!



Next I made a sweater! It's a real sweater and it actually ended up looking like a sweater! I'm totally amazed! And quite impressed with my handy work! Here's the pattern picture:



My sweater is a red tweed not blue but you get the idea! Also, I made it quite a bit longer. I'm 5'11" and the length they had it set for would look ridiculous on me! I also had to increase the sleeve length for my gorilla arms! LOL! Anyway, I made a large and in hindsight I didn't need the large! It's really big! But it's the most comfortable sweater in the ENTIRE world!!! I'm so proud of it! I wear it all the time and I'm terrified to wash it just in case the whole thing unravels! LOL! I'll post a picture of my actual sweater shortly too!

After all the success I had on the first sweater and my new found knowledge in sweater making (LOL!) I decided to make another one. I'm almost done this one too! I've finished the back and the front so all that's left is sleeves and the collar. It's going to be sooooo cute! I think it will be my Christmas sweater this year! And as my Mom says: "It's definitely NOT a sweater for cooking in!" LOL! Gotta love Moms!!! Here's a picture of it:



So that's been my knitting frenzy as of lately. I love learning new things! I've been pouring over the sweaters that I previously bought and trying to figure out the patterns! LOL! I think my husband is sick of me shouting from the closet: "I could have made this myself!"

It's so good to be back with all of you!!!!!

Craft Gluttony

My latest endeavour is to teach myself how to knit! I remember knitting as a child with my Granny but I haven't knit since then and I never got past making scarves but here I am again trying to knit. I went to Michael's the other day and got myself some knitting needles and some yarn. I picked up the cheapest needles in the entire store for some reason and I now realize why they were the cheapest. They honestly border on useless and I don't even know what I'm doing yet! LOL! I think they're metal and the yarn keeps on falling off. I'm not very good at rescuing lost stitches yet and so I end up pulling the entire thing apart! Yowza! However, the yarn I got is incredible! I picked up a bamboo/silk mix. It's honestly gorgeous! If you've never felt bamboo fabric then you really have to because it is DIVINE! I found a really cute sweater pattern on the internet but I swear it's in German. Is knitting terminology German? Just kidding! So the sweater pattern got put aside until I can understand "knit-speak". Guess what I'm doing instead? Yes indeed I'm making a scarf! Winter's coming and I love scarves and wear them often so it will be practical and a good beginner project. I'll post a picture when it looks like a scarf. :D

What else have I been up to? Oh yes! I am working on my writing skills. I'm trying to write more and type less so that my handwriting looks better. I have a dream of having my favorite books handwritten on beautiful paper with a beautiful italic fountain pen and then personally bound. (I know this is insanity at it's best! There's a reason why I haven't started yet! LOL!) That was a nice segue into my next endeavour...I want to learn how to bind books. I've been looking at it online and it doesn't look too earth shattering. I was thinking I could make a nice cloth bound journal for my Mom for Christmas!

I also joined an artist book club. What is that you ask? Well, a bunch of crafty people have gotten together to read artsy books and inspire and support each other. We're reading "The Vein of Gold" by Julia Cameron. It's meant to be the companion to her other very popular book "The Artist's Way". It's really interesting and the exercises that she gets you to do are pretty neat. I've learnt a lot about myself! Why is it that you can see the patterns and idiosyncrasies in other people but you can never see them in yourself?! As part of the exercises she asks you to keep a journal. No problem! I've kept a journal for ages. Here's the difference though: she asks you to write in the morning and to write about anything that falls into your head. ("Today I must remember to..." "So and so drives me up the wall..." "My dish clothes are smelly...") By writing in the morning I have a whole different tone to my journal. It's no longer a catalogue of daily events. Now it's actually about what's in my head! It's so much more interesting!!! I highly recommend it!

Well, that's all for today. Sorry that this post had everything in it but cross stitch. I'm still stitching... Lissandrea looks great! I'll post a picture of that one soon!

Trucking Along

I finally made it to the store to get batteries...not only that but while at the store I also remembered to put the batteries into my basket! Now that my camera is functional again I am able to give a Lissandrea update. Here she is and she can see you too! (I love a project once their face is done!!!)

Lost in the Wind

Have I ever dropped off the face of the earth recently!!!!!!!! I have been stitching but not nearly as much as I normally do. I'm onto page 4 of Lissandrea and she looks gorgeous! Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera have died and there are none in the house. Thus, no pictures for a bit. Hopefully I will get to the store today so that I can update you all on my progress!

But the real reason for my absence is due to a book. I borrowed "Gone with the Wind" from the library and I CAN'T put it down! I've never read it before and I've never seen the movie. I am HOOKED!!!! I'm completely lost in the world of Scarlett and Rhett! LOVING IT!!! Has anyone else read it?! WOW!!!! I promise that I'll surface again shortly! LOL!



I've also signed up to be a volunteer with the local Humane Society. I'm so excited to start this! I went by the other day to fill out the necessary paperwork and I just know I'm going to love it! While I was there I couldn't resist playing with a room full of ADORABLE little kittens! I have a training session this Thursday so that I can learn all about what they do and how I can help. My husband is already worried that we're going to end up with a few extra legs in the house! LOL!