Red, white and GOLD!

Have you been watching the Olympics? We have!

We hadn't intended to spend the entire weekend watching the Olympics, but we did. Certain small boys have brought home (yet another!) cold. This one is miserable, and as a result, so is the boy. We curled up on the couch together and my son dozed on and off, while I stitched and his father tried not to cheer too loudly and wake him. Between rests we ate throat soothing freezies (for cold infested boys and grown up cheerers).


You know a three year old is feeling retched when he asks if he can be taken to bed now please. Poor soul!


I couldn't quite figure what had inspired me to start stitching these matryoshka dolls in red and white...but the answer is plain as day:

• Red and white for Canada
• Russian dolls for the host of the 2014 Winter Olympics

The Olympics must be entering my subconsciousness!

I am so proud of Vancouver. What a fantastic job they have done in hosting the games!

I hope that you had an opportunity to enjoy some red, white and gold moments over the last few weeks.

Too much temptation

OK, so I was starting to loose sleep with worry....what if it was gone before I could get to it??? It's not good to live a life of stress. Not good. So here is what I did....

I went to the Spoonflower web-site just to see what Heather Ross had put together for her limited run there. Kiss of death. Here is what is coming to live with me at my house!

And this:
And finally, in all it's dotty goodness:



Perhaps it will become a baby blanket for a friend? Perhaps I won't be able to part with it! It may just end up washed, ironed, lovingly folded and stacked.

I do love the idea of doing this or this with the fabric! Any other ideas that this fabric inspires for you? Please do share!

Where art thou spring??

OK, so it looks like this outside this afternoon:

Sadly, this is an improvement from this morning when there were big, wet snowflakes falling from the sky. Snow is lovely in December....and generally I love winter - truly I do, but I think that I am over winter now. So very over. Over the grey, over the snowsuits, over the mushy and mucky snow, and sooo over the flu and colds that seem to proliferate during the winter! (can you tell that I am down with another flu????).

To combat the winter that it raging outside our window, we have moved spring indoors! My lovely mother came for a visit and we spent some time at our favourite flower shop. We just couldn't resist bringing a few bits of spring loveliness home with us...

These beauties were purchased for my mother's arrival. I don't think that there is anybody who appreciates tulips more than my mother (and truly...what's not to love?!):



Isn't this little arrangement scrumptious???!:



And finally, we couldn't resist this:


Ahhhh....Spring is coming my friends! May it come very soon.

Do NOT mock the flu

Remember when I said "I am a germ fighting power house"? I was wrong. I take it back. I'm sorry that I "smack" talked the flu. My bad. Call off your germ friends. I give....I give...

I have been laid out with the flu for 3 days now...3 DAYS!! Sadly too sick to even feel up to a little crafting (I know!! Too sick to craft??!).

I have missed brunch and book club (which I love so!). I did however, manage to finish the book club book, which I may not have managed without the extra sick time. It's a good book:

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Check it out...even if you are not flu-infested.

The gimme gimmes

Oh dear...

Do you remember this playground song from when you were a kid?:

Gimme, gimme, never get

Don't you know your manners yet?!

Yeeeeaaaaahhhhh....that's what I hear running through my head when I see that the Heather Ross gnomes and mushrooms are being reprinted.

How the other half lives...

Don't you just love seeing how other people decorate/live in their home?

I love looking at our local real estate website to see how people decorate their homes (let's face it, generally people are presenting their homes at their best when they are for sale). I also love this site for partly voyeuristic, partly inspirational reasons.

I was particularly taken with this inspiring house tour. I have had to go back 3 or 4 times just to admire. You may recall that I recently repainted my "oh-so-dreary-came-with-the-house" beige living room and dining room. I like to think of it as the first step to creating a space that feels at least a little bit like Christine's. (c'mon....at least a little bit!!!).

The blue looks much more grey in this picture than it is in real life (there is just no natural light in Ottawa in the winter!).

Be sure to go take an inspirational tour...then you will understand how I intend to live!

My mother is coming for a visit later this month...perhaps that will inspire me to get more organized and decorated? (hmmm....somewhat doubtful, but hope springs eternal!)

We have been with flu

Hello all! January has been the month of illness in our house. Both my husband and son have been sick twice. One cold, one TERRrrrRRIBLE flu. No sickness for me, though. I must admit that I feel like a germ fighting power house!

We are back to full health and getting back into the swing of things.

I have been a focused little craft-producing machine, so I have much to share with you! (I'll try to resist the urge to show everything in a single post).

There is a baby shower for a co-worker tomorrow, so much of last weekend included this view:

Here is the finished view of the quilt for the new baby boy:

(Momo Odyssea charm pack, blue gingham (!LOVE!) flannel backing and Amy Butler Full Moon binding - yummy!). The quilting was inspired by this one from Film in the Fridge.

Another baby quilt, more cross-stitching and a project for the boy's room to follow...