Home

My friend is home,  and baby Logan will follow within the week as long as the little munchkin starts eating and stops falling asleep when he is feed.

Insomnia sucks

Normally when I get to bed I'm asleep very quickly.  Tonight it just isn't happening.  Not sure if it is stress or excitement that Logan is here safe and sound...but it can go away and let me sleep anytime.  I'm going to stitch a bit and see if that helps.
Love the photo of my friends and their new little one...

Going to a baby shower!

I'm so excited to celebrate today with a group of very close friends.  There will only be 5 of us but we are kid free and that always equals trouble :-)  Of course we can't get into too much trouble as the one friend is almost 35 weeks pregnant.  And her pregnancy has been an emotional roller coaster for all of us, and I cannot even begin to imagine what it was like to be the one actually pregnant!  At 6 weeks, the wonderful news that it was TWINS!  And at 21 weeks, a boy and a girl...so exciting!  They have a daughter aged 2 already who we love dearly....here she is one Saturday she came over to hang with "Becca".

And shortly after the 21 week mark, they found out that the little girl had heart issues and medically, there was nothing that could be done.  So, they made the decision to carry her as far as possible and enjoy what little time they had with her once she was born.  The little boy is growing and healthy as can be.  Last week (32weeks) they went for a routine ultrasound and it was determined that the little girl no longer had a heartbeat and had passed away in utero.  Talk about shocked!  If it wasn't for bad luck they don't seem to have had any at all.  So, my friend will continue to carry both babies as long as she can before we welcome a wonderful little baby boy!

So, this afternoon is a celebration of a life cut too short, and one just about to begin.

A Wonderful Christmas Gift

Each November my parents give me the gift of a weekend away at a stitching retreat.  My Mom comes with me and we have a great time.  This year was no exception.  Lots of stitching, laughing and eating was had by all.

I didn't take a lot of photos but I did take a few....mostly of the beautiful meal that Dan created for us at Knowledge & Needles - this is a shop run by my friend Ann, and she has organized these retreats for the last....many years.  Her husband cooks us all lunch, and then we are all "polite" in her shop buying fabric, thread and patterns.

This year Dan did a beautiful herb crusted chicken with mushroom sauce and roasted root vegetables on lovely warm red cabbage.

And desert was 5 kind apple pie with ice cream....yum.

I posted last week with a photo of the project I wanted to spend the most time on (here) and as of Sunday evening, this was the progress I had made...

And when the light got too dim, I pulled out my Welcome Home SAL from 2012.... I finished up the blue column and then stitched the little shelf, milk pitcher, cup, fence and the start of the tiny clothes line with quilts.  Not the best picture but I couldn't even find when I posted about this one last!

So day 12 of November and so far so good for NaBloPoMo2013!  See you tomorrow!

Top of the world...

HELLO WORLD!  Those were the words my boys were shouting from the top of the crazy chair our friend Jim made in Georgian Bay.  On a track and rollers, they slide this monster out closer to the Bay during the summer months and pull it back into the protection of the woods for the fall and winter.

This thing is  HUGE, well, you can see how big it is  - four adults and two kids can sit comfortably across the front, with room to spare.
From left to right:  my husband, Cameron, myself, Caleb, my Mom and my Dad.

 We had a beautiful long weekend in September with our friends Sheila and Smitty in their beautiful home and cottage, which shares the same property.

A much needed break

Every year, the second weekend of November, my Mom and I pack the car and head off for a weekend of stitching, laughing and eating with an amazing group of friends.  Today is the day that "retreat" starts and we are away until Sunday afternoon.  I can't wait!  If you want to see past weekends, check out these posts...Retreat 2007, Retreat 2008,  Retreat 2009, and I can't seem to find 2010, or last year...oh well, it is a great weekend and I will be sure to take some pictures this year to share at the start of the week (or, I could just steal them from Dani again -LOL, at least I admit with I steal them!)

Here is a picture from the shores of Brighton, which is where we are going for this lovely retreat, this is from the shoreline in front of bed and breakfast.

Stealing a post....

I was going to write about the wonderful weekend that happened in October - but this morning on my RSS feed was a wonderful post about the exact same weekend with much better pictures.

So, to read all about the weekend, please go give my friend Dani some love over on Dani...Black Belt Stitching Wizard and her post about the Belated Get Together Post.

This is my favourite picture...I'm the one waving...

Happy Belated Halloween!

My two boys both decided that they "needed" to be zombies...which is alright in my books!  Easy peasy costumes...clothes from their closets and a little creative hand on the makeup and we were ready to roll.

We spent a great evening with friends from our local village, wandering around while the kids had a blast running from house to house.  Both ended up with a bag full of "junk", which I plan on raiding on a regular basis until it is all gone.

Just a quick note as well for anyone in my general area, we are hosting a Pampered Chef party tonight from 6:30 - 8:30pm in the local hall Camden East Playground Fundraiser  and if you are not in the area and would still like to support our efforts to add more to the local playground for the kids, you can shop online at Pampered Chef Online enter the shop online function and then type Camden in the organization to find us.

Thanks everyone who has already submitted an order - up next will be Regal thanks to Bonnie for her help with that one.

Getting a leg up on 2012

Every year I wish I had stitched more ornaments, so I have gotten one stitched, which is one more than I had for 2011 in advance.

I stitched this one on 18 count ivory aida, with The Thread Gatherer Silk 'N Colors in Christmas Carol.  The pattern is from Kell Smurthwaite at Kincavel Krosses and is the Assisi Circle.

Thank you to Dani for introducing me to the site, they have some lovely freebies!

Two happy dances on one day!

Well, I finally gave birth...to a to a finished baby!

I hope the mom to be loves it as much as the first one I stitched for her.  Can't wait to meet the real baby soon, they are due the beginning of November.

Stitching weekend

Here we are, doing what we love...stitching!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had our big meal on Saturday with our friends whom were visiting from Australia, and our immediate family.  We had 15 for dinner.  We had a lot of "FIRSTS" on Saturday for our friends who do not have a Thanksgiving and the price of their turkey just about gave me a heart attack!  Curt bought our turkey for $17.93, it was close to 20 pounds.  Joanna told us she priced a whole turkey once and she would have paid close to $100.00 for the same turkey there and she wasn't willing to risk it not turning out.  So a whole turkey cooked in the garbage can outside was a first.  First time making and eating bread stuffing.  My mother in law made pumpkin pie, another first.  Cranberry sauce was another one. 

It was a wonderful meal with the best company anyone could ask for.

I hope your Thanksgiving was as lovely as ours.

Today we have no plans, at the moment I'm enjoying a tea with my honey, listening to the boys play together - without fighting for the moment.

Rebel

And for anyone who is not on Facebook or did not receive an earlier email from myself or Madame Secretary, I am hosting my annual October stitching weekend next weekend (Oct 15/16).  If you plan to attend or would like more details, you can send me an email. RebelInOnt at gmail dot com

September's TUSAL

Crazy busy (what's new...) with work and getting ready for our company whom are coming from "down under" for a visit. I hope to take lots of pictures while they are here and we are travelling around Ontario with them. Stay tuned....

August TUSAL and a small non-stitchy update

I'm on the ball this month! I totally remembered to post this...all on my own, something that hasn't happened the last few months. Here is my ORT jar as of this morning... This is my craziest time of year. I work for the Grand Theatre and we are in the midst of getting everyone their subscription seats for the upcoming season. Crazy I tell ya, CRAZY! Yesterday was the only day I've taken off in July/August and DH and I did that to take the kids to the beach. It was a beautiful day, but alas, my sunscreen wasn't all it was cracked up to be and I'm sporting a lovely burn on my chest, with bonus "new" swimsuit lines. See...isn't it pretty? Oh well, it was a small price to pay to see my kids laughing, swimming and digging in the sand. Here is the only picture I took all day, Cameron is running towards me from the water, and Caleb is the one crouched down, to the right of him....digging in the sand. The bonus was that one of my best friends was able to join us (from the other direction) for the majority of the day with her kids. Not sure what is happening today, we have grass to mow at home but if the weather is nice, the cottage is aways calling....

A Baby Update

No one get the wrong idea ... I'm not having another baby, my best friend is having her second child in November.

I'm stitching a baby!

Here is where baby is now:

This past weekend I was away with a wonderful group of ladies in Georgian Bay and I was able to stitch up a storm! In the photo below, all the yellow highlighter is from Friday afternoon until noon on Sunday! Not bad for a weekend of stitching!

This is a Maria Diaz Design, the second design that I have done by her and I'm loving this one as much as the last one.

Here is a link to the first one I stitched (same Mom) so I've stitching this as a companion piece. Completed baby #1

TUSAL

Now that the mystery stitch has been revealed (see here) I have been working on a couple of things...My Lizzie Kate Christmas piece, the "new" baby piece as well as some squares for Dani. And here is my ORT jar...some lovely colours in there - the baby piece is a sepia tones so you will get to see lots of browns in the jar over the summer...my friends baby is due the first week of November.

and where did March go?

Wow, hard to believe that March is gone and April is here already! March was very busy - as you can see from my lack of blogging (insert sheepish grin) but we did do lots! The weekend before March Break, Ann of Knowledge and Needles held her open house with all her Nashville finds...there was lots there but I was a good girl and only left my order for fabric and floss to start the Lizzie *Kate Christmas by The Letter ((c)2009). While we (myself, my Mother-in-law, Trista and her Mom Susan, and Beth) were there shopping, my husband and father-in-law whipped up this litte treat to have after supper... Mile High Peanut Butter Pie....you can find the receipe HERE.

After that we were treated to this amazing sunset....this was taken from the side of our house....

The kids had March Break at home, our teenager sitter Rhonda came for the majority of the week. We spent the day on Thursday at the family sugar bush, making some lovely sweet maple syrup.

The Sugar Shack

Tapped tree...the sap was barely running that day

And the pan full...boiling away

Then the boys spent the end of the week with their Grandparents. I worked (of course) and then spent the Thursday evening before the Timberhouse Retreat with Beatrice...stitching up a storm and teasing Kathy A. that I was sitting in her chair and drinking from her lighthouse mug :-) All in good humour and that evening was the start of the mini-vacation that I so needed. I didn't take one picture, but others did...Dani did for sure and she even snapped one of me! Since then work has been busy and the boys have been going a little stir crazy waiting for the warmer weather to arrive. That should be in the very near future...I think a walk is in order this afternoon. The only other thing that I had the pleasure of doing this past week was taking a day off work to spend with a friend from my childhood and her little man. I spent Thursday with Tracy and Kenton which was a wonderful way to kick off my birthday on Friday. I'll be back soon, I think I have to post for TUSAL tomorrow...I've been stitching a secret piece so there are lots of orts, I just can't show you what I'm stitching - SORRY!

A day late: TUSAL for March

I just realised that I hadn't posted my ORT jar for the March TUSAL...here it is. Still not getting as much stitching done as I would like but life goes on and I'm sure at some point things will have to slow down.

We went to Great Wolf Lodge last week - didn't take one single picture. But here is a picture of the dogs hanging out before we left. Trista came and stayed at the house while we were gone and looked after Tasha for us, she brought Gwen and Charlie with her.

Charlie...

Tasha...Charlie and Gwen...

THANK YOU!

A huge Thank You to Erica and Christine for keeping me entertained on Wednesday evening while I was in Brampton for work. We have a lovely evening at Williams...and I hate to say but Erica and I got asked at leave at midnight as they were closing up.

I had a fabulous time and can't wait for the next time that work ships me back to do more modifications to the ticketing system!

Erica spoiled me as well and handed me a little present as I got in her van....these beautiful project bags.

It was a lovely evening.

I feel terrible at the same time, my friend Clare (no blog) lives REALLY close and she didn't see my post until I was headed home on the train on Friday. Next time - I'm gonna drive Clare crazy! I'll take her up on her offer for a place to sleep and a seat to stitch in each evening.

For Mrs. Mommy

My friend Erikka (Mrs. Mommy) asked on my last post what an ORT was...so according to Wikipedia, an ort is "the snippet of thread left over in the needle after finishing a section of embroidery." According to Dictionary.com, an ort is "a scrap; a bit" usually (but not necessarily) of food. Does that help? Basically it is the bits of thread you have no use for. And if you want to see how many I can create in a year - check out this post - http://rebelinontario.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-almost-forgot.html