Humbugs and Squirrels

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Heather

Hello again, my crafty friends. I swear to you that eventually posting regularly will become part of my routine again. It is hard to get back into the swing on things sometimes, you know? I haven’t blogged for so long that I find stepping back into that mindset very difficult. I still think in terms of micro-blogging (like Instagram or BlueSky). Speaking of which, you can find me on BlueSky. 😁

Have you ever seen a finished needlework piece and just fallen in love with it, even though it isn’t your normal “thing”? Of course you have! For me, it was Northern Pine Designs’ Chocolate Humbug Bag way back in 2007 or 2008. I started right away but got sidetracked by so many things… a baby, the great financial crisis, life in general, etc. and before I knew it ummm… nearly 20 years had passed. Crazy!

A canvaswork design inside a wood stitching frame, featuring fancy needlework stitches in shades of brown and pink.

I spent several months this year dragging this around to different stitching days and didn’t work on it a single time! But, in November I sat myself down in my craftroom and powered through it. There were a few errors in the chart, and I made a mistake with thread colours way back when, but it is done! Yay! I’m still thinking about how to sew it together to hide the seams, but I do have the lining fabric and a zipper ready to go.

And guess what? I’ve already got another canvaswork piece on the go and it is almost done! I’ll share pictures of it shortly.

Lastly, just in case something happens to me, it was totally my local backyard squirrels. I mean, look at them!

Two black squirrels sitting on a snowy deck railing, clearly plotting something evil.
1 Comment | Posted in Canvaswork | Tagged ,

Cozy Kitties Card

Posted on November 30, 2025 by Heather

Hello, my crafty friends! I obviously still haven’t gotten back into the habit of blogging regularly. However, I often think about how I should post about this that project. I’ve made so many fun things over the past few months, but I find it hard to slow down to take a picture and spend time writing about them. It’s quite odd because writing regularly is something I miss terribly.

The weather this week was quite cold and windy, and this morning I woke up to about 10cm of snow on the ground. Most of it has melted, but the weather this week has most definitely put me in a wintery/holiday mood. So, when I had a chance to get caught up on this week’s Craft Roulette, I knew I had to make a wintery card.

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This week’s Craft Roulette requirements where a map fold, using planter colours, with an element representing something from the sky, and a random requirement of three in a row.

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My card features a Turkish map fold inside with the sentiment stamped in it. I have three cozy kitties in a row on the front, and the paper behind them has snowflakes falling from the sky. The colours of the kitties are inspired by my holiday planters. (Here’s where I learned about the Turkish map fold.)

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The stamp set is Cozy Cats from Lawn Fawn, and I coloured it using Copic markers. I have no idea where the snowflake paper is from, but I thought it was great because the snowflakes are black, so they match my colour scheme quite well.

I’d really like to make it a goal going forward to participate in Craft Roulette as much as possible for the next year. I love how it gets me to really think about what I have in my stamping stash, and it encourages me to try things that I normally wouldn’t do. I mean, I hadn’t even heard of a Turkish map fold before, and it turns out it is super easy and fun to do!

If you’d like to learn more about Craft Roulette, you can do so on their website craftroulette.live .

1 Comment | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged ,

Ghosts, Mona Lisa, and the Brooklyn Bridge

Posted on August 11, 2025 by Heather

Hello, my lovely crafty friends! Can you believe how fast this year is flying by? I’m just barely keeping up. The past few months have been a blend of calm and chaos, and we even managed to squeeze in a quick getaway to New York for a little adventure.

A picture of the Brooklyn Bridge as seen between two buildings.

The Brooklyn Bridge, as viewed from Pier 16 in New York City.

For some reason, I didn’t take many photos in New York, but we did see a lot. We visited Times Square, of course, although it was the afternoon before a major boxing match, so the crowds were intense. We saw the Statue of Liberty (from a distance), visited Ground Zero, saw a few other touristy spots. We were only there for a couple of days, and the main goal was to catch up with family who lives there for work.

It was my first time visiting New York. I enjoyed it, but the city was surprisingly noisy and dirty. I’ve spent time in many large cities and even lived in Toronto for several years, so I’m familiar with city life. Still, New York has a personality that’s truly its own… And the honking!! I swear I can still hear it.

Cross-stitched Mona Lisa portrait with detailed background.

Mona Lisa, designed by DMC

A good portion of my stitching time for the past few months has been spent on the Mona Lisa kit from DMC that I purchased at the Louvre back in March. Up close she looks a bit… blobby, but from a distance she looks amazing! Take a step back from your screen and you’ll see the magic at work!

A cross stitch design featuring ghosts for each month of the year.

Year with Ghosts, by Living on the Rainbow

I’ve been keeping up with A Year with Ghosts as well. Stitching on black fabric hasn’t been as difficult as I expected with my aging eyes thanks to my magnifying light. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve already stitched three other small designs on black, and I have a few more planned. Pictures coming soon—seriously.

I’ve also been working hard to finish up scrapbooking and card making classes from last year. It feels so satisfying to complete a kit and tidy everything away. I’m really hoping Canada Post doesn’t strike again this year so I can actually send out Christmas cards.

And perhaps most surprisingly, I’ve started attending stitching events again. I went to the Kimat Stitch Days in June and the Peel Stitch In in July. I’m also planning to be at Stitch North in October. After that, I think I’ll need a long break. That’s more than enough socializing for one year!

1 Comment | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged ,

The Happiness of Ladies

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Heather

Hello, stitchy friends! It’s been two weeks since my trip to Paris, and I am still mentally working through everything I was lucky enough to see. The Eiffel Tower, of course, and Versailles (the Hall of Mirrors is beyond breathtaking), the Louvre, and so much more. But, one of my favourite stops was a charming little needlework shop in Paris, tucked away in a shopping arcade called Passage Verdeau (built in 1847).

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A view of Passage Verdeau.

Le Bonheur des Dames is just delightful, full of designs by Cécile Vessière, as well as a few other treasures including hand-carved wooden birds.

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The exterior of Le Bonheur des Dames.

The walls are covered with stitched samples, and the shelves are full of cross stitch and embroidery kits.

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Stitched samples on the wall at Le Bonheur des Dames.

I thoroughly enjoyed looking at everything and picking out a few very special kits to stitch. I would have loved to buy, well honestly, one of everything, but luggage space was very tight for this trip and I visited on our first day in Paris. Thankfully, the shop does offer mail order, so I can always order what I’d like at a later date.

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Interior of Le Bonheur des Dames.

The ladies working in the shop were friendly, although I will admit I didn’t speak much since I am embarrassed of my truly awful French. (We take French for several years in grade school here in Canada, but that along with practice in Duolingo just means I can read French not speak it with any skill. I speak better Japanese then French, which is a little embarrassing!)

In addition to all the unique kits, the shop also has a large range of Clover sewing accessories and some very beautiful scissors. They also carry DMC floss, stitching books, and stitchable fabrics like jar covers and towels.

ImageThe shop is easy to spot in the shopping arcade as there is a mannequin of a lady atop the awning. The lady is part of their logo, and is featured on their website and their business card as well.

Le Bonheur des Dames is most definitely worth a visit if you are needleworker visiting Paris. Be sure to save room in your luggage for all the treasure you will find there. And, if you happen like like ramen, I also recommend checking out Neko Ramen right next door.

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Mural outside of Neko Ramen, Paris.

Le Bonheur des Dames
8 Pass. Verdeau 75009
Paris, France

2 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged

First Spring is Like a Ghost

Posted on March 26, 2025 by Heather

Happy March, stitchy friends! It has been a little bit of a busy month, but I’m surviving. We spent almost two weeks in Europe earlier this month (Switzerland and France), and after our return home I had to deal with all sorts of sinus weirdness (never fly with weird sinuses, especially five flights close-ish together), but I’m finally doing well enough again to get by.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to visit Sajou while in Versailles, but I did visit an absolutely lovely store called Le Bonheur de Dames in Paris. I’ll share a little bit about it in a day or two, once I find all my photos.

Today I’m sharing the March ghost from Living on the Rainbow’s A Year with Ghosts.

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March Ghost from A Year With Ghosts

I live in Southern Ontario, just a tiny bit north of Toronto. Spring birds have started to make their return, but the snow is still hanging around. In fact, there is a light covering of snow over my backyard right now. But, it will be 14C on Sunday. We like to joke about First Spring, Second Winter, Second Spring, etc. We’ve had First Spring already and right now is Second Winter. I suspect we may still eke out Third Winter this year given how the plants look. But who knows!

I’m hard at work stitching another design which I hope will be finished and ready to share by the weekend. After that, well, my stash feels like it is endless, so who knows.

1 Comment | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged ,

A Ghostly Valentine

Posted on March 1, 2025 by Heather

Hello, my wonderful crafty friends! I didn’t expect to disappear for so long again, but February was a difficult month. I don’t do well in the cold and dark, and with world events being what they are, I sort of just hibernated, crafted, and read books.

Speaking of which, here is my lovely little ghost from Living On The Rainbow’s A Year With Ghosts.

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February Ghost from A Year With Ghosts

So, that’s two ghosts down (and two months of 2025 over with!).

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A Year With Ghosts January and February

I think these little ghost are just adorable. But, I do need to be more careful when stitching. I accidentally stitched the February ghost in white because I was sure I knew what colour he was. Of course the ghosts are actually off white. I had to pick him out, which is quite difficult on black fabric. I’m using a magnifier and light, and there is a white sofa just behind my frame that helps me see the holes, but it was still a challenge.

I was clearly in a ghostly mood in February as I made these cards to a Valentine Tarot card exchange.

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Ghoul-entine Cards

I used an image from Creative Fabrica for the ghost and edited it a little bit in Cricut Design Space and then cut the ghosts from thick vellum using my Cricut Maker 3. Aren’t they cute?

March will hopefully be a much happier month. If I’m lucky, I will be visiting Sajou in Versailles shortly! I’d love to buy a pair of scissors there, but the Euro to Canadian dollars exchange rate is not good. We shall see, I suppose.

2 Comments | Posted in Card Making, Cross Stitch | Tagged , ,

Embroidered Rose

Posted on January 28, 2025 by Heather

Hello, crafty friends! I think that my love of counted needlework is very well known by anyone who stops by my blog. I love cross stitch and canvaswork, and I’ve even been known to do needlepoint once in a blue moon. I love having a clear pattern and a little grid to follow, but every once in a while it is good to get out of your comfort zone.

Embroidered rose necklace

Embroidered rose necklace

The other day I dove into this little embroidery kit and stitched up this cute necklace. It look about 30 minutes to complete the stitching. It’s just simple satin stitch and woven wheel roses. I changed out the french knots for colonial knots, but they look the same.

The kit came from Amazon (a gift) and the quality of it was fine. The included thread feels silky, but it developed a fuzzy halo very quickly.

Finishing up this quick project almost makes me want to tackle a larger embroidery project again… almost, but not quite. lol!

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