Fabric Shopping, Fibers, Finishes and Fall!!

Oooh, alliteration... I love it!

Sometimes I try and think of a clever title for my posts, and it never comes to me, so why not go with some alliteration and make it fun!

As the title says, I went fabric shopping with my friend at probably the worst possible time to shop...the Saturday before Halloween.  We had to squeeze through the shelves of bolted fabric, often toppling over each other and others! I was looking at fabric 5 inches from my face!! At least no one was testy.  Smiles all around, especially when we had to get very close to someone to look at some fabulous polka dotted fabric. After grappling my bolts of fabric, I  purchased 3 new pieces of fabric.I have to say my friend has a fabulous eye for fabrics.  I'll need to go back with her again cause she picks out fabrics that I would never even consider!!

Some great regal fabric for a project I'm making for my friend.

Onto the fibers bit.  My package from 123stitch.com came the other day.  My husband picked it up.  He didn't say anything....:D  Then about a week later, he said "So you got your strings?" Shoot...I thought he wouldn't notice!  Ah well, at least he seemed as though he didn't care!!  So yes, I got my strings and I am loving them.  I am a bit disappointed though with the Valdani spool of thread.  I was under the belief it was silk, but it isn't.  The spool also looks a lot larger than I thought...maybe I should ACTUALLY read the size of things, and not skim over the details.

Now to finishes!! I've got two to show you all, even though I finished 3.  I whipped up Shepherd's Bush's Tiny Garden fairly quickly, once I received my WDW threads.  The only thing left to get is some lovely silk ribbon...thinking about HDF silk ribbons.  Never ordered from them before so hopefully the ribbons are good.  Then I finished the Plum Street Sampler's Yuletide ornament.  Still trying to decide if I want to make it into a pinkeep, or a mini pillow ornament.  As for the third finish, I can't post the pictures of it until Valerie receives her package, which I mailed today!

I love this design!

Hubby's Grandma's bumblebee pin

I'll leave you with some more lovely fall photos. I can't believe how wonderful it has been this October.  Not too many rainy days, which is rare for the Lower Mainland!!  About to go on another autumn walk!

Lovely tree lined sidewalk

Chestnuts!! We fed one to a squirrel!

Gorgeous Japanese Maple

This scene evokes the feeling that fairies live here!!

Adorable fluff cat we met along the walk

Until next time,  take care and happy stitching!

PS Thank you all for your lovely comments and advice, I love receiving your warm encouraging words!!

Anne

ISHW Progress!

Bonjour!!

I hope everyone had a successful stitch and hermit weekend! I managed to have a decent one.  I did go out on Friday night to a friend's art show opening, which was a lot of fun.  It's always good to see all her friends and family come out and support her.  Yay for the arts!! Luckily I didn't have any plans for the rest of the weekend, so I got to set up my stitching station and go to it.  While I was stitching, I decided to pop in the first two extended movies of the Lord of The Rings.  I felt it was that time of year to take a trip to the Shire and travel with the fellowship.  I didn't really get to 'watch' the films because I was focused on my Haed piece.  It was sort of like radio! A lot of my time on Saturday was spent trying to figure out a mistake I made in the TBF pattern.  Sigh...did that take an age to work it out.  I had to quickly make little 10 x 10 blocks with thread and count and recount a rather big section.  Luckily, the mistake was a small one that I stopped from following me around the pattern.  I didn't frog it, since frogging 1 over 1 is not a good idea, so I worked with it instead of fighting it!!

Thanks to all those who gave me tips on whether to wash now or later, and I think the general consensus is to wait till the end.  I did test wash a piece of the evenweave and I noticed that the fabby sort of shrunk a bit which means if I wash now, my piece will be distorted.  I will also be adding some fabric bits under my Qsnaps so I won't soil the fabric as much as before. 

As planned, I started a new Christmas ornament!! I chose "Yuletide" by Plum Street Samplers because I had the threads already! I used a different fabric than suggested though and I think I like my choice better.  It is a khaki colour, unknown count, although I think that it must be 36 ct or 40ct.  It comes from my wonderful friend who gifted me with all her fabbies that she will never use! So thanks again dear friend!!

To finish off this post, I am happy to say that I found the perfect fabric for Valerie's pin cushion and have begun the process of putting it together.  I won't share any photos of the cushion though until she gets her package.

Here's a couple of fall photos I took of me and my hubby's walk around a park on a beautiful crisp, autumn day!

Take care and happy stitching!!


Anne

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wow has time flown by! I can't believe it's already time for turkey!! Tomorrow night I will be partaking in some yummy turkey, stuffing, candied carrots and pumpkin pie at my Auntie's house.  I can't wait....my tummy is growling right now!! Usually I take off to Prince George to visit my parents and siblings, but since I visited them in the summer, I will have to wait till next year to visit again (plane tickets are expensive!) I really love Prince George at this time of year.  All the poplar trees are orange and there's a really nice crispness to the air.  Plus the smell of autumn around my old house makes me happy and nostalgic of the times I spent traipsing around the woods as a child.  Vancouver is pretty too at this time of year, yet PG steals my heart.

As for stitching, I have been working on Valerie's pin cushion and am loving it so much I think I need to make myself one!! I can't show any pics yet because I don't want to give away the surprise.  Now last time I mentioned I wanted to buy some threads--furtively looks around to see if hubby is nearby, phew he isn't!---and I bought some! Woot! I ordered some Valdani threads, just to try them out.  One is a luscious wine red which I will be using to stitch some Christmas designs and a friend's present.  I also ordered a chart from Birds of a Feather and I can't wait to get it!  Now I have been thinking about starting Jane Philpott, and I am having a hard time resisting buying the silks for the sampler.  I decided that since it will be an epic venture, I should stitch with the best of threads.  I noticed HDF has a Jane set so I may put that on my Christmas list, along with BBD's a Schoolgirls Work. My list is getting large!!

Photo courtesy of theSilverNeedle

As for the Tea Bath Fairy, I've been working fairly steadily on her and have almost completed 3 pages!! I can't believe that I've only stitched half the SAUCER!!! I thought it was the tea cup! I seriously give props to those who have stitched more than one HAED.  They truly are intense!

A quick question.  If you look closely, you can see my evenweave is a bit soiled from my fingers holding the Q snap frame, even though I'm constantly washing my hands.  Should I wash now or after the whole piece is done.  If I do, should I use a delicates soap like Dove? I've been using DMC threads, and I think they are okay and won't bleed, but before I do I would like to ask your opinion.

Some filler pics so my post isn't totally boring.  Here's a needlework piece my husband's grandmother made ages ago. She passed away two years ago so this is pretty special to him.  It's missing a frame and finding the perfect frame for it is difficult.  I really love this picture.  It's so pretty.

Pretty Sunflower

 Here are some lovely giveaways people are having (click on their name).

1. Cucki's giveaway
2. Lisa's giveaway.  She's having her 3rd year blogoversary and is hoping to get to 100 followers! So pop over and join her!

Now, as always, I'm behind on my commenting.  I was going to do it after this post but I really want to stitch.  So tomorrow morning I'll be popping around!

Love in turkeys

Anne

Giveaway Winner!!!

The Giveaway Winner is...................................................


VALERIE !!!! From Fog City Dweller!!!!!!

Congrats Valerie!

Valerie said : My favorite color is purple but my favorite color combo is light blue and brown. I drink all teas...black for morning, green for the afternoon and herbal like chamomile/sleepytime for nighttime. 

So Valerie, I will be emailing you regarding your win and the designs you can choose from.

Thank you again to everyone who entered. It was a lot of fun to print out everyone's names, cut them up, put the slips of paper in my giveaway bowl, and get my hubby to pull out a name.  I was excited to see who it was and figure out what colours I will be using.  Too bad I don't have 45 sets of arms so I could stitch everyone something!!! I will be saving the comments and colour combos for potential future RAK's :D

Here are the photos of the draw!!

The printing and cutting of names

All the lovelies' names in the bowl!

Hubby mixing around pulling a name

And he picks...........

Valerie!!!!!

I just popped over to her blog and here's the crazy thing: it's her Birthday today!! Wow! What a great Birthday gift!!!

So hop on over to her blog, FogCity Dweller and wish her congrats and Happy Birthday!! 


Loves and Hugs to all!!!

Anne