ISHW!!

"Jane Says"

Jane says
I'm done with Sergio
He treats me like a ragdoll
She hides
The television
Says I don't owe him nothing,
But if he comes back again
Tell him to wait right here for me
Or just
Try again tomorrow
I'm gonna kick tomorrow
Gonna kick tomorrow

 by Jane's Addiction

This is the song that runs in my head now when I say "Jane," and it's always in Perry Farell's voice!! I also think of Jane Eyre, my favourite book in the whole wide world!!!

This will be such a short post.  My last post was way more interesting that this one will be.  I got a wee bit done on Jane.  I stitched Friday night and had to pop some advils to stitch...but the pain still came through so I had to leave her be.  Saturday was a trip to the dentist, YUCK!, and then babysit my little cousins at night.  We played "Extreme Uno" which was a lot of fun!! The game can go on forever!! Sunday, I managed to sit down and watch "Persuasion" and stitch.  I think I have a thing for Ciarin Hinds.  He really is handsome! I love him in Rome too! While I was watching the movie, I felt as though I had watched it before, which is odd, because I felt that way when I read the book in my early twenties.  I have no actual memory of reading the book, but while I was reading it, I noticed all these side comments on the side in MY writing when I was teen?!!! Now the movie too! Why is that with Persuasion?  So weird.



So here's my progress picture of Jane!!

As you can see, I finished the dark green vine at the bottom of the sampler.  I added more of the grass and I couldn't resist adding the two flowers and the beginnings of a tree!! Yay for Jane!! Sorry for the greyish photos but it is horrendous out there...so much RAIN!

A side note, my hubby is watching youtube videos of people driving in the snow.  LOL!!

Also, as I have been making my way down my blogroll, there are a number of blogs I can't comment on :(  This is because of "embedded" comments.  I tried using internet explorer, but that doesn't work either.  For whatever reason, this just started recently for me. I takes me to a blank "loading" page and won't let me go back and try again.  I've been struggling with this for the past half an hour!  I want to leave comments on your lovely stitching and pictures but I can't!!! Hopefully this will be worked out soon!

Giveaway: Sana, from Japan, who is a lovely woman and so talented, is having an amazing giveaway. Her blog is one of the blogs that is giving me problems.  I can't seem to open up the giveaway link :(  Check her blog out anyways.  Really beautiful stitching!!!

Take care!!
Hugs

Anne

Edited: I'm using Mozilla Firefox  :D

1st TUSAL! And a Pic of Jane before ISHW

Bonjour mes amies!!

I hope I find you all well and happy.  I have to say it's been quite the week here in the city! I have been working with some lovely groups of children that have made me smile all day.  I feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to work with such lovely little souls.  Even though I don't have a contract, it's nice to go and teach at the schools you have taught at before because the children get to know me and then I get little hugs!! Sometimes when I leave work I want to skip to the bus stop but stop myself because I'm not 12 anymore!! Although I do sneak in a skip here or there :D

So before I head out to babysit my little cousins, I wanted to show Jane pre-ISHW so there can be a progress pic for Monday.  I, ehhem, still haven't replaced that colour yet, but I will! It's just that Michael's is out of my way and I have to make a special trip.  It's okay though because I have been putting in some of the grass and just having fun with the sampler!

As for my last query about how the girls made their designs, I found an interesting article about American Samplers (not sure how to upload the pdf file).  To sum it up, since it's a large article, the girls were usually taught by teachers in schools.  The purpose, as I'm sure you know, was for the girls to practice stitching so they can use their skills to adorn linens, clothing, etc, for their future homes. The designs were either inked on by the teacher following a template, or done by freehand.  Then the girls would stitch over the markings.  Some may have created their own designs while using templates that the teachers provided them.  The materials the girls used varied according to their status.  The poorer the girl, the poorer the materials, the richer the girl, the richer the materials, like silks and fine linens. You get the idea! Here is a link to a list of the motifs the girls used in their samplers.  It's really neat to read up on what each symbol means!!

The wedding heart is completed and I love it! I should really stitch one for me and my hubby!! It will be framed by next week.  The colour is really quite beautiful! Some of you mentioned that I should use the lace for the design, but the pink is a lot more rosier than the pink I used for the design.  I will use the lace for something else. Here is the link for the design: Needleprint. It's the design on the upper right hand corner.

I also stitched a really sweet little design for my friend's birthday but since she reads my blog, I can't post it yet!!
Without further ado, here is my Tusal "jar".  I haven't found one yet so I'm using a pretty white dish.  I've noticed that there isn't a lot of orts even though I stitched quite a bit.  I think it's because I'm very thrifty with my threads!!

Wow.  It really looks like I haven't stitched at all?! Those pale pink bits is from the heart, the blues from the snowman and the dark bits are from Jane.  Odd.  I thought I had more!
Here's a pic of a beautiful candle my little brother bought me for Christmas.  He picked it out himself, which is quite amazing! It's handmade in Prince George!!

(I am horribly behind blog reading, but will try to catch up tomorrow!)

Take care and Hugs for all of you!!

EDITED: Oops, just looked at the dates for the TUSAL and I'm two days early!!

A Decision Is Finally Made!

Hello lovelies!!

I am happy to announce that I have made a DECISION about Jane!!! Thank you all for your advice and suggestions.  I really appreciated it! I think that after all is said and done, if I'm not completely over joyed with a colour or whatever, go and change it because I will stitching this for awhile!!

After scrutinizing the photo in my pattern and finding the original Jane Philpott's sampler, that pale green that I have is far too light.  I also searched for a picture of the green AVAS silk for it and found that it is much darker than the HDF silk.  Sooooo, I am going to do the DMC equivalent because I'm not going to wait a month for 1 silk to arrive.  I think that I will use the pale green silk in other parts of the sampler, just not the border, and I think little Jane would have no problem with me doing that!! I have also decided to keep on going with the 1 over 2 because I think the coverage is fine, plus I'm too lazy to frog!!

I have to say that while stitching this sampler, I've given a lot of thought to that little girl and how I am amazed at her subtle colour choices.  It also got me wondering about how she plotted out her sampler.  Did she sketch it before she stitched it? Or did she use a guide, like we do? I would love to research the methods of how these girls created their samplers.  I know that they were practicing their stitches, but was there a standard book from what they learned from? Or was it people's imaginations were so much greater back then because they didn't have TV's or movies to watch?!  I really love stitching samplers because I feel they tell a story of the past, and being a major history buff with a history degree, I can't help but want to do research!!

I'm making this a quick post because I have to take off fairly quickly. I remembered that I should be posting more than once a week, but hey I do what I can do!!

Almost finished my mom's ornie!! Just need to find really tiny beads now and actually make it into an ornament!

I started another wedding heart, from the Needleprint site, for a dear friend who got married in Hawaii on my birthday! I told her now she will have to chose between me and her husband!! I was kidding of course, it will obviously be me!! I should have started this in November, but I didn't so now I am! I'm using Dinky Dyes silk in Madi's Rose. This is one of the loveliest silks I have used.  Maybe it's because I'm using two strands of silk instead of one like I usually do, but it truly glides like butter through the fabric!!

I also won a small pack giveaway from Victorian Sampler Motto Shop!! Nancy is so generous and sent me a lovely selection of the prettiest of gauzy laces in a dusty rose colour! I will have to peruse her shop when I have more time (and funds!!).

I really love her black crow spice bags and am thinking it would be a perfect gift for a friend of mine.  Too bad her birthday is in two weeks and there's no way to get it and stitch it in time.  I may reserve it for next Christmas!!
Speaking of that friend, I forgot to post her gift tags in the last post!! Must be loosing my mind now that I'm older!! She really is quite talented!

I know I haven't responded back to everyone's comments from last post, so I will say thank you here!! My Christmas was lovely, minus the cold I got that I am still trying to shake.  The neck and shoulder situation is still an issue, and I've been putting off going to the doctor's (I really hate waiting for hours at the clinic).  But I will muster up the courage to go this week and see what needs to be done.

Take care and happy stitching!!

Hugs for all!!

Merry Christmas to all Orthodox Christians!

It's Christmas Eve today!! Getting excited for tonight!! I can't wait to make shortbread cookies and eat one at midnight!!! That and make Polar Bear drinks with my hubby.  A Polar Bear drink is Peppermint Schnapps, Hot Cocoa, whip cream and a candy cane...mmmmmmmm!!!

Of course, this isn't the actual drink, just a yummy photo of the Polar Bear!! After the cookies and drinks, we will open our gifts and TRY to go to sleep early...like that will happen! Tomorrow morning we will head for church then break the fast with all sorts of goodies! Then tomorrow night we will have a turkey and ham dinner!! YAY FOR MEAT!!! I've been without diary, eggs, chicken, meat, good stuff for over 40 days and I can't wait to eat all my favourite things...CHEESE!!!! I just wish I was up in Prince George with my family and hubby having the traditional weiner roast outside in the snow, in one of my dad's many fireplaces (he tends to collect fireplaces for some reason??!?!)  Next year I think we will make the trip up north since I haven't celebrated Christmas with my family in over eighteen years.  It's never the same here in Vancouver, even though my mom's side of the family is here, they don't all celebrate Christmas on the 7th, plus one of my cousin's birthday is on the 7th so there tends to be problems over what to celebrate. What do people do with birthdays on the 25th? Do they celebrate both birthday and Christmas on the same day?? Or do they celebrate the birthday the day before/after?  I'm just curious as to what people do with that scenario.

Thank you all for your kind, well-wishes for my health.  My shoulder is a little better now, but I still have neck and upper back pain which prevents me from doing my favourite activities: reading and stitching.  I still do both but I have to do them in short intervals.  I have to say I have been REALLY enjoying reading War and Peace.  Tolstoy is truly a genius and captures the Russian people to the 'T.' I recommend reading this classic to all of you if you have an e-reader.  It's a lot lighter to hold than the actual book that weighs a ton!!

So this year I have decided to participate in Daffycat's TUSAL! I missed it last year so I was pretty excited that she is hosting it again for this year!  I also am participating in Becky's BAP Challenge! I thought it would be good to get me motivated in finishing Jane Philpott this year. Here are the details

Stitch count: 290 x 390
Stitched on (what I think is) 36ct. linen by HDF...given to me by a dear friend...colour unknown but it is a creamy colour
Stitched with: HDF silks
Stitched: 1 over 2
Started January 2nd, 2012

Now here is where I'm stumped. After measuring the linen, I found that it wasn't 40 ct. fabric but must be 36 ct. and I ordered the thread pack for 40 ct. so I decided that if I stitch 1 over 2 I should be good for threads.  However, I noticed that the lighter colours don't seem to be showing up too clearly, or perhaps this is just due to the bad light I have in this apartment.  I'm really waffling on whether to keep going, stop and frog what I did and order more threads so I can do 2 over 2.  Let me know what you think about it.  I am the QUEEN of indecision!! My husband thinks it will be fine once it is all stitched and finished.  I think it will be okay too, but again I don't know.  As of now, I have been stitching with our camping headlights so I can see what I'm doing better!! I also haven't been out to Michael's to take a look at a floor stand to help me with this BAP!!

It's a cloudy, rainy, icky day so the colour of the fabric looks a lot grayer than it actually is!

Titus helping me chart the 10 by 10's! So cute!!

As for Titus, he is quite the munchkin!! He is WAAAYYY to interested in my stitching and almost pierced my Jane with his claws!! Luckily, I was able to move the puncture wounds in Jane around and now the fabric is okay, but from now on, I have to place it far away from any more accidents!!

My birthday was a nice quiet day.  My hubby spoiled me with a gorgeous Amethyst necklace and some wonderful black, satin pajamas and an amazing sushi dinner at my favourite restuarant! I actually had a whole soft shell tempura crab!! I didn't know it was the whole crab, until my hubby said, "Don't look down at your plate!! Remember this is tasty!!" After I ate it, I saw what was on my plate, and it was some of the insides of the crab that had leaked out! Mind over Matter!! Mind over Matter!! It was really good, but I think I'll stick to eating just the crab legs and claws thanks!!

My lovely friend from Prince George, whom I've known since Grade 2, sent me a massive Christmas/Birthday parcel.  She always gives me the most amazing gifts! I finally sent my parcel to her and I hope she enjoys her gifts too.  She is so talented with card making.  She sent me the most amazing gift tags that I can use for gifts! Take a look!!

Aren't they lovely?!!

Okay, so I need to go about getting my cookies together now! Thank you for visiting and hugs to you all!!!

HUGS

Anne