The Blustery Day and Some Stitching

Hello my dears!

It's a cold, blustery day today.  The kind of blustery day where you need to hold onto your hats and piglets!!

I think I need to grab a kite and go fly it with my friend! My hubby and I have a large selection of kites and have been flying kites for the past couple of years.  It's so much fun to fly kites!!

In terms of stitching news, I have been stitching only on Jane and not much else.  Last night I wanted to start Chatelaine's Knotgarden but realized, after counting my two pieces of "large" fabric, that I don't have fabric quite wide enough for the design. This is usually the case with me not paying attention to the ACTUAL measurements of designs and linen!!! Soooo, now I need to get new fabric! But after speaking to my hubby, since the Chatelaine is for him, he said that I already have a BAP to work on and there is no need to start another one. Well, he does have a point! We'll see how my progress goes on Jane for the next couple of months and if it's moving along quickly, I'll consider purchasing the fabric for the Chatelaine then.  Too bad.  I really wanted to start it!! For now I'll concentrate on her and my Rak's and other small projects.  Speaking of the RAK's, I just got the fabric to finish them!! I think the fabric will be perfect for each design!! I also got some backing fabric for my mom's snowman ornie!! Yay! So close to ACTUALLY finishing it!!

Here's some progress photos of Jane, snowman bling, thanks to Carolyn! And my sister's little pincushion I made for her.  She loves it!!

Stitched on 36ct linen, Dinky Dyes Silk in Rain Forest and DMC 152

Finished with a pearl, button and some old fabric my mom gave me

LOVE that flower!! And that tree took me two nights to do! Phew! Tons more motifs and stitching to do!! Wait til you see Adam and Eve.  They are a hoot! I love how Jane chose her bright pink threads for the skin tone! You'll have a good laugh!!!

Look at that cute fabric I found! I bought a bunch so I can make some project bags with it.  I really want to expand my skills in sewing!!

Sweet Titus posing for me! Right now Titus is playing with one of my eye make-up brushes and tickling my toes with it!!

And last but not least, another cartoon from the thrift find magazine!!

Don't we all feel like that sometimes!!! LOL!!!

Bon soir mes amies!! I will be visiting your blogs later on this evening...I know I'm a bit behind on some blogs but isn't that always the case?!!!

PS: I am slowly switching to gmail and have added my new account to my profile.  If and when I use my gmail to respond to you, just make sure you check your junk mailbox cause you might find me in there!!

IHSW Results and TUSAL!!

Bonjourno!!

A very quick post about my somewhat hermitting weekend. I continued to stitch on Friday night, trying out my new fabulous stand!! I leaped for joy when my hubby finished putting it together!! Literally!! It helps me out so much I don't know why I hadn't thought of this last year!! On Saturday I stitched a bit in the morning then went out to see a comedy show for a friend's birthday. Click on my link Garfield and Oates if you want to watch a funny song by the two girls that headlined the show! I enjoyed them and the other comedians! So much fun to have a good laugh with your friends!!

So without further ado, here are my progress pics of Jane Philpott.

I love Jane's gigantic tree flowers!! The one on the right was a lot of fun to stitch. The flowers make me think of pre-historic Dinosaur times!! The tree flowers are larger than Adam and Eve! Hopefully I will finish the left one tonight and start on more of the trees in the middle. Blech, sorry for the grainy, dull and dark photos.  No real sunshine today so bad lighting is what I have to work with.

Other than working on Jane, I managed to finish my sister's gift.  No pictures until she receives it though. I'm in the process of planning the two RAK's and am glad I got so many of your addresses!! Thank you! You never know when I will use them...even if it's just a card of thanks! I'm really trying to get organized, can you tell?!!! That was one of my resolutions for the year.  So far I think I'm doing not too badly.  I organized my fabrics (non linen, stitchy fabrics) in a cute box that I had. Some papers, some threads and a few future small stitching projects in baggies. I'm really lacking space so I do what I can to keep things tidy.

No start on the Chatelaine yet, but I've been wanting to!! It's just Jane got a lot of fun lately and I think I'll keep on her for a bit.  I haven't visited all of your IHSW posts yet but I will get to them soon!! I think tomorrow there's a TUSAL post to do. OI! Loads of posts this month!!

Had La La Lemon tea today after I vacuumed the house...it was yummy! Titus hid for an hour under the bed then came out and gave me loads of affection.  Such a funny kitty cat!

Nataly from Nataly's Needle Creations is having a wonderful giveaway.  Pop over to her blog and check out her amazing stitching!!



Ciao bellas and happy stitching!

I'll leave you with this silly cartoon from one of those old cross stitch mags I found!

LOL!!!!!

Edited (because I'm too lazy to do another post)

Here's my pic of my TUSAL...loads more threads this month!!

Also hop on over to Autumn's blog "The Whispers of Autumn" she is having a wonderful Chocolate giveaway and wants to meet new bloggers!!

Pre ISHW Stitching and Shopping!!

Hello my lovelies!!

I am happy to announce I just purchased a floor stand from Michael's with a 50% off coupon!!

WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!

My hubby is assembling it as I type!!!!

It's finished! Here's a quick photo.

 This will make my stitching life, back, neck, arms, shoulders a lot easier and more comfortable for me!! Not only did I get the frame but I also got a bunch of DMC threads for a new Chatelaine I will be making!! It's a Knotgarden!! Check it out!

My hubby really likes this one so I will be stitching it for him, and well for me too!! I'm in the process of figuring out what fabby to use.  I might just use some antique white linen I bought last year for this piece or some other fabric I have around. I will still have to get a couple of specialty threads but that will have to wait awhile until I have saved up some cashola after my craft stand purchase.

Remember that Tiny Rose Garden Mandala I stitched awhile ago? Well I found a frame that was 40% off and so I figured why the heck not? Here it is all framed up. I'm not too pleased with the puckering that is happening between the mat and the back, but I'm not going to be fussy.  It's framed.  I'm happy :D

Pardon the reflection!
Not only did I get the craft stand, the frame, the DMC threads, I also bought myself a pair of 7 for all mankind jeans.  They were regular 245 and I got them for 60!! Nice score hey?!! I'm on a roll today!!!

Although I have a busy Saturday planned, I did manage to get some stitching done last night and this morning.  Here are some progress pics of Jane, which I will be working on tonight, trying out the new stand, and finishing my sister's small.  I may start on the Knotgarden, but we'll see how the weekend goes.

That yellow glow in the middle is not on the fabby, some weird light thing happening

 I don't want to show you all the smalls I stitched for my RAK's (Random acts of Kindness to my lovelies) so they are partially covered up by my new DMC's.  Also, could you all send me your snail mail addresses via my email.  I may use them in the future!

Hee hee! Just a peek!!!

Oooh, annnnddddd the other day while my hubby and I took a walk, we decided to check out a church's thrift shop and I found some old school Cross Stitch magazines for a donation! Score!!!!

Ooh, I feel a bit hyper after I drank a whole cup of Pure Chai tea from David's! YUMMM!!! Speaking of YUM, I made a most delicious soup courtesy of Joyce, Creator of ISHW and best pen pal gal! It's called Assam Laska and it's a Malaysian soup!! Oh it was good!!! Thanks honey for the soup!!!

Super spicy, and sweet at the same time! LOVE!!

Okay, happy hermitting everyone! Can't wait to see everyone's progress pics on Monday!

Hugs to all!!!

Passion for Fashion

Hello everyone!!

Time has slowed for me a bit after that hasty post!! LOL!! I should always remember to "Not be Hasty" like Treebeard says in LOTR!!

Yes, thanks Treebeard, I'll remember!!

Since I can't show my secret stitching, I'll share with you my first love: FASHION!!!

Ever since I can remember, I have loved fashion.  As a child I wore a tea cozy on my head, you know, to change things up a bit!! If I remember correctly, I put anything on my head!! My first influences in fashion were of course my mom and my Nana.  Both my Nana and I have been watching Fashion File.  since I was 8 or 9 years old.  I still remember the beginning track: Obsession by Animotion!! Love that song!!

When I was around 15 I bought my very first Harper's Bazaar.  We've had a very long relationship, me and Bazaar.  I'm still getting the mags today thanks to my hubby who forgets to cancel the subscription! It's the gift that keeps on giving (as we both exclaimed at the same time last night!!) After my hubby and I had a Valentine's udon noodle soup, which was really tasty, I flipped through my latest Bazaar and began to think  back to my very first one.  I even remember purchasing it at Shopper's in Pine Center Mall during lunch break in grade 10 I think. I was very into grunge and this magazine, and Vogue's, gave me inspiration.

The cover had Christie Turlington on it and it was magical.  I even remember the smell of the magazine. The memory of opening up that magazine for my first time is still fresh like it was yesterday.  One of the dresses featured I wanted for my grad. I  had a seamstress try and remake it. The dress didn't turn out exactly as the one in the photo, but it was still gorgeous and unique! That's how obsessed I was!! Unfortunately, my mother purged my room a couple of years ago and threw out all my old Bazaar's!! I knew that they were taking up space, but I would have loved to have kept at least a couple of the memorable ones.Sniff sniff....

The page after this one had my dress...but alas I can not find it online to show you.  That dress holds a special place in my heart. This one is by Valentino and I think Julia Roberts wore it to the Oscars that year.

Fashion and fashion magazines in the mid to late 90's were the best.  They had the best models, designers and photographers.  Two of my favourite models were Helena Christensen and Nadja Auermann.  Nadja had seemingly long legs that went on for miles!! Helena was just perfection to me.

Helena Christensen

Nadja Auermann and her legs!

Then I met John Galliano.  I know he is in cahoots right now with the horrible comments he made...just google John and comments and you'll see what I mean.  But he is pure genius.  Just full of himself....well aren't they all?

The colour of that dress Shalom Harlow is wearing is probably one of my favourite colours hands down.  I know the dress is sheer, but the delicacy of the dress is like a moth's wings fluttering in the night. 

Here's another gorgeous dress I wanted, by Versace.  I'm not a fan of Versace, but this Spring collection, I think it's 1993 and the next few following collections, were some of the best by Versace. Now with Donatella holding the reins, I'm not too interested in the designs. 

I could go on forever about fashion...I think I'll do a focus post on some of my favourite designers, models, mags, photographers, shoes, bags, jewelry, etc in the next little while.  Although I'm a follower of fashion, I'm not as brave as I once was in my early 20's.  I no longer pair up a slip dress with Doc Martens, rhinestone necklace and a faux fur jacket anymore.  Instead, I've become rather tame in my style of dress.  Mainly due to my profession.  You can't be outrageously dressed while teaching kids!! They couldn't pay attention to the lessons if you were!! 

I'll leave you with some lovely photos my hubby and I took during our Valentine's walk yesterday.  I hope everyone had a wonderful lovey wuvey day!!!!

I love this part of the Fraser River

Some kind of blossom tree that smells like honey!

Rhododendrons already?

New Westminster Quayside

Oops!! Almost forgot to mention how I discovered GOOGLE READER!!! WOOHOO!! I'm caught up with blog reading!! I spent most of Sunday (after canceling plans to take me time) to organize all my blogs I follow!!! It feels awesome! I went through over 800 posts!!! Now, oh, it's at 28.  A much more manageable number!  How I didn't use this before I'll never know.  There were some blogs I would always miss seeing and commenting on for whatever reason.  Now I can visit all of you in a more orderly fashion!

PS A Big Hug and Thank you to Carolyn!! She is going to send me the petite beads!! Aren't stitchy friends the most amazing people in the world?!!! Thanks so much darlin'!!!!

Hugs to you all!!

Time Flies By Too Quickly

Good day to you all!!

I'm finding that TIME is my enemy as of late.  Between working everyday, being on transit 3 hours a day, busy weekends, I have little TIME to be crafty or to sit and relax!! I noticed my last post was over a week ago! YIKES!! The blog reading/commenting has also been behind, like usual! This morning I was stalking your blogs when I noticed that over an hour has gone by and I still haven't showered or gone grocery shopping for our home.  My plans for baking/sewing/stitching have been dashed!!Then a good friend of mine called and wants to meet for coffee, so of course now that's what I gotta do!! So here's a VERY quick post (I really have more to say and will at some point soon I hope) showing you all a couple of things I did manage to get done the past 10 days.  I've been thinking of rewarding a couple of my regular readers and took an evening to take out all my stash and print off a ton of freebie designs and set to work kitting some smalls! What fun that was!! Even Titus got into it!

All my specialty threads

 If you notice in the top right hand corner, I have an old Valentine Sampler Girl freebie pattern set up to get sewn at some point.  I wanted to get this done today, but no can do.  I loved seeing all my specialty threads strewn about when I noticed I have LOADS of Pink?!?!? I'm not even a huge pink fan.  What I really need to add to my collection is more Purples and Blues and Reds and, well everything!!

Aren't I cute Mom?

Due to keeping the RAK's secret for now, I can't show any pictures of the little pieces I'm working on, nor will I give a date when I will complete them!! LOL! It will happen in my own time, when I get the time and inspiration to finish them.  I also started a cute little small for my sister.  I've been wanting to make her a little something for awhile now and am pleased with the chart and the colours I chose for the design.  I can give you a sneak peek of it, because I don't think my sister regularly reads my blog (she's a busy radio director).

Thanks to all of you for your lovely comments on the last post about my Dad's moose hat.  He was tickled that people loved it!!!
AHH, time, AHHHH....

Okay, quick....here's an update photo of Jane.  Got her name in and almost finished the lettering!!

Update on War and Peace: Read 28%!! It feels like I've read more though, seriously, I feel like I've read over a 1000 pages, which I haven't, but it soooo feels like! I have been enjoying the book so I'm okay with that!!
Ack, I really wanted this post to go smoothly, but now I'm panicking for time and my mind is going blank. So silly too because just yesterday I was so creative in creating stories with two intermediate ESL girls and was hoping to share one of the stories I created from a simple sentence!! I'll share it another time!!
Some photos of where I've been working up in the mountains.  The scenery is so breathtaking and the pictures don't do it justice at all.

Some signs of spring in my Nana's garden!! YES YES YES!!! Finally!!!!!

Okay! Last but not least, I need some beads. I would like to do a trade!! Remember my mom's snowman ornie I finished? Well, the beads the pattern calls for are Mill Hill Ice Petite Beads Size 15/0 2mm, since it is stitched 1 over 1, you need the tiny beads.  I have been searching for tiny beads here in Vancouver and bought some beads I thought could work with the ornament but they are too large.  They are Crystal Silverlined Delica Beads, 5 g, and I think 4 mm as the bead lady told me.  I put them up to the ornie and they TAKE over the design compeletly.  My question is if anyone has some of those petite beeds, they can be crystal, white, whatever, would you like to trade me?  I don't want to purchase them from 123stitch because I would need to buy other stuff too and I can't do that right now.  My beads I purchased were 4.50 :( The beads online are like a dollar.  Just let me know and I would be so grateful!!!

I hope to do a proper post soon!!

Take care and happy stitching!!


Anne

PS: I've tried editing my post quickly before I clicked post and I noticed a gazillion, grammatical mistakes!! Please excuse me if I forgot a bunch!! I really hate not letting the writing flow and focusing on sentence structure and grammar.  Sigh.

Curious Titus and Jane

Hello my lovelies!!

I can't believe it's February already! Whoa, where did time go?!  I have been very busy teaching, which is great!! But that leaves me with little time to do what I love to do, stitching and reading/commenting on blogs! That's okay though, I need to catch up on yucky bills and things.  I really wanted to make another post for January but it wasn't in the cards for me.  I have a number of things to show you so I will jump right to it.

First of all, I forgot to post a picture of my finished reindeer ornament, designed by Daffycat. I made it for my Dad for Christmas and he loved it.  Here he is with his special holiday moose hat he always wears! He loves his moose!!!

When I finished the ornament, my husband remarked "It looks like ravioli!" Okay.  Thanks my love, now whenever I look at it, all I can see is ravioli :P (He read this part and exclaimed "Hey! Don't tell everyone that!!" HEHEHEE!!!)

Onto the next piece.  Last weekend, I quickly stitched up this sweet little design for my friend's birthday (the one who made the tags!) I used Daffycat's ribbon tutorial to finish it and it turned out beautifully!! The ribbon I used is from HDF and when I ordered it, awhile ago, I didn't realize how tiny it would be.  It's 2mm!!! I seriously have a problem with picturing measurements in my mind's eye.  Anyways, it took me about an hour to get it going.  It was so fiddly!! After I got the ribbon edging on its way, it took me another hour and half to go around the design! OI I say! I'm glad to report that my friend has received it and has it already displayed! I made her a card too but forgot take a photo of it.  Maybe she will take a picture of it and send it to me so I can show you all how pretty it is. While taking photos of the little scissor fob/ornie, Titus came rolling in to help.

Stitched on scrap of 32ct linen
WDW in Dutch Iris
HDF 2mm silk ribbon in Besooted
Design from Tantes Zolder

Oh that sweet little Titus! He's so sweet and curious! Really curious about my stitching.  Yesterday he jumped up on my sewing desk and was smelling Jane! OI that boy!! I had to get him off.  This then became a game!! So now I have to hide Jane from my curious kitty.  Speaking of Jane, I finally got the DMC thread and actually got the flosses that came before and after the recommended number, just in case! I wasn't about to do another trip to Michael's for a thread! Funnily enough, when I got home and compared the greens, the shades are so completely different I had to take a picture to show all of you.

Crazy hey?!! Needless to say, my TUSAL jar has become fuller with the light green that I frogged.  I put in the new green and I am happy with the change!!!

Eh.  The sun went down as I was taking these photos.  The colours are so much nicer in person.

Well, it's time for me to go.  I hope you have enjoyed the pictures of Titus.  He really is the funniest cat around. He acts like a dog and is scared of the strangest things.  I will tell you more about that another time.  It will probably be a Titus only post!!

I'll leave you with hugs and meows from me and Titus!!