Spring Has Sprung!!

Hello my lovelies!!

This is just a quick post to let you all know that I am still here!! I've been extremely busy again.  Working everyday, church all weekend, then back to work all next week.  Next weekend I will have a bit more time to do a better post and some stitching, which I've been missing like crazy!!! I have added a few stitches in Jane here and there but nothing worthy enough to post about.  So here are some photos I took of the one day of sunshine we had last weekend.  Yup, it's been raining all week and this weekend is not looking much better.  But, I do see the cherry blossoms are starting to come out and the magnolia blossom buds are getting ready to open!! So excited for that to happen!!! I'll take some photos of my Nana's magnolia trees to share with you all!!

Also, my mom is in the city and I'm so happy to have her here. I want her to come over and help me with some of my sewing projects and have a nice visit with me! Lent is also coming to an end in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to having cream in my coffee again!!! I can't wait!!!

This photo I think was taken about two years ago but it's one of my favourites of my mom and me!  LOVE YOU MOM!!!

Oooh, Titus is trying to jump up onto my stitching/sewing desk!! He's being so naughty lately really getting into my stitching!!! Here's a photo of my disorganized desk.  OOOH! He did it while I was typing this! I think my big "OFF" voice scared him away!! What a little monkey!!

So that's my disorganized, cluttered area! There is really no other place for anything.  The drawers in the desk is full of other stuff not related to stitching.  We have storage issues in this apartment!! Anywho, just thought I would share that with you since I have no stitching photos to share!!

Love the mist that is down coming from the mountain tops at the school I have been working at all week! Isn't it majestic?!

I miss reading/commenting on all of your blogs and was starting to try and work through the massive numbers in google reader this morning, but now it's already 11:00 am and I still need to get ready to go uptown and get some more dark chocolate to make those vegan cookies for church. Really what I want to do all day is stitch!!! My fingers are itching to stitch!!!!

I spy loads of lovely posts and stitching and wonderful photos and I'm looking forward to spending some quality time enjoying all of your posts, even if it's weeks late!!! I really miss all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to my new followers!!

Big hugs to all!!


Anne

TUSAL, Leibster Award and RAK

Well hello everyone!!

Wow! I reached 186 followers!! How did that happen??!?!  Welcome to my new followers!! After this post I will go and follow you, and if you don't have your blog linked to your profile, then I won't be able to!! So make sure that you go to edit profile (which is in your Dashboard) and click on "select blogs to display" which is highlighted in blue and then enter your blog! Voila! Now I can find you and your blog!!!

Okay, so lots of things to report! First off, my Tusal jar.  I'm a day late but that's okay.  Better late than never.

A BIG THANK YOU To all of my lovely followers for commenting on my last post! I'm overwhelmed with the lovely comments!! So thank you!!! It really made my day :D

I'm so tickled pink that I've been voted for a Leibster award 4 times!!! Rhona, Ewa, Rowyn and Julie gave me the award.  So a big thank you to you ladies!!! You should check out their blogs.  They are all such lovely ladies who have very unique and wonderful blogs!!

Liebster is a German word, meaning favorite, dearest or beloved, and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

Okay, so the first one, I can't do!! It seems almost every blog I have has been awarded the award, even more than once!!!
I've linked back to my original award givers above the picture of the award.  So that leaves me with the 5 random facts.  The fun bit.  Or maybe for others....I feel I don't have loads of interesting facts about me! Or rather nothing that pops up in my mind!

1. When I was 15/16 years old, I was obsessed with U2, specifically Bono.  Had loads of his pictures covering my locker door. I know ALL their music and lyrics up to their Zooropa album.  Then they just started to go too mainstream and boring for me.

2.  I taught myself how to play piano and guitar but learned how to read music in high school band.  I played the oboe in band. I think learning the music destroyed my natural talent to play by ear.  Now I rely on the notes to play piano...but I haven't learned how to read music for guitar, so I'm okay with picking out a tune!

3. I'm obsessed with Russian authors and have read almost all the greats.  Currently working on War and Peace by Tolstoy and I have read 55% of the book!! I started in January...it's taking a LONG time!

4. I pierced my belly button at age 16 on my own at my friend's house while we were listening to the Velvet Underground (I'll spare you the song as it is shocking and even though it's a good song, the content isn't).  I fainted.  It didn't hurt and the piercing didn't last.  I have a small scar to prove it!

5. When I first met my husband, I thought he was French.  He isn't.  It was just really loud in the night club and I had a hard time hearing him speak with the loud music booming in the background! He thinks his French is great, but it isn't!!!

There! I could've chosen other info, but that's what popped into my mind at this moment!  Thanks again ladies for the award!!!

I had something else to share with you....what was it....hmm, the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is going round my head right now..oh ya! Rahenna's Bee chart arrived in the mail today!! It's so cute! Thanks again Rahenna!!

Such a cute design!! I'm going to have to do some digging and find a good scrap of linen for this little guy!!

Last bit of news.  So, one of my RAK's arrived!! I'm so happy that Lynn from Kearnel's Korner was pleased as punch to receive my little spring pillow!! She took some adorable photos of the pillow with her bee can! I love her kitty too! She's just like Titus!!!  I had a lot of fun putting this together and the second Rak will go out today (hopefully if I make it to the post in time!).  I will be doing more in the future! Here's my photo of the pillow I made for her.  Mine isn't as good as hers though!!

I forgot to add the details:
Design Freebie from Stitchyville Newsletter sorry can't remember which one
Stitched on some unknown, really soft evenweave of my mom's
Various threads chosen by me: Dinky Dyes silks, DMC, and Carrie's Threads

Oh, and here's Titus lovingly touching my toe! He loves feet for whatever reason and licks them too! He's such a dog in so many ways!

I think that's all! I feel like I'm forgetting something. 

Oh yeah!


HUGS!!!! And Happy Stitching!!

Anne

IHSW Results, a Frog and a Thank you

Bonjour mes amies!!!

I woke up and what did I see? The SUN!!!!! Yes, it finally came this weekend! Although it did snow over night it is wonderful to have the sun out and melting the snow.  I just hope that it stays with us this week and give our flowers some much needed warmth. 

So my weekend was a nice hermitty weekend.  How was yours?  I managed to work on my two BAP's and do a lot of baking and cooking.  I made the most delicious Vegan Chocolate Chunk cookies! They are almost all gone! I took a recipe from the net and adjusted it slightly.  Instead of chocolate chips (which we had but the chips had milk products) I used a dark chocolate bar I had lying around and chopped it up.  Then I added some coconut bits and chopped up pecans.  Boy are the cookies good! You couldn't even tell that they didn't have dairy in them!!!

I also made two loaves of bread which I forgot to take a photo of, but trust me, the bread's tasty too!! For dinner we made a curry, which our friend says is more like a Thai curry than an Indian one, although we were going for an Indian curry.  It was also really yummy! We made papadams to go with it.  MMMM!!!!

Before I show you the IHSW stitching, I want to send out a big THANK YOU to AUTUMN!!! I recently won her dark chocolate Giveaway and received the package last week!!!! It really brightened my day and week in fact. The package included some really yummy Dove chocolates which I'm saving for after Lent and luckily, my husband isn't a big fan of dark chocolate so he's not eating them up!! HAHAHA! All the chocolate's MINE!!! The tea she sent is also really yummy and it's always nice to have more varieties at hand!! I love the little Tea book too! It has lots of great info of the origins of tea! Thanks again Autumn!!!!

I also won a cute Bumble Bee chart from Rahenna!!! I haven't received it yet, but when I do I'll show you the chart.  It's really adorable! So a big Thank you to Rahenna too for making my week!!!!! You should check out both of their blogs!!

So for awhile now, about a year, I've been hunting for a glass frog while I've been thrifting.  I've noticed on some blogs that there seems to be an abundance of them in the States, but we lack a good glass frog here, for whatever reason.  Maybe Canadians aren't picky about their flower arrangements?!?! Anywho, on Friday, I strolled up to the church where I got those cross stitch mags, hoping to score some more, when I noticed an amber glass frog for $2!! How can that be?!! I scooped it up and now I am the proud owner of my first glass frog!  I put my three sets of scissors in the frog and hope to get more scissors in the future.

I really wanted to start another little project this weekend, but cooking and baking got in the way, so instead I just stitched on Jane and TBF.  I think I did fairly well too. 

I LOVE the trees in Jane so much I wish there were more to stitch!! After I finish the middle tree, there's tons of little motifs all around the trees to stitch which I'm looking forward to! Have you seen Jane's sister's sampler? She's Sarah Philpott and I really hope that Theresa from Shakespeare's Peddler recreates Sarah's sampler soon.  Wouldn't it be great to have the two sisters hanging side by side?!

Sarah Philpott from Shakespeare's Peddler

As for TBF, you can see that I like to create outlines to work with instead of completing a page like most HAED stitchers do. I find it easier for me to follow the pattern and to fill in the blank parts.  Sort of like colouring!!!

There you go, that's my weekend full of good home makery stuff!! Titus of course came along to help on numerous occasions.  I'll leave you with a pretty photo of him and some lovely tulips I bought to brighten up our place. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's progress and will try to get to most blogs today and tomorrow!!

He loves to pose!

Hugs to all!!


Anne

Jane, a Bee and a Fairy

Hello my lovelies!!

The coffee's on and I'm sitting here with a warm blanket and looking out the window at the tree tops, which are all askew.  You guessed it! It's blustery here again! Not too chilly, just super windy! I went outside this morning to see the hubby off on his bike and nearly got blown over! March definitely has been acting like the royal lioness that she is!! I'm really hoping for some warmer weather.  It's been 6 long months of cold.  I'm done! Bring on the sun!! Although I'm sick of the cold, it's kinda nice sitting here by the heater with my blanket and cup of coffee...thinking about stitching...thinking about new charts I want yet can't have...thinking of new smalls to make...finishes to be completed.  I think I'll whip up two today!

So, I have actually finished 1 of the Rak's and I have to say, it's adorable!! Now, after I finished it, I just couldn't decide who to give it to because, well, everyone is so lovely and supportive and I want to give gifts to all!! However, I don't have 8 sets of arms--SHOCKING I KNOW!!--so, I put names into a bowl and pulled one out. That way I let chance choose. I'm keeping the rest of the names in the bowl for the future. If you haven't sent me your addy, please do!  Now all I have to do is find a small box to put it into and mail it off. The hunt is on!!

Onto Jane, the bee and the fairy.  I have been having a bit of stitching ADHD lately, not really sticking to one project.  I stitched a bit more on Jane but put her down to do some proper finishing.  I finally stitched up Shepherd's Bush's Tiny Garden "Fob".  It's a bit too big to be a fob for any of my three scissors, so I have it displayed instead.  I love the little bee pin from my hubby's grandma.  I think it's the sweetest thing!!

Since the silk ribbon is so tiny, I found that the loopy effect that I wanted didn't work as I had hoped.  Next time I get silk ribbon, I'll get the slightly larger kind.  Plus this was so fiddly and took an age to stitch around the pillow!

Here's some progress of Jane.  I finally got Adam stitched in.  He's a bit shorter than Eve! I double checked the counting and well, he is shorter than her by a few! My hubby loves the little lion under the tree.  We also had a laugh at the skin tone of A & E! It's very bright! Like they've been in the tanning bed for too long and came out looking like lobsters!!!

Hmm.  Seeing this photo makes me think I should recount again, just to be sure!! Although, that gap by Eve's calves is where the snake is going to go.  So maybe that's why Adam is short? Anyways, I will try and satin stitch the snake in after I finish the tree.  I've done satin stitching a LOOONG time ago in Grade 12 when I took a textiles course.  My mom is really proficient at satin stitching, so perhaps when she comes to visit in a couple of weeks, I'll have her around to help me out! I'm pretty excited for her to come!!! YAY FOR MOMS!!!!

The fairy.  Remember my Tea Bath Fairy?!! Well, it's been since November that I picked her up and put in a stitch! I've been feeling bad about having her stashed away in a box.  So I pulled her out two nights ago and set about filling in more teeny tiny stitches! I used a hoop since Jane is sitting in the Qsnaps...too lazy to take her out! I forgot how long it takes just to do a small area. This piece will take me awhile, that's for sure.

Oh Titus!! I had to get him off after I noticed he tried to get in the picture! He started playing with the thread that was attached to the fabric!! Luckily he was gentle and no damage was done.

Onto other news.  The strike action last week wasn't too bad.  I "demonstrated" up at a school I haven't been to before, but knew two of the teachers.  They were a lovely bunch! It was nice to see lots of people honking and showing their support.  Plus, we had the nurses union and other CUPE members join us because their contracts are up in 3 weeks and it looks like this government will mandate a "Net-Zero" for them too. 

We wanted to make our own signs but were given these ones to hold.  They were really heavy to hold when the wind started up!!!

And just for fun, here's a couple of photos of one of my favourite secret places in Gastown, Vancouver.

Titus helping me find interesting vegan recipes to make for Lent. He loves to help out!!

Okay, I need to go and start sewing and finishing some things and find that box! I will end my post here and thank you all for your support and kind words!! I have been really blown away by some of the amazing stitching going on!

I also want to send out my prayers to the people in the United States whose lives and homes have been affected by the terrible storms.

Hugs for all,

Anne

Winner of the Traveling Pattern

And the winner of the Traveling Pattern is...............................

Sharon from It's Daffycat!!!!

So I made the draw the old fashioned way and threw pieces of paper in a bowl and had hubby pull a name.  I kinda like that version instead of the random generator.  More fun for me!!  Sharon, I will be mailing this off to you tomorrow!!!  For all of those who entered to win, thank you and keep following the pattern because you could be next in stitching it!!

I will post later on this week about my other projects.  I finished a RAK, and a bunch of other things this weekend!!! Can't wait to show you my work!!

Have a wonderful day!

Off to strike....in the rain!

Traveling Pattern - Thankful for Ewe!

Hello my lovelies!!

I am excited to tell you all that I had won the Traveling Pattern "Thankful" from Mouse a couple of weeks ago! I received the pattern and a lovely card from her last Friday, and have finally finished stitching it!! It was such a fun stitch to do and I would love to pass it along to the next person! So please leave a comment on this post only and I will draw a name from those who would like to stitch it.  I did not have any of the colours that the pattern called for so I used what I had.  I played around with a couple of different colours for the flowers and decided to use my favourite pink.  I think you will like the result of my colour choices.

Look at that cute sheep!! He's adorable!! 

Started: Feb 27th

Finished: March 2nd

Stitched on 32 ct Lambswool Linen

Threads: DMC Snow White, 938 - sheep, legs, words

Dinky Dyes: Madi's Rose - flowers

Gentle Art Threads: Baby Spinach - grass, leaves   Gingersnap - tree, vines

Take a look at Mouse's finish, Gracie's finish, and Tricia's finish.  They are all really lovely and unique!!

A quick update on my other projects.  I spent most of the day today working on one of the RAK's and am very happy with the result.  Just a couple of finishing touches to do tomorrow and I'll send it off.  The other one still needs to be worked on and I can't decide if I want to make a pillow or a pin keep...I think I'm leaning more towards a pin keep.  Hopefully I'll get it started tomorrow, but I want to finish my mom's ornie.  I managed to cut out two circles of mat board today and it took awhile!! I also stitched up Shepherd's Bush's Tiny Garden and need to add the silk ribbon around the edge.  Yes, I have been a busy bee today!! I have made a bit more progress on Jane, but I won't show you a pic yet! Eve's been stitched and so she needs her partner before I show you!!

Titus was quite the helper today! Take a look at how he helped me.

My fur adds a nice fluffy texture to your fabric mom!!

If I place my paws here, will this help you cut the fabric?

Peek a boo! I see you!!

There you are mom!!

In other news, I've been very busy with work and with the upcoming strike on Monday.  It's been very stressful here for us teachers and the news hasn't painted us in a positive light, which makes my blood boil.  Our government is trying to pass Bill 22 which will be highly detrimental to our public education system if passed. It will increase class sizes and there will be no limit to class composition.  It will give all the power to the administrators to fire at a whim and replace with lower paid teachers. I could explain a lot more to you, but I will refrain because I'm tuckered out trying to defend my profession to people.  Plus I want to keep my stitching blog a nice peaceful place for people to visit and enjoy my stitching and my little stitching friend, Titus!!

Hopefully all will end well and we can move on to the more important stuff: teaching.

Take care everyone! Big hugs to all! I could use some!!!

Have a wonderful weekend! I will be visiting people's blogs this weekend!!