Working Towards a Finish

October is nearly upon us and I don't know where September went.  I forgot how time flew when you teach in a school.  In schools, we are constantly looking at time in the present, in the past and in the future. Recently, I bought a new cell phone, and a new computer (YAY), in order to have one of those fancy calendar apps so I can manage all of my school meetings and not double book myself on weekends.  Sometimes I wish I could shut my eyes and halt time for a bit.  I'm also panicking about time because of a number of personal issues.  I don't want to go into details here but think about what a woman wants at my age and how she can feel panicky....

Okay.  Enough about minutes, days and years...onto more interesting stuff.

I have to take a moment to say how amazed and inspired I was to see all of the Pumpkins for Cathey posts.  It really made me realize how important we all are to each other and what a truly unique and fantastic stitching community we have built.  Think of it.  Our little community cheers everyone up when one is feeling down, dances silly happy dances when we finish a project, and also we give each other so much love, prayer, and support.  It's wonderful!! I want to thank you all for your lovely comments in the past few posts.  I cherish each one.  Please be patient with me in returning comments and visiting your blogs.  I should be able to get into more of a groove after all of my parent/teacher meetings in the next few weeks.  (HUGS!!)

Right, so I forgot to do an IHSW post but there really wasn't much to share with you.  This weekend I stayed up late last night finishing Hannah.  Well not completely.  There's the 1 over 1 to do. Hannah is such a stunning sampler.  My husband and I were talking about trying to frame her ourselves.  She isn't overly large, unlike Jane is so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Hannah's initials on the left.  I'm going to add mine to the right

So many projects I want to do and now I'm thinking about Christmas! Ack!! Well, I know what I need to work on next and that is a baby blanket for my cousin-in-law's baby to be.  When I saw Evalina's Good Morning finish with the rooster, I commented on the chart and she was so kind to send it to me.  Both my cousin and I are obsessed with the farm animals theme, so I am thinking of stitching the rooster and making a baby blanket.  Thankfully, babies are small so the blanket will be too.  Thank you Evalina!!

After looking through my DMC box, I found I was missing a bunch of threads...of course I'm missing the threads! I feel like I have the entire collection, but no I don't! So off I ran to Michael's and found the threads and some white linen to stitch it on.  Since I was close to Chapters, I hopped in to see if they had the new JCS ornament issue...and they did!! 

Loads of great little ornaments to stitch up.  I think once I'm done with Hannah and the rooster, I'll choose an ornie to stitch.  

I have a ton of other little projects I've been working on but no pictures to show.  I have given my giveaway waaaay too much thought and I think I'm just going to do it this weekend.  I'll let the winner choose what to stitch from a few choices I will give.  That way it won't take an age to stitch!!

Here's some photos I have taken from the last few weeks to sum up this post.

Some poor horses in Stanley Park...made me think of Black Beauty

Cement truck looking like a corn cob...so bizarre!

Stanley Park

Pretty boy asking for treats

There you have it....take care everyone!!

Pumpkins For Cathey!

Cathey, we are all rooting for you!! Know that I think of you a lot and pray for you! Here are my pumpkins for you!!

Photo from Creative Can by Miss Millificent

Check out this link for more information on Pumpkins for Cathey, created by Sharon/Daffycat.

Three is the Number

Bonjour everyone!!

It has been quite some time since I posted.  My blogoversary came and went last week but I was too sick to do a post.  Feeling feverish on the hottest day of September wasn't pleasant to say the least.  I was melting on the inside as well as on the outside...ick! The cold is overstaying it's welcome.  My chest and throat are still sore so I may have to take a trip to the doctor's today.  I have still been thinking about what to do for my giveaway since it's my third blogoversary and I wanted to celebrate that with having three winners.  However, I don't know what to giveaway! I was thinking of stitching something little for each person, but that may take awhile.  I will let you know when I make up my mind. 

Stitching, crocheting and sewing has taken a bit of a back seat since school began.  While I was sick, I did manage to stitch an Autumn design. 

It's a freebie from Blue Ribbon Designs called "Acorns and Owls."  I stitched it on 28 ct. R & R Espresso using DMC, GAST and HDF threads.  I think it's adorable and I hope to finish it up as a little pillow.  Very fun design to stitch!

As for Hannah, I have three motifs and three blooms left to stitch, plus the 1 over 1.  My goal is to finish her by the end of this month. I still have hope this will happen!

I crocheted two more rounds since the last post.  Titus seems to really enjoy me crocheting.  I always have to hide the yarn as I crochet since his little claws come out and play with moving ball of yarn!

I love how he lies around like this!

So on Labour Day, my hubby and I took one last bike trip to a place called Barnston Island.  It took us about 2 hours to cycle there and a short barge/ferry ride to the Island.  The island is located on the Fraser River and is mostly made up of farms.  We saw a lot of animals on the island and derelict buildings.  We even bought some organic beef from a cattle farm, although at first I read the sign as" Beets for sale."  I ran up to the woman and said "We'll take some beets!" To which she replied "Well, all of our beets are gone but we have beef!" Oh...did I feel silly.  Anywho, here's some photos of our trip to enjoy.

We crossed the Patullo Bridge...very scary bridge to ride over!

View of the Fraser River, skytrain bridge and New West to the right

Smiling and shaking with fear at the same time

The ferry tug boat

Cute barn

Derelict door

A cat, a rooster, a dog and some chickens chilling out together

A donkey we fed some apples to.  He's wearing a mesh mask to protect  him from flies

Happy cows!

I hope to catch up with my blog reading.  I've been pretty helter skelter when it comes to reading/commenting. I have been liking Feedly except for that it isn't updating my blog list when I follow a blog.  I didn't notice this until recently and now there's a bunch of blogs I've joined but are not in Feedly.  Not too happy about that bit.  I don't know if this has happened to others, but if you know of a way to fix it let me know.  

Hugs to all and happy stitching!!

Anne

Last Days of Summer

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for your comments on my camping adventures.  My husband and I read your comments and he got a kick out of how many people said "Something touched my foot, I'm OUTTA THERE!"  He admitted he was scared too though and wanted his heart to stop beating so loudly so he could hear what it was out there!! Unfortunately, the only way we could hightail out of there would be to pack up our gear and cycle out.  So not really much of an escape route.  When I went back to school last week, I chatted with the Grade 4 teacher and she said she has a cabin right before you head into Smuggler's Cove.  I asked her if she heard the blood curdling screams in the night.  Lol!! Anyways, she said the next time we are there, if we need to stock up on water we could come by.  Nice to know there's someone nearby that I know!

Well, the last week I have been very busy with school and catching up with friends. I had another great sewing day with my cousin-in-law and she and I craft-bombed my apartment.  I managed to finish sewing up the panels of my quilt and she made two cute little pants for her baby to be.  Check out our progress!

My panels!!

Linen pants with chicken fabric

Her pants are adorable.  We love that chicken fabric we found at Dress Sew.  She made similar pants with guitar fabric as accents but I forgot to take a photo of them.  I still have yet to cut out the border and panels for my quilt and I hope to soon, after I get over the fact that my panels are slightly off.  Very hard to stitch straight!!

While we were sewing and being productive, I found something I made in my Grade 12 textiles class.  I remember designing it to represent my Russian and Irish sides but never finished it into a pillow.  I hope to finish it soon so I can actually use it.

Firebird design by me stitched with a variety of embroidery stitching

My appliqued shamrock

I also received in the mail my trim pack that I won from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  I chose the Halloween pack, although I don't celebrate or stitch anything Halloweeny, I loved the autumn colours and will use it for my smalls.  Thank you Nancy! I love her stuff!!

On Wednesday, I had a lovely visit with Melissa from Words and Blooms.  She came over to my Nana's and brought me batting for my quilt. So generous of her!!  She also gave me a beautiful cross stitching Christmas book with a pattern she had stitched awhile ago that I commented on.  You are amazing Melissa for remembering that I loved that pattern! I'm hoping to stitch it for Christmas this year.  We had tea and chatted about all sorts of things.  I always enjoy visiting with Melissa! Hugs to you!!

Of course with school looming over me, I felt I had to surge ahead on Hannah.  I'm finished one corner and hope to finish the other soon.  I'm really excited about finishing her but sad at the same time because she has been fun to stitch.  I always leave my 1 over 1 stitching till the end.  I also picked up Knotgarden last night.  I haven't stitched on Knotgarden for months. 

6 more blooms to go!

Love that little deer leaping!!

As for my granny square blanket, I have been adding a row a day or every other day.  Usually I crochet in the morning with Titus lying beside me in a sun beam.  He decided to roll around on my mini blanket just to add a few more of his hairs into the yarn!

After all those wilderness photos, I thought I'd be a bit civilized and show you some city scapes. 

Art gallery steps

Robson Square

The Pink Flamigos from the Rumpus Room

Well, I think that's about it for today.  I still have not decided about what to do with my giveaway.  If you have ideas please share with me! I was thinking of having 3 winners for my 3 years of blogging.  Perhaps something stitched for 1, a gift card and some stash? Really can't decide!


PS, Adding photos on blogger has been really odd lately.  It's taking forever to add just one photo.  I get that circle thingy that changes colour, like a wait symbol, but find it never adds the photo unless I click on it a gazillion times.  Anyone else having this problem? I use Mozilla and Picasa.  Chrome doesn't work well for me.

Cheers until the next post! Hopefully the first week of school will go smoothly!!

Hugs to you all

From me and Titus!