Monday, September 16, 2013

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

48 comments:

cucki said...

Aww such a sweet post :)
Pretty stitching...very sweet kitty ..Maloo is saying hi to her :)
Pretty photos..I love them so much..pretty barn..donkeys..I love them all
Big hugs
Cucki x

cucki said...

Oh get well soon
Hugs x

Vickie said...

Now I will have to check my Feedly too.
I am sorry you have been ill. I am praying for you.

Parsley said...

I hope you feel better very soon!

Love your autumn stitching.

Solstitches said...

What a lovely post Anne.
I love the picture of the cat, dog and chickens chilling out together.
Why can't everyone get along like that?
The donkey enjoying the apple is sweet too.
Lovely stitched finish and great work on the WIP too.
Hope you feel better soon.
Margaret

Meari said...

Hope you're feeling better? At least all was not lost and you were able to get some good stitching in. Congrats on your BRD finish. Looks great.

Your bike trip looks like a lot of fun. I wish there were places around here to get to in a couple hours on bike. No such luck.

Rhona said...

Hope your feeling better. Summer colds are the worst.
Love your stitching. The colours on acorns and owls are fabulous.
Your crocheting looks great too...but now you've got me itching to pick up a crochet hook. I have the same problem with my cats when I crochet...it's cute but annoying!

Annette-California said...

Your Acorns and Owls is beautiful - I love it. Hannah is a Beauty, how wonderful that you are close to finishing. Sending you well wishes. Yes, I have noticed that Feedly seems to update late. I also follow Bloglovin but at times I cannot leave a comment on some blogs - weird. So I call up the blog separately - then I can comment (sometimes). It may be that I need Chome instead of firefox. Who knows:) Drink lots of liquid and feel better soon.
love Annette

Melissa said...

Oh yuck, you were sick on those hot days! It sure was hot too! I am glad now I took the time to start my fall garden clean-up.

Hannah is looking lov-a-ly! Fingers crossed you will get it finished soon.

I'm glad you got to get a bike ride in before you started classes. It looks like an interesting place (I've never been).

I hope you are back to 100% soon! Take care!

Annie said...

Being sick is so not fun. Hope you recover completely soon.

Nice work on your projects though. And the bike ride looks like tons of fun!

Sarah in Stitches said...

Beautiful stitching and crocheting! And Titus is gorgeous, as usual. Hope you feel better soon!

Linda said...

Your autumn design is adorable Anne. Great progress on your other piece. Your crocheting is coming along nicely and I love all the photos from your trip.

Linda

Margaret said...

I sure hope you're feeling better soon. Not fun being sick. Love your Hannah! Wow! So gorgeous! Love your Autumn finish too. And the bike trip looks like fun! Feel better!

Teresa said...

Sorry you weren't feeling very well. Your stitching looks wonderul and the bike trips looked fun.

Southpaw Stitcher said...

Hope you're 100 percent healthy very soon. Your stitching is gorgeous! Loved the photos of the bike trip and--at last--we have some snaps of handsome Titus!!

Mouse said...

think you have sent the sniffles this way :(
gorgeous finish of the acorn piece .... well done on the bike ride over the bridge no mean feat and coooo love the mesh masks ... very practical for them :)
Hi Titus :) love mouse xxxxx

Lillie said...

Hope you are feeling better. Lovely finishes, I just completed
Blue Birds and Daises from the same designer.

Lovely photos from your biking trip.

Marilyn said...

Acorns and Owls is pretty, and so is the afghan.
Silly kitty!
Thanks for sharing the pics.
That bridge does look scary!
Marilyn

Mii Stitch said...

Love the pretty finish on Acorns & Owls :) Hope you'll get better soon!

Chris said...

Go to the Dr.!! I hope that you are feeling better soon :)
Lovely fall finish. You are so close to finishing Hannah too.
Love your afghan and love Titus :)
Thanks for taking me along on your last bike ride too!
Hugs :)

♥ Nia said...

I hope you're feeling better by now sweetie!! Take care!!
Lovely stitching :)
I've never seen donkeys with those masks before! Weird :p heheeh

Lauren - Ambitious Stitches said...

I just love that autumn sampler. Such a cute design! I need to start something like that to hang around the house. Fall is my favorite time of year to decorate the house.

I hope you start feeling better soon!

Melanie said...

Bleh. Sorry you haven't been feeling well. :(
Sounds like a super great bike trip. Bridges give me the willies. Yeesh. That does look scary. Ha!
Very cute finish! Perfect for fall. :)

Julie said...

Nice finish and love your blanket and pics.Never seen those meshes before,could have done with one of those myself in the summer went out walking. ;)

Lianne said...

Hope you are feeling better Anne, if not, hope the cold gets the hint and leaves REALLY soon ;-)))

Looks like you had a fun trip, love the pics!

Barb said...

I love the fall design and the sampler is beautiful!! Hope you feel well soon, one of the perks of teaching-colds!!!

valerie said...

Hi Ann! I am so behind in blogland too. Sorry to hear that you were so sick but I hope that you are feeling better. Happy Blogiversary! Love your Owls and Acorns finish. Very Autumnal. And you've made amazing progress on Hannah since I last checked in. You're almost finished! Love floofy Titus! And your trip to Barnston Island looks fun. Although I can't imagine biking for two hours! I am scared to ride a bicycle though so I would definitely have been terrified to cross the bridge and be near traffic. You're a brave soul!

Annette said...

I hope you feel better soon.
Wonderfull pieces your working on!

Penny said...

Hope you are back to 100% soon! Love your autumn piece! Our temperatures here lately make it harder and harder to deny that autumn is only a few days away. :) Hannah is such a pretty sampler, and not too much further to a finish! Titus is such a handsome fellow, and he just likes to help you. :) Makes my palms sweat to even imagine crossing that bridge on a bicycle. I really enjoyed your pictures!

butterfly said...

Hope you are feeling better, I had a nasty cold the other week not nice.
Love your stitching and great photos, love your cat how cute.

Kay said...

The Autumn design is great, thanks for letting us know where to find it. happy blogaversary!

Veronica said...

Gotta love those pretty autumn colours. Nearly there with Hannah :)

Hehe... Moving ball of yarn must be irresistible temptation for Titus.

Lovely view. Curious to know why the Patullo Bridge is scary to ride over? It looks pretty sturdy.

Hugs,
Veronica.

Valma said...

each time we travel with you thanks to your beautiful pictures and way of narrating =D
So great
your autumn piece is really beautiful
I love those colours
I hope you're feeling better now
gros bisous =D
xxxx

Carol said...

I guess that is one hard thing with being a teacher is all those germs that little kids seem to give off--ha ha!! Hope you feel better very soon, Anne :) I know it must be tough to teach while you're sick...

Love your autumn finish and the photos from your last bike trip are wonderful. I hope you still get some warm weather (and some time) to enjoy a couple more bike rides before winter sets in!

Maggee said...

Looks like you had a great, last trip before the weather turns. We have a bit more time here in Virginia. This is the real nice time, when the heat is gone but it is still warm during the days. I love it! I have that Blue Ribbon design, and want to do it now that I have seen it done! Pretty cute! Hugs!

Brigitte said...

When school is on everything else is a bit on the backseat, I know that myself from the time when I was still teaching. But you made quite a bit of progress on your stitching and crocheting. Very nice Blue Ribbon finish!

Such a lovely bike ride. Thanks for sharing all the beautiful pictures.

I'm also on Feedly and I have encountered the same problem. So now when I start following a new blog on blogger I go over to Feedly and add it to my list there, too. Seems to be the only solution.

I hope you are feeling a lot better by now.

woolwoman said...

Hope you are feeling better - it was fun seeing all your photos from your bike adventure. your Hannah is really coming along. I like how your little Acorns and Owls turned out - I ran across that freebie the other day - nice to see it stitched. Hope you are enjoying fall in the north country. Cheers Melody

Karoline said...

Gorgeous finish, it'll look lovely as a pillow.

Great progress on Hannah, almost there.

Hope you are feeling better now

Kaisievic said...

Oh dear, sorry to hear that you have been unwell. I hope that you are fully back on your feet soon. Lovely stitching and I so enjoyed your bike ride. Great pics - made me feel as I was there with you both.

Kaisievic said...

P.S. Furio and Milo say "miaow" to Titus.

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Have cc'd you in on an email I have sent to Feedly asking this question!

I wonder, does Bloglovin automatically add new blogs?

Great post with lots of lovely pictures, strange donkeys but it must work and they don't seem bothered.

The Maiden said...

I see a finish in your future! Love the cute little owl's on the autumn design, and that bloom was so delicate! Toby also lays around like that, I try to tell him to be a "lady" and he scoffs at me!

Aurelia Eglantine said...

@ Jo - I'm using Bloglovin, and it does update pretty fast, but I still get some blogs turn up faster in my old Google Dashboard, so sometimes there's a lag - seems to be 1-2 hours. Same thing when you start following a new blog - you'll be "following" it right away, but it may take a few hours for the latest (last four) posts to show up in your reader. You can speed things up by refreshing your page over and over though :)

So sorry to hear you've been down with a bug, Anne, hope you're feeling better soon! Great stitchy progress, I've been thinking up playing with some of the lovely Autumnal colours I've been seeing lately, A&O is very cute. Interesting pictures as always,
the bird (egret? heron? IDK) is very graceful :)

Now, I have a Very Important Question - is Titus just naturally that fluffy, or do you have some sort of Super Floofing Machine that you put him in every morning? LOL :P Your granny square is looking marvelous, the colours you chose are so pretty together!

Mary said...

Acorns and Owls looks great, Anne. The colors are perfect for this season.
I enjoyed the pics from your recent bike trip. Let's hope there will be a few more rides for you to enjoy before the cold weather sets in.

Hannah is almost finished, great job! Your crocheting is beautiful and it looks like Titus thinks so, too

I hope you are feeling better.

EvalinaMaria said...

Get well soon dear Anne. The stitching looks lovely and the trip sounds awesome. Sorry about the beets...

diamondc said...

Titus: Blondie says hello.
Love your mommies stitching Acorns and Owls is adorable, Hannah looks pretty good almost done, and the beautiful afghan.
Catherine

Stitching Noni said...

I love Titus!!
Sorry to hear that you're not been feeling too well... Not nice having a summer cold! Hope you are on the mend now :)
Great progress on your WIP's
Hugs xx

Catherine said...

Hope you are feeling better! I am battling a cold now and it is not fun! Such a sweet autumn finish. Love seeing pictures from your adventures ~ not sure if my fear of heights would have let me cross that bridge on a bike! Yikes!