The Bean Countdown

Well hello!

I'm surprised my blog hasn't disappeared with the lack of effort I have put into it lately. I can't believe how time has flown by.  I've been off of work now for over two weeks and have seriously, severe, pelvic girdle pain, making it impossible to walk around, move in bed, do anything that requires standing so I sit and wait.  Since I've been sitting around, watching lots of home and garden TV, I've been stitching on Sarah Chapple.  I've thought about starting a few new pieces but that would be silly as baby Bean is coming in a few days...I hope! We have also moved a pile of boxes over to my great aunt's house which we will move into July 1st.  There's still a lot of work to be done in the house before it's ready, but we are looking forward to it as we will be across the street from my Nana, and in an amazing area in Vancouver, Kerrisdale.  Back to my roots! I grew up there until I was 4 and visited every summer until I went to UBC, where I lived with my grandparents for a few years.  It's a nice flat, quiet area with shops 6 blocks away.  A great place for me and Bean to walk around in and get back into shape! I sure hope this pain goes away as nothing is helping it.  I've tried physio, massages, everything, nothing works.  I think I'll have to go for the epidural during birth as I won't be able to stand the hip pain.  As long as Bean is okay, then I'll do what I need to do.  Enjoy some photos of my stitching progress and granny stripe.  

Finished the left vine!!

 Sarah Chapple is such a massive sampler.  I told my hubby the other day that I probably won't finish her for another year or so with a little baby around.  We will see!

Some Knotgarden progress. Another massive project that will be put on hold for some time.

My granny stripe is coming along.  I think I need to add only 11-12 more colours then I can put in a border!

An almost finish on the Rooster I am stitching for my friend's little boy.  I have a bit more black stitching to do then it's ready to be framed! He's a very majestic rooster isn't he?!

My baby's rag quilt washed and ragged.  It's such a soft quilt!

A few photos of me, my siblings and Titus of course. 

Before I was completely immobile

Siblings being silly looking at my belly

Sleepy Titus

A few thoughts on blogging.  It feels to me that there has been a decline in blogging, including my own decline in writing posts and commenting.  Instagram is where I tend to be as it's quick and easy to post photos and peruse other people's photos.  Blogging has been enjoyable however, I feel like it takes a huge effort to post and eats away so much time, of which I know I won't have a lot of very soon! I don't think I'll give it up quite yet but we will see how things go! I will definitely let everyone know about Bean's arrival and if it's a he or she...I think he...but after that, if I don't have any stitching to show, I probably won't post that often as this blog has been more of a great stitching journal for me over the last 4 almost 5 years.  Anywho, I hope everyone is doing well, I do miss you all and sorry for being so remiss lately.  

Hugs to all!

Anne and Baby Bean

Blooms and Samplers

Hello again everyone!

Wow two posts in two days! A record for me this year.  I'm glad everyone enjoyed the Easter Hop Jo coordinated.  It was fun to take part in.  I still need to collect a few more letters then try to decode the message.  I thought I would give everyone a little update on my stitching, crocheting and Bean of course.  I have about 7 weeks left before Bean arrives and she/he is growing so much! There's little room left in me and I spend my days hobbling, wobbling around like a penguin.  My back pain is bad and the acid reflux just doesn't let up.  So I'm counting down for those to go away but I also want to sleep before Bean comes! I know I won't get much of it and even though you can't stock up on sleep, I need to be rested before I start my work days.  

I've been trying to make more progress on my WIP's and adding a few more lines in my granny stripe because I know those will all be put down for awhile when Bean comes.  I made two more Granny square bunting triangles and I think I'll make two more before I string them together.  Where I'll put them I don't know, but eventually they will go in Bean's room.  

I have about 14 more colours to add to my granny stripe before I start the border.  I hope to add a few more tonight.

I've thoroughly enjoyed making this blanket.  It's been almost a year since I started it and I hope to finish it soon.

Now onto stitching.  Sarah Chapple has been receiving some love.  She is just the prettiest sampler.  I love the colours and the honeysuckle flowers on the vine.  

I added the last few, little filigree details on JCS.  There's still so much of this lovely sampler to do I don't know when this will be completed.

I love how the backstitching really makes those flowers pop! 

I've been fairly faithful too to working on Knotgarden at least once a week.  The last knot has actually more progress than this picture but I'm too lazy to pull it out and take a new photo. 

As for smalls, I wanted to start a new little stitch but haven't yet.  There's just too many other things to work on for the moment!

Oops, almost forgot to add.  I stitched a wee bit last night on BOAF's Sarah Emery.  She's such a sweet sampler and so pleasant to work on.  

 
I did buy some stash....why I don't know.  I bought a sampler from Scarlett Letter to make at some point in my life.  Polly Phillip.  She's such a beautiful sampler.  I adore the blues! The amount of AVAS silks is crazy.  I'll have to slowly collect them and maybe when Bean enters school, I'll have the supplies and the time to stitch her!

Some yarns from Loveknitting asked to be bought.  I love using Stylecraft's DK for the granny stripe so I figured why not add more colours to the collection.

Fun colours to work with! I also got some baby wool to try out and I have some ideas of what I want to do with them. 

I also bought some charts from Maggee when she had her stash for sale.  They are older BBD charts and I would love to stitch them some day!

The other day, we had a visitor outside our window.  Not sure if he's a hawk or falcon.  He's such a majestic bird and I'm glad he stayed long enough for me to capture a couple of photos.  

Isn't he handsome?! I've seen him before but he flew off before I could get my camera.  A very shy bird. 

Okay, I'm signing off now.  We will be doing some pregnancy photos with my aunt next weekend so I hope to have some updated photos of us soon for you all.  I truly appreciate all of your comments and I know I have been bad in replying and commenting.  I actually caught up during Spring break but am falling behind again.  Anywho, lots of hugs and love to you all!!

Ciao!

Anne

Bitter Flower Sampler Finished!

Well, it's my second finish and my third post of the year.  I'm on a roll. NOT! Oh well, life gets us busy and things go to the wayside when you spend most of it sick, writing reports and going to appointments all the time.  Thankfully, I'm on the mend with Spring break to look forward to.  I have a number of little projects in mind for Spring break so we will see if I get them done.  I want to attempt making a cloth diaper, make those cute crocheted booties and a wet bag.  Should be manageable right? We will see! 

Onto my bitter flower finish.  It's a BOAF design that I had kitted up for awhile.  It was a pleasure to stitch in hand.  I used 32 ct. Ray of Light Belfast with the recommended WDW threads.

The linen is a bit topsy turvy for some reason. Hopefully it'll straighten out when I frame it.  

I've made some progress on my other big WIP's so here are the photos.

JCS

Knotgarden

Sarah Chapple

I'm itching to do a little small but not sure which spring one to do. I'll have to look through my freebie charts and other spring charts to see what speaks to me.  

Speaking of spring, we have had an early start to spring.  Many of the blossoms and flowers are out although we are now going through a bit of a cold snap.  Hopefully the flowers will be okay!

I've also done a wee bit of knitting just to practice my knitting skills.  I'm attempting to make my hubby a scarf for next winter. So far so good!

Knitting in the BClabs waiting room

Hum, nothing much more to report other than I'm having loads of fun with my acid indigestion and pregnant insomnia.  Thankfully I smile when I feel Bean roll, kick and push parts of me.  It's such an amazing feeling to have in my belly!

Of course I can't forget my first fur baby...Titus!

Helping me with reports

Hiding under a blanket

Giving me "I want kibble" eyes

Hugs to you all and thank you for visiting!!

Anne

The Bad Blogger

That would be me! I have wanted to blog multiple times since my last blog but I have been sidetracked by a nasty flu, work, and now a congested head cold since last weekend. We have also stopped packing and gave up on finding a decent place since we should probably buy our next home instead of renting with the crazy prizes here in the Lower Mainland.  But where to buy, we don't know.  I think that with baby bean's birth on the horizon, moving is just crazy which was stressing us both out a lot, and I can't afford to be stressed right now.  So we are going to improve our place a little bit instead. Baby Bean can stay with us for the first few months and then we will see what to do.  So I unpacked some of my stitching supplies and have been working on my WIP's while sick.  It helps with the stress! 

I had one finish this year so far! Woohoo!! It's BBD's freebie Souvenir de Paris I stitched for a colleague who will be retiring this year.  It will be placed in scrapbook so I didn't need to finish it into anything.  I used GAST Blue Jay, a divine blue, and a scrap of linen I found. 

I personalized it with her initials and the year of her retirement.  I hope she likes it!

After pulling out my stitching supplies from boxes, which was a silly thing to do, I grabbed Knotgarden and stitched on it all yesterday and the night before.  

The corner is complete except for the beading and fancy stitches which I'm going to leave out so they don't get squished by the qsnaps. I highly doubt this will get finished in the next year with Baby Bean's imminent arrival.

Sarah Chapple had got a lot of love from me the past month or so.  She's such a beautiful sampler to work on.  I can't wait for her to be finished!

The border with all the honeysuckle flowers will take quite awhile to do. It's such a unique design that is very ornate.  Stay tuned!

The Bitter Flower Sampler by Birds of a Feather is nearly complete.  It's been fun stitching it on weekdays as it's easy to hold in my hand and I can speed along as I wind down from work. 

I've made two bunting triangles, with a third in progress for Baby Bean.  They are fun to make and I think I'll make 4-6 more of them.

The Granny stripe has been growing too.  Hubby says I need to get it done so we can have at least one finished blanket this year.  

I feel like a bad mother who has made nothing for Bean yet! So I found these adorable booties online that looked fairly simple to crochet.  I'm going to give it a fair shot in the next few weeks and see if I can make them.

Aren't they adorable?! Teeny tiny baby shoes always fills me with delight! I'm going to make them in white and maybe grey too. At least Bean will have stylish feet! 

I'll leave with a few photos from my walk yesterday.  I had to get out although I was very tired and the walk wore me out. I really hope this cold goes away and that I don't get another one for awhile.  I'm sick of being sick!!!

My February display

Oh, can't forget about Titus!! He's such a big suck.  I wonder how he will be when Bean comes.  Hubby says we can't ignore Titus but I don't know.  I know that Bean's first few months will be attached to me so how much can of myself can I give to all the babies in the house, hubby included.

Take care and thank you all for taking the time to read through this post.  I have been a bad commenter as well but I do peak around to everyone's blogs early in the morning as I wake up.  My comments wouldn't make sense that early so I have been refraining for a reason.  I hope to take some time during spring break to do some visiting.  Hugs to you all!!

Anne

We Survived!

Well, it was a crazy, cold camping trip but we did it! My hubby wanted to stay another night but on the second night, I woke up mumbling/complaining about the cold and he heard me so we left the next day.  It was definitely an experience I'll remember...being freezing! I was like a lizard during the day following the sun, trying to get warm.  There was also no water there, which we didn't know about.  Luckily for us, there were some older campers who were very kind and gave us water from their warm motor homes. On the last day though, we had to use creek water, boiled of course, to sustain us until we got back into Sechelt.  The water was very clear and crisp yet one can't take risks and should always boil water in case of parasites.  I managed to get a fire going on the second night which is a small feat considering the damp woods all around us.  I found dry kindling and we sprinkled some fuel to get it going.  I was very proud of my spring fire! We made a good choice in leaving that day for the very next, the coast had a downpour of cold rain.  Phew!! 

The trip over to the Sunshine coast

Sunset at Porpoise Bay

Morning sun at the Estuary

Rising sun

Frosted seaweed

Sea Snake!!

Hairy trees

I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do since my hands were so cold!! Very thankful for warmth now :D

Stitching Stuff and Conundrums    

Since I've been back, I made some progress on my projects however, I'm feeling stuck on my granny stripe.  When reading the instructions for the granny stripe, I found another post of Lucy's stating that it would be good to make the chain loose or use a larger gauge for the starting chain. Hummmmm....that's not what I did and so now, my granny stripe has a slight curve from the chain.  I'm not sure what to do.  Do I rip all my progress out or hold onto hope that the curve will "straighten" itself out?  Calling all crocheters for help!!  It's hard to tell in the photo but there is a definite curve.

I think ripping it out would have to happen now instead of adding more then deciding to rip....it's just so hard to think about counting 240 chains again!! That gave me a headache!

Quilting conundrums...I pulled out my quilt and measured, cut, pinned and sewed the first border the other day.  The second border, which was going to be 4 inches, is now going to be larger in order to cover our bed.  I think I have enough fabric for the border and the back but even if I don't, I'll improvise.  My conundrum is whether to hand quilt or machine quilt.  Machine quilting would mean I could only go in straight lines, which would be okay, but boring.  Hand quilting would allow me to be more creative and do swirls and things....yet it would take an age especially with all my other projects on the go.  I know I'll make the right choice for me in the end however, I can't visualize it at this moment!! The putting the quilt together part is still a bit of a mystery to me...hopefully when I get to that point the mystery will be revealed!

The brown border

The red fabric which will be the border and the back

Stitching, oh how I love you! If problems arise, I always (usually!) know what to do.  Thankfully, with stitching, I haven't had any conundrums...just pure, wonderful stitching.  I am happy to say that all of my little packages arrived to their owners.  I crocheted a little mug cozy for Mouse as a thank you for the 123stitch GC.  These little cozies are so easy to hook up and send on their merry way.  

Photo borrowed from  Mouse!

The little BBD pincushion I stitched for Shirlee arrived safely too.  I stitched it on 40 ct. Linen using a mix of DMC and GAST threads.  It's from the Agnes Platt's Strawberry Sampler book.  It was a fun one to stitch with some specialty stitches sprinkled in for variety.

Photo borrowed from Shirlee although my watermark showed up??

My spring biscornu made it all the way to the UAE!! Sarah loved the package and we both enjoyed doing this private exchange together.  Again I had to borrow photos from her to show you...sigh...next time I'll remember!!

The biscornu design is a spring biscornu freebie from Ancsanaplo.  I used 28ct Baby blue lugana with a mixture of WDW, Dinky Dyes Silk and Carrie's Creations threads. I chose the colours to represent the beautiful tulips of spring. 

Before I sign off, I wanted to show the progress I've made on Knotgarden and...wait for it....TEA BATH FAIRY!! My hubby again said "Why don't you give her some love and stitch on her tonight?"  So I did.  I pulled her out and am slowly filling in all the baby pink in the cup before I complete it with that wonderful stuff called Kreinik...Not!!! You can probably barely tell any difference but there has been about 2-3 hours put in filling in that pink!

Oh, and I got my love birds finally framed.  It's not the best DIY framing job, but it will do.

I feel like I have more to say...I'm sorry if it's been too long of a post! 

I just want to say to all of those who have joined my blog, and to those that I wish to join their blogs...that I CAN'T.  Google/Blogger are at odds and so am I.  For whatever reason, I can no longer join blogs and this is actually a problem for a few people.  You can read about it here. I also don't have any blogs on my reader list for some reason.  When I click on the settings, all of you are there, but not in the feed part.  Feedly is back to working for me so I can add people there...just can't be an actual follower on blogs...very sad and irritating.  

Take care everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this post! I know it's a long one!!


Hugs

Anne