First Post of January!

Well, it's the middle of January and I am finally posting.  I've wanted to post on a number of occasions but in between packing, working, horrific indigestion, a bought of flu, I haven't had the oomph to do so.  Let's see, I had my birthday on the 3rd, which was quiet as usual, Christmas on the 7th, also quiet since I wasn't feeling all too well, and my third ultrasound, baby is beautiful and healthy so far.  Lots to celebrate and be thankful for amidst the turmoil of our house.  I packed a lot of my stitching stuff away, and am now regretting that since I've wanted to start so many things, but I do have my current projects out so I've been working on those when I can.  

January is one of those months that I begin to feel the first sprout of glee at the prospect of Spring.  I saw the teeniest buds of snowdrops poking through here and there which means crocuses will be on its way soon too.  There's always a sense of awakening with the coming of Spring and of course this year, it'll be a big awakening...possibly keeping me awake all night! I look forward to the birth of our child.  Not the actual birth, but the after part of course! 

Now I do have a few things to share with you all.  Back in November, I finished a little BBD pillow for dear Jo as a little thank you for the fertility gift she sent to me way back in April.  When I was prepping the package for Jo, I heard Titus leaping onto the pillow and rolling around onto the package.  Uh oh! There were three pins in the pillow and then there were two! I couldn't find the third pin which freaked me out.  I checked Titus all over to see if a pin was sticking in him and thank goodness, there wasn't one.  He seemed fine and not like he just ate a pin, plus that would be very out of character for him to do that.  He does like to eat toilet paper, but not pins.  Anyways, a few weeks ago as we were packing, I moved some books over and found the pin! Phew...what a relief to me!  Silly cat!

I also received two amazing gifts from two amazing ladies, Melissa and Vickie. Vickie is so sweet to have sent me yet another lovely little ornament to celebrate our new family. 

We will be putting this on our tree for this year's Christmas.  Thank you my dear friend, we will treasure this ornament for many years!!

Then I had the unexpected pleasure of having a tunic made to fit for me by the creative seamstress Melissa, from Words and Blooms. Other than my mom, no one has made clothes for me before and I have to say, Melissa, you did an amazing job!! I love my tunic and it looks great on me with room to grow too! The fabric is a pretty sky blue with whimsical blossoms falling all over.  Very comfy too!

I did make one new start this year.  It's the BBD freebie "Souvenir de France" for one of our French immersion teachers who will be retiring this year.  I chose a scrap of linen and GAST Blue Jay to make it with.  I hope she will like it!

A Sarah Chapple update.  I stitched a lot on the borders and just started the second vase last night.  Instead of pulling her off the qsnaps to show the border, here's just the vase.

I'm really loving stitching on Sarah as I know I won't get much of a chance once Bean arrives.  As for Bean, I've been thinking of making things for him/her but have held off because I don't have a baby room yet, so no clue how to decorate it.  I thought about making some bright coloured Granny square bunting triangles to string up in the room for a burst of colour.  I think I'm going to start some tonight and see how it fairs.  All my yarn is in a plastic bin which I've kept out so I can still craft.  Maybe starting with the bunting will inspire me to make more things for Bean.  I'm just not good at making clothes and stuff like that.  I so wish I mastered knitting ages ago!!

I borrowed Lucy's photo of her granny bunting triangles to show you what I mean.

Not my photo...Lucy's from Attic 24

I hope you have enjoyed this little update from me.  I wish it was more packed full of stitching but there you have it.  I also felt guilty for posting as I have been so behind in blog commenting it's not funny.  I did spend some time last weekend going through and reading/commenting and it was fun! I'm amazed at all of you who have been keeping up with the 15-30 starts this month in honor of Debbie.  She was such a lovely lady who has inspired us to continue making new starts!!

Hugs to you all!!

This photo I took makes me think of an inky watercolour

Feeling the Love

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and well wishes!! We are truly thankful and feel the love from all of you!!

I'm sitting here writing as Titus is doing a serious loud cleaning beside me.  Sometimes it drives me nuts and now I'm distracted by all the licking....the fluff flying around in the air is attaching itself to everything, including me!

Ignoring Titus and onto some stitchy news, I had a very busy weekend with a minute amount of stitching done.  Friday night was supposed to be spent on Magic Garden but I was out with a few girlfriends gabbing away.  I did stitch a purple thing in the bottom right corner.  I wanted Maggee to catch up a bit anyways.

Saturday was spent attending a baptism, filling myself with amazing Russian and Italian food...quite the combo, then had a long vesper service (night service before Sunday liturgy).  Sunday was church, more eating of leftovers from the baptism, including a cake that was soaked in all sorts of alcohol, piroshki which is a sweet dough with a meat filling - my favourite dish in the world, and all sorts of other delicious dishes.  I didn't get a picture of the piroshki since I was too busy enjoying eating it to think of pictures. 

I managed to stitch a bit last night on Knotgarden and that's it.  I have two other little gifts I'm working on but those can't be revealed yet!!

Close up of Algerian eyelets.

The granny afghan is growing.  It covers my legs while I crochet so I think I'm about 3/4's of the way finished.

I added Titus onto the blanket to give you an idea of how large it is

The other day, I received a wonderful surprise from Cindy.  I had won her giveaway awhile back and forgot! So it was a lovely surprise to receive a package in the mail.  She sent me some adorable charts, a nice piece of fabric and little Christmas lights for finishing.  Thank you so much Cindy!! The LHN charts have the threads to stitch it with.  So lovely of her to add that in!!

Signing off with a photo of my blooming hyacinth.  I can't wait for spring and the flowers to bloom.  I have spotted a few snowdrops peeking out but no crocuses yet.  Hopefully in the next 2 weeks we will see an explosion of colour.

Hugs to you all! I know I have been very behind on my blog reading/commenting since being back to school.  I will have more time next weekend to visit all of you!!

Anne

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to you all!

I still have some time left as I celebrate on January 7th, but we will be celebrating with my husband's family tomorrow.  I have a couple of more things to do before tomorrow and I'm dreading going out in the madness.  I will be making this post short and sweet since my mom says my posts are too long.  Hope this is short enough for you mom!!

My crocheted snowflakes whip up quickly and I plan to make more tonight.  Nothing like last minute crocheting to do. 

I attached little bells at the bottom and am pleased with the result. I used a little starch and they are not super stiff but they do maintain their shape. 

I finished my brother's deer and will be using craft paint instead for the box.  It's easier for me and doesn't create a huge mess.

My crochet granny square is getting less wonky now that I turn every round.  I found a few stitches that slipped out when I took this picture and freaked!! Luckily, I was able to re-crochet it back together and tie a knot in the end so that won't happen again!

I will be busy baking cookies tonight for tomorrow and hopefully won't eat too many...heheee.

Another one of my giveaway packages arrived safely in Australia.  Noni received the ornament by Blue Ribbon Designs from JCS 2013 Ornament issue.  I'm glad she likes the ornament and it's on display for Christmas.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments.  I hope to respond once I've finished today's shopping trip.  Wishing you all of the best for Christmas.  Sending you all a big hug!!

Naughty Titus playing with the garland...looking like he's done nothing wrong

Crafty Goodness

Bonjourno everyone!!

I've got lots of great crafty goodness to share with you all so I hope you have something to warm your hands with a good cup of something.   I'm holding a cup of coffee since my hands are freezing.  Perhaps I should put on one of my mug cozies I've been crocheting up?! I can't though since they are gifts for people. The other night, my husband watched me jump from project to project with reckless abandon; stitching, crocheting, pinning, gluing and painting.  I caught the Christmas craft bug in a big way.  I found a great tutorial on how to make crocheted stars and have made three already.  I'm hoping to whip up more of these as cute little gifts for my friends and family.  They take less than 20 minutes to make and all I need now is some starch to spray onto the stars for them to retain their shape.  That and some glitter...my hubby's suggestion.  He's such a great guy!! If you are interested in making some of these charming stars, check out this great blog by Matt: According to Matt. He adds glue on his stars but another blog suggests starch, so that's what I'm going to use.  I still need to attach some bells at the end and then they are finished. I also started a deer silhouette for my brother's bullet box.  I'll be painting the box brown or may stain it.  What do you think I should do?  I've never stained anything before.  Anyone have suggestions?

I find it funny to upload this photo here since I've already uploaded it first to Facebook and Instagram.  It seems there are a lot of us stitchers on both media platforms finding each other more and more everyday.  Is blogging going to be a thing of the past? Although I do enjoy Instagram and facebook, I hope blogging stays because I do enjoy reading people's posts in a diary/journal type form!

Onto more crafty goodness.  I'm happy to announce that Meari has received my mailart!! After the people (rather the young buck) at the post office looked at me like I was crazy and was not helpful at all, I mailed the envelope with some trepidation.  I had visions of people at the letter sorting place pulling it out of the line and opening it or destroying it!! Why, I don't know...I was just worried!! So glad that it made it to her and she told me her parents thought it was really cool to receive mail from BC so they got out an atlas to find me! Check out her post! I can hardly wait to receive mine.  This is my first private exchange and I enjoyed every bit, even the worrying part!

The inside fabric

the back

the front

The design on the back is a freebie from The Little Stitcher. The design on the front is a freebie from Gazette94.  I stitched the tree and a bunch of the snowflakes randomly all around the tree.  I used DMC threads for all of the stitching.  The variegated red is 119 I believe.  I used some sort of evenweave fabric that was in my stash.  I hope to do this again...wink wink Meari!

Finally one of my giveaway prizes has been received. Pat from Southpaw Stitcher loved the pillow I made for her and the treats I included for her to use.  I am happy with the finish too.  For some reason I do "perfect" finishes for others....just not for myself.  Maybe I should pretend that the finish I'm working on is for someone else and then it will turn out ok! I stitched it on 32 ct. Lambswool with DMC threads. Her photos on her blog are much better than mine. 

Prairie Schooler Fall

Still waiting for the other two to arrive...but they have further to travel.  

So on that crafty crazy day, I finished my Two White birds.  Not happy with the finish at all.  It's crooked, the ribbon bow is bunchy, the ribbon around the pinkeep is wonky...sigh.  I'm sure none of you will see any of these flaws, but I do.  Not only is it not what I envisioned, but there's some sort of pink blog dot on one of the bird's tails.  You can't see it in the photo since the ribbon covers it.  

I haven't posted a TUSAL in ages, so here's my year end orts.  The bowl is overflowing and I have to figure out what to do with all of those orts. 

We finally put our Christmas tree up last night! Yay! We listened to Christmas tunes and Loreena McKennitt's Christmas album.  The song "Snow" always makes me emotional and nostalgic for Christmas times past.  I remember listening to this song in the kitchen while making sugar cookies with my mom when I was16 years old.  We listened to the tape on a tape player and stayed up until 1 am making cookies.  That night it was snowing and everything was quiet save for Loreena's voice echoing in our kitchen.  Magical...isn't it?

Take care everyone and thank you for staying with me this long! I appreciate all of the lovely comments and well wishes everyone is sending me and my husband.  He appreciates it too and thanks everyone who has taken a moment to think of him.  

Anne

Brrrrrrrr....it's Cooooold Out!!

Hello everyone! (a wee bit of a boring post...sorry!)

It's been ages since I've updated my blog.  Only two more weeks left before the Christmas break and I'm really looking forward to it.  How it got to December 9th, I'll never know.  December always creeps up on me then I start to feel the panic when I realize how close we are to Christmas.  I've been catching up on blog reading which is great because you are all getting me into the Christmas spirit.  So many wonderful posts with people's Christmas stitching and trees makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, which is a good thing because it's cold here! Freezing in fact! I wish I could share all the stitching/finishing I have been doing but since it was for my giveaway winners and an exchange, I can't.  Meari and I are doing a mailart exchange.  I had so much fun putting it together and can't wait to show it!! 

As of late, I have been on a crochet kick and have been steadily working on my granny square afghan.  It got a little wonky in the middle but after researching why, I figured out how to fix the problem.  I don't mind it being wonky since it's my first one and we all learn from our mistakes.  It really bothered me at first but I think that after it's complete, it won't be so noticeable. The other night I made a cute little mug cozy and fixed it with a button.  I think I'll whip up more of these since it was so fast to create.

Crooked square..never mind the tails!!

I did start the Magic Garden by Shakespeare's Peddlar a few months ago and just picked it up last night.  It's slow going on 40 count fabric and I feel weird stitching something unseasonal right now! I should be making Christmas gifts!!

Very little progress on the chicken...reports and giveaway gifts got in the way of finishing this handsome fella

Today my hubby and I went for a winter walk down to the quay.  We saw a murder of crows in the trees and I took a lot of cool photos.  Too bad I didn't have a good zoom lens to get great close ups.

Of course I had to take photos of my favourite logs sticking out of the river.  I love the mirrored images on the still water.

Tugboat...

Pretty ornaments in trees

Cute Christmas tree in the Quay

We still need to put up our tree.  I am hoping to do it tonight if hubby will be up to getting it out of storage.  He's still not all that well.  Loads of appointments in our future.  Let's just hope for some answers soon. 


Thank you for all your comments on Hannah.  I feel somehow lost a bit without a sampler to work on.  I have two other big WIP's (Tea bath fairy and Knotgarden) that I should finish before anything else, but I am too addicted to samplers.  My husband is getting worried about my addiction...lol! He should be worried since I have many more I want to stitch up!!

Take care everyone!

Hugs