ISHW Progress!

Bonjour!!

I hope everyone had a successful stitch and hermit weekend! I managed to have a decent one.  I did go out on Friday night to a friend's art show opening, which was a lot of fun.  It's always good to see all her friends and family come out and support her.  Yay for the arts!! Luckily I didn't have any plans for the rest of the weekend, so I got to set up my stitching station and go to it.  While I was stitching, I decided to pop in the first two extended movies of the Lord of The Rings.  I felt it was that time of year to take a trip to the Shire and travel with the fellowship.  I didn't really get to 'watch' the films because I was focused on my Haed piece.  It was sort of like radio! A lot of my time on Saturday was spent trying to figure out a mistake I made in the TBF pattern.  Sigh...did that take an age to work it out.  I had to quickly make little 10 x 10 blocks with thread and count and recount a rather big section.  Luckily, the mistake was a small one that I stopped from following me around the pattern.  I didn't frog it, since frogging 1 over 1 is not a good idea, so I worked with it instead of fighting it!!

Thanks to all those who gave me tips on whether to wash now or later, and I think the general consensus is to wait till the end.  I did test wash a piece of the evenweave and I noticed that the fabby sort of shrunk a bit which means if I wash now, my piece will be distorted.  I will also be adding some fabric bits under my Qsnaps so I won't soil the fabric as much as before. 

As planned, I started a new Christmas ornament!! I chose "Yuletide" by Plum Street Samplers because I had the threads already! I used a different fabric than suggested though and I think I like my choice better.  It is a khaki colour, unknown count, although I think that it must be 36 ct or 40ct.  It comes from my wonderful friend who gifted me with all her fabbies that she will never use! So thanks again dear friend!!

To finish off this post, I am happy to say that I found the perfect fabric for Valerie's pin cushion and have begun the process of putting it together.  I won't share any photos of the cushion though until she gets her package.

Here's a couple of fall photos I took of me and my hubby's walk around a park on a beautiful crisp, autumn day!

Take care and happy stitching!!


Anne

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wow has time flown by! I can't believe it's already time for turkey!! Tomorrow night I will be partaking in some yummy turkey, stuffing, candied carrots and pumpkin pie at my Auntie's house.  I can't wait....my tummy is growling right now!! Usually I take off to Prince George to visit my parents and siblings, but since I visited them in the summer, I will have to wait till next year to visit again (plane tickets are expensive!) I really love Prince George at this time of year.  All the poplar trees are orange and there's a really nice crispness to the air.  Plus the smell of autumn around my old house makes me happy and nostalgic of the times I spent traipsing around the woods as a child.  Vancouver is pretty too at this time of year, yet PG steals my heart.

As for stitching, I have been working on Valerie's pin cushion and am loving it so much I think I need to make myself one!! I can't show any pics yet because I don't want to give away the surprise.  Now last time I mentioned I wanted to buy some threads--furtively looks around to see if hubby is nearby, phew he isn't!---and I bought some! Woot! I ordered some Valdani threads, just to try them out.  One is a luscious wine red which I will be using to stitch some Christmas designs and a friend's present.  I also ordered a chart from Birds of a Feather and I can't wait to get it!  Now I have been thinking about starting Jane Philpott, and I am having a hard time resisting buying the silks for the sampler.  I decided that since it will be an epic venture, I should stitch with the best of threads.  I noticed HDF has a Jane set so I may put that on my Christmas list, along with BBD's a Schoolgirls Work. My list is getting large!!

Photo courtesy of theSilverNeedle

As for the Tea Bath Fairy, I've been working fairly steadily on her and have almost completed 3 pages!! I can't believe that I've only stitched half the SAUCER!!! I thought it was the tea cup! I seriously give props to those who have stitched more than one HAED.  They truly are intense!

A quick question.  If you look closely, you can see my evenweave is a bit soiled from my fingers holding the Q snap frame, even though I'm constantly washing my hands.  Should I wash now or after the whole piece is done.  If I do, should I use a delicates soap like Dove? I've been using DMC threads, and I think they are okay and won't bleed, but before I do I would like to ask your opinion.

Some filler pics so my post isn't totally boring.  Here's a needlework piece my husband's grandmother made ages ago. She passed away two years ago so this is pretty special to him.  It's missing a frame and finding the perfect frame for it is difficult.  I really love this picture.  It's so pretty.

Pretty Sunflower

 Here are some lovely giveaways people are having (click on their name).

1. Cucki's giveaway
2. Lisa's giveaway.  She's having her 3rd year blogoversary and is hoping to get to 100 followers! So pop over and join her!

Now, as always, I'm behind on my commenting.  I was going to do it after this post but I really want to stitch.  So tomorrow morning I'll be popping around!

Love in turkeys

Anne

Giveaway Winner!!!

The Giveaway Winner is...................................................


VALERIE !!!! From Fog City Dweller!!!!!!

Congrats Valerie!

Valerie said : My favorite color is purple but my favorite color combo is light blue and brown. I drink all teas...black for morning, green for the afternoon and herbal like chamomile/sleepytime for nighttime. 

So Valerie, I will be emailing you regarding your win and the designs you can choose from.

Thank you again to everyone who entered. It was a lot of fun to print out everyone's names, cut them up, put the slips of paper in my giveaway bowl, and get my hubby to pull out a name.  I was excited to see who it was and figure out what colours I will be using.  Too bad I don't have 45 sets of arms so I could stitch everyone something!!! I will be saving the comments and colour combos for potential future RAK's :D

Here are the photos of the draw!!

The printing and cutting of names

All the lovelies' names in the bowl!

Hubby mixing around pulling a name

And he picks...........

Valerie!!!!!

I just popped over to her blog and here's the crazy thing: it's her Birthday today!! Wow! What a great Birthday gift!!!

So hop on over to her blog, FogCity Dweller and wish her congrats and Happy Birthday!! 


Loves and Hugs to all!!!

Anne 

BBD Finish, Shepherd's Bush Start, and a WIP

Hello my lovelies!!

Yay! I am back at home and reunited with my hubby!!!  Sitting on a pug was fun but I felt it was time to let him go.  Seriously though, everything went fine,the pug was fairly good, except the excessive snoring and the leaping up onto me giving me bruises!! I'm just really happy to be at home, with my own stuff, my own computer and of course my man. 

Hamish

Once I got home, I decided it was time to start Shepherd's Bush's Tiny Garden.  Teresa had sent me the chart and Joyce had given me some lovely light bluish grey 25 ct. lugana to use, and since my thread order came, I was more than eager to start.  It was such a PLEASURE to stitch on lower count after I have been peering over my HAED WIP stitching 1 over 1.  As I was close to finishing one side of the Tiny Garden, I realized I forgot to order 1 Weeks Dye Works thread!! URGH! How frustrating is that?!!! So I laid down my stitching and off I went to 123stitch.com to add that one thread. I then decided to look around at the other threads they have, particularly the Valdani Threads and Dinky Dyes silks. I spent a REALLY long time browsing through all their threads, until 1 am.  Oops! I haven't order anything YET, but when I do..hehe...I am going to be adding some Valdani and Dinky Dyes silks just for the heck of it!! I also ended up adding BBD A Schoolgirl's Work to my wishlist cause I am hoping that either my mom or my hubby will get that for me for Christmas. I hope my hubby doesn't read this post because he would state "You have enough threads! You don't need anymore!" This is always his response. Like he knows anything!!

Anywho, stash stalking aside, I ended up finishing BBD's freebie design "Now I know my ABC's".  A lovely quick stitch that I am thinking of either framing or finding some sort of box to put it on.

 Yesterday before I headed home, I purchased the new Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments Issue and am pretty excited about making a couple of their ornaments.  Though I really need to focus on what I have going on now, so I probably won't make anything until the end of October.  There is definitely not enough time in the day to make all the projects I want to make!!!

Here are some photos of the Queen all framed and another pretty blue glass object I found at a designer store closing out sale.

Don't forget about the giveaway draw tomorrow! I'm pretty excited to see who the winner will be and what colours I will be using!!!

With Hugs and Pugs!

Anne

Pug Sitting

Yes, that is what I am doing! Just so all of you know, I am unable to upload any pictures of my progress because I am not at home.  My aunt has a fancy MAC and I have no clue how to go about uploading pictures.  I don't think my USB gadget even works with a MAC, so you will all have to wait until Thursday for an update unfortunately.

Thank you to all who have entered my giveaway! It's been fun to read everyone's favourite colours and teas!!!!

Happy Stitching!

Anne