I Can't Sew Straight. Period.

I just can't!!!! 

Hello again! Two posts in one day! A rarity for me.  After my giveaway post, which you can find below, I spent most of the day trying to sew my smalls into little pillows.  You would think after using a rotary cutter, those quilter's plastic ruler thingys, measuring, pinning, etc, I should be able to sew a straight line.  Right? NO! Egads!!!! I would use stronger words, in fact I almost did a Shirlee.  You know, when she lit one of her stitching on fire? Nearly did.  But then I thought better of it because I really didn't want to deal with a mess and a potential apartment fire.  So I persevered and tried to cover up the wonky lines with trims and filled the pillows to the max.  The first one I'll show you is stitched on 28ct black lugana.  When I was stitching "Give Thanks" by PSS, I noticed that the linen was warped.  It looked as though I was stitching diagonally.  Which I wasn't because I checked a gazillion times! So needless to say, the crookedness followed me to the sewing machine.  Then all hell broke loose on the second finish.

 Ugh, even the photo didn't go my way!! Black does not photograph very well.  

Loose corners...they wouldn't get filled for the life of me!

All my autumn finishes so far.  

I used a few buttons and trims from The Victorian Motto Shoppe.  She really has lovely trims.

I've been making headway with the rooster.  I'm really enjoying stitching it so far.  

Chicken feet!!!

Titus was not the best helper today.  He was rolling around in everything and trying to eat the rick rack!! He's lying in a bit of sunshine we had today. It disappeared not too long afterwards.

No progress on Hannah since I last posted.  I should really crack on with her and start up JCS 1707.  But now with all of the Christmas gifts I'm thinking of making, JCS may take a back seat for a bit.  My quilt is also giving me a side eye and I can hear her saying "Get your panels cut!! Who cares if you can't sew/cut straight.  Get me done!!!"  Perhaps it's my sewing machine.  Yes that's it...blame it on the machine!!!!

Take care everyone and thank you for listening to me rant!!!

Hugs

Anne who can't sew straight for the life of her......

3 Years of Blogging Giveaway!!!!

Finally my friends, it is here!!

Yay!!

Okay, so I have decided on the designs I want to stitch for my giveaway, but you get to decide which one you want! Sound good?

Here are the choices:

A) One of the PS creatures below: owls, squirrels, crow on pumpkin with fall, crows, crow on red pumpkin, or leaves and acorns

B) BBD's "You pick your colour bird"! Tell me what colour combo you want and I stitch it for you!!

C) Blue Ribbon Design's Redbird's Rejoice 

For each design, I will include a few little things that go with the design.  My big fluffy Titus will pick the winner.

Details/Rules:

1. Be a follower (you can advertise if you like)
2. Leave a comment telling me which package you would prefer on this post


That's it! I like simple giveaways...helps me sort things out in my head!!

Enter by November 1st at midnight.  Draw will be November 2nd.  I will also draw two more names for complimentary prizes since it's my third year in blogging and I love the number 3!!

I'll be back hopefully later on today.  I have a number of smalls I want to finish up and beautify today.  Wish me luck that I sew straight and get it done!!

Hugs

Anne and Titus

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