Magic Garden Finish and Samplers Galore!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my new followers! Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post.  I'm behind in emails since I've had a load of stress heaped onto my plate this week.  Both in life and in work.  Just a lot of decisions and different paths to ponder makes for a dizzy head.  One really wonderful event happened at work on Thursday; a designation for a sweet, dear boy close to my heart came through which means he will get some aid time for next year! I literally cried when I heard the news! The poor Grade 7 boy working on his math who had to witness my exclamation, looked concerned for me.  I told him not to worry, the tears are happy tears.  A very bright light in a week of changes. 

On Friday night, I added the last stitches in Magic Garden.  It was a really fun design to stitch and I'm happy to pass it along to someone if they would like it.  I know dear Maggee is still working on hers so don't forget to cheer her on...like I will!

Details: Stitched on 40 ct. Vintage Exemplar Linen with GAST recommended threads.

Samplers Galore

Now I have three samplers on the go! This weekend I forged ahead on all three of them.  I finished the border for the BBD SAL which I know starts today, but since I work all week I thought it would be smart to get a head start.

 Added a wee bit of progress on both JCS and Sarah.  As we say in the stitching world, progress is progress!!

Yesterday was Mother's Day and my aunts and I took Nana out for a lovely brunch by Coal Harbor.  The day was gorgeous and the food delicious.  We had a wonderful day together.  Happy Mother's Day to all of you! I just wish my mom could have been with us as well! 

My Nana is an amazing woman and she has a tendency to proclaim to people how old she is, and it's always a year older than her real age.  She was saying she's "85!" but really, she's 84.  She's always done this, hence my confusion with what her real age is! Love you Nana!! We are very much alike in our personalities and cheek bones!

Granny Stripe Progress: 2 more stripes! Yay! I loved working with the last colour: lipstick red.  It is very bright and cheery.  

I was perusing Attic24's blog the other day and noticed the mandala frenzy that is going on in the crochet world.  Some really amazing mandalas out there that I think I'm going to start one myself.  I just need to find some bright coloured cotton yarns.

Borrowed from Attic24's blog..isn't this brilliant?!

The last picture is from Zooty Owl's blog.  Check out her great tutorial for making mandalas!

Today, my husband and I went into the last antique store on Antique Alley in New Westminster.  We chatted with the old, darling lady there about all sorts of things.  I found so many items I wanted but could not get at the time.  But I had to purchase this!!

My very first antique cross stitching piece by Esme Tuck, stitched in 1929! Pre-World war II!! I NEVER come across anything like this in all my times I've spent in thrift and antique stores.  I think this is so sweet and the price was right at $40. Before we left, my husband picked up the teeniest little old leather-bound books on the counter.  Uh oh....BOOKS...and small old ones to boot.  I picked one up and it was Turgenev! A book I've never read yet of his but will soon read!! It was only $5 so how could I pass it up?!

What a great day! I hope to catch up with you all soon! 

Here's a photo of Titus since some of you were wondering where he was in the past few posts.  

Hugs

Anne and Titus

O Birdy and Blackbird Designs SAL

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was rainy but productive in a stitchy sense.  I would've rather cycled around and worked out my hips/thighs that have bloomed over the winter, however, sitting on those same hips/thighs catching up on Hart of Dixie with needle in hand was equally exciting!

So I finished La-D-Da's O Birdy. Thinking of a pillow finish with a twisted cord for trim. 

Details: Stitched on 40 ct Flax Newcastle linen, fast becoming my favourite linen to stitch on. Threads are a mix of DMC, AVAS and GAST.

I also threw in a few more stitches into Sarah Chapple and Magic Garden, my SAL with Maggee.  I still can't believe how long MG's fence is taking to stitch up!! Hopefully next Friday I will finish it.

Then after browsing through online stitching stores, and making mental lists of a plethora of designs to stitch, I came across the Blackbird Designs SAL that Alma and Barb are sharing with us.  I have yet to make a simple alphabet sampler and so have decided to participate in this SAL.  I'll need to put down my other projects to make time for this one.  I pulled some threads and had some difficulty with the pinks/purples.  I want to use my favourite Dinky Dye's Madi's Rose but I couldn't find it in my stash??!! Not sure where it took off to! Then I pulled two linens and am unsure of which one to use.  Let me know what you think.

Lakeside Linen's 36ct Buttercream.

This one is much more yellowish in reality, less cream! The yellow is very pretty and brings out the gold.

Or PTP's 36 ct Legacy Linen...nice marbled antique look.

Hard to decide.  Hubby thinks the Legacy but I'm leaning towards the buttercream. Decisions...I'm the worst with them!

Granny stripe progress! I've been crocheting on the train which is great.  I'm about to add another colour in for my ride tomorrow morning.  Can't decide between a teal or a dark plum colour.  I'll bring both.

I also had a surprise in the mail.  I recently won one of those darling little LHN sheep charts from Tricia at The Stamper's Stitches.  She included the most adorable little handmade card with the chart.  Once I stitch the design, I'll pass it on to the next stitcher. Thank you Tricia!!

From last week's bike trip, some black leafed clovers and pretty succulents.  We have a terrible time keeping succulents, no matter how much we DO NOT water them, they ALWAYS die on us.  I so wish to be able to keep succulents at some point in my life!!

Have a wonderful week! It's going to be sunny again when I work....isn't that the way?!

Anne

Mailart and Flowers

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for your lovely comments on the last post.  The past few days here have been like summer.  The weather is so hot and glorious I can't believe it! I'm eager to get on my bike and cycle around soaking in the sun.  There are a few things I need to do first before I head out.  

Meari's mailart finally arrived the other day and she loves what I made for her.  Her niece was visiting and thought that the mailart is the bomb!! So cute! For the front of the letter I chose parts of a freebie pattern from the Snowflower Diaries called Tulips with Chick.  I chose my own colours and used an assortment of overdyed threads for the pattern. 

For the back, I used BBD's A Breath of Spring with DMC threads.  I didn't stitch the whole pattern, just parts of it.  

It was fun to make for her and I'm glad we did this exchange.  Thanks Meari!!

Here's a few flower photos from our little bike ride down to the flower store in the farmlands.  It's such a happy place to be!

Beautiful Calla lily

My favourite...lavender

Little pockets of golden sunshine..Marigolds

That's all for now.  I'll have more stitching to share after the weekend.  I hope to get some finishing done to show!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs

Anne

Pascha and Beginnings

Christ is Risen!!

This is what we say for a few weeks after Pascha.  We had a good Pascha last week although both my husband and I got sick. I even had to take a day off of work which I never do!  For Pascha, we had our late night service and the hymns were beautiful.  So uplifting for the soul.  We broke the fast afterwards and ate some kulich and syrny pascha (sweet cheese dish).  The next day, my mom came briefly from Edmonton, flying back to Prince George.  I suppose they don't have direct flights from PG to Edmonton, so they have to come through Vancouver.  It was so good to see her for an hour! We ate roast beef rather quickly and chatted very fast too.  Then she was gone. 

Yummy kulich

Pascha breakfast

My beautiful mother and me

My sweet hubby and mom

 As for crocheting and stitching, I managed to make a few new starts.  Why I start on more projects, I don't know.  I'm becoming a serial starter! I know I should just focus on what I have but I couldn't help it! This weekend, I started Sarah Chapple.  I got the recommended fabric, 35 ct Rook and found it so dark and stiff.  So I washed and ironed it to get rid of the sort of rusty stripes I found on the fabric.  The rusty stripes are still there but much more muted.  Then I started the sampler with 2 strands of silk over 2.  I made a lot of progress but then thought, 1 strand provides just as much coverage, might as well save the silk, so I ripped out my progress and began again.  Here she is so far.

I would have bought new linen for Sarah, but my hubby found out the cost of the linen and said "Heck no! You are stitching on that and are going to be happy with it!"  So I guess I'll have to make do!

I also started a sweet little design, La-D-Da's O Birdy which was loaned to me by the lovely Carol.  I'm using 40 count flax linen with GAST and AVAS threads.  I'm loving it so far!

I added a few more motifs to JCS 1707. It's coming along nicely. I know I have to tackle the lion/griffon creature at some point but right now, I'm loving the motifs.

My granny stripe has grown a bit.  I added a stripe on the skytrain on the way to work one day.  It's the perfect traveling project, IF I get a seat!

Blue stripe on Pascha

Nothing else much to report. I'm still waiting for Meari's mailart to arrive.  It's taking a surprisingly long time to get there. I also am stitching a little something for a friend so I can't show that yet.  

Thank you all for your lovely comments on the last post.  I'm glad it uplifted people! It's nice to hear that I can create a nice post every once in awhile!! 

Of course I shouldn't leave Titus out of this post.  Here he is "helping" me iron my stitching.  I "love" how he flops onto it and gets all his fluff embedded in my linen.  So much fun....

Hugs

Anne

Simple Pleasures

Hello my lovelies!

Thank you all for your comments on my last post.  I appreciate every one! These days have been busy full of work and finding pleasure in the simple things of life.  Regardless of how life may sometimes be difficult for us all, it's important to stop and enjoy what's around us: our family, friends, pets, crafts or little day trips around the city. 

Some things I enjoyed this past week and a half:

Crocheting and reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton on a hot sunny Sunday.

Day trip to Queen Elizabeth Park with my husband, where we smelled flowers, sat by a fountain, and walked under cherry trees.

 Cycling with my hubby and discovering a new trail.

 Picking flowers along the railroad tracks.

Cycling again. This time to Fort Langley and taking our time looking at everything in the Antique Mall.

Restarting my granny strip blanket without a curl!

Stitching JCS and finally get to the motifs.

My Nana's magnolia tree.

Last but definitely not least, I had two lovely surprises from the mailman/lady this week.  One was unsuspecting, the other an exchange.

From Jo, a little pouch stitched 1 over 1 of Kokopelli, a fertility deity, filled with jelly babies.  A wonderful surprise that I so treasure!!! Thank you Jo!! You are amazing! Hugs!!

The other surprise is from Meari that I just received today.  We did another Easter/Spring mailart exchange since we loved doing the Christmas one so much.  She sent me the most darling mailart.  She hand dyed the linen and added the neatest little details.  Thank you so much Meari! I love it and it's now displayed by my biscornus!!!

I hope you enjoyed the simple pleasures post.  Pascha is this weekend so I will be back on Bright Monday with pictures to show you all.  I also hope to catch up on my blog reading.  I've been trying to read a few in the morning but my comments may be a bit wonky since I'm just waking up so forgive me!!

Hugs to you all!!

Anne