Welcome Our Little Baby Boy!!!

This will be a quick post as my new son is crying...

Our little boy, Nathanael Hunter, was born on May 25th, 2015.  We are adjusting to his night habits and we love him dearly.  We are exhausted with lack of sleep as he is a fussy boy.  Hopefully we will get into a routine soon! I had a hard labour that ended up in a c-section which should have been done in the beginning.  But we both survived the ordeal and are recovering.  

Here's a little photo of our precious boy

That's all I can do for now.  Hugs to you all I hope all is well with everyone!

Anne

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

Easter Blog Hop 2015!!!

Good morning everyone!!

I hope I am not too late to post my letter for Jo's Blog Hop! It's quite early here but I forget that everyone is on different time zones.  Anywho, I wanted to participate in this year's blog hop just to feel connected to all my bloggy/stitchy friends. I wanted to make a new spring themed stitch but no, I haven't had the time.  So I'll post a few Easter stitches that I have made in the past for exchanges.  Our Easter, called Pascha, will be next weekend, so I'll be back with more photos.  

I made this cute Spring themed mailart for Meari last year

A pretty tulip biscornu for an exchange I had with Sarah

My letter is G and the next person you should visit to figure out the secret message is Gracie at Needles Pins and Dragonflies.

I can't leave without a few tantalizing photos of our Russian Pascha bread and sweet cheese we spread on the bread....can hardly wait!!!!!!

Looking forward to having Kulich at Pascha next weekend!!

Yum!1 syrny pascha with kulich for breakfast!!!

Have a Happy Easter everyone!!!

Quick! Check out Gracie's blog now!!

Spring Crafts and Flowers

Hello Everyone!

It's been a very productive and restful Spring Break for me so far.  We've had a mix of nice and rainy days but the weather has definitely warmed up for spring.  All the magnolia and cherry blossom trees are in bloom and I have even spied the tulips starting to pop up! Amazing how early our spring has come this year.  My sewing machine has been busy too.  I managed to finish a rag quilt in 3 days.  It took a lot of work though and it isn't perfect by any means, but it is done other than the tedious snipping I have to do and the last throw in the wash and dryer.  Baby Bean will love it and that's the most important thing right?! I've also been researching cloth diapers and what baby needs, which we are sorely lacking but I think we will be okay.  Bean doesn't need much in the first few months other than me! Bean has been jumping, jiggling and kicking around in me and sometimes, gives me discomfort with sharp jabs to the bottom of me. OUCH! I can hardly wait to meet our little one! Plus I want to "sleep" without acid coming up my esophagus every night.  I say "sleep" with quotations because I know I won't get a lot the first little while.  But that's okay since we will have a sweet little one to love.  As for stitching, I've put in a lot of love into JCS and have been doing eyelets and backstitching.  I've yet to find a spring design to stitch with all my other crafting going on but that's okay.  There's still time left! The Nashville releases have been tempting but with the Canadian dollar so low and the postage rates so high, I've passed up buying anything.  Although I did purchase a linen grab bag and chart from the Scarlett Letter and was shocked at how much I had to pay for the two things.  That's the last of stash buying for a LONG time!

You came here for some eye candy so here it is!

The back of the rag quilt and my little crocheted bootie

The little ceramic button is made by my friend, Niki Holmes, quite a talented pottery artist.  The yarn is actually very white but I think the hue of the IG mode made it look pink.  

Titus adding his fluff into the fabric

Here's some adorable cotton fabric hubby wanted for another baby blanket.  Funny thing is he said he was going to make it and now, he's asking me to do it! 

Love bees and this blanket will be simple yet sweet.

JCS has some lovely little eyelets and backstitching peppered throughout the design.  I'm nearly done with the backstitching and then I can move onto more cross stitching.  I may start Adam and Eve next. 

I adore that little hear in the corner.  So pretty!!

Now the blooms of Spring.  I've been in awe of all the magnolia trees that have been opening their luscious blooms for us.  They come in so many different varieties it's amazing!

These last fushica blooms are stunning to see.  What a vibrant colour!

Couldn't leave without a photo of some cherry blossoms.  I have so many more flower photos but I'll save them for my next post!

Hugs to you all and thanks for visiting!!