2013 Stitching Finishes and WIP's

Back again! Thank you all for your lovely comments on the deer box and dear Meari's mailart.  

After looking through my finishes of 2013, I noticed I have not done as many as the year before.  However, it seems that 2013 was the year of box finishes for me.  I completed a total of 5 box finishes! Thanks to Angela and Terri who inspired me in the first place, I tackled my first box and got hooked!! You will only see 4 though since 1 hasn't been received yet.

Top left to right: Deer Box, LHN's Blackbird Bottom Left to Right: Ink Circles, Life's a Stitch

Pillow finishes won by majority this year with a new mailart finish.  Next year I hope to do a few more pinkeeps and perhaps try some new ways of finishing.  I always like to experiment, even though the outcome may not be how I imagined it! 

Two other finishes did not make it into the collage as they too have yet to be received!! 

I only finished one BAP...Hannah.  Here she is again.

She is still waiting to be framed.  We found this really cool copper frame in the basement of my hubby's shelter that had been abandoned and we thought it would work for her.  Unfortunately, the frame is too small and would cut off the pretty border.  Too bad since it is the coolest frame.  Now I have to stitch something to fit in the frame!!

Here are my current WIP's going forward. 

Knotgarden

Magic Garden by Shakespeare's Peddlar

Good Morning Rooster

And last but not least, poor old Tea Bath Fairy.  I think the last time I worked on her was in March.  I would like to have her finished in 2014.  I realized I stopped because all of that white space needs to be filled with metallic thread....something I'm not a big fan of stitching with. 

2013 has also been the year of crocheting.  I got hooked, literally, into making mug cozies, snowflakes and putting rounds into my afghan.  I made a total of 6 mug cozies and about a dozen snowflakes.  I forgot to take photos but you get the idea!!

Quilts....I started the jelly roll quilt and have yet to finish it.  I am a big chicken...like Titus!! I have been thinking about cutting the panels to make the borders but don't want to make an error so there it sits...staring at me...taunting me.  Then I look around at people's blogs and see beautiful quilts people whip up...well, perhaps not that fast, but they have no fear!! I so wish I had someone who could guide me and encourage me to take up the shears and snip! I'm enlisting my dear hubby to help me with the cutting.  He thinks he can't help, but I know he can since I can't sew or cut straight, but I believe he can.

There she is...unfinished.  Give me courage!!!

Wishes for 2014: Two only.  One, for my husband to get better.  Two, for a child.  Please pray for us on both accounts.


I think I can't complete a post without some Titus photos. His favourite things to do...roll around on mom's stuff and sniff.

My favourite photo of Titus of all time....Titus, the Vampire Prince

A big thanks to all of you for your constant support, well wishes, prayers, good thoughts, and well just being the best stitchy friends ever.  I have made so many wonderful new friendships since I started blogging and I have been blessed to "meet" you all.  I wish all of the best in 2014 for all of you!! 

Hugs,

Anne

Meari's Mailart and Deer Box

2013 is almost at a close.  It's been quite the year when I think back on it.  I will most likely do a post tomorrow showcasing all of my finishes and WIP's.  I think it's nice to see what I have done and to look forward to doing more challenges in the new year.  For now, I would like to share with you Meari's amazing mailart she sent to me.  I finally received it on Friday and I squealed with delight!! The designs she chose are darling and she put so many cute little touches on that made it even more special.  It is presiding on my bookshelf and I have a feeling I may not box it away with all the other Christmas decorations.  I just might keep it on my craft shelf with all my other lovely smalls to gaze upon and inspire me.  She used some really cool round circle stamps on the envelope.  They didn't really photograph well with the reflection.  Without further ado, here is her mailart!!

Look at this adorable little giraffe placing a star upon the tree!

Adorable little penguins holding button snowflakes!!

lovely threads, some post its and tea

Close up of those cutie pie penguins!!

I just love it so much!! My husband thinks it's cute and that the giraffe was eating the star! I had to correct him and told him the giraffe was placing the star on the tree!! Silly man! Thank you again Meari!! I thoroughly enjoyed this unique exchange!!

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post.  I visited most blogs and loved reading about everyone's Christmas's and your traditions.  It was quite the treat to take time to visit everyone.  

For my dear mama....thank you for your comment.  I was only teasing with that statement but did realize sometimes I may be a tad wordy so I tried being a little less wordy! Love you mom!!

The deer bullet box has been finished.  I have to say it's pretty cool. My hubby is a wee bit jealous and now he wants a box!! Here is the finish.  I used 32 count lambswool linen stitched with Molasses WDW and had to use Gast Espresso Bean when I ran out of WDW!!

I'm sure he will like his bullet box, or whatever he wants to fill it up with!!!

I will be saying adieu for now and be back tomorrow with my 2013 finishes!!

Hugs to you all!!

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