Can't Sleep and Reminder About Giveaway

It's 3:30 am and I can't sleep.  I went to bed early but woke up wide awake.  Is this the "energy" burst you get during the second trimester? If that's the case, I'm not a big fan of it.  I like my sleep!! Give me energy during the day not when I'm sleeping!!

Okay, rant over.  Thank you all so much for your well wishes, hugs and hurrahs.  I mean to respond to everyone once reports are over, which I will be this weekend. We are thrilled about little bean and everything seems to be fine except this waking up early bit.  So as I was transferring over photos onto my computer, I realized I forgot to do a post about my little Victoria trip a few weeks back, for my sister's convocation at the University of Victoria.  The last time I had been in Victoria was when I was 12 so it was nice to revisit the city again.  We stayed in a charming B & B and wandered through the downtown, which I fell in love with.  Victoria has amazing old buildings and the most charming little shops, including a knitting and stitching store!!!! I hadn't been to a local needleshop since the one in Prince George closed when I was 11! I was in heaven, and did a lot of damage too...hehee.

Buttons Knitting Needleshop

Loved all of the framed stitching on the walls!

Carriage House Samplings...forgot to even look at the ribbons

Birds of a Feather Sampler Sarah Emery

 I felt sort of rushed since my auntie and sister's boyfriend don't really have an interest in stitching, so I completely bypassed the beautiful wools and ribbons, forgot that they were there until I saw the photo, and sort of in an elevated state, ran to the fabrics, threads and charts.  It was so nice to see and FEEL the linens! I bought a few.  Couldn't help myself, plus I saw the beautiful Sarah Emery on the wall and realized I have that chart, so I bought the linen and threads to stitch it with.  

I also found a Good Huswife chart and a cute PS Santa that I am going to make for hubby this Christmas.  My sister, who didn't want to come in at all...lol, came in and ended up buying the same Good Huswife chart, linens and threads to stitch it.  Here she is stitching on the ferry.  I got her started.

I took a lot of other photos of Victoria but it was getting dark already at 4 so not many photos turned out that well.  We visited the Empress Hotel and wow, is that an amazing hotel! I felt like I was transported back to 1882.  The Parliament building was all lit up but again, photos turned out crappy.

Cool little alley

A door from old China town

A really cool Irish Pub I want to visit when I can drink again

Parliament all lit up

The tea room where High Tea is $50

Next time I visit Victoria, I will have more time to explore and revisit the stitching store with ample time to peruse. Very charming city if anyone is interested in visiting.

Well, I have done a smidgen of stitching, but mostly crochet.  I have been stitching snowflakes like crazy and you never know, some of them may float into your home soon! I started a baby blanket but changed the pattern since the bamboo cotton I got is very fine and doesn't work well with crocheting from the back stitches.  Those who crochet will know what I'm talking about.  

I actually finished the vase on Sarah Chapple but the lighting right now is pretty dim so I'll post an older photo.  

I stitched a bit on the PS Santa and started Sarah Emery.

Low 3:30am lighting

Last but not least, I guess I forgot but I ordered two more charts and some black lugana  awhile back.  One of the charts is Beggar's Christmas and I want to pull the threads and stitch that one to add to our Christmas ornaments this year.  

Reminder!! My giveaway ends on the 30th so there's still time to enter! Click on the right side bar under the header Giveaways and it'll pop you over to the post.  Good luck to all who entered!

Hugs to all...maybe I can get another hour of sleep in?!

Anne

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