Ummmm....It's Been Too Long!

Wow, over two months since I've last posted.  What can I say? Babies take up a lot of time and time just zooms by when you're a zombie!! Or what I like to say "Mombie"! Nathanael is now 5 1/2 months and we are in the thick of sleep training both for nighttime and naptimes.  I've had to try a number of different methods and try to steer away from rocking him to sleep as it's no longer effective. This lil' guy has had a number of issues that have interfered with him learning to self-soothe: mainly me, construction that had been going on for 3 months beside us, colic, GERD and well just being a baby.  So I've been attempting the pick up/put down method and going in every 3-5 minutes until he falls asleep on his and today for his morning nap...wait for it...I only went in once!! NO BATTLE TO SLEEP FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. SSH.....maybe I shouldn't have shouted that and jinxed myself.  Well, it's one small feat for a mamma who is at her tethered end.  I want to be able to craft again!! Speaking of crafts, I am almost finished the granny stripe, only 4 more stripes then the border! I finished the PS santa and put in some stitches in Sarah Chapple but that's about it.  Nothing else has been going on.  I feel bad that I have neglected this space and all of my stitchy friends.  Did you know it was my 5th blogoversary on September12th?? I missed that too! If I had more than a 1/2 hour stretch at a time to do things I would have planned something as I want to get rid of lots of charts and things.  Well maybe in the new year when he's a bit older.  

Would you like to see some stitching and baby photos? Well here's a few! Be prepared for an onslaught of photos!

First the stitching and crocheting:

Sarah Chapple's border meets which is always exciting for us stitchers!!
 

Sarah Chapple: the border meets!!!

Added a few stitches into Sarah Emery

 
 An autumn stitch which is sort of Halloweeny but since I like crows and don't celebrate Halloween, I consider this more of an autumn stitch

 Helped my mom start Autumn Fraktur by PPS

 Kinda jealous that I'm not stitching this...but perhaps I will be as she hasn't really stitched it since!

A finish...finally! I love this PS Santa!

Now onto crocheting.  I finished Nathanael's Granny bunting which looks great above his crib.  He enjoys looking at it too!

More Granny stripes have been put in since this photo was taken so no need for an updated one.

Now onto some Autumn and baby photos.  We had a deliciously warm October so lots of walks around my neighbourhood.  However, November has been cold and rainy so not as many walks as we'd like.

Shades of Red

A gorgeous churchin my neighbourhood with a brilliant sunset sun shining through the trees

Baby photos....

Ground control to major Tom...hehehe

Having a laugh with Great Nana

Well that's all my dears.  I hope you enjoyed the update.  If you want to follow me on Instagram my username is @annithadoll.  Much easier for me to post onto Instagram than find some time to do a blog post, although I do miss it! 

Hugs to you all and from Titus too!!

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

The Bad Blogger

That would be me! I have wanted to blog multiple times since my last blog but I have been sidetracked by a nasty flu, work, and now a congested head cold since last weekend. We have also stopped packing and gave up on finding a decent place since we should probably buy our next home instead of renting with the crazy prizes here in the Lower Mainland.  But where to buy, we don't know.  I think that with baby bean's birth on the horizon, moving is just crazy which was stressing us both out a lot, and I can't afford to be stressed right now.  So we are going to improve our place a little bit instead. Baby Bean can stay with us for the first few months and then we will see what to do.  So I unpacked some of my stitching supplies and have been working on my WIP's while sick.  It helps with the stress! 

I had one finish this year so far! Woohoo!! It's BBD's freebie Souvenir de Paris I stitched for a colleague who will be retiring this year.  It will be placed in scrapbook so I didn't need to finish it into anything.  I used GAST Blue Jay, a divine blue, and a scrap of linen I found. 

I personalized it with her initials and the year of her retirement.  I hope she likes it!

After pulling out my stitching supplies from boxes, which was a silly thing to do, I grabbed Knotgarden and stitched on it all yesterday and the night before.  

The corner is complete except for the beading and fancy stitches which I'm going to leave out so they don't get squished by the qsnaps. I highly doubt this will get finished in the next year with Baby Bean's imminent arrival.

Sarah Chapple had got a lot of love from me the past month or so.  She's such a beautiful sampler to work on.  I can't wait for her to be finished!

The border with all the honeysuckle flowers will take quite awhile to do. It's such a unique design that is very ornate.  Stay tuned!

The Bitter Flower Sampler by Birds of a Feather is nearly complete.  It's been fun stitching it on weekdays as it's easy to hold in my hand and I can speed along as I wind down from work. 

I've made two bunting triangles, with a third in progress for Baby Bean.  They are fun to make and I think I'll make 4-6 more of them.

The Granny stripe has been growing too.  Hubby says I need to get it done so we can have at least one finished blanket this year.  

I feel like a bad mother who has made nothing for Bean yet! So I found these adorable booties online that looked fairly simple to crochet.  I'm going to give it a fair shot in the next few weeks and see if I can make them.

Aren't they adorable?! Teeny tiny baby shoes always fills me with delight! I'm going to make them in white and maybe grey too. At least Bean will have stylish feet! 

I'll leave with a few photos from my walk yesterday.  I had to get out although I was very tired and the walk wore me out. I really hope this cold goes away and that I don't get another one for awhile.  I'm sick of being sick!!!

My February display

Oh, can't forget about Titus!! He's such a big suck.  I wonder how he will be when Bean comes.  Hubby says we can't ignore Titus but I don't know.  I know that Bean's first few months will be attached to me so how much can of myself can I give to all the babies in the house, hubby included.

Take care and thank you all for taking the time to read through this post.  I have been a bad commenter as well but I do peak around to everyone's blogs early in the morning as I wake up.  My comments wouldn't make sense that early so I have been refraining for a reason.  I hope to take some time during spring break to do some visiting.  Hugs to you all!!

Anne