The Blustery Day and Some Stitching

Hello my dears!

It's a cold, blustery day today.  The kind of blustery day where you need to hold onto your hats and piglets!!

I think I need to grab a kite and go fly it with my friend! My hubby and I have a large selection of kites and have been flying kites for the past couple of years.  It's so much fun to fly kites!!

In terms of stitching news, I have been stitching only on Jane and not much else.  Last night I wanted to start Chatelaine's Knotgarden but realized, after counting my two pieces of "large" fabric, that I don't have fabric quite wide enough for the design. This is usually the case with me not paying attention to the ACTUAL measurements of designs and linen!!! Soooo, now I need to get new fabric! But after speaking to my hubby, since the Chatelaine is for him, he said that I already have a BAP to work on and there is no need to start another one. Well, he does have a point! We'll see how my progress goes on Jane for the next couple of months and if it's moving along quickly, I'll consider purchasing the fabric for the Chatelaine then.  Too bad.  I really wanted to start it!! For now I'll concentrate on her and my Rak's and other small projects.  Speaking of the RAK's, I just got the fabric to finish them!! I think the fabric will be perfect for each design!! I also got some backing fabric for my mom's snowman ornie!! Yay! So close to ACTUALLY finishing it!!

Here's some progress photos of Jane, snowman bling, thanks to Carolyn! And my sister's little pincushion I made for her.  She loves it!!

Stitched on 36ct linen, Dinky Dyes Silk in Rain Forest and DMC 152

Finished with a pearl, button and some old fabric my mom gave me

LOVE that flower!! And that tree took me two nights to do! Phew! Tons more motifs and stitching to do!! Wait til you see Adam and Eve.  They are a hoot! I love how Jane chose her bright pink threads for the skin tone! You'll have a good laugh!!!

Look at that cute fabric I found! I bought a bunch so I can make some project bags with it.  I really want to expand my skills in sewing!!

Sweet Titus posing for me! Right now Titus is playing with one of my eye make-up brushes and tickling my toes with it!!

And last but not least, another cartoon from the thrift find magazine!!

Don't we all feel like that sometimes!!! LOL!!!

Bon soir mes amies!! I will be visiting your blogs later on this evening...I know I'm a bit behind on some blogs but isn't that always the case?!!!

PS: I am slowly switching to gmail and have added my new account to my profile.  If and when I use my gmail to respond to you, just make sure you check your junk mailbox cause you might find me in there!!

Stitching Gifts...Freaking Out!!

Hello everyone!

So here we are in November.  I am sad to say good bye to October since it was such a lovely month of glorious weather, beautiful colours and not so much rain.  I still have high hopes for November though.  Yesterday it was a decent day, albeit blustery, but nice. 

With November beginning, so does the FREAKING OUT!! Eeek!! I feel as though there are FAR too many things to stitch up in time for Christmas.  Yes, I mentioned the "C" word! Maybe I should take a deep breath and focus on one thing at a time.  Perhaps I should set myself a schedule so I won't be freaking out!! I want to stitch ornaments for my mom, sister, Dad, friends, and of course for me and my hubby. The problem is every time I want to finish something, I don't have the materials?!! Yes I have some fabrics, like those cute reindeer ones I bought last week, but they don't match with any of my stitched pieces.  So what should I do with them? I've been wracking my brain thinking of how to use those darling fabrics.  I wish I was a master sewer, or at least have my mom around, since she's an amazing sewer.  If you have any ideas for simple/easy sewing projects, let me know!

Ok, freak out done...onto some stitchy stuff.  First off, since I didn't post a progress pic of TBF (Tea Bath Fairy) in the last post, here's one now.  I've managed to really tackle it over the past few weeks and am pretty pleased with the progress.

Yes! I can see the outline of the cup!!

Seeing as my eyes can handle only so much of teensy stitching, I began to work on two personalized gifts for my girlfriends.  I am using two of the Valdani threads I ordered and I really love the deep wine red colour a lot!! The threads aren't too bad, although I do notice a tad bit of fraying at the ends, but what thread doesn't?! I still have to put in an order for HDF threads and I asked my husband if I could buy some more "strings" that will only cost xx amount and he said yes, if the STRINGS are needed for a project...hehehehe!! And I also mentioned that I need a smaller Qsnap frame and if I could buy that too...you know to help out my wrists.  He's agreed! I love that he's become more agreeable!!

Valdani and DMC threads stitched on 32ct.Sandstone linen

The above design is from the Sajou alphabet.  J'adore SAJOU!!!  The second gift I won't bother posting a picture of because it only has a few stitches on it and is basic black on white.

Now  I started doing another cute Christmas ornament from the JCS magazine.  This one is from Victoria Sampler. It's the squirrel one.  Pause for a squirrel story:

Me and Squirrels

Ever since I was a young girl, I have been know as the squirrel whisperer.  It takes time and patience to become one and only a few are called to this. (Insert sarcasm here).  Anyways, one day, as I was traipsing around the woods behind our home in Prince George, I heard a squirrel chatter nearby.  The squirrel seemed to be trying to tell me something.  Perhaps a secret he wanted to share with a 10 year old girl? As I strolled back to the house, the chattering followed me from behind.  I slowly walked up the stairs,  grabbed some of the chickadees seeds and held it in my hand and crouched down low. The chattering stopped.  There he was, Chippy.  Me: waiting quietly, patiently. Him: unsure, skittish.  Slowly he climbed the stairs to check me out.  I flinched! He skedaddled!!  Sigh...I suppose I'll try again.  For the next few weeks, we played this game...but with each day, he approached closer, and closer, until one day, he ran up to me, grabbed a seed and took off!! Serious patience here for a young girl of 10!! It wasn't until the second week that Chippy found his courage and managed to take seeds from me and NOT run away!! I was ecstatic! After a few more days of building trust, Chippy let me pet him! Then, after more days of gently petting, he let me pick him up!! We became good friends, Chippy and me.  When I would walk around the house, I could see him following me around.  Of course it was just for the seeds I was giving him, but as a young girl I thought he just really wanted to be my friend.  Ever since then, I have been able to feed and pet wild squirrels, not the city squirrels that we have here in Vancouver.  Those squirrels are a different breed altogether.  Like they are part of a squirrel gang called the Tuff Nut Gang.  Those squirrels I wouldn't mess with!!

So with that, I leave you with a picture of The Victorian Sampler's squirrel, which I started yesterday and made me think fondly of Chippy and the other cute squirrels I have fed and petted.

Finally, here are my photos of the pin cushion I stitched for Valerie.  She posted pictures of her package on her blog, so now I can post mine!!

Stitched on unknown 40ct linen with Waterlilies thread Amethyst

I kind of went NUTS with pictures since I LOVE purple and have a lot of purple things to take photos with!!

Take care and happy stitching!!

Anne

100 Followers/1st Year Blogoversary Giveaway!!!

'Allo!!

Okay, I've finally figured out what I'm going to do for my 100th follower/blogoversary giveaway.  I'm actually at 112 followers, so a big thank you to those who have joined my blog!!! I've been trying to go through all of your photos and add myself to your blogs, but sometimes your blog isn't linked.  Check out my post about how to do this here: blogging help.

Before I go headlong into the giveaway, here's a pic of my not so "small" pillow.  It may look small but it isn't, and it's not really big enough to be an actual pillow.

My husband thinks the length is a bit strange but what does he know!! I kind of like it: all oblong like and odd! I'm glad I made use of some of Denise's lace trims that I won awhile back.  Thanks again Denise!

Okay....drunk roll (typo and I'm keeping it....not drunk at all by the way!)....

Oof, sorry about the photos.  They looked so much better on my cell than up here! Alas, what can I do?
Anywho, I chose 3 fabrics:  27 ct. natural linen, 28 ct. beige linen, unknown count evenweave from my mother's old stash.  Both my sister, me and now you will have a piece of this really soft evenweave, perfect for smalls! Assorted DMC threads that I seem to have doubles/triples of and won't use in the near future.  Some left over Carrie's Threads from Tanglewood that is somewhat substantial compared to the remaining threads that I have leftover.  The colours are: Mud Pie, Double Fudge Brownie, and Blue Dreams. Some pretty lace, cord and pins for finishing. Plus the TBA pincushion and tea!!


Giveaway!!! Rules, yes there are. I'm a teacher so I like me some rules!

1. Be a follower

2. Comment on this post

3. Tell me your favourite colour or colour combo, i.e. blue/green, purple/red, etc.

4. What kind of tea you like to drink, i.e., black, green, herbal, etc.

That's it! No need to post anywhere, just enjoy my blog and spread the love!!

The reason I need your fav colour and tea is because I will be contacting the winner and showing him/her three or four designs to choose from to make a pin cushion that will be in this style: pincushion.  Just scroll down a bit and you will see what I mean.  It will be faster for me to stitch and sew something simple yet elegant.  My friend loves hers and uses it to stick her pins in when she's sewing.  I also want to add a super yummy tea to the mix from my favourite Canadian tea store, David's Tea.  Take a look through the website when you can and let me know which one you would love to try.

Okay there you have it, my giveaway.  I will have this open for two weeks, so you can join until September 30th at midnight.  I will do the draw on Saturday morning.  I will have my hubby draw for me.  Last time it was my darling Lucy who pulled out Joyce's name by her wee wet paw. I guess my man will have to do.

Good luck to all and I will be happily stitching tonight and a wee bit tomorrow before I go off dancing with my gf's!!

Ciao!

The Finishing Weekend!!

Wow! Two projects finished!! I'm amazed I got it all done! Both projects are for friends and I am glad they turned out so well.  The first one is a needle book, my first attempt at one and I am happy with the results.  The second project was a pin cushion and I really like its simplicity.  Here are the photos.

28 Ct Evenweave Threads Desert Dusk Dinky Dyes

The pattern I used for the pincushion is from Aurelle's Blog which has a ton of wonderful patterns for biscornu but I decided that due to limited time, just to make a pin cushion.  Next week I will attempt to make a biscornu for myself!!

Take care and happy stitching!!

Anne