Wednesday, March 30, 2016

WIP Wednesday and Easter Weekend Summary

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter/long weekend! We were very busy all weekend. Friday was story time at the local library and DD had a great time. She sang to the alphabet song and Mary Had A Little Lamb at almost full volume, which made everyone laugh thankfully. We haven't practiced inside/outside voices yet since usually she's not very loud. :) That might be the next thing we have to practice. 

Then it was time for the last Friday hockey session until the fall. DD and DH had fun wandering all around the rink again and again. That and watching the zamboni (ice cleaner) are DD's favourite things to do at the arena. 
Me in my hockey equipment and DD watching in her stroller

On Saturday, DD and I had an adventure! DH needed us out of the house for a bit to get some work done, so DD and I went to the mall. This was DD's first time without a stroller and her first time experiencing a toy store being able to walk around. She really loved the giant stuffed toys and kept petting them and showing them to her teddy bear. We also visited a clothing store and she spent most of the time trying on different pairs of sparkly sunglasses. :) 

After a few hours it was time to head home for lunch and a not-nap. That's my description for when she hangs out mostly quietly in her crib until we get her up. She doesn't nap, but she does get some rest. Then we journeyed out to a maple sugarhouse nearby. I pulled in to the wrong place first, but the farmer there was nice enough to let DD see the cows. That might be her favourite farm animal. She was a little scared of how big they were though. The sugarhouse was another mile down the road and we found it and had a great tour of the process. There were also 3 horses to see and DD wasn't up to petting their noses, but she was very interested. She did feed the chickens and wasn't scared of them at all. 

Finally it was time to sample the maple syrup and DD wanted all she could get. Good thing it's relatively healthy and she can't quite manage to drink out of a cup without assistance yet. After that is was home again, home again for supper and bath!

And some stitching time for Mama!

Sunday morning dawned sunny and warm and we all got up together so DD could investigate her Easter goodies and help DH and I find out Easter bunnies. We had an egg hunt outside afterwards and shared the spoils. After DD's nap we decorated the bunny cake that I found here

Mine did not look that good, but it looked good enough. DD had fun eating the strawberries and adding a third eye to the bunny, as well as adding freckles by dipping her finger in the frosting. :) It was fun and pretty good cake for being relatively healthy. 

Back to stitching, I don't think I ever shared the afghan I'm stitching the dragonlets and the owls on, so here it is!

I've been helping DH beat Zelda: Twilight Princess HD lately, so I haven't been stitching as much as I would like. Hopefully that will change over the next few days. 

Happy Stitching everyone and thanks for your patience with my long post!

Tiffstitch

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Top 10 Tuesdays: Top 5 Things on My Bucket List

This is the last Top 10 Tuesday for a month since Kate and Keebles are joining the A-Z Challenge in April. I decided against joining since I have too much going on, but I will be cheering all of you participants on!

TOP 5 THINGS ON MY BUCKET LIST

1. Visit Walt Disney World

This is something that absolutely will happen in the next few years. We plan to go with DD when she's a little older and will get more out of it. 

2. Complete an HAED

I've started 5 of these now I think and I've yet to complete any of them. One I tossed because I didn't like how it was stitching up and I wasn't going to leave it sitting forever, better to just get rid of it. 

Siberian Forest HAED Freebie SAL

Dragon Under Glass

Bailey Basset

Mini Winter Magic

As you can see, I've never even completed a page on any of them! So a page is a yearly goal for Bailey Basset, but finishing any one of these is a bucket list item.

3. Write a novel

I used to write short stories in high school, but then 8 years of university pretty much dulled my creative edge. I think cross stitching helps, but it would be pretty amazing to actually write again some day. 

4. Visit Australia/NZ

It's pretty unlikely this will ever happen, but it would be pretty amazing. It would be fun to see all the friends I've made cross-stitching as well if I ever get there!

5. Visit the UK and more of Europe

I'd like to do this with DD and DH, but especially DH since he speaks fluent French. It would open a lot of doors, unlike when I was there in 1994 with my parents and younger brother. Everyone was very nice, but it was a little difficult when we had very basic French. Of course by the time we go, DD will likely have fluent French as well, and mine is definitely better than it used to be. 

It would be cool to tell DD all about her great-great uncle as well. He was a pilot and is buried in France after being shot down during WWII. There's a book about it now too, so it would be good to start reading it to her. 

What's the number one item on your bucket list?

Thanks for visiting and happy stitching,

Tiffstitch

Friday, March 25, 2016

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop!

This is my first year joining in the Easter Blog Hop. I hope you all have a fun time hopping from blog to blog over the weekend. 

Here's your letter:


Easter was always fun for my brother and I growing up. Our Dad always hid things in the strangest places, like in a lamp shade, behind the music stand on the piano, never the obvious places. That was a lot of fun. After church we'd go to our grandparents and all the cousins would try and find the candy they'd hidden in their backyard. It was a lot of fun growing up and I hope I can do the same for DD every year. 

Here's a couple Easter egg freebies stitched up:


Quaker Easter Egg by Kincavel Krosses

And now go visit A Stitching Grandma for your next letter. 

Happy Hopping!

Tiffstitch

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

WIP Wednesday

I finally have some WIP progress! 

I worked on "L" a little last night to get from here:
to her full leg in Cobbled Peach and her arm, as well as the start of the L:

If you look closely I goofed a little on the curlicue, but it wasn't worth unpicking to me. I started a row too high, so I added another row of curl. I don't have the colours for her dress, I'm waiting on an order from The Wooden Needle, but I do have the colours for the L. I just can't decide if I want to continue on with this or switch to something else. 

I also finished the wording on Everyone Brings Joy:

I love stitching fun wording. I have no idea why it feels so satisfying to me, but here we are. I love using WDW Autumn Leaves for the word "leave". I wanted it to stand out. I wasn't a huge fan of the house on the right in the original pattern, but I've had an idea. We live in a one-floor house and have an enormous two-story garage so I'm thinking I might chart our house where the picket fence is in the original pattern and change up the colours and shape of the charted house to be more like a garage. 

That will take some work and more importantly time, so this will go back in the WIP bin for a while. I like it, but I'm not up to charting right now. Maybe when things slow down in the summer. 

I also have one that's not a WIP, it's another bug finish! I went with red yarn this time in hopes it doesn't get lost. And we've been hiding it from Max. :)

I sew the eyes instead of using the plastic eyes as recommended in the pattern since I'm afraid DD will pull them off. I also created mandibles this time on the bug and DD loves it! She was walking it around the house yesterday saying "Da dum da dum, da dum, da dum". :)

Happy Stitching and thanks for visiting!

Tiffstitch

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Top 10 Tuesdays: Top 5 Things I Love That Are French

Top 10 Tuesday time! Check out Kate's, Keebles, and Elliptical Man's blogs for their lists and see how we might all differ in our choices. This is a pretty broad topic, so I imagine there will be a lot of different picks. Mine will be very different since I choose to interpret this as French Canadian. ;)

TOP 5 THINGS I LOVE THAT ARE FRENCH-CANADIAN 

1. Passe-Partout

A great children's TV program on French TV when I was growing up. DH managed to find a DVD set and now DD gets to enjoy it as well. Since I actually speak some French now I've realized what a great show it is. They deal with a lot of typical child issues, there are puppets and some really fun actors and songs. 

2. Montreal Canadiens

Going to a game is an experience. I'm not a rabid fan or anything, but seeing them live is something you should put on your bucket list. My old boss went to a game, even though he's not a hockey fan at all and enjoyed himself tremendously. 

3. Bio-Dome

A beautiful habitat for animals of the Americas. That includes tropical rainforest and tamarins! (so cute), Laurentian Maple Forest (northern Quebec), Gulf of St. Lawrence (the river that surrounds Montreal), Labrador Coast (puffins!), and Sub-Antartic islands (penguins!)

It's always a good trip, and there's a nearby Botanical Gardens, Insectarium and Planetarium. I think DD might be ready for this later this year. 

4. Hazelwood Necklaces

I discovered the wonder of hazelwood to fight inflammation and acidity in your body when I went to an osteopath in Quebec. Then I found these at the local pharmacy. They really make a difference if you have trouble with acid reflux, acne, and possibly arthritis. I can vouch for the first two, but as far as I know I don't have arthritis, so I don't know how effective it is. I had acid reflux very badly, then put on a new necklace and it was gone in an hour. I am not kidding. I even lent my necklace to a good friend at work when she was having trouble and it helped her as well. 

They need to be replaced every few months, but they absolutely do work. 

5. Parc Safari

Yes, another animal park, but it also has a fun water park and I'm looking forward to going back next year with DD. She couldn't walk last year and wasn't too thrilled with the slides, but I think she might like them this year. I hope so! 

There's a nice car safari to see the animals as well as a walkway where you can feed the giraffes. It's a little scary feeding the ostriches though. They don't bite, but it's freaky. 


I hope you enjoyed the list!

Tiffstitch

Monday, March 21, 2016

IHSW - March Conclusion

I hope everyone had a good hermitting weekend! I worked all weekend, but I still managed to progress well on "Everyone Brings Joy" from here:
to here:

and I finished my snake!!


It was a lot of fun to knit and put together. I really like the pattern and how it shapes the head well. I think I might have overstuffed it since the eyes were a little hard to do while passing the needle back and forth through the polyfil inside. 

But I'm happy with it and DD thinks it's fun to play with, so success! I have permission from Butterfly Love1 to post photos from her Etsy site, so these are the patterns I purchased:

Amigurumi flask
Amigurumi beaker
Amigurumi test tube - so cute!
Hot Air Balloon
Slinky Snake
Friendly Bugs
Big Friendly Kite

And there were so many I wanted, but didn't buy, like these Christmas ones:

and this cute ghost!
plus bacteria and blood cells!
- my inner science geek is going squee! 

You can knit all these with basic knitting skills, so even if you're a beginner, give it a shot. I've enjoyed both the bug and the snake and will be knitting up the rest some time soon. 

I didn't intend to post so many photos of knitting instead of stitching, but I love these patterns so much! 

Happy Stitching and knitting!

Tiffstitch


Friday, March 18, 2016

Friday Finishes, Fun, a Mystery and IHSW

First of all, if you haven't signed up for IHSW hosted by the lovely Joyce, head over to Random Ramblings and sign up for this weekend. It's a great excuse to ignore the world and get some serious stitching done. I have to work all weekend, so I doubt I'll get much done, but I'll try. 

Next, I visited The Alchymyst's Study for Gifted Gorgeousness and found she'd been knitting something amazing! You can find the patterns on Etsy by Butterfly Love and let me warn you, if you're a knitter, watch your wallet. I just managed to stop myself at 8 patterns... yes, 8. 

I haven't asked either of them for permission to post photos, so please check the links to see what I'm talking about. I will show you one finish that I knitted up last night and one that's a WIP. 

Mummy Bug

This was knitted with odd bits of worsted weight yarn. I love it! I completely flubbed the i-cord legs, but I'll get better with practice. I didn't read the directions correctly, so the legs are a little wobbly. This took maybe a couple hours if you're wondering, and the directions were very clear and easy to follow. 

The mystery is, this bug is missing! Completely vanished! I think Max, the feline mastermind, hid him somewhere. I can't find my bug!! I'm fairly annoyed since I was going to give it to DD to play with but now it's gone. I've searched all the usual places and found 3 cat toys, but no bug. 

I have a feeling it's going to appear somewhere unusual and scare the crap out of me. 
Max plotting our grisly deaths after a bath

The next fun pattern I started was a knitted snake! I hope I can get it to look close to the pattern. It looks awesome and fun and I can't wait to finish it off. 

I'm knitting with 3.25mm needles, yes, teeny-weeny, and it's coming together pretty well. I'm using Vanna's Choice Autumn Print and it has a decent stripey feel. I need to get some poly-fil to finish it, and I can pick that up tomorrow. I'm mostly done the body now, this photo is from last night, so I only need to do the head and stuff and sew it up. I'm excited to see how it will turn out. 

I think I need to stitch to give my fingers a rest from knitting, and now it's difficult to choose what to carry on with. I've put a few more threads into Otto, but I feel like I need to move on to something that's more likely to be finished this month. 

Happy Stitching and Hermitting!

Tiffstitch


Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Gifted Gorgeousness - March

It's the 15th again and that means time for Gifted Gorgeousness! Hosted as always by the fabulous host Jo at Serenditipitous Stitching, thank you for making linking up so easy. 

This post will include the last of the DUCJFC projects and the few I've worked on in March. 

Let's start with:

Savannah Birth Record for DD

I switched out the 14 count yellow Aida for some yellow 22 count hardanger, and it's a process. I'm debating about trying 1 over 1 for the rest after I get this bit of the border completed. 

Ocean Curiousity for DD

I like this one a lot and it's soothing to stitch in monochrome sometimes. I hope to get back to this one in the next few months. 

See Ya Later Alligator for DD

I think this will make a great growth chart, so I really need to get a move on and finish it up. I had to unpick all the lettering since it didn't show up enough, so I need to pick a new thread as well. 

 Letters from Nora - L for friend

This is for the same friend that I finished K for last year. She had another baby girl last month and this will make a nice set with A and K. 

Frosty Friends #5 and #6


There are 4 more in the set and I hope to get at least a few of them finished this year. 

Totally Nuts - for a stitching friend


I hope to get this done well before July for her birthday. She's a wonderful friend. 

I think that's it for the GG stitching for the past month. I'll see where we're at next month. I'll be stitching on what I want, when I want, at least as soon as my arm is healed! 

Thanks for visiting, and happy stitching!

Tiffstitch

Top 10 Tuesdays: Top 5 Places to Shop - EDIT for new list poster

Top 10 Tuesday Time again! Head over to Kate's and Keebles' blogs to find out their lists, although they were both on vacation the past week, so they may or may not be posting today. Elliptical Man has also joined us, so check out his list and blog too. 

TOP 5 PLACES TO SHOP

1. Amazon

They have everything now, although I remember when they were just a book store. 

2. Trader Joes

I can't ever explain how much I love this grocery store. They have tons of organic produce at reasonable prices seasonally and I do try and feed DD organic produce if we can. There are so many unique items that you can only find there, and it's saved our grocery budget a few hundred dollars a year. 

Plus all of their store brand products very clearly and obviously state what allergens are present in their packaged food. That is a huge help when you have food allergies. 

3. Gymboree

This is a children's clothing store, and I prefer it to the more commonly known Carter's or OshKosh. They have fun clothes items and I'm looking forward to going to their "sister" store, Crazy Eights on my upcoming conference. I found several fun clothing items last year. I actually found some nice things in the boy's section that worked for Sophia as well, so that may be true this year. The plaid shirts especially don't seem to exist in any girl's section. 

4. Chromatic Alchemy

If you're a follower you know I'm a fan of these fabrics and I like the website design as well. I think she plans to re-vamp it soon, but I know it will still be good. I like that she has a colour selection area on the left and that she made sure to have true-to-life colours of her fabric. You know that what you receive will look exactly the same as it did on the website. I love browsing the site to look at all the colours  and think what I might want to stitch on them. 

Also, you can check the Facebook page for photos of people stitching on the fabrics for inspiration. It's trouble for my wallet sometimes. :)

5. Chocolate Decadence

I had a lot of choices for this last number, but I went with the one I've been looking at most lately. This is a vegan, dairy free chocolate maker. They have fantastic chocolate and I just put my Easter order in. There are often deals/coupons that they email you, so it's worth signing up. If you're a dark chocolate fan, you might want to try them out since their mint truffles are so amazingly good... possibly the others too, but I'm a mint chocolate fan. 

I hope you enjoyed the list and thank you all for your good wishes about my arm. I'm mostly better now, although I didn't finish the owl last night, I took it easy again. Maybe tonight will be a finish, depending on when I get home. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Monday, March 14, 2016

Finishes and an Injury!

Thank you for all your comments on my list of WIPs to finish this year. I know you can motivate me to stick to my list. I didn't plan on not posting again until today, in fact I had plans for a "Finish on a Friday" post, but those plans went awry when I pulled my tricep muscle in my right arm. 

I managed to do this in a pretty creative way when we were getting DD ready for bed. She was a little overtired and started climbing all over my bed and standing up and then falling down. I pulled the muscle by grabbing her as she was about to fall off the far side. So, a worthwhile injury, but still frustrating because the triceps muscle really affects the entire arm. 

Everything hurt that night. I had an ice pack on my arm the rest of the night on and off and it was marginally better in the morning. I had to work that Saturday morning and ended up writing with my left hand occasionally because it was less painful. As the day progressed it became less painful and I could do minimal movement and even pick up DD when she asked! So that was a considerable improvement. Sunday was better still and although I had to work again, I could write with my right hand again thankfully. 

Today it's still a little painful, likely I'm over-using it trying to catch up from Saturday, but the best news was I was able to stitch last night!!

And you may be saying, "Why? Why risk worsening your injury?". And you would be right. But I really wanted to stitch. I had almost finished all the outline of Owl #3 Friday afternoon and had plans to finish it that night. Which went out the window when I hurt my arm. So the frustration of plans not completed is why I stitched last night. But I took my time, and I was careful. It's nice to see this one half-dressed at least. 

You may notice that both eyes are pointing in the same direction, whereas most other Owl #3 have one eye going up and out and the other down and out. I couldn't take it. Looking at it made my brain and eyes hurt, so I made them the same. I'm using Jodyri Parisian Chic for the filling in. I think I might finish tonight if I'm up to stitching. We'll see how I am after working all day. I may be crazy, but I'm not going to push it. 

And for happier news, more finishes!! 



Schroeder! Although it didn't have that charted, I'll ask the recipient if she'd like it written in. 

And:


Celebrate finished into an ornament and sent to my Grandma through my parents. I kept forgetting to post about it. I think it came out pretty well and I hope she likes it. 

So that's my weekend, and I'll link up to the Stitchery Link-up Party, how about yours?

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

WIP Wednesday - A Start

Here we go with a more normal posting schedule. I hope to update my current WIP every Wednesday and today I'd like to list a few things I hope to finish first from my Challenge pieces. These are finishes I really want to get done this year. 

1. Schroeder

This is one I'm stunt stitching for a friend and I've made some decent progress over the last few days:

I hope three more days might see a finish. 

2. Linus


This is another stunt stitch and I will finish this one soon, but I plan to work on something else after I finish Schroeder, then come back to this one. 

3. Letters by Nora S, H, G, L 

These haven't progressed since Jan/Feb, so I may pick these up after Schroeder. 

4.  Rejoice Tree


This is for my Grandma, so I'd like to finish it for her birthday or Xmas. Both are late in the year, but this would be good to get finished. 

5. Everyone Brings Joy

I'm pretty close on this one and I'd like to put it up in our house



6. See ya Later Alligator Growth Chart

I would love to get this one finished this year, and it has several small sections, so finishing each off would be satisfying and a way to change things up, 

7. Frosty Friends

I'd love to get a few, if not all, of these finished for Xmas gifts this year

8. Sleigh Ride Stocking

It would be really amazing to finish this one by Xmas for DD

9. Autumn Elegance

I'd like to finish this for my co-worker

10. Vermont

I'd like to finish this for my business partner

So that's my thoughts right not and writing them out helps me keep it straight as well, so thank you all for being a sounding board!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

Catch-up Post and Mischievous March

Hello again, things conspired so I didn't get a chance to put a post up, but I have been stitching. I also remembered to pick up my Misc...