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

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

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:

 from Passion Broderie 77

Quaker Easter Egg by Kincavel Krosses

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

Happy Hopping!

Tiffstitch

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

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

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 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