Saturday 24 January 2015

Grow Your Blog 2015

Grow Your Blog 2015

Hello my name is Ann Christie, and welcome to my blog.
I live in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada with my husband Dave and our 2 sons Jaspar (22) and Jordyn (20).  Cambridge is about an hour west of Toronto.
I love dogs and cats, but I am alergic to animals with fur. Our family pet is a red-eared slider (RES) female turtle named Frodo. 


They can live 30-50 years and she just turned 9 years old (December 31). We also have a 75 gallon tank full of fish.

I have a few hobbies ... Cross Stitching (my favourite), scrapbooking (photo diary of my cross stitch projects), building puzzles (1000+ pieces), video games (Animal Crossing).

I have been stitching for 20 years.  Over the years I have stitched for family, friends and a few of my son's teachers.  Examples below are from recent years.

Just Nan (3D Limited Edition Ornaments)


2015 I started working on Snowman Wisdom by Sue Hillis.



The Cat's Whiskers Garden Chair was completed last year in August 2014.


Joan Elliott's Victorian Dollhouse was stitched in 2012. 


2014 I participated in 4 cross stitch exchanges at Stitcher's Place my Local Needlework Shop (LNS).   This has allowed me to challenge myself as a cross stitcher.  I created a 3D project for each exchange.


Friendship Exchange 2014 - I stitched my first scissor case.

Spring & Easter Exchange 2014 - I created my own pattern for making a 3D Easter basket (cross stitch designs were from magazines).

Halloween Exchange 2014 - I created a 3D pumpkin biscornu by using the Just Nan's 15 sided biscornu pattern Floral Fifteen. 

Christmas Exchange 2014 - Quadrielle snowflake ornament

I also have 2 ongoing scrapbook projects. The first one is a photo diary of all my cross stitch projects (170+).


I record all the important information about every project I have ever stitched (Title/Who it was stitched for/fabric & stitch count/design size/frame size/designer name & chart/kit #/start date/finish date/reason for stitching the project). 


The second one is for keeping all my tickets/pamphlets from live theatre plays that Dave & I have seen together.

I also enjoy playing video games (educational/puzzle solving types) Animal Crossing on my Nintendo 3DS 

and Mystery Case Files: Malgrave Incident (solve the mystery by looking for objects throughout the game)on my Nintendo Wii.


2015 I would love to learn a new hobby called ... Zentangle.



Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog. If you are a new follower, please leave me a comment so I can follow your blog as well.

Happy Stitching!!
Ann





34 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! A woman after my own heart. I love dogs - fortunately, I'm not allergic ;0) and we have 2. I love to stitch and love your work. I'd love to find the pattern for the Cats Whiskers chair! Anyway, I'm a new follower and hope you'll pop over and take a peek at my blog: WisdomwithNeedleandThread.blogspot.com. Best wishes for a fun blog hop!

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  2. Great post. I love reading every word and your stitching is fab. Look forward to your next post. Hope you have lots of visits.

    CJ

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  3. Thanks Kim for becoming a follower. Thanks CJ for your lovely comments.

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  4. Stopping by to return the follow and to say thank you for popping in at my blog!
    You've done some amazing projects! Definitely looking forward to seeing more of your stitching.

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  5. Dear Ann C.,
    Welcome to Grow Your Blog party. I love your stitching projects. The finishes are just ebautiful, Hope you'll made some new friends and have new followers in the weeks to come. Big Hugs from Singapore

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  6. Hello Ann

    Thank you for taking part in this year's Grow Your Blog event! I enjoyed reading about you and your blog :). I would like to wish you every success in your blogging adventure. Your stitching projects are lovely!

    Have a fabulous weekend and a happy GYB! Hugs, Asia

    If you'd like to visit me back and find out more about my blog Under a Creative Spell, that would be fab!

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  7. You have so many lovely cross stitch pieces and zentangle looks very interesting. I look forward to your adventure in both ")
    Please stop by @ http://bytheprickingofmythumb.blogspot.com
    I'm a new follower to your blog.

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  8. Hi Ann -
    Love reading about you and your likes and hobbies. I too am an "Animal Crossing" fan. I use to play it on my Nintendo game cube with my niece and nephew. There both grown now and in high school. So I don't much play it anymore. I'm pretty much a lurker and will post a comment if I see a x-stitch project that intrigues me. Nice meeting you.

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  9. Hey Ann,

    Had to google Zentangle but it looks like a fun hobby!

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  10. Such pretty stitching, Ann and I am so intrigued by Zentangle now. Isn't this party fun?
    hugs, Kaye http://kittenstitching.blogspot.com

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  11. Hi Ann! Thank you for stopping by my blog today! Great to meet you! I am also interested in Zentangles too! Love to cross stitch but I can't seem to find time for it now...did it years ago. My polymer clay keeps me pretty busy. And I love puzzles too. Looks like we have some things in common! Love your creations!

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  12. Hi Ann! Greetings from a fellow cross stitcher. :) I absolutely adore that Halloween biscornu. I started stitching them a couple years ago, and was shocked how complicated they look (yet really aren't difficult to put together, once you understand how they're constructed). I've added you to my Bloglovin' feed, and look forward to seeing more of your creations this year!

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  13. Hi Ann! I am also a cross-stitcher, scrapbooker, and quilter. I have also stitched Tending The Garden, but mine is broken into a tri-panel!

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  14. just dropping by from the GYB party and am now following :) love all your stitching! would love to know what Zentangle is so will watch for your posts :) its lovely to learn new crafts and skills, I've just started learning Silk Ribbon Embroidery.

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  15. Hi Ann! lovely to meet you. We share at least two great hobbies: cross stitch and games. looking forward to read you from now on.
    Cheers

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  16. Great to find another stitching blog. Always nice to see what others are stitching. If I had been smart I would have started a scrapbook years ago about my projects. I admit I give away most of my pieces.

    Will be checking in again.

    http://suefitz-fitzsstithing.blogspot.com/

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  17. What a great post! I enjoyed learning so many things about you. I love your scrapbooks.

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  18. Just stopping by from the blog party. I really enjoyed learning all about you and look forward to reading more of your blog!

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  19. Visiting via the grow your blog hop from St. John's, NL. Lovely projects. Thanks for sharing.

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  20. I am glad to have found your blog. I love all your cross stitching pieces. I am getting back into cross stitch myself so am looking forward to some inspiration.

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  21. Stopped by to visit. Love your cross stitch! I will follow and be back to read more.

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  22. Ann, your stitching projects are wonderful. And you're going to love Zentangles. It's so relaxing. Thank you for visiting my blog today. I'll be back to visit.

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  23. I loved seeing your photo diary of all the projects you've created - that's a wonderful idea! My blog works well for that too, but it would have been nice to have written records. Thank you for inviting us over to visit!

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  24. Hello nice to meet you! You have stitched some lovely things! You definitely should have a go at Zentangle, it's good fun and relaxing.

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  25. Amazing work!! Love your Just Nan bits!

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  26. Hi there Ann, I love your Crossstitches and the way you journal them...Crossstitiching is my first love.....I think Zentangle would be fun too, let me know how it goes....I'll be following.

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  27. Hi Ann, I am a new visitor to your site. I do cross-stitching and hand embroidery. I don't do counted maybe some day I will get brave enough. I keep seeing Zentangle is that a type of embroidery. I will be one of your new followers. I like helping people build their blogs. Take care. Shirley@shirleystitches

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  28. Your work is beautiful! I enjoyed reading about you and your life. I am a new follower. :o)

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  29. Your cross stitch projects are just beautiful. I think the charts are getting smaller, LOL!! I can do something small, or beaded, but the big ones are beyond me at this point. I do enjoy handwork though, embroidery and applique mostly. Visiting from GYB

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  30. Hi Ann Christie! i Think our names is the same! your in english and my in portuguese!
    :-)
    Ana Cristina

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  31. good weekend!
    ★  *  ★ ★* * ☆  ★ ★* *★

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  32. I love your cross-stitching! Zentangle fascinates me and I plan to give it a try this year too. (I was actually looking a lot of it up last night on Pinterest.) I look forward to following your blog to keep up with your lovely work!

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  33. I wish I had a kept a journal of all the cross stitch pieces I have made through the years. I started stitching, oh man, it was 38 years ago now! No way! I am getting old! I don't know if I can even remember all the things I have made! I'll see if I can make a list. I started in 1976 and made many of my own patterns, those I think I still have copies of.. I only began to have some of my stitchery in my own home when my parents died. I gave most things I made away... Good for you, girl!! Keep stitching!
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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