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

SFS January 2015

This is the first time I will be participating in Stitch from Stash.  It is broken into 2 groups this year.  I have joined from January to June 2015.  This might prove to be a challenge because I'm used to spending whatever I want to on my cross stitch hobby.  For more information click icon on the left side bar.

Month - January

Spent - $14.95 (2 magazines, fabric, DMC Floss)

+ $22.85 for 2 books

My LNS (Stitcher's Place) is selling some books/magazines and charts from one of our regular stitching club member who had to downsize last year.  I am helping a friend by buying some of her gently read magazines and soft cover books.  I can never have enough cross stitch books/magazines in my own collection.  I love looking through them for inspiration.

Earned - nothing, no finishes yet this month.

Carry Over - $2.42 left from my gift certificate + $10.05 left from January = $12.47 total to be used for another month.

IHSW update

Sunday I started stitching on my Friendship Exchange project.  Sorry no photos until February 17th.

Snowman Wisdom update #2

I was able to stitch on the weekend.  Friday night I stitched some more of the poem ... Don't get too much sun and Everyone nose carrots.  Today I finished stitching the snow on my snowman.  I still need to finish the boots and also to backstich him.

Snowman Wisdom update #1

Tonight I started stitching the poem.

Happy New Year 2015 ... Ram, Sheep or Goat??

It is the start of another new year and I'm already confused.  I  googled 2015 and got a sheep, ram and goat.  The sheep and ram I can understand (male and female) but how does a goat fit in with them.  I like this photo with all the sparklie diamonds.

January Goals

Stitch the first page of Snowman Wisdom by Sue Hillis.  

Here are some progress photos with only 2 days of stitching.

January 1st.  This is what the fabric looks like.

January 3rd.  Sorry, this was taken at night colours are washed out.

Review for 2014 ... Happy Dances!

I had 18 Happy Dances in 2014, I think it was a successful stitching year!!
January
Friendship Exchange - Scissor case
Barnaby in Bloom - Just Nan
February
Porch Garden Mice Humbug - Just Nan
March
Cardinal Tweet - Just Nan
April
Easter & Spring exchange - Easter basket
Oakley Owlet - Just Nan
Little Princess Snow - Just Nan
Lorelei Lamb - Just Nan
May
no finishes
June
Handprints Poem (Purple)
July
Handprints Poem (Jungle)
2012 Gingerbread Mouse - Just Nan
August
Garden Chair - Cat's Whiskers
September
Holly Bows - Just Nan
October
Yes, I Can Drive a Stick - Sue Hillis
Halloween Exchange - Pumpkin (15 sided biscornu)
November
Hagatha's Hat - Just Nan
December
Pokemon Gyarados (fabric lined wooden box)
Christmas Exchange - Quadrielle ornament

What shall I stitch in 2015?
Here is my list for now, but it will probably change through the year.

Paradise - Stoney Creek

Snowman Wisdom - Sue Hillis

Mouth of the Flower - Stitching Studio

Family of Birds - Stitching Studio

Floral Fifteen  (15 sided biscornu) - Just Nan

Exchanges - Friendship/Spring/Halloween/Christmas
Gingerbread Mice - Just Nan Limited Edition 3D ornaments