February Ornament Finally Finished!

A wee bit late but better late than never! The theme for the Christmas All Year Round SAL for February was Christmas Tree and here's mine.

The Cat's Whiskers Design Studio Joyeux Noel

28 count Jayne's Attic COTM I think it's Sweet Pea!

GAST

Started 7th February 2012

Finished 3rd March 2012.

I love this one. It's such a pretty design. This month is a free choice month so I've chosen Blackbird Designs Joy from last year's JCS ornament magazine. I need to get my fabric and threads sorted ready to take to craft club with me tomorrow.

I've not much else to show as I've been busy getting a couple of gifts done. I did have a new start on Saturday and it's something I've had in my stash for ages which feels good as I can definitely call it a stitch from stash piece! This is Stacy Nash Primitives True Love Sampler Bag, or at least the start of it! I've picked some fabric scraps from my stash as when it's done and made up it's going to be aged so thought it didn't matter what I used. I think this might stitch up quite quickly.

Last night I picked up Heartstring Samplery I Sew'd My Heart and finished the all the stitching barring the name at the bottom. I'm not quite sure whether to stitch it as Beth charted it or use another name. I will decide before I pick it up again.

Tonight is SB SAL night with Barb and Colleen and I'll be carrying on with The Journey. Tomorrow night I want to get back to my L*K 6 Fat Men SAL with Lisa as I missed it last week. Hopefully at the weekend I'll pick BBD AotH back up again too. I fear if I don't get on with it it'll become a UFO!

I'm afraid I caved and ordered the Little House Needlworks/ Shakespeare's Peddler pattern/ thread pack from Anita's Little Stitches. I figured that as I had some birthday money left I wasn't really breaking my stitch from chart stash promise and I'm going to keep it to stitch as I recover from my surgery! 

I am behind on blogs again! I just seem to have so much bother keeping up these days but I will try and catch up a bit tomorrow if I don't get chance today. 

Thank you for continuing to visit me and for all your lovely comments :) I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them.

With much love.

Sally

xxxx

A Couple of Shepherd's Bush Finishes

More Shepherd's Bush I hear you say!! Yes more Shepherd's Bush. What's a girl to do when it's one of her favourite designers and a SAL with two dear friends on a Monday evening??! 

I was just a few stitches short on finishing Simple Joys last week so couldn't resist adding those few stitches before the weekend and getting it made up.

Shepherd's Bush Simple Joys

32 count vintage country mocha linen

DMC ( subbed best I could!)

Started 13th February 2012

Finished 24th February 2012

I backed with a plain calico type fabric and edged it with Nancy's hand dyed ric rac stitched on with beads which Barb had leftover from the kit. 

Another SB i couldn't resist starting during the week was this one. Another one off my stitch from stash list.

Shepherd's Bush Sophie's Pincushion

32 count ivory murano

DMC ( again subbed best I could)

Started 22nd February 2012

Finished 25th February 2012

Again backed in simple calico fabric and trimmed with Nancy's hand dyed chenille trim.

One that I finished stitching just before Valentine's Day but didn't get finished in time. The old calico backing again and Nancy's hand dyed chenille! 

I'm frantically trying to get some gifts stitched as well as get my ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL done but the ornament will have to wait I think. I did get some done at craft club this morning but there was much chattering and some muttering to myself as I had to frog a bit too! I did have a new start for SB SAL night last night with Barb and Colleen. I wonder what Barb started after her happy dance last week. This is what I started.

Any ideas???? No? It's The Journey. Again I've subbed with DMC best I can and so far I love it. After much deliberation I decided to stitch it on 32 count vintage country peach linen. It was either that or the mocha one. I love these vintage country linens and could do with a whole stash of them! 

Almost forgot after ages of wondering what to do with my iStitch Mystery stitch and weeks of getting it made up this is what it turned into. Not too pleased with it if I'm honest. I could have done a much better job of it. I need to stitch the pincushion to go inside at some point. 

Remember I said I'd bought myself a trunk type box to keep my ribbons, trims etc in. Well this is it. Some of my ribbons etc are in it but they are just dumped in it at the moment! I need to have a good tidy of them.

Finally Abi bought herself a new camera last week as the one she had didn't do enough of what she needed and as she's hoping to take up photography as a career and is doing it in 6th form we thought it was a good investment for her and so did school as she got a £100 bursery to put towards it. So DH, Abi and I went out a couple of times last week taking photos. Saturday afternoon as the sun was setting we went off to Lissett, a little village not far North from us, where I shot this.

I have a little point and shoot camera and never imagined I could get anything like this.  I am so chuffed with this photo. This is a memorial to the airmen who flew out of the airfield there and lsot their lives. All their names are on there. It really makes you stand and think. It was quite spooky when we drove up to it as it looks so real and as you're walking away you find yourself looking back thinking you're being followed. You can read about it here

Have you all been looking at the Nashville Market releases?? I've had a look and have fallen in love with the Little House Needleworks/ Shakespeare's Peddler pattern pack. Both patterns are gorgeous and the pack contains enough threads to stitch both designs and also the trim for the heart. I must admit my clicky finger has almost got the better of me especially as Anita's Little Stitches has it on sale. I did think that it could be a treat and something to stitch while I'm recovering from my surgery but I feel like I'm letting myself down again so I'm going to be a good girl and wait!

Well that's all for today. Thank you for all your good wishes and hugs for my upcoming surgery. I can't wait to get it over with now. My pre-op assessment is on the 24th April so hoping that goes OK!

Take care everyone. 

Much love

Sally

xxxx

A Finish, IHSW Update and Other Stuff!

This post may be a little picture heavy seen as I haven't updated in a week. Our phone line is working fine ( fingers crossed it stays that way as we got two days out of it last time before it went again!) so I should be able to update more often. It's been half term this week too and although we haven't really done much we've been busy every day with opticians for Abi, dentist for us both, hospital appointment for me and a retail therapy day yesterday as I had birthday money left to spend.

First stitchy photo has to be my finish! I started this before Christmas on a whim as I just wanted a new start. I really shouldn't have done as I had enough on at the time and in recent weeks I've been pretty desperate to get it finished. I took it to craft club with me a few weeks ago and one of the ladies said I had plenty of time to get it finished for next Christmas!

Country Cottage Needleworks Snowflake Serenade

32 count cobblestone linen

DMC

Started 18th November 2011

Finished 16th February 2012

I nearly forgot my second sort of finish! I finished my block on L*K 6 Fat Men, my SAL with Lisa. Only two more to go now including the long one at the bottom!

Lizzie*Kate 6 Fat Men Snow House

32 count Permin Amber Linen

DMC

Started 17th January 2012

Finished 21st February 2012

Last weekend I took part in my first IHSW and also incorporated my first WIP night on The Superstar Serial Starters and Divine Disciplined Divas page on Facebook. I stitched on about 4 things over the IHSW weekend although I can only show 3. Friday out came HAED Guardian and I managed about 120 stitches. Not much to show really but progress nevertheless:)

Saturday I finished the house on BBD AotH Swan Lake and almost got the swan stitched when I realised I'd made a mistake and had to frog it! 

Sunday I made good progress on Heartstring Samplery I Sew'd My Heart. This photo really does not do this justice. I couldn't get a good one and the fabric colour is definitely not true to life as it's vintage country mocha which is my absolute favourite fabric.

Hmmm what else I have been stitching on? Oh yes Monday night was SB SAL night with Barb and Colleen. I almost had a happy dance but it didn't quite happen so hopefully next Monday :) This one is Simple Joys and it is turning out so simple but pretty.

So that's all I can show you. I did start and almost finish The Primitive Hare May Love but I can't show that until after 1st March as it's a contest piece. Also started a gift last night which I'll continue with tonight. I didn't go to craft club this week so no progress on my tree for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I think I might be a bit late finishing this one this month but I'll give it a good go when I'm there next week! 

I treated myself last week to one of Nancy of Victorian Motto's grab bags of hand dyed trims. Let me tell you I was highly delighted with it and would recommend them to anyone. I always struggle, living in a rural area, to find nice coloured trims etc so these are wonderful for me. Nancy is a sweetheart to deal with too.

As I said earlier I was at the hospital on Tuesday for my gynae appointment. I have a small bladder prolapse which causes me quite a lot of discomfort and after being prodded and poked it was decided that I would have surgery. I go in on 9th May and hopefully will only be in a day or two. As far as I know recovery is 4 to 6 weeks so I see plenty of stitching time during the day with no guilt! I know come the time I will be so nervous but it needs doing. 

I think that's all from me for now. Until next time keep stitching!

With much love

Sally

xxxx

Normal Service

Will be resumed ASAP. I am so behind on blog reading and commenting that I am probably going to have to mark all as read and start again. I also need to update this with my IHSW progress for the weekend and my other progress and I'll do that as soon as I can. 

I had settled to catch up on blogs on Saturday after our slow internet had made it impossible to do so when we lost internet all together. At first we thought it was our ISP having problems but then my DH picked the phone up and it was dead- again! Second time in less than a week. I rang our phone service provider from my Dad's but no one could come out until Monday which was no good as we had an appointment to go to so we had to wait until this morning. In all honesty I did not think we were going to get the phone line back again as the engineer was puzzled to say the least and went away at about 11 am. I had an appointment at the hospital and when we left at 1.20 pm it still wasn't working. Thankfully another engineer came out and it's now fixed and hopefully will continue to work now!

So please bear with me and I'll be back soon to catch up:) 

With much love

Sally

xxx

A Gift for Me and A Birthday Gift for Barb!

A while ago I was one of the lucky winners of dear Mouse's 200 followers giveaway :) Last week she emailed me to tell me to watch out for postie and look at the beauty that arrived on Tuesday!

Isn't it just gorgeous? I think Mouse must know I love red and I do rather love hearts too ( who doesn't?) and I absolutely love this! Can you see the gorgeous pin too and the lovely card behind the pinchushion? Mouse tells me it's Ewe and Eye and Friends Alphabet Heart. Thank you so much Mouse. I absolutely love it and will treasure it {{{{hugs}}}}. I do hope you received the email I sent you:)

Yesterday was my dear friend and SAL partner Barb's birthday. Happ Birthday Barb! Now we all know that Barb rather likes sheep so I had the idea of stitching a little something sheepy up! So I bought Little House Needleworks Soft and Sweet threadpack and it came out like this! Exactly as I wanted!

Little House Needleworks Soft and Sweet ( threadpack)

32 count light taupe evenweave

Started 25th January 2012

Finished 2nd February 2012

Birthday gift for Barb

I had an email from Barb today and I am chuffed to say that she loves it :)

I'm keeping this short for today as I have lots of blogs to catch up on. I must apologise if I've not dropped by your blog but I will catch up eventually! I've got it down to 104 new posts as I type! We've had a fault on our phone line since Tuesday so our broadband has been painfully slow. I rang the phone company on Tuesday afternoon from my Dad's and they came out thus morning and fixed it. So I've been unable to go reading blogs as everything was so slow loading and sometimes didn't load. It's good to have a working phone again and even better that the broadband seems to be back up to speed!

I'm taking part in my first IHSW this weekend and am incorporating it into the UFO night ( Friday) on a Facebook stitching group I belong to so watch out for HAED Guardian!

I'll be back another day with my progress on my SB, Lizzie*Kate 6 Fat Men and maybe, just maybe, CCN Snowflake Serenade finally finished if I can get a good evening's stitching tonight!

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my last post. I think my brain fog is easing but I know it'll be back!

Until next time..... keep stitching:)

Much love

Sally

xxxx

2011 Fob & Ornament Made Up

My sewing machine has been busy again but I can only show one thing that I sewed up using it as the other is in the post as I type!

I actually decided to hand sew my Shepherd's Bush 2011 Fob as it's so tiny. I'm not the greatest hand sewer by a long way but I did it! I did have bother adding the ribbon as I kept thinking I was going to run out but after some in my head cussing I finally got it done! 

I also made up my January ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I'm a bit limited with my fabrics but didn't want to buy anymore just yet. I do like how this has turned out though.

I've been trying to get CCN Snowflake Serenade finished and now just have the border to stitch. I stitched on it two evenings last week so that I could plenty done and I love how it's looking. 

Friday and Saturday I was determined to pick up Blackbird Designs AotH Swan Lake. I started AotH in January last year as a SAL with Jane and Valerie. I think Valerie may have abandoned hers for now but Jane is still stitching away steadily as I am. I think once the house on this block is done it should stitch up quite quickly.

I had a wee new start on Saturday evening as I wanted a bit of a break from that house on Swan Lake! Just in time for Valentine's Day but not made up is this.

The Primitive Hare Valentine

28 count fabric scrap ( possibly Polstitches Hot Potato)

Carrie's Creations Cranberry Sauce

Started 11th February 2012

Finished 12th February 2012

Finally a little progress on Heartstring Samplery I Sew'd My Heart. I ended up frogging the flowers I'd stitched last time as I stupidly stitched using two strands rather than one! I had also stitched the heart with two strands but I've left that. God only knows what I was thinking of; clearly I wasn't thinking!!!

Typing of not thinking, brain fog is horrendous today. It's days like this that I swear I have early onset dementia. Days like this I hardly dare open my mouth to speak for fear of the drivel that might come out of it. I've gone 6 months since my last period and I'm hoping and praying with all my might that this might be the end. I know I have another 6 months to go yet and I may well curl up in a ball in a corner if I start!

Anyway I'm going to catch up blogs now then sort some fabric for my new SB start for my SAL with Barb and Colleen tonight. I'm starting Simple Joys.

Thank you all for your continued visits and your lovely comments. I appreciate each and everyone :)

Until next time... keep stitching :)

Much love

Sally

xxxx

Some Thank You Gifts

I stitched up a couple of thank you gifts and have been waiting for them to arrive before I could show them as they were surprises for both recipients.

Last year I asked on my blog if anyone had the Shepherd's Bush 2009 Fob chart that I could borrow and Valerie very kindly offered to lend me it. I've been a while getting something stitched for her but this is what I did for her and I am happy to know that she loves it :) 

Shepherd's Bush Lucky

32 count light taupe evenweave

DMC 

Started 22nd January 2012

Finished 25th January 2012

Thank you gift for Valerie.

I admired a Carriage House Samplings finish on Suzanne's blog last year and saw that it was from an issue of JCS so I asked which one. Suzanne kindly offered to send me the magazine. Again it's taken me a while but I stitched up a little something for her and she loves it :)

Blackbird Designs Rosebud Sachet ( from A Schoolgirl's Work)

32 count light taupe evenweave

GAST and DMC

Started 21st January 2012

Finished 22nd January 2012

Thank you gift for Suzanne.

I shamelessly had my new start last Friday and stitched on Saturday and a bit on Sunday too. It is Heartstring Samplery I Sew'd My Heart. I first saw it last year when Catherine stitched it up so beautifully then I saw Mouse's lovely start and jogged my memory! I'm stitching it on 32 count vintage country mocha linen ( not that you can tell- the photo is bad!) using the recommended GAST.

I also made a little progress on CCN Snowflake Serenade. It's really time that this baby was finished so maybe I should have an evening a week on it instead of fitting it in here and there. 

I have yet another Shepherd's Bush finish. It's not made up yet but I love how this stitched up. I keep saying that I'm going to start a bigger SB design for my SAL with Barb and Colleen but I'm really enjoying stitching smaller bits at the moment. Barb kindly sent me the Count Your Blessings chart when she'd finished with it so I think I'm starting that next week!

Shepherd's Bush 2011 Fob ( as kitted)

Started 30th January 2012

Finished 6th February 2012

At craft club yesterday I started my tree for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I am amazed at how much I actually got done as what with listening to others chatting and getting involved myself I felt sure I wouldn't be able to concentrate enough!

Finally last night was L*K 6 Fat Men SAL night with my surrogate sis Lisa. I stitched snow, snow and more snow! Still love it though :)

Late Saturday afternoon the snow started and kept on falling. It was blowing too so in some places there were some deep drifts. I was so happy to see it so Sunday morning DH and I went out bright and early ( well early for a Sunday morning! ) for a walk armed with our cameras. We had planned to have a walk so far around the mere but it was very misty teh nearer we got so we decided we wouldn't get any clear photos so after taking the odd one or two of some sheep in a field we went to the park then onto the mere from another way by which time the fog had cleared. Here's just a few of my photos.

Hull Road

Back of St Nicholas Church from Hallgarth Park

Hallgarth Park

Hallgarth Park

Hallgarth Park

Hallgarth Park

Sheep by The Mere

St Nicholas Church

Swan Island, The Mere. Frozen and snow covered

Swans in the snow and ice, The Mere

Boats in the snow. This one caught my eye the way the snow had blown up the side.

The forecast says the icy blast is going to continue and we may get more snow at the weekend.

Poor Jess rang in tears on Sunday afternoon as Ivor, her hamster, had died. She was absolutely heartbroken. She'd had him just over a year and he was lovely. A real character and we all played with him when she was home. Thankfully the mains roads were clear of snow so we were able to go through and bring her home for the night. I think she just needed her Mum as the first thing she did when we got there was fling her arms round me and burst into tears again. 

That's it for today. I'm going to finish off catching up on blogs now. I started yesterday when I got back from craft club but didn't get them all read!

Stay safe and warm in the snow and ice.

Much love

Sally

xxxx