Frogs!

I'm afraid Just Nan Queen of the Needle was not kind to me this week. I'd had a bit of a bad Sunday, I was tired and things were on my mind and I don't really think I should have been stitching! I stitched up the crown then set about the flowers on the right hand side to match the left I'd done last week. Well after an evening stitching on them I realised something was not quite right and I'd only gone and stitched some of the flowers with the wrong colours or shades. Grrrrrr!! So I had to unpick and took off to bed in disgust! Anyway I got what housework I needed to do done yesterday morning and restitched the bits I'd had to frog then made a start on the next band so this is where I'm at. Helen I hope you did better than I did!

So yesterday was Ink Circles Sea Stars SAL with Karen but after Mondays fiasco I wasn't sure I should stitch but I can't just sit and watch TV; it just bores me silly; so I took the chance and got a couple of fish stitched, finished the motif I started last week and did a couple more with no frogging so I felt much happier. I really like the way this looks with the different colours and the DMC Variations are so nice to stitch with.

I'm all set to start Chatelaine Spring Morning this evening. I feel a bit guilty having another new start when I should really finish the Christmas mystery but it will get done at some point! I'm just not saying when:) I see Martina has started giving previews of mysteries for those who want to see. Wish she'd done that before as I wouldn't have signed up for it and wasted my money.

My next thing is to get the PIF gift stitched and made up for Kyrie then that's my first PIF lot done and dusted:) After that I can make a start on the round I signed up for. As I said before I shall just pick three random bloggers:)

Well I am ashamed to say that I finally caved and signed up for the Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers Club for this year. It took a lot of thinking about as I am supposed to be on the chart wagon BUT if I didn't sign up and missed out on them I know full well I would regret it so I intend on only buying those 6 charts this year up until December at least. I know I can do it if I really put my mind to it. So I signed up at Needlecraft Corner and have asked for the chart and fabric for my first one. I have the GAST and I can always sub the WDW.

Thank you for all your kind comments on the bourse and also on Girly Gothic. Christine they are quite difficult but I find gridding my fabric and marking the chart off as I go along makes them easier to stitch. Margaret this one is for Abi:)

Thank you to those of you who keep on dropping by and also to those of you who comment. It really brightens my day to know there are people out there who are actually interested in what I'm up to in my little corner of the world:)

Girly Gothic:)

Wahoooo!!! I actually managed to finish page 1 of HAED quick stitch Girly Gothic last night! I didn't think I was going to get it done but I think determination set in and I did it! Phew! So next time she comes up in my rotation I'm moving down to page 3 instead of across to page 3. It's not quite a full page so shouldn't take me as long to to ( famous last words). I really like the look of this piece although the sparklies do not show up on the scan.

So tonight it's back to the lovely Just Nan Queen of the Needle and I'm hoping to finish the band I was stitching on last week. I ought to stitch some beads on too rather than leave them all until the end but as I'm very good at throwing beads everywhere and losing them down the settee I think I might wait, sit to the table and sew them all on at the same time when I'm finished with the stitching! Tomorrow it's Ink Circles Sea Stars which I'm also looking forward to. After that I'm supposed to have a new start; Chatelaine Spring Morning; but I need to get the kit out and wind all the threads onto bobbins. Might do that this afternoon instead of stitching as Jess has a half day today due to one of her teachers being off and I don't think I could concentrate on Chris' RR with Jess in!!

Have a great week everyone! {{{{hugs}}}}

It's Reveal Day!

It's finally reveal day for the S&S/JA monthly SAL challenge and the photo album is up on the MB so I can show my finish! The design chosen for January was With My Needle Eliza's Pyn Pillow. I chose to stitch mine on 32 count linen ( can't remember the colour) but over two instead of over one. I used GAST and Ozark Sampler threads. I decided to make this up into a bourse and I am pleased with the way it turned out:) It was lovely to see all the different fabrics and threads the other girls had chosen and how they'd finished them off. We are now voting on February's challenge.

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting up with Chris again. We spent a few hours chatting and showing each other some stitching and Chris handed over her Quaker RR to me for me to stitch on:) I don't think she could quite believe the amount of stitched pieces I have on my walls!!! Looking forward to seeing you again, Chris, in a few weeks:)

I'm not doing bad with HAED quick stitch Girly Gothic this week. I'm hoping to get the first page finished but it very much depends upon how soon I get stitching this evening and tomorrow evening! I must admit I was feeling a little despondant again with my HAEDs as they just don't grow fast enough. The first few I stitched I got a lot of satisfaction from but now I just feel I can't get on fast enough with them. Anyway I went through the charts I have and have a few more for sale. I've still got more than I will ever stitch though!

Still in two minds about this year's Loose Feathers Club but I know I will cave eventually. There's no way I want to miss out but I'm unsure of where the best place to buy from would be.

Sea Stars

Tuesday was Sea Stars SAL with Karen and although I didn't get quite as much done this week I really love the way this is coming along. I managed to finish the big notif I was working on and started a small motif. I look forward to Tuesdays so I can stitch on this and it's great fun to have someone stitching along with you so thank you Karen!

I finished the S&S monthly SAL challenge with a few days to spare but, as I said before, I can't show it here until it has been revealed on S&S but I will say I am pleased with the way it turned out. I'm hoping to keep taking part each month and have a few gifts at the end of the year:)

I have one more PIF to stitch now as Michele's is done and will be in the post Monday at the latest. So I just have Kyrie's to do now. I did sign up for another one but I've noticed on other blogs that people who have put PIFs up are having bother filling them so I may well just pick three people over the year to receive a stitched gift from me rather than ask people to sign up.

Oh and before I forget a few of you asked about the BRD Alphabet Tree chart and where you could get it. Well it was available on the BRD website but Belinda, the designer, retired several previous freebies last year so it is no longer available.

I'm off for my catch up on blogs now then going to make a Shepherd's Pie for tea. Take care everyone! {{{{hugs}}}}

Lovely Weather for Ducks!

Here in the UK we have had the most awful weather over the past couple of weeks or so. Lots of rain and high winds with threats of flooding again in some areas. Some people have been facing the possibility of being flooded again when they are just getting sorted from the floods last June. I hope everyone is safe and free from floods. We have dry weather today but it's going to take a long spell of dry weather for the land and rivers to recover.

I have had my second small finish of the year and I have to say this was an absolute joy to stitch. It is Blue Ribbon Designs A Christmas Wish ( chart can be found on the freebie page at Blue Ribbon Designs ) and I stitched it using GAST and DMC on 28 count Quaker Bantry fabric in biscuit. I decided to finish it off the same as the BRD ornaments in the December issue of The Gift Stitching and used Mill Hill beads for the beaded edge:) I am delighted with the way it turned out and this will be winging it's way to the USA shortly.

I have finished stitching the Stitch and Stash SAL challenge for this month but still have to make it up yet. I'd better get a move on as reveal day is Saturday! I can't show it before or I'll be in big trouble! Lol!

Last night was Queen of the Needle night and I sat down straight after tea with my MP3 listening to music and made a start. I am still in awe of the gorgeous colours in this piece and I think this is one of my most favourite Just Nan pieces. It is an absolute joy to stitch and I never think that I can't be bothered with it. I even enjoyed the over one backstitching!

Today is Ink Circles Sea Stars SAL with Karen then the rest of the week is HAED quick stitch Girly Gothic. I'm hoping to make good progress on Girly Gothic this week as I have a bee in my bonnet about getting her finished so I can start Holly Fairy which was a gift for my birthday from dear Fudgey:)

My order from Daisy Stitches finally arrived last Friday. It didn't come from Daisy Stitches but from The Trilogy as it was two of their charts I'd ordered. Long time coming from 17th December but it's here safely now:)

Have you seen the first of this years Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers? Oh my God I could be in so much trouble but I am supposed to be on the chart wagon and doing a project challenge. I was discussing it with DH yesterday and he said if I wanted to join it to go ahead. Bless him; he never begrudges me anything. I then started talking myself out of it saying I'm not supposed to be buying charts and I'm not sure I can justify buying more when I have a lot already and he said he could see my point and I probably can't justify it. Then again I'm thinking that these are quite special and it's only 6 charts in a year which will be retired next year. Hmmmm!!! I might ( only might) treat myself when I have my first proper finish of the year ( not just a little one!).

I was tagged by Teejay last week and had this saved in draft.
4 jobs I have had:
Sales assistant
4 movies I watch over and over:
Pirates of the Carribean ( any of them!)
Top Gun
Eragon
.4 Places I've Been
Lake District
Bournemouth
Pitlochery ( Scotland)
North Wales
4 Places I've Lived:
Just here!
4 TV shows I watch:
Holby City
CSI
CSI New York
CSI Miami
4 Favorite things to eat:
Fajitas
Chicken
Spaghetti Bolognase
Pasta
4 people that e-mail me regularly:
Nobody really!
4 Places I'd rather be:
Somewhere cold and snowy
4 things I look forward to this year:
Just spending time with my DH and daughters
4 People I will tag:
Not going to tag anybody but if you'd like to have ago just do it!

I m way behind on blog reading at the moment so will go see if I can catch up a bit before lunch. Hope everyone is having a good week. {{{{hugs}}}}

Happy Birthday Lisa and WIPs!

Today is Lisa's birthday so Happy Birthday Lisa! Anyway Lisa has let me know that she has received what I stitched for her so I can reveal it:) My first finish of 2008 and it is Blue Ribbon Designs Alphabet Tree stitched on an unknown fabby using GAST Bumblegum and made into a pinkeep! It was lovely to stitch and I just love this colour thread. Hope you have a fantastic day Lisa!

Monday was Queen of the Needle night and considering I was feeling under the weather I think I had a good evening on it. I still can't get over how pretty this design is and I just love stitching it. I look forward to Monday every week so that I can stitch on it:) so thanks Helen for suggesting we do this. I'll be onto the verse next week so that should be fun as it's over one! Still it's 28 count fabric so it shouldn't be too bad! I think I'll be able to cope with that!

Finally yesterday was Ink Circles Sea Stars SAL with Karen which I am enjoying so much. This is another one I look forward to every week. I just hope it looks OK as I am always unsure when I'm not using the charted colours and this is very different to anything I've ever done before. Anyway I love the way it looks so far and can't wait for next week! Lol! I'm wishing my life away for stitching!!! What do you think to the colours?

The rest of this week is whatever I fancy in my rotation and I was going to get Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV out and try and finish it BUT I am doing the monthly SAL challenge on Stitch and Stash and I haven't even started it yet! It has to be made up into something and revealed on 26th January so I think I'd better start that plus I'd quite like to get a Christmas ornament out of the way so I don't have to think about it anymore ( it's a gift!)! So the mystery will have to wait for a little while longer!

Thank you for all your good wishes the other day. I am feeling a bit better although I'm still a bit under the weather. I will get there I am sure:)

Well I'll go and catch up on blogs for a bit now:) I enjoy my time every other day catching up and seeing what you've all been stitching:) {{{{hugs}}}}

Winter

What a horrible day it is here on the east coast on England! Lots of rain and winds which are, apparently, going to get stronger as the day goes on. Perfect day for stitching if only I did not have a funny head again. Grrrrrrrrrrrr! If this is down to perimenopause I seriously need something to help me because I hate the way things are.

So quick blog post to show my progress on Heaven and Earth Designs Winter. For new readers to my blog ( waving madly!) here is what it will look like when it's finished:) And this is what it looks like now! Long way to go before it's finished but I only have a bit of page 4, page 5 and a little bit on page 6 to go before I'm across the top of the design:) I really do need to work on this more but I don't want to have any more than a 6 week rotation for now or I'll never get anything else done. I hope you won't get bored seeing WIP of this and the other stuff as my finishes are probably going to be few and far between for a while, although I do have one that I can't show yet. Need to get going if I'm going to do this 20 project challenge!

Sea Stars and A Surprise!

Karen how did you do on Sea Stars this week? I actually managed to finish the big motif then did the small one next to it. Can't remember the colour number and can't be bothered to go look LOL! I am loving this though and it stitches up so quickly for all it looks as though it won't; if you get what I mean! It took me a while to decide what colour to use for the small motif and I wasn't sure about it so begin with but I like it now! Roll on next Tuesday so I can stitch on it again!

Yesterday I received an envelope and I couldn't work out what it could be! Anyway I won a runner-up prize in a drawing on Sammy Jo's blog just before Christmas and that was what it was! I'd totally forgotten about it! Anyway here is what she sent. The three DMC threads and this lovely little fob; isn't it gorgeous? Thank you so much Sammy Jo. I hope your exams go well.

I managed to get out of having a check-up and a clean and polish at the dentist. I told them I wasn't well and asked if I could re-book my appointment and they were OK with that. So I now go next month instead. The girls had their check-ups and they are fine. Apparently Jessica has perfect teeth! She tells her that everytime we go!

I'm going to have a bit of catching up on blogs time now then after lunch I'll settle down with a drink by my side ( now coughing and when I start I can't stop. Not fun when you're in the post office trying to tell them what's in the parcel you want to post!!!) and do a bit of stitching.

Queen on the Needle

Last night I was back to the lovely Just Nan Queen of the Needle with Helen although I did not get as much done as I would have liked. The need to keep sneezing and blowing my nose kind of took over a bit! Lol! Anyway it's good to be stitching on this as I just love it. The colours are so pretty and complement each other so well. I think this is week 7 but not sure! I'm looking forward to getting going with the satin stitch ( I think) hearts next week. They are going to be gorgeous.

Today is the Ink Circles Sea Stars SAL with Karen I am hoping to stitch a bit this afternoon then again this evening but it depends on how I feel. It would be nice to get the first motif finished but I can't see me getting as much done as I did last week especially as I have a dentist appointment along with the girls at 4pm. So we'll see how we get on this week:)

The rest of the week it'll be HAED Winter. I picked it up for a while on Sunday evening and am itching to get a good bit done on it. I was going to take part in the UFO Night on S&S as I did for the last few weeks of last year but have decided not to as I'd rather just carry on as I am with my rotation. As next week is a "whatever takes my fancy" week I may well get Chatelaine Christmas Mystery done and out of the way. If I don't it'll just niggle at me that I haven't finished it. I don't know what I'm going to with it once it is finished as I don't like it enough to frame it or make it into a wallhanging so I might sell it. Although I did think about seeing if DH could make some of tray to mount it in that I could use at Christmas.

The girls went back to school today. Don't think they really wanted to but needs must! Lol! Jess has her first 4 AS level exams this week so keeping my finger's crossed that she does well. She's been revising a lot over the holidays so I hope it has paid off.

Well I'm going to try and catch up on blogs for a bit before lunch. Hope everyone is having a good week {{{{hugs}}}}

New Year; Another New Start!

New Year and a second new start from me! I decided to get on with the With My Needle Ackworth Friendship Book so that I was in good time for the post off date to Lisa on 31st January. It is just lovely to stitch although I did make two mistakes ( the same at the bottom and the top so had a bit of frogging to do!) but I love it. Stitching on the 36 fabric is easier than I thought it would be and the Lakeside Linens fabric is gorgeous. Hope the others enjoy stitching on it too. So without further ado here's the front and back page stitched using DMC 115.I just have the backstitch outline to do and will sit quietly and do that this afternoon I think as I'm feeling under the weather with this damned cold. I thought I had it beat but it's come back!

Not sure what I'll stitch tonight! Maybe a new start or maybe a bit on the Christmas mystery that I need to get finished before it becomes a permanent UFO!

I placed an order with Daisy Stitches a few weeks ago ( my second to last fling!) and Despina posted it on 17th December and it still hasn't arrived. I'm just hoping it's the Christmas post that has slowed things up and it hasn't got lost.

I must apologise for not picking a winner of The Trilogy Sloane the Snowman earlier but I totally forgot about it! Duh! Anyway the winner is Paula! Congratulations! I have your address so I'll pop the chart in the post this week:)

Thank you for your comments on my new look blog. I have to give credit to Julie for the header as I was looking for a picture to use when I was chatting to her on MSN and couldn't find one I wanted to she suggested I scan a Christmas card and hey presto there's my header! So thanks Julie for the suggestion {{{{hugs}}}}

Happy Birthday Karen & Sea Stars!

Today is Karen's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN! Hope you have a fantastic day! I can't show what I made her for her birthday as I don't know if she has got it yet because I was late posting it and I don't want to spoil the surprise:) So that'll be a post for another day! ETA: Karen has let me know she's received my parcel so here is what I stitched for her:) It is Brittercup Designs I Love Penguins from the Antartic Penguins leaflet and I finished it as a stand-up.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve. We spent the evening playing Mario Party 8 which was great fun. We had to take it in turns though as we only have one Wii remote ( to get more they're £30 each so I think we'll stick with taking it in turns for now!) but it's a brilliant game. Then we watched Take That from the O2 stadium and they were just fantastic and I think they're even sexier than they were in their younger days! Lol! I enjoyed it so much I watched the repeat of it yesterday and which I'd recorded it:) Yesterday we had quiet day with both DH's Dad and my Dad here.

Yesterday was the start of the Ink Circles Sea Stars SAL with Karen. I have been looking forward to starting this ever since Karen suggested we do it as a SAL and, of course, it's always nice to have a new start for the New Year:) Mine is stitched on 25 count cream fabric and I'll be using a variety of DMC Variations on mine. This first motif is 4240 I think! The variation doesn't show up too well on this scan though. Karen how did you do? I enjoyed stitching this and am amazed at how much I actually managed but I did stitch all afternoon and evening!

I think I'm going to make a start on With My Needle Ackworth Friendship Book tonight for the Quaker RR that Lisa, Jane, Tracy, Chris and I are doing. Our first post out date is the end of the month so I'd like to get my bit on mine done in good time:)

I'm not going to do a full list of the projects I've finished this year but I managed to finish 36 things in 2007 so I'm very happy:) I have decided to make a goals list for this year but I don't think I'm being very realistic with them somehow! LOL! I'll add it to my side bar as when I get this post done and my blog tidied up a bit.

I have sort of decided to take a break from posting as much on the two message boards I go on regularly and just concentrate on blogging and reading and commeting on blogs. I spend way too much time online and I really need to sort myself out and get myself out of the house more this year. I can't give up reading blogs as I get so much inspiration and encouragement from you all so if you don't see me on the MBs please don't think I'm no longer around:)

I'm going to play with my blog for a while then I need to have a tidy up in the living room! As we no longer have a video recorder I'm bagging all the videos up and either taking them to the charity shop or storing them upstairs as Jess has a video in her bedroom. Have a fantastic week and stay warm:) We're having a very cold snap here in the UK and the wind is so cold but I love it!