Redwork/ Monchrome Exchange & Other Stuff!

I can never think of rivetting titles for my blog posts!! Lol!

My redwork/ monochrome exchange arrived yesterday from Clare via Jayne. Clare chose to stitch me this gorgeous monochrome needleroll in lavender DMC Rayon and I absolutely love it. Clare stitched it so beautifully. Thank you so much Clare and thank you to Su for organising the exchange.

I can't show what I stitched for Jane S ( no blog) as yet as she has received it but not opened it yet! I am itching for her to open it and desperately hope she likes it as both finishes were firsts for me.

I have been stitching, although I did not stitch Saturday evening as I just didn't feel like it, but not as much as usual. I haven't been stitching all evening until bedtime as I normally do but I am still making progress on my WIPs. I want to try and get Ink Circles Sea Stars and Blackbird Designs Rites of Spring finished by the end of September then I plan on starting BBD Blessings and Kind Wishes. As I said before I am planning on making some changes to my rotation. Mondays will be A Quaker Christmas, Tuesdays Ink Circles Sea Stars, Wednesdays HAED TT Letter J and Sundays will be my BBD night until all the Loose Feathers for this year are stitched! As I finish something in this bit of my rotation I'll bring in WIPs that I haven't stitched on lately which are Chatelaine Spring Morning and HAED quick stitch Girly Gothic. The rest of the week I'll stitch on smalls and one week will be dedicated solely to A Quaker Christmas so that I can get that finished for Christmas this year.

So I'd better show what I've been stitching! I do hope you're not getting bored of seeing the same old pieces coming out but, hopefully, there should be some smaller bits and pieces as I get going. I am now all the way across on BBD Rites of Spring and loving how it's coming along. These BBD's are so easy to stitch and look gorgeous. I don't know why I didn't discover BBD earlier!

Monday was A Quaker Christmas night. I realised that I'd stitched an 8 as charted when I wanted to replace it with a 7 so that I could date the piece as 2008. Hope that makes sense. So I frogged the 8 and stitched a 7 in it's place then completed the year. I'm not entirely happy with how it looks but I'm going to stitch the motifs around it first then see what I think. I also stitched a motif at the bottom. I just love this Carrie's Creations red thread as the variation is so beautiful.

Last night I stitched for a couple of hours on Ink Circles Sea Stars and did more of the HUGE motif in the middle! I would say I've got a quarter of it stitched in two evenings so I might get it finished by the September and I might not!

I am so happy to report that all RR's in our Quaker Friends RR are now back home. The last round was a bit fraught as two were sent back by Royal Mail and had to be reposted. The last stitcher on Chris' did not know when or if she'd be able to stitch on it so Chris and I decided it best that it was returned unstitched and she finally got it back on Monday. I have to say that I am disappointed for Chris that two blocks haven't been stitched but also relieved that she has it back. It has been a little off-putting and I think it'll be a while before I ever organise or take part in an RR again. However I am looking forward to seeing the books made up. Mine is half done but I just need to pluck up the courage to finish it off totally!

A while ago Linda had read on my blog that I collect postcards so she offered to send me one from her country Iceland. A package arrived from her on Monday and she hadn't sent me just one but nine! I must say seeing these postcards I would dearly love to visit Iceland one day but whether I ever will is a different matter! Thank you so much Linda:)

It's now 3 weeks into the girls summer holiday and we have done very little other than have a few walks and do a bit of shopping. Of course last week I was ill and going out was out of the question but the weather hasn't been good either. We've had lots of rain and this week isn't going to be much better. Jess has got an interview on Friday at the local Co-Operative store so keeping my finger's crossed for her there. DH finishes Friday for 2 weeks and we are hoping to get out the odd day or so. We do have some decorating to do and the girls and I stripped some wallpaper off yesterday and Monday. I must admit the girls did most of it on Monday as I still wan't feeling too good but I can't sit by and watch everyone else work regardless of how I feel.

Tomorrow is results day for AS and A2 level students so Jess will be off in the morning to pick her AS level results up. Like Sammy Jo , Jess is dreading opening that envelope. One thing that is worrying her is that she won't have done well enough in her physics to carry on at A2 level so please keep your finger's crossed for her. Good luck Sammy Jo and to all students across the country:)

Leaving you with a picture of Jess and Abi on Jess' birthday ( both still in their PJs!! Lol!)

That's it from me today. Thank you to everyone for your continued good wishes. I am feeling much better than I was but still not quite 100%. I was feeling a bit off balance again yesterday and still have some pain in my ear but, hopefully, it will be OK. I finished my antibiotics on Monday so finger's crossed.

Take care everyone.

Hugs