Wednesday 13 August 2008

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



18 comments:

Lisa said...

Your exchange needleroll is gorgeous Sally, you lucky thing.
I never get bored of seeing your wips, although as you know your Quaker Christmas is my favourite.
Fingers crossed for Jess for tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about the titles,If my brain won't work I just put the date, Boring I know lol
What a beautiful needleroll.!!
And what great progress you have made on all three WIP's Well done

Anonymous said...

What a pretty needleroll!

You're making such good progress with everything. I really admire you for sticking to a rotation, I have loads of great plans for my stitching, but I don't normally stick to them LOL!

Glad you're feeling a bit better :)

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

You girls are lovely Sally :)
And my fingers are crossed for everyone's tests. All will work out fine I'm sure!
I sure do hope your ear infection is gone and that all will "right" itself in your world now!

Your stitching is gorgeous and I like you just recently discovered the beauty in BBD...and I'm hoping with my new "leaf" turning that I can start one really, really soon!

Have a great day!

staci said...

Your WIP's are all so pretty and really coming along! Lovely redwork exchange too :)

Chiloe said...

Your girls are cuties ;) Hope your daughter will get the grades qhe was expecting : fingers crossed here !!!

I like the sea circles ! I don't get bored looking at those pieces ;-)

Becky K in OK said...

My oh my, that is one gorgeous needleroll. I covet it! (HeHe)

Dani - tkdchick said...

the needleroll you received is beautiful!

Valerie said...

Rites of Spring, Quaker Chirstmas and Sea Stars are looking wonderful! I love the reds of QC. Very festive!!

Michele said...

lovely needleroll! and your wips are coming along great!

Love the picture of the girls still in their pj's :) hope the test results go well!

and I'm so glad to hear you are starting to feel better ..hope it contiues :)

Anonymous said...

WOW that exchange is fantastic.

All your other pieces are looking fantastic Sally. Perhaps you could ask Garden of Stitches Carol to show you her Quaker Christmas to see where she positioned the 8, I think she was unhappy with the placement at first.

Good luck to Jess for her results. Gosh I remember when they got sent in the post. Also for her interview on Friday.

sammyjo said...

Hey glad to hear your feeling a little better :)

Fingers crossed for jess, i my self plan to stay up and pray to god all night, it could work hehe!

Anonymous said...

Sea Stars is looking lovely; the needleroll is gorgeous, too!

Anonymous said...

Lovely NR, you must have been happy to have it.
All your wip are looking great. You are always up to your rotation, I'm so jealous as I don't always keep up to my rotation. Your DD are so pretty.

Julie said...

A beautiful exchange gift.
Lovely progress on your WIP's. Hope the news as good for Jess and she got the grades she wanted.

Paula said...

Love the needleroll Sally it's gorgeous.
And love all your stitching too. They are gorgeous,

What a lovely picture of the girls, I can't believe how grown up they are looking now from when we first start talking on Stitchy's forum all those years ago now Sally...lol

Happy stitching and hugs....

Solstitches said...

The needleroll you received in the exchange is gorgeous.
It's a while since I had time for blog reading so I see some great progress made on your wips. Each one of them is beautiful.
Your girls are growing up. Both so pretty.

Karan said...

Gorgeous exchange piece Sally & all your WIP's are looking fantastic - can't believe how mcuh you've done while I've been away, especially as you've been so poorly. Hope you're feeling much better now (((((hugs))))).
Fab pic of your girls. :0)