Happy New Year!

Well I am feeling quite cross as I wrote this post last night, couldn't upload the photos so saved the post to try and upload them today and it's nowhere to be seen! lol! Hope I can remember what I waffled on about!

I have few things to show you but only one of those is stitched is by me! Lol! First up a few of you may remember that my youngest DD, Abigail, used to stitch a few years ago and while she was off school ill at the beginning of December she asked if she could stitch something and went through the charts she had left. She was stitching the Spring one of these designs but very sneakily stitched this one, had it framed and gave it to me for Christmas! It was a lovely surprise and I love it :)

Next up is my WIP on my SAL with Chris which is Blue Ribbon Designs Peppermint Twist. Although I have been a bit slow on this one I have been getting quite a bit of stitching in on it these past few days as I have been spending some time on an afternoon on it and I intend to see the New Year in stitching on it too!

Postie was very kind to me yesterday as he/ she delivered an envelope from Michele. Inside was a lovely birthday card and gift which is this gorgeous scissor fob. The piccie really does not do this fob justice as it is so pretty. Thank you so much Michele xxx I love it!

I had a quick visit from Chris yesterday afternoon. She was armed with a bottle of Baileys, which will be opened later tonight, and a package for me. Chris stitched me this beautiful needleroll for my birthday. Isn't it gorgeous? I had never seen the design before but I now know from looking at Chris' blog that it's M Designs Garden Check Needleroll. I totally love this needleroll :) Thank you Chris xxx

Also in the package was Chris' ornament for me from our private ornament exchange. We did one last year and decided to do another this year. Maybe it will become a tradition for us??? As you can see it went on my tree as soon as I opened it :) I was thinking of stitching this one next year ( hoping to get some ornaments stitched up over the year as I failed miserably this year with that plan!) so Chris picked a good one to stitch for me :) Thank you Chris xxxx



2009 has been quite a good year stitching wise and I have completed two rounds of PIFs, the needleroll SAL with Chris plus the Beatrix Potter SAL as well as stitching other bits and pieces. I am quite proud of what I achieved for all my stitching hasn't been up to par of late due to chatting on MSN but we won't go into that! Lol! I am hoping that 2010 will be a good year for me with everything and I have lots planned with my stitching. I've already mentioned my Shores SAL with Jane, my Just Nan SAL with the ladies on Stitch and Stash and my continuing needleroll SAL with Chris. Other plans are a HAED SAL with Lisa Wed/ thurs each week as well as a UFO night with her on a Sunday which she bullied me into!!! Lol! OK she didn't really! We were chatting and I was telling her I might have to scrap Winter Wingding as I'd got bored with it so she suggested I join her when she stitches on her UFOs so I decided to. I can't see me actually keeping it when I'm finished but even if I give it away or sell it at least I can say I finished it! Oh and by the way Lisa I actually have another UFO which I had completely forgotten about and that is Chatelaine Spring Morning so even if I finish Winter Wingding you'll still have company as I'll move onto that! Also Lisa and I are helping each other out attempting the chart stash wagon again in 2010! I, for one, have more than enough charts and if I buy more I always want to stitch the newer ones first rather than the ones I've had for ages so I really need to do something about it! Lol!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas as we did. I was very good and actually only asked for one cross stitch kit and that was Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Fob and my hubby bought me that :) I would love to get that stitched and Shepherd's Purse in 2010!

Before I go just want to say Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2010 brings you lots of stitchy happiness! See you all next year! Lol!

Hugs

Sally xxx

One Last Needleroll for 2009

One last post before Christmas to show what will probably be my last finish of 2009! As you may know Chris and I have been doing a SAL of a Shepherd's Bush needleroll each month which I have really enjoyed and we are planning on keeping it going it going next year :) So here's my last roll of the year and I have to say I really like this one.

Shepherd's Bush Pin Needleroll

32 count cream fabric

DMC and Mill Hill Beads

Thanks Chris for doing the SAL with me. I have really enjoyed it and look forward to carrying on next year :)

Thank you to all those of you who have visited me this year and I hope you will continue to visit me even though my blogging has been a bit hit and miss these past few months. Hopefully things will improve in 2010 and I'll be back to my old blogging self :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Father Christmas brings you all lots of nice stitchy stash!

Hugs

Sally

xx

A Christmas Happy Dance!

Wahooooo!!! Come dance with me as I have a Christmas finish! Lizzie*Kate Merry Christmas By The Letter is all finished up, buttons are sewn on and it's ready to made up. I'm planning on just doing a simple bell pull finish as I haven'tr eally got time to do anything else with it now as I'd like it up on the wall as soon as possible :) Sorry the piccie isn't a very good one but it's really dull here today and it keeps trying to snow :)

Lizzie*Kate Merry Christmas By The Letter

36 count flax linen

DMC threads

Started 7th July 2009

Finished 17th December 2009

Another finish for me is an ornament. Chris and I decided to do an ornament exchange like we did last year and after much contemplation I decided on Milady's Needle A Spot of Christmas from this year's JCS ornament mag and I am ver happy to say that Chris loves it. I decided to finish it as a pinkeep and used a twisted ribbon finish as I really like how this looks.

Milady's Needle A Spot of Christmas

32 count fabric

DMC threads

Stitched for Chris.

Finally my December SAL with Chris. It's a little slow going as I will admit I am spending too much time online chatting lol but I am enjoying this piece so much. This will be my sole WIP other than a needleroll until Christmas so, hopefully, I will get more done.

Thank you so much for all your birthday wishes :) Seems hard to believe my birthday was nearly a week ago. Time is flying so fast. I received a lovely card and gift from Karan this week. Karan handmakes her cards and just look at the beauty she sent me. Isn't it gorgeous? The chart she sent me is a JBW Sweet Nothings called A Single Rose and I love it. Roses were one of my Mum's favourite flowers and my Dad always used to have a lovey display in his front garden so this design is so perfect. And the silk thread is so soft. Thank you so much Karan xx

Well onto other stuff now. Tuesday was my follow-up appointment at the ENT clinic and this time I saw the head consultant. He was so nice, checked me over and decided to do a scan. He did say that just because he was sending me for a scan it didn't mean he thought there was anything wrong and is using it more as a screening scan ( ?) so we shall see once I've had that done. Also I started with toothache on Sunday! Now I so rarely get toothache but it was very painful so Monday I rang my dentist to see if I could get an appointment and went Wednesday just before lunch. I ended up having a tooth out while I was there! I didn't expect to get it done there and then but now I have no more pain other than a bit of discomfort from having it out and I'm now £45 lighter in the bank for it! Lol! Wonder if that's everything now???

I hope everyone is keeping nice and warm as it's bitterly cold here in the UK at the moment. We've had out first snow of the winter and where I live we had very high winds last night which was really scary. Thankfully it's dropped a little today but it's still very windy.

I'm off to catch up on blog reading and commenting now before lunch then I'll see if I can my L*K made up to hang :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

Happy Birthday To Me!!!!

Today is my ( shush) 46th birthday and I have had quite a lovely day :) I have had some gorgeous cards and some gorgeous presents too and I have been spoilt with some lovely gifts from some of my stitchy friends.

A few weeks ago I bought a Nominations classic bracelet and one charm to start myself off as I'd had some money given. Abi had got one for her birthday from me and her Dad with some charms as well as a couple of charms from my Dad and I really liked the idea of one. Anyway my Dad asked after I'd bought it what I'd like for my birthday and gave me some money to go get something so I bought some charms. Hubby bought me my zodiac charm along with some flowers. Abi bought me an angel keyring and mother and daughter necklaces which I thought were such a lovely idea :) Jess paid for me to go the cinema to see A Christmas Carol in 3D which was unreal!!! What a fantastic film and simply stunning in 3D!

Now I cannot go without showing the lovely gifts I received from my stitchy friends.

First up is the gorgeous scissor fob I received from my dear friend Lisa. Now Lisa knows I love snowmen and she knows I like Prairie Schooler and look what she stitched for me :) I abolutely love this and it will be going on my scissors and will be treasured very much. Thank you so much Lisa!

Next is a gorgeous floss tag ring from Julie. Julie also chose a perfect design for me as it's a Just Nan, it's my initial and it smells divine of lavender which I abolutely love :) I can't wait to put it to good use and it will also be treasured very much. Thank you so much Julie!
Last but not least is a gorgeous pyn pillow from Barb. When I opened this I couldn't believe my eyes as I'd looked at this chart many times and had fallen in love with it. It's M Designs Miss Mary Mac's Pins and Needles and Barb has personalised it with my name and again it smells divine as she's filled it with lavender. This will also be treasured very much and I intend to pop it next to me while I'm stitching so I can smell the lavender. Thank you so much Barb!
So as you can see I have been spoilt and I feel honoured to have friends who take the time to remember me on my birthday and stitch gifts :)

That's it from me :) Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally
xx

Oh Dear!

Yes it's oh dear as there seems to be a distinct lack of blogging and blog reading going on in my house! Last week was one of those of weeks I really do not want to repeat in a hurry but a bit more of that after my stitchy updates.

Yes stitchy updates. That thing I do with needle and thread which I just about remember how to do! Although last week it was well and truly my sanctuary. Chris and I started Blue Ribbon Designs Peppermint Twist and here's how far I've got. This is stitched on my own tea dyed fabby using DMC

My other piece of stitching is Lizzie*Kate Merry Christmas By The Letter which has come along quite nicely and is quite close to being finished. It has been such a fun design to stitch and I look forward to getting this on the wall for Christmas Day.
I'm hoping to get a needleroll done this month but HAED Guardian is probably going to be on hold until after Christmas now. I'd like to get Peppermnt Twist finished this month but I have my doubts that will happen! Lol!

Our start to December was not a good one as my Dad rang at 7.45 am to say he'd fallen getting out of bed and couldn't get up. He has severe arthritis in his right knee so I am assuming his knee gave out on him but he doesn't know what happened so we cannot be sure. He had smacked his nose on the wardrobe door and didn't know if he'd hurt his arm or not. I took one look at him, knew I wasn't going to be able to get him up and called an ambulance. The paramedics were there in no time and were so good. They couldn't decide if he'd broken his arm or dislocated his shoulder but it was clear that he'd done something by the shape of it. To cut a long story short he had dislocated his shoulder and cut his nose so had four stitches in that. The most annoying thing was that had intermidiate care been able to see him the same day and arrange carers to go into his home he'd have been back home the same day. As it was the hospital deemed him fit to come home the following day which distressed me greatly as he clearly wasn't. Anyway regardless of how I felt about it he came home with his arm in a sling, unsteady on his feet and he lives on his own. Not good. He has carers three times a day plus he now has the Lifeline/ telecare system installed so that if he should fall again he can get help by pressing a button. So last week was very stressful for all of us but my Dad is feeling more settled with the help he's had from intermediate care and with the lifeline in.

Anyway that's all from me for now. Not sure when normal blog reading/ commenting service will resume as I, as I am sure everyone else is, busy preparing for Christmas.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally