Last Finishes for 2010 and Gifts Received!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are all ready for the New Year and more stitching :) I am happy to say that, looking back on 2010, I have had rather a productive year of stitching, have tried different finishes and my biggest achievement without a doubt has been without a doubt my Just A Thought casket. Never in a million years did I think I'd be able to do anything like that and make it look like it's supposed to be but I did!

Anyway I have had two finishes this week which will be last of 2010. First on Wednesday evening I finished Little House Needleworks Poinsettia House, my Winter SAL piece with Chris, Lisa, Lesleyanne, Hazel,  Claire and Nicola. I have loved every single stitch of this of this gorgeous design so thank you ladies for SAL-ing with me. I know Chris and Lesleyanne have finished theirs too.

Little House Needleworks Poinsettia House

28 count tea dyed opalescent evenweave

Crescent Colours & DMC

Started 1st December 2010

Finished 29th December 2010

I now have to decide how I'm going to finish this! I am already looking forward to Chris and I's 2011 December SAL. I think Lesleyanne may be joining us. This is the design we've already chosen to stitch!!!

I decided to have a new start on Christmas Day and although I did not get a lot stitched as I was enjoying myself playing on the Wii with Jess, Abi and my DH I have managed to finish what I started! My dear stitchy friend, Michelle, sent me the chart and I thought it would make a lovely new start for the festive season. I popped the final stitches into it this morning after DH and I had been to the shop so I could pick up a skein of DMC 930 as I'd run out!

The Sampler Girl

Wonderful Life

36 count Sand linen

DMC

Started 25th December 2010

Finished 31st December 2010

The only other stitching I have to show is my measly WIP on CHS SoHRH! Let's just say it won't be finished by the time the clock strikes midnight tonight so I will just have to finish it in early 2011 instead! I only stitched on this a little bit on Christmas Eve so this is my wee start on block 12.

My New Years Day new start won't be a biggy as it has been in the last few years. My first biggy will be on Monday and that is with Barb and Colleen. We are each stitching a Shepherd's Bush design. Mine will be Emmanuel's Song, Barb's will be The Journey and Colleen's will be Chequered Sheep. Anyway back to my New Years Day start! Lisa and I are going be SAL-ing on the Kelmscott Designs Hornbook Angel and we are both looking forward to it.

Speaking of Lisa I can now show the wee gift I stitched for her for Christmas. I took part of the Little House Needleworks Peace design ( a design for UNICEF) and stitched this :) I am delighted to say that Lisa loves it :)

Little House Needleworks Peace ( design for UNICEF)

40 count blue cloud evenweave

DMC

Gift for Lisa.

I love the pom pom trim. I was determined to get some as I thought it would be perfect for this and I actually managed to find some!

You may remember that Chris and I have a private ornament exchange each year and Chris emailed me yesterday to tell me she'd sent a recorded delivery parcel to me and I should get it today. Inside was an ornament, a Christmas card and a birthday gift. Poor Chris had to admit that she'd lost the birthday gift she'd made for me and had had to stitch something else. Anyway let me tell you both the ornament and gift were well worth the wait:) Here is the ornament which is a Blue Ribbon Designs one and I absolutely love it.

And here is Shakespeare's Peddlar Jenny Bean's Pin Tuffet mounted on a tin which is finished so beautifully. I've been wanting to stitch this for a while and even bought the chart earlier in the year but never got around to it. Inside the tin was some Lindt Chocs :) Thank you so much, Chris, for both the ornament and the tin xxx. I absolutely love them both and will treasure them.

Christmas was quiet for us this year but we all thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the first time in several years that I actually felt happy and relaxed about the festive period and it's the best Christmas I've had in a long time. It was just the 4 of us, we talked, played games and just generally relaxed.

I was blessed to receive some gorgeous gifts from some very dear stitchy friends. First of all from Lisa I received these gorgeous marking pins by My Big Toe Designs. They are so pretty and a beautiful colour. Thank you so much Lisa xx

I think Jane had been looking at my wish list as I received the beautiful LHN All is Calm chart, which I am looking forward to stitching in 2011, and she stitched The Sampler Girl New Year New Ewe! I couldn't understand her comment when I showed the one I stitched for Barb about it looking familiar and now I know why! She also stitched it for Barb! Thank you so much Jane xxx I will treasure it. At the moment it's hung on the garland on my mantle piece but after the decorations have been taken down I'm going to hang it with my other TSG pieces :)

I think Elaine must know my love of snowmen as just look at what she stitched for me. Isn't he adorable?! She also included a pair of beautiful pair of blue and white scissors and a snowman chocolate. Thank you so much Elaine xxx I will treasure them ( although not the chocolate as I have eaten it! lol)

Last but by no means least I received these gorgeous Dinky Dyes silks and a bookmark with the most beautiful saying on it from Karan. I don't know if you can see it but it says " The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams". Thank you so much Karan, I absolutely love the threads and the bookmark. I was going to stitch my Kelmscott hornbook angel in black thread but now I think I'm going to use one of the DD silks instead :)

DH's Dad, my Dad and DH's auntie always give us money to buy Christmas gifts for the girls and ourselves so DH and I try to buy things for each other rather than buy our own. We make lists to give each other ideas and my DH bought this stitchy stash and wrapped them up from my Dad so these will keep me busy for a while! The top fabric is for the BBD AotH when I start them as I want to finish Shores before I do!

Yesterday postie a lovely card ( a reindeer of course :) )from across the pond from Michele and inside the card was this lovely red thread. It's such a pretty shade too. Thank you so much Michele xxxx

Phew! I think that's all I have to show! Sorry for rambling on so long! I must apologise for my lack of blog reading and commenting over the last week but I will get caught up with you all after tomorrow :)

As 2010 rapidly draws to a close I just want to thank each every one of you for your friendship in 2010 whether you be old friends or new. I wish you all a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, Stitch filled 2011 and here's to another year of stash, stitches and friendship. Hugs to you all xxxxx

Happy New Year!

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxxx

Merry Christmas :)

Just a quick post this snowy Christmas Eve :) Yes we've had more snow and the flurries keep on coming so it was lovely working in my kitchen this morning with the snow falling outside :)

I just thought I'd pop on and show my finished block 11 on SoHRH. I am hoping to make a start on block 12 this evening once Jess, Abi and I have watched A Christmas Carol. It has become a Christmas Eve tradition for Jess and I to lay in her bed and watch it ( the one with Patrick Stewart in) and Abi is going to join us this year :).

LHN Poinsettia House is going very well and I am now stitching the border. I've left the birds off for the time being as I want to stitch robins rather than cardinals so I've got the North Wind chart out so I can stitch the robin from that. I am absolutely loving this design and enjoying SAL-ing with girls :)

I didn't get LHN Fa La La finished as you can see so that'll be one for the tree next year!!

Finally a festive picture of my fireplace in my living room.

That's all for me until after Christmas. May you all be blessed with a peaceful, wonderful Christmas and may it be filled with lots of love and stitching :)

Love and hugs

Sally

xxxx

It's Freezing!!!!

Well Winter has certainly hit the UK with avengence over the last few weeks and this morning, here on the east coast, we hit -12!!! I do not remember it ever being that cold without the help of windchill. We even had frost at the bottom of some of our windows which was one hell of a shock. We had a dusting of snow on Thursday which didn't go then on Sunday we had flurries on and off all day until mid afternoon when it came down very heavy and we had visions of DH not getting to work on Monday. I must admit it was lovely this morning looking out of our bedroom window watching the lunar eclipse with snow on the ground.

I have been getting some stitching in but these last few days I've also been messing with iTunes as if I'm very very lucky Father Christmas will be bringing me an iPod Nano but not the very latest model as I don't like the feel of them. So I set up my own user account on our PC so I could have my own iTunes rather than having to mess about deleting all DH's tunes and then do mine and I've been loading music onto it hoping that I've been a good enough girl this year!!! Lol! So my stitching! I've had this beauty finished a while but hadn't quite finished making it up but at long last on Sunday afternoon watching the snowfall I got the ruched ribbon done. I love this and it should actually be a mail art envelope but I decided to finish it this way.

Lynne Nicoletti

A Robin's Christmas

40 count blue cloud evenweave

DMC & RG Wisper

Started 23rd November 2010

Finished 25th November 2010

The chart is now for sale if anyone is interested :)

The rest of my finishes are ones I've shown before but they're made up now. Only very simply as I'm running out of time but they're done and hung up!

Little House Needleworks 

Snowy Pines

The next two I've had stitched for absolutely ages. I can't even remember when I stitched them but I think it must have been last year.

Homespun Elegance 

All is Calm

Shepherd's Bush 

Santa's Coming

Another ornament is one that I stitched for Michelle. She has become a wonderful friend since we "met" through blogs just this year and I just wanted to stitch a little something for her. I was panicking a little as this took more stitching that I thought it would so it was finished very simply so that I could get it in the post in the hope it would reach her before Christmas. I even forgot, in my rush, to stitch one of my Made With Love charms on it so I'm disappointed in myself. Anyway I am happy to say that Michelle received it today and loves it :) I decided on this one as I know she loves PS designs

Prairie Schooler 

Winter's Eve

Navy Blue fabric ( unsure of count)

DMC

For Michelle

Started 7th December 2010

Finished 16th December 2010

This week I have remembered to take a photo of Shores! I had hoped to have block 11 finished by now but I will a damned good go tonight. My eyes have been feeling so tired lately which I think is due to me not sleeping well at all ( God knows what is wrong with me) so I've been struggling a little. However it is almost there and block 12 does not look too time consuming so it may still get finished by the end of the year.

LHN Poinsettia House is going very well as I just absolutely love it. I love the colours, the designs; everything! I almost have a full poinsettia and it just looks gorgeous :) I hope the other girls are getting on well with the LHN Winter design they are doing.

Last week I received a package from Barb which she said I was allowed to open then and look what was inside. The stained glass angel, which I have hung in my dining roon window, was made by her DH. Isn't she adorable? And just look at the verse on the packet of the teabag, and the beautiful heart ornament and ribbon. Thank you so much Barb xxxx

On Saturday we went to see Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows part 1. Oh wow what an amazing film!!! I can't wait for part 2 although I did spend some of the film with my hand over my eyes peaking out from behind it!!! I can't be doing with snakes so I really didn't like those bits!!! When we cam back I just happened to look in the blue bin and there was a mail sack full of parcels in it!!! Some were Amazon orders, I also had two Christmas presents from Jane and Elaine which I haven't opened cos I'm a good girl ( lol) and a birthday card and present from Heather. She had stitched a little Christmas pouch and inside that was the pretty tin and inside the tin was a gorgeous beaded choker which I absolutely love. I know we were both a little worried as she had posted it first class recorded and it took ages to arrive but it's here safely:) Thank you so much Heather xxxx

Well I think that's all my news for now so I might go do a bit of stitching or a bit more on iTunes. Take care everyone and stay safe and warm.

I may not get another blog post in, it just depends, so just want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed time with your families.

With much love.

Sally

xxxx

The Stockings Were Hung....

Thank you for all your lovely birthday wishes on my last post. You are so sweet and kind xxxxx I had an absolutely fantastic day and it was such a shame it had to end as I really didn't want it to!

Yesterday I finally got around to making up my Jane Austen Sampler Stocking, which I had been stitching along with Barb since bank holiday Monday back in August. I had got my sewing machine out on Monday and cut my backing fabric ready but time got away with me and it just didn't happen! Anyway I made time yesterday after a bit of present wrapping and I am very pleased with the result. I took this piccie on the floor of my living room near the window as it was the lightest place I could find!

The Sampler Girl Jane Austen Sampler Stocking

32 count evenweave ( can't remember the colour)

DMC & RG Wisper

Started 30th August 2010

Finished 8th December 2010.

SAL with Barb.

I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this and I hope Michelle enjoys it as much as I have when she starts it next year:)

Carrying on with The Sampler Girl and sheep I stitched up Tanya's design from The Gift of Stitching ornament issue. As soon as I saw New Year New Ewe I knew I just had to stitch it for Barb as a wee thank you for being such a wonderful friend and stitching buddy :) Barb received it on Monday and loves it. I made it up into a little pinkeep and I just love how it turned out.

The Sampler Girl New Year new Ewe

28 count Sassy's Fabby Khaki ( I think)

DMC

For Barb

Started 24th November 2010

Finished 25th November 2010

I forgot to take a piccie of Shores so that will have to wait until another day as I'm feeling too lazy to get the camera out again as I walked miles in the rain this morning delivering Christmas cards!!! I'd been wrapping a few presents and ended up with a headache so thought a walk delivering cards would do me good. It got rid of my headache so that's a good thing!

My birthday is lasting a few days as I received a lovely gift from Barb through the post on Monday. I love both of these. Barb picked LHN North Wind from my wish list and also added this cute little Shepherd's Bush kit Feed My Sheep. She knows my sheep and winter addiction oh so well but then again she loves sheep too!!! Thank you so much Barb xxx

Finally just some close-up pics of my stitched gifts from Lisa, Elisa and Julie. I wanted you to be able to see them better as the other photos were taken in a bit of a rush by my DH!

Right I'd better dash as I need to get some serious stitching done as I have something I need to get finished and made up very soon!

ETA as I forgot! DH got his official letter to say that his job is safe! Wahoooo!!! I cannot tell you what a huge relief it is and, thankfully, all his colleagues are OK too. Gotta be thankful that it's a small area as others in other areas are not going to be so lucky. Thank you for all your good thoughts and prayers. I am so grateful to each and every one of you. xxxx

Stay safe and warm everyone as the bitterly cold, snowy, icy weather is coming back to the UK tomorrow.

Hugs

Sally

xxx



A Birthday and Some Finishes!

Today is my birthday and I have had a simply wonderful day with my lovely DH and 2 gorgeous daughters. Jess arrived home yesterday so she could be here for my birthday so I was surrounded by my lovely family :) I have been spoilt rotten by them and my lovely friends with gorgeous cards and gifts. I got DH to take some photos for me earlier so here are some piccies of some of the lovely cards and gifts I received.

First up from my surrogate sis Lisa and from my dear friend Lesleyanne. Lisa stitched this gorgeous design from the JCS ornament mag. I had been eying up this design and, of course, Lisa knows I LOVE angels and I absolutely love the saying on this. It is so beautifully stitched and finished.Thank you so much Lisa xxx I will treasure this. Lesleyanne sent me the Little House Needleworks Joy to the World ornament chart along with the star button for it. I can't wait to stitch this up and hang it on my tree. Thank you so much Lesleynne xxx

In the next piccie is a gift from my dear friend Elisa. As you can see it has sheep on it and I LOVE sheep!!!! I love this so much and Elisa's stitching and finishing is just gorgeous. Thank you so much Elisa xxxx I will treasure your gift.

Next up is cards and gifts from my dear friends Michelle and Julie. From Michelle I received two gorgeous Polstitches Designs hand dyed threads. They are so pretty and I can't wait to stitch something up with them. Thank you so much Michelle xxx I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up my present from Julie as inside was a black velvet pouch and inside that was the beautiful covered tape measure you see in the photo. Thank you so much Julie; I absolutely love it xxx

Last but by no means least is a card and gift from another dear friend Karan. Karan gifted me with ( wait for it) Little House Needleworks Joy to the World ornament chart :) Karan knows I love angels and this was on my wish list :) Thank you so much Karan xxxx

More about my birthday and what I have been doing later! First of all I want to show you a couple of finishes. The last photo I showed you of The Sampler Girl Jane Austen Sampler Stocking wasn't quite a finish but now it is! Not finished as in made up to hang but finished stitching! I have absolutely loved stitching this gorgeous design. Thank you Barb for our wonderful Jane days and I look forward to joining you for our SB days and maybe later on more Jane days :)

No piccie of Shores yet as I didn't stitch on it last night so going to stitch on it tonight instead. I have done a little more on my December SAL piece, Little House Needleworks Poinsettia House, so here's a piccie of that. Loving this piece!

Final stitchy pic is of the ornament I stitched for Chris. For the past few years we've done a private ornament exchange which I , for one, look forward to each year. I always seems to take ages to decide what to stitch and this year was no exception as I changed my mind several times. I finally decided on this one and Chris loves it.

The Victoria Sampler- Designs by Cathy Jean

Christmas Robin

28 count bay leaf evenweave

GAST and DMC

For Chris

This afternoon we went to the Victorian Christmas market in Beverley. We go every year as it's such a good event but you can't get near the stalls as it's so packed so we didn't buy anything lol! We did watch the battle re-enactment of civil war which is so much fun to watch! We then noticed that there was some birds of prey so off we went to have a look. I asked if I could stroke a barn owl so DH asked if I could hold it so here I am holding this beautiful barn owl. This was truly and honour to be holding such a beautiful bird.

Finally ( I bet you;'re breathing a sigh of relief!) here's my birthday cake which Abi made for me; as you can see it's an owl!

Poor Abi didn't manage to get on her trip to London so she was really upset, bless her. She was just too ill to go though but, thankfully, she's getting better now:)

That's all from me. I'm going to get some stitching done then I'll be back to get caught up on reading blogs tomorrow. It's been a busy weekend!!!

Take care everyone!

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful!

The white stuff is still hanging about even though we haven't had any for a few days, until today that is, but freezing temperatures have meant that the snow has frozen solid and the roads and pavements on our estate have been treacherous. Abi's school was closed for three days last week and again on Monday due the state of the pathways and roads on the site although when they re-opened yesterday she did not return as she has laryngitis and is on antibiotics. Poor girl was in a right state this morning in floods of tears as she was feeling so ill and is supposed to be going on a textiles trip to London on Friday.  Anyway the weather is supposed to become slightly milder ( only by a couple of degrees I believe!) over the weekend then next week it's back to the easterlies and bitterly cold again.

Onto my stitching! I've been beavering away stitching and trying to get things finished off but can't show what I've finished so far and I still have a couple of pieces to finish and one to stitch! I haven't stitched on the December SAL piece, LHN Poinsettia House, since last Thursday as I wanted to get more done on Shores, try and finish the JA stocking and another LHN ornament but this is my progress from then. It will be coming out again tonight. I just love this and am enjoying it so much. Hope the other girls are getting on well with their LHN Winter ones.

Shores went quite well but to make sure I get it finished by the end of the year I think I might stitch on it on a Monday evening as well in place of the Jane stocking :) Not much to do on the whale so hopefully that  bit should get done Saturday evening. I doubt I'll get any stitching done on Friday evening as if Abi goes on the London trip her train doesn't get in until 8pm and the school are not providing transport to and from the station in Hull so we have to take her and pick up.

Sunday evening I finished LHN Snowy Pines but having just taken a piccie of it I realised that I haven't added the beads ( the pretties as Diane calls then :) ) so I will decide whether to add them or not.

I started LHN Fa La La once Snowy Pines was done and here's my wee start. I do love these ornaments, they are such fun!

Monday evening I was hoping to get my SAL with Barb finished. Both of us are very close to finishing The Sampler Girl Jane Austen Sampler Stocking. I didn't get it done so picked it up again last night only to run out of DMC 927 and I didn't have a spare skein anywhere ( typical!) so I'm going to finish it when I've finished this blog post.

I finally received my Just Nan Christmas Sheep Ornament Pocket and Vintage Sheep thread winder yesterday from Stitches N Things. I pre-ordered it before I went on the stash wagon and it was shipped on 11th November. Unfortunately I got stung for £12.08 by customs so I am not a happy bunny! In all the time I've been ordering from the USA this is the first time it's happened so it's turned put to be an expensive order so I shall be a lot more careful as to the amount I order in the future LOL! The ornament pocket and winder are gorgeous though and I'd love to get the pocket stitched before Christmas.

That's all my stitchy news for now. DH and I didn't get all our Christmas shopping done last week thanks to the weather and not wanting to risk getting stuck anywhere! We did get out on Saturday into Hull but it was utter bedlam! I think the whole world and his wives were out! Anyway we are hoping to get finished on Friday- fingers crossed!

Hopefully Jess is coming home for the weekend this weekend as it's my birthday on Sunday. We are planning on going to the Victorian Christmas Market at Beverley. We've been for the past couple of years and it's really good.

No news of DH's job yet. I just wish they'd get on with it as the waiting is awful.

Right I had better get off here and try and get the stocking finished :)

Stay warm and safe if it's cold where you are.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxx

It's So Cold!

Well we have now had snow for a week here where I live and it has steadily spread right across the country. It has also been bitterly cold with the northerly and easterly winds we have been having and later today temperatures are forecasted to drop dramatically. My DH and I have managed two days of Christmas shopping but yesterday there were severe weather warnings and we had heavy flurries of snow so decided to stay home. Abi's school has been closed yesterday and today. Today we decided to go out and see what the road to Hull was like and ended up turning round and coming home as it was awful. We certainly haven't had it as bad as some areas on the UK but it has certainly been bad enough! It does look very pretty though.

Anyway onto my stitching. I can't show any finishes as they are for gifts or exchanges so will show those later on. Last Friday I made a start on block 11 of Shores. I am quite amazed at how much I achieved by the time I put it away on Saturday evening as we did go out Friday evening to see the local Christmas lights switched on. If I can get some good evenings in on this I may just make that end of year finish!

Sunday evening I started LHN Snowy Pines ( I finally made up my mind which to do!) which I am absolutely loving stitching. I'm SAL-ing with Barb and Lesleyanne on the LHN ornaments. If the weather keeps up as it is and we don't get out to finish the Christmas shopping I think I shall sit and finish this one.

Monday as always was Jane day with Barb. The house is almost finished and I can see the end :) I think we need those windows and the door in to stop the wind and snow getting in! I have bought some fabric to back with it this week in anticipation for my finish:)

At long last yesterday saw the start of the December Winter SAL which Chris and I started a couple of years ago. We choose a design and both stitch it starting 1st December. This time we chose Little House Needleworks Poinsettia House and we also have Lesleyanne joining us with this design too. Lisa and Hazel are stitching Winter Whites along with us and Claire decided on Gingerbread Trio. I have been so excited to be starting Poinsettia House and could hardly wait! Anyway here's my wee start from last night. I intend to get settled down tonight and stitch on it some more.

Seen as Abi's school was closed yesterday she suggested we put the Christmas tree and decorations up so we did! Lol! DH took this photo of the tree early this morning but it's not very good so will get him to take another one sometime. You can just make out some of my stitched ornaments which I have stitched or have been stitched for me.

This afternoon I was going to write my Christmas cards but I'm going to do some making up instead! I bought some trim that I have never used before so wish me luck! Lol!

Stay safe and warm if you are having the snowy weather.

Hugs

Sally

xxx