For My Friend

Here is the gift I stitched for Chris for her birthday. It is The Cat's Whiskers For My Friend Scissor Pocket. I have loved this since it was first released and love the verse on the back as it's very apt. I am very happy to say that Chris loved it :)

The Cat's Whiskers For My Friend Scissor Pocket

Dinky Dye Silk Kalamunda

Stitched for Chris

Now onto my WIPs. CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow didn't get quite as much attention as I would have liked as I ended up only stitching on it on Friday rather than the usual Saturday as well due to "things" which I won't bore you with! I am still hoping to get this block finished before the end of January so watch this space! Lol! I would like to do a block a month but I think some of them may need longer. Wonder how Jane and Nicki are getting on :)

This Sunday I went back to the UFO night with Lisa and Jane and managed another 6 blocks on Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding which I am really pleased about. I can see the end of it now so am spurred on to get it finished. Unfortunately I can't get the white to show up very well on this piece when I take a piccie.

Finally Monday is my day for Just Nan 4 Wishes which I'm stitching with some of the girls from the Stitch and Stash forum. I am really enjoying this piece and look forward to picking it up every Monday.

As you can see no HAED WIPs again this week because I can't face Guardian right now and QS Holly Fairy is going to eventually be restarted on different fabric. I think the problem is they are such intense pieces and I can't see an end to them therefore I don't really enjoy stitching on them and we are supposed to enjoy our hobby aren't we? So for now I've put Guardian away in the hope that I will, one day, feel like stitching on it again and will aslo feel like restarting QS Holly Fairy. I'm just not sure I'm cut out for HAEDs anymore as much as I love the finished pieces.

Thank you to those of you who have helped me reduce my stitchy stash! I have further updated my for sale list if anyone would like to have a look. I am open to offers and anything that hasn't gone will go on Ebay eventually.

Things have been a little, shall we say, awkward, of late and I have been decidedly fed-up but a couple of my long time stitchy friends have been brilliant and listened to me rambling ( thanks Lisa and Louise - you are my angels) and made me feel so much better.

Lastly I had my head CT scan on Monday. I must admit the scan itself was a piece of cake but I did not like it ( yeah OK we are not supposed to like!) when the dye was being pumped into me. They were very fleeting feelings other than my heart racing which was the bit that really scared me. Afterwards I had to wait 15 minutes before they could take the canula ( spelling?) out of my arm but then the nurse decided that I could be having a reaction to the dye as I'd come out in a couple of small rashes so she fetched someone to have a look and he decided I had to stay longer just incase. By the time I went back in the rashes had gone down and no more had appeared so out came the canula with the warning to take it easy when I got back home. I don't know when I get my results but I'm hoping it won't be too long.

Thank you for reading if you've made it this far :) I hope everyone is having a good week. I must catch up on blog reading later as I've been very lapse of late but tonight I intend to make up for that :)

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxx

Another Quicky Post!

I have been going to do this blog post for a few days now so am forcing myself today!It won't be chatty I'm afraid but at least I have piccies to show!

First of all I'd like to show my first two finishes of 2010 now that they have been received:) First up is the needleroll I stitched for Michele for her birthday. I know you've seen this a few times before when I've sitched it for others but I really like the sentiment of this roll.

Shepherd's Bush Friendship Roll

30 count blue fabric

DMC

Stitched for Michele.

Next is something I stitched for Lisa's birthday. This was so lovely to stitch and I absolutely love the colours. Lisa is a bit of a fan of pink so I thought she would like this :)

Blackbird Designs Small Token

32 count vintage country mocha linen

DMC threads

Stitched for Lisa.

Next up is my WIP on CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow which I am stitching along with Jane and now Nicki has succumbed and has joined us! So glad to have you stitching with us Nicki!

And here is my progress on Just Nan 4 Wishes. I'm now onto the spring part of the sampler so it's moving along quite nicely.


Finally my start on HAED QS Holly Fairy but I think a restart is in order. The thread colours of most of it are way too close to the fabric that Abi chose for me to stitch her on and as I'm not planning to stitch the black background it's not going to stand out so I'm going to have a dig in my fabby box and do a floss toss at some point so I've adandoned her for now until I can bothered to do that!



That's it for today!

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally
xxxx

A Quicky

Just a quick post from me today. You know how it is, best laid plans and all that and it never works out how you want as something crops up :( Hopefully the something won't take long and I'll be back in the comfort of my own home curled up with my stitching!

I have been having a clear out of my charts and have been very brutal and turfed out every single one I won't stitch. No messing this time! So please take a look at my for sale blog ( link in sidebar) and email me ( in my profile) if there's anything you're interested in. Anything that doesn't go will go on Ebay in a few weeks.

Now onto my WIPs. I do have two finishes but can't show them yet!

I have to say I am really enjoying stitching CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. It's quite different to anything I've stitched before and I love how it's looking so far. It is, without a doubt, going to be a long term project but that's fine :)

My Sunday UFO piece, Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding, is going well. To think I've been dreading picking this up again yet last week I managed 6 blocks and this week I did 8 so by my reckoning, if I keep that up, it'll be finished in no time!

Finally my Just Nan piece, 4 Wishes, for the Stitch and Stash JN SAL. Loving this piece so much and I really can't understand why I have never stitched it before as I'm sure it's been in my stash since it first came out!

Thank you to all of you who left such lovely, supportive comments after my last post. I am still feeling hurt and it seems hard to let it go even though I know I should. I feel like I'm walking on thin ice everytime I speak to my Dad but I'm not going to let it stop me saying what I think. Enough is enough and I'm about at the end of my tether.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

It's a New Year!

Happy New Year! Good morning from a rather chilly, windy east coast! We have been very lucky here so far as we haven't had the amount of snow that many parts of the country have had but what bit of snow we had yesterday has part thawed then frozen making waking very hazadous so I may not be venturing out today even though I really need to!

I have been getting quite a bit of stitching in ( trying to keep myself sane!) since I last posted so without further ado I'll show what I've been up to!

New Years Eve was a very quiet affair for us. We stayed home with the girls and my fil came round to see the New Year in with us and I stitched all evening on Blue Ribbon Designs Peppermint Twist, my December SAL with Chris which is now a January SAL, although I think Chris will finish hers way before me! I am very pleased with how this is looking and even though I chose to use DMC rather than the recommended threads I think the effect is just as nice.

New Year Day was my new start day which has become a bit of a tradition for me! Last New Years Day saaw me start Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler as a SAL and this year I started Carriage House Samplings Shores of Hawk Run Hollow as a SAL with Jane. I stitched on this New Years Day and Saturday and although I'm finding the 40 count a bit difficult ( don't know why as PT is stitched on it too) I am enjoying this very much.

Sunday is UFO day with Lisa and Jane and I have to say a huge thank you to Lisa for encouraging me to join her in this as I have picked up Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding again after quite a long time, actually enjoyed stitching on it and stitched 6 blocks so I am very proud of myself! The picture is not good at all I'm afraid but you can what I've stitched!

Next up is my second of 2010 and it's another SAL, this time it's a Just Nan SAL with the girls from Stitch and Stash. I finally decided my piece would be 4 Wishes as I've had this in my stash the longest and also had everything I needed to start it without having to buy anything else :) I've chosen to stitch it on 28 count raw linen which is one of the recommended fabrics.

So as you can see I have been a busy bee with my stitching and I've actually been enjoying it. For a while late last year I wasn't really enjoying it and it was becoming more of a chore than a pleasure but I think when I started Peppermint Twist that changed :)

Have any of you made any New Years resolutions? I haven't as such but there are some things I want to try and do one of which is be kinder to myself. I don't have much self confidence, although I do have more now then I did 6 months ago, and I find that I put myself down a lot and when things happen I always feel it's my fault even when it isn't and there have been times when I've felt worthless and useless so this year I am going to try very hard to put a stop to that and start liking myself and be kinder to myself. Also want to keep up losing a little weight as that had steadily gone up over the last few years. I have lost a little as my clothes aren't as tight as they were so that boosted me a lot. So I want to try and do some exercise every day even if it's just a walk or half an hour on the Wii Fit Plus and am continuing to try and eat more healthily because in the long run it will do me more good with me being on the menopause! Over Christmas I made sure I didn't over indulge and I've hardly eaten any sweets so I'm pleased with myself!

Something else I'm going to do when I get myself sorted and the house to myself ( when Jess goes back to uni) is have a sort out of my stash, be ruthless and let some stuff go. This will be charts as I have so many and some that I may never stitch. This is one of the reasons I'm on a no chart buying thing for as long as I possibly can as I end up buying new then not stitching the old then I have them that long I know I won't stitch them! So watch this space as I may have some stuff up for sale soon! lol! I have also updated my wish list and it now has the bare minimum of what I would really like on it and if I do well at getting my stash down ( as in stitching it!) I'll treat myself much much later in the year!

I must admit that these past few days since New Years Day have had me feeling very low and fed-up because of a set to with my Dad when we took him home after he had spent New Years Day with us. All I will say is the way he spoke to me left me very hurt and upset and I feel that he has thrown everything we've done for him back in our faces and I'm finding it very hard to forgive him for it. I am close to tears typing this as I just don't know what to do for the best anymore. Then hubby's auntie came back from a week away in a horrendous mood which I really didn't need! So if this is what 2010 is going to be like roll on 2011!!

Hope you are all staying safe and warm in the bad weather and that the start of 2010 is being kind to you :)

And if you've read this far thank you for listening {{{{hugs}}}}

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxxx