Happy Birthday Judy!

Today is my stitchy friend, Judy's, 50th birthday! Judy and I have known each other many years now first meeting on a Delphi forum called Stitchaholics Welcome and have remained friends over the years. I wanted to stitch her something for her birthday and decided on this sweet little design from C Mon Monde. It's a freebie I found but I can't remember where I found it now!

C Mon Monde Joli Bonheur

28 count Bay Leaf linen

GAST

Started 18th January 2011

Finished 20th January 2011

Birthday gift for Judy

I finished this as a pinkeep. The postal service on both sides of the pond did an impressive job for a change as I posted this on Monday and it arrived with Judy yesterday and she loves it :)

Stitching has been a little slow this week although I have made a start on Ellen's prize from my blogoversary and hope to finish it this next week if I get the time. I did a little on BBD AotH Snow Garden on Friday evening then was intent on stitching all afternoon and evening on it yesterday BUT I was so tired in the afternoon I had a nap instead. I think I've made good progress though but, again, I had issues with the dye lots of the GAST and my house looks nothing like the one on the cover of the chart! Still I am fairly happy with it. I had hoped to have this one finished this month so I could start the next one straight away in Feb but best laid plans and all that!!!! I am stitching this with Jane and Valerie and Lisa B is also joining us :) She was asking on her blog if anyone wanted to SAL with her so I said she could join us if she would like to :)

Tonight I'm hoping to get at least an hour on the SB ornament Earth's Delight as I am behind!!! Lol! Chris has finished hers and is all ready to start the next one.

Lisa and I are having a new start I think it's the 1st Feb but please do correct me if I'm wrong Lisa :) I know we either said 1st or 2nd but my mind is a bit pre-occuppied with all that has gone on. However I must get my fabby sorted. Lisa is stitching LHN Winter Band Sampler and I'm stitching LHN Belle Pepper, then we're doing a swap:) I'm looking forward to starting Belle Pepper.

I am also hoping to get back to HAED Guardian soon. Lisa suggested we try an hour a week to begin with and see how we get on as she's planning on trying it with Cabin in the Woods so this might just be a good idea to kick start me into enjoying it again and maybe one day I can actually finish it! I must admit I miss stitching on the quick stitches and tiny treasures so once I get going I might start one of the ones I have in my stash.

My postie has brought me some nice post this week:) Barb kindly sent me Country Cottage Needleworks Snowflake Serenade and some Piecemaker needles which are the only needles I use as I love them. She wanted to send me Snowflake Serenade for my birthday but it was continually out of stock where she ordered it from so she promised she would send it when it arrived :) Thank you so much Barb xxxx This is definitely one to stitch sooner rather than later. I do have to admit that one of my favourite things to stitch are wintery designs. Also Sarah ( not blog) and I have done a trade this week:) I sent her the Silver Creek Samplers Sweet Friendship chart and in trade she sent me LHN Home of a Needleworker ( Too!) from my wish list. I am on a LHN kick recently and love this design. Thank you so much Sarah for a brilliant trade xxxx

A HUGE thank you to everyone who commented on my Shores finish. Wow I can't believe that I had over 60 comments; I've never had that many before and they are truly appreciated. I love getting comments and read them all. I'm going to maybe try a different framer this time as there's a new one opened not that long ago. I'll take Shores in and get a quote then save up!

Thank you for all the good wishes for my Dad. This has been another  stressful week for us here as on Tuesday just before 5 pm the doctor my Dad had seen after he'd had his ECG rang me. He'd spoken to the cardiologist and after seeing the ECG he didn't want to wait to see my Dad in the clinic, he wanted him in hospital that evening. Well you can imagine our panic! In a way it was good for my Dad as he didn't have time to think about it too much. When we got him there he wasn't even allowed to walk about and if he needed to go the toilet or anything he had to be taken in a wheelchair. He had his pacemaker fitted late Wednesday afternoon and it went well. He was not very happy though on Thursday when he was told he'd have to stay in until Monday as there are some things that need to be in place at home. He does look better than he has done in a long time now but whether it will stay that way when he gets home I honestly do not know. It is a worry but I can only do my best in trying to get him to accept the help he obviously needs. There are some issues over the care he has been getting at home but I have to get my facts right before I say anything.

I think I'll do a bit of catching up on blog reading and commenting now.

Take care everyone.

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxx

Major Happy Dance!

Yes brush off the disco ball and happy dance with me as look what is finally finished!!!

Carriage House Samplings

Shores of Hawk Run Hollow

40 count coffee dyed linen

DMC

Started 1st January 2010

Finished 25th January 2011

I popped the last few stitches into it this morning before I went out for a walk. It would have been while tea was cooking yesterday but we had a power cut mid stitch and as it was my evening for my SB SAL with Barb and Colleen I didn't pick it up again once power had been restored. I am so happy to have this finished. Yes there are a few mistakes that I didn't bother to correct although one was a major one that I couldn't really put right ( the gap that should have been in between each block!) but it's mine! Lol! Chart is now for sale ( see tabs below my header).

As I said last night was my SAL night with Barb and Colleen and this is my progress. I just love stitching this. The pastel colours are so pretty even though they may not show up too well on the fabric at times.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my gift for Chris. I am just so pleased with it and so happy that she likes it and she is already using it :)

Thank you also for all your hugs and good wishes for me and my Dad. His ECG showed that is heart is not working properly so he needs a pacemaker sooner rather than later. It is a huge worry but the doctor was confident that it would make him feel better ( even though he says he's fine anyway!) although there is still the issue of his knee which is never going to improve so he'll still be housebound. I have no idea when he'll see the cardiologist but the doctor wanted to get him seen as soon as possible.

I hope everyone has had a good start to the week and is stitching up a storm. I'm starting Ellen's gift from my blogoversary giveaway tonight :)

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is my dear friend Chris' birthday. Happy Birthday Chris! Hope you are having a lovely day. Now this year I wanted to do something a little bit different and this is something that I have only ever made once before and that's a stitcher's wallet type thing lol! I had a text from Chris a little while ago saying that she loves it so I can now show it. I loved stitching this for her and I am so glad that she likes it.

Silver Creek Samplers Sweet Friendship

28 count white opalescent evenweave

DMC

Started 9th January 2011

Finished 16th January 2011

Birthday gift for Chris

That is all I have to show today. I did stitch on BBD AotH Snow Garden last night but will show my little bit of progress another time. I am having issues with the GAST colours in the house as the ones I have look nothing like the colours in the photo on the chart! It's amazing how different dye lots can be isn't it?

Thank you for all the good wishes etc for my Dad. I had another scare this morning and had to go rushing to his house not sure what I was going to find but he had slept in ( very unusual for him) and was amazed to find out what the time was! I think my BP must have gone sky high in my panic! Anyway today we have to get him to the surgery for an ECG as his BP is very low as is his pulse rate which may have contributed to his fall on Monday ( although he says he's fine!) and he had some blood taken when the nurse came yesterday so we'll see what happens after that. I have to admit with worrying myself silly about my Dad and other things I am feeling like a complete failure at the moment.

On a happier note my Blackbird Designs Joyeux Noel booklet arrived this week and I absolutely love it. And have you seen the sneak peak of Shakespeare's Peddlar Jenny Bean Creation Sampler ???? I love the look of it so far! Must remember I am trying to stitch from my stash!!!!

Have a good weekend everyone. I am hoping to relax a bit and hoping for at least one day off from crying!!!!

Love and hugs

Sally
xxxx

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Sunday was my dear surrogate sister Lisa's birthday and the design I chose is very apt I think. I've actually had this freebie design for a while now and I saw it stitched up on Michelle's blog and Lisa had commented about it so I thought right I'm going to stitch that for her birthday! I did actually adapt it a little so I hope I won't get into trouble from the designer for doing so.

Debbie Draper Designs Stitching Friends Forever

Stitched over 1 on 28 count white opalescent fabric

Carrie's Creations Old World Red

Started 4th January 2011

Finished 9th January 2011

Birthday Gift for Lisa.

I have been beavering away on another birthday gift and I am going to, hopefully, get it made up today or tomorrow depending if I have any meetings to go to ( more about that later) or whether I can actually stay awake or not!

Last Thursday I had an enjoyable evening on BBD AotH Snow Garden, my SAL with Jane and Valerie. I haven't made up my mind as yet how I'm going to personalise this one. My DH is a Jan baby as was my Mum and paternal gran so it's difficult. I am loving this.

My two evenings on Shores went very well although after Friday evening and stitching nothing but fish I decided to move away from them and stitch the pole the bird is standing on then move back to the fish! Not bad for two evenings as I did stitch the black border too. Me thinks I could have a major HD this weekend!

Onto last night and my rather measly progress on SB Emmanuel's Song. I do hope Barb and Colleen had a better evening than I did but I didn't actually start stitching until 9pm ( very unusual for me) and I did wonder why I was bothering but after a very stressful day I needed to relax and put a few stitches in.

I forgot that I started my SB ornament which I'm stitching along with Chris and Laura. I think Chris has already stitched hers and I can't show my little start as I didn't take a photo but it's Earth's Delight from the 2010 JCS ornament magazine.

I have decided to sell my Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV finish so if you are interested in buying it from me please do email me ( my email is in my profile) and I will let you know how much I would like for it etc.

At least today is a little quieter and I will hopefully get more stitching in tonight and maybe even get more sleep. My Dad had another fall yesterday and although he was unhurt other than rather nastily grazed elbows and being shaken up he couldn't get up and it was very upsetting and worrying. I'm also sad to say that I had a "spat" with my sister on the phone when I rang to tell her and I actually ended up putting the phone down on her ( not in front of my Dad I hasten to add). So I am hoping that occupational therapy will reassess him and we'll see what can be done. I hate to say it but I don't think he should be living on his own now but it's his choice as he's still fully aware etc but he just can't get around properly and there are other things I had my suspicions about and I think when I went in yesterday they were confirmed.

I promise I will get around to all your blogs over the next few days as I am rather behind:(

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxx

Progress.....

Is what I have been making on my stitching since my last post. So far this year I have had 5 new starts and 2 of those are finished but I can't show one of them. I have 1 WIP from last year which is almost finished and that is Shores and 1 UFO which I could really do to get back to this year and that is HAED Guardian. My problem with this one is that, as much as I love it, it grows so slowly and is a very long term project. I don't really want to commit to more that one evening a week on it but at that rate I'll be taking it in my coffin with me to finish in the next life!!!! Lol! So I have some serious thinking to do. Maybe commit one evening a week ( UFO night on Needlecraft Haven with Julie and Mr Stick) for now then later on two evenings. I really don't want to take up all my stitching time with larger projects and I already have BBD AotH but those will be like mini happy dances each time one is finished even though my main HD won't be until they're all done! Then I have SB Emmanuel's Song which may not actually take that long even though it looks huge one band at least on a Monday evening is do-able. Anyway I shall see and decide what to do once I get January out of the way:)

So what I have been stitching on? Well Shores of course on Friday and Saturday evening. I really feel that I'm making good progress on this after the little I did over Christmas and New Year. Maybe I can get it finished for the January :) I think I will have to do some serious saving up to get this one framed though!

Monday evening was my SB SAL night with Barb and Colleen. I hope you both got plenty of stitching in although I know Barb has been poorly so get well soon my dear friend. It's amazing how much you can get stitched when you get off the PC and put your mind to it! I love the pastel colours in this so much.

The only other WIPs I can show you is one that I actually planned on starting after the summer holidays to give myself plenty of time to get it stitched and finished without my DH knowing! As it is my plan didn't, well, go to plan and I only started it on Monday afternoon! A few little stitches is all I have but it's a start and it will, hopefully, be finished in time for our 25th wedding anniversary  towards the end of April. After much deliberation last year I finally chose Blue Ribbon Designs Stitched With Love which I plan to personalise with our names etc.

On Sunday I decided to treat myself with some of the money I was given for my birthday to the Blackbird Designs Joyeux Noel booklet. Yes I know I'm on the wagon but as it's birthday money I figure the booklet is a gift from two of the people who gave me money so I am allowed it! Makes sense yes???? Lol! I was so impressed with the Honeysuckle Manor booklet and have seen some lovely things from the Joyeux Noel one that I couldn't resist.

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook may have seen one of my statuses recently declaring that I am going to stitch from my stash as much as possible this year! Lisa even thought I had lost the plot and, yes, she could well be right! I have many lovely charts in my stash that have been there a while that don't get stitched because I get something new and start that instead ( sound familiar to any of you???) so my idea is to stitch a set amount of charts I already have before I can buy anything else and then only if I really really want something. Of course I will be buying the next 2 AotH charts then I'm trading the 6 I will have with Jane eventually for the other 6! I have yet to decide how many to set myself to stitch.

Before I forget I have added a couple of charts to my for sale/ trade list if you'd like to have a look :) I'll be doing this as and when I finish with charts that I won't stitch again.

Right I am going to catch up on blogs for a bit now before I get on the Wii Fit. I have been trying to get on it every day and also make myself go out for a walk each day too. So far so good this week ( yes I know it's only Wednesday!) although I had to push myself a bit today to get out. My iPod has a pedometer on it so I set that going and off I go with music in my ears. I upload my steps to Nike using iTunes and it's interesting to see just how many  you do.

Take care everyone and where ever you are stay safe.

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxx

Second Finish and Some New Starts

Hello my wonderful fellow stitchers from a very dull, dreary East Yorkshire. I am hoping for snow to brighten things up but right now it's raining and so miserable. Thankfully I have my iPod playing Matt Cardle ( the winner of the X Factor for those who didn't see it) which puts smile on my face lol! Of course the fact that I took all the Christmas decorations down yesterday makes things even more dull. I think I need to get some all year fairy lights!

As promised in my last post I'm back with my made-up Little House Needleworks Fa La La. Why is when you plan a finish it just does not go right! Never the less I am happy with the way it turned out and this will now be going into a shoe box waiting for other ornaments I might stitch over the year to join it! The other box I have for stitched ornaments is now full so I'm starting a fresh:)

Little House Needleworks Fa La La

36 count sand linen

DMC

Started 5th December 2010

Finished 2nd January 2011

I intend to stitch the other LHN ornaments that I have in my stash over the year as well as maybe getting the odd one of the new ones this year. I think I might need a tree just for my stitched ornaments before I've finished!!!

As I said in my last post I started Shepherd's Bush Emmanuel's Song on Monday evening. Barb, Colleen and I are SAL-ing on an SB piece and I chose this one. I should get this first band finished next Monday all being well :) I am already enjoying this piece.

I am busy stitching gifts as well and thoroughly enjoying what I've chosen to stitch. After those are done I shall making a start on the blogoversary giveaway piece for Ellen. She has been very patient with me and I have decided what I'm going to stitch :)

I couldn't resist starting the Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart series, my 2011 SAL with Jane and Valerie, even though I haven't finished Shores yet. I decided popping a few stitches into Snow Garden couldn't hurt! Lol! After much deliberation and a check on the GAST I had I decided to stitch it in GAST and DMC as I had what I needed for it and I will stitch each one the same. Snow Garden uses GAST and WDW threads but I don't have WDW so subbed those for DMC. The border part does not show up very well on my fabric ( 36 count rosewood linen) but I think once I get the other stitches in it should look fine. I must say I didn't really want to put this away last night.

So tonight is Shores and I'm hoping for a good session tonight and tomorrow night. This final block doesn't look too bad so hopefully I should soon have it finished.

With some of the money I received for my birthday I treated myself to a wooden storage box with DMC threads in it from Johnson Crafts. It arrived the weekend before Christmas but I forgot to show it. It was half price so a very good buy and I can no longer find it on the website so I am guessing it has sold out. As you can see you can mount a stitched piece in the lid so I am thinking that I might mount The Sampler Girl's Wonderful Life in it. I may have to add some trim at the top and bottom of the design to make it bigger to fit in and if not I'll find something else from my stash!

Thank you for your lovely comments on my first finish of 2011. It was such a nice quick stitch and finish. I hope to have a few of those again this year!

Take care everyone and thank you for your friendships :)

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxxx



First Finish of 2011

Lisa and I had a new start on New Years Day of the Kelmscott Designs Tombstone Angel. We decided it would be nice to start something that we could actually start and finish on the day or in two days. Once I started mine after we'd had dinner on New Years Day ( duck and chicken with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, peas, carrots, sprouts, stuffing and pigs in blankets! Duck and chicken because Abi does not like duck!) I could not put it down and I finished it that afternoon. Yesterday I mounted it onto the angel and here it is all finished :)

Kelmscott Designs Tombstone Angel

40 count coffee dyed fabric

Crescent Colours Black Crow

Started and finished 1st Januart 2011

SAL with Lisa

I have also finished LHN Fa La La and got it half made up so will show that when it's done.

I started Shepherd's Bush Emmanuel's Song on Monday which is my SAL piece that I'm doing with Barb and Colleen. Unfortunately I spent half the evening unravelling the DMC cutwork thread that was in the kit so didn't quite manage to get the first band finished but I did get more done than I had expected. Again no picture as I forgot to take one so will take one for my next blog post.

I had planned not to start BBD AotH until Shores was finished but I think I might just have to pop a few stitches into it soon as I'm itching to get started. This will be my SAL with Jane and Valerie :)

This is a message for Gabi. Please can you resend the email you sent me. I'm afraid it was in my spam folder and I noticed it just as I had clicked empty and couldn't stop it. So sorry.

Will be back in a day or two once I'm finished making up LHN Fa La La. Hopefully I might just be in a brighter mood by then as I've been feeling quite low since Big Ben rung in the New Year. I actually ended up in tears but only Abi knew at the time.

Until then,

Love and hugs

Sally

xxx