It's Been Nearly A Week!

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since my last post. I had nothing to show other than progress and I haven't been in the best of moods but that's best left for my other blog I think.

I've had a small finish, and two part finishes these last couple of days so at least I have something other than progress to show!

Yesterday we went out for Sunday lunch courtesy of my Dad to celebrate Abi's GCSE results ( more on that later) and on our return we were all too full to do much of anything so I picked up my SB ornament and finished that. I subbed all the WDW and GAST on this one for DMC so the colours are probably a bit off but I like it so that's fine lol! 

Shepherd's Bush In A Stable

36 count Sand Linen

DMC

Started 9th August 2011

Finished 28th August 2011

I've now run out of the fabric I've been using so will use some off cuts of other fabric rather than buy more of the same I think.

Also yesterday I finished off part 2 of Carol R's mystery SAL. I am loving this so far and am so pleased with the thread colour I chose. 

After I'd finished part 2 of the SAL I picked up Blackbird Designs Peacock Pin Keep and finished stitching the top. When I looked at it in good light I'd made a bit of a mess of it in places at craft club on Tuesday due to the bad light so not sure what to do when I go tomorrow. I may have to invest in a small clip on light. I'll be starting the needlebook next then when it's all done I can get the chart returned to Barb:)

Now onto my weeks progress on my other stitching ( except for my HAED, I'll post that when I've finished the page which might just be this week). I made good progress on Drawn Thread The Sanctuary on Tuesday. I didn't finish the border round this block as I ran out of thread so I started on the inner bit of it. I'd like to get this block finished tomorrow if I can then I can start on the other bits.

I enjoyed stitching on LHN Travelling Stitcher knowing that Lisa was stitching with me. I love the colours in it. It's so pretty.

Finally Blackbird Designs Pumpkin Farm. Love the colours in this one too and it's still stitching up fairly quick. 

I've been pretty restless these past few days and can't seem to settle to stitch for long before I'm up and wandering about. I seem to be worrying about every little thing and I wish I could stop it. 

Some brilliant news is Abi's GCSE results. She was so nervous when we set off to collect her results as she didn't think she'd done very well and when we got outside school she didn't want to go! When she came out with her envelope I was watching her face and thinking by the look on the face she hasn't got what she wanted but she was in shock! She got 2 A's, 7 B's and a distinction in her IT which is equivalent to an A. She also got a pass in an IT module that her and a few others were "guinea pigs" for. This is all to go with the A, B and C and two distinctions she got last year. So she was one very happy girl with very proud parents:) She was so relieved when we got out of the school grounds that she started to cry, bless her. She enrols for 6th form at her school on 6th September and starts on the 8th:) 

I hope all my blogging friends that were in the path of Irene are safe. 

Take care everyone.

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxx

Happy Dance Time!

It's time for another happy dance as last night I put the final stitches into Shepherd's Bush Family Sampler then this morning before I went to craft club I stitched the buttons and charms on. This one has been pure joy to stitch and I am rather sad to see it finished but I do have more SBs in my stash to start on next as I want to keep on with the SAL with Barb and Colleen. So I'll let the pictures do the talking on this one now :)

Shepherd's Bush Family Sampler ( kit)

Started 6th June 2011

Finished 22nd August 2011.

I loved every single stitch of this. I'd love to get this framed but may end up just making it into a pillow or something like that.

The chart and leftover threads are now for sale along with a couple of other charts that I have decided I just won't stitch so please take a look at my For Sale page ( On the tabs at the top of the page). That is one reason for trying to stop buying and getting some from my stash stitched!!!

Friday I made a start on Blackbird Designs AotH Pumpkin Farm and so far I love it. The colours are so warm and it seems to be stitching up so quickly at the moment. As with the other AotH so far I'm using DMC and GAST.

Sunday evening I stitched a bit more on BBD Loose Feathers Peacock Pin Keep and as the light was bad at craft club today I also stitched on it there rather than my SB ornament. It was quite dull and I was sat away from the window today otherwise I might have been OK. I'll try and get the SB ornament stitched over the weekend sometime.

It's GCSE exam results day on Thursday and I have one rather nervous Abi trying to take her mind off it! She wants me to go with her which I'm so pleased about. In fact she is such a little love at times. We were discussing Christmas the other day and I said that we wouldn't have as much money for presents ( we've never gone wild as it is) and she just looked at me and said I don't care as long as I've got you three:) It was so sweet and brought tears to my eyes.

Right I'd best get this posted, catch up on blogs then I might go sit with the girls and stitch for a bit.

Take care everyone.

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxxx 

Just Progress :)

No finishes to share this time just progress seen as I mostly seem to be stitching larger things at the moment! I am back to enjoying them though as I had got a bit overwhelmed by them so gave myself a good talking to to just get on with them and get them done!

I forgot to say on my last post that the BBD AotH Happy Birthday chart is now for sale as is Midnight Stitching Heartstruck Quakers chart. Just email me if you're interested.

So on Monday evening it was SB SAL night with Barb and Colleen. Barb had a new start ( My Mom's Garden I think), hopefully Colleen managed some time on Checkered Sheep and I beavered away on the leaves and flowers on the border of Family Sampler. This has been a pure joy to stitch and I think I will be sad when it's finished but I'll be picking another SB to stitch :)

Tuesday morning I went to craft club so my SB ornament, In A Stable, came with me. That darn sheep ( still not finished) on the right caused me no end of problems and I could feel myself getting more and more worked up as I unpicked and restitched numerous times over before I got it right. Please it's not exactly a difficult chart!!!!

Tuesday evening I picked up Drawn Thread The Sanctuary and was deteremined to get a very good night on it. I even stayed up a little later but didn't quite manage to get all the block done. I just have the Jessica stitches to do now but thought I'd better do those when I'm a bit more awake.

Wedneday was LHN Travelling Stitcher SAL night with my surrogate sis Lisa. I felt sad knowing that only a week before we'd been stitching this together in my dining room and this week we were having to do it virtually so to speak. So we decided we'd imagine we were in my dining room:) I finished the house, stitched the fence on the left and remembered to give the bird a beak!

Last night I managed about 400 stitches on Guardian so, seen as I'm close to finishing the page, I'm showing my progress. Once the page is finished I'll probably just show it once a month. I can't believe I've almost done with the top row of pages!

Tonight I'm starting Pumpkin Farm. I wasn't sure whether to start that or Swan Lake but I thought if I do PF first then when Jane is ready to trade the other 3 charts I'm ready too:) I'm looking forward to stitching this one as I love the warm, autumnal colours in it.

I've done a little bit of stash shopping this week while I have funds to do it. You may remember that Chris and I have a December SAL each year and we decided months ago what our SAL for this year would be. I did email Chris to check if we were still doing it as she's not been stitching for ages and we are so I ordered the chart yesterday from Des Filles Et Une Aiguielle I thought I may not have the funds later on in the year so better buy it now! We are going to be stitching Tra La La Snowman.

That's all from me for today. I'm hoping I might get a bit of day time stitching in this weekend or maybe some finishing. I've half finished LHN Be Merry Belle Pepper and Red House in Winter:)

Have a great weekend whatever you are all up to.

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxxx



A Finish &Two SALs

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post and my fantastic day with Lisa. We have both been through some tough times with depression and anxiety and have spent many a time trying to help each other chatting on MSN so it was lovely to be able to get to spend the day together. We were lucky enough to get to spend a bit more time together on Friday afternoon when she invited me up to her caravan:) I really wish we lived closer. 

On Wednesday evening both of us, Lisa in her caravan and me at home, stitched a little more on LHN Travelling Stitcher. I really love how this is looking and like MBT Designs A New Day it will be special for both of us. I mentioned to Lisa on Wednesday when we started it that I was going to do the initial bit over one so that I could stitch both our initials on it:) 

Thank you to everyone who played along with my name the sheep:) Lisa and I have decided he should be called Cecil as we both like that one so I'll be sending a little something to Tricia for suggesting that name :) Give me a few weeks though! Lol!

I am so happy to report that I have finally finished Blackbird Designs AotH Happy Birthday! I can truly say that this was my least favourite so far although I love the colours and the design I just did not enjoy it as much as the others. I think it could have been the Lazy Daisy stitches and in the end I left the lower ones off. This one is dedicated to my wonderful late mother-in-law Pat who was the best m.i.l. a girl could wish for. My DH and I were married in 1986 and Pat passed away in 1999 and in those 13 years we only ever had one cross word and that was caused by someone else sticking their nose in! I added her birth year and the initials of her parents.

Blackbird Designs AotH Happy Birthday

36 count Rosewood linen

GAST & DMC

Started 8th July 2011

Finished 13th August 2011

I think I'm going to stitch Pumpkin Farm next but will make up my mind on Friday!

As I said in my last post I just managed to get a place in Carol R's iStitch mystery SAL and the first part of the chart was sent out on Saturday. I did say to Carol that I hoped I could keep up and keep up I reckon I can! I had planned to stitch it on 35 count white superfine linen which I bought from Sew and So ( how nice it is to have funds from Ebay sales :) ) but I changed my mind and am using 25 count instead stitching one over one. The thread I'm using is an unknown Victorian Motto thread which Nancy kindly sent me for free when I purchased some threads from her. It's a lovely colour. Anyway I started this when I'd finished Happy Birthday on Saturday evening and finished it yesterday evening.

Once I'd popped the last few stitches into the SAL last night I picked up Blackbird Designs Peacock Pin Keep and started the top bit. I'm enjoying this one a lot and I think it'll be a quite a quick stitch but the making up may take a while!

Almost forgot my progress on HAED Guardian from last Thursday evening. I'm thinking I may just post monthly progress on this one as it's quite slow going really. What would you rather see, weekly or monthly?

Thank you for your lovely comments for Jess on my last post. I think she's going back to the doctors ( unless she changes her mind!) as she's thought about what he said to her. She was worried about the side effects of the oestrogen pill but has now decided to give it a go rather than put up with painful, irregular cycles.

I finished my Beating the Blues program ( CBT) on Thursday and am now waiting to hear from my counsellor as he's supposed to get in touch with me once I've finished. It has helped to a certain extent but I know I'm not as I should be just yet. It'll come and I know I'll have setbacks.

Time to go now and get on:)

Take care everyone.

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxx

A Stitching Day With Lisa & Some Progress

At long last my surrogate sis, Lisa, and I had our stitching day :) Lisa is here on holiday with her DH and DD and as soon as she knew they were coming here she asked if I fancied a stitching day and of course I said yes straight away:) We have both been eagerly anticipating this day and were both so excited. We've known each other online for many years and met a few years ago but today was the first time we got to sit and stitch together. We had a wonderful day chatting and stitching with lunch in between and a few cuppas:) In fact we hardly stopped chatting all day! We had decided a while beforehand that we'd start Little House Needleworks Travelling Stitcher today and that's what we did. Here's my progress from this afternoon ( we didn't start our stitching until lunch as we had a show of our WIPs and some finishes and I showed Lisa the stitching on my walls etc!)

Thank you so much Lisa for a wonderful day. It was so good to see you again and I look forward to when we can meet up again :) Here's a photo of the two of us that DH took. Please excuse the expression on my face as  DH was messing about and I think I was just about to say something to him! Lol! I felt so sad that the day had gone so fast.

I decided that I wanted to stitch Lisa a little something to give to her today and I thought this was perfect as she is a wonderful friend. I edged it in some gorgeous flower trim that Michelle sent me. Lisa loved it and was a little tearful lol!

Lizzie*Kate Friends Are Like Angels


28 count opalescent white fabric


DMC


Started 27th July 2011


Finished 3rd August 2011


Gift for Lisa

And Lisa bought me this little cutie! Isn't he sweet? I absolutely love him and he now needs a name:) Any suggestions? I'm going to sit him on the mantlepiece where I can see him as I stitch on an evening:)

All my PIFS have now been received and I am so happy to say that everyone loves them. I did have a panic as they are not finished how I originally intended as I cut my fabric pieces too small. The letters are from the Blackbird Designs A Stitcher's Journey book. These went to Barb, Michelle, Jane, Elisa, Nadia, Carolyn and Melanie :) Thank you ladies for being my PIF recipients. 

Right now onto my WIPs. BBD AotH Happy Birthday came back out to play seen as my GAST threads had arrived and I managed to get quite a bit stitched. However I did notice a mistake and had to frog the flower underneath the house so need to finish re-stitching that. I think I shall be pleased to finish this one as I'm not enjoying it as much as the others. 

I finished the outside part of BBD Peacock Pin Keep on Sunday evening so will start the top this Sunday. I'm really enjoying this and love the DMC colours.

SB SAL night with Barb and Colleen went well. My border met up so I breathed a huge sigh of relief and started stitching the flowers on the border.

Now I have made a change in my rotation so that I can try and keep up with HAED Guardian. When I go to craft club on a Tuesday morning I've decided, as long as the light is good and I can see OK, I'm going to stitch my SB ornaments so once I'd finished stitching the trim to Lisa's gift there yesterday I started In A Stable. A couple of the ladies were amazed at the 36 count fabric I was using! Anyway this is the progress I made. Can you tell I don't chat much??? Lol! 

So Sunday evenings will now be for Peacock Pin Keep until it's finished then it'll be smalls night. Thursday evenings will be HAED Guardian night. I am now over my panic in my last post * I think* and am *sort of * determined to keep going and finish it. I had a look at the chart which is 30 pages. I have completed 6 and am on my 7th. Out of the 23 pages I have left 9 of them are not full pages so it's do able! I may have another panic before long though! It's such a gorgeous piece and the chart was gifted to me by Lisa so I really want to keep going with it.

I had a good evening on Drawn Thread The Sanctuary last night. I'm hoping to finish this block next week and start on the last one.

So that's all my progress and finishes for now. I'm popping off  to settle down and stitch on LHN Travelling Stitcher for the evening then will try and get caught up on blog reading and commenting tomorrow:)

Have any of you seen anything that takes your eye from the previews of market? I've seen two, the new Shepherd's Bush Roll and My Big Toe Designs A Very Faint Line, that I would really love. I am going to treat myself to the SB roll when it's available for finishing my CBT sessions ( well when I do!)

I've signed up for Carol R's mystery SAL. I tried to resist but Lisa tipped me over the edge ( well I have to blame someone). I just got in so was very lucky. It's a good excuse to buy some 40 count fabric as I don't have any left Lol!

Finally a bit of family stuff. When I arrived home after craft club yesterday Jess had received a letter from the surgery to say that her second lot of blood tests had also shown an abnormality so we made an appointment for her. The GP she'd seen before is off for two weeks and as she wanted to know what it was all about she had to see someone else so wanted me to go with her. It turns out that she on the borderline of having polycystic ovary syndrome so for all she doesn't actually have it it is problematic for her. She can have the oestrogen pill but she has decided for now to see how it goes.

Well I had better finish off now or I won't get any stitching done!

Take care everyone and if you're in an area where the riots are please stay safe. I'm finding it hard to comprehend all this mindless violence. These people are a complete waste of space.

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxx

A Gift FOR Lainey

Dear Lainey has been having a rough time of it of late and knowing how much a wee gift can bring some cheer when times are rough I decided to stitch this for her when I came across this chart in my stash. I received a totally mad Hallmark thank you ecard from her yesterday ( loved it Lainey) so can now show what I made for her. Lainey is like me and mad on sheep and snowmen:)

Midnight Stitching Heartstruck Quakers

32 count tea dyed fabric

DMC

Started 7th July 2011

Finished 17th July 2011

I finished it as a pin keep with a rudged ribbon edge. So glad you like it Lainey:)

As I haven't done a blog post for a week I have some progress to show. I didn't stitch on my AotH piece last weekend because the threads I needed hadn't arrived so stitched on HAED Guardian instead. I also stitched on it on Thursday evening so here is my progress. I'm trying to get this into my rotation for one evening a week and then next year when I finish the AotH piece ( hopefully!) I'll make it two evenings and try and keep at it.

I've done a bit more on Blackbird Designs Peacock Pin Keep this week and have almost got the alphabet bit done. Just the bottom border and it'll be done. I had fun trying to make my initials fit. That W is a nightmare!!!

Monday was SB SAL night as usual with Barb and Colleen :) I started the border on Family Sampler so please cross your fingers and hope it meets!!! Actually this border is so simple  if it doesn't meet it means that I am not safe to be let loose with a needle and thread! Still hoping for an end of August finish on this :)

I made some decent progress on Drawn Thread The Sanctuary. I don't know if Chris and Kajsa are still stitching along with me or not.

So that's my progress. I took my secret stitch with me to craft club on Tuesday. I was dreading going as I hadn't been for two weeks and I did feel a little like the new girl again.

I need to have a rethink of my rotation and after chatting to Lisa the other day I think I may have it sorted. I always do this to myself! I get too many larger pieces in my rotation then have little time for smaller ones and of course I want to keep HAED Guardian in there now as I know if it goes away again that will be it and it'll end up getting scrapped. So instead of stitching the SB ornaments on a Sunday evening I'm thinking of doing those at craft club. Sundays can be a smalls evening or a HAED SAL night with Lisa. I need to keep at least one evening for smalls then at least I'm finishing something! ETA What do I do??? Lol! I keep looking at Guardian and thinking can I ever finish it and what is the point of wasting valuable stitching time if it won't ever get finished? Let's face it it's 30 pages ( I think) and I've only completed 7. So that leaves 23 pages. At one evening a week there's no way I can get a page a month done so it's going to take me well over 2 years to do and I'm not sure I want to put that much into something. Why do I do this to myself! Maybe I should get a print of it and stick with a QS!

I'm so looking forward to next Wednesday as Lisa and I are having a stitchy day :) We've been friends online for many years now and we have met once before but it's been a while now since we last saw each other. She is coming to my home for the day and we're starting Little House Needleworks Travelling Stitcher. See you soon Lisa!!!

Last photo of the day is of the furry kind. Of course because Jess is home we also have her hamster Ivor. I have to admit that I wasn't too happy when she bought him but seeing her with him and realising how he makes me feel when I hold him I can understand perfectly the concept of having a pet to lift your blues. He is the cutest, funniest little thing and here is is asleep in Jess' shirt!

We're off out for Sunday lunch tomorrow as it's Jessica's 20th birthday and I can't wait. I've been feeling low the past few days so looking forward to getting out and not having to cook!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Take care.

love & hugs

Sally

xxxx