Winter Sampler

I stitched up a little thank you for Lisa S for very kindly sending me the fabric to make a pouch for LHN Travelling Stitcher. Not only was there enough fabric for a pouch and a needle case but also enough for me to make another set to send to my surrogate sis Lisa. I searched Lisa S's blog to see if she'd stitched this one or been sent it in an exchange and as she hadn't I set on to stitch it! I added our initials to the back. I am very happy to say that Lisa has received it safely and loves it:)

Little House Needleworks Winter Sampler

32 count Permin Amber Linen

DMC

Started 1st November 2011

Finished 4th November 2011

Thank you gift for Lisa S

Wednesday evening was SAL night with my surrogate sis Lisa. My DH, Abi and I were at school for a while at the GCSE Celebration evening then I stitched when we got home just after 8.30 pm. I am catching up on blog reading as I type and saw Marylin's WIP of it and realised I shouldn't have stitched up all the border on Snow Friends. I am so damned cross with myself and wonder sometimes why I bother stitching at all! Thankfully it's not a lot to frog so I might do it when I've finished catching up so that I don't forget! 

Typing of my surrogate sis Lisa she told me to look out for a box from her this last week. Of course I missed the postie by about 15 minutes so had to wait until the next day to see what it was. Lisa said I could open the box then read the card on the top. I was very intrigued! When I opened it my first thought was why have I got all these parcels! Then when I read the card I was even more gobsmacked. It's my very own, personalised advent calendar! I cannot tell you how touched I am that Lisa did this for me and how excited I am for the 1st December! Thank you so much Lisa. I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful gift.

I've been doing a little secret stitching so just have Renato Parolin Love to show. I just love red thread on white fabric. I'm hoping to maybe get more stitched on this tonight.

Thursday is 1st December ( where on earth did November go???) so it'll be December SAL time with Chris and Lesleyanne. Chris and I decided on a design no sooner had we finished the last one! Lesleyanne is stitching L*K Snowman 2010. I am hoping that Chris will be OK to start as she had a cortisone injection on Wednesday for Tennis Elbow and was in a lot of pain.I have decided to stitch mine on Cobblestone linen as I think the colours will really pop on it. Here's my fabric with the threads I'm going to use. I decided on a mixture of DMC, Carrie's Creations, GAST and Crescent Colours. There should also be a darker green that I haven't decided on yet!

Thank you for all lovely comments on my Winter Band Sampler finish. I'm hoping to get it made up soon so that I can get it on display.

I'm going to catch up on blogs now and see what lovelies you've all been stitching. No doubt I will end up being enabled as well! 

Have a great week everyone!

Take care

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxx

Winter Band Sampler

I got rather excited at craft club yesterday as I thought I'd finished Winter Band Sampler just before I left. One of the ladies was admiring it when I realised I still had 6 stitches ( individual ones for snow) left to do! So last night before I picked up my TSG I popped those in and it is now finished!

Little House Needleworks Winter Band Sampler

32 count tea dyed evenweave

DMC

Started 18th October 2011

Finished 22nd November 2011

SAL with Lesleyanne and Angela.

I'm not sure how I'm going to finish this just yet but as I've got three things lined up to finish as pin keeps I think I'd better think of something different! The chart is now for sale ( or trade)

I stitched a little bit more on CCN Snowflake Serenade since my last blog post. I was a little iffy at my choice of fabric but now I'm happy with it as the snow will show up very nicely. Frosty is looking a little strange at the moment!

I did make a start on one of the ornaments from that page I showed in the JCS ornament issue. I nearly got it stitched on Saturday but just have a little bit more to do. I can't show it as it's for my exchange with Chris which we do every year now :)

I finally finished the house on The Primitive Hare Christmas Carol Sock on Monday evening. I made a start on the wording and love how it's looking now. I'm stitching this with Barb who has lots done so do go over and have a look at her blog to see hers. Unless I get a move on I can't see me finishing it for Christmas! I am still worried about the white so I may change some of the colours of the flowers etc on it so that they show up better.

Finally yesterday was a Jane Day for Barb and I with Good Tidings with Jane Austen. I won't be at craft club next week but the week after I might take this with me seen as I've finished WBS. Although I do still have two SB ornaments that I'd like to get stitched for my tree before Christmas as well as numerous other things! Will I ever learn!

I've taken my Shepherd's Bush Family Sampler to my trusty framer today for framing. I should have it back in a week or so:)

Right I am going for a quick catch up on blog reading then I think I'll stitch for a bit!

Take care everyone and Happy Thanksgiving  to all my American friends:)

Lots of love and hugs

Sally 

xxxx

Peace

This stitching what I want for 3 evenings a week is pretty good!! Lol! OK so I'm stitching what I want all week but now that I've finished The Sanctuary and AotH is on hold I'm stitching stuff that I've wanted to do for ages and not done. Then I can do Christmas stuff too without being last minute!

Anyway I finished up this beauty on Thursday evening.

Renato Parolin Peace

DMC 321

32 count white evenweave

Started 12th November

Finished 17th November

Then I made a small start on this one.

Wednesday evening was my SAL night with my surrogate sister Lisa ( thank God for my surrogate sister. We've been online friends for many years and I love her to bits). I had a visit from the frog as last week I'd run out of B5200 so moved onto the rabbit. Unfortunately I'd miscounted and left one row too many and didn't realise until after I'd stitched all the bunny so out he had to come! He did get restitched and I forgive him as he's so cute!

I was told I had to start this last night! I just hope I've made the right choice of fabby.

On FB I'm in a group called The Superstar Serial Starters and Divine Disciplined Divas Club and I posted asking if it was bad that I wanted to start loads from stash! Of course the question was asked what did I want to start! One of them was Country Cottage Needleworks Snowflake Serenade and Paula ( I won't link to her blog as it looks as though it's one of the ones that has been hacked recently) said I had to start it and do as I'm told! Lol! What's a girl to do? Seriously there is no hope for me at all but at least it keeps my mind off things:)

DH is at work today and Abi is out with friends so my plan is to have a stitching day and start one of these.

I had some rather nice post yesterday. I won this on Rowyn's blog. I absolutely love this and once I get my Christmas/ Winter stitching done I want to start this. Thank you so much Rowyn. I'll be passing this on when I've stitched it.

I was admiring a finish on Suzanne's blog a while ago and it was from a JCS mag so I asked which one. Suzanne kindly offered me to send the mag as she'd been sent it by Rowyn and she didn't want it back. When I opened the envelope I realised that I'd actually had this magazine from when I originally had it on order through my newsagent and sold it! I guess my tastes have changed since 2005! Anyway here's the mag.

And this is what I saw stitched on Suzanne's blog and fell in love it.

Thank you so much Suzanne! I hope you received my email :) Again I'll be passing the mag on when I've stitched the CHS piece :)

Almost forgot I did a little more finishing. As usual the SB ornament is plain and I finally got By the Light of the Moon done!

Finally Abi will probably kill me for this but here's a photo of her blowing the candles out on her cake on Wednesday!

Off to stitch in a bit! Have a great weekend everyone!


Love & hugs


Sally
xxxx

It's A Needle Case!

After my sort of success at making my pouch for LHN Travelling Stitcher I decided to finish stitching the needle case and have a go at making that up on Sunday. This time I decided not to add any wadding like I did with the pouches as the extra bit of thickness made it difficult to sew on my machine. I have to say that I am really pleased with how it turned out. I have sewn the design onto the outside of the case rather than on the inside. I also made one for Lisa to go with the pouch I made.

Little House Needleworks Travelling Stitcher Needle Case

32 count white evenweave

Crescent Colours

Started 3rd November 2011

Finished 11th November 2011

I don't have any other finishes to show at the moment just a few WIPs. You know me I like to have a different one for each night on the go if I can lol! I have to admit that now Jane and I have decided to put AotH on hold until the New Year I feel like I have some freedom. Crazy isn't it but I think I'm falling out of love with long term projects at the moment so I may make some changes to my stitching in 2012 and not do any big pieces once AotH is finished.

So I now have 3 evenings free to stitch on whatever I feel like so on Saturday evening once the needle case was done I picked this beauty up. Not that you can see much yet but it's Renato Parolin Peace from Peace, Love, Joy. I'll be stitching all 3 and hopefully finishing them in a similar way to the photo on the chart. I'm stitching them on 32 count white evenweave with DMC 321.

I've been stitching up quite a snow storm on Little House Needleworks Winter Band Sampler both on Sunday evening and at craft club yesterday morning. I wasn't feeling terribly chatty whilst I was there but it was good to get out amongst company for a couple of hours.

Do you think I'll be getting sick of Winter/ Christmas designs??? No I don't either. Winter is my favourite time of year and my favourite designs to stitch and I don't really care what time of year I stitch them! So my next two WIPs are Christmas ones. First off that darn house on The Primitive Hare Christmas Carol Sock is DONE! Well actually I thought it was done until I was putting my chart away and realised I had chimneys to stitch! It's nearly there though. One thing I'm worried about here is that the white is not going to show up but I don't want to start again on darker fabric now so it'll have to do!

Finally last night was my other SAL with Barb and Jane Tuesday:) I really didn't want to put this away last night and could have quite happily carried on stitching well into the night!

I have made a boo boo with my iStitch Mystery SAL and now won't be mounting it into my DMC box :( I stitched it over one on 25 count knowing it would turn out quite small but I thought I could use trim to fill the gap. However I started stitching it too far over so haven't left enough fabric! Duh! So I'll have to rethink and find something else to stitch for the box.

It's Miss Abi's 17th birthday today so Jess is coming home later today then has be back for 4 pm tomorrow as she has a lecture. I can't believe my youngest baby is 17! She has grown into a beautiful young woman and we are so very proud of her.

Oh and my blogoversary has been and gone again! I'm amazed that I've kept up this blog for 5 years. I have "met" some of the most fantastic people all over the world and I treasure you all. No blogoversary giveaway just yet but I will sort something soon.

That's all from me today! Thank you for all the wonderful comments that you leave for me. I love getting and reading them :)

iStitch Mystery SAL

Last night I finished off the iStitch Mystery SAL. It has been great fun stitching this SAL over the past few months and I just want to say a huge thank you to Carol for designing and organising it. Anyway here's my finish. I'm going to mount it in the top of my DMC box soon.

iStitch Mystery SAL

25 count lugana

Victorian Motto Thread

Started 13th August 2011

Finished 11th November 2011

Another little finish is this sweet freebie from Sharon at It's Daffycat. Thank you Sharon for this sweet freebie. If any of you haven't seen it yet pop on over to Sharon's blog where you can find her email to request a copy:) I loved stitching this up as it didn't take very long and it's a cute design. I'm thinking of frogging the footprints and stitching some snow then restitching the prints. What do you think? I never thought about stitching it on white fabby!

Daffycat Designs Snow Hop Freebie

32 count Permin Amber Linen

DMC

Started and Finished 10th November.

Last photo is from my Wednesday SAL with my surrogate sister Lisa. I ran out of B5200 for the snow so moved onto the rabbit! I can't wait to pick it up again as I just love stitching these fun little snowmen.

So what else have I been stitching. Well I have almost finished a little gift for someone and tonight I'm hoping to finish the stitching on LHN Travelling Stitcher Needle Case. Only got the border to do. I've been sorted things that I would really like to get stitched before Christmas ( some LHN ornaments, CCN Snowflake Serenade, amongst others!)  plus Chris and I are doing our usual Christmas ornament exchange which I really look forward to. Not long now to our December SAL either.

Best dash and get on with the needle case :) but before I go one very important message to us all. 

Lots of love and hugs

Sally

xxxx

Some Sewing and The Sanctuary is Finished!

My second finish of the month that I can show is Drawn Thread The Sanctuary! I finished the stitching on the 1st of the month and finally finished all the hemstitching yesterday. I took it to craft club with me as I was feeling really tired so my eyes were tired too and I thought the hemstitching would be nice and easy. Several of the ladies were intrigued by this piece and thought it was beautiful. This was so lovely to stitch and it definitely keeps you interested with all the different stitches. The chart is now for sale so please email me if you're interested.

Drawn Thread The Sanctuary

32 count linen

DMC and WDW

Started 24th May 2011

Finished 1st November 2011

I'm not quite sure what to do with it now it's done. Any suggestions on how to hang it on the wall?

I plucked up the courage to make my pouch for LHN Travelling Stitcher at the weekend and armed with the instructions Katrina sent me and the measurements and fabric  Lisa S had sent me I set on. It is most certainly not as easy as it looks but by Sunday evening I had these two. One for me and one for my surrogate sister Lisa seen as we started stitching TS together when we had our stitching day back in August. I don't think they are too bad for a first attempt. As you can see I've got my stitching sewn to it so it's ready to use:) Once I get the needle case done I'll use it for craft club for smaller charts and fabric.

Jane and I have decided to put our Blackbird Designs AotH on hold until the New Year so we can concentrate on some Christmas stitching. I haven't actually picked mine up for a while as I wanted to get The Sanctuary done. So I'm planning on some ornament stitching and a few other bits I think.

I stitched a bit more on Little House Needleworks Winter Band Sampler, my SAL with Lesleyanne and Angela, on Sunday evening. I just love this piece and am really looking forward to having this on my wall. 

Monday was Christmas Carol SAL night with dear Barb and we are now both building. I just don't seem to be able to get this house done but, hopefully, next week I will have it all finished. I'll move up then I think. 

Finally Barb and I started another SAL last night! Yes I did say another one. This time we're having a Jane day again and we're stitching Good Tidings with Jane Austen ( I've been calling it Glad Tidings- sorry Tanya!). I got quite a good bit stitched last night and really enjoyed it.

It's SAL night with Lisa tonight and 6 Fat Men ( lol) so looking forward to that. I'm going to order the next 3 charts in the JJ's Birthday Sale tomorrow:) 

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my Peacock Pin Keep finish! I loved reading them all.

I just got the latest BBD Loose Feathers from Amy at Down Sunshine Lane. I also got Little House Needleworks Snow in Love ornament as it's so cute!

I better get going and get myself sorted. I planned on stitching up The Primitive Needle By the Light of the Moon this afternoon ( a bit late for Halloween I know!) but I'm not sure I'm in the right mood! 

Thanks for popping by my little stitching place. 

Take care everyone.

Love and hugs

Sally

xxxx

A Bit Proud of Myself

It's not often I actually say this but I am a bit proud of myself:) I have finally made up the Blackbird Designs Peacock Pin Keep that I finished stitching a while ago. It's not perfect by any means but I am extremely happy with it and right now feel as though I could tackle anything ( that won't last!!!!). So I'll share a couple of photos of the finished item :)

 

My DH came in yesterday and saw it on the table and said " Wow that looks good!" :) 

Almost done and dusted is DT The Sanctuary :) Yesterday I did all the folding and mitering and all I have to do now is the hemstitching which I am hoping to make a start on this afternoon. 

 

On Tuesday I received some fabric from Lisa S. She very kindly offered to send me some to make a pouch and needlecase for LHN Travelling Stitcher so hopefully this will be made into a pouch tomorrow as DH is at work. I'm a little nervous but I know I can do it if I try very hard! I haven't stitched the bit for the needle case as yet but I did make a start last night. Thank you so much for the fabric Lisa:) 

Stitching wise I've been getting on well and managing to stay away from the PC after tea on a night. Monday was SAL night with dear Barb and I am still building the house! It does rather seem never ending but it'll be worth it! 

On Tuesday morning at craft club I stitched a bit on Little House Needleworks Winter Band Sampler my SAL with Lesleyanne and Angela. I made a mistake no sooner had I started stitching but thankfully noticed before I'd got too much done! 

Last stitchy pics are of Lizzie*Kate 6 Fat Men which I'm SAL-ing with Lisa on. I finished Snowed In on Wednesday and started Snow Friends. I just love these designs and can hardly wait to get the next 3 charts but am waiting until the next JJ's sale!

Lizzie*Kate 6 Fat Men Snowed In


32 count Amber linen


DMC


Started 5th October 2011


Finished 2nd November 2011

I'm not sure what I'm going to stitch tonight. I should get back to BBD AotH but I feel the need for more Christmas ornament stitching now that November is here so will see what tonight brings! 

 

Next Tuesday Barb and I are starting another SAL :) This time it's The Sampler Girl Glad Tidings with Jane Austen. I've been looking forward to us starting this but wanted to finish The Sanctuary first which is why I've been in such a rush to finish it!

Almost forgot my part 7 of the iStitch mystery SAL. I'm looking forward to seeing what part 8 is:)

Other news is I've been to the doctor's this morning. I won't go into detail (womens things!) but I have exercises to do for 8 weeks and if there's no improvement I will more than likely have to have surgery. Right now I don't care if surgery has to be the option as I'm uncomfortable.

 

That's all my news for today. I'm off to start the hemstitching on Sanctuary :)

Take care everyone.

Love & hugs

Sally

xxxx