Peace

I have really got back into my stitching these past few weeks and yesterday I even took it to craft club with me. I wanted to get on with my Christmas stitching so knitting will be taking a back seat for a few weeks now. I don't have a lot to do but Chris and I are doing our Christmas ornament exchange again this year. I look forward to this every year and am so pleased when Chris said she wanted to do it again. I've got threads and fabric sorted for what I'm stitching for her:) Also want to stitch ornaments for a couple of people.

Anyway I have a finish to show! On Sunday I was determined to get my ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. As you know I've been stitching Sam Sarah Designs Peace so I beavered away and got it done. Obviously needs making up so one day next week I think I need to get my sewing machine out and get it done along with other pieces that are waiting in the pile!

Sam Sarah Designs Peace

32 count Vintage Mocha linen

DMC

JABCO Buttons

Started 14th October 2012

Finished 28th October 2012

I had quite a good couple of evenings on HAED Guardian. I got more of the woman's hair stitched and a bit of the background so not much more to do before page 9 is finished! 

SAL night with Barb went well. Barb is now stitching the word plays and very kindly passing the charts on to me so that I can stitch them as I only have January! This is going to be our next SAL and I'm really looking forward to it. Does anyone know if there anywhere you can buy the rusty jingle bells and pins in the UK?  Anyway I'm still stitching LHN Snow in Love. This is just so cute!

Finally last night I did a little more on HAED QS Holly Fairy. Getting closer to getting her eye stitched and can hardly wait!

I was one of the very lucky ladies chosen by June to receive one of her beautiful stitched Christmas ornaments and it arrived on Saturday. I was so excited but have decided to be very good for now ( if I can hold out!) and open it when we're putting our Christmas decorations up. June not only sent me an ornament and a Christmas card ( which I have also saved) she also sent the sweet needle keep that you can see in the picture. I love it and is it perfect for when I'm stitching on my HAEDs as I tend to just stick the needle in the fabric ( then wonder why I can't find my needle when I go to rethread it!). Thank you so much June. You are a real sweetheart {{{{hugs}}}}

Before I go I just want to say my heart goes out to all those on the east coast of the USA affected by Hurricane Sandy. I have been watching the news over hear and cannot believe the devastation it has caused. I can't imagine having to live through that. Bless you all and hope you are all safe.

That's all for now!

With much love.

Sally

xxxx

Here's Looking At You Kid ( Almost)

Hello from a slightly chillier east coast of England. The forecast says we might get a few snow flurries today but I think that will be a bit further north and we will get rain. It's definitely winter coat weather today!

Before I show my progress, bit of stash etc I have added some more charts to my for sale page if anyone would like to have a look :)

If the title of my blog post is puzzling you I'd better start with the reason for it! I have been working towards the eye on page 1 of HAED QS Holly Fairy and I now can see the outline so she is almost looking! I am so pleased with how she's coming along and so happy that I started her again. 

Friday and Saturday last week HAED Guardian came out again. I am getting closer and closer to finishing page 9 which is brilliant as I don't think I'll have finished a page this quick since I started it! 

I've stitched a little more on my ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I hope to make more of an effort this Sunday and get it finished before the end of October! Love the fact that I'll have 12 new ones this year. Plus my dear friend Michelle emailed me to say she would love to stitch The Primitive Hare ornament from the JCS mag for me and so I can't tell you how thrilled I am. 

Monday was SAL night again with Barb. I'm really enjoying stitching LHN Snow in Love. It's such a cute design and I can't wait to get it on my Christmas tree this year.

The parlour was nice and cosy over on Needlecraft Haven for our SAL on Wednesday evening. More progress was made on LHN Home of a Needleworker ( Too!) and we almost have a roof! Good job now it's getting chilly!

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win one of Veronica's gorgeous pin cushions in her giveaway and it arrived this week. Let me tell you that this photo really does not do it justice! It is so pretty and I will treasure it always. Thank you so much Veronica. I hope you received my email. {{{hugs}}}

My dear friend Michelle went to Ally Pally to the needlecraft show there and very kindly sent me this gorgeous East of India ribbon. I love their ribbons so I was delighted to receive this. Thank you so much Michelle. It'll look gorgeous on my Christmas stitching {{{hugs}}}

A while ago Lois very kindly sent me a sample of some linen she'd been stitching on that I really liked the look of. I forgot to show it on my blog so here it is at last! It is available at The Sampler Guild. The colour is Salamander! Isn't it lovely? I'm going to use this to stitch an ornament on:)  Thank you so much Lois {{{hugs}}}

Chris and I will be starting our December SAL soon. We had planned on Shepherd's Bush Holly and Ivy Sampler but had a change of plan and we're now going to do Country Cottage Needleworks Gingerbread Cottage. As I had some funds in decided to get the chart, fabric and two CC threads for it now rather than wait a few weeks.

I also bought all this fabric from Lisa B for the grand total of £9.70 including postage. It's mostly 28 count with a few pieces of 30 and 32 but  it'll all come in very handy. I'm already using a piece for a birthday gift:)

Finally my knitting progress. I've started block 4 on the Arsenic and Old Lace afghan I've been knitting. This one has been knitted and taken back more times than I care to remember as I didn't think it was right but it is!

That's my news for now. I'm behind ( again) on blog reading and commenting but I hope to catch up with everyone soon :)

Until next time.

With much love

Sally

xxx

Quick Post

Just a quick post to announce the winner of the charts.

The winner is

There were 16 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Dani
2. Shebafudge
3. Gracie ( flower basket)
4. Linda
5. Veronica
6. Bianca
7. Nicola
8. Kaisievic
9. Christine
10. Anne
11. Vickie
12. Cucki
13. Bernadett ( flower basket
14. Gillie ( BBD)
15. Emma
16. Danielle

Timestamp: 2012-10-23 11:57:27 UTC

Dani!!!! Dani please can you email me your address and I'll get them in the post ASAP :)

Be back soon with some stitching and knitting progress :)

With much love 

Sally

xxxxx

SAL Change, New Starts & A Teeny Giveaway

After a little deliberation Barb and I decided to change from our Blackbird Designs SAL. I hadn't wanted to say anything to her that I wasn't really feeling it for BBD at the moment but thankfully she said it to me :) She still wanted to SAL and as it was on Christmas ornaments or With Thy Needle Wordplays I said yes please!!! So Monday we both started a Little House Needleworks ornament. Here's my wee start. This one is Snow in Love and I have been looking forward to stitching this since I bought it but just never got around to it. 

I also made a start on Sunday on my October ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. The theme is snowmen so I chose Peace by Sam Sarah Design Studio. I think I'm into snowmen at the moment!

On Friday and Saturday I picked up HAED Guardian. I didn't make quite as much progress as I would have liked but if I could stay off Facebook and the PC I'd be well away! I am still enjoying this so much though and am so glad I have my love of HAEDs back. Hmmmm I probably said this the last time but after everything we've gone through this past few years  I am more determined than ever to keep going and finish him no matter how long it takes. Plus after seeing a WIP picture of Spirit of Winter by Josephine Wall, which I have, I want to finish Guardian so I can start that! We shall see!

HAED QS Holly Fairy is coming along pretty well. It wasn't until I got my photo up on the PC screen that I saw how gorgeous the holly in her hair is. It seemed to take forever with all the different shades in it but it is so worth it.

Finally my progress from the parlour with the ladies of Needlecraft Haven. I almost scrapped this last night to restart it on different fabric but decided against it! By the time I put it away I was feeling happy with it again.

Having a small giveaway now for two charts that I was gifted with and have stitched this year. If you would like to be in with a chance of winning them please say so in your comment. Please don't post this on your blog as I would it like to be just for regular commenters. I'll pick a winner next week :) 

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my last post. I appreciate each and everyone of them. No productiveness on the finishing front this time but hopefully next time if I get the chance!

Until next time.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

A Little More Productiveness!

I appear to be on a wee bit of a roll with the old finishing this week. It probably won't last but two more ornaments are now ready to hang plus I finished up something I stitched while I was recuperating from my surgery way back in May.

So I'll show the ornaments first. The first one is Plum Street Samplers Yuletide from one of the JCS ornament magazines. I edged it with ric rac and was going to do a ric rac bow in the same colour but I couldn't find it so guess I must have used it all! So I used a yellowy one. I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

Next ornament is Blackbird Designs Christmas Ornament 2004 from the 2004 JCS ornament magazine. I edged this with chenille trim from Crescent Colours. Really pleased with this too.

I have finally properly finished off Midsummer Night Designs Remember Me Stitching Pocket. I had got it all sewn up but it needed some braiding stitching on as well as the felt/ wool piece stitching inside so I set on and did this yesterday. 

I've had two finishes this week. Monday evening was Blackbird Designs SAL night with Barb but Barb was busy so I'm hoping she'll be back next Monday:). I finished my piece and think I'm going to stitch a Christmas ornament. 

Blackbird Designs Small Token

28 count Jayne's Attic COM Rose

DMC

Started 10th September 2012

Finished 8th October 2012

Last night I popped the last few stitches into this one.

The Sampler Girl Know Your Own Happiness ( from the Valentine Booklet)

32 count Gander rose linen

DMC

Started 26th September 2012

Finished 11th October 2012

Wednesday evening I popped on over to the parlour on Needlecraft Haven to join some of the ladies for The Little House in the Country with The Sampler Girl SAL. The brickwork is almost done on my house so I should be able to start putting the windows and door in and put the roof on before the snow comes! Lol!

Last night I had planned on starting my ornament for this month for the Christmas All Year Round SAL but HAED Qs Holly Fairy was still calling to me after my stint on her on Tuesday evening so out she came. She will look better once she's all done and I can wash the Magic Guide lines out as you can see them under the lighter stitches. 

This month I'd signed myself up for a HAED Halloween exchange on Facebook. The lady who organised it, Tammy, decided to hold it early, for those of us who wanted to, to coincide with the HAED Columbus Day Sale so I did it early. The person who I sent to was Paula and I chose Snowy Treasures by Hannah Lynn to send to her:) Vivienne was the person sending to me and she kindly sent me not one but two gorgeous charts off my wish list. 

This one is Mini Christmas Mailbox by Ruth Sanderson.

And this one is Storykeep Dragons History by Randal Spangler. 

I am hoping to start Mini Christmas Mailbox in January.

Tonight my hunky angel will be coming out to play again and I'm hoping to make good progress on him. I would really like to have the page I'm stitching on finished sometime in November! Lol! 

My JCS Christmas Ornament magazine was in at the newsagents when I went in the other day:) I look forward to this every single year even though I may not get many stitched. I think this years is as good as ever and was so happy to see that Shepherd's Bush had gone back to their usual style as I did not care for the one in last year's issue. There are at least three that I'd love to have on my tree for this year and they are Lizzie*Kate, The Sampler Girl and The Primitive Hare:)

That's all my news for now except that I have turned off accepting anonymous comments. I am sick and tired of spam and even though I moderate all comments it's getting beyond a joke now. I get all excited thinking I have a nice comment to publish to my blog and it turns out to be nasty spam!

Thank you so much again to those of you who do take time to comment. You all make me day.

Until next time.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

Productive Sunday

I had a lovely productive Sunday on the old finishing front! I don't know why I didn't sit down sooner to do it as I'm very happy with what I achieved. The only problem is I get my sewing machine out, sew stuff up then it's the adding the trim that I can't be bothered to do! So last night I decided no stitching just adding trim so here's what I got done :)

First one is Little House Needleworks Summer Splendor which I actually stitched a while ago and it's been languishing in my finishing pile. The trim I used was in a prize package that I received from Kate earlier on in the year. I'm really pleased with this one:)

Also finally finished Little House Needleworks A Stitcher's Heart. I was undecided whether to gather the ric rac like it is on the model or sew it on straight as I was bothered I'd run out but I bit the bullet and gathered it and had more than enough:) This one is so pretty.

Scarlet has finally been reunited with her friend Belle Pepper on my wall. Yep Chessie and Me's Scarlet's Christmas Sampler is finished up and I've hung her with LHN Belle Pepper:) I'm very pleased with this one too.

Final finish up is a simple one of Shepherd's Bush The Angel's Sang. I've finished the rest of these simply but I may add something else to them before I hang them all on my tree. I think I have one more to stitch to complete the set.

I have more to do yet but am happy that I am steadily getting down them!

As I said in my last post I was joining in a SAL on Needlecraft Haven so I had my new start on Wednesday evening. This is Little House Needlworks Home of a Needleworker ( Too!). I'm stitching it using the called for Crescent Colours, 1 strand over 1 on 25 count fabric. I think this is Stormy Skies from Silkweaver. I am a wee bit disappointed with my CC Old Blue Jeans as it's dull compared to the one used in the model but I find that many times with overdyed threads.

I've made more progress on both my HAEDs. QS Holly Fairy is coming along nicely. I decided after stitching on the hair I'd do a bit more of the background.

I'm very happy with my progress on Guardian this time as I almost got 20 rows completed on page 9. If I can do this every time I pick him up I could get a page done maybe in a month. 

It's SAL night with Barb tonight so hopefully I can get BBD Small Token finished:) Not sure which BBD I will pick next. Will have to see.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post. It makes me happy to know that there are so many lovely stitchers out there reading my ramblings:)

With much love.

Sally

xxxxx

Sheep and Stuff

Last week it was my dear friend Lainey's birthday and as everyone who knows her will know she is rather partial to sheep and snowmen. Well my gift for her last year was a snowman so this year it just had to be a sheep didn't it? So this is what I stitched for her.

JBW Designs French Country Lamb

32 count white Jobelan

DMC

Started 12th September 2012

Finished 17th September 2012

Birthday gift for Lainey.

Lainey loved it so I am very happy. I love it when my stitching brings a smile to someone's face:) The chart is now for sale if anyone is interested. I still have some other bits for sale too. Please take a look and see if you can take anything off my hands!

So what have been up to stitching wise? Well I had a wee new start last week. Shouldn't have as I'll be going into overload and having a stitching melt down! I wasn't going to show this as it's going to be an RAK I think but I'm yet to decide who I'll send it to. I haven't done an RAK for a while so thought it was time. I took this to craft club with me yesterday and took everything I needed except............. a needle! 

I had another two evenings on HAED Guardian Friday and Saturday. I almost got the top 12 rows of page 9 stitched. I'm in it for the long haul on this now. I will grit my teeth with sheer determination to keep going and actually finish it. I was looking back yesterday in my stitching diaries and I started it in April 2007! It's shameful as had I kept going I'd have finished it by now!

I still haven't finished my September ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I thought I had apart from stitching a horn ( not buying the charm as it's too expensive!) but then after I'd taken the photo I realised I had to back stitch the vines at the bottom. I've chosen a Sam Sarah Design for this month.

Monday was SAL night with Barb and I was hoping to get mine finished but it did not happen. I did make good progress though and I think my mojo is returning fast now. 

Last night I picked up HAED QS Holly Fairy. I had stitched a bit more since my update last week and it was going well until last night's session! I had to frog some , got it restitched then realised I'd stitched a bit in the wrong shade of grey. Needless to say that hasn't been frogged. I don't think it's too noticeable and even I'm not sure which bit it is! I think I'm having bother with the Magic Guide fabric now. It was fine when I was just stitching rows of black but now I'm getting to the bits with lots of colours it's a bit more difficult to do. I'm so used to gridding in blocks of 10 x 10 and this is blocks of 20 x 20. I'm quite tempted to grid it but I'll get used to it I guess!

Tonight I'm having a new start. Yes I know what you're thinking! What is wrong with this woman?! Barb was telling me a while ago about a SAL on Needlecraft Haven ( a friendly forum run by the lovely Clare). Now I used to be a regular on NH but haven't been on it for ages now and this SAL is going to be perfect for, hopefully, getting me back on there. It's called The Little House in the Country with The Sampler Girl SAL and you can stitch Little House Needleworks, Country Cottage Needleworks or The Sampler Girl so I'm starting this.

Luckily, after forgetting my needle at craft club yesterday ( and no one had a suitable needle lol) I had also taken my afghan with me. It's growing nicely but yesterday I kept having to take it back ( I seriously think I should not have knitted or stitched yesterday but today is a new day!). I am onto the third square now and it's a lovely pattern.

That's all my news for today. Hopefully I'll be back sooner and get into regular blogging again. Thank you for continuing to visit me and for your lovely comments. They are appreciated more than you know :)

With much love

Sally

xxxxx