December SAL

I know. It's not December! Kind of wish it was last December but never mind. Thought I'd do this post on my tab while I'm waiting for my kitchen floor to dry then upload my photos on the computer later.

So as you may remember  Chris and I have done a December SAL for the past few years and last year was  no exception. Chris finished hers in December but mine has taken a wee bit longer. It wasn't a huge piece so it shouldn't really have taken me so long but it's now done and I love it.

Country Cottage Needleworks Gingerbread Cottage

28 count Natural Pearl Linen

DMC & Crescent  Colours

Started 12th December 2012

Finished 22nd February 2013

Thank you Chris for another brilliant SAL and I look forward to our next one of Country Cottage Needleworks Silent Night. Thank you Barb for sending me the chart when you'd finished stitching it :)  I have also been stitching this with the ladies in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven so now need to find something else to stitch so I can keep stitching with the ladies so I'm going back to Little House Needleworks Home of a Needleworker ( Too! )

I have been trying to get as much stitching in on an evening as I possibly can. Sometimes it goes well, other times I get distracted but I am quite pleased with my progress since my last post. HAED Gurdian is slowly growing.  I am still aiming to get page 11 finished but it seems never ending somehow which is silly as its big  blocks of colour. Can't wait to get to the next page as there will be more hunky angel!

QS Holly Fairy is going very well. Onto page 4 and hoping to get it done quite quickly if I can but there is a fair few odd stitches around her eyes which slow me up. I think she is looking brilliant even though I say so myself!

I managed a little bit more on HAED QS Spirit of Winter Robin on Sunday evening. Can you see the robin's head?

Finally ( are you still with me? If you are thank you) my lovely Little Sheep Virtues Hope. I just love this first one of the series and the next one is just as sweet. Looking forward to that one landing on our shores too!

No progress worth showing on my other two HAEDs. I'm getting a little frustrated that I'm not getting time to work on these at the moment. I really want to get on with them expecially as they are SALs and I really feel like I'm lagging behind. I just want to see them grow a little more. 

I was stitching away at craft club yesterday ( can't show it) and realised I had made a boo boo! I couldn't work it out and it was a mistake I'd made last week! Needless to say the mistake stayed! 

That's it for now. Not sure whether to do some more housework, sort a DMC order out or go to my Dad's and paint. My sister and her partner decided that the little sitting room needed painting as it was a dark colour but it needs another coat. I think it's too much for me on my own so maybe not a good idea. 

Take care everyone and thank you for your support, love and hugs over the last 6 weeks.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

Forget Me Not

Last Friday was my dear friend and SAL partner Barb's birthday. So after much deliberation I decided to stitch this beauty for her as I know she loves blue. Well I think she does as I seem to remember something about blue. I hope I didn't dream it!

Heartstring Samplery Forget Me Not

Polstitches Designs fabric from grab bag

GAST & WDW

Started 20th January 2013

Finished 5th February 2013

I'm happy to say that Barb loves it.

I don't have a deal to show. HAED Guardian didn't happen much at the weekend but QS Holly Fairy went very well and I finished page 2 and started and nearly finished page 3! Yay! I had better explain that page 3 is 98 rows of just 8 stitches and is all DMC 310!

I didn't quite get CCN Gingerbread Cottage finished last Wednesday so hoping to this week. Still no DMC 437 at my local shop but one of the lovely ladies at craft club brought me some on a bobbin for which I was very grateful.  Not sure what to stitch once I've finished this. I may see if Mouse wants to start the Shakespeare's Peddler piece that was with the LHN last year or finish LHN Home of a Needleworker ( Too ).

I stitched a little bit more on QS Spirit of Winter Robin on Sunday evening. This, like my other two HAEDs, may not get stitched on regularly. I seem to be finding it hard to knuckle down to any stitching during the day at the moment.  Wish I could get just a bit done as feeling as if I've bitten off more than I can chew at the moment!

Postie was kind to me last week. I ended up subscribing to Just Cross Stitch magazine through Country Designs after my newsagent let me down. The shop changed hands and since then they've packed away the mags to send back and this time not bothered to get them in at all even though I had a regular order with the previous owners. Anyway the January / February issue arrived last week  from Country Designs so I haven't missed any. The following day the first of the LHN Little Sheep Virtues arrived from Karla at Patchwork Rabbit. I also received a lovely card from my long time online friend Fi which I forgot to take a pic of.

So Barb and I are now SAL-ing on the Little Sheep Virtues and I have to say I just loved my time stitching Hope on Monday evening. I hope Barb did too. Here's my progress.

I must apologise for not commenting on blogs again.  I've been setting off with good intentions but since my Dad passed away I just don't seem to have much enthusiasm. Apart from the odd blog post and getting stitching done I just seem to be burying my head. I wish I could hide away and pretend it didn't happen. I have so much going round in my head. I go to bed and I can't sleep as my brain goes into overdrive so I dread going to bed but then I wake up in a morning and don't want to get up. It's crazy!

That's it from me for now.

With much love

Sally xx

What's This?

Why it's my February ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL actually started and finished well before the end of the month! I actually started and finished it on Monday evening stitching ( virtually) with Barb. OK so it wasn't difficult as it's such a sweet simple design.

Atelier Steekjes & Kruisjes Joy

28 count fabric

DMC

I'm not sure how I will finish it yet but will wait until I've done next month's maybe then do 3 together.

I am almost there with my December SAL which I did with Chris. She finished hers in December but mine has taken a little longer! I've been stitching along on this in the parlour with the ladies of Needlecraft Haven. Not much more to do now but still waiting on my local arts and crafts shop to get some DMC in so I can finish off the cupcakes!

I'm only going to show one of my HAEDs this time as there's only one that I've made decent progress on. I've been finding things quite stressful and my tab has won over my stitching some nights and that stresses me even more as I feel like I've wasted an evening! Anyway QS Holly Fairy is looking good, even though I say so myself, but I think I'll probably slow up now as I'm about to start her eye. Lots of single stitches in there!

Not long after my Dad passed away I had a lovely email from Myra telling me that I'd won her giveaway of Lizzie*Kate Not All of Us chart that she had recently finished. I was so pleased as this one was on my wish list and it made my heart so happy at such a sad time. It arrived last Friday and I'm really looking forward to stitching it. She also added some Made With Love charms which I only found this morning as they were inside the case and I hadn't opened it. Thank you so much Myra.

Yesterday postie brought a lovely surprise from Julie. Ages ago she had stitched a JBW designs called Our Family which I greatly admired as it was so pretty. Julie had been sorting through her stitching stuff and found it and sent it to me. Thank you so much Julie. I intend on starting this as soon as I can fit it in.

Finally around last October I requested a quick stitch of the robin in Ciro Marchetti's Spirit of Winter on the HAED BB. I had requested it a long, long time ago as well but nothing had come of it. Anyway to cut a long story short I emailed Michele after my Dad passed away asking if it was doable and if it was in her queue as I wanted to stitch it in my Dad's memory as he loved robins.I received a lovely email back saying she was working it and hoping to get it released the following week. Well  at the end of last week it got released and no sooner had it been released it was my inbox, a gift from my surrogate sister Lisa. Thank you so much Lisa. I cannot tell you what this means to me. My threads are sorted, chart is printed and I just have to cut some fabric and I'll be away. I'm planning to start it on Sunday which would have been my Dad's 84th birthday.

That's all from me for now. Hopefully next week Gingerbread Cottage will be done! Thank you for all your continued visits and comments. I appreciate them so much.

With much love

Sally

xxxxx