Goodbye 2014!

It's certainly hard to believe that we are into the last day of 2014. The year has just flown by and soon we will start anew. I'm not making any resolutions. Not a single one simply because I never keep to them so I'll play it by ear and see what happens! 

My stitching year has been a successful one both with finishes and managing to keep up with Stitch from Stash. Tomorrow I'll be starting over on SFS and hoping to do even better. I have had 64 finishes over 2014 ( 64?? How did I do that! ) and have stitched 30 charts from my stash. I am feeling rather accomplished I must say!

Well Christmas came very quickly. I am always so sad when it's all over. We had a quiet one as usual. I was hopeful that my sister and her partner would accept our invitation but deep down I knew they wouldn't. It made me sad but never mind. So it was just the four of us, with my DH's auntie joining us at tea time,  and we had a very enjoyable time chatting, playing a board game and racing on the Wii. We do get a little competitive! We ate far too much, drank just a little and watched a little TV ( Dr Who and Mrs Brown's Boys! ). We all received some gorgeous gifts. A few of mine were robin, sheep or angel themed! I received some lovely ones from my stitching friends which you can see below :)

I do feel quite bad as I just can't send to everybody but Mouse told me it is better to give than receive :)

In no particular order.

From my surrogate sis Lisa. How can I resist not going back to Guardian now that I have a needleminder but it will have to wait a wee while!

From Michelle this beautiful box full of finishing items and Christmas tea.

From Barb some cute sheepy socks.

From Mouse a sheepy scarf, backing fabric and robin purse ( the note says start of Harrogate fund!)

From June a sheepy themed gift :)

From Karan a lovely chart by Jeannette Douglas Designs

From Shirlee some lovely teas, wooden sheep, needle threader and LHN ornmanent. The White Christmas tea is now no more as I drank it earlier today. It smelt and tasted delicious!

Thank you so much my dear friends.

We didn't get any snow here like other parts of the country did on Boxing Day but we did see some in the fields when we went to Meadhowhall shopping centre in Sheffield on Monday. It certainly turned very chilly though so we have been waking up to some beautiful frosts. I am still hoping for some snow before the end of Winter though!

I have been stitching a little and finished this ornament up just before Christmas.

Heart In Hand Christmas Alphabet

36 count fabric

DMC

I also made up this ornament before Christmas.

My CCN January Cottage is made up. I spotted this finish on Pinterest and decided to have a go. It's not quite how I wanted it look and I may add something to make it look better. I found the ricrac fiddly to add but, hopefully, the more I do the better they will look.

The February Cottage is looking very pretty. I have got more stitched since this photo.

I made a start on the next block of Frosty Forest. This one is Snowgirl's Cottage.

My robin came out to play again :) I'm SALing with my surrogate sis Lisa :)

Finally my December SAL with Chris. I love this and can't wait to get it finished and on the wall. It'll be a while yet though!

Last photo is of Abi. This makes me smile. She works at The Works and on Christmas Eve they have a fancy dress day. Here she is in hers :)

New Year's Day is going to be different for us as, unfortunately, Abi is working. She wasn't down to work but was asked if she could when her colleague couldn't do it. I'm disappointed but we'll make the best of it. I get quite cross at shops opening Boxing Day and New Year's Day as it's just so unfair that the employees are not getting to spend time with their families. Some of the convenience stores even open Christmas Day. It has to stop before we lose Christmas altogether. Greed and selfishness are taking over.

That's it from me for 2014. Thank you to each and every one of you who has stuck with me through the year and for all your friendships. Have a Happy, Heathly, Stash Filled 2015.

Take care everyone.

With much love.

Sally xxx

December Stitch From Stash!

I made it!  Yes I made it right through the year with Stitch From Stash! OK so I wouldn't have done without the monthly budget, my carry over or the end of year bonus but I did it and I feel very proud of myself!

This month I had £59.90 carried over from last month plus the £15 monthly budget. I purchased two charts and a magazine from Crafty Kitten ( as shown in my last post ) which meant I spent just under my monthly budget as I got my birthday month discount. So I still have the £59.90 of my carry over left. Now I know I have not done as well as some of the ladies have but having that left is brilliant!  Next year I have every intention of doing even better! Mel has suggested that between 22nd December and the start of the next SFS we spend, spend, spend but I have more than enough and dare not even contemplate doing that.  Next year I want to be even tougher on myself when it comes to buying so I shall just be buying fabric and threads when needed. My two autos will not count but as I signed up for fabric and hand dyes for the CCN Classic Ornaments they will count in my monthly budget but the buttons won't as they are classed as finishing items :). I'm looking forward to taking part again next year and would just like to thank Mel for organising it and for all her hard work keeping it going through the year and for doing it again next year.

I have a few photos to share. In my last post I showed my Wicked Since finish. Well here it is actually made up! I didn't have a pumpkin charm, in fact I have hardly any Halloween charms, so I ended up adding cat buttons instead. I'll be putting this away until Halloween. Barb and I will restart our Halloween SAL in the New Year :).

A while ago you may remember I stitched Just Nan Wintry Mix. Well here that is all made up too!

I still have loads to finish so maybe between Christmas and the New Year I'll get some more done.

I wanted to get Snowy Foxes finished this week so I stitched on it an extra evening to get it done. At the moment I'm stitching 3 series then in the New Year it will be 4 series so I'm wanting to get Frosty Forest finished as soon as I can then swap things about a little.

I had a small new start once I'd finished Snowy Foxes. This one will not take long to stitch up. It is another from the Candy Cane Stitchers group on Facebook and it's Heart In Hand Christmas Alphabet. It's going to be a cute one!

I've been trying to get a good bit stitched on the December SAL that Chris and I are doing. It is so pretty. I love the contrast between the reds and white. 

Finally I went back to my robin last night. Just a little stitching whilst watching the Strictly final. I was very disappointed as that is the second year the one person I didn't want to win it did!!

On Friday it was Christine's birthday and this is what I stitched for her.

The Little Stitcher Winter Walk

32 count nougat linen

DMC

Birthday gift for Christine.

Just a few photos now from last Sunday when we went on our annual day out to the Victorian Christmas Market in Beverley. As usual we popped to see the birds of prey!

So that is it from me.  My last post until after Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful,  peaceful Christmas and get lots of lovely stash from Father Christmas :). I am not going to get my white Christmas but here's hoping for some snow soon!

Take care everyone.

With much love.

Sally xxx

My Birthday and 3, Yes 3, Finishes!

Last Friday was my birthday and I was rather spoilt by my family and friends. I had a lovely day but will admit to feeling a little down as well as I was missing my Dad. I had been rather silly and decided not to make myself a cake then wished I had but I ended up buying a small cake from Tesco on Saturday!  I had a lovely visit from Gill in the morning then later on in the afternoon Chris and her DH Andy came for a cuppa and a chat.

Speaking of Chris we have now completed our private ornament exchange. I think this is a case of great minds think alike as even though the pieces we stitched were different we used the same finishing technique!

This is mine to Chris.

Little House Needleworks Snowy Days ( JCS ornament issue 2014)

32 count  Nougat linen

DMC

Private ornament exchange with Chris.

This is what Chris stitched for me and I LOVE it! Some of you may remember this was in my top 5 from this year's ornament issue! Thank you so much Chris.

Onto my lovely birthday cards and gifts now. I shall let the pictures do the talking so here we go.

From my DH. He also gave me a Nominations Claddagh charm which means my bracelet in now full :)

From Jess

From Abi.

From Barb and her DH. I need to get a better photo of the beautiful snowflake that Barb's DH made.

From Chris.

From Julie.

From Michelle.

From Lisa.

From Karan.

From Christine.

From Gill.

From Lesleyanne.

I received gift vouchers for Sew and So for my birthday and Christmas from Lainey so I treated myself to these.

I also received some money from my sister and her partner,  my brother in law and his wife and my DH's auntie to I have treated myself to Mani Di Dona Winter Days Sewing Basket with some of it and that is on the way from Italy. That will be my last chart purchase other than my autos until at least June!

Thank you so much to my family and friends for the lovely cards and gifts.  You are all so kind for thinking of me.

The magazine I ordered through Crafty Kitten back in October arrived along with the two chart I'd asked to be added to it. That will come off my December Stitch from Stash.

Finishes and WIPs now. Sorry for the picture heavy post.

I finished this ornament a couple of weeks ago but have waited until I posted it and it had been received and opened by my lovely friend Michelle. I am happy to say that she loves it.

Blue Ribbon Designs A Woodland Wish

36 count fabric

DMC

Gift for Michelle.

First finish was this one which was my Friday evening SAL with my dear friend Barb.

Tralala Tricotine

32 count white fabric

DMC and Atalie threads

SAL with Barb

Second finish is my Monday evening SAL with Barb.

Barbara Ana Designs Wicked Since

32 count Colour Cascade Fabrics Silver Springs

DMC and DMC Variations

SAL with Barb

Third finish is one which is only available on Candy Cane Stitchers on Facebook.

Barbara Ana Designs Silent Night

40 count sand linen

DMC

So those are my finishes and now I'll quickly show you my WIPs.

A little progress on CCN Frosy Forest. The Foxes are still blind I'm afraid!

I've been stitching quite a bit on the SAL I'm doing with Chris and I love how it's looking.

Finally progress on CCN February Cottage.  Love the colours in this one!

A few weeks ago I had my eyes tested and have finally had to give in to having distance glasses as well as reading. I couldn't stand the thought of having to swap and change glasses so I went for varifocals. My reading prescription hasn't changed.  I picked them up on from the opticians on Sunday and am now trying to get used to them. I'm finding it a bit difficult just having a small area to read through when I'm used to having the full lens but I'll keep trying as I have a 30 day trial with them. I have found them great for stitching and watching TV as I can easily find the bits I need to look through! They're useless for my PC though and I have to use my old readers from 2011! Last time my reading prescription changed the optician told me I'd need to use my old ones!

I will be back with one last post before Christmas as I need to do my final Stitch from Stash post then I'll be gearing up to try and do even better in 2015!

Until next time take care everyone and my heart goes out to the families of those killed and injured in Australia in that terrible hostage situation. 

With much love.

Sally xxxxx