Finishes, Starts and A Birthday Gift

Lol! It would seem my blog titles are not very creative these days! I can never think of a good, gripping title to draw you all in but never mind. My mind is too full of stitching and what to with it when I finish it at the moment.  I was waiting for Abi to get ready to go feed the ducks, geese and swans this morning ( it's a regular thing now ) and decided I'd get all the finishes that are in one of the drawers out, make a note of them, their sizes and what I plan to do with them in the hope that as the year goes on I'll get them ready to display.  Friends don't hold your breath as the pile will probably just get bigger rather than smaller. 

Yesterday I had the house to myself so decided I'd get all the Little Sheep Virtues out and sew basting lines around them in preparation for sewing them up. I'd nearly got them all done when I picked up Friendship, looked at it and realised something was not quite right. Hmmmmm I'd stitched the left hand border too far over so it has to come out! I can't leave it as it will bug me. It's a good job Chris and I hadn't got together since my birthday as I still have the last few charts. She is buying them from me.

Last Friday was the lovely Lesleyanne's birthday so I stitched this for her. It was so lovely to stitch and I'm looking forward to stitching it again later for me :)

Lizzie* Kate Bonus Chart from Simple Things

Polstitches 28 count fabric from grab bag.

DMC

Birthday gift for Lesleyanne.

I am so happy that she likes it :)

I have had a couple of finishes recently.The first one is this beauty.

Cottage Garden Samplings March's Daffodil

40 count linen

DMC

Started 26th January 2014

Finished 9th March 2014.

The second finish I had mixed feelings about because it was the final sheep of my SAL with Barb but I have 12 adorable sheep :)

Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues Joyfulness

32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

DMC

Started 24th February 2014

Finished 10th March 2014.

Thank you so much dear Barb for SALing with me on these. It was has been a sheer pleasure and I'm looking forward to next week for the start of our next one :)

I have had two new starts since my last post. It's funny how something as simple as starting something new can give you renewed enthusiasm. Firstly I started Country Cottage Needleworks The Tea Room which Mouse lent me. I was originally going to stitch it over one on 28 count but the white wasn't going to show up so I found this  30 count RR linen ( can't remember the colour off hand ) which I bought last year from a friend who was selling off a lot of her fabrics and I really like how it's looking. I have enough to stitch the Needlework Shop on it too.

Second new start is Brightneedle Lo How A Rose from the Better Homes and Gardens book which Lois kindly passed onto me when she'd finished stitching this one. I am stitching it on a lighter dye of Crafty Kitten Fall Foliage which Dawn dyed for me to stitch Sally Spencer Sampler which I started then hated so I unpicked what I had stitched so I could reuse the fabric. Unfortunately you can still see where the red stitches were but I am hoping that might get stitched over and not be noticeable.  I am loving stitching this and The Tea Room so far.

Last Friday Barb and I started Day 5 of the 12 Days of Christmas.  This will be finished this evening :)

Wednesday in the parlour with Barb and the girls at Needlecraft Haven saw me frogging! I was stitching the lower verse on The North Wind when I discovered that it wouldn't fit in! After much deliberating as to where I had messed up I found it was on the branch where the robin is sitting so out came the words and so much of the branch. With branch corrected I decided I wouldn't restart the words but would move onto the border.

Finally a little progress on my SAL with dear Shirlee. Yes it's the dreaded Snow Angel which I am enjoying more now! I have got a little more stitched since I took the photo but will show that next time.

So that's all my stitching. I'll be having more new starts as I'll be starting the next Garden Journal, April's Daisy, as well as the first Frosty Forest. Barb and I will be SALing, me with Frosty Forest and Barb with Calendar Girls :)

After 3 weeks I finally managed to get back to craft group this week. It was lovely to be back and lovely to see all the ladies again. My friend Gill and I have started our crafting afternoons again after a few weeks off and we were knitting and chatting away for ages on Wednesday afternoon.  I had messed up on my next square of the afghan at craft group *sigh* so I was knitting that back up again. I was looking at the pattern for the next block and as it is very lacy I'm thinking I should maybe not try that one at craft group!

A few photos from this morning. This goose is actually on my foot! 

 These two saw us walking along and thought we had something for them! They were too late!

The Helleborus  in my garden

I finally gave in and went to see my doctor last Friday. I came away with some pills, which I have taken before, but not so sure they are doing any good. I am feeling brighter than I was but there are also times when I feel as bad so I don't know what the problem is and neither did my doctor really! I had blood tests on Monday and had no idea what for as she never mentioned it. It turned out it was for haemoglobin and something else that I can't remember which has me totally puzzled as to why so I will have to ask when I go back.

That's it for now. Thank you for visiting me and for your comments :). They mean more than you know.

Until next time.

With much love

Sally xx