Birthday Gift for Julie.

Yesterday it was my long time stitchy friend Julie's birthday.  So I set about finding something to stitch a while ago but I always seem to end up last minute finishing somehow.  I seriously need to remedy that!  Anyway this is what I stitched for her and am delighted to say that she loved it :)

With Thy Needle and Thread The Sewing Bird

36 count Vintage Examplar Linen

DMC, WDW and GAST

Birthday gift for Julie.

I have had a couple of other finishes this week :)

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Plum Street Samplers Ghoul Tidings

35 count WDW Straw linen

DMC & GAST

This one was finished just in time! I now need to get it finished to hang on my calendar.

Country CottageNeedleworks August Cottage

32 count natural opalescent linen

DMC

No other finishes but, hopefully, by Monday there should be 2 more!

I almost forgot to show some bits I have got made up! Two were half done and it's taken we weeks to get on to actually finishing! The first two were finished ages ago!

Carriage House Samplings 1823 Emma Elizabeth Blackwood Sampler from the June 2005 JCS mag.

Just Nan Marching Orders

Little House Needleworks Comfort.

Barb and I will be trying to get this one finished this evening then we can start the next one.

Sunday evening will see me stitching away to try and get November's Chrysanthemum finished!  I am loving the beautiful bright yellows of the Chrysanthemums in this one. Just so pretty.

Of course no post of mine would be complete without my lovely Robin. 

Last WIP is my Thursday evening stitch A Full Heart. Look I now have some sheep in the field! 

I received an envelope from Kathy this morning. A while ago I had seen her gorgeous finish of LK 6 Snow Belles on Facebook and very cheekily messaged her to ask if she was selling the charts and if I could buy them from her if she was. Bless her she said I could have them which I appreciate so much.  I will repay her kindness one day though :). Thank you so much Kathy :). These will, hopefully, be a Winter stitch for me.

I am happy to say that the leaking boiler is now fixed but I have kept the bowl underneath it just in case! I will be relieved to get a new one fitted before the weather turns chilly. My cousin, who is gas safe registered etc, is going to fit one for us.

As for me I am still not quite right yet and am beginning to think I never will be fully! I was going back to the drs today but decided against it when I saw my usual dr was not there and by the looks of it won't be for another 2 weeks. However I know I really need to go back so I'll have to go and see someone else next week.

I managed to get all caught up with my blog visiting and commenting but I now need to start again lol! At least I'm not a long way behind now!

Thank you for your visits and for all your lovely comments. It makes my day to read them :)

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxxx

July Stitch From Stash

Here we are again at that time of the month where we declare how good we've been or not as the case may well be! You may remember that Mel had allowed us to carry over any earnings from part A as long we had not already declared them and as I didn't declare any in June I am going to have a good bit. I sort of feel like I'm cheating but Mel did say we could do it. So here's my report.

July Report.

Amount spent : £34.25 ( Lizzie Kate Littles Mystery part one, paid for but not yet received, Just Cross Stitch Halloween Magazine, Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Fold part 3)

Earnings : £40( 2 CCN cottages, SB My Mom's Garden, LHN Comfort and CGS October's Marigold.

Balance carried fwd: £30.80

I have been trying to get more bits finished off since I posted last and CCN Frosty Forest went into see my trusty framer and here it is on my wall.

Do you remember Barb and I stitching Tralala Tricotine last year? Well I wanted to make a knitting bag and it has taken me a long time to actually pluck up the courage to get some fabric let alone make the bag! Mistakes were most definitely made. The stitched piece is a little too low but I can't get it off as I machine stitched it on. I have tried but fear I will ruin both the fabric of the bag and my stitched piece. The handles are on wrong too! Oh dear I clearly wasn't thinking when I did those lol! However this is my first attempt and I am quite happy with it. It is just a plain tote bag with no pockets, zips, fasteners etc.

Ages ago I bought a frame in the sale at Matalan. I didn't have anything in mind for it but I liked it. I am not quite sure when I stitched this piece but it is LHN Curly Q Ewe which Lainey, Mouse and I SAL'd on and I just love how it looks in this frame.

I have a couple more pieces half finished so look out for those hopefully soon!

So what I have been up to stitching wise? Well Ghoul Tidings is going rather well and I think I might just get it finished on Monday. Not sure what I will stitch next but it may just be something from this year's JCS Halloween mag which I received last week. I wasn't going to get it but I saw the gorgeous basket by Mani Di Donna and changed my mind!  Of course if I stitch that it means I have to buy the handle and button!

Barb and I have still been SALing on our ornaments and our SB pieces. I had hoped to get By The Chimney finished but I am somehow not feeling this one. Fingers crossed for a finish this week.

The first part of the SB Fold is looking so good even though I say so myself!  I just love the threads and the colours and the fabric is just so lovely and soft.

Again I seem to be so behind with my cottage. Not much longer to go to August so I am hoping I will get this finished just in time!

November's Chrysanthemum is looking so pretty. Still a fair bit to do yet but I hope to have it done soon so that I can start the December one!

Last but by no means least my lovely Robin! 

I have started a new knitting project! No my afghan is not finished yet but I need a little break from it! Can you guess what it is lol?

It was carnival weekend here last weekend and imagine my delight when I found out my surrogate sis Lisa was coming over with her DH and DD for the weekend. We arranged to meet at some point on Saturday afternoon and spent a lovely maybe an hour and a half chatting in the beer garden at one of the local bars.  It was so lovely to see her and we always get on so well.  I'm looking forward to the next time :).

I am finally hoping I am on the mend  but I am not  getting too excited yet! Sometimes I feel OK then other times I don't and I get so frustrated. Our central heating boiler sprung a leak ( lovely wet carpet in Jess' bedroom but thankfully it is just a drip ) and trying to get under the boiler to see where it was coming from was not pleasant!

So we called an engineer out to have a look at the boiler ( we have insurance on it thankfully ). He was here an hour on Monday afternoon as once he had worked out where it was leaking from he ran a diagnostic on it only to find it was dangerous as the emissions were too high! Arghhhh! It was decided that it could be to do with the part that needs replacing  but it is still not fixed. He turned up at just before 8 pm last night. He could only get one part which didn't fix it so he's now ordering more to see if that works and coming tomorrow to fit them. This boiling a kettle lark to wash pots is no good. He has recommended we get another boiler before Winter.

I am so sorry that I still haven't visited and commented on your blogs. I will get it done soon I promise but I have to be in the right frame of mind to do it. Even doing a blog post seems to take so much effort these days but I do still love it.

Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comments. They really do make my day.

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally xxx

Birthday Gift for Karan

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted as I haven't really had much enthusiasm but I have a couple of finishes to show as well as my WIPs and of course to tell you who is going to be the next stitcher of LHN Comfort :).

So last Wednesday was my long time online crafting friend Karan's birthday and this is what I stitched for her.

Cosmic Handmade Friends ( freebie design )

28 count Vintage Country Mocha Linen

DMC

Birthday gift for Karan.

I have to say that I am thoroughly delighted with how this turned out! I have been very down on my finishing of late but I think that is partly to do with the frame of mind I have been in ( I can be very cruel to myself )  and still am to a certain extent. Karen loves it too so I am very happy :). The trim, button and spools came from The Works where Abi works.

I have made up Country Cottage Needleworks Let Us Adore Him which I am also very happy with! Just a simple finish with ruched ribbon but I love it!

Barb and I made a start on the next ornament which is By The Chimney.  I have not really got very far with this considering I've had two Friday evenings stitching on it but all progress is good progress! I have loved stitching these and will be sorry to see them come to an end. We still have a few to go as we are behind getting these.

We are also continuing our Halloween SAL. Barb is getting on well with her cubes and Ghoul Tidings is going well for me! I was a little bored with this one last week but I'm back to liking it now! I think we all get a little bored with things we are stitching from time to time!

I actually managed to get my July Cottage finished and hung in time for the 1st! I did not think I was going to do it but I stitched extra time on it to make sure it was ready. I left off the American flag and just added a flying bird.

August was duly started and, fingers crossed, I might get this stitched a little quicker so I can get back well on track.

I have to say that I am just loving the SB fold. I am still stitching the first one, A Full Heart, and it is so pretty. I forgot to show my progress in my last post, duh, so here's a few weeks progress! Isn't it pretty?

I know a lot of you love to see progress on my lovely robin so here it is!

I'm getting down this page pretty well seen as there's no trees to stitch lol!

Last, but by no means least, my progress on November's Chrysanthemum.  Such a pretty little design and so lovely to stitch :).

I am sure you are all itching to know who will be the next stitcher of Comfort so without further ado it is........ Justine! Justine I have your address so will pop it in the post ASAP.

A massive thank you to everyone who left get well wishes on my last post. I ended up going to the doctors and she thought it might be a virus that had set my vertigo off as my glands were slightly up and to keep taking the betahistine for another 2 weeks. I am still not feeling quite right but am hoping it will go soon. I dropped one of my knitting needles at craft group last week, bent over to see where it had gone and went dizzy! I am quite fed up but managing to get out and trying to carry on as normal now. I will not let it beat me!

We have had a new craft shop open at the shopping outlet here and it's the lady who has the shop in Cottingham that Chris introduced me to. It is nice to have somewhere to go for fat quarters etc so I have now some to make the bag to mount Tralala Tricotine onto. Yay! I just have to pluck up the courage to make it!  I don't know how long this shop will stay but I hope it will be a while although it might not be good for my bank balance lol! I do tend to try and use what I already have first but sometimes it just doesn't work!

So sorry for the long post. Thank you for reading if you have got this far and, hopefully, I'll be back much sooner! Need to try and get caught up on reading your blogs again!

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally xxx