Soon Be The New Year.

Well it won't be long now before 2017 is upon us. Where did 2016 go? It is so scary as it hardly seems like 5 minutes since this time last year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a brilliant time with just the 4 of us for most of Christmas Day then DH's auntie came for tea. We laughed a lot, ate too much, didn't drink any alcohol and just generally enjoyed spending precious time together. On Boxing Day my sister and her husband came for dinner which was lovely as they rarely come. It was spoilt a little though by Jess having to work. I won't get on my high horse as I'm sure many of you know already how I feel about Boxing Day opening for retail and I think all shops should have to close. Anyway we made the best it though and still enjoyed ourselves but it wasn't the same without her. I miss the days of them being at school etc when they had 2 weeks off but time moves on and things change. Both girls are working New Year's Day.

I wasn't going to have anymore new starts until New Year's Day but I couldn't resist the temptation and started this on Christmas Eve.

I bought this last year so it's time I stitched it!

However I have chosen this for my New Year's Day start and my Dad bought me it ( with my DH's help ) about 5 years ago! I belong to a couple of groups on Facebook that are having New Year's Day starts so thought I'd join in. I usually do have a new start that day but it's nice to join in with others.

Just before Christmas I decided to get the rest of my ornaments from this year made up and on the tree. These are the last few and they are not very good as I did them in a bit of a rush! I still have my December one to stitch yet but I'll get around to that in January if I have time.

I haven't stitched on Mini Jolly Old Fellow since before Christmas but I did make some good progress on it with Barb and I stitching for a week on one thing. I am really pleased with what I have achieved on this as when I picked it up again at the beginning of the year for the first HAED challenge I had only stitched about 30 rows on page one and now I've almost finished 5. I'm aiming to get it finished in the first half of the 2017! 

Chris and I have been stitching away on our December SAL. It'll become a January SAL I think but I've got more done than I expected I would. It'll be coming out again this evening.

I have stitched a little more on Winter, which is my SAL with Barb, but I forgot to take a photo of it.

I received some lovely Christmas gifts from my stitching friends. They really are too kind to me and I can't say enough how stitching friends are simply the best. I feel very cut off and lonely sometimes ( partly my own fault ) so all those friends I've "met" via stitching and blogging are my lifeline sometimes.

First of all a simply gorgeous needle minder from my lovely surrogate sis Lisa. Just look how Robin sparkles! Thank you so much Lisa. I love it.

From my lovely friend June I received this beautiful Robin ornament which went straight on my tree! Thank you so much June. He is so sweet and I will treasure him always.

From my lovely friend Michelle this gorgeous wool to knit a snood, which will be lovely and warm, and a beautiful scissor fob/ key chain/ handbag charm with my name on and a sheepy! Thank you so much Michelle. I love them.

Last but by no means least from the lovely Christine a lavender pouch ( which smells divine ) and some Anchor threads. Thank you so much Christine. I love to have lavender on my bed side cabinet so that is where the pouch will be going. 

So soon I will be starting Stitch from Stash again and I am hoping to do well and only buy fabric and threads if I need them and NO CHARTS other than my auto ship for Snow Place Like Home. I've signed up for the first half of the year then I will see how I feel. I am really hoping to get through a lot of the charts I have in my stash. I didn't do quite so well with finishes this year. I had 32 finishes ( not many compared to other years ) and 11 of those were ornaments from the JCS mags and not charts from my stash! However I have worked on my HAEDs more so I guess something has to give. Maybe next year I will do better!

All that is left now is to wish you all a very Happy 2017. May it be happy, healthy, prosperous and stitch and stash filled ( unless you're doing stitch from stash like me!! ). Thank you for sticking me and see you all in the new year :)

With much love.

Sally xxx

Happy Christmas!

Hello everyone!

Just a very quick blog post to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and hope it's a stash filled one. Thank you all for continuing to visit me this year :)

I will, hopefully, be back with a round up of finishes for the year before 2017.

My auto ship for the CCN Snow Place Like Home series arrived yesterday so I have the first 2 of those to stitch. I don't know when I'll start them but it won't be just yet!

As promised just a few photos from my sister's wedding. One of Steve's brother in law's kindly took a photo of my DH and I with Sue and Steve with my DH's camera so we have a nice photo of us too! My DH says he wishes he'd taken over and positioned everyone better!

I have felt rather guilty that I received some birthday gifts ( and Christmas gifts) from friends I have not sent to this year. As I said at the beginning of this year I have had to cut back a bit and I hope no one will think less of me for it. I do feel very bad but it's something I have had to do with increasing postage costs and everything just seems to be going up!

Stitch from Stash is going to be very good for me next year and I am hoping to get a good way through my stash. It seems such a shame to have so many lovely charts and never get them stitched. I have done well this year with not buying so much and I am very proud of myself! I think books need to be the next thing to cut back on too! Lol! I have plenty to read :)

So that's it from me for now. Have a wonderful Christmas, stay safe, and enjoy spending precious time with your families.

With much love.

Sally xxx

Ornament Exchange , A Big Finish & Happy Birthday to Me!

Can you believe that Christmas Day is just over a week away?! How did that happen? I still seem to have so much to do but I'll get there.

Anyway I can now show the ornaments I stitched for Chris and Barb for our private ornament exchanges.  I am happy to say that both were very well received :).

This one is the one I stitched for Chris.

Historic Handworks Friends are Christmas Treasures

32 count Nougat linen

DMC.

Then this is the one I stitched for Barb.

Charlotte's Web Needlework For My Friends

28 count cream linen

GAST, DMC & Classic Colourworks

I showed last time the lovely ornament I received from Barb and this is what I received from Chris.

Isn't it gorgeous?  Chris was saying this is the first thing she has made and finished on her new sewing machine so I feel very honoured. We were hoping to have a meet up before Christmas but she has been rather poorly with this nasty cold virus that is going around. Get well soon Chris.

Ooooh big, big news!! I have finished my Anniversaries of the Heart! I was forgetting all about that. How could I forget?!  So I'll let the photos do the talking on this one!

Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart

36 count Rosewood linen

DMC, GAST, WDW and Classic Colourworks

Started January 2011

Finished 12th December 2016.

A long time in the making as it got put away for a while but it was well worth every stitch.

This week Barb and I have been having our stitch on one thing week and I've been stitching on Mini Jolly Old Fellow. I've not done a massive amount but every stitch counts, right?! We still have a few days yet to make good progress.

I've done a little bit more on the December SAL with Chris.  I took it to craft group to do a bit more on Tuesday ( I remembered my tin with needle and scissors in this time ) but the snow on the right took some getting right! I stitched and frogged that bit several times. Arghhhhh!

I also made a teeny bit of progress on my Winter SAL with Barb. Poor Barb has been waiting on fabric to start this. I think we'll be stitching it well through January and into February as there is a lot of stitching on it!

No progress on anything else but we'll see how things go next week. There are things I was hoping to get finished for the end of the year but it's fast approaching so it's doubtful.

Monday was my birthday and I was thoroughly spoilt by my family and friends. Rather than take lots of individual photos I've been rather lazy and taken just 3. I am so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends. I had a quiet day as everyone was at work so I just had a lazy day and stitched a little. We had a takeaway at teatime then watched a film. Thank you so much for your beautiful cards and gifts :)

These are from my DH, Jess, Abi , my sister and her partner, auntie and Carl's brother and his wife.

These are from Barb, Lisa, Julie and Mouse.

Last but by no means least from Lainey, Christine, Chris, Michelle and June.

Yesterday my big sister got married to her partner of 25 years! It was so lovely to see her get married at long last and we had a lovely time. I'll have some photos next time hopefully as my DH took quite a few.

Stitch from Stash is coming soon and as it was birthday I'm going to have just a little last splurge. Well I say last but I'm signing up for an autoship on CCN Snow Place Like Home so I will have a chart to pay for for the first few months of 2017 but it will be well within my budget. I might even get the first 2 this month as Karla has the first 2 in. I won't be buying fabric as I have the perfect one in my stash :). It's a bit naughty but I've wanting it since I first saw it announced and got talked out of it but it'll be a birthday treat to myself!

I don't know if I'll be back before Christmas but I will try and get one more done so I can show some wedding photos.

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxxxx

Stitching December.

Here we are in December and the weather is so dull and yucky! We've had the odd day or two of frosts and beautiful sunshine but it keeps going back to this! I hope this isn't going to be how Winter is. Longing for plenty of frosts and some snow but it doesn't like we're getting any this month according to the forecast.

As you may well know I have been doing a private ornament exchange with Chris for a years and then Barb and I started to exchange as well. Mine to Chris and Barb are in the post and should, hopefully, arrive today and yesterday I received mine from Barb. I can't express how much I love it! It is so me! Thank you so much my dear friend. Here is the front and the back :)

Isn't it gorgeous?

My stitching has slowed up a bit this past week or so as we've had some long days out shopping so I've been too tired to stitch as much. I'm hoping to make up for it though! I have, however, finished the bonus block on my Anniversaries of the Heart piece! Yay!!!!! I now just have to finish the personalisation on a couple of other blocks and frog some I've done as I don't like it!

I have had new starts :) First one is my December SAL with Chris, Ages ago we decided on Country Cottage Needleworks Merry Christmas My Deer and I have chosen to stitch it with the recommended fabric and threads. I took it with me to craft group on Tuesday to get a bit more done but I forgot to take my tin with my needles and scissors in! Duh!!! So I had to knit instead. This is a couple of evenings stitching.

My other new start is my SAL with Barb which is Cross Eyed Cricket Collection Winter. After much deliberation and almost ordering some fabric I decided on some 18 count Silkweaver Expressions Blueberry Delight that I had in my stash! Not much done yet but we'll be stitching away on it tonight.

Next week Barb and I are having our monthly stitch on one thing for a week. I haven't decided whether it will be Winter or this jolly old fellow!

Isn't he looking amazing, even though I say so myself! I am just in awe of how he looks.

Final WIPs is Sotto La Neve which is growing slowly but surely.

At the moment I can't see me getting my other two pieces started that I wanted to start this month but you never know. If I can get the personalisation done on AotH that will be a free slot in my rotation plus I don't think I'm going to get an ornament done for this month but I might do that at craft group. Time is moving on and I have so much to do!

That's all my news for today. Hopefully I'll be back next week to show the ornaments I stitched for Chris and Barb :)

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxx

It's Nearly December!

First of all I must apologise for my double post last time. I have no idea what happened and by the time I realised there were two the same I had comments on both so didn't want to delete one! I know I edited my post but it shouldn't have duplicated it so I can only assume it was a Blogger hitch! I will check if I edit a post in future! 

I have been trying to get more done on the pieces I have started rather than having more new starts in the last couple of weeks so I've stitched a bit more on HAED Mini Jolly Old Fellow. I just love how he is looking.

My November ornament is finished but oh do I wish I'd chosen different fabric as the snowflakes don't show up very well.

Swallick Stitchery

Waiting for Santa

36 count lakeside Linens Vintage Buttercream

GAST & DMC

I have finished two ornaments for private exchanges but will show those once they have been received in December.

The end is in sight on my BBD AotH! The bonus is just about finished then I have the personalisation to do on 3 blocks! I'll be getting the disco ball out and having a huge happy dance when it is finished I can tell you!

I am also fairly close to a page finish on my HAED SK Dragons History. There are a fair few colour changes on this so it might still take me a few weeks!

Finally my progress on Sotto La Neve. This is just so pretty. Lots of snow to stitch on this!

A while ago lovely Gaynor of Stitchers Anon was having a giveaway on her Facebook page and I was one of the 20 ( yes 20!) lucky winners. Here is what I received. Aren't they brilliant?! I was so tempted to start Marley Was Dead as I've just started reading A Christmas Carol but I think it'll be one on the list for next year now. Thank you so much Gaynor.

It's not long now until December and I will have a few SALs going then. I will be stitching my final Christmas ornament for 2016 with Barb and Chris as well as keeping going with my HAED SAL with Lisa. Then I will have December SALs with Chris and Barb so a nice, busy stitchy December!  My HAED  SAL with Lisa will carry on into 2017 and beyond. I am planning on keeping up with my ornaments and am wondering if Chris and Barb will join me again. Another stitching friend who I have known many years is SALing with me too on the ornaments.

I have joined a Stitch from Stash group on Facebook for the first half of 2017. It works very much like the one Mel ran the other year with a monthly budget which we choose ourselves up to the equivalent of $25 so I have gone for £20 which is what xe.com converts $25 to. We also get credit for finishes and each month's balance is carried forward to the next month. I am hoping to do well with it  but decided on £20 just in case I see something I can't live without. I am still toying with signing up for the Country Cottage Needleworks Snow Place Like Home series  but I'll see! That might be a birthday or Christmas to myself!

There weren't many takers for the Frightful Halloween chart with leftover threads but I have chosen a winner and it is Mary! Congratulations Mary! Please email me your address and I'll get it in the post to you :).

That's all my news for now. Next month is going to be a stitch filled month as well as my birthday, my sister's wedding and of course Christmas! I have finally managed to get a dress for the wedding  but also need something to wear over it as it'll be chilly!

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxx