Three Finishes & A Little Stash Enhancement!

Hello fellow stitchers! As usual I have been busy stitching away and have manged 3 finishes since my last post. It would have been 4 but guess who can't count and had to take out nearly all the vine border and start restitching it?! It was one mistake that I couldn't leave!

My first finish was my ornament for April. A few friends joined me in stitching an ornament a month from the JCS ornament magazines going on for as long as we want. I have 18 mags I think so for me it'll be 18 months! 

Knotted Tree Needleart O Holy Night ( 2013 issue )

32 count Permin Amber linen

DMC

Started 7th April 2019

Finished 21st April 2019.

I'll be starting my May ornament tonight which will be one by Brightneedle.

Next finish was this one. I took part in a SAL on the Sheep Loving Stitchers group on Facebook. We have a choice of several designs to stitch on and I had this one in my stash!

With Thy Needle and Thread Have Ye Any Wool

40 count pearl grey linen

DMC. WDW, GAST & CC

Started 30th March 2019

Finished 28th April 2019.

Our next SAL starts sometime in June and I have chosen Plum Street Samplers Woolemina which I have in my stash.

My final finish is one I've had in my stash for a few years.

Abby Rose Designs Angels Watching Over Me

20 count evenweave

DMC, WDW & GAST

Started 8th April 2019

Finished 1st May 2019

Lainey kindly sent me some 20 count evenweave to try and this was stitched on a piece. It was lovely to stitch on. 

So my stitching plans for the next few weeks are to finish Coeur de Cygne without having to frog anymore, try and finish O Tannenbaum and have a few starts.

I have had a little stash enhancement this last week. I have to admit that when I first saw this design by Shakespeare's Peddler  I didn't take to it but a SAL started on Instagram and as people showed their WIPs I fell in love with it. Of course it seems to have been very popular and the two places I found that stocked it in the UK were out of stock so I had to wait as patiently as I could for it to come back into stock. 

I decided to get the called for WDW and will be using DMC instead of Anchor. I bought some 25 count vintage country mocha evenweave to stitch it on and I'm hoping it'll look OK. I was going to make a start this afternoon but my fabric needs pressing first so I'll probably wait until tomorrow evening. I am waiting for one more Nashville release to come back into stock and a couple of newer ones to arrive in the UK but I am pleased to say that stash sales from threads I hadn't used and charts that I'd finished with will pay for them. It's been nice having the money there to buy the few bits I've had.

Actually stitching from my stash is going well and I have got my stash pile down a bit and haven't added the same amount as I've stitched! I can do this!!

That's all my news for now. The weather seems to be crazy and I see some places are still getting snow. It has come rather chilly here after some silly high temperatures. 

Until next time.

With much love,

Sally xxx

2018

Hello everyone! Can you believe it is 2018?! It hardly seems like 5 minutes since the beginning of December and I was looking forward to Christmas and now here we are in January. The Christmas decorations are down and everything is so dull and depressing! I am not longing for Spring though as I don't feel like we've had a proper Winter and those of you who know me well will know I love Winter! 

First off I'd like to show you what I stitched for my dearest friends Barb and Lisa for Christmas. First of all what I stitched for Lisa ( thank you June for the inspiration)

Lizzie Kate A Little Stitch

Fabric as kitted

DMC

Started 6th November 2017

Finished 19th November 2017

Christmas gift for Lisa.

I am happy to say that Lisa loved it and it made her cry happy tears :)

Next this is what I stitched for Barb.

Abby Rose Designs Tea for Two

32 count Permin Lambswool linen

WDW, GAST & CC

Started 2nd November 2017

Finished 29th November 2017

Christmas gift for Barb.

I added a couple of Lady Grey teabags but thought Barb could use it as a small stitching pouch too. I am happy to say that she loved it :)

Of course I still had WIPs that I would have liked to have finished by the end of 2017 to give me a clean slate but it didn't happen. I did, however, finish 2 of them so that was pretty good really.

The December SAL I was doing with Chris got finished.

Little House Needleworks No Place Like Home

28 count Permin Amber linen

Crescent Colours and DMC

Started 1st December 2017

Finished 24th December 2017.

I then decided to stitch on Lantern Lane as much as I could and try and get it finished. 

Little House Needleworks Lantern Lane

36 count Lakeside Linens Vintage Pearled Barley.

WDW & CC

Started 3rd September 2017

Finished 31st December 2017.

As always New Years Day can't go by without a new start and I joined in the New Start, Old Stash SAL on the Stitch from Stash group I belong to on Facebook. I've had this one in my stash for a while now. It is Mani Di Donna Winter Cottage in a Ball. 

I have had two new starts this year but I can't show one as it is a gift.

I picked up LHN Born in a Manger again and don't have too much more to do. Barb has finished hers but I am a little behind. Maybe I can get it done tonight!

I am also still plugging away on Lizzie Kate Christmas Sampler.

As Mini Jolly Old Fellow got finished before Christmas I decided to get my dragon SK out the other night and I'll stitch on it one night a week until it is finished. It took me a while to work out where I needed to be etc and, oh boy, I hated it! Once I get back into it I am sure it'll be fine but never again will I cross country on a BAP with so many colours! It WILL get finished!

Lisa and I have started our 300 stitches a week SAL on a BAP we already have started. Of course mine is Guardian but once the dragon is done I'll move it into my rotation properly then do 300 stitches a week on Tilton Crafts Always. Fingers crossed I get the dragon finished soon before it drives me mad!

I still haven't got my socks blocked but my blockers arrived! Here are my socks before blocking and I'll show a photo of them blocked when I get them done.

I started a hat and finished it yesterday. It should be blocked but I'm fearful that if I do it it will end up too big. I think I will give it a wash and see if I can smooth out the stitches without blocking. Once I've done that I'll make a pompom and sew that on. I didn't use the recommended wool in case I made a mess of knitting it!

Donna Smith Designs Baa-ble Hat

Stylecraft Special Aran 

This year I want to try my absolute best to buy as few charts as I possibly can. I signed up for the LHN Farmhouse Christmas series a while ago and they are going to be my only chart purchases I hope for 2018! If I need fabric and threads for a project I will allow myself those. It is going to be tough as I love collecting charts as much as love stitching them but it has to stop. I have been doing better over the past couple of years especially as I just feel guilty having so many lovely charts in my stash. 

Finally I received some lovely gifts for Christmas from my stitching friends. I've taken a photo and the angel needleminder is from Lisa, The sheep shopper and card are from Mouse and the tea towel is from Christine. Thank you so much ladies :)

So that is all from me for now. Here's to a happy, healthy stitched filled 2018 and lots of friendship too :)

Until next time. With much love,

Sally xxxx