Ornament Finishing

Hello from a very warm England! Phew it has been way too hot for me but it's been so nice to see the sun. 

So I've been getting some finishing off done on the ornaments from my SAL with Barb and Chris. In the photo below are Lizzie Kate Up on the Rooftops, Country Cottage Needleworks Peace, The Snowflower Diaries Pure Love and Blue Ribbon Designs Snowmates. I'm really pleased with how these turned out. I still have Hands on Design Plenty to finish off then I'm up to date with my ornaments at least!  I still have lots of other pieces to finish to display! 

I have made a start on my ornament for June. Can you guess what it is? I'm sure you will be able to as I have stitched it before for Chris for our private yearly ornament exchange. Chris is catching up and has stitched her May ornament and started her June one this month. Barb is feeling much more like her old self and is back to stitching  on her ornament and on our sheep SAL too.

I have had a few other new starts . I seem to be on an LHN kick at the moment! Oh and sheep!!

This one is the Soft and Sweet thread pack. I'm not sure what the fabric is but it's a very pretty shade.

Then this one is Welcome Spring which is free with the purchase of the 3 Classic Colorworks threads. I am stitching this for the sheep SAL Barb and I are doing. As you can see another sheep and a very cute one at that!

I'm feeling very good about my stitching at the moment. I think I had got in a bit of a slump and wasn't keen on anything I was stitching except for my HAEDs but having a couple of new starts has certainly given me a boost. Plus I've gone through my stash and sold some charts that I regretted buying. I'm finding that behaving myself and not buying so much is helping too. Having said that I did pop an order in with Karla over at The Patchwork Rabbit for some threads for the final bonus  block on my AotH and I couldn't order just the threads could I so I ordered another part of Jardin Prive Histoire De Moutons! Just 2 more to buy now!

Typing of my AotH I finished Elizabeth Jane barring the personalisation ( this block is for my Dad. He wasn't born in December but this one has to be his ) and I made a start on the final bonus block. I can finally see the end and my determination to keep going with it until it is finished is paying off. I dread to think how much it'll cost me to get framed but it'll be worth it for such a special piece.

I am not too sure about this Lizzie Kate piece I am stitching.  It is the bonus sampler from the Littles Mystery and I'm just not sure I like the colours.  It's the DMC conversion. I may like it more once it's all finished. I didn't stitch on it on Thursday as I finally plucked up the courage to go on the local  photography group's walk.

Ooooh I almost forgot! I have finished Hands to Work!  I love this piece. It's so pretty.

Little House Needleworks Hands to Work

Unknown fabric.

DMC.

Last but  by no means least are my two HAED WIPs. These seem to be such slow going now as I've been trying to cross country across the pages like I did with the challenge on the Facebook group. There seems to be an awful lot more confetti on this page of Mini Jolly Old Fellow and I couldn't really tell that I'd made any progress. So last night ( progress from last night not shown ) I decided to go back to cross country over 10 rows and it seemed to go better until I found myself going back to across the full page lol!

That's all my news for now. Enjoy your stitching and I hope the frogs stay away!

Until next time.

With much love,

Sally xxxx

I am Still Here!

I know it's been a while since I last blogged! I try so hard to make the effort but it just doesn't seem to be happening but I guess if I blog every now and then to keep my hand in I won't lose the bug all together.  I most certainly don't want to use Instagram ( although I am on there but hardly ever use it! ) as it seems so impersonal and I have always loved the blogging platform and made many lovely stitchy friends since I started a few years ago. There was a point a few days ago where I thought I'd just give up but I don't want to so you won't be getting rid of me lol!

First of all I just want to say a massive thank you for all your good wishes for Abi. All her bloods came back normal which is good but also a little frustrating when she has been ill on and off for so long and lost weight. She gets so down and suffers with anxiety which doesn't help either. Anyway she seems to be picking up a little now and is slowly eating better so fingers crossed she is turning a corner. The doctor thinks she has picked up a winter bug that has taken some getting rid of and that she will pick up again over time. She has started coming to craft group with me ( she taught herself to crochet a while ago ) when she's not working so she's seeing different people.

So what have I been up to stitching wise. Well my fourth Shepherd's Fold piece, Cherish Life, was finished and I finally finished making it up yesterday. It is far from perfect but I love it. The wool inside is supposed to have a herringbone stitch down the middle but my brain wouldn't engage so I didn't do it!

So the fifth piece, Fear Not, was started . This one will be a needleroll. I look at these pieces and think oh that won't take long! Haha! They take longer than you think but then again I do only stitch one evening a week on them.

I finished the stitching on my February ornament and waited for March to come around to start another.

Blue Ribbon Designs Snowmates

40 count Sand linen

DMC

I'll get this one and my January one made up soon. The craft knife that I used for cutting card disappeared and even though I turned the house upside down it didn't turn up! DH was sorting the boot of the car out and found it in there! We'd put Christmas wreaths on our parents graves early in December and taken the knife to cut string to tie them on with!

Last night I made a start on my March ornament.  Any ideas what it is Barb?! It is from the 2015 mag.

Barb and I have also been stitching away on our sheep SAL but we are not really feeling it with this one. I'm going to persevere with it though as it will be lovely when it's done. Violet is now complete and she has her sheep by her side. Now she just needs her flowers to water.

Gill and I have been trying to get back to our craft mornings recently and we've managed two so far! I have picked up HAED Mini Jolly Old Fellow to stitch when we have our mornings and I also stitched this on Sunday ( Mothers Day here ) as I was on my own. I've filled in all the squares from when I did the challenge on the HAED Facebook page. I can't wait to get to Father Christmas although it will slow me up a lot then!

The first page of HAED Dragons History was finished a couple of weeks ago and I made a start on page 2. I can't wait to get further down the page as the top of the dragon will appear!

I went through all my HAED charts last week writing order numbers on the front pages and if they were RAKs, birthday gifts and who they were from or I'd bought them myself. Bad idea as I wanted to start so many of them! Of course I'm not going to as I don't want to get snowed under again like I have in the past as that is when they end up getting put away for ages. The times I've said I'll keep going until one is finished and ended up putting it away is ridiculous!

I have stitched a few extra times on CCN Countdown to Christmas to try and get more done. I love it but I'm a little fed up of it now but don't want to put it away for fear I'll never finish it! I still have quite a lot to do but hopefully those little motifs in the boxes won't take too long!

Oooh I am so excited as I have almost finished AotH Evergreen Lane! I just have to fill bits around the border and add the personalisation but I'm not sure how I'm doing that yet. So just one more block to go and the bonus bit! I wonder if I can get it finished by mid year!

Have any of you seen anything that you like from Nashville Market? I don't think I've seen everything but nothing has really jumped out at me which is good! I'm not buying anyway as I haven't finished 10 things yet and I'm trying not to buy on impulse when I allow myself to buy as that is not good!

As I mentioned earlier it was Mothers Day here in the UK on Sunday. My girls gave me some lovely card and pressies. Jess bought me the Harry Potter colouring book. She says mistakes were made as she didn't realise there were snakes in it lol! She'll be colouring those pages for me! Abi bought me the book and the choccies which look too nice to eat.

A couple of weeks ago I decided I'd had enough of my hair style. I loved it when I had it cut for my 50th birthday but it wasn't how it was then having had to change hairdressers when ours left. So I messaged my current hairdresser and told her I wanted a change, took in some pics to show her and off I went last Wednesday feeling rather nervous!  If you look at my profile photo that's me just after I'd had it done. Of course I can't get it like that  no matter how hard I try lol but I love it.

Time for me to get some photos uploaded and publish this! Thank you for reading and for all the lovely comments you leave me. You have no idea how much they are appreciated.

With much love.

Sally xxxxx

Back From The Framers

First of all I just want to say thank you for all your wonderful comments on my robin finish. I truly appreciate each and every single comment. After some messing about getting the piece washed and dried I finally got it into the framers and picked it up yesterday. My framer has done a fantastic job and if he ever retires I don't know what I will do! I have been trusting him with my stitching for many years now. So here is my lovely robin framed!

I am so pleased with how it looks. I was going for a red mount but he suggested this one as he thought anything else would take your eye away from the robin and I think he is right. I can't get a brilliant photo I'm afraid.

It was my dear friend Barb's birthday this week and I stitched this sweet design for her and framed one of my very own sheep photos!

Shepherd's Bush Friendsheep ( free chart with purchase of button)

Vintage Country Mocha Linen

DMC

Birthday gift for Barb.

I am very happy to say that she loves it :)

Of course after finishing my robin I had the problem of which HAED to pick up next. There was Guardian, Mini The Forgotten, Mini Jolly Old Fellow and SK A Dragon's History. After much deliberation I decided on the SK as it's only 4 pages and I was well down the first page when I put it away I don't know how long ago! I've stitched 2 weekends on it and manged about 20 or so rows. Mini The Forgotten may well be restarted at some point as I hate the metallic!

I forgot to show my new start a few weeks ago on the next Shepherd's Fold piece. This one is Cherish Life and it is just so pretty. 

Typing of the Shepherd's Fold here is my finished Goodness and Grace.

Oooh also my finished up Be Merry! This one was finished towards the end of 2015 but I didn't get it made up to put on my tree.

Barb and I still stitching on our SALs. This is my progress on my ornament. Barb I think you'll guess pretty quickly what this one is!

We made a start of With Thy Needle and Thread Sweet Violet for our sheep SAL. I had to change the colour for her dress as it didn't show up. Unfortunately she is headless, armless and legless at the moment!

I am finally getting going again on Anniversaries of the Heart and Evergreen Lane. The frog came to visit but I managed to restitch what had to come out. Phew!

Finally my progress on Countdown to Christmas. 

That's all my news for now but before I go could I please ask for some good thought for Abi. She is waiting for results of blood tests to come back. She went to the doctors last week as she's been feeling unwell, not eating very well and has lost 3/4 of a stone since Christmas. She seems to picking up a bad throat every other week and keeps feeling sick. It's such a worry and I just hope something will show and they can give her something to make her well again. 

I'll be catching up on blogs soon. 

Until next time.

With much love

Sally xxxx

Some Making Up and A Day Out! ( Picture heavy ).

Good afternoon from a sunny east coast of England. For all I don't like very hot weather I am enjoying the sun today and the slightly warmer temperatures. As long as it doesn't get too hot I will be happy.

I have a couple of birthday gifts that I stitched to show you. First of all my friend, Gill, had a birthday at the beginning of June. I wanted something seaside themed for her as she loves the beach/ sea and I suddenly remembered that there is a perfect design in the Blackbird Designs A Stitcher's Journey book. I adapted it as you will see!

Blackbird Designs Seaside Retreat ( from A Stitcher's Journey )

40 count Sand linen

GAST Black Crow

Birthday gift for Gill.

I changed the word stitch to knit, left off the border and added the name of Gill's wool shop to the top. I am very happy to say that she loved it :)

June also had a birthday this month and I couldn't resist stitching her a happy little sheep!

Shepherd's Bush Sheep Freebee ( can be found here on page 3 of the newsletter )

32 count Colour Cascade Fabrics Silver Springs

DMC

Birthday gift for June.

June loved her wee gift :)

Since my last post I have finished stitching this one and got it made up!  I added mine and my sister's first initial and my Mum's initials inside the heart

Shepherd's Bush My Mom's Garden

32 count Vintage Country Peach linen

DMC

See the cute bee button? I've had that in my stash for a long time waiting for a special piece to put it on! It was made for me by a lovely Italian lady called Barbara :)

I offered the chart in my last post and the winner is Vickie! Vickie the chart is on the way to you. Enjoy!

I have also been finishing up some other bits that have been waiting in my finishing pile. It is going down a little now although I have some bigger pieces that I'm not sure what to do with. 

This one was stitched last year and it is JBW Designs Our Family.

The following were stitched this year and will be coming out for Halloween!

Not a lot of stitching was done last week so I only have a bit to show as July Cottage, Ghoul Tidings and Let Us Adore Him aren't worth showing. Well Let Us Adore Him would have been but I have to frog as I got carried away and stitched white where I shouldn't have! I had a new start on Thursday with Barb as we SAL on Shepherd's Bush pieces on Thursdays. I made a start on A Full Heart which is the first in the Shepherd's Fold series.

LHN Comfort is looking very pretty with the pink stitches now :)

My Robin is coming along really well. Isn't he adorable?!

Finally a bit of progress on November's Chrystanthemum.

So last week my DH and Abi were on holiday from work. Jess didn't get the week off but she only worked Tuesday afternoon and Sunday so she managed some days out with us. She didn't want to go to RSBP Bempton so we went there while she was at work. We had a lovely day and saw lots of beautiful puffins as well as many other seabirds. At this time of year the cliffs are covered in various birds. I took lots of photos but I haven't sorted through them as yet. We also had our annual day out to Yorkshire Wildlife Park which is a fantastic day out. Again I took lots of photos and have sorted some so I'll post a few here. We were very honoured to see Tschuna the Amur tiger's sweet little cubs. Since we went last year they have 2 polar bears named Victor and Pixel. Pixel is Victor's grandson!

That's all from me this time. I'm hoping for a more productive stitching week although I didn't mind not getting as much done last week :)

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxx