Whole Lot of Stitching Going On

Hello from a rather hot England. In fact ( and please don't shout at me!) it is just too hot! Thankfully here on the north east coast it is not as hot as it is down south but it's uncomfortable enough for me. I actually feel unwell today so just want it a bit cooler now. It is lovely to see the sun but I'd love it about 5 degrees c cooler than it is here now. I thank God for the sea breeze!

So, for all it has been so hot, I have been getting some stitching done. I have no finishes to show as I don't have any but I have had a new start and have made some decisions about all the HAEDs I have on the go!

So first up is my little bit of progress on the Little House Needleworks Song of the Seasons mystery which I'm stitching along with Barb. I love this so far. Still waiting for the next sheep *sigh* lol!

I seem to have done really well on HAED QS Spirit of Winter Robin. Last night I was still stitching away at 11.30 pm. Big mistake as I feel so tired today! Doesn't he look gorgeous?!

LHN's Curly Q Ewe, my SAL with Lainey and Mouse,  is coming along nicely. Look she has a head, hands and feet now! 

My new start is my July ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I chose LHN All is Calm. I started this while I was at my friend Gill's for our stitching afternoon yesterday.

Lastly my other HAEDs. I have to admit that I have become rather bored with Guardian at the moment but I don't want to put it away as I know if I do I may well never get it out again. So I think I'm just going to see how I feel and maybe just stitch on it one evening a week for a bit. I did consider finishing the page I'm working on then the next one and calling it a finish but several of my stitching friends said it wouldn't look right and they are right.

My progress on Mini Jolly Old Fellow my SAL with Gill :) 

Anyway I have thought all the HAED pieces I am stitching and think I have overdone it! I'm leaving myself little time to stitch on other things and trying to make even just a little progress on all five is impossible for me. So Mini The Forgotten is going away for a while as was Mini Jolly Old Fellow but not sure I can put him away as I'm loving the colours etc so will have to see what I can do. I'm going to continue stitching on Guardian and QS Spirit of Winter Robin in the slots they've been in and bring my SK Dragon's History to an evening slot as that is more doable with it only being 4 pages. Then I'll see how things go!

I bought some ribbon, trims and fabric this week so that I can finish some bits off soon. I am determined to get that pile down over the summer! Last Friday my DH and I were going to Wren to finalise our new kitchen so I asked him if we could pop to a shop in Cottingham that Chris had recommended. They were supposed to close at 5 pm but when we got there at 4.35 pm they'd already closed so I was disappointed. So on Saturday I trawled the internet! I ended up ordering ribbons and trims from Ribbon Oasis and my fabric from Thread Bear.

Speaking of Chris she visited me on Wednesday :) It is always lovely to see her. We sat out in my garden chatting and having a cuppa :)

That's all my stitching news. We have an electrician coming on Monday to sort some sockets etc in the kitchen. I know there's going to be a mess. HELP!

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

Stash & Stitching & Wildlife

Well it's been a while since I last posted. We had a hectic week the week my DH had off going out, started to rip the kitchen out to make way for the new one and filling out forms regarding the sale of my Dad's house with my sister and taking it all in to the solicitors. The solicitor's PA informed us that we'd have more to fill in. Seriously?!

So I have been stitching and I tried to get some making up done, honestly I did, but didn't quite get there and get finished. I will though.

I have had a finish and a new start but I can't show either of those as they are gifts. I also have an almost finish! This is Courage,  one of the Little Sheep Virtues, which I'm stitching with Barb. I really should have had it finished  by now but I didn't stitch at all the Monday before last as we'd been out all day. I want to try and get it finished before Monday as Barb and I now have other plans in between stitching these adorable sheep!

My new start, HAED Mini Jolly Old Fellow, is  not going too badly at all and I even have a litle bit of Father Christmas' hat. I'm really enjoying this so far. Poor Gill, who I am SALing with, hadn't started her Mini Sleigh Ride as her threads hadn't arrived but she's hoping to start it tomorrow.

QS Spirit of Winter Robin is now getting stitched on 2 evenings a week and is  growing nicely. He now has an eye and doesn't he look adorable!

Speaking of adorable look at this photo I took during our day out at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. I am so proud of this photo!

OK back to stitching! Lainey, Mouse and I are still SALing on LHN Curly Q Ewe. Here's my progress. It's a headless, leg less woman walking a sheep! See my needleminder? Well that was one of my naughty purchases this week. My surrogate sis, Lisa,  has started making these and I couldn't resist this one. She has a group on Facebook so if you're on there it is No More Lost Needles and tell her I sent you :). I think I'm aiming for a needleminder for every project as I already have a few!

I'm happy to report that I finally finished page 13 of HAED Guardian and have made a small start on page 14. Yay! It's going to take me at least 2 more years to finish him though!

I haven't started my ornament for July as yet. I thought I'd decided on another Lizzie * Kate one but when I looked at my list I discovered it was this one!

Now to the stash part of my title! As you can see from the photos I did actually buy 2 needleminder as there was a Holly Fairy one and I couldn't decide between them! My JCS ornament preview issue arrived and oh dear there are several I want to stitch so I dread to think what the actual ornament magazine will make me want to stitch!  The same day I also had the LHN Song of the Seasons chart, thread pack and fabric from Karla at The Patchwork Rabbit. Can hardly wait to get started on this one and this is what Barb and I are going to stitch on in between the sheep. Once I've got this year's stash fest over with I really must stop  buying new charts and just buy fabric and threads if I need them!

Ooh I almost forgot! QS Holly Fairy is back from the framers! We did have to take her back as there was a piece of the fabric stuck in between the glass and the stitching but my framer soon put that right. It's difficult to get a decent photo but hope you can see it OK.

As I said earlier we had a day out at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. We had a fantastic day, walked miles around the park and saw lots of animals. Took lots of photos too so here are just a few. Thank God for zoom lenses otherwise you wouldn't have seen much on some of these!

Once again I am way behind on blog reading and commenting.  I just don't seem to be able to get myself motivated to do much of anything other than stitching yet again. I have discovered that bereavement is not just about grieving for a loved one as it can lead to a slippery slope of having little or no enthusiasm which in turn leads to not wanting to go anywhere or do anything other than sit on your  butt which leads to a bigger butt and bigger everything! So I am peeved cos I know I've put more weight on so I have to try and sort myself and get myself going on. I have started exercising again using EA Sports Active for the Wii but it's such hard work so think I'm going to do yoga as well and alternate them. I only go out walking when I have to unless I have someone to walk with which isn't good. I feel so sad so much it's really not good. I have thought about asking about bereavement counselling as I do have issues with guilt etc but I guess it's still early days yet.  I really don't want to lose my readers and commenters because I haven't been visiting your blogs very often so I will try harder.

If you've made it this far thank you cor sticking with me. I appreciate all your lovely comments and hope you will continue to leave them:)

Until next time.

With mu h love

Sally xxxxx

Believe

First of all I'd just like to say a massive thank you for all your lovely comments on my HAED QS Holly Fairy finish. I am so happy with this finish. It's my first HAED finish in God knows how many years and it feels so good to have one. Hopefully there will be many more! She's at the framers now and , hopefully,  we'll have her back next week.

As promised here's my June ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. This is the last of the three in the leaflet so it is now for sale if anyone is interested in purchasing it from me.

Lizzie*Kate Flora McSample Ornaments 2012 Believe

32 count Rose Gander Linen

DMC

Started 3rd June 2013

Finished 12th June 2013

If I remember correctly my choice for July is Lizzie*Kate Love from the Just Cross Stitch ornament issue.

Typing of things for sale I have decided to sell my Blackbird Designs Joyeaux Noel booklet. Please email me if you are interested.

Lainey, Mouse and I have been stitching away on our SAL piece Little House Needleworks Curly Q Ewe. I'm also stitching this with the ladies in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven.  Which reminds me I haven't posted my progress on there since the first week. Sorry Barb and the other ladies. I'll do that later.

So I had some new stash last week. As some of you may remember I asked Karla at Patchwork Rabbit if she could get the Garden Journal series by Cottage Garden Samplings a while ago. Well she emailed me to say she'd got the first 6 in and would I like her to add any to my sheep order as Courage had arrived. Yay! So I asked her if she would kindly send 2 at a time with my sheep order until I get up to date and she said yes. So here's my stash from last week.

I also very naughtily added another HAED to my stash which was Mini Titania. The 50% off was too good to miss plus the minis are going up in price so an ideal time to buy. No more for me until Faces of Faery 199 is released! Fingers crossed it is one day as I requested it on the BB!

Of course because Courage arrived Barb and I started it on Monday. Look how much I managed to stitch!  Very pleased with myself!

As I was trying to get Holly finished I didn't stitch at all on Guardian so only have progress from the week before and on Sunday when I should really have been stitching on QS Spirit ofWinter Robin I was stitching on this. I can't believe how many stitches I've managed to add to this since I picked it up again.

The robin has now moved into Holly's slot on my rotation so I'll be stitching on him on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

I will be having a new HAED start ( yes I know I must be mad! ) and a SAL with my friend Gill.  I'm starting Mini Jolly Old Fellow and she's starting Mini Sleigh Ride both by the wonderfully talented artist Dona Gelsinger. Her Father Christmas' are just so perfect!

Sunday was Father's Day of course and a sad time for us as it was our first without both my Dad and my DH's Dad. It didn't seem right not to have to them here and we put flowers on their graves. Sunday would also have been my mum in law's 74th birthday and Saturday was the 28th anniversary of Mum's passing.

Good news as my smear test finally came back and it was normal. So not sure what the cause of the inflammation is but I'm going back to see my doctor in a couple of weeks to discuss having my surgery again as I have lots of questions before I go ahead so will ask her then.

I don't know if I'll be around over the next week or so as my DH is taking a week off next week and at the moment we're not sure what we're doing. Jess is home for the summer and Abi has finished her A levels and is having a bit of a break before joining hunting.

Until next time.

With much love

Sally xxxx

May Ornament and Stuff!

Not so good morning from a rather chilly, windy, rainy north east coast of England! Brrrrr it's more like Autumn right now ( although further North Winter as they've had snow!) and according to newspaper reports it's not going to get any better for the first 2 weeks of June. I reckon we'll be having a heatwave at Christmas at this rate. Not that I want a heatwave as I don't like it really hot but some warmth would be nice!

I've been getting on with my stitching and have had a couple of finishes one of which I can't show just yet as it's winging it's way overseas but as soon as it's been received I'll pop up a photo.

My other finish is my May ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. It's only taken me a couple of mornings ( 2 hour sessions) at craft group so I am really pleased. My bird's legs are a bit shorter than they should be I'm afraid as I quite clearly wasn't concentrating properly!

Lizzie* Kate Flora McSample 2012 Ornaments Rejoice

32 count rose Gander Linen

DMC

Started 14th May 2013

Finished 21st May 2013.

Monday evening was sheepy night with my dear friend Barb so here's my progress on Peace. I just love these sheep. Have you seen the newest one Faith? So pretty. I have to say all these little sheep so far have been so apt for me this year.

Wednesday evening was a new start and a new SAL with Lainey and Mouse and I'm also stitching along with the ladies in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven. Here's my start on Little House Needleworks Curly Q Ewe. I'm stitching on 36 count Flax linen using DMC and Crescent Colours.

Onto my HAEDs now and a little more progress on Guardian. I am so pleased with how this looking and I am just in awe of this beautiful artwork.

QS Holly Fairy is going very well! On Sunday I had an afternoon to myself as my DH and Abi went to Scunthorpe to the speedway so I settled down with Holly with the intention of getting the main part finished so it just left me with the blue and black background and I did it! I've stitched a bit of the background on Tuesday so this is where I was at after Tuesday. I did some more last night and have almost for all the blue done but I couldn't be bothered to take a new photo!

Finally I started page 2 of QS Spirit of Winter Robin on Sunday evening. I'm loving the colours in this. 

Thank you all for your visits and lovely comments and all your good wishes for my blood tests. They all came back clear which is good but it doesn't explain why I've been feeling like I have. She gave me some decongestants when I was there last and she suggested I keep taking them until I've been taking them 2 weeks then stop and see what happens. Also it looks as though I'm going to have to go for surgery again ( yep I've been saying all along it didn't feel right) but I've put off being referred for now as I don't think Abi would cope with me having surgery again at the moment although my doctor said I have to stop putting myself to the bottom and put myself first plus I had another test and I want to see what the results say before I make my decision and that I am very worried about. I can't really put into words how fed up I feel right now and I thank God I have my stitching to keep me sane! Sorry I do try to keep my blog just about stitching and keep it upbeat as much as I can.

Better news my sister and I have accepted an offer we had on my Dad's house so fingers crossed it goes through without hitches. We are waiting for the gentleman to get a survey done and are hoping to hear soon that the sale is going ahead. I want to get all of that out of the way before I decide on whether to have surgery or not so that I don't have to worry about that.

I'm sorry that I haven't been commenting lately. I really must get my finger out and get visiting.

That's all my stitching and news for now. 

With much love.

Sally

xxxxx

What's This?

Why it's my February ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL actually started and finished well before the end of the month! I actually started and finished it on Monday evening stitching ( virtually) with Barb. OK so it wasn't difficult as it's such a sweet simple design.

Atelier Steekjes & Kruisjes Joy

28 count fabric

DMC

I'm not sure how I will finish it yet but will wait until I've done next month's maybe then do 3 together.

I am almost there with my December SAL which I did with Chris. She finished hers in December but mine has taken a little longer! I've been stitching along on this in the parlour with the ladies of Needlecraft Haven. Not much more to do now but still waiting on my local arts and crafts shop to get some DMC in so I can finish off the cupcakes!

I'm only going to show one of my HAEDs this time as there's only one that I've made decent progress on. I've been finding things quite stressful and my tab has won over my stitching some nights and that stresses me even more as I feel like I've wasted an evening! Anyway QS Holly Fairy is looking good, even though I say so myself, but I think I'll probably slow up now as I'm about to start her eye. Lots of single stitches in there!

Not long after my Dad passed away I had a lovely email from Myra telling me that I'd won her giveaway of Lizzie*Kate Not All of Us chart that she had recently finished. I was so pleased as this one was on my wish list and it made my heart so happy at such a sad time. It arrived last Friday and I'm really looking forward to stitching it. She also added some Made With Love charms which I only found this morning as they were inside the case and I hadn't opened it. Thank you so much Myra.

Yesterday postie brought a lovely surprise from Julie. Ages ago she had stitched a JBW designs called Our Family which I greatly admired as it was so pretty. Julie had been sorting through her stitching stuff and found it and sent it to me. Thank you so much Julie. I intend on starting this as soon as I can fit it in.

Finally around last October I requested a quick stitch of the robin in Ciro Marchetti's Spirit of Winter on the HAED BB. I had requested it a long, long time ago as well but nothing had come of it. Anyway to cut a long story short I emailed Michele after my Dad passed away asking if it was doable and if it was in her queue as I wanted to stitch it in my Dad's memory as he loved robins.I received a lovely email back saying she was working it and hoping to get it released the following week. Well  at the end of last week it got released and no sooner had it been released it was my inbox, a gift from my surrogate sister Lisa. Thank you so much Lisa. I cannot tell you what this means to me. My threads are sorted, chart is printed and I just have to cut some fabric and I'll be away. I'm planning to start it on Sunday which would have been my Dad's 84th birthday.

That's all from me for now. Hopefully next week Gingerbread Cottage will be done! Thank you for all your continued visits and comments. I appreciate them so much.

With much love

Sally

xxxxx

I'm Back but Lost and Alone.

I am back. First of all I would just like to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you who commented on my last post about my dear Dad. I wish I could give you all a thank you hug. Thanks also to those who emailed me rather than comment here and to Barb, Julie and Karan who sent cards. It has been a difficult couple of weeks and I just feel so lost and alone. Sounds silly when I say I feel alone but I am sure those of you who have lost both your parents will understand it.

I haven't felt like blogging or commenting on blogs. I have, however, been doing some stitching. Some pieces haven't seen much action whilst others have. Two of my HAED pieces I would normally stitch on for an hour one day a week but every time I sat down to pop a few stitches in something cropped up. I have some finishes to show, two of which were birthday gifts.

The first one is my final finish of 2012 and was for my surrogate sis Lisa's birthday. I had already started stitching this when I received my birthday gift from Lisa in December and although we did not stitch the same design the words were the same. " BELIEVE".

Joan Elliott Believe ( left off the fairies)

Unknown Fabric

DMC

Birthday gift for Lisa

Next finish was for my friend Chris' birthday. I am terrible when it comes to stitching birthday gifts as I never know what to stitch and I change my mind so many times. I am happy to say that Chris loved it.

Homespun Elegance To Stitch is Bliss

unknown fabric

DMC

Started 7th January 2013

Finished 11th January 2013

Birthday gift for Chris.

I have also managed to finish my January ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I decided to leave the border off but now I think I'm going to add it as I have the companion piece to this which I won in Mylene's giveaway a few years ago so it'll match that if I add the border.

Little House Needleworks The Merry Skater

Unknown fabric

DMC

Started 6th January 2013

Finished 22nd January 2013.

I have a wee question to ask my fellow stitchers. Does anyone know of a chart with the following verse on it.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,--

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth. 

This was my Dad's favourite verse from the poem God's Garden. We had the poem read at the funeral service and I'd love to stitch it in his memory. I did ask on Facebook so I have seen some but I'm not keen on the ones I've seen so far. 

Not sure which WIP to start with now. Hmmm. As it's SAL night tonight over in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven I think you should see my progress on Country Cottage Needleworks Gingerbread Cottage. I am trying to pick out the darkest bits of the thread for the wording but it doesn't appear to be working too well. Loving this though and looking forward to getting more done tonight. I've run out of a colour though and my local shop didn't have any so hoping they'll have it soon. Thankfully I can work round it.

Onto my HAEDs now. I have made a lot of progress on QS Holly Fairy. I think I'm spurred on by being close to finishing page 2.

Guardian is going well. I need this angel to hold me up more than ever now so would love to make a lot more progress on this.

A little progress on SK Dragon's History. I hope to get back to some normality next week so that I can make regular progress on it.

Finally Mini The Forgotten. I'm almost across the top of the first page with this but again not much progress.

So that's all the stitching I can show now. There have been some evenings when I've sat for ages playing cards on my tab instead of stitching and I really need to get out of that. One of my friends from craft club said I need to be kinder to myself and give myself time. I can't get my head round the fact that my Dad is no longer here. I think because he's been here for so many years after my Mum I thought he'd always be there. Yes there were times when he was a pain in the ass but he's my Dad and I love him dearly and I miss him so much. As long as I'm busy I don't think too much but the minute I stop my mind goes into overtime. I keep thinking I should have done more for him ( silly really as I did lots) and I should have got a doctor out on the Sunday but I really have got to stop beating myself up. He'd told the doctor in A & E when he'd asked to tell him truthfully that he'd been feeling unwell for about a week and I just wish he'd told me then he might still be here. He must have felt rotten but he didn't let it show. Even his main carer was wondering if she'd missed something but my Dad was the type of person who wouldn't tell you. I am just glad that I got the chance to say goodbye and tell him that I loved him. I just hope he heard me as he wasn't conscious. 

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally

xxxx