May Already?

Hmmmm we are already a week into May and I am just doing my first blog post of month.  It must be 2 weeks since I last posted but I just couldn't be bothered to do one.  That is bad isn't it?!

I've had a few finishes since I last posted. One I can't show until it has been received as it's a birthday gift. So here's my first one. I did mention in my last post that this would be finished and, indeed, it was. Look I have even got it all made up!

Country Cottage Needleworks Christmas  Cookies

32 count Patina linen

DMC and  Classic Colorworks

SAL with Barb.

Chart is now for sale.

Of course finishing this meant starting Christmas Cheer:)

I ran out of the green so had to work round that.

I had several extra evenings stitching on this to get it finished ready for May.

Country Cottage Needleworks May Cottage

32 count natural opalescent linen

DMC.

I also finished a couple of ornaments that had been stitched up a while ago as well as my finally finished SB All Seasons Fob which Barb bought me. I started it when she sent me it and got it out again recently to finish stitching. Snow Love is almost made up. I just have to  make some white cording.

I have had a few new starts but can only show one as one is a birthday gift and one is for the Four Seasons SAL at  Needlecraft Haven. That one is Snowflower Diaries Summer Witch and I am also stitching it as part of the Halloween SAL I am doing with Barb. So June Cottage is the only one I can show!

I have been  making a bit of progress on my WIPs. In my bid to get the May Cottage finished my robin and October's Marigold took a back seat but I was back to them last weekend.  Lots still to stitch on the marigolds!

Final WIP is My Mom's Garden which is another SAL with Barb. We thoroughly enjoy our SALs even though they are only  virtual. Maybe one day we will get to stitch together for real.

I was so excited to see I had won Mii's giveaway for the beautiful Little House Needleworks chart Comfort along with the leftover threads and it arrived yesterday.  I am looking forward to stitching it and will be passing it along when it is done. I have been very lucky lately as this is my second win. I do only enter for something if it's something that I really love.

So I am having a wee giveaway for the following  charts:

Little House Needleworks May Calendar Girl ( was sent by mistake last year and Annie told me to keep it rather than return it. So I'm giving it away. Thank you Annie ).

Shepherd's Bush Happy Birthday with leftover threads.

JBW Designs To The Beach.

Please say in your comments which one you would like or if you'd like 2 or all 3 lol! If there's more than one person I'll pick a winner for each chart. It is open to everyone providing you are a regular commenter :).

My DH and I went for a walk so far around the mere and look what we spotted. She's a bit far away but she's a beauty!

That's all from me for now. Hopefully I'll be back sooner next time!

With much love.

Sally xx

Goodbye 2014!

It's certainly hard to believe that we are into the last day of 2014. The year has just flown by and soon we will start anew. I'm not making any resolutions. Not a single one simply because I never keep to them so I'll play it by ear and see what happens! 

My stitching year has been a successful one both with finishes and managing to keep up with Stitch from Stash. Tomorrow I'll be starting over on SFS and hoping to do even better. I have had 64 finishes over 2014 ( 64?? How did I do that! ) and have stitched 30 charts from my stash. I am feeling rather accomplished I must say!

Well Christmas came very quickly. I am always so sad when it's all over. We had a quiet one as usual. I was hopeful that my sister and her partner would accept our invitation but deep down I knew they wouldn't. It made me sad but never mind. So it was just the four of us, with my DH's auntie joining us at tea time,  and we had a very enjoyable time chatting, playing a board game and racing on the Wii. We do get a little competitive! We ate far too much, drank just a little and watched a little TV ( Dr Who and Mrs Brown's Boys! ). We all received some gorgeous gifts. A few of mine were robin, sheep or angel themed! I received some lovely ones from my stitching friends which you can see below :)

I do feel quite bad as I just can't send to everybody but Mouse told me it is better to give than receive :)

In no particular order.

From my surrogate sis Lisa. How can I resist not going back to Guardian now that I have a needleminder but it will have to wait a wee while!

From Michelle this beautiful box full of finishing items and Christmas tea.

From Barb some cute sheepy socks.

From Mouse a sheepy scarf, backing fabric and robin purse ( the note says start of Harrogate fund!)

From June a sheepy themed gift :)

From Karan a lovely chart by Jeannette Douglas Designs

From Shirlee some lovely teas, wooden sheep, needle threader and LHN ornmanent. The White Christmas tea is now no more as I drank it earlier today. It smelt and tasted delicious!

Thank you so much my dear friends.

We didn't get any snow here like other parts of the country did on Boxing Day but we did see some in the fields when we went to Meadhowhall shopping centre in Sheffield on Monday. It certainly turned very chilly though so we have been waking up to some beautiful frosts. I am still hoping for some snow before the end of Winter though!

I have been stitching a little and finished this ornament up just before Christmas.

Heart In Hand Christmas Alphabet

36 count fabric

DMC

I also made up this ornament before Christmas.

My CCN January Cottage is made up. I spotted this finish on Pinterest and decided to have a go. It's not quite how I wanted it look and I may add something to make it look better. I found the ricrac fiddly to add but, hopefully, the more I do the better they will look.

The February Cottage is looking very pretty. I have got more stitched since this photo.

I made a start on the next block of Frosty Forest. This one is Snowgirl's Cottage.

My robin came out to play again :) I'm SALing with my surrogate sis Lisa :)

Finally my December SAL with Chris. I love this and can't wait to get it finished and on the wall. It'll be a while yet though!

Last photo is of Abi. This makes me smile. She works at The Works and on Christmas Eve they have a fancy dress day. Here she is in hers :)

New Year's Day is going to be different for us as, unfortunately, Abi is working. She wasn't down to work but was asked if she could when her colleague couldn't do it. I'm disappointed but we'll make the best of it. I get quite cross at shops opening Boxing Day and New Year's Day as it's just so unfair that the employees are not getting to spend time with their families. Some of the convenience stores even open Christmas Day. It has to stop before we lose Christmas altogether. Greed and selfishness are taking over.

That's it from me for 2014. Thank you to each and every one of you who has stuck with me through the year and for all your friendships. Have a Happy, Heathly, Stash Filled 2015.

Take care everyone.

With much love.

Sally xxx

December Stitch From Stash!

I made it!  Yes I made it right through the year with Stitch From Stash! OK so I wouldn't have done without the monthly budget, my carry over or the end of year bonus but I did it and I feel very proud of myself!

This month I had £59.90 carried over from last month plus the £15 monthly budget. I purchased two charts and a magazine from Crafty Kitten ( as shown in my last post ) which meant I spent just under my monthly budget as I got my birthday month discount. So I still have the £59.90 of my carry over left. Now I know I have not done as well as some of the ladies have but having that left is brilliant!  Next year I have every intention of doing even better! Mel has suggested that between 22nd December and the start of the next SFS we spend, spend, spend but I have more than enough and dare not even contemplate doing that.  Next year I want to be even tougher on myself when it comes to buying so I shall just be buying fabric and threads when needed. My two autos will not count but as I signed up for fabric and hand dyes for the CCN Classic Ornaments they will count in my monthly budget but the buttons won't as they are classed as finishing items :). I'm looking forward to taking part again next year and would just like to thank Mel for organising it and for all her hard work keeping it going through the year and for doing it again next year.

I have a few photos to share. In my last post I showed my Wicked Since finish. Well here it is actually made up! I didn't have a pumpkin charm, in fact I have hardly any Halloween charms, so I ended up adding cat buttons instead. I'll be putting this away until Halloween. Barb and I will restart our Halloween SAL in the New Year :).

A while ago you may remember I stitched Just Nan Wintry Mix. Well here that is all made up too!

I still have loads to finish so maybe between Christmas and the New Year I'll get some more done.

I wanted to get Snowy Foxes finished this week so I stitched on it an extra evening to get it done. At the moment I'm stitching 3 series then in the New Year it will be 4 series so I'm wanting to get Frosty Forest finished as soon as I can then swap things about a little.

I had a small new start once I'd finished Snowy Foxes. This one will not take long to stitch up. It is another from the Candy Cane Stitchers group on Facebook and it's Heart In Hand Christmas Alphabet. It's going to be a cute one!

I've been trying to get a good bit stitched on the December SAL that Chris and I are doing. It is so pretty. I love the contrast between the reds and white. 

Finally I went back to my robin last night. Just a little stitching whilst watching the Strictly final. I was very disappointed as that is the second year the one person I didn't want to win it did!!

On Friday it was Christine's birthday and this is what I stitched for her.

The Little Stitcher Winter Walk

32 count nougat linen

DMC

Birthday gift for Christine.

Just a few photos now from last Sunday when we went on our annual day out to the Victorian Christmas Market in Beverley. As usual we popped to see the birds of prey!

So that is it from me.  My last post until after Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful,  peaceful Christmas and get lots of lovely stash from Father Christmas :). I am not going to get my white Christmas but here's hoping for some snow soon!

Take care everyone.

With much love.

Sally xxx