Needlecraft Haven Monthly Challenge

I am finally here with a post I was intent on doing days ago but things happen and you lose your enthusiasm for a little while.

So last month ( I can't believe we are into February already ) the monthly challenge on Needlecraft Haven was to stitch and finish The Little Stitcher Sheep Day. Although it was a very quick stitch I was late in the month starting it and had to rush to finish it so here it is.

Of course I had to stitch this one didn't I? I must look to see what Christine has chosen for us this month.

I have had 5 new starts since my last post and 2 finishes :)

First up  two of the new starts which are also finishes.  These are quick stitches, very sweet and my new SAL with Barb. These are Days 1 and 2 from The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas.  We were going to do one a month but as they stitch up quickly we decided to just do another as we finish each one.

My other SAL with Barb is, of course,  those cute Little Sheep Virtues, and here is Gratitude which we started on Monday.  I wish we weren't coming up to this SAL ending as they have just been so lovely to stitch. 

Another finish that I have been unable to show until now is this which I stitched up as a birthday gift Mouse. I am happy to say she loves it.

M Designs Spring Garden ( from JCS March/ April 2011 )

28 count Count On Me Rose

DMC

Started 12th January 2014

Finished 21st January 2014.

Birthday gift for Mouse

New start no.4 is Cottage Garden Samplings March's Daffodils. Love this already!

Finally new start no.5 is Little House Needleworks The North Wind which I started with the ladies over at NH in the parlour. Not a lot done on it but it's a start.

I picked up Snowflower Diaries Angela again. I hadn't stitched on it since New Year's Day.

Finally on the stitching front is my SAL with Shirlee. I'm getting there with the house and I also now have a dog :) I really need to drop by Shirlee's blog to see how she's doing.

I've also been getting some knitting in. I finished the first strip on my afghan,  started the second strip and made a start on the first insertion strip.  I think I have renewed enthusiasm for this!

Just over a week ago postie brought me an envelope from The Patchwork Rabbit. When I opened it I got such a lovely surprise as someone gifted me these.

LHN Warm Winter Woollens and the threads to stitch it with . I have absolutely no idea who gifted me these so whoever you are thank you from the bottom of my heart. It really lifted my spirits. Look at the note Karla has written at the bottom lol!

I'm still doing well on Stitch from Stash. My purchase of stuffing did not count so up to my last post I had spent nothing :) So far for my next month I've spent 80 p for a skein of DMC I had run out of.

That's it for now. Until next time.

Take care everyone

With much love

Sally xxxx

At Last Some Stitchy Updates

As promised I am back with some stitchy progress and I have caught up on blogs this morning! Special thank yous and hugs to everyone who commented on my previous post. I am just hoping that one day soon I will get up in the morning feeling as near as 100% as I'm finding it so hard to cope these days. The way things have been and how I feel now makes me think I will never feel well again and no amount of pills or potions are going to make a blind bit of difference. I borrowed a book from the library yesterday and reading it I wish I'd known 5 years ago what I know now on reading it. Anyway enough of my moaning; let's get back to what this blog is mainly about and that, of course, is stitching:) It has been my saviour!

I don't really know where to start so I'll start with the PIF I sent last week:) This random PIF went to Michele. Michele is one of my dearest blogging friends even though we may not be in touch that much so when I saw this design I just had to have it and stitch it for her. Well I've had it in my stash for a while now so it was time it got stitched! I am happy to say that Michele has received it and she loves it so that makes me very happy:) The chart is now for sale in my for sale and wish list blog.

M Designs Reindeer Needleroll

32 count linen ( can't remember for the life of me what it is!)

DMC

PIF for Michele.

Another little giftie I sent is this little biscornu. Now I think I'm safe showing this at the moment but I'm not going to say where it's gone yet! A long while ago I promised to stitch a friend a biscornu and have finally got one done!

Casey Buonaugurio Designs Frog Biscornu

14 count Silkweaver Solo

DMC threads

Little gift for ?????

This wasn't originally my biscornu for the month for the Basket of Biscornu SAL but it is now! Lol! There's no way I couldn't got Just Nan When Barnabee Met Bella finished in time so that one will now be biscornu for May! So here's my progress on that! I haven't even finished the first side let alone started the second!
I'm a bit late with this but this is my progress so far on my SB needleroll for April for my SAL with Chris. This is Folk Heart Roll which is so pretty. I chose to stitch this on the same fabric as I'm using for the JN biscornu.
More progress on Drawn Thread My Favourite Things. I'm really enjoying this one. Lots more to do yet though:)
Finally my progress on HAED QS Girly Gothic. Now this girl has had me stitching away furiously in an attempt to get page 2 finished and Thursday evening SALing with the girls from the Our Friends HAED SAL I made it! I can't quite believe how quickly I mananged to get this page finished. When you consider that when I picked her up again mid- February I still had to finish page 3 and now I've got page 3 and 2 done I'm quite proud of myself:) It has helped a lot SALing with Lisa and Claire on a Wednesday then with the Our Friends HAED SAL on a Thursday. So I now have about 64 rows to go and she's finished! As this is for Abi and my last HAED finish was for Jess I've decided that my next HAED start will be Tiny Treasures Purple Dragon for me:)
I think that's all my updates for now:) I think I may have to cave and stitch the Petites Littres Rouges piece as shown on the Blackbird Designs blog. I have seen some very pretty interpretations of this piece on blogs as I waas reading this morning and I don't think I can resist any longer. I know I won't get it finished in time to enter the competition that Barb and Alma are running but that does not bother me:)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow ( 23 years) so we're going out for Sunday lunch with the girls:)

Take care everyone.

Hugs