Happy Easter

Well this year is certainly flying by at an alarming rate! It's a good job I'm getting plenty of stitching in although there is no actual finishing of said stitching going on. I did make a list the other week of the pieces I had that needed finishing to display and there were 14. Now there are 16! I despair!!!!

So, as you may have guessed I have had 2 more finishes. They have been WIPs since September and December so it was time they were finished really! First finish of the 2 was this one.

Renato Parolin Sotto La Neve

32 count Crafty Kitten Latte Murano

DMC

Started 14th September 2016

Finished 5th April 2017.

I just wish I could get a decent photo to show how gorgeous the fabric is. 

Finish no.2 is this one. My Monday night SAL with Barb.

Cross Eyed Cricket Collection Winter

18 count Silkweaver Expressions Blueberry Delight

DMC

Started 2nd December 2016

Finished 12th April 2017.

I just love how this looks on this fabric. I am so pleased with it.

So you would think that 2 finishes would mean 2 new starts but I have been very restrained so far and just had 1 small new start. This is Lizzie Kate Good Things which I've had in my stash for..............................hmmm I don't actually know. A LONG time! I have no idea what fabric I'm stitching it on but I'm hoping it'll look OK when it is finished!

As I said in my last post I was going to treat myself to some Nashville releases when they reached our shore. Well they reached our shore at the end of March at Peakside Needleworks. I did buy 2 of the CCN Jump for Joy and gifted one to my dear friend Barb for our sheep SAL! The good thing is I'd sold some charts that I had finished with and that paid for them and I have a bit leftover :)

Before I forget the winner of the Stitchers Anon chart is Brigitte. Brigitte please email me your address and I'll get it in the post to you after Easter.

I can now show the gift for Mouse as she has received it and I am very happy to say she like it.

My Big Toe Designs Stitching Buds

unknown fabric

DMC

Started 14th February 2017

Finished 16th February 2017

I have been making on progress on my other WIPs. This one is driving me a little mad with it being over 1 on 32 count. I have a hard time seeing it when I'm stitching with DMC 3865. It will be worth it but I may have been better with a brighter white!

My Lady at Christmas is coming along rather nicely. All that lacy bit did drive me a little mad but it looks so pretty all done. Just got the colours to fill in and I'll move onto the top of the dress.I am loving the fabric and I can see more purchases from Chromatic Alchemy in the future although probably not this year unless I get desperate!

Barb and I are still stitching away on our Friday night sheep SAL. I am stitching MND Bloom and I finally have a sheep! This is such a lovely piece. 

Of course no post is complete without my 2 HAED WIPs. I have to say I am starting to get very fed up of these! Once these are done I do want to start another but I am just not sure that I can. Oh how I wish I hadn't bought so many of them especially as I can't sell them or give them away with them being PDFs. Hopefully I'll live a very time and still get a few more stitched lol. 

My DH took Thursday off as one of his privilege days so we went to Tophill Low Nature Reserve. Last time we went there wasn't much there but this time.........we saw kingfishers!!!! We have never seen one before and we got to see a pair. They were sitting on eggs so we saw them when one came out of the nest and the other one went in. There were well placed branches for them to sit on so we got loads of photos. Some pretty rubbish to be fair but I'm not getting rid of them! We also saw a pair of grebes carrying nest material, pheasants, egrets etc. Here are just a few photos. 

 Last Sunday we popped into our nearest city Hull, which is this year's city of culture, for a wander round with our cameras.

Well I shall be on my way now and find something to do. I am on my own today as both girls are working and my DH has gone to Tophill Low with a chap from the local photography group. I might see if I can finish reading Guards! Guards!.

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxxx

Soon Be The New Year.

Well it won't be long now before 2017 is upon us. Where did 2016 go? It is so scary as it hardly seems like 5 minutes since this time last year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a brilliant time with just the 4 of us for most of Christmas Day then DH's auntie came for tea. We laughed a lot, ate too much, didn't drink any alcohol and just generally enjoyed spending precious time together. On Boxing Day my sister and her husband came for dinner which was lovely as they rarely come. It was spoilt a little though by Jess having to work. I won't get on my high horse as I'm sure many of you know already how I feel about Boxing Day opening for retail and I think all shops should have to close. Anyway we made the best it though and still enjoyed ourselves but it wasn't the same without her. I miss the days of them being at school etc when they had 2 weeks off but time moves on and things change. Both girls are working New Year's Day.

I wasn't going to have anymore new starts until New Year's Day but I couldn't resist the temptation and started this on Christmas Eve.

I bought this last year so it's time I stitched it!

However I have chosen this for my New Year's Day start and my Dad bought me it ( with my DH's help ) about 5 years ago! I belong to a couple of groups on Facebook that are having New Year's Day starts so thought I'd join in. I usually do have a new start that day but it's nice to join in with others.

Just before Christmas I decided to get the rest of my ornaments from this year made up and on the tree. These are the last few and they are not very good as I did them in a bit of a rush! I still have my December one to stitch yet but I'll get around to that in January if I have time.

I haven't stitched on Mini Jolly Old Fellow since before Christmas but I did make some good progress on it with Barb and I stitching for a week on one thing. I am really pleased with what I have achieved on this as when I picked it up again at the beginning of the year for the first HAED challenge I had only stitched about 30 rows on page one and now I've almost finished 5. I'm aiming to get it finished in the first half of the 2017! 

Chris and I have been stitching away on our December SAL. It'll become a January SAL I think but I've got more done than I expected I would. It'll be coming out again this evening.

I have stitched a little more on Winter, which is my SAL with Barb, but I forgot to take a photo of it.

I received some lovely Christmas gifts from my stitching friends. They really are too kind to me and I can't say enough how stitching friends are simply the best. I feel very cut off and lonely sometimes ( partly my own fault ) so all those friends I've "met" via stitching and blogging are my lifeline sometimes.

First of all a simply gorgeous needle minder from my lovely surrogate sis Lisa. Just look how Robin sparkles! Thank you so much Lisa. I love it.

From my lovely friend June I received this beautiful Robin ornament which went straight on my tree! Thank you so much June. He is so sweet and I will treasure him always.

From my lovely friend Michelle this gorgeous wool to knit a snood, which will be lovely and warm, and a beautiful scissor fob/ key chain/ handbag charm with my name on and a sheepy! Thank you so much Michelle. I love them.

Last but by no means least from the lovely Christine a lavender pouch ( which smells divine ) and some Anchor threads. Thank you so much Christine. I love to have lavender on my bed side cabinet so that is where the pouch will be going. 

So soon I will be starting Stitch from Stash again and I am hoping to do well and only buy fabric and threads if I need them and NO CHARTS other than my auto ship for Snow Place Like Home. I've signed up for the first half of the year then I will see how I feel. I am really hoping to get through a lot of the charts I have in my stash. I didn't do quite so well with finishes this year. I had 32 finishes ( not many compared to other years ) and 11 of those were ornaments from the JCS mags and not charts from my stash! However I have worked on my HAEDs more so I guess something has to give. Maybe next year I will do better!

All that is left now is to wish you all a very Happy 2017. May it be happy, healthy, prosperous and stitch and stash filled ( unless you're doing stitch from stash like me!! ). Thank you for sticking me and see you all in the new year :)

With much love.

Sally xxx

A Birthday Gift for Lainey

Oh dear I can't believe it is a month since I last blogged. I just don't seem to be able to get back into the swing of this or visiting blogs. I have, again, considered giving it up but I would miss it so if I manage one post a month then I'm fine with that even it's just for me to record my finishes etc. 

Anyway I have a month's worth of stitching to show and some photos from our holiday ( yes we took another trip up to Scotland but this time Abi came with us ).

Just before we went on holiday it was my lovely friend Lainey's birthday. I wanted to go with a sheep or snowman themed stitch as these are her favourite things ( and who can argue with that as they are mine too! ) so I decided to stitch a portion of Histoire De Moutons and I am delighted to say that Lainey loved it.

Portion of Jardin Prive Histoire De Moutons part 3

DMC and unknown fabric

Birthday gift for Lainey.

I've had a few other finishes. It seems they are like buses; you wait for one and several come along at once!

My Big Toe Designs Merry Christmas

28 count white linen.

DMC

WDC Needleworks 2016 Stocking

32 count nougat linen

DMC

Final finish is my sheep SAL with Barb piece.

Shepherd's Bush Red Snowman

Weeks Dye Works 30 count red pear

WDW, GAST and CC.

I love how this turned out. The snowman needs his nose but I have 4 buttons in my stash and they're all too big so he'll end up with a stitched one!

The other week postie brought me a surprise from The Nimble Thimble from my dear friend Barb. She knows I love SB needlerolls ( well SB in general really!) and had bought me this.

She has also bought herself one so we decided to abandon our sheep and ornament SAL just for the next few weeks to try and get it stitched in time for Halloween. I only started mine on Friday but I did manage to get a bit stitched. Thank you so much Barb I'm enjoying stitching this. It's so nice to do another needleroll to add to my collection.

Both my HAED pieces are coming along quite nicely. I have picked up SK Dragons History again and got a little stitched on it but oh last week I really wanted to just scrap it! However after Saturday's session on it I'm feeling better about it and am determined to finish it. I just have this page to finish and then a partial page to stitch!

Mini Jolly Old Fellow is looking rather good even though I say so myself. I've finished the 4th page and have gridded ready to start the next page. I don't think a Christmas finish will happen but I'll give it a damn good try!

I have been stitching away on the middle tree on Sotto La Neve and I will admit that it has been driving me mad! I did a working copy copy of the chart so that I could mark off what I'd stitched but it's not very clear and I have already personalised it ( as in made mistakes! ) but never mind! I'm happy to have been stitching birds on it now instead of just tree! Lol! It is a very pretty piece so that will keep me going!

My final WIP is the AotH piece by Blackbird Designs. I can feel the finish line! There is still a good bit to do and some of it will be over one stitching ( not good on 36 count! ) but it is looking so pretty! 

Oooh I almost forgot I finally took my Lizzie Kate Holly and Hearts Sampler to get framed. I finished this in 2013 ( hangs head in shame!). My framer did a great job as always.

When we went on holiday I took my Tilton Crafts Always with me. I didn't stitch every night but I did almost finish all the black stitching on the first page. I forgot to take a photo though so I'll take one next time.

So a while ago we decided it might be nice to go back up to the Dumfries and Galloway area of Scotland again. Abi said she would love to go with us so we decided on the last week of September and booked a lovely looking semi detatched cottage in a little village not far from Gatehouse of Fleet. We had the most brilliant few days up there visiting places we'd been before and discovering new ones. Abi loved it and we have vowed to go again next year. I'll add a few photos. The scenery is just amazing and the wildlife incredibly cute. It just takes your breath away!

Well that's all for now and I'll see you all in a month unless I manage another post before then.Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll pop by and see what you have all been up to.

Until next time.

With much love,

Sally xxxx