Some Finishes:)

Apologies for my lack of blogging over the past week. I just haven't anything to show or blog about really but now I have! Lol!

It's my friend Sheila's birthday coming up soon so I decided to stitch a little something for her. I wanted somethign quick and easy to make up so chose the Papillon Creations freebie Tiny Little Quaker and stitched it up using GAST Purple Iris and made it into an ornament. I do hope she will like it but time will tell:) I don't seem to be able to get my cording stitched on neatly somehow but never mind:)

I have also completed my second bourse but on this one I did it a little differently and stitched a Mill Hill heart treasure on each fold over bit. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out but it is not square as it should be as I stitched it on Belgian linen. Anyway it's now wrapped up with a pair of earrings inside:) I really love stitching these and now I've learnt how I shall do more using different charts.

Once I'd finished these two I decided to have a new start and started Just Nan Christmas Biscornu and I have loved stitching it:) The first side is finished but I had a bit of job with the beads in bad light last night as I had bother telling the difference between the gold and silver and had to take a few off and re-do them today! I think this is a beautiful design and I can't wait to get the second side done and make it up ready for Christmas. Having said that I won't be putting it away with the Christmas decorations as it's too nice to put away!

That's all the stitching I have to show for now:) Tonight is Just Nan Queen of the Needle SAL night with Helen and tomorrow night is UFO night on Stitch and Stash so HAED Winter will be coming out. After that it'll be HAED quick stitch Girly Gothic for the rest of the week. I really should get Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV finished but I can't get motivated to get it out. It might happen, it might not!

I wrapped a few Christmas presents this morning but my back and neck ached that much I didn't get them all done! There's always another day:)

Right I shall go and catch up on some blogs for a bit before the girls get in from school. Hope you all have a good week:) Stay warm if it's cold where you are. It certainly is here!

Christmas is Coming!

Bah humbug!! Lol! I don't mean that really! Although I might do by the time we've done three lots of present shopping at the end of the month! Thought I'd post the ornament I stitched for the exchange. We don't know who we are receiving from so even if the person I'm sending to reads my blog ( which I don't think she does) she won't know it's for her! Lol! This is Patricia Ann Designs Christmas Poinsetta from last year's JCS ornament magazine. Instead of backing it with Christmas fabric I used the same fabric I had for the front and stitched our names and year over one on it. Hopefully this will be on it's way to it's new home next week:)

Last night I put the final stitches into my first Cat's Whiskers Heartstrings. One down, one to go! I did cheat a little ( well a lot really) and left off the backstitched vines. I just couldn't face doing them for some reason so decided not to attempt them at all. So once I get the second one stitched I'll make them both up into bourses for DH's aunties. I have found the perfect silk dupion for them on Ebay so think I will buy that to save looking for some in the shops.

I made a start on one of my PIFs last night! Yes I know I have 365 days but I'm quite eager to get started on them so number one is started and I have ideas for the other two too!

Last photo today is of my framed Papillon Creations Seredipity. It's not a good photo though as it really does not show the colours very well. Abi has claimed this piece and it's now hung in her bedroom! I don't mind, though, as it is perfect for her room:)

Well I shall go and catch up on your blogs now. Thank you for reading mine and welcome to new readers and commentors. You are all very welcome to drop by:) {{{{hugs}}}}

Serendipity

Well here endeth my rotation for this round with the last stitches going into Serendipity last night:) This has been an absolute joy to stitch and I would like to thank Yvonne Horn of Papillon Creations for creating this beauty for her newsletter readers to stitch. So I proudly present Papillon Creations Serendipity stitched on 32 count fabric using DMC 550 and 3350 and Kreinik 005. I am very pleased with the way this turned out and love the colours I chose. This is now at the framers ( I'm having a black frame!) as I decided I'd prefer to have it framed rather than make it into a cushion:)

So for the rest of this week I shall just be stitching on whatever I feel like! I picked up the ornament I'm stitching for Simone's ornament exchange when I'd finished Serendipity last night but have now changed my mind and want to stitch a different one! LOL! I'll still finish this one and will either save it for myself or give it away:) Obviously I can't tell you what I'll be stitching! I also want to make a couple of Halloween bags as I bought some Halloween chocolates in Thorntons and thought it would be nice to make treat bags for the girls. OK I know they're past trick or treating now but let's face it who can resist chocolate! The only problem was I didn't have any suitable fabby for the chart I wanted to use so I emailed Jayne at Jayne's Attic to see if she had any. It turned out she had a few but couldn't decide which I would prefer so she sent the ones she had to look at with a bag to return the ones I didn't want in. Now how is that for customer service? Jayne will always go that extra mile for her customers. So thanks Jayne. I've picked what I want and will be returning the others to you this afternoon:)

Anybody looking at The Online Needlework Show? I'm having a look but, thankfully, I haven't seen anything I fancy as yet! Lol! I have put a lot of thought into being on the chart stash wagon and have decided that I'm going to go to the end of October then going to treat myself. I will have done 5 months by then and I think I can be very proud of myself for going that long as I never have done before since discovering online shopping! Lol! I have been so close this week to buying a chart but have stopped myself from doing it:) Wow what willpower! Lol!

I took Abi back to the doctors again last night so she is now on her third lot of antibiotics; finger's crossed that this finally gets rid of the infection. Had she been able to take penicillin it would have cleared it easily but she is allergic to it. Last night was the first night in ages she actually got a good night's sleep so let's hope that is a good sign that she is finally on the mend.

We got our front door fitted yesterday. I was supposed to be going to the funeral of a family friend who lost her life to cancer but, as I wasn't sure exactly what time the fitters were arriving, I had to stay home. The door looks brilliant and we're so pleased with it. It has certainly made the house look better both inside and out!

I hope everyone is having a good week. It's lovely here today. It's rather chilly but the sun is shining and it's a glorious day:)

Serendipity etc:)

I finished up part 8 of Papillon Creations Serendipity last night so here is my piccie:) I couldn't for the life of me work out how to position one of the speciality stitches on this part so I ended up doing cross stitch instead, but I did do the smaller speciality stitches on it. I don't think my mind was quite on the job in hand last night. Having said that my concentration has not been good for a few weeks now:(

My second piccie is of my framed Heaven and Earth Designs Summer ACEO which I picked up from the framers yesterday. As always I am delighted with the job my framer did and his prices are really good. This piece was £14:)
I'm not quite sure where I'm going to hang her yet as I want somewhere I can hang all four of the set together. I need to win the lottery so I can have a bigger house! LOL!

Tonight I'll be getting HAED quick stitch Dragonette out again and will, hopefully, have her finished by the end of the week:) I have some fabric picked out and the threads sorted ready to add HAED quick stitch Girly Gothic to my rotation:)

We have had some lovely weather this week but it looks like we could get a shower or two later today. The girls and I have been on the beach this morning messing about. Jess and I were trying to push each other into the sea so Abi decided to sort us out and tried to lightly bang our heads together! Mmmmm she ended up hurting my neck! It gave a huge crunch and pain shot right up into my head:( Thankfully it is OK now and I don't think there is any more damage to what is already there. Phew! Why is it somebody always gets hurt when you're play fighting! Lol!

I was a bit peeved when a certain TV presenter/ writer etc wrote in his column in one of the Saturday newspapers that a certain government agency was government speak for KGB! My DH has worked for this particular agency for 2 1/2 years now and gets great satisfaction from doing the job he does. Of course he and his colleagues come in for some stick. He has had rude gestures made at him whilst on road checks etc from passers by, has a stab vest just in case, and has also taken a lot of verbal abuse but it does not deter him as he is helping get dangerous vehicles off the road. Mr TV Presenter would have something to moan about if they didn't do the job they do as there'd be more overweight wagons etc on the roads, more drivers who have gone over the hours they are allowed to drive and more unsafe vehicles on the road. I think the problem is that people do not know exactly what they do and just see them as more authority to rant at. Anyway rant over:)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week:) Thank you to everybody who commented on my stitcher's pocket. I loved stitching it and making it up:)

Some Making Up:)

I have been busy with my sewing machine yesterday and today. I can't show everything as some of it is secret but I can show two needlebooks that I made up with bits I finished recently. The first one is the Papillon Creations freebie Love Letters. It is a little bit big maybe for a needlebook but I am really pleased how it turned out for a first attempt:) I chose a plain calico fabric to back this with and it also added some strength to it.

Next is San Man Originals I Flip for the Ocean. This turned out tiny so may be a bit better for a needlebook but I guess it doesn't really matter what size they are! I don't think this one turned out as well as the first one but I did have to unpick it and start over when I realised it was opening the wrong way! Lol! I am happy with my first two attempts though:)

I am halfway through making up my Little House Needleworks Where There is Life. I didn't really want to frame it but didn't know what else to do with it so that is why it has been in the drawer so long waiting to see the light of day. So look out for another piccie later in the week:)

Onto what I've been stitching:) I haven't had a full week stitching on Just Nan Spring in the Air as I wanted to finish HAED Summer ACEO so I only managed to finish the bunny band and the next band but I love how it looks. I should finish it next time :) I also decided that I needed to get part 7 of Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV done seen as part 8 should be out on Wednesday and I really don't want to get behind with it or I'll end up not stitching it all. So here's my progress pics on those two pieces.

So this week I'm back to HAED Quick Stitch Dragonette this week. I'm hoping to get page 2 finished then I'll only have two more pages to do but not full ones. It'll be nice to have another HAED finish then I can start Girly Gothic for Abi.

DH's uncle's funeral was lovely. I know that sounds a bit daft but it was a real celebration of his life rather than a morbid service. The church was packed and the collection at the end of the service raised somewhere in the region of £500 for the dialysis unit at Scarborough Hospital.

Hope you are all having a good start to the week and it's been fine where you are.

A Change is As Good As a Rest and a Surprise!

As you can see I have a new name for my blog but the link remains the same! LOL! Like Lizzy I couldn't think of a name for it when I first started it up but now, thanks to Julie, I have a better one! No doubt Julie will now be wondering why it's thanks to her! So I shall explain:)

This morning I received a lovely surprise in the post from Julie. It is this gorgeous ornament. Isn't she beautiful? The story behind her is when Julie was looking for a chart to stitch for the monthly ornament SAL on a board she belongs to ( the theme was angel) she came across this one. She says " There was only one lady who could possibly have this when it was finished- the first "Stitchyangel" I encountered when I joined the MBs". Thank you so much Julie, she is gorgeous and will take pride of place on the mantlepiece in my living room. So this got me thinking and I thought why on earth did I not give my blog a name to do with Stitchyangel?! So I have a name for my blog that I am happy with! The treasures are my DH, my two DDs, my stitching and, of coursem all my stitching friends:).

I also have a not so brilliant picture to share of my framed Papillon Creations Simple Little Quaker. I tried yesterday to take some but I don't think my mood has helped much and I didn't get a good one. This one isn't perfect but it does show the frame off quite well. When I took this in to the framers I had got my heart set on a particular frame but when I saw it against it it did not look right so I ended up with two completely different ones. This goldy coloured one does have a red tinge to it so I decided it suited this design perfectly.

The weather has been a mixture here this week. Lots of rain, thunder and lightening ( an aerial on a house was struck by ball lightening on Monday setting the roof on fire), hail and sunshine. Talk about all the seasons in one go!

Thank you to everybody who commented on my last post. You were all so very sweet and I took everything you said on board. I think it has just been one of those weeks and, hopefully, next week will feel better and brighter. I have suffered from low moments for many years now and lacked confidence in lots of things. Tuesday night's Holby City and the Connie storyline when it came out about her Mum got to me and I had tears streaming down my face, whilst trying to look calm and composed and pretending my eyes were itching and watery ( which they do!). It just brought back too many memories for me of my teenage years.

Well I had better go and get some lunch for Jess and I. We're having what's left of the homemade quiche I made yesterday:) Yummy. Have a great weekend everyone!

Kick Up the Butt Needed!

Apologies for the lack of posting since Friday. I just haven't felt much like blogging. I'm struggling a little at the moment with feeling low. I don't like the way I look etc and am desperate for some new clothes to pep me up but everything I look at I don't think I'll look right in so end up not bothering. Jess and I went to Freeport yesterday and I wouldn't even go try stuff on. I need a big kick up the ass I think! I also feel useless at finishing my stitching off. I won't try new ways as I don't think it'll look right when I'm done ( a reason why I won't do exchanges because I don't think my pieces will be any good). Sigh. I really wish I had more confidence in myself.

Thank you for all your lovely comments about Jess' pictures. She had a brilliant time at the ball and I think she was surprised at how good it was! Lol!

Anyway last week was my week on Heaven and Earth Designs Winter and here it is. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped as my neck and head were playing me up terribly last week and I must admit that I maybe tried too hard to carry on through it but by Thursday I had to give in and did no stitching at all. I am happy with what I've done though. As Helen says even a few stitches is progress. Here is my progress from last time if you'd like to see how much I've done:)

On Monday I should have carried on with Chatelaine Summer Afternoon but I just couldn't face it for some reason so I decided to try and finish the Papillon Creations freebie Love Letters. I didn't quite manage it so added the last few stitches yesterday afternoon. I'm not sure how I'm going to finish this as yet but I really must get on top of finishing things off instead of dumping them in a drawer and thinking I'll finish it later! I chose to use the colours Yvonne did on the design and I love the way they look together.

Anyway I did pick up Summer Afternoon last night as I knew if I didn't it would get missed this time in my rotation. I found I'd made several mistakes last time so had some frogging to do which only made me not to want to stitch it all the more! Lol! I did restitch the bits I'd had to frog and stitched a bit more besides so am determined to make the most of the rest of the week and get this bit finished. I really must do the 7th part of Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV too or I won't do that either!

I am doing fine on the chart stash wagon! How is everyone else doing? I haven't really had the urge to buy any charts although I will admit there was once I had a bit of an urge but that's all! I did RAK a couple of friends with a quick stitch each in the HAED sale but have been very good for myself. I think my first treat come 1st December will be Ink Circles Sea Stars as Karen and I are doing a SAL and I also want to get Elegant Stitch This Too Shall Pass then.

That's it from me today:) Thank you to all of you read my blog and special thanks to all those who comment. I love reading them.

Wednesday

I thought I'd share my WIP of the Papillon Creations freebie Love Letters. I wanted something small just to pick up when I have a few minutes spare so this is what I've done so far. I'm stitching it on 32 count mushroom fabby, I think lugana but not entirely sure, using the DMC threads that Yvonne suggested. It is stitching up quite quickly. I really like Yvonne's designs as they are so easy to stitch.

I am doing OK with HAED Winter this week, although it was slow going on Monday evening as I was finishing off the lettering. I should get a good go at it now I've got that bit done so watch this space for an update on Monday when my week is up on it.

The 7th part of the Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV was released on Monday and to say I was disappointed was an understatement really! You might see why when I've got it stitched but I'm really not keen.

Well the weather on Monday, as I'm sure you will all have seen on the news, was absolutely terrible. Where I live we have been relatively lucky as far as flooding goes, although there were several homes under water and roads were blocked. All three schools closed on Monday around lunchtime and remained closed yesterday. My DH left work early on Monday but it took him over two hours to get home due to flooded roads and he actually thought he wasn't going to make it home. My heart goes out to all the people whose homes are flooded and to the familes of those who have lost their lives.

What gets me about all this flooding is the fact that the authorities seem to do nothing to try and prevent it. Years ago the rivers used to be regularly dredged, dykes cleaned out, drains cleaned out etc but these days it doesn't get done. I'm not saying that it would have completely stopped the flooding this time as the rain was so heavy, but it might not have been so bad. Plus the drainage sytems in this country are in desperate need of upgrading.

I have been up to Abi's school for her review day this afternoon. I had an appointment to see her group tutor to discuss her academic review and see how she's doing. He is very pleased with her, says she is very pleasant and a hard worker and a language wizz! Her teachers comments were all good too so we are very happy.

Tomorrow evening it's Jessica's year 11 prom so I'll have the camera out taking piccies and will post them here hopefully Friday!

Simple Little Quaker

Simple Little Quaker
Originally uploaded by stitchyangel

Wahoo, here's my latest happy dance! I was determined I was going to get this piece finished this week and I have:) This is Papillon Creations Simple Little Quaker, stitched on 28 count Fairy Dust Lugana using VC Dragon Blood silk. I have thoroughly enjoyed stitching this and am looking forward to stitching another of Yvonne design's in the future. This will going to the framers. I think I know the frame I want so I'm hoping he still stocks it.

So tonight, after searching through my stash to try and decide what to stitch next, I will be starting La D Da Love is Patient on Sassy's Fabbys COTM Cheryl's Wild Rose. I was going to stitch it in DMC rather than the called for Crescent Colours but I had a few of them in my stash so decided to order the others I needed from Lekker Threads. I can work round those for now until they arrive.

I'm doing well so far stitching from my chart stash ( OK on the chart stash wagon!) and am still very determined to last until 1st December. I have had no urges to buy charts, although my wish list has grown a bit! LOL!

I have both Jess and Abi home at the moment! Abi has been struggling with a nasty cold all week so I decided this morning that she could in for first period, as she had a Maths test that she didn't want to miss then have to sit on her own, then go to matron and get her to ring me to pick her up. They're both going to the doctors later so that'll be fun!

Hope everyone has had a good week. I hope you are all safe, dry etc after all the rain we've had here in the UK this week, with more forecast.

Serendipity

Serendipity
Originally uploaded by stitchyangel

I'm all caught up! I put the final few stitches into part 7 last night so that's Papillon Creations Serendipity done until part 8 comes out. I'm really looking forward to seeing what part 9 is though:) I have loved stitching this and am thinking of making it into a cushion when it's finished. For those who are wondering it's stitched on 32 count evenweave using DMC 550 and 3350 along with Kreinik Braid #4 005.

Not sure what I'm going to stitch on for the next few evenings. I guess I should really go onto the next slot in my rotation but I may have other ideas! Lol!

Well it has certainly been a naff few days weather wise. I had to go out earlier and I was soaked by the time I got back home. I've had to change my t-shirt and my jeans! As they say lovely weather for ducks!

Jess has her last exam this morning. In fact she will have just about finished as I type this and was so excited this morning that she only had this one to go! Now we have to try and forget about them until the results come out!

I am feeling somewhat sad today as it's 22 years since my Mum passed away. I miss her more now than I ever did before I think. Seems daft in a way but it's just the way I feel. I've been and bought flowers for her grave but I don't think I'll be taking them today. It's a funny time for us as a family as my Mum died on the 15th and the 16th was my MIL's birthday so that's two graves to visit. My MIL would have been 68 tomorrow.

That's all from me today. Not much to say:) Hope everyone is having a productive stitchiy week.

Some WIPS!

Yes at last I'm here with some WIP piccies. My rotation piece for last week was Chatelaine Summer Afternoon, although I didn't actually get that much done due to getting addicted to Jessica's Animal Crossing game on her Nintendo DS! Having said that by last night I'd actually had enough of Summer Afternoon! It's a lovely piece but I'm onto a part with cross stitch over one, over two and half stitches which is all well and good if the chart is nice and clear. This is the only thing I have against Chatelaine charts. So, without further ado here are a couple of WIP pics.

This is the whole piece so far. Not very clear I'm afraid.
This is the part that I've been stitching on. I have decided to leave out the butterfly for now until I decide whether I like it or not!

So because I was fed-up of stitching this I should really gone on to HAED Summer ACEO last night but I decided to leave that until tonight and picked up Papillon Creations Simple Little Quaker instead. I really enjoyed getting back to this again and managed to get quite a bit stitched in just a few hours. I think the threads match perfectly so that is a relief. I'd have hated to have scrapped this when I'd got such a lot done.

I might just get this finished when I get it out again:)

It feels as though I haven't had a finish for ages so I might have to add some smaller stuff to my rotation when I've finished one of the bigger pieces. I don't want to add anything to it at the end just yet as it's long enough already really.

I have been feeling quite down for a few days. I think it's just something that I'm going to have to put with the same as I have over the past few years. Anyway I've had some good news today. I rang the surgery on Friday for the results of my bone density scan but the receptionist said the doctor hadn't marked it as normal or anything, he'd just signed it, so she suggested I make an appointment to go in and see him, which I have this morning. Thankfully there is no sign of osteporosis. The reading ( or whatever it is!) on my spine is above average although the one on my femur is a little below but he says that is way off showing signs of osteoporosis so I am very happy about that. He just suggested keeping up a good calcium intake, having a good diet and exercise. I admitted that I don't get enough exercise and he said that walking is excellant. I do walk quite a lot but I do feel that I need to do more. I need to lose weight too, not a lot, but a stone wouldn't be a bad thing. While I was there I asked him about the iron tablets and if it would be OK to just take one a day as I'm concerned that I could become anaemic again if I keep having heavy periods. He said that was fine although I needed to be careful being so close to menopause that I don't overdo it, so I guess if my periods become further apart I will need to stop taking them.

Thank you to those of you who have wished Jess good luck in her exams. She *thinks* she has done OK in the three she has done so far but time will tell when the results come through on 23rd August! She did some revising on Sam Learning yesterday ready for her English Literature tomorrow and went through her books etc.

Heather I looked up on the school website about Citizenship and this is what it says:

Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education (P.S.H.C.E.) is undertaken by everyone in the school.
Different subjects are covered each term by your tutor on a Tuesday, period 3. Sometimes there are visiting speakers and presentations given by, for example Viking FM.
It is an important subject as it is all about learning to be a good citizen in our society whilst at school and beyond.

Hope everyone is having a good start to the week. Not sure what I'm going to do this afternoon. I might stitch for a while!

My Stitching and Stashing!

Oh dear I've had a bit of a disaster with Papillon Creations Simple Little Quaker! I realised after putting it away on Thursday evening that I was going to run out of thread. So Friday morning I rang Jayne in the hope that she might just have some in to save me ordering direct from Vikki. She had and they arrived today but, unfortunately, they are noticably different from the ones I've used so are no good :( So I've just ordered five skeins direct from Vikki and asked if she has any of the same dyelot in. If not I will have to hope that they are very close or my whole piece is ruined. So A WORD OF WARNING. If you have this chart or are going to buy it make sure you buy more than 12 yards of thread as it does take more. This is what I've done so far and I have been careful with my thread usage. On Friday evening I was happily stitching away on the left hand side of the piece only to discover I'd made a mistake. I sat for ages, eventually making myself feel rather sick, counting and recounting to find the mistake only to discover that the mistake is within the chart itself on the overlap parts of the pages. As luck would have it I only had to remove one stitch to make it right but at first thought I'd have to frog loads. So, again, if you have this chart check that the overlap parts correspond! If it wasn't for the fact that I LOVE this piece so much I would hate it by now! Lol!

So when I ran out of thread on Sunday evening I decided to get Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV out and try and finish off part 5, which I did. I just have the beads to add to underneath the stars. I have a love/ hate relationship with this mystery and right now I am somewhere inbetween the two. The Christmas tree does make it look quite nice but......... There is just something about it that doesn't seem quite "right"!

So onto the second week of my rotation and HAED Winter is back out. I didn't get as much as I'd have liked stitched last night as I kept getting disturbed ( Mum how do I rip songs off a CD, Mum how do I sync them to my MP3 player!) and I don't think I'll get far anyway as there are quite a lot of colour changes in this page. I might pick up HAED Guardian for a bit this afternoon as it's miserable weather here. It keeps coming showers and it's windy and it now feels cold!

I received my COTM from Sassy's Fabby's today and it's a very pretty colour called French Yellow. I am debating whether to use it for Just Nan Spring in the Air if it's big enough. I had picked out a Polstitches Dragon Shades one called Clouds but I may change my mind now!

I had a bit of a spend up the other day seen as all but one piece of the stash I sold has reached it's new owners. I'm hoping the other one will arrive today. Anyway I ordered the kit ( minus NPI silks) for Chatelaine Autumn Dusk from European Cross Stitch as it's not something I would normally buy myself so am looking forward to getting that. I will need to find a suitable hedgehog button as the one that was used is now discontinued. Also Chris talked me into buying Just Nan Queen of the Needle with embellishments from Lekker Threads as Kristina had 15 % off charts up to 7th May. Actually Chris didn't talk me into it exactly as I didn't make my mind up properly until yesterday and I was chatting to Chris on Friday. But I have to blame somebody don't I?!!! Chris says she is going to buy it off me when I'm done with it! Lol! I think I need to behave myself now and when I sell stash I'm done with in the future use the pennies for fabric etc and no more charts! Lol! I keep saying that then I find more I like when I'm looking at blogs like KarenV's I spent ages browsing through her blog last week and ended up ordering Blackbird Designs Quaker Garden from Wyndham Needleworks before it is retired. I have never ordered from them before so I hope the experience is a good one:)

That's me for today I think! Have a good week everybody!

Another WIP Pic!

Just thought I'd post another WIP piccie of Papillon Creations Simple Little Quaker seen as I'm enjoying it so much and have got quite a bit done. I hope you don't get bored seeing it! I'm just hoping I've got enough thread but it does say you need 12 yards and I bought three 5 yard skeins so I should be OK. I have already used one full skein and quite a bit off the second one. I just love the way this is turning out and am already on the look out for another one to stitch later on! I don't think I'll buy another one just yet though! I've seen one in a couple of blogs that I love the look of so I may get that later.

I have sold a few more bits this week. As I've just got Chatelaine Autumn Dusk from Jayne's Attic I may well treat myself to the kit for it ( less the Needlepoint Inc silks) as it's not something I would normally buy myself and I may as well get something like that. I already have the kit for Spring Morning which my Dad bought me so it'll nice to get the proper kit for this one too. I'm just waiting to make sure everybody has received what they bought from me before I spend the pennies! Lol!

Still not very happy with myself, especially not since Tuesday evening but I'm not going into details here.

My New WIP!

I am just so impressed by my new WIP I just had to share what I stitched last night! Lol! It is Papillon Creations Simple Little Quaker and it is my first Quaker type sampler and I don't think it's going to be my last. This is stitched on 28 count Fairy Dust Lugana using VC Dragon Blood silk. I thoroughly enjoyed stitching on this last night and can see me not getting bored with it and stitching on it all week.

My order from Needlecraft Corner arrived today so that was quite quick as it was posted last Wednesday. So I now have everything I need for stitching two more charts as well as another chart! Lol! God I hope I live to be a ripe old age or all my lovely charts may well go to waste! I keep seeing so many gorgeous pieces when I go blog walking but daren't add anything else to my wish list! Lol!

Right I have a question for you crafty ladies! Do any of you know where I can buy the chimes for windchimes ( within the UK if possible)?


I am so fed-up at the moment. I've been feeling that way for a few days now and today I'm having to wait in for DH's auntie to drop a key off for me so that my sister's partner can get in to replace her central heating boiler. I was hoping she'd come early this morning so I could get out for a walk but I'm still waiting. So typical. Just feeling so alone, unappreciated and all that jazz right now.

More WIPs!

Flipping heck it's chilly here in the east coast today! The sun is shining but it's a cold wind although it is pleasant enough. I prefer it this way than boiling hot so hoping the summer isn't too hot! LOL!

I have a few WIPs to share today. It's been quite a productive tome on two of them but not so good on the other two! So first off here is Papillon Creations Serendipity. I stitched part 4 of this on Friday and just love it. I am so pleased with the colours I chose and love how the speciality stitches look. I'm not sure when I'll get the next two parts stitched but I can't wait to see what part 7 is like and am hoping it'll come out soon!

Next up is the absolutely gorgeous Chatelaine Lavender Mandala from The Gift of Stitching. I am really enjoying stitching this piece with Lisa and Julie on a weekend. I have made quite good progress on this and just love the colours so far. Lisa kindly sent me the Vicki Clayton silk I had chosen for this as Jayne can't get the silks any longer, which is a shame, so I'll be starting on the stitches that need that next weekend I think. Stitched on Sugar Maple Fabrics Violets in the Shade using DMC and Rainbow Gallery Petite Braid.

Moving on I didn't make much progress on Heaven and Earth Designs quick stitch Dragonette last week. However I am pleased to see that this little lady now has a head!! She looks so cute! I am hoping to make better progress on her next time.

This week I'll be stitching on Heaven and Earth Designs Winter as and when time permits seen as it's the Easter hols for the girls. I'd like to get page 2 finished but I don't see that happening!

Jayne rang on Saturday evening to let me know my Chatelaine Mini Mandalas 1 chart had arrived and it would be going in the post along with some Udderly Smooth on Sunday and, if Royal Mail behaved, I should get it today. Well Royal Mail haven't behaved ( surprise, surprise!) and I didn't get it today but never mind. Some nice post to look forward to tomorrow. However I did receive some nice post today as Karen kindly sent me some card thread bobbins as well as sneaking in a tube of Udderly Smooth so thank you so much Karen:) I can get some threads wound now.

I seem to be having some up and down days lately. It's crazy really as if I feel fine I'm very upbeat and happy but if I feel yuck I feel so down. Saturday I had a very bad night and did not sleep very well and once something like that happens I just start thinking the worse then I dread going to bed and so it carries on. It's a vicious circle. Thankfully I managed to calm myself down last night and had a much better night, although DH was up at 5am this morning and if he's awake I am as he's not exactly quiet. I did go back to sleep but woke again when he came to give me a kiss at 6am when he was leaving for work! I am really feeling the cold at the moment but then I get really hot. I feel as though I'm going down with cold but it never comes to anything. It's been the same for several years on and off! I just wish I could get through a day without worrying. I thought having a diagnosis would make things better but, obviously, the symptoms are still there regardless.

I almost forgot ( just goes to show how I feel about this WIP!). Yes it's the dreaded Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV. I was quite enjoying it until part 4 and now I absolutely HATE it! I am not even sure that I want to carry on with it but I can't really afford not to when I've bought stuff to stitch it with. I'm just thankful that I didn't go the whole hog and buy the silks as well. I know it's a mystery and your pay your money and take your chances but it isn't what I expected at all. I certainly won't be doing another of her mysteries without seeing a lot of it WIPs first. I know I am not the only one who doesn't like this part and I have posted on the Chatelaine ez board that I don't like it. Some of the girls think there will be a spectacular Christmas Tree behind the girl and it is going to have to be to make me want to stitch more. I think this is going to be one of those projects that I will get stitched very quickly each month and be relieved to put it away! Lol!

The car is going in for it's MOT next week and we're getting a new timing belt fitted at the same time so let's hope that's it for a long while! I don't think we've ever had so much expense all at once before. The same day we are finally getting the electricity main fuse box replaced. This has been going on since the beginning of February when we were supposed to be having the meter changed but they couldn't get the main fuse out! Thank God that isn't going to cost us anything!

Weekend Stitching

I wasn't sure whether to blog or not today but as I have a couple of stitching WIPs I decided I would.

On Saturday I started Chatelaine Lavender Mandala from the October 2006 issue of The Gift of Stitching. Lisa, Julie and I are doing a SAL on this and are stitching on weekends on it. I was unsure on what fabric to use for mine but my Ebay win from Sugar Maple Fabrics arrived on Saturday ( just in time!) so I chose a piece called Violets in the Shade from those. The scan really does not show how pretty the fabric is. I love this piece and can't wait to stitch on it again. I think this may well leave me itching to do a bigger mandala and my Mini Mandalas 1 chart should be here soon so it could be one of those! Who knows after that! Lol!

Seen as I'd finished page 3 of HAED Summer ACEO before the end of my rotation I decided to stitch a little bit more on Papillon Creations Serendipity on Friday night and I made a start on page 3. I got all the cross stitching done apart from the bit I'm stitching in metallic plus the queen stitches. These were much easier to do than the ones on Chatelaine Summer Afternoon! I am loving this piece so much. I might see if I can those metallic stitches added this week.

On Saturday, as I said, I received my Ebay win from Mindy at Sugar Maple Fabrics. The pieces are gorgeous and like they are all 28 count ( only one is marked as it). I received a COTM piece which is a beautiful greeny shade, Tree Tops which is blue ( had this before and it is lovely), Gelati which is a lovely mix of colours plus Violets in the Shade which I have already mentioned. I also received my silks from Vicki Clayton and they are so pretty. So that's my stash haul for now! I do have more to come soon:)

The 4th part of Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV was released yesterday and I'm sorry to say I'm not sure about this bit before I even start stitching it! lol! It's in the inner frame and it's a little girl with a cat in her arms with a doll and a church at her feet. I am sure it will be fine once it's stitched but it's not what I was expecting but it is a mystery! I might make a start on it sometime this week in an afternoon. Won't be this afternoon as I've been messing about too much on here and I haven't got any veg prepared for tea yet!

I must admit that I haven't had a particularly good weekend. Friday night I had the most awful feeling of sheer exhaustion that I have had difficulty shaking off. One thing I hate doing is having a sleep during the day so I keep going rather than stop but don't get a good nights sleep when I go bed. I can't win. Saturday the tearfullness crept in and yesterday it turned to anger, loneliness and all the rest of it. My DH said one or two things that upset me and made me realise that I'm not likely to get much, if any, support from him. I have been searching for an online support group where I can go and get my feelings aired etc but I can't find one that is as active as I would like in the UK so I have joined one that is USA based. On there I actually found a list of 34 Signs of the Menopause and out of those 34 I have had at least 24 of them over the past few years. I really wish I had found this before then at least I'd have had some idea and not felt like I was going mad. It's times like this that I miss my Mum all the more and I feel so alone. Now I just need to sort out a natural alternative to HRT!

That's it from me today. Sorry if I've bored you. Maybe I should put an alert up when I go off stitching mode:)

Monday Catch-up!

I finally made a start on Papillon Creations Serendipity and got parts 1 & 2 stitched. I had a real hard time trying to decide on what colours to use; I had thread boxes all over and decided and changed my mind over and over! Lol! Even Abi was trying to help and in the end it was her and Jess and myself who came up with a plan! I wanted to use at least one metallic in it and purple as I just that colours. So here is the result! What do you think? It is stitched on 32 count cream evenweave using DMC 550 & 3350 and Kreinik #4 braid in 005 ( black or as near as!). I am really pleased with the colour combination and am looking forward to doing the next bit when I get chance. As you can see if you look closely I am doing the speciality stitches.

This week in my rotation it is the turn of HEAD Quick Stitch Summer ACEO. I am hoping to get page 3 finished this week and get a good start on page 4 if I can. I really have the stitching bug right now so need to get on while I have it! I must get back to LHN Chocolate Shoppe this Wednesday afternoon as I haven't stitched on it for the past two Wednesdays.

I feel in dire need of some new stash, as I really need a pick-me-up, so am hoping I get some of the stuff I have on order this week. My DMC from JJ's arrived today but that was pretty boring really! Lol! My Vicki Clayton silks are on the way and I am guessing that my order from Mary Kathryn is too. Just waiting for Jayne to get the stuff I ordered in and that'll be all my lovely new stash! Oh and the fabric I won on Ebay from Sugar Maple Fabrics!

I had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday. I had breakfast in bed, cards from both the girls and DH plus some Yankee Candles from Jessica and a little teddy with a pink t-shirt on with I Love My Mum on it from Abi. I spent the day basically slobbing! Lol!

I have been for my blood tests today and have to wait a week for the results to come back! I did not take a sample in for a pregnancy test and explained to the nurse why so she added a note so that the doctor could see why! Lol! While I was out we had one hell of a flurry of snow although it didn't stick. The wind was really howling up down the main street of the town which make walking rather difficult as I was walking up the street! I should really have called in at my Dad's but I had to come straight home ( won't go into details) so will have to venture out again in a bit.

I have to stay in tomorrow morning as we're having a new windscreen put in the car. I may have to take DH to work depending on whether he can get a lift in with his brother; it very much depends on what his brother is doing. They both work at the same place but do different jobs and aren't always in at the same time. DH discovered a small crack in the windscreen last Thursday and it has gradually got bigger but we couldn't get anybody out to it until tomorrow. Fortunately our insurance covers it so we're not going to be in for a huge bill.

Well better go and venture out again and take my Dad the lettuce he wanted me to get him!