Some Stitching At Last!

As promised I am back with some stitchy progress pics! No more fabby colours for you to look at! Lol!

First up for today is last Wednesday's progress on HAED Letter J. I did finish page 2 but didn't stitch anymore on it as I had to grid the next page then couldn't be bothered to add anymore stitches to it so I'll make a start on that page tonight:)

SAL Symphony was the next piece I worked on after the PS design I've finished but can't show yet. Unfortunately this photo doesn't do it justice at all. Isa gave us parts 8 and 9 on Monday so once I've got those stitched I'll be ready to show you the whole piece finished!

Sunday I was back to Blackbird Designs Blessings and Wishes. I decided to make a start on the verse this time and got about half of it done. Next Sunday I may go back to the house and get more of that stitched.

Finally Monday and last night I stitched on Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas which I am still loving so much. I am getting on quite well with this. You never know I might have it finished by 1st December! Lol!

I picked Ink Circles Sea Stars up from the framers yesterday. It should have been ready a while ago but John didn't have the framing in stock so I had to wait a little while longer. I don't mind as it was well worth the wait. I'm afraid the photo isn't that good.

I have Abi off school ill at the moment. School rang me last Thursday lunchtime to say she was unwell and she hasn't been back since. She's had headaches, been dizzy, felt sick, hot and cold. Anyway yesterday I took her to the doctors. She saw a 5th year medical student ( he was really nice) and then one of the doctors from the surgery. Her glands are up, her tonsils are slightly swollen and she has a temperature so they came to the conclusion that she's fighting a viral infection. I can't see her being back at school before half term so I rang school today to ask for some work for her as we were both concerned about her getting behind. Poor girl has felt so ill and has been so worried about how she was feeling she's been in tears. Finger's crossed she's feeling well enough to enjoy half term.

Thank you for all your input on the fabrics for my MM&I SAL. I am either going to go for Snow Storm or Dusk in an opalescent. I think I'm going to email Tracey at Silkweaver just to ask her advice as I'm worried that white won't show up on Snow Storm. Then I need to work out how much I need as I want to make sure I have enough for tweaks etc!

I'm impatiently waiting the arrival of the Just Cross Stitch ornaments magazine at the ONS I've pre-ordered it from. I was being patient before but now I just want it here!! LOL! Looking back at my blog last year it arrived at the end of October so still a while to go yet:(

That's me for today! Hope you are all having a wonderful week. I'm going to catch up on blog reading for a while now and see what you've all been up to!

Hugs

Stitchy Updates and Good News!

I have no finishes to share today just some WIPS so I hope I don't bore you with these. Maybe one day I won't have so many biggies on the go so will have more finishes to share!

I made a good bit of progress on Blackbird Designs Blessings and Kind wishes on Sunday evening. I finished off all the greenery around the storks then started the green border at the top. Mmm I was a bit greened out by the time I'd done I must admit! Lol!

Mondays and Tuesdays are Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas evenings and I am so pleased with how I'm getting on with this. Having two evenings a week on it now means I am sure I can have it finished and on the wall in time for Christmas. I am near enough to having just one page left to stitch now.

I almost forgot part 6 of the Symphony SAL! I stitched this part up in one evening and now have part 7 downloaded and printed ready to make a start on later in the week. Unfortunately with it being dull now I haven't been able to get a true picture of the lovely colours in this.

I had a small new start last week but can't show it as it's for a little giftie for someone. Once I've finished it, made it up and it's arrived at it's destination I will share it then.

Now for the good news! Our new neighbours, after just about 6 weeks, did a moonlight flit on Monday night/ Tuesday morning! I cannot tell you how relieved we are and yesterday morning when I got up was the first time in weeks that I haven't felt like crying. We'd heard some noise in the garden around 7.30pm but thought nothing of it other than me hoping they were taking stuff to bits and leaving! Lol! Later on Abi was in her bedroom doing homework and came rushing downstairs to tell us that they were loading stuff up into a van! This went on until about 4am and they were even vaccuuming at 12am and 2am! Still the sleepless night was worth it this time with them gone! The landlord of the house came round last night and said I've got good news!! Lol! Of course we already knew they'd gone and were thinking about ringing him but he hadn't known until he'd gone to collect his rent. He said he didn't know whether to cry or be happy as she owed him some rent but he did admit it was a relief. When they'd had the party and other stuff he'd had people ringing him late at night complaining and he had warned her about it. Anyway please keep your finger's crossed that we get better neighbours this time as he's got several people in line for it. He said he'd guarantee the next ones would be better so I hope so! I've been talking to him again today as he's there cleaning up etc ( they left the garden a complete tip) so I took him a cuppa earlier.

Well that's it from me for today. Thank you to you all for your lovely comments on my stitcher's wallet. I have been using it as I have my threads and thread holder in it for A Quaker Christmas:)

Hugs

From a very relieved

Wednesday Update and Ramblings!

Well it's Wednesday already and we are all still very tired. More about that later!

First it's time to show a little bit of stitching. I completed part 5 of the Symphony SAL last week but forgot to post pictures. Part 6 is out and I'll be stitching on that later in the week. I did notice when I printed this part out that there were some French Knots on it that I hadn't seen on part 5 and when I looked I'd missed them! I might not add them on as I can't do French Knots very well!

Sunday I stitched on Blackbird Designs Blessings and Kind Wishes but did not get as much done as I would have liked because I was too busy sorting out buying a chart after seeing this on Yuko's blog for my MM&I neighbourhood. Yes it's another Little House Needleworks Winter chart and one which is being sold for a very good cause. I know when I contacted Gigi she did not have many left so I was very lucky to be able to buy one and am eagerly awaiting it's arrival so I can finalise my neighbourhood. Anyway I'm gone off track here so here's my little bit of progress on Blessings and Kind Wishes.

Monday and last night I stitched on Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas and would have made more progress than I did had the frog not visited last night! Thankfully I did manage to frog and restitch and do a bit more too. I suppose I shouldn't stitch when this tired but it helps me relax. My aim was to get this page finished but it didn't happen!

I have had some lovely post over the last few days. Monday I received an RAK from Karan. She sent me some lovely green Christmassy fabric that I had been admiring on her blog. I know exactly what I am going to do with it ( well some of it) so watch this space ( it'll be a while yet though!). Thank you so much Karan {{{{hugs}}}}. Today I received the new LHN, Holly and Berries, that I bought from Mary Kathryn for my neighbourhood as well as some lovely scissors ( you'll have seen these on Staci's and Carol's blogs) which I bought off Ebay. These are to go in my stitcher's wallet when I get it made up. I've got all the fabby cut etc but just need to stitch it all up. The seller is rosa0537 if anyone is interested. Lastly Andrea was offering some things up for trade so I traded for Just Nan When Barnabee Met Bella biscornu chart and embellishments and fabric for stitching it on and that also arrived today. Thanks for a great trade Andrea. This will be one of my projects for 2009. I don't feel so bad trading instead of buying!

I now need to get myself sorted with fabric for my neighbourhood and for the BP SAL but I have to get my neighbourhood planned properly first. Once I get the UNICEF LHN chart from Gigi I can get that done properly then decide on fabric. I wasn't going to buy it just yet but I have decided to do so before the credit crunch bites our butts badly then no more buying for me unless it's really needed for something I'm stitching. I will use fabric I have rather than buy after that. I was going to get the tiny pack for the Victoria Sampler design in The Gift of Stitching as I'd love to stitch it one day but decided to sub it all instead. It's getting incredibly scary now with the situation worldwide but we just need to get on and not worry too much and hope there's an upturn soon.

After the neighbour's party on Friday evening we went to bed on Saturday night and all was quiet so we thought we were in for a good night's sleep. Talk about being lulled into a fasle sense of security. I woke up at 3am and there was quite a lot of noise then the loud music started! Yes I did say 3am! Thankfully it wasn't as loud as it was on Friday night but even so it's not on. We did drop off to sleep so I don't think it can have gone on long. I did hear someone shouting of the dogs ( the dogs are another story!) so they must have got out and been wandering the street ( two rottweilers). It's been quiet since so finger's crossed that's it until the next time there's a birthday or something. So I have been really tearful again these past few days and I seem to be listening for the slightest noise. I often think I can hear music but there's nothing! They do sometimes play it loud during the day. I think I am seriously losing it.

I'm way behind on blogs again so my apologies but I will get around to them eventually. Thank you for continuing to visit me and for all your lovely comments.

Hugs

In Progress

I have been having a good few evenings stitching and I have even ( you better sit down for this) started this month's S&S SAL challenge which is Windy Willows Noel. Reveal day is Saturday so I need to get a move on, get it finished and made up! I've got about half of it stitched but can't show it until Saturday:)

I have finished my biscornu for the private Autumn colours biscornu exchange which Hazel organised. It's all packed up ready to post next week so I can't show that until it's been received.

I do still have some stitching to show though so this post is not a waste of time! I stitched on the Symphony SAL and got caught up with part 3 then part 4 came out so I decided not to show it until I'd finished that which I did while I was eating my lunch! This is looking so pretty so far and I can't wait to see what's in store for us in part 5.

Sundays, as you know, are Blackbird Designs evenings so out came Blessings and Kind Wishes. The frog visited so I was not too pleased but I did get that bit ripped out and re-stitched. I like how this is looking so far.

Last night I had quite a good evening on Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas. I now have just over two pages to stitch on this but one is only about half a page. Once I get the S&S SAL challenge done I'm going to stitch on this for the rest of the week instead of starting something small and try and get a lot more done so that I can be on track to finish it for Christmas.

I have been trying to plan my neighbourhood for the MM&I SAL but ended up getting very frustrated and close to throwing in the towel! I decided to have a go at importing the images into Photoshop and having a play with them ( with Jessica's help as I just can't get the hang of using it) but nothing I did looked right. Anyway I had another go and feel a bit better about it now but I think I shall wait now until I get the rest of the charts I want to use.

Friday afternoon I had a visit from Chris and it was lovely to see her again. I enjoy our meet-ups as we get on really well. We had a drink, a slice of cake and a natter and it was a lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon.

I am happy to say that I am feeling a bit happier in myself. I'm not crying or feeling like crying as much as I did although I do still get times when the low feeling just overwhelms me. I have got "itchy feet" and kind of want to move but after 20 years of living here and having done a lot of work on it I don't really want to, if you understand what I mean. We can't afford to move anyway so unless we have a win on the lottery we can't! Lol! We've more or less got the house how we want it and for all it's not a perfect house it's still ours. Well it will be once the mortgage is paid off in a few years!! I just feel that we live too close to my FIL and with me not working at the moment he just thinks he can come round when he's bored and has nothing to do regardless of what I'm doing and I get so fed-up of it. I'm afraid I did say something about it one day and it came out all wrong but this is my trouble as I keep it all in and then when someone says something it all comes out how it shouldn't! On the neighbour front it hasn't been too bad of late.

Well that's all for today. I'll be stitching on Ink Circles Sea Stars tonight and hoping to get thet HUGE motif done and dusted! Thank you for your visits and your wonderful comments. I'll be catching up on blogs as soon as I've published this:)

Hugs

Symphony SAL

I stitched part 2 of the Symphony SAL over the last two nights and also frogged the large speciality stitches in the first part and restitched those as I wasn't happy with them. I think this is really pretty so far and I am so pleased I chose this colourway for it. The fabric I am using is Silkweaver 28 count cashel linen in Tuttie Fruitie.

I think I have the charts picked out that I want to use for my MM&I SAL I am not sure just how I'm going to place each house/cottage as yet, or what else I will have on it, and will have a play around once I get all the charts together. I do have a couple of ideas ( one of those thanks to Marianne!) so planning should be fun! Lol!

I picked my new reading glasses up from Specsavers this morning. They feel really strange at the moment as I have a slightly stronger prescription again this time and my left eye needed more than my right! Hopefully I won't be too long before I get used to them.

Just a short post today! Have a fantastic weekend everyone. Hope the weather is something like where you are. It's warm here but dull and misty.

Hugs

Stitching the Week Away!

Well it's a miserable day here today. It's dull and raining and rather chilly too! I don't think I'll be doing much today as I feel as though I'm going down with cold. I'm sat here freezing one minute then too hot the next!

I have had rather a good week so far on the stitching front. I think I'm throwing myself into it to take my mind off other stuff! I've got back to all the bits I missed last week so first up here's Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas. I'm not so sure now that this will be finished for Christmas! I mean it's September already and I still have several pages to go yet ( lots of motifs!) but we shall see. I do feel that I've made good progress for the amount of time I've been stitching on it.

Tuesday was Ink Circles Sea Stars evening and I am still hoping to have this finished for the end of September so that gives me 4 more Tuesdays! Mmmmm can I do it! I'm still on the big motif but it went well and I did manage to get a good bit done.

Wednesday is the QS/ SK/ TT SAL on the HAED forum so out came Letter J. This is such a doddle to stitch with the blocks of colour and I just love it!

I have had a new start this week; well actually two! NO! I hear you say! I signed up for a SAL which started Monday and I think it runs for 9 weeks. It's called Symphony and you could pick between about 5 different colourways and I chose mauve. This is this week's part completed. The purple bits in the tree are supposed to be French Knots but me and French Knots are not the best of friends so I did Smyrnas instead!

My other new start is one I can't show as it's for the Autumn colours biscornu exchange so you'll have to wait to see that when it's been received by my partner in about a month:) Anyway it's stitching up rather nicely so far.

Thank you to everyone who left hugs, good wishes etc on my loneliness at the girls going back to school and the new neighbours and especially to Gillie and Wendy who emailed me. I am doing a bit better now about everything. I knew I'd be something like once I got settled again after the girls had gone back to school. I do usually struggle for a while but for some reason this year has been terrible. I was very brave and only shed a few tears when they left for school on Wednesday morning. They both seem to have settled in OK now although there were a few hiccups on the first day and Abi did come home in tears but it's a long story so I won't go into details here but I did ring school yesterday and have also written them a letter. Nothing serious just to do with some lessons her year had to choose. Jess' timetable was wrong ( well all the students who are taking chemistry didn't have it on their timetable), again a bit of a long story, and was supposed to now be right but it looks as though hers wasn't and she had to go out in a rush this morning. Finger's crossed she made it in time! I won't say anything about the neighbours as you never know who's reading but I will say we are keeping ourselves to ourselves!

That's it from me for today. Hope everyone has a good weekend. Thank you to everyone for your comments and visits. Your kind words mean the world to me:)

Hugs