Is It Monday Again?

I didn't have a deal to show last week and with it being half term I haven't really had much time to blog so here I am with a couple of things made up and a WIP to share:)

First off these are the two treat bags I made for the girls using San Man Originals I Love Treats. I have now passed the chart on to Kay who is a member of the SMO board and mad about Halloween! Unfortunately, as always, my picture is rubbish! They are now filled with a mixture of Halloween chocolates from Thorntons and our local Co-op! I enjoyed making these up although I find it a bit hit and miss working out measurements! Lol!

Once I'd got the second I Love Treats stitched I decided I really needed to make a start on The Cat's Whiskers Heartstrings, which is an absolutely gorgeous design which can either be framed or made into a bourse and I am doing the latter with mine; twice! I always find it difficult to come up with something that bit different to buy DH's aunties at Christmas, as they are both in their 80's, so thought a little bourse would be nice and maybe put some chocolates or perfume in them. So this is my progress on my first one:) This is delightful to stitch and I would recommend this chart to anyone as it's so well presented and the instructions for the bourse are so straightforward:)

So this week I am back to Heaven and Earth Designs Winter ( artist Sara Butcher) and I am hoping to make some decent progress this week. It's ages since I picked her up and I feel quite guilty that it's a year since I started her and I've only got two and a half pages done. I really need to get on with her or I'll never have her finished by the time I'm 50!! Lol! If I am lucky and get my finger out I should finish page 3 this week and maybe even make a start on page 4!

As I said last week I think I can well and truly say now that I am off the chart wagon and I can say that even more so this week! I needed something for the ornament I'm stitching in Simone's exchange and as there is no half decent LNS here I knew I'd have to order it online. Well I couldn't just order this little thing from Sew and So for £1 postage could I so I also ordered the Just Nan Christmas Biscornu! Naughty, naughty Sally! I am so pleased I ordered it though as it is absolutely beautiful and I would love to have it stitched for display this Christmas. Having said that I am not entirely sure that I'd want to put it away anyway! So here's a piccie of my recent chart acquisitions! In the piccie you can Needleprint Sarah Moon's Quaker Sampler, Just Nan Christmas Biscornu and With My Needle Quaker Hornbook.

My final picture is of the lovely Christmas fabric and ribbon I received from Yuko I sent her the La D Da Rose freebie chart when I had finished it as she liked it so much and in return this is what she sent me! I was so touched that she'd sent me these and both the ribbon and fabric are just gorgeous. Thank you Yuko! {{{{hugs}}}} Go have a look at Yuko's blog if you have a minute as she does the most gorgeous stitching and finishing:)

Lisa, Jane, Tracy, Chris and I are getting prepared for our Quaker RR which we are starting in January! I have ordered my chart ( With My Needle Ackworth Friendship Book) from a ONS I have used before but my order is still processing after nearly a week, which has never happened before. I've usually received my order within a few days so I'm hoping that it's just half term that's holding things up. I have contacted them to see if it'll be posted soon as I really don't want to be messing about at the last minute if I find I'm not going to have the chart in time.

I just wanted to say thank you for all your good wishes for Abi. Thankfully the third lot of antibiotics did the trick and she's now just about back to normal. Her voice still goes croaky now and then but she's certainly a whole lot better:)

We had a quiet, relaxing half term with just a couple of days out. Jess went with her friend to Hull on Wednesday so we decided we'd go as well so that we then go to Meadowhall in Sheffield another day and Jess could come with us. We wanted to have a look in the new St Stephen's shopping centre in Hull but I can't say that I was all that impressed really. Yes the shops that are in there are huge and very roomy but there aren't really that many of them. It doesn't look as though it's completely finished yet and there are some spaces to be filled as yet. Friday we went to Meadowhall and there are more shops than ever now! We arrived at 10.30am and left at just before 6pm and were absolutely tired out! We didn't buy much but we enjoyed ourselves looking round and I think the girls got a few ideas of what they would like for Christmas! I did buy DH a Christmas present but he's not allowed to have it until Christmas much to his disgust!

As planned we went to see the film Stardust:) Well I have to say that if you get the chance to go see this film, do! It is absolutely magical and I loved it from beginning to end and would happily watch it again:) I will admit to having tears in my eyes at the end for all it wasn't a sad ending but an incredibly beautiful one.

Just found this Heroes Personality Test on Nicki's blog so had to have a go! We love Heroes in our house and never miss an episode.

Your Score: Matt Parkman

You scored 58 Idealism, 29 Nonconformity, 20 Nerdiness

I don't want to be a chump.Congratulations, you're Matt Parkman! You're a great person: caring, hard-working, and honest. You might not have the best of luck, but you do your best in all areas of life. Your kind and responsible nature is rare, and you should be proud of it. Your best quality: Heart Your worst quality: You may take more abuse than you deserve

Link: The Heroes Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

That's my blogging for today:) Looking forward to receiving the JCS Ornament issue this week along with Ink Circles Sea Stars from Jayne's Attic then I'll be all set for some reading and drooling over the ornaments and ready for my SAL with Karen in January:)

Oops while I remember I was tagged by Michelle I have to list 7 things about myself. I have done this before so will try and list 7 different things if I can!

1. When I was little I had a dog named Sandy.
2. I love budgies. My Dad used to breed them.
3. I wanted to be a linguist and took French and Spanish at O level.
4. I love Winter.
5. My first job was in a caravan and camping accessory showroom. I hated keeping the caravans clean, especially after my boss and his wife and taken one on holiday!
6. For the first few years I was married I didn't want children. So pleased I changed my mind:)
7. I have suffered from depression twice ( once postnatally)

I won't tag anybody this time:)

I Love Treats

I sat down last night and got one stitched piece done for the girls' treat bags! Well it wasn't diificult as it's a San Man Originals simple design so it didn't take a lot of stitching:) This is I Love Treats which I won in a contest on the SMO board a looooong time ago. It had the leftover threads with it but I chose to sub them for a couple of DMC flouresents as well the glow in the dark and a GAST. So here's the result stitched on 28 count Sugar Maple Fabrics Howling at the Moon. The scan doesn't show the how bright the colours are though. I will stitch up another one before I make them up into bags.

Lisa and I were chatting on MSN last night and she was saying that if she got her 10 hours done on School of Dolphins she was make a start on the Autumn Pinkeep from the September issue of The Gift of Stitching. I said I'd seen quite a few stitched up and thought it was lovely so she asked if I'd like to join her so I am doing:) We're starting it tonight ( finger's crossed!) so I'm really looking forward to it. For all we've been online stitching buddies for ages we've never actually done a SAL together so this is an ideal opportunity to do one.

We also got chatting about Quaker samplers and I said I'd seen a lovely RR ( and I can't for the life of me remember whose blog it was !) with Samplers and Such Quaker Style Friendship Sampler. Anyway this led us to thinking about some sort of RR with a quaker design and Lisa came up with this fantastic idea of doing one with the With My Needle accordion-style books with Quaker motifs which can be seen here and here The idea would be that each page was stitched by a friend, who could add their initials to the page, other than the back and front which would be stitched by the person the piece belonged to. Each person could pick either of the designs for their RR and pick their own threads and fabric. Now neither of us have ever done an RR before so we would appreciate some advice on how to set an RR up etc if possible. So we would love to know if anybody in the UK ( sorry but as it'll be our first RR we thought we'd stick to the UK for now) would be interested. We would need at least three more people ( that would mean each person stitching two pages) to make it work. Lisa has decided on A Quaker Pattern Book and I have decided on Ackworth Friendship Book The Quaker Pattern Book is stitched one over one on 28 count. The Friendship Book is stitched on 36 count fabric over two but once I get the chart and see what size the book is I will probably stitch on 32 or 28 count. As the Quaker Pattern Book is over one we would say only evenweave fabric if you are going to be stitching over one as linen is awful to stitch on over one! I do hope all this makes sense! We are thinking of starting it in the New Year. If there are no takers Lisa and I will do this between us. Please email me ( it's in my profile) if you would be interested or if you can give us with any tips on how to set this RR up. Any help would be greatly appreciated:)

Have a good weekend everybody:) Thank you for visiting my blog and for all your wonderful comments. I'm going to catch up with yours now:)

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.

Sunday Update

Well I finally got my sewing machine out yesterday afternoon, although it was a bit of a waste bringing it down as I only did one piece! Lol! The other two I did didn't need the machine but never mind. At least I got some bits done!

So first off this is Abi's San Man Originals Home is Where the Heart Is. It has been in her stitching box for absolutely ages and when I made my first couple of pinkeeps she decided that's how she wanted it making up! I used plain black fabric for the back and silver, white and purple pins ( purple to match the purple spider) and black ribbon. She is really pleased with it and now has it on a shelf in her bedroom.

Next this is Little House Needleworks Pine Tree Hill. I wanted to finish it as it had been in the Just Cross Stitch magazine but I think I cut my felt a bit too small or sewed too big a seam allowance on it as the piece ended up onlu just fitting on. I still have a hanger to sew on as I didn't have any ribbon or cord in red. It seems a shame to just hang it at Christmas so it might end up on display all year round!

Lastly this one was a very quick stitch I did one afternoon. Some of you may know my favourite wild bird is a robin so I stitched the Elzabeth's Designs freebie The First Robin of Spring, although I did stitch more red in it than the chart actually had! I had a coaster which Carol ( cc45 on the SMO board) sent me for one of my wishes so I decided to mount it in that. It is stitched on an ornament cut of 28 count Sassy's Fabby in Sunburst Yellow Pearl.

HAED quick stitch Dragonette is coming along quite well this week, although I didn't stitch on it at all on Friday evening then last night I was all set to stitch on it whilst watching Dr Who but I had to watch it first then start stitching! *sigh* I love David Tennant *sigh* Er yes anyway I am hoping to get one last evening on her tonight before I move onto the last piece in my rotation which is Papillon Creations Serendipity. I shall stick to the rotation I have as it has worked really well and given me a lot more incentive to work on my HAEDS with stitching something else inbetween. I won't be adding anything else this time unless I finish something and I could well finish Papillon Creations Simple Little Quaker.

Just one more week and Jess will have finished her exams, thank God! She's got five this week and I think she's really looking forward to her Chemistry one! Lol! She received her 6th From acceptance letter this last week so now she just needs to have got the grades she needs for the subjects she's taking. Abi's review day is towards the end of the month so I need to write in her planner the time I prefer to see her group tutor. Last time it was really a waste of time but they hadn't been there long then so this one might be a bit more productive!

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. I'll be back in a day or so with my progress on Dragonette, hopefully!

My First No Sew Cube.

I finally plucked up the courage to try a No Sew Cube this weekend. Lisa said she got her polystyrene at B&Q ( thanks for the tip Lisa!) and we had to go on Sunday as one of the drawer runners in the kitchen had breathed it's last so I got some while we there. I decided to make the San Man Originals double maniac design, Dream a Little Dream, that I finished a while ago into one so here it is. I am rather pleased with my first attempt as it was so easy to do. I will definitely be trying more of these. I really need to get some stuff finished up. I have Christmas ornaments from a SAL I did two years ago to make up yet!

I had a brilliant last few days on Just Nan Spring in the Air and am delighted with what I achieved on it. As you can see I did bands 1 to 5 and made a small start on band 6. I am hoping the rabbits in band 6 show up better once I get them completely stitched. I will see what they are like then I may just backstitch round them to make them show up better.

This week it's the turn of Heaven and Earth Designs quick Stitch Dragonette in my rotation. I managed quite a few stitches last night so, finger's crossed, I just might get 10 rows finished tonight and move onto the next 10. I stitch on 10 rows at a time across one page as I find this the easiest way with HAEDs. I am determined to have another HAED finish soon but will it be Dragonette or Summer?!

I am now officially stitching from my chart stash until 1st December so I'll be ready for a treat by then! Lol! I will admit that I have never done particularly well on "the wagon" so if I look at it as stitching from chart stash it might not seem so bad. Chris, Nicola, Gill and Claire are keeping me company so let's see how we do! Good luck girls!

I just knew it was too good to be true! The other day I was saying that I'd felt better than I had in a long time. Yeah right, smash, bang, wallop and I'm feeling yuck again! Same symptoms I've had over and over before so I just say nothing, plod on, look happy blah blah blah! I've had restless sleep for a couple of nights with some very vivid dreams. In one my Dad was a withered up little old man, refusing to listen to the doctor then had a huge fall and I'm there trying to pick him up. My Dad is 78 but in this dream he looked so much older. In another I am in a hospital and my brother is on the floor having a heartattack. The medics can't get his heart going so they open him up there and then and massage his heart. Next thing he's stood in front of me like nothing had happened, no scars, nothing, giving me a hug. The weird thing is I don't have a brother but in the dream I'm screaming don't let my brother die! My dreams don't usually bother me but I must admit that these two did shake me a bit. Must be my age I think! Lol!

We had a bit of a clear out in the loft on Saturday and took loads of stuff to the local Lion's charity shop, lots of boxes and stuff to the tip and three bags full of girls clothes to my sister-in-law for her girls to go through! Abi had gone through the bags and picked out what she wanted that would still fit her ( they we Jessica's) so is now very happy with all the trousers and jeans she found! She's growing so fast heightwise that we just can't keep up with her!

Hope the weather is good where you are. It's much nicer than it has been here and the sun is shining. The birds have been having a field day in the garden searching for bugs in the bushes and worms in the grass. I love watching them!

Off to get some lunch now then catch up with all your blogs while I eat:) Thank you for dropping by and for all the lovely comments you leave. I love reading them.