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

It's Nearly December!

First of all I must apologise for my double post last time. I have no idea what happened and by the time I realised there were two the same I had comments on both so didn't want to delete one! I know I edited my post but it shouldn't have duplicated it so I can only assume it was a Blogger hitch! I will check if I edit a post in future! 

I have been trying to get more done on the pieces I have started rather than having more new starts in the last couple of weeks so I've stitched a bit more on HAED Mini Jolly Old Fellow. I just love how he is looking.

My November ornament is finished but oh do I wish I'd chosen different fabric as the snowflakes don't show up very well.

Swallick Stitchery

Waiting for Santa

36 count lakeside Linens Vintage Buttercream

GAST & DMC

I have finished two ornaments for private exchanges but will show those once they have been received in December.

The end is in sight on my BBD AotH! The bonus is just about finished then I have the personalisation to do on 3 blocks! I'll be getting the disco ball out and having a huge happy dance when it is finished I can tell you!

I am also fairly close to a page finish on my HAED SK Dragons History. There are a fair few colour changes on this so it might still take me a few weeks!

Finally my progress on Sotto La Neve. This is just so pretty. Lots of snow to stitch on this!

A while ago lovely Gaynor of Stitchers Anon was having a giveaway on her Facebook page and I was one of the 20 ( yes 20!) lucky winners. Here is what I received. Aren't they brilliant?! I was so tempted to start Marley Was Dead as I've just started reading A Christmas Carol but I think it'll be one on the list for next year now. Thank you so much Gaynor.

It's not long now until December and I will have a few SALs going then. I will be stitching my final Christmas ornament for 2016 with Barb and Chris as well as keeping going with my HAED SAL with Lisa. Then I will have December SALs with Chris and Barb so a nice, busy stitchy December!  My HAED  SAL with Lisa will carry on into 2017 and beyond. I am planning on keeping up with my ornaments and am wondering if Chris and Barb will join me again. Another stitching friend who I have known many years is SALing with me too on the ornaments.

I have joined a Stitch from Stash group on Facebook for the first half of 2017. It works very much like the one Mel ran the other year with a monthly budget which we choose ourselves up to the equivalent of $25 so I have gone for £20 which is what xe.com converts $25 to. We also get credit for finishes and each month's balance is carried forward to the next month. I am hoping to do well with it  but decided on £20 just in case I see something I can't live without. I am still toying with signing up for the Country Cottage Needleworks Snow Place Like Home series  but I'll see! That might be a birthday or Christmas to myself!

There weren't many takers for the Frightful Halloween chart with leftover threads but I have chosen a winner and it is Mary! Congratulations Mary! Please email me your address and I'll get it in the post to you :).

That's all my news for now. Next month is going to be a stitch filled month as well as my birthday, my sister's wedding and of course Christmas! I have finally managed to get a dress for the wedding  but also need something to wear over it as it'll be chilly!

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxx

A Little Bit of Halloween

Yep I know Halloween is gone but I didn't get a post done before to show my finished Shepherd's Bush roll so, without further ado, here it is!

Shepherd's Bush Frightful Halloween Roll

Stitched using fabric and threads in the kit.

I just LOVE how this turned out. Of course those of you who have been visiting me for a long time will know my love of SB rolls and how many I have stitched over the years! So this one has now been added to my 2 baskets full of SB rolls! Thank you to my dearest friend Barb for gifting me the kit. Barb also stitched it so do pop on over to her blog and have a look :)

Anyway I'd like to pass the chart and leftover threads onto someone else now so if you'd like to stitch it and then pass it on to someone else please just say so in your comments.

I don't have any other finishes to show as the only other one I have is for a private ornament exchange. I'm also on with stitching another ornament for another private exchange that I do each year. I can, however, show my start on my November ornament. I had to do this one didn't I?! It's Swallick Stitchery Waiting for Santa from this year's JCS ornament mag. This one is so cute! 

No new sheepy SAL start as I've been trying to concentrate on getting the ornament for the exchanges done and I'm not sure if I'll start again now until after Christmas. There are so many lovely Winter/ Christmas charts in my stash that I always want to get done and never seem to so I'd like to maybe get at least one stitched but we shall see. Chris and I will be starting our December SAL soon ( can you believe it is only a few weeks to December?!) and I want to keep up with my HAED stitching so it'll depend on what time I have. Barb and I are going to be SALing throughout December too on Cross Eyed Cricket Winter. Barb had ordered the chart then realised she already had it so is kindly passing one onto me so we SAL :)

So I've made some really good progress on the bonus block of my AotH piece. I am desperately hoping to finish it this month. I still have to finish some personalisation on a couple of blocks especially as I decided to unpick the name on the August block as I think it will look better over 1! 

I am loving how Sotto La Neve is looking. Just looks as those sweet deer under the tree! I'm really pleased that I chose this fabric to stitch it on. I think it is perfect! 

Onto my HAEDs now. Mini Jolly Old Fellow is growing slowly but surely. I now know that there is no way he is going to be finished for Christmas but I am very happy at the progress I've made this year. When you consider all I had done at the beginning on the year was a few rows of the first page and now I have finished 4 pages! If I had stitched solely on it it would have been finished now but I can't be a one at a time girl anymore as I'd get bored!

Finally SK A Dragons History. Isn't he a cute dragon!

Typing of HAED they have just had a quick more or less 24 hour sale of 50% off and guess what?! I didn't buy anything!! That is several sales I have resisted so I am very proud of myself! I figure I'll stick at finishing the two I'm stitching then when they're done Guardian will come out again and I'll start another small one. I have way more than I'll ever stitch in my lifetime! 

That's all my news for now. Hope you are all well and keeping warm where it is cold and cool where it is warm! I was hoping we would get some snow here during the week but we didn't. Some parts of the country were lucky enough to get some but not here. I just hope we're not going to have a mild, wet Winter again. It's so depressing!

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxx

A Little Bit of Halloween

Yep I know Halloween is gone but I didn't get a post done before to show my finished Shepherd's Bush roll so, without further ado, here it is!

Shepherd's Bush Frightful Halloween Roll

Stitched using fabric and threads in the kit.

I just LOVE how this turned out. Of course those of you who have been visiting me for a long time will know my love of SB rolls and how many I have stitched over the years! So this one has now been added to my 2 baskets full of SB rolls! Thank you to my dearest friend Barb for gifting me the kit. Barb also stitched it so do pop on over to her blog and have a look :)

Anyway I'd like to pass the chart and leftover threads onto someone else now so if you'd like to stitch it and then pass it on to someone else please just say so in your comments. 

I don't have any other finishes to show as the only other one I have is for a private ornament exchange. I'm also on with stitching another ornament for another private exchange that I do each year. I can, however, show my start on my November ornament. I had to do this one didn't I?! It's Swallick Stitchery Waiting for Santa from this year's JCS ornament mag. This one is so cute! 

No new sheepy SAL start as I've been trying to concentrate on getting the ornament for the exchanges done and I'm not sure if I'll start again now until after Christmas. There are so many lovely Winter/ Christmas charts in my stash that I always want to get done and never seem to so I'd like to maybe get at least one stitched but we shall see. Chris and I will be starting our December SAL soon ( can you believe it is only a few weeks to December?!) and I want to keep up with my HAED stitching so it'll depend on what time I have. Barb and I are going to be SALing throughout December too on Cross Eyed Cricket Winter. Barb had ordered the chart then realised she already had it so is kindly passing one onto me so we SAL :)

So I've made some really good progress on the bonus block of my AotH piece. I am desperately hoping to finish it this month. I still have to finish some personalisation on a couple of blocks especially as I decided to unpick the name on the August block as I think it will look better over 1! 

I am loving how Sotto La Neve is looking. Just looks as those sweet deer under the tree! I'm really pleased that I chose this fabric to stitch it on. I think it is perfect! 

Onto my HAEDs now. Mini Jolly Old Fellow is growing slowly but surely. I now know that there is no way he is going to be finished for Christmas but I am very happy at the progress I've made this year. When you consider all I had done at the beginning on the year was a few rows of the first page and now I have finished 4 pages! If I had stitched solely on it it would have been finished now but I can't be a one at a time girl anymore as I'd get bored!

Finally SK A Dragons History. Isn't he a cute dragon!

Typing of HAED they have just had a quick more or less 24 hour sale of 50% off and guess what?! I didn't buy anything!! That is several sales I have resisted so I am very proud of myself! I figure I'll stick at finishing the two I'm stitching then when they're done Guardian will come out again and I'll start another small one. I have way more than I'll ever stitch in my lifetime! 

That's all my news for now. Hope you are all well and keeping warm where it is cold and cool where it is warm! I was hoping we would get some snow here during the week but we didn't. Some parts of the country were lucky enough to get some but not here. I just hope we're not going to have a mild, wet Winter again. It's so depressing!

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxx