Prize FROM Christine and Other Stuff!

I have lots to show you today! Lol! First of all postie came with an envelope for me from Christine. I won her blogoversary draw a while ago and just look at this beauty that was inside :) She said in her note "better late than never" and let me tell you this was well worth waiting for :) Thank you so much Christine, I absolutely love it! Email on the way:)

I decided I wanted to stitch up a little RAK for Barb earlier in the week. Barb is a wonderful friend who always has kind words, lifts my spirits and has sent me needleroll charts and also kindly sent me SB Emmanuel's Song. Now I know she is a keen reader so I decided to stitch the Victoria Sampler Friends Count bookmark for her and now I know she has received it and loves it I can show it here.

Victoria Sampler Friends Count Little Learning Bookmark

28 count evenweave

DMC threads

Started 24th May 2010

Finished 26th May 2010

RAK for Barb

As I said in another post I made a start on Drawn Thread Spot of Spring and intend on trying my hand at a mattress pinkeep with Lisa. Well the stitching is now finished, I have the back stitched with my initials and year so now I just have to work out how big I need the sides then when Lisa is ready we'll have a go at putting them together! I really enjoyed stitching this and can't wait to do the others.

Drawn Thread A Spot of Spring

28 count evenweave

DMC

Started 18th May 2010

Finished 26th May 2010

My final finish for this post is The Sampler Girls At Home With Jane Austen the SAL I have been doing with Barb, Lesleyanne, Hazel and Tracy. This has been such a joy to stitch and I look forward to stitching more of Tanya's designs. I think I'll be saving up to have this one framed. Thank you so much ladies for SALing with me:)

The Sampler Girl At Home With Jane Austen

36 count flax linen

DMC and Crescent Colours

Started 9th April 2010

Finished 27th May 2010

You will not believe this but yesterday afternoon I was feeling pretty fed-up with myself. Thursday afternoon I started to feel unwell and was really peeved as I was supposed to be visiting Chris yesterday but had to cancel because of that. Then yesterday I had one of those stupid headaches that are something and nothing but made me feel yuck! If that makes sense. I just wanted a quiet afternoon and had a sudden urge to pick Chatelaine Spring Morning up. By the time it came to preparing something for tea I really did not want to put it down! So here's my progress and I think it'll be coming out more often now.

I am hoping to get block 5 finished on CHS SoHRH tonight. This is last weeks progress so I have done more since this piccie. I am really enjoying this block but not looking forward to the biggie that I'll be moving onto next!

My final WIP is, of course, Just a Thought Sampler Garden Casket and here is the finished casket top. I love these bunnies! I'll be making a start on the casket bottom tomorrow, fingers crossed!

Just a reminder that there is still time to enter the giveaway in my previous post. I will drawing a winner on Monday :)

Finally my stitching plans for next month will, hopefully, see HAED Guardian being stitched on regularly again as Lisa and I are having our own UFO night again this time on Wednesdays. I really feel the need to get back to this again as I need a guardian angel of my own:) lol!

I hope everyone in the UK has a wonderful bank holiday weekend. It's typical bank holiday weather as it's raining and a bit chilly! And to all my friends in the US have a safe Memorial Day:)

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally xx

Bored!

I have been so bored these past couple of days. The headache I had returned, much to my annoyance, and by Monday evening I was so fed-up I was in tears. My DH was angry that I hadn't been to the doctors so I finally went today. I now have some pills especially for migraine but he also wants to check my hormone levels again as it's about a year since they were done last. He thinks I could be in menopause now which could be causing headaches but if I'm honest I'm still not convinced. I go Monday to have blood taken and once the results come back he wants to discuss HRT with me, but I really don't want to take it. However feeling the way I do a lot of the time I know I'm going to have to do something.

Anyway enough of that! I haven't done any stitching as yet this week so no Queen or Sea Stars updates ( sorry) but I do have some bits to show you from the latter end of last week. First off I stitched Victoria Sampler International Heart England, one of my goals for this year. This was so quick and simple, I really didn't have to think too much about it. I finished it off as an ornament with a ruched ribbon edge but this didn't go quite to plan as I was going to use three lots of ribbon but ended up only using one as it was too thick. The heart isn't that brilliant either as I haven't quite got the hang of stitching them up yet!

Friday is my Blackbird Designs day so here's the progress I made on Where My Heart Blooms from last Friday. I love this piece. Still stitching on the house but finger's crossed I might get that finished this Friday evening.

Thursday and Saturday I stitched a bit on Chatelaine Spring Morning but then I hit a snag which put me off a bit. I started stitching the over one flower panel but couldn't work out what one the symbols was on the middle two panels. Nothing on the key looked anything like it and none of the threads in my kits matched the colour of the photo! So I posted on the Yahoo support group and was told it was Anchor Marlitt Pale Yellow. OK that would be fine but that is not on my key or in my kit so I posted that and was told to use DMC 307. Now I'm using all silks for this so didn't really want to use plain DMC for it. I emailed the designer and was told the same. I was also a bit mad that the thread wasn't on my list nor was the symbol in my key and, apparently, the designer knows this and the thread is left out of the kit because the design doesn't use much of it! As it is I am sorted as my local arts and crafts shop had some DMC 307 in their new Satin range so at least it will match up with the silks. So not much progress as I didn't feel like stitching on it Sunday.

I have S&S/ Jayne's Attic monthly SAL challenge to start yet. We are stitching Blue Ribbon Designs Alphabet Tree, a freebie which is no longer available but Belinda is kindly allowing the ladies taking part to use it so thank you Belinda. I have my threads and fabric sorted though!

I have had a go at dying some fabric for Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas:) I "stole" some 25 count I had been using for something else and popped it in some coffee overnight. It came out much paler than I expected and I did not get the mottled effect I wanted so today I've dabbed coffee mixture on it here and there and am going to let it dry a bit before I rinse it. Finger's crossed it turns OK!

Sue the fabric I'm using I'm Queen is Polstitches Dusky Rose and I'm using DMC.

Well I am going to catch up on a few blogs now but please forgive me if I don't get around to everybody I usually comment on for a few days. I don't want to risk staying on too long and aggravating my head. I haven't forgotten you all:) I hope you're all staying here in the UK as we are battered yet again by heavy rain and high winds. It's awful here today but I think we are lucky compared to some areas.
Hugs

Earthquake & Stitching

I was woken this morning at 1am and thought someone was shaking the bed. Then I realised the house was shaking! DH shot out of bed saying what the hell's going on! I just laid there; too damned scared to move. Yes it was an earthquake. Something I have never experienced before and never want to again. It's a rare occurance here in the UK, although according to the news we get quite a lot in a year but obviously most are insignificant to the 5.2 on the rickter ( spelling?) scale of the one this morning. Apparently it's the strongest quake we've had since 1984. We didn't feel that one here but as we are only about 60 miles north of the epicentre we certainly felt this one. Jess thought she'd dreamt it and Abi was too scared to walk to school this morning. I must admit I am still rather uptight about it. I hope everyone on Lincolnshire is safe and there isn't too much damage, especially Claire and Karan.

Onto my stitching:) Last week I stitched up a small piece, Victoria Sampler Tiny Things, and tried my first tin finish:) Julie sent me an Altoids tin last year and I wanted to send the tin back to Julie as a thank you. Unfortunately after I'd glued the fabric inside I made the mistake of closing it up and the exposed parts of the tin went rusty so I didn't want to send it like that. Anyway I am happy with it otherwise:)

Last night was Ink Circles Sea Stars SAL with Karen and I finally finished the octopus and moved onto the ship's wheel. I love how this is stitching up and look forward to picking it up every Tuesday. I might have got more done had I not been on the Internet for a while lookin at fabrics!

I finished my second page for Chris' RR too so am now looking forward to getting Tracy's next month and stitching on hers. I hope this is OK Chris:)

I am still thinking about Quaker Christmas and I think I will probably buy it before long. It'd be nice to make a start and try and stitch it for Christmas this year but it's such a big piece it probably wouldn't happen! Although now I only have one full sized HAED on the go I feel liberated and able to stitch on other things more. Does that make sense?!!!

Take care care everyone and enjoy the rest of the week:)

Hugs

A Tiny Finish and An Almost Finished!

Now that it is Heather's birthday - Happy Birthday Heather!- I can now show my tiny finish from the other day. This is a freebie from the Victoria Sampler website called Teeny Tiny Friendship Bag.

I stitched this on 28 count antique white fabric using Vicki Clayton silks in Lavender and Rose, Blackberry and Holly Leaves, Kreinik #4 braid in gold and Mill Hill beads. I filled it with dried lavender from my garden:) I hope you like it Heather.

Now I have been threatened with nagging from Paula, threatened with Mr Stick by Julie and threatened with constant nagging by Karen and all that is motivation enough to get on with Chatelaine Summer Afternoon! Now when I was chatting to Karen on MSN yesterday she threatened to nag me all the more if I didn't post a WIP pic! LOL! So especially for Karen this is where I'm at as of last night at about 11pm!

I have only scanned the bit I am stitching on as I can't get the whole piece in the scanner. I must admit that I have been much more motivated with this the past couple of evenings and now I just have two bees to stitch and the beads to stitch on. Julie if I don't get this finished tonight is it OK if I join the girls on Tuesday evening even though it isn't officially a UFO? I may even sit down this afternoon and add the beads if I can get on the table for homework that the girls are doing! LOL!

Yesterday afternoon I made a small start on the LHN/ CCN Bee Pinkeep from the January issue of The Gift of Stitching. This is going to be for my friend's 40th birthday in October. I had a change of plan as I was originally going to stitch Just Nan Thanks a Bunch! I will probably finish it into some sort of an ornament with her name and mine on the back. I know she doesn't read my blog so I can chat about it on here:) I will have to get on with it as her birthday is the 5th!

That's all from me for today:) I hope everyone is having a good weekend. Thank you for dropping by blog {{{{hugs}}}}