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

A Birthday Gift for Lainey

Oh dear I can't believe it is a month since I last blogged. I just don't seem to be able to get back into the swing of this or visiting blogs. I have, again, considered giving it up but I would miss it so if I manage one post a month then I'm fine with that even it's just for me to record my finishes etc. 

Anyway I have a month's worth of stitching to show and some photos from our holiday ( yes we took another trip up to Scotland but this time Abi came with us ).

Just before we went on holiday it was my lovely friend Lainey's birthday. I wanted to go with a sheep or snowman themed stitch as these are her favourite things ( and who can argue with that as they are mine too! ) so I decided to stitch a portion of Histoire De Moutons and I am delighted to say that Lainey loved it.

Portion of Jardin Prive Histoire De Moutons part 3

DMC and unknown fabric

Birthday gift for Lainey.

I've had a few other finishes. It seems they are like buses; you wait for one and several come along at once!

My Big Toe Designs Merry Christmas

28 count white linen.

DMC

WDC Needleworks 2016 Stocking

32 count nougat linen

DMC

Final finish is my sheep SAL with Barb piece.

Shepherd's Bush Red Snowman

Weeks Dye Works 30 count red pear

WDW, GAST and CC.

I love how this turned out. The snowman needs his nose but I have 4 buttons in my stash and they're all too big so he'll end up with a stitched one!

The other week postie brought me a surprise from The Nimble Thimble from my dear friend Barb. She knows I love SB needlerolls ( well SB in general really!) and had bought me this.

She has also bought herself one so we decided to abandon our sheep and ornament SAL just for the next few weeks to try and get it stitched in time for Halloween. I only started mine on Friday but I did manage to get a bit stitched. Thank you so much Barb I'm enjoying stitching this. It's so nice to do another needleroll to add to my collection.

Both my HAED pieces are coming along quite nicely. I have picked up SK Dragons History again and got a little stitched on it but oh last week I really wanted to just scrap it! However after Saturday's session on it I'm feeling better about it and am determined to finish it. I just have this page to finish and then a partial page to stitch!

Mini Jolly Old Fellow is looking rather good even though I say so myself. I've finished the 4th page and have gridded ready to start the next page. I don't think a Christmas finish will happen but I'll give it a damn good try!

I have been stitching away on the middle tree on Sotto La Neve and I will admit that it has been driving me mad! I did a working copy copy of the chart so that I could mark off what I'd stitched but it's not very clear and I have already personalised it ( as in made mistakes! ) but never mind! I'm happy to have been stitching birds on it now instead of just tree! Lol! It is a very pretty piece so that will keep me going!

My final WIP is the AotH piece by Blackbird Designs. I can feel the finish line! There is still a good bit to do and some of it will be over one stitching ( not good on 36 count! ) but it is looking so pretty! 

Oooh I almost forgot I finally took my Lizzie Kate Holly and Hearts Sampler to get framed. I finished this in 2013 ( hangs head in shame!). My framer did a great job as always.

When we went on holiday I took my Tilton Crafts Always with me. I didn't stitch every night but I did almost finish all the black stitching on the first page. I forgot to take a photo though so I'll take one next time.

So a while ago we decided it might be nice to go back up to the Dumfries and Galloway area of Scotland again. Abi said she would love to go with us so we decided on the last week of September and booked a lovely looking semi detatched cottage in a little village not far from Gatehouse of Fleet. We had the most brilliant few days up there visiting places we'd been before and discovering new ones. Abi loved it and we have vowed to go again next year. I'll add a few photos. The scenery is just amazing and the wildlife incredibly cute. It just takes your breath away!

Well that's all for now and I'll see you all in a month unless I manage another post before then.Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll pop by and see what you have all been up to.

Until next time.

With much love,

Sally xxxx