Welcome December......

My favourite month of the year! It is just so magical.

My DH was off last week and we were out every day doing the festive thing! We had a lovely day at Meadowhall in Sheffield with both girls and also went to MacAthur Glen Outlet near York then into York with Abi which was manic!

I didn't stitch at all on Wednesday evening as by the time we got home, had something to eat and settled down I was too tired to pick it up which is very unusual for me! So no progress on Little House Needleworks Song of the Seasons. So much so for getting it finished by the end of November so I'll now try and ain for the end of the year! If I don't get into the parlour this week over at Needlecraft Haven they will be locking the door and not letting me in again! Lol!

So what I have been stitching.

Part 3 of Holly and Hearts Christmas Sampler is going very well and I hope to be almost done by the time I put it away on Saturday night. I just love this and really want to leave it up all year. It's too pretty to be put away.

Cottage Garden Samplings February's Primrose made an appearance again and I just have the border to do now :). Next year I want to make a journal or see if I can find a suitable one ready made to put these in. I now have July, August and September in my stash so just 3 more to get.

Barb and I have been carrying on with our sweet little sheep and here's my progress on Wisdom. Once this is finished we can start Friendship and we also have the next one at last but I won't be able to start that one until after Christmas providing Father Christmas is kind enough to bring me more of the fabric I'm using :). Just two more to get now!

I have made a bit more progress on my November ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I would like to get this finished this week so I can start on my December one . I've got rather behind but not to worry. Hopefully they'll both be on my tree by Christmas!

The 4th part of the Jardin Prive SAL is out now so as soon as I get an extension lead out so I can plug the printer in I'll have it printed ready for Barb and I to start on Friday. I still have to stitch the border on Plum Street Samplers Mary's Sampler. I managed to get caught up before the final part came out. I have so much I want to finish this month!

Chris and I started our annual December SAL on Sunday. We chose Country Cottage Needleworks Silent Night this year. Here is my start. I'm using an unknown colour of 32 count Belfast linen that I bought in the Viking Loom at York and DMC. I was going to use the hand dyed threads used in the chart but I decided it was just more expense. I'm going to use good old DMC as much as I can next year rather than hand dyes unless I already have them in my stash.

My Christmas ornament for the exchange on Needlecraft Haven has been received and opening day was 1st December but I can't show it as partners have not been revealed yet because some people are still waiting for theirs. Of course I messed up on mine as it's a secret exchange and I put names on the back lol! Christine please don't shout at me! Lol! Mine arrived today and look how lovely it is! My partner clearly knows me well and I have a sneaking suspicion I know who it is! Thank you so much whoever you are :) Here's the front.

And here's the back.

We put our Christmas decorations up on Sunday. I shed a few tears as we were doing them. I miss my Dad so much.  My stitched ornament tree is looking lovely now with a few more ornaments on. In fact I now have 3 shoe boxes full and need to start on another one. The pictures is not brilliant but will try and get a better one. I have a lovely selection of ornaments both stitched by myself, received in exchanges and stitched by friends for me.

That's it for today. Have wonderful week everyone. It's going to get colder again here later this week. Our temps are up and down like I don't know what! Wish they'd just stay down!

With much love,

Sally xxxx

Not Much Stitching ( Picture Heavy!)

There hasn't been much stitching going on recently and all will be revealed shortly! So there isn't much stitching to show this time around! 

First of all I want to show you the ornament that Chris stitched for me for our annual ornament exchange. Chris was a little worried about this as she wasn't sure if I would like it or not but I LOVE it! It is just gorgeous. I have it hung off the garland on my mantlepiece. Thank you so much Chris.

I restarted our December SAL last week as I hated it over 1 on 28 count so I'm now doing it over 2 on 28 count and it looks so much better. I need to get a move on with this as I'm way behind now!

I didn't get anything done on HAED Guardian over the weekend but I did make progress on HAED QS Holly Fairy last week. I'm really enjoying this one. Guardian will be coming out this weekend and, hopefully, I'll get a good bit done. Maybe even get page 10 finished!

I'm afraid I've scrapped yet another piece of stitching. Last night I settled down to stitch the January Wordplay which is my SAL with Barb but I just couldn't get into it. I decided no this is not for me and have decided to scrap it and not doing anymore. The plan was to do all 12 but I just can't face it. I see no point in carrying on with something I'm not enjoying. I find it hard some nights to settle down to stitch so it's best I don't do something I'm not enjoying. I've emailed Barb to ask her if she minds if I SAL with her but on something different. 

I received a lovely birthday card from my dear friend Barb last week and inside it was a cheque for £10. Thank you so much Barb {{{{hugs}}}} I've already decided that I'm going to put it towards buying the new Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues series. Anyone who knows me well will know I love sheep so these are right up my street :)

So that's my stitching news. Now onto what we did at the weekend. We went here!

Well not just there but my other photos are on my phone! We set off from home at 5.20 on Saturday morning to be picked up by the coach in Beverley at 6 am. We got to Marble Arch in London at midday and had 4 hours in London where we walked to Buckingham Palace. We spent a while there taking photos and admiring the view before walking back and going down Oxford Street which was horrendous! It was so busy so you could hardly move at times. We had to be back to be picked up at 4 pm but of course there is always going to be someone who doesn't turn up! One couple were still not back at 4.30 so they got left behind and had to get a taxi to our hotel in Reading. The following day we up bright and early for breakfast and on the coach for 9.30 to go to Windsor. Again photos are on my phone. Windsor is a delightful place and of course the castle is there. We were back on the coach for midday for our much anticipated Harry Potter Studios Tour. This was the main reason we booked the trip. My girls have grown up with the books and films and we were so excited to be going. I took loads of photos but will just pop a few up ( Photos are clickable). Some are not so good as it was so busy you literally had to snap a photo quite quickly. I have to admit I was quite emotional when we went in as it was just so magical! 

My ticket

Doors to the Great Hall

Great Hall

Costumes

Teachers

Ice Sculpture 

Common Room

Entrance to Dumbledore's Office

Dumbledore's Memories

Sword of Gryfendor

wands of the cast

Dobby

Mirror of Erised

Death Eater

Diagon Alley

Carl and I in the Ford Anglia

Abi, Jess and I enjoying a Butter Beer at the tomb of Tom Riddle

Abi knocking on the Dursley's door.

Hogwarts

Thank you everybody for your lovely birthday wishes on my last post. I treasure your friendships more than you could know.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have more stitchy progress next time. I've had to mark all blogs as read in my reader I'm afraid as there were just too many to catch up on.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

An RAK from June and a Private Exchange With Barb

Hello from a hot and humid east coast of England. I am longing for a thunderstorm and rain right now.

I have been stitching but nothing I can show you right now. I did do a wee bit more on Just Nan Floral Fifteen but I forgot to take a photo. I've also been sorting other bits and pieces to stitch. Barb and I decided our next SAL would be a Blackbird Designs piece. I have chosen Truly Thine which is an old Loose Feathers design so will be starting that on Monday. I shall down at Barb's watching the sailing boats go by drinking Pimms ( I wish!).

I was admiring the lovely piece June stitched for Christina for an exchange and asked June what the chart was. It was from Cross Stitcher and she kindly offered to send me the chart from the magazine. Imagine my surprise when she not only sent me the chart but also she also RAK'd me with a wonderful bag, some lace and a delightful felt bird. Isn't it all lovely? Thank you so much June. You are such a sweet friend.

Barb and I were all ready to open up our exchange pieces on Friday. Royal Mail did well as we both received our packages on the same day. We had decided to do a Shepherd's Bush stitched piece only with no extras exchange. 

This is what I stitched for Barb. I am delighted to say that she loved it :)

Shepherd's Bush Our Hearts Pincushion ( and fob!)

32 count vintage peach linen

Threads from kit

Exchange gift for Barb.

I thought this was a lovely piece for such a wonderful, dear friend and I really love the sentiment of it. I added our initials. ( The chart is now for sale if anyone is interested)

But just look at what Barb sent me! I cannot tell you how much I love this and I sincerely wish I had tried so much harder on mine to her. I just keep looking at it and opening it up. Barb included some gorgeous lilac scissors, an SB Fob Kit, a notebook and pen and some scented tissues in case I blubbed all over! Thank you so much dear Barb. I will treasure it always.

I have the urge to restart HAED QS Holly Fairy. I started it ages ago but the fabric wasn't right so I want to restart it on different fabric and stitch the background this time ( lots of black). I know I should really finish Guardian but I can't bring myself to pick it up at the moment. Maybe when things settle down.

I have not mentioned anything on my blog before but my DH's Dad has been ill. He has had breathing problems for some time now caused by fibrosis on his lungs and spent some time in hospital before I went in for my surgery. A month ago he got called back to the hospital and they had found "anomalies" on his spine and ribs. We knew it was not good as they thought it was cancer which had spread from elsewhere, possibly prostrate. This last Tuesday we found out that there was nothing that could be done and he died this morning. It has come as such a shock, as for all we knew it would come, we did not expect it so soon. At least he is at peace now and reunited with my DH's Mum. Keep your loved ones close as you never know what the future holds.

On a brighter note it is Jess' 21 st birthday on Tuesday. We are going ahead and celebrating as her Grandad would not want it any other way. I can't believe my first born is going to be 21!

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

Biscornu Exchange From Amanda

As promised I'm back with pictures of the gorgeous Autumn colours biscornu exchange I received from Amanda. This was Amanda's first exchange and it was all so beautifully presented and the biscornu so beautifully stitched with a beaded edge. I will treasure this piece. The colours depict Autumn perfectly and it certainly brightened my day. So without further ado here are the piccies.
I just love everything in here and I have been truly spoilt. Thank you so much Amanda and thank you Hazel for organising this mini exchange.

We are all rather tired today so will make this post short. Next door had a party last night ( our new neighbours) and the music was loud and the kids were loud ( in the garden). Abi sleeps in the front bedroom so she got a good night's sleep, Jess said she still slept but DH and I had ear plugs in which made it more bearable so we did get some sleep. We both woke up several times as we could still hear the beat of the music. I think it stopped at about 4am so we were not too happy and I doubt a lot of people round here would be. Finger's crossed it was just a one off.

It's freezing up here today. We've been to the open day at Hull University with Jess and what a cold campus it is! Lol! The wind really blows around it! We listened to a talk about chemistry courses etc and had a tour of the chemistry department and were quite impressed with it. Jess wants to do a 4 year MChem course in Chemistry with Nanotechnology.

Well I'm going to try and get warm and maybe play on my DS for a bit before tea.

Hugs

Biscornu Exchange and A New Start!

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments on my Sea Stars finish:) It's now at the framers and I should get it back in a week. I am planning on hanging it in my dining room above some shelves but that could change yet!

Now that Hazel has received the biscornu that I stitched for her in the private autumn colours biscornu exchange she organised I can show it here:) I am very happy that Hazel liked it as it's always a bit of a worry when you're stitching for someone else:) I also sent some fabric and threads in autumny colours.

Alchemy Stitchcraft Tumbling Leaves

28 count Brittney Natural

Carrie's Creation Autumn

Stitched for Hazel

I'm looking forward to seeing who is stitching for me:) ETA: I have just received the most gorgeous package from Amanda. It's her first exchange and all I can say is wow!!! I am going to give it a post of it's own another day as it thoroughly deserves one. Thank you so much Amanda; you have truly spoilt me and your stitching is gorgeous.

Wednesday I had a good evening on HAED TT Letter J ( Artwork by Selina Fenech). I am hoping to get the second page finished very soon then I can get onto the smaller pages!

Last night I had a new start and that was Bent Creek Christmas Eve. The chart calls for 18 count linen but I don't have any and decided not to buy any but use 28 count natural linen from my stash instead. I am using DMC as opposed to WDW and GAST as I didn't have any of the WDW in my stash. This will be DH's Christmas stocking!

I have chosen a design for DH's auntie's birthday card so must make a start on that soon as her birthday is 16th October.

It's certainly very autumnal here now and rather chilly. I am waiting for my groceries to be delivered from Asda feeling rather cold! I don't often do grocery shopping online but needs must this week I'm afraid as DH is working late two evenings and working on Sunday and tomorrow Jess has an open day at university.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hugs