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

Oooops! ( Picture Heavy Post )

Wow has it really been a month since I last posted! A lot of stitching has been happening in that time but no finishing. I'm still struggling to get going with that! Something else that has happened in the last month is my DH and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary and not only that we went away for a week and this was our view!

More about that later. Stitching first!

I've had a couple of finishes. First one is the 5th Shepherd's Fold piece.

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Fold Fear Not.

As kitted.

As you can see it's not made up into a needleroll yet. How lazy am I as it wouldn't take much finishing.

Second finish is my April ornament for the SAL with Barb and Chris. 

Country Cottage Needleworks Peace ( from the 2007 JCS ornament mag)

32 count Permin Riviera Olive linen.

DMC.

I will, hopefully, be starting my May one this evening and it will be from the 2014 issue.

My other SAL with Barb is, of course, the sheep SAL and we have been stitching With Thy Needle and Thread Sweet Violet. Mine is nearly finished but I ran out of thread and I could have sworn I had another skein. I don't want to order another so I'm going to see if I can match it up with DMC somehow. Fingers crossed this will be finished on Friday.

Elizabeth Jane is coming along slowly but surely. I desperately want to get this Anniversaries of the Heart piece finished as soon as but whether I will is a different matter!

My HAEDs have been getting some attention. As you may remember I joined in the second challenge on the official Facebook page and that challenge was to stitch a full page cross country using one colour at a time. Well I think this is the fastest I've finished a full page in a long, long time! You can see by my photo that I still have to go back and finish page 1.

I've done a little more on SK Dragons History.

As I had finished CCN Countdown to Christmas I started a new one to stitch in the virtual parlour with the ladies of Needlecraft Haven. Not much has been done as I only took a couple of bits away with me plus last Wednesday I ended up with a banging headache and I had to go to bed. This one is LHN Hands to Work which was a birthday gift from dear Shirlee a couple of years ago.

While we were away I had a new start. This is Tilton Crafts Always ( Alan Rickman tribute ). I was very naughty and bought it then ordered a thread pack from Thread Geeks. I have never had a thread pack before and I am so pleased with it. Anyway not much of a start as I only stitched a few hours on it. I must find a way to get it into my rotation! Can you see my needleminder? That was a gift from my surrogate sis Lisa :)

So that's all my stitchy news for now so time to tell you about our holiday!

A while ago Jess came home from work saying she'd been chatting to one of her colleagues and every year she goes to the Dumfries and Galloway area of Scotland on holiday and Jess thought it might be nice for my DH and I to go for our 30th wedding anniversary. She said she'd pay towards us going as a present. Well let's just say that I like my own bed these days but the more I looked at photos etc the more I thought let's go! So we booked a cottage called The Hen Hoose near Newton Stewart and patiently waited for the day to come. We were both dreading it a little as we were leaving the girls behind for a week and it was going to be strange without them. However we had a fantastic week, we didn't want to come back here, and we only scratched the surface of things to do. We have both decided that we're going back next year. It was so beautiful and peaceful. So here's just a few photos ( I took well over 500 and I dread to think how many DH took! ). 

So that's all my news for this time. Hopefully it won't be a month before I post again!

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally xxxx