Small Token For Lesleyanne & A Giveaway

A while ago Lesleyanne very kindly sent me some charts that she had finished with that were on my wish list. I wanted to send her something for her kindness so I decided to stitch up this little beauty. I just love this design as the colours are so pretty and it has hearts and a bird in it! Lesleyanne received it yesterday and loves it so I am absolutely delighted:)

Blackbird Designs Small Token

32 count white fabric

DMC

Started 28th October 2010

Finished 6th November 2010

For Lesleyanne

I had hoped to also show my SB roll but I haven't quite got it finished! I was going to finish it off once I'd done my ironing this morning but went out instead to take BBD Their Song to the framers. I just got in when I received a text message from Abi saying she needed her stuff for textiles so off I went again finally getting in and sat down just in time to have some lunch! So no finishing off the roll for me yet today! So I will show it sometime over the weekend!

Tomorrow is my 4th blogoversary ( how did that happen???) so I think it's time for wee giveaway:) If you would like to receive something stitched by me then all you have to do is leave a comment on this post saying you'd like to be entered. I'm not going to ask you to jump through hoops, post it your blog or be a follower. All I will ask is that you are a regular on my blog please:) I have no idea what it will be as yet and I do ask that if you win please be patient with me:) I will get something stitched up as soon as I can! **** NOW CLOSED****

Thank you got all your lovely comments on my last post. I don't really want to go into details so will just say it concerns my Dad and my sister with one thing and my eldest DD with the other!

It's certainly been a very windy, chilly week this week. We've had high winds here and at times it's been rather scary.

Right off to get that roll finished! Tonight is Shores night and I'm SAL-ing with Lisa. She'll be stitching on her PS sampler:)

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

Frosty Flakes

First off I just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who left lovely comments on my Christmas Mystery IV finish. I think they have now spurred me on to make it up into something even if it's only out for a few days over Christmas! I am torn between a wall hanging and a table runner type thing and will have to have a look for some suitable fabric and trim when DH is on holiday in a few weeks time.

I have had another two small finishes but I can only show one for now. This one was such fun to stitch and the snowman is just so cute! I love the colours in this and can't wait to get him hung on Christmas tree:)

Little House Needleworks Frosty Flakes

36 count Edinborough Sand Linen

DMC

Started 31st October 2010

Finished 9th November 2010

This Sunday I'm starting Winter Sheep ( I want to call it Peace on Earth!) which I am looking forward to! The Frosty Flakes chart is now for sale ( or trade) on my For Sale page.

Friday I started block 10 on Carriage House Samplings Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. I really need to get a move on with this and try and finish it by the end of year. If I don't I don't feel that can start the Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart series in January. So not quite sure what to do. I may see how this block goes then stitch another evening on it or the odd afternoon. For a change I've taken a photo of the whole thing. When I stitch on this Lisa stitches along with me on her PS sampler so can't wait to see how she did on it:)

Monday evening Barb and I started roofing on our mansions on TSG Jane Austen Sampler Stocking:) Still loving this even though the mansion is huge but it may not take as long as we both think it will! lol!

Last night should have been UFO night but I'm not going to take part again until the New Year. I have so much I want to try and get stitched over the next month or so that I thought I'd give myself an extra evening. So I started Shepherd's Bush Antique Heart Roll which is stitching up beautifully. I'll wait until I've finished it to take a photo. Not sure what to stitch tonight! I will probably finish the roll if I can.

I spent some time yesterday sorting fabric and threads for things I want to stitch before the New Year so let's see what I can get done! Lol! It's funny but I look through my fabric box and think no I'm not going to use that then I think why not it's there to be used! Lol!

I am so excited to see that I have one of Mylene's lovely ornaments in her blogoversary giveaway! It will be an honour to own something stitched by her:) Thank you so much Mylene!

Finally I just want to send {{{{hugs}}}} and thanks to Lisa and Barb. Things have been very stressful lately and I have had sleepless nights and cried. It's not fully resolved yet but hopefully it will be soon. Both these dear friends have listened to me on MSN and via email and I appreciate it so much. Just wanted to let you both know how much that means to me and thank you for keeping me as sane as I can be! Lol!

It has been so cold here this week. We've had high winds, rain, hail and some places have even had snow! I think Winter is on the way! Thankfully the wind has dropped considerably but it's due to return later in the week.

Right off to catch up on reading and commenting on your lovely blogs! It's my blogoversary soon so look out for a wee giveaway:)

Take care everyone!

Hugs

Sally

xx

Put on Your Dancing Shoes........

and do the Happy Dance with me, albeit gently! Lol! After almost 4 ( yes 4) years the everso slightly dreaded Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV is FINISHED!!!! Wahoooo!!! This is the piece that made me swear blind that I would never do another mystery again and at one point I didn't think I would ever finish it. Now don't get me wrong there are parts of this that I love but there are also parts of it that I hate and now it's finished I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with it! I don't feel that I can warrant spending pounds upon pounds to have it framed so does anyone have any suggestions? Lol! I do actually need to find my files for this and see whether I want to add any wording to the big ribbon at the bottom. I know there's something written on it but I can't see it clearly enough on my print out. Anyway enough of my waffling; time for some photos!

Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV

32 count antique white evenweave

DMC

Delica beads

Crystals

Started 26th December 2006

Finished 3rd November 2010

Sunday evening I made a start on Little House Needleworks Frosty Flakes. I am loving this! The snowman is so damn cute!

Monday was Jane day with dear Barb and the Jane Austen Sampler Stocking. I think we are both on the verse which should stitch up quite quickly then it's the house! I do love this piece and can't wait for it to be on Jane wall. Even though it's a Christmas stocking it'll be staying up all year.

I am looking forward to my stitching for next year as I have a good few SALs and it's always so nice to stitch along with others as passionate about our hobby. I am now SAL-ing with Valerie on the BBD AotH so am really excited about that :) Joining Barb and I in the SB SAL are Colleen and possibly Julie and Colleen is also joining Lisa and I on the stash wagon lol! Laura is going to be joining Chris and I in our SB ornaments SAL :)

Right that's me for today! Off to post my finish on Stitch and Stash to keep Mr Stick happy!! Lol!

Have a great week everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xx

It's A Happy Pumpkin!

Just in time for Halloween and the end of the month I've finished my Shepherd's Bush roll for October which now means I am back on track with them! This one was such a fun stitch! Those pumpkins are so cute and there is also a witch and a ghost which you can't see in the photo as I only took this one. It's getting dark here now as it's been rather a dull day and the clocks went back last night too.

Shepherd's Bush Happy Pumpkin Roll

28 count Polstitches Nature's Grace Opalescent

DMC and GAST.

Started 20th October 2010

Finished 30th October 2010

Thank you Barb for sending me the chart. {{hugs}}

Last Tuesday I was a good girl and picked up Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV for the Stitch and Stash UFO night/ week. I was only going to do an hour but I ended up doing more as I can see the end now so that is spurring me on! Once it's finished I plan on concentrating on some smalls/ Christmas ornaments or whatever until after Christmas.

Final photo is block 9 of Shores finished!!!! It's amazing just how much I can get done on this if I stay off the PC and concentrate! The last 3 blocks look as though they might be quite quick to do so I'm still hoping for that end of year finish to enable me to start the Blackbird Designs AotH piece.

I'm going to make a start on an LHN Christmas ornament tonight. I wasn't sure which one but after seeing Lesleyanne's Frosty Flakes finish that's the one I've chosen. After looking in my stash I've decided to stitch these on 36 count Sand linen so have my fabby ready and just need to sort my threads.

Thank you for all your welcome comments on my Their Song finish. I'm saving up to have it framed and hope to get it done before Christmas. I'm now passing the chart onto Chris.

Tomorrow is Lisa and I's official start on the wagon lol! We both think we can do it and we'll be keeping each other right!

We had a quiet but very enjoyable halfterm. We bought what Abi needed for her final textiles project ( £34 we spent in Boyes- ouch!) so I guess they'll be making a start on that soon.We saw Jess the same day and we took her for some lunch and she wanted to do some grocery shopping too. She seemed really happy and settled and it was so good to see her and give her a hug or two! I'm not really looking forward to DH going back to work and Abi going back to school but I'll get over it! Lol!

My smear results arrived through the post yesterday and I am happy to say that everything was normal so that's that for another 3 years :) Yay!

Right I'm going to sort my threads now for Frosty Flakes. Enjoy the rest of yoir Sunday whatever you are doing!

Hugs

Sally

xxx

Their Song is Sung:)

Another finish from me today:) I have been determined that this would be finished but I didn't quite get it done on Sunday evening so I have stitched a little on it yesterday and today and finished it. I have loved every single stitch of this and a huge thank you to Nicola for passing this chart onto me:)

Blackbird Designs Their Song

40 count linen coffee dyed

DMC

Started 8th August 2010

Finished 26th October 2010

I'm planning on getting this framed soon and it'll be hung in my hallway with my other Blackbird Designs pieces.

So now Their Song is finished I'd like to stitch ornaments on a Sunday evening starting with the Little House Needleworks ones I have and hopefully some from the JCS ornament mags.

I had quite a good couple of evenings on CHS Shores and I also stitched a little on it on Sunday afternoon as well. I expected the rocks to take ages to stitch but they go surprisingly fast!

As always last night was my night stitching along with my good friend, Barb, and Jane lol! I finished those adorable sheep ( I love sheep) and also got the next row stitched and made a small start on the verse so I'm looking forward to getting on with that next Monday :)

As you may see from the ticker at the top of my blog I am on the stash wagon!! Lisa and I were chatting the other night about our new start on the 1st January. We are starting one of the Kelmscott hornbook designs and I was deciding which one to order and couldn't so thought about ordering both but was feeling guilty lol! Anyway Lisa suggested we both go on the wagon from 1st November to 1st February so that's what we're doing. If we need threads to complete a project then we're allowed but other than that we're not!! Obviously things we already have on order we are also allowed. There have been several times we've been on the wagon before and most of the time we fail before the time is up but now and again we have done well so, hopefully, this will be one of those times!

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on my last post and the stitched piece I did for Michelle:)

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally
xxx

Follow Your Heart

I am so proud of what I have to show you today :) Michelle and I have done some trades recently ( our tastes are so very similar!) and she said she'd be happy to receive something stitched by me as well as TSG JA Sampler Stocking chart when I've finished stitching it. I knew straight away what I was going to stitch and although I haven't finished it exactly as it says on the chart I actually prefer it the way I've done it!

L'Atelier Perdu Follow Your Heart

stitched 1 over 1 on white 32 count evenweave

DMC

Started 5th October 2010

Finished 20th October 2010

For Michelle.

I added some homemade cording to the scissor etui as I thought that finished it off much nicer than leaving it off. I just hope Michelle has some scissors that will fit in as the pair you see in the photo are the only pair I have that would fit nicely! She received this yesterday and I am so happy to say that she loves it :)

Here's my Halloween tree! Not much on it so it's a good job it's only a 2 foot tree! There is nothing hung on the back of it! I found the bellpull and the San Man piece you see under the tree in one of my stitching drawers. I do have a Lizzie*Kate design too that was hung on my hallway wall. I found that in a box and hope to make it into a flat fold this week to stand next to the tree.

Tonight I hope to finish Blackbird Designs Their Song so I may be back with another finish soon. I am also close to finishing Shepherd's Bush Happy Pumpkin Roll which I started on Wednesday once I'd finished the stitching on Follow Your Heart. Yesterday was such a horrible day I spent all afternoon stitching on it then last night I stitched on Shores. I want to do a bit more on that this afternoon as it's another horrible day. Not quite sure what happened to the sunshine we're supposed to have!

I am happy to say that Debbie at Stitches N Things was lucky enough to pre-order the Just Nan Christmas Sheep Ornament Pocket and Woolly Ewe Winder for me :) I might get my DH to put it away for me for Christmas or my birthday though.

Lisa and I have been chatting about what we are going to stitch next year. Lol! My "biggy" for next year, as I've already said, will be the Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart. In fact I think it will be my biggy for part of 2012 as well! Barb is starting Shepherd's Bush The Journey so I asked if I could join her and stitch SB Emmanuel's Song and she said I could so I think we may starting the first Monday of the New Year ( correct me if I'm wrong Barb!). Sometime in the New Year Lisa and I are starting Little House Needleworks Travelling Stitcher and we're also going to have a small new start on New Years Day!!! Possibly something we can start and finish on the day! Lol! That Lisa is such a bad influence; she really is!!! Lol! Something else I really want to do next year, in place of the SB rolls, is stitch an SB ornament a month from the JCS ornie mags. I think I've mentioned that before and Chris is going to join me. So next year is another to be another stitchy filled year, God willing of course.

It's half term this week so I'm looking forward to having my DH and Abi at home. I think we will just be chilling for the week although we will be going out on Wednesday as we're going to pick Jess up and maybe have some lunch out. I need some wee bits from Hobbycraft for my PIFs and Abi needs some stuff for her final Textiles project so a visit to Boyes is in order too!

Thank you to everyone who left good luck comments for my smear. I am so glad to get it over with for another 3 years as it was so uncomfortable. I came out of the surgery and I was so close to tears but never mind. It's done, just have to wait for the results, and I can relax again. Also the government spending cuts that were announced on Wednesday are really going to hit many people very hard. We still don't know what's going to happen with the agency my DH works for but we think it may be OK, fingers firmly crossed.

Hope everyone has a lovely week. I'll be back soon with my WIPs and maybe a couple more finishes:)

Schoolhouse Roll

It's another roll and a few more to go! Lol! I can't actually remember how many more I have in my stash to stitch but I do know that I need to buy three more! Now out of those three I bid and won one for a very good price on Ebay so once I have that one in my hands I only need two more. Anyway here is the roll I started last month and have finally finished

Shepherd's Bush Schoolhouse Roll

32 count vintage green linen

DMC & GAST

Started 29th September 2010

Finished 17th October 2010

I didn't have the school bell charm and had nothing suitable to put in its place so haven't added anything. Now I need to get the Happy Pumpkin one started and finished for Halloween!

I am very happy with my two evenings progress on Shores. This block is going so well and I am hoping to get back on track and have this one finished by the end of the month.

Last night I stitched on Blackbird Designs Their Song. It's almost finished! I would have managed to stitch more but I had to frog but I did get what I took out restitched and more done besides so I was happy :) I think this will be finished next Sunday!

The pre-order that I did yesterday was for the Just Nan Christmas Sheep Ornament Pocket which you can put the Vintage Woolly Sheep thread winder in. I had a newsletter from Deb at Stitches n Things and read about it on there. It is limited though so I may not be lucky enough to even get one even though I've pre-ordered as it just depends on how many each shop orders. Keeping my fingers crossed! I usually miss out on things like this or just don't bother but I'm not with this one. It may be the last stash shopping I do for a very long time unless I have funds. Our government are announcing massive spending cuts this week and I have to say I am extremely worried as my DH works in the public sector and that's where the cuts are going to be. Whether or not it will be in the department he works for or not we shall have to wait and see but I fear that whatever this new coalition government do it won't be pretty and will cause a lot of hardship and possibly throw our country back into recession. Anyway enough of those depressing thoughts!

Stitching plans for the rest of the week are The Sampler Girl Jane Austen Sampler Stocking with Barb tonight, tomorrow night is UFO night so the Christmas mystery will be coming out for a while, then until Friday I'll be working on getting Michelle's trade piece finished and made up :)

Other plans, my Dad is having a home visit from an optician on Wednesday afternoon so I need to be there and Thursday afternoon I have my dreaded smear. Last time I had one it was extremely uncomfortable and painful so as you can imagine I really don't want to go but a bit of pain and discomfort for a possibly life saving thing is better than the alternative.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments on my first flat fold finish:) I am so pleased with how it turned out and have it on display. I intend to leave it out all year!

Whatever you are doing hope you have a wonderful week.

Take care

Hugs

Sally

xxx

Winner of the LHN Chart

Just here quickly to announce who has won the LHN Holly & Berries chart then I'm going to try and get warm and stitch. I used a random number generator and popped the number of the post and name of the person and here is how it came out!

There were 14 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1.5 Christina

2.12 Lindsay

3.1 hazel

4.10 Sheila

5.16 PegC

6.25 Maureen

7.15 Patty C

8.20 Ellen

9.24 CalamityJr

10.23 Lisa

11.13 Srinity

12.8 Christine

13.9 Cath

14.2 Nicola

Timestamp: 2010-10-17 12:28:11 UTC

The winner is Christina!!! Congratulations Christina! Please email me your address ( although I think I may have it ) and I'll pop the chart in the post to you as soon as possible:) Enjoy!

Right I am going to try and finish my Schoolhouse Roll now :) I've been very naughty today and pre-ordered something but I won't tell you about that just yet but I will say that I think I'll have to not buy anymore stash for a while!!! It's not expensive as I won't pay loads of money for stash but it is a limited edition!

My First Flatfold

Yesterday I decided to try my hand at making a flat fold :) Now I've never tried this before so had absolutely no idea how it would turn out! I had seen a tutorial for a framed flat fold and thought that would be ideal for Little House Needleworks Holly & Berries so I started cutting card and fabric and steadily worked my way through each step, getting very nicely glued up in the process, and ended up with this :) of which I am very proud! I think I would have liked my cording to be a little thicker plus I would have liked something to cover the join in it but I don't have anything suitable. Other than that I LOVE it! Oh and the bow at the top is off a box of Thornton's Continental Chocolates! It really does pay to save these things ;)

I used Angela's tutorial on her Hooked on Stitches Tutorial blog. Do go have a look if you haven't done before. I'm sure that there are many of us who appreciate these ladies such as Angela and Vonna who take time out to do these tutorials for us so thank you ladies :)

Tuesday evening it was time to pick up my Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV and, for all I did not do much, I did do some! I filled in the rest of the metallic on the wing then made a start on the hair. By 9pm I decided enough was enough so I picked up the piece I'm stitching for Michelle for our trades but I ran out thread so had to put that away! I now have the thread so hopefully I'll get that finished and made up soon.

My other stitching is the SB Schoolhouse roll I started in September but didn't get finished so I'm hoping to finish this and stitch the Happy Pumpkin one too this month. This is my progress on the Schoolhouse one so far :)

Tonight and tomorrow night is Shores and I'm looking forward to getting lots more done on block 9 stitchingalong with Lisa who is stitching Spooky but next week I think she's joining me with her PS piece in order to get a bit more done on it :)

I think I'm going to have a lazy day today as I have Abi off ill with this cold/flu bug that seems to be doing the rounds. She's been dreading getting it and hoping that she wouldn't but as I type this she's in bed fast asleep, bless her.

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for all your lovely comments. I do love getting them and reading them :)

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

A Little Snow!

That doesn't mean we've already had snow here on the east coast of England! Lol! It's snow on my latest little finish! I actually started this a few weeks ago but it fell by the wayside while I've been trying to get some Halloween ornaments stitched and as I still only have 5 of those stitched with the said day fast approaching I'm quite disappointed in that fact! I am hoping to get a couple more done if I can. Anyway back to my finish!

Little House Needleworks Holly and Berries

36 count Flax linen

DMC

Started 1st September 2010

Finished 12th October 2010

I haven't decided how I'm going to finish yet but I want to finish it as soon as I can.

If anyone would like this chart please leave a comment saying so on this post and I'll pick a name at the weekend :)

Onto my WIPs now and proof that I actually did stitch on Chatelaine Christmas Mystery IV last Tuesday! I have to admit that when I took the photo this morning I thought no I have to stitch on this tonight! I want to get it finished but I so don't want to stitch on it BUT I will! Just incase you're wondering what that is I've stitched it's a cherub's wing!!!

I can't show what else I stitched on in between this and Shores so we'll move onto Shores! I had a good two evenings stitching on this especially on Saturday evening as I got new reading glasses that day so even though my eyesight has only changed very slightly it did make a difference getting new specs! This block is going really well and I am enjoying it which makes all the difference doesn't it? Lisa I hope you had a good two evenings on Spooky!

Sunday I really wanted to get Blackbird Designs Their Song finished but it didn't happen so maybe next Sunday? Lol! Not that I'm really in any hurry but it would be nice to start ot get started on SB Emmanuel's Song. I really LOVE Their Song. Love the colours, the saying, the birds, everything! This piece will be framed when it's done and hung with my other BRD pieces. I haven't had anything framed in ages so I think I deserve it! Lol!

Last night was my Jane evening with Barb! I was determined to get onto the sheep and I did just that! Not quite a complete sheep but nearly! I just need to fill in the Wisper thread next week then I can start on another. I know Barb started the sheep as well so we are about at the same place :)

I had a couple of trades again with Michelle :) We have so very similar tastes in designs it's spooky! She sent me Renato Parolin Peace Joy Love and The Sampler Girl My Everything ( which is to stitch for my DH) so thank you so much Michelle. I'm still stitching on your trade piece and it'll be with you as soon as :) I also had another RAK from Lesleyanne of LHN Merry Skater :) I really need to get my finger out and get some of these LHN ornaments stitched. Thank you so much Lesleyanne :)

Right that's all from me today :) Hopefully I might just be back with another finish in a few days if I can stay off this PC and get on with things!

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxx