A Birthday and Some Finishes!

Today is my birthday and I have had a simply wonderful day with my lovely DH and 2 gorgeous daughters. Jess arrived home yesterday so she could be here for my birthday so I was surrounded by my lovely family :) I have been spoilt rotten by them and my lovely friends with gorgeous cards and gifts. I got DH to take some photos for me earlier so here are some piccies of some of the lovely cards and gifts I received.

First up from my surrogate sis Lisa and from my dear friend Lesleyanne. Lisa stitched this gorgeous design from the JCS ornament mag. I had been eying up this design and, of course, Lisa knows I LOVE angels and I absolutely love the saying on this. It is so beautifully stitched and finished.Thank you so much Lisa xxx I will treasure this. Lesleyanne sent me the Little House Needleworks Joy to the World ornament chart along with the star button for it. I can't wait to stitch this up and hang it on my tree. Thank you so much Lesleynne xxx

In the next piccie is a gift from my dear friend Elisa. As you can see it has sheep on it and I LOVE sheep!!!! I love this so much and Elisa's stitching and finishing is just gorgeous. Thank you so much Elisa xxxx I will treasure your gift.

Next up is cards and gifts from my dear friends Michelle and Julie. From Michelle I received two gorgeous Polstitches Designs hand dyed threads. They are so pretty and I can't wait to stitch something up with them. Thank you so much Michelle xxx I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up my present from Julie as inside was a black velvet pouch and inside that was the beautiful covered tape measure you see in the photo. Thank you so much Julie; I absolutely love it xxx

Last but by no means least is a card and gift from another dear friend Karan. Karan gifted me with ( wait for it) Little House Needleworks Joy to the World ornament chart :) Karan knows I love angels and this was on my wish list :) Thank you so much Karan xxxx

More about my birthday and what I have been doing later! First of all I want to show you a couple of finishes. The last photo I showed you of The Sampler Girl Jane Austen Sampler Stocking wasn't quite a finish but now it is! Not finished as in made up to hang but finished stitching! I have absolutely loved stitching this gorgeous design. Thank you Barb for our wonderful Jane days and I look forward to joining you for our SB days and maybe later on more Jane days :)

No piccie of Shores yet as I didn't stitch on it last night so going to stitch on it tonight instead. I have done a little more on my December SAL piece, Little House Needleworks Poinsettia House, so here's a piccie of that. Loving this piece!

Final stitchy pic is of the ornament I stitched for Chris. For the past few years we've done a private ornament exchange which I , for one, look forward to each year. I always seems to take ages to decide what to stitch and this year was no exception as I changed my mind several times. I finally decided on this one and Chris loves it.

The Victoria Sampler- Designs by Cathy Jean

Christmas Robin

28 count bay leaf evenweave

GAST and DMC

For Chris

This afternoon we went to the Victorian Christmas market in Beverley. We go every year as it's such a good event but you can't get near the stalls as it's so packed so we didn't buy anything lol! We did watch the battle re-enactment of civil war which is so much fun to watch! We then noticed that there was some birds of prey so off we went to have a look. I asked if I could stroke a barn owl so DH asked if I could hold it so here I am holding this beautiful barn owl. This was truly and honour to be holding such a beautiful bird.

Finally ( I bet you;'re breathing a sigh of relief!) here's my birthday cake which Abi made for me; as you can see it's an owl!

Poor Abi didn't manage to get on her trip to London so she was really upset, bless her. She was just too ill to go though but, thankfully, she's getting better now:)

That's all from me. I'm going to get some stitching done then I'll be back to get caught up on reading blogs tomorrow. It's been a busy weekend!!!

Take care everyone!

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful!

The white stuff is still hanging about even though we haven't had any for a few days, until today that is, but freezing temperatures have meant that the snow has frozen solid and the roads and pavements on our estate have been treacherous. Abi's school was closed for three days last week and again on Monday due the state of the pathways and roads on the site although when they re-opened yesterday she did not return as she has laryngitis and is on antibiotics. Poor girl was in a right state this morning in floods of tears as she was feeling so ill and is supposed to be going on a textiles trip to London on Friday.  Anyway the weather is supposed to become slightly milder ( only by a couple of degrees I believe!) over the weekend then next week it's back to the easterlies and bitterly cold again.

Onto my stitching! I've been beavering away stitching and trying to get things finished off but can't show what I've finished so far and I still have a couple of pieces to finish and one to stitch! I haven't stitched on the December SAL piece, LHN Poinsettia House, since last Thursday as I wanted to get more done on Shores, try and finish the JA stocking and another LHN ornament but this is my progress from then. It will be coming out again tonight. I just love this and am enjoying it so much. Hope the other girls are getting on well with their LHN Winter ones.

Shores went quite well but to make sure I get it finished by the end of the year I think I might stitch on it on a Monday evening as well in place of the Jane stocking :) Not much to do on the whale so hopefully that  bit should get done Saturday evening. I doubt I'll get any stitching done on Friday evening as if Abi goes on the London trip her train doesn't get in until 8pm and the school are not providing transport to and from the station in Hull so we have to take her and pick up.

Sunday evening I finished LHN Snowy Pines but having just taken a piccie of it I realised that I haven't added the beads ( the pretties as Diane calls then :) ) so I will decide whether to add them or not.

I started LHN Fa La La once Snowy Pines was done and here's my wee start. I do love these ornaments, they are such fun!

Monday evening I was hoping to get my SAL with Barb finished. Both of us are very close to finishing The Sampler Girl Jane Austen Sampler Stocking. I didn't get it done so picked it up again last night only to run out of DMC 927 and I didn't have a spare skein anywhere ( typical!) so I'm going to finish it when I've finished this blog post.

I finally received my Just Nan Christmas Sheep Ornament Pocket and Vintage Sheep thread winder yesterday from Stitches N Things. I pre-ordered it before I went on the stash wagon and it was shipped on 11th November. Unfortunately I got stung for £12.08 by customs so I am not a happy bunny! In all the time I've been ordering from the USA this is the first time it's happened so it's turned put to be an expensive order so I shall be a lot more careful as to the amount I order in the future LOL! The ornament pocket and winder are gorgeous though and I'd love to get the pocket stitched before Christmas.

That's all my stitchy news for now. DH and I didn't get all our Christmas shopping done last week thanks to the weather and not wanting to risk getting stuck anywhere! We did get out on Saturday into Hull but it was utter bedlam! I think the whole world and his wives were out! Anyway we are hoping to get finished on Friday- fingers crossed!

Hopefully Jess is coming home for the weekend this weekend as it's my birthday on Sunday. We are planning on going to the Victorian Christmas Market at Beverley. We've been for the past couple of years and it's really good.

No news of DH's job yet. I just wish they'd get on with it as the waiting is awful.

Right I had better get off here and try and get the stocking finished :)

Stay warm and safe if it's cold where you are.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxx

It's So Cold!

Well we have now had snow for a week here where I live and it has steadily spread right across the country. It has also been bitterly cold with the northerly and easterly winds we have been having and later today temperatures are forecasted to drop dramatically. My DH and I have managed two days of Christmas shopping but yesterday there were severe weather warnings and we had heavy flurries of snow so decided to stay home. Abi's school has been closed yesterday and today. Today we decided to go out and see what the road to Hull was like and ended up turning round and coming home as it was awful. We certainly haven't had it as bad as some areas on the UK but it has certainly been bad enough! It does look very pretty though.

Anyway onto my stitching. I can't show any finishes as they are for gifts or exchanges so will show those later on. Last Friday I made a start on block 11 of Shores. I am quite amazed at how much I achieved by the time I put it away on Saturday evening as we did go out Friday evening to see the local Christmas lights switched on. If I can get some good evenings in on this I may just make that end of year finish!

Sunday evening I started LHN Snowy Pines ( I finally made up my mind which to do!) which I am absolutely loving stitching. I'm SAL-ing with Barb and Lesleyanne on the LHN ornaments. If the weather keeps up as it is and we don't get out to finish the Christmas shopping I think I shall sit and finish this one.

Monday as always was Jane day with Barb. The house is almost finished and I can see the end :) I think we need those windows and the door in to stop the wind and snow getting in! I have bought some fabric to back with it this week in anticipation for my finish:)

At long last yesterday saw the start of the December Winter SAL which Chris and I started a couple of years ago. We choose a design and both stitch it starting 1st December. This time we chose Little House Needleworks Poinsettia House and we also have Lesleyanne joining us with this design too. Lisa and Hazel are stitching Winter Whites along with us and Claire decided on Gingerbread Trio. I have been so excited to be starting Poinsettia House and could hardly wait! Anyway here's my wee start from last night. I intend to get settled down tonight and stitch on it some more.

Seen as Abi's school was closed yesterday she suggested we put the Christmas tree and decorations up so we did! Lol! DH took this photo of the tree early this morning but it's not very good so will get him to take another one sometime. You can just make out some of my stitched ornaments which I have stitched or have been stitched for me.

This afternoon I was going to write my Christmas cards but I'm going to do some making up instead! I bought some trim that I have never used before so wish me luck! Lol!

Stay safe and warm if you are having the snowy weather.

Hugs

Sally

xxx

More Blessings

I have been blessed yet again this week and I am humbled by the kindness of my dear online friends. Michelle emailed me tell me to look out for postie and sure enough yesterday he rang the doorbell as he had a package for me. Inside was this gorgeous ornament which Michelle had stitched for me to thank me for my friendship in 2010. As I told Michelle this is just so me as I am rather partial to red! Michelle thank you so much; I will treasure it as I treasure our friendship :) xxx Not only that she sent me The Sampler Girl Wonderful Life from my wish list and I now plan on stitching this over Christmas. Life may throw us some crap at times but it is still wonderful and it is a blessing.

A while ago Ann T ( no blog) kindly picked up a copy of the JCS ornament preview magazine from her newsagents for me after I'd ordered a copy from Magazine Cafe and it was sold out. For all I paid for the mag I wanted to send Ann a little something for doing this for me. I decided to stitch JBW French Country Star from this year's JCS Ornament magazine. Ann received it yesterday and loves it. What I didn't know was that anything with stars on has a very special meaning for Ann so I truly feel I was meant to stitch this one for her. I added a ruched ribbon edging and love how it looks.

JBW French Country Star

28 count Polstitches Hot Potato

DMC Variations 4120

Started 18th November 2010

Finished 21st November 2010

For Ann T.

I have been stitching away on other stuff over the last couple of evenings but can't show them yet. Tonight is Shores but I won't get as much time in on it as our town's Christmas lights are being switched on tonight so we're going to see that. And especially to get us in the mood for the festive season this is what we woke up to this morning ( and yesterday morning!)

Thank you for all your positive thoughts on DH job. I appreciate them all more than you can know xxx

Have a great weekend everyone!

Take care

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

Winter Sheep

Sunday evening saw me stitching furiously away on my LHN Winter Sheep ornament in the hope of getting it fnished but, alas, I ended up putting the final few stitches in it on Monday afternoon. Yesterday morning I got all the supplies out that I needed for finishing it ready to hang on the Christmas tree and here it is :) Not quite how I wanted it to look but, nevertheless, I love it!

Little House Needleworks Winter Sheep

36 count Sand linen

DMC

Started 14th November 2010

Finished 22nd November 2010

Not sure which one to start next. I've kitted up Snowy Pines and Fa La La but then remembered I have Red House in Winter and Merry Skater!

I have been stitching on another ornament but can't show that until it has been received as I'm not sure if the recipient reads my blog or not!

Last Friday and Saturday I had two good sessions on CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow and actually got block 10 finished! Fingers firmly crossed that I can manage to finish the next two blocks before the end of the year! Luckily I stayed up later than I usually would ( Abi had been out for a meal with two friends and they came back here) otherwise I wouldn't have got it done!

Finally Barb and I joined each other with brick laying on Monday evening on The Sampler Girl Jane Austen Sampler Stocking. Unfortunately I didn't manage  to put any windows or a door in so it's still rather draughty for the tenants, that is if they have moved in yet! I need to get a move on before more snow starts falling!

Speaking of snow the weather forecast says to expect snow down the north east coast tomorrow so we'll see if we get any. It is certainly chilly! I have got chilled right through and I cannot for the life of me get warm!

Yesterday I received another surprise through the post, this time from Sarah ( no blog). Sarah and I got to know each other through the HAED forum a few years ago. She very kindly sent me Little House Needleworks Sarah Street- Faithfulness from my wish list. As I said in my last post I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thank you so much Sarah. I will think of you when I stitch this {{{hugs}}}

I'm going to pick up stitching now I think and try and get warm. I hope I'm not going down with something!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Now I have a wee favour to ask :) Please could you send some positive thoughts/ prayers our way. My DH will soon be finding out whether his job is safe or not. Apparently they are due to find out Friday next week but my DH will be off so won't find out until he returns to work the following Monday. The funny thing is I am feeling quite laid back about it at the moment when normally I would be in a right panic so I don't know if this is a good thing or not! Anyway we would really appreciate your positive thoughts/prayers. Thank you {{{hugs}}} I know there are so many people out there facing the same thing all over the world.

Have a wonderful week; stay safe and warm.

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

I am Blessed

To have such wonderful friends:) You may remember I was one of the extremely lucky winners of Mylene's blogoversary draw and look what arrived from her today:) Mylene couldn't have picked a better ormament to send me as I absolutely love it! I am on a real LHN ornament kick right now so this is just perfect. Thank you so much Mylene {{{hugs}}} there is an an email on it's way:)

Postie also brought me a surprise from Chris :) Chris just stitched LHN Be Merry- Belle Pepper and saw I had the chart on my wish list so she sent me it:) Thank you so much Chris {{{hugs}}} I really want to start it now but it will have to wait a little while yet! Email on it's way to you too:)

On the stitching front the only thing I have to show you is some secret stitching I have been doing which has now been received by my surrogate sister! Lol! You may be wondering who that is? The other week I'd had a bit of a to do with my sister and I was very upset about the way she had spoken to me and just her general attitude towards me. I was chatting to Lisa on MSN about it and she said she'd be my surrogate sister and I was more than happy to accept her into my family :) Anyway she is a wonderful friend who listens to all my troubles, she makes me laugh when I am low, and she is a special surrogate sis lol! So I decided to stitch a little something up for her just to say thank you and to cheer her up as I know she's been feeling a bit down lately. I know she loves the Cherrywood Design Studios East Sleep Stitch designs so I chose the pincushion to stitch. This was just so lovely to stitch and rather than the corded finish I decided on a beaded egde. Lisa received it today and she loves it :)

Cherrywood Design Studios Eat Sleep Stitch

28 count Silkweaver FOTM Sparkling Cider opalescent Lugana

Started 11th November 2010

Finished 18th November 2010

Gift for Lisa

I have started another secret stitch and have a couple more to do yet so the finishes I can show may well be few and far between for a while!

Shores is going well and I am hoping to get a good evening on it and finish block 10. Hopefully I'll finish LHN Winter Sheep tomorrow evening SAL-ing with Barb and Lesleyanne then Monday it's my Jane night with Barb and that mansion! Lol!

I can hardly wait for the LHN December SAL starting 1st December! Chris and I started this December SAL a couple of years ago and I'm so happy that we are keeping it up. Hopefully I will do better this year and actually finish it in December! This time we have Lesleyanne, Lisa, Claire and Hazel joining us.

Oopps I almost forgot the SB rolls! I couldn't photograph them in the baskets as you just couldn't see them all. I think I need a different way to display them! So I lined them up on a white background and took photos of them that way! So here they all are! I stitched all of these except for the Stitcher's one which I received in an exchange :)

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments that you left for Abi on her birthday. She says thank you sends hugs to you all :)

I really need to get caught up on blogs but will do that another day now as I need to get off my butt and on the Wii Fit Plus! My weight loss appears to be at a standstill and is slowly rising again and I can't let that happen. Someone lent me a Zumba DVD and I tried the "tutorial" bit of that yesterday afternoon. I was so unco-ordinated it was bordering on the ridiculous! I will keep trying though in the hope I get better at it. I was shattered when I'd finished though!

It's going to get rather chilly again here in England so wrap up warm! I hope all my American friends are enjoying Thanksgiving preparations and have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday:)

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

Blogoversary Draw Winner!

It's the end of the week and time to draw a name for my blogoversary giveaway:) There were 28 entries ( thank you to all who entered). I use a random generator to pick a name for me.

There were 28 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1.20 Ellen

2.19 Michele B

3.24 Jane

4.5 Elisa

5.14 Miss Yaya

6.2 Patty C

7.23 An Itch to Stitch

8.10 Michelle

9.17 DonnaTN

10.31 Peg C

11.18 Lisa V

12.28 Tina

13.8 Christine

14.7 hazel

15.37 Mbroider

16.15 Claire

17.34 Lindsay

18.30 Lisa

19.26 staci

20.33 Mylene

21.16 Catherine

22.32 CalamityJR

23.27 Wendy Carole

24.9 Valerie

25.12 Lynda

26.13 Stitchspice

27.22 Fiona

28.40 Lisa B

Timestamp: 2010-11-19 12:40:41 UTC

The winner is comment number 20 Ellen!!! Ellen please email me your address and as soon as I get something stitched up for you I will get it in the post. Please be patient with me as it may be after Christmas now but there will be something winging it's way to you to soon:) Congratulations Ellen!

Vonna and Michele B asked to see my SB needlerolls in their basket so next time I post I will have some pictures:) They are actually in 2 baskets as they won't all fit in one! I'm very proud of my collection and I love them all.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Hugs

Sally
xxx

Another Roll and Somebody is Sweet 16!

It's a beautiful sunny day here today albeit rather chilly but it's one of those days where you feel glad to be alive and that is just what I need!

Plus 16 years ago today I gave birth to my second gorgeous daughter Abigail! She is blossoming into a beautiful young woman with a kind heart and wonderful soul ( OK I'm biased!). Yes she can be grouchy and moody but can't we all! Lol!

Happy Birthday sweetpea:) Hope you have a wonderful day!

I have a finish to show and I absolutely adore this one! This is my roll for this month. I can't believe that's nearly Chris and I's second year stitching these SB rolls. I think I have two more in my stash ( Christmas Candy and Pansy) and two more to get yet which I'll buy sometime next year.

Shepherd's Bush Antique Heart Roll

28 count Jayne's Attic Colour of the Month Sweet Pea

DMC

Started 9th November 2010

Finished 12th November 2010

As usual now I'm going to show you my progress on my two WIPs. I do hope you aren't getting bored seeing these. First up is CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. I am loving this block so far ( no mistakes- yet!) and hope to get another good couple of nights on it this week. I know Lisa had a good session on PS.

Last night was my Jane night with Barb. As the weather is getting chilly and the first snow is falling ( not here but on the stocking!! Lol!) I thought I'd better get a shift on and try and get the roof finished and start bricking up the walls. No windows in yet though and the walls aren't finished either!

Sunday evening was LHN ornament night with Barb and Lesleyanne and this week I made a start on Winter Sheep. Oh this one is so damned cute! I do love sheep! He's legless at the moment though. I think he has had one too many festive spirits! Lol!

I now have Snowy Pines in my stash to stitch thanks to Barb who sent me her chart when she had finished with it. Thank you so much Barb. Hope you received the email I sent you yesterday :)

Right time I was off here to get some housework or stitching done. What shall I do??? Lol!

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my gift for Lesleyanne and also to those of you who have entered my wee giveaway. I will keep it open until the end of the week so don't forget to leave a comment on that post only if you'd like to enter.

Take care and stay warm!

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

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