It's Almost Here.

Well it's almost here. We are having a quiet one with just the four of us. I must admit I miss family Christmases of old but the ones who held us all together are long gone. I won't get into it as I'll just end up getting upset and I do love the special time with my DH and my two girls.

I've got a finish to show which was a birthday gift for Christine. I was late posting it but Royal Mail made things worse by taking four days deliver it even though I posted it first class. This is what I stitched for her. Sorry it was so late Christine.

The Little Stitcher Snowdrop

Birthday gift for Christine.

I don't have many Wips that I can post either as one is a gift and haven't picked anything up yet to replace the wordplay I dumped. I was in the parlour with the ladies of Needlecraft Haven on Wednesday evening whilst stitching along with Chris on our December Sal. I am loving stitching CCN Gingerbread Cottage since I restarted it. The colours show up much better two over two. I love the colours. Chris and I have already decided on our next December Sal! Photo is blurry I'm afraid.

No progress to show on HAED Guardian again. I have made a bit of progress but not enough to show. Not sure I'll get any done tonight as I need to get the last few ornaments finished to hang on my tree. Speaking of ornaments just look at this beautiful ornament that arrived from my dear friend Shirlee. I adore it and have it hung from the garland on my mantlepiece. Thank you so much Shirlee for thinking of me xxx

HAED QS Holly Fairy is going rather well. Getting the outline of her hair on page 2 now. I'm hoping to get plenty of this done over the Christmas holidays although maybe not!

Dear June sent me a lovely card and gift for my birthday. The vanilla sachet smells delicious, the threads are gorgeous colours and the ribbon is pretty. Thank you so much June for thinking of me xxx.

An envelope arrived from Barb and I was puzzled as to what was inside. Why do we wonder instead of just ripping open the envelope?! Inside was a Weymouth and Portland  calendar which I'm looking forward to having on my wall in 2013. Ill be able to see the lovely place where Barb lives. I have been nearby but never to Weymouth. One day maybe :)

I am having a new start on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas  ). Originally my surrogate sis Lisa and I were starting HAED Mini The Forgotten but it kind of grew and now there are several of us starting b & w minis and Eileen started up a Facebook group called B & W Mini Nutters! I have my fabric and threads ready and my chart printed. I'm also supposed to be starting my first Randal Spangler design in 2013 but Im wondering if I may have bitten off more than I can chew with so many HAEDs but I'll see how I go. I've chosen one that I was raked with in the Halloween rak event and that one is SK A Dragon's History. I was hoping I'd have enough of 25 count Magic Guide left for it but unfortunately it's not big enough so I'm hoping Father Christmas will bring me some. I've been a good girl this year :)

I think this will probably be the last post I do before Christmas unless I get these ornaments finished so to all my wonderful readers and dear friends Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year. Thank you each and every one of you for your friendship during 2012 and long may it continue. I know I have not been very good at keeping in touch these past few months but in all honesty I've been finding things difficult but didn't want to say anything on here as it is, after all, first and foremost a stitching blog. I need to seriously sort myself out!

Have a safe and Happy Christmas.

With much love.

Sally
xxx

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

Yesterday...........

Was my **th birthday lol and I was spoilt rotten by my family and friends. I had a lovely day. I met up with my friend Gill, who I met through going to the craft club, and she treated me to a hot chocolate with cream and a scone with jam and cream :) We sat in the cafe chatting and I showed her how to grid as she's starting her first HAED soon. Before we knew where we were it was 4 pm. I also chatted online to my surrogate sis Lisa which I always enjoy doing. Anyway next year is a big one and I'm planning on having a tattoo to celebrate but not sure I can wait now that Abi has had one and it looks so good.

The day before my birthday Chris came to visit and we had a lovely afternoon chatting and showing our stitching. Chris is making great progress on our December SAL. I think we have decided already what next year's will be! Anyway Chris and I do an ornament exchange and this is what I stitched for her. I haven't taken a photo yet of the one she stitched for me but it gorgeous. I have it hung from the garland on my mantlepiece. Photo next blog post :)

I am going to let the pictures of my gifts do the talking!

First of all a Wish Necklace from Abi. You open up the clam, remove the pearl and pop it in the necklace. I love this. It's so pretty.

From Chris. Just look at that cute sheepie! Thank you so much Chris. I love him!

From Christine. I can't wait to use this soap as I bet it is gorgeous. Thank you so much Christine.

From my DH along with a charm for my Nominations bracelet. I love Boofle. Abi set me off with him a few years ago.

From Lainey. A wonderful selection of trims, backing fabric, a gorgeous tape measure and a gorgeous stitched piece. Thank you so much Lainey.

From Julie. She said my sewing kit was not complete without this angel :) Thank you so much Julie.

From Lesleyanne. Another cute sheepie for my collection ( can you tell I LOVE sheep?) Thank you so much Lesleyanne.

From Lisa, my surrogate sis. A gorgeous coaster with the words I need to tell myself every single day and HAED Mini Frozen Hearts which I adore. Thank you so much sis.

From Michelle. A beautiful pin cushion with a pretty pin and a lovely Primitive Betty's chart. Thank you so much Michelle.

From Karan. Some gorgeous trims and threads. Thank you so much Karan.

Thank you to each and everyone one of you for your beautiful cards and gifts and for making my birthday so special. I feel so blessed to have such sweet friends that remember my birthday. 

I had better get on now. Still way behind on blogs but no time right now to catch up. Jess is coming home today and I have things I must do before she gets here!

Take care everyone. 

With much love

Sally

xxxxx

A Gift for Michelle

A while ago you may remember me showing my progress on The Sampler Girl Know Your Own Happiness and me saying it was going to be an rak but not knowing who for. Well when I showed the one Barb stitched for me the lovely Michelle loved it so I said I would stitch her it. Well it was already almost done so here is it finished. Michelle emailed me to say she loved it :)

I also stitched a wee ornament for Michelle's tree. I chose The Sampled Girl Bedford Falls. I finished it off simply. I'm afraid my finishing seems to have gone downhill this year rather than got better!

I have a couple more finishes that I can't show just yet. Chris and I are doing our annual ornament exchange and we are meeting up tomorrow. Really looking forward to that as we haven't met up in ages. So I'll be able to show the ornament I have stitched for her after tomorrow.

Not much progress on the stitching front really. HAED QS Holly Fairy is going quite well though. I finished page 1 and made a bit of good progress on page 2.

Also managed to make a bit of progress on HAED Guardian. I kinda wish I could wave a magic wand and make this grow faster but if I wasn't so darn fed up with myself it would grow faster anyway!

I started With Thy Needle January Wordplay last Monday. This is my SAL with Barb. I decided to stitch this one over one on 28 count linen. I plan on doing them all the same. I didn't get much done so need to get a move on so that I can get it finished and on display for January. I have another gift to finish before I can pick this up tonight though. Not much to stitch on it.

Wednesday I sat down with CCN Gingerbread Cottage which is what Chris and I are stitching for our December Sal. Unfortunately I didn't like it over one on 28 count as the colours didn't show up well enough so I'll be restarting it on Wednesday.

I received a lovely early birthday present last week of HAED Mini I Remember Moonlight from my lovely Irish friend Paula . I've had this on my wish list for quite sometime now and kept looking at it and now I have it! Thank you so much Paula for thinking of me. I love it and look forward to stitching it one day soon :)

I am going to try and stitch from my stash as much as possible next year with maybe the odd treat. I have so many lovely charts and I haven't really missed treating myself as much as I usually do this year. I want to try and stitch on my HAEDs as much as I can with some smalls thrown in here and there. 

I must apologise if I haven't visited and commented on your blogs recently. I keep desperately trying to get caught up but just don't seem to manage it somehow. I will try and get properly caught up soon.

That's all for now. Hopefully I will be back a lot sooner next time.

With much love

Sally

xxx

It's December!

As yesterday was the 1 st December and we put our Christmas decorations I could at long last open the ornament that my dear friend June kindly sent me. I could have opened it before but I thought it would be more special if I saved it. I have to tell you it was well worth waiting to open. It is a gorgeous PS design and I absolutely love it. Thank you so much June, I will treasure it always.

I didn't get my ornament tree put up until today. I didn't realise how many ornaments I had. These are ones that have been been gifted with, received in exchanges or stitched myself. The photo is not that clear so will try and get a better one.

Not much on the stitching front this last week. My DH had a week off so that we could do our Christmas shopping and I've been so tired. The lovely thing was we picked Jessica up on Wednesday and had a day out shopping with her then Friday Abi had two lessons cancelled so we took her out shopping. Hopefully I will get some stitching done this weekend and get caught up.

I have, however, almost finished the page on HAED QS Holly Fairy so hopefully I'll finish that this week. I have a gift I need to get finished and a few ornaments I need to get made up. I haven't enough progress to show on anything else I'm afraid. I shall be putting LHN Home of a Needlework ( Too! ) on hold for a while but will still  be stitching with the ladies in the parlour on a Wednesday as Chris and I are starting our December SAL of CCN Gingerbread Cottage. Chris has started hers.

Yesterday I had a gift from my dear friend Lesleyanne. She sent me HAED Effects of Caffeine SK as a thank you for me lending her a chart. It was a lovely surprise. The silly thing is I can't for the life of me remember lending her a chart let alone which one I lent her! Thank you so much Lesleyanne. I love these little draggie charts. They are so cute.

Thank you to all of those who entered my blogoversary giveaway. There may be more finished piece giveaways in the New Year. Yesterday I actually considered giving up stitching (won't go into detail ) but I can't just sit in front of the tv and vegetate in an evening plus if I didn't have my stitching I would go mad! Anyway enough of my ramblings. The randomiser chose.......................................Christine! Congratulations Christine! I have your address so I will get that off to you this week :)

That's all for now. Finger's crossed I'll have more show next time! Must catch up on blogs too!

Take care everyone and keep warm. It's going to get very cold this week.

With much love.

Sally

XXX