December SAL

I know. It's not December! Kind of wish it was last December but never mind. Thought I'd do this post on my tab while I'm waiting for my kitchen floor to dry then upload my photos on the computer later.

So as you may remember  Chris and I have done a December SAL for the past few years and last year was  no exception. Chris finished hers in December but mine has taken a wee bit longer. It wasn't a huge piece so it shouldn't really have taken me so long but it's now done and I love it.

Country Cottage Needleworks Gingerbread Cottage

28 count Natural Pearl Linen

DMC & Crescent  Colours

Started 12th December 2012

Finished 22nd February 2013

Thank you Chris for another brilliant SAL and I look forward to our next one of Country Cottage Needleworks Silent Night. Thank you Barb for sending me the chart when you'd finished stitching it :)  I have also been stitching this with the ladies in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven so now need to find something else to stitch so I can keep stitching with the ladies so I'm going back to Little House Needleworks Home of a Needleworker ( Too! )

I have been trying to get as much stitching in on an evening as I possibly can. Sometimes it goes well, other times I get distracted but I am quite pleased with my progress since my last post. HAED Gurdian is slowly growing.  I am still aiming to get page 11 finished but it seems never ending somehow which is silly as its big  blocks of colour. Can't wait to get to the next page as there will be more hunky angel!

QS Holly Fairy is going very well. Onto page 4 and hoping to get it done quite quickly if I can but there is a fair few odd stitches around her eyes which slow me up. I think she is looking brilliant even though I say so myself!

I managed a little bit more on HAED QS Spirit of Winter Robin on Sunday evening. Can you see the robin's head?

Finally ( are you still with me? If you are thank you) my lovely Little Sheep Virtues Hope. I just love this first one of the series and the next one is just as sweet. Looking forward to that one landing on our shores too!

No progress worth showing on my other two HAEDs. I'm getting a little frustrated that I'm not getting time to work on these at the moment. I really want to get on with them expecially as they are SALs and I really feel like I'm lagging behind. I just want to see them grow a little more. 

I was stitching away at craft club yesterday ( can't show it) and realised I had made a boo boo! I couldn't work it out and it was a mistake I'd made last week! Needless to say the mistake stayed! 

That's it for now. Not sure whether to do some more housework, sort a DMC order out or go to my Dad's and paint. My sister and her partner decided that the little sitting room needed painting as it was a dark colour but it needs another coat. I think it's too much for me on my own so maybe not a good idea. 

Take care everyone and thank you for your support, love and hugs over the last 6 weeks.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

Forget Me Not

Last Friday was my dear friend and SAL partner Barb's birthday. So after much deliberation I decided to stitch this beauty for her as I know she loves blue. Well I think she does as I seem to remember something about blue. I hope I didn't dream it!

Heartstring Samplery Forget Me Not

Polstitches Designs fabric from grab bag

GAST & WDW

Started 20th January 2013

Finished 5th February 2013

I'm happy to say that Barb loves it.

I don't have a deal to show. HAED Guardian didn't happen much at the weekend but QS Holly Fairy went very well and I finished page 2 and started and nearly finished page 3! Yay! I had better explain that page 3 is 98 rows of just 8 stitches and is all DMC 310!

I didn't quite get CCN Gingerbread Cottage finished last Wednesday so hoping to this week. Still no DMC 437 at my local shop but one of the lovely ladies at craft club brought me some on a bobbin for which I was very grateful.  Not sure what to stitch once I've finished this. I may see if Mouse wants to start the Shakespeare's Peddler piece that was with the LHN last year or finish LHN Home of a Needleworker ( Too ).

I stitched a little bit more on QS Spirit of Winter Robin on Sunday evening. This, like my other two HAEDs, may not get stitched on regularly. I seem to be finding it hard to knuckle down to any stitching during the day at the moment.  Wish I could get just a bit done as feeling as if I've bitten off more than I can chew at the moment!

Postie was kind to me last week. I ended up subscribing to Just Cross Stitch magazine through Country Designs after my newsagent let me down. The shop changed hands and since then they've packed away the mags to send back and this time not bothered to get them in at all even though I had a regular order with the previous owners. Anyway the January / February issue arrived last week  from Country Designs so I haven't missed any. The following day the first of the LHN Little Sheep Virtues arrived from Karla at Patchwork Rabbit. I also received a lovely card from my long time online friend Fi which I forgot to take a pic of.

So Barb and I are now SAL-ing on the Little Sheep Virtues and I have to say I just loved my time stitching Hope on Monday evening. I hope Barb did too. Here's my progress.

I must apologise for not commenting on blogs again.  I've been setting off with good intentions but since my Dad passed away I just don't seem to have much enthusiasm. Apart from the odd blog post and getting stitching done I just seem to be burying my head. I wish I could hide away and pretend it didn't happen. I have so much going round in my head. I go to bed and I can't sleep as my brain goes into overdrive so I dread going to bed but then I wake up in a morning and don't want to get up. It's crazy!

That's it from me for now.

With much love

Sally xx

What's This?

Why it's my February ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL actually started and finished well before the end of the month! I actually started and finished it on Monday evening stitching ( virtually) with Barb. OK so it wasn't difficult as it's such a sweet simple design.

Atelier Steekjes & Kruisjes Joy

28 count fabric

DMC

I'm not sure how I will finish it yet but will wait until I've done next month's maybe then do 3 together.

I am almost there with my December SAL which I did with Chris. She finished hers in December but mine has taken a little longer! I've been stitching along on this in the parlour with the ladies of Needlecraft Haven. Not much more to do now but still waiting on my local arts and crafts shop to get some DMC in so I can finish off the cupcakes!

I'm only going to show one of my HAEDs this time as there's only one that I've made decent progress on. I've been finding things quite stressful and my tab has won over my stitching some nights and that stresses me even more as I feel like I've wasted an evening! Anyway QS Holly Fairy is looking good, even though I say so myself, but I think I'll probably slow up now as I'm about to start her eye. Lots of single stitches in there!

Not long after my Dad passed away I had a lovely email from Myra telling me that I'd won her giveaway of Lizzie*Kate Not All of Us chart that she had recently finished. I was so pleased as this one was on my wish list and it made my heart so happy at such a sad time. It arrived last Friday and I'm really looking forward to stitching it. She also added some Made With Love charms which I only found this morning as they were inside the case and I hadn't opened it. Thank you so much Myra.

Yesterday postie brought a lovely surprise from Julie. Ages ago she had stitched a JBW designs called Our Family which I greatly admired as it was so pretty. Julie had been sorting through her stitching stuff and found it and sent it to me. Thank you so much Julie. I intend on starting this as soon as I can fit it in.

Finally around last October I requested a quick stitch of the robin in Ciro Marchetti's Spirit of Winter on the HAED BB. I had requested it a long, long time ago as well but nothing had come of it. Anyway to cut a long story short I emailed Michele after my Dad passed away asking if it was doable and if it was in her queue as I wanted to stitch it in my Dad's memory as he loved robins.I received a lovely email back saying she was working it and hoping to get it released the following week. Well  at the end of last week it got released and no sooner had it been released it was my inbox, a gift from my surrogate sister Lisa. Thank you so much Lisa. I cannot tell you what this means to me. My threads are sorted, chart is printed and I just have to cut some fabric and I'll be away. I'm planning to start it on Sunday which would have been my Dad's 84th birthday.

That's all from me for now. Hopefully next week Gingerbread Cottage will be done! Thank you for all your continued visits and comments. I appreciate them so much.

With much love

Sally

xxxxx

I'm Back but Lost and Alone.

I am back. First of all I would just like to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you who commented on my last post about my dear Dad. I wish I could give you all a thank you hug. Thanks also to those who emailed me rather than comment here and to Barb, Julie and Karan who sent cards. It has been a difficult couple of weeks and I just feel so lost and alone. Sounds silly when I say I feel alone but I am sure those of you who have lost both your parents will understand it.

I haven't felt like blogging or commenting on blogs. I have, however, been doing some stitching. Some pieces haven't seen much action whilst others have. Two of my HAED pieces I would normally stitch on for an hour one day a week but every time I sat down to pop a few stitches in something cropped up. I have some finishes to show, two of which were birthday gifts.

The first one is my final finish of 2012 and was for my surrogate sis Lisa's birthday. I had already started stitching this when I received my birthday gift from Lisa in December and although we did not stitch the same design the words were the same. " BELIEVE".

Joan Elliott Believe ( left off the fairies)

Unknown Fabric

DMC

Birthday gift for Lisa

Next finish was for my friend Chris' birthday. I am terrible when it comes to stitching birthday gifts as I never know what to stitch and I change my mind so many times. I am happy to say that Chris loved it.

Homespun Elegance To Stitch is Bliss

unknown fabric

DMC

Started 7th January 2013

Finished 11th January 2013

Birthday gift for Chris.

I have also managed to finish my January ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I decided to leave the border off but now I think I'm going to add it as I have the companion piece to this which I won in Mylene's giveaway a few years ago so it'll match that if I add the border.

Little House Needleworks The Merry Skater

Unknown fabric

DMC

Started 6th January 2013

Finished 22nd January 2013.

I have a wee question to ask my fellow stitchers. Does anyone know of a chart with the following verse on it.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,--

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth. 

This was my Dad's favourite verse from the poem God's Garden. We had the poem read at the funeral service and I'd love to stitch it in his memory. I did ask on Facebook so I have seen some but I'm not keen on the ones I've seen so far. 

Not sure which WIP to start with now. Hmmm. As it's SAL night tonight over in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven I think you should see my progress on Country Cottage Needleworks Gingerbread Cottage. I am trying to pick out the darkest bits of the thread for the wording but it doesn't appear to be working too well. Loving this though and looking forward to getting more done tonight. I've run out of a colour though and my local shop didn't have any so hoping they'll have it soon. Thankfully I can work round it.

Onto my HAEDs now. I have made a lot of progress on QS Holly Fairy. I think I'm spurred on by being close to finishing page 2.

Guardian is going well. I need this angel to hold me up more than ever now so would love to make a lot more progress on this.

A little progress on SK Dragon's History. I hope to get back to some normality next week so that I can make regular progress on it.

Finally Mini The Forgotten. I'm almost across the top of the first page with this but again not much progress.

So that's all the stitching I can show now. There have been some evenings when I've sat for ages playing cards on my tab instead of stitching and I really need to get out of that. One of my friends from craft club said I need to be kinder to myself and give myself time. I can't get my head round the fact that my Dad is no longer here. I think because he's been here for so many years after my Mum I thought he'd always be there. Yes there were times when he was a pain in the ass but he's my Dad and I love him dearly and I miss him so much. As long as I'm busy I don't think too much but the minute I stop my mind goes into overtime. I keep thinking I should have done more for him ( silly really as I did lots) and I should have got a doctor out on the Sunday but I really have got to stop beating myself up. He'd told the doctor in A & E when he'd asked to tell him truthfully that he'd been feeling unwell for about a week and I just wish he'd told me then he might still be here. He must have felt rotten but he didn't let it show. Even his main carer was wondering if she'd missed something but my Dad was the type of person who wouldn't tell you. I am just glad that I got the chance to say goodbye and tell him that I loved him. I just hope he heard me as he wasn't conscious. 

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally

xxxx

My Heart is Breaking

Just a quick post today. I may be missing for a wee while but I may not. My dear Dad passed away yesterday evening in hospital. I can't quite get my head round it and last night I just felt numb but it hit me this morning. He was just a few weeks short of his 84th birthday. My sister and her partner were with him but I'm afraid I could not bare to sit and watch him die. I hope he will understand that I needed to see my girls and hope he will forgive me. I said what I needed to before I left. It all happened so quickly.

8 Days In......

And no finishes! Lol! That is very unusual for me as I usually have one or two small  ones but for me 2013 isn't going to be about lots of finishes but more about the journey of stitching and enjoying it. I have had three new starts. I've joined Lainey's Christmas All Year SAL again and have already set out my choices for every month. This month I decided on Little House Needleworks The Merry Skater and this is my small start.I'm going to try and use some charts from my stash for the SAL this year and the rest will be from the 2012 JCS ornament mag.

I had a new start on New Year's Day. It's a tradition of mine, as with many stitchers, to have a new start on that day. The last couple of years I've started something small that I've finished the same day but this time I've gone with one that may take me all year as I'm only going to stitch on it an hour or so a week. This is HAED SK A Dragon's History. It's not much of a start  but it's a started nonetheless.

I made some good progress on HAED QS Holly Fairy. I'm determined to get this finished this year if I can. I used for be able to finish a QS in 6 months but my problem now is I have too many other things on the go.

Another HAED now ( I hope you won't get bored with my HAED wips as I am really enjoying stitching them) and my start from Boxing Day Mini The Forgotten. Considering this is just a few hours stitching it's not going too badly. I actually can't wait to get to the bottom as the girl appears there. I think I shall probably just show this and A Dragon's History once a month as I'm only stitching on these about an hour to and hour and a half a week so not really worth showing them every time I blog!

Wednesday evening saw me in the parlour with Barb and the ladies of Needlecraft Haven with Country Cottage Needleworks Gingerbread Cottage. I'm getting on quite well with this now.

Friday and Saturday was my usual with me trying to get in many stitches as possible on HAED Guardian. Not doing too badly at all but wish I could get a page a month done! I'd have to stitch more on it though then I wouldn't get chance to stitch on much else so I'll just do the best I can.

I had a final finish for 2012 but can't  show that and I had a new start last night which is almost finished but can't show that either!

I was joining in the HAED bulletin board yearly free SAL and received the first page of my chosen design which was QS Mystic Garden. Unfortunately my first reaction was I can't stitch this! I have thought about it for a few days before finally deciding that if I do it I'll hate it so I've now dropped out.

I've added a couple of charts to my for sale list if you would like to have a look. I don't want to Ebay what is left so please make me an offer and take them off my hands!!! Lol!

Last week I received a birthday gift from my long time online stitchy friend Judy. Judy was panicking as she'd posted it just after my  birthday and it hadn't arrived before Christmas. She sent a beautiful card with the most lovely verse in which she had added to and it brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat. I don't think kindly of myself and every year I say I need to be kinder to myself but it never happens so when someone says something nice like Judy did it just gives you a boost. She also sent me this gorgeous dishcloth which she knitted. I've never had one before and I just love it. It is too nice to use though! Thank you so much Judy xxx

Well I think that is all for my first post of 2013. As I tidy up from the aftermath of the Christmas decorations ( the house is so dull now!)  I'm going through my stitched items and will be giving some away. My DH and I had a bit of a to do at the beginning of December about the amount of stitched pieces I have which led me to seriously think about giving up ( you may remember me mentioning in a post that I almost gave up) and at the time I could've thrown all my stitchy stash in the bin. However life without stitching would be no good for me so some of my older smalls will be going to new homes this year.

Now I'd better get on. Got to vac up and polish the living room floor!

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally xxx

A New Stitching Year Is About To Begin

The old year will soon make way for the new. Not quite sure where the last year has gone as it hardly seems like 5 minutes since last New Year's Eve!

Anyway I have achieved lots of finishes this last year ( I don't expect to have as many in 2013), had a few abandoned pieces and renewed my love for HAEDs. I've stitched at least 12 Christmas ornaments thanks to Lainey's Christmas All Year Round SAL which I think I'm going to take part in again in 2013. It has been great fun and really makes you want to get on and stitch. I have also made new stitchy friends through blogging and Facebook, made a firm friend through craft club and we intend to get together regularly outside of the club for stitchy afternoons in 2013. 

I'm not going to make any particular plans for stitching in 2013 other than ornaments, the new Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues and hopefully make plenty of progress on my HAEDs. I intend to stitch from my stash as much as possible but obviously I will be buying the sheep :) I'm going to go on auto for them probably with Patchwork Rabbit as Karla is brilliant to deal with. I am hoping just to buy fabric and threads through the year if I need them. I did get fabric for Christmas so have plenty to keep me going on my HAEDs and other things. At the rate I'm going with new HAED starts I probably won't have much time to stitch on much else! I also got one of the Lizzie*Kate Inspiration Boxers. I really want to collect these as they are just lovely. I was surprised to see that they are presented in a CD case. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was quiet but enjoyable. We played games on the Wii, watched DVDs, ate too much, drank a bit and just generally chilled. We had a trip to the sales in Hull on Friday. I don't believe in the sales starting on Boxing Day so won't venture out then. I wish they'd go back to New Year sales like years ago. I'm afraid all this is killing family times and family values but that's just my opinion. At the sales I picked up a half price Charles Dickens book which has his Christmas stories in including A Christmas Carol. Jess set me off my buying me two Dickens books for Christmas then she said she should have got me a special version of A Christmas Carol so when I saw the book at half price I had to buy it!

My dear stitching friends were very kind to me at Christmas and I received some gifts. I feel so bad as I didn't send to anyone other than Lisa and Michelle ( I let Michelle open hers early) but I just can't do it. Anyway I feel very blessed and will let the pictures do the talking. Thank you so much my dear friends xx

 From Michelle

From Lisa

From Christine

From Karan

From Mouse

From Elaine

I pondered over what I could do for Lisa and finally decided on this ornament which she loves.

Shepherd's Bush Do You Hear

Unknown fabric

DMC

Started 20th November 2012

Finished 3rd December 2012

Christmas Gift for Lisa

I finally got my last three ornaments made up to hang. I need to be a bit more creative in 2013 with my finishes I think!

And my last ornament of the year was finished yesterday but not made up yet!

Amy Brueken Designs I Believe

28 count Natural Pearl Linen

DMC

Started 23rd December 2012

Finished 30th December 2012

I had a new start on Boxing Day. This is HAED Mini The Forgotten. Not a lot done but loving it so far.

I also made progress on HAED Guardian and HAED QS Holly Fairy. I finished page 10 on Guardian and managed 560 stitches on page 11.

Finally my progress on Country Cottage Needleworks Gingerbread Cottage. Photo is awful I'm afraid. Chris  has finished hers and is wondering how to finish it.

So that's my final stitchy update for 2012. No more finishes in the pipeline now until 2013. I have been stitching away on a gift but I don't think that will be finished until next year now unless I get lots of stitching in today!

Thank you to you all for your friendship in 2012 and long may it continue. I love seeing what you are all doing even though I may not always keep up with commenting especially at this time of year. 

So that is it from me for 2012! Wishing you all good health, happiness and lots of stitchy goodness in 2013. 

With much love

Sally

xxxx

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