Blessed

Lots of stitching has been done since my last post and not only that I have also received some lovely gifts. I did not realise until dear June emailed me but I had won one of her lovely giveaways. Last week this arrived. Look how beautifully it is wrapped.

I had to take a photo before I opened it up and found this lovely chart, ribbon, thread and pins.

Thank you so much June, I love it all.

This week I received a package and envelope from dear Lainey. She has been having an awful time of it lately and you may have read on her blog that her DH had  a cancer scare. I have been keeping in touch ( not as much as I should have really ) showing my support as have several of her friends. Look what she sent me to say thank you. How sweet is that and how beautifully wrapped :) Honestly, Lainey, no thanks were needed but thank you so much.

Also she sent me the LHN Curly Q Ewe chart so that I can join in with her and Mouse in their SAL. Bless you Lainey you are so sweet for thinking of others when you are going through it yourself. I look forward to our SAL. I was going to order the threads I need in the JJs sale but international shipping from the States has increased dramatically so any saving I make would be swallowed up by shipping so time to delve into my thread stash or wait for Patchwork Rabbit to reopen:).

I am so blessed to have such lovely stitching friends. So many of you have been wonderfully supportive since I lost my Dad and for that I will be eternally grateful. As silly as it sounds I shed a wee tear or two when I received the sales leaflet for his house from the estate agent on Friday and later that day the stone mason rang to say that the head stone was back on the grave so my DH, Abi and I went to look at it. Seeing my Dad's name there with my Mum made it seem so much more real and Abi and I cried. Sounds crazy but I'm sure some of you will understand what I mean.

Anyway enough of that! Time to show my therapy stitching. My Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues SAL with Barb is going well. Barb has not been well so started after I did but I was a little slow the first Monday I picked mine up :) Here's where I am at  so should be able to finish it next Monday. I'll make a start on my April ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL then and hope I can get it stitched up before next month!

Of course my problem when I have other things to stitch, like the ornament, is that I don't want to put one of my HAEDs away while I stitch it as I'm afraid I wouldn't pick it up again but it think I may have to give QS Spirit of Winter a miss this  coming Sunday and stitch on something else! Speaking of QS Spirit of Winter this is my progress.  I always think it hasn't grown much but then when I look back at the last photo I think that doesn't look so bad!

I had a panic with HAED Guardian this time. I'm sure those of you who stitch HAEDs have all done it at some point! I was stitching where the angel's hand is and it just did not look right. I was thinking I'd done something wrong so checked the colours against the thread key and no that was all fine. Anyway I put it to one side while I went to make a cuppa, glanced at it and thought wow there is a hand!!! So pleased with this page as it's nice to get away from background as there is a lot on this one!

My SAL with Mouse is going well. I'm loving the colours in this so much. Just hope I can finish it how it's shown on the photo! My finishing bug has gone awol and I'm seriously scared it will never come back as I certainly don't want to resort to framing everything again!

I stitched a teeny bit more on HAED SK Dragon's History.  Note to self- stick to stitching 10 x 10 squares on this piece rather than wandering!  I got very confused on this and I know that some shades of a  colour are in the wrong place but I can't really tell so not even attempting to put it right!

Finally QS Holly Fairy. I am quite  close to finishing page 4 and am so excited by it. I know I'm sad aren't I?! I'm still hoping to get her finished by September if  not before but with 5 more pages to do I'm not sure I can do it! OK 4 of those are partial pages so maybe I can!

Just want to send a heads up to those of you who like using silk thread. One of my stitching friends on Facebook has just started dying her own silks. At the moment she only sells from her Facebook page but is hoping to get a website set up soon. If you're on Facebook and fancy having a look her page is Thread Pickerz Silkz.

Hope you are all well and stitching up a storm.

Take care everyone and thank you for visiting. I appreciate it more than you  could know :)

With much love

Sally xxxx

Oops!

Well it's been nearly 2 weeks since I posted last.  Time flies doesn't it?!

I have been stitching lots but just not felt much like blogging and I am sorry to say I haven't been reading your blogs much either as I haven't had the enthusiasm I'm afraid. Of course it's been the Easter holidays too and although we haven't done a great deal time has just flown. Last week Abi was on work experience with Bridlington Free Press shadowing their photographer. The rubbish bus service from here to Bridlington meant she could neither get there on time or get home when she'd finished so my DH took the week off to take her there and back.  She actually  ended up only working 3 and a half days but thoroughly enjoyed it. Last week she had one of the photos she'd taken published in the paper then this week there is a write up and photo of her at her desk along with a photo of her with an owl which Paul took at Sewerby Hall.

I actually managed to finish my March ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL before the end of March. I enjoyed stitching this and love the fabric I've used ( thank you Lois ) and think I might just treat myself to a fat quarter of it one day.

Bent Creek Glad Tidings

32 count Salamander linen

DMC

Dani I'll get the chart in the post to you as soon as I can :)

No other finishes but I do have a new start. Mouse and I started our SAL of Shakespeare's Peddler Gentle Stitches last week and so far I am loving it. I love the colours and it's so nice to stitch.

Oooh I have another new start. How could I forget that the next Little Sheep Virtues, Love, arrived last week so Monday Barb and I made a start. Well I think Barb did as, bless her,  she's not been well.

I'm afraid that all my other WIPs are HAEDs now. I think I'm a teeny bit addicted as I added to my stash this week during the sale but more about that in a bit! I'll start with the one that will hopefully be my next HAED finish and that is QS Holly Fairy. I've been working on getting lots of black background done and there is also some blue in that. I took it to craft group with me on Tuesday morning and just stitched solidly on black!  I'm itching to get her finished but it will take me a few months yet I think.

I've been managing a little progress on Guardian and here is is in all his glory!  It makes a nice change to actually stitch him rather than background.

As I said in my last post I've been giving SK Dragon's History some attention driven by the March competition on one of the groups on Facebook I belong to. Well that attention paid off as I came third and could pick a reward from the items some the ladies have donated  I chose a Mystic Stitch chart called  Daybreak. I'm intent on keeping up with adding a few stitches on this when I can over a weekend.

My Sunday evening stitching is QS Spirit of Winter Robin and he's coming along nicely.  Once QS Holly Fairy is finished this will move to her slot in my rotation :)

Finally I sat down for a wee while on Easter Monday afternoon to pop a few stitches into Mini The Forgotten my SAL with Lisa. It doesn't get very much attention so it was nice just to put a few stitches in.

As I said earlier I added to my HAED stash this week. I really shouldn't have as I now have a grand total of 23 and when I'm going to get around to stitching them all I do not know as even the QS take a long time but they are so worth the time and are not expensive when you think of all the hours and joy you get out of them.

 Anyway I was feeling pretty down so I treated myself to Faces of Faery 132 Ornament and Mini Home is Where the Magic Is. Yes I know I have the SK of this but I decided I like the full picture as well but would never do the BAP so the mini it was! I think the SK and Mini would look lovely hung side by side. Then on Wednesday my lovely friend Lesleyanne RAK'd me with this.

Mini Jolly Old Fellow.  Now there is a story behind this which I told on Kerri's WIP pic of the BAP of this. I might have told it on here and I apologise if I have. Every time I look at photo of this on the HAED website the train gets me. Years ago my Dad told us how when he was a boy he'd askedfor a red toy train from Father Christmas  but never got one. So I  bought a red toy train, wrote a letter on the computer from Father Christmas saying how sorry he was it was late and popped it under our tree for when my Dad came on Christmas Day!  He kept that train until the day he died and we had it put in his coffin with him along with a Lindt Chocolate Rabbit that the girls had given him several years ago that he never ate as he said it would remind him of them.  Lesleyanne thank you so much for your wonderful, kind RAK. It means so much and once QS Holly is finished and I move QS Spirit of Winter Robin to her slot I'll be starting him :)

I feel terrible to that I forgot to show these lovely threads that dear Michelle sent me from her trip to South Africa. Aren't they gorgeous? I am so sorry that I forgot to show them Michelle. Thank you so much xxx

Well that's all my news for now. Thank you for reading  my ramblings and for all your lovely comments. They mean the world to me.

Until next time.

With much love

Sally xxx

A Birthday Gift For Lesleyanne.

A couple of weeks ago it was my lovely friend, Lesleyanne's birthday. I was a little late sending her birthday gift but she was very understanding. Here is what I stitched for her.

Lizzie* Kate Friends Are Like Angels

Unknown fabric

GAST & DMC Variations

Started 19th February 2013

Finished 5th March 2013

Gift for Lesleyanne

I am very happy to say that Lesleyanne loves it :)

I had a finish this week which is great as my finishes are few and far between with me stitching so many HAEDs. I sometimes think I must be mad having so many but I have got my love for stitching them back. Anyway back to my finish!

Little House Needleworks Home of a Needleworker ( Too! )

Silkweaver 25 count Stormy Skies

Crescent Colours

Started 3rd October 2012

Finished 21st March 2013

Of course it wouldn't have taken me as long to stitch had I not abandoned it in favour of CCN Gingerbread Cottage! I love how it has turned out!

Mouse and I are going to be going back to our SAL next and are starting Shakespeare's Peddler Gentle Stitches so I'm looking forward to that.

I have almost finished my March ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I'm hoping to get it finished this week. I really like how this is looking. I have been stitching this with my dear friend Barb while we are waiting for the next Little Sheep Virtues.

Onto my HAEDs now. QS Holly Fairy is coming along well. That bit under her face was driving me mad on Thursday evening and I will admit to getting a bit lost at one point and wanting to throw it but I composed myself and sorted it out!

I did a little  bit on QS Spirit of Winter Robin. He has a beak now!

I've started to try and stitch on SK Dragon's History as one of the stitching groups I belong to on Facebook are running a March competition where we count up the number of stitches we do each session on our SAL piece. It's been the kick up the butt I needed to get a bit done on this. If we're not doing anything on a weekend I sit for a couple of hours on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon and get a few stitches in. I need to do something like this for Mini The Forgotten! Run a competition for myself and say when I get so many stitches done I can treat myself to something lol.

Finally my progress on Guardian. I am making pretty good progress but it never seems enough somehow when I still have so many pages to go. I am determined not to give up though like I usually do and see it through to the final stitch even it takes me until I'm 60!

So I'm impatiently waiting for the next LHN Little Sheep Virtues, Love, to arrive on our shores.  It seems to take so long and I'm desperate to get started on it! Also have you seen the gorgeous Cottage Garden Samplings Garden Journal series?  Oh wow it is so pretty and I love the idea of actually making it into a journal. I am desperately hoping that Karla at Patchwork Rabbit will be able to get them in but I'm waiting to hear from her. She did say she'd look into it so fingers crossed. So much so for only buying the Little Sheep Virtues this year but the way I've been feeling I think to hell with it! I'd  order from the States but shipping has got ridiculous but if she can't get them I think I might have to bite the bullet and just get them!

Before I forget I was most disappointed to read that Google Reader is finishing on 1st July. I really liked using it as it was so simple. I am giving Bloglovin a go now and it seems pretty good so I've imported all the  blogs from Google Reader to Bloglovin.

Thank you to all of you who keep visiting me and leave me such lovely comments. It's lifting to know that so many people care so much and are thinking of me and my family.  This past couple of weeks I've wanted to cry every single day but try and hold it together for my girls sake. Sometimes it just hits me and all of a sudden I just think I've lost my Dad. It's so hard to think of him not being here even though he's in my heart and always will be. Then of course there's the idiot company who send a  bill even though I was told his gas and electric accounts would be on hold for 3 months and it's not 3 months yet! Not very compassionate at all!

That's all my stitching for now. Until next time.....

With much love

Sally xxx

New Starts, A Finish & An Almost Finish

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post! I have been busy stitching and have had two new starts, a finish and have almost finished my LHN.

So here is said LHN Home of a Needleworker ( Too! ). I'm stitching this with the ladies in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven. I'd love to get this finished next week but don't think I will. There is a bit to do yet.

My new starts now. The first one is my ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. This month is a free choice so I decided on Bent Creek Glad Tidings. I thought I'd stitch this with Barb until the next Little Sheep Virtues arrives here in the UK. I'm pleased with how much I got done.

Next new start is JBW Designs Our Family which you may remember Julie kindly sent me a few weeks ago. I started this at craft club on Tuesday. Not much done as I decided to stitch the border on LHN Merry Skater and that took me ages!

My finish is this. Loved every single stitch and it just makes me smile and believe me I need something to make me smile!

Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues Hope.

32 count Country Vintage Mocha Linen

DMC

Started 18th February 2013

Finished 4th March 2013.

Can't wait for the next one to arrive!

Progress on my HAEDs now. Some are going better than others! I finished page 11 on Guardian and made a good start on page 12. If I can keep on making some decent progress I shall be happy.

QS Holly Fairy is coming along quite nicely. I'm stitching lots of black at the moment. I really should have bought a cone! Wonder if I get this finished for the middle of the year?!

Next is QS Spirit of Winter Robin. There is a bit of  confetti in this which slows me down quite a bit but it'll worth it. Can you see the bit where the robin's beak will be?

Finally I got a good few stitches in on SK Dragon's History. I spent a little bit of time on Saturday afternoon then as Mother's Day was on Sunday here in  the UK I decided to stitch in the afternoon. So I've almost stitched the top 20 rows of this. Again quite a bit of confetti so it doesn't grow very fast.

Thank your to those of you who have emailed me to ask how I'm doing now. In all honesty I'm not doing very well but I don't want to  bring my blog down and have people stop visiting ( I once had an email several years ago saying maybe I should start a second blog for the personal stuff) and it is, after all, a stitching  blog so I put a brave face on! My stitching has been a God send and I don't know what I'd do without it.

Until next time.

With much love

Sally

xxx

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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