Finishes, Starts and A Birthday Gift

Lol! It would seem my blog titles are not very creative these days! I can never think of a good, gripping title to draw you all in but never mind. My mind is too full of stitching and what to with it when I finish it at the moment.  I was waiting for Abi to get ready to go feed the ducks, geese and swans this morning ( it's a regular thing now ) and decided I'd get all the finishes that are in one of the drawers out, make a note of them, their sizes and what I plan to do with them in the hope that as the year goes on I'll get them ready to display.  Friends don't hold your breath as the pile will probably just get bigger rather than smaller. 

Yesterday I had the house to myself so decided I'd get all the Little Sheep Virtues out and sew basting lines around them in preparation for sewing them up. I'd nearly got them all done when I picked up Friendship, looked at it and realised something was not quite right. Hmmmmm I'd stitched the left hand border too far over so it has to come out! I can't leave it as it will bug me. It's a good job Chris and I hadn't got together since my birthday as I still have the last few charts. She is buying them from me.

Last Friday was the lovely Lesleyanne's birthday so I stitched this for her. It was so lovely to stitch and I'm looking forward to stitching it again later for me :)

Lizzie* Kate Bonus Chart from Simple Things

Polstitches 28 count fabric from grab bag.

DMC

Birthday gift for Lesleyanne.

I am so happy that she likes it :)

I have had a couple of finishes recently.The first one is this beauty.

Cottage Garden Samplings March's Daffodil

40 count linen

DMC

Started 26th January 2014

Finished 9th March 2014.

The second finish I had mixed feelings about because it was the final sheep of my SAL with Barb but I have 12 adorable sheep :)

Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues Joyfulness

32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

DMC

Started 24th February 2014

Finished 10th March 2014.

Thank you so much dear Barb for SALing with me on these. It was has been a sheer pleasure and I'm looking forward to next week for the start of our next one :)

I have had two new starts since my last post. It's funny how something as simple as starting something new can give you renewed enthusiasm. Firstly I started Country Cottage Needleworks The Tea Room which Mouse lent me. I was originally going to stitch it over one on 28 count but the white wasn't going to show up so I found this  30 count RR linen ( can't remember the colour off hand ) which I bought last year from a friend who was selling off a lot of her fabrics and I really like how it's looking. I have enough to stitch the Needlework Shop on it too.

Second new start is Brightneedle Lo How A Rose from the Better Homes and Gardens book which Lois kindly passed onto me when she'd finished stitching this one. I am stitching it on a lighter dye of Crafty Kitten Fall Foliage which Dawn dyed for me to stitch Sally Spencer Sampler which I started then hated so I unpicked what I had stitched so I could reuse the fabric. Unfortunately you can still see where the red stitches were but I am hoping that might get stitched over and not be noticeable.  I am loving stitching this and The Tea Room so far.

Last Friday Barb and I started Day 5 of the 12 Days of Christmas.  This will be finished this evening :)

Wednesday in the parlour with Barb and the girls at Needlecraft Haven saw me frogging! I was stitching the lower verse on The North Wind when I discovered that it wouldn't fit in! After much deliberating as to where I had messed up I found it was on the branch where the robin is sitting so out came the words and so much of the branch. With branch corrected I decided I wouldn't restart the words but would move onto the border.

Finally a little progress on my SAL with dear Shirlee. Yes it's the dreaded Snow Angel which I am enjoying more now! I have got a little more stitched since I took the photo but will show that next time.

So that's all my stitching. I'll be having more new starts as I'll be starting the next Garden Journal, April's Daisy, as well as the first Frosty Forest. Barb and I will be SALing, me with Frosty Forest and Barb with Calendar Girls :)

After 3 weeks I finally managed to get back to craft group this week. It was lovely to be back and lovely to see all the ladies again. My friend Gill and I have started our crafting afternoons again after a few weeks off and we were knitting and chatting away for ages on Wednesday afternoon.  I had messed up on my next square of the afghan at craft group *sigh* so I was knitting that back up again. I was looking at the pattern for the next block and as it is very lacy I'm thinking I should maybe not try that one at craft group!

A few photos from this morning. This goose is actually on my foot! 

 These two saw us walking along and thought we had something for them! They were too late!

The Helleborus  in my garden

I finally gave in and went to see my doctor last Friday. I came away with some pills, which I have taken before, but not so sure they are doing any good. I am feeling brighter than I was but there are also times when I feel as bad so I don't know what the problem is and neither did my doctor really! I had blood tests on Monday and had no idea what for as she never mentioned it. It turned out it was for haemoglobin and something else that I can't remember which has me totally puzzled as to why so I will have to ask when I go back.

That's it for now. Thank you for visiting me and for your comments :). They mean more than you know.

Until next time.

With much love

Sally xx

Day 4 and Angela.

Hello everyone from a sunny east coast of England.  There was a keen frost this morning which meant a walk would have been lovely but I have not felt too well for a few days so no walk. I did need to go to the PO yesterday and to the local arts and crafts shop for some DMC ( yes again! Why do I never have spares what I run out of ? ) but I felt rotten by the time I got home.  Of course they did not have both the DMC I needed but one of my Facebook friends has come to the rescue. In fact several offered. Stitchers are just brilliant. Then the parcel I wanted to send yesterday didn't get sent as they were queuing to the door at the PO and I didn't feel like standing there. The joys of the main PO currently being closed until further notice.

Ooops Edited to add the winner of the Silent Night! I totally forgot! The winner is........... Julie! Julie I'll get it in the post to you ASAP. Enjoy stitching it :)

Anyway onto stitching. I said in my last post that Angela was close to a finish. Closer than I thought as I only needed to add 6 stitches and backstitch her eyes! So here she is :)

The Snowflower Diaries Angela

32 count Crafty Kitten Muted Garden opalescent linen

Nina's Threads & DMC

Started 1st January 2014

Finished 26th February 2014.

This was just so lovely to stitch. The   chart is now for sale ( see my for sale page ).

Barb and I are stitching away on the 12 Days of  Christmas and here is Day 4 finished. These are a pleasure to stitch and I can highly recommend this lovely little booklet from The Little Stitcher.

Typing of the 12 Days here's the first 3 made up ready to hang. I am not sure where I will hang them yet. Possibly on my Christmas tree although I'd love to keep them out all year.

We are also stitching away on our last little sheep. This one just makes me smile every time I look at it. I think it will be finished next week then we have the massive task of making them all up. I have one sewn up but still need to do the trim. As I'm using the same for all I might do them all at the same time.

Wednesday I was over in the parlour with Barb and some of the other ladies at Needlecraft Haven ( virtually ) so The North Wind came out. I had decided I wanted to change the robin for a European one and although it has the look of one it is not brilliant and that is why I'm not a designer!

My SAL with Shirlee was almost no more and unbeknown to me Shirlee was also having second thoughts with this!  I think we have both calmed down now and are going to keep going with it until it's finished as we both love the design. Lesson learned though if you're unsure pick your own colours and  make a working copy for an intricate tree! Lol!

I almost had another finish on Sunday but this is what I needed those 2 threads for ( one of them is also used in The North Wind ) so I had to put it away. So it'll be finished this Sunday hopefully.

So now I am wondering what to start in place of Angela!  I have so much I want to start but think it'll be one of the charts Mouse lent me but I also think I should start Lo How A Rose so I can get that stitched and pass the book onto Barb. Maybe I should start both and stitch an hour on each! Lol. Then of course I have all my lovely chart stash. I think this stitch from stash has given me a new boost for my stitching. I just need a boost to get stuff made up!

I'll leave you with some photos from mine and Abi's recent walks. Some of them are not very good as those ducks, geese and swans move fast when they want to and there's food involved! 

Thank you for visiting me today. I hope to get caught up with you all soon.

With much love

Sally xxx

February Stitch From Stash & A Wee Giveawy

Here I am with my February Stitch from Stash update.  My January report was done on the 23rd so I will go from there.

I have spent  a grand total of £6.10 since then. £1.60 on 2 DMC threads that I had run out of then on Saturday I spent £4.50 in Dunhelm on half a metre of fabric to finish my sheep with.

From my stash I started The Little Stitcher 12 Days of  Christmas 1, 2, 3 and 4 and I finished all but 4. I also started Cottage Garden Samplings My Garden Journal March's Daffodil,  Little House Needleworks The North Wind, Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues Gratitude and Joyfulness and something else that I can't show.

WIPs stitched on were Lone Elm Lane Snow Angel and The Snowflower Diaries Angela. Angela is almost finished. Just a few more stitches to add :)

I am very proud of myself for sticking to this not only because it's saving money but also because it means I get to stitch charts that have been wallowing in my stash!

I had my sewing machine out yesterday to sew up my first 3 12 Days and have a go with a sheep too. I have to stuff them yet and finish them off so will show those next time.

I have been meaning to post that I have the chart of Country Cottage Needleworks Silent Night to give away. Barb passed it on to me when she'd stitched it and now I'd like to pass it on to someone else. I would prefer it if you are a regular commenter.  I'll pick a winner next week.

Finally thank you for visiting me and for all the lovely comments you leave. They brighten my days just knowing that there are friends out there who are interested in what I do and care. Bless you all. 

With much love

Sally xxxx

Finishes, Progress and Bad People

Well I am here at last with a couple of finishes and some progress. I was intent on blogging on Monday but other things happened which just left me with no heart to do it but I'm feeling a teeny bit easier now so here I am.

Last Saturday was my dear friend and SALing buddy Barb's birthday. Now anyone that knows Barb will know of her love of sheep. So this is what I stitched for her.

The Primitive Hare Awakening

28 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

DMC

Finished into pin cushion and a fob

Birthday gift for Barb.

Can you see the cute little sheep pin in the top of the pincushion? I am so pleased with how these turned out and I'm delighted to say that Barb loves them and the scissors. 

And speaking of Barb we have been stitching up a storm on both The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas and Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues Gratitude.

Here is Day 3 finished :)

And here is Gratitude finished :)

I joined Barb and the ladies of Needlecraft Haven in the parlour virtually last night with LHN The North Wind. Now I seem to be having snow issues! I was thinking as I was stitching that I just might have messed up stitching with white as I couldn't remember whether I'd started with white or B5200. Of course it's difficult to tell stitching under artificial light. Guess what. Now I've taken a photo I can tell that I am now using white and I when I started the design I was using B5200! Why didn't I see this last time! Arghhhhhhhhhhhh! I have decided to frog the B5200 as there isn't as much of that!

More snow issues in Lone Elm Lane Snow Angel. I mentioned last time that I was not happy with the colour of the snow and to be honest it's making me not want to continue with this but I most definitely don't want to restart it. The photo makes the snow look much lighter than it is in real life. I wish I'd used white :( I will make myself finish it and see how it looks. 

Angela now has a full body :) Just need to add her eyes and mouth next week and do all the white stitching. Love this sweet design.

Finally some progress on March's Daffodill. I had made a mistake on this but I've sorted it. Not frogged it all but it looks right now!

My afghan is going well. The second block on the second strip is finished and I've also managed a little more of the insertion. I didn't go to craft group this week so block 3 isn't started. 

An envelope arrived from my dear friend Barb this morning. Look what was inside. This is the gorgeous fabric she has been using to back her 12 Days of Christmas. I had asked her about it but when I wanted to order some I couldn't ( don't want to tell the whole story on here but I will just say there are some bad people out there who like to steal your details ). Barb was ordering more for herself and as they had very little left she bought me some too. Thank you so much Barb, that is is so sweet of you {{hugs}}. I'm planning on getting some finishing done either this weekend or next week. 

Barb this is for you :) Taken by me :)

Stitch from Stash is still going well. Since the last report I've spent £1.60 on 2 DMC threads that I had run out of. My proper report and email to Mel will be done next week but so far I'm feeling very proud of myself. OK it's only 2 months but I haven't even been tempted. Usually after just a couple of weeks I'm rocking in a corner desperate for new charts! There are some lovely new things from Nashville Market but I'm still going to be good :) I keep thinking of all the lovely charts I have in my stash to stitch and that keeps me on the straight and narrow!

The weather over here appears to have calmed down. We've had a couple of sunny days up here but oh boy I am so not ready for double figure temperatures! We haven't had a proper winter yet! 

Fingers crossed I will be back after the weekend with some finished finishes! 

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally xxxx

Title? Can't Think Of One!

Hello from a sunny, frosty, East coast of England.  It's so lovely to wake up to a frosty morning instead of rain. My heart goes out to those who have been affected by flooding and damage from high tides especially those on the Somerset plains who have been under water for weeks with no help until it was too late. I laughed to myself last night seeing army and navy out sandbagging near the Thames. No one helped on the Somerset plains when it was happening there. It's time we stopped sending so much money in aid abroad, especially as 9 times out of 10 it doesn't even reach those who need it, and help our own. We are in a mess here with the economy being the way it is yet all this government want to do is look good overseas. Anyway enough of that. I could probably write a whole post about how I feel about this pompous government of ours and the things they should be doing!

So stitching. Yes I have been. No finishes but plenty of progress. Barb and I continued with Gratitude last Monday and maybe, just maybe, it might be finished tonight. I managed 4 sheep fleeces. Poor little things have no faces or legs but they will come tonight! Next up will be Joyfulness our last lovely sheep.

I made a little more progress on Angela. I would love to get the angel when I pick this up again. I wanted to get the border done as I'm worried there won't be enough thread to finish it. There is supposed to be enough so fingers crossed.

I was in the parlour over at Needlecraft Haven on Wednesday stitching a little on LHN The North Wind. This one has been in my stash for quite a long time now and was a gift from my  dear friend Barb.

My SAL with Shirlee is progressing albeit slowly. I am unsure of the colour of the snow. It is nowhere near the colour of the model and I know the model is done is hand dyed but I think the DMC conversion could have been better. Yes I could have swapped it myself for something better and I still could bit I don't want to frog on 40 count so it'll stay. I'm disappointed though as it's it's not going to show up as well. We live and learn!

Barb and I started another 12 Days on Friday but this time I didn't finish mine. I ran out of 3012 and didn't have any in my spares box so I'll have to finish it next Friday instead.

I've done some knitting. I decided not to start something new in stitching on Saturday evening and picked up my knitting instead.  As I don't want to take the insertion to do at craft group I did some of that. Hmmmm I could not get it to go right. I either did not have enough stitches or had too many but in the end I did make progress and this is my insertion so far.

And this is my next strip which I took to craft group last week.

Finally my progress on March's Daffodil :) I see Karla will be getting the final chart in this series soon. It's just as pretty as the rest of them and I can't wait. That will be my final auto from her and then I just have the Frosty Forest. Of course any autos that were already signed up for are allowed in SFS.

I must say I do have a bit of a gripe with some ONS' who don't let you know when something has been posted until you ask or mention you're on auto. I had no qualms with Karla or Dawn over letting me know when something had been posted but some places well. I'll say no more lol!

I forgot to show these in my last post. Mouse sent me some lovely charms which I absolutely love. Thank you so much Mouse. She also lent me a couple of CCN charts which I must get around to soon.

Well that's it from me for now. Until next time stay safe if you're affected by the storms over here and in the USA.

With much love

Sally xxx