Happy 18th Birthday Jessica!

Today my beautiful, insane eldest daughter is 18 years old. I do not know where those 18 years have gone but, boy, have they been good:) I never thought being a mum would make me feel so much love and joy:) She is the light of my life and I love her to bits even though she can be a bit annoying ( she blathers on so much at times!), she is my lovely daughter:)

Here she is when she was a baby. I promised her no embarrassing photos so this one is a cutie one. I can't remember how old she'd be on this but no more than a couple of weeks I would say:)
And here she is ( now this is embarrassing- Mum broke her promise!) this morning doing her daft look when she'd just got up and was opening her presents! She did say she'd use this as her Facebook profile pic!

Dearest Jessica- I am so proud of the young lady you are turning into. I hope all your dreams comes true:)

A while ago Barb ( no blog) sent me the kit of Shepherd's Bush Happy Birthday and I decided to stitch it for her. I added the 18 on the cake and made it into a needleroll and she loves it:)

An RAK For Lynda

A while ago Lynda very kindly offered to send a Blackbird Designs chart I had on my wish list which she had two of. Stitchers are such kind people and I do like to repay that kindness when I can. It may take me a while to get around to it but I do try:) Anyway I decided to finally finish up Blackbird Designs My Pink House and send it to Lynda as a thank you and I had a lovely email from her to say she received it and loved it:)

Blackbird Designs My Pink House

Sugar Maple Fabrics but I can't remember the name

DMC

RAK for Lynda.

Today is Helen's ( stitching granny) birthday but I can't show what I stitched for her as I'm not sure she has received it or not yet so I'll save that for another day:)

I haven't got much else to show other than some WIPS. Sunday evening, as always, was Winter Wingding night. I'm now at the bottom. Unfortunately the picture does not do this piece justice. There is an owl ( minus it's eyes) at the bottom but you can't see it. It was difficult to get a decent picture as it's so dull here today
Monday night it was time for hunky HAED Guardian to come out to play and I decided that I just can't put him away at the moment so he came out again last night as well. He's also coming out tonight and tomorrow night if I get chance to stitch then:) I just love how this is looking:) It's so nice to actually see his face.
I didn't get my Shepherd's Bush needleroll for July finished in time as I didn't quite get the stitching finished but here's where it's at now. Just needs the lace stitching on and I can finish it up:)
I had a message from Barb ( no blog) asking if I would like SB Emmanuel's Song kit. She'd found it when she was having a tidy up of her stash. Well it's Christmas and it has sheep on it and it's a gorgeous design so I said yes please and she sent me it:) Thank you so much Barb. It is greatly appreciated and I know I will have great pleasure stitching it:)
I've got a busy-ish day tomorrow shopping for drinks for the small family get together we're having for Jess' 18th on Friday and I also have to pick her cake up. Then I have my appointment with the ENT specialist in the afternoon. It hasn't been bothering me as I've been so wrapped up thinking about Jess' birthday but now it's near I'm in a panic!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I must say the weather is leaving a lot to be desired at the moment. Abi and I had planned a nice long walk on the beach but it's raining:((

Take care everyone and thank you to those of you who continue to visit and comment.

Hugs

The Winner Is!

I'm a bit late but it is still the weekend just! I typed all entries into a random.org and here is the list it came up with:

1. Deborah
2. Angela
3. Kate
4. Staci
5. Jane
6. Nina
7. Diana
8. Hazel
9. Karen
10. Elisa
11. Clare
12. Sharmila
13. Ginnie
14. Paula
15. Michele
16. Michelle
17. CJ
18. Ellen
19. Lesleyanne
20. Julie

So Deborah is the winner!! Congratulations! Deb I have your addy but please can you email me just to confirm it:) Thanks:)

It's Julie's Birthday!

Today is Julie's birthday- Happy Birthday Julie!- so I can show what I stitched for her:) I wasn't sure what to stitch and I had several designs in mind before I eventually chose this one. It's a really sweet little design to stitch:)

The Sampler Girl A Little Bird's Tea

Unknown fabric

DMC

Stitched for Julie.

Earlier this week I decided to try Vonna's tutorial for basting and baking fabric. As I'm trying to use some of the fabric I have but didn't have the colour in the count I wanted I thought it was a good thing to do:) I am quite happy with the outcome. The smaller piece you see in the picture is a lighter colour as that is for Blackbird Designs Their Song and the larger piece I wanted a bit darker as that is for Carriage House Samplings Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. What do you think? Thank you Vonna for your tutorial. It is brilliant:)
Now onto my other stitching- all WIPS that I have to show for now:) First up is my little bit of progress on Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding. This is so much fun to stitch and is coming along quite well.

Monday I decided to pick up Bea as it was my last chance before the end of July so that I could get a piccie on the BP blog. Since I started stitching this just a couple times a month I've started enjoying it more but I had to frog a little bit but, thankfully, it wasn't too much.

Oh I very nearly forgot to show my progress on HAED TT Purple Dragon from last week! So here she is. I didn't manage to stitch on this last night but I will tonight if I can get off Facebook! LOL!

I've also started my SB roll for this month which is English Christmas and I hope to have it finished for the end of the month:)

Not quite sure where the summer has gone to. We were woken early this morning by a storm then we had another one around 11am. The wind was really strong, the rain torrential and the thunder very loud!!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week:) Take care.

Hugs

An Award and A Giveaway:)

I have received this Friendship Award from both Angela and Elisa this week and I feel very honoured to have been given this award. Thank you so much to both ladies.

Now I need to pass this award onto 8 people which is oh so difficult. So here goes and please don't be offended if you are not on the list. It certainly does not mean that I don't consider you as a friend or that I don't like your blog. It's difficult to pick just 8 when I have so many blogs on my list.

Andrea at The Craft Room

Our Friends HAED SAL

Michele at Just Another Stitching Blog

Jayne at Ginne's Cross Stitch

Chris at Criss Cross Corner

For all the ladies at NBPQ Blog

Diane at Why Sleep When You Can Stitch

Juls at A Fairy Princess Dreams and Stitches

And now for wee giveaway. I've been meaning to do this for a couple of weeks since I had a bit of a tidy up of my stash! I am giving away the following gently used charts ( no threads or fabby with these)

Twisted Oak Designs M'Lady's Needle Nanny.

Little House Needleworks Faith Hope Love

Little House Needleworks Where There is Life

Shepherd's Bush freebie chart Santa's Coming with leftover threads.

If you would like to win these please leave a comment on this post. All I ask is that you are a regular commenter please:) I will pick a winner sometime next weekend.

Hugs
Sally
x

It;'s the Middle of the Week!

Where is the time going???It doesn't seem like over a week since I last posted. I was way behind on blog reading and finally caught up yesterday thanks to Jess loaning me her laptop. I think our PC could well be on it's way to PC heaven as I had awful trouble with it yesterday and had to give up in the end. I was using Internet Explorer and I think it's too power hungry but as I'm using Firefox today I might ( please) get done without any problems! DH and I are going to see if we have any spare cash to buy a new PC but as Jess' 18th is coming up I doubt it very much!

So what I have been stitching? Well as always quite a bit on HAEDS. I seem to have got my enthusiasm well and truly back for these and on Guardian I suddenly realised I could see an ear then panicked because I knew I should be able to see an eye but couldn't so I had to stitch a bit more to make sure it was there! I would really love to spend a lot more time on this but I don't want to end up hating it so I'll stitch on it when the mood takes me. My plan is that when I finish TT Purple Dragon I'll work on Guardian for a month or so in it's place then start QS Holly Fairy as I promised Abi I'd stitch that for her to hang next to her Poppy Fairy print.

I'm now onto page 2 of HAED TT Purple Dragon and this is what I got stitched over two evenings last week. I just love this piece. The colours are so bright and cheerful looking and it makes me smile everytime I pick it up.

I've also stitched a bit more on The Sampler Girl In The Garden With Jane Austen which I just love. At the moment it's in my drawer waiting to be brought out again as I'm secret stitching and really need to get on! I have two things to stitch and finish as well as finish another piece that needs to be done!
Finally it's Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding. I am steadily plugging away on this piece. It's so satisfying to be able to stitch several little blocks each time I pick it up.
I almost forgot my measly stitching on Lizzie*Kate Merry Christmas by the Letter! Not a lot has been stitched but as long as I get it done in time for Christmas ( and I mean Christmas 2009!! Lol!) I'm not bothered!
Besides stitching I am still addicted to Facebook and desperately trying not to spend as much time on it! I love playing Mafia Wars and Vampire Wars, collecting Hatchlings and playing some of the Mindjolt games too!

On Sunday we went to see that new Harry Potter film. I had booked the tickets online as I expected it to be really busy. Let's just say it'll be the last time I ever book tickets with that cinema as we had problems and in the end the manager had to ring the booking office to check our booking and calm my fears that someone had cloned my card. Thankfully everything was OK and it just a technical hitch between the booking office and the cinema. Unfortunately DH and I were very disappointed in the film but the girls loved it! I just don't know what it was about this one but, in my opinion, it wasn't a patch on the others. There were some good parts but all in all we didn't think it was as good as the others.

Jess' 18th is in just over two weeks time and she finally decided that she'd like a small family get together here so that's what we're doing on her actual 18th then a couple of days later she's going out for a Chinese meal with some of her friends.

Abi finished school for the summer last Friday and I think she was well and truly ready for the break. Not sure what we'll be doing but my DH has two weeks off at the end of August so no doubt we'll be having some days out.

I hope everyone is having a good week and stitching up a storm:)

Take care

Hugs

Some Stitching & Abi's Award

As usual I have been stitching quite a lot! I know some of you may think I do nothing but stitch all day but that is most certainly not the case. If I have nothing else to do I will sometimes stitch in an afternoon but I mostly just stitch in an evening once we've eaten and I've washed up etc.

Soooooooooooo first up I wanted to send a little something to Barb ( no blog) who has kindly sent me several SB needleroll charts this year as well as a SB kit. When I made the biscornu from a SB design for Angela's PIF earlier in the year Barb said she liked it and would like one so it's been at the back of my mind since then to stitch her one.

Shepherd's Bush Woolwork Sheep

18 count Silkweaver fabric ( can't remember the name!)

DMC

Stitched for Barb.

I do have a few other things I'd like to stitch just to say thank you to people when I get around to it.

Last Thursday after the year 9 Celebration Evening ( more about that in a bit) I managed to finish page 1 of HAED TT Purple Dragon. I now have three more pages but they are all small pages so it shouldn't take me too much longer to finish:)

The weekend was the SK/QS SAL on the HAED forum so on Friday and Saturday I decided to stitch on SK Moon Fantasy. I am almost half way down the page so I am quite pleased with my progress as I haven't stitched on it regularly.

Finally last night I stitched a bit more on Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding. It's surprising just how quick this does stitch up and I am really enjoying it.

So that's all my stitching. I did do a bit more on Lizzie*Kate Merry Christmas By The Letter but I forgot to take a photo of it!

Now to the year 9 Celebration Evening. We were actually beginning to think that Abi wasn't going to get an award, for all we knew she was but didn't know which one, as hers was the last subject based award of the evening! She received the award for Textiles ( no surprise there as she's really good at it and loves it) and here she is receiving her award from one of the teachers. It was a lovely evening and we are so proud of Abi for receiving an award. She told her group tutor that she was a little disappointed that she didn't get two awards like Jess did when she was in year 7!! LOL!

I hope everyone is having a good start to the week. I've now got a working washing machine after it decided not to work properly last Thursday. Thankfully I have a repair plan for it and the engineer was here early this morning.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally
xxx

Christmas in July and a Gift for a Friend!

I received some new stash from Amy at Down Sunshine Lane on Monday. As soon as I saw the new Lizzie*Kate Christmas Double Flips Merry Christmas By The Letter I just had to go on auto for them and also the new Country Cottage Needleworks/ Crescent Colours thread packs Winter Wonderland.

Last week , not shown in the picture, I finally received Midsummer Night Designs Remember Me Stitching Pocket. I ordered this about 6 weeks ago from a UK site but they had to order it in, which I expected seen as it was new out. About 4 weeks later I received an email saying it was in stock and they'd sent it out. Imagine my disappointment when I opened it and the wrong chart! So I emailed them and they were very apologetic and said either they'd ordered the wrong chart or Hoffman had sent them the wrong one. As luck would have it they were due to have an order dispatched from another place that day so they'd emailed them to put the chart on that. I have to say it's the first time I've had a problem with this place.

Of course I really want to start them all but for now I started Merry Christmas By The Letter. There is no hope for me and my startitis at the moment but life is too short and stitching gives me so much pleasure. As always I seem to have a bit of a conflict with white-ish shades! The conversion on the chart suggests DMC 712 but I decided it wouldn't show up on my flax linen so I'm using DMC 3865. I think it'll be fine when it's used in big areas so I'll keep on and see how it goes. This is how far I got after an hour or so yesterday afternoon. I may pick it up again this afternoon depending on what else I have to do!

Here's more progress on The Sampler Girl In The Garden With Jane Austen which I am loving so much:) It's such a joy to stitch and I can see me stitching more of Tanya's designs.

I can now show one of my recent finishes. Today is Karan's birthday and I decided to stitch her a little something. This was quick to stitch and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and how I made it up. The fabric it is on is the one I backed it with. Hope you like it, Karan, and hope you're having a fantastic day!

La D Da Tiny Sampler

Unknown fabric

DMC

Stitched for Karan

If you are still with me here's my progress from Sunday evening on Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding. This is stitching up quite quickly really and I think I may have finally found a solution to the white problem! Thank you to everyone who made suggestions. I decided to try the metallic option and found some Rainbow Gallery in my stash so I tried that. What do you think?

This week on Monday Bea came out to play. I didn't get too much done but every stitch is one less to do next time:) When I was looking at the chart this time I realised that I am over half way there!
I think that's all my WIPs for now. Tonight I'll be stitching on HAED TT Purple Dragon and hoping to get page one finished. Not sure when I'll pick the SK up but Lisa seemed to think it was the SAL for it this weekend so I will have to look on the forum and see if I can find out.

Tomorrow night is the year 9 celebration evening which we're really looking forward to. Abi is so excited to find out which award she has got! DH was supposed to be working late but he's managed to get it changed so he'll be home in time to go.

That's it from me today. I may be back Friday to show another gift and let you know how it went for Abi!

Take care everyone. Thank you for continuing to visit me and for all your lovely comments.

Love

Sally
xxx

Another New Start

I think I have a problem! It's called Startitis! I don't have it bad but I do believe I have it! Not content with starting a couple of gifts I've also started something else for me. I've been wanting to start this piece ever since it was in The Gift of Stitching in May 2008 and I decided I wanted a nice summery design so here it is! It's The Sampler Girl's In The Garden With Jane Austen and I'm stitching it on Jayne's Attic COM Violet which doesn't show up too well in the photo. I'm using GAST and DMC and this is my start!

The only other bits I have to show for now are my two of my HAED pieces. I've decided to stitch on SK Moon Fantasy each week as well as TT Purple Dragon so that I can try and get the page finished on MF before the next page comes out in August. So here they are.

Thank you to all those who left good wishes etc on my last post. I'm so sorry I was on such a downer and I feel so bad when there are people out there who are much worse off than me. I am feeling much more with it and I think what made it worse was the fact that I have a hospital appointment on 6th August and my DH wasn't keen to take a bit of time off work to take me. Had I known I was going to have to ask someone else take me I'd have taken the cancellation I was offered for last Thursday and I could have been a little bit further on to finding out what's causing the off balance feeling I get and the pain and discomfort in my ear. I was considerably upset but what's done is done. I've done a little reading up and do not like that I've found but we'll wait and see.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I'm going off to do a bit more stitching soon and hoping it'll cool down a wee bit to make the days and nights a bit more bearable! It's been so hot! I'm glad I don't live inland as it's even hotter there! I've finally managed to catch up on blogs totally and I've really enjoyed seeing what everyone is stitching. No doubt there'll be more to add to the wishlist! LOL!

Hope all my friends over the pond had a wonderful July 4th!

Hugs

Sally
xx

A Teeny Update

Not too much to show today I'm afraid:( Some stitching has been done and finished but I can't show you it. I have it to make up and I have no idea how I'm going to finish it. I'm not in the best of moods and brain fog is hitting me damned hard right now so much so I'm sure I've got early onset dementia and the way I feel I just want to sit and cry. Anyway enough of that.

From last week here's my progress on HAED TT Purple Dragon which was so nearly a disaster. As I said before I'd used DMC 3865 instead of metallic on her face and it was way too white ( thank you to everyone who made suggestions:) ). I started to try adn unpick it and ended up pulling the fabric and I think I may have snapped one of the fabby threads. To say I was in a panic was an understatement and rather than try and get anymore out I decided to stitch over the white and hope for the best. I am not entirely happy with it as it looks a little bulky and messy but I couldn't face having to start it again when I'd got so much done. So here she is before I start on her again this week.

Sunday I did a fair bit on Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding but I'm still not happy with the white on this! ( I'm never satisfied am I!!). I've tried 3865, B5200 and they don't show up either. I don't want to use two strands of thread as I'm using one and it might look a bit daft if I use two for the white.
Monday out came HAED Guardian ( my lovely hunky angel who I wish I hadn't neglected for so long then he'd be more complete!) and I managed to get a little bit stitched whilst half watching Andy Murray play from 9pm. How I managed any is a wonder as it was such an intense, nerve-wracking match!

That's all I have to show for now and I hope you don't get bored of dropping by and me having very little to show.

Yesterday I received Blackbird Designs Their Song from Nicola. I saw her finish of it and commented saying how much I loved it and that I wished I'd joined the LF club the year this was released. She very kindly offered to send me the chart so thank you so much Nicola {{{{hugs}}}} I've been kicking myself for not buying it while it was still available. Now that I have it I want to drop everything else and stitch it but I think I'd better get on with what I have for now!

Well that's it from me today. I stripped my bed sheets etc to wash this morning and I still haven't got them hung out or the bed remade yet so I guess I better go do that:)

Take care everyone. Thank you for your continued visits and comments. They are all very much appreciated and mean a lot to me:)

Hugs
Sally
xx