Oh Happy Day!

No I am not singing!!! Lol! That is the title of my latest Shepherd's Bush roll finish! The weather has been rubbish here, dull, rainy, high winds, and now it's misty :( I long for some frosty, sunny days but at least this roll is bright and cheerful.

Shepherd's Bush Happy Day Roll

28 count vintage country cream linen

DMC & GAST

Started 23th February 2010

Finished 24th February 2010

At least while the weather has not been good I have been productive with my needle and thread. I wasn't looking forward to making my Shepherd's Purse up as I was worried that it wouldn't come out as it should. It's not perfect but nevertheless I am very happy with it. I did have a picture of the back of it but for some reason I can't get it to upload!

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Purse Kit

Started February 9th 2010

Finished February 19th 2010

The chart, leftover silks and beads ( may well be plenty to stitch this) are now for sale. Please email me if you are interested.

When I'd finished the SB roll I shamelessly ( yes that word again!) had a new start. Strange how I no longer feel guilty starting something new ( thanks Lisa!). This one has been sitting in my stash for a while now so I sorted some 36 count fabby and chose a DMC Variation thread and set about it! It is With My Needle Quaker Hornbook which was a class piece and I was lucky enough to be in time to get it from The Sampler Guild. I absolutely love this colour!

Finally I received a package from Mylene last Saturday containing these lovely finishing fabrics, braids and a necklace kit. Just before Christmas I had sent her some Victorian Motto threads to try ( the ones I used on Needleprint Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler) and these are what she kindly sent me for doing that. Thank you Mylene.

I am going to be naughty and have a lazy afternoon stitching on Shores. Unfortunately the stitches I put in last night all had to come out because I was one stitch short in the border and didn't realise until the red seaweed wouldn't go right so out that came as well as one side of the border! I wouldn't mind but I counted the border three times!!! Maybe I need to go back to school and learn how to count again!

Lisa and I have been chatting about maybe doing a few SALs together over the year including Just Nan Winter Heart Humbug possibly starting on 1st April and then she mentioned SALexandre which we were going to stitch last year but never got around it. Of course that got me looking at the charts and got us both thinking about what to stitch it on and what threads to use! So now we're thinking about a SAL for that too!!!

Have a wonderful, stitchy filled weeked!

Hugs

Sally

xx

My Lovely SB Finish

I feel I have quite a successful stitch week least of all because I finished up my lovely Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Purse. It would have been fully finished into a purse but when I looked in my stash box I didn't have any wadding so had to order some and that arrived today so I may have a complete finish ti show you next time. In the meantime here it is. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I don't seem to be able to get good photos. I do have some close up shots but I'm having problems uploading and for some reason I can't move my photos :(

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Purse Kit

Started 9th February 2010

Finished 19th February 2010

A few weeks ago I did a little stitching on Blue Ribbon Designs Peppermint Twist but forgot to post my progress! Duh! I still have a fair way to go so am thinking when Winter Wingding is done and dusted I will stitch on this on Sundays until it's finished.

And speaking of Winter Wingding I am well on the home stretch now! I think I have fallen in love with this design all over again but not sure what to do with it once it's finished. Lol! Finger's crossed it will be finished next Sunday!

Shores is coming along quite nicely and I am hoping to get block two finished by the end of February. I have two nights to stitch on it before so it might happen! I must admit my old eyes are struggling with the 40 count linen so it's maybe just as well I do only stitch on it two nights a week!


I am still loving my JN piece for the Stitch and Stash SAL and what's the problem with loving and enjoying a piece so much??? Yep you don't want it to end! Lol!

I can't believe we are so close to March. I plan another new start in March and of course it has to be the Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Fob to go with the purse! Today I've started my needleroll for February and I chose Happy Day ( SB of course!).

I have reduced all the stuff for sale in my for sale blog if anyone is interested:)


Have you all been keeping an eye on the new releases from Nashville Market??? I am thankful that out of all the goodies there are I only really really really really really want a few bits! Lol! I will admit to having ordered Little House Needleworks Needle and Thread chart and thread pack along with the Impie Hattie and Bea Scissor Bed and Pin Pillow. I couldn't resist it especially as I've missed out on other stuff like this. I also love the Just Nan Pretty Winder Pocket so may buy that at a later date too. I have just seen Just A Thought My Father's Name chart and fallen in love with that! I think I need to stop looking before my just a few things turns into loads!!! So I'll put them on my wish list and try and behave for a bit lol! OMG I just seen the Shepherd's Bush limited edition scissor fob and it's a sheep!!!!!!!! I LOVE it! Be still my heart!!!

I hope everyone is keeping warm in the rather chilly weather we're having in the UK! It's our coldest winter for 30 years apparently.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xx

For Barb's Birthday

It was Barb's birthday on Monday and after much deliberation I decided to stitch this for her. Barb likes birds and I thought this little design was sweet and would remind her of summer too seen as we've had a considerably cold winter here in the UK. Instead of the watermelons at the bottom I added out initials. I made it into a little pincushion with a ruched ribbon edge and Barb loves it so I am very happy.

Blue Ribbon Designs Bluebirds and Daisies

25 count fabric

DMC threads

Birthday gift for Barb.

Now onto my WIPs from the last week. CHS Shores is going well but like Nicki I found the threads in the fish you can just see too close so am having to rethink what colour to use there. Other than that this piece is moving along nicely and I am really enjoying it. I am still hoping for a block a month but if it doesn't happen it doesn't matter! OK blogger is not playing nicely. I've lost my piccie of Shores and can't get it to upload again so you'll have to imagine it! Lol!

Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding came out to play again on Sunday after a break the Sunday before. I cannot, for the life of me, get a good picture of this but as you can see I've almosty completed all the little blocks. I got a bit carried away and stitched the remaining outlines of the blocks then realised the one on the bottom right is supposed to be longer like the one on the top left so had to frog!!!


Now onto Just Nan 4 Wishes which I just love. I truly cannot understand why I've had this in my stash for so long and not stitched it. I'm well onto the summer band now and think those frogs look rather comical, as though they are being strung up! Perhaps some unhappy stitcher took her revenge! Lol!


Finally my lovely Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Purse. I have to say I absolutely love this piece and have actually got the stitching completed since I took this picture and am now onto the beading. I just wish I could get a clearer picture of it as it is just so pretty. I'm hoping to get this finished up and made up as soon as I can then next month I plan on starting the fob to go with it!

I have to say that so far this year I'm really enjoying my stitching and looking forward to stitching lots of goodies this year. I want to do a lot more smalls if I can as I'm running out of wall space for framed pieces! Although I do have the urge to pick HAED Guardian up again for some reason so maybe next week there'll be a WIP piccie of him!

Hope you are all well and having a lovely week. It's half term here and Abi and I ventured into Hull yesterday for a shopping trip although she came home with more than I did! At one point all I had to show for a few hours was hairspray!! Lol! We met up with Jess after I'd told her I'd buy her a panini for lunch if she got her butt out of bed and met us early enough! It's amazing how the mention of food gets a university student moving! I don't know why but I'm really missing her at the moment!

That's all my news for now but will just say that I have been naughty and ordered some stash from Fobbles but I won't be getting it just yet so I'm not going to tell you what it is!

Take care everyone!

Hugs

Sally

xx

Shamelessly- I Have A New Start!

Thought you might like to see a piccie of me and my babes from last Saturday night! That's me at the back, with Abi next to me and Jess next to her. We were at my sil's 50th birthday party and the theme was red and black hence we're all dressed in red and black! Lol! I will admit that I did get a little tipsy!

Right onto my stitching now! Lol! Last time I showed you my SB Millennium Roll with the stitching finished and now here it is all stitched up. I absolutely love these rolls as they just so nice to stitch and so quick too. They make a lovely in between project and I am so pleased Chris and I decided to continue with out SAL.

I managed to finish block one of CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow this weekend and made, what I consider to be, a very good start on block two. I can see this seaweed becoming a bit of a problem though as I'm bothered I'll have lost track of where I am when I pick it up again! So if you hear very loud screaming that could well be me! Actually I have just noticed from the piccie that I've missed a couple of black stitches from the border of the letter L so will have rectify that when I pick it up tomorrow! I had to laugh reading Nicki's blog about her leaping lambs on block one! Lol! They do look more like leaping lambs rather than seagulls! Both Jane and Nicki have finished their first blocks too so we're all rather pleased!


Not too much done on Just Nan 4 Wishes this week but it's nice to have it growing steadily. I did take back the satin stitch border on the right hand side as it was wrong and have restitched it every carefully this time!


Finally my new start! Yes I did say new start! Lisa and I have been chatting about all sorts of stitchy related things and it came around to how we felt about our stitching. We decided that we should not feel guilty if we put a project away for a while or even if we never go back to it and if we want to have a new start we should just should go for it regardless of what else we are stitching! Lol! And also stitch on what we want when we want. My rotation does seem to have been working well for me so for now I'm sticking to my Shores on Fridays and Saturdays, Just Nan on Mondays, if I feel like stitching it Winter Wingding on Sunday and the other days anything that takes my fancy! This Tuesday Lisa and I decided we'd have a new start and as I've been wanting to start this for a while I decided on Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Purse and this is my progress for a couple of nights. I am really enjoying this piece so far and love the look of it. I haven't added any beads yet. I was going to add them as I went along but decided to leave them until the end.

So who knows what could happen next week as we've been chatting about trying a mattress pinkeep so I might just have to go through my stash and find a design suitable to have a go! I think Lisa is a bad influence!!! ( only kidding!) lol!


Things seem to be going OK with my Dad although I do still get very frustrated with him. I know it must be hard to accept that you are no longer able to do the things you used to but I do wish he'd admit he does have problems although recently he does seem to taking more notice and actually admitting things.


I am still waiting for my head and neck CT results ( no surprise there!) and it's OK people saying no news is good news I'd just like news!


Hope you are all having a good week. It's been rather chilly here but the sun has been shining which has been so nice and we've had some light snow flurries:)


Take care everyone.


Hugs

Sally xxx

It's Can't Be February!

It's a bright, chilly morning here on the east coast after a rather harsh frost last night and there is a possibility of more snow later today. There was some snow flurries last Friday, which were forecast, but we most certainly weren't expecting the 3 to 4 inches we woke up to on Saturday morning!

Not much stitching to show this time as I didn't stitch on BRD Winter Wingding this week due to wanting to get the first block of CHS Shores finished for the end of January but as you can see it didn't quite happen! Not much to do though so I should be able to start block two this week, although we're at a 50th birthday party on Saturday night so it may not happen! Lol!

My Just Nan 4 Wishes is going well and I've almost finished the spring part. One of those little yellow ducks caused havoc as he was in the wrong place so he had to be moved lol. Plus I've discovered that the border on the right is off somewhere so I need to take that back but I'm struggling to find where it's wrong so will just take it back and hope I find it!

I picked Millennium Roll for my SB roll for January. Thought seen as it's 10 years since the New Millennium it was quite apt. As you can see it's not made up into a roll yet but it will be soon I hope :)

Thank you for all your kind comments on my gift for Chris. I am hoping to stitch this for myself in reds as I have some red ginghers that need a safe place :)

Well I better go back to my dusting as that's what I should be doing! lol! Got one room done and my enthusiasm has waned! Take care everyone!

Hugs

Sally

xx

For My Friend

Here is the gift I stitched for Chris for her birthday. It is The Cat's Whiskers For My Friend Scissor Pocket. I have loved this since it was first released and love the verse on the back as it's very apt. I am very happy to say that Chris loved it :)

The Cat's Whiskers For My Friend Scissor Pocket

Dinky Dye Silk Kalamunda

Stitched for Chris

Now onto my WIPs. CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow didn't get quite as much attention as I would have liked as I ended up only stitching on it on Friday rather than the usual Saturday as well due to "things" which I won't bore you with! I am still hoping to get this block finished before the end of January so watch this space! Lol! I would like to do a block a month but I think some of them may need longer. Wonder how Jane and Nicki are getting on :)

This Sunday I went back to the UFO night with Lisa and Jane and managed another 6 blocks on Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding which I am really pleased about. I can see the end of it now so am spurred on to get it finished. Unfortunately I can't get the white to show up very well on this piece when I take a piccie.

Finally Monday is my day for Just Nan 4 Wishes which I'm stitching with some of the girls from the Stitch and Stash forum. I am really enjoying this piece and look forward to picking it up every Monday.

As you can see no HAED WIPs again this week because I can't face Guardian right now and QS Holly Fairy is going to eventually be restarted on different fabric. I think the problem is they are such intense pieces and I can't see an end to them therefore I don't really enjoy stitching on them and we are supposed to enjoy our hobby aren't we? So for now I've put Guardian away in the hope that I will, one day, feel like stitching on it again and will aslo feel like restarting QS Holly Fairy. I'm just not sure I'm cut out for HAEDs anymore as much as I love the finished pieces.

Thank you to those of you who have helped me reduce my stitchy stash! I have further updated my for sale list if anyone would like to have a look. I am open to offers and anything that hasn't gone will go on Ebay eventually.

Things have been a little, shall we say, awkward, of late and I have been decidedly fed-up but a couple of my long time stitchy friends have been brilliant and listened to me rambling ( thanks Lisa and Louise - you are my angels) and made me feel so much better.

Lastly I had my head CT scan on Monday. I must admit the scan itself was a piece of cake but I did not like it ( yeah OK we are not supposed to like!) when the dye was being pumped into me. They were very fleeting feelings other than my heart racing which was the bit that really scared me. Afterwards I had to wait 15 minutes before they could take the canula ( spelling?) out of my arm but then the nurse decided that I could be having a reaction to the dye as I'd come out in a couple of small rashes so she fetched someone to have a look and he decided I had to stay longer just incase. By the time I went back in the rashes had gone down and no more had appeared so out came the canula with the warning to take it easy when I got back home. I don't know when I get my results but I'm hoping it won't be too long.

Thank you for reading if you've made it this far :) I hope everyone is having a good week. I must catch up on blog reading later as I've been very lapse of late but tonight I intend to make up for that :)

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxx

Another Quicky Post!

I have been going to do this blog post for a few days now so am forcing myself today!It won't be chatty I'm afraid but at least I have piccies to show!

First of all I'd like to show my first two finishes of 2010 now that they have been received:) First up is the needleroll I stitched for Michele for her birthday. I know you've seen this a few times before when I've sitched it for others but I really like the sentiment of this roll.

Shepherd's Bush Friendship Roll

30 count blue fabric

DMC

Stitched for Michele.

Next is something I stitched for Lisa's birthday. This was so lovely to stitch and I absolutely love the colours. Lisa is a bit of a fan of pink so I thought she would like this :)

Blackbird Designs Small Token

32 count vintage country mocha linen

DMC threads

Stitched for Lisa.

Next up is my WIP on CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow which I am stitching along with Jane and now Nicki has succumbed and has joined us! So glad to have you stitching with us Nicki!

And here is my progress on Just Nan 4 Wishes. I'm now onto the spring part of the sampler so it's moving along quite nicely.


Finally my start on HAED QS Holly Fairy but I think a restart is in order. The thread colours of most of it are way too close to the fabric that Abi chose for me to stitch her on and as I'm not planning to stitch the black background it's not going to stand out so I'm going to have a dig in my fabby box and do a floss toss at some point so I've adandoned her for now until I can bothered to do that!



That's it for today!

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally
xxxx

A Quicky

Just a quick post from me today. You know how it is, best laid plans and all that and it never works out how you want as something crops up :( Hopefully the something won't take long and I'll be back in the comfort of my own home curled up with my stitching!

I have been having a clear out of my charts and have been very brutal and turfed out every single one I won't stitch. No messing this time! So please take a look at my for sale blog ( link in sidebar) and email me ( in my profile) if there's anything you're interested in. Anything that doesn't go will go on Ebay in a few weeks.

Now onto my WIPs. I do have two finishes but can't show them yet!

I have to say I am really enjoying stitching CHS Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. It's quite different to anything I've stitched before and I love how it's looking so far. It is, without a doubt, going to be a long term project but that's fine :)

My Sunday UFO piece, Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding, is going well. To think I've been dreading picking this up again yet last week I managed 6 blocks and this week I did 8 so by my reckoning, if I keep that up, it'll be finished in no time!

Finally my Just Nan piece, 4 Wishes, for the Stitch and Stash JN SAL. Loving this piece so much and I really can't understand why I have never stitched it before as I'm sure it's been in my stash since it first came out!

Thank you to all of you who left such lovely, supportive comments after my last post. I am still feeling hurt and it seems hard to let it go even though I know I should. I feel like I'm walking on thin ice everytime I speak to my Dad but I'm not going to let it stop me saying what I think. Enough is enough and I'm about at the end of my tether.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

It's a New Year!

Happy New Year! Good morning from a rather chilly, windy east coast! We have been very lucky here so far as we haven't had the amount of snow that many parts of the country have had but what bit of snow we had yesterday has part thawed then frozen making waking very hazadous so I may not be venturing out today even though I really need to!

I have been getting quite a bit of stitching in ( trying to keep myself sane!) since I last posted so without further ado I'll show what I've been up to!

New Years Eve was a very quiet affair for us. We stayed home with the girls and my fil came round to see the New Year in with us and I stitched all evening on Blue Ribbon Designs Peppermint Twist, my December SAL with Chris which is now a January SAL, although I think Chris will finish hers way before me! I am very pleased with how this is looking and even though I chose to use DMC rather than the recommended threads I think the effect is just as nice.

New Year Day was my new start day which has become a bit of a tradition for me! Last New Years Day saaw me start Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler as a SAL and this year I started Carriage House Samplings Shores of Hawk Run Hollow as a SAL with Jane. I stitched on this New Years Day and Saturday and although I'm finding the 40 count a bit difficult ( don't know why as PT is stitched on it too) I am enjoying this very much.

Sunday is UFO day with Lisa and Jane and I have to say a huge thank you to Lisa for encouraging me to join her in this as I have picked up Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding again after quite a long time, actually enjoyed stitching on it and stitched 6 blocks so I am very proud of myself! The picture is not good at all I'm afraid but you can what I've stitched!

Next up is my second of 2010 and it's another SAL, this time it's a Just Nan SAL with the girls from Stitch and Stash. I finally decided my piece would be 4 Wishes as I've had this in my stash the longest and also had everything I needed to start it without having to buy anything else :) I've chosen to stitch it on 28 count raw linen which is one of the recommended fabrics.

So as you can see I have been a busy bee with my stitching and I've actually been enjoying it. For a while late last year I wasn't really enjoying it and it was becoming more of a chore than a pleasure but I think when I started Peppermint Twist that changed :)

Have any of you made any New Years resolutions? I haven't as such but there are some things I want to try and do one of which is be kinder to myself. I don't have much self confidence, although I do have more now then I did 6 months ago, and I find that I put myself down a lot and when things happen I always feel it's my fault even when it isn't and there have been times when I've felt worthless and useless so this year I am going to try very hard to put a stop to that and start liking myself and be kinder to myself. Also want to keep up losing a little weight as that had steadily gone up over the last few years. I have lost a little as my clothes aren't as tight as they were so that boosted me a lot. So I want to try and do some exercise every day even if it's just a walk or half an hour on the Wii Fit Plus and am continuing to try and eat more healthily because in the long run it will do me more good with me being on the menopause! Over Christmas I made sure I didn't over indulge and I've hardly eaten any sweets so I'm pleased with myself!

Something else I'm going to do when I get myself sorted and the house to myself ( when Jess goes back to uni) is have a sort out of my stash, be ruthless and let some stuff go. This will be charts as I have so many and some that I may never stitch. This is one of the reasons I'm on a no chart buying thing for as long as I possibly can as I end up buying new then not stitching the old then I have them that long I know I won't stitch them! So watch this space as I may have some stuff up for sale soon! lol! I have also updated my wish list and it now has the bare minimum of what I would really like on it and if I do well at getting my stash down ( as in stitching it!) I'll treat myself much much later in the year!

I must admit that these past few days since New Years Day have had me feeling very low and fed-up because of a set to with my Dad when we took him home after he had spent New Years Day with us. All I will say is the way he spoke to me left me very hurt and upset and I feel that he has thrown everything we've done for him back in our faces and I'm finding it very hard to forgive him for it. I am close to tears typing this as I just don't know what to do for the best anymore. Then hubby's auntie came back from a week away in a horrendous mood which I really didn't need! So if this is what 2010 is going to be like roll on 2011!!

Hope you are all staying safe and warm in the bad weather and that the start of 2010 is being kind to you :)

And if you've read this far thank you for listening {{{{hugs}}}}

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally

xxxx

Happy New Year!

Well I am feeling quite cross as I wrote this post last night, couldn't upload the photos so saved the post to try and upload them today and it's nowhere to be seen! lol! Hope I can remember what I waffled on about!

I have few things to show you but only one of those is stitched is by me! Lol! First up a few of you may remember that my youngest DD, Abigail, used to stitch a few years ago and while she was off school ill at the beginning of December she asked if she could stitch something and went through the charts she had left. She was stitching the Spring one of these designs but very sneakily stitched this one, had it framed and gave it to me for Christmas! It was a lovely surprise and I love it :)

Next up is my WIP on my SAL with Chris which is Blue Ribbon Designs Peppermint Twist. Although I have been a bit slow on this one I have been getting quite a bit of stitching in on it these past few days as I have been spending some time on an afternoon on it and I intend to see the New Year in stitching on it too!

Postie was very kind to me yesterday as he/ she delivered an envelope from Michele. Inside was a lovely birthday card and gift which is this gorgeous scissor fob. The piccie really does not do this fob justice as it is so pretty. Thank you so much Michele xxx I love it!

I had a quick visit from Chris yesterday afternoon. She was armed with a bottle of Baileys, which will be opened later tonight, and a package for me. Chris stitched me this beautiful needleroll for my birthday. Isn't it gorgeous? I had never seen the design before but I now know from looking at Chris' blog that it's M Designs Garden Check Needleroll. I totally love this needleroll :) Thank you Chris xxx

Also in the package was Chris' ornament for me from our private ornament exchange. We did one last year and decided to do another this year. Maybe it will become a tradition for us??? As you can see it went on my tree as soon as I opened it :) I was thinking of stitching this one next year ( hoping to get some ornaments stitched up over the year as I failed miserably this year with that plan!) so Chris picked a good one to stitch for me :) Thank you Chris xxxx



2009 has been quite a good year stitching wise and I have completed two rounds of PIFs, the needleroll SAL with Chris plus the Beatrix Potter SAL as well as stitching other bits and pieces. I am quite proud of what I achieved for all my stitching hasn't been up to par of late due to chatting on MSN but we won't go into that! Lol! I am hoping that 2010 will be a good year for me with everything and I have lots planned with my stitching. I've already mentioned my Shores SAL with Jane, my Just Nan SAL with the ladies on Stitch and Stash and my continuing needleroll SAL with Chris. Other plans are a HAED SAL with Lisa Wed/ thurs each week as well as a UFO night with her on a Sunday which she bullied me into!!! Lol! OK she didn't really! We were chatting and I was telling her I might have to scrap Winter Wingding as I'd got bored with it so she suggested I join her when she stitches on her UFOs so I decided to. I can't see me actually keeping it when I'm finished but even if I give it away or sell it at least I can say I finished it! Oh and by the way Lisa I actually have another UFO which I had completely forgotten about and that is Chatelaine Spring Morning so even if I finish Winter Wingding you'll still have company as I'll move onto that! Also Lisa and I are helping each other out attempting the chart stash wagon again in 2010! I, for one, have more than enough charts and if I buy more I always want to stitch the newer ones first rather than the ones I've had for ages so I really need to do something about it! Lol!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas as we did. I was very good and actually only asked for one cross stitch kit and that was Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Fob and my hubby bought me that :) I would love to get that stitched and Shepherd's Purse in 2010!

Before I go just want to say Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2010 brings you lots of stitchy happiness! See you all next year! Lol!

Hugs

Sally xxx