I'm Back but Lost and Alone.

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

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

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

Joan Elliott Believe ( left off the fairies)

Unknown Fabric

DMC

Birthday gift for Lisa

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

Homespun Elegance To Stitch is Bliss

unknown fabric

DMC

Started 7th January 2013

Finished 11th January 2013

Birthday gift for Chris.

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

Little House Needleworks The Merry Skater

Unknown fabric

DMC

Started 6th January 2013

Finished 22nd January 2013.

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

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,--

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time.

With much love.

Sally

xxxx

My Heart is Breaking

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

8 Days In......

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally xxx

A New Stitching Year Is About To Begin

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

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

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

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

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

 From Michelle

From Lisa

From Christine

From Karan

From Mouse

From Elaine

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

Shepherd's Bush Do You Hear

Unknown fabric

DMC

Started 20th November 2012

Finished 3rd December 2012

Christmas Gift for Lisa

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

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

Amy Brueken Designs I Believe

28 count Natural Pearl Linen

DMC

Started 23rd December 2012

Finished 30th December 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

With much love

Sally

xxxx

It's Almost Here.

Well it's almost here. We are having a quiet one with just the four of us. I must admit I miss family Christmases of old but the ones who held us all together are long gone. I won't get into it as I'll just end up getting upset and I do love the special time with my DH and my two girls.

I've got a finish to show which was a birthday gift for Christine. I was late posting it but Royal Mail made things worse by taking four days deliver it even though I posted it first class. This is what I stitched for her. Sorry it was so late Christine.

The Little Stitcher Snowdrop

Birthday gift for Christine.

I don't have many Wips that I can post either as one is a gift and haven't picked anything up yet to replace the wordplay I dumped. I was in the parlour with the ladies of Needlecraft Haven on Wednesday evening whilst stitching along with Chris on our December Sal. I am loving stitching CCN Gingerbread Cottage since I restarted it. The colours show up much better two over two. I love the colours. Chris and I have already decided on our next December Sal! Photo is blurry I'm afraid.

No progress to show on HAED Guardian again. I have made a bit of progress but not enough to show. Not sure I'll get any done tonight as I need to get the last few ornaments finished to hang on my tree. Speaking of ornaments just look at this beautiful ornament that arrived from my dear friend Shirlee. I adore it and have it hung from the garland on my mantlepiece. Thank you so much Shirlee for thinking of me xxx

HAED QS Holly Fairy is going rather well. Getting the outline of her hair on page 2 now. I'm hoping to get plenty of this done over the Christmas holidays although maybe not!

Dear June sent me a lovely card and gift for my birthday. The vanilla sachet smells delicious, the threads are gorgeous colours and the ribbon is pretty. Thank you so much June for thinking of me xxx.

An envelope arrived from Barb and I was puzzled as to what was inside. Why do we wonder instead of just ripping open the envelope?! Inside was a Weymouth and Portland  calendar which I'm looking forward to having on my wall in 2013. Ill be able to see the lovely place where Barb lives. I have been nearby but never to Weymouth. One day maybe :)

I am having a new start on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas  ). Originally my surrogate sis Lisa and I were starting HAED Mini The Forgotten but it kind of grew and now there are several of us starting b & w minis and Eileen started up a Facebook group called B & W Mini Nutters! I have my fabric and threads ready and my chart printed. I'm also supposed to be starting my first Randal Spangler design in 2013 but Im wondering if I may have bitten off more than I can chew with so many HAEDs but I'll see how I go. I've chosen one that I was raked with in the Halloween rak event and that one is SK A Dragon's History. I was hoping I'd have enough of 25 count Magic Guide left for it but unfortunately it's not big enough so I'm hoping Father Christmas will bring me some. I've been a good girl this year :)

I think this will probably be the last post I do before Christmas unless I get these ornaments finished so to all my wonderful readers and dear friends Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year. Thank you each and every one of you for your friendship during 2012 and long may it continue. I know I have not been very good at keeping in touch these past few months but in all honesty I've been finding things difficult but didn't want to say anything on here as it is, after all, first and foremost a stitching blog. I need to seriously sort myself out!

Have a safe and Happy Christmas.

With much love.

Sally
xxx

Not Much Stitching ( Picture Heavy!)

There hasn't been much stitching going on recently and all will be revealed shortly! So there isn't much stitching to show this time around! 

First of all I want to show you the ornament that Chris stitched for me for our annual ornament exchange. Chris was a little worried about this as she wasn't sure if I would like it or not but I LOVE it! It is just gorgeous. I have it hung off the garland on my mantlepiece. Thank you so much Chris.

I restarted our December SAL last week as I hated it over 1 on 28 count so I'm now doing it over 2 on 28 count and it looks so much better. I need to get a move on with this as I'm way behind now!

I didn't get anything done on HAED Guardian over the weekend but I did make progress on HAED QS Holly Fairy last week. I'm really enjoying this one. Guardian will be coming out this weekend and, hopefully, I'll get a good bit done. Maybe even get page 10 finished!

I'm afraid I've scrapped yet another piece of stitching. Last night I settled down to stitch the January Wordplay which is my SAL with Barb but I just couldn't get into it. I decided no this is not for me and have decided to scrap it and not doing anymore. The plan was to do all 12 but I just can't face it. I see no point in carrying on with something I'm not enjoying. I find it hard some nights to settle down to stitch so it's best I don't do something I'm not enjoying. I've emailed Barb to ask her if she minds if I SAL with her but on something different. 

I received a lovely birthday card from my dear friend Barb last week and inside it was a cheque for £10. Thank you so much Barb {{{{hugs}}}} I've already decided that I'm going to put it towards buying the new Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues series. Anyone who knows me well will know I love sheep so these are right up my street :)

So that's my stitching news. Now onto what we did at the weekend. We went here!

Well not just there but my other photos are on my phone! We set off from home at 5.20 on Saturday morning to be picked up by the coach in Beverley at 6 am. We got to Marble Arch in London at midday and had 4 hours in London where we walked to Buckingham Palace. We spent a while there taking photos and admiring the view before walking back and going down Oxford Street which was horrendous! It was so busy so you could hardly move at times. We had to be back to be picked up at 4 pm but of course there is always going to be someone who doesn't turn up! One couple were still not back at 4.30 so they got left behind and had to get a taxi to our hotel in Reading. The following day we up bright and early for breakfast and on the coach for 9.30 to go to Windsor. Again photos are on my phone. Windsor is a delightful place and of course the castle is there. We were back on the coach for midday for our much anticipated Harry Potter Studios Tour. This was the main reason we booked the trip. My girls have grown up with the books and films and we were so excited to be going. I took loads of photos but will just pop a few up ( Photos are clickable). Some are not so good as it was so busy you literally had to snap a photo quite quickly. I have to admit I was quite emotional when we went in as it was just so magical! 

My ticket

Doors to the Great Hall

Great Hall

Costumes

Teachers

Ice Sculpture 

Common Room

Entrance to Dumbledore's Office

Dumbledore's Memories

Sword of Gryfendor

wands of the cast

Dobby

Mirror of Erised

Death Eater

Diagon Alley

Carl and I in the Ford Anglia

Abi, Jess and I enjoying a Butter Beer at the tomb of Tom Riddle

Abi knocking on the Dursley's door.

Hogwarts

Thank you everybody for your lovely birthday wishes on my last post. I treasure your friendships more than you could know.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have more stitchy progress next time. I've had to mark all blogs as read in my reader I'm afraid as there were just too many to catch up on.

With much love

Sally

xxxx