That Was The Week That Was

There has not been a huge amount of stitching done since my last post  but I do have a finish which, to be fair, was almost finished last post and a small new start.

Before I show my stitching as I mentioned in my last post Mouse and Lisa were coming for a visit. Mouse came last Thursday and I really needn't have been so nervous as we got on like the proverbial house on fire and never stopped talking or laughing from the minute she arrived. I got to drool over her many ( and when I say many I mean many!  ) WIPs and she, in turn, got to drool over mine! I also met her lovely two felt mice who took quite a liking to looking at each other through my glasses ( see Mouse's blog post for photos) and had a look at her camera. Now I've been toying with the idea of treating myself to a camera for a while now. I have a little point and shoot but it's not that good really. I've  been using DH's old DSLR but when I take it out it's rather heavy on my neck and makes me ache. Now I want the versatility of a zoom lens so thought about the smaller, lighter, compact system cameras but the camera alone with standard lens is pricey let alone a zoom lens for one. So I wasn't sure what I was going to do until Mouse brought her camera along which is a bridge camera aka a super zoom camera. I have to say I was impressed with the zoom and many of the brilliant features  on it. So I've decided on a  bridge camera  but not which  make and model yet! So  for two evenings I was on my tab solely looking at different cameras, reviews etc and almost ended up talking myself out of one! They don't take the quality of photos a compact system camera or DSLR do according to the reviews but judging  by the photos Mouse has taken they look pretty damn good to me! Anyway here's Mouse and I  with our cuppas taken by Miss Abi! We had a brilliant time and she may have to come back over here so will be very welcome to  visit again. Thank you for a lovely evening Mouse x

Yesterday my surrogate sis Lisa came for the day and there was lots of chatter and laughing.  We hardly shut up all day! I think we only kept quiet eating our sandwiches at lunchtime! Lisa  brought some her many WiPs for me to drool over and she had a drool over mine and went with renewed enthusiasm to do some finishing when she saw some of mine. She even got her DH to go the framer I use as they sell mount board off cuts for £1 a bag and I use it for pin keeps etc. We chatted about all sorts including what we were going to do with all our HAED WIPs. Yes she has way more than me! We even managed some stitching in amongst all the chatter too. Thank you for a brilliant day Lisa x.

Well I guess I'd better show you a little bit of stitching.

First of all here's the finish. I finished this whilst stitching with Lisa yesterday.

Lizzie*Kate Not All of Us

Unknown fabric

DMC

Started 26th July 2013

Finished 28th August 2013.

I started this bonus design from the chart yesterday as well.

So hopefully that shouldn't take me too long to stitch and as I won this from Myra a while ago I'd like to pass it on so if you'd like to be the next stitcher of this just say so in your comment and I'll pick a winner next time:)

Monday evening as always is SAL night with my lovely friend Barb. One day I will get to meet Barb too! I didn't get much done but at least it's a bit!

I've stitched a bit on my beautiful robin. How can you not love this little chap?!

Last night was SAL night with Mouse and Lainey. Oh how fun it would have been to meet both of these of lovely ladies. In fact I'd love  to meet each and every one of you! Wow imagine of all us meeting up somewhere! Anyway here's my progress on Curly.

So that's all my stitching.  Now to the kindness of  stitchers. I am always amazed by how kind and wonderful stitches are. Anyway last week I received a surprise package and wondered where it had come from. I knew I hadn't ordered anything, well nothing that would be arriving just yet ( hanging head in utter shame) so thought just open it and find out who it's from! I had an inkling as I thought I recognised the postcode on the  back of the envelope and low and behold I was right.  It was from Lainey and look at lovelies that were inside. I have ideas for these fabrics and trims :). Lainey has also kindly lent me the chart you see in the picture and I've sorted fabric and threads for that today. Thank you so much dear Lainey xx.

Yesterday postie arrived with another package this time from dear Shirlee . Please pop over to her  blog to say hello and give her some support as she's scheduled for heart surgery next month. Just look at this gorgeous project pouch that I found inside the envelope! Isn't it beautiful. Shirlee did the beautiful stitching then sent it over to Myra for finishing.  I am just overwhelmed by the kindness that is shown by stitchers and I wish I could do more than I do. Thank you so much dear Shirlee. It is in use as I've put all my threads, fabric and chart for Curly in it xx

Well that's all my news for now except to say that I very naughtily signed up for the Lizzie*Kate Hearts mystery. Arghhhh can't remember the proper name! I thought about it long and hard and kept looking at the sneak peaks and was sold!

DH and I had an evening out at an evening wedding do. His colleague Paul married Hilary. It was a lovely do. I think Abi overdid my lippy!

Finally the winner of the LHN All is Calm chart is.....Cath! Cath please email your name and address and I'll get it in the post as soon as I can. 

So that's it now! Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last posts. I've been blog commenting earlier so have caught up with many of you and really enjoyed doing so :)

With much love

Sally xxxx

Stitching, Stuff and Well Done Abi!

We've had a busy couple of weeks with some stitching and a lot of kitchen ripping out and fitting but things have settled now so I can finally update my blog and, hopefully, catch up with you all. I feel so guilty that I am not visiting you all, so much so that I considered giving up blogging myself but I enjoy doing it and it's a way of showing my stitching.

So the kitchen is done barring kick boards, up stands, tiles and either paint or wallpaper. There won't be much wallpapering to do so we're hoping we might be able to get away with painting the walls  but we will have to see. Once it's all done I'll pop some pics up. Of course I now have to get used to cooking with an electric fan oven. I'm used to gas so meals may be a bit hit and miss for a while  but what I have cooked so far seems to have been successful!  We did well with the fitting really. Abi and Jess helped too. In fact Abi got well stuck in! I am really pleased with it all but I am a bit disappointed in my glossy worktops as they already have marks on them in spite of our best efforts to prevent it from happening. However we had a huge amount of dust and still have dust off the walls so I guess it can't be helped.

Last week Abi got her A level results. She was extremely nervous as last year she ( and many others) were let down by the marking system changing and the moderators messing things up and she was so sure it was going to happen again. Anyway she need not have worried as she got Bs in IT and Photography and C in Art. She was delighted with her results and was so relieved she cried!  We are so proud of her after all she has been through as it would have been so easy for to say to hell with it and give up. She is not sure what she is going to do now but will probably look for a job. She is rather sick of contacting people then not hearing anything especially those who have said they will get on touch.

Well I guess what you're really here for is stitching updates so here goes! Not only have I managed to complete my July ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL I have also done my August one as well as the wee bonus chart that came with All is Calm. Unfortunately my gingerbread on Gingerbread Village are either blind or have their backs to me! I couldn't for the life of me get the French Knots to go right and the beads I have are too big so I gave up!

I am now giving away the chart for All is Calm so if you'd like it just say so in your comment :).

Lesleyanne very kindly lent me the Gingerbread Village chart. Thank you so much Lesleyanne.  It's ready to come back to you so will get it in the post as soon as.

I didn't manage to make a start with Barb on LHN Little Sheep Virtues Faith when we had planned as we had somebody in  to cut the worktops for us that Monday evening. There was so much dust and noise and I couldn't get sat down in the living room as we had to move the settee to get the worktops out the patio doors to be able to cut them to size then bring them back in to cut them to join them etc. I made a small start later in the week then picked it up for a little while last Monday.

Before the sheep arrived we did a bit more on the mystery. Not sure when this will come out again.

I have almost finished Lizzie*Kate Not All of Us. This one has been such a joy to stitch as it's so easy to pick up and I just love this saying.  I took it to craft group with me yesterday in the hope of getting it finished but it didn't quite happen.

I didn't stitch at all on my HAED QS Spirit of Winter Robin last week so was happy  to get back to it last night.  Almost finished the 10 rows I'm stitching.

Finally some making up. I decided I really needed to get my Just Nan Floral Fifteen completed. I'd done so much and left it but decided to keep going until it was done. It was a bit fiddly but it's done and I amso pleased with it!

This is The Sampler Girl Northanger Abbey that I stitched over a year ago now hung on my Sampler Girl wall.

I have more to make up yet. I have a pile with fabric and trims at the ready so I need to get myself motivated to get it all done.

Oooh I am excited but also rather nervous as tomorrow evening I get to meet Mouse! She is working about 45 minutes away from me for a couple of days so asked if she could pop in for a cuppa so I said yes! Then one day next week my surrogate sis Lisa is hopefully coming to spend the day with me:).

Well I think that is all I have to tell you and show you for now so I will say goodbye and see you next time.

With much love

Sally xxxxx

August???

Really? August already?  Can somebody please tell me what happened to the other 7 months?

Well it has  been 2 weeks since my last post. Not quite sure how that happened but it will happen again as the next couple of weeks are going to hectic and we're going to be in a mess! More of that later.

So stitching. Yes I have done some and I have also made August my one HAED only month! Let's see how I get on with that.

First off is a finish that I couldn't show until it had been received by the  birthday girl. It was the lovely Julie's birthday on Tuesday and I couldn't remember whether it was a special, birthday so I erred on the side of caution and didn't send her a special card! Of course it was her special birthday!  Sorry Julie. My memory was playing tricks on me and I thinking you were 50 next year and I will  be 50 this year. Hehe so you're older than me! Anyway I stitched this for Julie. Love the saying on this.

The Sampler Girl Comfort House

Unknown fabric

DMC

Birthday gift for Julie.

Last weekend I didn't stitch on Guardian. I've decided just to give myself a wee break then pick it up again next month.  So I had a new start. My idea is to get some of my non HAED  charts stitched. This is my new start.

I won this chart in a giveaway from Myra and will be passing it on when I've finished it so watch this space :). Really enjoying stitching it.

I have also been trying to get my July ornament finished  but it didn't happen. I took it to craft group but got all of 10 or so stitches in it as me and another lady were helping someone with her cross stitch kit, sorting the threads and telling her how to start. It was a huge Dimensions kit with 4 bundles of threads so you can imagine how long it took us! Anyway here is where I'm at with it. I want to get this finished as Lesleyanne has kindly lent me Gingerbread Village to stitch for my August ornament.

As I said I've decided to make August my one HAED WIP month and I have chosen to work on QS Spirit of Winter Robin. I'm hoping to finish page 2 soon.

Barb and I have been stitching away on the Little House Needleworks Song of the Seasons mystery as we've been waiting for the next sheep virtues. I am loving this mystery but there's more stitching to it than you think!

Wednesday I was stitching away on Curly Q Ewe my SAL with Lainey and Mouse. I think I am going to run out of CC Weeping Willow so will have to get some ordered. I love how this is looking.

I have done a little bit of finishing and started with some more. This is my LHN Home of a Needleworker ( Too ).

I had some new stash from Patchwork Rabbit this week. As you can see there is Faith and Simplicity as well as part 2 of the mystery and the March and April Garden Journal charts. I'm going to buy some fabric for those I think and make a start while I'm having this break from my other HAEDs.

The sale on my Dad's house completed a week ago and on one hand I felt incredibly sad at my childhood home belonging to someone else  but on the other happy that someone else would be living in it and hopefully be as happy as my parents were. For the last few weeks all I seem to have done is cry or get angry and I've started to think about all the things I feel I should have done and that I let my Dad down. I thought I'd got that under control  but it would seem I haven't yet.

Anyway I may be missing again for the next couple of weeks. You may remember in my last post that we had an electrician coming to do some work in the kitchen? Well he came but we've been waiting for him to come  back to fit the new consumer unit,  then test the circuits and also fit another socket and a couple of isolater switches. We were getting a little panicky as we're fitting our kitchen soon and need things finishing or I won't be able to use my oven or hob. Anyway he is finally coming on Wednesday. Monday the kitchen is  being delivered, Monday or Tuesday my sister's partner is coming to sort the gas pipe out, Tuesday evening we have someone coming to measure the windows. It is going to be chaos. Then the following week we start fitting the kitchen! I can't wait to get it done now.

That is all for now. I will see you all in a couple of weeks if I don't see you  before!

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally xxxx

Whole Lot of Stitching Going On

Hello from a rather hot England. In fact ( and please don't shout at me!) it is just too hot! Thankfully here on the north east coast it is not as hot as it is down south but it's uncomfortable enough for me. I actually feel unwell today so just want it a bit cooler now. It is lovely to see the sun but I'd love it about 5 degrees c cooler than it is here now. I thank God for the sea breeze!

So, for all it has been so hot, I have been getting some stitching done. I have no finishes to show as I don't have any but I have had a new start and have made some decisions about all the HAEDs I have on the go!

So first up is my little bit of progress on the Little House Needleworks Song of the Seasons mystery which I'm stitching along with Barb. I love this so far. Still waiting for the next sheep *sigh* lol!

I seem to have done really well on HAED QS Spirit of Winter Robin. Last night I was still stitching away at 11.30 pm. Big mistake as I feel so tired today! Doesn't he look gorgeous?!

LHN's Curly Q Ewe, my SAL with Lainey and Mouse,  is coming along nicely. Look she has a head, hands and feet now! 

My new start is my July ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL. I chose LHN All is Calm. I started this while I was at my friend Gill's for our stitching afternoon yesterday.

Lastly my other HAEDs. I have to admit that I have become rather bored with Guardian at the moment but I don't want to put it away as I know if I do I may well never get it out again. So I think I'm just going to see how I feel and maybe just stitch on it one evening a week for a bit. I did consider finishing the page I'm working on then the next one and calling it a finish but several of my stitching friends said it wouldn't look right and they are right.

My progress on Mini Jolly Old Fellow my SAL with Gill :) 

Anyway I have thought all the HAED pieces I am stitching and think I have overdone it! I'm leaving myself little time to stitch on other things and trying to make even just a little progress on all five is impossible for me. So Mini The Forgotten is going away for a while as was Mini Jolly Old Fellow but not sure I can put him away as I'm loving the colours etc so will have to see what I can do. I'm going to continue stitching on Guardian and QS Spirit of Winter Robin in the slots they've been in and bring my SK Dragon's History to an evening slot as that is more doable with it only being 4 pages. Then I'll see how things go!

I bought some ribbon, trims and fabric this week so that I can finish some bits off soon. I am determined to get that pile down over the summer! Last Friday my DH and I were going to Wren to finalise our new kitchen so I asked him if we could pop to a shop in Cottingham that Chris had recommended. They were supposed to close at 5 pm but when we got there at 4.35 pm they'd already closed so I was disappointed. So on Saturday I trawled the internet! I ended up ordering ribbons and trims from Ribbon Oasis and my fabric from Thread Bear.

Speaking of Chris she visited me on Wednesday :) It is always lovely to see her. We sat out in my garden chatting and having a cuppa :)

That's all my stitching news. We have an electrician coming on Monday to sort some sockets etc in the kitchen. I know there's going to be a mess. HELP!

Take care everyone.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

Courage

Here we are. The lovely, cute LHN sheep is all done and dusted but not made up yet. I'm still trying to make my mind up whether to finish them as flat ornaments or pillows. Hmmm decisions, decisions!

Little House Needleworks Little Sheep Virtues Courage

32 count Vintage Country Mocha Linen

DMC

Started 17th June 2013

Finished 9th July 2013

SAL with Barb.

We are both eagerly awaiting the arrival of Faith which will, of course, mean I'll get 2 more of the Cottage Garden Samplings My Garden Journal charts :)

Monday was the lovely Karan's birthday and here is what I stitched for her. I am happy to say that she loves it :)

The Sampler Girl Sweet Things

Unknown fabric

Caron Waterlilies

Started 10th June 2013

Finished 2nd July 2013

Happy Birthday Karan :)

I have been stitching on my HAEDs but forgot to take photos! I have the first 20 rows of  Mini Jolly Old Fellow stitched and a little more on QS Spirit of Winter Robin :)

As I mentioned on my last post Barb and I were having a new start on Monday. We started the Little House Needleworks Song of the Seasons mystery. I made a small start. I am loving this WDW Straw linen. 

Tonight is Curly Q Ewe night with Lainey and Mouse. Loving stitching this one and really must get a head on the lady tonight. She looks a little scary as she is!

Oooh I almost forgot! I made up some Christmas ornaments!

I am quite pleased with these. They are now in a box with some of my others :) I still have a few to go at as well some finishes I had last year. I will get them all done eventually!

I have a quick question now. Does anyone know when the JCS Halloween special is due in the UK please? I don't get it as part of my subscription so want to keep an eye out for it:)

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my last post. They mean a lot to me. I am thankful for all my lovely friends in the stitching, blogging community.

Until next time.

With much love

Sally

xxxx

Stash & Stitching & Wildlife

Well it's been a while since I last posted. We had a hectic week the week my DH had off going out, started to rip the kitchen out to make way for the new one and filling out forms regarding the sale of my Dad's house with my sister and taking it all in to the solicitors. The solicitor's PA informed us that we'd have more to fill in. Seriously?!

So I have been stitching and I tried to get some making up done, honestly I did, but didn't quite get there and get finished. I will though.

I have had a finish and a new start but I can't show either of those as they are gifts. I also have an almost finish! This is Courage,  one of the Little Sheep Virtues, which I'm stitching with Barb. I really should have had it finished  by now but I didn't stitch at all the Monday before last as we'd been out all day. I want to try and get it finished before Monday as Barb and I now have other plans in between stitching these adorable sheep!

My new start, HAED Mini Jolly Old Fellow, is  not going too badly at all and I even have a litle bit of Father Christmas' hat. I'm really enjoying this so far. Poor Gill, who I am SALing with, hadn't started her Mini Sleigh Ride as her threads hadn't arrived but she's hoping to start it tomorrow.

QS Spirit of Winter Robin is now getting stitched on 2 evenings a week and is  growing nicely. He now has an eye and doesn't he look adorable!

Speaking of adorable look at this photo I took during our day out at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. I am so proud of this photo!

OK back to stitching! Lainey, Mouse and I are still SALing on LHN Curly Q Ewe. Here's my progress. It's a headless, leg less woman walking a sheep! See my needleminder? Well that was one of my naughty purchases this week. My surrogate sis, Lisa,  has started making these and I couldn't resist this one. She has a group on Facebook so if you're on there it is No More Lost Needles and tell her I sent you :). I think I'm aiming for a needleminder for every project as I already have a few!

I'm happy to report that I finally finished page 13 of HAED Guardian and have made a small start on page 14. Yay! It's going to take me at least 2 more years to finish him though!

I haven't started my ornament for July as yet. I thought I'd decided on another Lizzie * Kate one but when I looked at my list I discovered it was this one!

Now to the stash part of my title! As you can see from the photos I did actually buy 2 needleminder as there was a Holly Fairy one and I couldn't decide between them! My JCS ornament preview issue arrived and oh dear there are several I want to stitch so I dread to think what the actual ornament magazine will make me want to stitch!  The same day I also had the LHN Song of the Seasons chart, thread pack and fabric from Karla at The Patchwork Rabbit. Can hardly wait to get started on this one and this is what Barb and I are going to stitch on in between the sheep. Once I've got this year's stash fest over with I really must stop  buying new charts and just buy fabric and threads if I need them!

Ooh I almost forgot! QS Holly Fairy is back from the framers! We did have to take her back as there was a piece of the fabric stuck in between the glass and the stitching but my framer soon put that right. It's difficult to get a decent photo but hope you can see it OK.

As I said earlier we had a day out at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. We had a fantastic day, walked miles around the park and saw lots of animals. Took lots of photos too so here are just a few. Thank God for zoom lenses otherwise you wouldn't have seen much on some of these!

Once again I am way behind on blog reading and commenting.  I just don't seem to be able to get myself motivated to do much of anything other than stitching yet again. I have discovered that bereavement is not just about grieving for a loved one as it can lead to a slippery slope of having little or no enthusiasm which in turn leads to not wanting to go anywhere or do anything other than sit on your  butt which leads to a bigger butt and bigger everything! So I am peeved cos I know I've put more weight on so I have to try and sort myself and get myself going on. I have started exercising again using EA Sports Active for the Wii but it's such hard work so think I'm going to do yoga as well and alternate them. I only go out walking when I have to unless I have someone to walk with which isn't good. I feel so sad so much it's really not good. I have thought about asking about bereavement counselling as I do have issues with guilt etc but I guess it's still early days yet.  I really don't want to lose my readers and commenters because I haven't been visiting your blogs very often so I will try harder.

If you've made it this far thank you cor sticking with me. I appreciate all your lovely comments and hope you will continue to leave them:)

Until next time.

With mu h love

Sally xxxxx