Pumpkins for Cathey

Just for you Cathey on your  blogoversary. A circle of blogging friends enveloping you with friendship and love :)

Hugs  Sally xxx

To see the rest of the Pumpkins for Cathey gang visit Daffycat's blog :) Special thanks to Daffycat for organising this xx

Darn Sheep!

I have been doing a bit of frogging this week! I sat down eagerly anticipating a good evening's stitching with Barb ( oh how I wish) on Monday evening on Faith. Everything was going swimmingly until I suddenly realised my sheep was in the wrong place. Why? How could this have happened. Simple. I had too much grass which meant if I left it my border would not go right. So lots of unpicking happened. Poor sheepie had to run away to pastures new until the grass grows again. Poor sheepie hasn't returned yet :(. I had high hopes of getting this finished tomorrow evening. Not a hope in hell now! Lol! Sorry Barb I will give it my best shot!

Last Sunday I was very naughty. I fancied a new start so I had one. This is Cottage Garden Samplings January's Snowflake from the My Garden Journal series. I'm stitching each one on 40 count Pearl Grey Newcastle linen. Yep 40 count. I think I've taken leave of my senses. 

Tuesday at craft group I continued with my ornament for September. I'm loving the colours in this one.

A little bit of progress this week on my robin. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to two evenings a week on this soon.

Finally some of the border on Curly Q Ewe which is my SAL with Lainey and Mouse. 

Last Thursday was the year 13 celebrations evening which Abi did not want to go to but I received a phone call from one the deputy heads who organises the evening asking if we would go as Abi was going to receive two awards. I persuaded her to go and off we went for a very proud parents moment. She received awards for Art and Photography and here are some photos. 

 Abi and Mrs Egan, her art teacher.

 Abi and Mr Skinner, her photography teacher.

 Abi with Mrs Egan and Mr Skinner.

Abi with Mr Dawson, one of her IT teachers.

Finally more photos using my new camera. I will admit that my DH set the shutter speed and aperture for the moon shot for me. I asked him to help me as it's all double Dutch to me at the moment! 

The Moon.

Playing with scene modes. One taken in through glass mode and one in sunset mode.

Thank you all for continuing to visit me and for leaving such lovely comments. They mean so much.

With much love.

Sally

xxxx

September.....

September is here and the mornings and evenings have an Autumnal feel to them. In fact the whole day has had that feel as we have much welcomed cooler temperatures today. Phew. I don't know if it will last or if the heatwave will come back but I don't know about you ladies I don't want it back now! 

I have been getting some stitching in but have also been trying to get to grips with my new camera. Yes I caved and bought one and it's my treat with some of my inheritance. I think my Dad would approve. When I went to the store I went with two cameras in mind, one of which he said was very heavy and the other he said I wouldn't be able to get it anywhere, but I ended up with a different one. It's a Panasonic Lumix FZ72 and I will admit having bought it and then read reviews and comments on those reviews I did go through a period of regret and wished I'd waited to try and get one of my original choices. However having played with it I'm getting some pretty nice photos. I'm mostly using it on intelligent auto but am learning other bits too. I've only had it a week and am rather pleased with it now. I think I'll learn to try and make my own mind up and not listen to others! Anyway I'll pop up a few photos that I've taken with it later other than my stitching!

I finished the Love-ly Pincushion from the Lizzie*Kate Not All of Us Boxer chart and love it! It's not made up yet but I'll get it done sometime. My sewing machine is misbehaving and I'm not sure if I'm going to have to have it serviced so am not a happy bunny!

Lizzie*Kate Love-ly Pincushion

Unknown Fabric

DMC

So the chart for this and Not All Of Us is ready to go to another stitcher and that stitcher is...............Clare! Clare I will pop it in the post to you sometime this week :)

I've been doing a little finishing of a few pieces. These two I stitched way back last year. I've also started to finish off a couple of ornaments and just have trims to add on.

Country Cottage Needleworks Snowflake Serenade

JBW Designs French Country Flower Basket

I only have a few WIPs I can show this time. Here is LHN Little Sheep Virtues Faith which I'm stitching with Barb. Loving this one. Can hardly wait to get Patience and Wisdom!

LHN Curly Q Ewe which I'm stitching with Lainey and Mouse. I've started the border and am hoping when it's eventually done it'll meet!

I started my September ornament for the Christmas All Year Round SAL at craft club last Tuesday. I chose My Bog Toe Designs His Gift from last year's JCS Christmas Ornament mag. I'm feeling quite excited for this year's mag. 

Finally a little bit of progress on HAED QS Spirit of Winter Robin.

I've had some stash this past week or so. The final part of the LHN Song of the Seasons mystery arrived from Patchwork Rabbit then I had asked Dawn at The Crafty Kitten if she could get me LHN Needlworker and that arrived this last week. I can hardly wait for the end of my autos then I really must stop buying charts!

Just a few photos now taken with my new camera.

 Taken out of the window. My holly bush against the sunset.

 This cat likes to sleep under our conifer hedge. He belongs to the family next door but one.

My kitchen is almost finished. my DH is tiling as I type! Yay!

Until next time... with much love

Sally xxxx

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