The end of a fab year!

This year has been a great year for me stitch wise and other wise and a lot of it has to do with blogging. All the wonderful people I have met through this blog and all the wonderful inspirational blogs I have read have moved my stitching on to a different level. I have learned a lot. I have learnt new techniques and how to finish items into things I never thought possible. I have been beautifully gifted and received some gorgeous goodies in exchanges. My stash has increased considerably as has my wish list and I have more wips than ever!

Obviously I don't know how next year is going to go as I am having my baby in 11 days time. I have plans to stitch samplers mainly esp getting my CDC finished and Patchwork finished and I also want to start the Collaboration Sampler that I have kitted up. I also have a few quaker designs in mind too. I will have to see how things go. I will be stepping down from exchanging for the time being until things start settling down.

I have completed my design for the Frosty Friends exchange and will post up a pic as soon as the recipient rec's it.

Here is one I have started and is coming along at a nice speed. It is the Papillon Creations Simple Little Quaker. It is stitched on 32 count Lavender Mist linen and uses Amethyst Dinky Dyes Cotton.

It is lovely to do and hopefully it will give me another finish before the end of the year.

And here are the wonderful gifts that Tracy sent me.

She sent me some lovely charts with the threads and extras to stitch them with. I love the gloriana. I will use it on my Patchwork.
and here are some gorgeous knitted items that her mum and aunt made for me. Love them all. She also sent me some teddies and a bib and she also sent Lily some card making stuff which I thought was just so generous. I feel so blessed to know you Tracy. Thank you so much. Here is a close up of the gorgeous blanket.


Oh and if you are wondering, the first picture is of my dd and my dh doing her first solo in church. She sang down the mike whilst dad accompanied her on the guitar. A very special moment that I thought I'd like to share with you all.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you will have a blessed and prosperous new year and all through 2008. The next time I post will probably be after I have had baby so watch this space.

Hugsxxxxxxxxxx

I've been gifted!!

I have been the recipient of some lovely gifts this week. First off I got this huge box in the post yesterday from Tracy and it contains 8 parcels!!!!!!! 4 for baby 3 for me and even 1 for dd!! Tracy I don't know what to say. This is toooo much!! I haven't opened any of them yet - it's oh so tempting but I'm going to wait till Christmas day. Thank you soo much. You are the best.


And this is what I rec'd today:

Cathy emailed me to ask if I'd like it as I'd mentioned I liked the design on a forum and she had two copies of it. So thank you so much Cathy. It looks quite detailed so I might have to ask some peole to help me with the speciality stitches when I get around to starting it.

And here are some pics of the needlebook I did for the cross stitcher's lottery:



The design is from the book Repertoire des Frises and uses DMC Variations (another gift from Tracy!!) on 32 count evenweave. I used felt for the inside pages and to back it. A very enjoyable stitch and I am quite loathe to part with it.

And last of all, here's a really naff picture of our Christmas tree!! It doesn't have an awful lot of decorations on it but it looks quite pretty and better irl.

Last SAL!

Woohoo!!! The final HAED SAL and I have managed to stick to all ten months!! I have managed to complete the second page and think I will stop at this and make it up into a little cushion or something. I am not intending to finish the whole design.


And I couldn't resist taking this pic of my dd sat stitching away concentrating ever so hard. She only probably managed to get two stitches in but its still progress. I don't think she has really caught the stitching bug yet!


Sorry I have not been commenting on blogs lately. I have been very tired and quite uncomfortable and so have been trying to use any energy I have to work on the frosty friends exchange and the cross stitchers' lottery. I have finished the stitching for the lottery but need to finish it up. The frosty friends is proving to ba a bit more of a challenge - I had to unpick it once.

I have only 4 weeks left to go now and this baby is proving to be quite active (and quite painful at times).

Latest stash purchases (like I really need more stash right??) are charts from Papillon Creations:
Simple Little Quaker
Sheherezade

and Long Dog's
Foursome Reel.

I also purchased a lovely dragonfly needleminder from Kelmscott designs and some thread rings I thought I might be able to use in some exchanges. I am trying to decide on a nice thread colour to do Simple Little Quaker in. Yvonne at Papillon Creations has also put my pics up in her gallery of the stitchers case I made for Linda in the redwork exchange.

Oh and I had a lovely email from Cathy today asking if I would like her Sampler Cove design of Spanish Rouge as she has two charts. That is very very kind of her and really appreciate it. Hugs to you Cathy.

Well, going to make tea and have a rest. I will try and catch up on blog reading over the next week or so. Hugs to everyone. xx

Finished!!!!

Finished her yesterday 29th November!!! Amazing what determination can do lol! Now onto my Frosty Friends exchange. xxx

I'm back and check this out!!!!

Having no comp must have done my stitching some serious good!!! Look at my progress on DM!!!


I am so close to the finish. If I get this little bit done before the end of this month (by Friday) then that is three pages I have finished in a month and a completion to boot!! Hoorah hoorah!!

So my comp is back up and running so I can spend some time catching up on all your blogs. Thanks to everyone who still commented even though I was not around - it means a lot to know people think of me.

Here is a pic promised of Dawn's gift that she sent me:

What a sweet, kind, thoughtful thing to do. I'm sure he will love the little toys.

We survived the weekend as it was Lily's fifth birthday party. She had a lot of fun and she got loads of presents which was fab as I have just given a load of her toys away. Spent my entire Sunday evening getting dolls out of packaging. I don't understand the need for all those twists, threads, and selotape!! If someone is going to nick the toy they will take the box as well!! No need! We got her a lovely birthday cake and it's not doing my weight any good!

So hopefully when I complete DM this month lol I will have the whole of December to concentrate on my Frosty Friends exchange and the Cross stitcher's lottery. I have to remember to also do the Twilight Shimmer SAL for the second weekend as it's the last one.

We have made a start on turning the pink bedroom into the baby's room. DH undercoated it today and we are going to buy the paint tomorrow. I have chosen a light blue and a beige colour. Once it's painted then I will be able to start washing all the clothes and bedlinen and get it into drawers all nice and ready. Then I might be able to relax a bit! Baby is due 6 weeks tomorrow. January 8th. Unless he tries to maek an early appearance that is.

Going to go and catch up with blog reading. Have a good stitch week. xxx

No Computer!!

Just to say I have no computer the moment. It got poorly last week and is now in hospital being repaired. I am on DHs comp while he is out but I don't get along with it as the mouse jumps all over the place and the keyboard is weird. Just to let you know I'm okay if not an little heavy and uncomfortable. Got Busy time ahead with Lily's birthday coming up this weekend, then Christmas plus all the decorating for the new arrival to do. We have just moved Lily into the bigger room so now we just need to decorate the baby's room and get his stuff in there ready for when he comes. Big thank you to Dawn who sent me some lovely baby goodies through the post. When I get my comp back I will post some pictures. I'm doing really well with Dreaming Mermaid and nearly finished another page so I am on track to complete before the end of the year. Still need to get the frosty friends exchange done and the cross stitchers lottery piece. Another thank you to Louanne for the HAED chart - I only just opened my mail today!!! It's lovely, thank you. Hopefully I'll be back on track with update pics soon.
Have a good stitiching week.
xx

Bump pics and updates.

Okay as promised here are a couple of bump pics. I do not take a fantastic photo so I apologise in advance. I look huge on these pictures but I'm sure I don't look that big irl!! Here I am at 31 weeks.



And here is my Twilight Shimmer after the SAL weekend:

Sorry about the blurry pic! Slow going this one. I am thinking I might not complete the full design but just do the top half and get it framed as a miniature.

And here is my Dreaming Mermaid which I am pushing to complete before the end of the year. I really need spurring on to the finish line. I am up to page 7.


Have a good week.
xx

Harvest Exchange from Leena!!

How gorgeous is this!!

It's a lovely box and tiny scissor fob from Leena. I love it so much and the threads are great too as I have never tried them before. The packaging was decorated with lovely stamps all the way from Finland.

So beautiful. Thank you Leena! xxxx

Hello. It's been a while but thought I'd let you see what I sent to Nicki for the Harvest exchange. This little cushion is designed by Homespun Elegance and its called delivering Harvest. I did not have all the specialist buttons so I used some leaf buttons. Here is the front of the cushion. I filled it with lavender.

This is the back.

This is the fob I made with a design taken from a UK magazine. Front and back:


And here are some other goodies I sent her.


I'm still into getting the Dreaming Mermaid done but I just don't know if I will finish it for the year. I'm going to give it my best shot though. I will be working on Twilight Shimmer this weekend though for the SAL. If it is this weekend that is, I'll have to check.

So on with the mermaid. Hope you all have a good week. xx

Dreaming Mermaid and rotation update

Gosh isn't time flying by!! Tomorrow I will be 29 weeks pregnant! As I am having a c section at 39 weeks this means I have 10 weeks to countdown. That is if I don't go earlier. But at the most I have ten weeks left. My bump is getting bigger by the day and is definitely football shaped all at the front this time. I keep thinking I should post a pic of me and bump so I can have something to remember. We have nearly finished decorating Lily's room now and her new furniture comes on Thurday so we can move her in and start on the baby's room. We have ordered the pram and carseat (a huge expense) and I have started getting some bits and pieces together for the hospital. So exciting. Good news is that dh is back from touring now (he had to come home early) so it's really wonderful to have him back home and around me to help as I have been really tired.

Stitch wise, today I have just finished making up my Harvest Exchange for the SBEBB and will be sending that off in the next couple of days. I enjoyed working on it and really hope my partner like it. Will post pics when it arrives at its destination.

Dreaming Mermaid page 5 is finally complete YaY!!! I am wel into page 6 now but all I have left is half pages to do. No more full pages!! So here's my progress so far.


I really want to work exclusively on this for a bit as it's my goal to complete it before the end of the year and I have three and a half pages left to do in only a couple of months so I really need to get cracking on it if I want to meet this goal. Also, it is for Lily and it would be nice to get it finished before the new arrival comes.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and are enjoying your stitching. I will stick to my routine of reading and commenting on blogs on Tuesday. I like to fit it in as they are so inspiring to me and I keep getting lots of new ideas. Take care all. xx

Rotation update

Okay the Rotation trial went so so.
Twilight Shimmer - done
Blog reading - done
Harvest exchange - finished stitching but didn't make up
Patchwork - did a little bit
Dreaming Mermaid - No something came up
Pif - started one but hardly done anything on it - just too tired
Polar Santa - am doing it now

I think next week I will stick to Dreaming Mermaid all week as I really am behind on it and need to get it finished by the end of the year. I will blog again on Tuesday/ Wednesday. DD off school this week so will be extra tired.
Happy stitching.
xx

Redwork exchange recieved and Twilight Shimmer update

Well here is my October SAL update on Twilight Shimmer. Not a huge amount done but it was a lot of confetti stitching on the face which needed to be done and I did a big chunk on her shoulder/arm. Sorry its a bit blurred.


And look at this gorgeous redwork exchange I got from Cari today.


She stitched this beautiful pincushion on 32 count over 1!! She also sent me 25 skeins of dmc and this lovely pair of gingham scissors in "ashley". I have been longing for a pair of these for a while now but we can't get them over here I don't think. So thank you so much Cari. They are all gorgeous!

Sticking with my weeks rotation I am going to be reading all the blogs and commenting tonight and getting up to scratch with them all. Can't wait to see what you've all been stitching. Have a good stitching week. xx

Rotation??

Okay just a quick one. I have decided to try and do a rotation just for this week and see how I get on with it. I'm not really very disciplined whne it comes to my hobby but I have so many projects on the go now and some are getting severely neglected. So if it works and I feel I have accomplished everything then I might try it again for next week. Here goes:

Monday - Twilight Shimmer (as part of the monthly SAL)
Tuesday - Blogging night (a whole night dedicated to commenting and I'll stick up update on Twilight Shimmer)
Wednesday - Harvest exchange (finish sewing and finish if time)
Thursday - Patchwork
Friday - Dreaming Mermaid
Saturday - PIF/gift for someone on the list or for the cross stitcher's lottery
Sunday - Polar Santa - not seen the light of day for a good while.

I am getting quite heavy and tired now with only 3 months till the big day and most of my internet time is being taken up with researching prams/pushchairs, hospital lists etc so you'll all have to excuse me if you don't see me around so much. Just know I am still here, probably spending most of my time decorating and sleeping. Bear with me. I just wanted to say that because I hate it when people just disappear from blogs and never say anything and you worry about what might have happened to them.
Love and hugs
xx

Redwork exchange recieved

This is the front. I used a Papillon Creations freebie on 32 count evenweave.


The Back showing "L" initial taken from the Repertiore des frises book.


Here's the book open showing pockets and all the extras I sent. It also shows the tiny scissor keep I made using 40 count Sheeps straw linen from R&R reproductions. I also sent Linda some fabric too but I didn't photograph it. You can see her blog here. I am quite please with the way it turned out. I hand stitched it up and did it as neatly as I could.

What with all the postage strikes in the UK it's hard waiting to receive stuff in the post. Hopefully I'll get something next week.
In regards to the CDC I have decided to unpick the metallics and you'll just have to wait and see what I do with it next but just to say that's something else I am still waiting for in the post.

Have a good stitchy weekend.
xx

October goals

Well I did okay with september goals in that I did get a huge chunk of Dreaming Mermaid done although I did not resist the temptation not to start cdc before finishing the page on DM! So here is a bit of what I have done on CDC. This is on 32 count mulberry linen using Thread Gatherer's Spring Frocks and I have used some kreinik 192 to do the main circles but not sure I like it so might unpick it and do a different metallic. Any suggestions are welcome.


So October goals as follows:

1. Finish DM page 5 and start page 6.
2. Work on Twilight Shimmer for the HAED SAL.
3. Complete Harvest exchange for SBEBB and send off.
4. Work on CDC and find nice metallic that works well for the main circles.
5. Complete 2 motifs on Patchwork.
That should do the trick!

In terms of other news, DH is now in Australia with Hard Fi and will not return till the 10th October - away again! Also I am trying to start getting things organised for the new arrival as I have done nothing as yet. Starting to look at prams and also getting a few bits and pieces for the hospital bag. I know it's early but I like to be prepared. Can't do any decorating till DH gets back but will start to look around for some furniture. Lily needs new furniture and we need a cot and a wardrobe for baby + bedding.

Okay off to do some serious stitching and start meeting those goals. Hope you are all well and have a good stitching week.
xx

Dreaming Mermaid, Patchwork and other stuff.

I have gone awol for a while as I have been frantically trying to finish this page on Dreaming Mermaid. Not quite finished it yet but should have it done by the end of the week. So here's my progress:


Thought I'd also post a pic of Patchwork and the recent activity I have done on that. It is really growing now and I have not got much more to do before I get to the end of the row then I can start working downwards.


And here's the latest Loose Feather's which should be on it's way to me soon. Can't wait to get my hands on this one. I adore it.


And here's an extra just because I love her so much. My special girl in her ballet outfit!


I finally got the Thread Gatherer threads I bought from Thread Bear for my CdC which I have said I will start when I have finished this page on Dreaming Mermaid so hopefully I should have a New Start to show you on my next blog. I also received my Harvest exchange chart so I need to get the threads organised on it and make a start. I have finished my redwork exchange and will be sending it off in the next few days. I am really pleased with how it turned out and can't wait to show it off!! Just hopw the recipient likes it as much.

I am off to get some lunch then I will be catching up on all your blogs that I have missed last week. xx

Update

Here's a quick update on Twilight Shimmer after the SAL this month. You can really see her face coming along on this one. Just got to do the eye!


I have just finished all the stitching for my redwork exchange and now just need to finish it. I have mostly finished it but need something which I am waiting for in the post before I can completely finish it. I have half done the Harvest exchange but still awaiting more goods in the post before I can do the other half.

I am now starting back on Dreaming Mermaid which is a bit of a pain as it's 2 threads over 1 on 25 count and hurts my fingers a bit doing it. I really need to get both these HAEDS out of the way and finished before this baby comes!

I willl try and catch up with blog reading tonight. Sorry if I haven't commented in a while. Too busy stitching!! xx

Goals and school.

Awww here's my dd starting school in her new uniform. She is so excited about school and is loving it so far. How time flies. Leaves me lots of time to get in some serious stitching. I suppose I had better get it in now whilst I can. Come January there'll be no time for a while.

So I wasn't too good on my August goals although I did make my scissor keeps! I never touched (yet again) Dreaming Mermaid or I am Half Sick of Shadows. So my main goal this month will be to concentrate on at least one of those. It is so difficult though as I have just got back into Patchwork and I find it really hard to get motivated to do another project. Am I the only one like this that is so undisciplined??

So Goals this month:

1. Work on Dreaming Mermaid
2. Work on I am half Sick of Shadows
3. Start CdC when my threads come.

I have already done some Patchwork so I won't include that in my goals.

In regards to CdC I have some other fabric that I will be using that is just plain mulberry coloured linen. I have chosen Thread Gatherer threads in Spring Frocks to do it in. Hopefully it will come back right and not like the Sugar Maple. In regards to that I emailed Mindy of SMF to take her up on her offer of exchanging the piece but so far she has not been back in touch.

I am quite liking doing updates on this blog once a week and commenting once or twice a week. It can get so that it takes up all your time when you are reading and commenting all the time. I love blogs and get so inspired when I read them but end up with little time to stitch!!
Here's to a better month stitch wise. xx

And the winners are.....

I just want to say thank you all for entering my giveaway - I am amazed that so many people entered and if I could I would stitch you all something.

So here are the winners in first, second and third order as pulled out of the hat by my dd Lily.

First winner -

Jamie!! You get first choice!

Second winner -

Cheryl!! Well done!

Third winner -

Dawn!! Well done. An email is on its way to all concerned!

On another note - we went for our 20 week scan this week and we found out we are having a boy!!!! Can't quite believe it. What do you do with a boy??? We are so used to our little girl that it took a while to get used to the idea of having a little boy but I am coming around to the idea. It will be different but in a nice way I am sure. It will be the first Grandson on my husbands side so everyone is really excited.

Sewing wise, I have been working on my HAED a little and also on the Harvest Exchange that I am signed up for. I ordered a chart for it but not arrived yet :-(
Also ordered the book Repertoire des Frises?? from Amazon France - thought I may get some nice ideas from there for the redwork exchange but that has not appeared yet either. Hope they come in time for me to stitch!!

Here is a picture of the disaster fabric I bought from Sugar Maple for Cirque de Cirque. As you can see it is totally not suitable for cdc. It was not this shade at all on the website. I have emailed and they have offered to exchange it for another one but I will have to post it back to Canada and then have the risk of something just as unsuitable coming back. So I am not sure what to do. I could try dying it but that would cost money and again it may ruin the fabric.

Ahh well onto another week of glorious stitching. Have a fun week everyone.
xx

Giveaway!!

Okay first off I just want to say thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers regarding the sister incident. Things aren't much better unfortunately but I feel stronger and more able to deal with what I consider the rejection coming from her. I tried yet again to text her only to get a defensive message back so I will be just leaving it now.

Right onto business. As I promised, I wanted to make a few gifts for readers of my blog just to say thank you for reading - I still can't believe anyone would be remotely interested in what I have to say. So I have come up with a few gifts.
Rules
I will be giving three of these away. If you would like one then all you have to do is leave me a post and say you would like one and I will draw names out of a hat. The first three names will will one of their choice. It is open to everyone, even if you are new to my blog and have never commented before. I will leave this thread open till 1st Sept to give everyone a chance to enter.



From Left to right: Tiny Little Quaker biscornu Papillon Creations using DMC Varigated
Serndipity Papillon Creations scissor keep using Needlepoint Silk
With Love Lady Periphaeria scissor keep using Six Strand Sweets - one for the girls!



From left to right : Ring o roses Lady Periphaeria scissor eep using Caron Waterlilies silk
Serendipity Papillon Creation scissor keep using dmc and sparkle
Tiny quaker motif scissor keep using Eterna silk

Well I hope everyone joins in and has fun. Like I said I will feel a bit stupid if no one wants one of them. Have a good week and a nice Bank Holiday if you are in the UK. xx

Feeling pretty low.

Just a quick one to let you know that I have been away ona family weekend to the Lake District. It is my parents' 50th anniversary so they took all of us away to a hotel for a few nights. It would have been great except that my sister and I have fallen out and we didn't speak a word to each other all weekend. I had previously texted her and she hadn't responded so it was obvious she didn't want to put things right with me. It is very sad as I don't generally fall out with people and never with my family. My other sister was sticking to her like glue and at one point they even wore the same outfit. It has always been the case that they go off together and leave me out of things and this is just what they have done. She upset me so badly the other week that I was in tears on my bed for over an hour and my dh was away and my dd was upset by it. The baby didn't move for a week after the upset so I was worried by that too. It's moving fine now though. I don't think she realises how bad she has upset me and I don't think it's something that will solve itself until she decides to put things right. So I am feeling very low and so I did not do much for the August SAL challenge but here is what I have accomplished. Very sorry to depress you all.


Jenn you are welcome to my chart. email with the snail mail details hazelhenry@hotmail.com and I will dig it out for you. xxx

Dawn's Gift

Just a quickie to reveal Dawn's gift I made her. It seems to have taken forever to arrive but I am glad it finally has!

Dawn said she liked greens and purples so I used some of the gorgeous fabric Tracy gave me and also the chart she gave me. I thought it was appropriate as the saying is so sweet. I put some petite beads on it too and added some lavender. I even made the tassels!! I'm not great at tassel making. I used different threads than the suggested ones and had fun dipping into my stash of hand dyes.
I really like this chart and it only took an evening or two to stitch it up. I was thinking if anyone would like this chart, leave me a post and I will send it on to you. It would be great if it could be passed around a bit like the sisterhood of the travelling pattern I have seen on another blog. If more than one person wants it then I'll do a draw for it.

I'm still making up gifties and I should hopefully have them done in less than a week. I only hope that there is something you like and want. I will feel very silly if no-one wants one of them!

Have a good week. Mine has been a bit pants up to now as I have had a major falling out with my sister but my dh is back today from being away so that's some consolation. xxx