Circue de Cirque dilemma

Oooh I got another award given to me by Olenka and Charlene!! I am very surprised but happy and it means a lot to me. Does this mean I have to nominate 14 blogs??? Well if you are reading this then I nominate YOU because it is so hard to choose. All the blogs are great in different ways.

Okay onto my CDC dilemma. I am stitching this on 32 count mulberry linen using Thread Gatherer's Spring Frocks. I really like the colour and it has been my intention of stitching the actual circles in delica beads. So I finally finished the first page and began to do the delica beads. Small circles in pink and the medium circles in purple. I am really not sure what I think of this and whether it looks right or not. It is quite hard to do the beading on the linen so if it's not going to work, I'd rather cut my losses and frog them now!! What do you think. I can handle honest opinions although I know I'll probably get differing opinions on this. Should I do the actual circles in delica beads or should I do it all in the same thread??



So onto goals seeing as it's the first of the month tomorrow. Here are this months goals and how I have done (fairly well I think):

1. Finish Steph's Pif - done and sent!
2. Finish and send off Summer House Exchange - done, sent and rec'd!
3. Make Biscornu for SBEBB Biscornu exchange - done the stitching just need to make up
4. Make scissor keeper for the MFC - done!
5. Join in the UFO nights on Tuesdays with Polar Santa - did one night!
6. Order some Prairie Schooler charts for the PS exchange - done!
7. Work on "A Most Noble Pursuit" - NOOOOOO but there is always tonight hehe
8. Work on "Patchwork" - no
9. Work on "Cirque de Cirque" - yes!!
10.Start and finish DD design Love for JA MFC - yes made my first floss tag!
11. Work on Loopy Lou "Ruby" design - yes!

As well as this I also made the three teachers' lavender bags and I also started my autumn colours biscornu.

So for August here are my goals:

1. Finish and send off biscornu exchange
2. Work on A Most Noble Pursuit
3. Complete at least one motif on Patchwork
4. Do at least one UFO night on Polar Santa
5. Start Prairie Schooler exchange
6. Do a freebie
7. Start the GoS wallet with the rajmahal art silks I bought

So that is all for this month. Happy stitching. xx

Summer House

Here's what I stitched for MamaJoan for the Summer House exchange. It is a freebie from Les Grilles de Maryse and stitched on vintage country belfast linen 32 count using dmc threads. I really love how this turned out and glad I can finally post a pic. I sent her some extras from her wishlist and have a couple extra things to send too which I have been waiting ages for. You can see pics on her blog.

I will be sending out Steph's PIF this week so hopefully I will be able to post up more pics of my long awaited secret stitiching! I have been working hard on CDC too and think I may do a little blog feature on what I plan to do with it to get some opinions and encouragement as it seem sto be going really slowly.

Have just seen a lovely get together for Christmas over at Jayne's Attic which I really would like to go on. I have asked my best friend Amanda if she is interested in going so that may be something to look forward to.

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Thanks for all the lovely comments. I appreciate each and every one of them and always try to return them. xx

Some finishes.

Yesterday was a good post day. I received an order I placed at sew and so which included some prairie schooler charts for the upcoming exchange and also some cream belfast linen and some rajmahal art silks. I am planning on stitching the stitchers wallet in the gift of stitching mag with them. I think it was one that Kirsten herself designed but I could be wrong. Anyway, the colours are just gorgeous. I can't wait to get a bit more time to make a start on it. Secondly, Rachel's PIF landed through the door! This is what she sent me. It is so gorgeous. Thank you so much Rachel. The little scissor fob is stitched over one and is so sweet!





I also managed to get two challenge pieces finished last night too. It is the first time I have made either a floss tag or a scissor case so I ma pleased how they have turned out.
This was a free DD Design and was the JA Monthly challenge. I used some thread that Edgar sent me. I have to admit I wasn't too confident about hammering in the eyelet so I got my dh to do it for me. I didn't use interfacing as I didn't have any but I think I will get some and use it next time just to keep it from fraying.


The next finish is the Monthly Finishing Challenge blog scissor peep case. I have never done one of these before either and wasn't entirely sure the best way of doing it. I used another Lizzie kate freebie I have had lying around for years and finished it in the same backing fabric and trim as the other Lizzie Kate freebie I had.



Again I am quite pleased with my first attempts. I will definitely be doing more of these in the future.

And, I am not the only one who has done some finishing. Look at this...



Yay! My dd has finially finished her butterfly!! It has only taken her over a year but for a five and a half year old, I don't htink that's too bad really!! I have ordered her some more little designs that can keep her busy over the summer holidays!

Okay, I have 6? days left of this month inc today to get my goals met and I am well on my way. I have been working on biscornu for exchanges but I will return to the three projects I have not touched in a while, namely: Patchwork, CDC and A Most Noble Pursuit and see if I can make any progress befor ethe end of the month.

My dh is ministering in Prison today (he plays in the worship) so I may get some guilt free stitching time in!! Have a great weekend everybody.
xx

An award and some stitching.

Wow I was doubly blessed yesterday as Not only did I win an Emily Dickinson bag from Tanya, I received a kreativ blogger award too from Sally. I never really think of myself as being particularly creative so this means a lot.

Now I need to pick my 5 nominees with the following rules:)
1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to the blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

I nominate the following which is very hard to do as all your blogs are wonderfully inspiring:

Harmien Xstitch.nl
Staci Snippets and Stash
Andrea The Craft Room
Stephanie In Stitches
Su Contemplating my Needle and Thread

And finally some stitching to show:
These are what I made for Lily's teachers as end of year gifts. It is the freebie from Les Grilles de Maryse Naturally I filled them with lavender. Each is stitched on different bits of fabric I found in my stash and I sttiched the whole design and just stitched them up one of the sides. The teachers liked them anyway. I think they look quite sweet.





And speaking of last days...



Here's my dd this morning. Her last day in reception!! How fast has time flown??? My little girl is growing up.

Happy stitching everyone. xx

Christmas in July

Yesterday I decided to pull out a UFO that I have not worked on for a year, maybe even two. It is quite shameful really as I only have a corner to do, plus a whack load of french nots which run all over the design. It is Polar Santa and is now a discontinued chart I think but not sure. Jayne's Attic runs a UFO night every Tuesday night so I decided to join in. Plus it is one of my July goals to join in so I have accomplished another goal yay! Here are my before and after pics:






It feels strange working on aida again after so long on linen, but it makes for a nice easy project, even on that navy! Hopefully I will get this one finished in time for Christmas.

Thanks for looking and for all your postive comments re the parking ticket. It looks like we are going to have to pay the £100. Like we really need that right now! :-(

xx

Quick update and pics of Elijah

Goodness, it's been a while since I posted. I can't believe how fast the time is going. I have been making lots of progress on my goals and have finished my pif and the summer house exchange. However, both partners are going to have to remain a little patient while I await the mailman bringing extra goodies to send with them both. So for obvious reasons, I cannot post pics as yet. I have made a start on the biscornu exchange too and am half way though the challenges. So much secret stitching.

I am trying to remain calm at the moment as we are havign a tough old time of things lately. One such incident that is "testing" us at the moment is to do with a car park ticket. Yes you heard right. We bought a ticket and put it in the car and during our time around the shops Elijah started getting a little niggly so dh went back to the car to try and settle him. Unbeknown to him, the wind blew the ticket over under his tomtom so it couldn't be seen. When we went back to the car a man was writing out a ticket for us. When he realised we did have a valid ticket he said he still had to write it out as he would be done for "taking a bribe". He did write on it though that we did have a valid ticket and assured us that we would not get a fine. We did get a fine. My husband refused to pay it. They sent a bigger fine. Now my dh is prepared to go to court. The company in question is called "Excel" parking. Yes I will name and shame them! They do this to people all the time and are making a packet! My dh is standing his ground as he still has the ticket in question. I hate it when unrighteous companies try to steal from good, honest people. It makes me so mad!! Anyway, rant over.

And now for some pics of Elijah taken at six months last week:

It is really difficult getting good pictures of him as he stops smiling as soon as the camera flashes. I think he is camera shy.

Have a good week everyone. xx

July goals

I haven't made any goals for a while as I can't stand to watch myself failing miserably at them month after month. However, I do see the benefits of having them as they do motivate you to achieve more so even if I don't actually meet them surely some progress is better than none at all.

1. Finish Steph's Pif
2. Finish and send off Summer House Exchange
3. Make Biscornu for SBEBB Biscornu exchange
4. Make scissor keeper for the MFC
5. Join in the UFO nights on Tuesdays with Polar Santa
6. Order some Prairie Schooler charts for the PS exchange
7. Work on "A Most Noble Pursuit"
8. Work on "Patchwork"
9. Work on "Cirque de Cirque"
10.Start and finish DD design Love for JA MFC
11. Work on Loopy Lou "Ruby" design

There! How many do you think I'll actually achieve???

I have also just found out about this upcoming show in Bakewell. Anyone planning to go??? It's about 40 mins from me so I think I will try and make arrangements to go. Would be nice to have a meetup with some of you. :)

Got my friend Amanda coming over tonight for a stitch night and we are going to work on the Loopy Lou design we started at the weekend workshop.

So that's all from me for a bit. Time to get some serious stitching done. Have a good week everyone and thanks for reading. xx