Dearest readers and followers...

Please note... you are all very welcome to join in my giveaway for the One World One Heart thing below. You don't need to be a ticket holder yourself to enter ie you don't have to offer a giveaway yourself. I am a little dismayed that very few of my regulars don't want to enter my giveaway :-( So here's me giving you the heads up and saying PLEASE enter if you would like to win. :-)

A winner and some stash!

And the winner of my magazine giveaway is....



Arlette! I'll be in touch soon to get your address. Thanks for participating.

I decided to go on a stash enhancement trip last week and ended up buying a few charts to add to my ever growing collection. I ordered several beauties from Carol Ridyard from istitch blog. Can't wait to stitch these up and I also got the following which didn't take long to get over here at all. I was very surprised!

Two from The Sampler Girl:



and three from Heartstring Primitives (now Heartstring Samplings):



I got these from Beth's etsy shop as she is selling them at a reduced price as they are old inventory stock. Lovely samplers!!

My dh went away today for the BIG tour. Eeek. Sooo... lots of stitchy time for me.

Thank you so much for all your lovely compliments about my Baktus scarf. I have decided to join in the fun on the One World One Heart event and am going to knit one in blue for the giveaway. See seperate post. Feel free to add your name to the list on THAT post if you'd like to win it.

Happy stitching everyone. x

One World One Heart event!

Lisa Swifka created this blog in 2007. "The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way."

If you click on the link you can see what it is all about and you can be still be involved as the deadline for entering is 8th Feb.

So the idea is to give something away so I got to thinking....

Remember this:







The Baktus scarf - Pattern found on Ravelry here. See post below for more pictures!

and remember this wool:



100% Blue Faced Leicester Wool
Hand dyed by Skeins.

For the giveaway I will knit a Baktus scarf in this wool for one lucky reader. I can tell you I have not had my Baktus off since I have finished it - it is very warm and snuggly and just right for this cold weather.

This giveaway is open to active bloggers only ie you must have a blog! So if you want to be entered just leave a comment below and make sure you leave your email address so I can email you if you are the winner if you don't already have it linked on your blog. If you don't get back to me within three days I will draw another winner. The draw will take place on the 15th Feb! So check back here then.

Woohoo Baktus!!!!!

Yarn - Skeins hand dyed yarn

50% Merino 50% superfine alpaca

100g 220mtrs

Pictures say it all. I love my baktus!!

Givaway, thank yous and a new me!

Wow! Thank you all so much for your caring and sensitive comments. I have decided that this year is going to be a good one for us. I am not going to spend time thinking about or dwelling on people or events that have hurt us. I am going to think about all the good plans I am making for this year. I want you to know that I appreciate every single one of your comments from the bottom of my heart. I have never known such a wonderful community of people. We are all different in so many ways, I grant that, and we probably all deal with our problems in different ways as well but the love and affection spoken to me through comments and emails have provided healing and relief in these dark days.

Hence the new look blog! Do you like it? I finally worked out how to put a banner up. The pictures are so very me - esp the cakes (ahem). I love the soft muted colours and the country/victoriana feel of it. I think I'll be keeping it like this for a bit. I'd quite like my house to look like this actually. Hmmm... more plans for this year.

My dh went away to work yesterday. He is working for a band called The Lost Prophets. Their album went straight to no. 2 in the UK charts today. I think they are better known in the US than the UK even though they are a UK band. So he has gone away till Friday, then home for a few days, then away till end February. Then home for a couple of weeks and then back off till the end of April! That's a lot of going away. Thank goodness the snow has finally cleared off. That would have really been bad - coping in that on my own. It is predicting more snow for Wednesday but I am hoping it will not be much and will just disappear.

Sooooo...... lonely nights means...... more stitching. And more knitting. Woop! I found this great new shop in my town called Skeins which sells her own hand dyed yarns. I went and bought a couple of her lovely skeins:





The blue one is for Lily. Her choice!

After seeing Staci's Baktus scarf, I ran right over to Ravelry and got the pattern. So with yarn in hand and pattern, this is what I have done so far. A very easy knit.


Yarn 50% Merino, 50% superfine alpaca

No, I haven't finished it but I don't think it will take too long, even with two children driving me crazy in tow! The lady at Skeins was very friendly and has offered to help me if I get stuck on anything. Just so happens.. haha. I also mentioned to her I was wanting to learn to knit socks (yes, Staci's influence again) and she told me she is doing a workshop on socks in March!!! Woop Woop!! So I am planning on going there when Rick is around.

Stitchwise, I have been busy busy. I made this for Rachael who won the draw over on the Beatrix Potter SAL.



Paula Sibbald was already giving away a lovely prize of some of her products but I wanted to make something as well. I stitched Rachael a needlebook and a scissor fob using some motifs from the design and Victorian Motto threads.

I also got this pretty ornie from Ranae which I won in her RAK giveaway. I love it! It will be going on my stitching tree next year for sure.



I have been working on "Stitch red for heart" exchange so can't show pictures of that yet and also the "Stitch and pass on" exchange so no pics there either. I have done a little on Cirque de Cirque but not much to show. And, here's where I am up to on my Just Nan.



I am loving this! I have too many nice projects on the go that it is hard to decide what to work on next.

Okay and finally I am starting to have a clear out of some unwanted magazines. These may or may not appeal to you but it's a free mag to read right?? So here are three up for grabs. If you would like to win them please say so in your comment. You must say so or you won't be entered. Open to anyone but it would be nice if you are a follower/regular commenter. I will be putting more up for grabs in the near future so keep your eyes peeled. I will leave it up till a week on Friday. That's the 29th Jan.



Needlecraft mag Jan 1999 (includes free kit)



Celebrations in Cross stitch May 1999



Cross stitch Quick Issue 1 June 2003

Right, off to put kids to bed and then it's online chat night with Tracy and stitching. See you soon. xx

Another year gone

Well that was one heck of a year. It started badly and ended rather badly too. I thought this year would be a better year for my and my dh than the previous two years. We have suffered vast amounts of rejection at our church last year so we ended up leaving there. Then this year at the start of the year, our "best man" turned against us and sent us hate mail for no other reason than he had issues in his heart toward us. Then there was all the problems with Rick's ex employer - I'll say no more about that. We tried another church but again just didn't seem to fit in. Then one of my closest friends, is having a midlife crisis and has cut us off! She is being completely selfish and hurtful to all the people that love her including her husband and daughter. I even took her away (cost me £150) to try and help her see things differently but it didn't help. I would have much preferred to spend that money on secret Santa gifts for all my online stitching blogger friends.

Crikey. I seem to have suffered so much rejection in the last three years. I am so fed up of so called friends thinking they can pick and choose when they want to be friends with you and dump you for another few months. I keep asking myself how I should protect myself from it and make steps to do just that next year. I do not want to get to the end of next year saying the same thing. So next year I will be throwing myself into stitching and exchanges and SALs and stitching forums and generally getting to know you guys better. I am going to stay away from hurtful people who I know will do me no good. I guess I am going to have to get a bit hard faced about it all really. I'll have to burn a few bridges in the process and that might include in the blogging world too but I just can't handle any more rejection. My husband has a saying. "I don't deal with nutcases". Maybe I should make that my motto. Obviously, trying to be nice all the time to people isn't working for me.

As well as all that I have really struggled with motherhood this year. Really not enjoyed it and as a result I am sure i have wasted precious moments with my kids. Lack of sleep and feeling tired all the time doesn't help. Not having my dh around when he is working away doesn't help either. Not getting any support from extended family, again - doesn't help. I feel completely insignificant and wonder why I am still around. Gosh I am moaning now aren't I? Do I sound depressed? You know what, I'm not depressed. I don't think I am anyway. I have a zillion blessings to thank God for and I do - daily. I am content with what I have in life at the moment. I have a nice house and I have plenty of stitching stash. My kids are healthy and happy (I hope) and although my relationship with my dh is far from perfect we have a good laugh at life and are happy to be together. We have food on the table and clothes on our backs and more besides. I have a really REALLY nice cat! I live in a nice area and am surrounded by lovely, supportive friends. Really, what more could I want? I am full to bursting. I lost my weight and got to target just before Christmas (ahem - not going to jump on the scales just yet to check where I am now) and I started running which is something I have never been able to do. However, all I seem to want to do is curl up in a ball and go to bed for a week. Not motivated to do anything at all right now. Feel like a bit of an island.

Anyway, enough of all that boring stuff. Let's stay focused.

So onto next year. Goals and challenges.

I'd like to lose a little more weight so at some point I will reset my target weight.

I'd like to get to the end of the couch to 5K plan (running). I am on about week 5 at the moment.

I would like to embrace my kids more and make better use of my time with them - maybe go outdoors a bit more with them. National trust visits and the like.

Wips - get some finished for goodness sake!! Okay, lets talk wips.

Here is where my wips are at. I am going to post up pics of all of my wips and at the end of next year they better have progress on them all!!!!

Mary Wigham



Not done a great deal on her and I feel terrible seeing as I am Head girl for the sal in the UK. I am stitching it on 25 count lugana over 1.


Just Nan Snowfire Christmas



Nothing done on this yet. It will be a new start for the Just Nan sal on Jane's Attic.

Haed "L" fairy QS



Very pleased with progress on this and think I will finish it very soon. Then I want to start a new HAED "Breaking Dawn - CC Kuik".

La D Da alphabet sampler



I have made a small start on this. I am doing it on Sassy's Creamy Cocoa 32 count Jobelan with NPI silks.

A Most Noble Pursuit.



Ack! I was so excited when I got this and there was a problem with the NPI silks so I had to wait what seemed like forever for them and I have hardly touched it!! Must make progress on this next year.

Ink Circles CdC



Working this on 32 count mulberry linen with Thread Gatherer silks in Spring Frocks. Really struggling with this one so have joined the Ink Circles SAL to help me get on with it.

Jan Houtman Patchwork



Woohoo! Look how much I have done on this and it's so pretty too. I really do need to work at getting this finished. I am using any threads for this - some cottons, some silks. Anything goes. Great fun.

Marie Rose Marquior



Really like this one and I think it will come together quite quickly once I get into it.

Loopy Lou Tranquility



I'm thinking maybe hardanger is just not my thing. There's a mistake in this that I need to correct before I carry on with it.

Well I suppose the year has ended on a good note after all. Today I got the most gorgeous RAK from Ruth (Musing Badger). I had won it on her blog and had completely forgotten all about it until this arrived on my doorstep today. Thank you so much Ruth. I love it and it has made my day!



Have a great New Year everyone and please don't mind my moaning. I am just using this blog as a way of release. Thanks for all the friendship and love and hope to spread it around some more in 2010!

Oh and just to add - a great giveaway over at Calico Prairie here

Christmas baking..

Coconut and Chocolate slices



Ingredients

115g chopped butter
175g Digestive biscuits, crushed
50g caster sugar
pinch salt
75g dessicated coconut
250g plain choc chips (I only used 100g and it did the trick)
250ml condensed milk (I used carnation)
115g chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Melt butter on a low heat.

2. In a bowl combine crushed biscuits, sugar, salt and melted butter. Press mixture into bottom of an ungreased baking dish.

3. Sprinkle coconut over the base then scatter over the choc chips. Pour the condensed milk evenly over the choc. Sprinkle the walnuts on top.

4. Bake for 30 mins. Transfrer to a wire rack and leave to cool pref overnight. When cool cut into slices.

(Taken from the book: "The Great Big Cookie Book - Hilaire Walden"

I cannot begin to tell you how good these are and are soooo easy to make.

And you may have heard we had a fair bit of snow the last two days. Here's a few family pics of us having fun in the snow. We are up to two snowmen and counting!







and one rather fed up little boy!

A few more finishes

Here are a few more ornie finishes just in time for Christmas. I wonder if I can fit in a couple more??

Prairie Schooler freebie:



Freebie quaker stocking by Zinaida
Used Crescent Colours threads



Scandinavian Stitches
(Just Cross Stitch 09 ornie mag)
Crescent Colours Ribbon Red



Barbara Ana Freebie
Let it Snow
DMC threads



And... here are my materials at the ready for the Just Nan SAL starting January 2010. Can't wait to start. This is Snowfore Christmas kindly given to me by Barb. Thanks Barb!





Well, I am not sure whether I'll be able to fit in another post before Christmas but you never know. It's snowing really badly here and poor Tracy is driving home in it after coming to stop for the weekend. We didn't manage to get out to the pictures (snow) but we did have a good stitch a long together and exchanged presents. Can't wait till Christmas day to open them. It's so nice to have good friends around you and I so thank God for her. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New year and that next year brings you lots of stitching time. xx

Beautiful exchange and blog win

Here is the awesome exchange I received from Anna for the Prairie Schooler exchange. It is stitched over one and the finishing is superb. I love the littel bells on the top as well. I love it Anna thank you so much.



And.... I won Kathy A's blog giveaway of two Christmas charts but Kathy also sent me some wonderful extras as well and they didn't take at all long to get here. Thank you Kathy. This is so generous of you and I have the perfect red to stitch one of those mittens with ;).



My dd is hankering after a bite of that choccy penguin. Ha! She can try lol. I might let her have a little bit - it is Christmas after all.

That's all from me for now. Hope to get some blog time in soon to have a good catch up. xx