Elijah's First Birthday!

Yesterday was Elijah's first birthday! I can't believe how fast this year has gone and that my baby boy is a year old already. We had a very quiet one - no family came round or anything. We went to Frankie and Bennies for our tea and they turned out all the lights and played Happy Birthday to him when they brought him his cake. We all ate some fab food. I had Penne Aribbiata and Lily had the biggest Hot Dog you've ever seen. Rick had Spag Bol and Elijah really loved that tomato and pesto garlic bread. It was very lovely and a good time was had by all.

ABC exhange and do I really want to do this???

Another successfull exchange has been completed. Becky got her Biscornu that I made.





Mary's Pin pillow
Indigo Rose

I love the over one alphabet around the edge! I beleive Becky liked this.

And I got this spectacular piece in the post today from Mama Joan. Thanks Joan, I absolutely love it and it is finished so perfectly too. It is a little round box with the alphabet on top and she has lined the inside with some gorgeous abc fabric too. Joan says she cannot remember who the designer is which is a shame as it is so pretty.





And now onto the "Do I really want to do this?" question. I have decided that I am going to give this UFO to my dad to work on. It has about 50 pages in total and as much as I love it, I just know that I am not going to get round to completing it. I am going to suggest to my dad that we could even work on it a page each and pass it back and forth. My Dad stitches. He is super quick and although he has never done anything like the size of this, I know he will be up for the challenge. So I discussed it with my dad and he agreed to have a go at it but when it came to pulling it out of the cupboard, my heart just sank at the thought of giving this away. But I know I have to let it go. Here was the last pic taken in May 2007!!!! I have not touched it since. It is a beautiful picture - quite stunning.



I will let you know the outcome, but right now I need to go to the post office and get a mighty big envelope to put it all in.

Happy stitching everyone. xx

A wonderful surprise....

Today I got the best surprise ever through the post! Sue aka Redwitch had recently finished A Quaker Study and it was a chart on my wishlist. Sue not only sent me the chart but also three Vicki Clayton silks that she used with it! I love her colour choice fot this design and think I will use the same ones. Thank you so much Sue! It was a wonderful gift and I will treasure it!



xx

Angels and Fairies

I finally completed my Mirabilia Christmas Angel and the result is stunning. I just can't get a picture to show how beautiful and shiny the beads look though. I stitched her on 36 count Edinburgh linen with the suggested threads and beads. The design is from a WOCS magazine from a few years ago. I really would like to try a new finish on this - perhaps a flat fold??



And here is a picture of a half finished HAED that I decided not to complete fully. I decided to turn it into a pinkeep and gave it to Tracy as part of her Christmas present and I think she liked it.



Happy New Year to all my blog readers and visitors and best wishes for 2009. xx

A Very Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas. Here we are at Lapland UK (the one that IS okay lol) with our one to one with Santa. We had a wonderful time and felt really looked after by all the elves. We ended up ice skating which Lily had never done before and I hadn't done it in a few years so was a bit wobbly to start with.

We had a lovely day today and DH got me a new laptop YAY!! which means I can come on here a lot more now. He also got me those gorgeous scissors from France that some folks have been seen with. Woot woot!! He also got me the complete seasons dvds of Prison Break.

Now I have been stitching. I stitched this for my good friend Amanda's Christmas present but she hasn't got it yet so if she happens upon my blog it's game over. Anyway, here it is. It is from Cross Stitch Happy's blog and is the hummingbird triangle scissor case stitched on silkweaver opalescent 32 count linen. It was my first attempt at making one of these.





I will have some more pics of stitching soon as I am doing a few exchanges and am I waiting for the folks to recieve them.

Some peeps were interested in the Basket of Biscornu idea I mentioned in the last post. Well if you are still interested, my good friend Tracy has set up a blog for it and will be sending out invites to anyone interested in joining. She is also offering an incentive to people who do all 12 biscornu. Go take a look and if you are interested then please email her and tell you you'd like to join. The more the merrier!

On another note, I have been contacted by Paula from Kelmscott Designs who has asked if she can give something toward the incentive I am offering on the Needleprint Beatrix Potter SAL blog. We are pretty full on there now - only a few places left and I will be closing for membership come 1st January. But what a great, thoughtful thing for Paula to do. She is of course joining us in the SAL as well. Yipee!

Here are some pictures of projects I have kitted up ready to start next year - goodness so many of them..

Marquoir Marie Rose



This is a beautiful freebie which you can see and find how to get it on Tempus Fugits blog here

Papillon How does your Garden Grow mystery 2008



I still need to choose two greens for this but love these Anchor multicolours.

Gift of Stitching All Things Counted



Look at those Rajmahals shimmer!!

Ink Circles Quackworth



Chart kindly gifted to me by Edgar. I can't believe I finally got my hands on Old Willow Stitchery Threads!

So there's me for a bit. Have a great rest of the Holidays everyone. God Bless you all for reading and leaving me such kind comments through the year. I appreciate every single one of you. xx

Next year...

I'll probably be editing this post regularly but I think I need to write down all the stitching commitments I have for next year and also any ideas I get along the way. It seems I may have signed up for way too much.

Needleprint Beatrix Potter SAL
Christmas Ornie SAL
Prairie Schooler exchange (1 every 2 months - no extras)
Birthday Exchange (around may/june)
4 PIFs to do
BB exchange (Jan)
Winter House (Jan)

and I have this idea....

Basket of Biscornu!! Stitch one biscornu a month and have a lovely basket of 12 of them by the end of the year. Anyone interested??


Oh and I have some cool cool news as well.... Is anyone doing the Papillon mystery??? Well I have been collecting the parts and umming and ahhing over all the gorgeous ones in the gallery and itching to start. I emailed Yvonne from Papillon to say how gorgeous all the pieces in the gallery were and to thank her for this wonderful design and I happened upon asking her whether she thought this piece could be made into a stitcher's wallet. A couple of days later I got the most wonderful reply saying it could be made into a stitcher's wallet and my suggestion had prompted her to do some instructions on how to make it into a wallet and she had spent a little time designing some extra bits to go inside it. She said she would post out an extra newsletter in a couple of weeks time!!!!! Wow!!! So look out for that one ladies. I guess this means I better get and start that one too hey? I did actually go and purchase some Anchor multicolours for it.

If anyone does not know what on earth I am talking about go to the link in my sidebar and the mystery is called How Does Your Garden Grow. It is free for this year but you need to sign up for the newsletter to get it so if you haven't got it - better get it now before it is too late!!

Hugs

Hazelxx

Lovely visit from Tracy!

Yay! Today, Tracy came to visit me. It got cancelled the last time due to unforseen circumstances but she was able to come today even though it was just for the day. It was wonderful to at last meet my friend. We have been chatting away on the internet for a couple of years now but never actually met or even spoke in person.

When she arrived it was like meeting an old friend that you hadn't seen for a long time. We hugged and started chatting straight away! I made us a nice lunch of carrot and coriander soup with fresh bread rolls and salami and Leerdammer cheese. Yumm. We finished it off with some of my baking that I had done yesterday for Lily's school's Christmas fair:



Apple and carrot cakes, chocolate and cinnamon buns and crispy sesame and fruity nut squares!

Her mum came too and listened whilst we chatted on and on about our stitching. Tracy did her "show and tell" lol:



And here is the two of us together. There's me with my very red hair!!!!



Tracy gave me this gorgeous baby biscornu which she designed herself!! You can find it on her blog and on her freebie blog too. It is the sweetest little thing and is only about an inch wide!! It now sits on my tiny rag dolly's knee on my mantlepiece in my lounge. I so love it.



And to top it all off, she came loaded down with Christmas gifts for my children and also quite a few for me (naughty, naughty girl)!!!



But secretly I love it because now I'll have some presents of my own to open on Christmas day. I have only got her one thing up to now so I will be going shopping and sending out a little parcel of parcels of my own!!

So all in all, this was a really lovely day. I only wish they could have stayed longer. Definitely will meet up again.

xx

Oh and just to add, Lily's party went brilliantly - all the kids loved it. Thanks for all your comments concerning my "handiwork" on their faces lol.

Lily fairy!

I recently bought some professional face paints for my dd's birthday which is on Friday withe the intention of doing the kids faces myself instead of paying a small fortune to hire someone else to do it. So it's Wednesday and I thought, "Oooh I'd better have a practice". So with the help of a little book here's my attempt:



Not a bad effort hey? It took a while to get the colours and textures right but hopefully I'll be a lot quicker on Friday. I'll have eight girls to do! Hopefully they'll all be happy to have something similar and nothing too taxing!

Just thought I'd share that. I thought she looked too cute. xx

Lots of pics!

I have a fair bit of stitchery to share today. First up is this gorgeous ornie I recieved from Carol B from HOE2! It is the Sweetheart Tree ornie from this years Just Cross Stitch magazine. It is so pretty and on sparkly fabric too. I just love it. It is so me! Carol kindly sent me these two wonderful charts off my wishlist too and I am so happy to have Quaker Christmas finally!! Also she sent some pins in pretty colours. This was a wonderful surprise today. Thanks Carol.



Margie K got my ornie in the post last week too:

Here she is and I did include some extras too but I did not photograph them.



It is also from the Just Cross Stitch ornie edition magazine this year. I did rouched ribbon agding and backed it with some pretty white fabric.

I have been working hard on the Mirabilia Angel last week for the Let's Stitch weekly challenge and the Friday Night SAT. She is so lovely to work on with sparkly threads and pretty beads. I have to put on some white beads too as soon as I have finished the rest of her dress.



Also, last week, I got the fabric from Lauren at Sassy's fabric. This is what I will be doing the Needleprint Beatrix Potter SAL in. If you remember, she wasn't so sure my colour choice would work with the threads I had chosen so I went with her better judgement and here's the result and what a result!!!



This is Tan Marble 32 count jobelan with Victorian Motto threads in the Antique Wine set. Lauren also sent me quite a generous cut of the Creamy Cocoa (my original choice) to compare and I think she was right. The Creamy Cocoa is more orangey but I still love it!! I chose jobelan over linen this time as I wanted a smoother, more even, coloured fabric which Lauren said tended to happen with the jobelan. I can't wait to start this now. We are at about 60 members now and I will close it for membership once January 1st starts so if you want to join in the fun then now's the time to join.

Someone tagged me to tell you six random things about myself. I'm not tagging anyone back but feel free to do the same. It is interesting to find out a little bit about people I suppose. I'm a bit boring really. So here goes:

1. I can drive and passed my test first time which was a miracle as I had been in a bad BAD car accident two weeks beore my test where two people were killed instantly!!

2. I love chocolate sooo much and go through terrible withdrawal times when I don't have it.

3. I drink lots of de-caffeinated coffee.

4. I can sometimes be quite paraniod about people not liking me.

5. My perfect evening would be spent at home, stitching, with my DH and a DVD, some chocolate and perhaps a small glass of red wine.

6. I have recently had my hair dyed red but I wanted it redder than the hairdresser did it!

Thats it! Very boring me.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate every single comment!

Another post????

Goodness I have more stuff to share. What is going on?? Some months I don't hardly post but recently I have a lot to share. Perhaps something to do with DH being away??? Cats will play etc etc.. Or at least GET ON THE COMPUTER!!!

Okay firstly, I have a finish:


Yay! This is my Wiehenburg mystery Suzanne! It was a freebie on the Yahoo group but not there any more although there is another freebie being collected on there at the moment(Shhhhh!!)
Stitched on 32 count Natural belfast linen with DMC Variations 4210.

Next up:


This is another freebie as a sorry to someone. I don't think she reads my blog but I could be wrong. You can hardly see it in the picture but it is very pretty stitched on polstitches fabric with dragonfloss. I filled it with rice and lavender.

And lastly:





This is the Harvest time Exchange I sent to Leena. It is Autumn Song by Blackbird designs using the recommended fabric and threads. I stitched it over one and made it into a pinkeep. I gave it a rouched ribbon edge (my first) and used some fabric that Leena herself sent me during the last Harvest time exchange last year!! So all in all I am quite pleased with how it turned out and I believe Leena loves it too!

Have a good week everyone. xx

Harvest Exchange recieved!

I got the sweetest pinkeep through today from Becky in Oklahoma. It is for the Harvest Time Exchange on the SBBEB. I love it! Thank you Becky!



Hopefully mine will arrive at its destination soon as it was posted a week ago. xx

A gift and another fine tea (dinner)

Here is a gift I have made for someone. It is someone I promised a gift to a while ago. Someone will get this little giftie in the post in the next week or so. One of my blog readers. It could be you...





A Rose is a Rose - La D Da freebie
Finished as a mattress pincushion
32 count lavender mist belfast linen
Sampler threads and weeks dye works

And tonight's tea (or Dinner as the South like to call it!)....

Hotpot - my own recipe - with lashings of red cabbage. (No it's not prison food and it is actually really nice).



And finished with another winner from Becky's blog! Peach Cobbler!! I had to cook it a bit longer as it was still uncooked in the middle but then it was very scrum esp with cream!



These are doing wonders for warming me up as it is quite cold here in the North of England. The weather is utterly miserable as well. Rain and rain and more rain it seems.

Still ploughing away on the Vierlanden mystery quaker suzanne. I have half a page left!! I will hopefully get this finished tonight! Yay it is about time I had a Happy Dance for one of my larger projects. Also I have signed up for the Year long Prairie Schooler exchange which I am soo looking forward to. Right off to do some serious stitching and a little blog reading/catching up.

xx

Becky's Skillet Supper - Superb!!!

Browsing blogland the other day, I came across Becky Bee's Home blog where there were a few lovely looking recipes that I just had to try. So tonight I made her "Skillet Supper". I used the Doritos hot salsa and just used one jar and I had to add a littl emore water to it to stop it sticking but it was perfect! I never needed to add any additional flavourings to it as it had all the flavour wrapped up in the smoked sausage and the salsa. Here it is:



And here's the proof that it is indeed very good....



Tomorrow I will be trying the Peach Cobbler!! Yumm.. Yes indeed my diet has gone out the window!

As for stitching, I have been busy but a lot of them are gifts and exchanges so nothing to show as yet. Hopefully next week I'll have some pics to show.


ps edited to add: See Chiloes post for a free drawing - ends saturday.

A Ram, some Squirrels and a Mystery!

Okay, here's the ram!



We found him in our garden this morning and he was there all day! I phoned the police earlier this morning and they came and had a look and said they were trying to find the farmer but then left it here. It came running around the side of our neighbours garden as she has a little brook there. This is where I managed to get this picture of him. Apparently, two years ago they had a cow and a calf here (before we moved in). You'd think we lived on a farm but it is just an estate with houses on. We do have lots of fields and farms nearby though.

I have managed to do a fair bit on the Wiehenburg mystery sampler but I kept getting lots of knots in my thread for some reason and it got me thinking about where the term "frogging" came from. Someone must have made it up. If it was you, please own up! So I was thinking of perhaps a nicer term to call these dratted knots and I came up with "squirrels". Why? Well, to start with I was thinking of knots and that got me thinking of "nuts", which got me thinking of "squirrels", which got me thinking of "big bushy tails", which brought me back to my dratted knots that look like bushy tailed squirrels. Do you think I am mad or can you get the picture??? So if you hear me moaning about my squirrels in future, you'll know what I mean!

So, regardless of my "squirrels" here is my progress!



I emailed Lauren of Sassy's fabrics the other day as I had ordered some fabric from her for the Needleprint Beatrix Potter SAL. I chose Creamy Cocoa and I am using the Antique Wines collection of Victorian Motto threads. Anyway, after a little chit chat with Lauren, she has recommended I go with Tan Marble instead. She thinks it will look better with those colour threads. "Okay" I said. I so hope it is okay as some of you may remember that awful experience with a certain company where the fabric was unuseable (Yes I still have it). Speaking of the SAL, we have 52 members joined the blog already! I can't believe it! So many peeps. I am really looking forward to getting my fabric so I can do some floss tosses.

Righto off to put the children to bed and settle down with some nice stitching. Ahhhh....

Cake anyone?

Chocolate and cinnamon buns.

They're gorgeous!
What more can I say?

PIF Winners........

Lisa
Cathy

Chris

Tracy

Congratulations you four!! Thanks to all of you who entered. The reason I have picked four of you is that I have also won a pif on Jessie's blog so instead of reoffering I have picked an extra person. I think four will be my limit! Please remember to Pay it Forward by putting the same offer on your blog and spreading a little stitching cheer throughout the year! I have sent out emails except to Lisa as I can't find your email hun. Let me know your addresses and favourite colours and I'll get something stitched up for you inthe next 365 days! Hopefully they will get made up sooner than that! I already have some ideas that I want to stitch up for you guys.

I have just spent the best couple of days away in Wales ever!! Just went to visit some friends who live in a farmhouse on forty acres of land and we had the most blessed time there! Amazing. I wish I had taken some pics!

Sorry this is a short entry. I got a load of stitching to do!! Catch up with you all soon. Thanks for visiting. I appreciate all your lovely comments.

xx

PIF!!

I have been chosen to participate in Elisa's PIF (pay it forward) and I am so excited as she makes the most beautiful things!! So now I have to offer the same gesture on my blog.

*** This is how it works ***

If you would like to receive something handmade by me within the next 365 days, please comment on this post to say that you are interested. I will then ask my DD to draw 3 names out of a hat on Saturday 1st November (GMT). If you are one of the chosen three then in return, please post the same offer on your blog.

This is a simple and a lovely way of spreading joy in the stitching world. I hope that you will join in and possibly become one of my PIF members!

This PIF is open for everyone!

Now last time I did this I only got one person who responded, the lovely Stephanie who I spoiled rotten! Hopefully there will be a few more this time.

It's half term here in the UK so hope everyone has a good week and the weather gets better and that you all get some lovely stitching time in. xx

Some progress..

Alas my meet up with Tracy didn't end up happening last week as she got some very bad news on the morning of the day she was all set to travel. Hopefully she can re-arrange and we'll have a meet up before Christmas.

I have been working on some wips over on the Let's Stitch blog and have made a bit of progress. Here is my Wiehenburg Mystery quaker:



I love working on this! It is such an easy stitch and I just love this colour.

Also I worked on Polar Santa. I realise now why I hide this one away in the cupboard for moths on end:
1. It is on aida.
2. It is on NAVY aida.
3. There are loads of fractionals on it.
4. After I finish the stitching, I will have a truck load of french knots to do on it.
However, after plodding away on the Friday, here is what he looks like now:



Just working on his big sack of toys on his back.

Yesterday I got some post through that I'd ordered. It was some stuff for advent. Every year I have been saying to my dh that we need a more Christ centered Christmas as I hate it when it all gets so materialistic esp when I have a young dd who gets saturated by it all. Anyway I ended up with this book:


It is great! It is filled with so many heartwarming ideas. Things like decorating your home with images associated with the birth of Jesus and holding christmas brunches where family and friends can share in a time of fellowship and prayer over the advent season. There are several things I'd like to put into place and as I thought about it, I began hunting for a pattern of the name of Jesus that I could stitch and place in a central area. I came across this freebie:

His Name is Jesus

which I thought was amazing! So I am intending to stitch this in probably reds or greens for advent. I have also been rummaging through old magazines for a nice nativity scene that won't take too long to do.

I have signed up for another exchange; winter house and I am very tempted to sign up for the ABC one and the Blackbird Designs one too. So I may be very very busy over the next few months!! I also have dd's birthday end November to think about and ds' birthday is early Jan so a very busy time all round.

Hope you're having a good week,

xx

Elijah update 9 months

Wow Elijah turned 9 months yesterday so I thought I'd better take some footage and snap some pics before I forget. Here he is. He has just started to crawl and yes I think he is going to take after his dad (guitar man).



elijah movie 9months

And a couple of snaps...





xx

More biscornu pics

Here is the biscornu I made for Tracy in the mini exchange we did with Amanda and Sally. The theme was Autum Colours biscornu. I stitched this (Peripheria Nita's Lace) on 28 count black jobelan and used Dinky Dyes silk in Desert Sand. The colours reminded me of Bonfire Night here in the UK.





Some exciting news is that Tracy is coming to visit!! Yay! It's the first time we will meet together and I can't wait. She has been a really special internet chum and has blessed me in all sorts of ways. She has been having a bit of a rough time of things lately so feel free to go give her a cyber hug! Hopefully the visit will cheer her up.

Thanks for all the offers of wool! Any old wool, acrylic mix etc will do. I keep going back to the blanket and doing a bit more and I'm on my 4th square at the moment but need to do a lot more. I have been very busy working on the harvest time exchange for the sbebb and I have decided to do the pattern over 1 on 28 count fabric so it feels like it is taking a long time and not accomplishing much but I know I'll get there in the end. I also need to think about the Christmas ornie exchange too. Still waiting for the Just Cross stitch ornie mag to come through from Jayne's attic so I can choose a design. Still waiting.....

On another note, I am considering becoming a Slimming World consultant. I have been doing the plan for a long time on and off and the group I go to have been having a rough deal with a lack of a permanent consultant. Temp after temp after temp and it is such a shame as they are such a dedicated group. So I am thinking of training but I have to think of the logistics of it and how I can fit it in with family life. It may be the start of a new career!

Welcome to all new commentators on my blog! I am trying hard to keep up with blog reading and leave a message in most cases. The inspiration never ends and think I need to do a little giveaway soon to say Thank You to y'all so look out for it. Just let me get these exchanges over with esp the over 1 one!!

Right, off to stitch some more ... Have a good week everyone. xx

Biscornu exchange received and a request

I got the most gorgeous biscornu from Sally and the lovliest extras. It was a mini exchange with just four of us involved. The theme was "Autumn colours Biscornu" and this certainly sums up the lovely colours we see this time of year. Sally, you have done a superb job and I just love it!!! The fabric and threads are scrummy too and can't wait to put these to good use.





I sent mine off yesterday so hope to be able to show you what I stitched soon.

Okay now I am going to be really cheeky here and make a request. If you don't ask you don't get right???? So you know I am working on making a crochet granny blanket for my dd's bed and I am doing it in all sorts of weird colours (very seventies). Well, what I'd like to request is if anyone has any old, odd balls of wool that they are unlikely to use could you kindly pass them my way???? It is taking up a lot more wool than I thought and I am running low quite quickly. Like I said I will take any colour of any ball, any size etc. If you have any that you'd like to lovingly donate please email me for my address if you don't already have it.

Right, cheekiness over. Hope you all have a good weekend. I have enjoyed catching up on some blogs and esp some newbies too. Thanks for all your happy thoughts and comments. They are so appreciated as I am having a bit of a tough time of things at the moment. But that is another post for another day.

Hugsxx