How about a better picture?

The lady who I am getting the ragdoll from has kindly sent me a lovely photograph of Misty. Look at those blue eyes!



I am counting down the weeks till we get her.

Now I had a serious stash haul last week from Needle in a Haystack - my long awaited birthday treat. Finally, my package arrived and I wasn't unhappy to find this little lot:



From left to right: Lakeside Linen Vintage light examplar 36 ct, Legacy linen Oaten scone 34 count, then top to bottom : Wichelt 28 ct Buttermilk, 28 ct Twilight Blue, 40ct Sandstone, 32 ct Star Sapphire!!!



And the threads are Threadworks 10051 Wine Castle red, 1048 Green, and Crescent Colours Ye Olde Gold. These are for my "A Quaker Christmas".

I also got this through very quickly from Oz! From that lovely shop called Colours Down Under. I had been struggling to find this chart as I think it is very quickly going to go OOP:



Anagram Diffusions "Sampler 4 Saisons"

I have stitched all four of my pifs and made up one! Three to do ladies - hang tight. I hope you'll like them. Since I have been busy with the stitching and making up of PIFS, I have left very little time to do my BP but I did manage to squeeze in 2 motifs and a little of a third which means I am still on target for finishing at the end of the year. I love working on this one. I don't know why as the colours are quite plain. Perhaps the fabric? Or the simplicity of the motifs? I don't know but once I get started on her, I really enjoy her and don't want to put her down. Here's where I am up to:

I was listening to the news yesterday about how in Wales they are going to charge everyone who shops 15p for every plastic bag they use. It got me thinking about string bags and knitted bags and I have been browsing and looking for an easy one to do. The ones I have seen look a bit complicated. If anyone has any good patterns for string bags, let me know. They can't be that hard to make surely?

That's me! Hope you are all well and not melting in the heat.

Blurry kitten pics

These are possible the worst pictures I have ever taken but I hope you get an idea of how cute this little addition is going to be. This is Misty and she is a 6-7 week old Ragdoll kitten. We will be able to take her home the first week of August. It seemed no matter how many pictures I took of her, they all came out blurry. A couple of them my dd took as she is actually very good at taking pics but again they came out blurry. I think I need a new camera!









And here is an update on Mary Wigham - very slow going this one! I am stitching this on 25 count Light mocha lugana over 1:



My mum is in hospital so I am off to travel up to visit her today. They think it could be kidney stones. I have gone back to the doctor with my tummy pains and exhaustion and she is now testing me for celiacs disease. If it isn't that she thinks it could be scar tissue from the caesarean sections fusing together my uterus and bowel! Nice. Either way will involve some intrusive surgery to find out. So I have done very little stitching but I did get some nice goodies through the post including some Lizzie Kate charts for the exchange and also got these goodies from Becky K! Thanks Becky. I am onto the thread keeps lol.



Found out my order has been sent from Needle in a Haystack so hopefully will be getting some nice fabric through the post soon as well. They didn't have the Anangram Diffusion Four Saisons chart in that I wanted but I managed to find it at Colours Down Under in Australia and decided to treat myself to it!

That's me for now. Hope everyone is fit and well and stitching up a storm.

xx

So much to blog about... again!!!

Yet again I have so much to blog about and I'll probably not get it all on one post! So, I'll try to be brief.

First up, here is my Dad's progress on my "I am Half Sick of Shadows" piece:



He is steaming ahead with this and I am so so pleased as I was never going to get very far with it with so much other commitment stitching going on.

Lisa V got her Birthday Exchange from me from the SBBC. I stitched her the alphabet from the Thank You Mary Tobias booklet from Blackbird Designs. I used a Threadworx thread and stitched it on 40 count newcastle linen. I used two contrasting ribbons around the edge and made a bow thingy at the top. This was a little fiddly but I got there in the end.





And some of the extras I sent... I also sent some chocs and drinks but didnt picture these:



It was my birthday last week and I got my own birthday exchange through from the SBBC from Tracy N from New Zealand. She stitched me a sweet little biscornu. I seriously have to get a big basket for all these as they are starting to add up now. She sent me some lovely goodies too so if you're reading Tracy N, Thank you very much:



And my super bud Tracy D sent me this gorgeous parcel through the post. You know me too well dearie:



and a close up of the fold up:



I was so excited opening this parecel. I love everything in it. Thanks hun.

Just spent the last few days down in Wales and now having to do an awful lot of catch up.

Still not got round to photographing the crochet squares!

x

Mary Wigham

Just to let everyone know, I was asked to be UK leader for the Mary Wigham SAL by Jacqueline so I have set up a blog for this purpose. If anyone from the UK only, wishes to participate then email me and I'll send you out an invite to the blog. Email on the blog or in my profile.

Mary Wigham SAL UK

Stitchers from other parts of the globe can contact their country's leader for more information. Further info on different countrys' leaders can be found on the Needleprint blog.

Mary Wigham SAL

Has everybody seen this free SAL that Jaqueline Holdsworth from Needleprint is offering on her blog?



You can find details here.

Be sure to check her blog's more recent posts for updates of this upcoming SAL.

Too much stitching....

makes Hazel slightly mad!!!

I have been a busy bee this month! There's a lot to share and I can't possibly share in one post so I will do another post at some point.

Firstly, I'd like to share a few photos of my weekend away in Ashbourne with Fobbles. On the Friday we went to Bakewell Museum to see some samplers and have coffee and cake yum! Here is one of the samplers and it was quite sad as we noticed someone had marked this piece with marker pen. Can you spot the initials?



On Saturday my friend and I headed off to Dove Farm in Ashbourne where the rest of the group were staying. We enjoyed a lovely uninterrupted day of stitching and a lovely lunch to boot! I particularly enjoyed the scones with jam and cream - my absolute favourite. Here are some pics of the ladies at work and some of their projects.



L-R Cherry, (not sure,) Beverley



L-R Janet?, Jan?, Cherry



L-R Ann, not sure



L-R Belinda, Avril, Michelle

Here's an update on my BP. I managed to stitch five motifs this month!







On another note, we are getting a Ragdoll cat. We are going to view the kittens next month as they have just been born. Ragdolls are beautiful cats who, when picked up, go floppy like a ragdoll, hence the name. They are extremely amicable and very good with children. I am thinking and hoping my other mog won't feel threatened by this docile cat and will play nicely although I think she has enjoyed being queen of the castle recently. More news to follow. Watch this space.

I have some other finishes and pics to show including a few of my crocheted squares that I have been working on. Yes, I have been doing them!! I think I have about 7 squares now! However, I will leave all that for another post as I think there is enough on this one.

Thank you for your wonderful comments. I have been extremely tired and lacking motivation to blog this month so I apologise if I haven't commented on your blog this month. I have been and had bloods taken to test against a few things but they are all okay. Hopefully, I'll pass by your way soon.

hugs,

The winner is...

.... Annemiek !!!! Well done Annemiek. I used a random number generator. Please email me your address details and I'll get it in the post to you shortly. Email in my profile.

This was a lot of fun. I think I should do this more often.

Happy stitchingxxx

One day left to sign up for my giveaway!

See here and leave a comment if you'd like a chance to win. I'll draw a winner on the 8th!

A Gift from Clare and a New Start!

Here is the gift I won from Clare (Aimetu) a couple of weeks ago! Isn't it just gorgeous:





I love it Clare! Thank you so much. I have always wanted to learn hardanger and having this just makes me more motivated to learn it. I love the effect of the lacy holes and I think they're called Dove's eyes?? Beautiful.

And I also couldn't resist a new start. I see so many blogs where peeps have ten, maybe even twenty wips and I actually only have a few. I have even surprised myself but I don't have that many. Maybe five. So I had this freebie kitted up for a while and made a start on it a few days ago. This is the Marquoir Marie - Rose and you can find it on Anne Valerie's blog.



Aren't the colours extraordinary! I am not sure about them except that Ann over on Tempus Fugit did a fine job and it looks great when finished.

I have just noticed that the new part of the Isa V Marquior is out so I'm off to find it and download. Happy stitching folks and don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already. xx

A Giveaway!

Thank you all so very much for the well wishes for my dd and I. She has unfortunately got an awful lot of spots on her forehead which are very visible and I hope that they will all heal up and not cause scarring. I have cut her a fringe to help hide them a bit.

Well, as I said in my last post I keep seeming to win lots of giveaways. I got this through the post yesterday from Dovile in Lithuania:



It is so beautiful and she sent the most heartwarming card too. I love it Dovile. Thank you so much!

I also won something on Claire (Aimetu's) blog. Not sure what yet. Something she is going to make me. I can't wait to see it. So it has been kind of weird me winning all these giveaways and I have kind of felt so bad about it so I have decided not to enter any more for the time being (just in case!!!) and I have decided to make something to giveaway myself! So this week I have been working on this and have made some fabric covered floss bobbins to match. This is a freebie design which I have been waiting to stitch for some time. I cannot remember who designed it but I love it! I have stitched it on 40 count Newcastle linen using 1 strand of DMC thread. I hope you like it.





So if you fancy winning then just leave me a comment saying so. I'll leave it open till May 7th so peeps can have a chance. Open to all my readers new and old!

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful week.

More of the nasty pox!

Arghhhhh!!! My little girl has now caught chicken pox which means she will not be going back to school come Monday. Poor thing. She has had a rubbish holiday - not being able to go anywhere. I'm getting fed up too. Oh well, at least it gets it ovre with.

I have been doing a little stitching and making too. I saw these on Tempus Fugit's blog and decided that I would have a go at making them. The first one was a bit messy around the edges but by the fifth one I was getting the hang of them. I think they look quite nice for my first attempt anyway. For anyone that doesn't know what they are, they are bobbins for holding floss or ribbon or trim or lace etc.



I also finished my April Christmas ornie from Prairie Schooler's Cranberry Christmas booklet:



I also pulled out A Most Noble Pursuit but haven't done enough to warrant a showing yet!

I have been blessed to win a couple of giveaways recently too. I got these in the post the other day from Monique as her blog anniversary giveaway:



I also won Dovile's giveaway too which is a lovely box and pincushion but have not received that yet but will post a pic when I do.

I think I had better not enter any more giveaways!!

Have a great week. I am blessed to know you.

Can I take a moment to moan?

I don't like moaning in general, it's so miserable for the recipient to have to sit and listen to it but it's my blog and my place to moan right?? It's Easter hols here in the UK and that means two weeks off for the kids at school. So what do I find at the start of the week but red, nasty, poxy sores over my baby boy. Over his bottom, his tummy, his back, his face, his head. Pretty much everywhere. He isn't "covered" in spots but they are everywhere if you know what I mean. So.... chicken pox. We can't go out with him as it's at the contagious stage. DH has been going up and down the country every day so I can't get out and poor Lils can't do much but entertain herself in the house either. What a miserable holiday! My only hope is that he will be fine by next week and Lily doesn't catch it. I don't know if she has had it before. I remember her getting a few poxy looking spots on her ankle but it didn't spread but she has never caught it from contagious peeps since then so I am hoping she will be okay. So I am holding out for next week. I just feel so housebound and bored and miserable.

Anyhow, I have managed to work on my BP this month and have completed three more motifs. My aim is to do ten motifs every three months and that way I will have it finished by the end of the year which will be nice. I am so far on target! Without further ado...





I have also stitched something for the birthday exchange. I had chosen something but then I changed my mind about it so I hope the recipient likes what I have stitched. I would show it as I don't think the recipient is a blog reader of mine but you can never be too sure can you and also I haven't "finished" it yet. So it may be a while before I can show this one.

So I can now work on something else so I guess it will be th enext ornie for the christmas ornie challenge. I am doing the Cranberry Christmas ornies from PS and I am not "finishing"them till I have stitched them all which in my opinion, looks a bit crap as I post up my pics. But Hey, they'll look good when they are all finished nicely and in the same way. I also need to start my next pif. Unfortunately for my recipients I am doing the same designs so I can't show them till I have stitched them all otherwise the surpise element will be lost.

Okay just a last pic to cheer me up, my lovely children just before I fount the dratted spots! Elijah with his first whole apple ;-)



Have a blessed Easter and don't eat too many eggs!