Stitching update

Sorry for not being a good blogger of late. You see, I have actually been doing some stitching and finishing as you will see. I can't seem to get the right balance between stitching time and blogging time. I either do one or the other. So this month has been a stitching month. ;-)

First up is my Lizzie*Kate "Dream" pinkeep that I stitched for the Lizzie*Kate exchange. I believe my partner liked it which is good. I love the fabric on the back and the pink ribbon. I stitched it on 28 count Wichelt "Buttermilk" linen and used Carries Creations threads. A delightful little stitch!







Here is my next little finish which is the Wisteria biscornu by Olga Teague. This was another delightful little stitch and again I used the 28 ct "buttermilk" linen. The Wichelt is very nice to work on - nice and stiff and keeps its shape well. I used the recommended threads ans also the mill hill beads. I also ordered some Swarovski Butterfly crystals for the centre. They are so sparkly - the picture just does not do this biscornu justice. I changed the back slightly and personalised it. Now, unfortunately I cannot use this for my "basket of biscornu" as it was a gift for Lily's teacher. I think she liked it.







Last weekend Tracy came to stay as my DH was working away in Japan. She came to keep me company and have a stitchy weekend. We had a lot of fun and after she left I felt inspired to do another HAED. I haven't done any HAEDs for a while. This is the letter "L" fairy by Selina Fenech which Tracy had bought me for Lily last Christmas. I am stitching this on 18 count and it's working up fast and beautiful. I love it. This is going to be my summer project and I am hoping to get it finished very very quickly so the race is on.



As I got back into the HAED, I noticed they were having a sale on and so I got my dd to have a look and see if there was anything she liked and she chose this one:



So I have got myself some more 25ct lugana and just need to do a thread check and as soon as I have finished the L fairy then I'll be starting this one for her too. Tracy also bought me a Rainbow mermaid too but that's another story!

Here's my BP update. Five and a bit motifs this month. Yay! I am well on track for finishing this by the end of the year! I will definitely work this system again next year for a project. It definitely works for me.





Oh and nearly forgot. Elisa nominated me for a friendship award! This is so sweet. Thank you petal!


And now I am supposed to nominate others for this award but that is way to difficult. So if you are reading my blog... if you are at all interested in my blog.... then you can consider yourself a friend and nab it for yourself. Go on, take it. I have nominated all my readers.;-)

Sorry if this post has been a bit photo heavy. I still have more stuff to share. Pifs being one as soon as I can get the other two finished!! Have fun next month. I get the kitten next Saturday so watch this space for cute kitten pics.xx

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