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!

Anniversary and my Dad's stitching

We had a wonderful weekend away on our ten year anniversary. We stayed in a hotel called The Samling in Ambleside in the Lake District and it was just perfect. Here are a few snaps of our room and the great view we had from our window:





I have never stayed anywhere so posh in my life! The men came up to you with umberellas when you stepped out of your car so you wouldn't get wet whilst you walked up the steps! Apparently it was where William Wordsworth used to go and pay his rent. Oh, and Tom Cruise stays there quite a bit apparently!

Whilst in the Lakes I decided to take a trip to Fobbles which I have heard so much about on Su's blog. After following the Tomtom to the wrong place and phoning them up for directions, we finally did arrive and who should be there, surprise, surprise... but Su herself who was helping out with the stocktaking. This was a great surprise and it was so great to meet Su at last. I have stitched an exchange for her quite recently and am a great admirer of her work. She does some "unique" stitching. I managed to get a pic of us both:



Can I also say what a great place Fobbles is as well? They have everything to suit my taste from gorgeous fabrics to French Sajou bits and bobs to charts from the USA. Superb shop and well worth the visit. I had a little spend. Well, it was my anniversary after all!

Now my lovely Dad has been burning those needles again on my "I am Half Sick of Shadows" piece and has completed another page. Here is his update that he sent me:



How super fast is he??? Go Dad go!!

I have finished the stitching for one of my pifs and just need to "finish" it. One down, four to go. I am planning on doing one a month if I can then I will send them all out together. As they are gifts, I cannot show the pics yet.

I am sure there must be more to share but it escapes me right now. So have a good week everyone and happy stitching.

Drawn Thread from Cathy!

I have not been a very healthy bunny of late. My boy was unwell all last week with conjunctivitis and I have now got it. So I have sore, bloodshot eyes and feel like someone has punched me in the eye and nose and generally feel rubbish. So when this beautiful exchange arrived yesterday you can imagine how much of a "pick me up" it was. Cathy had recently organised a Drawn Thread exchange and she happened to be my partner. I was stunned by the awesome finishing on this piece and amazed by all the lovely goodies:









She sent me two charts off my wishlist, two skeins of Crescent Colours, box of pins, chocolate and coffee and a lovely card as well. Cathy, you know me so well and Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

I am trying to do the rounds on the blogs and I always read my commentators' blogs first before anyone elses so I'll be popping your way shortly.

Happy stitching everyone. I am working on some pifs this week and also gathering supplies for the Birthday exchange. xx

Nuneaton, BP, Christmas ornie and DT exchange

Nuneaton meet up March 2009

Here is a little slideshow of our meet up in Nuneaton. Everyone brought their finishes and wips to exhibit and there were some real beauties! It was so inspiring to see all the wonderful work. Great to meet new people too and to see some old friends!! It was a great weekend and I'll definitely do it again. Thank you Clare for organising it all.

I worked hard on my BP whilst I was there and it helped to get me going again as I was in a bit of a slump before I went. I have worked out that if I stitch three motifs a month and then stitch four every third month then I will get this sucker finished by the end of the year. So this is my plan. I am on target to do this now. Here's my progress on her so far:



And I also worked on my March ornie for the Christmas ornie challenge. I am stitching these up first and then making them up altogether at the end:



My Drawn Thread exchange arrived in good time to Becky K in OK! I am really pleased with the finishing on this piece. I saw someone do a mattress pincushion and stitch the sides so this is what I did.







The Drawn Thread
Spot of Spring
36 count Belfast antique white linen
DMC Threads

I want to thank all of you for your kind words from my last post. It means so much to me that there are sincere people out there who really do care enough to take the time to build me up. Things are okay at the moment. We are trying to keep our heads down really. The ex boss is in serious trouble though as someone has blown the whistle as it were.

Next weekend is our ten year wedding anniversary and we are going staying in a very swish hotel in the Lake District - just for one night. Really looking forward to that.

This week I am planning on starting something for the Birthday exchange which is coming up in the next few months. I have an idea of what I am going to stitch. Just need to gather supplies. Has anyone signed up for the new Papillon Creations SAL "Castles in the Air"?? It looks really pretty. I have purchased both the cross stitch and speciality version but the speciality version looks very complicated to me. I haven't even started last years one yet although I do have it all kitted up ready to go.

Hope you all have a lovely week. xx

Last month...

Last month has been a busy and strange month. I seemed to be doing a lot of stitching and lost my mojo a bit. I have some lovely projects and SALs on the go but have been struggling with the motivation to get going on any of them. I think I may have taken too much on at the start of the year so I am going to have to cut back on a few things. I have not signed up for the second round of the Prairie Schooler exchange for example and although HOE are running some great exchanges at the moment, I have resisted signing up for any of those too. I am doing a Drawn Thread exchange which is due out a week tomorrow so I'll be having a break from exchanges after that I think. I need to get on and start my pifs too as Elisa sent hers to me last week.

So here's the PS exchange that my recipient received from me.

Prairie Schooler exchange





Here's my finished "mustard scarf" I started. Not the best pic but I hope you get the idea. This was a freebie from Ravelry.

My Mustard scarf



Here is Elisa's wonderful pif that she sent me. It is my first circular pinkeep and is so cute. Some great extras too. Thanks Elisa.

Elisa's Pif



I do have a pic of my biscornu from february too but as usual my camera is on the blink so will have to wait to download it.

Now, I mentioned this last month has been a strange one. There are some things happening to our family at the moment that are quite bad. If I told you details you'd think we were in the middle of a thriller film. That may sound overly dramatic but non the less true. One thing is that our "best man" has turned against us (for no rashional or apparent reason) and has been sending both of us some pretty nasty hate mail and is set upon ruining our reputations and confidence. He has cut himself off from us and hopefully we won't hear from him again. It has been extremely hurtful and hard to bear and very tiring to boot. The other thing which I can't share a lot about is to do with dh's last job. He left there due to some rather unscrupulous business practices (let's say) and his ex boss has just been arrested and charged and the police want dh to make a statement. However, doing so, could put us in a (let's say) dangerous and vulnerable position. You get the idea. Sounds like a drama right? So all in all, we've been having a tough month of things. To top it off, one of our close friends has been taken into hospital with blood clots in his leg and lung and has a shadow on his heart. So taking all of this into account, it is probably no wonder that I have very little motivation to stitch or blog which is why this post has been a long time coming. It has left me feeling extremely drained and dh has been away for most of this year which hasn't helped. I have also "left" facebook because of some of these things and other reasons too so sorry to all the stitcher facebookers out there.

Thank you so much for the awards. I got one from Sally and one from Elisa. They mean so much to me to know that I have been thought of by you guys. I pass it on to my regular commentors.



I am away next weekend with some of the Jayne's Attic crew on their yearly meetup. Hopefully, it will give me the refreshment I need and the motivation to get back into my stitching. Hope you are all doing a bit better than me at the moment.

xx

Okay big update - lots of pics

Right something is definitely up with my camera - it is not charging properly but I have managed to get six minutes on it to get some pics and download them!! First up is this lovely gift from Lisa from Needles and Threads. I won a blog giveaway from her a while ago and look at what she made me - isn't it beautiful. It is a lovely thread holder and i love the pocket at the back. She sent some lovely extras too, all of which I'll use. Thanks so much Lisa. I love it.





Also I was admiring Margarets little bird sampler a while ago and she sent me the chart and some linen and thread to go with it!!! Wow I am so amazed at the generosity of stitchers!



I also got my Prairie Schooler exchange through. At least I think it is this exchange as Rebecca (can't find her blog) didn't put a note in with it to say what it was or where the design is from so I am presuming it is the PS exchange. It is a lovely strawberry emery - my first and is very nice. So if you are reading Rebecca, thank you very much.



Cheryl got my little gingerbread men ornie that I made her for her newborn. I got the idea from Danybrode's blog and I was quite pleased with my humble efforts.



Now you may remember the post about my "I am Half Sick of Shadows" project that I eventually gave away to my Dad to work on. Here is how I sent it to him:



And here's a pic of it that he sent me today!! How much progress is that??



Now onto knitting. I am araid I have started getting the knitting bug again. I joined a group called Ravelry (takes about 4 days to get an invite)and it is amazing. I would really recommend it to knitters and crocheters. I found a lovely scarf pattern on it and here is my progress on it:



It is hard to describe what it will look like in the end as its not your usual scarf! So I will take a pic of me or someone else modelling it when it is finished!
Speaking of knitting, here is Lily learning to knit - just a minute long but you're welcome to share this precious moment with me if you care to:



lily knits!

Oh and before I forget here is my christmas ornie (unfinished as I am going to finish them altogether) for this month:



I must admit, I feel like my stitching mojo has gone awol this month! I have hardly touched the BP and have only just started the biscornu. I think maybe I overdid it with that french mystery. I have finished stitching it up but need to finish it now and yes I did get those vital finishing instructions. It is like a littel pillow inside a pouch and I hope I'll be able to finish it sometime. Right now I want to get my scarf finished and I also need to get on with some exchanges but I just do not feel in the mood for stitching right now.

Oh and I have put the BP blog back to the public domain for a bit if anyone's interested.

We have just come back from our friends house in Wales - so lovely and DH has some pics so I'll get them off him soon and post them up. Well that's me updated for a while. Happy stitching and thanks for reading everyone. xx