istitch mystery

Hellooooo!! Nice to be here on this rather dull, moody Bank Holiday Monday!

I recently stumbled across the istitch mystery SAL and was very disappointed that I was too late to join as I am a fan of Carol's charts. They are simple to stitch and very pretty in sampler style and also the charts are very clear to read. I think it must have been when I was away on holiday and didn't have any internet access for a week. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Carol agreed to put me on the waiting list and a couple of days ago, I received an email asking if I would still like to join.

They were already up to part 2 so I had to hurry to catch up. Carol sends out the next part as soon as she has had a picture of each previous part stitched. So, into the early hours I sat and stitched and now I am up to date with everybody else. I decided to go small with this one and am stitching on 25 count lugana and using a very pretty DMC 4190. I am either going to make into a pinkeep or a small box top - if I can find a box of the right dimensions.

So here is my wip so far. You will have to forgive the bad photo as I have lost my battery charger for my camera - or should I ask whose tiny fingers have been playing and misplaced it??? So that is on order but until it arrives I am having to use the camera on my ipod touch which isn't great.

I have to say, and I may very well be in the minority here, but I love the cold weather and the rain and the nights starting to draw in. I feel very Autumny! I think it is about time to bring out those blankets and get cracking on them. Back soon folks.

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Some stitching to report!

Hello everyone. It's nice to finally be here and be able to do a blog post. My, how the Summer keeps us busy! I have been keeping the children busy too as much as I can. We have spent most of the time having long, lazy lie ins and going out to see a museum or two once or twice a week. DD has been busy with her craft group once a week and also some workshops.

She made a sock puppet:

and some pots and Hama coasters:

I have felt much better this summer than any other I think and I believe it is because I have stopped putting pressure on myself to do so much and to not compare myself with other people. It has been nice to just chill and wander down to the local park and playground when the weather has been kind. I'll miss them when term starts... and I'll miss the lie ins too!

So here's a few snaps of what we've been up to.

We recently went to the Hatworks Museum in Stockport. A little gem of a place and it's free too. Nice little cafe that is reasonably priced as well.

I loved this felted den that was there. Fantastic!

So, onto some stitching news. It seems a while since I did a decent stitchy post so here's what I have been up to stitch wise.

Here's a little project that I have recently started. It is A Bird in Hand by Blackbird Designs. My online friend Karan gifted me this chart last Christmas and I love it! It took a while to get the thread ordered from Sewandso but finally the arrived. The thread is WDW Baked Apple. Doesn't that sound lovely?? Mmmmm Baked Apple. I could just picture the colour before it came.

See I have nearly finished it and then I will probably turn it into a cushion.

I received my ornament from the HOE Lizzie Kate ornie exchange through from Kathy and Rory the dog! I really love this and love how Kathy has stitched two designs back to back. Looks fantastic and really well finished too. Thanks Kathy!

I, also, have finished some more ornies to go on my stitching tree this year. These are both taken from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch ornament magazine.

This is also from the same magazine but it has gone to Cath as a piece of angel stitching as the chart went missing in our last round of Stitch and Pass it on. I added a few extras for her too:

So that's all the stitching news. I managed to get a picture of my brother with his crochet blanket on his birthday. I think he likes it although it is very hard to tell as he is severely disabled and doesn't show much emotion. The picture is not of great quality as I took it with my ipod whilst at my mum's.

So there you go peeps. That's me for now. Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!

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HOE ornie

Just a quickie as Becky received my ornie in the HOE exchange and I have pinched her pic to show you all. Hope you don't mind Becky!!! I completely forgot to take a picture before I sent it off. Anyway, here is Becky's lovely pic showing the front and back.

Lizzie Kate Juingle ornie from Tidy Tidings chartpack.

A little update

Well hello peeps! It has been a while and I am okayish. Thank you for all your kind words of support. Things have not been great around here and the problems have been of the marital type. Stress and anxiety takes its toll on people and can make them behave in less desirable ways - not me by the way. So times are a little rough at the moment but it is good to keep positive and blogs are always a breath of fresh air to read and ponder.

I have been away. We took a little holiday to try and spend some time as a family during the first week of the UK summer hols. We went to one of our favourite places - a town called Abersoch in North Wales. It has some lovely beaches - a sort of mixture between sandy and pebbly.

We stayed in this beautiful place which was a converted stable and it was pure luxury. Just a five minute walk to the beach. Perfect.

The views were magnificent and Abersoch is famous for its sailboats.

We managed to get away on a few daytrips. One was to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway.

Little lad appeared not to like all the noise coming from the noisy engines and whistle and had his fingers in his ears the whole way through.

He did manage to get one hand free though to do the signal change. Very important job that.

and doing this... both hands free by then!

So onto some finishes. I have finally a big Ta Daaa on my brother's blanket. Goodness it seemed to take forever to go round this rectangle. Fortunately, my mum had said she didn't want it as big as a bed size so I did it a bit smaller. I think the size is just right.

Ta Daaaa!!!

Jacqui's lovely double V edging:

It is his birthday soon in just a couple of weeks so I will be taking it up to my parents to give to him. Hope he likes it and doesn't throw it off his knee when I give it to him!!

Onto a little stitchy news now if you can bear with me...

Recently, Tina (no blog) and I have decided to do one stitchy Christmas ornie a month from last month till Christmas so that she and I can get some finishing practice in. One month I pick a design and the next month she does etc. I chose a really easy peasy one from Just Cross Stitch 2007 ornie ed. It's the Lizzie Kate one. I wanted it to be a quick one so that Tina could spend more time on the finishing. Here's mine:

I also have finished one for the HOE and sent it off and only just realised that I haven't taken pics grrrrrr!!!!!

But the ornie bug kind of got to me and I finished the stitching on this one from the same magazine:

Just need to finish this one.

Also I have been working on Dandelion Dreams which has been a pleasure to work on. Very simple design. I should be finished with this soon. I apologise for the usual unironed state of my wips!!

So that about all from me for now. Hubby is away for a couple of weeks now so should get lots of stitching done. Thanks for staying with me during my bad times.

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Hello peeps

Just a quick note to say I have been away and also been having a few personal problems at home which has kept me away from blogging. Hoping to get back to you with a goodish post soon. I haven't forgot you all!

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Last weekend...

I was pretty gobsmacked by all your lovely comments on my last post and it has taken me this long to write a new post! I was amazed at how many of us suffer from the same paranoia and low self esteem feelings. When I reread the post back, I think I came across as pretty negative so on the next post I'll try and be more positive!

Last weekend, hubby was away and so I decided to have a stay home weekend. We didn't do a lot so I decided to go round and take a few snaps of the little things. I didn't use my usual camera so I apologise now for the poor quality of the pics. I just thought it would be nice to have some snippets and snaps of ordinary life to look back on and remember. Here's some of what we did:

Lie ins were had on both days:

Brews were made and many of them. I love this Easter mug:

Crochet dens were made and played in and picnicked in too:

Cakes were baked - all by the kids themselves:

And Mummy had to try one of course:

I gazed over at my mess and thought I really need to tidy it up - still haven't :(

We watched telly:

We watched the rain:

We lounged on the couch whilst snuggling new but yet unfinished blanket:

We painted magic pictures:

Lunch was had - in my case was Tuna salad:

I got some lovely things through over the last few weeks. This came from Ann from Beadlework blog who had seen it on my wishlist and wondered if I would like to give it a new home. Are you kidding??? I love it. Thanks so much Ann.

Tina gave me these lovely charts and ribbons as a belated birthday gift! Love them.

Patti also sent me the first edition of Molly Makes magazine which I am thrilled with as I couldn't get hold of the of the first copy so thank you so much Patti!

I also started a rainbow rectangle granny blanket for my brother and this is where I am up to with it:

The problem is that I have ran out of a colour nearly at the end of a row but I carried on with other colours just stopping at the same point but I don't want to get into a huge tangle with it so I had better stop till I can get more wool. That'll be next month now. You may think it is rather bright for a boy and might be wondering why I haven't chosen blues or browns. The reason in that my brother is mentally and physically disabled and so I think bright colours will be a bit of therapy for him. I will post some pics when I get round to finishing it. It is his birthday next month and I am hoping to get some pics of him with it - hopefully smiling!

Well, that's all from me for now. I have finished a couple of Christmas ornies - I am starting early this year but one is for an exchange and one I just haven't got round to taking pictures yet. More will be revealed next time. Getting ready for the start of the Summer holidays.. yippeeeee!!!!!

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