Last stitching meet-up of 2024

 Saturday was our last Birmingham Stitchers meet up of the year, the cafe had honored the booking that Hilary and Sue made a while ago and reserved a table for us, so we were all able to sit together this last time.  We stayed longer than usual, 10 -4pm rather than our usual 12 - 3pm.  I took Mary Margaret along again and managed to get her skirt finished and her legs stitched.  You would have thought in that time I would have got more stitching done, what can I say, I'm a slow stitcher.

No photos because I've shared photos of the inside of the cafe we meet up in recently, (I will say though that on Saturday it was bloomin freezing in there!)  Here how Mary Margaret Is looking now.

I'm not enjoying this on the scroll frame, next time I pick her up I might take it off and use a nurge frame.

This weekend there was a Christmas Wool Show held at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham, I didn't buy an advance ticket as I was undecided until this morning.  So glad I made the effort, it was a lovely show, not too busy and lots of people that I hadn't heard of before.  This is the first time this year at a wool show and of course I didn't really need anything but you never come away empty handed from these events do you?

I don't think I went overboard.  The Moonlight Fibre Christmas yarn and the WYS Christmas yarn will be wrapped up and put away to open when I start knitting Christmas socks in 2025.  The same with the snowman project bag, isn't he cute?  I don't usually buy project bags, some of them can be quite expensive but this one from Jibbyroosews was a good buy at £9.50, and It's a decent size.  I've been thinking of keeping a record of my knitting for future reference so picked up a Knitters Journal from Under The Olive Tree, again a good price.  The Christmas cracker is from Pickle-Lily, I believe there is a mini skein inside, plus It can be re-used another year.  All in all a good day out, I will definitely go to this one again next year If they do it.

So a busy but lovely weekend, and I needed it, I didn't go out of the house for four days last week after last Saturday's outing, my hip and butt cheek was painful and I just felt meh, but then by Thursday I forced myself to go to the shopping centre as there were some things I needed to get, thankfully it was much quieter and I managed to get everything I needed to.  While I was there I called into the pharmacist to ask if there was anything else I could throw at this pain, I'm just sick of taking co-codamol, and surely long term that's not good anyway.  She recommended a diclofenac gel and touch wood, (tapping my head here), that, along with some lavender essential oil in the bath water, the purchase of a knee pillow, for spine support and some exercises I found online, I am finally in less pain, yayyyy.  I might even be able to go for a decent walk this week.

I've got a couple of things to get done this week and then I'll be all sorted for Christmas except for the wrapping.

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well, are you all organised or do you still have things to do?

-X-

October makes and celebrations

October was a busy month and seemed to pass by really quickly.  We had two family birthdays, Oliver turned 12 on the 17th and It was Marks birthday on the 21st.  Mark never likes a fuss and is really hard to buy for so we just went out for a meal on the Monday night, just the two of us, not something we do very often so it was nice, and being a Monday night it was quiet too.

Oliver requested that nanny make his birthday cake, a lemon one with sweets was the brief, I think he was happy with what I came up with 😀

It's been a busy month for stitching too with the Quarry Bank Stitchers day retreat on Sunday 13th and on the following Tuesday six of us met up at the Nimble Thimble for a stitching and shopping day then last Saturday was our monthly meet up at the Exchange cafe in Birmingham.  The retreat day is always a good day, this time there were a couple of new ladies at our table, ( hi Esther if you are reading this, it was lovely to meet you and your friend).  Esther emailed me after reading about the previous meet-up on my blog, so that was lovely to be able to share information about our meet-up, and happily they were able to secure a place.  

Our monthly meet-up in Birmingham is as I said in a cafe, the only requirement is that we purchase something to eat and drink whilst we are there. In the past they have reserved an area for us all to sit together but have now decided that they are no longer going to reserve tables, hopefully that's just because with Christmas coming they will be expecting more trade from shoppers and the Christmas market.  It would be a shame if we had to cancel that meet-up because it's a lovely atmosphere.

Mary Margaret has had quite a few outings this month and this is how she is looking at the moment.

I'd say she is over half way done and If I can get a few evenings stitching during the coming weeks I should be able to get her finished before the end of the year.

I only made a couple of purchases at our Nimble Thimble visit, a couple of charts and  I took some charts from stash with me to get fabric for, which prompted my next start. 

Black Bird Designs Red Bird Sampler

I can't tell you how many years this has been waiting to be stitched!  Once I started it was all I wanted to stitch and was done in no time.

Although I took it with me to buy fabric for I ended up finding something to suit in stash along with the threads.  Not sure If I'll take this to be framed or look for a frame and do it myself, depends if I can find something that suits and I like.

The end of October is the time to share our Stick6 finishes, this time mine is a Prairie Schooler Santa.

Only one more to stitch for this year, I do love taking part in this SAL, It keeps me motivated to stitch with no pressure. 

My final finish for the month are my socks.  I thought the colours were perfect for Halloween month.

The yarn is Opal, from their Beauty Collection, colour no. 11300

Back in the Summer my five year old laptop died and was beyond repair, reluctant to buy another one at the time I've been using my fifteen year old laptop, which works fine except for the fact that I have to keep it plugged into the mains because the battery is no good and I just keep putting off buying a new one.  Then a couple of weeks ago some of the keys weren't responding, rebooting solved the problem a few times but then that didn't work so I was left with no a,s or d and no return key either!  I was still reluctant to get a new laptop as there may be some black Friday deals soon or offers over Christmas, plus I hate shopping for new appliances of any sort.  It took me a good few days to realise that I could buy a separate keyboard quite cheaply which would enable me to still use my old laptop😂  So that's what I'm doing at the moment and I have to say that typing on a proper keyboard is way better than typing on a laptop keyboard.  That is rather a long winded way of saying that I am way behind on commenting on blogs at the moment, but I will try and catch up soon.

I was going to share some charity shop stitching finds with you but I've rambled on far too much already so I'll save those for another time.

Hope you are all well and have a fantastic November, It'll be Christmas before we know it!

-X-

Stitchers Day Out

 Today was the Quarry Bank Stitchers day out, this is their third day retreat and the second one I've been to, they have been a great success.  The food was lovely, and the company even better, we had lots of laughs.  People got to show their finishes, which Is always lovely to see, there was a de-stash table and a freebie table as well as a couple of sellers, including our local needlework shop, Betty's.

I took my Carriage House Samplings girl, Mary Margaret to work on.   I'd made a small start a few months ago and haven't picked her up since, until today.

And this is her after todays stitching

This was just what I needed to get me in the mood to stitch again, there's a long way to go on this one but I think I'm in the stitching zone again 😉

There was a lovely gift for us from the organizers, Karen and Annabelle, thank you ladies.

And I did make a purchase.  I've had my eye on this for a while and because I sold quite a bit on the de-stash table I went ahead and treated myself.

It's a kit, not something I usually go for but I really like it, not sure when I'll make a start but Sharon was offering a 20% discount on everything today so It was a good buy.

I've had such a great day today, being with like-minded people, chatting and laughing and seeing what others are stitching, It's just what I needed.  The weather has been glorious again, I have a couple more garden jobs planned for this coming week so fingers crossed the sun continues to shine.

-X-

What I made in January

Well that little blogging break was longer than I expected, no particular reason other than I just didn't really feel like it.  Now, because of my absence I have quite a few makes to share.

First up is Suzannah, my third Carriage House Samplings girl.   She was finished early last year but I only got round to taking her to be framed in November and by then the framers were so busy that I only got her back in January.

This is a terrible photo and doesn't do her justice.  The top of her dress looks to be in different coloured grey, It's not! In real life the colours are just fine.

Luckily they had the same frame used for my other two girls in the series, here's a close up.

I just have one more girl to stitch, Mary Margaret, and then I have all four.  I have all the supplies to start, just need the motivation.

January's stitching was all about the month of February.  I loved my little Winter bowl so much, (which was inspired by the lovely Carol), that I decided that I'd like a February/Valentine one, so this is what I stitched.

Above - Love You Too - by Hands On Design a 2023 freebie

Below - Love Is Kind - by Hands On Designs a 2019 freebie

Above - Hugs and Kisses - by With Thy Needle and Thread 

(part of the Love Notes collection)

Below Is a little Valentine freebie I found on Pinterest

And here they are all together along with a couple of fabric hearts I made to fill up the space.

The other two pieces are LHN February calendar girl and February flip-it by LK, both of which were stitched a few years ago.

January was also good for knitting.

The Birch Trees scarf by Julia Marsh is a free pattern on Ravelry.  I started it on December 29th and finished it on January 12th.  I absolutely loved every second of this knit and would definitely knit another one.  The yarn was from stash, it's undyed Falkland merino which I bought almost five years ago when I went to Yarndale.   It's unbelievably soft and squishy and will be lovely and warm.

My second knit is also neckwear, this is the Litmus Cowl, everyone and his dog has made this cowl and as usual I'm late to the party.  I cast this on when I went away with Joanne and the kids at the end of August, Joanne was doing the driving so It made perfect car knitting, I did get a good bit done on the drive there and back and managed to pick it up and do a few rounds now and again during the week. It was put to one side when I got home though and I didn't pick it up again until December. 

 

The yarn is again from stash which was bought at Yarningham two or three years ago with this cowl in mind.  The minis are called Spring Rainbow from The Crafty Bird the grey is Carrara Marble from Yellow Van Yarns.  I repeated the 10 minis twice, thirteen rounds for each of the colours and twelve rounds for the grey.  I've already worn this one quite a lot and it's another pattern I would happily knit again, perhaps in darker shades next time.

My very last finish for January was a pair of socks.

The Yarn is Opal, from their Beauty collection and Is really very soft and lovely to knit with.

So those are all my finishes for January, a good crafty month to start the year :-)

I hope you are all doing well and have had a good start to 2024, things are bumping along ok here, much the same as they always do.  I'll be back again before the end of the month to share my Stick6 finish and in the meantime I will try to catch up with blog reading, I'm way behind with that.

Enjoy the rest of February

-X-

December 31st - The last Hurrah of 2022

Suzannah - Carriage House Samplings

Started beginning of April 2019, completed December 30th 2022

Yes, it has taken me three years and eight months to finish Suzannah!

In my defence I haven't done a lot of stitching this year, but still, that's an awful long time on one project.  I've stitched three girls now, just Molly left to do and will have the set.

I know these are not to everyone's stitching taste, but I just love the quirkiness of them.

The Rain Fell by Little House Needleworks

My daughter bought me this chart in 2020, I stitched it earlier this year, afterwards I put it to one side as I didn't know how to finish it, then I re-discovered this DMC box in my cupboard, the lid was designed to hold a stitched piece and this one almost fit.  There is a scroll at the top and bottom of the stitching but the opening wouldn't accommodate both, so I positioned the piece so that only the bottom scroll was showing, I think I turned out ok

My last finish of 2022 is a cardigan for Bonnie.  

The knitting was finished over a month ago but with everything else going on in early December I put off the actual finishing.  The body was knit in one piece to the armholes, the sleeves knit flat and then attached to the body, then the whole yolk section knitted in one piece, leaving only the sleeves to sew up.  

Excuse the awful photos, the colours are a little washed out because I took the photo at night, the main colour is purple, the whole thing is a lot brighter than shown here.

So those are my last finishes for 2022,  It feels good to get some things out of the way.  

Next year I'm going to be joining Martina and Manuela  in their Stick and/or knit 6 in 2023.  I've already chosen my six charts and they are mostly kitted up ready to go, I will start with No. 4 tomorrow, (that is the number that has been generated).  The idea is to work on this one now for the next two months.  If you would like to find out more about this SAL hop over to either Martina or Manuela's blog where they explain in more detail as there are two variations to choose from, I'm opting for the easy version one.

Thank you to everyone who has visited, commented or just scrolled though my posts this past year.  Blogging has fallen out of favour with so many people in recent years but it's still my favourite form of social media, you really do meet the nicest people in blog land 💖

So I will wish you all a very Happy New Year, may 2023 bring you all that you wish for.

Have a good one

-X-

Hello Suzannah, long time no see

Before I forget...I seemed to have caused some confusion last time when I mentioned a jacket potato.  It never occured to me that some of you wouldn't have a clue as to what I was talking about, sorry.   A couple of people asked if it was the same as a baked potato, and indeed it is!  I think years ago we also used to refer to them as a baked potato too, but generally now they are called Jackets Potatoes.

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There hasn't been an awful lot of stitching going on this year, I just didn't have the inclination to work on anything, but, as part of my effort to be a bit more sociable I decided at the end of August that I would start to go to the stitching group again.  This is the same stitching group I set up many years ago, I'm happy to say it's still going strong, with some of the same people still going who came to that very first meeting.  It was lovely to see and be amongst like minded people again and it was what I needed to get me stitching again.

I chose to get Suzannah out of hibernation to take with me.  You may or may not remember seeing her here before, It's been a long time.  I started her on 28th April 2019 when I went to a Nimble Thimble meet-up and then worked on her quite a lot when we went away for a week in early May that year.  

The last time I shared any progress, and also the last time I worked on her was 3 years ago, 

October 2019.  

This is how poor neglected Suzannah looked when she came out of hibernation.

And this is her now

Must not forget to stitch her eyes!

I'm really happy with the progress I'm making, I don't stitch every day but do try to give her a couple of days attention each week.

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A few weekends ago, when Mark was home, we went to the Autumn Show at the Three Counties Show Ground in Malvern.  We were both very pleasantly surprised at how good it was, there was so much to see and do, there were stalls and marquees selling everything from plants and gifts to garden ornaments and clothes.  There was a dog show, vintage caravans, (loved those!), vintage trucks and cars and for the kids, a vintage fairground and pets corner which had giant turtles, for a small fee you could go in and get among them.

There was a 'Best In Show' for flowers and plants and, my favourite, the giant vegetables.  There were cauliflowers as big as your head, leeks and rhubarb as long as your leg and pumpkins big enough to be made into Cinderella's carriage!  It was all wonderful, the weather was brilliant and we had a fantastic day.

I hope you can get a sense of how big these are, it's difficult to capture on photos.  

I'd like to know how on earth they are able to grow something this big! and how did they then transport it here 🤔 No surprise that this one won, it was huge!

 I'm on Nanny duty picking the boys up from school this afternoon so I'm off now to have something to eat and a cuppa before it's time to go.  I hope you are all well and having a lovely Monday.

-X-

And then the sun came out

I doubt today's sun would be enough to dry up all the rain, but what a complete contrast to yesterday's weather, blue sky's all round :-)

I got to take my walk along the canal, well, part of it, and how beautiful it was!

I walked in the direction of the Horseshoe Falls, which you can see in the last photo.

Thoroughly enjoyed my walk, I wish I had such a pleasant place to take walks back home.

I was ready for some lunch after a two hour walk so found a nice little bistro in the high street that did a lovely Sunday roast.

Then I spent a quiet afternoon with Suzannah again.

She now has an arm, which looks quite out of proportion to the rest of her body, lol

It's back home tomorrow, I've really enjoyed my little weekend break, it's nice to jump off the hamster wheel and press the reset button occasionally, I think we all feel better after a little 'me' time don't we?

I hope that you have been able to spend some time doing what makes you happy this weekend too :-)

See you soon

-X-