20th December - The stocking is done!

 It's a late one posting tonight.  I've just sat down for a cuppa and some well deserved pudding after having a soak in the bath.  

 I was determined that today I would make up Jacob's Christmas stocking, and I did!  It took quite a while and a lot of swear words, but it's done, finally.  It's not perfect but it will pass as long as you don't inspect it too closely.

Ta dah

The back is just plain red upholstery fabric that I also used for Oliver's seven years ago, and I still have loads of it left.

Now all four of my grandchildren have their own Christmas stocking made by me :-)  That'll be a talking point in Christmases to come when they are all grown up.  I do like the thought that they will all have something made by my hand to remember me by.

I will have a little moan though.  These charts and their charms are not cheap and when it comes to making them up Shepherd's Bush does not provide a pattern, I think there are very brief instructions on their website but they are virtually no help.  The first two I made I went to a local sewing shop and the very nice owner talked me through making it up, this one and the one I made for Arty last year I went solo with the help of watching Vonna's tutorial a few times.

If you haven't seen the other stockings and would like to you will find them HERE. (scroll down a bit) HERE and HERE

This morning I come downstairs and there was a card in the kitchen, I thought someone had put a Christmas card through the door but when I opened it....

Oops!  I forgot, again. 😳  

34 Years today.  What year do you get your long service medal 😃

Not many more lovely advents left to open now, here are today's

Take care, see you tomorrow

-X-

6th December - Better get a move on

 I feel as though I've been working on Jacobs Christmas stocking forever when in fact I only started in the last week of July.  Still, that's quite a while ago and it really should be done now.

I'm so very close and I need to push myself to do it this week.  I have one small motif and his name to add, oh, and the bling to put on, so it's easily doable.  That will leave me the weekend to lock myself into a room and make it into a stocking. 😨 I have already made three of these up so you would think I'd know what I'm doing by now, but no, I still need to watch tutorials on how to go about it, so if you here a lot of cussing going on you'll know where it's coming from!

Here are today's lovely yarn advents and candle

I survived the trip to Ikea.  I got there not long after it opened and although there was a queue It was moving so I didn't wait above five minutes.  I didn't linger too much and got what I wanted and the checkouts were really quiet, I know what you mean about getting lost in there though Jo, the fact that you have to walk all the way round even if you know what you want is a pain, but a very good sales ploy, lol  I don't think there are many people who go to Ikea and only come out with what they went for!

In my case today that was some Christmas storage bags, at £1.75 they were a bargain I couldn't pass up and they will be better than the big boxes I have now that I have less Christmas clutter decorations.

I hope your Sunday has been a good one

-X-

Christmas Stocking update

Jacobs Christmas stockings was one thing I really wanted to make headway on in July but that wasn't to be.  I waited ages for thread to come in stock and spent another age tracking down one of the Classic ColourWorks threads.  Classic Colourworks, apparently , have stopped making perle #5 thread.  My LNS did have one of the CC colours I needed but not the Purple Aster.  I did eventually managed to track some down online, lucky for me they had old stock.

In the end, July came and went without me putting a single stitch into this stocking.

August stitching was a little better now I had all the required threads but with one thing and another time wasn't on my side.

(No idea what that weird blurry patch is on the photo below, must have been a smear on the lens)

So far this month I've made sure that I've set a chunk of time aside each week so that I can see some progress

And here is where i'm at so far.  I sat and did a good few hours on Friday and got the coat all done and some of the smaller motifs.

Although I haven't had any stitching time over the weekend I feel like I've done the biggest part now and I'm bit more confident about getting it finished in time, fingers crossed.

I hope you have a lovely week, I'll see you soon

-X-

Week one of Jolly July

I haven't joined a SAL for quite a while, mainly because I'm not very good at keeping up and I prefer to do my own thing when I feel like it.  But this year I've decided to join in with Jolly July / Christmas in July.  It's not strictly a SAL because the only thing required is for you to stitch something Christmas related.  I don't have a problem with that as it's my favourite season to stitch. 

So, in no particular order, these are my Jolly July starts for the first week.

LHN Frosty Flakes

I'm stitching with the recommended colours on a mystery piece of 32 count fabric.

32 count is not my favourite, I think the stitches look a little bulky using two stands of floss but I'm taking it slowly and I think it looks ok so far.

Next is The Button Tree by The Drawn Thread

Again I'm using the called for threads on some pale grey 28 count evenweave. 

I only started this one yesterday and am already almost half way.  I don't have enough pretty buttons to finish it so will have to search Amazon or ebay for those.

This is Country Cottage Needleworks Gingerbread House #3

Another chart I've had for ages and never stitched before.  

I'm stitching this on 28 count fabric in pale blue with the recommended threads.

  I really love how this one looks 💗💗

And finally, Jacobs Christmas stocking.  

This is Brett's stocking by Shepherds Bush

 I'm still waiting for some of the threads to come for this one, hence the small amount of stitching, hopefully they will be here within the next week.  I could carry on stitching further down the chart but I'm scared of miss-counting and having to rip it out again, I'd sooner wait and get it right.

Next week I plan on having another three or four starts and then I'll work on them all in turn until the end of the month, obviously Jacobs stocking is going to take me longer than a few weeks to stitch but as long as I get the stitching done on it by around the end of September that will give me plenty of time to make it up.

I got the call from work last Friday afternoon, it was what I had expected from the off.  Redundancy.

I won't go into the all the ways that I feel hurt and betrayed by the company I've worked at for the last fifteen years, but lets just say I've shed a few tears because of it and that the Directors are not the people I thought they were.

At the moment I don't feel in the right frame of mind to go looking for another job, I've never been in this situation before and I need time to get my head round it and feel better about myself.

In the meantime I'm enjoying a slower pace to the days and as you can see, getting lots of stitching time.  I know there are going to be lots of people who loose their jobs before we are through with this pandemic and I do feel for you If you are one of those people too.  I count myself very lucky in that we didn't rely on my money but I know i'm going to miss the routine of work and the office banter.

I hope you are all staying safe and well

See you soon

-X-

Christmas Stitching

I started stitching Reed's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush for Arthur in the last week of July, If I had been monogamous in my crafting it would probably have been finished by now, but as I'm a crafting butterfly I'm still working on it :-)

It's close, so I'm aiming for the end of September now, still plenty of time to get it made up before December 1st.

How it should look

My progress

Once you get going on these stockings they do stitch up quite quickly.  The beads and buttons etc will be the last things to add before making it up into a stocking.

It's been a beautiful sunny day here today, although cooler, I'm loving the nip in the air when you go out in the morning and the cooler nights too.  This time of year is much more to my liking than hot sticky nights when you can't sleep.

I'm managing to keep on top of collecting the acorns which litter our garden at this time of year, it's a case of going out and sweeping the path almost every day and mowing over the grass two or three times a week but it's the easiest way to pick them up and it doesn't take long, as long as it's dry.

I've been planting some bulbs and picked up some Violas from the garden centre last week too, and planted this little pot to keep on the patio table.

Their little faces are so sweet, don't you think?

I've planted up a couple of pots with yellow ones too, they look so cheerful and brighten the garden so much when the sun shines :-)

We had a spare trough going now the courgettes have finished so I planted it up with a few herbs, Rosemary, Parsley, Spearmint and Chives.  I only planted what I thought I would use for now.   

I've already been using the Spearmint in my infuser bottle and it makes a nice refreshing drink :-)

Well that's it for my Sunday catch-up.  I wish you all a lovely week and I'll see you soon.

-X-

What I'm working on

I had planned on making a start on stitching Bonnie's Christmas stocking at the beginning of the year, but with one thing and another that didn't happen.  I finally made a start at the end of April and although I haven't worked on it everyday when I have stitched on it I've made good progress.

It's hard to get a good photograph of all because it's on a roller frame.  I've stitched the top border too and will leave adding her name till last.  This is Elizabeth's stocking by Shepherds Bush, stitched in the recommended Perle threads.  I'm hoping to get this finished by the end of June and that will leave me plenty of time to stitch one for Arthur too.  I stitched and finished one for Oliver for his first Christmas, you can see Oliver's stocking here 

Last year I bought a beach bag kit from Sew and So when they were having a sale, I forgot all about it until I was having a sort out a couple of weeks ago.  The pack contained all the material but not the wadding.  There were no making up instructions but after I called them they did email them to me right away.

I'm really happy how this turned out, it's not perfect, the inside pocket is too high for a start, but I like it :-)

I fashioned a bottom for the bag by cutting some thick cardboard and covering it with sticky backed plastic because I didn't want a saggy bottom!!

I've had two days off work this week and I couldn't have picked two better days, the weather has been beautiful.  Yesterday I went for a lovely long walk and then stitched and caught up on some TV in the afternoon.  Today I sat outside all afternoon doing a bit of knitting and some beach hut stitching while listening to my audio book.  I feel like my batteries have been re-charged and I'm ready to face the office again tomorrow.

Beach Hut stitching - I will reveal what these are for in a future post :-)

I've done so much baby knitting over the last year, now it's time for something a little bigger, If It comes out ok this will be a top for me.  The back is almost done and so far I'm enjoying it.

I've got most of my plants in the garden or in the pots now and everything is coming on nicely

.

I planted some Alliums for the first time, not all of them have come up though.  I didn't think any of the white ones had survived but then this one appeared and there is another one in the other bed which is just starting to open.

The previous owner planted this Lily of the Valley, it's tucked away on the far side of the conservatory so you can't really see it, which is a shame but you can catch it's scent if the wind is in the right direction.  I've been picking some for in home and the smell is wonderful.

I hope you too are enjoying some lovely weather :-)

-X-