On this last day of February

I'm so happy to share another stitching finish for February.

  It seems that sorting out my stash over Christmas and kitting some of my charts up has done wonders to get me motivated :-)

This is Pumpkin Spice Farm by Hands on Design

I absolutely love this one and thoroughly enjoyed every stitch :-)

I will be making it into a pillow later in the year, after I have found the right backing fabric.

The chenille trim will be edging for the pillow.

It's been another good month for reading too with five books finished, three on my Kindle, one physical book and one audio.

Really enjoyed these three from Teresa Driscoll.

The Wife Between us was full of twists and I didn't guess the ending!

The Six Tudor Queens was my audio book, although Jane is not my favourite Queen and there wasn't really anything new in this book, but I love anything to do with the Tudors so I enjoyed it.

We have also had record temperatures for February, beautiful blue skies and no need for coats.

Of course, it's still Winter so it couldn't last, but It did make a lovely change.

I hope you too have had a great February, I'd love to hear about it. :-)

-X-

Yarn Mail

It's only in the last 18 months or so really that I've become aware and interested in hand dyed yarn, I tend to have knit a lot of baby things, as you might well have noticed, lol, and to me you need to be able to machine wash baby blankets and cardigans, who wants the added chore of hand washing a pile of cardigans when they have a baby, I know I didn't!  So for all the blankets and cardigans I knit for our little people I used a good quality acrylic yarn, something easy to care for. 

But, I do love all the lovely hand dyed yarns and so just before Christmas I treated myself to one of Ellie's yarns, (Craft House Magic).  I absolutely LOVE this colour way and I get it out of the cabinet and admire it most weeks :-) 

Over The Rainbow by Craft House Magic

Then towards the end of December Lay Family Yarns announced a mini club, you would receive three mini skien yarns dyed by Lay Family Yarns and three by a guest dyer 

This was January's parcel. The guest dyer was Fine Fish Yarns

And this was February's parcel with guest dyer Betsy Makes

Unfortunately I missed the sign up for the one for March+ but I've made a note in my diary so I don't miss out on the next one.

I have seen so many people making mitered square blankets and they look so pretty I thought I would like to have a go too, so that's what these mini's will be for, obviously I have a lot more to collect yet though.

Also so from Lay Family Yarns,  I signed up for one of their Valentine kits, this one is  Long Lost Love Letters

And my final spurge in December was to sign up to the  Literary & Hand Dyed Yarn Society from Dandelion & Dogwood.  

The idea behind this is that Ami and Jen choose a favourite book they have read and use that for the inspiration to dye the yarn.  

This idea really appealed to me and so I signed up for the three months subscription, there will be an option to sign up for more after that which I'm hoping to do

This was what I received in January, don't you think they did an excellent job with matching the yarn?

I hadn't read this book, but I have watched the film and really enjoyed it.

February's box arrived last week and the book that inspired the yarn was Eleanor Oliphant.

I read this last year and really enjoyed it.  

 There is a Ravelry group to accompany the yarn society where you can discuss the book and share what project you are knitting with your yarn,  but I must confess that I haven't joined the group, but I am enjoying receiving the yarn :-)

I'm in no rush to knit anything with these lovely yarns at the moment, I'm happy just to have them in my stash and admire them for the time being.

Have a great week

-X-

February's ornament

My February ornament is all stitched, as with my January one I will make it up at a later date.

(Please excuse the dreadful photos!!)

Crowning the Tree by Blackbird Designs

Started February 3rd

Finished February 17th

Stitched with the called for threads on a piece of mystery fabric from my stash.

I came across this chart all kitted up with the threads when I was having a sort out in my little crafty space at the beginning of the year, I think this year is going to be the year that you see lots of things that I had previously forgotten about, lol.

The weather has been brilliant this past week, still cold, but the days have been mostly bright and sunny, it really feels like Spring is just around the corner with lots of promise of colour to come in the garden and my pots too.

On Thursday I spent an hour raking some more leaves up (they are never ending in our garden because of the oak tree) and I decided to open up my little blue house and give it a sweep and clean ready for warmer days.  I don't think I ever posted any photos of my little house after it was all painted last year.  It's stretching the imagination a bit to call it a Summer House, It's really just a space to sit when the weather is nice, it sits half way up the garden between the two lawns.

The chairs are what the previous owner left in the conservatory, Mark wanted to throw them out when we moved in but I stood my ground, for the last four years they were stored first in our garage, and then after Mark converted half the garage they were stored in my daughter's garage.  

Every so often he would say they should to go to the tip!

When I finally got my little house towards the end of last summer I bought some new cushions off ebay and now I'm so glad I stood my ground, lol.  One day I would like to paint them white, but for now I'm happy with them as they are.

I bought these postcards last year when I went to Llandudno and put them in a frame I bought from The Range, they look right at home in my little blue house.

And  I crocheted a large mandala rug for the floor and chalk painted an old table.

The cushions I think I showed last year.

I have wanted a little space like this in the garden for such a long time and now I have one :-) and I can't wait to spend time sitting in here this summer.

I wish you all a wonderful week

See you soon

-X-

En Retard!

This chart could not have a more perfect name for the title of my post :-)

I lost momentum on *En Retard and failed to get it finished in time for Christmas 2018, but when I picked it up last Saturday I found that I only had three stars, the eyes on the reindeer and the backstich on the sleigh to do.

I had an idea when stitching it that I would like it to be mounted in a frame but with linen behind it, and I found the perfect thing in Home Sense.  The frame had string draped inside with those mini pegs to hang things from, so I just cut that away, the backing was perfect, just what I had in mind :-)

I laced the stitching on some white foam board (which I bought from Hobby Craft) and then hot glued three small pieces of the same foam board onto the backing board in the frame so that the stitching would stand a little proud.  Then I hot glued the stitching to those three pieces of foam board.  I was careful to only place the glue onto the foam board on the back of the stitching, not on the fabric.

En Retard by Madame Chantilly stitched on 28 count fabric using the called for threads except for the red, which I changed to Threadworx 1089

I'm rather pleased with the outcome :-)

It's only the second time I've tried lacing and it's really not as scary as it sounds.  I quite enjoyed the process, to be honest I found it much easier than making up small ornaments.

I initially thought that the frame could do with some embellishing, (it seems to be the thing at the moment when finishing cross stitch), now i'm not so sure.  I'm going to leave it for now, it's got to be packed away until Christmas anyway so I'll see how I feel when it makes another appearance.

Mark went to Twickenham this morning, his work had paid for tickets to see the England game and a hotel for tonight too, no point in him coming all the way back here tonight to go that way again in the morning for work, so I've had a quiet Sunday stitching and catching up on some podcasts. 

 England won, if you're interested, and he said the atmosphere was amazing :-)

I wish you all a lovely week and I'll see you soon

-X-

*En Retard, translation, late! 

Or you could say that I'm just very early for Christmas 2019 :-)

January, it was good

I always seem to start the year off well with making things, there is something about January that makes me feel positive, something to do with new year goals I suppose.  Lets hope I can make the it last for more than just a month :-)

After my tidy up / sort out in my crafty space I realised I have quite a lot of acrylic yarn, not really enough of any one colour to make anything but paired together I will be able to make up some little blankets.  This one has already gone to it's new home

I have not idea why I have so much Stylecraft in yellow, on it's own it's a bit bright, but put with white I think it looks really fresh and clean.  

 I bought this little octopus kit from the Cotton Pod when we went to Yarndale last September.

It only took a night to make but, those sleepy eyes! oh my goodness, I think I stitched them on at least six times!  Finally I got them so I was happy :-)

He has gone to live with Oliver, who, I'm happy to say still loves his stuffed animals and teddy's

I finished my first ornament of the year.  You might remember I'm stitching monthly ornaments along with some friends on a small FB group we have going.  I'm going to wait and do the actual finishing  when I have a few to do.

My second stitched finish was only finished tonight and I couldn't wait to show it to you even though it's still on the Q snap!

Good Tidings by The Drawn Thread
Started December 26th 2019 - Finished 31st January 2019

I had wanted to get it all done by the end of January, and I have, by the kin of my teeth, lol. 

I'm still not overly keen on stitching on linen, I don't like the unevenness when stitching so I'm glad it's done if i'm honest.  It has a few 'personal design features', but on the whole I'm happy.

January has also been a good month for reading.  

Towards the latter part of last year I didn't read as much as I would have liked and I missed having my nose in a good book.
This month I read 3 books on my Kindle and listened to 3 audio books

My favourite for the month was The Friend.

My least favourite was The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

So that's it for January, not a bad month at all, what about you?  How have you filled your first month of the year?

-X-

All the UFO's, well stitching ones anyway

There have been a lot of posts on Instagram this last week about tidying up your crafty space.  I don't have a craft room as such but I have been able to re-claim our smallest bedroom for storing all things crafty since Oliver is not sleeping over now that Jenny isn't working late's.  

It was slowly turning into a dumping ground though, as rooms that are not occupied have a habit of becoming, so this week I've made myself go in there for at least half an hour each day to sort out drawers and boxes. 

I found out all my cross stitch projects, UFO's and finishes not "fully finished" and also two projects that I really don't think I want to finish the stitching on.

So here we go....

The stitching is all finished on this one but it was too large for an ornament and I didn't know what else to do with it. (any suggestions would be welcome).

This is a Lizzie Kate stocking and I didn't know how to go about finishing it!

 (you can see how old this one is!!)

Pear Tree is a very old finish, older than the one above but I remember that I cut the fabric too close to the stitching and I was so annoyed with myself that I just shoved it in the cupboard.  Every now and then I get It out and still don't know what to do with it.

This Carriage House Samplings piece has been in the cupboard for a couple of years too, I just need to take it to be framed!  

I remember I was putting off taking it at the time of finishing the stitching because I knew it was going to cost probably £50 plus to get it framed.  

It's more than likely going to cost me more than £50 now, but I really should take it in.  

I have two more of these 'Girls' to stitch and I know they are not everyone's cup of tea, but I do love their quirkiness.

Prairie Schooler Santa's waiting for minimal stitching to get them done.

All the backing card and fabric is all cut out ready to finish these.

 I started the one below in 2017, LHN 'Snow White' I just lost motivation with this one, but I do still like it so it will get done sometime.

Remember this one?

I have no idea why this one didn't get finished for Christmas, it was so close.  I even had the frame all ready for it too.  Perhaps I can get this one done in February.

These next two are really old, old projects, so old I can't remember what this one is called, lol. I forgot to look when I pulled it out yesterday, I do know that it's supposed to be a pillow and it's still on the scroll frame.

I still quite like it so perhaps someday I will finish it 

This one was started as a SAL with a fellow blogger, Judy, who lives in Canada.  Judy no longer blogs but we do speak on Instagram, I'll have to ask her if she ever finished hers.

Sampler Game board by The Drawn Thread

 I do want to finish this but I'm not keen on the fabric, it's very 'floppy'

This is how it would look once finished

The next two projects are the ones that I no longer want to carry on with.

 The first one is Elizabeth Jackson by Samplers Revisited

I like it but I haven't got the wall space and the colours really don't go in my house anymore

Homespum Elegance Summer Patches

This is stitched on the called for cushion, not much stitching left to do, but again, won't really go in my house now.

I am looking to sell the last two partly stitched pieces because it really would be a shame to leave them stored in bags.  I have listed them on ebay and on a FB group, but If you know anyone that would be interested in buying either of them then do let me know, my email is in the sidebar.

So that's my Stitching UFO parade It's not as many as I thought and certainly no where near as many as some people have on the go but I would still like it to be less.  

I'm going to try harder this year to keep more focused, and now that I've sorted these out you never know I might decide to work on the ones I want to keep and fully finish the ones that are stitched. 

Have a great week

see you soon

-X-

New Year Stitching

At some point in January I want to a post about all the things I've carried over from 2018 but I need time to get them together, take photos ect so today is all about the new starts.

A small group of us on Facebook are doing an ornament SAL.  We started out with good intentions last year to stitch a Christmas ornament a month, well that didn't turn out too well, but undeterred we are setting out yet again to attempt to stitch twelve ornaments in 2019, some are alternating between Christmas and Halloween some will stitch just Christmas, we will be sharing our finishes on the last Sunday in the Month, although mine will more than likely not be fully finished as it's such a pain to get all the finishing paraphernalia out for just one thing.

January ornament

LHN "Gingerbread Cookie"

My new start on New Years Day was "Good Tidings" by The Drawn Thread

I'ts been a while since I've stitched anything using just one strand of thread but I do love the way it's looking.

This coming week I will be alternating between these two pieces with perhaps a little bit of scarf knitting when the light becomes to poor to stitch by.

I hope 2019 got off to a good start for you, it was back to work for us on Wednesday and it was nice to get back some routine to the days, I like routine, I function better with routine, plus I always start the new year with a new 'back to work wardrobe' so I get to start wearing all my new clothes, of which I got quite a lot this time, all in the sales I hasten to add.  I don't really go in for sales but I chose shops where I could buy good quality clothes at more or less half their original prices and that will last more than just this year, a lot of the time I bought on line, so no trekking around shopping centres winner all round!  

I hope you all have a good week whatever you are doing

See you soon

-X-