Bye Bye January ...

Happy Birthday Stephie

Here's the gift i made for Stephie's birthday. It's Hummingbird Scissor Case freebie from Xstitchhappy
Fabric is 28ct sky blue evenweave and threads DMC. First time i have made a scissor case like this and i'm very pleased with the result. Stephie's recently got back into stitching and blogging, please stop by and wish her Happy Birthday and encourage her to blog more!!!

Here we are at the end of January, this month has certainly whizzed by. Time to look at what i hoped to achieve, did i manage to do it???

Birthday gifts ~ DONE
Blogoversary Gift for Shellie ~ DONE
Monthly Challenge ~ DONE
Monthly Christmas Ornament ~ DONE
Start Beatrix Potter Quaker SAL ~ QUITE A BIT DONE

There was also the Peacock Stitching Chair to be made up and the PAP SAL parts 10-12 to stitch - NOPE not done either of these!!!! BUT ... I have just finished CCN The Tea Room, the SAL with Karen, i think i'll save a pic of that for next time and keep you waiting LOL

No stitchy pics today...

Midge is feeling a little poorly today and hates his mum!

When he came to me for a cuddle this morning, i picked him up as normal and he became very vocal, not like him at all, he's a loud purrer but not agressive and then tried to bite me. After DH and i had a close inspection to see where the problem was we had an emergency visit to the vets. It seems he has sat down somewhere on something very sharp, broken glass? barbed wire? There's an open wound about 3.5cm long. Major problem is due to where it is located (such close proximity to his boy bits!) there is not a lot to stitch together, so the poor little puss has to wear this 'hooded collar' until they see him again next Wednesday. They hope it will have healed a little and will decide if he needs to be operated on and stitched, if not what the next option is. He's doped up with antibiotics and painkillers to keep him calm and rested. The new bed DD bought him seems to be doing the trick and keeping him nice and cosy. There was some mention of cat haters putting things down to stop cats going in gardens, it better not have been that, if i find out it is and where they live, they will be handing over the cash to pay the vets bills.

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I've received 2 awards this week for my blog, so a big thank you to :-

Marian for the spreader of love award

Sally for the fabulous blog award

I have great trouble choosing just a few blogs from my long bloglist to pass on these awards to. You all deserve it for the different ways in which offer support and advice to me and for the wondeful work i see on your own blogs. Feel free to take this and add it to your own blog and nominate other bloggers you feel deserve it.

Have a great weekend

A reveal and a WIP

January's challenge was any free chart from Papillon Creations.

A friend has a birthday next month so i chose to use Tiny Quaker and make this wardrobe pomander biscornu for her. Thread is Anchor 1360 and i've wanted to use it for a while now so this was the ideal project. It's filled with the scent of Champange and roses and smells wonderful. Lots of different designs and finishes in the album this month.


Beatrix Potter Quaker is my first big quaker project and i'd already stitched on it for this months SAL, but couldn't resist getting it out again. It's so lovely to stitch on with only being one colour and it seems to grow very quickly even though its 1x1 on 25ct.

What did you all get up to over the weekend? I better go look at blogs and see what excitements been happening in your part of the world ....

Where did this week go to?

One of those weeks that passes you by, when i've not been sleeping or resting i've been reading a little and stitching only a little.

Santa brought me a few new books, 2 of them were the same, one in paperback and the other hardback. Lynda Page is a local lady author who writes novels about the city i live in so its nice to know the places she is talking about. The hardback one was a bit special though she has written inside it just for me. The paperback one is from my son and that is also signed inside by the author when she was at a local book signing and he managed to get a copy!!


Hopefully this weekend will be a bit more productive on the stitching front, the weather is supposed to be rain, rain, rain yet again, so a good excuse to stay inside and settle in front of the TV.

Hope you all have a great weekend

Stitch Alongs ...

Quite a bit of stitching achieved here this week, the January challenge is complete but no reveal of this one till next weekend when the album will be open for us all to admire each others work. This month the choice was any design from Papillon Creations freebies, a tough choice which one to do, but i am pleased with the finished result.

Here's my first WIP pic of the Beatrix Potter Quaker SAL. I started this Friday evening, then spent a lovely afternoon yesterday when everyone was out stitching away. Just to make it more exciting i watched Miss Potter at the same time and got lots achieved. I decided to stitch it 1x1 and even then the finished size will be approx 12"x10" Fabric i finally chose is 25ct laguna in potato (i liked the flecks in it), thread choice is Carries Creations in Wedgewood. There are 100 ladies on the SAL blog joining in with this. Thank you Hazel for allowing me to join you all.

Earlier in the week i did my evening on The Tea Room, the SAL with Karen. My winter tree has now grown and i added the street lamp as i am having to put the light on here in the day to see anything and we cant possibly drink tea in the dark can we! 2 tubs with plants and the leaves need to emerge and also a bit of greenery under the words still to do before i have a happy dance wth this one.

Weatherwise, its been really horrid here. We've had gale force winds and lashing rain, wellington boots are needed if i go into the shed as we are under water in there, guess where by boots are... no, not in the shed, they're at the allotment LOL

Happy Stitching

Christmas again!

No of course it's not, you haven't hibernated and missed a whole year!

I joined a monthly ornament SAL so that when December comes round again i should have a nice collection to keep or send out as gifts .... oh to be organised, i hope i can keep it up all year. This one is JBW Peace on Earth from JCS Ornie mag 2006. I do love JBW designs and they stitch up so quickly. There are quite a few nice ones in this edition i like so you might just see another from there next month too.

Tonight Mr Stick and i are hosting UFO night over at Stitch and Stash. It's a really fun night each Tuesday and the girls are so encouraging to each other. Last year there were such a lot of finishes, although some ladies do still have a 'few' UFO's in their stash so i don't think Mr Stick will be made redundant during 2009.

Happy Stitching and UFO'ing.....(yes Karan that means you too!)

Blogoversary and Birthday Gift

I can reveal the blogoversary gift i stitched for Shellie now i know Royal Mail delivered it safely. I asked if there was anything she would like, a return email said fob or something stitching related, fave colour purple. Stitched 1 over 1 is the design by Mary Garry called She Who Sews. Fabric is an unknown piece of 28ct evenwave in a lilac colour and the threads/twisted cord edge are DMC.

A keen eye spotted another pair of naked scissors at the stitching club so another of the ladies will be getting a fob for her birthday soon. Fabric for this one was a small oddment from Polstitches Designs Dragon Shades range called Mellow Moments. I wanted a nice bright thread on this and chose Vicki Clayton silk in Ocean. The design again i made up after stitching the 22 stitch backstitch edge.

Sunday again and that means an update of the Tea Room SAL with Karen. I decided if we were to have a cup of tea we wouldn't be able to sit on the grass under the tree so i better stitch in the seat first LOL

It's been really cold here this weekend and we had visitors for lunch Saturday and Sunday too, but when i wasn't chatting/eating i could be found camped out by the fire and stitched quite a bit. The Christmas monthly ornament is stitched and finished so i'll take a picture of that maybe tomorrow. Still not made up the Peacock Chair or started the BP Quaker, just not in the mood for either and felt more at home with the smaller projects this weekend. I hope you all had a good weekend too.

SAL with Karen

Seems a long time ago that i stitched on this, but after another evening, CCN The Tea Room is open for business. Time to plant a tree or maybe build a seat next. We still have some snow/ice on the ground making it a no go area outside, what a shame eh! I'll just have to go and visit my 'tea room' and sit and stitch keeping cosy and warm, such terrible things we have to endure LOL.

Wonder what treats are left inside the cake/biscuit tin ....

It's stitched!

I really wanted to get this one finished in 2008 but it just didn't happen.

I had told myself i wont be able to start the Beatrix Potter SAL until this was stitched and the PAP SAL finished. I put the last stitch into The Peacock Chair today, i just need to read thoroughly through the instructions on how to make it up and hope that i dont make a mess of it. Not sure i will be able to wait till the PAP is stitched though, lots of ladies are showing WIP pics and i am keen to put the first stitch in.

We're experiencing some really cold weather here in the UK and they are predicting it to be worse for the next few days, i cant remember it this cold for a long time.

Hedwig (our pet name for Mr Moe as he really does look like an owl when sitting in our pear tree!) can be found staring up the chimney! Do you think he's wondering where he can get his hands on some 'floo powder' so he can transport himself to somewhere nice and warm and be pampered? I'm not sure he'll want to end up in Diagon Alley though, he might find some undesireables there...

Sunday today and that should mean an update of the CCN SAL with Karen. Sorry but no pic today as i'm planning to stitch this weeks night this evening.

Hope you all had a nice weekend and that the UK ladies are keeping warm and cosy.

Happy Birthday Karen...

Knowing Karens love of pink i had one of those lightbulb moments when i stitched the pin cushion using the Just Nan Whimzi Rose on the pink 28ct jobelan. I decided to stitch it again and add a border which i designed and made up as i went along to make a scissor pocket. The little fob uses the centre of the rose. I found this gorgeous checked ribbon at my LNS and it complimented it so perfectly.



I hope you've had a wonderful Birthday Karen and have been thoroughly spoilt. Love and {hugs}

Blogoversary drawing

January 1st has arrived, time to draw a winner

DH drew a name and the winner is ............

SHELLIE

Congrats Shellie, can you email me through my profile here with your address and whether you would like a bunny or a stitched item.

Thanks to all who entered