Beatrix and the boys

Beatrix has been put away now till next month. It's amazing what you get done just taking it to the stitching club each Wednesday night and the odd evening inbetween. This month i managed to add 4 motifs and that just leaves 2 for a finish. Two months to go till the SAL ends so i should easily get it finished in 2009, thanks Hazel for organising this SAL, its been great fun and was my first quaker biggie.

Marian has asked how my "fluffy boys" are as i haven't posted any pictures for a while. They have been busy perfecting the art of cushion hugging, although i think Midge has an identity crisis as he is in 'her ladyships' chair (yes girls thats mine) my SIL bought me the lovely cushion as a birthday gift. Oh to be a furbaby and enjoy the comforts of a good home!

DH is off work right now and confined to home with what they think is acute tonsillitus, they have swabbed the bacterial growths to check for H1N1 as apparently its on the increase again. With his asthma history they want to be certain as he is due to have a flu jab and also the swine flu one when it is available at our surgery.

Reveal day

Octobers monthly challenge was for either Four Fat Friends or First Snow from The Drawn Thread. I had almost finished stitching First Snow and had a great idea of how it was going to be finished when DH looked over my shoulder and said 'i do hope that one is our Christmas Ornament for this year, its really nice' so it ended up as just that and will adorn our tree this year. Its stitched on 36ct edinburgh linen using Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art Sampler threads. Instead of stitching the snowflakes i used Delica beads which sparkle that i had in my stash although they dont show up so well in the picture.

The mini christmas stockings that DS wanted knitting for his friends children are to be filled with mini chocolate santas. He didnt want traditional christmas colours but asked if they could be typical blue/boy and pink/girl but i did add some holly leaves and berries to them to make them seem a bit more Christmassy. He was really pleased with them and i hope the kids are too.

Did you all remember to put the clocks back last night and enjoy your extra hour in bed...

Knit not stitch

Only 1 evening of stitching this week which was Wednesday at the club, i took Beatrix with me and accomplished half of another motif, its growing but very slowly, why is it the last little bit gets so boring and always takes forever?

It's been more of a knitty week, DH's halloween socks are complete, he's really pleased with them especially as they are a bit longer in the leg than the other pair.

I've also been knitting some Christmas surprise smalls which grow really fast. DS saw them and has asked for 2 for his friends children for Christmas.

Thank you to Gaynor for the lovely knitting mag which i won in a contest on her blog. It's got a great book about crochet with it, thats the 'lets try something new' i want to do in 2010, this year it was the socks and i have mastered those (i know its only on 2 needles and i have yet to master the 4 needles LOL) Lots of stitchers seem to be enjoying taking a break from stitching and trying knitting or crochet recently i have seen it on lots of blogs.

This morning i finished off the monthly challenge piece. This month it's a choice of 2 free designs from The Drawn Thread, not long till the reveal of this as its next Sunday.

Enjoy your crafty time ...

Third of the journey...

Yes, thats how far Lady Scarlets Journey has travelled. I spent quite a bit of time today on this, tried to get on the computer but MSN wasn't working here and i couldn't get online to chat and play. Naughty words and stress levels rising i thought it best to sit quietly and concentrate on something else and this flew out the basket. Nice calming deep breaths and a few hours later and i am ready to start Part II next time. The first WIP pic of this has inspired the ladies at 'Stitch & Stash' to have a Just Nan SAL which will start in January and of course i'll be joining, i just need to decide what to do and make sure i have all the supplies needed.

DH is looking forward to next weeks 'Strictly knitting' session so this lonesome sock can be introduced to its partner, he really loves the colour and randomness of this wool, in fact he likes it better than the stripey ones!! This time i chose to do a double rib top and have made it a couple of inches longer in the leg for him.

Thanks for all your good wishes about my health, something not nice was happening and i needed a check-up, seems it might be the usual MS issues and i have a review again in December.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you all had a great weekend whatever you did

RAK's

A little RAK surprise i sent out has travelled over the pond and arrived safely with her new mum. Please meet 'Merry' as she has been christened by Sharon (daffycat). Is that because she came from 'merry old England' i wonder? She's settled in really well with the animals and is even helping out with stitching, nice pics on daffycats blog for you to see. I'm so pleased and relieved she arrived safely with you Sharon, i always panic when i send out a surprise in the post. I'll add her pic to rabbit rabbit with all the other bunnys.


A very autumnal bouquet of flowers was delivered from my daughter. She's been having a few troubles recently and we have been helping out a lot, also i've not been too well and had a visit to the hospital and these were a 'thank you for all your help and hope you are soon feeling better mum' pressie.

I'm off to the stitching club this evening, but before then i have a visit to the dentist this afternoon.

A gift, a finish and half a sock!

A surprise gift ...

Look what dropped through my letterbox late last week.

Karen has been playing with glass and made me this wonderful fob for my bag. She knows i am a fan of green, dont you just love the prickly spotty one, its so lovely to touch and feel. Thank you so much Karen, lots of folks have admired your latest creation and i do feel very special being able to actually see/touch the wonderful things you make with glass.

A little stitching for me this week, started the monthly ornament for Stitch & Stash and today i put it together. Festive hardanger ornament is from Cross Stitch & Country Crafts magazine March 1994, i think i was sent this in an exchange quite a long time ago. Something a little different this month but a very enjoyable project to stitch. It's stitched in the colours it asks for and how lucky that i had a skein of Caron Watercolour in African Sunset in my stash. I remember receiving it in an exchange a few years ago and it has just sat there waiting for this chart to jump out the pile at me, the green is Weeks Dye Works Perle 5 in Scuppernong.

It was 'Strictly' last night and DH's 2nd pair of socks were started. The last 2 balls of wool i bought in the sale from Black Sheep. He commented that these look like halloween socks, i chose this colourway as i wanted to see how it knitted up compared to the stripey stuff. Seems it gets the thumbs up, maybe i'll have to have a little splurge and order some more sock wool.

Have fun stitching, knitting, glass playing or doing any craft you care too....