SAL progress only this week

Good afternoon blog readers....

although there is absolutely nothing good at all about todays weather, or the past 3 days either. All we've seen is wet, wet, wet and i dont mean the boy band (although if Marty Pellow did arrive at the front door i wouldn't send him away lol)

My back garden resembles the beginnings of a lake and poor Midge is very reluctant to step outside the back door for a stroll. He'll be needing webbed feet at this rate and apparently more rain is on the horizon .... what happened to the lovely cold, bright, sunny, crisp November mornings that are the norm for this time of year?  

This week i only have a couple of update pics to share with you.

The Parlour night SAL with Barb and the ladies at NH from last week. I built a house on Holly & Berries and very Christmassy it looks too. Hopefully this week we will have snow (nooooo not literally!!)

Saturday was the Strictly UFO Night SAL. Finished off the filling in around the dome at the top and also filled in some sea and added a few words.

I have a dilemma with this one now though. My dad was a seaman and when i saw this design it made me think of him. He went to sea at 13 years of age on the Arethusa which was a masted training ship stationed on the River Thames in London similar to the ones on the pictures of this sampler.  He sadly passed away 19th December 2005 and i was going to add his name and date to this block but now i'm not sure. The sampler is more of a sweethearts sampler isnt it? What do you think? Should i not worry about that and go with my first instinct to dedicate this beautiful and big piece to dad or stitch it as it is?

It's been lovely to read blogs this week and i have seen some wonderful and exciting things being made by very talented ladies, not only stitching, but also, knitting, crochet and quilting.

Christmas preparations have begun here, a few gifts purchased, some cards and last Saturday i made our Christmas cake. Amy came over to have her traditional 'wish stir' of the cake mixture.  She's been doing this since she was a small girl and santa is really good and mostly grants her wishes. This year she wanted Isabelle to have her very first stir and continue the tradition. That was fun and the cake this year will definately be slightly smaller as some of the mix was splatted onto the table as excitement took over and she got a bit carried away.

She's a little poorly at the minute with a cough, but i couldn't resist showing you this little pic i took last time i saw her of what mummy calls 'the squinty face'  We have the 'happy face,' the sad face,' 'the angry face' and when you ask her to do it she does each one right on cue lol. Such fun being a grandparent, one loving cuddle can make any worry seem a million miles away at that moment.

Wishing all those who will be celebrating Thanksgiving with their friends, family and loved ones a very happy day tomorrow.

Can show, can't show, can show, can't show...

I had a lovely start to the week.  Tina had a train journey and came for a visit for the day on Monday and i showed her how to make pin keeps.  She doesn't have a blog but does some beautiful stitching. She brought with her Sampler Aux Bouquets,  i just wanted you to see how lovely it is. I have this in my stash, hopefully a 2013 project? until something else catches my eye!

It's that time of the year when everyone has projects that they can't show right now, i have a couple, but i also have some that i can share with you.

Can show ...
Mary's speciality stitches RR - the 3 bands i added are tied windmill stitch in yellow, rice stitch in the green and rhodes square in the peach

Can't show ...
Christmas ornament exchange - post out for that is 25th November

Can show ...
A bit more of the last square on my RR - Little Book of Stitches

 

Can't show...

Winter exchange - post out mid December

 

Can show ...

A new start - Holly & Berries, Wednesday SAL in the parlour with Barb and the ladies at NH



 



Can show ...
Strictly Saturday SAL, Shores of Hawk Run Hollow

I'm all caught up on blog reading, you've all been really busy and i've seen lots of beautiful work happening. Well done to you all.

Thank you for all your kind wishes for DH, he went into hospital last week and they have carried out some tests, so now we await the results.

Love and best wishes

Quick flyby ....

Did you all have a lovely halloween? No celebrations here although there were lots of children out and about dressed up which i passed on my way to the stitching club. The weather wasn't kind to them though, we had the most horrendous downpour.

Last night there were firework celebrations here in the UK for Bonfire Night in honour of Guy Fawkes, lots of loud bangs and lovely air displays. DH and i were home to keep an eye on Midge. He is not a fan of this time of year and likes to be curled up on your knee nice and safe. I hope all those that were out enjoying the bonfires and the goodies that go with it had a lovely time.

Wednesday was the parlour night with Barb and the ladies at NH and i put the final stitch into my Daisy Lane Cottage this week. I found the perfect frame for it and just love how it's turned out.  Just need to find another design in my stash to join the ladies next week. There are some really lovely projects being stitched in this SAL.

 

Last Sunday was reveal day for the October challenge. A lovely design by Carmela at Balades et Broderie was chosen by Christine. Only a couple of finishes in the album this month, its getting to that time of the year when everyone is so busy with secret Christmas stitching and exchange stitching going on.

I've started the final block for my RR...

and added the border to the block that Lynn didn't have time to finish.

Saturday night is Strictly UFO night at NH, a chance to sit and stitch on a UFO project whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing. Shores is not officially a UFO for me but its been on the frame for a long time, and as i only have one UFO (a HAED design) i decided to take the opportunity of making some progress on this biggie.  Block 8 is growing nicely.

 

Life here has been somewhat strange this past couple of weeks. DH has been really poorly and he is awaiting some hospital tests very soon. He's been off work and in bed most of the time and i have not had a lot of computer time with taking care of our business and other things. I'm way behind on blog reading, for which i apologise to you all. In the evenings i've not felt much like being on the computer but have found comfort and relaxation time with my needle and thread having some quiet contemplative moments.

My thoughts are with those who are across the pond and have been themselves, or know others who have been affected by Sandy, so sad.

Take care all

Ahoy stitchmates ...

Is that Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl i see through my looking glass??

Alas, no, unfortunately not ... *shame* but your eyes are not deceiving you, it's not a mirage, it is that long lost Shores of Hawk Run Hollow!

Do you remember how i left it in May this year... fed up and couldn't face all those boring ships sails.

Time for a jig around the deck with the accordian playing and a tot of rum me thinks. Come on lets all sing... "What shall we do with the drunken sailor?"..... I'm so excited, after a week on the frame (thank you Strictly for coming back, i had decided i would stitch on this each week when watching that and Merlin on a Saturday night) but enjoyed it so much kept going for a whole week and Block 6 & 7 were completed last night.

It's looking great and certainly spurred me on to start the next block next Saturday evening.

I did have one evening when i stitched something else. The Parlour evening with the ladies at NH stitching on an LHN, CCN or TSG design. This week the top flower border was added to my Daisy Lane Cottage.

The RR is ready to go onto the frame tonight. I'm planning to add the border to Lynn's square as she didn't get time to finish it when it was with her and then complete the whole thing by adding the final square.

I had a lovely gift in the post yesterday, a RAK surprise. Some of you might have seen it already on Clare's blog. She posted at the weekend that she had sent out a surprise to someone with a pic of her little stitched pillow. Isn't it cute and finished so beautifully.  Thank you Clare, it's so bright and cheery and has been added to my basket of finishes from friends.

The weather is certainly turning cooler and this week so far very misty, murky and damp. This coming weekend we put the clocks back, an extra hour in bed so that'll be nice, but i'm not looking forward to the darker nights, although it does make for more stitching time doesn't it.

This past weekend DH decided it was cold enough for us to have our first real fire of the autumn. It was so cosy Saturday evening sitting stitching and watching the TV with the roaring fire. It looks like we have a halloween bat on our fireguard but its not, it's only the fixing for the handle, strange how i've never noticed it looks like a bat before till i uploaded this pic.

I hope you are all well and happy and life is being kind to you. For those in need here's a ((big hug)).

Thanks for stopping by, hope you didn't get too tipsy on the tot of rum lol.

Nice to meet you

Yesterday was the bi-annual meet up of the ladies from NH. We all had a lovely day. Plenty of stitching was done whilst having some good conversation.  It's always nice to meet up with friends who travel to be with you. Thank you ladies for making the journey, for me it's only a short drive, i am really lucky i can get there in half an hour.  Mary came over from France to be with us which was great, it was the first time we had all met Mary, and very lovely she is too.

Lots of lovely work on show for all to see....

There was a goody bag exchange. This time it had a halloween theme to it. My bag was won by Clare and i was lucky to receive all these lovely things from Ursh.  Thank you Ursh, i love it and my grandaughter is going to love that flashing pumpkin and i think i might just loose the Milky Bar ghostie to her too, she certainly recognises that brand of chocolate when she has a little treat lol

There were a few of the regular ladies who could not make it for one reason or another and they were really missed.  I'm looking forward to catching up with them next time, but, we'll have to wait till next year for that. Although, with the way 2012 has been whizzing along it will be here before i know it.

When i arrived home, there was a parcel for me.  Hubby had taken delivery from the postie of my Round Robin. What a shame it didn't arrive on Friday instead, i could have taken it with me to show off the lovely work done by Dusty, Tina, Clare, Lynn and Jaclyn.

Thank you for stitching on my project girls, it really is lovely. I'll stitch the final square and get it made up ready for the next meet up. ***I know i said that about the last RR and thats still not done is it***  For those how don't recognise this design it is Debbie Drapers Book of Stitches from the Gift of Stitching Magazine.

SAL night with Barb and the girls was a disaster this week. There was a frog in the parlour, must have been all the rain that Barb has been having down south. I miscounted by 1 thread and had almost stitched all the flowers on the left side. How come its not until you finish for the evening and go to put it away it jumps out at you and you can see clearly the mistake. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was one stitch to the left or right but it was along the bottom so it wasn't level with the house, how did i do that..... ggrrrrrr. The following evening was spent unstitching it and redoing it again.

Last week i had to go into town and found a parking space right outside our cathedral. Not a very big cathedral but lovely nevertheless. As i was walking past one of the doorways i caught a glimpse of the lovely autumnal arrangements that had been placed there. It really made the entrance look colourful.

There have been some exciting things going on close to our cathedral recently regarding the strong evidence that the human remains that have been found are of Richard III, maybe you have heard about this on the news.

I hope you too have had a nice weekend and spent it doing things you enjoy with friends and family.

Much love