Happy New Year!

Here's hoping 2013 will be a really good one.
I have so many goals that I'd like to reach this year. I want to continue losing weight. Lost almost 4 stone so far, but have plenty more to go to look & feel the way I'd like to. I want to get this house sorted out. Which means a huge clear out-especially of clothes! And get myself organised properly. I want to be a better wife to my wonderful husband. That means helping out more with cooking and not taking him for granted. And of course, there's loads of stitching I want to do. I need to start framing the pieces I finish too. I have a bad habit of just putting them in a box and not having them out to appreciate & admire my hard work.
So, feel free to pester me and keep nagging me to achieve these goals because I need a good kick up the bum sometimes! :-)

Happy New Year!

A Good Marriage-finished & framed

6 months after our 10th anniversary, I finally got round to taking it to a framers to get professionally framed. I've only ever done this with 2 other pieces-something for my Dad's 50th birthday and my Titanic picture.

I'm not certain where to hang it yet, though. In the living room would be nice, as it'll get seen more there, but we're likely to be redecorating that soon. Should I hang it there for now, or find somewhere else for it to go until after we're done redecorating?

What a year...and it's not over yet!

Sorry for not updating this blog much in 2012. I've had a rubbish year, health wise. I've put my back out badly twice-once I even had to call paramedics out as I was on the floor in total agony every time I moved an inch. Also, I had surgery last month. I had my gall bladder removed, so I'm still recovering from that. My wounds (keyhole, so not too bad) are healing well, but I can't go back to the gym yet. And now I've got a chest infection. At least I have chance to sit and stitch, as even putting a load of washing in the machine leaves me out of breath.
I'm currently working on a lovely Christmas ABC Sampler by Design Works. I started it on Saturday (10/11/12) and plan to finish it on the 11/12/13. I'm stitching it on white sparkly aida and it contains metallics and beads, so I'm hoping to stitch one letter every couple of weeks.

I've finished some small tree hangers for Christmas gifts. I bought the snowflake hangers in Boots sale in January. I've stitched my mum a reindeer luggage tag (as well as one for myself!) and I'm working on a Forever Friends pic for mum's birthday.

I've had a few other finishes. A couple of small samplers and of course, A Good Marriage for our anniversary that I *did* finish in time. It's not framed yet, but I've been recommended a local framer, so once I'm well, I'm going to take it there to see how much he'd charge to frame it.

It's almost that time of year to dig out the Christmas stitching and hang that on my walls. It'll be a very different Christmas this year...because we've now got a kitten! :-) She's almost 8 months old now. We've had her since she was 6 weeks and rescued her from a church cellar where her mum had had 4 kittens. Blossom (our little tabby) had escaped & my husband found her, then a week later we managed to discover & rescue the others and they've been rehomed. Most of the time she's well behaved with my stitching. She sits on my legs and watches me stitch.

I'll update this post with photos when I get on the pc.

I've had a few finishes so far this year. I stitched the Water Dragon design again on hand dyed fabric for Bob's Christmas present-although it was finished a bit late. The pic is terrible & I haven't had chance to iron the fabric and frame it properly yet.

Then I stitched a little pillow for Valentines Day.

After that I finished off a partly stitched Heritage kit that mum found when sorting through my spare room.

Now I'm working on a Lizzie Kate design for our 10th wedding anniversary. I'm doing it on some beautiful hand dyed sparkly evenweave (called Sparkling Promise-MANY thanks for the fabric, H. It's stunning!) and it's coming along nicely so far.

Edited to add photos on 5/3/12

Skating reindeer card

I stitched this little card for my mum for christmas too. She was raving about how neat my stitching is. <>

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2012 is a good one for us all.

Stitching for Christmas

I have been in the mood for stitching something Christmassy, so I had a rummage through my charts and found a lovely Lizzie Kate design called 'Dear Santa, We've got cookies!' which I decided to stitch for myself.
It only took a few days, so here it is...

Then I thought I would stitch something to go in one of the tuck pillows I have in my stash. Again, I decided on a Lizzie Kate chart. It's one of the Flip It Stamps range & it will be a birthday present for my Mum.

When searching in my garage for a frame to frame up Meg & Mog, I found a small frame which would fit the Queen Anne House I started a while ago. I had finished all the stitching & beading and it was just waiting for me to add the tree button to it. I left the glass out of the frame as all the beads made it too 3D to fit nicely under glass. It looks good, though and is already hanging up in my spare room.

Spooky Stitching!

After starting this fab design in 2009(!) and not finishing it for Halloween that year, I have finally dug it out again and finished off the last bits of stitching. There wasn't much to do, although using the glow-in-the-dark threads on Mog's eyes, Megs shoes and Owl's eyes was a bit tricky.
All I need to do now is find a frame for it and get it framed & hung on the wall by October!

It's been a while...

I lost my stitching bug for several months, but it's finally returning. I have started a lovely, unusual chart called 'Lace Up'. I haven't taken a pic of my progress yet, as even though I have stitched a decent amount of it, you really have no idea what it is!

I went away last week for a holiday and took 2 kits with me. One was a blackwork dragon, the other a Dolly Mamas one. I finished the dragon-it's for a girl on my stitching forum that very kindly sent me some aida, threads, needles & card blanks. She wouldn't take any payment for it, as she's unable to stitch any more & was happy it was going to a good home. I posted it off to her today, along with a note of thanks. I can't wait to hear what she thinks of it! Nervous!!!
I got a good chunk of the Dolly Mama kit stitched, but no pic as it's not been unpacked.

Here's the dragon, though...

I plan to stitch the dragon again for Bob. I chose 3 hand dyed fabric pieces which I thought would work with the colours & now he's decided which he prefers. If I remember correctly, I think it's called Mummies Curse (Polstitches fabric)

Princess Palace progress

Haven't updated this in ages-sorry! I'm progressing well with the Bothy Threads Princess Palace design. Here's a pic of how much I've stitched so far...

It's taking shape nicely, I think. Been putting in some full stitching days, though! Marking the fabric really does help. I have made some mistakes, but I've been spotting them quickly and correcting them before they become too major.

Happy New Year....happy new stitching!

Glad to see the back of 2010. That was a horrible, tough year for me. I'm hoping 2011 will be better.
I started the new year with a new cross stitch. I know that's very naughty, but some of the girls in the Cross Stitch Cafe on MSE are doing a stitch a long with the Cut Thru designs by Bothy Threads. I have 4 of these, so I'm going to do Princess Palace first. I gridded the fabric with my washable pen on New Years eve (whilst watching a film & enjoying a glass of wine) and put the first stitches in yesterday. It's gonna be a long project, but I aim to work on it one day a week. I also started a Mill Hill beaded kit just before Christmas and I'm well on my way to finishing that. I'm enjoying the beading much more than I expected to. I'll post pics up tomorrow if I get chance. Off to Gloucester on Tuesday for my belated Christmas with Mum, then to Swindon for a few days break. I'll be taking some stitching along!
My goals for January are to finish the Mill Hill kit (it's called Queen Anne House) and finish 3 squares of 'Cakes' on my DoC kit. Plus work on the Princess Palace SAL. It's gonna be a busy year... :-)

Meery Xmas pic

Here's a pic of the lovely little Mouseloft kit I finished last week. I plan to make it into Mum's christmas card, but will be stitching it again for me when I get chance.

Update on my Dictionary Of Cakes

This is my progress so far on the Dictionary Of Cakes. I was hoping to have completed 2 full squares by the end of July, but ended up spending a lot of time stitching the title banner. I can't find my biggest R&R frame (again!), so stuck with a smaller frame and having to move it around a lot. Can't think where a large white plastic pole can disappear to. I know my house is chaotic, but it shouldn't be that hard to find, surely???

Look what I made yesterday!

I stitched this pillow kit yesterday. It's a kit by Pine Mountain designs which my husband bought for me. I also have one that says Merry Christmas (christmas pressie from Grandma last year), but I've not stitched that one yet.
I love these kits as the pillow case is already made up, so you just stitch the design on the aida, the pop in the pillow form and tie the bow to hold it together. Simples!

Charity square finished, plus a new kit started.

I started stitching 'A Dictionary Of Cakes' a few days ago. I know I shouldn't be starting any more new kits with the amount of UFO's I have, but I couldn't resist. I really enjoy stitching these designs. They're fun and the colours are so cheerful. I stitched the 'Bras' last year, and I already have 'Boots' in my stash too. I hope the cut thru designs are as fun to stitch too. They're all designed by Bothy Threads, so the instructions are really clear. The cut thru's have so much detail in them, so they might take a while to stitch.

Stitching for a charity quilt

I'm currently stitching a square for a quilt that will be auctioned off for charity. A forum I post on came up with the idea and we got the OK from the designer of a Fairy Tale alphabet. It's not my style and I'm not really enjoying stitching it much because it's a lot of similar colours and I'm finding it boring. Still, it's for a good cause, so I'm happy I can contribute. I need to chart and stitch my name and location, then it's all finished!

Balloon Girl finished

When I posted earlier, I didn't expect that I would finish stitching this kit today!

I've just washed it, as I had marked out the grid lines with a fabric pen, so the colours might look a bit odd whilst it's still wet.

Anyway....here it is...

Golden Gate Bridge-ALL stitching finished!

I'm now stitching a kit called Balloon Girl, which is based on a Banksy design. It'll be a Christmas present for my brother and his fiance. It's coming along quite nicely, so hopefully I'll get it finished soon.

I need to start finding some frames for all my finished stitching, though! I have several pieces washed and ready for framing, so I need to sit down and get ironing and mounting so I can have them on the wall being admired!!!

Everyone Brings Joy

I finished stitching this Waxing Moon design on Monday. I stitched it for my husband as it was our 8th anniversary and I wanted to stitch something on linen for it (on the list for modern 8th anniversary gifts).

I started it in late April when I was on jury service, but didn't get as much stitching time as I'd hoped. At least I finished stitching it in time, although it's not framed yet.

Golden Gate bridge-all cross stitches finished!

I've finished all the cross stitch now! I need to wash it before adding the back stitch & long stitch.

I am kicking myself about the frames. I found 2 frames which would be ideal for it, but the mount is just slightly too small. If I had known before I had started stitching, I could've missed 3 rows from the top and 3 or 4 from the bottom of the picture and it would fit perfectly. To be fair, I hadn't bought the frames when I first started stitching, so I couldn't have known. Annoying, though! Will probably use the frame, but get a different mount cut. Which frame do you think looks better? Pine or black? (Just folded the fabric into place to give a rough idea how they'd look)

Updated photo

April 13th 2010. The end is in sight... :-)