IHSW Update

Just a quick update on what I was up to over the weekend.

We were up and away early on Saturday ~ like 06:30! ~ the LM was very excited as his little pet was finally coming home.  Here she is with her new paint job & wheels

It was beautiful, bright sunshine when we left home ~ as soon as we made the right turn to cross The Pennines the vista changed.  Dark skies with snow lying on the hills ~ it did snow at the highest points too.
The view down into Ravenstonedale

Each time we have had a journey connected with the LM car during the upgrade the weather has been atrocious and Saturday was no exception.
While the LM was stopping off to make a collection I popped over to here to kill a little time before he joined me for lunch.  I browsed the farm shop, gift shop and of course the quilting shop that are all on the site.  We've been here a couple of times previously and always enjoyed our visits to the coffee shop ~ lunch at the weekend was quite a disappointment.
I carried a couple of stitching projects around to work on during the day ~ they came home in the same state as they left.
Sunday was given over to the dreaded H****w**k and when that was finished so was I !!
So as far as IHSW was concerned I scored a huge fat zero ~ I hope you fared better.

Kate

IHSW Report

Just reporting in with an update and what I achieved over the weekend ~ it wasn't as much as I had planned.

I had set myself a list of 4 things to work on:

1. Finish challenge #2 from Needlecraft Haven Yuku Group ~ Completed, there's a picture on my previous post.
2. Progress on La Pensee Positive ~ Didn't make it out of the stitching bag.
3. Work on Love by Bent Creek ~ Made it out of the stitching bag, but no further.
4. Make a new start ~ Sourced a piece of fabric, stitched the grid lines and started on March's Daffodil by Cottage Garden Samplings.

When I came to write this post I realised that I only have this picture which I took pre-stitching ~ I only managed a few letters and a small butterfly ~ I'll share a picture soon.

Till next time ~ which won't be long as I have to file both my report for SFS 2104 & also OPAM 2014 and I'm running out of month!


Kate

 

February IHSW

is coming this weekend and I'm hoping to get a decent amount of stitching done. 

My plan is to work on

1. finishing Challenge # 2 from the Needlecraft Haven Yuku Group
2. moving along with La Pensee Positive which has been side-lined a wee bit
3. possibly work a little on Love by Bent Creek
4. and maybe, just maybe, a new start ~ from stash of course!

 

Don't forget ~ February 21st to 23rd ~ hope to see you there.

 

 

Kate 

IHSW Update - January

Well I'm back to report on my January IHSW weekend and the first thing to note is that I have thoroughly enjoyed having time to set aside to make some stitching progress.
My goals for the weekend were to work on:

My French SAL piece - La Pensee Positive
The January Challenge on the Needlecraft Haven Yuku Group
Start an exchange piece for the Friendly Stitchers Yahoo Group



La Pensee Positive
by
Jardin Privee

My memory had lapsed and I thought I only had the last part of this 5 part SAL to complete - oops!  In reality I had a small amount to complete Part III ~ which I managed, that was the hare, sheep & a few tufts of grass.  I had problems with the charted colour for the sheep as it didn't show on my fabric so I had to substitute another colour ~ not sure I'm convinced about it but they remain.  I also started Part IV.  This is such a lovely project to work and is available here in several languages.  The crumpled look is not compulsory ~ I just haven't pressed my piece!






I stitched and finished the January Challenge piece from Needlecraft Haven ~ this year the challenge and monthly Christmas ornament SAL have been combined and Christine will be seeking out designs for us to stitch each month.  Christine collects all our finish pictures and on reveal day ~ Sunday 26 January ~ will post a link to the album on group.  I'll share my finish after reveal day.

Across on the Friendly Stitchers Yahoo Group the Valentine exchange is in full swing and this weekend I kitted up my chosen design and made a start on Sunday ~ obviously I can't share this until after my partner receives it.

I'll leave you with this picture ~ DH noticed that another heart had appeared in our house ~ can you see the red thread?  It's a complete fluke, a needle with a wee bit of leftover thread stuck in my pincushion (a gift from Mouse) and it has formed a heart shape.

Kate

ps excuse the messy storage ~ it sits on the table next to my chair and keeps lots of important bits and pieces close to hand!   

A Few Firsts

Some great firsts have been recorded throughout history ~ my firsts for the beginning of 2014 are perhaps just a wee bit less noteworthy.

My first post ~ and hopefully not my last!
I have had things to report however with life being busy in the run up to Christmas, work, collecting GB1 from university etc my posts were sparse to say the least.  I guess I also got a little lazy ~ having the benefit of my ipad makes access to the Internet/social networking/emails etc very easy.  What I do not find easy is posting via blogger, either via the app or the net ~ in fact I find it a hugely frustrating event, am I the only one?  I can't manage to master uploading photographs as I like to have them, text decides for itself where it will reside and which font.  So the laziness comes in when I start to think about having to fire up the PC ~ which is in the conservatory ~ or dig out a laptop.  And to add to the frustration when I did get a laptop out on Wednesday night because it hasn't been used for so long it required 91 Windows updates ~ which I did ~ and then it decided that the version of IE was too out of date to be of any use.  I packed it away and went to bed!
This morning we have laptop #2 ~ which so far seems to be working ok!

First TUSAL
Was actually 1 January 2014 ~ I had about 3 orts to show ~ please see explanation of laziness/ipad frustration above for why I did not share.
The next new moon is 30 January and I will curb the laziness to share a picture close to that time.  If you have no idea what this SAL is about you can read about it on Daffycat's Blog.

First 2014 Start ~ definitely not the last!

This is Home of a Needleworker from LHN ~ my New Year's Day start.  I'm stitching this 1/1 on 28ct Gingerbread Brittney fabric from Kate at Sparklies with the recommended DMC threads. The couple of threads on the LH side are actually my meagre pile of orts.




First IHSW
 Is this weekend and I have a date with a chair and my stitching bag ~ I hope to work on Home of a Needleworker, La Pensee Positive ~ a beautiful SAL from Nathalie at Jardin Privee (I have the last part to complete), Needlecraft Haven's monthly challenge which for January is a gorgeous freebie from Laura at The Little Stitcher.  I think that is plenty to keep me out of mischief.

In other news I signed up for this


which Mel at Epic Stitching is running.  The title says it all really ~ we do have a monthly budget available for supplies however I am going to try and steer clear of spending on any stash ~ as you may imagine I do have a fair bit squirrelled away to work with.  Wish me luck!





Aside from stitching I have a couple of housey jobs to complete and unfortunately the LM is poorly so a good dollop of TLC is in order.  The really bad news is that GB2 needs the rocket up the derriere again in terms of cleaning/tidying his room ~ oh boy!

Whatever your weekend brings I hope you enjoy it.

Kate

 

It's Here Again

Yes it's IHSW this weekend ~ another early start for me today as the LM has gone off to the Classic Car Show at the NEC in Birmingham so perfect time to catch up with blog reading, I'm working my way through the 284 unread posts that are hanging about in my reader.
Anyway, one of them is from Joysze's blog with a reminder of the event.  I have a packed weekend but hope to manage some stitching in between the other stuff we have on.
GB1 is home for a brief visit and we'll be taking him back to university after a trip to the Living North Christmas Fair at York Racecourse tomorrow.  He has kindly provided us with a list to make up the required student food parcel to take back and today I will probably be doing the laundry he brought home in amongst the other things on my list.
GB2 is working on getting access to my car as after months of nagging from us he has finally taken steps to clean and tidy his room ~ all it takes is the right incentive!
Have a good Saturday

Kate

IHSW Weekend

I've signed up - have you?  Head on over to Joysze's blog - http://joysze.blogspot.co.uk/ - to join in the fun.

Saturday we are packing up the car and taking our oldest DS to University and getting him 

installed into his accomodation ready for freshers week.  He's going to Leeds which is not too far - 

he went on Monday with some of his things and collected his keys etc so he has  a plan for how

everything will be installed/arranged.  

My stitching time will therefore be restricted to Sunday - haven't decided what to work on yet - I

know what it should be, however a new start is calling me.......

Kate

IHSW Catch Up

Did you all hermit at the weekend ~ I did & in more ways than one.  The first type was staying out of the weather.  We had snow the whole weekend, groceries were delivered Friday so there was no need for us to venture out.  The LM had a pressing need to give some TLC to the LM car ~ the wayward cover had been removed during some windy weather ~ do you remember that cover?  So the LM car was cleared of the snow that had settled on her, cleaned, dried and snuggled under the cover once more.  It may appear that I am poking fun at the LM (as if I would...) about going out in the snow to clean a car ~ well I shouldn't really as while he was out there he cleaned my car too.

On to the second type of hermitting ~ the stitching kind ~ after looking forward to the first IHSW session of the year I'm afraid it fell a little flat for me.  I did stitch, and enjoyed what I managed it just wasn't all that much. 

I finished the stitching on my January ornament for the Christmas Ornaments All Year Round SAL.  This is a freebie from Nikys Creations.  I plan to finish this as a luggage tag ornament.

I stitched a little on Summer Splendor by LHN ~ I started this while we were staying with Sis2 and her family at New Year.  There wasn't much stitched on it that day either as champagne was in the mix.

 

I also managed to start the finishing ~ always sounds wrong ~ on my piece for the valentine/friendship exchange on the Friendly Stitchers Group.  Can't show a picture of that until it has been received by my partner.

 

For the second week running our Tuesday Stitching Group was cancelled ~ I was going to stitch however I've spent the time sorting through pictures on the camera memory card, got a wee bit lost in looking at them as you do.  Watch out for some updates on exchanges from last year.

 

Stay safe & warm.

 

Kate

 

 

NDS Weekend

Yes, it's back ~ Numb Derriere Syndrome Weekend otherwise known as



I'm hoping that I will have plenty of stitching time over the weekend ~ will you be hermitting?  So far I have no fixed plan on what I will be working on, I do have one or two (boxes of) projects to choose from!  How do you decide what to work on when you have the opportunity of a mammoth stitching session?
I think I'll draw up a shortlist of contenders to help the decision process along tonight ~ saves wasting actual stitching time once the weekend arrives.
Happy Hermitting

Kate

IHSW Update & Exam Results

I can't actually show you any of the stitching I did over last weekend, in truth it wasn't much, I did work a little on an Autumn piece for an exchange on Needlecraft Haven.  It's good to be stitching again - I have continued on with it during the week too.

We've had weeks of waiting to be able to collect the GBs' exam results - it's been torture!  Last week GB1 received his AS results and yesterday GB2 picked up his GCSE results.  Although they have both expressed a little disappointment with some aspects they have both done extremely well and we are so proud of both of them.  GB2 will be enrolling tomorrow to follow his brother into A Level studies - here's to another good year of academic acheivement.

The Bank Holiday weekend is shaping up to being a bit of a wet one - let's all stay in and stitch!

Kate

Lots to Tell

It's been quite some time since I was here last ~ lots of things have been going on, some good some not so good however we're not going to get bogged down with that.
Since I was last here:

• The LM and I took a trip to Scotland in the LM car with a group from the TVR Club ~ we extended our stay to spend a few days on the Isle of Skye which was absolutely beautiful.  I'll post some pictures another time.
• We've booked our wedding, issued save the date letters, bought tartan and started a collection of brooches
• I finished a stitchery and did a class to make it into a project roll ~ pictures soon
• I had a trip to London with the LM while he was there on business ~ I walked forever ~ visiting some of the places I was taken to as a child by the WP's.  Too much walking stopped me doing anything at all the following day!
• GB1 has finished his AS Level exams
• GB2 has completed his GCSE exams
• I had a trip to Penrith for a stitching day
• LM has had his boy's week in Le Mans for the 24 hour race
• I had a "finishing" weekend
• GB1 has spent the last week on a medical shadowing work experience in a local hospital
• LM & I were in Wales Thursday/Friday - unfortunately the LM was working however I was able to visit some fabulous places ~ report soon
• I haven't stitched enough!

Last weekend was IHSW and I had decided to make it a finishing weekend ~ the cutting mat, sewing machine, ironing board and various other bits of paraphernalia were permanent features the whole weekend.  I had a lovely time ~ I managed 6 finishes (well 5 really as one was completed earlier in the week).  One is an exchange piece that I can't share until after reveal day which is 30 June and one a birthday present which is yet to be given to the recipient.  These are the others:

This is Lizzie Kate's Ho Ho Ho in a Row which I have made into a small pillow finish using some fabric I bought at the Harrogate show last November from a range called Ready Steady Snow.  It's  lovely & bright and suits the design well.  I was going to use the same fabric to finish Jolly Holiday also by Lizzie Kate but didn't get round to it.

Next is Wee Santa 2005 from Heart in Hand.

Another pillow finish with fabric bought from Just Quilting not with anything specific in mind but I like how it turned out.  Same fabric was used for back.

This is Herbert, also from Heart in Hand ~ you may notice that he isn't signed or dated, Herbert was started in 2007 on a flight to Germany for work.  Back then the only pieces I signed where those I did for other people.  Same fabric range as above but a slightly smaller pillow.

Smaller pillow again, same fabric range ~ this is Whee Willie another Heart in Hand design.

And here's the trio all together ~ I am delighted with how they have turned out.  I am also very pleased that they have become "something" rather than just finished stitched pieces sitting in a drawer, I look forward to displaying them in our home at Christmas.  I hope that those of you who participated in the IHSW enjoyed your creative time as much as I did.

I have tons of blog reading to catch up with ~ can't promise to leave comments but I will be reading all your updates. 

Until next time.

Kate

Late IHSW Report

Nothing new there then!

Last weekend was hermitting weekend ~ I had plenty of time to be stitching, around shopping for presents for the LM (Yes he's clocked up another year!) however I didn't acheive a tremendous amount really.

I did manage to complete the final part of the Spring mystery SAL ~ it looks a little wonky in the picture.                                                                                               This has been a lovely stitch and I think I will make a small pillow when I finally get into "finishing" mode.                                                                                             I replaced the called for white thread with DMC 543 so that the stonework on the house would show better on my fabric.  I also stitched over the bird with this ~ yes sheer laziness on my part ~ I should have unpicked it but decided against that.           There is a small autumn freebie also by Marie which I hope to stitch at some point ~ hopefully Summer & Winter will be available too.

Next was to find a snowflake design to complete my April ornament for the Christmas Ornaments All Year Round SAL.  This is an extract from LHN Fresh Fallen Snow which was in the Just Cross Stitch Christmas 2011 special - there are two snowflakes in the design so I need to add the second one, stitch up and stuff.  Next month is a gingerbread man theme.

And finally my progress to date on LHN's Simple Joys ~ it hasn't changed a great deal since you last saw it.                                                                                          So there you have it ~ the sum total of my hermitting weekend.  It really doesn't amount to much however as ever I did enjoy the time.  I was thinking about all the other hermitters around the world all stitching away in the different time zones ~ perhaps next month I should start on Australian time and finish in US time!  That would make for some mammoth stitching spree ~ worth considering.

Kate

PS  Blogger & I don't seem to be getting along right now ~ have no idea why the spacing goes all cooky when I publish!!

April IHSW

Once again we are at that time of the month where we need to cement our derrieres to our stitching chairs and hermit the weekend away.

I'm not certain how much hermitting I will acheive ~ I'll give it my best shot though.

Kate