Believe It Or Not!

I haven't run away!
We returned from our lovely break away (more on this in an upcoming post) to the wedding & The Isle of Skye and life struck.
Household running repairs, boiler updating, leaking ceilings, weekends away from home, exams for GB2, visits from GB1, a bit of illness etc etc


There has not been a great deal of sewing, although I did have a small finish in May, no details yet as part of an exchange.  I'm on course for a minimum of 2 finishes this month and one of them is a biggie, this being relevant to me - it's not a HEAD or anything like that size.


Work is keeping us both busy, with the LM spending time away from home ~ summer & Christmas tend to be silly season ~ and we are getting home each evening shattered.  We are however getting quite excited for our next wee road trip ~ at the beginning of July we are camping for a couple of nights in North Yorkshire to coincide with the start of this ~ it's fair to say that I am more excited than the LM!  I'm not completely au fait on rules, points or even who rides for who but I have watched Le Tour for about 20 years now and I love it.  This is my first real, live viewing and I'm sure the atmosphere will be magic, the LM is spurred on by the fact that over the wall from the campsite will be the beer tent sponsored by Black Sheep & Theakstons breweries!


See you soon


Kate

Nip, Punch and Persistent Rain

A nip & a punch for the first of the month ~ don't recall what the white rabbit saying is!
This morning we are off on our first TVR trip since September last year, travelling to Pitlochry for my niece's wedding tomorrow.  Really looking forward to getting together with family members that we don't get to see too often.
After the wedding we are heading off to the Isle of Skye for 5 days so the first job today is to pack:
Wedding outfit, kilt, shoes, hat
Walking gear
Sewing bag
Luggage for 8 days
Tool kit
Foodie bits
Etc. into the wee car at the bottom of this post - may end up like an episode of The Krypton Factor!
And we will be doing this in the persistent rain we appear to have been blessed with this morning.

Kate

Wedding Acceptance

It's less than three weeks now until my Niece's wedding, a long anticipated family event.  We're looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up but mostly to celebrating with Dale & Elizabeth as they exchange their vows.
As the wedding takes place on a Friday and the GB's have study/exam commitments with school & university they are unfortunately not able to join the celebrations ~ a great regret as we never know when the next mass gathering will be and our family is spread around the UK and abroad.
It was relatively easy to find "with regret" cards however we were not happy with any of the acceptance cards for our reply to the invitation.  They appeared standard, un-inspirational and just not special enough.  So, after a little think I decided to take part of the design that I am stitching as a gift for the happy couple and make our acceptance.

The design is part of "Love" by Bent Creek ~ I've changed the colour of the heart from the red which was charted to the Bride's favourite purple.  I was sure it would be well received and it was.  We'll be visiting them in Scotland the weekend after Easter and I will be adding a hanger so it can be displayed when they move into their new home.

 

Kate



 

 

A Few Pictures

As promised I'm back with a few pictures ~ hopefully not too many to bore you all!

Firstly, my completed Part IV of La Pensee Positive.  I have thoroughly enjoyed stitching on this project, although I have been slow with the later parts.  Only Part V to complete and then I will have to decide how I will finish this.  I haven't a clue what I will do ~ I wanted it to be something useful, like a huswif ~ I'm still undecided.

Apart from working on a wedding sampler for my Niece & her intended I haven't really done much stitching.  I have one exchange piece which I hope to finish today and then I can mail both my commitment stitches out tomorrow.


Now for a couple of pictures from the wedding that Mr & Mrs LM attended on Friday.

The venue ~ Close House Hotel.  The hotel and grounds are beautiful and apart from being a little on the chilly side the weather stayed dry.  The ceremony and reception were held here in the main hotel and the evening reception was held in the golf clubhouse.

 Stunning light fitting ~ for some reason the LM seems to have a thing for light fittings! ~ in the room where the ceremony & reception took place.

Mrs LM ~ get a load of me in another dress!  The guys over my shoulder are, L - R, Best Man, Groom, Usher.  Mr LM appears to have been quite camera shy on Friday!

Another shot showing just how stunning this room is - sadly after October this year Close House are no longer hosting weddings. The tables were all named after famous bends on racing circuits and the food and service were fabulous.

Signing the Register ~ well looking like it ~ apparently it is not permitted to photograph the actual signing.  Laura, daughter of the Bride, Jacqui, Paul & Andrew, brother of the Groom.

I couldn't leave without showing you a car shot!
I'm car-less today as GB2 has commandeered Miss Jazzy to go to school ~ payback later is that he has to take me to the supermarket.
I'm off to get myself sorted for a trip to the Metro Centre ~ walking there of course but it's only about 1.5 miles ~ to pick up a few things.


Kate

Who Knew?

That I would be such a bad blogger?

We've been busy with one or two things since way before the wedding - which is now some 108 days ago!  I haven't just counted this ~ I installed a countdown app on my phone and it has continued to count.

It was a summer of exams ~ A Level for GB1 & AS Level for GB2
Both boys have now passed their driving tests - GB1 in the summer and GB2 this week
The LM had an unpleasant experience after collecting his car from a service at the dealership ~ a few weeks before the wedding
Making favours, boutonnieres and assorted other bits n bobs
GB1 had lung surgery ~ 13 days before the wedding
The wedding ~ we had an awesome day
The wedding party ~ back at home
Honeymoon ~ European tour in the TVR
Work
Installing GB1 at university
Weekends away in Blackpool (there was a valid reason for going there) Scotland & Cumbria (sort of)
and more work.

I hope you can forgive me?

We're slowly getting back to some kind of normality and now C*****mas is on the horizon.  Stitching (other than wedding stuff) has appeared in my life again and I joined the French SAL La Pensee Positive.

This is Part II finished and I am now almost finished Part III, just a few sheep and a rabbit to complete. 
Stitched on Sparklies Barely Bronzed 36ct Edinburgh with the recommended threads.
This has been so lovely to stitch ~ I decided to stitch the French version but it is available in English, Italian, Spanish & German and possibly more too ~ it can be found here.

Part IV is due to be released next month.

I'll leave you with a photograph of the sunset over the Tyne ~ I was going to Newcastle to run a couple of errands and collect the LM from the station and couldn't resist driving onto Riverside Drive to capture this.  Not the best photograph ever as it was taken on my phone, but I like it.

See you soon.

 

Kate

 

A Little Taster

from our wedding day - The LM & Mrs LM
Monday seems ages ago already, we're now looking forward to our party tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll have some time to show more pictures before we set off on honeymoon.

Kate

It's been a while..........

A long while really and I must apologise ~ there have been a few things that have eaten into my time and left none spare for blogging, in fact I started this post a couple of weeks ago and then other things got in the way of me adding the pictures and posting!  I have been trying to keep on top of reading what you have all been doing, but even that has taken a bit of a back seat at times.

Stitching has been slow to non-existent, I did manage to finish my New Years Day start.

 

LHN ~ Summer Splendor

Recommended threads with one substitution

Fabric unknown

Started 01 January 2013

Finished 09 March 2013 

 



I plan to finish this into a bag ~ when that might happen is anyone's guess though.  My latest LHN project is Be True which was a birthday gift from Barb last year ~ I'm stitching one over one on 28ct so it's going to be just the perfect size for a scissor fob.
I've also started stitching the Drawn Thread "Love" scissor keep ~ I'm stitching this 9 times as they are to be the place cards for the Ladies who will be at out wedding.

 

 

The Drawn Thread - Love Scissors Tag

Recommended Needlepoint & Northern Lights Silk

Sparklies 35ct Edinburgh Linen ~ Barely Bronzed

Started 09 February 2013

 

As of today I have 4½ stitched so I'm halfway there!  You must excuse the crumpled appearance, thought I'd leave the ironing until they are all finished.

 

And a closer picture ~ I love the muted colours and the variety of stitches.  Our wedding is quite small and we wanted to include some handmade/personalised items ~ I know that each of the Ladies will appreciate these gifts.  We have something a little more manly for the Guys!  Well I have work tomorrow ~ another thing that gets in the way! ~ so I guess I had better go get some sleep.  I'll be trying very hard to be here with better regularity than I have displayed so far this year. 

 

Till next time.

 

Kate