Santa's Ready

No ~ I haven't lost the plot!  This Santa is ready to be made into a Christmas Ornament.  Santa was the theme in January on the Christmas Ornaments All Year Round blog and I chose to stitch this little fella.

Wee Santa 2005 by Heart in Hand
32ct Linen
Recommended GAST & WDW threads
I really enjoyed stitching this piece, it was so quick and no frogging, not even on the border.
February's theme is Christmas Tree - I don't have a design picked out yet but I'm sure I will find too many to choose from ~ as usual.
My plan is to keep my stitched pieces until I have a few and work on the finishing in batches ~ let's see how long that lasts.

We have Tuesday Stitching Group tonight, if I can get sorted in time I may start the stitching on my spring piece for the Needlecraft Haven four seasons exchange ~ I'm torn between a few designs for this one.  Posting deadline is 10 March so I have a while to think of finishing ideas.

Happy Tuesday

Kate

It's In The Bag

Edited
Remember the gorgeous fabrics I was playing with recently?  Finally I can show you what I made.

This is a Lazy Girl pattern called Miranda Day Bag ~ made for my lovely Sis2, Jan's birthday was earlier in the month but I had told her this year her pressie would be late and she could collect it when they were down this weekend.  They came to dinner with us Sunday evening and we had a lovely time chatting and catching up.  I don't believe that I am exaggerating when I say that Jan loved her present.

 

It's a bag of many pockets which is what attracted me to the pattern in the first place.  Construction was fiddly in places and I moved some of the steps around to make things a little easier for me.  I'm delighted with how it turned out and plan to make one for myself too ~ different fabrics but same handles as I love them.

Happy Birthday to Bro7.

Kate

ORTs, Travelling Pattern & Secret Quilting

First ORT report of the year and I'm late ~ it's been that kind of week though!
So these are mine ~ current ones on the left obviously ~ I decided to keep going with another Christmas bauble, also pictured is last year's full bauble which I plan to somehow stitch 2011 on a fabric scrap to keep inside.  I'll do the same for 2012's collection.  It doesn't look like much stitching has been achieved when you look at the wee pile.
Last week I was the lucky recipient of the Travelling Pattern - Count Your Blessings by Shakespeare's Peddler.

This picture was taken earlier in the week ~ I'm stitching on linen band which I bought in France while on holiday last year.  I've counted (twice) and it seem to be 35ct, I've been waiting to use it and it seemed perfect for this project.  I had all but two of the recommended threads in my stash ~ I'm trying to stitch from stash only, so I just substituted a couple in their place.  I'm hoping to be finished this piece over the weekend so if you would like to be the next stitcher check back.

I spent the day at Just Quilting on Saturday and these are the fabrics I was playing with ~ can't share what I've made yet, it's for Sis2 and although she doesn't read me I'd like her to see it first.  Sis2 & her DH are visiting the North East for the weekend, staying with the Pater, so I will get to give her birthday present to her in person ~ last time that happened was 5 years ago! 
I'm off now to complete my shopping online, although less work it's still a pain.  I expect we'll be busy all weekend, I have a pile of ironing that is starting to resemble Ben Nevis so obviously I'm really looking forward to that......  and to top that there's more laundry too, lucky me!
I'll be back soon with a finish to share, hopefully two, ironing permitting.

Kate

January Review

The last couple of weeks have been full of ups and downs ~ lots going on, new things to start, teenage milestones, work, exam results, parcels in/parcels out, new cars (not me - the LM), late Christmas party, sewing days etc on top of all the usual daily routines.
GB1 had a birthday the week before last, on Friday 13th!, actually, he was born Friday 13th ~ that should have given me a clue that he could turn out to be hard work.  He's now old enough to drive ~ how did that happen?  He gets this mention today as he made me a very proud Mum last week.  Completely out of the blue on Thursday he asked for a lift to a hall nearby so that he could attend a blood donor session.  I took a book with me but spent much of the time observing GB1 and the way he conducted himself ~ like a real proper grown up person.  The staff made a bit of a fuss over him, I think because they don't often get 17 year olds volunteering, hopefully that will encourage him to continue donating in the future.

GB2 deserves a mention too ~ back in November he had one of the modular exams for maths and received his results the first week of term ~ A* ~ brilliant achievement!  I also had an opportunity to observe him at a recent school meeting ~ it's time for him to be thinking about the subjects he will take at A Level starting in September. Again, how did that happen, it seems that you just have to blink and the whole of their childhood is gone.  He was quite well prepared, asking pertinent questions of the tutors to gather the information he needs to make his choices.

We all, from time to time, would like our children to behave differently.  Having seen the GB's in "action", taking control of their own lives, making informed choices and conducting themselves like well mannered young men ~ how could I possibly have any reason to complain?

Last weekend was the first hermitting session of the year - I was limited with what I was able to achieve and will show you my progress soon.

Happy Monday.

Kate

Parcel Out ~ Parcels In

This week has been a busy one for post and parcels.
First, the parcel out ~ back in December I reached a milestone thanks to all you lovely people who kindly stop by and read my witterings ~ 100 followers.  So I thought I would host a little giveaway ~ it wasn't open for anybody, just the centuplicate.

Sally's name was drawn and she has been patiently waiting for a) the madness of the Christmas postal service, and b) my "safe" place to be remembered as one of the component parts was hiding.

Sally has now received her parcel and, I'm pleased to report, is happy with the goodies I sent.


I ordered some goodies that were in The White Company's sale, a few things I saw pre-Christmas that my budget wouldn't stretch to ~ I can't show you them as I haven't unpacked them completely yet.
A gift for a friend arrived ~ obviously, can't show you that either.

On Tuesday this arrived ~ The Needlecraft Haven board had a birthday and I was lucky to be one of the giveaway winners.  Clare sent me this gorgeous LHN All Dolled Up chart ~ thank you so much Clare.
I've looked at these many times so I'm delighted to have one to stitch  ~ I'll be trying to sort through my stash to kit this up soon.

Thursday I collected this from the PO ~ yes it's the travelling pattern.  I have been following this one around for a while ~ Christine was the last stitcher and now I am lucky enough to be included in The Stitcherhood.
This is Count Your Blessings from Shakespear's Peddler and I'm really looking forward to stitching this, starting today.  I have my fabric and most of my threads sorted ~ I'm stitching from stash so substitution is the name of the game. 
Hopefully you won't have long to wait before I can show you a finished piece.
Watch this space.

 This was what was waiting for me on Friday when I got home from work ~ how de-li-cious!

Jo from Dinky Dyes had a giveaway on her Facebook page ~ we were invited to post about our stitching resolutions for last year with a chance to win 25 skeins of DD silk thread ~ and I was one of the very lucky winners.  You wouldn't think that it would be difficult to choose 25 silk threads, boy it took me ages.  The only sad thing about this is that my hands are suffering with the current cold weather and are in no fit state to be fondling silk thread!  So they were carefully extracted from the bag by their labels, photographed and returned to the bag by their labels ~ emollient ointment and white cotton gloves for me at bedtime!

I'm off to a finish your UFO's session at Just Quilting today ~ hoping to finish a birthday pressie for Sis2.

Have a great Saturday.

Kate

Rude Awakening

Morning all.
The wind is back in the NE again - not happy! I was rudely awoken at 05:30'ish by the delightful sound of the car alarm (the under two covers LM car alarm) going off - found keys and went to investigate only to discover that the underneath cover had somehow managed to come off the car and was swirling around in the road. The top cover, which is tied onto the car, was off the front and flapping away furiously. If the two covered car was a puzzle on the Krypton Factor I doubt whether anyone would solve how the bottom one manages to disengage itself from the car from underneath the top cover. Anyhow, this puzzling event usually happens when The LM is away from home and I have been known to grab the nearest fleece and whatever shoes are in the hall to chase the dratted things down the street (one night it was oversized sweater on top of PJ's with sling back shoes!). Actually GB1 was the last person to play chase the cover back in December, the neighbours are probably still scarred from seeing a 6' 3" beanpole of a teenager running down the street in his dressing gown chasing a car cover!
I wasn't feeling particularly benevolent this morning so I promptly advised the dazed, half awake LM that he needed to go fetch the covers - perhaps not the kindest thing I've done so far this year!
Hopefully Thirsday will improve as it goes along.

Kate

A Challenge Finish & Another Start

I have joined the Ladies at 2012 WIP Challenge on Facebook ~ it does what it says on the tin ~ a challenge to clear as many of your WIP's during the next 12 months.  I'm hoping to work my way through the odd one or two!  I've (partially) made a list of my WIP's which I am sure will in itself be a work in progress ~ finish a few, add a few more!

This is Ho Ho Ho in a Row by L*K, stitched on 32ct (powder) blue evenweave with the recommended threads.  It's a bit of a cheat really as I only started this on 29 December, it was technically still a WIP.  I've loved stitching this and I plan to make a pillow finish with it, I already have a charm pack of fabric that will be used.  Apologies for the size of the picture - Blogger wouldn't play nicely and allow me to size AND place it where I wanted it to go!

I've also joined the Christmas Ornaments All Year Round blog to try and keep up with stitching a minimum of 12 ornaments this year.  The blog has a planned theme each month and January's theme is Santa Claus ~ this is mine ~ Wee Santa 2005 from Heart in Hand.  I'm stitching on 32ct linen with the recommended GAST & WDW threads.  Apart from the linen being overly stiff this is another lovely stitch, and hopefully it won't be too long before it's finished. 

I'm looking forward to Tuesday Stitching Group tonight, not sure whether I'll work on my Santa or Simply Joys by LHN.

Kate

It Could Be Time

To tidy away a few threads!
The basket is full of threads that have been used in projects over the past few months ~ well it may be more than a few!  It's been so long since I updated my database that I can't rely upon it to tell me where anything is. 
Apart from my general chores and hopefully seeing Bro4 while he is visiting Dad this weekend I think my time should be well spent getting the stash into some semblance of order.
Wish me luck!

Kate

Last & First

I finally finished The Sampler Lady by LHN on 29 December 2011 ~ my last finish for the year.
She's stitched 1/1 on 28ct cream evenweave with the recommended threads ~ most of which I won in a giveaway on the Needlecraft Haven group quite some time ago.
Mostly I loved stitching Grace, as I named her, however I made a mistake with the stitching on her face and she was ensconced in a cupboard so I didn't have to think about frogging ~ huge mistake! I took the plunge last week to sort it out and here she is all complete. I haven't added my name ~ I just stitched the K in a different colour. 
I don't usually make New Year resolutions, however I have decided that I should make this one........
Never put away a project that contains an error ~ frog it now!

And this is my New Year's Day start, Simple Joys by LHN.
Stitched 1/1 on the same fabric as The Sampler Lady with the recommended threads.  This was a gift from the very lovely Barb for my birthday last year.  I'm stitching it in memory of my lovely Mum who took pleasure in the simple joys in life.

Kate

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I wish you all a bright, happy & healthy New Year.

Kate