Stitched in Wales

Another finish

2012-02-19T10:43:00.000Z

A busy couple of weeks for me, and for once it doesn’t involve work! At the start of this year I decided that I really needed to be making more of an effort to do something when I finish work, not just come home and vegetate in front of the TV. So in the last few weeks I have been for a meal after work twice, have taken my Mum to Bingo once a week (and we’ve even had a couple of small wins) and have been to the cinema three times, which is something I’ve always enjoyed doing but Phill has trouble sitting still for a couple of hours so we rarely go.

I must say that I do feel a lot better in myself for making the effort and plan on adding more activities to my routine as the weeks go on.

The only down side to this is that there has been less stitching time for me, but I do have a small finish to share with you. I actually finished it on Valentine’s Day, which is quite appropriate because the design is called Hearts in a Square, designed by Claire. Pop along to her blog for a copy of the chart, and another couple of lovely designs she has created.

I am hoping to use this design as part of a cover for my Kindle – again if you look at Claire’s blog post here you will see the stunning cover Claire’s daughter Lindashee made for her birthday.

TUSAL and Moonlight Garden update

2012-01-26T13:42:00.001Z

First of all I’d like to share my TUSAL update. There’s quite a bit in there really, considering we’re not even a full month into the year, but I have been having some tangling/knotting issues with the Hand Dyed Fibers I am using for Moonlight Garden. I’ve now found some Thread Heaven so will try using that for a while to see if it helps.

All of my stitching time since my last post has been spend on Moonlight Garden. I’ve now finished the second page of the chart, two more pages left, although the final page is a little smaller than the rest, so I am more than half way through.

There was some over one stitching involved in this section, which is always a challenge, but after a few visits from the frog I am happy with the way it looks. Here’s a close up of the over one part

I have had a lot of trouble this week leaving comments on Blogger blogs for some reason. When I try and leave a comment using my OpenID/Wordpress log in details I keep getting an error message saying that the verification word I have entered isn’t correct. I have resorted to commenting using my Blogger ID so if anyone has a comment from someone they don’t recognise it could well be me. I think the problem is more to do with WordPress/Open ID than it does with Blogger. I do still have a Blogger blog, which I used before moving to WordPress so I’m debating whether to go back to using that. For the time being I will duplicate my blog entries to both, until I decide what to do.

I joined in with the International Stitching Hermit Weekend, so have spent a large part of the day in front of the TV watching Spooks and stitching. I intend to carry on with much the same this evening, although will be watching series 3 of The Wire.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Problems commenting

2012-01-21T10:48:00.001Z

Over the last couple of days I have been unable to comment on any Blogger blogs using my Wordpress OpenID. The only way I can leave a comment is by using my Blogger ID, which links to this old blog of mine.

I'm going to duplicate all of my blog posts to WordPress and Blogger while I decide which one to use permanently.

My WordPress blog can be found HERE

New place for blog?

2008-02-04T09:56:00.000Z

I'm thinking of moving this blog over to WordPress.

I have copied all posts over and started to make a template.

The new blog is here http://mollycaff.wordpress.com/

I'd love any comments on ease of use, the look of it etc, etc to help me make my mind up.

Thanks!

Happy Dance!!

2008-02-03T12:03:00.000Z

I finally finished Mystery 8!!! It's been a long time in coming, as I actually started this on 1st January 2005 and finished on 1st February 2008. I am so pleased that it's finished at last, and it is so pretty in real life, the photographs just doesn't do justice to the fabulous colours and the wonderful sparkliness of the beads and crystals.

Keep beading, keep keep beading!

2008-01-30T22:42:00.000Z

Apologies to Leona Lewis for slightly altering the lyrics to her latest song, but I am still plugging away on the beading on Mystery 8. Things I have discovered while beading:

1. Beading needles are very very sharp!
2. If you drop a beading needle it's almost impossible to find it again.
3. I LOVE Tacky Bob.
4. Beads can actually disappear into thin air when they land on carpet.
5. Swarovski crystal bicones are easier to find than beads, but still take two people a torch and a certain amount of furniture removal
6. Never leave beading until the end on a Chatelaine design.

I had hoped to have Mystery 8 completely finished by the end of this month, but at the moment I still have three sets of gates and two sets of waves to bead so unless there is a freak snow storm overnight which stops me from driving to work tomorrow I can't see it happening.

Jayne from Jayne's Attic told me that the fabric I ordered for Tuscany Town Mandala is on the way to me so hopefully that will arrive tomorrow, I can't wait to see it as I've only seen this colour (Fallen Leaves from Polstitches) on a small cut. I'll let you know how it looks.

So close to a Happy Dance

2008-01-27T10:28:00.000Z

Yesterday I felt like I was coming down with a cold, and I really can't afford to be getting ill at the moment, it's just too busy in work as Boss has just come back from a two week holiday in the Carribean and is well rested and raring to get to work.

So I decided that I would stay inside, keep warm, watch some DVDs and get loads of stitching done. It seemed to do the trick because this morning I feel a whole lot better.

I got loads done on Mystery 8 and I'm very nearly done with the stitching, I have two more trees left to stitch on the outside edge and then I can move on to finishing the beading. As for the DVDs, my favourite stitching DVDs are the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I've watched them so many times I can almost recite the script LOL, so I know just the right times to look up and watch, usually when Viggo Mortensen is on screen LOL.

This morning I have some housework to do, mostly washing/ironing but should get a few hours to myself later on this afternoon.

Another one to the framers.

2008-01-26T13:48:00.001Z

This morning I took another piece in for framing. I had to choose between Polar Lights and Graceful Charm.

This is Polar Lights.

This is possibly the worst picture EVER of Graceful Charm.

In the end my decision was made for me when I was giving the pieces one final press before deciding and one of the charms came off Polar Lights. Phill wanted to leave straight as he had an appointment at 9am so I had to take Graceful Charm. Hopefully I will be able to get Polar Lights done next month.

I am making a real effort to get all of my larger pieces framed this year. The smaller ones I'm going to have a go at framing myself, all I need to do is look around the 'net for a good lacing tutorial and I'll have a go.

So far I have hanging on my walls:-

Shimmering Mermaid - Miriablia
May's Emerald Fairy - Mirabilia
Titania, Queen of the Fairies - Mirabilia
An Open Heart - Drawn Thread
Egyptian Sampler - Theresa Wentzler

and hopefully to be added to that very soon will be Mystery 8, which is what I'm going to work on for the rest of the weekend.

Stash!

2008-01-24T17:50:00.001Z

This week my kit finally arrived from European Cross Stitch for Mystery XI. I was lucky that mine was one of the few kits they were able to send out before they ran out of certain supplies.

I had already stitched part 1 of the mystery but now the kit has arrived I've been able to attach the beads.

I also joined the group for Tuscany Town Mandala, I'm just waiting for approval from Martina, and have ordered the kit from ECS. I have spent about a week trying to decide on fabric and have shortlisted it down to three. I have ordered one and may order the other two at the weekend as it's quite difficult to judge the colours from a picture on a monitor.

I seem to have developed quite an addiction to Chatelaine designs since I rediscovered my stitching bug but they really are quite beautiful in real life, especially once you start beading, I just wish I was a good enough photographer to take a decent photo.

Mystery 8 Update

2008-01-24T17:41:00.000Z

This week has been a good week for stitching. I've still made time to stitch every time since 1st January, which is a bit of a record for me.

I've been working solidly on Mystery 8, I'm very very close to finishing this design and the closer I get the more excited I get. I have finished one Chatelaine in the past, Polar Lights, but that was quite a simple, easy stitch compared to Mystery 8.

As you can see, a few more trees and I'm done with the stitching. I have already started the beading, and have started to really enjoy it. Beading was never my favourite part of any design but with the help of Tacky Bob I'm now loving it!

Here's a close up of some of the beading.

Expect a huge happy dance on this one very soon!

TGI Friday

2008-01-18T17:24:00.000Z

It's been a very long week, and the awful weather has made it feel even longer. It's dark when I leave for work and it's dark when I come home, I look forward to the weekends and daylight so much LOL.

Had an early finish from work today, so I was sitting at my computer at home by 4.45pm, it was a lot quieter on the roads so my journey home took half as long as usual, all the more time for stitching tonight!

I'm still working hard on Mystery 8. I haven't got another photo at the moment as I've already posted a pic of the parts that are left to stitch but it's coming along really well and I should be done with the stitching this weekend with a bit of luck. Then I can start the beading, which is something I am not looking forward to. The problem is I am the clumsiest person I know and end up dropping more beads on to the carpet than I get on the fabric. Now I've discovered Tacky Bob's I must admit that beading has become easier but it's not my favourite part of any design, but the end result more than makes up for it.

As a reward for finishing a Chatelaine Garden I have ordered the kit and chart for Tuscany Town Mandala which is absolutely stunning. I've ordered a piece of Polstitches fabric called Falllen Leaves from Jayne's Attic to see it in the flesh, but I've tried loads of different colours of fabric on the Chatelaine Fabric Viewer and I keep getting drawn back to this one so fingers crossed it will look as good in real life as it does on screen.

Now I'm off to get some more of Mystery 8 done!

Mystery 8 Update

2008-01-15T18:26:00.000Z

Since I have finished part 1 of Mystery XI, quicker than I anticipated, I decided that for the rest of this month I would focus on one project - I chose Mystery 8 as it is not that far off from finishing.

I spent the weekend stitching on the outer parts, the gates, lamp posts and trees.

Here is a close up of one side of the gate

Yesterday I decided to stitch the centre of the design. It might not look much but it took me ALL day to stitch this small part of the design.

I now have one more gate, and two full sides of trees/lamposts to stitch, a few specialist stitches to add, and then I can start beading. Hopefully that will be by the weekend, but if not definitely the weekend after that. The beading is going to take absolutely ages! On Mystery XI I'm going to be adding the beads each month as the parts are issued as I really don't want to be faced with beading the whole thing at the end.

Also this weekend I managed to stitch a small freebie design as part of a Valentine Exchange. I can't post a picture of it yet because it is a secret exchange. All I have to do is finish it into something before I can send it to my exchange partner - that should be interesting as I am useless as finishing LOL.

Update on UFO Tuesday

2008-01-10T13:56:00.001Z

What a great idea UFO Tuesday is! I really enjoyed stitching on Spring Queen this week and in fact it was hard to put her back in to her mesh bag until next Tuesday. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped because I'd gotten my Tuesday's mixed up so Phill didn't actually go out this week, but it out next week.

Phill wanted to catch up on some TV that we had recorded on Sky+, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. We started watching this series ages ago and put it on to series link on Sky+ but fell way behind for one reason or another so now we have a few months worth of episodes to watch. It's made by the same people who made my all time favourite, The West Wing, and I think it's a good series, but apparently in the US it hasn't been kept on for a second series which is a shame.

It's quite fast paced though and I found it hard to stitch and watch as it as it requires a little more concentration. We watched a couple of episodes and then Phill decided to play Call of Duty 3 on XBox live, so I went back to stitching.

This is the latest pic of Spring Queen.

UFO Tuesday

2008-01-08T13:40:00.001Z

Tonight I am joining in with UFO Tuesday on the Stitch and Stash forum at Jayne's Attic

Every Tuesday I am going to work on a long forgotten UFO. I think I'll probably stick to the one project and work on that until it is done.

I have decided to work on Spring Queen from Mirabilia. At first I couldn't remember how long ago I last stitched on this one. I took a photo of it yesterday and uploaded it into Webshots. I then realised that in my Webshots album was the last photo I had taken of this piece, when I had stitched 30 hours worth of time. That photo was uploaded in October 2003!

Time just flies by so quickly, I just can't believe that it's been over four years - if I would have taken a guess on when I last worked on it I would have said about two years ago LOL.

I'm so glad that UFO night is on a Tuesday, as every other Tuesday Phill goes to a local open mic night where he plays steel guitar and bass guitar so I know that from about 7pm tonight I will have complete peace and quiet LOL.

Sunday Update

2008-01-06T17:21:00.000Z

I finished part 1 of Mystery XI today! I haven't beaded it yet, I still have to wait for my kit to arrive to do that but I'm very pleased with it so far. I'm also very pleased that I managed to get it stitched so quickly. As with most of the Chatelaine Designs I have stitched they are quite time consuming and always take longer than you think they will but this one stitched up very well.

I didn't realise just how much I had missed stitching, I am enjoying it so much at the moment, and long may it last LOL!

Next I'm either going to stitch some more on my Monthly Challenge piece or maybe get an old WIP out and put some more stitches in. At the moment Spring Queen seems to be calling to me so I think that one will win!

5th January

2008-01-05T13:46:00.000Z

I've made good progress in the first week of 2008. I've managed to get some stitching done every day so far, if I can keep that up I should be able to achieve at least some of my goals. In the past my stitching usually gets interrupted by my job, not the fact that I have to go there every day lol, more the fact that I work in such a busy, pressurised job that after a hard day I can be too tired to stitch and I've learned from experirence that stitching when too tired ends up in frogging the following day.

This year however I am determined that this is going happen and that I will stitch every day, even if only for a half hour or an hour.

So far this week I have made a good start on part 1 of Mystery XI and should have a picture of the completed part tomorrow or maybe Monday. I have also stitched on Celtic Autumn during my lunch hour at work, although I haven't managed to do much on that to be honest. I've started a small design as part of the Monthly Challange on the Stitch and Stash forum. It's a freebie design from By My Needle. The link to the design is http://www.withmyneedle.com/PynPillow.pdf

We all choose our own fabric, threads and make the design up as we want, the big reveal will be on 26th January. I have started stitching it over one, which I haven't done for a while, so it's quite hard going for me at the moment, but it is getting easier. I am looking forward to seeing the different versions of this design.

2008-01-02T18:57:00.000Z

With my renewed interest in stitching came a need to have a throrough tidy up of my stitching stash.

It was a job which took a couple of days all in all, but one that I really enjoyed as I found some things that I had been looking for and also some things I had completely forgotten about.

The best part was sorting through the hand dyed threads and fabrics I have, thinking where I could use them and wishing I had the time to stitch half of the things I would like to LOL.

This link will take you to a slideshow of the photos I have taken, let's see how long I can keep it this neat!

http://good-times.webshots.com/slideshow/561959421MYTNLg

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T10:47:00.001Z

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe how fast New Years Day comes around isn't it? Tomorrow it's back to work for Phill and I but at least we only have three days until the weekend, and even better my boss is flying to Barbados on Friday for two whole weeks :-)

We had a very quiet New Years Eve as usual, we don't go out to pubs/clubs very often anyway, and especially not on New Years Eve where you have to pay so much to get in to places. I enjoyed a chat with some of the Stitching and Stash ladies and then we watched The Bourne Ultimatum which we both really enjoyed.Today we have MIL coming for lunch, and then we plan to have a lazy day.

Part 1 of Mystery XI has been released and I do actually have some of the threads used so will be able to make a start on that today which is quite a relief. I have ordered the rest of the threads I will need for Part 1 from Sew and So and they should be here by the weekend so I know I will at least be able to get Part 1 finished so I'm feeling a lot better about this design already.

Here's a pic of Celtic Autumn as promised. It's stitched using jazlyn fabric called Manhatten Myst from Dyeing4U (sadly no longer in business). The fabric is slightly more purple than the picture shows and really does show up the design well. I have finished the border, apart from the beads, and will start working on the lady once I have stitched Part 1 of Mystery XI. So far I have spent about 25 hours on this one, it really has stitched up quickly, but I can see that the beading will take almost as long as the stitching because there are absolutely loads of them LOL.

I also took some photos of my stitching stash, which I will upload later and blog about tomorrow.

Goals for 2008

2007-12-31T17:50:00.000Z

I've spent the last couple of days having a good sort through my stitching stash, making sure everything was in the correct place and easily found when I'm looking for things. The biggest job was sorting all my DMC threads. I have a full set of DMC which is kept in one place, a four tier toolbox/workbox I found in B&Q a couple of years ago. When I stitch something in DMC the idea is I take it from my central stash and then replace it when I'm finished.

The problem I have is that I don't seem to finish very much LOL. The other problem is I seem to start lots and lots of things, which usually means I can't find all the DMC I need in my central stash and end up buying more. Repeat this a few times and you can imagine that I've got lots of DMC all over the place.

So I went through all my WIP's and was quite ruthless about the ones that I really can't see me stitching on again. I salvaged what I could from the fabric and put the DMC back into central stash, together with the drawer full I found where I had finished small projects and chucked the DMC in there for me to put away "later".

From my WIP's I have made a list of the ones that I would like to finish, or at least make significant progress on, in 2008. I also have a couple of new starts planned as motivation for getting some older WIP's out of the way.

1. Finish Autumn Queen
2. Finish Winter Queen
3. Finish Spring Queen
4. Finish Chatelaine Mystery 8
5. Finish Chatelaine Celtic Quilt
6. Finish Chatelaine Egyptian Garden
6. Start and finish Chatelaine Mystery XI (Celtic Mystery)
7. Finish Celtic Autumn
8. Start Cirque des Triangles

All of these are large projects, the Chatelaines are quite intricate and I need something easier" to stitch alongside them to prevent me from burning out on them, so I will rotate the Chatelaines with the Mirabilias which are easier to stitch with larger blocks of colour.

Celtic Autumn I started on Christmas Eve and have made fantastic progress. I have completed the whole border area, leaving just the lady to stitch in 2008.

I will take photos of all these WIP's before I start stitching on them again, I'm just waiting for the camera battery to charge.

Mystery XI starts tomorrow, 1st January 2008. I ordered the kit from European Cross Stitch a few weeks ago but because the material list wasn't issued until early December they will not be getting the kits out until 10th January so by the time the kit gets to me in the UK most of the month will be gone.

I am very frustrated at this, it's quite hard to keep up with the Mysteries at the best of times, but I feel like I am behind already and it hasn't even started yet. I really do think that Martina should have released the materials list to her distributors in plenty of time for them to get the kits to the people starting the mystery by starting date.

The good news is that while I was sorting through my stash I did come across some of the threads that are used in the Mystery so fingers crossed the ones I have will be used in Part 1. If not, I think I may place an order with Sew and So, just for the Part 1 threads so at least I can make a good start in January.

Titania - Queen of the Fairies by Mirabilia Designs

2007-12-28T17:50:00.001Z

Over a year since I last posted to my blog, but what a way to return - with a Happy Dance!

I started stitching this design in June 2004. I hardly picked up a needle in 2007 until around the end of November, I thought I had lost my stitching bug permenantly but I was wrong. Since I started stitching again I've really enjoyed it. I've worked on a few projects that have been WIP's for a very long time, I've started a new project which I've wanted to stitch for years and now I've finished a project that I've wanted to finish before the end of the year.

Titania is stitched on a Sugar Maple fabric called Gelati, 28 count Cashel Linen. The only alteration to the chart is that I have left off the antennae as I thought they made her look less like a fairie and more like an insect.

The new project I have started is Celtic Autumn by Lavender and Lace, and I will take a WIP pic of that tomorrow and post it then.

2008 Finishes

2007-12-25T19:02:00.000Z

Anyone for tennis?

2006-12-23T08:32:00.000Z

Not much news on the stitching front I'm afraid. For the last couple of years I've suffered on and off with tennis elbow, probably caused by the fact that I spend way too much of my working life at a keyboard. I find it extremely difficult to stitch without using my Lowery stand, because as soon as I stitch in hand for any length of time my tennis elbow flares up and then I'm out of action stitching wise for quite a few weeks.

Recently the clamp on my Lowery stand has broken. The thread seems to have worn away and the clamp no longer grips the frame or the Q snap. I was absolutely gutted because having so recently foudn my stitching bug again, I can't do any stitching. Phill rigged up a temporary solution but it's not ideal and doesn't hold the frame as tightly as I'd like so after Christmas I'm going to have to look in to buying another clamp.

My parents Golden Wedding celebrations went extremely well for the most part. Both of my sisters live about two hours drive away so my father had arranged for them to come down on the Saturday, whereas my mother thought they were coming down on the Sunday. My dad then organised a surprise party on the Saturday night at the club they go to every weekend. My mother was so surprised when she walked in and saw us all sitting there she burst into tears. It's so out of my dad's character to do something like this she couldn't quite believe it!

One of my sisters caused some problems for myself and my other sister, and she ended up going home in a strop on Sunday morning and missing out on the meal my mother had organised for Sunday afternoon. My mother was extremely disappointed to say the least. My sister and I haven't been on the best of terms for quite a while, but at the moment I've washed my hands of her. Her selfish and childish behaviour, all because she wants to be the centre of attention, even though it was my parent's special day, made me absolutely furious and is something that I will never forget.

Other news, I have had a small tropical fish tank for a couple of years and I really enjoy watching and looking after the fish, so for this years joint Christmas present between Phill and I we decided to upgrade our aquarium. I am now the very proud owner of a fabulous four foot tank in a beautiful cherry wood cabinet. The fish love having so much room to swim around and there's lots of room left for more!

An Open Heart - Framed

2006-12-02T12:34:00.000Z

I fell in love with this design by The Drawn Thread in March 2005 when I attended at a stitching weekend at Judy Dixon's near Woburn. As part of the weekend we made a trip to the Country Cross Sticher in Woburn and I saw a stitched model of this design on the wall in the shop. I bought the chart straight away. I finished it in July 2005 but it has taken me until now to get around to framing it. I took it in last week and picked it up this morning and I am very very pleased with what they have done.

A close look at the arch at the top of the design.

Apologies for the terrible photography - it seems almost impossible to get a decent picture of this design.

Hooray for Friday!?

2006-12-01T23:30:00.000Z

I have a love/hate relationship with Fridays. I love them because it's the last working day of the week. I hate them because Friday evening is when we do our weekly shop and fighting around Tesco on a Friday evening three weeks from Christmas isn't my idea of fun! I'd love to get all our grocery shopping online, but we take Phill's mum with us and she enjoys the routine of us going there, having a cuppa, taking her shopping, helping her unpack, having another cuppa and just generally spending some time together.

So no stitching for me tonight because I got home late from work (well to be honest, we went to the pub!) and we didn't get home from Tesco until nearly 9.30pm. I just couldn't get my eyes to concentrate and knew that if I tried too hard I would only end up making mistakes so I didn't bother.

I made some good progress on Celtic Quilt last night though, and will post another pic over the weekend.

Tomorrow I'm going to the framers to drop in the 50th Wedding Anniversay gift for my mother and to pick up An Open Heart by The Drawn Thread which I took in last week. I'm very excited and nervous becuase this is the first time I've tried this framer, but they came recommended so fingers crossed that they've done a good job.

Celtic Quilt

2006-11-29T22:08:00.000Z

I didn't get to stitch much yesterday, because I had a really horrible day in work and by the time we'd had something to eat and tidied up it was about half past nine and my eyes were just starting to close!

Tonight though I've made some good progress on Chatelaine Celtic Quilt mystery. This design was released in January 2005 in monthly sections. I kept up with it for a couple of months but then fell behind and in the end I just worked on it when I felt like. I love the idea of Martina's mystery designs but I have a really hard time keeping up with the monthly releases, particularly if that particular part of the chart involves intensive stitching. So far I have started Mystery 8, Celtic Quilt Mystery and the Stitching Leparello, and I haven't yet managed to keep up to date on any of them!

I have read today on Martina's BB that her 2008 mandala garden mystery is going to be based on a Celtic theme. I am definitely going to sign up for that one and will do my best to keep up to date with it. At least I've got plenty of time to get some other WIP's out of the way before then.

Anyway, here's a photo of Celtic Quilt so far. Tonight I managed to stitch the green "zig zags" in the border on the bottom row of the squares. There's really not that much left to do on this now, a few weeks of stitching should see it finished and I'm making it my December challenge to finish this one by the end of the year.

Golden Wedding HD

2006-11-28T13:28:00.000Z

My parents celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary on 8th December this year. I had originally planned to stitch them something, but decided against it as I was not stitching much at the time and was a bit worried that if I forced myself to stitch something to a deadline when I wasn't really in a stitching frame of mind it might put me off stitching forever!

However, the last couple of months my stitching but has kicked in big time, so decided to have a browse around Sew and So to see if had anything I liked which was relatively quick to stitch.

I found a very pretty sampler from the HIstorical Sampler Company, ordered it last Thursday, it arrived on Friday and after stitching on it for most of the weekend I finished it on Monday!

Now all I have to do is get it framed in time!

Christmas Ornament Exchange

2006-11-27T08:17:00.000Z

This year on the Jayne's Attic Forum there is a Christmas Ornament Exchange, organised by Su. I wasn't sure whether to take part as whilst I have stitched a few ornaments I have never actually got around to finishing them. I'm not very good at sewing (by hand or machine), but thought I'd bite the bullet and have a go. I could always ask my MIL for help if I got stuck!

This is the ornament that I made, which I have sent to the recipient, but I don't think it's arrived yet so I won't mention any names on here. It's actually a very small bag, lined with a similar colour fabric as the thread which is WDW 3860 Crimson, and the chart was designed by WIth My Needle, from one of the JCS Ornament Magazines. I was quite pleased with the finishing, the lining inside could have been a bit neater but I know where I went wrong so next time I stitch one the finish should be better.

Welcome!

2006-11-26T12:50:00.000Z

There seems to be a lot of people starting blogs lately, so not wanting to miss out on the bandwagon here I am! I've tried a couple of times before to keep a blog and failed quite miserably. Will it be different this time....who knows, but I will try extra hard this time to keep up to date.

I went through a stitching slump earlier in the year, where I didn't pick up a needle for months. This was partly due to being stressed out at work, but also because we discovered a new game for the XBOX 360 called Oblivion. Phill and I became totally addicted to this game and played it for months and months - possibly the best value for money game we've bought so far.

I got my stitching but back big time in about August/September and have been stitching almost non stop since then. I pulled out a few long neglected WIP's and have been working on them in a loose rotation. So far I've worked on Chatelaine's Mystery 8, Egypt Garden and Celtic Quilt, Mirabilia's Titania has seen a bit of attention and I've also started a couple of new designs, Do Not Disturb by JCA, and Judy O'Dell's Attic Collection Accessory Book. I'll post some pictures of these once Phill comes home from work and can take decent photographs of them.