Wow, it has been aaaages!

I just looked at my last post and it was 11 August!  It just goes to show you that the summer holidays really do nothing for your free time.  I had so little time to stitch, let alone blog :-(   But it was good to have fun with my girls, even if the weather was - as usual - disappointing!

Now the girls are back at school, DH is back at work for three weeks and the perfect time of year for staying in with your stitching is on it's way, it's time for a little me time.  So, in an effort to get my stitchin butt back in gear I am going to join in with the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend!!  I found out about it on Joyze's blog right here and I've posted the IHSW button here on my blog too.  Just click on the button to take you to the information page :-)

I think I am going to use the opportunity to make a new start - yes another one!  BUT this new one is a big love for me and I've waited quite a while for Michele at HAED to release it - it's Gypsy Firefly by Aimee Stewart.  I totally adore this one!! I often dreamt as a child of having my own gypsy caravan and travelling the highways and byways in it.  One of my favourite books was Danny Champion of the World, which if you have read it you will know that Danny and his Dad live in one!  Here she is:

I'm also adding another gorgeous chart to my stash this week and really must resist the temptation to start her too.  It's this one - Tranquility by The Vintage Angel.  Totally gorgeous and sooo peaceful!

But what have you been stitching, in those rare moments you have had to stitch, I hear you say?! Well, I am ashamed to say, it was another new start!  I had one of those weeks where nothing was calling to me (Really? Out of the all the wips I have? Yeah right!!) so I started Moonglow by Hannah Lynn.  Well my justification was that I didn't have a Hannah in my wips ;-D  Here is my progress so far, please excuse the gaps, but I was missing some threads.

Isn't it great - I just love the colours in Hannah's work.  And, now that I've got a picture, I can really see the moon coming together, up close it has just looked like a blob!

So, that's me caught up except for the blog I drafted over the summer with my new storage stash which I will add pictures to and post in a bit.

well, I am a busy blogger :-)

I must be a bit like a bus - nothing for ages then loads come along together :-D Lots of things have been happening for a change!

First my update for Curl Up after the July SAL. I have, at last, got through the worst of the decanter - whoop whoop! I can honestly say it was absolutely painful to stitch and I'm glad it's done. It took sooooo long to get through those columns. But now he is 5 columns done. Still nowhere near being on target but hopefully progress will be a bit faster now.

So now I am going back to Ophelia. She's been shouting at me for at least a week so once I had finished with Curl Up she went right back on the frame. I'm still stitching the first page, so lots and lots of black with the odd splash of dark green and dark grey!

I finally invested in a laying tool (one that sits on your finger) and I think it has helped with my tension which I was struggling with on the dark colours. I'm enjoying trying it out. I thought that it would be really annoying sat on your finger but tbh once it's been on for a few minutes, you don't even notice it.

I submitted my Porthole finish for the HAED reward program this week - such a fabulous and extremely generous scheme. You finish a HAED, send your pictures to Michele and she sends you a free chart! How amazing is that! I chose QS Dahlia by Hannah Lynn. Don't you just love those fizzy summer colours?

And, I won in the Fairy Day 2011 draw! I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened that thread and saw my name! I was expecting to congratulate the winners but I had won!!!! I got to chose a QS as my prize :-D I was trying to choose between Tag Alongs by Hannah Lynn and the QS of Amethyst Moon by Nene Thomas BUT the winner was:

QS Moonglow by Hannah Lynn!

I just love the tat on her back and the colours - purple of course and the colours in the moon are so cute!

Finally, it's my blogging birthday today! One whole year already since my first blog post :-D Thank you so much for reading my blog and here's to another stitchy year!

So that's it! More excitement than I can handle in a week that's for sure lol