Advent Calendar 14 December 2011

Hello everyone joining in the fun with the blogging advent calendar!  Today is my turn and I have chosen a picture of a cushion I completed last year to add to our Christmas decorations.  He was really quick to stitch and the pillow came ready made but I think he looks great!

Our tree has been up for some time, my three girls couldn't wait.  Since then our two kitties have been making whoopie with my ornaments - luckily the precious ones at at the top :-)

As the girls are still quite young, we are still 'developing' our traditions.  Some things that I have continued from when I was are a present at the end of the bed (keeps them quiet for a bit in the morning) and waiting until they have eaten breakfast before opening presents - mean I know but let's face it once they get started it all seems to be over in minutes!

Best wishes for the Christmas season to you all!

Ok Ok .. I know

I've been AWOL again, and I haven't kept up with my question of the day either :-(  BUT I have got some news to share ... I will be the next recipient of the travelling pattern!!!  You can see it on Jo's blog here and check out how gorgeous Jo's version of it is!  I'm looking forward to its arrival :-)

Hopefully normal service will now resume, and I will try and pick up where I left off on the questions ... well I'll try anyway lol

Hasn't worked very well, has it!?

The whole point of these questions was to try and encourage me to blog everyday.  Well .. uh .. nope, that ain't happened!  Here we are on 4 November and I've missed three days' worth already .. oops!  Right, catch up time.

Day 2: What is your current stitching project?

At the moment I am working on one of my HAED projects, Tranquility.

Day 3: Do you have any other WIPs?

Seriously, is this a loaded question or what lol !  Of course I have other WIPs, or should I call them (slow)WIPs?  I have - actually I am not going to say how many - other HAEDs on the go and also some kits that are in my 'deep storage' that really ought to be finished at some point.

Day 4: How did you learn to stitch?

I bought a kit and followed the instructions!  So totally self-taught as no-one in my family, or none of my friends come to think of it, were stitchers.  My Nan used to knit and crochet and my Mum can knit and is great with a sewing machine, but at the time she wasn't a stitcher (although I have now turned her to the dark side, along with my sister!).

Not really much else to blog about today and, most boringly, no photos :-( I've been making steady progress on Tranquility and had hoped to have half the page done by now but I'm not quite there yet.  Hopefully I might get caught up a bit over the weekend, children allowing.

We've had the final page for the SAL today too, so I really ought to do some more on Curl Up as I think I am a couple of posts short of the requirement to qualify for the remainder of the SAL charts.  I  also need to do some more work on Ice Wind, but I just can't seem to tear myself away from Tranquility.  On the plus side though, I have met - quite unintentionally - some of my yearly goals on the HAED BB!  Yay, go me!

Trying to get back in the blogging groove ...

I've been in a bit of a blogging blackspot for a while now so, finding inspiration from my fellow stitcher and blogger Kerry, I am going to try and answer one stitchy related question a day and what better day to start than the first of a month?  Thanks to Kerry for the questions - you can find her fabulous blog here and if you want to know what other questions there are, you can check them out in the "Coming Soon" section of my blog.

Although I may not have been blogging, I have been stitching, and got a page finish on Tranquility which I am very excited about.  It took me exactly four weeks - not bad considering that the little bit of butterfly was a confetti nightmare!  Still, it was mostly lots and lots of blue - disappointingly I haven't been able to spot the butterfly shapes that are apparent in the background of the original art. Perhaps they will become more visable as I move through the next page.

I've been having issues with iPhoto and can't get photos from my camera to my lappy which is frustrating to say the least.  I shouldn't complain as this is the first problem I've ever had with my Mac - perhaps Mr Jobs is having the last word ;-) RIP - such a cool guy.

So, here is a picture but it was taken on my iPhone so you will have to excuse the quality :-(

I have moved on to page 2 which is lots more blue and a whole butterfly this time.  I'm hoping to get through it quickly because I want to get to her face on page 3!

Finally, today's question of the day :-)

Day 1: What was your first finished project?

It was actually my first start and my first finish (I obviously was a lot more disciplined then lol) a Country Companions kit of Tom Mouse and he wore a stripey jumper and wellies.  Luckily it was lots of blocks of colour and I stitched it as a present for my Nan.  I framed it (very badly) and it hung on her wall until she died and I think one of my cousins has it now.  If I looked hard enough I could probably still find the chart in my stash!

IHSW

I had a great hermitting weekend!  Despite the girls being around and DH not going back to work until Sunday morning, I got loads done :-)  I worked on one of my HAEDs - Tranquility by The Vintage Angel.  She is being stitched one over one, full crosses on 28ct bone jobelan.

The only problem I have now is that iphoto has let me down and just crashes everytime I try to import a photo :-(  I have taken one with my phone and have posted this for the meantime, so sorry no before shot just yet ..

There has been an awful lot of blue but bizarrely I have enjoyed stitching it.  You will see that one of the butterflies is starting to appear at the bottom :-)

It's almost that time again ..

.. so don't forget it's International Hermit & Stitch Weekend starting this Friday.  All you need to do is click on the crab at the top of my page and you can sign up.  It's a great way to meet new blogging friends and is the perfect excuse to sit and stitch all day long - like we need an excuse, right?!

I'll be back later in the week with a proper stitchy update but in the meantime, a big "hullo"! to all my followers, old and new - I can't believe 65 of you read my blog! Thank you!


** edited to add that I've been having blogger issues - it took 5 attempts to get this published and I think that the comments section may still be having a crisis!  If you cannot post a comment to this post, please let me know by commenting on my previous entry and I will try and sort it out! **

.. sigh ..

aaaarrrrrrgggggghhh what is it with me and new starts at the moment??  Why can't I just settle down and get something done ... or maybe even *gasp* finished! I have another newbie in the pipeline - Tranquility by The Vintage Angel.  I couldn't resist and finally bought her in the sale.  Here she is again (I know that you've seen a picture here before but she is sooo gorgeous she is worth another look):

It seems like fate that I have a piece of my favourite bone jobelan in *exactly* the right size so I have to do it ... yes?  Completely dire on the thread front though, I think I have about 6 of the 90 I need - so another order has gone off to Donna at Cross Stitch Heaven.  But, after looking through my stash, another! Ta-da! some of the threads I need for the first column are in Dragon Charmer!  I could "borrow" them and put them back when the order comes from Donna.  So ... fate strikes again ... yes?!

That means I'll have had 3 new starts in just over a month!  Yes I know no-one is counting but seriously??  These are HAEDs we are talking about ... it's not like they are a short term commitment .. I *really* need to get a grip on myself!

IHSW 16-18 September 2011

No before picture for me this time as I had yet another new start ;-D Gypsy Firefly by Aimee Stewart charted by HAED.  This is how she will look when she is done:

And this is my progress after the weekend.  Stitched on 28ct light moss jobelan, one over one and full crosses:

I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, far too many things going on and the girls didn't give me much time to stitch.  Hey ho, tomorrow is another day!

I've had to have a little re-organise :-)

Since we added Missie and Jess the kittens to our family, my stitchy stash has been increasingly in danger!  At first, they left it well alone but now Jess has decided that she rather likes the taste of DMC, Missie likes to swipe my needles and they both like to sleep in my workbasket!  

I am so used to be able to leave everything as I left it that it has come as rather a shock that I will now have to pack away each night.  So, never one to miss an opportunity to spend money on stash, I have made a couple of purchases to make the tidying away a little easier! :-D

First of all, I invested in a little unit with drawers in.  The gap between the wall and the sofa is so small that I really didn't think I would find one that would work.  But this little unit is perfect - I picked it up in Argos (and it comes in other colours too).  The top drawer has my threads and wips for my QS, the second drawer my BAP and the bottom one has my spare q-snaps and bits and pieces.  The top is also useful for standing my ORT tin on ;-)

But, not content with that, I decided I wanted needed something to pack away my current wip each night.  I didn't want to have to rummage around in the drawers to get everything together each time I wanted to stitch.  So, I found this!

Cath Kidston

I first saw it when I went to London at the beginning of the holidays in another colourway but this one has just been released and I just had to have it. So now I have my very own caravan - it really does make me smile everytime I look at it! 

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.