.. 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.