Happy New Year!

Happy New year everyone! I would like to thank those who have taken the time to visit and comment on my blog over the year. I really do appreciate it! I hope 2009 is a prosperous year for you all!

Last finish for 2008!

Here is my last finish for 2008. It is by Barbara Ana. I loved stitching him and the way he turned out!

PIF

I was one of the lucky winners of a PIF (Pay It Forward) on Rene's blog. Now it's my turn to pick who I will send something to. If you would like to receive something stitched from me, there are just a couple of things you must do. First leave a comment here (be sure to sign your name to the comment). Then you must PIF within the next 365 days. If more than 3 people comment I will draw 3 names. I will announce the results within the next week or so. Thank you for choosing me Rene!

UFO Day

I worked on a UFO today seeing it was UFO day on ILCS. I am going to try and work on a UFO every Tuesday lol. This one is called Guardian Angel from Janlynn. I started her years ago when I first started stitching. Hopefully she will be the second of my UFO's to be finished.

Margaret and I am implementing a stash diet for 2009 and I am looking forward to finishing my WIP's, UFO's and things I already have in my stash pile. Money is tight and I really would love to do the things I already have rather than them just collecting dust and never seeing the light of day. It really would be lovely if others were to join us. Anyone out there also up to the challenge? lol.

Celtic Summer Update

I finally have an update on her. I am about half way through on her now. I tend to stitch on her one day and the next session I do the beading on the previous days stitching. Click on the picture to biggify and see her properly lol.

Snowman

My snowman actually has his head now lol. I am really loving stitching on this and can't wait to see it finished!

Weekend update

I have been working on two projects this last week. The wizard for the twins...........

.............and I started a new project by Barbara Ana called 'It is snowing somewhere', which I just love.

I am stitching it on Polstitches fabric called 'Sky High'. I don't have all the colours so I am substituting as I go along but it's fun as I get to used lots of over dyes.

Saturday we put the Crimbo tree up and all the ceiling decorations. We went and bought a white tree this year and I really like it. It really does brighten the room up.

Teeny tiny finish

It's the Christmas freebie from Dragon Dreams. I will get a keyring for it and stick it in there for Colin lol. It sure aint his big red dragon but at least it's a dragon lol.

New start.

I started this when we went to Colins Mums. It's for the twins and hopefully won't take too long as it is 7x5 inches. I have the Sorceress that matches as well. I got them ages ago marked down in Hobbycraft.

This is what it looks like so far and below is what it will look like!

I will take a picture of Celtic Summer tomorrow as I need good light for that as it won't fit on the scanner.

MIA again.

Ok, I'm still around but just been very busy. We went to him indoors parents for the weekend for a much needed break. Things are getting to both of us at the moment what with the recession and all. And to top it of, the bloody alternators gone on the car this morning while him indoors was driving to Plumpton. Another expense we can't really afford. On the upside, him indoors parents have bought us a new cooker which arrived this morning. Mine wasn't working properly so it's a joint Xmas come birthdays present for us, so thank you so much Bob and Linda! It really meant a lot to us! It was ordered on Sunday from the Argos website, so I think thats pretty good going seeing they quoted up to 59 days for it to be delivered!
It's gas for the heating which is crippling us.................how come the buggers havent bought the prices down seeing fuel is cheaper now? Greedy feckers. Ya know, food, fuel and petrol all went up but him indoors wages havent...........at least petrol is coming down. OK rant over lol.

While we were at him indoors parents, Linda presented us both with stitched presents and she even framed them lol. She really has the stitching bug now hehehe.

Mines the one with the chocolate devil lol.

Enchanted Creatures finished

After all these years I've finally finished it! I really like the way it has turned out. Now all I have to do is get it framed and hung up in the twins bedroom!
I now need to decide which UFO to work on next lol.

Celtic Summer Update

Here's the latest update. As you can see I have done rather a lot. I have been stitching on her most days now. I really am glad that I am beading as I go along and it is surprising how heavy it is now.
Click on picture to bigify it lol.

I have also been stitching on Fantastic Creatures and all I have left to do now is the back stitching which there is quite a lot of.

I am looking forward to the weekend as we are going to Col's mum and dads. We leave Friday and get back Sunday night. It will be good to sit down and do some stitching with her on the Sunday lol.

My UFO Challenge.

I've decided to set my own UFO challenge. There are a few reasons for this including that they are really nice and a lot of work has gone into them already, and also there is a recession and we are begining to feel it especially right on top of Christmas. I will carry on stitching on my normal WIPs but add time each week to work on a UFO. I also will not be starting any more large projects except for Circe the Sorceress. Small projects are allowed providing I have the stuff to do them. Personally for me, I can not see the point of spending money on new stash when I already have plenty started to keep me going for a long time. Our money can be spent else where, where it is really needed, like on the kids and Grandkids for Xmas :).
I already started my challenge and picked out my smallest UFO.

It is called Fantastic Creatures and is from the Dimensions Petite Gold range. I started this when the twins were about four, they are ten now lol but they still want it finished for their bedroom. So I have promised them faithfully that I will finish it as fast as I can!

The rest of the week I have spent stitching on Celtic Summer and am about halfway through it now.

Celtic Summer Update

I spent this afternoon doing the beading on her. The material is quite heavy now with all those beads on it. I am really enjoying working on this and have made it my main project for now.
I also have a nice beaded ornament to make in time for Christmas and will probably start it in the next week.
Click on image to bigify it to see all the beads lol.

Celtic Summer Update

I feel like I am making progress on it now, but I still have a long way to go!

Gawd help me lol

I havent really stitched the last week so today I picked up Summer dragon..........gawd help me with all that blending and kreiniks lol............wish me luck!

Mill Hill finish

This is what I finished last night. Its 'Angeline', one of the Mill Hill kits Bouquet pins but I am going to use it as an ornament on the Christmas tree.

An overdue update

Well, I haven't really been doing much stitching lately. I pulled out a Mill Hill kit I started earlier in the year. It's supposed to be done as a brooch but I am going to add ribbon to it and make it into an ornament for the christmas tree. I just love stitching these little kits. I have one of their larger kits to do which is Lavender Fields which I am hoping to do early next year ;p

Feel's like Christmas

It certainly feels like Christmas today! I received not one, but three packages! I was so surprised and gobsmacked to say the least!

(click on photo's to biggify them lol).

The above, is my 2nd parcel from my Secret Sister on my ILCS group. I just love it all thank you so much! Not sure if anything is missing though as the parcel was damaged in transit, the envelope flap had come unstuck so Royal Mail put it all in a plastic bag with their apologys if anything was missing :( I am looking forward to doing the Monogram Tin as I have never done one and the needleroll, needle case, scissors sheath and fob, is just perfect for me as it's in my favourite colours and has a wonderful inscription on it;
'with thread in hand I'm at my best and this is where my needles rest'
I love the Christmas tree too as it's very colourful. Included was a lovely home made card too.

The photo above is a parcel Carla sent me! Look at all that lovely Halloween fabric! I can't get that where I live. Need to stitch loads of things so I can use it lol. And I love the socks, so me! The card is very apt as Carla pointed out as I said on my other blog once about the spiders in my garden needing wellies lol.

Last but not least is a belated birthday present from Rene. She made me a lovely little needle minder and sent me a Just Nan chart including the fabric for it. The dragon stickers are for him indoors (aka Colin for those of you who don't read my other blog lol).

Thank you, thank you, thank you ladies, you have made me one very happy lady indeed!

Batty Jack finished

I finished Batty Jack today, and I am very pleased with it. It was a PITA to put the beads on where it's a small ornament but it was worth it for the overall effect.

Celtic Summer Update

It's been a few weeks since I worked on this but I really enjoyed stitching on it today as I got to put some beads on lol. I know I am behind compared to some others who are doing this SAL, but hopefully I will start catching up now.

Batty Jack

I'm on a bit of a roll today. Firstly I finished all the stitching for my Secret Sister piece on ILCS. Just got to finish it off now.
Then I started and finished Batty Jack by Just Nan which is in the Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch. I used glow in the dark thread for the ghosts and used Carries 'Citrus' for the pumpkin, instead of what was called for on the chart. It is really tiny, only 2 x 2 inches. I am going to finish it off into a little ornament.

Summer Dragon update

The other claw is on now and the rest of the rock. I am currently doing the border which as I have said many times lol, is slow due to all the kreinik and blending filaments. But what a difference back stitching makes as you can see on the flames.

Natures Vision

I worked on this today. It was a UFO, but now I am working on it as well as the dragon.
It's Natures Vision by Dimensions.

Summer Dragon update

Well, he finally has a head lol. It's been real slow going because of all the colour changes, blending and Kreinik. I think this will take a long time to finish.
The last couple of days I have been working on Natures Vision. It was a UFO and it's a BAP. It's faster going as it's on aida even though the colour is navy.

Summer Dragon update

I stayed up to 4am to finish the first page. I can't wait to start the next page and get his head on lol. The border is mostly Kreinik and blended Kreinik. It is painfully slow to do. I am back stitching the border as I go but will back stitch the dragon last along with putting on the beads.

Pansies Please finished

I finally finished it! I kept at it today until it was done lol. The embellishment is centre but I couldn't get it to lay straight on the scanner. I'm really pleased with it.

SS parcel and a RAK

I was spoiled today when the postman came. I received Winter Dragon from my SS on the ILCS group that I run. She also sent me two Gentle Arts threads in Sugarplum and Purple Iris and a Mill Hill Petites Treasure. Thank you so much!

I also received Spring Dragon form Wanda as a RAK. How cool is that! She also sent me the Kreiniks and beads that are needed for it. Thank you so much Wanda!

Pansies Please update

I didn't work too much on it today. I'm having real trouble getting into it. I can't really say why either. I will be glad when it's finished.

Summer Dragon update

I'm going to experiment with this blog for a while and see if it's worth using just for my stitching updates. I have had a lot of trouble with blogger in the past.

Here's my most recent update on Summer Dragon. I have nearly finished the first page now.

My blog is now here.

http://amethystlady.blog.co.uk/

Hugs, Kelly

I have now made this my main project as I really want it finished this year. I have promised myself that as soon as it's finished I will start Circe the Sorceress lol. I also finished the piece for my Women's Day exchange on ILCS. Just got to finish it off now.
I went to Weight Watchers on Tuesday and lost a lb making a total of 5 now.