Dreary Day

The weather has been very dismal the last couple of days. Foggy with drissel and very grey skies but looks very pretty.

The season is all over the place, most trees have lost their leaves but a few haven't as shown above.

I was commisioned to make a crocheted scarf and finished it within four days. I am pretty pleased how it turned out.

I used Stlylecraft 4ply and doubled it up so it came out thicker o it will be lovely and warm as it contains real wool.

Shawls

It has been a while since I last posted, a year to be exact! I have recently taken up crochet again and I am really enjoying it. I am hoping to start cross stitching again.

I have just finished two shawls, the photos do not do them justice.

This one was done in Stylecraft Cabaret in Rainbow and the wool is lovely and sparkly.

This one was done in Wendy Evolution.

I am currently finishing off a single sized bed blanket and an owl.

Stitching of Different Kinds!

I finally got around to doing a little stitching. I picked up Castles in the Air. The piece is getting big now and hard to take a good picture.

Here is a close up of the are I am working on:

Lots of embroidery stitches. I love to do them but find it slow going.

Next up, I finished a crochet blanket for my granddaughter Doullie.

It is quite large. I did flower granny squares. I sewed them together using a chain stitch and then did trebles in rounds around the outside.

I have also been doing some knitting.

I love these two colours together, they are so pretty!

I am making boot cuffs! If I like they way they turn out, I can see myself knitting several different designs and probably a few in black and red for when the drumming starts up!

I have decided to grow lots of different veg this year, so spent the last couple of days preparing the garden ready for sowing in a couple of weeks. I will be growing a lot of the produce in containers as it is surprising just what you can grow in them. I have seeds in window propagators for tumbling tomatoes, chives and oregano. Tomorrow I will be staring seeds off for sweet peas (flowers) as they will climb nicely amongst green beans. I am going to grow spuds in bags and have beetroot baskets as well.  I am not sure whether we will plant carrots this year as I don't think we have time to try and find some old planks on the cheap or free to make raised beds for them, but who knows.

This time next year hopefully we will have built a chicken coop and we want three chickens which will produce around  10 to 15 eggs a week. They are cheap to feed and make funny pets. 

Good Progress this Week!

I am really pleased with the amount of stitching I got in this week. First off Midnight Enchanter.

Still got quite a lot to do on the left hand side and the bottom. This piece is HUGE!

Next up is The Green Man HAED.

I restarted this on Lugana as I did not like how it looked on the Dublin linen which was the recommended fabric. There's nearly 1600 stitches put in.

Next up, a project that should of been finished by now, Halloween Fairy by Miribilia.

I managed to get a lot done on her wing.

The next project is a UFO I forgot I had. Its Friendship Teatime Sampler. This piece is so pretty and I have added it into my rotation.

Saturday, I had a day off from cross stitching and managed to do four crochet squares for my throw.

So all in all a really good week!

A RAK from Shelley and More!

As promised on my ILCS Yahoo group, here is my RAK from Shelley......................

Isnt he just the cutest frog? Here he is on my seasonal shelf that still needs adding to.................

Again, thank you so much Shelley, I love him and he will live on my seasonal shelf. I think I need to get him some play mates though lol.

I finally finished my granddaughters, Whitneys, blanket. I got rather behind on it.

I have this weekly publication where you crochet a square a week. Eventually you get enough squares to make a throw out of them. Some of the squares I think are pants, but I still crocheted them lol. I am hideously behind on it to say the least! I got the bug to crochet again and managed to do 7 squares over a few days.

Tomorrow is the virtual stitch in on my group. I am hoping to finish The Shelf over the weekend. I am looking forward to starting something new lol.

After my last post, a lot of you expressed an interest in my teapot. It is a limited edition collectors piece. I collect teapots and tea paraphernalia. Don't laugh lol!!!!!!! I have loads of miniature teapots as well as some full size ones. Some of you have stated you would like to see my collection. I will get some photos of them all over the weekend and do a blog entry on them.  I am always on the look out for new ones. Some miniatures I found in charity shops.

Talking of tea, I think I shall have a cup of Rooibos (I don't do caffeine) and a slice of mince meat fruit cake I made :-)

The teapot is a fish and chip shop. Yup, that's right, a fish and chip shop lol.

I haven't brought any pots for simply ages, as haven't had the funds to do so, but I am hoping to add to them this year. I also collect china thimbles but that's a different story!

Woohoo, a Finish!

By Sue Hillis PS144

Stitched on 28ct Summer Khaki Lugana.

Woohoo, I can't believe I managed to stitch all afternoon and get a finish too! Now I'm not sure what to stitch on next, something already in progress or start something new? Decisions, decisions :)

The end of last week I managed to finish baby Angelina's cot blanket. I am making baby Androulla's pram one at present.

Last but certainly not least is a picture of baby Androulla with her proud parents. Doesn't she look just like her daddy lol :)

Are you missing me? lol

Are you missing me? lol

It's been a while since I did a blog update but my life has been very hectic. I can't believe that within the next two to three weeks, I will have two new grandbabies! I have been helping my daughter in the restaurant, so thats why I havent been online so much let alone on my groups. Cross stitch has taken a bit of a backburner for a while just while I get the baby things done.

First off, I would like to say thank you to Lori for my lovely pincushion and matching bag and goodies for our swap on International Hand Stitchers. I love it and so does my grandson. He walks around with tortoise pincushion when he is here lol

I have managed to finish a pram blanket for Becky, the peach one, and am now crocheting a cot blanket for Sarah. Got to finish that one and start another cot blanket and finish it by the time the babies are due :o

I have also managed to do some more squares for the throw from the Art of Crochet publication.

Besides, just lately, every bit of cross stitch I'v picked up, I've gone wrong on. So a break is probably good at the moment until the baby bits are finished. Obviously my mind is elsewhere!

I have Colin at home off sick from work with a virus and my gas boiler has been condemned so I am waiting for my landlord to install the new one. Thank gawd we have an emersion heater for backup hot water.

I hope everyone is well and healthy. I will be back in full on groups as soon as both grandbabies are born. So for now, happy stitching my friends.

Big Monday Update

Oh dear, what a bad stitching week I have had............way too much frogging and I was so cross with myself over it as I pretty much never make huge mistakes when it comes to my stitching. First frogging ordeal was my pirate.

I had used the wrong colour on his face so had to frog the entire lot which also included the skull and crossbones and the edging around the hat. This is what he looks like now.

Guess your wondering what the second frogging incident was? Unfortunatley it was my Castles in the Air. On the second peacock I was one stitch out, so, out has to come the whole peacock, what a pain in the proverbial arse lol.

This is my progress on my Haed Storykeep, 2004 stitches lol. Had to scan it as the camera couldn't pick up the details where its so small. Theres loads of colours used here lol.

Good news is that one of my twins asked Saturday out of the blue if he could do some stitching so I sorted out one of those little stitchables. Come Sunday he had stitched two of them, so kudo's to him. Mind you he probably won't stitch for a long time again lol.

Sunday I met up with Sophia and Jenny for our weekly stitching session. It is nice to get out and be able to stitch with other fanatics about stitching stitchers. We have two more potential new members. In two weeks time we will be having the meeting at my house and then might be meeting their until new premises can be found as I have quite a large living room.

My other new love is crocheting. I got the bug pretty bad I'm afraid. I did a little stash shopping for it and bought these.

Aren't they gorgeous colours? They were bloody expensive though and I couldn't get any of this cotten in purple or a really bright yellow. I am going to make another throw with these. The throw I am currently doing is from a weekly publication, The Art of Crochet, and it uses wool and dullish colours as you can see from the previous squares I have done and the two squares below. I need to try and source some cotton online that is cheaper but must be very colourful. Colin nearly had a fit when she rung up the bill for these lol. It was from an upmarket shop that only sells expensive wool and cotton and not the everyday kinda stuff. Hastings is shit 

bad for trying to buy stuff like this ;p

Heres square number 6 of my throw.

And square number 7.

Last but not least is my Lindita Senorita:

She is booked in for the groomers but theres a waiting list and as you can see, she's really hairy now hehehe. The groomer has such a time with her as Lindita does not like being groomed at the best of times let alone having her fur cut, hence why we send her to the groomers and don't do her ourselves lol.

Monday update

I spent my weekend stitching time mainly on my Castles in the Air Sal. I am halfway through part 4 now.

Here is a close of the peacock and fountain........the fountain still needs to be back stitched.

Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.

I also put a few stitches in my piggy biscornu which is almost finished now.

I did start on my first HAED but it did not go well for me. I used the suggested 2 threads over 1 on 25ct evenweave and it looked shit bumpy. Plus my eyes were streaming due to eye strain. I am having problems frogging it as well. Maybe I should send it to Rene La Frog to do it seeing she loves the little buggers so much ;p! I am determined to stitch it, its the Spirit Story Keep BTW, so might stitch it on 18ct aida instead.

I am also running a seasonal ornament exchange on my group and I am looking forward to stitching one for my partner whoever it will be as I haven't done an exchange in a long time.

Lastly, since my last blog update I have done one more crochet square for my throw. I am getting behind on that as well lol.

Finally, an update

I guess I have been missing in action for a while. It's not been intentional but a combination of things have occured to merit me devoting less time to my stitching. My back has been bad, major stomach problems and arranging a surprise 40th Birthday party for Him Indoors which was last saturday but his birthday was Tuesday the 23rd. That was stressful and it was like a covert Military operation but a good time was had by all.




On the stitching front, not much accomplished but I hope to rectify that now. He is looking pretty good now.



I have also managed to knit some mittens for one my granddaughter's to be who will be named Sofia Andrula.



Last but not least, I have done two more squares for my throw.





I am also crocheting a blanket for Sofia for when she is at my home :)
I have knitted an aran cardigan for one of the babies but I am having trouble putting the blasted thing together. It was knitted in a weird way ie from cuff to cuff then right and left front, then body and then button band. I am an experienced knitter but the putting together is driving me nuts and it will probably end up going for a flying lesson across the room lol.