I'm still here!

Just over two months since my last post!

Sorry for the lack of posting which has partially been due to the lack of stitching over the last few weeks

As I mentioned in my last post my husband has now moved in with me and we have a cat, not that I'm blaming the lack of stitching on either of them, but there could be a link.  Also, school stuff has been taking up a lot of my time in the evenings too, especially the week before half term when, just before lunch on the Monday we got 'the call'.  If the truth be told we had been expecting this call since September, Ofsted, the school inspectors, were coming in the following day for a two day inspection!

We survived and I'm pleased to say that we got the top judgement, 'Outstanding' in every category.   This was our fifth Ofsted inspection and we have achieved an outstanding judgement every time but this time round the bar had been raised and an outstanding judgement is even more difficult to obtain, but we did it and we think that we are one of two schools in the north west to have five outstanding Ofsteds!

Anyway there has not been a total lack of stitching and I do have some finishes to show you.

First up is Just Nan's Barnabee in Bloom.  Here he is before finishing.

This was stitched on 32 ct Zweigart cream Belfast linen using the recommended DMC floss.  Here he is made up.



My next finish is Lady Scarlet's Journey Part 2 also by Just Nan.

I also finished Part 1!



This is the whole project, not the best photo I'm afraid

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In order to complete all of Just Nan's Lady Scarlet projects I'm now stitching Lady Scarlet's Christmas.  It uses many of the same floss colours as Lady Scarlet's Journey so it made sense not to put them away.

Hopefully now normal service will be resumed, see you next week, fingers crossed!

Happy stitching!

Holiday finishes!

The school holidays are over so it was back to work today.  During the second week of the holiday I was able to a lot of stitching, so here we go with the progress pics.

I decided to change the order of the rotation.  The last time Just Nan's Lady Scarlet's Journey was on the rotation very little got done as I was stitching it during a school week, so to avoid the same thing happening again I worked on this last week, finishing Part 3 and making good progress on Part 2.

I was also able to finish The Drawn Thread's Have a Heart.

This chart came kitted up from The Nimble Thimble and was stitched on 30 ct Dower Quality Legacy Linen, Custard Cream with the recommended NPI floss.  I did make a modification and that was not to add the phrase 'Have a heart' to the border but to continue with the heart one.

A fun finish was the cover kit from the latest edition of World of Cross Stitch.  Called Always Time for Tea I changed the fabric to Aida band and added a tassel with the remaining floss.

Here is a close up.

So on the rotation this week is something from The Drawn Thread. I still need to sort out the fabric and floss for this one, so I'm off to do this now.

Happy stitching!

Happy dance!

So much for the New Year's resolution about trying to post every week but in my defence things have been a bit hectic here, but more about that later.

In my last post I said that I was about to start Lady Scarlet's Journey for my Just Nan week on the rotation. This is how far I got!

This is stitched on raw linen so the colours have come out a bit funny.

When I first started this blog in January 2009 the first WIP to be features was the St Nicholas Tree Skirt from Dimensions.  This was the photo.

I am pleased to announce that it's finished!

Again not the best quality photo.  I included the scissors to give an ideas of the size of this project.  Now all I have to do is decide how to finish it off. It will not be a tree skirt, possibly a table cloth or wall hanging.  When it is fully finished I will post a, hopefully better, photo.

This week is the first of the school Easter Holidays and, at last, my husband and I are living in the same house!  Our first wedding anniversary is on Sunday.  We spent part of last weekend at the railway and then it was back to his to start to pack a few essentials, the TV, the PC etc.

Here is my old TV alongside his!

This week we also adopted a rescue cat from our local animal sanctuary.  We brought her home yesterday.  Her name is Bella and she is about two years old.   She came to the sanctuary via the charity Prevent Unwanted Pets, she was being used as bait to train fighting dogs!  As you can see from these photos she is settling in well.



Whilst all this activity was going on I was able to start and finish one of the stash enhancements my mum and dad gave me for Easter.  Here she is before making up.

Here she is made up.

This is Just Nan's Honey Bunny.  It was stitched on 32ct Vintage Country Mocha Belfast linen with the recommended DMC floss.

Continuing with the bunny theme I also finished off Just Nan's Tulip Bunny.  This fits a WhimZi frame which sits nicely on a small easel I found in The Works.

I have a couple more stitchy items to share with you but that will have to wait until next week.  With everything else going on Halloween Rules, on the rotation this week, has not progressed much so I'm off to remedy that this evening.

Happy stitching !

It's that time of the year again!

Apologies for the lack of posting last week but at school it's that time of year again with lots of coursework to be marked before the Easter Hollidays, that's if I don't want to spend my holidays marking!

So first up my progress on Lizzie*Kate's Halloween Rules.  I managend to do more than I thought on this, partially due to having to take a few days off work because I had a bad inner ear infection, which caused my ear drum to perforate! The infection has cleared up but I'm still slightly deaf in one ear.

Last week on the rotation it was The Drawn Thread week.  Not much progress was made in the evenings but over the weekend I made up for my lack of stitiching.  Here is my progress so far.

I just need to complete the border on this one.

This week it's Just Nan week and I'm starting a new project, Lady Scarlet's Journey.  It's another busy week work wise this week so it will be interesting to see how I get on!

Happy stitching!

The first Santa is finished - totally!

After a slow start last week I finished, and I mean truly finished, the Blue Santa.  Truly finishing meant completing the remaining backstitch (most of it), beading (I am replacing the French knots with beads for some extra sparkle) and the couching (a first for me).  Here he is followed by some close ups.

On Friday evening I made an unexpected new start. Every other week we finish school early, 2.30 instead of 3.35. These weekends tend to be 'Railway Weekends' and the weekend just gone was no exception.  As we are still living in two houses I meet up with DH late on Friday evening. So prior to this I go and visit my Mum and Dad who live about twenty minutes away  from the railway.  Whilst driving down to my parents the traffic news was reporting that the M62 Westbound was closed due to a serious accident. It later transpired that the road was not due to reopen until  nine o'clock, too late for the DH to travel down. So I had an unexpected evening at my parents, but I hadn't packed any stitching.  My Mum came to the rescue and I started 'Have a Heart' from The Drawn Thread, this will be on the rotation next week.

Today I made up Lady Scarlet's Scissor Roll.  Here it is with Lady Scarlet.

I have a finish of a different type of finish to show you. I saw the kits for these handbags in October, when we spent a few days in Bruges. I came home and put one of them on my list for Father Christmas.  This was a very quick stitch and my Mum, who has made handbags, offered to make it up for me. I have to say she greatly improved the original design.  Yes I like the pattern, but was the kit (Vervaco) worth the money? No. I could have bought a Cath Kidston bag for the same price, but I do have a one off and I'm sure I'll get lots of use out of it.

This week it's back to Halloween Rules.  More progrss ics next week.

Happy stiching!

A winter finish and a spring start

A winter finish and a spring start was the title I chose for my post last Monday. What post last Monday? Last Monday was half term week and I spent it away from home, so I decided to post from the iPad. Having downloaded the app, composed the post, I then tried to add the photos and that is where it all went wrong, so after a couple of attempts I gave up!

My winter finish was the Winter Arbor from the Drawn Thread.

This project came as a kit and was stitched on 32ct 'Smokey Pearl' Belfast Linen and was stitched with  NPI silk.

My spring start, which became a finish, was Just Nan's Lady Scarlet's Scissor Roll.

Here are a few close ups.

This was stitched with the recommended floss (DMC) on 32ct 'Limestone' Belfast Linen. I'm hoping to  make it into the scissor roll at the weekend.

As we did a lot of travelling over half term I was able to make more progress on Hand Wash Only.

This week it's back to the tree skirt, back stitching, beading and couching!

Happy stitching!

Two more finished!

Before I start can I just say a big thank you for all your comments on my last post.  The Santa Tree Skirt did become a UFO last year, it's not finished ye,t but not far to go, so keep watching this space!

One project that isn't destined for UFO status is Halloween Rules from Lizzie*Kate.  Last week I finished two more sections, Brew Some Fun and Sit for a Spell.  The cat's eyes look a bit mad in this photo.

At the weekend we made our first visit to 'The Railway' of 2013. It was very wet but everyone seemed to enjoy 'A Day Out With Thomas'.

On the way there and back I was able to do some stitching in the car so Hand Wash Only moved on a little.

This week it's back to the Winter Arbor.

Happy stitching!

Almost there!

After a slow start on Monday, only half a dozen stitches stitched, things improved and yesterday I put the last cross stitch into the Santa Tree Skirt.

All the back stitch has been completed except that done in black, most of the back stitch if I'm honest, then I need to do the couching and cording on all of the Santas. I've also decided to replace the French Knots with seed beads. so still quite a lot to do but the end is now in sight!

This week it's back to the Lizzie*Kate Halloween flips.

In answer to a question on the comments to the last post the gold frame was one that I had, I can't remember where it came from.  What I tend to do is mount projects so that I can swap them about. The Shepherd's Bush project from last time will fit in the same frame. This is something I stitched before I began blogging which, until now, lived in the gold frame.

Happy stitching!

Two more finishes!

So my first blogging New Year's resolution went out of the window, to post every week.  In my defence, things were pretty bad at work last week and I had to do quite a lot at home.  Anyway I should be back on track from now on.

At the end of my last post I said that my second week on the rotation world be something from The Drawn Thread starting with the Winter Arbor.  Here is my progress after a week.

So for the third week on the rotation I have chosen to do something by Just Nan. My first choice was Sunny Summer Happy Garden.  This was a cheerful stitch, what with all the bad weather we have been having.

This was stitched on the recommend 30ct Weeks Dye Works Morris Blue linen with the suggested DMC floss. There should be a backstitch border around the project which I left out.

As this was a reasonably quick finish I was able to stitch on a WIP over the weekend so I managed to finish the Creepy Pin Cushion from Shepherd's Bush.

The final week in the rotation is going to be a Christmas project week so it's back to the tree skirt!

First up on the rotation

This New Year I have decided to re-instate the rotation, and stick to it!  So for the first full week of the month I'm going to stitch something with a Halloween theme. I have chosen to do the Lizzie*Kate Halloween Rules Double Flips.  I am going to stitch these all together as one piece as I have the frame for it, a gift from Father Christmas in 2011.  These are being stitched on 32 ct Chestnut linen with the recommended over-dyed floss.  Wast week I managed to complete three of the flips.

I have included the scissors in the photo because when I have seen this project on other blogs it has seemed much bigger than it really is. My next dilemma is what to do about claiming a finish? Do I only claim a finish when all twelve flips are completed or do I claim each one or do I claim two flips as a finish as this is how you buy the charts?  Suggestions please!

At weekends I'm often away from home for one reason or another so I usually take a small project away with me.  This weekend's one also had a Halloween feel, the Creepy Pin Cushion from Shepherd's Bush.

On the rotation for the second week of the month is something from The Drawn Thread starting with the Winter Arbor so progress pics of that next time.

White Nights came back from the framers and is now on the wall.  This is not the best picture but it shows you how big it turned out!

Happy stitching!