I'm still here, honest!

OK, so two months since my last post, not good.  I did have lots of good intentions, new school year, post every week.  But along with the new school year came a new job and it's taken up more time than anticipated.  Stitching in the evening has become a thing of the past and the weekends are my only opportunity to get anything done.  Time spent blogging is less time stitching so this blog has been neglected.  However, you'll be glad to know the stitching hasn't!

Last time I posted it was The Drawn Thread coming up next on the rotation. I did manage to make some progress on The Cat's Meow but not as much as I'd hoped as there was some frogging to do.

The noses on the mice are black beads, I think the ones I have used are too big and need replacing with smaller ones.  I have not stitched on this project since the beginning of September.

I have been having fun with some Just Nan ornaments.  Firstly Oakley Owlet

This was stitched on the recommended 32ct Stone Grey Belfast linen with DMC floss.  Here he is made up, sitting on a wine cork so you can see how big he is.

Secondly, Gingerbread Jingle Mouse

This was stitched on the recommended 32ct Antique Almond Belfast linen with DMC floss. Here he/she is finished.

Another Just Nan finish was Christmas Cheer

Again this was stitched on the recommended fabric, 32ct  Zweigart Summer Winds Opalescent Belfast Linen and stitched with DMC floss.  The frame is the one designed for this project.

I also continued stitching the Halloween ornaments from JBW designs and finished them in small frames from Framecraft.

And finally, some Christmas stitching, Poor Robin from Shepherd's Bush.

I'm not quite sure how I will be finishing this one off.

Next week on the rotation it's back to Halloween stitching.  Will I finish the remaining six Halloween ornaments from JBW Designs, who knows!

Anyway I hope it was worth the wait.

Happy Stitching!

End of holiday round up

I decided not to post last Monday mainly because it was a Bank Holiday here in the UK and, for once on a Bank Holiday the weather was fantastic so I decided to stay outside as long as possible to enjoy the sunshine.  I did, however, take my stitching with me.  Halloween Rules was too big to take out so that was a good excuse to start something new!

I made a start on JBW Designs' Halloween Ornaments stitching Pumpkin and Night Owl.  These are stitched on 32ct Antique Ivory linen with DMC floss.

Once the holiday weekend was over and the weather returned to normal I went back to Halloween Rules and finished it!  Here are some photos of the last few sections.

And finally, the whole thing.

This is now at the framers so I will post another picture when it come back.  

As this is the first week in September it's back to the rotation and it's Halloween week so, I am going to continue with the Halloween ornaments.  With a bit of luck I might get a few more finished.  It was also back to work today after the summer break and my new term's resolution is to pack in doing the school stuff at a reasonable time to allow me some time to stitch each night. We'll see how I get on.

Happy stitching!

Back with some finishes!

So, yet another two months since my last post, again for various reasons, but the good news is I've got my stitchy mojo back!

At the beginning of the school holidays we went on holiday to France for a week on the way out, by train, and at our first destination I stitched on The Sweetheart Tree's Halloween Quadrielle.  Our second destination was Paris so no stitching was done there.

This project came as a kit and was stitched on 28 ct lambswool linen with DMC floss. Here are a few pictures of it made up.

Before going on holiday I finished Just Nan's Lady Scarlet's Christmas. This was stitched on 28 ct raw linen with the recommended DMC floss.

Since being back I have stitched on Halloween Rules from Lizzie*Kate finishing Carve a Pumpkin.  As you can see form the photo Scare a Crow is not far from being finished too!

There are two weeks of the school holidays left so I am ditching the rotation until the start of September.  Hopefully, Halloween Rules will be finished by then.

Happy stitching!

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

.

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!