The thread picker was christened!

As promised here are some update photos of my progress on White Nights this week. Unfortunately I've had to christen the newly manufactured thread picker I showed you last time!  The purple tower did have a roof. It was only when I came to fill in the windows, the last job on the tower that I realised I had missed out a whole row of stitches. Hopefully I will be able to re stitch this before going to bed.

Here is the building on the opposite site.

This weekend is a' Railway Weekend' so stitching will take a back seat until Monday but the good news is that next week is half term so there should be plenty of opportunities for more stitching, probably on White Nights as I feel like I'm on a bit of a role with this one at the moment!

Happy stitching!

More White Nights and a beading project!

At the weekend I was able to finish the beading on the south side buildings of White Nights.  Here it is, turned the 'right way up'.

I was also framed  Little Witch from Shepherd's Bush.

Over the weekend I also started something new. This is Catgirl & Catboy from Jadin Privé's Maggi Co's Village range.

I am stitching this on 32ct opalescent white, the same fabric I'm using to stitch White Nights.
Last night I had a short break from stitching and made this thread picker using left over Mill Hill beads, some other left over beads (the coloured ones) and a #26 needle. I'm quite pleased with the result!

Work continues on White Nights. Progress pics on Thursday.

Happy stitching!

White Nights Update

It's unusual for me to post twice in a week but I'm so pleased with my progress on White Nights that I have decided to share it.  The south side buildings are finished, with the exception of some beading and three Algerian eyelets. Here is the full view.

This is a close up of the centre portion.

This weekend is a non railway weekend. I might start something new or I might continue with Witches Riding By.  Next week I'm going to continue with White Nights.

Weekend Stitching

This weekend was spent at 'The Other Railway' and involved a very early start, 05.15 on Saturday morning, but it was light, so I was able to start stitching as soon as we hit the motorway. Well to be correct start frogging! I had a bit of a bad week on Waxing Moon's Welcome having to frog the M and the E with their connecting vine. That error was quickly rectified and then I noticed that I had stitched the centre heart in the wrong place. That was the early morning frogging job.  Anyway, the heart was re stitched and the lazy daisy garland completed all before elevenses.

The bespoke frame for this project is waiting at the framers so i will post another photo when it is framed.
I spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday stitching Witches Riding By from Lavender Wings. There's still quite a lot to do on this one but I hope it will be finished soon. I was going to continue stitching on it this week but as I have four evenings to myself I'm going to go back to White Nights.  Here is how I left Witches Riding By.

Happy stitching!

A finish and a start

This bank holiday weekend I finished Trick or Treat from Shepherd's Bush.

This came as a kit. The fabric is 32ct lambswool linen and the floss is a mixture of Soie D'Alger and Mori silks.  The moon button is really great, here's a close up.

The new start is Simply Welcome from Waxing Moon Designs. This is my progress so far.

Happy stitching!

Spring Frills is finished!

The Easter weekend was a railway weekend with a differnce. Good Friday was spent at the Seven Valley Railway, to be known from now on as 'The Other Railway' where the new BF is a signalman.  Saturday and Easter Sunday were spent at 'The Railway' which is actually the Llangollen Railway in North Wales. The BF went back to ' The Other Railway' on Easter Monday whilst I went to my mum's.  So over the weekend I was able to do quite a bit of stitching, finishing Just Nan's Spring Frills humbug. Here it is before it was 'finished'.

Here is the humbug made up.

This week I have continued stitching Trick or Treat from Shepherd's Bush.

I'm hoping to finish this over the Royal Wedding weekend and hopefully make another new start, fingers crossed.


Holiday Stitching

On Friday 1 April we broke up for the school's 'Easter Holiday', more appropriately renamed the 'Spring Holiday' as we have gone back to school before Easter has happened.

Time was spent between home, my BF's home, 'The Railway' and our holiday destination. Anyway, good excuse to start something new!  Although at 'The Railway' my Tuscan Gardens UFO did get some work done on it.

The first, yes first, new start was Just Nan's Spring Frills Humbug.

Now because this involves quite a few floss colours it was not suitable for taking abroad, well that's my excuse, so my holiday stitching was Trick or Treat from Shepherd's Bush.  The holiday consisted of flying to Munich and staying there for two nights then travelling by JetRail to Budapest for a three night stay before flying back home.  Although I had my stitching with me I didn't do any on the flight out. The first opportunity I had was on the train journey between Munich and Budapest, which lasted seven hours.  But disaster, so so it seemed, I had forgotten to pack a hoop!  Luckily Trick or Treat is stitched on Permin linen, which, if anyone has used it, is like stitching on cardboard so I was able to stitch 'in hand', not my favourite method. Anyway the results don't look too bad.

Here are a few photos from the holiday. Firstly Marienplatz in Munich followed by the Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest and the view from Budapest's Citadel.

I hope everyone has a great Easter break.  I'm off to try and finish my two new starts!

Happy stitching!



Minerva's Mouse

Last week I continued to stitch on White Nights. I only managed two evenings stitching and was quite pleased that I almost managed to finish another tower.  So yesterday after returning from a 'Railway Weekend' I thought I would only have to do about ten stitches before the tower was completed.  Well that's what thought did. On closer inspection I had missed a row of stitches and had to frog all of last week's efforts.  I did, however, manage to restitch the whole tower last night.

As the last few weekends have been Railway weekends I have done some work on my Tuscan Garden UFO.

 Having re stitched the tower last night I made a start on Minerva's Mouse from Just Nan.  This was a really quick stitch. Here she is before finishing.

Here is the finished mouse.

And the mouse with the Minerva.





 I'm off to stitch Witches Riding By.  Progress pictures next time.

Happy stitching

White Nights update

White Nights has been on the rotation for the last two weeks.  As a result of a change in home circumstances I am managing, on average, two evenings a week stitching whereas before I was able to stitch for four evenings a week.  This is the progress I have made.

The two towers have involved lots of colour changes and frequent visits upstairs to 'the stash room' in search of floss.  The plan with this is to finish the 'south side' picture and the border before moving on to the west and east sides.  This picture shows this week's progress in relation to the 'bigger picture'.

I am tempted to continue with White Nights again next week but I might go back to Witches Riding By.
I have also made some progress on my UFO. Photos of that next time.

Happy stitching!

A finish!

Hot off the needle, here is Little Witch finished!

This project came as a kit. The linen is 32 count Zweigart  Country Mocha and it was stitched with Au Ver a Soie silk threads, some of which were overdyed.  All I need to do now is frame it which will be a job for when I next have a weekend at home.

As mentioned in my last post the rotation is being re launched with White Nights. I've just uncovered it this evening and am looking forward to making a start tomorrow!