And the winner is ...

Just Nan's Floral Fifteen. This will be tomorrow's new start. A big thank you to everyone who voted. Scream House came second so that will be my next big Just Nan project after this one, but there may be a few smaller ones in between.

Last week was half term week. We went 'down south' to visit The Other Half's family and to be in London for the Steam Special to York. By the way I did get a full refund. So, instead of going to York, we spent Thursday in London. I hit the shops on Oxford Street and managed, quite successfully, not to buy anything. On Friday we visited Brighton for the day. Here we went on the Volk's Electric Railway, the oldest working electric railway in the world.


On Saturday we made our annual family visit to The Derby at Epsom. This is a picture of the eventual winner, Workforce, on his way down to the start.


Here is The Queen standing on the balcony of the Royal Box.


OK so spot The Queen. She is in the middle of two gentlemen, there are only three of them on her balcony.

For my holiday stitching I started something new. Called Little little village 1 and Little little village 2 these are from a series called Maggi Co's Village by Jardin Privé I used the free chart, available in the website, to join the two charts together. If you have not visited this site then pop over and have a look there is some really nice stuff on there. I have all ready eyed up my next purchase! This is what it looks like so far.


Another design in the Maggi Co's Village range is being done as a SAL here. This is the design. Start date is 14 June.


The artist is Raquel Blasco. Her blog is here.

Happy stitching

Tea With Honey

On Sunday evening I stitched the June picture in Sylvia's My Little Heart SAL. Called 'Strawberry Girl' she looks quite sweet, no pun intended!


In a change to the original plan instead of starting something new first thing on Monday morning I finished Tea With Honey.


I really enjoyed stitching this, despite the attack of the frogs. The detail on the pins is fantastic. Both the tea pot and the tea cup have 'Tea Time' etched into them and the tea cup actually contains tea! Here is a collage of some of the other shots I took.


The new start has happened. As this post hits the blog I should have been sitting in a train leaving York bound for London, sipping a G&T and waiting to be served a four course meal. As you may have gathered this would have been no ordinary train but one pulled by this...


...Tornado.

This picture was taken by Denis Bradley and is from the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust website here. Anyhow, the loco has developed a problem and the trip has been postponed until Augest, on a date we cannot make. So, buy the time this post is published I should know if I will get a full refund for the trip we should have been on when this post is published!

WIPs, SALs and finishes

This week it was the turn of White Nights on the rotation. I managed to finish house number five, only three more to go.


This weekend I also managed to complete the cross stitch on the green ornament for the Christmas Design SAL.


So that's it for the WIPs and the SALs. Here are the finishes.

Firstly, Camp Wannasew.


As you can see I decided to stick with the suggested name rather than think up one myself.

Secondly The Autumn Arbor.


Sylvia has posted her chart for the My Little Heart SAL so that will be tonight's stitching project. Tommorrow I'm starting something new!

Happy stitching.

Seven days left to vote!

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far. At the moment Scream House is in the lead. If you would like to choose the next Just Nan project that I will stitch then there is still time to cast your vote in the poll on the side bar. Details of all the projects are in the previous post.

Whilst blog hopping today I came across a SAL which I thought was quite interesting. Called "En attendant l'été" it is over on Solo Brode.


I am going to do mine on 28 count Flax linen using DMC 3740 and Threadworx 1156, well that's the plan but I don't know when I'll start.

This week it's the turn of White Nights. This is my progress so far this evening.

What shall I stitch next? You decide.

Here is this week's progress picture of the Green Santa. There is still an evening to go on him.


Next week on the rotation it's back to White Nights and after that it's Tea with Honey from Just Nan. This project is almost finished and should take two or three more evenings. I cannot decide which Just Nan design to stitch next so I have decided to have a vote.

The choice is between Scream House, Counting Bats, Floral Fifteen and Merry Fifteen. This is what they look like.
Scream House


Counting Bats


Floral Fifteen


Merry Fifteen


So, just for fun, help me make a decision by voting in the sidebar.
Thanks.

Camp Wannasew

This weekend was spent away at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It takes about three hours to get there by car so I decided that some new in car stitching was required. So with the trip there and back and some lengthy times when there wasn't much doing, we were manning the Buffet car on one of the trains, I started, and almost finished, Camp Wannasew by Brooke Nolan, another Secret Needle Night project from August 2009.


I haven't decided if I should stick to calling the cabin 'Camp Wannasew' or to change the name so I haven't stitched that part. My DMC floss skeins also look a bit on the generous side so I might reduce them down.

Today I went to Manchester for a meeting. I travelled by train, but not the steam veriety, so that gave me an opportunity to get the handbag stitching out. This is the progress so far on the Stitcher's Favourite biscornu from The Sweetheart Tree.


This week on the rotation it is back to The Green Santa. This is where I left him.

Autumn Arbor

This week's new start was the Autumn Arbor form The Drawn Thread. With one evening to go I'm on the top border. Here it is.


This is one of those fancy, at an angle, shots.


The ladybird needle minder has been attached to this piece all week and I haven't had a visit from the frogs! Maybe this is because she is looking on, hands on hips, saying, 'Don't you dare' and either scaring the frogs away or making me more careful, same thing really I suppose. I asked The Other Half what I should call her and he said Matilda so from now on that's what she will be known as.

I took Grannyanne up on her comment on my last post and also made into a needle minder the bluebird from the same chart.

Big hat, big attitude and the smallest finish ever.

Now I cannot pretend that the smallest finish ever is an original idea, it's not. Whilst blog hopping the other day I came across a really cute needle minder on Daffycat's blog. A few of her posts later I found the design came from the March/April 2010 edition of Just Cross Stitch. Mmm... my Mum subscribes to that. I also guessed that she would probably have some of those buttons which you cover yourself, about an inch in diameter. I was right. So armed with the chart, a small piece of 28 count fabric and the necessary floss, this morning, on the way to work in the car, I made a start. By the way I was a passenger just in case that last bit didn't quite read right. Anyway, by the time I arrived in school the body was done and on the way home I finished the hat. I have now proved to myself that I can stitch one over one in the car!

Now I thought it would be a good idea to take the shank out of the coverable button in order to make a needle minder, The Other Half was able to provide me with a very powerful magnet. So like a good scientist I tested my idea first. The metal that the button is made out of is not magnetic. So inside the button I have had to put a small washer which is magnetic. OK, so I've gone on for long enough, this is what my needle minder looks like.


This is the ladybird from a design called 'In your Easter Bonnet' by Brooke Nolan, published in the latest edition of Just Cross Stitch. I think she has attitude!

Well election night came and went, although we are still waiting to see who will form the next government. I managed to stay up until 12.40 but did get up at 4.55 for twenty minutes to see what was going on. This is what Tea with Honey looks like.


All I have left to do is the lace in the middle of the tablecloth, the beading, a little bit of green and the backstitch edging. I am almost there but, and you may call me mad, I'm putting it away until next month and I'm going to start something new!

Happy stitching!

Tea with Honey

Just a quick one tonight before I settle down to watch the election night TV for as long as I can stay awake. This week I have been stitching on Just Nan's 'Tea with Honey'. I've really enjoyed stitching this. Unfortunately, last night, at about ten o'clock, I noticed that things weren't quite as they should be. Further investigation called for some quite serious frogging. I went to bed at 11.15 having done the necessary reverse stitching and some re-stitching. This is what it looks like so far.


As they say I'm on the home straight with this one but will I get it finished before we know who has won the election, or not, as the case may be? Who knows, like I say it depends how long I can stay awake.

Happy election night!

My Little Heart SAL and other stuff

This weekend was a non working railway weekend which meant that I was able to get on with quite a bit of stitching. Firstly the May picture for Sylvia's My Little Heart SAL.


This is a picture of the project so far. I still have to border to finish.


On Saturday I also got back in to the next Timeless Elegance ornament for Yoyo's Christmas Design SAL.


I have also finished off Barnabee's Quest. Yesterday with the help of my Mum and my Dad's hand held drill I made the three colour cording. Usually I use a pencil to twist the floss but if I had done that this time I would still be twisting today. So impressed was I with the drill that I'm tempted to send 'The Other Half' off to B&Q on 'Wrinkly Wednesday' to get me a smaller version.

This photo is not too good as it is out of focus and the wall is actually yellow and not the colour it appears to be.


The pull ware and the tassel topper are from Just Nan. I made the tassel using the left over cotton perle from the cord.

Here in the UK it's a Bank Holiday. The Sun is shining, although it is a bit chilly, and I'm off to start Tea with Honey.

I hope the Sun is shining where you are.