Disaster darling!

That's what Craig Revel Horwood from Strictly would say if he were to judge my stitching efforts last week!

So first up is 'Be Jolly By Golly'

Not much progress there then. A mitten and a bit of an arm.

The one success story of the week was that I did finish the November picture for Sylvia's 'My Little Heart SAL'.  This time I made some modifications to the chart to make it more suited to November in the UK. I kept the lady, stitching during the long November evenings, and added some fireworks for Bonfire Night, November 5, and some poppies for Remembrance Day.

As for The Railway's Green Book homework? I did do some, but not enough. Will try harder this week on both the Green Book and the stitching, as it's back to White Nights.  This is where I left it.

The reason for this disastrous week? See below!

Christmas stitching

As soon as I had published my last stitchy post I asked The Other Half for his advice, now this doesn't happen very often!  Should it be the Mill Hill or the Waxing Moon? As anticipated his choice was the Mill Hill design. As anticipated because he doesn't like things with words or alphabets on! So I chose to do the Waxing Moon design 'Be Jolly By Golly'.

Next week on the rotation it should be the turn of the Santa tree skirt .  There's no way this will be finished in time for Christmas 2010 as I still have one and a half Santas to do, plus all the fancy couching, not looking forward to this bit either, as I've not done any couching before.  So I,m going to continue with Be Jolly By Golly and Festive Fifteen.  I'll leave you with a photo of my 'homework'. I really do have to get my nose stuck into this ready for a test in the New Year.  Wish me luck!

And finally my Shepherd's Bush Pumpkin Stew came back from the framers this week. It's been ready for ages but I'd not had a chance to collect it. Photo in the sidebar gallery.

Remembering

Festive Fifteen is started

Last week my Christmas stitching began with Just Nan's Festive Fifteen. I managed to complete five of the squares but not all the beading.

 Here are some close  up pictures of the squares with beads.



This week I might start  another Christmas design from either Waxing Moon Designs or Mill Hill.  The Mill Hill will probably win as I'm looking for a reasonably quick finish as I've  lost one evenings stitching this week because of having to do stuff for work.  Then again I may change my mind! As they say in Stingray 'Anything can happen in the next half hour'!

Thanks for all your great comments. I really appreciate them!

The last halloween ornaments of 2010

Last week it was the half term holiday so no work for me, of the payed variety.  We did, however, decorate the kitchen and do one or two other bits and bobs around the house.  I was able to finish two more Halloween stockings from Blackbird Designs, Candy Corn and Haunted House.

I did take a picture of my light tree decorated for Halloween but it didn't come out too well for some reason.  Sticking with the Autumn theme I was also able start and finish the Just Nan Autumn Humbug ~ Autumn Glory.

I still have the Spring one of these to do but that won't be until next year now, as it's time to start the Christmas stitching!  This week it's Just Nan week on the rotation and I've started Festive Fifteen but there's not enough to show just yet.  Last week it was the Santa Tree Skirt.  I'm quite pleased with the progress I made on this although I'm not sure it will be finished for Christmas this year!

White Nights Part 7 is finished!

Another White Nights happy dance!

This week it's half term so I have a week off. I can't decide whether to carry on with White Nights in the day, to get a head start on part 8, or to stitch the Santa Tree Skirt, which is on the rotation this week, in the day and during the evening.  Anyway, before such decisions have to be made I have some more Halloween stockings to finish.

This morning I finished the Just Nan Tricky Tweets, Jackie Lantern, which was one of my birthday stash enhancements from last weekend.

I stitched this on 28 count Dawn Cashel linen from Picture This Plus using the recommended DMC floss. The five pence piece is shown to give some idea of size. 

This weekend was a Railway Weekend.  Whilst walking up the main street in Llangollen  I saw, in a shop window, some items which could enhance my Halloween display. One of the items was duly bought.  Here she is.

Called Alizon Device after one of the real Witches of Pendle she is part of the, you've guessed it, Witches of Pendle range, from Sawley Fine Arts.  Whilst looking at their site, which I recommend you do, I noticed that one of the witches in the range was called Jennet Device.  This was a must have as we share the same first name, only mine only has one N, a long story, but my Dad is to blame for the missing letter. By the way, in real life Jennet Device was not actually a witch. So an eBay purchase later and another Lancashire Witch is on it's way back to Lancashire!

I'm off to finish the ornaments as my Weeks Dye Works Carrot should now be dry, having been through the washing machine in a Floss-a-way bag as it was in the back pocket of my jeans!

Spooky Scissor Fob

Last weekend we stayed at my Mum and Dad's so I was able to get a lot of stitching done.  I was able to start and finish the Spooky Scissor Fob from Shepherd's Bush. I finished this into an ornament for the light tree. This is the front.

This is the back.

Last week on the rotation it was the turn of Witches Riding By.  I'm really pleased with the progress I'm making on this one.  The dark parts of the sky, owl, broom and the dark parts of her dress are finished.

At the weekend it was my birthday.  I got lots of lovely things, including some stash enhancements.  The Other Half also bought me some handmade chocolates and a bottle of Champagne.  The chocolates look too good to eat!

I also received a teddy bear dressed as a witch.  Here she is with the Spooky Scissor Fob.

Happy stitching, Halloween or otherwise, to everyone!

Ghastly, Ghostly Ghouls!

Ghastly, Ghostly Ghouls! was my Just Nan stitching for this week.

I stitched this on 28ct Zweigart Cashel Linen, Cobblestone , using the recommended DMC floss. The coffin charm is quite bulky and hides a surprise.

Here is a close up of the coffin when it is shut

and open!

Today was a finishing off day.  Firstly I made 'By the Full Moon' into a pillow to hang on the light tree.

I also finished the Trick or Treat stocking into an ornament. I've run out of black beads so the cotton perle hanger is a temporary one.

Next week's stitching has a Spooky feel to it as it is back to Witches Riding By.  But there are still a few stitching hours left today so it could be a new start, probably with a spooky theme!

Happy Stitching

Some progress is better than none at all!

That's how I feel about The Cream Santa. In reality I'm almost up to his beard but there's a lot more stitching to do on his other side.

This weekend was a Railway Weekend and despite a ten hour shift in the signal box on Saturday I managed to complete the stitching on the Blackbird Designs Halloween stocking called 'Trick or Treat'.

I should be able to finish this off into an ornament for the light tree next weekend, along with 'By The Full Moon', a design by Tracy Horner, of Ink Circles, which appeared in this year's Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue.

I stitched this on 28ct lilac linen from Zweigart using the recommended overdyed floss.

On the way to 'The Railway' I stitched the October picture for Sylvia's My Little Heart SAL.

So that was it for last week.  This week is Just Nan week and I have a small Spooky item to stitch.  Mind you, this evening it has taken me about an hour and a half to compose this post.  Is anyone else having trouble uploading photos with the new Blogger compose/edit feature? Some of these photos have taken up to five minutes to upload.  I even switched to The Other Half's laptop in case my PC was a fault, hence no fancy signature this time.

Spooktacular Pumpkin

So much for doing another Halloween stocking that did not involve much work. The one I chose to do next took longer than expected.  I also missed out some of the charted stitches. This is 'Spooktacular Pumpkin'.

As with last week's stocking this was done on 32ct lambswool with the recommended overdyed floss.  I've made a start on the next stocking, this one does involve less work!

This morning I was able to stretch and mount Pumpkin Stew, so that is off to the framer this week.  With a bit of luck I should get it back in about a fortnight to ten days.

Last week on the rotation it was White Nights.  This is a bad photo of my third corner. I managed to complete the two minarets in four evenings.

After the final corner, next month, it will be on to the buildings in the middle and then the border!  Yes, well that sounds good, but in reality I'm still on part 7 of 12. This week it's the turn of the Santa tree skirt but I've been enhancing my stash with some more Halloween stuff which I might have to start! Who knows?