Tuscan Gardens UFO

Apologies for the lack of posting recently. Lack of posting has reflected a lack of stitching on my part, for reasons I won't go into, but which may become apparent in the future.  I have managed to do a little work on my Michael Powell Tuscan Gardens UFO.

Stitching a UFO is probably not the best idea when stitching is the last thing on your mind but I will persevere, at least until the weekend, when I might start something new! Next week I should be stitching on Witches Riding By. I was really enjoying this project before I gave it up for Christmas stitching so I'm looking forward to picking it up again.  I hope if anyone else out there is in a stitching slump you soon get out of it. Start something new! In fact I might just do that this evening on thinking about it. Off to the stash room to see what takes my fancy!

Happy stitching!

Festive Fifteen, finished!

This evening I finished Just Nan's Festive Fifteen. Before I give you the finish photos here are pictures of the last five squares. Just out of interest can anyone spot the deliberate mistake, fortunately spotted before finishing?

This is the finished item.

So having finished this I have stuck to my guns and have begun stitching on my Michael Powell 'Tuscan Gardens' UFO. Progress pics on this to follow!

Happy stitching!

The final finish of 2010 and the first finish of 2011

Between Christmas and New Year, despite entertaining The Other Half's relatives I managed to finish a couple of things. Firstly, Chessie's Fern Pincushion & Fob from Chessie and Me. This was a gift from Father Christmas and was started on Christmas Day.

I also finished the Stitcher's Favourite Biscornu from The Sweetheart Tree. This project has been lurking in my handbag for what feels like the best part of twelve months, I know that is an exaggeration, but a long time at any rate. As you can probably tell I'm pleased it's finished!  Here are the usual shots, firstly the completed stitching followed by the finished item.

I finished this late on New Year's Eve so it only just made it as the last finish of 2010!

That brings me on to the first finish of 2011. Again a project that has been lurking in my handbag for a few weeks if not a couple of months and, yes, my handbag is reasonably large!  This is the Old Fashioned Tree from the Mill Hill Festival of Trees series.

So what does the New Year bring on the stitching front? I was very lucky as Father Christmas enhanced my stash with some really interesting projects which I will share with you as I get round to doing them.  But firstly I have decided to suspend the rotation and blitz some of the things that have been hanging around too long, mainly the St Nicholas Tree Skirt, followed by the Timeless Elegance Ornaments and my Tuscan Gardens UFO. The ornaments will probably remain as my weekend stitching but I'm trying to go with no new starts until the other two are finished!  With so much lovely stuff in my stash I don't know how long that New Year's resolution will last. But first I need to finish Festive Fifteen. Four more squares to go and the final finishing. I didn't hit the last target on this one, maybe next weekend?

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and I hope Father Christmas enhanced your stash too!

Christmas Eve update.

I made good progress on White Nights this week. The floss used in the windows of the middle building really makes them look like stained glass.

This week I also stitched a three of  Just Nan's 'Holly Knot'

This looks better in real life than it does here.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Pre Christmas update.

Despite not posting for nearly a fortnight I have been stitching. I've now finished ten of the Festive Fifteen squares. Here they all are.

I've made a start on one of the last five squares. There seems to be less work on these so I'm hoping for a Christmas Eve finish, fingers crossed.

Be Jolly By Golly arrived back from the framers.

On Saturday morning we woke up to 17cm of snow! This is the photographic proof.

 As a result of this snow fall I was prompted to finish Icy Hill by Just Nan. I started and finished the stitching on this one in the first week of January, the last time we had any significant snow.  I finished it as a bell pull. The pull ware is made by Framecraft. This picture is not too good but it gives you an idea.

This week I'm stitching White Nights during the day and carrying on with Christmas stitching in the evening, but I'll say more about the later, after the weekend.

Happy stitching!

A festive finish

Last week, despite other Internet commitments mentioned in my last post, I managed two finishes.  First was Sylvia's 'My Little Heart' SAL.  I changed the December picture from the nativity scene designed by Sylvia to a Christmas tree.

Here is the completed piece.  Thanks go to Sylvia for providing this fun SAL.

The second finish was 'Be Jolly By Golly' from Waxing Moon Designs. I stitched this on the recommended fabric, 28ct Wichelt 'Star Saphire' linen, with the suggested over dyed floss.

This should be off to the framers this week so, with a bit of luck I might get it back before Christmas.

I also managed a few stitches on a Mill Hill Festival of Trees decoration. I actually made better progress on this than shown. Only I made a massive error and had to frog quite a lot!

A fortnight ago progress on White Nights was not great so I'm leaving any photos of that project until next time.  Back on the rotation this week it's Just Nan's Festive Fifteen.

Happy stitching!

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!