Summer round up

Every post this year I seem to be apologising for my lack of posting.  As per usual though, there has not been a lack of stitching.  In no particular order, this is what I have been up to since last time.

Firstly the Easter Quadrielle from The Sweetheart Tree.

This came as a kit and is stitched on 28 ct Buttermilk linen with DMC floss.

Here it is made up.

Next The Drawn Thread's Summer Jumble. This was stitched on 34 ct Cafe au Lait Legacy Linen, I think, not the recommended Devonshire Cream linen. it was stitched with the recommended silk floss.

I replaced the Stars and Stripes heart with a butterfly of my own design.

Next up are three Just Nan finishes. Firstly Sherry's Scissor Pocket, an exclusive design for Country Crafts in Colorado.

This was stitched on 28 ct Zweigart Opal Rainbow Dreams Cashel Linen with the recommended DMC floss.

Next is Oakley Owlet.  I stitched this last year. this one is for my mother in law, who took a fancy to my one the last time she came to visit. This is stitched on 32 ct Platinum Belfast Linen rather than the suggested Stone Grey linen with the recommended DMC floss.

The final Just Nan finish is Lorelei Lamb. This was stitched on 32 ct white Belfast Linen again using the recommended DMC floss.

And finally, my last two finishes to share with you. These are both from Shepherd's Bush. Firstly A Full Heart followed by My Home Fob. These are parts one and two respectively of the Shepherd's Fold project. these both came as a kit and are stitched on 32 ct hand dyed linen stone stems with the recommended silks and other floss.

I an eagerly awaiting the next art of this project and some new arrivals from Just Nan.  There are still a few weeks of the school holidays left and I have another two projects on the go, both of these are from Lizzie*Kate. Hopefully I will be able to show you those next time, which, fingers crossed will not be in another four months!

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!

A couple of finishes

We got back from our honeymoon on Friday and have spent the weekend at 'The Railway'.  As I will explain later our holiday involved quite a lot of train travel!

Before we went away I was able to make up the Wedding Quadrielle from The Sweetheart Tree.

I also finished the Black Snowman from Shepherd's Bush.

I made more progress on Charmed Hearts also by Shepherd's Bush.

As I said before our Honeymoon involved a lot of train travel.  We went from London to Venice on the Orient Express staying at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel the night before we caught the train.  The former Midland Hotel had be derelict for many years and after a massive refurbishment re opened last year.  This is a link to pictures on Google images

Here are some of our pictures. Firstly, the main reception.

One of the restored corridors in the old part of the hotel

The Orient Express waiting at Calais

Two of the dining cars

The bar car and yes, that is a baby grand piano!

This was our hotel in Venice, on the Grand Canal.

We spent three nights in Venice before starting to make our way home, by train, stopping for a night in Milan and three nights in Paris. This is the fountain in the square where our Paris hotel was.

The train journey from Milan to Paris was quite long so I was able to do some stitching.  This is called 'Hand wash only' and comes as a kit from The Whimsical World of Thomas Joseph.  There are four in the series.

It's back to work tomorrow I get the feeling that this year I'm going to be bringing even more work home than usual but I am determined to do some stitching every day so it's White Nights until it's finished!

Happy stitching!

Pre-packing update

Tomorrow is the last day of term!  At last I might be able to spend some quality time stitching.  Here is a picture of my latest finish, well not quite, as it needs to be finished off. It's 'The Wedding Quadrielle' from The Sweetheart Tree.

I have managed to do some work on White Nights, but not as much as I had hoped.

This summer I am hoping to finish this off, hence the post title, as the whole project frame, floss etc is about to be packed up and moved to my husband's house, which is where I am decamping to for most of the summer.


Fingers crossed I finish it! Then what next, what will be the next big project? Might need to have another poll.


Happy stitching!

A romantic theme!

Last week I managed to achieve my aim with the Heirloom Wedding Sampler.  All of the Kloster blocks and other foundation work for the Hardanger section was completed by the end of Wednesday evening.

So what was I to do? I didn't want to do any more on this because, as I've mentioned before, stitching with white on white is hard work.  I had a late evening in school on Thursday and on Friday I was off across The Pennines to stay with my fiancee for the weekend.  So, like you do, I started something new!

As you can see I also finished it. This is the Potpourri Heart from The Sweetheart Tree.  This came in kit form and is stitched with DMC floss on 32ct opalescent raw linen.  The actual design is less than 4" x 4" and is really delicate. I might splash out and get this one framed professionally.

The reason for braving what turned out to be a horrendous journey on Friday evening, there was so much snow on one stretch of the M62 that they closed it, too late for me I was already trying, with difficulty to get through that bad section, was to go to York to pick up our wedding rings from the jeweller.

No prizes for guessing which one will belong to me!  This is the photo I like.

I'm sure there's something symbolic about it.

Back to Christmas stitching this week, fingers crossed Joy to the World will be finished, if not then nearly.

Happy stitching!

Only two more houses to go!

Yesterday evening I finished house number six! When all eight houses are finished there will be a major celebration around here I can tell you.


We spent the weekend in London, as it was The Other Half's Sister's birthday so no progress was made on the Christmas decoration or the UFO this weekend. However, two long train journeys did mean that I was able to make some progress on the handbag stitching. The first side of the biscornu is almost complete, needing only the buttons and beads and the back stitch border.


On the rotation this week it's The Green Santa, I could do with finishing him off. In fact, I could do with finishing the whole thing off, may be by Christmas!

I'm off to find out how much I still have to do.

Some bits and bobs

This weekend was spent away so there wasn't as much stitching done as normal. In the car I made some progress on my 'handbag stitching' piece. This is the 'Stitcher's Favourite' biscornu from The Sweetheart Tree.


I did make a small start on my Christmas ornament for Yoyo's Christmas Design SAL.


Today being Sunday I stitched on my Tuscan Gardens UFO for my other blog 'I've started so I'll finish eventually...' I've not worked on this since Easter for one reason and another. I think that the top third of this design is complete.


Next week on the rotation, at the moment, is an empty week so I'm in two minds as to what to stitch. I'm tempted to work on White Nights but with two evenings being spent away from home there's no way the next house will get finished so I might leave that until the week after when I should have four clear evenings. I might start 'Witches Riding By' from Lavender Wings, decisions, decisions.

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.