The results are in!

Thanks to everyone who voted in my 'What to stitch over the summer holidays' poll.  The winner was 'In the night' by Jardin Privé. This is now kitted up and in the sewing bag ready to go on holiday, along with another two projects, just in case.

Late last Thursday I put the final stitch in to my Tuscan Gardens II UFO.

This has been a UFO for a number of years. I have the third Tuscan Garden project in my stash, let's hope that when I eventually start to stitch it, it does not have the same fate. I finished the larger Tuscan Gardens I a number of years ago.  I do have two more Christmas themed projects which have become UFO's over the last twelve months, I started stitching on one of those again last weekend. Progress pics on that one next time maybe.

So far this week I have been stitching White Nights. My aim this week is to finish the lower portion of the middle building on the left and right hand side. Here is my progress so far.

I was lucky enough to receive a blog award from Becka, The Stitching Lion, thanks Becka.  At the moment I am not in a position to pass this on, maybe in a few weeks when things are a bit less hectic.

Happy stitching!

Nearly there!

Look at what I managed to achieve after a weekend at 'The Other Railway'

There's not much to do now! I might be tempted to try and complete Tuscan Gardens 2 this this week, wait and see. I would have finished all the cross stitching on this project if I hadn't finished the DMC mini kit snowman.

I've not decided how to finish this off as at 4" x 4" it's a bit too big for a Christmas tree decoration (I don't have a massive tree).  Any ideas?

Last week I managed to complete the sections of the White Nights border I set out to do. I was also able to make a start on the central buildings. here are the border sections before the project was rolled up.

Finally Waxing Moon's Simply Welcome came back from the framers. The frame is a bespoke frame especially for this project.

Thanks to everyone who has voted on my poll on the sidebar. If you have not all ready done so there is still time to vote. more information can be found in the previous post.

Happy stitching

A quick update!

Shock horror almost three weeks since my last post!  however, on the stitching front things have been progressing.  After finishing the Three Tulips Humbug I started Lady Scarlet's Secret Garden, also by Just Nan. what with one thing and another I've had a couple of disturbed stitching weeks so I can't tell you how long it took to stitch. However, I can tell you that the finishing took an evening.  Here is the needle book before finishing.

Here it is made up and inside Lady Scarlet.

The back has a the same design but in a different colour.  Here it is.

Last week I went on a school trip to the University of Manchester. Whilst travelling to and from the event I began a DMC mini kit. I did a little bit more on it yesterday after wearing myself out tiding the garden, on probably the hottest day of the year so far.  The subject of this project?

At 'The Railway' this weekend I was able to put a few stitches into my Tuscan Gardens UFO. There really isn't that much to do on this one and with another 'Other Railway Weekend coming up I have high hopes that this will soon be finished.  This week it's the turn of White Nights. I did make some progress on this last week but not enough to show.  So to finish here is Tuscan Gardens.

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

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!

Another tree to add to the festival

Before going away for the weekend I was able to put the final beads into the Victorian Tree.


Over what turned into a busy 'Railway Weekend' I was able to put a few stitches into my Tuscan Gardens UFO.


The replacement pin for Just Nan's Summer Wings Humbug also arrived. So here it is complete with pin.


This week it's back to White Nights progress pics on this one on Thursday.

Happy stitching

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.

Stitching slump?

Yet again, as anticipated, next to no stitching was done last week. A small amount, and I mean very small amount, was done on The Green Santa.


This weekend was a 'Railway Weekend'. I was guard on the train on Saturday so no stitching was done on Yoyo's Christmas Design SAL and I was training in the signal box on Sunday so no stitches were added to my UFO. Here is the progress I have made on this so far.


This week I'm hoping that nothing will get in the way of a good stitch. White Nights is back this week and I'm working on the bottom corners. Next week I will be starting something new. For those of you who like surprises don't look at the next photo.

Next week's new start is...


'Tea with honey' from Just Nan.

Happy stitching!

A finish and frogs!

Yesterday I finished Open House!


This was stitched as charted with DMC floss on28ct lilac cashel linen. The buttons are from Just Another Button Company and are the ones suggested. The only button I've missed off is a pumpkin one which covers the stitched pumpkin by the steps. I have the companion piece to this, called Three Gables but I will not be starting it until the summer. Here is what it will look like. I will be doing mine on the lilac linen.


My next spooky stitching project is going to be this.


This piece is called Witches Riding By and is from Lavender Wings, it was a Christmas present from 'The Other Half'. It is stitched on 36ct linen using two strands of floss. I've not stitched on this count before. Will two strands make the work look bulky? Two strands have to be used as some of the colours are blends. So do I go with the 36ct or change to something bigger? Any advice would be appreciated.

I thought I would give you an update on my UFO. Michael Powell's Tuscan Gardens ll.


The backstitch really does make a difference. Next week it's back to the Green Santa. However, I know some evenings are going to be taken up with school stuff as it is the last week of term so I'm not expecting to get as much stitching in as normal.

Finally, spring has arrived and the pond is full of frolicking frogs!

Five things and a finish.

This weekend I felt a little bit strange in the stitchy department, maybe it was caused by eating too much Five Minute Chocolate Cake (see previous post). As a result I actually stitched on five things!

On Friday evening I reached my goal for the week and finished Part 3 of Barnabee's Quest. In order to give myself a head start the next time this appears on the rotation I started on Part 2 on Saturday morning.


The finishing kit for this project, ordered from The Silver Needle, arrived last week and I have the Just Nan pull ware for it. I'm hoping to finish this before the summer. To tell you the truth I could have continued to stitch on this but no, Saturdays are Christmas Design SAL days and that is what I moved on to next. I'm now starting to think that when I have finished the cross stitch on this one I will have a go at actually finishing off both this ornament and the blue one.


Sunday was UFO day. I made a start on Tuscan Gardens and then got side tracked in the stash room, looking for my small hoop, as my next handbag project is going to be the Anniversary Biscornu by Just Nan. I actually spent an hour stitching on this but put it back in the handbag has I was feeling guilty because I wasn't stitching the UFO. Now I thought that Tuscan Gardens was the last one, WRONG! Whilst looking for the hoop I came across yet another UFO. So I stitched this one instead! Now there was a method in my madness. This newly unearthed UFO, although stitched one over one, was very small and actually took only a couple of hours to finish.


This keyring kit was on the cover of Cross Stitch Collection Jan/Feb 1996, although I'm pretty sure it's not been a UFO for that long. The picture of the finished keyring is in the 2010 Gallery in the sidebar.

I did eventually get round to stitching Tuscan Gardens and was quite pleased with my progress.



This week on the rotation there is a gap, so I could start something new. Instead I'm going to stitch on Open House, which some would class as another UFO as it's not been worked on since October/November. However, this is definitely a WIP in my book as it has never been 'put away'. I'm over two thirds of the way through with this one. This is where it was left.



Have a great stiching week.

Sunday post on Tuesday!

On Sunday evening I would, normally, have posted some photos of my weekend stitching efforts, but not this Sunday. I did, however, manage to email Yoyo the photos of my Timeless Elegance ornaments for the Christmas Design SAL. Here they are.




On Sunday I decided to delay posting until Monday to give me a full evening on my recently unearthed UFO. This is Tuscan Gardens II by Michael Powell. However, we had a disaster, so to speak, on the domestic front. My Candy washing machine packed up in the most spectacular fashion! There were no sparks and it did not 'blow up' as such, but it did make the most fantastic metal crunching noise and yes, it was part way through a cycle and full of wet washing. This machine was about 15 years old so I guess I can't complain too much. So, a good part of Sunday evening was spent sorting out the washing whilst trying not to flood the kitchen! By the time this had all been done the UFO was the last thing I wanted to stitch, strange that. Here it is so far.


Before Sunday all that was stitched of this were the two arches and the terracotta plant pots on the right. You can see a photo at this post. This will also be featured in my UFO blog, 'I've started so I'll finish ... eventually'.

In the small amount of time I had left on Sunday evening I stitched the March picture for Sylvia's 'My Little Heart' SAL.


I'm doing this on 28ct Lambswool Permin linen. I stitched the pictures for January and February over the weekend.

This week on the rotation it's back to Barnabee's Quest. Very little progress was made last night as the washing machine saga was still going on. On the way home from work I went to Currys to buy a new machine. The Other Half met me there with his van and we were able to bring the machine home. The next few hours were spent removing the old machine and plumbing in and wiring up the new one. Getting the new machine out of the van and the old one into it took a lot of effort as those things are heavy! As I've gone on about it so much I'd better show you a picture.


I hope everyone has a great stitching week with no domestic appliance disasters!