New Year stitching

It's now two weeks since the end of the school Christmas holidays and a return to work.  I'm please to say that I have managed to do some stitching in the evenings. For ages now stitching has been confined to weekends only.

In looking back at my last post I noticed that I did not post  a picture of the completed Emma and Eliza's Christmas Hat.  Here it is complete with hat box stand.

So far this month I have two finishes and two new starts.  My first finish of 2014 was The Green Snowman from Shepherds Bush.  This came as a kit.

My second finish was The Cat's Meow from The Drawn Thread.  This was stitched with the recommended DMC floss on 32 ct Belfast linen sand/light sand? I can't remember.

So back to the rotation.  The first week of the month will be Christmas stuff, I don't have too much of this in my stash so  this could change during the year.  My first new start was Waxing Moon's Snow Days bell pull.

This is stitched on Mill Hill blue-checkered stitch band with the recommended DMC and overdyed floss. I have stitched this with two strands of floss instead of the three strands suggested. I'm also using a sparkly PB thread instead of Krienik Pearl Ombre for the snowflakes basically because I don't have the Krienik in my stash.

Week two of the rotation is a Drawn Thread or Sweetheart Tree project.  So first up this year is B My Valentine from The Drawn Thread. This is stitched with one strand of silk over two threads of 34 count Cafe Au Lait Legacy Linen.  I have left the needle in place in this photo so that you can get an idea of the size.

I'm really enjoying this project because its not just done in cross stitch.

So week three of the rotation, starting next week, is either a Halloween project, I have masses of these in my stash or a Just Nan project,  I have quite a few of those too.  As I have signed up for the Just Nan Stitch Along 2014 and the first posting date is Friday 31 Jan then it might need to be Just Nan's Valentine Tree.

I'm off to do some more stitching on  B My Valentine as it might be quite nice to have it finished by Valentine's Day itself.

Happy stitching!

Four finishes and a wedding!

Two weeks exactly since my last post and a lot has gone on! In the week running up to 'Our Big Day' things were so relaxed that I was able to finish a few things off. Firstly the scarf that I had started to knit.

Then I finished Official Crazy Cat Lady from Raise the Roof Designs.

This was stitched in the recommended over dyed floss on an unknown fabric, which has cat paws printed on it. I will probably make this in to a bell pull.

 

The next thing to be finished was the Spooky Greetings Bell Pull from Waxing Moon Designs.  I have the pull ware for this so finishing it off will be tonight's job.  Next up another scarf hit the knitting needles. Knitted in a different type of 'wool' this was a much easier knit than the previous scarf.

Anyway, enough of the finishes. Here are some photos of 'Our Big Day'.

These were taken by family and friends, the more arty ones by the official photographer. Next time I will post some photos from our Mini Mystery Honeymoon. Mystery, because I did not have a clue where we were going! It was all booked by the Groom and as you will see next time he did a good job.

Happy stitching!

Update time!

Last Monday I switched on my trusty laptop so that I could show the world my stitchy progress and the Internet was down and remained so for most of that evening. I then got bogged down with marking, let's not go there, but it's that time of year again!

So, previously, it was the Christmas week on the rotation. At last, Joy to the World got finished.

At the end of that week we went up to Edinburgh, my second weekend there on the run. This time it was to pick up the kilt and various accessories ready for 'The Big Day'.  I was able to do some more stitching on Official Crazy Cat Lady.

Last week on the rotation was Halloween week and I made a new start.  The Spooky Greetings Bell Pull from Waxing Moon Designs.

This week it should be a free week on the rotation but instead I'm going to stitch  White Nights, as next week, it's usual slot I will be otherwise engaged with final preparations for 'The Big Day'.

Whilst in Edinburgh I was given the plate that we decorated on my Scottish Hen Do.  It came out better than expected. See what you think.

With a bit of luck, normal service will be resumed next week with the normal Monday post. Until then ...

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

Weekend Stitching

This weekend was spent at 'The Other Railway' and involved a very early start, 05.15 on Saturday morning, but it was light, so I was able to start stitching as soon as we hit the motorway. Well to be correct start frogging! I had a bit of a bad week on Waxing Moon's Welcome having to frog the M and the E with their connecting vine. That error was quickly rectified and then I noticed that I had stitched the centre heart in the wrong place. That was the early morning frogging job.  Anyway, the heart was re stitched and the lazy daisy garland completed all before elevenses.

The bespoke frame for this project is waiting at the framers so i will post another photo when it is framed.
I spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday stitching Witches Riding By from Lavender Wings. There's still quite a lot to do on this one but I hope it will be finished soon. I was going to continue stitching on it this week but as I have four evenings to myself I'm going to go back to White Nights.  Here is how I left Witches Riding By.

Happy stitching!

A finish and a start

This bank holiday weekend I finished Trick or Treat from Shepherd's Bush.

This came as a kit. The fabric is 32ct lambswool linen and the floss is a mixture of Soie D'Alger and Mori silks.  The moon button is really great, here's a close up.

The new start is Simply Welcome from Waxing Moon Designs. This is my progress so far.

Happy stitching!

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!