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?

A spooky stitching week

I did, eventually, finish Pumpkin Stew but not on Sunday evening as I had anticipated.  Instead it was Tuesday!  This was because I had a support evening for parents at school on Monday and the time I got home I didn't fancy doing any sewing.  This project was an early birthday present from my Mum and Dad.

This Shepherd's Bush design was stitched on16 count hickory heathfield, as suggested, with the recommended DMC Cotton Pearle #5.

After stitching on 16 count fabric for a week going back to Witches Riding By on 36 count linen was a bit of a shock.  Here is my progress on this so far.

This week the witch gained an owl, part of a broomstick and a little more sky. 

This weekend I made another attempt at rectifying my lack of Halloween ornaments to hang on my light tree.  This is 'Whooo's knockin' at my door?' and is from the chart booklet 'Tis Hallowe'en' by Blackbird designs.

This was stitched on  32ct lambswool, left over from Mary Wigham, using a mixture of the recommended overdyed floss and the DMC alternatives.  There are a number of other stockings in this booklet that I would like to stitch so this evening I'm going to choose one which involves a little less work!

Next week on the rotation it should be either  the Santa tree skirt or White Nights.  'The OtherHalf' has chosen White Nights so with another late night in school on Wednesday, this time for Open Evening, it will be interesting to see how far I get.

Hope you all have a good stitching week.  With a bit of luck, after this week, I should be able to return to my usual two posts a week.

Quick post

Just a quick post to show you what I've been up to this week.

It's Pumpkin Stew from Shepherds Bush and I'm hoping to finish it tonight.  More about this project next time.

Stitching update and something completely different!

WARNING this post is picture heavy but the something different really was very special!

This week it was back to school for me. Things were a little hectic, hence no posts for a bit. Last weekend it was a Bank Holiday here in the UK. We spent it in London. This meant quite a bit of time in the car so I was able to start and finish 'Trick or Treat Tree' by Pat Thode of Heartstrings/The Artists Collection. The chart was published in this year's Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue.


This was stitched on 32ct Crystal Peach Linen with DMC floss. I used glow-in-the-dark Kreinik braid for the ghost and the facial features of the cat and pumpkin. I finished it as a pillow using some left over Mill Hill beads on the edges.

On Tuesday I downloaded the September chart for Sylvia's My Little Heart SAL. I think I've mentioned before that each of these takes an evening to stitch.


On Wednesday it was back to school. I don't remember such a hectic first day back for a long time, and the pupils weren't there! I was leaving just as the caretaker was locking up!

Thursday was a little better I got home at a reasonable time. The Other Half met me at the door and asked me if I would like to have a flight in a hot air balloon this weekend. A friend of ours belongs to The Royal Engineers Balloon Club (for UK readers this is a private club for Army members who contribute towards it ~ no tax payer money is involved). They were hoping to fly at the Llangollen Show this weekend but their pick-up driver, the one who drives around following the balloon in order to help retrieve it when it lands, was not able to go, so they needed stand in ground crew, in return their partner would get a flight. So I volunteered our services. At six o'clock on Saturday morning we were there at the launch site to help out. Here are some of the photos to show you what happens.
Firstly the whole thing is laid out. The balloon part is actually called the envelope.


Next the envelope is inflated using cold air as hot air a this stage would cause the nylon material the envelope is made out of to melt.


When the envelope is almost fully inflated the burners are used to warm the air up. The whole thing is turned upright and after a few final safety checks take off soon follows. Here are some of the pictures I took from the air.

Looking up into the envelope. Yes it was warm when the burner was going and very noisy!







Dawn over Dinas Bran


Close encounters!






This round segment is called the parachute and forms the braking system. The pilot pulls on a rope and the round section folds in like a parachute causing hot air to leave through the top of the envelope. When fully inflated it is possible to stand on the parachute and not fall in!


GPS giving the flight details.


The balloon.


This was a fantastic experience. In the evening the balloon flew again and we were part of the recovery team. The balloon landed in a nearby campsite. Loads of adults and children went running towards it as they thought it had crash landed. Now that's what I call dropping in for tea!

White Nights progress report

As you know the houses making up Part 5 of White Nights have been getting me down. I started stitching them in January and have managed one house a week on the rotation. One good weeks I've managed to stitch some of the corner sections making up Part 6 as per the cunning plan put forward by my Mum back in January.

At the start of the school holidays my Mum came up with yet another suggestion which was to stitch White Nights during the day and do the rotation pieces in the evening as normal. So for once I actually listened to my Mum and did what she suggested! I am please to report that Part 5 is finished!


As is Part 6.


And half of Part 7!


The whole thing looks like this so far.


Despite all this progress this week has not been a productive week stitching wise. On Tuesday I had to go into work as it was GCSE results day and yesterday we went on a 'Steam Special' called 'The Fellsman' from Preston to Carlisle and back over the historic and picturesque Settle to Carlisle Railway. This was a fantastic day out. I would recommend this trip to anyone as the scenery is beautiful. The weather was on our side. Here are some photos from that trip. Firstly the loco Leander, which pulled our train, standing at Carlisle station.


Next a view of Pen-Y-Ghent from the train.


Some of the people who had turned out to watch the train.


These people, and many more were watching the train go over this...


... Ribblehead Viaduct. Started in October 1870 this viaduct took five years to build. A temporary brickworks was constructed nearby making 20,000 brick a day for the viaduct! You can not get a good picture of a train on a viaduct whilst you are on it yourself so this is one I found taken of our trip here, a spectacular sight!



I will finish this post by returning to White Nights, the success story of the summer. Glass of wine and a happy dance tonight!