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!

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

The Green Santa is finished...

... with the exception of a small bit of cording between the buttons and the blue bird's eye, only noticed this as I uploaded the picture. I have made a small start on the next figure.


I still have one more evening to go on this so I'm hoping for more progress tonight. Last weekend was spent away so there was little opportunity for stitching. However, I did make some progress on the Victorian Tree. Only the beading and the candles to do on this one.


Some questions have been asked in the comments to the last few posts. Here are the answers. The frame that White Nights is being done on is an Elbesee floor frame whose rollers will take fabric 36" wide. White Nights is 31" wide so the smaller 30"
frame would have been too small. The frame came from Sew and So and about this time last year (here)stopped White Nights becoming a UFO.

I would like to hang some Halloween ornaments on the light tree but I don't have any. Only two Just Nan WhimZis in their frames which might be too heavy. An excuse for dropping everything and remedying the situation?

The new 'Happy Chair'

As mentioned in my last post, here is a photo of my new chair.


When I ordered this chair back in April I felt really stupid in the shop, checking out where the legs were and how wide it was. Why? Because the chair had to be narrower than my largest stitching frame and the legs had to be far enough back so that the frame could be pulled as close into the chair as possible. The lady in the shop probably thought I was mad. Anyway, it is the new 'happy chair'(term lifted from Spinster Stitcher's blog) The eagle eyed amongst you may notice some of the progress that has been made since it's arrival!

Last week on the rotation it was Just Nan week. After finishing Floral Fifteen I made a start on her Summer Wings Humbug. I chose this one rather than The Spring Frills Humbug as I thought it would be a faster stitch. It took just over a week of evenings to complete. Here it is before being 'finished'.


I stitched this on 28ct over dyed linen from DoveStitch, I've no idea what the colour is called. The next photo shows the humbug made up but without it's pin as mine had a crystal missing and has had to be sent back. A replacement is in the post.


This week on the rotation it's back to Witches Riding By.


For those of you who are into Halloween stitching check out some of the latest designs by Just Nan. Called 'Spooky Spirits of Tombstone Hill', this is my favourite!


Next week it's the return of the Green Santa to the rotation. He missed out last month with my being away on the field trip. Here's hoping he gets finished and I make big inroads in to the next one. For now it's back to the happy chair for me and
the first episode of season four of Ugly Betty which started last night.

Happy stitching!

Floral Fifteen is finished!

Here it is!


This is the other side.


I stitched Floral Fifteen using the recomended DMC floss on 28ct Zweigart Antique White and Mint Green Cashel linen. Each small square took just under an evening to stitch and the whole thing the best part of a day to put together. I enjoyed stitching this so much I'm tempted to start Merry Fifteen!

Over the weekend I stitched the August motif for the My Little Heart SAL. This time there was a choice of charts. I chose the sunflower.


I also managed to add some more stitches to Witches Riding By. I'm really pleased with how this one is turning out.


I'm off to choose a 'new start'. progress pictures next time and a photo of the new 'Happy Chair' as Spinster Stitcher would call it!