Day 2

Well here is progress pic No. 2, although I had to give up last night sooner than I intended thanks to my eyes giving in to a migraine. And I have just spotted that the frog remains, some of the light brown I stitched on the first night is the wrong shade, I don't know how that happened. Anyone know what it is yet?

And as promised a couple of more pics from the hols. These were taken at Kielder Water.

And for those who asked, Alnwick Castle was used in the making of the HP films. So you may spot some of the detail of the outside of the castle in the films (maybe in Quidditch matches), but I think most of the inside was a purpose built studio, but certainly the odd bit of the inside is in the films.

The Calling

For a long time now this has been calling me, every time I looked in a stitching box, this was shouting at me. I did not really want to start anything else, as I really would like to get MIX finished, and work more on my HAED, which I've barely started. However, I have finally given in, I kitted it up last night, and this is last nights stitching. Anyone know what it is?

The previous post was Alnwick Castle (Hogwarts for all you HP people). I also read the first 3 HP books whilst I was off work, and I didn't pick up a needle for nearly 3 weeks. The frog has been living at my house for over a month now, I think I'm going to have to get some sort of repellent, anyone have the answer?

I will post more holiday pics soon.

I've been away.

A few pics. Any guesses?

Round Robin. The final round

Well this was the final round of the round robin. I stitched Gemini, and now this will be sent back to Lynn, I'm assuming that she will be stitching the rest. I'll have to ask her. This design is Astrocats by Margaret Sherry. This is the first time I've ever joined in a Round Robin, I've always been worried about keeping to the deadlines, but I've been much better organised this year. We posted on the 10th of every month, but I was usually ready to stitch on it, as soon as it arrived. As this is the final round we've decided to post once stitched, so all I have to do is get this in the post, and then await mine back from Essie in Holland, but she's on holiday at the moment. Although I'm in no hurry, I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with mine. I won't be getting it framed, and it's a bit big for a cushion. I may make it into a stitching bag.

Thanks for all your comments on the Chatelaine, I think I'm going to just stitch half and turn it into a Bell pull. I would love to contact someone for more thread, but have not been able to find any details of anyone to contact. There is no kit manufacturer mentioned on the packaging or insides.

My First Flat Fold

Here's a few pics of my first ever flat fold. I stitched it for Vonna, in the SBEBB Seasonal House exchange. Vonna chose Autumn, so I decided to stitch LHN Season of Plenty. I was really pleased with how it turned out. I added some beads on ribbon on the corner to finish it off, a bow didn't really seem to look right. I'd finished the edge of the pinkeep with ribbon as I was unable to find anything else that was ther right colour. I included some 32ct Belfast, a fat quarter of finishing fabric, and a hand dyed skein, trying to keep to Autumnal colours.

And here you can see the wonderful exchange I received from Amy. Isn't it gorgeous. I chose Winter as my season, and Amy made me this wonderful pinkeep. The design is by Erica Michaeals. Amy also included a skein of hand dyed silk, such a pretty colour, and a skein of Caron Watercolors, this is in a very bluey white, but the camera just doesn't pick the colour up, and a nice notebook. Such a lovely exchange.

A disappointing new start

Well, this was my new start this week, but now it's gone away to be a UFO! Already!

It was a kit I bought earlier this year, (I purchased a few Lorri Birmingham's altogether). Now, as it's a kit, I expect it to have everything needed to complete the design, but maybe I'm wrong there. There was 5 lengths of Creme Silk floss by Needle Necessities (no idea where to buy more), 5 lengths of Hand Painted Silk, and 12 lenghts of pink DMC (plus beads, crystals and kreinik). Now the pink DMC is to make tassels only. I have used 2 lengths of the silk, and need to start a 3rd just for a few stitches in this part of the design. I can see already that there is no way there is enough to finish this as it is supposed to be, so now it's a UFO.

Now my thoughts are - I have no idea what I'd do with it if I finished it, so shall I not bother? Shall I just do one side, and make it into a small band sampler? All ideas greatly appreciated.

Summer Quaker Exchange

Look what I received from Vonna, she stitched me this gorgeous pinkeep, all stitched over one. It's stitched using an Anchor mulit coloured thread in shades of pink, orange and yellow- very summery. This was for the SBEBB Summer Quaker exchange. Vonna included Carrie's Creation threads and some Piecemakers needles, she must have known I've wanted to try these for sometime, having heard people rave about them.

And here's the photo's of the exchange package I sent to Carol. I decided on the free pattern from The Workbasket, it's called Summer Quaker Flower. I just stitched the centre of the flower, in a lovely yellow and white Needle Necessities overdyed floss. I stitched our initials on the back, I then made a tassel from some Anchor Perle thread in shades of yellow and green. I finished it off as scissor fob, this was the first time I've used ribbon and beads, I usually make a cord, but the ribbon matched so well. Then when I looked at Carol's blog, I realised that she makes' lots of fobs, so was unsure whether this was right for her or not. I include some 32ct Sunburst Gold Belfast linen, a skein of thread, a notebook, and added a handmade card that looked summery.

Thank you everyone for all your comments on my previous postings, they are much appreciated. I think I'm back on the net with few problems-fingers crossed.

%&*£""

The air has been blue around here. Can you live without the internet? I'm not sure I could!

Last week the computer started playing up, and would not stay connected to the WWW. So I'm now behind with my formus, my blog and reading blogs, and not sure that I'll catch up either. We've been trying to book a holiday, by looking on the internet, so you can imagine how infuriating it has been. We had several failed attempts to fix the problem, but fingers crossed we're finally there, and boy has there been a queue to use it. LOL.

I've got an exchange to show too. So hopefully tomorrow night I'll put that up.

Another attempt to show that needleroll

Well I think it worked this time, and a couple of more photos of the flooding. I have friends living in these places. The middle pic is about a 10 minute walk.

A Needleroll finish

Well I had hoped to show you my needleroll which I finished off at the weekend, but for some reason I am getting an error code which I must report so that Blogger can fix it. So I'm afraid you'll have to wait. Although I have put it in my stitching album, so if you really need to see it now, you can click on the link on the right.

I'll have a go at uploading a couple of different sorts of photo's and see if that works.

Well, that seemed to work fine. I live in an area severely affected by flooding, fortunately my street was OK, but here's a pic of the flooding in my back garden. (The flooding I had was very minor, as there are lots of people now homeless, and won't be able to return to their homes for months!My house is about 3 foot higher than my garden.) And the other photo is the playing fields opposite where I live. Both were taken through double glazing and heavy rain, but I used the zoom, so they appear a lot nearer to the house than they are. As you can see the field opposite has turned into a lake, and someone had to put their dinghy on it and row! Don't you just love the colour of those Hydrangea's in the front garden?

A nice weekend

Well the weather has been terrible, but I've had a really nice weekend. I finished work Thursday lunch, and the weather was really good then. A friend from work came around on the night to look at my stitching, as she wants to have a go, so I dug out something small, and gave here a skein of thread and some Aida. My friend wanted something a bit more challenging, so we chose a sampler with several colours, but no backstitching, and I'm going to kit that up for her. I'll see what her progress is on the small before I kit it up.
DD's school was closed for teacher training on Friday, so I cancelled what I had planned, and we went shopping for the day. By Saturday, I'd lost track of the days, and thought it was Sunday. I did some sorting out of some beads that were left over in kits, and now have them bagged up and labelled. I also made a start on the making up of my Summer Quaker exchange piece. Today, I finished making up the exchange piece, and also made up a Needle roll which I stitched a couple of weeks ago. Due to the atrocious weather I've not photographed it yet, it's just so dark here, so hope to get that pic tomorrow.
Tonight, I started a small band sampler, only a couple of bands left now, so hope to finish that tomorrow. The design is by Liberty Street Designs, can you guess which one I'm stitching?

Round Robin - Round 5

Well, here's the next Round Robin, as you can see it has a teapot theme. I chose to stitch a Delft one. I've never done so much frogging. LOL. I've no idea why such a small thing caused me so much greif.

And here's a picture of the whole thing, as you can see there's only one round left, I can't beleive how quickly this has passed.

Last weekends stitching

This was lovely to stitch, and comes from Blackbird Designs. It is called Friendship's Sheltering Vine. I started this on the Friday night, just after 8pm, and I finished by 8am on the Sunday morning. I can't wait to do another design from this book. I'm going to make it into a bellpull, when I see the right hanger for it.

Stitching Accessory Exchange

This is the pinkeep I stitched for Jayne in the Stitching Accessory exchange. The pattern is from the June issue of The Gift of Stitching, it's Scandinavian pin cushion, but as you can see, I didn't make a pincushion. I started to do the pattern for the reverse of the pincushion, but changed my mind after I had stitched the border. I used a DMC variegated thread. Jayne had said she liked neutral and terracota colours, and something different, so hopefull I covered it. The reverse is a matching picture, although for some reason it looks pink on here, but it wasn't. LOL Originally, I was using some lovely fabric that I had, but at the last minute decided to get something else, it was some fabric I'd had my eye on for a while. I also bought some ribbon, which has a gold line down each side, and I used gold headed pins. I think I need to make myself a pinkeep now, so may use the CCN Bee pinkeep that I stitched back in Jan/Feb, that was made into a pinkeep in the pattern, but I'd decided to make it into a box top, however I have yet to locate the fabric I have in my minds eye for that. There's a distinct lack of shops where I live.

And here is what I received from Elaine. I was lucky to receive two things, a lovely scissor fob, and a pincushion. I actually used the pincushion the day it arrived.

Around the World Exchange pics

At last, I've finally been able to get the pics of a recent exchange. Since changing to the new Blogger, I've not got the hang of getting a few pics where you want them. They display one way in preview mode, and a different way once published. Anyway, here they are. These are pics of the wonderful exchange I received from Barbara. The theme was Around the World, and the aim to stitch something relating to where you live . Barbara lives in Holland, and she sent me this wonderful mail art. My name and address were stitched over 1, and Barbara made it, so that once unpicked it made into a stitchers pocket. Don't you think it's great. Here's a picture of the inside.

And here's the photo's of what I sent to Judith. It took me ages to find a design that covered England, but I finally settled on this design by Mary Hickmott, and made it into a needlebook. As you can see I sent goodies relating to Yorkshire. I really enjoyed making the needlebook, and think I'll be making another for myself soon. I have lots of small stitched designs that I could use. Although I've made lots of needlebooks before, this was the first time I'd lined one with a cotton fabric.

Problems

I came on here to post pics of a recent exchange that I was in, but I seem to be having trouble with uploading photo's. So I'll try again tomorrow.

For now I'll leave you with a photo of a new WIP. I started this last night, but it won't be a WIP for much longer!

June already

Well, here's June. Last month was not very productive on the stitching front. I've tried to work out why, and I think it was that I had so many ways to go, stitching wise that I lost my way, and got stuck on the roundabout not knowing which direction to go in. Anyone else ever felt like this.
Anyway, this is the start of a new month, so lets hope this is better. This week I've been stitching a needleroll, well actually there wasn't much stitching on it really. Today I've hemmed it, all before 7.30am, and now I just need to seam and stuff, then I'll show. I have to go out though, so I don't think it'll get finished today.
I'm looking forward to the new issue of The Gift of Stitching, link on the right. I can't wait to see what this month brings, I really enjoy this mag.
I'm also thinking I need to change my blog someway, I may put a list up of WIP's and exchanges, maybe this might keep me more focused. I have another 4 exchanges I've agreed to, so decided not to join anymore, until these are stitched and finished. I'm not sure about a 'To Do' list as this will take me a long time, but I'm definately going to put a Wish List into my photo album, as I've had a few questions lately about what I'd like. Anyways best go and get on with the day. Chat later.

Round Robin - Round 4

This is Round 4 of the round robin. This one belongs to Clare. Isn't it lovely. I completed this a couple of weeks ago, and just realised I'd not posted a pic. I met Clare and Colette, who are also in the Round Robin, a couple of weeks ago, at a stitchy meet up in Nuneaton. I took DD with me, and we made a girly weekend of it. We stayed over in a Travelodge, and then 5 hours retail therapy at Meadowhall on the way home. Here's a pic of some who attended the meet up.

It's big

Well this map has been on this frame for years, more years than I care to admit. I bought this map as a kit in 1990, but I didn't start it straight away. Then when I came to stitch it, I found the fabric too big to handle, so I bought a large (huge) floor-standing frame. The map is of The Three Ridings of Yorkshire. I started with East Yorkshire, and this took me 2 weeks to stitch, then the rest took many years, and since finishing it more that 3 years ago, it has remained on this frame. I've finally taken it off, and it needs a good wash, and then I need to get it framed, I expect it to be expensive!

Now to this, this had got too big to use a 17" x 17" clip frame, and I want to get more beads on it, which I could not do using the clip frame, so here we are. Some of you may recognise it as Mystery IX. I was up to Part 9 when I decided I couldn't handle it any more. I've been working on it today, and I'm pleased with my progress. Although this pic just shows where I was at when I put it on the frame. To give you an idea of size, the frame is 40", and the stitching measures just over 12" square.

ABC exchange received

I received a wonderful needle case from Satomi, all the way from Japan. This was my first exchange in SBEBB. I was so pleased. Satomi stitched over one, and put both our names on the back. She also inculded some wonderful pins-I'm in love with these, and a card case (for my credit cards)-how did she know. This postman had tried to deliver this on Tuesday, and because there was no one home, he had taken it to the Post Office, and I had to collect it. I went on Wednesday, after work, only to find they close at 4pm, and it was twenty past, however the counter clerks were still there, and were very kind and got my parcel for me. I don't know if I could have waited another day. This is the first time I've had to go to the actual Post Office, other times I've just collected from the depot. It must be a new thing.

My first SBEBB exchange arrived

Here's the photo's I took before it went in the post. It's my first pinkeep, although I just made it the same as the Christmas ornaments I do, but without a hanger. I went through agonies with this. I stitched it in plenty of time, and it was going to be a needlecase, then I kept changing my mind. Then I decided there wasn't much to the alphabet, and maybe I should stitch a different design, but that meant finding something else, and deciding what to do with it, and toning fabric etc. There's not a lot of choice where I live, so I then decided to stick with my original idea, then I changed again to a pinkeep. Then I found there was not a lot of choice of pins locally, so had to go with pearl, the pink one's where just to pink. And other colours were nowhere near. LOL
Anyway this is the reverse.
And this is the photo with the extras, another difficult decision.

I sent my exchange to Tessa of Ladybird Lane. The exchange was an ABC exchange, we had to stitch something with the full alphabet, and this design is by Mary Scott (Millpond Designs). I stitched it on 32 count hand dyed fabric by Polstitches. I now need to make decisions and plans for my next exchange.