Stitching & Stash

The lovely postie man bought me the embellishments for my Taj Mahal today. Lots and lots of lovely beads all sitting in wee boxes. Really looking forward to starting on this one but alas it has to wait a while longer as I have the rest of my rota to get through first.

This evening I finished the Summer section on Just Nan's "4 Wishes". Trust me I have been making alterations. It all started with the beehive. I just could not find a beehive charm that I felt went with the design, then I thought of adapting slightly the stitched bee hive from Barnabee's Quest. the count across was ok but I had to shorten it a little. I decided if I was going to take that from Barnabee then I would miss the central bee off and add a bee charm. Ok I seem to be stitching them as a pair now so lets go the whole hog lol. I missed the little flowers out from between the frogs and I am going to put little butterfly beads in there. So I am now beginning to really get attached to this piece. The bees at the bottom look slightly odd as their bodies are beads and I dont want to stitch the beads on until the end. I only have winter to do on this one so hopefully this will be a finish next time. The chart will then (again like Barnabee) be making its way to Jane.

Now I have to do a couple of days on my UFO, and then I think I will do the May section of my lovely Heirloom Christmas before returning to my rota.

Lastly I have found another lovely freebie tonight though it is rather large and may have to wait for a while. It is called Marquoir ABC and is being done over 16 months - 1 part per month. Eight parts have been published so far. You can see a picture of the completed picture here (very bottom of the page) http://gigir.canalblog.com/archives/free_pattern/index.html. I do not speak french so found it difficult to actually find the charts from this link but in the end put the name of the chart into google and found them that way. I know - I have more than enough charts to keep me going as it is but this is a complete change of style for me and I really, really like it.

I'm On A Role...

I cannot believe just how quick this one stitched up. It is Jayne (after Jayne at the Attic) and was designed by her friend Carol Tinson of Heirloom Embroideries.
I stitched on a scrap of pink fabric I had using Dinky-Dyes Bush Christmas 8# & 12# perle and DMC 316 in 8# perle.

On to 4 wishes now. I am hoping I will get the summer section done this time round, but think this is going to take a good few days.

I didnt get the UFO out but will be good and do 2 days on it next week I promise Julie.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on Flower girl it is so much appreciated.

Another Happy Dance For Me

I managed to finish this before I went out this morning. The design is Flower Girl, by Sue Page and was in the World Of Cross Stitching magazine. Although I stuck to the basics where the Flower Girl herself were concerned I used hand dyed threads for the baskets. Kaalunda thread was used for the tall basket and House of Embroidery thread for the smaller ones. The flowers were stitched using a variety of different hand dyed threads and instead of doing them in cross stitch I used french knots. These were done using a mixture of two or three threads and winding round two, three or even four times to give the flowers depth and texture. The face was done in petit point which is just another word for half stitch done one over one, and gives a lovely dimension to the work. I am really pleased with how she has turned out though as usual pictures really do not do her justice.

I am going to make a start on putting my scissor fob together tonight so if there air looks a little blue over Derbyshire you will all know why lol.

Another first, please note Becky, I have crossed this off my rota lol. One big happy bunny here.

Too Much Chatting..

I did think that my flower girl would be finished today but I have been a naughty girl tonight and been chatting on the computer instead of stitching lol. Never mind she should be done tomorrow and hopefully there will then be something to show you.

I had a lovely time on Saturday going into Nottingham with my daughter. I got three new tops and bought her a top and a wrap thing for when she comes out the shower. We also go her blinds in the bedroom sorted. So all in all it was a very nice girly day finished off with an evening at our friends for supper.

I am going to be late again this week with my UFO as my Aunt has come down from Larbert in Scotland to stay with my Mum for a couple of weeks. As I am not at work tomorrow I have promised to take them out for the day. I think we are going to go to the Denby Pottery Centre. Its not far from where we live but I have never been before so I am really looking forward to it, well apart from having two octogenaians in tow lol.

New Start

Been busy stitching over the last few days what with my wfb done and I have stitched the back and front and even made a tassel (quite proud of that as I've not made one before) for my scissor fob exchange. I will be off to the market tomorrow to see if i can get the ribbon I want and some toy stuffing and then will have fun making it up.

This morning I had to be home as I was expecting a delivery so I used the time to stitch on my UFO and I did a wee bit more on that this afternoon before putting it away. Then tonight I made a start on my new rota, at the moment I am stitching Flower Girl which I am hoping to finish this time round. I have finished her dress so just got two baskets to cross stitch and hundreds of french knots for the flowers to do lol, that should keep me out of mischief for a day or two.

Not much else happening at the moment round here. I have done a bit of gardening as the weather has been so nice but there has certainly been a cool wind with it today and tonight seems to have gone really chilly again.

Thanks once again for all your lovely comments, I love having people visit my blog and visiting everyone elses to see what you are all up to. Think at the moment I am queen of the rota system lol as so many of you have emailed me asking how I work mine. Think the one thing I can say to anyone working a rota is enjoy it and make it fun, its your hobby not a job, and I am looking forward to watching all these new rotas take shape.

New Start

Been busy stitching over the last few days what with my wfb done and I have stitched the back and front and even made a tassel (quite proud of that as I've not made one before) for my scissor fob exchange. I will be off to the market tomorrow to see if i can get the ribbon I want and some toy stuffing and then will have fun making it up.

This morning I had to be home as I was expecting a delivery so I used the time to stitch on my UFO and I did a wee bit more on that this afternoon before putting it away. Then tonight I made a start on my new rota, at the moment I am stitching Flower Girl which I am hoping to finish this time round. I have finished her dress so just got two baskets to cross stitch and hundreds of french knots for the flowers to do lol, that should keep me out of mischief for a day or two.

Not much else happening at the moment round here. I have done a bit of gardening as the weather has been so nice but there has certainly been a cool wind with it today and tonight seems to have gone really chilly again.

Thanks once again for all your lovely comments, I love having people visit my blog and visiting everyone elses to see what you are all up to. Think at the moment I am queen of the rota system lol as so many of you have emailed me asking how I work mine. Think the one thing I can say to anyone working a rota is enjoy it and make it fun, its your hobby not a job, and I am looking forward to watching all these new rotas take shape.

My WFB

Before anyone asks WFB is Wee Fat Bird (better know as a round robin). I am doing this with Terri, AnnT (aunty) and AnnP (annie). This is Winter from a set of seasonal postcards designed by Laura Gabutti Lattuada of Passione Ricamo. I have had these for a few years and got them as freebies from the PR site, however they have since been published in WOCS magazine and I do not thing they are available as freebies any longer. The fabric is Woodland Violets and the thread is DMC (apart from a few stitches in #4 braid - white/silver). I am way ahead of myself on this one as we are supposed to be stitching our own piece in May ready to send on the first weekend in June but I wanted to get it cleared up and ready so that it would not be on my mind. I have enjoyed stitching this, its quite tiny - less than 4" square, even though I think it looks larger on the picture.

Sorry Julie (lol nearly called you Jane - its all these J's confusing me), but UFO didnt get done yesterday as I wanted to finish stitching this, I will however be doing some today. sob sob I cannot do Serendipity as my threads haven't come yet though I know Jayne will rush them out to me as soon as the order arrives with her.

I am off now to order more stash in the form of the embellishments for Taj Mahal. Ohhhhhhhhhhh I am looking forward to getting started on my new rota. Alas I have a scissor fob to make first, still hopefully that will not take too long - I know the stitching wont take long its the making up Im worried about lol.

The Zoo, A Finish & Barnabee

We took Oscar on the train to Dudley Zoo yesterday. It was a lovely day and we all had great fun, though Granny's poor legs were aching last night. Oscar took his colours and a colouring book for on the train and of course Granny took some stitching. I finished this little one which was a freebie from Aunty's Attic and is done in Dinky Dyes Desert Sands. I think I will have to do a bit more and pad it out a bit as its not as big as the rest of my squilt squares.

Apart from that I did not get much stitching time yesterday but this morning I was determined to finish part 1 of Barnabee's Quest. I have really enjoyed stitching on this one and cannot wait until I get round to it again in my rota.
I have a couple of little things to do before I start my rota again. I joined in the scissor fob exchange on the Polstitches forum and I have to make a fob for Julia. Quite a daunting task to make something like this for someone who stitches as beautifully as Julia does, especially as I have never made one before.
I also am going to be doing a round robin with dear friends Terri, AnnT and AnnP. We are not officially starting this until May but I would like to get my own piece sorted out before starting my rota again. I will tell you more about my choice later when I am able to show you a picture of what I have done.



Once again thanks to all the lovely people who leave comments, it means such a lot to me.

Stash & Dippy

Firstly the postie came with some stash this morning. 2 lovely Kaalunda threads (wisteria and fuschia) and a black no 12# perle (needed for my blackwork house) which is part of an order from Jaynes Attic. Jayne has to order the chart I wanted - Loopylou Summer Sundae, and the 2 Dinky Dyes threads which I am running short of in Serendipity. Secondly my two replacement Caron Waterlilly threads came from Needlecraft Corner.

I finished this weeks part on "Dippy" tonight, and just in case anyone wonders I changed the blue and the pink parts round in the middle section as I thought I would prefer pink hearts to blue hearts.

This is turning out lovely but unless my Dinky Dyes comes next week it will have to go on hold as I only have a needleful of the green gum leaves left.

I will be back to Barnabee tomorrow all being well though as we have Oscar staying at the moment stitching in the day is almost impossible. I am hoping it will be nice tomorrow though as my DH finishes work at lunch time on Friday and if its nice he and Oz are planning to be gardening in the afternoon, so Granny may get a little stitching done lol.

I've Done It

Want to say an enormous, gigantic, great big thank you to Becky for all her help and patience with me in getting this sorted, but at last I have a Rota List in HTML that looks like a list and I can score through. I have done the list as I intend to start it next time round when Barnabee is done for this time, and have added Taj at the end as my new finish for next time. You will notice I have also included some more new ones in there as well so I am really looking forward to getting on with it.

I haven't had much time for stitching today as I was at work this morning and this afternoon I went to my Mums and then bought Oscar back with me for a few days so we have been playing games on the computer.

I have made a start on Serendipity but thats all I have had time for today so far. After he went to bed I came on here to try and get the rota thing sorted. So thats me now a happy bunny and I am off to at least make a bit on an impression on Dippy before I go to bed.

Help Please

I am trying to find out how to strike through something on my rota. Becky has tried to help me but it doesnt help that I am not in the least bit technical minded. Thanks for trying anyway Becky.

What Becky told me to do it works on here see I can do it but it will not work on my list. Aparently its because on the list I cannot use HTML. Fine that much has sank in to my dim little brain. However when I tried to put my list into one of the boxes that allow HTML so that I can strike through they just run one after the other and not one underneath the other as in a list.

Can someone please explain to me - preferably in something like plain English - just how to achieve this. I know a number of you do it so it can be done, just not be me so it seems.

Things Are Buzzing

Firstly to in answer to Lisa's question, if you email me on stitchingranny@hotmail.com I will try and explaine to you how I work my rota.
Barnabee is growing and he even has a hive to go to now. I am really pleased with how this has progressed so far. I decided I would add the beads as I went as I have a frame big enough to take the whole piece without me having to move it and trap the beads as I work. As those of you who follow my blog will know I like to personalise my work in some way but I couldn't work out how I was going to do this with Barnabee as I didnt want to alter colours or change the design in any way, I think however I now have the answer. In a couple of places there are tiny butterflies and I have some lovely little swarvoski butterfly beads so when I get to the bit where I should stitch one I am going to try putting one of the beads there. I dont know if this will work or not but I like the idea so will certainly give it a try.

Unfortunately tomorrow is UFO day and Wednesday is Serendipity so I won't be able to do anymore on this for a couple of days but its certainly not going away yet. Ideally I would like to complete part one before I move on but will just have to wait and see how things pan out. This chart was gifted to Julie from Sally and Julie then gifted it on to me. When it is complete it will be on the move again as I will be gifting it to Jane. I hope when Jane has stitched it she will keep it moving too and gift it on to someone else as I know both Sally and Julie loved stitching it and up to now I can see why.

I Couldn't Resist Any Longer..

Just a quick update and no pictures. I stitched a little on the border of Garden Alphabet today but was just not in the mood. The bees were buzzing round the garden and Barnabee kept beckoning so in the end I could not resist anylonger and my Garden Alphabet got put away. Tonight I made a start on Barnabee. I will try and do a picture for you tomorrow night. I have about half done the border on the first part so far - and I'm lovin' it lol.

A Wedding and A Finish

This is my darling little grandson Oscar on the left with his best friends (the bride & grooms 2 children) Callum and Bethany. Would you believe that there is only 2 months between him and Bethany and that Callum is actually nearly 2 years older than him. The Wedding Party with left my DS David and right my DIL Debbie.

I also got a little quilt square finished this morning . It was a freebie from Dragonfly Stitches and is stitched in Kaalunda thread "Wine" and DMC 3041 for the little hearts and the backstitch.

HAED a little progress

I have worked on Shiona's HAED for the last couple of days and made a little more progress. I think I may enjoy this more when I can make out just what I am stitching. This is a picture of the progress so far.

I have decided what I am going to add to my rota now. It will by Heirloom Embroideries "Jayne", India Grace Designs "India", a Lynda Bodkin (of Loopylou) design from a magazine called "Pastel Panel" and finally an Anchor Chart I have of a Blackwork House. I have done small blackwork squares for my quilt but have never done a bigger blackwork project before so although this is a slightly bigger thing than I had intended it is so different to all the other things in the rota I decided to give it a go.

I would like to thank everyone for the lovely comments regarding both my recent finish on "Sparkling Bluebells" and on my monthly SAL "Heirloom Christmas". I have such a lot of lovely people who visit my blog that I count myself as a very lucky person.

Serendipity Week 3

I finished the Queen Stitches this morning and I am really enjoying stitching on this project.
Apart from that I have not done much today. I am working on Shiona's HAED at the moment and do find all these confetti stitches so frustrating. Also the one over one is quite a strain on my poor eyes (even with a magnifier) so I have to take constant breaks. We have Oscar again for a couple of days which is a good excuse lol as I have to keep taking breaks to play cards etc. with him. I will do this for a day or two then maybe Sunday and Monday I will work on Garden Alphabet which is the last in my rota for this time. He he he he, this means I will be starting Barnabee next week and I can't wait. I do hope its as nice to stitch as everyone says cause I am so looking forward to this one.

Another Finish & Some UFO

I have had a very productive day. I just had to carry on with this one this morning as I was so close to finishing it. It honestly looks stunning in real life as the crystals catch the light so prettily. The design is called Sparkling Bluebells and its by The Sweetheart Tree. It should have been stitched in white with shades of blue but I chose to do it in cream with shades of pink. I was looking for a little heart charm for the design when I found just the one on a card makers stall at Ashbourne market. I think it cost me a mere 25p but it had a beautiful dark pink glaze in the centre and that was it I just chose the colours to match the heart.

I am sure Julie will forgive me as I did spend all this evening stitching on my UFO and again Im pleased with the results as the cloak is nearly done. I am not sure whether I will stitch the beads and gold to finish the cloak next week or whether I shall try to get more done on the dress, I will see how I feel on Tuesday. I didn't think you would want to see yet another picture of this but if you do you can see it in my webshots "Tuesday UFO" album at http://community.webshots.com/user/legranny

I had an email from Needlecraft Corner today and they are sending me replacements for the two Caron Waterlily threads that came in different shades so I am happy bunny about that too.

The absolute mystery may well stay as just that as I was not at all impressed by the part of the blackwork I have seen so far. Nothing that inspired me at all there and as I am certainly not short of projects I cannot see the point in even having a go at this one.

Talking of projects I think I am going to do a little reorganising of my rota for next time round. First I am going to discard Bless Our Home. I have done enough of this to know I dont really like it and I am not enjoying stitching it one little bit (I havent even taken a progress pic of it). Also I have not done enough of it for me to feel guilty at wasting time on it so its definitely going to be binned..

The other thing is that as I have had some finishes and know there are a couple of other projects in there that will be finished either next time round or certainly the time after, I am going to be left with mainly large cross stitch projects. I have a number of smaller projects - either hardanger or sampler type things and I think I am going to slot some of them in. I know if I am doing two or three large cross stitch ones, one after the other I shall get fed up so its time to add a little sparkle back in the rota I think.

Time Speeds By....

... when you're enjoying yourself. Well it did this month. I cannot believe that I have to put Heirloom Christmas away again. I spent most of last evening and about an hour this afternoon and this months stint was behind me. I am so much enjoying this that Im wishing my life away lol - I can't wait for next month to arrive so I can stitch again. The couching looks a little wobbly and the beads to not look straight but they are so I will just have to blame the camera for this.