I'm Nearly At The Bottom of The Garden

Well nearly at the bottom of stitching on "Fairies At The Bottom of My Garden". Lots and lots of colour changes, lots of metallics and loads of beads, though at the moment I am leaving the beads well alone. I started by putting them on as I went along but I still have not got my large Q-Snap frame from Lekker - over two months now (arghhhhhhhhhhhh) and with a smaller frame its difficult to try avoiding them. I really enjoy stitching this one though as its such a fun design and though I have stuck to the colours suggested for the main things like leaves and flowers I am having great fun with choosing colours for the fairies.

Next in the rota is Hardanger House but first I really must do some on my Heirloom Christmas, what with hospital and then last weekend we had Oscar so I have two weekends to catch up on. Not sure that I will get that much done anyway as we really must get sorted out with what we want to pack etc this weekend.

Talking of holiday and stitching I had fully intended to take Ink Circles with me but it is really rather big to just get out and stitch on a coach or plane so I have decided that the new ones Jasmine and Amber are coming with me. They are only about
7 x 10 at the most so a much easier size to deal with. I have sorted out the fabric (aida was supplied and I hate aida) and I now have to sort out my conversion charts as the threads supplied are anchor and I really much prefer DMC. I do wish they had been available as just charts, is it only me that ends up re kitting kits lol?????

This & That

What a frustrating week. First the light went in my stitching lamp and when I changed the bulb still nothing happened. It appears that the transformer has died and I am now in contact with the manufacturers to try and get a new one but it is really annoying as it means I cannot stitch with it in the evenings.

Second my computer died. At the moment I can get into Keiths computer to read my emails and update my blog but I have no access to any of my documents on here and that includes my Easy Cross Programme - oh I want to cry sob sob.

On the good side because I have been unable to stitch in my den during the evenings I have been downstairs and getting on well with Ink Circles. I have had a little time for stitching in the day and I am doing "Fairies At The Bottom of My Garden" still which I am really enjoying at the moment. I will show you a picture of this when I have made a little more progress.

Also on the good side I ordered Amber and Jasmine yesterday from Choices Embroidery and was thrilled when they popped through the door this morning. They had emailed to say the order would be dispatched within the next couple of days but with free delivery on UK orders I expected them to be sent 2nd class and so was not expecting them to arrive until next week. Here is a pic though it really does not show them at their best and I would not have ordered them if I had not seen them at the recent Harrogate show. Just goes to show that its not only us who do not get the best from a photograph.

As I am having to use Keiths computer my time on here is quite limited so I am trying to visit other blogs but it is taking a while to get through them all so if I have not left you a comment recently I do apologise and will hope to be back to normal soon.

Now I Can Share

Terri received her birthday gifts today, a little late due to the postal strike but she loved them, so now I can share with you.

The fabric they are laid on is the same fabric that I used for the backings. I have never made a Needle Case before and though I thought I had left enough of a border round the picture by the time I had turned it I realised that I should have left more. That is a lesson I will remember for the future. The pin fob I was really pleased with and think it is definitely the best one I have done so far.

In the past I have always glued the fabric and then glued the two halves together but this time thanks to the very clear instructions Becky gave not long back on her blog I decided to string each piece and then stitch it. I thought it would be quite a long winded affair but was amazed how quickly i did it and because I didnt have to wait for glue to dry it was finished a lot quicker than usual. I took the little pictures for these from the AMAP Le Temps chart as I knew Terri liked that one.

I also want to say a big thank you to those who have taken the time to send cards, e-cards, emails and message of good wishes both here and at Jaynes Attic forum. I am sure all these healing hugs have made me feel so much better so much quicker. Your are wonderful people each and every one of you.

Secret Garden At Last

Did it at last. Its not a very clear picture but at least it shows where I have got to. Also the picture makes it look twisted and it isnt honestly.

Secret Garden & Thanks

Firstly thank you to everyone for all your good wishes both here and in private emails. For those who asked I have apparently got Gall Stones and now have to await an op to remove the Gall bladder and I have no idea when that will be but I am on the waiting list so hopefully not too long.



I had some lovely flowers from the girls at work today which was a nice suprise and really brightened my day.



I wanted to post a picture of Secret Garden but this is not letting me add one, umm will I ever get a blog that works for me as well as you lol.

I will have another try tomorrow but it certainly will not play tonight.

Not Pretty But Working

I am sorry I have not been around for the last week but was rushed into hospital last Wednesday night so have not been here.

I have changed the blog template and it seems to be working now. I dont like this one but until I have the energy to sort out something else it will just have to do.

The painkillers I am taking are making me very sleepy and that is making it difficult to concentrate on stitching so I have moved on from Secret Garden. I didnt do badly but not as much as I would like done. Will try and post a pic tomorrow. Now on to the next in the rota which is Fairies at the Bottom of my Garden and as its just plain cross stitch it doesnt need too much concentration so I will stick with that until I have my pills sorted to a level where they are keeping me out of pain but not causing me to fall asleep all the time.

Thank you to all those who let me know that the link was not working for them and to those who it did work for and were kind enough to leave comments.

Weekend Sal

I started Heirloom Christmas as a SAL with Elaine, but unfortunately she had to drop out and I have been ploughing on alone since then. Now however I have company once again and it has really spurred me one. I am finishing with Jane as a weekend SAL. We had agreed to do one line each weekend but we had both done row 27 on Saturday and agreed to go on and do row 28 as we were both enjoying it so much. Thank you Jane, you have given me the encouragement I was beginning to lack and I have really enjoyed stitching this weekend. Back to my rota tomorrow and it will be the turn on Loopylou's "Secret Garden". After my initial problems with this one I am looking forward to getting back to it now.

Thank you to all those who visit my blog and I do apologise to those who have been unable to leave comments since I moved to my new blog. I really have no idea what the problem is as some people have managed it and others havent. Having said that I have twice today been unable to post comments in blogs so maybe it is a general blogger problem. I do hope so and hope it will be sorted soon as I so love reading what you have to say.

Chiloe, I left messages on your blog hopefully answering the question you asked. If it was not clear please email me (link in my sidebar) and I will try to explain more fully.

Mmmmm is it me or blogger lol

Well I have received 2 comments on my new blog, but I have also received 2 emails from different people saying they have been unable to leave a comment. I have looked and I dont seem to have altered anything so I am hoping that blogger has just been having an off day.


I have put Gracious Era away tonight but for once I really feel pleased with how I got on with this. I decided to scan and enlarge the part of the chart I was working on. Although I have an enlarged photocopy of this chart the symbols are not always easy to read and when they are you cannot always tell what colour they are supposed to be without constantly referring to the main chart which gets confusing at times - well it doesnt take an awful lot to confuse me at the best of times lol. I have just been working on the sky as I really feel that once I have the sky done the rest of it will be so much easier - or at least so much more interesting. Its a bit confetti like and so I am pleased that i have filled in all the gaps and got quite a bit more done besides.

I have a couple of bits I want to get out of the way tomorrow and I might actually make a start on my Heirloom Christmas weekend SAL tomorrow night as we have friends coming on Saturday night and we are expecting company on Sunday for tea so that will knock a whole load of stitching time out of my weekend. The next section has a lot of drawn thread work and re-weaving in it and Im very slow at that anyway.

Its been lovely and sunny here today and I took Mum out for an hour this afternoon. She is quite fascinated by the fact that she can actually see detail on things with the cataract gone from her left eye. Its very bloodshot at the moment and looks more painful than she says it feels but its so good to have her seeing things again. I think once the other one is done too it will really give her a new lease on life as she will be able to stitch and sew and paint again, things shes not done for a good few years now as her sight slowly seemed to get worse.

If you have tried to comment and been unable to leave a message then please email and let me know as I do not know how many people are having a problem with my new blog, and I will so miss all your lovely comments.

THANK YOU NICOLA

..... for helping me to sort out how to make my blog more personal. Nicola was kind enough to send me a very detailed email on how to sort this out. I am a complete technophobe but even I was able to follow her instructions.

So I hope you like the new look blog. The picture is of the Baga river in Goa and is taken from a little riverside cafe that we often visit in the evenings when we are there. Our apartment is just a little further up the river from where this was taken and is just soooooo peaceful. I hope when my DH retires we will be spending a lot more time there during the winter - away from the cold, cold weather which I hate. Lol you will notice that we always have our holidays during the winter as I love my garden and like to be here when the weather is warm and I can be pottering around outside - OK so this year things went wrong and only the ducks were happy pottering about outside, but then this year was an exception I hope.

I might change the actual template again Im not sure but now I know how to do it I can play to my hearts content, though really I know I should be stitching lol.

On the stitching front I got line 26 of Heirloom Christmas done and I have done quite a bit on Gracious Era, mainly boring old sky but will try and stick with it for a couple of days and then start on Secret Garden after the weekend. I tried scanning part of the Dimensions chart and it has certainly come up better than the enlarged photo copy so this might make life a little easier and I might actually get a bit more done each time this one comes round in the rota.

Thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments you have left recently on both my finishes and my wip updates they really are appreciated.

Update on B/W House

Wanted to post this before I went to bed. Not a lot done but with visitors at the weekend and then today I have been at the hospital with Mum as she had her first cataract op, I have not had too much stitching time. Still I have the first half of the roof done so I am quite pleased.
Tomorrow I am going to try and do row 26 of Heirloom Christmas so I am at the same starting point as Jane when we start on Saturday to do our weekend SAL. Once I have done that I shall move back to my rota and the next one is Gracious Era - ugh, not that I mind the design but its a Dimensions and I do find the charts so difficult to read so I never end up doing very much on it. Still as I always say a little is that much less to stitch next time lol.

Sorry this is so short but I really am wacked and its midnight already.