Queen and Samples

I have only been able to stitch in the evenings this week and I never seem to get as much done as when i stitch during the day. I think that stitching in artificial light tires my poor old eyes quicker.

For the above reason I didnt get a lot done on Queen this week so Sally is well in front of me again. I like what I have done though and it is such a pretty project that it would be hard not to enjoy it. However I hope I get on better next week as I was really looking forward to stitching the Bunny Rabbits.

With regards to the EMS 2008 Challenge I have been playing and making little blocks of colour that I thought might look right. No 1 is the original one I wanted to use. 2 is CC Dusky Rose, 3 is SSS Organic Raspberry, 4 is SSS Rose Hip, 5 is DF Impulse, 6 is SSS Fruit Punch and 7 is SSS Organic Strawberry. At the moment I am drawn between No 2 and No 7 though 2 is a little on the dark side and 7 a little on the light side lol. The others dont seem to have any variation in them and I might as well use a DMC thread which would work out cheaper if I am going to use a flat colour. I really wanted some variation and the last one seems to have the most. I might try and stitch one of the leaves in this at the weekend and then make up my mind. Might even stitch a leave in each of them so I can compare. I hate it when I have my mind set on a colour but cant seem to find it. My ideal would be a mixture of the top two which are both the sort of dusky colour I was after in the first place. Watch this space lol I could change my mind completely.

Tonight I have been working on my UFO and have nearly finished the E, again I had hoped to have far more done. I might take it over to Mums tomorrow and do a wee bit while I am there, though usually she has something lined up for me lol.

Thank you all so much for visiting your comments keep me going. Bless you all and happy stitching.

Im Not a Happy Bunny

I wanted to stitch the EMS 2008 Challenge in NeedleNecessities 158 which is a colour I love. So I sent for 4 which is what it would need. Unfortunately when it came it was a lot lighter than the original one I had. I made a start but was not too happy with it. I tried using my darker thread for the leaves and that looked much better but unfortunately though I may have enough of it to do the roses and the leaves in the top section I know that will be about all it will do and when it comes to the alphabets I think they will just disappear in the pale thread. I did this much but I just know I am not going to be happy with it and its a big project to undertake if you are not going to like the end results so I have spent this morning unpicking it all (sob sob sob).

Not sure what I am going to stitch this evening but I think I have sorted out what thread I am going to get now to do this one in so thats something.

Oh well life will throw these little spanners in the works lol.

Hope you are all having much more luck with your stitching weekend.

Big Finish & Challenge.

I am happy dancing. Barnabee was finished last night and I love him. I have so enjoyed stitching him and I am really going to miss having him coming round in my rota.

I used the DMC threads called for but still managed to make a good few personalisations. I added a few extra bits in the form on an extra little bee charm, a ladybird charm and some swarvoski (probably spelt wrong lol) butterflies.

I did the bunny tail in whispa thread and the moved the bees about in the honeycomb section at the bottom of each part - they were all the same and I thought they should all look a wee bit different.

I cant afford to get him framed at the moment but I shall have to start saving hard as I dont want it to be too long before both he and 4 wishes can go off to the framers.

I have found a new framer in the Spondon village where

my mum lives and I am going to take in my Sweetheart Tree "Bluebell Sampler" next week and see how it goes.
I have chosen that one as it has crystals on it (so needs some care with the mounting) but it is quite a small one so hopefully wont cost too much.

Today was reveal day at S&S forum on Jaynes Attic and it was really fun seeing what everyone had done and the colours they had chosen.

This means I can show you mine too. As this was the first thing I had ever stitched that was all one over one (I have done little within other designs before) I wanted to hang it in my den so I finished it more or less the same as a pinkeep but instead of having pins I made it into a sort of hanging ornament. I was really pleased with the finished results.

My weekend stitching is going to my EMS 2008 Challenge - which is a freebie Rose Sampler and I have already made a start on this.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

x

Lower Hopes

Well I had high hopes when I started this project and thought I would be able to do at least one flower each week. I now have to admit that my sights need to be lower as I had about 5 hours stitching on this on and off yesterday and I am only a little over half finished with the letter E. I think however if in a 2 week period I can get a letter and maybe a little of the border done then I will have to be content with that. I love all the colours in this and cant wait to get some of the little insects and butterflies added. At least I now feel that I am getting somewhere with it and that I can now see it taking shape.

Off to Mums now and will be back with Barnabee tonight.

Jane if you are reading this - I havent posted your fabric yet as I am hoping that I will get Barnabee finished this week and be able to pop the charts in with your fabric.

Happy stitching everyone, and thanks for visiting.

Update on Queen of The Needle

Yesterday I took some finishing with me to Mums to do and I got both my challenge and Chick well on the way. I finished the challenge last night but didnt have what I needed to finish Chick so he will have to wait until either I go into town or until I get the chance to go to Hobbycraft which will probably be Monday. I will take a picture of my challenge piece later today and send it to Karen. I am really looking forward to seeing the reveal on so that I can see all the different colours and finishes.




Here is a picture of the progress on Queen of the Needle so far. Don't think I have quite caught Sally up but we are about even at the moment. Hope to do better next week. As Sally said in her blog, this is so pretty and the colours are just lovely.

Well I think I had better get my coffee finished and go and sort out Garden Alphabet ready for todays UFO.

Hope you are all having a good stitching day.

A LITTLE BIT MORE

oops I forgot the MeMe thing again. I was tagged by Cathy to write 7 things about myself.

1. I am now a retired lady and beginning to wonder where I found the time to ever go to work.

2. Everyone thinks I am very organised and I truely do try to be but the truth is though I do try hard I dont really succeed - if you saw my den at the moment, with draws open and stash all over the place you would know just what I mean.

3. I am basically a very private person and though I do try to share things on my blog I am inclined to stick to my stitching and not write too much about my humdrum life.

4. Next year my darling hubby and I will be celebrating our Ruby Wedding Anniversary.

5. Although not in the least sporty since passing 50 I have tried Paragliding and also a couple of years back Abseiled down the Newton Tower at Trent University raising quite a bit of money for the Institute for the Blind.

6. When I am on my own at home or in the car I sing at the top of my voice along with the radio. I do this when I am on my own because I am completely tone deaf and my voice is dreadful but if I could have had any talent I wanted I would have loved a nice singing voice as I love to sing.

7. Though I have always been called Helen (my second name) my first name is actually Margaret.

I am now supposed to tag 7 more people but as I know from the blogs I have read that many of you have been tagged recently I will just leave it up to you. If you would like to add 7 things about yourself to you blog then consider yourself tagged by me lol.

Got My Sorting Hat On

I have not done any stitching today at all. I wanted to place an order for some more DMC threads, some threads I fancied for the EMS 2008 Sal and a couple more project boxes. Thats the trouble with trying to get things kitted up well in advance I am running out of both threads and boxes to put the kitted up threads in lol. First i decided to put away those threads not yet put back in the box from other finished projects, I am normally good at this but got a bit lazy about it round the christmas period and those loose bobbins soon mount up. Once they were all away I sat down with a DMC thread list and went through all my boxes noting what was really low or missing. Then I found a load of threads that had been duplicates but as some of them were ones I needed I sorted them and put the ones I needed onto bobbins and put them all away in the boxes.

Off to Sew & So to order my threads and boxes and thought it would be a good idea to order the last two of the International Hearts that I wanted (my daughter is paying for one of them for me - lovely girl). Also I had written to them at the weekend to ask if they would be stocking the new Lavender and Lace design. I fell in love with Isabella's Garden when I saw a picture of it on someone elses blog, and Keith said he would buy it for me. Anyway Sew & So have these charts on order and are expecting them in soon, so told me what to do if I wanted to pre order it, so of course that had to be added too. So all in all I have had a really good stashing day but as we are out tonight there will be no stitching at this house until tomorrow. Tomorrow is definitely catch up night for my Queen of the Needle SAL with Sally now. Lol Sally you will definitely get ahead of me this week, hope you have had a good stitching day on it.

I have also learnt how to put a signature in my blog - found out all on my own without asking for help so I am feeling quite proud of myself.

Also Cathy has nominated me for a MeMe thing where I have to tell you 7 things about myself. I am thinking lol and promise I will do this in the next few days Cathy.

"Gigi!

Now you know how I shorten names for things well How Does Your G arden G row is a bit of a mouthful you must admit, so I shortened it to GG but it has got altered to "Gigi" which sounded more french and couldnt be confused with the Girl Guides movement lol.

So here is part one

I loved every minute on this. There are two all cross stitch version also, but I chose the speciality stitch version. I am stitching it on a 32ct evenweave in a pale cream shade. I have used mainly dinky-dyes silks but the blue one is a Caron Waterlily. I have not added beads yet as I prefer to leave them to the end, and also I am not quite decided which colour I want to use yet. I only spent a couple of evenings on this one - no day time stitching with Oscar to play with, so I am really please at how quickly it stitched up.

Tomorrow is Queen of the Needle again and I am going to try and get some of this stitched in the morning as we are going out tomorrow evening.

I am thinking of moving Tuesday lol - not the day but the stitching for that day. It is UFO day and as I usually go to Mums on a Tuesday and I am always wacked when I get back I just dont seem to be making the progress I had hoped for. I am therefore going to just do whatever is in my rota, or any finishing up bits etc on Tuesday evenings and do my UFO on Wednesday - I probably need to put in an application to Mr Stick, done in black ink and with triplicate copies but I am sure he wont mine (he has got a soft side Im sure).

Main plans for next week is to try and finish Barnabee I have got over half of this times done so I think I should manage it.

Hope you have all had a nice weekend. We have had rain but not constant and nowhere near as heavy as it was last week, and the puddles seem to have sank into the ground over the weekend.

How Does Your Garden Grow.

That is the name of the new freebie from Papillon. My newsletter arrived today and I fell in love with the speciality stitch version of this from the moment I saw it. I have been choosing and rechoosing threads on and off all day. It will be in 13 parts and will come out about the middle of each month. Oh dear I will probably have just gone off on holiday when the 2nd part of this comes out but at least it will make returning far more fun.

I didnt do anywhere near as well as I hoped with my UFO this week. I managed to finish the letter D but that was all. I stitched on it on Tuesday night and did the backstitch on Wednesday morning but like on Monday with Queen, nothing seemed to move. I dont think I was really in a stitchy mood, which is most unlike me.

Wednesday afternoon I restarted on Barnabee but again didnt seem to be making any headway on that either.

With the weather so wet and flood warnings all over our area there is not much I can do apart from keep warm curled up by the fire with my stitching so it was luck that today I have been really in the mood again and have done quite a bit on him which is better as I really would like to finish him this time. I havent taken a picture yet and hopefully by the time you see him he will be complete. I am really enjoying stitching him again now.

I am now going to go back and do a little more on him before I go to bed. Tomorrow morning I am going to see Mum, then I hope to stitch a little in the afternoon. Oscar is coming after school to stay for the weekend so I dont suppose I will get too much done over the next couple of days apart from playing Top Trumps or board games, but at the moment my plan is to stick with Barnabee till hes done.

Thanks once again for visiting my blog and hope you all have a wonderful stitchy weekend.

In My Little Kingdom

I dont know why but I just did not achieve very much on Queen this week and by the time I had finished stitching the verse I had had enough of her so she went back in the box until next week. Oh well swings and roundabouts and I did do well last week so I guess I will just have to be satisfied with what I did do.

I had a mail from Yvonne at Papillon last weekend. She told me that her newsletter mailing list is now so big that she will have to send the newsletters out over 4 days this time (her server will not allow her to send them all out at the same time). She was hoping to have the first batch out today. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us this year. I do know that the piece she has done for us will be in 12 installments and that is all I know - ooh all excited with the anticipation of it.

I have my UFO out ready to do today, though I will be at Mums for much of the day so I was hoping that it will go well tonight and I will get plenty done this week. I would love to finish the D and complete the C this week but I somehow cannot see that happening as I have quite a lot still to do on the D so I guess I will be happy if I can do that and get some more of the border done. All those vine leaves round the border do become a bit of a bore lol.

Thanks to all of you for the lovely comments on chickadee. You are all so kind and say such lovely things.

Chickadee Done

Here is a pic of Chickadee, my first finish for 2008. Don't you agree he is Oh so cute.

I have two finishes really as I have finished stitching my challenge too this morning but cant show you a picture of that yet. I will get it made up and will post a pic on the 26th after it has been revealed on the attic.

I am going to wash the pots from my lunch and then going to sit by the fire this afternoon with Queen of the Needle. I am really looking forward to getting back to her this week.

Oops I have just realised looking at the picture that I have not done the backstitch on chickadees eyes. Oh well it will have to wait until tomorrow now as its already gone in the draw upstairs to await finishing.

Thanks again for taking the time to visit me, I do so much appreciate all the lovely comments.

Chasing The Blues Away

Well thats what it feels like lol and I am just so glad to see the back of all that blue. I would have carried on and done a bit more tonight but I have ran out of one of the blues I need so it is a good excuse to put her away a little earlier than I should. At least I have got to the bottom of the dress so feel that I am getting somewhere with her at last.

I am going to try and do some more on my monthly challenge, finish chickadee and if possible finish the International Heart for Holland over the weekend.

Really looking forward to next week, Monday with Queen of the Needle, Tuesday with Garden Alphabet and on Wednesday I start the last part of Barnabee so I am hoping that might be my first big finish for the year.

I am also looking forward to getting back to Heirloom Christmas at some point soon, but quite where it is going to fit in my tight schedule I have no idea at the moment, not to worry I am sure I will find a little space somewhere. On my free Sundays I am going to stitch the new EMS freebie the 2008 challenge, which is a lovely sampler which is being done over the year in monthly parts. I will be ordering the thread for that tonight. Also looking forward to find out what Yvonne at Papillon Creations has got in store for us as I know that one is going to be done in monthly parts over the year too.

Thank you for all the lovely comments you sent about both the Garden Alphabet and Queen of the Needle, though as you will know from your own pictures they look so much nicer in real life.

Daisy Petals

Yesterday I rejoined the girls doing the UFO SAL, at the Stitch and Stash forum. This is the last picture I took of EMS Garden Alphabet and it was taken on the 23rd January 2007, so it is almost a year since I last picked this up.

The fabric looks almost white here but it is in fact a rather dark beige shade (a bit dirty looking actually). It is a linen but cant remember where or when I got it so the only thing I know about it is the colour and the fact it is 32 count. Although the colour of the fabric is not something I would normally choose every colour I have used so far seems to really stand out on it and look really vibrant. Anyway yesterdays stitching did not go too badly, I got a little bee (between A & B) done and a very small amount of the border done. I also managed to do about half the letter D - for Daisy - but unfortunately I only have a few Daisy Petals at the moment. I had hoped that I might be able to complete one letter each week but alas this week that was not to be. I think if I had only done the letter I may have completed it but I want to do the little insects etc that are included as I go along because if I leave them all to the end I have a feeling they will never get added lol.

I am off now to try and do a little more of my eye crossing challenge and then The Quiltmaker will be coming out for the rest of the week, though I may keep doing a little of the challenge and a little of chickadee as a change from all that blue as I am determined to just stick to stitching the blue this time and see if I can make some headway with it.

Thank you for taking the time to once again read my ramblings.

MONDAY SAL update

I had a lovely and relaxed stitchy day today. This morning I got a bit more done on Chickadee and he has half a body now. This afternoon I sat down to do Queen of the Needle which I am doing with Sally and I really felt like I got somewhere today. I have made a couple of little changes. Firstly on the violets as the centre ones should have been white, as you can see from the white flowers above the violets white just does not seem to show on my fabric so I did them a darker shade instead. The other change was on the little stitches below the hearts. These should have been on in perle8 white and as I didnt particularly enjoy stitching with the perle8 and felt it would look too bulky for these delicate looking stitches so I decided to use a 12# instead and again because the white doesnt show I chose to use a colour. I like doing these little changes because then it really feels like its mine. I am not sure yet but I would like to change the colour of the white flowers, the main reason I havent done this is I am not really sure what colour to do them but I will think about it and may go back and change them later.

Tomorrow I start my UFO SAL with Julie and Mr Stick at the Stitch and Stash forum on Jaynes Attic. I will be working on EMS Garden Alphabet which was basically a free alphabet a few years back. When the alphabet was complete Ellen gave a guide to the layout and a border and a few other bits to complete it. I added some bits of my own to the chart and I think its a lovely one but its just so big and it sort of got cast to one side as I didn't feel I was getting anywhere with it. The most annoying thing about it was that I had managed to get hold of a fire screen in a charity shop for something like £20.00 and I had arranged this so that it would fit the firescreen. Now hopefully the threat of Mr Stick will keep me at it and though I do not anticipate getting it finished this year I do feel that it will become a finish one of these fine days.

The other think I forgot to tell you about is I have also joined the Monthly Challenge again at the Stitch and Stash forum and we are doing a freebie called Eliza's Pyn Pillow. Everyone will do it in their own colour scheme and finish as they will and its all a big secret until we have the reveal at the end of the month. The only downside to this one is its one over one which my poor eyes cannot cope with for very long but I keep doing a little and hopefully I will get there and have it finished in time.

Thanks again for visiting my blog and ploughing through my endless ramblings. Your comments are much appreciated and your encouragement is I am sure why I achieved as much as I did last year.

Not much done

I am afraid I have had this sickness bug which is running wild at the moment so did not get a lot of stitching done this week.

I managed a little on The Quiltmaker but not anywhere near as much as I would have liked so I am going to continue with her this week.

This is progress todate.

Today was the start of our Christmas Card SAL and I decided I was going to do the Chickadee in a Santa Hat from Heritage. He is adorable but lots and lots of fractional stitches and I have decided that I dont want to part with him. He is not done by a long way yet but when he is I am going to make him into a little wall plaque for next Christmas. I will find sometime in the week to do the Christmas Card so I dont fall behind. Here is a picture of him as he stands tonight.

I am sure you will agree he is far too cute to part with lol.

Tomorrow I am hoping to work on Queen of the Needle. As I am still not fit to do much else, sitting and stitching is about all I can do so I am hoping to have a good day and really make a difference to it.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit and read my blog.

A NEW BEGINNING

I want to start by wishing each and every person who visits me here in my little nook A Very Happy and Healthy New Year for yourselves and all those you hold dear. Of course for the stitchers, which I guess are most of you, then I also wish you an abundance of wonderful stash and the time to use it.

2007 was good on the stitching front for me and had lots of finishers, 12 of them quite big ones so at an average of one per month I am quite pleased with that and hope I can do as well in the comming 12 months.

I am sticking to my rota but I am just going to do it Wednesday to Saturday. The first Sunday of each month Terri, AnnT, AnnP and I are going to be doing a Christmas Card Sal, we know it wont take care of all our cards but hopefully it will spread them through the year and not mean such a rush at Christmas. We shall each choose our own designs but just stitching them on the same day will give us incentive. If anyone wants to join us they will be very welcome. The other Sundays I am going to just stitch anything i feel like, it could be something out my rota but is more likely to be a smaller thing that I think I can do over a couple of Sundays or even just in a day. Monday I am keeping as SAL day, at the moment that is Queen of the Needle with Sally, but I want to do the EMS SAL and also hope to do the Papillon SAL though I am trying to keep an open mind on that one until I see the first part. I so enjoyed stitching Serendipity last year and am trying not to get too excited about this one coming out in case I dont like the look of it lol.

Tuesday is going to be UFO night, I am not sure when this starts back but would imagine it will be next week (Julie if you and Mr Stick are reading this may you can confirm for me). Anyway I am going to make a start next Tuesday whatever and I am going to try and get the Garden Alphabet stitched. This is a massive one and I am not anticipating getting it done within the year but it would be a real achievement if could. I think I have done three letters so far but there is the border and all the other little bits and bobs as well as the remaining letters to do. There is a picture of this in my Tuesday Sal link.

I have had lots of lovely charts for Christmas and I am hoping to get some of these stitched this year too so I am really looking forward to the extra time, I hope I am going to get now Christmas is over, stitching this year.

Thank you to you all for taking the time to read my blog, even if you dont leave a comment it is still nice to know you visit.

OOP'S I ALMOST FORGOT

Here is a picture of Queen of the Needle todate, though I didnt get much done over Christmas and new year, I am looking forward to being able to do more in the future.