Stitchery Nook

Just a quickie.

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:52:00 +0000

Today is the day we celebrate 40 years of marriage. Cant think where the time has gone but the do say time always goes faster when you are having fun, and I just hope we can have another 40 years together and enjoy them as much. This is also the day we fly off on our adventures to the Southern Hemisphere so I must be quick.

However just before I go I must share my happy dance. Started on the 4th March 2008 and finished on the 29th August 2009 here is EMS Rose Sampler, and I am thrilled with the finish.

Hugs to you all and see you in just over a months time.

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Where do I begin....

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:11:00 +0000

It has been a whole month since I last had the time to blog. I have been stitching though not as much as I would like but I think I will start with updates on Water Tiger. I am now working on page 6 but this is how he looked at the end of page 5. I really am behind schedule on him so when I return from my holidays I am going to have to work, work, work on this.

The next one to show is my EMS Rose Sampler. You may remember when I last showed this one that I was looking for an alphabet to replace the one I didn't like. Well Dani suggested I use some lines from a poem instead and I just loved that idea. My only problem was finding something I liked. I spent ages but the things I could find really didn't mean anything too me. Then I remembered a little verse from my childhood, something about roses along my winding drive. It took me ages to find the verse which is called "In My Little Garden". It is a sort of counting poem and the 2nd verse was - In my little garden, along the winding drive, roses growing brightly - three - four - five. It was just the thing I wanted and so I have used that. Since this picture was taken I have finished it apart from the rest of the verse so I hope to get a happy dance within the next week or so - hoping I can get the time to finish it before the holiday.

I did also put a few more stitches into "I still do" but not enough progress to show a picture yet.

Cards - I have sent out quite a few but as a lot of them were made at the last minute I didnt take pictures. Having said that here are a few that I did take pictures of -

This one for Colly was so sparkly that I just kept getting flash back on the camera so ended up having to lay it on its back to take a picture.

The next for Moll was another sparkly one but I finally managed to get a decent picture of that.

This was for our dear friend David and though you cannot tell from the picture the little windows opened and they had acetate in them to look like glass. Also the chair is decoupaged but again you cannot tell from the picture.

The last was for my Aunt and was inspired by a conversation her and my Mum had about the struggles they had as children trying to fasten their long boots with button hooks.

Lastly the thing I need to share with you are some of the lovely cards and goodies that I got for my birthday earlier this month.

These are the lovely hand made cards I got, they were beautiful.

The little tag you can see sticking up from the white flower card was a beautiful matching bookmark which fit in its own little pocket inside the card.

Below some of my lovely birthday gifts ......

stitching things

card making things

special gooies

I was just so spoilt and it was wonderful.

I have not unfortunately had any time to read blogs and I am quite lost as to what is happenening to everyone but you are in my thoughts often. I have made so many wonderful friends both from stitching and blogging and though I have not been to visit does not mean that you never pop your heads into the corner of my mind. Once my holiday is over I am going to clear my bloglines and start again with it. When I first started I just seemed to pop anything and everything into it and it has become unmanagable - well if i wish to do anything else with my life it has lol.

Thank you once again for visiting and especially those dear friends who understand and still leave comments - bless you each and everyone. I hope you are all well and happy and I am sending loving hugs your way just in case you are needing them.

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

I'm Here Again

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:27:00 +0000

I am still in the land of the living and I do keep popping in from time to time. With the start of the school holidays though this could be even less over the next few weeks so please bear with me.

Not a lot to tell, though I do have some update pictures for you. The first of course is Water Tiger and I am really pleased with the progress I am making on this one.

I am working him 1 over 2 on 32 count but decided to try the eye in 2 over 2 to give it more intensity and I am really pleased with the results. I had intended trying to do the eye with a rayon thread to make it shine but there was just too many colours in it for me to try altering them, but maybe it would not have turned out right and it does look so life like as it is.

Rose Sampler is also progressing nicely. There is another alphabet to go in where I have left the gap but I do not like the one on the chart so need to sort out something else to go in its place.

The other thing I have been working on spasmodically is a hardanger set. The needlecase and scissor fob have been designed by my dear friend Colly of Col's Creations, and the new top for my work box I have designed using Colly's idea and extending it. I just loved this design and I have been looking for something for my workbox for ages. This just fit the bill as it was in the traditional hardanger which I love yet seemed to have a modern feel to it which appealed to me, so I decided to play. I was a little worried that Colly might be cross but bless her she was full of approval and didnt mind me borrowing her brain power at all. Thanks Colly. If you like hardanger then go and have a look at Colly's site she has some really beautiful designs. My favourite is The Lace Garden but I have three or four of her designs now.

The first picture is the needle case (sorry not brilliant pictures),

Then the scissor fob.

and lastly the workbox top.

and silly me has just noticed that i missed the centre kloister blocks from the top left hand box centre lol. How many times have you noticed an error when you put a photograph up, I know I have on several occassions.

Well I think that is all I have to tell you for this time. I have been making some more cards but I cannot show them to you yet, so thats a treat you will have to wait for lol.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog and thank you agian to those precious readers who take the time to leave me comments they are so much appreciated.

One last comment and that is to all those who said they wished they could come and stitch with me in my garden, my little haven of peace. I so wish you could all come and it would be quite some party with people from Canada, the USA, Australia, Germany, Holland and Spain to name just a few. Who of us thought when we started blogging that we would make so many friends from so many parts of the globe. Oh how I wish you could all come, and all my UK friends too of course.

Hugs,

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Hurray...

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:14:00 +0000

I have had a good week this week stitching wise and at last feel that progress is being made, so three cheers for that. Page 4 of the Water Tiger is almost complete and as page 5 is about half done anyway that brings me to almost the half way stage. I am going to have to work like a trojan now to get the other half done in time. 5 months to go but as I will be away for one of those months it only leaves me with four to stitch in for a comfortable finishing time. Here is a picture of him taken this morning. Progress on EMS Rose Sampler was not so good but a lot better than I have managed for the last few days and I am beginning to feel back on track with that too. I have really enjoyed my stitching again this week and I am not sure if that is why I have made such good progress or whether the good progress is why I have enjoyed it, lol who cares as long as its happy stitching thats all that matters. I have been blaming my stress on the lack of stitching done but maybe the stress was stopping me stitching, I dont know but I have felt so much more relaxed this week.

I spent a day with my dear friend Colly and that always puts me in a relaxed mood - though we started off well by the time we had lunch I think the stitching was just sitting on our laps lol, neither of us made much progress but we do laugh a lot.

I do hope Karan will not mind but I have borrowed this picture from her blog as I forgot to take one myself. So here is the card and gift I sent to her.

The chart was one I had not seen before its by a firm called In The Gentle Fashion and is called Somethings are Loved. I know Karan loves things with meaningful words and could not resist getting it for her. The verse reads

Somethings are loved because they are beautiful

and somethings are beautiful because they are loved.

I was playing last week and I also made the little bookmark that you see tucked in with the chart as another thing Karan loves is reading. If you have not visited her blog then do pop over and see her as she is always interesting and amusing to read.

Now last but certainly not least, the postie put a great big smile on my face on Friday when he bought a little RAK gift from Angela in Canada. She had made me this beautiful little pin keep picture. Both the stitching and finishing are fantastic and though she stitched this because it is her favourite design she could not have chosen anything more perfect for me. I love both my garden and all my friends and I am very honoured that she chose to stitch this just for me.

Thank you once again to all who read and leave comments - you are my inspiration.

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

I've made it again...

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:06:00 +0000

I have been going to post again all week and just not got around to it. Here was me thinking that when I retired I would have more time on my hands and 18 months down the line I find that I have even less time than when I was working. Busy, busy, busy but I sometimes do not know what I am busy at as the stitching time gets less and the card making sessions are few but I guess I have lots of friends and either I am visiting them, they are visiting me or I am with my Mum and having friends and family surely cannot be a bad thing.

Well despite what I just said I have managed some more on Water Tiger and I am pleased with the progress I have make on this one so far.

Also a little more on EMS Rose Sampler though my progress on this is not what I had hoped for.

I am sorry that my photographic skillare are not very good but at least you can tell its growing lol.

On the card front I made this one for my darling hubby who celebrated his birthday on Wednesday. The family all came round in the evening and it was lovely to be able to sit out and share his cake and laugh and chat together.
What else have I been up to - well with the beautiful weather comes time in the garden and we have spend a lot of time out there, Earlier in the year I shared some pictures of my spring garden so I hope you will be indulgent and allow me to show some of my summer garden now.

These last two pictures were taken of the yard at the side this morning and I have been intending to sit out there and stitch - you might be able to see my stitching ready on the table - unfortunately 15 minutes later we had a small thunderstorm and it is still raining heavily so guess I will either have to stitch inside or find something else to do - lol like catching up with my blog. Catching up with the blogs I follow seems almost impossible, my blog reader is telling me I have 172 blogs with new postings and as fast as i seem to read one another two pop up, so please forgive me I am doing my best - even if my best aint good enough.

Thank you to all who visit my little world, and to those who leave comments - you all make this little journey through life so much more interesting with the things you say, encouragement you give me and tips you share.

Just one last thing before I go - one or two of you have asked how my food diary is going - well typically and without trying to tempt fate - since I have started it I have not had one tummy upset so at the moment I cannot tell if it will shed any light on the problem or if it has cured the problem lol - I will keep you updated if any developments occur.

Hugs for all those who need them,

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Cards, Cakes and Good News. (lots of pics)

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:27:00 +0000

First I just have to show you some pictures of my beautiful boy who celebrated his 7th birthday on Sunday. I can hardly believe that he is seven already.

..... and pictures of the cake I made for him too.

and to end his birthday theme I will share the card I made too

Have you seen my new ticker bar at the top - I am thrilled to say that my darling hubby has decided to have an early retirement and will be finishing work on the 28th August. Also on the 6th September we will have achieved 40 years together - just think we could have murdered two or three people and served less of a sentance lol. He says when he bought the wedding licence he thought he had the option to renew each year like we do for the tv, its a good job I didnt tell him beforehand that it was a one off job. We have been talking about having a holiday to celebrate both events and on Friday night he asked me to look through a travel itenary and let him know what I thought, my eyes were popping as I read and I said oh that would be fantastic if we could do it. His reply was "Good because Ive booked it today and we fly out on our Anniversary", oh I knew I married him for some good reason. We are going to New Zealand the one place in the world I have always dreamed of going. We are going to Singapore and Australia too and also either Hong Kong or Bankgog for a stop over on our return but its NZ I am so excited about.

Oh Helen come back down to earth and get on with things lol. Right another card I made was for a friend who was getting married (for the 4th time)

I also made a very pretty one for my friend Ann but silly me forgot to take a picture of that one.

And on the stitching front just a little bit more on EMS Rose Sampler to show you.

We unfortunately had another death to deal with last week as my neighbour and friend for 40 years passed away on Thursday evening after a long fought battle with cancer. May you rest in peace Anita, your family will find life hard without you and you will be missed by many.

Well thank you all for once again bearing with my ramblings and visiting my little blog, and for the lovely comments you continue to leave.

Hugs to all

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Hello Again

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:43:00 +0000

Goodness me its been almost a month since I last wrote in my blog. Firstly my computer was dying on me - the internet was cutting out every couple of minutes making it very difficult to do anything at all - the cd/dvd drive had caved in and would not play anything - and then to top it all the poor wee thing got a bug and when the internet did connect I had adverts for porn sites popping up every other second. Now with a seven year old who stays a lot and likes to play on my computer that really became the last straw. My hubby teased me something wicked about what I might have been downloading whilst he was out but I hadnt honest. We could laugh but the risk of our darling grandson seeing and asking questions was, as I said before, the last straw and not a risk we were willing to take so it had to be sorted. As you can imagine with no cd drive to download the things I wanted to save this was a long task with my dearest doing just two or three files at a time onto his USB and transferring the things on to his computer. This finally completed he cleared the whole main drive thingy and reloaded all the correct software. In doing so he decided it was time to upgrade me to Vista which was a pain from the point of view that some of my programs were old and would not load into Vista. My photo editing program being on of the things. Oh eccles cakes, I had to go searching for something else but actually found there is some pretty good free stuff out there for editing so I have downloaded one of them and seem to be getting on reasonably well with it.

Unfortunately it was not only the computer that kept me away from blogging but lifes little dramas too. Mum was ill, then my dear aunt became very ill and I was taking Mum to the hospital everyday to see her. Sadly she lost her battle for life which has left us all feeling very empty.

On a far more cheerful note, with the computer out of action what little time I did have was spent stitching. Not a lot done for a months work, but progress I can see none-the-less.

So firstly an update on Water Tiger which has had the most of my limited attention

I am now almost half was down the 4th page and I have also done some more on page 5 as I have been working across to join up with the central bit, which was where I started this project.

I also have made quite good progress on EMS Rose Sampler despite the pesky frogs who seemed to delight in visiting every time I got this out recently.
Next week I am hoping to finish the dividing line across the left side and make a start on the next alphabet - the first half of which goes between the two dividing lines. Once that is done pages 7, 8 and 9 will be complete and I will only have three more pages to do. Joining the Crafty Natter UFO night has really helped with this project.

I also have one more card to show you. This is the one I have done for my sister-in-law but as she does not read my blog it is quite safe to show it to you.

I have been trying to keep up with blogs but with little success as I have only been able to read them at odd times in the day. I will keep trying to catch up but you are all so busy and have so much I want to see and read that it is a hard task lol.

I notice during the last few posts that I have had some new readers who have been kind enough to leave comments. However a few of you do not appear to have blogs so I have been unable to come visit you and thank you in person so I want to take this opportunity to both thank you and welcome you to my little world. I just love to get your comments and I really do appreciate them but I also appreciate all those people who just want to read. I know from my tracker how many people do just come for a quick read and I appreciate all your visits too. I just love looking at all the places round the world where my visitors come from. One day when I have the time I will write you a list of the many many countries that my visitors come from. Oooh wouldnt life be perfect if I could come visit you all.

Well its almost 1.30 am and my eyes are beginning to droop. Also my darling grandson is having a stopover this weekend so we will be expected to be up and about by 8am at the very latest so I am going to say goodnight and leave you for the comfort of my bed.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Hugs

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

A Little More Progress.

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:25:00 +0000

Wednesday should have been UFO night, and I should have been going on a visit to my friend Colly but unfortunately the dreaded tummy upset was back. I have come to the conclusion that something I eat disagrees with my but I cannot work out what as I never seem to have had the same thing twice. However a friend suggested that I keep a food diary of everything I eat and that way I may begin to see a pattern so I think that is what I am going to have to do, boring as the prospect is. I will try anything if it gets to solve the mystery of what upsets me.

Anyway I did my UFO on Thursday instead and made a little more progress.

I have also managed to finish page three on water tiger so that warrented a little cheer one six more pages to go lol. Unfortunately there is a lot more work on them than on the first three and I only have 6 months to go ......... ahhhhhhhh and I thought stitching was to keep me sane.

On the card front here is the card I made for Rachael's birthday.

And here is what I stitched for her. I designed it myself though it is loosely based on the SB "Be Attitudes".

I finished it as a pinkeep style picture and was really pleased with it but silly me forgot to take a picture.

I am now off to try and get some more of Water Tiger done before my bed calls me. Hope you all have a lovely weekend - especially those in the UK who have an extra day on Monday for the Spring Bank Holiday.

may your frogs stay in their ponds.

Progression

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:04:00 +0000

I am going to start with a picture of the card I sent to Wendy for her birthday last Sunday

As all the cards I am making at the moment are for up and coming birthdays I cannot show you each one until the person has received them, especially as most of those who will be recieving them read my blog sometimes.

Next is Water Tiger, not a lot of progression but his second ear is beginning to take shape, if I stopped gadding about I might get more done on him but then I wouldnt be having so much fun lol.

Yesterday I went to visit with my friend Colly, lovely as I can take my stitching with me when I go there, though we do too much laughing to get a great deal done. Anyway WT is definitely not the thing to be taking when my concentration is not going to be full on so a quick scout in my WIP box and I came out with the EMS 2008 Rose Sampler. This is such a lovely one to stitch and does not need too much in the way of concentration so it was ideal. I had not touched it since November last year but I really enjoyed working on it and decided that I would join the UFO group at Crafty Natter and try to finish it. As the groups UFO day is Wednesday and I usually go to Collys on a Wednesday it also means I have a nice easy piece to take with me and I am fulfilling my UFO obligations too. Anyway this was how it was when I left it last night. I got R, S, T, U, V, W and X done so I was really pleased with my progress. Now if only the Tiger would grow so quick.

Today I took Mum up the the garden centre and we both bought some more plants for the garden. We enjoyed looking round but I had to get a wheelchair for Mum as her foot is giving her a lot of pain at the moment. This was a great concession on her part as she is a very independent lady who lives by the rule of "Use it or lose it" and she hates giving in to the pain she suffers. Unfortunately there is nothing the doctor can do apart from give her strong pain killers and she doesnt like taking them unless she really has to.

The weather has been really quite dull here and cold too but I am hoping that it will cheer up for the weekend as we have Ozzie and we were hoping to take him to Biddolph Grange. Its not somewhere he has been before, though we love the gardens there so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Thank you for all the lovely comments I am sure you know just how much they are appreciated. I am trying to keep reading blogs but unfortunately I have so many I love to follow and as fast as I read a few a few more pop up on the list so its slow going lol.

So bye until next time dear readers and friends

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Not A Lot Of Stitching - But Lots Of Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:50:00 +0000

As this blog is supposed to be about stitching I will start off with what stitching I have to show you, but it's not a lot. What time I have had to stitch has been mainly in the evening so its been on I still do. I frogged the orchid that I mentioned in my last post and restitched that, got some more letters done and have made a start on the first of the two big motifs - boy is that slow going. Anyway here it is.

My other hobby is card making, something I have been doing for family for a while but only recently started doing on a larger scale so that I can send them to friends too. My daughter said that I should take pictures of the cards I make so here are a few I have made recently.

This was for some friends who were celebrating an anniversary

The next one is for their grandson Harry whose birthday will be next month..

This one is just to keep in stock for an emergency

Next I have to thank everyone for the lovely comments they left on my garden pictures, so I thought I would be a little indulgent and show you some more. Many of you said that it would be a lovely place to sit and stitch but when the sun is out it is on the back garden for most of the day so I usually sit round the side of the house in my yard to stitch, and here is my stitching seat.

This is also the working area of the garden where I potter about repotting etc and though it may look clean and tidy from that angle if I show you the view from the chair you will see my pile of clutter heaped in the corner near the compost bin.
Here is a picture of the corner - the trellis here hides what we loosly call the potting shed but which is in fact the place that holds all the junk we seem to have aquired over the years - we really do need to find time to clean this out and get it back to its original usage.

The next view maybe shows it clearer
and now for some fun ones.... this is the cricket team - my mum bought these for my DH for Christmas, hes a huge cricket fan. Although its hard to imagine from this picture the rocks you see on the left hand side are my waterfall which has a really good flow of water coming down it. It comes from across the top of the rockery approximately in the middle of this picture then down the waterfall and across a little stream - which is just the other side of the cricketers and into the pond (another feature you never seem to see on garden pictures lol, but it is near the greenhouse and comes just under the lilac tree.

Lastly I thought I would show you Mrs Blackbird having her morning bath...

This is a ritual which she enjoys doing and I love to watch, it never tires me and I have been watching her have her bath for years during the summer months. I am not sure how long blackbirds live so maybe it isnt the same bird every year but its always the female and the ritual that is followed is always the same.

I am as you may have guessed well behind on the blog reading again but I do keep trying to read some and leave comments as often as I can, so please do not think I have forgotton you all. Thank you once again for reading and leaving so many lovely comments. The comments so often make me smile and I find myself leaving the house with a big grin on my face many a time from something one of you has said.

Bless you all and Hugs

may your frogs stay in their ponds.

A Garden Full of Flowers And A House Full of Frogs

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:43:00 +0000

What a long title but it just about sums up this post.

First of all the garden where the bluebells and whitebells are the best they have been for a few years now. The lavender and wisteria are just coming into flower, and the forget-me-nots are as always running riot through everything. When Keith is at work I like to use his computer as it looks over my little garden. Yesterday despite it being a grey rainy morning everything looked so pretty and fresh so I could not resist taking a couple of pictures to share with you.

And now for the frogs. Oh my gosh where is my head this week. Although I have had very little time for stitching I was pleased that my secret project was going well. I was trying to make a covered tape for my daughter - just a little extra for her birthday which was on Sunday. Friday night I put the last stitch in, most of which was 1 over 1 on 32 count (I know that is big for some of you but with my eyes I can assure you that is really hard work). I started to whip stitch the top to the side and by the time I was half way round I knew I had a problem. Either the top was too small or the side too long as it was quite obvious that I was going to have side to spare by the time I got round the top. I got the tape out to check against it and OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH the top was far too tiny to fit it (which meant the bottom was too). How did that happen I hear you ask - well doing things in a rush is the short reply. I have done these tapes several times now and because I like to play and design for the person to receive it I have a template for the border and for the top/bottom section on my computer in fact i have two sets one for 28 and one for 32 count and yes you guessed, in my haste I had run the template for top and bottom off at the 28 count size. Not all is lost as I still have the border but the top and bottom are binned and I will have to do them again - but not for a week or two I can assure you. Just to add to the fun I have worked two lots together as I was making one for a friends birthday too, so that means I actually have two lots of tops and bottoms to do again.

Saturday I had a wonderful day at the Crafty Natter meet-up in Derby, but when I finally sat down at night to do an hours stitching before bedtime I fell asleep in the chair, and as there was more talking and laughing done during the day than actual stitching I think I had about a total of 12 stitches for the day lol.

Sunday evening and the house free of children and dogs and all back to normal I wanted to get back to some sort of routine, therefore pulling out "I Still Do" was a real pleasure. I stitched the G and the little heart motif close to it and then went to start on the H - wait a minute something is wrong the H is not going to go where it should. Back to the map and I eventually realised that the orchid motif had been placed two low - thank goodness it was that one which I think is not too much work to restitch, but the rest of the evening was taken with the frog hopping up and down on the arm of my chair whilst I reverse stitched the orchid. One think that I was really worried about was with the thread being a dark red there would be some bleeding of the dye into the fabric and it would leave a mark but luckily this did not happen and after using sticky tape to clear the area of all the fluffy bits its hard to tell there was ever anything stitched there so tonight the orchid will be redone and I will carry on. Just crossing the fingers that the frogs are back in the pond.

It is now 8.30 so I must rush off and get dressed as its Mums shopping day and I have a good bit to do before I go out.

Hope everyone is well, I am doing my best to keep up with blogs but sadly I am again well behind so please forgive me, I will eventually catch up with myself and get my hectic life back on track.

Thank you to all who visit and leave comments. I have had a few new visitors recently but as they do not appear to have blogs of their own I would like to say a special welcome and thank you for the lovely comments to each of you.

Hugs

may your frogs stay in their ponds

More Than A Week

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Yes its been more than a week since I last spoke to you all on here, though I have been good and tried to keep up with blog reading and commenting.

Well what have I done, stitch wise not an awful lot. Last week I had my grandson for three days, on one of the days we went to Rufford Park and did an egg hunt, the eggs were mainly hidden in the trees high up and though some where easy to spot some were really difficult to see - and this is meant for children. Still we all had great fun and thats what matters. Thursday was wet so we headed to the museum in Derby. The highlight of the visit was making a Peregrin mask.

I have only had him for a couple of days this week yesterday we were hunting garden centres as I wanted some nice pot plants for the garden. Luckily Oz enjoys going to the garden centre and seems really interested in flowers and plants, maybe because its not something he does with his parents who both hate gardening and the sum total of green in their garden is some trees at the bottom and a square of lawn - the rest being hard landscaped.

I have managed a bit of stitching on Water Tiger but I thought I had better give a before and after picture to see if you could spot it lol.

BEFORE

and AFTER

I am pleased to say that I have done rather more on I Still Do

though the extra motif I added on the right hand side was such a pain - I had more frogs visiting during stitching that little thing than in all the rest put together. I was so fed up after I had finished it that I moved across to the other side and I am glad to say that went far better, two motifs and seven letters so I feel really pleased with this.

I would like to move onto the Village next but I have some things that really do need to be done and I have kept putting them off and putting them off until now I feel that I must make the effort so for the next week everything is going to be put aside whilst I get some bits out of the way.

Oz is back to school next week but we are having the dog for the week so I will still get no peace. My DS and DIL are having a lot of work done on the house and next week the plasterer is coming in for the week so we are keeping the dog out of the way, which means lots of walkies and not much stitching time - oh I am so going to cry lol.

Thanks to everyone not only for the comments on my stitching coming home but also on the good wishes for the fast recovery of my nasty cold. Thank you so much they must have worked as it seemed to go pretty quickly. It did leave me with a bit of a cough but even that seems to have abated today thank goodness.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Welcome Home

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:45:00 +0000

At long last I am happy to welcome home my Secret Garden. I actually finished this in May last year but i could not find a frame to fit so ended up taking it to be framed, and thereby hangs a tale. If you are not a regular reader and want to know the saga you will have to look in last months posts.

So - blast of trumpets - and here it is It was supposed to have had a double mount with a dusky pink peeping out about a 1/4 inch on the inside edge of the green. Than had not happened but I was not about to complain as I was just greatful to have it back at long last.

Not a very good picture I'm afraid which is in part due to the fact that it was difficult getting something without it being obscured by reflections or flash light and also by the fact that I do not have very good photographic skills. If you would like to see it as it was when I finished it then click here.

On Friday afternoon I had a lovely RAK suprise in the form of a little pillow ornament from Tammie (A Stitch In Time). I was quite amazed when I opened it and saw the tulips as they were almost identical ones to what I had in my room. Unfortunately mine have opened right out now so they do not look quite as alike as they did at the time but I wanted to take the picture in daylight so that you could see them together so it had to wait until this morning. Thank you so much Tammie and I can assure you it will be treasured. It always feels so special when you get something which has been handmade just for you.

My little bit of stitching - just for me this weekend has to remain a secret until the end of the month as I have done it as a special little gift for someone. All I can tell you is that I enjoyed stitching it so much that I will be doing it again next weekend but this time it will really be just for me..

Whilst chatting to a friend the other day she asked who had won the draw for the Flapper charts. Well unfortunately no one asked to be entered in my draw so there was no one to win them. I will have to have a think and maybe put something else up that people will like better for my next competition draw.

I have done no stitching at all this morning. I have no excuse other than I am full of cold and have a sore throat and really cannot be bothered. I am going to have another Beechams hot lemon and go back to bed shortly and then maybe later I will feel like it. I certainly hope to feel better by tomorrow as my darling little boy is coming to stay for three days and I am really looking forward to us doing things together. The forcast is not so good, I am thinking summer has been and gone now and rain is supposedly on the way again - which is really annoying when I had lots of plans for us to go to outdoor places over the easter hols. Oh well such is life, the best laid plans and all that bumph lol.

Thank you all for the lovely comments which I am sure by now you know really are appreciated.

Replying to some recent comments

Oh Julie I do wish that the sewing machine was conqured but I think I still need a lot of practice.

Colly - I think I have a way to go before I attempt quilting - though I admit the bag has whetted my appetite for trying more.

A few of you - asked about the "Spot of" seasons. Firstly they are all seperate designs (Spot of Spring, Spot of Summer, Spot of Autumn and Spot of Winter) from The Drawn Thread whose designs I just love. I just chose to stitch them as one long project and I intend doing a pinkeep type finish for them to hang on the wall in my bedroom. I also intend doing the pinkeep type finish for the Sheperds Bush, Be Attitudes which I am stitching. I love this finish and for our bedroom I think (I hope) they will somehow look softer than frames.

may your frogs stay in their ponds.

It's In The Bag..

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Oh I am so proud of myself. I am useless with a sewing machine normaly but under the guidance of my dear friend Colly just look what I have made -

My Stitching Bag

with contrasting inserts

and inside out so you can see the handy pockets

I actually took it with me shopping today and its amazing just how much it holds.

I have been stitching this week though not as much as normal and we are away down to Wellingborough to see friends this weekend so there will not be too much done then either but I will post updates on Monday. Will also post a pic of the lovely RAK I got in the post this morning so that is something for you to look forward to.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hugs

may your frogs stay in their ponds.

Another Happy Dance

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:35:00 +0000

Here are my Spot of - seasons which I finished last night. I have so enjoyed stitching this and now I just need to get the four little charms and then I can finish it off.

Having this weekend to stitch what I liked has been fun and so I have decided that I will do WT and ISD during the week and keep the weekends for "me" stitching. I have a few more things that are not far from being done and it would be nice to get them out of the way. This will also give me the chance to pull out things from my rota and even have a few new starts if I feel like it - though I will keep anything new to fairly small things.

Yesterday I went off to my hardanger day and Keith and Oz went off to the National Space Museum. We all enjoyed our day in different ways. Mine was as always great fun though to be honest I was not in a stitchy mood for some reason and I got very little achieved. Still the company was good and we had as always lots of fun and giggles.

Its very dull here today and I have been busy tidying up and dusting round after the weekend. I am now going to pull out WT and make a start. I hope I get on well with it this morning as this is the only day I will be home all day this week so its the only chance I will get to make an impression on it.

NOTE FOR KAREN AND JULIE
(karens place in webspace and julies stitchyknitter journal)

I have a couple of cottages going free in my village. They are next door to each other and every time I see them I think of you two living there. Have either of you any objections to living in my village - I do hope not but let me know.

Thank you once again for to all those who visit and for all the lovely comments which I so much enjoy reading and do appreciate so much.

may all your frogs stay in their ponds

The Flappers Are Dancing....

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:02:00 +0000

...Or at least I am because my flapper girls are done at last. I decided to take a little respite from Water Tiger until after the weekend firstly so that I could get Jasmine done; and secondly because I have my grandson here for the weekend which mean any stitching I do needs for my concentration to be divided. Well she was such an easy stitch and I actually got her finished before I went to bed on thursday night (just with about 10 minutes to go until Friday morning).

So may I present Jasmin (with perfume) and Amber (with compact) -

Do you like them, would you like to win the charts for this thoroughly modern pair. If so please state "enter me for the draw" in your comment on this post and I will draw the name for the pair of charts next weekend.

Last night I did this - uh I can hear you saying and what is that meant to be! Well its my homework for the hardanger group this week. I do not like the colour I feel it is far too vibrant for my sort of hardanger, which is why I decided to use it on a small learning piece. Also I hate wrapped bars. I would far rather to woven bars they are so much easier and look so much neater, but alas we have been told it must be wrapped bars. I cannot remember the names of the stitches we are to learn but I will show you the results next time I post.

I will be back to WT on Monday but I am going to use what stitching time I get over the weekend to work on Winter Spot and see if I can have another HD before the month is out.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend doing whatever they enjoy doing. Till next time -

Hugs

may your frogs stay in there ponds

Kathy's New Home

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:31:00 +0000

VILLAGE NEWS

I do hope Kathy (Kathys Sit & Stitch) will like her new home. She wanted it to be close to water - a stream was the best I could do, and she wanted a blue front door - well that was easy enough lol. I have also tried to add quite a few nice bright flowers as I know Kathy likes bright colours, but I have avoided pink (she is not a pink lady).

I had several applicants for the bank job (sounds like im into crime) but Angela was the first to apply and so her name is now on the bank. I have also recruited a School Mistress for our village school and Rach (a real life school marm from the Crafty Natter group I belong too) will be in charge of our local children - all very well behaved ones I can assure you.

The Hair and Hat shop is still up for auction but I am hoping my friend Beatrice (Stitching with a View) will agree to take that on as I do think of it as her shop.

Also there are still one or two cottages up for lease.

I am not sure which direction I am going in next. I guess I should return to the middle and finish this side before moving round the corner, but we will have to see - a bit of me wants to go round the corner lol.

GENERAL STITCHING

Well as you can see I have been stitching on The Village but this is not a kitted up project - just a choose the colours as I go along type thing. I have all my boxes of DMC at the side of me and pick and choose as I go but that is quite a distracting thing to do in the evening when I am watching tv and the lack of daylight also means I am not always sure about the colours. For this reason I have been working it in tandem with ISD which being all the same colour is easy and relaxing for the evening time. So here is the progress on ISD this week - two little hearts, an orchid motif, the round motif (under the R), two tall flowers and the flower and ribbon motif. I am really pleased with how this has gone.

I rather enjoyed having the two projects in tandem. One in my den for daytime and one by the sofa for evening stitching, so I am going to continue with that starting tomorrow. This time I will be doing Water Tiger in my den and something of my choice downstairs. The first thing of my choice I have chosen is Jasmine.

and this is where I left her in January. Eyeless and chinless but about half way through so hopefully by the time you see her again she will have lips and eye and chin and her earring finished. If I am really good and the sparkly thread does not give too many hassles then she may have a necklace too but we shall see. I do not like setting targets as if I do not reach them I get disappointed with myself and then start to lose the bug.

AWARDS

I have recently been given a couple of awards but you have not seen them in my blog. I do not want to hurt anyones feelings but whilst awards are meant to be fun and not to be taken seriously there are people who get hurt because someone they thought of as a friend has not passed an award to them. I find it very difficult to choose blogs to give awards too. I have over a hundred blogs in my reader and they are all for different reasons ones I enjoy, how can I choose who to pass these on too. I find I am skitting through looking for people who have not got one and trying to name them so that they do not feel left out. I blog for the same reason I stitch - because I enjoy it and not for any accolade. So please do not send me awards as I find it difficult to turn them down without risking hurting the person who chose me and I just cannot choose five from all the wonderful people who visit me and who I visit. I am sure I am not on my own here - lol maybe we could do with one of those little button things - you know the one that says "I am not obliged to blog" or something.

Thank you for taking the time to read my posts and thanks for all the very much appreciated comments.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Tigger's First Ear

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:27:00 +0000

Tigger now has all of the ear from page 1 which is now complete as I have decided that for the now at least I am not going to do the background. With that in mind, yesterday afternoon I frogged what I had done of the background, which I admit was not much lol. I really did not like the limey greens that were used and as the fabric is a shaded sagey green colour I think I maybe able to get away with out tackling this. Unfortunately on the picture you cannot really tell either the colour or the fact that the fabric is shaded. This is one of the fabrics I bought at the Harrogate show and I think it is probably a manufactured shading rather than a hand dyed but its lovely to work on. He is now going away for a few days whilst I work on The Village and then he will be out again.

No stitching today as Mum and I are off to the garden centre for some retail therapy of the garden variety - shrubs in my case. I am not sure what Mum is after, probably some plants for her pots and hanging baskets.

I am still trying to catch up with blogs from my holiday but please forgive me if I have failed to leave a comment. At the moment its just catching up with all you have been up to and once I am up to date be assured I will leave comments again.

Hugs

may your frogs stay in their ponds.

Quick Report On Investigations....

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:24:00 +0000

I was a bit disappointed when we arrived at the address in Friargate to find that it was also a closed down shop. We then (mum and I) went off to the market hall to have a chat with some of the stall holders and one of them was able to give me an email address for the chap who ran the stall. When I got home I sent an email just saying that I was sorry to find they had closed and I wondered if it would be possible to get my stitching back.

Tonight I had a reply from him. He apologised for the delay, due to the close down of the shop things have got behind but he is now back trying to get everything framed at home. He asked me to confirm my telephone number and the best time to catch me in, as they had tried to ring me but had not reached anyone. I wrote back confirming my number and he wrote again saying that as soon as he had completed the framing he would contact me and arrange a mutually convenient time to deliver direct to me.

Tonight I am feeling much happier. Thanks to everyone for there supportive comments and helpful advice, you kept me going my friends.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Happy Progress Report

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:39:00 +0000

Just a quickie this morning but wanted to let you see my progress report on ISD. I was really pleased with what I achieved this time as the heart round the 40 was finished and two more motives added - the two bottom ones on the far left.

Its now back to Tigger but then I will be on to my village which I am looking forward too - it seems an age since I was building there.

I am off into Derby today to see if we can find anything either at the market or at the address the website was registered too, so wish me luck.

Thanks for all your lovely comments and support.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Holiday, Gifts and Stitching

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:03:00 +0000

But before any of that may I thank you for all the support and advice given regarding my missing stitching. I now have the address that the company was registered at and will try there at the beginning of next week. Of course they may have moved from there too but it is certainly worth a try and thanks to the two people who took the time and trouble to find that address for me. I will try with my own investigations first but if they do not work then I will certainly contact the local newspaper and as again advised the local radio station. Your support has made so much difference. I know this is not important in the scheme of things - its a piece of stitching and its not life and death, but none the less logic may tell me not to get upset about it but logic has nothing to do with how I feel inside.

HOLIDAY

We had a wonderful and relaxing holiday spending many hours sitting by the river watching these little fellowsisn't he beautiful. While Keith was happily occupied taking pictures of the birds (this was just one of the four varieties of Kingfishers we saw on a daily basis), I was busy stitching and I achieved quite a bit this holiday. The only downside to the holiday was that going two weeks later than normal it was so much hotter and the humidity was quite high on several days too. Next year we will definitely be going back to our earlier slot at the end of January or beginning of February. We also spent time catching up with friends that either live out there or that we meet in Goa each year so all in all we had a lovely time.

GIFTS

A few days before we went I recieved this lovely coaster from Mylene. It was a blog draw prize and I feel so honoured to have one of Mylenes beautiful pieces in my home and being used on a daily basis.

On arriving home I had two more gifts waiting for me. The first from Susan at Afford Your Passion was these two lovely Lavander & Lace charts which I had won in her blog draw.

I also got this beautiful chart of Winter Blues by Just Nan. This was from Concetta (an Italian Scots Stitching Journal). Concetta stitched this beautiful design a short time ago. Though I am a big JN fan I had never noticed this one before but fell in love with it when I saw it on Concetta's blog. I mentioned it would be going into my wish list and Concetta contacted me to ask if I would like it. Oh what a silly question - I would love it - and I do. So big hugs and thanks for that my friend.

STITCHING

I stitched these three projects from the Shepherds Bush, Be Attitudes Series whilst on holiday, they are Be Nice, Be Busy and Be Sweet. I still have Be Strong to Stitch and I am hoping that will be done soon so they can all be framed together.

Also while on holiday I stitched Spring, Summer and Autumn and made a start of Winter of the Drawn Thread Designs "Spot of" designs. I am stitching them as one big project so I will finish winter before showing a picture of that.

I have not had too much time for stitching since getting home - catching up with family, washing etc have all got in the way, but I did manage a bit more on Water Tiger.

He now has the start of an ear. Although it does not show very well on the picture this is stitched on a lovely fabric that is shades of sagey green. I made a small start on the background but its limey green shades and I really do not like them - I feel they should have been darker, more jungle like greens. I am now wondering whether to even bother with the background at all, so for the now I am just going to concentrate of Tigger himself and will make a decision about that later in the day.

Because Water Tiger is my biggest priority and due to all the confetti stitching I am finding it quite hard going I have decided that it will be my every other project for a while. I am now doing I Still Do and when I have had enough of that will go back to Tigger. So it will be

TIGGER

ISD

TIGGER

VILLAGE

TIGGER

MY CHOICE (*see below)

* I have a number of things that are close to finishing, Jasmine, Spot of Winter, tissue box cover etc. I also have a number of quite small projects I want to get done like the other Be Attitude, and I still have my blogoversary gift to stitch, so they will come into the My Choice section. Hopefully with this section I will get enough finishes to keep me motivated whilst ploughing on with the three big projects.

I think the other things that were in my rota have for now to officially be called UFO's but they have not been cast aside to be forgotton. Each and everyone is something I would like to finish but for now these things are more important, though I may even fish something out from the UFO collection to stitch on from time to time in the My Choice bit.

I am sorry this has been such a long, long post and do hope you have not found it boring.

Thank you for all the comments and especially to the new people who have left comments recently.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

I want to cry....

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:51:00 +0000

... I feel so frustrated.

Just before I went on holiday I took my Loopylou Secret Garden in to be framed at Easy Frames in Derby. Today I went to collect it only to find the place had closed down. There was a phone number for people to contact them but unfortunately this seems to be out of use. I contacted Derby Trading Standards who told me I would need to contact the Council (as this was in the Eagle Centre Market which is run by the council) and get an address. Unfortunately the market is run under a blanket licence so they do not hold addresses for market stall holders. They did have a website address but I have just tried that and it is just saying the site is for sale and you can place a bid but not contact the seller.

I left a £20.00 desposit but thats not bothering me its just all that work which appears to be lost and I cannot see how I can contact these people to recover my work. I feel so upset by this and I am at a complete loss as to what else I can do. Sorry for the moan but at least I know the people on here will understand about the amount of work thats put into a project.

If anyone has any idea how I can proceed I would be grateful.

Where do you start?

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:52:00 +0000

Normally if I am stitching a largish project that is solid stitching I would start at the top left hand corner and work across and down from there. For some unknown reason when I started the Water Tiger I started in the middle. Silly me it was OK at first but by the time I was about half way down the middle page I was bitting and bobbing from side to side and seemed to have no aim. I also began to wonder when the page was complete which page i would go to next (its a 9 page chart). I have never actually done a multi page chart starting from the middle before, and I wonder if others do work this way and where they proceed from the central page if they do. I do not think the problem would have been there had it just been one page. Anyway this afternoon I had a little stitching time and decided that I was going to try and work up and across to that top corner and then I would feel that there was some structure to the work. So here is what I have done so far. It still doesnt look like much though when I look at it against the chart I can tell what I have done.

The Gift Shop in my village has been taken over by Sally; and Lisa if you are reading this then please can you send an application form to Karan as she would like to work for you in the craft shop. I still have the flower shop, the hair and hat shop and we still need a bank clerk/post mistress or we will not be able to get any money for stash buying or send off our gifts and exchanges so this is a very important person for the village. I actually think Christine would be the ideal person for the flower shop as I know she is a dab hand at flower arranging.

Anyway my dear friends this will be the last post for a couple of weeks as we are off on our jolly holidays on Friday and tomorrow evening I will be busy packing. Take care all of you and I shall look forward to catching up on all the blogs when I get back. Thank you again for all your wonderful comments.

Hugs

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Village Progress Feb 09

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:07:00 +0000

Here is the latest progress picture on my Village. The landscapers have been completed for Ann's Garden, though there is still a little to finish on the far side of Terri's garden but that will not be done until the cottage on the other side of her is built.

Lisa will be taking over the care of the Craft Shop and plans to run classes and workshops there and Shiela will be taking over the Tea Room, with plans for many kinds of tea and home made scones - as I am not a tea drinker I do hope she will be serving coffee and hot chocolate too. Maybe she will have a little counter selling nice chocolates and sweeties too. Lisa the tea rooms are not quite next door but there is only the florist between you.

Building work has now been halted as I do not think there will be much time for building this week and the contractor has other tasks that need to be attended too. I did promise to show the plans but unfortunately blogger refuses to upload these so I am sorry about that and will try again another time.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on this project, I am so enjoying it. Angela thank you for the info on Beadle the Bard. Also thanks for the comments on my Interview and Lisa I will try to get my questions to you before I go off on holiday but if not I will do it when I get home so please do not think I have forgotton you.

Hugs to all my wonderful blogging friends out there.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Interviewed by Kathy -

noreply@blogger.com (Stitchingranny) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:19:00 +0000

Kathy was interviewed recently on her blog and she asked for people to volunteer to be interviewed by her. I have to reply to her 5 questions and then ask if anyone would be willing to be interviewed by me. If you would like to be interviewed then just leave a note in the comment section and I get to ask you 5 questions. Nothing too personal I promise.

Here are the questions that Kathy asked of me.

1. What is your favorite cross stitch piece and why?

Oh goodness that is hard. I am not sure I have a favourite, I really like most of the things I have stitched.

2. What was your very first cross stitch piece and where is it now?

My first ever was a little kit I bought whilst on holiday in Sussex. It was a Teddy Bear holding a goldfish bowl and as my daughter did lovely cross stitch I was going to ask her to stitch it for me so that I could give it to my (then future) dil's niece for her first birthday. On a wet night with my book finished I decided to have a go myself and came home from the holiday with it complete. I have no idea where it is now. The next piece I did was the DMC Mother and Baby and I still have that on my wall.

3. When did you learn to stitch and who taught you?

LOL self taught - see above.

4. Where is your favorite place to stitch and why?

Another hard one. If I am at home then its in my den as the light is so much better there than anywhere else in the house. Anywhere in the world and it would be Bella Vista where we stayed when we were on holiday in Chang Mai, Thailand. It was shaded by the trees but lovely and warm and so so peaceful, I got more stitching done that holiday than any other I think.

5. I can tell by your email address that you love being a grandmother - please describe why it is such a special relationship for you?

In short I can't. I just adore my little grandson more than I ever thought was possible. He is a lovely, well behaved and well mannered little boy of 6 years old and he wraps my heart up in knots. I think you have to be a Granny to understand lol.

Well Kathy I hope I have done well in my interview, your questions made me think and maybe I have not been able to reply very well to some of them but I have done my best.

I do hope someone will now ask me to interview them as it was good fun.

may your frogs stay in their ponds.