My Quilt has Grown a Bit

Good evening to each and everyone of you.

As the title suggests my quilt - or at least the Quiltmaker's quilt has grown somewhat this week, I think that now the blue is out of the way my enthusiasm for this one has grown too.

So here is how she is looking at this moment in time.

I do wish I was better at taking pictures of my work, they always look slightly blurry I'm afraid.  However as you can see there is not a great deal of quilt left to do.  I am hoping this will be completed before the year is out but I guess that will depend on how much stitching time I get between here and the end of the year.  Maybe I am being a little optimistic but I shall do my best.

I meant to share the pictures of my Grandsons advent I made, but forgot last time, so I am showing them to you now.

 

This little draws are all full of sweeties now ready for the 1st of December.  I wanted a little duck to put on the pond but unfortunately I couldn't find one, so alas it will remain duckless lol.

 

I know my mum doesn't get on a computer nowdays, though she used to love reading about my stitching progress here in blogland.  So although she will not see this I want to wish her a very happy 87th Birthday for tomorrow.

This picture was taken last month by the team from the Derby Evening Telegraph. A Jazz band had been playing at the home she resides in and when they were finished she wanted to have a go, apparently she only made a funny noise lol.

Well that's it from me for tonight.  Thanks for visiting you are always welcome.

Hugs

Helen xx
May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Full of Virtue

Firstly I have my Garden of Virtues, which I finished last weekend.

I loved stitching this pretty little design, and it certainly did the trick in luring my mojo back home.

Having said that I still had to grit my teeth when I retrieved The Quiltmaker, but it paid off and I am now back (plus a few stitched) to where I was before those pesky frogs made an appearance.  With all the rain we have had this week I am hoping the frogs decide it is more fun to play out in the garden that come and visit me again for a while.

So here is where I am now with The Quiltmaker

 

There is just one more blue pleat on her dress so I am hoping that I will get that completed and out of the way this week. 

 

Things seem to be going smoothly (fingers crossed it remains that way) with the sale of Mums house.  I have also managed to get most of my Christmas shopping done.  Just cards to make for December birthdays and a couple more special Christmas cards.  So hopefully before we go on holiday everything will be done and I can come back feeling relaxed.

 

I have sorted a small sampler out for holiday stitching, but now I am having second thoughts.  I am not sure about it so might pop one of my small Heritage Silhouette designs in too - they wont take a lot of room in my case and its nice to have a choice anyway. (or a spare in case I get a lot of stitching time).

 

I am sorry I have not had much time for visiting blogs, well I have hardly had time to write my own in the last couple of months, but I am hoping that after Christmas things might start to get back to normal here and I will have fun catching up with all your beautiful stitching again.

 

Love and Hugs to all, and many thanks to those who have taken the time to read my ramblings and a special hug to those who leave a message, which mean so much to me.

 

 

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Garden of Virtues

I am enjoying stitching this little sampler and so far its been pretty easy going.  I changed the colour for the writing as the one suggested was almost invisible as it was almost the same colour as the fabric, which is an antique white.  Apart from that I have actually stuck with the recommended colours, most unusual for me when I am doing a sampler.  There is still a feeling of doom when I think about returning to the blue dress, but I will see how I feel once this one is finished.

Still rushing about all over the place, trying to finish cards and my grandsons new advent, which I will show you when its complete.  Since I last posted we have booked a holiday for the end of November, which means I have to have everything done for Christmas before then as there won't be time when we get back.  On top of selling a house, child minding duties, visiting mum everyday, and everything else that needs to be done in and around the home, I shall end up tying myself in a knot soon.  On which note I shall love you and leave you until I get a minute to do another post.




May your frogs stay in their ponds.

PS  ooohhh   my signature has suddenly returned - I do hope it stays.

Not so much missing -

I am talking about my mojo.  It is not so much missing but more walked out in disgust.  Now as you may have realised both the mojo and I struggle to find inspiration in stitching the Quiltmakers blue skirt.  Yes the effect is great - but the stitching much of which is done in a sort of checkerd design or alternate stitches in one shade and the one between in another, the trouble is when you are actually stitching it they all look exactly the same colour.  Well last weekend we decided it must be tackled, the mojo didn't like the idea but I still ploughed on, and I had done a fair chunk by Sunday night.  However I was tired and didn't put my stitching away on that night so imagine my horror when I came down the next morning to see in the cold light of day a big mistake - yes right at the beginning of my weekend stitching.  I spent most of Monday with the frogs giggling on my shoulder.  Since then the mojo deserted me and alas not a stitch this week.

EDITED TO SAY - DO NOT CLICK ON THE HIGHLIGHTED WORD BELOW - I DO NOT KNOW HOW THAT GOT THERE AND IT JUST LEADS TO AN ADD FOR TESCOS.

In an attempt to temp it back I have sorted out a small chart by Lori Birmingham called Garden Virtues - I thought a new start and something that will not take too long to complete might do the trick.  Cross your fingers and hope my ruse works so that I will see you all again soon.

Helen x

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

My Late Progess Report

I have been so busy this last couple of weeks.  Up above my head with making Christmas cards, which I love doing, but they take up so much time.  I didn't think I had made much progress at all in the last couple of weeks but I rather impressed with myself now I have seen the pictures.

I took pictures last week but never got the chance to share, so this is how I was doing back then

the front door was finished

 

 

and the Quiltmaker had a little more gown and a bit more quilt

 

SUNDAYS PROGRESS

 

Things are getting there slowly

 

 

the door pillers are in place and the top of the door completed and also have started the window surround so very please with how this one is going

 

the quilt is growing though I couldn't face any more of the blues last week.  This week I have started with the blues but I think it will only be a few rows at a time.

 

Well that is it for tonight my dear friends - will try and be a little bit more chatty next time but so much to do and oh so little time.

 



Hugs to you all

 

Helen

 

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Hello fellow bloggers and readers.

We had a lovely holiday with our Grandson in Malta.  The first morning we had a thunder storm but for the rest of the holiday the weather was perfect, and we did lots of walking.  I got a little stitching done and finished my holiday stitch when I got home.  It was a Drawn Thread design called Generosity and here it is complete.

 

 

With the holiday stitching out of the way I returned to Fairies and ended up with a double Happy Dance week.  So drum roll please

 

 



 

 

A while back I promised this chart to someone and I cannot find their email to let them know that it is now ready to be despatched, so please get in touch with me again love. 

 

With two HD's under my belt I am now really and truly in a stitching mood.  Unfortunately I do not get much chance to stitch during the day and Hardanger House definitely is a daylight stitch.  I have made a little progress but not much, just working on the front door at the moment

So it was time to re-awaken another UFO.  I looked at the three main ones left and decided that the one I had done the most on was The Quilt maker, so I have rescued her from oblivion and she is enjoying the light of day once more.  Here is what she looked like back in April 2010 when I last worked on her.

 

and here is how she is before I start work again tonight

 

 

When I last put her away in 2010 I was so tired of stitching dark blue and it was driving me mad,  so I am pleased to see there is very little of the dark blue to do this time.

 

I hope everyone is keeping well and getting lots of stitching done, I am trying to keep up with blogs again now, which is good, though some of them do tempt me into thinking about new charts - no no no I must be good - I will be good, OK I will try to be good lol.

 

Well folks I think that is all I have to share with you this week, so I will say goodnight and return to the quiltmaker for an hour or so before bedtime.  Take care and hope to see you all again soon.

 

Hugs

 

 

May your frogs stay in their ponds.

 

 

The Joy of Computers..

Hello again my friends,

When computers work they are the most wonderful invention, but alas when they do not work they are the most frustrating and annoying thing you could ever find.  My wonderful computer I received for my birthday, very soon became a nightmare.  To start with I could do hardly anything for ads all across the screen, we turned on the pop up blocker, but it only eliminated a few of them.  A friend said they were more likely banners so we found the spot and blocked them.  Hurray I was free of the beastly ads, but I am afraid I was not free of the problems.  I could not load many of the web sites I normally visit.  I could not post on here and I could not access any of the blogs I follow.  After it going back twice they admitted they had been having a lot of problems with Windows 8 and gave us a refund.  The result of this was that my lovely hubby took my old computer to our local computer shop where it was fitted with windows 7, the memory was extended and it had a new wifi chip installed.  It is now working wonderful and the only problem I have had is that my signature has disappeared from here - hardly world shattering lol.

At last I can announce that the winner of the beautiful "Garden Bounty" chart is Christine, from the Alchymysts Study.  I was thrilled about this as Christine has been following my blog almost since it began. 

I am off on holiday in the morning but if you email your address to me Christine then I will get it in the post to you asap when I return.  We are taking our 11 year old grandson to Malta for a week before he begins his first term at "big" school. 

I am spending my coffee breaks browsing through all my favourite blogs and for once being able to leave comments, so if I haven't reached yours yet then be assured that I shall get there soon.

I thought I would do some catching up on my knitting after finishing Garden Bounty, but I am not really enjoying knitting like I used to so a couple of rows and I start to get bored.  So out came fairies again.  I haven't done and awful lot on it but am almost to the top of the foxglove, with each tiny flower using 4 colours and the tiny leaves using three there is a lot of starting and stopping but I think I have made fairly good progress. 

 I still have quite a way to go on this but it will be mainly backstitch and adding all the beads.  The only cross stitch to do is finishing the flowers and a few little creatures to add. Luckily the main backstitching has been done as each little section has been completed, but the trellis frame and the vine that goes round it will take quite a lot of work I think.

Thank you once again to one and all for reading my ramblings and the those who do find the time to leave a comment for me, I appreciate them so much so a big thank you.

Till next time, hugs to all

Helen 

May your frogs stay in their ponds.