Christmas Sampler

As many of you know my Darling Daughter is a lone female buying her own apartment in Nottingham, by the time she had paid all her bills she had very little left for buying clothes etc so decided to take on a weekend job too. So all week she works at the Queens University Hospital and at the weekends she works for the Emergency call out doctors at NEMS. To add to this with the shortage of staff at the hospital she has been working late two or three nights a week in the last couple of months. She came to visit the other week and was looking at all my Christmas pictures and bemoaning the fact that she had not had any time to finish any of her Christmas pictures so I thought I would do her a little sampler to put on her wall and cheer her up. I made a start yesterday and got on quite well so thought I would share my progress so far.

I do have a chart which I am following rather loosely lol and I am quite pleased with the progress so far.

Hope to do some more today though I really must write my Christmas cards today or people will be getting them early for next year instead of late for this lol.

Once again I say thank you to all you wonderful people who take time to read my little blog and even more so to the ones who are kind enough to leave comments. I really cannot tell you how much these are appreciated.

Update on an Olde

I stitched this one some years back for my dear friend Margaret. Since then she has had a couple more grandchildren to be added. Finn in 2004 and the latest little one is Theo.

I have just finished stitching the new name and date and I am going to give it a wash before restringing it and getting it back in the frame. We are going to their house for supper on Saturday so I want it ready to take with me.

Last night we went to see Oscar in his school play. It was called The Christmas Dream, and was a new slant on the nativity as two children sat before the Christmas tree wondering what it had been like when baby Jesus was born, they then fell asleep and dreamt they were there. It was very good especially as they were only 5 and 6 year olds. Oscar was a narrator and stood at the side of the stage telling the story as it unfolded. Oh dear another proud Granny moment lol.

I am still doing stitching on Charlotte and will have to get round to another picture of her, though I have had a busy few days and so not much stitching. Today I have no where to go and no one to see and though I do have things that must be done (still two cards need making and most of the rest still waiting to be written) and could do with doing some of the rude HW word, I am going to find a bit of "Me" space and stitch for an hour or two.

Thank you for the lovely comments on Charlotte and Queen of the Needle, and thank you once again for visiting and taking the time to read my blog.

MONDAY SAL update

Just thought I would post a picture of this weeks progress on Queen of the Needle before I went to bed. Im really pleased with the progress I made tonight. You cant really tell on here but the Trezibond thread which is used for the satin stitches is sort of wavey and it gives a lovely "soft" look. The colours are just so pretty on this one. I hope Sally has had a better week this week and I am looking forward to seeing her updates. Not sure I am looking forward to doing the Roses next week, but I am sure I will cope.

Some Plain Stitching & My Deco's

I have been so busy stitching Christmas cards (my own fault for leaving it so late) and I was beginning to get really bored. I just wanted to sit down and stitch something plain and simple. Not that the cards where difficult but I am not a great one for fiddling about with little things, I prefer to stitch bigger projects.

Anyway I looked in my rota to see if I fancied doing anything in there and Charlotte just started waving "me choose me" and so on Saturday & Sunday night I curled up in front of the TV with Charlotte and really enjoyed stitching her.

Tonight I will be stitching on Queen of the Needle again but I have not put Charlotte away as I think I may stick with her and get her done now she is out. Will just have to see how the mood takes me lol.

I also have some pictures of my Christmas decorations which you might like to see, though they are not as elaborate as many have seen in the blogs.

Thank you for once again visiting and reading my blog. I do so enjoy your visits but wish I could meet you all in person you sound such a wonderful bunch of people.

A Very Excited Little Boy

I have just had some news that I have to share with you.

Recently Barratt Homes launched a competition for schools. The children had to draw a Christmas card and the prize was to be £500 worth of art and craft things for the school.

Tonight my very excited little grandson Oscar has phoned me to tell me that out of all the schools in Derbyshire he has won first prize for his school. The school phoned his parents to ask permission for the local paper to visit the school tomorrow to take pictures and have told them that there will also be a prize for Oscar though they dont know at the moment what that is to be.

A proud granny will be scanning and posting the article when it is in the paper so watch for more lol.

Update on Queen

Here is a picture of this weeks progress on Queen on the Needle. I cheated a bit as tonight I couldnt be bothered to sort anything else out and this was still on the chair so I have done the little urn tonight (sorry Sally) .
The colours really do look lovely.

Took Mum shopping today and then went to have a look at the Christmas display at one of the local garden centres but it was really disappointing this year. They hardly had anything there and what they had was overpriced rubbish. We are going to the rival garden centre on Thursday so I am hoping that will be a bit better.

Tomorrow I have to go to the bank - with my passport - would you believe that when I went in to put a cheque in yesterday they said that my account was now "out of date" and they would transfer it to a new account for me. OK I thought thats OK but the stupid rules wont let them just do that I have to go in with proof of who I am to do it. What is more annoying as that account is no longer running they had to confiscate my book so I have no choice but to do as they wish if I want to get hold of MY MONEY. I felt like saying well just close the ****** account and I will go elsewhere but they are all the same and I would have had as much if not more palaver.

Not long back we wanted to open a new bond for Oscar and we had to get his birth certificate from my son and dil. As I pointed out to the dear lady who did this for us - any man (or woman) in the country can walk into a register office and say he wants to register the birth of a child they ask for the date of birth, the name and where the child was born, they ask for no proof whatsoever, so how the hell is a birth certificate proof on anything.

Oh dear I think I am turning into a Grumpy Old Lady lol but these people do seem to have a real knack for bringing out the worst in folks.

On that I am going back to stitch - another christmas card lol so that will cheer me up again.

Hardanger Angel

This is what I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. I had to adapt the chart a bit as it is designed for one of these dolls heads but I couldnt find one here in the UK and it would have cost about £12 / £14 to send to the USA for one which was more than I was willing to pay - especially as I want to make one for me too. This one is for my Mum. A few weeks back she had been having a sort out and remarked that she had loads of cards I had stitched but although she didnt want to part with them she really didnt know what to do with them so I thought I would stitch her an ornament this year instead of a card, that way she can hang it on her tree every year.
The chart was Emie Bishop's 2001 Angel. The dress should be stitched as one piece with a small hole where the head fits but I stitched the back and the front seperately altered the hole to make a neckline and then stitched it across the shoulders. Also although the wing were very pretty hardanger I had to back them with some "iron on" stiffner stuff which has spoilt the effect a little. The little doll cost me £2 from Asda. Overall however, I am quite pleased with the effect and will take her with me when I go to Mums tomorrow.

Today was SAL Monday but I wanted to make a start on a couple of special cards I have to stitch (I know I'm a bit late but better late than never lol). Anyway I got one done this afternoon and I have made a start on Queen of the Needle tonight. It is lovely to be using some colour on it at last. I havent got a lot done but I am pleased with what I have and will try and take a picture tomorrow. I wonder if Sally has carried on with the colour or done the 2nd Corner. It is lovely to have someone to stitch with and fun to compare what we have done each week so BIG THANK YOU SALLY.

Terri and I have decided that next year we are going to make an early start on stitched cards and on the first Sunday of each month we are going to stitch one in our own little SAL - if anyone fancies joining then please do.

Its been a horrid day today the rain has hammered down and its been so cold. By three o'clock I needed to put the lights on it was like night time. Then some silly woman on the weather said its quite mild at the moment - where do these people get there forcasts, I sometimes wonder if they are in the same country.

Oh well thats my little moan for the day lol so on that note I will say goodnight and wend my weary way to bed.

Thanks for all your comments they really are so much appreciated.