Thursday's update

I have been busy doing loads of different crafts,
but I have got out my WIP, Kittens and done some more,
I have a itch to finish this one !

I have knitted some more Christmas puddings for the tree.

I made two hearts, using an old skirt which I can no longer wear,
one for me, one for Fliss
everything here is scraps from my work box

I finished my squirrel heart,
the colours are my design,
I loved the random browns

I have also packed puddings to send to Denise for her tree,

I have stitched another ABC, heart in red again on a larger canvas, I will back it with the red linen, and show you next time. I started knitting a cardi for Samuel with wool we brought before he was born, but as it's a mixed fleck colour, including pinks, so I'm not that happy with it. I am going to the wool shop and buy blue wool for him.

Fliss and baby came home yesterday, which was great, Steve has two weeks off to ensure they are all well looked after. Josh is very happy they are home, and is being a very good boy.

I am very tired at this time, I was hoping I would be feeling a lot better, my brother Martin is coming to visit this weekend, which will be fun, I have brought some primroses to put in the front garden, now the saliva and marigolds have been killed by the frost.

I will pop in to see Fliss and the boys (that sounds good), tomorrow, so today I will knit.

Welcome

Welcome Samuel William Cockcroft,
who decided not to wait until 1st November to make his entrance,
he weighed 8lb 13ozs and looks so like his big brother Joshua
Mum and baby both doing well.

Frosty mornings

It's a sunny, cold and frosty morning here, typical for this time of the year, but I'm inside with the heating on feeling warm and good. Grace is snuggled on the sofa, watching the squirrels eating the nuts from the feeder in our tree.

We had a good two days away, we were far more rural than Exeter, and stayed at Waie Inn,
the surrounding countryside was stunning as was their grounds. I spent a lovely Thursday afternoon exploring all the grounds. This once was a farm and the owners father created everything here, all geared for families or weddings. The food was perfect, both Kev and I have put on weight, oh well will have to walk a bit more.



The leaves are now falling, but we are having some stunning colours this year, we can never complete with the fall leaves in America and Canada, this photo is not the best.

Saturday we went to Fareham, they had a display along the main street of old police cars, Fire engines and Ambulances, it was very interesting, we called Josh to ensure he did not miss them, he spent the morning looking at them with his dad. The vehicle Josh liked the most was not English, there was a New York squad car there, Josh had his photo taken beside this one!

Afterwards we went to visit Fliss, Steve and Josh in their warm cosy cottage, Josh was showing Kev how to play games on his DS. Josh also told us his teacher took them out of school on Thursday to go to the college across the road, they went to see a princess who was visiting, Josh and his friends were not impressed, the lady who came was not a princess, "she looked like you nanna". So when I asked what he was looking for, they wanted to see a "Disney" type princess, so they were disappointed. In fact Princess Anne, the Princess Royal came to the college, but as she looked too normal for a class of five years olds, they missed the point.

Midweek

Today I am feeling much better and getting ready for a couple days away with Kev, we will travel down to Exeter tonight and return on Friday, I don't think we will visit my brother, we feel it might be too much for me.

I always know when I am feeling better, when I wake up in the morning I feel the need to change the quilt and bedding, which I have done today, it will be nice to know on our return we will have nice clean crisp cotton quilt waiting for us.

I have added the tassells to my spanish sampler cushion, I think it looks good on our bed,


I have not done any more stitching to my chickadee, but I am taking it with me, I have started this heart with squirrels, I love squirrels, we have three visit our garden most days, I am doing my own colours, they do not show well in this photo, but I will show you again when it is finished.
I have packed most of what we require for our stay, the place we are staying has a swimming pool, so I hope for a swim, Kev will be working both mornings, but that's great, it gives me time to do things.

We will go out on Thursday evening to Cullompton, to visit Kev's brother Peter and have a meal.

It will be nice to get away for a while, we are planning to go out to lunch with loads of friends on Sunday, Saturday I would like to pop to Fareham and do a bit of shopping and then visit Fliss, Steve and Josh, Fliss is doing well, her friends gave her a baby shower this week, which she enjoyed very much.

Monday Mornings

It's Monday again after another lost weekend, I have done nothing since Friday, I did manage to complete what I wanted on my WIP, I have now packed it away for a month and find I am missing it. I think next I am going to restitch the lower kitten and start filling in.

I have been able to cut out patterns, I have been cutting out felt ready for my cute little animals, I have done a pink pig, Ham from Toy Story for Josh, a donkey, which looks like a horse for Shannon, and a yellow chick for the new baby. I have kittens and puppies to cut out. I also want to make a couple of flowers and some tree decorations using Christmas cotton material.
I did a small amount of stitching on my Chickadee, my photo does not do it justice, but the number of colors used are high giving it this special look, I should hope to finish it later this week, but I won't touch it for a couple of days.


Later this week Kev and I hope to spend two days in Exeter, it's just a short break, Kev has to run a short course, which will give me time to do some stitching, I am hoping I will be well enough to go, Kev has found a nice small hotel with a swimming pool, we will come back via my home village and stay one night with my brother Martin, we have not seen him since Su's wedding, all of us being very busy at this time.

I have one more chemo to go, 2nd November, the day after Fliss is due her second baby, I can see the end of this section of my treatment, my focus is on Christmas, I am looking forward to a family time together and a promise of a better new year, nothing they throw at me next year and be as taxing as this year.

WIP Wednesday

Yesterday I spent alot of time unpicking and stitching on my WIP, I removed the dark stitches I have done one row to low, and I also changed a colour of one part of the back ground after I had done some , it was too pink and I chose to use Ecru, I always buy DMC threads.I have also decided to stitch the white areas of the sofa, I think it looks unfinished if left.

I have decided I will not start anything until I have finished the bottom sofa section, I am enjoying adding colour to this work, and it is much faster stitching, I hope to finish this section today, I will then pack it away until next month and do a bit more. I purchased this over three years ago, so I want to finish it.
My stash I ordered from the net has come, I love the work of Valerie Pieffer, I have stitched her birds before, but I love this Chickdees range, I will get some more, a couple were out of stock when I placed this order. I am being very good, I so want to start the christmas chick. I also got a couple of quickies to do for cards.

I also went to Hobbycraft yesterday, it's our national craft chain, they are expensive but you get so much under one roof, I brought things for christmas projects here. I also brought loads of silks(floss), I will be stitching more than one of the Chickdees range. We have other local craft shops, but every where is so expensive, I like to look for deals on the net, and I buy magazines for the patterns, which with my stash of silks is cost effective.

I am into hearts at this time and want to hang a collection in my spare room. The tassells are for my Spanish sample cushion, I have also brought a zip for the cover, so I am going to undo the final seam and add the tassells and have a zip closure.
I saw this angel, I don't normally stitch angels, but I love the colours in this one, I won't start it for this year, not enough time, I might stitch it for my sister who loves angels, she does not read blogs so I'm safe to show on here.


I spent all day in the hospital on Tuesday, with a 4 hour wait for my chemo, had to have a second blood test, did not get home until after 5pm, so that day was lost to me.

But I am now rested and I am going to visit Fliss my daughter, who is due to have her 2nd baby 0n 2nd November, she is having a C section so the date is fixed. It is the day before my last chemo, so we are both hoping for a better month in November. I can't wait, Fliss has had loads of problems with this pregnancy and I think we will all be so much happier for her once baby is born, and mum and dad have not been told the sex of the baby. So an exciting time ahead.

Busy day

Yesterday was another busy day.

I still was not doing any cross stitch, so I thought I would do some finishing, and start my Somerset patchwork patches.

My Spanish sampler I made into a small cushion, I want to get four tassells for each corner, I will pop to our local shop to see what they have, if I can't get anything to match I will make some.



Below is all my cross stitch projects finished, I am pleased with all of them, it's great to do some thing different, and not frame every thing, I do not have so much wall space in my office for hanging items. Kev did give me a look when I told him the smaller cushion was for our bed, we now have 7 cushions on the bed, I did promise no more!

I am pleased with the stitching on both of these pieces of work

I sometimes do patchwork with material, and my favorite is Somerset patchwork, the design is made by folding the oblongs into a triangle and then sewing them to a back cloth.

I have instructions for those who may not of heard of the design, to make things easy for me I make a template for the oblongs, I am using a piece of soft wood, which I have marked out into the required size, I cut long strips from my cloth, I simply mark the size on the material with a pen and then cut, I always use a poly cotton, it's hard wearing. the oblong size I use is 5" x 2.5", but you can scale to your project, if you make them very small, they can look bulky.

After I have my strips of material, I place them one on top of the other, how many you have is determined on how sharp your scissors are, cut each oblong to size.

Below is the stages of the folds.

1. With a steam iron, iron flat your oblong
2. Fold a small flap at the top, I do about 10 at a time
3. Fold onto a triangle bring top corner in to middle front, it is best to place both corners together at the same time to make them match.
4. When ironing ensure the top point is neat, this will be on show.
   

A couple of point's to add, I alway do 10 oblongs at once and let them cool before going onto the next stage, the material gets very hot and I find my finger will get sore if I'm not carefull, you will need a large amount of triangles, because you place them on top of each other.
Below I have placed the triangle just for you to see the effect, I have loads more to make before sewing, to sew you use a machine and sew along the bottom ensuring you sew over the folded area to hold it all in place.


I am off for my chemo this morning, it's a nice sunny day, so I hope not to be in the hospital too long. I will do a bit more of my kitten WIP, I did get some done last night, I started stitching the sofa fabric and have done a good amount, one thing I have noticed, the stitching I have already done for the second kitten is wrong, it comes one row lower than it should, so I shall be unpicking it, I'm lucky I had not done too much.

Sunshine in October

It's another sunny day here, and it's warm, its just unheard of. But we are enjoying it, windows open letting in the air. After my afternoon in the garden with Kev on Saturday, and even with him doing most of the work, I spent most of yesterday resting, I think I have picked up a cold, my nose does not stop running and I have a cough. I will have to hide it tomorrow when I go for chemo, I don't want them to delay any sessions.

I have done very little stitching, can't get my head around anything, I did add a pale blue outline on my snowmen, to help show them up, last time I stitched them on a blue linen, but I don't have any at this time, I think I might just do another to put into Christmas cards.

Because I can't find a project, I have pulled out a WIP, this one I have had for ages, I am thinking if I do the blue material around the cats, I should be able to steam ahead, well that's my plan. I still have loads of Christmas items to make, but I will attack them when I am feeling in the correct mood.

One other project I have had in my head for ages, is to make my own sampler, I am not good enough to create all my own images, but I have found a nice floral alphabet which I want to stitch in the middle. So I have brought a frame, one that had depth so I can embellish my work, I will have a work area of 10.5" x 13.5", so today I am going to work how exactly how many rows, and mark off the evenweave in squares of 10 and find the centre, then I will make a plan of the sampler, I am using 28 count. I will of course add loads of patchwork, cats, cows, and things relevant to our family. I don't want to start stitching until late this year or next year, i want to finish all my other planned work.
Tomorrow is my 5th chemo, I have been very down this last week, a family argument with a much loved person has knocked me a bit, so I just want to get tomorrow all done.
Today I have someone coming to check our wooden floor, we are having problems with the flooring raising, we have trimmed it twice but it just won't lay flat, our joiner is not happy just to keep cutting bits off, so the manufactures are sending someone to see if the floor has a fault. I hope to have that sorted soon, it's very strange to have a large bump in the middle of your sitting room floor, Grace our cat hates it and won't go near it.

Hope you are all well and happy and enjoying your Autumn or Spring, where ever you are.

Is it really October

Today we have spent in our garden, me directing Kev which jobs to do, his first task was to dig out the shrubs in the front corner garden, we cut them back in the spring but they still took over, so they had to go. After Kev had removed all the plants he replaced the stones and we have planted two new shrubs, also some daffodil and bluebell bulbs, we then covered the whole area with bark to keep the cats off and slow down any weeds.

Our magnolia tree in the back garden has five new buds on, it has flowered all through the summer months, so therefore I as my question, is it really October, because else where in the garden my flowers are still in full bloom, it feels like early September here.

Saliva and marigolds still going strong.

Fuchsia is blooming, I have now planted this in our front garden.

The following flowers from the back boarder, which I dig out in the spring.

The day has been very warm and we did enjoy our time together in the garden, but one question, why did to seam such a good idea to buy so many spring bulbs to plant, we both have a bit of a back ache here. Kev is now on his second cold beer, which he has earned, me I am settling for a glass of cold water.

This week on the 16th we will have been in our house for one year, I am so pleased every thing inside is finished, nothing like a daughters wedding for a dead line, and now the garden is all up together. The larger front corner plot has disappointed me all summer.

A bit of every thing!

I have been busy for the past couple of days, enjoying doing small projects. My kits I brought off the net have not yet arrived, so I thought I would get a couple christmas ones done.

I love both these designs, and have stitched them before,
I have a large stash of magazines with loads of patterns.

Below are my knitted christmas puddings, I have been making these for over 20 years, all I have to do is add felt holly and some red beads, we used to make these when the girls were at school to sell to raise funds for the school.

I have made my first kitten, I did all the sewing by hand, I should have put more stuffing in her, but it's good for the first attempt, the pattern came from a Japanese book with only photo's for instructions. I have loads of different coloured felts to make some more, I also want to make some puppies. I have an idea for christmas.

I have also done loads more on my christmas cards, I just have the insides to do. I am busy catching up, I have my 5th chemo next Tuesday and I know after that I won't be able to do much.

I am also playing with Somerset Patchwork, in pale colours, not sure if anything will come of it, but you will have to wait and see.

Tomorrow I am going to tidy my dolls house, when we moved it last month, it got a bit messed up, so tomorrow I will sort each room and put it tidy.

Make it Monday

Today is a crafting day,

I have finished stitching my Union Jack heart, and I have managed to pull all the waste canvas away, so the heart is now on the linen cushion front, later I will draw the letters L,V&E. I am going to use an interfacing to attach the letters to the linen, I will then blanket stitch around each one. I am able to show this on here, Su my daughter is not a blogger.

I am very pleased with this heart, it's the biggest project I have done on waste canvas,
I have also managed to keep the stitching very neat.

I have also made the cushion for my stitched front, it took a few tries to choose the fabric colour, I do have two shades of pink, but they did not look right. I have chosen this green, it is a colour in the patchwork quilt on the spare bed, and there is a small amount of green in one pattern block. I think it looks neat, I have to purchase a green zip for the bottom, but that will be at the weekend.

I did simple corners, letting the cross stitch speak out.

I'm pleased it looks so neat,
I will be a shame for it to be placed on our spare bed,
and not some where it can be seen by every one.

I now have the option of stitching the word "HOME" on two pieces of linen for another project or doing a quick Christmas project. I have seen a kit by Valerie Pfeiffer, Christmas Chick, but I would have to buy it online so it won't be here for a few days. I did get Cross Stitch Christmas Favourites magazine, and have a couple of things in there I like.

Another wet Sunday

This week I have been cross stitching Su's cushion front she has requested for a Christmas present, It's a take on the Love cushion, I could not afford to buy the kit at £85.00 and as there are so many cheap copies in the shops I thought I would do my own. It has been slow work to ensure the stitches are very neat.

The cushion has the word Love on the front, I am stitching the "O" as a Union Jack heart, I choose the two colours of the felt for the letters and then matched the threads, which all will go well with Su's colour scheme. After I have stitched the heart I will pull the canvas away leaving the stitching on the linen cushion front.

In this photo I have the little test heart I made to ensure my pattern looked good once stitched.

After giving my sewing machine a service, I was able to make this heart into a decoration for my Christmas tree. I have also been knitting Christmas pudding decorations for the tree, I hope to have loads to show you next time and if you like I will give you the knitting pattern.

Below, not a good photo is another free orchid, after the flowers this one had died down, it looked a bit ropey so I put in in the garden and left it to nature, and now I have loads of buds and a couple of flowers, so it sits on my desk.

I am still a bit slow and tired, but I have had loads of fun with friend in the past couple of days, they are very good and plan things for the week when I am at my best. We are going to visit Fliss, Steve and Joshy this afternoon. The rain here has been heavy for the past three days, and it's got a bit colder, so I don't want to go out in it much. We did get to a farmers market yesterday, which was fun. I want to push on with the Union Jack heart and finish that today if I can.