A finish, a WIP and a review

I have finished stitching the heart for daughter Su, the charm says "made with love", I have loads of them. I have the backing fabric and the twisted hanging strap in the photo, it's going to match her bedroom. Not normally the colours I would use but fun to do.

I have started my Thomas the Tank Engine on my family sampler, I have used the pattern Fliss my daughter lent to me, she had used it here and made a cushion for Josh's bed, he chose who he wanted on his cushion, mummy was very clever and drew some of the people when she could not get patterns.

For the past couple of weeks I have been using the Q-Snap frames, you wrap the edge of you work around the frames, snap on a cover and the twist tight. From the moment I saw them I loved the idea, I purchased two, 17" and 11" square, and love them both, I have given away my wooden frames, I still have a few hoops, mainly for smaller projects. Another benifit is, I am holding the clip part of the frame and keeping the fabric cleaner.

Not many plans here, the weather is dull and breezy, it won't be a surprise if it rains again, I have a sick hubby in bed, he has a tummy bug. So it's a stay at home day, I am expecting 2 parcels for Su.

I want to do a bit more today to Winter Watergardens, I hope to do loads to the reed beds, and stitch more Thomas tonight, I have a motorbike for the other side of the block, so it's got a bit of a transport theme, not sure what I will put in the middle of them.

Repeats, repeats.

I have finished my second tiger skin rug, the first one I stitched is on it's way to Spain, to the winner of my Somerset House, blog giveaway, the smaller one is now placed in the study of my house. I don't think I want to stitch another one for a while.

Speaking of repeats, I am getting on well the another ABC heart, this one is for my daughter Su, she has chosen the colours for her bed room, I hope to finish it later today.

Whilst I am stitching for Su, I am dreaming of Winter Watergarden, which is next on my rotation, I am behind on this project, I am working on phase 2 and phase 4 is due out soon. I am enjoying having a rotation of work, normally I work on just one big project, and pop in a small stiching. I have decided on what to stitch on my family sampler next, just have to get a couple of threads.

It's colder this morning and it has rained, we are due rain for the next couple of days, my garden will love the water, but it keeps me inside!

Today I have to sort my spare bedroom after our weekend visitors and I have some dreaded ironing to do, but my plan is to do it this morning and then stitch this after noon.

Both daughters are popping in this evening to do some craft, it's our first night in ages, so there will be more talking than sewing.

Cake, family and flowers

I have been busy, we have had family all weekend and had great fun, so I have baked ginger cake, apple cake, Lemon meringue and jam tarts with a sponge top. They did taste as good as they looked! as most of them are gone.

Latest grandson Logan enjoyed looking at Grancha's motor bike,
he's not yet old enough to go for a ride, but he enjoyed the shinny bits on it.

My daffs are still out and now we have a flash of red with the tulips,
I am enjoying the sun shine in our garden.

We are home alone, some are traveling back to Somerset, Fliss is at home with her boys and Su and Gav have just gone back to their flat.

I am going to finish my second tigerskin rug this afternoon. I was sent patterns for Thomas the Tank engine and also Fliss found her pattern, so I need to look at my family sampler and see which one will fit on best. Thanks to everyone who helped me, you know who you are, I love blog land we always look after each other.

Our clocks went back last night, so from now on we get an extra hour of daylight.
Now I'm off to stitch in the warm sun.

Little Birds

I have almost finished my second tiger, but as the weather is so sunny and warm I am in my garden alot, I love being outside. My spring bulbs are in full bloom,yellows and blues, and the pink bloom of the magnolia tree.

I have been shopping on Amazon, I love craft books, I want to do more types of stitching, I do love cross stitch, but I see so much on your blogs, I just want to have a go.

The projects in this book is a collection from different designers

Over different types of stitching

For all children, even up to my age.

I have a couple of cushions to make next week, I have a friend who has asked me to do some work for her, she is mixing new curtains with her existing quilt, in her master bedroom, so two cushions for her bed is required. I have to make a pink heart cushion for Shannon, I have done most of the hand stitching on this, and I have to make up my hearts cushion.

Above is a pot of spring, this is beside my back door, it greets us each time we come home.

We have Kev's son and daughter and their partners down for the weekend, plus baby Logan, so with both Fliss and Su and their hubbies, Josh and Sammy, it's going to be a busy weekend, but loads of fun. Who knows we may have our 1st BBQ of the year, but the weather is fore caste not to be so warm.

I hope you spend time with the ones you love
doing things to make you all smile.
Have a great weekend.
Thanks for popping in.

It's got legs

I have done loads to my tiger, and as my title says he now has legs, I have just the pale sides and infilling to do. I wanted this to be finished by Monday, it's just a bit smaller than the first one I stitched, but will look good in it's setting.

I have added two butterflies to my Lizzie*Kate ABC, in my family sampler, I think they look good, I have now packed this away for a while, I really need a small Thomas the Tank Engine pattern, I am going to search the net, can't let Josh down.

I have been adding to my stash, not my stitching stash, but another passion, candles, for years I burnt any candle I could buy, now I am a committed Joe Malone fan, her website is here But I have gone away from my favourite, Lime, Basil and Mandarin, and have purchased Wild Fig and Cassis, English pear and Freesia, also an Aveda candle, another nice scent.
It's fore caste another warm and sunny day, the sun is here, bit early for warmth. I have to stay in this morning waiting for parcel's. I am going to make pizza, I have a friend coming for lunch. I also have a couple of plants to put into the garden, I have been swapping plants with friends,

Bird house? thats not a bird!

I have almost finished the centre of my family sampler, I have done all the Lizzie*Kate letters, I have used two of her flowers, and added numbers. I have found a couple of butterflies to put in two squares, and I'm looking for a ladybird as well.

It looks good in the middle, I can't decide if I should put the green border around the letters, it was always my plan to do this. I think I will leave it a while before I decide.

What do you call a bird house with a squirrel in?, this cheeky thing visit's most days, and raids the nuts hanging below, he does not run away when we first go into the garden, he will wait until he thinks we are to close and then bolts.

It's started off nice this morning and the fore caste for the day is sunny, I'm having a day at home, I ache this morning and I'm taking it easy, I hope to do some more stitching this afternoon. I want to finish the last few squares on the sampler, then I shall pack it away for a while, I have another ABC heart to do, Su my daughter has requested one for her bedroom. So this week I plan to stitch hearts and tigers.

Sunny Saturday Afternoon

I have done some more to my family sampler, I love the design on this piece, I have also decided in the lower gaps to have numbers tumbling down to the bottom, ending in a pile. I should finish this section later toady.

The sun shine is very warm today, Kev and I spend the morning working in the garden, we have cleaned the decking and placed all our wooden furniture, we are now ready for the better weather. Below is a group of photo's showing the back garden at this time. It's still a bit early for planting seeds, but give it a couple of weeks. Our next plan is the lawn, we hope to have turf laid by the end of the month.

I have purchased my stitching magazine, and the chart below was in it, I will never stitch this, but if there is anyone who would like this large chart, 25" x 21", using DMC or Anchor threads, just leave a note on this post with your e-mail address, and I will post it to you.

It's the final day for the six nations rugby, we have three matches to watch, great for Kev and plenty of stitching time for me.

Stitching and Stash

I'm stitching on my family sampler, I brought a Lizzie*Kate sampler, which I felt was perfect for the centre of this stitching, the "N" is the centre of the work, she has put lots of little images in the design, but for the moment I am not stitching them, I hope to fill those spaces with relevant images. I will also use her boxes on the side bars, I can put our grandchildren's names in.

I am almost half way through my second tiger, it's harder work than the first one, the holes are much smaller, but I am still using two strands, it gets very tight in the middle.

I have added to my stash, this is not a dust collector, I will hope to stitch it later this year, but I will do it on 25dpi, linen, there is alot of back stitch, so I will be muttering the whole time.
I am sitting here listening to Take That, I was not a fan on their first time around, but since they have reformed, I love their work, I have ironing and housework to do, but that can wait, drinking strong black coffee and munching on the last bit of bread pudding, Bliss.
We have no plans for the weekend, my younger brother is in hospital, he is poorly with liver and kidney problems. So I am hanging by the phone, my family are 100 miles away, but my younger sister is looking after him, and keeping in contact via the phone.

More stitching and cake

My second Tiger skin rug is coming along well,
I am stitching it on a smaller canvas, so it will be a better size for my room.

I am settled here to read every one's blog, I have my coffee and a slice of bread pudding, the house is empty, even Grace is out. We are having another sunny day, I can't remember the last time we had rain, the spring flowers are in full bloom. Why is it when the spring sun shines, we have to tidy, last week Ispent 3 days cleaning a clean house!

Yesterday was fun with Fliss and the boys, Sammy rolled on his tummy for the first time, which sent Fliss into a heavenly flap, phoning daddy, he only did it the once. Josh is on a school trip to Winchester today, we will hear about his day tonight.

Sunny Monday Morning

It's another sunny but cold day here, Scotland had loads of snow over the weekend, but here in the south it's been dry. I thought I would share my daffodils with you, these I have planted in our back garden, last spring we only had two come up. I have them in both my front and back gardens, spring is fighting through.


I have almost finished the 1st part of Winter Watergarden, I have just the larger beads to add, I am thinking to leave them to later, so I don't catch any of them. This has been a joy to stitch, I know from comments on other blogs, the next two stages have their own challenges, but I'm up for it. I am going to sew my Tiger Skin for a couple of days, I want to have mine finished before I sent the first one made to the winner of my giveaway, on my other blog, pop here if you are interested.
Last but not least, Kev has been baking, he is a good cook, yesterday he made bread pudding, using stale bread, fruit and spices, it's reminds me of my childhood, my mum always made bread pudding for us.The only difference is, we had to buy bread to let it go stale, mum made it to use up old bread. I have had one slice with my coffee and it tasted great. My problem is I could eat it all!
Nothing planned for this week, I will spend tomorrow with Fliss and the boys, Friday I have a hospital check up. So I hope to spend time sewing, bliss.

Leftovers anyone?

I have done more on Winter Watergarden, I'm not sure if I should show each couple of days or wait until I have done one section, I have changed a couple of small things on here, I don't like to do back stitch in black, so I have used a navy thread. I am not stitching anything else at the mo, I am playing catch up on this.

I brought this Lizzie Kate chart, I want to use it in my family sampler, I love the boxes and it will complement my design. I have also brought a couple more sparkly threads, for no reason than I like the colours.

We had a fantastic time last night, and our fridge is full of left overs, so our girls will pop in later. It was nice to sit and chat all night, we spent alot of time talking about our Christmas's whilst children, some brilliant stories came out. Having good friends and feeling so relaxed with them, where ever we are is a joy to my heart.

What to say about the horror's in Japan, with a boat and train full of people swept away and a whole town washed away, the coastal areas gone,the nuclear problem forming, the pictures shown on TV, our thoughts are with everyone there, it's just a horror story.

Let's snap together

I went to the sorting office to get my parcels, boy was I pleased, I have two nice pieces of 32 dpi linen in white and cream, rolled so there are not creases, and the Q-snap frames.

So I ripped open the frame pack and put them together and added my work. I have two frame sizes, 17" x 17" and 11" x 11", I have put Winter Watergarden on the big frame, It holds the work very well, and no stitching to the frames. My poor wooden frames which has given me years of good service has been tossed aside, but I still have my family sampler on a wooden frame, I saw no reason to remove it.

Last night I stitched Winter Watergarden, the frames are great to work with, I normally have a rectangle, but this is square, so for the first time I had to mark the top of my work.
I am very pleased with my work so far, I have added some beads and I'm using a glitter thread, Treasure Braid, Petite, these will be on my need to have stash list. They sew so much better than any glitter threads I have used before, they are neither bulky and do not catch as you are sewing. I am very pleased with my progress so far.

Today is a busy day, with friends we have a home cooked meal once a month at each other's houses and tomorrow is our turn to cook, so Kev and I are cooking for 6 people, it will be a 4 course meal, Kev does most of the cooking, my job is two of the dessert's and the table. we are having,

Country Vegetable soup
Carrot and Coriander soup
*****
Beef Wellington
Salmon Wellington
Rosti potatoes
Carrots and Peas
Roast parsnips
Broccoli
*****
Trio of deserts on one plate, Cream Carmel, Champagne Jelly, fresh fruit salad
French Apple Tart
Lemon Meringue Pie
*****
Cheese and Biscuits
*****
Coffee and mints

We have one vegeterian, so we are playing safe with the soups, and we know she loves salmon, it is always a long chatty night, with loads of fun.

Sunday will be a day of rest, after a late night, I hope to get more stithing done.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope you have loads of fun.

I have found a very good site in UK, for any of the items above and loads more, http://www.sewandso.co.uk/

Going Blue, two new starts

I have made a start on Winter Watergarden, I am stitching on 32dpi linen as shown in the design, I have to stitch over two stitches, I have never done this before, normally I would scale the design down and make it half the size, but this has beads on, so I am doing as the pattern tells me. I love the shades of blue, it's not a colour I use alot. The balance of this pattern makes it easy to stitch.

I went to see Fliss and the boys yesterday,
I started another project, can you guess what it is ?

I had a parcel in the post, the three packets below I brought off e-bay, they were a bargain, I love green backgrounds, and have a project in mind for the darker green, but that's later this year.
Yesterday when I was out the post man called and left a card, I have two parcels waiting for collection at the sorting office, one will be my q-snap frame, not sure what the other will be. I am going to collect them later.

The new project above is my second Tigerskin rug, I have done the marking on the head. I do like to take stitching with me, but larger projects I leave at home. I have not done any more to family sampler, I am looking for a Thomas the Tank Engine pattern small enough to go it, Josh asked me if I could sew one there for him. As for sleeping cat's that's on the back burner for now.

Two finishes

It's been a good stitching weekend, two finishes, my heart looks good, I have added a few buttons, which were not on the pattern, all I have to do now is make it into a heart padded hanger. I will get my sewing machine out later this week. I have been asked where I found this pattern, it was on a freebee site, but I have looked and can't find it again to link here.

I am very pleased with my Tiger skin rug, I used Gold-Zack, Fray Check on the edge of my stitching before cutting it out, it does look very good in my doll's house, but I have decided to use it in a giveaway on my other blog site please pop over.

Now I have got all the bits together for Winter Watergarden, but I will also start another tigerskin.
I have also located a company in England who will supply the plastic stitching frames, Siesta Frame's so mine is on it's way to me. I have also got my threads delivered to my old house, the owners son was very helpful. I have also brought some new fabric for stitching. So I can't wait for the postman to come this week.
We had a good weekend, Josh showed us how good he was at bowling on our Wii, Sammy had loads of smiles for grancha, and both Fliss and Steve looked well.

Cravendale - Cats with Thumbs

Please, please watch this

Ade Edmondson does "The Dying Swan" - Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2011 ...

This is another good dance,
Ade tried very hard,
as for Rick, what can I say, it's just the way he is.

They have not done a routine like this for over 8 years and the first hit, met it's target and Ade had a nice bruise forming, all for fun!!

Hearts and a red face

I am very pleased with my hearts, I am not stitching all the little hearts, I thought it would be fun to sew on heart buttons. I will sew this into a heart shaped hanging and put it with my other four heart hangings I have made. The Aider is pink, which suits the silk colours.As for my red face, I have sorted why my threads have not arrived, I did not notice Paypal had our old address on, I used Kev's paypal at the time, my card was out of date ( new one lost in the post!), and I skipped through, not realising he had our old address on. The people who brought our old place, still live in Liverpool and won't be down before Easter, so my stash is trapped in their house. Today I ordered another lot, I know I will use them. Roll on Wednesday, I should have them, then I can finish my Tiger skin rug.

The sunshine this week has been wonderful, it's still very cold, but don't you love it when the sun comes out to play. My garden is full of crocus, the daffodils are still in bud, and the Magnolia tree buds are about to bloom. Martin my brother is now back at home.
I had a great day with Fliss and Sammy, Sammy wanted to play with his Nanna all yesterday, and did not want to be much with mummy. I had good news with my eye test, my eyesight is the same as two years ago, and I did not need new glasses, I'm pleased but I would have liked new frames, but I do still love the ones I am wearing now.

We have no plans for this weekend, just home, both girls will pop in, so we should see Josh on Sunday. I am going to Hobbycraft later today, I wish I could find a nice local stitching shop, we have a couple but none of them inspire, Hobbycraft is great but so expensive.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

TUSAL Feb

It's full moon time again, and here my jars!

I have done loads last month, used loads of colours, which make the small monthly pot full of colour, Fliss gave me the round pot, it has a lid and I love it and it's perfect for my ORT pot.
I am still stitching the hearts, please keep your fingers crossed my threads come today, I have decided I will finish the Tiger skin rug this weekend. On Monday I have a day in, Kev will be back at work, so I will start Winter Watergarden then, well it's a plan.

Yesterday we went to see the movie "Paul", about an alien on earth, staring Simon Pegg, it was hilarious, really fun, a bit naughty, but the script was so good, I suggest if you can go and see it.

I'm off to see Fliss and Sammy for the morning and have a eye test this afternoon, so a busy day.

Almost there

I got fed up with waiting for the postman to deliver parcels, so I have started a quickie, I am stitching loads of hearts which will finish in a large heart shape, another one to hang on my wall.

Today the postman has been, and he delivered two things, all my threads and beads for Winter Watergarden, don't they look great, so many beautiful colours and tiny beads. I brought them from European Crosstitch Company, it's a great way to collect all I needed, I just have to add the DMC colours from my stash
And the latest Just Cross stitch magazine, I am going to get a nice mug or coffee and sit in the sunshine later and read it.

I still have not received the DMC threads I ordered last week, I am very disappointed and have chased the lady sending them to me, I still can't finish the Tiger skin rug.
My dilemma now is, should I finish the hearts, and hope the threads come tomorrow and finish the Tiger skin rug, or should I start Winter Watergarden, I know if I do not finish the other two, it will be ages before I get back to them.

Hummmm it's difficult , watch this space and I will let you know.

I'm still waiting

This afternoon we walked along a local beach at West Wittering, this is one of the few sandy beaches we have in our area, it was cold, but loads of fun.

It looks like summer, and with so few people out, it was a pure delight to walk.

With regards to my title, I have done very little stitching,
I am waiting for two parcels to come, both with threads for projects.

• Winter Watergarden, I have seen lovely work on other blogs of the first two parts, I can't wait to get started, today the third part has been released, I am so behind with this.
• I am also waiting for the DMC, threads I ordered, they were promised for today, it is very frustrating, I can't finish tigerskin, or start anything else.
• I have seen the Q snap frame, which I would like to use, they are not sold in UK, and if I purchase one from USA, the import taxes almost double the price, I have e-mailed the company, but they have not yet answered.

So I am frustrated, to say the least.

I have not stitched sleeping cats or family sampler, with my brother visiting, I can't find any quiet time, oh well, he will be home soon and then I can stitch away.