Monday 8 February 2010

Something Old, Something New and Something Blue

Unfortunately there isn't a single wedding in sight, despite the title of this post.... but keep on reading to find out what it does actually refer to. :0)

First up is the something old: it was update time on the Weekly SAL blog on Sunday so it's time to bore you with yet another pic of my progress on that. Persevere though, as there's more to see after this. LOL


This time around I filled in a little more of the background area to the right of her arm, knocked off a few more of those confetti stitches in various places and made a start on Her dress. I am so glad I joined the ladies over at the SAL blog with this piece as it's really helping to keep me focused. :0)

As promised in my last post I have something new to show you. Well, actually, a couple of new things, thanks to a new start, an enabling JA/S&S Forum member and a little stash acquisition. :0) First up is the new start of A Bouquet for Cheryl:


Unfortunately I had to take a pic of this on one of the many dull, grey days we've been having lately..... and the digicam objects to taking close ups too. I'm quite pleased with how this is taking shape. The Thai silk is lovely to use and the colours in the variegation work nicely. I worked on this exclusively last night (Sunday) whilst watching Larkrise to Candleford and the Seven Ages of Britain and an episode of the new series of CSI Vegas. Yep, I got a serious case of Stitch Ass! LOL I made quite a bit of progress but the next reveal isn't until the beginning of March so I'm afraid you'll have to wait until then to see it. Sorry!

The new stash acquisition, which arrived last week, was a rather gorgeous piece of fabric from Sparklies called Pumpkin Patch.... so apt, considering the design I'll be using it for:


I haven't yet got the required thread for this so it won't be a new start just yet. I think it calls for WDW but I've spotted another one of those Thai silk threads that might just do the job instead..... am saving a few pennies so I can have a splurge. Well I don't want to go buying just one skein of thread when I can get several for the same amount of postage, now do I? Being a typical Yorkshire lass I do like to make sure I get full value for my money. ROFL

DH and I went shopping on Sunday, once again descending on the Edinburgh Woollen Mills shop within Brigg Garden Centre. This time I came away with two zip-up cardigans (can be used as a lightweight jacket on warmer Spring/Autumn days or cooler Summer evenings), two one-button cardigans (dress up or down type), a dressing gown and for Summer: two denim-look cotton blouses with pretty flower embroideries on them and denim-look cotton trousers. I'm all set for woollies now, so I can now Charity bag the last of the too-big ones left in my wardrobe. Yay! DH treated himself to a DVD and a CD. Whilst we were walking back through the Garden Centre I spotted some Paper Mania BOGOF bargains in the craft section:


As you can see they were just too pretty to resist. LOL I thought they would make great finishing trims for ornies...... so now I just need to stitch ones in appropriate colourways. :0)

And the something blue of the title? Well it isn't any rude jokes or links to porn sites, in case you were beginning to wonder ROFL. It's the stash for yet another new SAL I've joined. Yes, you read that right: another SAL I've joined. I'm not taking full blame for this though...... if Julia hadn't posted a progress picture of her completed first three parts of this gorgeous blackwork piece on JA/S&S Forum and her blog then I would have remained blissfully ignorant and just carried on plugging away at the same old pieces. But she did, along with a link to the Seba site.... so I went along for a nosey (as you do) and ended up joining the site and downloading the parts.... and a couple of other freebies. Of course, once I printed out the charts it led me on to thinking about what colour scheme I'd like to do it in........ which led on to delving in my stash for fabric and threads........ which resulted in this combination:


Another gorgeous variegated Thai silk and a DMC threads and 32ct Zweigart Vintage Blue fabric. The only thing that has stopped me from making a start on this is the indecision on which way round to use the threads: plain for the cross stitch borders of the blocks and Thai silk for the blackwork infill or vice versa????? Maybe I'll just toss a coin. LOL

I had hoped to be able to post a pic of DS's new wheels.... but it didn't stay in the drive long enough in the daytime over the weekend for me to take one. Hopefully next time.

So what else did we get up to over the weekend? Not a great lot. We stayed in Saturday and DH did a little more to the flooring while I did a few jobs and did some catching up with blogs on my reader (still some ways to go with that - I will get round to you all soon!) and some stitching. Sunday was the shopping trip in the morning. In the afternoon DH had a theatre tech meeting to go to for a couple of hours so I chilled with some more blog reading after putting some scrag end lamb chops in the oven to slowly braise, ready for our evening meal. Our evening meal was followed by that serious Stitch Ass session whilst DH laid the first two lengths of edging strip on the flooring. He's not as keen on Larkrise as I am, can you tell? LOL

Today (Monday) has been my regular jobs day and I was pleasantly surprised to realise that my stamina/energy levels have improved some: I managed to do all my jobs and two lots of laundry, then also vaccumed upstairs and the stairs plus made a start on sorting out the pantry (cupboard under the stairs) by binning some tatty old containers and washing a shed load of decent ones. I'd forgotten I'd got some of those storage containers so it was a voyage of discovery..... and there are a few there that will come in real useful for cardmaking stash storage. Score! I'm putting them to one side, ready for when the Craft Room is (finally!) finished and I start organising things as they go in there. If I'm not too tired tomorrow I shall finish washing the rest of the stuff that's still on the slab, wipe it all down and put a few of the bits back - then the rest of the shelves will be tackled later in the week. Slowly but surely this house is being decluttered, cleaned and organised. Yay!

Thank you for taking the time to visit and especially for the lovely comments you leave. Hope you are all having a good and productive time whatever you are doing. :0)

15 comments:

Jane said...

Pretty colours you've chosen for the new SAL, look forward to seeing how it turns out. Enjoy your sort out

Barb said...

Busy Busy Busy apart from Sunday eh Karan. ME is really coming along nicely. Love the new start,and Where do you get the Thai silk? I looked at Sparklies fabbys yesterday, but never used them and I do like my Sassys but it means postage etc from US.
Looks like the grand opening of the craft room is looming Karan ,are we all invited lol.Hugs

Julie said...

Bouquet is loking lovely, great pumpkin fabric for that design.

Putting in my twopennorth *as gran would say* i dont think you will see the varigation so much if you use the silk for the blackwork, perhaps be better to use if for fuller crosses to get maximum impact.

Nice to hear your stamina levels are improving, must mean you are almost back to normal :0)

Christine said...

Mother Earth is really starting to grow!
Great stash, specially all the little trimming bits

jane said...

I like the colours you have chosen for the SAL - I agree with Julie about the threads though. Lovely progress on ME too and Bouquet for Cheryl looks as though it will be lovely. I'm another one who hasn't used Sparklies fabric - I'm a Polstitches girl - but I do keep meaing to gve it a try. I met the lady at a show once but for some reason didn't purchase any ( not liek me..lol)
Looking forward to seeing the craft room now that it is nearing completion

Daffycat said...

Oooo, I'm all excited to see you start that Halloween stitch, Karan!

Hazel said...

Your wips are looking great. I have stitched the Cheryl's Bouquet before but I have to say I love your colours. So many pretties here Karan. x

Mylene said...

Great start on Cheryl's Bouquet and Mother Earth is looking gorgeous.

Siobhán said...

Great stash--I love the colors you've chosen!

Sally said...

Wow ME is looking fantastic Karan. I really admire your perseverence with her. Love the new start too.

Dani - tkdchick said...

Karan, your BAP is slowly coming along, keep plugging away at it!!!

Lovely new start!

Chris said...

Thank you for your encouraging words I think I am in one of those doldrums that comes from too much time in side! All this cold weather and snow, while pretty from inside, is a bit of a pain to go out in. But then on a brighter note gives us all much more stitching time!!
I love the blue fabbie and floss for your new start another SAL, Well why not!
Happy stitching
Chris x

Virpi said...

Hyvää ystävänpäivää!

Stitcher said...

I love that garden centre, glad you found some bargains. I'm looking forward to your new SAL. i went and joined up too.

DUSTY said...

Karan, I love the blues for your new project. It will definitely be gorgeous. That Thai Silk is lovely. Sounds like you have been busy. If you want you can come across the pond and work on my house too. I keep saying I am going to get more organized but there never seems to be enough time with all that is going on. I am glad I found your blog and will be back to visit again. Take care and have a nice day.
Dusty