Update, Reveal and an Unveiling

Another Sunday has gone by, more stitching done and another update posted on the 2010 Weekly SAL Blog.... so yes, that means yet another pic of Mother Earth to show:

This time I finished the bottom corner, to the right of the tree trunk, which means a whole page has been completed. Yay! I also made a start on infilling the background above the area where the stray thread is attached. I'm afraid it's going to be nothing but background infill of those trees for a while yet, so brace yourselves. LOL DH worked a second night shift last night (Sunday) so I've since got even more of it stitched.... those after 2am bedtimes are starting to get to me though. Thank goodness he doesn't have to work nights regular.... I think it would probably finish me off. Probably DH too. LOL

It was Reveal Day for the February Monthly Challenge over at JA/S&S Forum on Sunday too, so I can now show you what I stitched and finished for that:

Designer: Primitive Betty's

Design: Valentine, internet freebie

Fabric: 28ct evenweave, unknown make

Threads: DMC 310; 326 - stitched 1 over 1

Finish: Valentine's Day card

I turned the finished piece into a card for my DH and he seemed to like it. I love to see the varied finishes for the same design and if you would also like to you can see everyone's pieces here. Some more finishing ideas to pinch for future reference. LOL ;0)

With DH working nights there hasn't been a great lot of anything been done here, apart from my usual jobs. We did go out on the Great Car Hunt again and more makes of car have been crossed off my list, leaving a very small list of ones that I do like and would feel happy to drive. Nothing has really taken my fancy yet.... but there are a few more weekends to go before the scrappage scheme ends, so there's time yet. :0)

Nothing more done to the Craft Room.......... but I thought, as I don't want anyone to start foaming at the mouth in frustration (yes, you Barb ROFL), I'd finally stop the suspense and show a few pics of where things are at at the moment. This is a view of the finished laminate flooring and the rug I scored at our local market:

Then this is the view of the corner where the computer table is. This is where it will be staying, as it will allow me to nosey out of the window at the world going by. ;0) You can also see the new nets and one of the curtains, complete with tie-back:

It was a bright day, so it made taking pics of the window a  real pain - that was the best one I got. Here's a better view of the computer table, in situ:

Ignore the bits in the bottom left corner... DH hadn't tidied his tools and things away at this point.... and I was too impatient to wait anymore to take the pics. LOL The two small shelves to the left and in the middle of the desk both slide out. I now have to find a comfortable seat to go in there, instead of the one I'm currently using - DH thinks the castors on a proper computer chair will damage the laminate, so we're on the look out for a rotating chair on legs, iykwim.

Here's a view of the pieces I currently have sat on the windowsill, with a better view of the pattern on the nets:

The little stand up picture was something I spotted at one of the local garden centres and thought it was perfect for my room and DH did too, as he bought it for me. In case you can't make it out, the saying is: Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away. :0)  And the Healing Crystal Angel that my DSis gave me for Christmas is temporarily homed there - much nicer to be watching over things from there, than cooped up in a box. :0)

There's still quite a bit to get organised yet but hopefully things will start to get back on track with it by the weekend... providing DH is back to normal working hours now, which depends on how things are going on the steelworks. Fingers crossed for problem free normality! LOL

Tomorrow I have an acupuncture treatment booked and then have my Development Circle in the evening. On Wednesday the plan is to go over to spend a few days at my DSis's again, as she is off work on a week's holiday, then be back some time over the weekend.... depending on when the chauffeur (DH) is available. Hopefully there'll be some stitchy updates to share when I'm back again.

And finally... the weather, although cold, was at least a little sunny and dry so I managed to spend a little time out in my garden today, pottering around. I can't tell you how good that felt! I thought I'd leave you with a couple of signs of Spring that I spotted whilst out there:

The little square of garden by the front door where those bright crocii bloom every year. So far the birds are leaving them alone. Then the dainty little snowdrops that are blooming in the back garden, close to the sun lounge wall.

Many thanks for taking the time to visit and for your kind comments. Hope you all had a gentle start to the week and are enjoying your own pretty signs of Spring. :0)

Reveal Day - April

Yes it's the back end of the month once more (where has the time gone?!) so it's Reveal Day for the Monthly Challenge over at JA/S&S Forum. Yay! Once again the album has lots of lovely pieces to see, with a variety of finishes and a gorgeous rainbow of colours - it's always such a pleasure to see them all and it's why I really look forward to the reveal. :0)

The choice this month was any design from the freebies available over at A Mon Ami Pierre. You may get a slight feeling of deja vu when you see which one I chose to stitch:

• Design: Heart Stitcher
• Designer: Dessin - A Mon Ami Pierre, internet freebie
• Fabric: 32ct Zweigart Murano - Ivory
• Thread: DMC 816
• Finish: a pinkeep

Yes, it goes with the floss tag which was sent off to a new home with Barb (no blog). I just had to stitch this piece again to go with it, as a thank you for the gorgeous scissor fob and thread she very kindly gave me....... it's lovely to know that Barb liked it and it's joined her growing collection of sewing accessories. :0)

The fabric shown in the pic is the one used to back the pinkeep........ slight deja vu again, as it's another one from the Leafy Glade Autumn Collection pack bought from The Cotton Patch.

Well this weekend has been every bit as busy as expected. Saturday we managed to go back to the kitchen showroom and speak to the designer. We had to have a rethink on the finish as we couldn't get the style we wanted in a wood-look finish but reckon the one we picked on Saturday will be much better. The designer took a copy of our kitchen plan and made notes of our preferences etc and will be doing a basic plan and quote which should be with us in around a weeks time, so that's starting to move forward. After that we drove home to drop the car off then popped down the street to do a few errands and get a bit of shopping done, then home to put it away and have dinner. We then got a few gardening jobs done, including mowing the lawn, to get them out of the way before the first of the predicted rain shows up.

Today (Sunday) we went to the Holistic Health Fair, as planned, and it's been a very good day but I shall write more about that on my other blog another time. Am quite tired tonight and need to get off to bed because we have another early start in the morning: it would have been my Dad's 76th birthday tomorrow, then Tuesday is the anniversary of his passing, so we are going over to Rosehill to lay some flowers. Unfortunately we won't be able to spend the rest of the day with my DSis as we have to be back because Virgin Media decided they were sending a techie round that afternoon to change the faulty set top box. We decided not to alter it, as who knows when they would get around to coming to do it if we did that........ and it was bad enough waiting a fortnight for them to bring the new modem!

Christine: many thanks for telling me the name of the butterfly, which was confirmed by Redwitch. In case anyone is wondering: it's a Speckled Wood butterfly........ yes, a decidedly unexciting name for something so pretty.

Thank you for visiting. Hope you all had as enjoyable a weekend as we had and that you have a good week ahead. :0)

Reveal Day

It's Reveal Day for the Monthly Challenge over at the JA/S&S Forum. I so love Reveal Day and looking through the album at all the lovely pieces all the participants have stitched and finished - really inspiring.

We were given quite a choice, as we could choose any of the Papillon Creations freebies. I chose the blackwork Celtic design and this is how I finished it:

Hearts and Flowers by Papillon Creations;

Fabric: Polstitches 32ct Stormy Skies;

Thread: Carrie's Creation Twinkle;

Finished as a hanging pinkeep.

Unfortunately this just wouldn't photograph crisply enough so I took a closer view, in the hopes it will show the detail a bit better:

On the back I used a cotton fabric from the Leafy Glade Autumn range that I bought some time ago from The Cotton Patch:

Round the edge I twisted a sparkly silver and a lavender ribbon together and pinned it with cream pins. This piece is so me, as there are many aspects behind the choices I made: it incorporates two of my needlework loves - blackwork and Celtic designs; the design greatly appeals to me as a Pagan, with it's four sides and four "corners" - the four directions; because it's an interwoven design it has no beginning and no end, so makes me think of the eternal cycle (life, death, rebirth); the Celts were a very Nature orientated peoples and their Druids/Druidesses worshipped in the open air, in sacred groves - which decided the choice of the leafy glade backing fabric - which also continues the Nature theme of the stylistic flowers in the design - and silver is sacred to the Goddess, hence the silver ribbon. The hearts need no explanation. :0) It's now on display in our living room, hanging on the wrought ironwork fire "guard" that you can see in two of the pics.

Enjoyed this Challenge and am now looking forward to seeing what Karen has in store for us next month. Thanks Karen. :0)

Meantime I have joined Elisa's Challenge for a Finish blog. Each month Elisa will nominate a finish for us to do which I thought would be a good way of making me try a style of finishing that I haven't done yet....... or that I've been avoiding doing because it's a bit more involved than I've fancied tackling. Like the JA/S&S Challenge, there's no pressure either: if you can't fit it in it's OK, which I think is pretty good, and was the final decider for me. February's Challenge is a redwork heart shape finish. The one I did last year for the JA/S&S Challenge was my first such finish and it was a bit of a steep learning curve which left me wanting to do another one - mostly in the hopes that something was actually learnt from it and that a better job would be made of it second time round....... but I never got around to it. So now's my chance. LOL I shall start looking for a suitable design on Monday as I've been busy with other things today and we're out visiting my DSis tomorrow.

Am hoping to do a catch up post next week with some pics of recent card makes, another NW update and a pic of the ornie finish for the JA/S&S Monthly Christmas Ornie SAL (though I reckon quite a few folks will have seen that already LOL). There isn't another SS update though: I just haven't managed to stitch on it again yet, unfortunately.

Thank you for all those lovely, kind comments and for taking the time to visit. Hope you're all enjoying the weekend. :0)

Ta Daaa.......

Yes, it's Reveal Day for the JA/S&S Monthly Challenge. This month's design was a freebie called Noel by Windy Willows and this is how I chose to make it up:

Stitched 1 over 1.
Fabric: unknown oddment of 28ct evenweave.

Thread: Carrie's Creation Plymouth Red.

For the back I used some fabric I bought from my LNS:

I used a gold edged burgundy organza ribbon for a ruched edge finish - another technique that was a first for me but which I'll certainly be using again some time, as I'm very pleased with how this turned out. There weren't as many finishes in the group album as I was expecting but those that were in there were lovely and there were some more finishing ideas to pinch. :0)

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month Karen has posted lots of links to freebies (and useful links) with this in mind, so the Challenge is an open one: we can choose, stitch and finish any one (or more) of the pink ribbon designs we want to - I've already chosen the one I want to stitch. I am hoping lots more of the S&S Forum members decide to join in with this one as I think it's a brilliant idea. My piece will be stitched with my SIL Helen and Aunty Doreen in mind........ unfortunately they were not survivors.

Last nights plans to tackle the second motif on the Ozark SAL didn't happen........ I got waylaid by the Online Needlework Show, spending quite some time browsing through all the booths. A pleasant way to spend an hour or so but I was a bit disappointed by the time I'd done, as I didn't really see anything that grabbed me enough to want to go and find a seller. :0( By the time I'd finished the browsing it was getting a bit late to start the motif so I did a bit more on the Halloween ornie instead. This one seems to be taking forever to stitch, for some reason, despite it not being that much bigger than the Fall piece I did - must be the colour changes slowing me down. LOL

Today was a pleasant day. The weather was nice, for a start, and I got a trip out of the house - unlike last weekend, when DH had to work.

DS was up and out and off to Brigg Farmers Market to stock us up on lots of tasty goodies. This week, as well as the usual items, he came home with some diabetic banana and walnut cake for DH to try (better for him than the other cake and scones he sneaks when he shouldn't) and some eel steaks to try. I'm happy to try the cake but not quite so sure about the eel, though I'm usually game to try most things at least once..... so long as they're legal. LOL At least it's not jellied eels - now those I definitely do draw the line at. Anything that looks like it's covered in snot does not appeal at all, thank you very much. Blech!

My trip out, with DH, was a walk down our local High Street. First stop was Il Sorriso for dinner: we had their home made beef and vegetable stew, which comes with a thick slice of bread and butter, and we also had a warm drink. As I'd finished reading my last book and had registered it on the Book Crossing site (see The Reading Corner Blog in the side bar for more details) I took it with me, to release it into the wild there. Got my fingers crossed that this one gets picked up quickly and starts travelling far and wide, as the previous book (Labyrinth by Kate Mosse) seems to be staying put in Chapel Stile. Maybe I should try some controlled releases with my next books, as that way I know they'll be read and passed on.

After dinner we popped into my LNS. I was after some finishing bits for the Halloween ornies - no pumpkin coloured cording in site but I still came away with some goodies that will be useful for other finishing jobs. Well, tell me: who on earth, in their right minds, can walk out of a LNS with empty hands? LMAO Next stop was the Help The Aged charity shop for a look-see at the book selection and I didn't come out of there empty-handed either:

I love Dave Eddings fantasy books and am gradually working towards collecting all of them. The middle book with the odd title I bought out of curiosity: I want to know what made it an award winner and if I would class it as a good read. The Candace Robb book is a medieval murder mystery and I usually enjoy the history/thriller mix. I've got quite a few non-fiction books waiting to be read, like those I bought earlier in the month, but do like to mix a good fiction read in there as well, otherwise it gets a bit heavy going, and these will do quite nicely.

We also called in at a couple of other shops for some bits and pieces and the chemists for DH's new meds (Elisa: they're the same tablets as yours but DH has to take these on top of the gliclazide he's already taking, as they weren't keeping his blood sugar levels down enough. Hopefully the combination will do the trick). After that we stopped off at the Malt Shovel for a cold drink (pint for him, J2O for me) and a rest before tackling the walk home - all that shopping and the warm weather was very drying. :0) DH was happy to sit and watch the Grand Prix qualifying when we got back - he'd taped it - while I was happy to settle in front of the computer.
No stitching again tonight as I've been blogging and blog reading/commenting, having a natter with my DSis, catching up with forums and generally pottering around - hope to make up for the lack tomorrow, after we've been iron shopping (Karen: nope, irons definitely don't bounce. Wonder if the Dyson bloke fancies a new challenge? LOL).

Many thanks for the kind comments about Sea Stars. Thank you for visiting. :0)

July Monthly Challenge Reveal

It was the Jayne's Attic/Stitch&Stasher Monthly Challenge Reveal Day yesterday (Sunday) and the album was open to view. What a visual feast again: another rainbow of different thread and fabric colours and lots of different finishes. There were a couple of finishes I hadn't seen before: a "pencil case" style bag for one and another member stitched other pieces and finished the whole as a cube-shaped hanging. It's always a fantastic source of inspiration and I love taking part. Many thanks to Karen and Julie.

So what was my finish this time around? Would you believe, yet another first - a tin finish:

Debbie Draper Designs: Love freebie;

Fabric: 28ct cream evenweave;

Thread: Carrie's Creations Grape Medley.

I used Mill Hill beads instead of the individual cross stitches in the border. I didn't have a suitable piece of fabric to cover the whole tin, so compromised by using ribbons and some funky fibre round the edges (yes, there's a bit of glittery stuff in the fibre):

To the right you can just see the ribbon that goes round the lid. I used some Kates Kloths hand dyed felt to line the inside of the lid, base inner and outside base:

Once again my digicam pics have come out a bit blurry but they give you a reasonable view of everything. It's far from perfect but it was another invaluable learning curve, so I hope to do better next time. Thanks again for the tins Julie. :0) Now looking forward to seeing what the choices for August will be - am hoping to take part, despite having our fortnight's holiday. How's that for keen? LOL

I got the Ozark SAL section completed, despite the frog visit, but shall save the pic of that until another time - got to save something to show you because the stitching has slowed right down, thanks to the hot weather. Yes, we are having something of a heat wave at the moment as the sun is still shining down on the UK and looks set to stay for another few days. The electric bill is going to be a horror this time around, thanks to rising prices and the extra used by the electric fans we have to keep running. So glad we're not on water meters: with all the extra cool showers we've all been taking that bill would have been a bad one as well. As we are off on holiday next Saturday what's the odds on that the weather breaks before then? LOL

We didn't do a great deal over the weekend, thanks to the hot weather. DH took the opportunity to paint sealant on the concrete that butts up to the sun lounge roof, in an effort to stop the rain leaching through every time it rains. DShad a trip to Brigg Farmers Market - although he was under strict instructions to only bring back as much as we can finish up this week. So it's our favourite cold smoked salmon and salad for tea tonight. :0)

Sunday we went to my DSis's, had dinner at The Servery then back to hers. Later in the afternoon, when it was marginally cooler, he helped sort out the wooden base struts under DSis's new shed so it sits flatter and is better supported. After our holiday we'll go back so he can make sure it's all screwed down properly and put some more wood round the windows to make sure the windows can't be popped out - then DSis can start transferring things over from the old shed.

Sunday DS had been to Castleton (Blue John Caves area in Derbyshire) for a walk with some of the more energetic LTC members. Good job he took the sun block....... and went in someone else's car! When he got back he was going to drive to a friends house but, when he started to reverse out of the drive, one of the something-or-other arms (real technical! LOL) broke on the front passenger side wheel - it wasn't going anywhere with the wheel at that angle, so he abandoned it and walked. When we got home DH had to get the car jack out to put it under the Mini to support the weight, to stop any further damage to it. He's had a trip to DC Cook's today to get a part for it. Guess what those two will be doing tonight? LOL

Today I got as many of my regular Monday jobs out of the way as I could before it got too hot - the hoovering can wait until it gets cooler. Alex will be here shortly and, as it's the school holidays, she's bringing Grace with her this time, so I'd better be off.

BTW, Dani: I love your blender approach to the flippin' frog. LMAO.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and a quiet start to the week - will catch up with all your news later. Thank you for visiting. :0)