Santa and Friends

No, not Santa and his friends, just in case you think I'm going dotty and having Yule/Christmas mega-early this year - that's Santa and the Friends SAL. :0)

As promised, here's a pic of the fully assembled plastic canvas Santa ornie:


That's another Yule ornament made, though he's a bit too big to go on the tree. He looked quite at home in the spot where I took the pic so he'll probably end up there when it's time to trim the house.

Boy, did I have a nice surprise last night! While DH was getting ready to go out to see his friend I grabbed the remote and channel flicked, prior to settling down with my stitching for the evening, and found: a programme about Brian Ferry and Roxy Music, followed by a televised gig from the 80's over on BBC4. WOW! Was I in Seventh Heaven or what - hardly noticed DH say goodbye on his way out! Had a fab couple of hours with great music, a nice bit of eye candy and a really lovely piece of stitching to do. Luckily the eye candy didn't have me drooling all over my stitching and, despite the big distraction, the frogs stayed well away. LOL Here's a pic of the finished Part 3:

Taken in artificial light again but it's not a bad pic for colour (on my screen anyway). This really is a nice piece to stitch, not just because I like the colours, but because if flows so well, IYKWIM. Looking forward to the next part coming out next week. :0)

DH was up and out to work first thing and has just come home for dinner at almost 2pm. He's off back at around 3.30pm but, as he's feeling fairly tired, we'll not be going anywhere or doing any jobs so he can have a bit of a rest. Am hoping he may decide to go back to work via Screwfix, so he can get the new light for the living room - at least it will then be to hand, ready to go up when he's got the time and does feel up to tackling a job. Thankfully Mr Italian is in a much happier frame of mind because steel is being cast and he can get on with the job he needs to do - dummy is now back in the pram!

DS was up and out fairly early too: he's doing jobs at the LTC Guild Room - something to do with speakers and cables and the like. I guess he'll be back when he's either hungry or needs to get ready to go out. LOL

Meantime I've been playing on the computer, catching up with forums etc, and gathering a couple of bits together to tackle the finishing on the Challenge piece - with immaculate timing DS emptied a box of tissues this morning, so I grabbed the back off that, ready to roll. I know what I want to achieve.......... let's just hope I can get it to actually look like the image in my head. :0)

Stitching plans for today are to get on with the next part of the Ozark SAL and, if that doesn't take too long, perhaps make a start on a Halloween ornie. Glad to say that the Ozark part isn't a choice between six bands this week - just two motifs to stitch and the only choice being which thread to use for which motif. Think I'll toss a coin. LOL

Hazel: would love to know which HAED piece it is that's got that many pages! Will be so impressed if you do ever stitch it. :0)

Thank you to one and all for taking the time to visit - hope you're all having a good weekend. :0)

More Holiday and Afterwards

Do you like the new header? It's a pic DS took whilst on his walk around the Langdale Pikes. He took it from the "path" that goes up between Harrison Stickle and Pavery Arch and it gives views of Stickle Tarn to the left, looking down Great Langdale Valley to Lake Windermere in the distance - Elterwater looks like a little puddle in front of it. Stunning view!

As there were quite a few long, soggy nights - and some days - to fill on our holiday I got a reasonable amount of reading done. I finished Big Chief Elizabeth by Giles Milton, which I enjoyed more than Nathaniel's Nutmeg (just me being true to form, as I love anything to do with the Tudors and especially the Elizabethan era). Next up came Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, another enjoyable one (thanks for the recommendation!). Finishing that had me finally joining the Book Crossing site, as I didn't want to cart it home with me (have you seen it? It's like a flippin' doorstop!), and the thought of launching it into the wild to see where it travelled really appealed. Once all the details were registered I was initially going to leave it in the Stickle Barn but then changed my mind and left it in the Brambles Cafe instead. So, if any of you are in the vicinity and you fancy a free read...... LOL.

By the time Labyrinth was finished we'd had the trip to Rheged and, as well as the cardmaking goodies from The Paper Shop:

I came away with a Pagan book and another one on the Pendle Witch Trials which became my next read.

It's quite a fascinating piece of social history that gives an insight into the prevailing mind sets and the religious upheavals at the time, both in Britain as a whole and particularly in that area, which gives a new slant on what led up to the trials and subsequent hangings. I finished that today, so have to decide what I fancy reading next - there's plenty of choice with all the books I bought from charity shops in May, plus what I also bought from Rheged and the 2 Ravens:

Remember all that holiday stitching I took with me? Well.......... in the end I didn't touch any of the ongoing projects at all *blush*
I did start on some early Yule/Christmas stitching though, does that redeem me any? LOL I started the plastic canvas Santa ornie kit and really got on with it the first week, then the knee pain kicked in and put me off everything, so progress seriously dackered off after that. Here's where I got to with it:

I picked it up again on Sunday night, whilst watching the Batman Begins DVD, and have done a bit more of the backstitching but not enough to make another pic worthwhile.

When I returned home there were two surprises waiting for me from stitching friends:

Helen had kindly offered to send me the chart of the AOY Sailor Boy design she knew I wanted to stitch as a memorial piece to my Dad, which is to be a companion to the Raggety Ann design I stitched for my Mum. When I opened the package I found that Helen had also very kindly sent the fabric, threads and needle to go with it, so I could start stitching it straightaway.
The other surprise was from Barb who had very kindly RAK'd me this chart from my Wish List:

It seems I enabled her at the same time, as she was browsing through my WL for a look-see, as you do, and fell in love with the design too. :0)

The generosity and kindness of stitching friends is amazing: they always have the knack of knowing what to say, or they do something really kind with perfect timing, that helps give you a boost and cheers you up. Thank you so much Helen and Barb (((((hugs))))) - every time I look at your gifts I get a big smile on my face and know I am Blessed by your friendship. :0)

I also came home to find that my blog has gained three more awards and I've also been tagged - more of that in a separate post, as this is already another long one. (Helen: it will be a dinnertime sandwich with two coffees read at this rate! LOL)

Thank you for taking the time to visit and if you've got this far you deserve a round of applause. ;0)