New Year and Accountability

I've had this blog for quite a while now and haven't been updating it at all I think its fair to say.  So as the start of a new year I have decided that I am going to start to post again and try and keep myself accountable for a lot of things this year stitching and personal.

Last year I decided I would join some new groups on Facebook to help in keeping myself accountable for the start of the new year, the two main groups being Stitch from Stash and Soulful Stitching which runs Year of WIPS.  This is in the hope that I can start to finish some of the stitching which has been lying in boxes for way too long and cut down on some unnecessary buying.

I have 40 WIPS which I am using for Year of WIPS (starts 18th January 2020) and my plan is to start updating my blog with some monthly progress on the pieces I have chosen.  I obviously won't have progress of all 40 each month so it will be just progress of a selection of the 40 that I worked on for that month.

This is a list of the pieces I will be working on right up until the 18th December 2020.

1. Tears of Yesterday by Zindy Nielsen from Heaven and Earth Designs

2. Faces of Faery 193 by Jasmine Becket-Griffith from Heaven and Earth Designs

3. Celtic Noel (my own conversion) by Lavender and Lace

4. Winter Band Sampler by Little House Needleworks

5. Christmas Jumble by Drawn Thread

6. Halloween Sampler by Cottage Garden

7. Sunrise Laguna by Nora Corbett

8. A Summers Day by Just Nan

9. Summer in Chalk by Hands on Designs

10. Shhh this one is a secret as its a gift for a family member

11. Quaker Noel by Jardin Prive

12. Pomegranate Santa by Plum Street Samplers

13 - 21. Christmas Eve Couriers by Nora Corbett (new start)

22 - 26. Linen and Threads 2017 SAL parts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

27. Coffee Corner by Stone Street Stitchworks

28. Baby it's cold outside by Heartstring Samplery

29. Hibernation Day by Heartstring Samplery

30. Christmas Chalk Ornament by Hands on Designs

31. Christmas Memories by Just Nan

32. Santa Ornament from JCS magazine (new start)

33. Warm Winter Woolens by Little House Needleworks

34. Farmhouse Christmas Ornaments by Lanette at Stitching on the Homefront (new start)

35. Winter Wonderland by Blackbird Designs

36. Yuletide Angel by Joan Elliot

37 - 39. Halloween Rules by Lizzie Kate Charts 3, 4 and 5

40. Hometown Holidays by Little House Needleworks

Right enough with all that after all this is a stitching blog and you want to see some stitching.  Over the last three months I have been working on Nora Corbett's Santa's Sleigh I started this on the 6th October 2019, the hope was that I would have this finished for Christmas but with work commitments and just being too tired unfortunately I didn't get it finished.  The plan is now to have it finished by the 17th January 2020 before I start my YoW on the 18th.

Here is my progress up to now.  It is being stitched on Lazurite from Chromatic Alchemy in 28ct Brittney Opal evenweave.  The picture really does not do this justice the sparkle from the beads and Kreinik is amazing.

Catching up

Well I haven't blogged in a long while so I thought I would have a little catch up.  I have been stitching away and have had a few little finishes so I thought I would share a couple that I have framed myself.

A little LK finish

Pineberry Lane - Autumn on Marigold Lane

I have working on a few of my own design which I am hoping might be good enough to sell.  The idea came from my sister as I designed her an Owl for her birthday and she said I bet you could sell that so I decided maybe I would have a go, although to date I haven't really been successful lol but its early days I guess and I am only starting out.  Here are a couple of the designs I have done so far hope you like them and thanks for looking.

Celtic Christmas - Part 1

I have been having another new start (honestly ahem I don't have issues).  I struggled to find this one in stock anywhere however a lovely lady on Facebook messaged saying she would sell me her copy and a really strange thing happened she just happened to live up the road from me so we met up to exchange she swapped me some NN threads that I was selling which worked out great for both of us.

I had a plan with this one after seeing all of the conversions that different people had done.  I decided I wanted to do something different with it rather than just follow the chart.  So after scoping out the other Celtic Ladies I chose to combine both Celtic Christmas and Autumn.  My plan is to stitch the border, candle wreath and hair from Celtic Christmas and stitch the dress from Autumn with the Christmas colours.  I hope you are following me so far.  The only problem being is that the neckline of the dress and hair line are different on Autumn, so I had to take a copy of both charts and work out where the charts over lapped and where they didn't to fill in the difference in the stitches on the neck.  The result was that her neck has become a little wider however I think it works ok.  This picture below shows the difference of the neck and hair line on Autumn.

So here is the result of the first part as you can see the hair is from Celtic Christmas and the neckline and dress from Autumn with Celtic Christmas colours.  Here are my colour conversions up to this point for anyone who is interested, all threads are DMC and Mill Hill Beads.  The sash/shawl in worked in the same colours, ECRU, 644, 822 and B5200, the 5 symbol is a bead and I used 00557.

Bodice and neckline - you need to find the line (dot symbol) to separate from shoulder/arm.  Also if you are adding candle wreath you need to work out where this will sit I removed the hand from Autumn and filled in the hand from Christmas with the wreath and outlined then on the Autumn chart you can see on pic above.

Black square symbol - E3852
783 - same
3820 - same
3822 - same
3823 - 00557 bead
832 - 00557 bead
830 - 814
829 - 3371/814
831 - 815
780 - 814

Shoulder - you need to work out where the hair falls around the shoulder if you are not stitching the hair from Autumn, my highlighted area in yellow shows this

2006 - 3371/814
2004 & 2005 - 814
2003 - 815
2002 - 498
2001 - 321


Stay tuned for more posts if you are interest in the full conversion.  Hope I haven't confused you too much please feel free to ask any questions.

Stitching Update

Well I have definitely got my stitching mojo back and the crochet has taken a back seat making a small appearance every now and again.

I cannot believe we are so far into the year it has been a quick one for me this year I have been and still am so busy at work I don't feel like I have a life sometimes but I am really looking forward to having time off for Christmas this year.  I have a meet up with Tina, Lesley and Hazel we are all going to Hazel's in December meeting for an exchange and a stitch and natter, we did this last year and it was lovely to see everyone just before Christmas.

I have also decided to have a move around in my living room so I have a new allocated spot for my Christmas tree (yes don't judge I think about this when moving my furniture around what can I say I love my tree) I am really looking forward to seeing it in it's new home.

I have bought tickets for the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate in November so I have that to look forward to I am going with my mum who is a knitter, so no doubt I will be having a little spend although it is close to Christmas but you cannot go and not buy at least one thing.  so a couple of things to look forward to in the up coming months.

Well on to stitching I have been a busy bunny some new buys and some progress.  I managed to finish In the Meadow by Sampler girl, this has now been framed and is hanging pride of place in my living room with BP who has also had a trip to the framers.

My Frosty Friends ornies are not coming along very quickly but they are cute to stitch, I managed to finish the second one and start the third.

And a couple of new starts I bought a new Drawn Thread chart from Nimble Thimble at meet up arranged by Tina earlier this year so of course I just had to start it straight away.  It is fab to stitch it is 1 over 2 so it stitches up so quickly

and a new JN start, although I really should finish the Christmas one I started about 2 or 3 years ago now first but who can resist a new start.  There have been tears with this one as Mr Frog came to visit its now in the naughty box.  All of the green you see at the bottom had to be pulled out as it was all one stitch out, yes one blummin stitch so annoying

I am also stitching BBD Mothers Garden which I have started for my mum as a Christmas pressie, I don't think she would find her way on to here (not comp savvy) but I don't want to chance it so I am keeping that one a secret for now.  I have decided to change the colours on it as the threads for the flowers were too muted and my mums garden is always full of colour so I kept with the pinks but brightened them up buy adding a couple of Victorian Motto Threads Pink Candy and Faded Cranberry.  I was quite disappointed with the colours in this chart they look very variegated and bright but IRL they are not, the pinks are more peachy/brown than what they appear in the cover photo on the chart, if you stitch this chart you may want to look at the colours for the flowers and the text 'Mothers Garden' before buying them in my opinion it was a waste of money for me.

Back After a Break

Well after a long break from blogging I thought that maybe it was time to start getting back into it.  I lost my stitchy mojo for a long time and was only concentrating on crochet, but after a visit to Hazel's before Christmas and a kick up the you know where from friends I have finally got back into my stitching.  So I thought I would do some blogging to show you guys what I have been up to.

After some well deserved nagging from Tina just before Christmas to get out Beatrix Potter, I got her back out on the 9th December and have now finally finished her.

9th December



and finally finished Ta Da !!!!

I have decided to set small stitchy goals so as not to get bogged down with it all and just do a little crochet when I fancy it.  Here are my current projects that I have decided to work on

AOTH (started after surprise more enabling from Tina), I have managed to finish January in just one month which is great for me as I am really busy with work at the minute, I hoping to get February started at the end of April.

I signed up to the CCN Frosty Friends Autoship through Patchwork Rabbit, I am way behind for the amount I have received but I am working at my own pace I am a little disappointed with the amount of little houses there seem to be a lot with just a different animal but they are cute and easy to stitch.

First Ornie

Second Ornie nearly finished (April Goal)

Sampler Girl in the Meadow has come out the box and I have dusted off the cobwebs, this is going to be an ongoing goal until I have finished her.

Thanks for looking.



February and Rain Rain Rain !!!

Well I don't know about you guys but I am fed up of all this rain, how depressing!!!  We have had frost on the ground here in the North East and I believe some snow out in the hills although I am nearer the coast so we tend to be last to get the snow which I am grateful for, it looks lovely just not very practical for day to day goings on.

I was out and about on Saturday which is rare for me I don't venture out into Newcastle City centre very often as it gets a little busy for me especially match days, etc.  But I arranged to meet an Aunt and my darling cousin this weekend for lunch and hot chocolate which was lovely a nice change to my routine.  Whilst out I found these sweet little pots £1 for all three pots !!! I just love the colour of them and couldn't resist popping into the market to get some goodies to fill them, I just need to wait for them to spring to life my daffodils are already starting to say hello after just a couple of days.  Excuse my sad winter tired garden in the background it needs loving back to life once this rain stops

Just a short one for now, thanks for stopping by T x

Another Year Gone

Well with another year gone it's time to move and start a new.  I haven't done any blogging or stitching for that matter for the past few months so here are a couple of new years resolutions to get me started this year

1.  Make an effort to blog at least once a month
2. Pick one piece of stitching and work on it until it is finished
3. Finish at least two blankets this year
4. Do more walking (I have joined a walking club to spur me on with this)
5.  Stress less about work and enjoy life more
6. Enjoy my garden more this year (weather permitting of course)

I have decided not set myself too hard of a challenge this year as I never achieve it.

Happy New Year everyone.