Another Roll!

I finally made a start on my Shepherd's Bush Roll for June for my SAL with Chris:) This month I chose Thisbe's Roll which a beautiful design. All gorgeous pastel shades. I had the kit for this so it's all as kitted:)

Shepherd's Bush Thisbe's Roll

Started 16th June 2009

Finished 23rd June 2009.

Not a deal of other stitching to show this time I'm afraid. I've stitched a little something but I won't show it yet as I'm not sure if the recipient reads my blog so best not to! My HAED TT Purple Dragon was coming along nicely but now I think I may have to rethink my sub for the metallic in her face. I subbed it with DMC 3865 but now I look at it it's too white so I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do. I will have to have a look at light flesh tones and see what I can use instead. Does anyone have any suggestions please? There is already 754, 758, 3713, 3770 in her face.
Finally Bea came out again on Monday evening and I'm enjoying it again. I think stitching it two evenings a month rather than trying to stitch it every Monday each month is working better and I'm not getting fed-up of it so I will stick with doing it this way.
I was going to take part in the week long Fairy Day SAL on the HAED forum with Guardian but it doesn't include angels and as he's an angel he's out! So I'm not going to take part now and will get on with stitching other things and bring him out on Monday:)

Jess finished 6th form last Thursday! Those two years have gone so fast. It hardly seems like 5 minutes since she started. Now we have the long wait until 20th August to find out her A level results and see if she's got into the university of her choice.

Abi got her academic review from school yesterday and DH and I are so proud of her. She's doing really well in all subjects and has attained 6s and 7s in her teachers assessments. She has also been nominated for an award by her teachers so we've been invited to the year 9 celebration evening next month. She's amazed that she's nominated.

That's all for today. Hope everyone is well and having a good week.

Take care

Hugs

Sally
xx

From Lisa

A while ago I signed up for a PIF that Lisa was offering on her blog. I knew that she had stitched it and finished it off so I was getting rather excited at the prospect of having one of Lisa's lovely stitched pieces. Well I was certainly not disappointed when postie brought my mail yesterday afternoon and there was an envelope from Lisa. Look at this beautiful floss tag. It is so beautifully stitched and finished and the perfect colour for me too:) Of course Lisa was very sneaky in asking favourite colours etc but she knows me rather well anyway! Lol! She also included a lovely Carrie's Creations thread. Thank you so much Lisa. {{{hugs}}}. I absolutely love it and look forward to using it. I have to say that my photo really does not do it justice but if you click on the photo you may be able to see it better.

That's it for today as I thought this lovely deserved a post of it's own:) Thank you for all your lovely comments on my biscornu finish. I absolutely love it and am so proud of it. Maybe I'll do the fifteen sided one next! LOL!

Hugs

Barnabee Finally Meets Bella!

Yes at long last I have finally finished and made up Just Nan When Barnabee Met Bella biscornu. I bet poor Barnabee thought he was never going to find the love of his life and was secretly planning on stinging me if I didn't make it happen soon!! So without further ado here is When Barnabee Met Bella. I received the chart, embellishments and fabby in a trade with Andrea a while ago.

Just Nan When Barnabee Met Bella

30 count linen in lilac and morris blue

DMC

Started 4th April 2009

Finished 14th June 2009.

I'm afraid the next two WIP are HAEDs. I hope you won't get bored seeing these. Wednesday and Thursday last week I stitched on Tiny Treasures Purple Dragon and good progress was made:)

Friday was the start of the Storykeep SAL over on the HAED forum. We had a choice of two charts and I chose CC Kuik's Moon Fantasy and here's my progress. I stitched on this Friday and Saturday evening and a little on Sunday evening just to finish the rows I'd started.
Sunday I picked up Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding. I haven't decided yet what to do with the snowflake but will decide before I stitch another.
No stitching to show from last night as I finished the page on HAED Guardian and it isn't worth showing. The rest of the evening was spent gridding the next page!

Thank you to everyone for your lovely comments on my post yesterday and to everyone who entered my giveaway. I had quite a few new commenters and I do hope you will return:)

That's it from me for now.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

For My Mum

And all the other angel Mums out there. God bless you and keep you safe in his arms.It's 24 years today since I lost my dear Mum. Although my heart does not hurt as much it did I still miss her so much and wish she were still here.

This year I thought I'd show you the piece I stitched for the 20th anniversary of my Mum's passing and dedicate it to all the angel Mums. The chart was from a Just Cross Stitch magazine and it was designed by Full Circle Designs and as soon as I saw it I thought it was a perfect piece. This is a picture of the framed piece which isn't very clear but if you look here you can see a close-up before it was framed. I added my Mum's name, year of birth and death and also, as my MIL was also very special to me I added hers too.

Here is a picture of my Mum on her wedding day almost 60 years ago. She is with all her brothers and sisters and her parents here. I love this photo.

Tomorrow would have been my MIL's 70th birthday and she is also an angel Mum. She was the best MIL anyone could have hoped to have and I feel very lucky to have had her in my life.

I will hopefully be back tomorrow with a finished Just Nan When Barnabee Met Bella biscornu if I can get it stitched up later. I have Abi off school today as she is not feeling too good. She's aching all over and also had a rather big nosebleed earlier. Good to tell it's hayfever season for her as she's prone to nosebleeds this time of year. She'll have to back tomorrow as she has a Science test which will determine which group she will be in from September. Jess has four more exams this week then we'll have the long wait until towards the end of August to see if she has the grades she needs to get into university.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Sally
xx

Giveaway Winner!

As promised I am back to announce the winner of the chart giveaway. Using a randomiser here is the result!

There were 25 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Natasha
2. Kathy
3. Alberta
4. Mylene
5. Pike
6. Sarah Z
7. Lisa
8. Ulla
9. Rachel
10. Cindy F.
11. Clare - Aimetu
12. brokenfairy
13. Srinity
14. Virpi
15. Deb
16. Chrizette
17. Barbeeque4
18. wendy
19. Ellen
20. Susan
21. Elisa
22. Angela
23. wendy
24. trillium
25. Belinda

Timestamp: 2009-06-15 09:16:17 UTC

The winner is Natasha!! Congratulations Natasha! I will contact you by email shortly for your address:)

Small Giveaway

Just having a small giveaway:) I am giving away the following charts to one person.

Angel Stitchin' Gossip

Shepherd's Bush Lamb ( Monthly Musings chart)

Brightneedle Tall Trees

Two of these I won in contests on blogs and have never got around to stitching them so decided it was time I let someone else have them:)

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning just leave a comment on this post and I'll pick a winner after the weekend. Anyone can enter even if you have never commented before.

Hugs

Sally

Stitching Up A Storm ( Sort Of!)

It's been a few days of stitching lots on my HAEDs:) Friday through Monday was UFO/ SWIP SAL on the HAED forum so I decided to take part with HAED Guardian which really needed a good kick start. As it was I only really stitched on it properly on Friday and Saturday with a few stitches added Sunday and Monday afternoons. I am very happy to report that I have almost finished another page making 3 in all but I still have to finish of stitching over the metallic on page 7 with DMC.

Last Wednesday and Thursday were my SAL days with Lisa and Claire and the ladies at the Our Friends HAED SAL so out came the very lovely TT Purple Dragon and good progress was made again:) I am enjoying this piece so much.
A bit of progress next on Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding although I'm going to have to rethink the snowflakes as they don't show up on this fabric. I may have to try DMC 3865 or something like that. I don't think you can see it but I have stitched a snowflake. Any suggestions???

Last night I decided I needed to get Bea out or she's going to turn into a UFO. To my amazement I actually enjoyed stitching on her and when DH went to bed at 10pm ( he was up early this morning) I decided to stay up and stitch a bit more. I usually go to bed at the same time as he does as I'm not keen on sitting on my own when everyone has gone to bed but he's had lots of early mornings of late so early nights and it cuts into my stitching time! LOL!

Finally a little progress on Just Nan When Barnabee Met Bella biscornu. This one will be coming out this evening so I hope to get a lot more done.
Next weekend, as far as I know, is the start of the HAED Storykeep SAL so I'll be taking part in that. In think I will only stitch Friday and Saturday on it. We had two free charts to choose from and I chose Moon Fantasy. My threads are sorted and my fabby is ready and I'm patiently waiting for the first page to come out:)

So that's all my stitchy news for now. I've been a bit naughty and pre-ordered the new Lizzie*Kate Christmas double flip-it's from Down Sunshine Lane. I couldn't resist as they are gorgeous.

I'll leave you with these pictures taken by DH on Sunday:) This little fella is a regular visitor in our garden. We don't know if he's been got at by a cat or if another bird did it but he's lost a lot of feathers and it looks quite raw on his back. He's happy enough though and spends ages hopping round the garden and sitting on the patio wall singing. Here is is but what is he looking at?

Yep he was looking at this and decided to have a drink! Excuse the green but no sooner do we clean it off it comes back. We do have a bird bath but he ( and a few sparrows!) seem to prefer the waterfall!
The hole in the front garden is now filled, the path has been concreted and the slate put back as it was thankfully! They did make a good job of making everything right.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

Needleroll For May

Just in time for May I finished Shepherd's Bush Garden Roll! It was a close thing and I must admit it didn't get made up until yesterday but the stitching and beading were finished in May! This one was so lovely to stitch and very quick too. I wonder how Chris is getting on with hers.

Shepherd's Bush Garden Roll

28 count Ice Blue fabric ( which is more green???)

DMC

Started 26th May 2009

Finished 30th May 2009

I haven't decided which one I'm going to stitch for June. I think I might go with one of the full kits I have this time.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are my HAED evenings and last week was no exception. Out came TT Purple Dragon and I am just loving this so much. I love the colours and, boy, I wouldn't mind having hair like this! LOL! I can't wait to get onto her eyes but I think that may be a few weeks yet.
I had a new start on Sunday evening. This should really have happened the Sunday before but I took part in the HAED long weekend SAL instead so the big new start happened this Sunday! This is Blue Ribbon Designs Winter Wingding ( yes I know it's almost Summer!) and I'm stitching it on 36 count evenweave in blue cloud ( from Sew It All). I decided not to stitch it in the recommended GAST as it would have meant buying some I didn't have or didn't have enough of so I'm using DMC instead.
I'm having a bit of a change in my rotation. I desperately want to get back to making some decent progress on HAED Guardian and as I'm not enjoying Bea I decided to stitch Guardian every other Monday with Bea in between and see how that works. That way I should make a bit of progress on both. So here's my little bit of progress on Guardian this week. I'm still working on getting the metallic stitched over on page 7 and have added about 700 stitches to page 2.
Last night I made a start on side 2 of Just Nan When Barnabee Met Bella. The first side isn't quite finished yet but it's mostly backstitch and a few speciality stitches which I wasn't in the mood for!
I almost forgot about showing you HAED QS Girly Gothic framed. I am so pleased with her. This piccie doesn't really do her justice.
It's a little cooler here today than it has been these past few days but it's a relief for me as I don't do well in really hot weather! Today is just nice for me:)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I have workmen in my garden at the moment and they're cursing! Not sure what they've done- I hardly go look! The gas mains are being replaced and last week it was our turn so there were holes all over the street on our side and we were one of the unlucky ones who had to also have a hole dug in the garden ( only two of us on this side of the street) and they're here now finishing off and making things right ( I hope!). It's been bedlam down the street and still is as they're now working their way down the other side!

Take care everyone. Don't forget I have a few things up for sale ( link in the side bar).

Hugs