The Vicky Clayton silk flosses I ordered for my 'miniature' stitching arrived this morning - such a choice of luscious reds. I took my Miniatures au Point du Croix book to Stitch-n-Bitch last Wednesday evening and now they all want a copy - I guess Amazon.fr will be inundated with orders for this book! My LNS rang me to say that the 55ct (!) linen she ordered in for our group has arrived and she has put some by for me so I will be collecting this later today. I doubt I will be stitching 1*1 on this! 

The lovely Su nominated me for the Special Friends Award and "Love" Pendant. The description for this award reads "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind of writers. When you pass this award along please include these guidelines. I am to choose eight friends to share this with". 

Su and I have become friends though our love of stitching and blogging. Thank you Su! 

My nominations are people whose blogs and stitching inspire me and have thus become friends are:

1  Amy

2  Deb

3  Edgar

4  Valerie

5  Valie

6  Wendy Jo

7  Yuko

No 8 goes back to Su!

Back in January I stitched an ornament for the 2009 Christmas Challenge (here) but was unable to complete the back as I did not have the Charland Mistletoe charm. It has now arrived so I will be attaching it to the back of the ornament at long last!

Great mail delivery today. My new magnifier has arrived and I will take a picture later to show you - it's a monster! Valie has sent me some Gander linen from France - 40 and 50 count - yes I did say 50 count - so I think that the new magnifier will immediately be put to use! Thank you Valie! Edgar's Quaker Friendship RR has arrived too and I think this is the last one I have to stitch on. Despite 3 of the RRs going missing, we have all re-stitched and it won't be too long before this RR will be completed as two have made it home already. 

After an exhausting weekend and a busy Monday and Tuesday, I have decided to give myself a day off today! A day off means a stitching day - does anyone want to join me?

Thanks for visiting

Take care

I finished my section on Valerie's Quaker Friendship RR. Once I receive these RRs I just can't wait to get my needle in hand and before I know it my section is done.  I will wait a few weeks before I mail this off to Edgar.

Our Stitch-n-Bitch birthday meal went well and, as we had the restaurant completely to ourselves, we did get a bit 'noisy'. These are the two 'birthday girls' - Sue on the left and Sylvie on the right although it's not a particularly good photo as I had to merge two into one and it now looks as though they share an arm! None of the photos came out very well although I only took about three. My birthday is next so I can choose the restaurant this time round but, of course, as my birthday is so close to Christmas, we need to book early so I must make up my mind soon. 

This is an update of Valerie's QFRR as I managed to do a small part yesterday and I hope to finish this motif later this afternoon.  It had been so long since I had worked on a piece of this RR that I could not find the pattern so it therefore took me ages to locate it. I am usually well organised and have project bags but because this is an RR and, once it gets mailed on, the only thing I have is the pattern, I do not have a project bag so hence the pattern got mixed up with a pile of other patterns. 

I am finding it very hard to motivate myself these days, the lack of light is getting worse day by day which means I am getting worse too. I put my light box on earlier but nothing is the same as natural sunlight. I am due to visit the doctor shortly so I will mention this to her but I have already been diagnosed with SAD so I don't expect she will be able to do much. A prescription to spend the winter in a warm sunny climate might help though!   

Do any of you have a Kindle? And, if so, are they worth the money? I checked them out on Amazon.com and they look amazing so I went over to Amazon.co.uk and it seems they do not sell it on their UK site! Does this mean they do not work worldwide? Obviously I would be able to read it but would I be able to download the books or re-charge it using an adapter? Any comments/views would be much appreciated.

Thanks for visiting

Take care

Two packages arrived in the mail yesterday but I was unable to post details. More about this later.

Firstly, my NPI silks arrived for Random Thoughts so now I am ready for the off, but not quite yet, as I really must do my Christmas gifts and ornaments before I start anything new! The fabric I have chosen for this is 36ct pearled barley but, now I have seen the 40ct bisque that I received last week, I may just change my mind so ... watch this space! I love the NPI silk colours though and I am sure I will enjoy stitching this.

I can't believe that it's been six days since my last post! It was a holiday weekend here in the UK and I don't know where the time went to. Kirby called round on Saturday to work on her pre-course project and on Sunday we went to Justin's home for the day. Yesterday I just didn't feel too great - not ill - I just felt worn out and extremely tired. It's probably the start of my S.A.D. and it's hit me early this year. No sunshine and I get the blues! I really hate the end of the Summer months and I have no Florida trip to look forward to this year which usually sets me up for the Winter.

I am back at work this week covering for someone having surgery so I won't be able to get much stitching/blogging done but I have been working steadily on Hannah. I couldn't seem to get a good picture today but I will try again tomorrow... And I have just heard that Stitch-n-Bitch has been cancelled for tomorrow :o(

I heard from Edgar that my re-start on QFRR has arrived safely in San Francisco. I made him some personal thread drops and I think he was pleased with them - just look at those little black sheep!

Thanks for visiting

Take care

I finished my re-start of Quaker Friendship Round Robin. I frogged out the green initials and year and replaced them in the same grey silk that I used for the rabbit. This is now ready for mailing to Edgar at the weekend.

I should be cleaning but I have decided to spend the day on Hannah instead - life's too short for cleaning and definitely too short for all those stitching projects out there!

Su and I are doing a private exchange which I am very much looking forward to. Now which pattern shall I choose for her and what fabric and threads?

Thanks for visiting

Take care

Just a quick update on Hannah Beeby. I decided to work down the left hand side and then across the page. I am so enjoying stitching on Hannah even though it's on 40ct linen. I wish I had used my Millenium frame and floor stand though as using Q-Snaps, which I remove when I am not stitching, it does have a 'pulled through a hedge backwards' look to it. I hope I will be able to remove all the creases once it's finished as I will be loathe to press with a damp cloth after the fiasco with the freebie chart piece where the colours ran. I must check out to see if Needlepoint Inc silk is colourfast. 

I have also nearly finished my re-start on the QFRR. I only have the rabbit to stitch and I have to decide whether to stitch him in a different colour and, if so, what colour to use. I am mindful to stitch him in grey and then frog the initials and date and use the same grey there but I need to search my stash for the right grey. I really should have thought about this before I started! The green/black silk I'm using is a Vicki Clayton premium silk - Imperialosity. 

Now it's time for those household chores - do they never end? Perhaps I should have done them before I sat down at the computer!

Thanks for visiting

Take care 

WARNING: Picture heavy post

Yesterday my stitch group (aka 'Stitch-n-Bitch') had a days 'stitch-in' at Caroline's house. We all arrived around 10am armed with our projects, Ottlites etc and, maybe more importantly, a dish towards lunch!

After an initial cup of coffee to get us started we all worked extremely hard and yes, we were stitching more than bitching! Caroline, Sue and Lynn were busy with their pre-class work for the CA Wells' class they are going to later in the year and Sylvie brought along her beautiful Maryse Dupont project. I worked firstly on a Christmas ornament, which I cannot show as the recipient reads my blog, and I then did a re-start on my Quaker Friendship Round Robin as it doesn't look as though the original piece is going to turn up. I am using a piece of 35ct lambswool linen with a silk floss of a deep green/black variagation. The sixth member of our group, June, came over for a short while but unfortunately she couldn't stay.

Lunch was delicious - coronation chicken, spinach and pesto pasta, green salad, waldorf salad, savoury rice and French bread and for dessert lemon creme brulee! Oh boy were we stuffed after that lot and it took quite an effort to get back to stitching as I think we could all have managed a siesta!

We had a great day and my only complaint is that it went far too quickly. I would like to thank Caroline for hostessing this wonderful event. 

Thanks for visiting

Take care

The silk thread I had ordered from Vicki Clayton arrived this morning. I had planned on using this for the Beatrix Potter sampler, which sampler I have been wanting to stitch for ages but couldn't decide on fabric and floss. When I stitched on Mindi's QFRR using Vicky's Raisin Wine, I just knew this was the colour I wanted for BP but as my QFRR piece (along with Edgar's and Rowyn's) has gone missing and we are thinking that a re-stitch is the way to go, I am wondering whether to use this gorgeous colour for my re-stitch. Decisions, decisions!  Also in my package was some 1/2 yard 'tags' and some cloisonne frogs (which I couldn't resist). 

Hannah Beeby is stitching up quickly now I have forgone the SAL. I seem to be the only one stitching and posting progress and as I was getting rather lonely I have decided to just get on with it now. I will post a picture in the next few days. 

I am really looking forward to Sunday as my Stitch-n-Bitch group have an all-day stitch-in with a 'bring a dish' lunch. Maybe there will be more stitching than bitching but who knows :o). I'll take my camera along so expect some 'action' shots next week!   

  

This week I harvested one of the patio bags in which I have been growing potatoes. Not the biggest of crops but they did have a lovely flavour! My tomatoes were doing well but we have had awful weather this past week with really high winds and rain which has certainly played havoc with my garden. I am beginning to think that my first effort of gardening may be the last. 

Have a good weekend

Thanks for visiting

I have had a couple of finishes this week. The first is for Jayne's Attic Redwork Exchange so I am unable to show a picture as yet but I can say I am going to find it extremely hard to part with! I have also partly stitched the Monthly Stitching Challenge for JA and I am trying to decide whether to carry on and complete the whole piece with the one colour or stitch the corner piece in different colours so it stands out. Watch this space - reveal day is August 30.  

The second finish is a scissor fob for the Monthly Finishing Challenge for August. This is a really tiny fob as I stitched one over one on the same raw linen that I used for the scissor pocket and it was not very easy to finish but I got there. I'm sorry about the poor photos but the light is really bad here today - I think the summer may have passed if the past few days are anything to go by!

Last night I finished up my section of Mindi's RR. This sampler has a real vintage look to it and I am thinking of using this silk (HDF* Raisin Wine) for my Beatrix Potter Quaker sampler when I eventually get round to starting it.

Yesterday, I started my scissor pocket for the Monthly Finishing Challenge, not once, not twice but three times. I think I am fated with this one but I have stitched the border in ecru perle no 12 and now have to decide what to put inside it and what floss to use. The only thing I do know is the finish!

I belong to a Lotto Bonus Ball draw and last night my number came up so I have won the princely sum of £33. My number is extremely lucky for me as I have won this draw on quite a few occasions. I just need those elusive other balls to come up as well - sigh - maybe one day.

Thanks for visiting

Take care