Stitching Pictures

Firstly my holiday finishes:

Tall Snowman by Heart In Hand Needleart, started and finished in November 2008.

Celebration Winter by Heart In Hand Needleart, started and finished in November 2008.

Secondly progress pictures:

Bluebird's Message by Blackbird Designs. I am really enjoying stitching on this piece but I think I am going to put it way for a little while to concentrate on Chritmassy stuff.

Ho, Ho, Ho by Lizzie*Kate, started while in Florida

and last but not least

Just Be Claus by Lizzie*Kate, also a new start while in Florida. I think it currently looks like a pink bat.

Finally Some Photos

My camera is totally and utterly dead and I will just have to wait for a new one, hopefully Santa will be kind. But Mum has a great camera so when I go visiting I shall be able to take, and post - if I remember, photos.

First a few pictures of my Florida holiday;Me on the boat trip that Mum and I took along the St John River at Blue Springs State Park.

The first 'gator of our trip together with a Great Blue Heron, again at Blue Springs State Park.

Spoonbills, I just thought they were the funniest looking things ever.

Mum watching the sunset at the beach in Naples.

And finally, at least for now, me in the Lue Gardens in Orlando.

Holiday Stitching Report

First I must apologise for the complete absence of photographs - my camera has totally broken down and is refusing to take even a bad picture. I am now asking Santa for a new camera. I will be visiting my Mum at the weekend so will try and remember to take my stitching with me to take a few photographs.

I actually managed to do quite a bit of stitching while on my travels - I took with me 2 WIPs 10 unstarted projects and have returned with 5 WIPs, 2 finishes and 6 unstarted projects. Yes, I went shopping and brought a new project - a Mill Hill ornament kit so at least it was not a large new project. I also bought several charts (26 if I must state a number) but not all the threads and fabric to complete them. As well as my new stitching stash I went to a delightful quilting shop and purchased a couple of jelly rolls, a bag pattern and a quilt pattern.

The finishes were Celebration: Winter and Tall Snowman both designed by Heart In Hand Needleart. The new starts were two Lizzie*Kate designs - Ho, Ho, Ho and Just Be Claus and Snowy Night by The Trilogy.

Holiday Report

I am tired, jet-lagged and feeling the cold after a wonderful couple of weeks in Florida with my mother. The first couple of days were spent in Orlando getting over the travelling and getting used to driving on the other side of the road. We then travelled down to Lake Worth to visit with friends before heading over to the west coast to visit my mum's cousin who lives in Naples then back up to Orlando were we managed to meet up with a couple of my internet stitching friends for dinner at Margaritaville on Citywalk.

Highlights of the holiday (other then meeting up with family and friends again) include a trip to Blue Springs National Park where we saw manatee, our first 'gator and tons of birds, a visit to the Leu Gardens in Orlando, a safari around the Everglades and the Space Center.

I did not take my camera with me since Mum's camera is far far better than mine so I will post some photos once I have managed to get her to email some to me.

Holiday Stitching and a HD

First the happy dance:

Celebration: Autumn by Heart In Hand Needleart

Started October 2008 and finished November 2008

I used hand-dyed threads but changed a few to ones I already had rather than buy the recommended ones. Button is also different to that shown on the original design.

When deciding on which project to take on holiday with me I did try to be sensible and only take a few projects, honestly I did. But after much deliberation and a sleepless night I have now packed the following:

Bluebirds Message and Their Song by Blackbird Designs

Snowy Night by The Trilogy

Celebration: Winter, Tall Snowman, Winter Bird and Christmas Bird by Heart In Hand Needleart

Here Comes Santa Claus, Just Be Claus, 'Tis The Season, Santa's Got the Goods and Ho Ho Ho by Lizzie*Kate.
All but the two Blackbird Designs are or will be new starts. I know that 12 projects is more than I will be able to finish or probally even start and that some will come home without a single stitch added to them but I could not decide which ones to leave behind. At least this way I have plenty to choose from and I do plan to spend the whole of the plane journey stitching. I will let you all know how I got on when I return in 2 weeks.

October Progress and November Goals

For October I said I would:
1) Progress Bluebirds Message by Blackbird Designs - Yes
2) Progress Their Song by Blackbird Designs - No didn't even stitch one single stitch
3) Progress Beneath the Sunlit Sky by Blackbird Designs - Not even on stitch done
4) Progress Rose Bouquet bu Derwentwater Designs - Yes managed about 10 stitches
5) Make progress on at least one small project from my stash- Yes finished October by Lizzie*Kate and started Celebration: Autumn by Heart in Hand Needlearts.
(No photos because there has been no noticable progress since I last posted photos.)

For November I would once again like to
1) Progress Bluebirds Message by Blackbird Designs
2) Progress Their Song by Blackbird Designs
3) Progress Beneath the Sunlit Sky by Blackbird Designs
4) Progress Rose Bouquet by Derwentwater Designs
5) Make progress on at least one small project from my stash
Plus
6) Make progress on at least one Christmas projct from my stash

I am going away next Saturday for a forghtnight so should get loads of stitching done - tomorrows task is to decide which projects to take travelling it is tempting but not overly practical to take all of them with me.

October HD and Progess

In between quilting sessions I have been doing a little bit of stitching. Also the weather here in the UK has turned very very wintery which has encouraged me to sit on the sofa in front of the fire and stitch.

October from the A Year With Charm Series by Lizzie*Kate, started and finished in Oct-2008. (Sorry about the wonky picture it is straight honest).

Bluebirds Message by Blackbird Designs
(I am really enjoying stitching on this and am having a hard time putting it down to stitch on the other pieces on my 'to progress' list).


Celebration Autumn bu Heart In Hand Needleart.

A new start to celebrate finishing October.

My First Quilt (almost)

Back in August I started quilting classes, which I am really enjoying and have managed to get my first ever quilt top finished. It is now sandwiched up all ready for quilting. It is by no ways perfect but I am very pleased with it. In the sort time that I have been quilting I have become addicted to buying fabric and already have a large(ish) stash which is growing faster than I can turn it into quilts.

A Little Happy Dancing

Over the weekend I managed a small finish. September from the A Year With Charm Series by Lizzie*Kate. I mainly used the called for threads but did change the yellow and golden colour to one that I already had and used a fabric from my stash so I did reduce my stash even though I brought the chart.

Talking of stash the postman delivered one of my September parcels, all of it is gorgeous and I must finish other stuff before starting to stitch any of it. I am begining to come round to the idea of having a stash clear out and giving away some of the stuff that I know I will never stitch, not sure I will be able to go through with the idea though so watch this space.

Stitching wise I am going to work on Bluebird Message for a little while. This currently only has a few stitches done (see photo below) but hopefully will be a little better progressed by the end of the month.

September Stitching Report

My aim for September was to progress five projects - Their Song, Beneath the Sunlit Sky and Bluebirds Message by Blackbird Designs, Rose Bouquet by Derwentwater Designs and a small project. I have to report that my stitching time has been somewhat limited by my recently aquired quilting habit but I have stitched at least one length of thread on each project. The progress is so small that I have not taken any progress photos but hope to be able to share some next week since I am planning on spending this coming weekend stitching, my sewing machine has had to go in for some repairs so I can not get distracted by my patchwork.

My October stitching goals are the same as Septembers were, I really want to finish several of my medium sized projects before the end of the year since I have been on a recent shopping spree which has added several projects to my stash pile. Once the postman has delivered my purchases I shall post a few pictures.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read and comment on my blog it is lovely to know that you are out there and I love reading all your comments even if I do not find the time to reply to each one. I am going to try and make a much better attempt at reading and commenting on other blogs.