Santa is Done!

Yes! I have finished stitching Santa! He is resplendent in pink and green (and blue and plum), and I've thoroughly enjoyed stitching him. In case you are wondering why he is holding his arm out as if he is in the middle of a fist-fight, there will be a staff in his grip, which is part of next month's stitching job. Also left to stitch are some moon and spiral motifs, some flowers, and Orlaith's name, right at the top.

And, just for a change, and because I thought it would be nice for you to see something other than Orlaith's stocking this month (!), below are photos of the return Crazy Exchange that I sent to Marne, who sent me a lovely email this morning saying that she had received it and really liked it. Isn't exchanging fun?! :)

Above: front of scissor keeper and scissor fob, Below: reverse of same

Design: L'Oiseau et la Brodeuse by Reflet de Soie, reverse of scissor keeper 'M' from an AMAP alphabet
Linen: Silkweaver 32ct (poss Periwinkle Mist - can't remember now!)
Fibre: Crescent Colours Belle Soie Silk: Ocean Tide

I'm very much looking forward to the weekend, as we're heading off to a friend's house for lovely food and tasty wine, and I get to bond with their sweet little kitten, and try (fruitlessly, I anticipate) to get H to agree that cats are nice things... LOL :)

Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Happy stitching!

More Santa

It's been a whole week since I've posted. I've been feeling quite down about work - especially about commuting, so I haven't felt too chatty recently. I'm determined to be more upbeat though, and to give serious thought to changing my job, rather than just moaning endlessly about the awful commuting I do! So, you've heard it here first - something's going to change, and the first thing is my attitude!!

Right, with that out of my system, I'll update you on how Orlaith's stocking is coming along! I managed quite a bit of stitching at the weekend, intermingled with the rugby world cup final, some wine, my hockey game, more wine, watching the 2nd disk from the latest series of 24, and more wine still. Oh, and recovering from the wine. That took a few hours LOL!

So, to Orlaith's stocking: I have nearly finished Santa's jumper, and have only the sleeve to complete - I was getting a bit worried that I was running out of the dark green colour for the jumper, but then realised that the sleeve is, in keeping with Santa's general aesthetic eclecticism, mainly pink. I had been slightly anxious that my goal of finishing Santa was going to be too much this month, but in fact I'm nearly done, with only his beard, face and hat to complete, along with his pink sleeve. In fact, I'm progressing quite nicely overall on all my goals. Now, whether this is because I set myself a manageable amount this month (for once), or whether with the colder and darker nights I'm spending more time on my stitching sofa, I'm not really sure!

I came in to work this morning to find an email from Dani - I'm officially a member of the Snowbird SAL Dani and Kathy have set up for people stitching either Paradigm Lost or Cirque des Cercles starting 1st November! Hurrah! As you may remember, I'm stitching PL already, although I've not picked it up in 6 or 8 weeks, so I'm a little ahead of the game, but it will be wonderful to stitch it along with everyone else and have their progress spur me on - I admit that although I've been busy with Christmas stitching recently, I have been avoiding PL just because I'm feeling the teensiest bit overwhelmed by it at the moment. But that will all change come November! I think that Dani is still accepting members if you're interested, especially for PL stitchers as I think CdC has us fairly comprehensively outnumbered!

Happy stitching!

Eccentric Dress Sense

I'm progressing well with Santa on Orlaith's stocking - his dress sense isn't improving any though LOL! His navy and pink/plum check trousers are completed, and now I'm on to his green jumper. The jumper is large (well, it would be given the size of Santa's belly!) so I may need to get some more green before I reach the end of it :)

Other than Santa's attire, I managed to finish a Crazy Exchange, so that will be out in the post in the next few days, and hopefully photos soon! I also finished my return Crazy Exchange for Marne, so I'll post photos when she gets that.

And we've had good news: Royal Mail and its union(s?) have reached an agreement, so no more strikes, hurrah! Post as normal from here on in, what a treat!

Hope you all had wonderful weekends, and thanks for stopping by.

Happy stitching!

Santa's Growing

Another rainy, cold, dreary evening in the UK equals more progress on Santa! His stripe-y socks are now done, and I'm on to his check trousers - although the pink is a bit difficult to see in the photo. It will soon be joined by navy checks and plum dots (Santa has a very loud dress sense it seems LOL), so will soon show up better.

I also managed to do a little bit of secret stitching last night, so I'm just about on track with my goals for this month :) Only one more day to go before the very irritating Royal Mail strike is finished with (although only temporarily, I gather), so I should be not only receiving post on Thursday, but also will be able to post off a couple of exchanges which are sitting in my stitching room (aka H's office) waiting to go!

Happy stitching all and thanks for dropping by!

Helllooooo

I feel like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland - I'm very late. And not only for an important date, but for all sorts of things; maybe even for everything. And if I could even remember half of what I'm late for, I'd probably faint dead away. Why has life suddenly gotten so busy??

But enough panic; I'll put rhetorical questions aside for the moment, and instead tell you that I've finished my Fair and Square squares! I haven't posted them yet as there's still a postal strike here in the UK - yes, again, still - so I want to wait until the backlog has cleared a bit before posting these just in case they get lost. So no photos yet, but imminently. I also finished my return Crazy Exchange gift for Marne, but again waiting for the strike to finish before posting. Postal strikes aren't fun. I really dislike them. Just for the record.

But I do have a photo I can show you of Orlaith's stocking! I finished the bottom third last month, so this month's task is to finish the central motif - Santa! I know I had a little blast earlier about Christmas being in the shops already, but surely Christmas stitching is allowed??? I feel it's a very different thing LOL :)



So here is my progress with the stocking so far: Santa's skate and part of his stripe-y socks. I'm not particularly looking forward to finishing this - my sewing skills are nascent at best, but I'm pinning my hopes on my wonderful mother to help me, despite the fact that she is more than 4,000 miles away...

Happy stitching and thanks for dropping by!

Goal Review

So September didn't quite go as planned, stitching-wise. Life got very busy, and suddenly I was stitching a lot of mystery projects, so my normal rotation went out the window! I'm hoping that October is going to be more sensible, but given that I've got a couple of exchanges, just joined the SBEBB and have a lot of Christmas stitching on the horizon, this may not pan out :) I shall simply prioritise, and stitch away happily and not worry too much about goals. As long as I meet posting dates, I'll be a happy bunny!

Here is what happened in September:

Carry on with Northern Lights - No, I am faced with a row of Wisper stitching, so this has immediately burrowed down to the bottom of my stitching pile!
Carry on with Spanish Wine - Yes, I did manage one day on this
Carry on with Awake the Dawning Day - Yes, I did manage a couple of sessions on this
Carry on with Paradigm Lost - No, didn't pick this up
Finish AMAP Pinkeep - ha ha ha, not even sure where this is ;)
Stitch and send 4 gifts/exchanges - I stitched 1 RAK, 2 PIFs - so nearly but not quite managed this goal
Stitch 2 further gifts - I stitched one further gift
Start stitching Orlaith's stocking - Yes, I finished the first third of this project
Choose Fair & Square block to stitch - Yes, hurrah, I have chosen something to stich for Sue and have ordered the skein of floss I need (although the postal strike may thwart its imminent arrival)
Choose Stitcher's Lottery project - Yes, I have finally chosen something! I now need to order the materials for this

Rather a lot of red, huh? :)

Now, for October's goals:

Stitch and send Fair and Square Exchange squares to Sue
Finish Marne's return Crazy Exchange and post before 19.10
Stitch and send a Crazy Exchange for ??
Stitch 2 Christmas gifts
Stitch Santa on Orlaith's stocking
Order materials for Stitcher's Lottery project, and begin stitching
Carry on with Spanish Wine
Carry on with Awake the Dawning Day

I think that should keep me busy?????

Happy stitching all!

Busy Life!

Hello all - I have not posted in a while, nor been visiting your blogs much recently - life has gotten very busy all of a sudden!



We took some time out to go to Paris for Sunday's rugby World Cup do-or-die match between Ireland and Argentina. We needed a strong performance, and needed to beat Argentina by four tries and keep them from scoring within eight points of us, but sadly we lost 15-30, and only scored two tries. It was a wonderful weekend though, and we spent Monday wandering around Paris seeing the sights - we've done it many times, but you never tire of Paris!

I haven't been doing much stitching because of life stepping up a gear (and I'm not sure why this is - why am I so busy at the moment, with barely a moment to spend on anything that isn't work, travelling to work, or innumerable chores that simply must be done straight away??). What stitching I have been doing has been secret stitching, so I'm afraid I can't show you yet!



I did, however, get a chart from the lovely Amy as a trade - but I'm not going to show you a photo because I'm intending to stitch it for one of my readers, and I don't want to give the game away!



Happy stitching all - and I'm hoping to be back on the blogtrail very shortly!!