Woohooo..... A Finish :-)

Here it is... my first finish of 2010 & it just happen to also be my January 1st Challenge piece for the stitching group I follow.

Sweet Dreams by

Cinnamon Cat
January 1st Challenge Piece
Completed March 10th

Happy Stitching :-)

Sweet Dreams & TUSAL

No posts from me during the last week as it was half term & we had visitors. It means that my stitching room was converted to "the guest room" for a while & since this is where my PC is as well I was unable to have much access.

I decided to stitch on Sweet Dreams for the full week as it's quite small & meant I could easily stitch on it downstairs without the need for my frame. I've made excellent progress, really pleased. I only have the bottom couple of stars & the birth details to put on. I've been so tempted to just continue on it until it's finished, especially as I haven't had a finish in a while, but I think it's important to rotate the projects to keep the enthusiasm alive. I'll be really looking forward to stitching on it again as I know it'll be almost finished.


Here's my latest TUSAL picture (I know... late again!). Not all that different from the last one but you will see all of the blues & yellows on top from the Sweet Dreams that I've just been doing.

Back at Quilt class this evening so hopefully will have a new panel to share with you soon. Not sure what I'm going to stitch on this week in the way of cross stitch, most likely to be me HAED Dragon Riders but I'll have to wait & see.

If you fancy a chance at a giveaway then pop over to Sarah's blog Craftymoo, she's having a giveaway to celebrate her blogoversary. Congrats to Sarah.

Happy stitching :-)

Quilt Catch Up

Another two parts of my Sampler Quilt are now finished. Both are versions of Layering & Slashing. The first is three layers with sections cut back to reveal the lower layers.
The second is a Chenille style of Layering & Slashing. An extra layer of fabric has been put into this one to make the chenille extra soft & fluffy feeling. One of my stitching lines went slightly wonky on this one & I was going to unpick it to have another go but have instead decided to leave it. This is my first quilt so maybe it'll be nice to one day look back at the imperfections.
This week I'm already making great progress on Roberts Sweet Dreams sampler. Bless him, he is feeling much better & is back to a lovely 12 hour night time sleep :-) Hopefully the coughs & colds will be over soon & Spring will finally be with us!

My Race For Life sponsorship is going well & I'm hoping to get some serious training in... just as soon as it stops snowing. Of course it does mean that I'm going to have to stitch the wonderful Lizzie*Kate design Peace, Love & A Cure... what luck... I just happen to have all the threads I need :-)

Happy Stitching everyone, Sweet Dreams update soon.

That Friday Feeling

It's been a busy week. Both babies have had a cold but little Robert in particular has had the most awful cough & sore throat so night time waking is once again upon us. Bit of a shock to the system when you've been used to them sleeping a good 12 hours for such a long time!

I did manage to get some stitching done. I've completed the next part of my Christmas Design SAL for Yoyo's group.

I've also got 2 updates on my quilt to share but they'll have to wait until over the weekend some time. One of them is complete but the other one I'm not quite happy with so I'm going to frog a portion of the stitching & change it slightly.

I discovered today on Facebook a Cross Stitch SAL group & this weekend is their monthly SAL. From Friday to Monday you all stitch together & post pictures of your start & finish of the weekend. I shall give that a go using the Sweet Dreams star that's my 2010 Challenge piece. I hope to carry on that for the whole week as it's half term here so the twins aren't at nursery & we also have visitors midweek so my stitching room will temporarily become The Guest Room :-(

Starry Update & TUSAL

A small update for you on my Sweet Dreams star. This of course is my 2010 Challenge piece. I was going to stitch it steadily & take my time but I have to admit when I see people completing up to their 5th item for this year already it does kind of make me want to finish it sooner rather than later. After that the thoughts of what to stitch next come flooding into my mind & then nothing gets stitched as I'm too busy adding to my ever growing stash :-)



The 2nd update today is on my Totally Useless SAL. I was supposed to post a picture about 2 weeks ago now but I was struggling to find a glass to put the threads in. Well I finally found something. A little glass jar. It's not what I was ideally looking for but it's cute & dumpy. I did think that maybe it'll be temporary jar & i'll keep looking for what I really wanted but then I thought no... this is what I've chosen, if I find something else that I like then it'll just have to wait until next year :-)


Happy Stitching :-)

Pleasing Progress

I've had a really lovely stitching day, lots of progress & lots of updates to share with you.

Whilst I was enjoying this years first episode of Larkrise to Candleford I decided to stitch on my 2010 Challenge piece, Sweet Dreams. Only an hours worth of stitching but I'm happy with the progress.

The next update is on Yoyo's Christmas Design SAL. I haven't set myself any monthly targets but I have to say I'm really happy with the amount I've done for January & I'm looking forward to next months stitching week.



My other update today is that I cut the fabric for my HAED Dragon Riders & made a new start on it. No picture on this one yet but hopefully soon.

Happy Stitching all :-)

2010 - A New Start

I was in two minds to do the 2010 Challenge this year. In 2008 I didn't finish either of the pieces that I started for the challenge & in 2009 I didn't even sign up for any. But having spent the latter half of 2009 getting myself back into my all time favourite past time I made a rather late decision to take part... and I did it... I started a nice new design on 1st January. It's Sweet Dreams by Cinnamon Cat & it's for my little boy.



I'm taking part in a few challenges this year & I'm looking forward to working on all of them. I have a 5 day cruise booked with my mum which we've already designated a "stitching holiday", I am sooooo looking forward to that... roll on June.

2009 Finishes
Baby Love by Cinnamon Cat. My only finish this year, my only finish for 2 years for that matter.

2010 Goals/Challenges
Ultimately to finish more than I did in 2009 :-)
Jan 1st Challenge - Sweet Dreams, Cinnamon Cat
UFO Challenge - Cindarella is Proof, Lizzie*Kate
Christmas Design SAL - Merry Christmas By The Letter, Lizzie*Kate
I've Started UFO - Was Christmas Trees but I think I'm going to change that this evening.
I would also like to complete the Festive Biscornu from Polstitches Designs & do at least one (if not two) pages on my HAED Dragon Riders.

Well there it is, that's what I would like to do, only time will tell if I get anywhere. I'll do my best to post regular updates & pictures. All pictures will be found in my WIP folder down the right hand side of my blog & once I get going I'll start a new folder for my HAED.

Happy New Year

Early Xmas Gift & a RAK

With poorly twins there hasn't been much time for stitching this past couple of weeks but I did have a lovely surprise from DH the other day.

He was going to buy me some new 18ct fabric for my Dragon Riders HAED as a christmas present but the other day he left a package on my desk which contained none other than my new fabric :-)
I was over the moon, means that I can prepare the fabric all ready to get started. But that wasn't the end of the package. Also included was some new 16ct aida for me to use on the Christmas Design SAL. I'd previously bought cream but it was far to light & so far haven't made the trip to LNS to buy some more. DH ordered online & his comments were "I don't know if its the right colour as I had to guess but if not you can use it for some other projects". How wonderful is he??? don't you all want one just like him??? The colour seems perfect.

Next is the small amount of progress that I've made on the Polstitches Designs Festive Biscornu. It's a really lovely design that was featured in Issue 178 (Dec 2009) of Cross Stitch Collection. Polstitches are selling a materials pack for just £9.50 that includes the fabric, threads, beads & buttons to complete the biscornu. I know my progress isn't that great but it's already looking really pretty. The front & back designs are slightly different, I thought that was a really nice touch :-)

One more picture to show you today & that's an update on my latestest UFO project which is Cinnamon Cats Christmas Trees. Again not much progress here but the tree is now complete & I just need to put the backstitch around it before continuing with the ribbon to the next tree. Apologies for the slightly blurry image... I must have wobbled!



Thats me done for now.... getting there :-)

UFO v's SAL

Following the finish of Baby Love I've spent a week trying to pick a new UFO to work on. The winner is Christmas Trees... also by Cinnamon Cat.



The other thing I've come across is a new SAL (courtesy of Dragon My Needle & via the Speedy Stitcher). It's due to start on 1st December & it's called Christmas Design SAL. I've sorted out a christmas design & the idea is that I stitch on it every month for a year & by this time next year I'll have a lovely new design to hang..... fingers crossed anyway! My chosen design for this is Lizzie*Kate - Merry Christmas - By The Letter. Now all I need to do is sign up for the SAL & order the fabric & threads for a new start... yay :-)

A Finish :-)

It's late & I'm tired so just a quick post to share a picture. My first finished piece of cross stitch for at least 18 months. I am well chuffed & can't wait to enjoy another.

Almost Done

I've been busy :-)

"Baby Love" has suddenly come to life with a bit of backstitch, not much left now. I was hoping to get it finished next week but we have house guests so you'll have to just watch this space for further progress.


My other finish is not cross stitch related but is instead a little bag. A baby tote measuring 8 inches square & made using some fabric that I had "in stock" :-)


Our little room which has housed our computers since we moved in is rapidly becoming my new craft/stitching room. We've moved a drop-side table from downstairs up here which is now the new home for my sewing machine & either side of the table I have 2 of my stitching boxes. DH was kind enough to put up 2 new shelves above my desk so I have DMC Gold Concept thread folders on the top shelf along with a folder containing charts from some magazines & a selection of books that include knitting, quilting & cross stitch (& some World of Warcraft books... loosely craft related!!). I'm feeling quite at home :-)

The Promised Picture

Here you go... an updated picture of Baby Love.


I've thoroughly enjoyed getting back into my stitching. Last weekend we continued having a tidy of the spare room & this involved me going through a rather large storage box where I came across all kinds of stitching goodies which included:

• Floor stand from Needle Needs
• Lap/Table stand from Needle Needs
• Several different sized frames for the above
• Cedric the knitted christmas gnome
• Lots of felt squares that came from my shop
• Scarf knitting project with fabulous alpaca yarn
• Some kits that I just had to have!!
  
• Several UFO's that haven't seen the light of day for a while :-)
  

This time next week I would've been to the Knit & Stitch show & hopefully returned with some lovely new stash to add to the collection. I will of course share with you any new purchases!

An Eve of Stitching

This evening I've put some time in on Baby Love. It's coming along really nicely & I've almost completed the main bulk of the design. I'm trying my best to get it done so that I can do the backstitch on it as I know that once the backstitch is on the design will really come to life & thats when the enthusiasm will really kick in to finish it off. Being such a small design it really shouldn't take me that long once I'm past the backstitch point.

Hopefully I'll get a picture posted tomorrow.... would have got that done this evening but the battery is dead again... maybe I should request a new one for christmas.

I've made some nice progress on the christmas gift stitching that I began last week, I'm pleased with the colour so far on the fabric. No picture to be posted of this until after christmas so a long wait I'm afraid.

Only 8 days to the Knit & Stitch show, can't wait. I hope there is lots of stitching there, I'll be gutted if there isn't. I do know that Historical Sampler Company will be there & both mum & me love their samplers so it'll be nice to see them & anything new that they have on offer :-)

A New Start

For the last few days I've been looking at a design that I would like to get started on asap. Only problem is I need to order the threads for it as I want to use the Sampler Threads & Weeks Dye Works that are listed. I have 21 days until me & mum head to The Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace so I know I should hold off ordering them but it's driving me mad. I don't have that much time to stitch at the moment & I would really like this done as a christmas gift.

What a quandary to be in... do I order the threads now & then I've got them & can get started or do I wait until Ally Pally & risk not getting them & then having to order them anyway? These things do my head in!

Below is a picture of what I'm working on at the moment. It's a mini birth sampler for Missy Moo, I started it just after the twins were born but didn't get to stitch much as everything was put on hold while I learnt how to incorporate the twins into my life. The design is only small & it's from the Kittens range of Cinnamon Cat designs. Hopefully now that I'm dedicating some time to the stitching I'll be able to post some more progress soon.

Baby Love

Happy Stitching :-)