Back From My Holiday

What a wonderful break I had. Everyday was spent on the top deck of a ship in the glorious sunshine. I had my stitching in one hand & a cocktail in the other :-)
The trip wasn't without it's moments. When we got to our stateroom our luggage was already waiting at our door so we decided to unpack straight away. It was at this point that I found I had packed the incorrect bag of cross stitch :'( I had sorted out two small WIP Lizzie Kate designs to complete & the Lizzie Kate Boo Club series to make a start on. I was slightly gutted as our whole trip was based around us doing lots of stitching. The good news is that I did at least pack some stitching, it was my other Lizzie Kate SAL.... Christmas By The Letter.This is what it looked like at the start of the cruise & this is what it looked like at the end:

I have one other piece of stitching to share & it's not cross stitch but instead a mini quilt. I know I haven't posted a picture of Roberts finished quilt yet but thats because I still have some more finishing to do but it is getting there... promise. My newly finished quilt is to double up as a logo for my new blog/shop/thing which I've been (slowly) working on. It'll be called Lisa G Creations & I hope to sell a mixture of the little things that I make & with any luck some of the bigger things that I intend on making too. I hope you like my little quilt, it took me a week of evenings to complete.

I used a charm pack from moda called Boutique by Chez Moi, a fat quarter of cream with gold stars for the centre panel & plain cream for the border, binding & backing. I managed to get hold of a fat quarter of one of the red Boutique fabrics to use for the "L". Eventually I'd like this to hand in my studio behind my work station... well one of my workstations :-)

More to share but it'll have to wait until next time.

Happy stitching :-)

Christmas Design SAL Update

Here's the latest update of my Christmas Design SAL. I'm pleased with my progress & have been making all the targets I've set myself each month, except maybe this month.... I've left my stitching at my mums :-(

Happy Stitching :-)

More Wonky-ness & Christmas Design Update!

Looks like I've now finished all of the centre parts of Roberts quilt & this week I have to start sewing them all together. I finally got around to taking pictures of the past two weeks work. The first is rather like a wonky chess board.


The second is Wonky Logs & this was completed Monday & I've already trimmed these ones ready to be stitched.


My other update is on the Christmas Design SAL. I still really love stitching this on the first week of the month & again this month I've managed to complete my goal that I set. Roll on next month :-)
This weeks stitching is on the little Sweet Dreams mini sampler for Robert & with not much left to complete I am hoping to share a picture with you before the week is out. Then I just have to choose which project to start next..... so much choice!!!!

Happy stitching :-)

Riding along

Last week I was stitching on two different designs. One of them I can't share with you as it's a gift for someone that visits my blog on occasion. The other is my HAED Dragon Riders. I haven't made great progress & I haven't even finished one page yet but I am really pleased with what was about 2 evenings stitching. I took the fabric off of my large frame & started using my 8in Q-snap which is what I use for most of my stitching & suddenly my stitching on it became a whole lot quicker :-)
Apologies for the slightly blurry photo.

My other picture this wonderfully sunny Monday is the latest panel in my Sampler quilt. I have to say it was the most fiddly thing I've done to date. It does look really lovely but when I come to make another one for Hannah there is no way I'm going to be making the bias stems, she can have just flowers. The stems were a nightmare, I certainly didn't enjoy making them but I am pleased with the result.



Being the first week of the month means that this week I am joining my friends over at Dragon My Needle for our Christmas Design SAL. I lovveee this SAL so I've got my drink, my snacks, my Waltons on the DVD player & my fabric in hand.

Happy stitching everyone :-)

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 :-(

Quilt Update

Ok here we are. The first picture is of Heart Blocks that were completed last week. They are four patchwork hearts which have then been appliqued onto the green. I believe they'll be positioned in the quilt in twos.

The next part is Quick Crazy Blocks. I really like this & I'm not sure the colour translates that well on screen but I threw a dark purple into the mix of colours & it has little gold stars on it. It looks fabulous, I really love it.


On the stitching front I am totally engrossed in my Christmas Design SAL. It's the first week of the month & that means a group of us all stitching our christmas designs together. I love it, I really do. I can't wait to see what I manage to get stitched this week but at the same time I don't want the week to end so I can just carry on :-)

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 :-)

Stitching Monday

Just a small post this morning. The twins are off at nursery so it's my stitching Monday :-)

I have an update picture to post later with my progress on Yoyo's Christmas Design SAL. We stitched for a week together & will continue to do so once a month until our designs are completed & hanging on the wall next christmas... well thats the plan anyway!

This morning I've done the tidying (most of it!), put the washing on, filled up the bird feeder & made myself a cuppa. I'm going to do an hour of a project downstairs watching Larkrise To Candleford & then hopefully cut the fabric ready to get started on my HAED Dragon Riders later today upstairs whilst probably watching some more of the 3rd series of Little House On The Prairie.

Now all I have to do is choose my next hours project.. will it be one of my two UFO SAL projects, the 2010 Challenge project or the Festive Biscornu. I'll keep you guessing for now & post an update pic later.

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

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has enjoyed christmas as much as I have.

Now that the twins are 20 months old the whole christmas concept is brilliant this year.... lets just say that they have "unwrapping gifts" down to a fine art now! Our modest house is like toy central, yet again, & in the evenings whilst they're sleeping we'll be having a toy cull. The toys that the twins have grown out of will be donated to Twins Club, Playgroup, our Dr's waiting room & my boot sale box.

I've had a few stitchery gifts this christmas & will at some point get around to taking a picture with my new camera.. yes that's right, DH bought me a nice shiny new camera, an IXUS 100 (an upgrade on my current IXUS40). I had some new fabric, a Lizzie*Kate Christmas Kit & a pull along trolley for my sewing machine :-)

I was well impressed with the trolley as it was a bit of a late addition to my christmas wish list (bit of an afterthought really). I've booked myself onto an evening course for quilting. Although I could probably get along fine with some patchwork & quilting I've never actually dabbled in it properly so from 18th Jan I'll be doing 10 weeks on a Monday evening hopefully making up my first quilt. The trolley will enable to me to take along my machines, fabrics & all the trimmings. I can't wait to get started.

I made a small start on Yoyo's Christmas SAL but then had to frog the lot as I'd completed messed it up. My own stupid fault, I just wasn't paying attention.... gutted... but I've already re-started.... 3rd time lucky :-)

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 :-)

Busy.... Busy.... Busy....

So much happening at the moment in my world of stitching... or rather not happening as the case maybe!

Christmas Design SAL - With fabric & threads all ready I made a start on 1st December only to find that the cream I had decided to use was too pale :-( The recommended fabric is a 32ct Belfast Linen but I have quite a bit of linen that I'm working on at the moment so I thought some 16ct would be a bit easier & a welcome break from linens. I've been through my entire fabric stash & don't have anything darker than a cream. I even had my mum go through her fabric stash too & still no joy. Now I can't decide if I should order online or wait until I can get to a shop but I don't know quite when that will be.

HAED, Dragon Riders - After much deliberation I have decided to re-start my Dragon Riders. I only ever managed a fraction of page 1 when stitching on the 25ct over 1 & the more I think about it the reality is that I don't think I'll stitch any more. I've chosen some 18ct aida to re-start on. I know thats going to increase the size of the design dramatically but I have the perfect place for a lovely large picture to hang & how much better could it be than to hang a piece of my stitching :-)

Maybe later or tomorrow I'll post updates on the Festive Biscornu & my Christmas Trees UFO with pictures too. At the moment it's time the twins were up from their nap!

Christmas Design SAL

Today is the first day of Yoyo's christmas SAL. I have the fabric & threads ready & I'm good to go... hopefully by the weekend I'll be able to show you the start :-)

Christmas Design SAL

Right... I'm almost ready to make a start on the Christmas Design SAL. Annoyingly I went out to buy some of the Weeks Dye Works threads today only to find that the store didn't have all that I needed. I did manage to get a piece of fabric. I originally thought I wouldn't have to buy fabric but alas I just don't have the right size piece.

This is what I'll be stitching for the SAL & hopefully this time next year it'll be hanging on a wall somewhere in my home :-)