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 :-)

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 :-)

Big Project.... Small Start!

I totally didn't get chance to blog this Monday. We had a plumber here all day giving the central heating a power flush so my day was distrupted to say the least.

On Monday evening I started a patchwork/quilting course at the store Thread Bear in Surrey. It's a sampler quilt that I'll be creating over 10 weeks & you can see the sort of thing I'll be making here. I'll get a picture on soon.

Now on to the BAP. In case you didn't know, many moons ago I started my muched loved Heaven And Earth Design. Of course it fell by the wayside & found itself on the pile (more like an entire room now) labelled UFO. When getting back into my stitching I was desperate to get going again on the HAED only to find that I just couldn't. Further investigation led me to realise it was the fabric that I didn't like. I just wasn't happy working on the 25ct over 1. DH bought me some lovely new fabric in a more respectable 18ct & now I've finally started again. OK so it's not a massive start but I am enjoying it & I'm enjoying seeing it grow... all be it slowly :-)


I'm off to Sandown Park tomorrow with my good friend over at A Yen For Yarn. We're browsing the Stitch & Creative Crafts Show..... fingers crossed I come back with goodies :-)

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

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!

Not much doing....

Once again another day & evening has passed me by with no sign of putting thread to fabric. It does disappoint me slightly but at the same time I've been busy blog hopping from my stitching group blogs on to further afield.

I have managed to add a WISP (Work In Slow Progress) column to my blog & in it have included my HAED design Dragon Riders. I guess what I'd really like to do is get around to turning the list into html links so that you can see the progress but I doubt i'll get around to it.

I also started a new blog yesterday, some random thoughts & memories that are unrelated to stitching. I added my signature to that blog too (with the assistance of DH).

We have 35 days left before me & mum head off to the Alexandra Palace Knit & Stitch show, very excited about that & can't wait to spend some money & buy up a bit of stash. More on that later I think.

A Stitching Update

I know have so many WIP that I'm loosing track myself. At the moment I'm working on the following:

• Christmas Cracker by Bent Creek, this is on 32ct linen so is very tiny & is only really being stitched at work.
• Under the Arch by Heritage Stitchcraft, this is on 28ct evenweave, made great progress only for it to slow rapidly when it came on holiday with me & never made it out the bag.
• UFO SAL this is Welcome House by Cinnamon Cat, 14 ct aida, easy to stitch & almost done but the last part really is the most boring.
• WISP.. ahhh my HAED Dragon Riders.. when I retire (or have time at home) I will devote much needed attention to this wonderful design, I can't wait!

So thats just the ones being worked on at the moment, we shant talk about the WIP that are in the bottom drawer just itching to see the light of day. It's one of these that'll take the place in the UFO SAL database once the Welcome House is complete.

The other thing that has be looked at in great detail is the 2008 Stitching challenge on the forum, has to brand new & some stitches have to be made on January 1st 2008. Choosing the design is going to be a long process. I may have to wait until my stash has arrived from USA before having everything spread out in the lounge so that I can clearly see kits & charts & somehow make an informed decision.

For now... back to the Christmas Cracker & some West Wing I think.

Lise xx

This time next week....

Friday, October 5, 2007, 12:15 PM

...we'll be in sunny Portugal. AND in case you are wondering I have checked the forecast (she says, quickly looking again!) ok so the 10 day forecast has it at 22oC from the day we arrive.. I can live with that. Not stifling hot & not cold either although anyone that knows me well will know that I'll probably be cold no matter what.

My stitching has been going well lately. At home I'm working on "Under The Arch" from Heritage, it's growing quite nicely & will most likely be the project I take on holiday (if indeed I can be bothered to take one on holiday). In the shop I have the "Welcome House" which is making good progress, recently started on the top section which is the last part. Updated image on gallery this afternoon. I also have the HAED Dragon Riders which I had planned to do week on/week off but with the Welcome House making such good progress I have continued with it so no image to upload on that one yet.

Warcraft has taken a bit of a backseat the last week or 2, so many other things to be done that take time it is truely difficult working out how to fit it all in but we shall do what we usually do, get back into it with a vengence I'm sure.

Lunch time soon, nice Orzo pasta salad for me with slow roasted tomatos. Washed down with some West Wing season 5.... luv it!

Lise xx

Riders have lift off!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007, 01:05 PM

Ok... so I've been stitching the HAED since Sunday evening. I'll be brutally honest I was thinking to myself on more than one occasion "what the heck am I doing with this???"

Heaven & Earth Designs

Sunday, July 29, 2007, 10:47 PM

OH MY GOD... I have started my Heaven & Earth Designs project, Dragon Riders, & I'm thinking to myself "what on earth have I started?".

The 25 count over 1 thread kind of makes my 32 count over 2 look like a walk in the park.

I have opened up a new album in the Gallery purely for my HAED & to also label it a Work In Slow Progress is a bit of an understatement. You'll currently find in the album a picture of the original artwork, ie what it'll look like complete (if it ever gets that far!), & a picture of my fabric, threads & chart for the first page.

It has been suggested that I upload a picture once a week to track the progress of the design but I'm thinking that it'll be most likely I'll upload a picture for ever page of the chart that I complete. That does of course mean that you won't get new pictures often as it's going to be a bitch to complete.

Hey ho... off we go!

Lise xx