A little snowy stitching

Well, the wintry condtions continue here in the UK. We still have lots of snow and it looks as though the cold spell is set to continue here for a couple of weeks or so. We were due to head off to the Yorkshire dales this morning for a week, but we have had to cancel at the last minute as the owner of the cottage phoned to say the it was impossible to get in or out of Cotterdale due to the snow. Ah well, never mind, we still have the week off from work and I am now rather looking forward to a little staycation and the house is warm and we have done the dreaded supermarket shopping and this house is chock-full of stitching goodies! At least this way I don't have to worry whether my stitching chair will be comfy in the holiday house - LOL. We have postponed our booking and will now visit Cotterdale next April for my birthday.

We live in a cul de sac and there was a bit more snow overnight but it has stopped now and we appear to have a little fog .......now comes the decision as to whether we can manage the drive to Manchester to see Sophie and Matt and meet little Thora at long last.....watch this space!

In the meantime I have been stitching a LHN ornament and was going to attach a photo here, as well as a photo of the first lot of snow in our garden but blogger won't allow it this morning. Ah well, maybe next time!

Thanks for visiting, love Jackie x

So close and yet so far........

Hello all,

Carol and I have been making cushions over the last week or so. Mine is finally finished and I am very pleased with it (so close)......... I have tried to buy a cushion pad for it today and cannot find anything even remotely the right size (so far) .....That is very annoying!!! The cushion was easy and the instructions were clear, now all I need is a cushion pad........ Wish me luck!

The wait is over..........

I am pleased to announce the safe arrival of our new grand-daughter, Thora!

Thora Urska Smedley arrived on Friday 26th November (which, it turned out, was not Brians birthdayafter all, in spite of my last post..... his birthday is 27th November and always has been for the thirty something years that I have known him :-) For some reason I had it fixed in my mind that his birthday fell on a Friday this year Anyway, back to the baby...). Thora weighed in at a healthy 7lbs 1oz and mother and baby are both doing well!

We have had snow this week, hence the rather wintry feel to my blog. I have spent a large portion of today wrapping Christmas presents so I am hoping that will free up some time to play with my new sewing machine tomorrow evening. I have also been sorting through my stash of Just Cross stitch ornament magazines. Every year I promise that I will stitch a selection of ornaments and every year I leave it a little late ..... okay, more than a little late I agree......oh well, I have baby things to stitch for now anyway....... :-)

Only a few more days of work and then I have a week off and may just get a little stitching done. Then I may even have a picture or two to share, who knows?

Thanks to all those that continue to visit and leave comments!

We wait and wait and........

we wait some more and still no sign yet of Sophies baby......... :-) Sophies due date was 13 November and we are all (especially Sophie) getting impatient to meet the little one and find out whether it is a girl or a boy. Brian (DH) is really hoping that the baby comes on Friday 27 because, if so, he and the baby will share the same birthday. Brian would really love that and it would be a fabulous birthday present for him, so I am hoping baby comes on Friday too.....watch this space!

Little Daisy, who was born in February, continues to be the apple of everybodys' eye and has been crawling for a few weeks and has now learned to walk along whilst holding herself up on the sofa - so cute!

I have managed to get in a little more stitching recently than I was a few months ago and have also invested in a new sewing machine as my old Elna decided to start playing up. I am now the proud owner of a Pfaff Grandquilter as Carol and I went on an adventure on Friday afternoon to look at machines. We had a wonderful time and Carol drove to The Cotton Patch in Birmingham and back, on the motorway, in the FOG - what a heroine, she is fearless!!! Actually I should probably mention that Carol also bought the same sewing machine which suits me just splendidly because now we can learn how to use it together!

Carol and I also had a wonderful day together on Saturday making cushions and I will take photos just as soon as I can....... they are very pretty, even if I say so myself.

I will leave you with a couple of photos of stitching that was completed earlier in the year and hope to be back soon with some newer stitching photos and also with some baby-news. Now, for some reason, which is a complete mystery to me, Blogger has published the photos at the top of this post and I have no idea how to move them down ! The first photo is of a little applique piece which Claire made for Daisys' room, the second is a completed Shepherds Bush sampler which I made for my friends grandson (WIP pictures are further down the blog) and the last one is by Plum St Samplers and I love it........

As always, the images are clickable if you should so wish........ Thanks for visiting!

October 2010 - Where did the time go?

I can't believe that I haven't posted here since January - where has this year gone? I have revamped my blog for Halloween and hope to start posting fairly regularly agan.

Well, I have been incredibly busy at work which has taken a lot of my energy..... so much so, that I have barely lifted a needle all year. Anyway, I am hoping to remedy that situation very soon and, after our recent holiday on the island of Islay I am feeling much refreshed and have now got lots of stitchy plans running around my head.....so watch this space! The photo at the top of the blog was taken on holiday and is a photo of the mountains and moorland on Jura, which is an island which is just a very short ferry ride from Islay.

On the family front this has been an amazing year - I am now 'Granny' to our first grandchild, Daisy, and am soon to be a 'Granny' again in November when our second daughter is expecting her first baby. Just like all grannies worldwide I think my grandchildren are the most gorgeous, clever and interesting babies in the world and I really need to get busy stitching birth samplers, don't I?

Anyway, time to hit the 'publish post' button and head off to bed........

My Christmas gift for Carol

Hello All. Thank you to all those that have been to visit the blog recently and an especially huge thanks to those who took the time to leave a comment - I just love to hear from you! Here are some photos of the gift that I stitched for Carol for Christmas......

My stitching is part of a larger design by Renato Parolin and you can see the pattern here. I ordered my pattern from Casa Cenina and they provided excellent service.

I rushed out to Sainsburys the week before Christmas and you can imagine my delight when I saw the frame just sitting on the shelf. It went perfectly with the design and I didn't need a small mortgage in order to buy it! :-)

I stitched it using recommended DMC thread and some pale blue 32ct linen from the stash.

Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again soon,

Jackie x

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year one and all, although I must say that the Christmas and New Year Holiday seems a very dim and distant memory already! I thought that you might enjoy looking at the wonderful Christmas gifts that my friend Carol made for me. Imagine my delight when I pulled this beautiful box out of the gift bag............

Unfortunately the photos are not in the order that I wanted here, so here you see the entire gift set in all it's glory - such a pleasure to behold and the smell coming from the little pillows was just gorgeous - cinnamon and spices........

Here are the little pillows before I opened them up - isn't that tissue paper just delightful - I LOVE crows..... :-)

Here is a close up of one of the pillows



And here they are all are, in all their glory - such a wonderful gift; I am very lucky!

I am hoping to get back to blogging more regularly in 2010 as I really do miss reading your comments and I find that displaying my progress here keeps me motivated to stitch more too. I will be back shortly to upload the photos of the gift that I made for Carol....... Thanks for visiting!

Love Jackie x

From me to thee

Hello one and all..... where does the time go? Since I last posted we have been to Lochcarron in Scotland for our annual holiday. A lovely time was had by all and whilst we were away it was Carol's birthday. Sophie and Matt organised a cocktail party in honour of the day and here are photos of the gift that I stitched for Carol this year. The design is 'From me to thee' by Blackbird Designs.

Thanks for visiting!

A birth sampler

Thanks for all your comments, I have really enjoyed reading them! This is what I have been stitching on since the weekend. It is 'Borage and Bramble' from the Bramble Hearth leaflet by Shepherds Bush.

It will be a birth sampler for my friend's grandson. I stitched the 'Blue Berry Button' sampler from the same leaflet for his older brother, so I am hoping they will like this one too!

Here is my total progress so far; as you can see, I am not stitching it exactly as the pattern. Once again, the colours in the photo are not showing well. This is stitched on a light sand linen (soft buttery/sandy yellow) and the DMC colours are 778,315, 316, 524, 520, 932, 931 and 823. As always, all photos are clickable if you want to see larger versions.

Bloom where you are planted

I can hardly believe that I have another little finish to show! This one is 'bloom where you are planted' by Birds of a Feather. It is stitched on Belfast light-sand linen, although you can't tell that from these photos I have worked out how to get clear photos with this camera, but decent colour really eludes me! I had most of the required variegated threads and subbed just a couple with DMC.........

This is quite a colourful piece but nowhere near as brash as it looks in these photos

Here is the overall finished result.......... This was a straightforward, pleasurable stitch and I can recommend the piece, it is very pretty.

I have had a very pleasurable day so far, in spite of being temporarily extremely deaf. I am already completely deaf in one ear and the hearing in my other ear (the one previously known as my 'good' ear by all who know me) has decreased suddenly this week. My GPs surgery advised me to put ear drops in to clear the ear canal and now I have done that I can barely hear anything....well, maybe it has to get worse before getting better and who knows, I may get a little more stitching done if I am not distracted by the sound of the TV this evening? I have been looking through my Shepherds Bush stash today and have realised how many SB pieces I want to start at once LOL. So many lovely things to stitch and so little time.

Many thanks to all of you that take the time to visit me and especially to those who leave comments. I do love to read them all!

Good old Carol......

Just L@@K what my friend Carol turned up with on Sunday - yum, yum..... fairy cakes!!

They looked so pretty and tasted as good as they looked

.....and, by sheer fluke she had made just the right number to fill up my cup cake holder. Doesn't it look pretty? What a pal and needless to say they have all gone! The family descended when I texted them a copy of the next photo :-)

Thanks so much for my 'cheer up' gift, Carol - you are the best!

Thanks so much to everybody that has commented on my last post, I really do appreciate all your kind words. I did some more stitching last night and so should finishBOAF 'Bloom where you are planted' tonight. I hope to have some photos to show shortly.....

Princess Pamela......

This post is a very sad one for me as I am writing it to mark the loss of my little dog Pamela who died last Saturday..........

We have had her for 10 years as she was already 2 when we got her. We inherited an extremely timid but loveable little dog who blossomed into an affectionate and fun companion. It is certainly true that she believed that she was in fact a princess and not a dog at all and eventually she managed to bring us all around to this idea...... :-)

Here she is with Maisie who is our lab/collie cross

We will miss you Pamela; we will even miss your extraordinarily imperious ways......... :-)

As always, thanks for visiting.....

BBD finish

This piece is finished and I am very pleased with it. I used the suggested DMCs and gingham fabric.

I decided to use the same fabric and threads and make a little pincushion. I have wanted to stitch this up ever since I bought the book. It is almost done.....

Thank you for visiting....... :-)

BBD 'A flock of birds'

This piece is from the booklet 'My heart is true' by Blackbird Designs and Nicoletta Farrauto. I am using the suggested DMC threads and gingham fabric. So far it has been a very easy stitch and is looking good! I might even have it finished before the weekend if I am lucky!

Thanks for visiting.....I hope to see you again soon!

Siren of the sea.....

My on-line stitching group had a summer exchange recently and just l@@k at the lovely gifts which Danya sent to me! Isn't the mermaid just exquisite?

She also sent a beaded bookmark.......it may be difficult to see in the photo but the flamingo has little 3d wings sticking out from his body - too cute!

Here is a close-up of the mermaid for you to enjoy - all photos are clickable if you want to see larger images. Thank you so much, Danya!

Until next time - have a good weekend, thank you for visiting!

In the Forest by La D Da

Hurrah, another long-term UFO bites the dust! I finished this piece last week and have since dropped it off at the framers; I can collect it in a couple of weeks!

I couldn't get the linen which was called for so I substituted the fabric and used the NPI silks suggested on the pattern It is very cute!

Thanks to all who left comments about Marys birthday party. Helen, we had the party at Blackbrook House near Belper.

Marys birthday party

I have had the loveliest day today at Marys birthday party! The venue was delightful, the food delicious and the company extremely enjoyable! What more can you ask for? First up is a photo of me and the birthday girl chatting, which is our natural state..... :-)

Here is the table, all laid and waiting for us all...........

Here is the venue, which is just delightful and with such friendly, helpful staff too!

Such a pretty view inside the front door; the house just welcomes you in......


.......And, because this is a stitching blog, after all .......last, but not least, here is a photo of the pot lid that I stitched for Mary. I used 'Watercolour Heart' from Shepherds Bush.

Framing photos

"Thank you" to everybody that left a comment about Carol's beautiful box. I love to read your comments and it makes me feel less self-conscious about sitting here rambling away to myself! LOL

Here are the promised photos of the pieces that I recently collected from the framers. This week I finished La D Da's 'In the Forest' (hurrah!) and I will try and take some photos of that piece later today. Our weather is grey and overcast at the moment, so I am not sure how well the pictures will turn out. I have a million things to do today, most of them fall into the category of 'chores' but the bright spot of the day will be stitching a little something to fit in a pot-lid for Sophies mother-in law, Mary. Mary has a special birthday soon and has graciously invited us to her birthday celebration tomorrow...... (Sophie is my youngest daughter). I have a few ideas, so watch this space...... As we all know, pot lids are very small, so I shouldn't have a problem in starting and finishing this today .

I hope you enjoy the photos, which are clickable, as always..... Enjoy your weekend everybody, I also hope that you manage to get some stitching time in!