I HATE KEEPING SECRETS!

So to keep three little secrets and one very BIG one has not been easy and I'm literally at exploding point!

This is my first Christmas in the world of blogging and I wanted to stitch and send some gifts to a few people I was lucky enough to have the addresses of.  Two of those have been received and one has been opened and the other kept until the 25th and the third one, fingers crossed, will reach its destination overseas in time for the big occasion.

I stitched this jolly fellow for Lesleyanne (Lesleyanne's Life of Stitches) and found the chart in the 2002 edition of Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments.

Roly-Poly Snowman by Bent Creek stitched on 28~count natural linen in GA sampler threads

Lesleyanne sent me a lovely email upon receipt, thank you Lesleyanne and Merry Christmas to you.

Now for the BIGGIE!  Tomorrow we fly to Florida for a 2 week Christmas Holiday and my gang of 3 have been 'kept in the dark' for as long as we could manage.  Playing a Secret Agent is not my strong point but I have managed to consult with schools/colleges and absences for the last few days have been authorised, presents have been exchanged for the 25th, my brother-in-law has been signed up to come down from Scotland and look after the house and Tilly has gone to stay with a lovely lady who's a nurse at the Vets we go to.  This really was the hardest part and I already miss her terribly after only 4hours but her Christmas prezzies are here for when we get back and I shall certainly be doing some serious bunny shopping whilst I'm away!!!

My gorgeous 'Tinsel Tilly' xxx

I shall be keeping in touch with all your posts whilst we're away and hope to post as well but just in case I don't get the chance (you know what with shopping, theme parks, lazy days, cocktails, restaurants etc!!!!!!!) a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL, may it be peaceful, joyous, memorable and snow-free!

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

Better Late than Never . . . . A WINNER!

A big thank you to everyone who left such complimentary messages on my last post! ~ they all mean a great deal to me xxx

A very BIG apology for the delay in posting a winner of my 'Little Owl' kit but AOL very kindly decided to close our Intenet connection down on Monday without any reason or notification to us and after some very long and heated telephone conversations (steam literally coming out of DH's ears) and a 3-day duration of no internet we have now received an apology and normal service has been resumed so without any further ado . . . . .

Sixteen entries . . . . .

Tilly ~ please pick a winner . . . . .

Number 1 ~ Crystal ~ Midnight Stitcher

With no internet available on Monday my random generator AKA Tilly decided ticket number 1 was rather tasty so Twin II and I had fun and games trying to rescue the piece of paper before having to unfold the other 15 to see which one had nearly been eaten ~ success!

Crystal please let me know address info and I will get this in the mail to you as soon as I can.

Now, down to stitching.

  As I said in my last post, 4 spooky stitches have been waiting for completion and again with no internet

connection and time to spare I squeezed a fifth in!

First up is 'Fright Turn' by Lizzie*Kate from her Halloween Highway collection stitched on 28-ct Antique White evenweave fabric with my choice of Gentle Art threads.  The star is stitched in Madeira gold metallic thread and the pumpkin fabric was from my recent fabric stash addition with brown ric rac and bronze seed beads to finish:

Next is another Lizzie*Kate design ~ 'Hats Off To Halloween' which I stitched last month.

I stitched this on 28-ct Sand Minster linen again with my choice of Gentle Art threads and have used a spider fabric to finish as a pillow:

A small design next but really cute and love its smiley face!

This is 'Itty Bitty Pumpkin' by Twisted Threads which I stitched on 28-ct Natural Linen with the suggested DMC threads.  Sorry, but yet again I finished it as a small pillow with pumpkin coloured fabrics and a raffia decoration pinned at the bottom:

'Spooky Row' by Bent Creek was another piece stitched last month and due to its size I was a little unsure what to do as a finish so a wall hanging seemed to be the best idea and 'at long last' I hear you say it's something different from a pillow finish!

I found some nice black fabric with white spots which I used for both the back and front and added some tabs at the top for hanging but found it also looks good hanging from the mantlepiece over the fire with candles sitting on the tabs holding it in place.  I added some self-cover buttons to each corner with the orange fabric used in Itty Bitty Pumpkin and they match the stitched pumpkins in the design perfectly!

And finally (hope you're still there?) a small design using two patterns from cross stitch books ~ Boo and a Black Cat.  I coffee-stained some 28-ct white linen and stitched the design in just black DMC, frayed the edges, gave the kitty 2 silver seed beads for eyes, added 4 small purple buttons with matching ribbon at 2 corners and a loop to hang and finished ~ yep! you guessed! ~ as a pillow with the same fabric as Spooky Row above.

That's me done for Halloween!  I an now in knitting mode and have just started a chunky knit cushion cover which is done on 10mm needles so literally grows before your eyes.  Knitted cushion covers in natural colours are very much in fashion here at the moment but they can cost as much as £45 (ouch!) so with this pattern only needing 3 balls and costing only £12 this is a great saving but a great temptation for Tilly who's decided to move on from eating my Gentle Art threads and feels a balls of wool is much tastier!

Take care everyone, Happy Halloween to you all for the 31st and until next time:

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

SYMPATHY PLEASE!

Firstly a huge thank you to everyone who wished me better after my raging tooth infection, unfortunately my tooth wasn't listening and I was back at the dentist on the following day and prescribed stronger antibiotics with root canal treatment booked in for that Wednesday. 

Still my tooth didn't listen and despite numerous injections to numb it still it raged on so I had antibiotics injected as a last resort (still with me or if you're anything like me out for the count when it comes to injections and needles) and thankfully this worked BUT made me throw up so back I went on Friday and another concoction prescribed and thankfully it has now settled and I have a week off before returning.

So instead yesterday I went down with a rotten cold and have now been up since 2am with a high temperature, continual runny nose and my usually very controlled asthma has made an unwelcome appearance too!!!

Yep, I'm feeling very sorry for myself (lots of aahhs please) and Tilly has missed her fun playtimes whilst I've moped around . . .

Tilly, we need something to cheer us up . . .

and Lesleyanne (Lesleyanne's Life of Stitches) did exactly that with a RAK delivered by the Postie on Tuesday morning

Lesleyanne had contacted me to say she had something in her stash which although she loved would probably never get round to stitching and it was screaming my name at her ~ Bunnies Galore by Brittercup Designs, it couldn't have been more perfect, I love it and it's taken position high up the 'to-do' pile once my Autumn and Halloween stitchies are complete ~ thank you so much Lesleyanne, bunnyhops and smiles all round xxx

Sleeping seems to be something I once did a long time ago and having such a painful mouth meant it even hurt to put my head on a pillow so I've burnt the midnight oil (and much beyond) on many nights recently stitching Spooky Row by Bent Creek . . .

It's over 2ft wide so not easy to photograph hence the extra 2 pics below :

I stitched this on 28count natural linen with DMC threads rather than GAST and have a few ideas what to do for a finish but will leave that for a later post.

I managed to have an afternoon out with DH on Monday, it was our 24th Wedding Anniversary but after feeling so low recently we are going to have belated celebrations at a later date when I will be able to have a glass or two and actually eat something so instead we went stash hunting and did really well :

Autumnal and Halloween fat quarters and ric a rac

Green felt for pumpkin making, a Halloween sign with paints (meant for kiddies but as I'm the biggest one of them in our family!) and some gingham ribbon

AND

3 cross stitch books, all in perfect condition and never used for the fantastic price of £1 (who could resist?)

The weather is horrible here today and noticeably much colder but the leaves are turning those gorgeous shades of Autumn and I now don't need an excuse to light the fire in the lounge at night!

I'm off to renew my Passport tomorrow and need a new photograph ~ I look like Rudolph with my sore red nose at the moment and the gang are all laughing at me ~ still I'll only have to live with it for another 10 years!!!

HAPPY STITCHING . . . 

HOT, COLD, HOT, COLD . . . .

The past few days has had me experiencing extreme hot and freezing cold temperatures and NO before you say it, it's not an age thing!

Monday morning saw our central heating boiler create a mind of its own and when running on timer would not turn off when it should giving us tropical temperatures and having to completely shut it down which then turned the house Siberian!  One minute we were running around the house in next-to-nothing and the next we were all dressed in multiple layers and looking like we had had a bad case of overeating!  A 'friendly'? Engineer came out Tuesday to inspect ..... ordered the necessary part for Wedneday ..... returned Wednesday with the wrong part ..... re-ordered for Thursday which hasn't now arrived and will be back tomorrow - I shall lock the door once he is in the house with the part and hold him ransom until normal service resumes!!!

BUT the good news is to keep warm I decided the only solution was to stitch ... and stitch ... and stitch and as from today Noah's Ark can finally set sail (oh! maybe not, the last thing I want now is flooding).

Noah and Company ~ The Ark ~ HeartStrings, The Artists Collection ~ stitched on Aida Rustico 14count with DMC threads

I am going to turn it into a cushion and have found some Noah's Ark fabric for the backing and ordered some Debbie Mum embellishments to add to the front - a really cute Noah, a whale and of course the white dove.

I've also sorted out another nautical stitch still waiting for the finishing touch . . . .

Bent Creek's Lighthouse Sampler stitched on Lugana 'New Khaki' 28count evenweave with both WDW and GAST

I am now counting down to one of the biggest stitching events in a cross-stitcher's diary here in England ~ The Stitch & Craft Show this coming weekend in London.  It is the one place where many of the exhibitors sell a lot of the American designs and showcase lots of new releases - can't wait, tickets for show and train are both sitting here ready and as long as I've set the Engineer free I'll be there!

HAPPY STITCHING . . . . .