Saturday SAL

I know, yet another SAL....I am so weak!  Although I'm doing this to support the lovely Linda, who took part in a Saturday SAL with Debbie, who sadly passed away.  I thought it would be a lovely idea if I joined in too.  She completed the last project and was due to start Candy Cane Christmas by Ursula Michael so I grabbed the pattern and ordered the threads, rifled through my fabric and I was all set!

I chose some DMC 14ct Blue Marble Aida that I've had for ages and it just happened to be the exact size I needed!  

I've set up an extra tab at the top to keep the WIP pictures of this separate from my other projects.  I'm sure that a lot of you probably follow Linda's blog - Stitchin' With My Furbabies already, but please stop over there and check out her beautiful stitching!

No willpower.......

This will not come as a shock to many of you.....but I have no willpower, particularly when it comes to stitchy goodness.  I mentioned in my last post that Nene Thomas charts were being retired from HAED, well, Michele has managed to get 3 new ones finished just in time for people to grab them before they disappear.  She has also extended the sale for an extra day to help, although the charts will be available until 15th October.

Carousel Horse Raven Black

Lord of Snows

Prophecy

I have loved the picture "Prophecy" since I first saw it and it was one of the pictures I was particularly sad that HAED would not be able to chart, so when I awoke this morning to the news it had been charted, I ran off to buy it!

As you may suspect, Prophecy wasn't the only chart I bought!  I also added Mini Winter Wings, Mini Wind Moon, Mini Moon Indigo, Mariposa and SK Deidre!

Mini Moon Indigo

Mini Wind Moon

Mariposa

SK Deidre

Mini Winter Wings

I also had to grab Elsa from Tilton Crafts as it is also being retired and I have to stitch it for my niece....ok who am I kidding...I need to have it :)

So between all the charts, a couple of extra pieces of Crafty Kitten fabric, can you believe I'm still thinking of joining the Lizzie*Kate SAL and also possibly the Passione Ricamo SAL as well!  My Hubby does keep trying to talk me out of them, not due to a financial reason, but from a time point of view.  I moan that I never get enough stitching time to get everything I want to stitch done!  I admit, he may be right, but it doesn't stop me from looking and longing does it?

I also have an update of The Three Fates to show you!

I had been stitching the right side of the design and now I'm going to switch back to the left side for a while.  I foresee a fair bit of blue in my future!

Artist retiring from HAED

I just wanted to make a small post to highlight the announcement that Nene Thomas is retiring from Heaven and Earth Designs effective from 15th October 2014.  I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to purchase these before they are no longer available.  There is also a 25% sale at present, so it makes sense to grab them whilst they are a little cheaper.

This comes as great disappointment to me as I very much love her artwork, however I have purchased a  large number of her charts over the years so I will have plenty to stitch.

This is a small selection of some of her charts that I own and hope to stitch in future.  I would also like to take the opportunity to say thank you to Nene for allowing her artwork to have been charted for such a long time and I'm sure she didn't make the decision to no longer license her artwork for cross stitch lightly.  

It's been a while.......

It's been a while since my last post.  Thank you for all the comments about the sad passing of Debbie, she had a large presence on social media, with her blog being a huge part of that.

I wish I could say that I've been doing a lot of stitching but sadly that's that not the case.  I've not been so well and my stitchy bug went on holiday, but over the last week I've done a little stitching as my husband asked me to stitch something for him.  I finished it on Friday and he's thrilled with it!

It's from a TV show here in the UK called The IT Crowd, as hubby is an IT engineer, it features one of his most commonly used phrase!

It's from Dorkstitch on ETSY and is stitched on 16ct Grey Aida.  It's not been framed yet...or ironed, but I was keen to show that I have been doing SOMETHING in my absence!

Also, it was pointed out that I hadn't added one of my newer HAED projects to my WIP tab.  Mini Starlight has now been added and it should be up to date :)  Thank you for that!

I'm now back to stitching on The Three Fates - Jasmine Becket Griffith (HAED) so once I've got something worth showing I'll be posting pictures!

Now that we've reached Autumn and the colder nights draw in, I'll be looking forward to more evenings curled up stitching watching TV.

Sad Loss

© Jim Warren

Today we lost Debbie, who was a wonderful part of our blogging family.  To say I am saddened and shocked is an understatement.  My thoughts and love go out to all of her friends and family.  I'm really at a loss for words...........

IHSW - August 2014

This is my progress for the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend!

Before

After

Not tons, but a decent amount and at least you can see a difference!  I'm planning to carry on stitching it week as I'm enjoying it!

Looking forward to catching up with everyone else's weekend stitching!

Birthday Stuff!

I haven't posted recently as my stitchy bug has run off.....sadly it didn't take my stash buying bug with it!  Although, I have had a birthday so stash buying is allowed...right?

I'll share what goodies I got from my wonderful friends and also from my lovely hubby!

These are the bits that Hubby bought me along with giving me cash to spend on whatever I wanted too!

 

He got me some lovely gifts, including a few unicorn related items!  He did manage to get me a wonderful Vervaco kit that I've been looking at for a while.  This is a better picture of it:

I got some lovely chart gifts from friends too! Alicia (Crafty Princess) bought me the lovely Alice Vignette - Tilton Crafts.  

She must have had a sixth sense about this as just afterwards, the whole range of Shu Mizoguchi charts were retired!  As I had a lot of them on my wishlist I wasn't able to snag all the ones I wanted, but I did buy 6 of the most wanted ones:

The lovely Nikki gave me Curious Introduction - Aimee Stewart (HAED) as well a voucher for Crafty Kitten!  I'm waiting on my order from Crafty Kitten as I ordered a fair bit with the money I got but the voucher was put to good use and I'll share the fabby purchases when they arrive!

The lovely Rachel and her sister Petrina bought me a voucher for Cross Stitch Heaven, which I've used to order some threads and Thread packs.  

An incredibly kind friend called Lesli sent me a massive box full of lovely chocolates.  She's had a rough year and I was so touched that she though tof me and sent such a wonderful gift!

I also purchased the 40 skein 1840 collection from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  It didn't take long to arrive in the UK and the colour range is simply stunning.  It really is a bargain for the amount of thread you actually get and the quality is wonderful.  If you haven't had a look I suggest you do....!

I have also ordered myself a pair of Gingher scissors!  They aren't cheap but I've heard they are amazing quality and have a lifetime guarantee.  

Phew....I really do think myself so lucky having wonderful friends and I honestly can't thank them enough for the gifts and birthday wishes.

Final note, it's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (click for more info) this weekend and as Hubby is away visiting his parents so I'm digging out Mini Starlight - Linda Ravenscroft (HAED) and hoping that my bug plays along!  I look forward to checking out how other people do too!

IHSW - July

I've not been blogging as much recently due to a family visit and other stuff going on, however this post is just an update for what I've been up to this weekend!  I actually managed to do a little bit of stitching in between a shopping trip to IKEA and my American Cocker Spaniel, Charlie, needing surgery on his mouth, which he now recovering from very well, so it's been a bit of a busy one for us!

I've only done a bit but it was all on Pyramid 4 - Ciro Marchetti (HAED).  I took a picture on Friday when I moved my QSnaps so you can see the whole thing:

Then this one was taken this morning:

I've only really done a bit more of the border, but I managed to finish the shading stitches all the way to the bottom! I'm really enjoying this at present so I think I'll stick with it.

Hope you all had a good weekend.  Thank you for stopping by!

Messenger

Ok....I admit defeat, the rotation that I had planned at the beginning of the year has fallen by the wayside.  I'm not really worried about it as the main thing is that I am enjoying my stitching and that is the most important thing to me.  I've finished all the "obligation stitching" (i.e. stuff as gifts/for other people) so I am perfectly free to stitch what I want!

I've started and completed Messenger - Firewing Designs, stitched on Crafty Kitten's July 2012 Limited Edition fabric (28ct Jazlyn).  It is the most lovely blend of pinks, oranges and yellows.

Other than Messenger, I've mainly stitched on The Three Fates by Jasmine Becket-Griffith (HAED)

This was where I left it last time:

This is where I am up to now:

I've made it to the other side of chart and it's starting to look like something!  

I've also decided on a new start and although I don't have any pictures to show you as yet , this is what I've made a start on:

It's Mini Starlight - Linda Ravenscroft (HAED).  I love unicorns and I really wanted to stitch one, I also wanted to stitch a Linda Ravenscroft chart so this is a perfect choice!

Also I need to say HUGE thank you to Alicia - The Crafty Princess for gifting me this lovely chart out of blue!

It's another HAED chart called Midnight Rose - Bente Schlick and it absolutely gorgeous!  I can't wait to get the thread together to make a start on it!

I'm still behind on the blog reading, but I am catching up so you may find some comments on posts from a while back!