TUSAL May 2015

May is definitely a slower blogging month.... after all that activity in April things have definitely slowed down around here....

I may be a week late.... but finally I am here to post my TUSAL pic

It is quite amazing how the ORT's seem to be growing these days...  This month's ORT's are sitting with my new friend.... Hubby bought this cute little sheep home the other day.  He is one of those little cuddly things that you can heat up (or freeze) a little bag that then gets popped into back and warms you up... just like a hot water bottle only cutier!  I haven't tried him out yet, but as it is getting colder here now I don't think it will be long before he comes in handy!

Over the last week I have been stitching on the "Faces of Joan Elliott" SAL piece.  I have decided to leave the last little bit of the first face for the time being (doing the 2 over 2 is doing my head in....) and I started the second square which is the cat.

After a week of stitching him, I have now put this one away - this is what he is looking like at the moment:

I am really pleased at how cute he is turning out to be.... this square is stitching up really quickly - next time I pick him up I should be able to get that square finished!

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The Annual Quilt and Craft Fair is in town at the moment.  Hubby and I went along yesterday for our usual shopping spree!

Before we started shopping though we met up a for a coffee with some other WA bloggers/stitchers/quilters.  This catch up was organised by Anthea from Hibiscus Stitches.  It was great meeting up with the girls.

Hubby was taking the pictures so managed not to get his own taken....

After a morning of walking around Hubby and I then met up with the girls again for lunch before we headed off home.

I did manage to buy a couple of things this time round, but I have to say that this year was extremely disappointing as far as needlework goes.....  There was only one cross stitching stand and unfortunately she didn't have any of the latest charts that I was looking for.  But of course, I did manage to buy some new kits and also some plain colour linen to add to my stash.

I have been eyeing these gorgeous kitties off for ages and finally got around to getting some of them.  I plan to stitch them to hang in the spare bedroom which we call "the cat room" as I already have cat pictures on display in that room!  I so feel a new start coming on.... which one should I start first I wonder!

Til next time when I have an update for you, happy stitching...

Hugs xxx

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If you don't know (or haven't heard) about the 2015 TUSAL, Daffycat is again hosting the fun Totally Useless SAL (TUSAL).  Essentially we stitch and save our ORT's (Old Raggety Threads) and every New Moon those of us participating in the TUSAL post a picture of our ORT's jar, and then leave little msgs for Daffycat on her blog to show that we have been stitching and have posted our wonderful pics.  Please head over to her sign up page and join in the fun!

New Moons - 2015
16th June
16th July
14th August
13th September
13th October
11th November
11th December

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL 2015 - Update #5

Goodness, another month disappearing.... which means it is time to update you all on my "Gifted Gorgeousness SAL 2015" (GG SAL) stitching.  As per previous months, I am only posting pics of the designs that I have stitched on since my last GG SAL update back in April.

Moutons de Saisons "Printemps et ete" - Collection Tralala
Gift from Kaye from Kitten Stitching.  The original post of when Kaye gave me these charts is here.

Tralala Collection - Mouton de Saisons

Moutons de Saisons "été"
I spent quite a bit of time over the last couple weeks stitching on this lovely design.  The last time I posted it looked like this:

Now the cute little sheep looks like this:

Doesn't he look gorgeous?  Can't wait to get back onto this one again soon.

Halloween Limited Edition Charts - Lizzie Kate
Giveaway win from Carolyn (Taking One Stitch at a Time) - link to my post about the giveaway win is here

Halloween Limited Edition Charts - Lizzie Kate

Lizzie Kate - Autumn Fab Fob
The last time you saw this one my lovely little "Autumn Fab Fob" looked like this:

It was so close to being finished that I just had to keep stitching on it once I finished with the A-Z April blogging challenge, and guess what I finished it!

All done.... now I just need to try and think of a final "finish" for this one.  It is a little bit too big a design to be made into a scissor fob so I will need to think of some other great way to finish it off.

Lizzie Kate - Tiny Tidings 
Giveaway win from Kay's Random World - link to Kay's original giveaway post here and link to my post about the giveaway win is here

Tiny Tidings XV - Lizzie Kate

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any stitching done on the "Tiny Tidings" designs in my WIP basket - but there is always next month!

So there we are... the latest news on my current GG SAL choices.  More to come next month!

Til next time, Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx

If you're not sure what this particular SAL is all about.... Jo from Serendipitous Stitching hosts this SAL - the link to my post late last year about the SAL is here.... but essentially this SAL is about stitching charts/kits or using fabrics & threads that we have received as gifts, won in giveaways or anything that is intended be a gift or giveaway prize... or anything else that you can loosely use the word "gift" for!!  If you wish to sign up for this SAL, click on the button below or the button on my sidebar and you will be re-directed to Jo's blog.

"Tea with Brutus"

For some time now I have been following the "The Red Brolly" blog / website and facebook page.  I just love the gorgeous designs that Bronwyn has available on her website, and while I don't quilt or do any hand  embroidery other than cross stitch, I do like to check out their cute designs.

As you have probably guessed, I do like freebie designs.... especially when I want to try out a new designer or technique.  Red Brolly have some great free designs, and one in particular really did jump out at me...  the "Catalicious Quilt".

"Red Brolly" image

The "Catalicious Quilt" features a cute little orange kitty called "Brutus".  Of course, as with all things crafty, you can change the colours of the design and Brutus could be stitched in any colour to suit any pretty kitties that you have in your life....

I have been meaning to try my hand at other free-form hand embroidery techniques for some time now and over the weekend I decided it was time to start stitching Brutus.

Besides cross stitch and the associated back stitch / long stitch, it is a very long time since I have attempted any other types of embroidery.... especially satin stitch!  At school, this was not my favourite stitch... and I would have to say that feeling probably hasn't changed!

So enough, rambling.... here is "Tea with Brutus"

Isn't he adorable?  Overall, I am quite pleased with this finish!  It didn't even take me very long - I started stitching on Saturday afternoon and finished on Sunday night.  I need to find another way to transfer the design to the fabric other than a lead pencil though (hubby's pencils are all to light for the white fabric).... but for a test run, I think it looks ok!

I do plan to stitch all of the other designs in the series at some point as they are all just the cutest designs!

That's it for now.  I do have one more finish to show you, but that will have to wait for a couple of days!

Til then, happy stitching....
Hugs xx

April is over and May is here....

Wow!  I did it!  I survived the "Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge".  Not sure how I did it, but I did manage to do all the posts on time (just in time in some cases!).

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A huge thank you to everyone who commented on my posts during the challenge - I really loved reading all of your comments and did try to reply where I could.  Unfortunately some of the comments didn't have an email address and for those bloggers I did my best to find your blog and return the comment favour :o)

Today my brain feels like mush and it's not just because of the daily posts, but more because work has been crazy busy and there is just too much going on in those little brain compartments!!

This is what I looked like this morning after a very bad night's sleep and a way too early morning!!!!

So anyway, I was thinking that May should be a "Month of Finishes".... and it's not like I don't have enough WIP's and UFO's to work with, is it??

My stitching goals for May are:

♥  Finish Autumn Fab Fob
♥  Finish Tigger
♥  Finish Lickle Ted
♥  Finish été
♥  Finish at least one of the MS Christmas designs
♥  Keep stitching on Winter and Deer and Grapes
♥  Keep stitching on Faces of Joan Elliott
♥  Finish my tombstone for April and stitch a pumpkin for May - Hallowe'en SAL Blog

Now that all the craziness is over I can tell you about some fun things that I have found happening in blogland at the moment.... (have been meaning to post about these for a week or so)

Mystery trip around France
If you want to virtually travel around France and have some fun at the same time - pop over to Jocondine's blog and guess where in France she is.  Jocondine has, for the last few weeks, been going on a tour of France and twice a week (Monday and Wednesday) she leaves clues for you to guess where she is.  On Sunday all is revealed!  It is great fun.... the next leg of the mystery journey starts on 6th May.

Run for the glory! (Stitch Enigma)
Chiara who blogs at 'The Grey Tail"  is celebrating her third blogaversary and to mark this occasion she is holding her annual "Stitch Enigma".  This sounds like the most amazing fun.... Every week for the next few weeks (starting today, Friday 1st May) a new game will be released - yep, five different games available to download as a PDF and this year we will have to solve puzzles, riddles, codes, identify a mysterious piece.  I think this sounds like the best fun you can have when you're not stitching!  The first game is off and running and I am about to get started!  Hope you will join Chiara in celebrating her third blogaversary!

So that's it for this post....

Have a great weekend and I will see you all again very soon...

Til then, happy stitching.... ♥