More Christmas Finishes....

Hello again!  Goodness it ended up being a couple of weeks between posts. Work has been stupidly busy the last few weeks and I have been collapsing in a heap every weekend lately and, unfortunately the last thing my brain has been able to handle is facing the computer and blogging!  I have managed some stitching throughout the week but not on Friday nights... so I have nothing to report for the Friday Frolics blog, and I missed FNSI last weekend! (I had every intention of stitching but the office Christmas party had other ideas.... I so should have left early!!) This post is also a slightly late post for IHSW.... oops....

So onto the stitching update!

Surprise, surprise... I do have two finishes to show you today!  Both are "entries" in the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog... October's theme was Angels and November's theme is snowflakes / snowman or a winter scene.

October's theme first:
Remember some time ago I showed you my "Joy Angel" and she was looking bit strange....

Well, she is all finished now and currently on her way to England to be added to the Christmas Tree of Joy that Clare-Aimetu is organising for her local church.  Hopefully the tree will be full of cross stitched ornies from around the world all with the word "Joy" on them in one form or another.

The chart for this design can be found in the Cross Stitch Christmas magazine (1999), the design is called "Joyful Angels Triptych" (Designer Mona Eno).  There are three angels to stitch but I chose this one as she has "Joy" on her banner!  I stitched her on "Waratah" 32 count fabric from Stitches and Spice with DMC and Kreinik threads.  Unfortunately the shine I added to her wings doesn't really sparkle in the picture but it is there!

The second finish that I have to show you is my choice for November's theme.  I love snowmen and had a terrible time choosing which one to stitch.... so in the end I didn't do any!! Instead I went with a Fizzy Moon freebie and shoe-horned this into the wintery scene choice!

This freebie was published in the Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine (issue 92).  I decided to cover the plain white card with a vintage winter scene scrapbook paper that I had and then added a snowflake to fill in the rather large white space at the top.

This card is going to head off to the USA soon... The Birthday Thread Exchange Group that I am in on FB is doing a Christmas Thread Exchange, so I thought it would be nice to stitch a card instead of sending a bought one!

Well, that's all I have to show you today... the last couple of weeks stitching has been all about finishing these two pieces!  Now it's back to my November Halloween piece....

See you again soon.... have a great week!
Hugs xxx

V - Valentine

25th April "V" Post

"Valentine"

Sorry for the very late Saturday post.... Today has been a very long day - up at 4am to head off to the Dawn Service, back at 7am for a good fry up/gunfire breakfast cooked by hubby and then a day of washing and stitching!

Today is Saturday 25th April and Day 22 of the "Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge".

Today is "V" - "Valentine"

Valentine: Valentine's Day, also known as Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is a celebration observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not a public holiday in most of them.  

Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

Today's post is a bit of a shoe-horned post!  I was thinking of doing something with Violets, but then I remembered that the "Fizzy Moon" that I am stitching would be the perfect "V" post as it is a "Valentine's" card.

I started stitching "Fizzy Moon" for the crazy January challenge and when I left him he looked looked this:

After stitching on "Fizzy Moon" today he now looks like this:

This little cutie is almost finished now.... but he will have to wait for the next round of stitching as I need to get onto my "W" stitching tomorrow.

My next A-Z post will be on Monday, so til then....



Happy stitching and happy blogging!
Hugs xx

Day 28, 29, 30, 31 - and that's all folks!

Yep, that's right we have reached the end of January... which means we have now reached the end of my January challenges of 15 new starts in 15 days, and 31 days of stitching either new starts or old WIP's - and I did it!!!  Well, really it wasn't that hard, was it?  I just had to stitch every day and be a bit organised and do some pre-planning.

The last couple of starts were all smalls and free gifts that I had in my stash as my stitching time in the evenings wasn't a lot this last week and I had to make the most of it!

So what did I start for the last 4 days?

Day 28 - The third mouse in the Margaret Sherry Christmas mouse trio.  More purple!!

Christmas Mouse #3 - designed by Margaret Sherry

I managed to get a good start on this one on Thursday night as Hubby was out so I had a quick early tea when I got home from work and then started stitching!  I am looking forward to getting back to these three meeces in the next couple of weeks and hopefully getting them finished before the end of the year!

Day 29 - Free Gift from The World of Cross Stitching magazine (WOCS) - unfortunately I can't remember what issue it is as the chart was separated from the mag when I first decided to stitch it!

This is a Helz Cuppleditch design and it is just so cute!  I really like her designs and have collected a few now that have been in the UK magazines.

Flowerpot Kitten - designed by Helz Cuppleditch

As this is a free kit I am using the included aida and threads.  Although I am sort of thinking I should have changed the fabric to a nice coloured one.... but I will stick with what I have started now!

Day 30 - Free Gift from The World of Cross Stitching magazine (WOCS) - unfortunately again the chart was separated from the mag and I had forgotten to write the issue number on it!

This one is the adorable Fizzy Moon!

Fizzy Moon

Not many stitches on this one on Friday night.  I was a bit side tracked when I got home from work on Friday night and I didn't really get going til late and then it was time for bed!  But a start is a start even if its only about 20 stitches!

Day 31 - another Margaret Sherry design, and another freebie! This one is from Cross Stitch Crazy issue 171 and is a Christmas kitty.  Do you think I like kitties??

Merry Christmas Kitten - designed by Margaret Sherry

I know yesterday was a Saturday and normally I would get a few more stitches in than this... but we went to see Les Misérables at the Crown Theatre and by the time we got home last night I didn't have a lot of hours left for stitching!  But we loved the show... first time seeing Les Misérables for Hubby but I had seen it many years ago (like about 20 or more!) when it came to Perth for the first time. This would have to be my all time favourite theatre/musical... just love the show and the music. Always brings a tear or two to my eyes when I hear songs like "Bring him home" and "On my Own". This new touring cast was amazing!

So that's it for the January challenges.... I am toying with the idea of continuing into February and making it 59 days of stitching on something new or an old WIP, but actually I think that I now need to concentrate on finishing some of these lovely new starts.... that doesn't mean to say that I won't have some new starts in February as I actually have one lined up to start once I get off the computer!! And I have couple of others that I meant to start in January but didn't so with a bit of luck they will get a showing in February!

Overall I have really loved doing the January challenges, and while I know that I have a lot of WIP's now... the challenge has got me right back into stitching and blogging again, and that is a good thing!   Now I just have to keep up the momentum and continue for the year as I started the first month!  Thank you to everyone that has read my posts and commented on them - all your comments are greatly appreciated and I have tried to respond to every comment except for those that were a "no-reply" blogger (with those ones I have tried to find your blog on your google profile and where I can I have tried to repay your comment with a comment).  I am still getting around to catching up on my blog reading so that it is next challenge to conquer!

Til my next post, happy stitching!

If you want to have a look at any of my previous updates for the FB CrosstitchCrazy Event and Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2015 (DUCJC2015) the links are below:

Day 1 - Winter Witch    Day 2 - "Eek!"    Day 3 - "Prancer"  Day 4 - "Autumn Fab Fob"    Day 5 - "Comet"    Day 6 - "Koala"  Day 7 - "Sneak Peek - Halloween"    Day 8 - "Printemps"    Day 9 - "été"
Day 10 - "Joyeux Noel"    Day 11 - "Feeling Festive"    Day 12 - "New Year's Magic"  Day 13 - "Grumpy Kitty"    Day 14 - "Happy Howloween"   Day 15 - "Happy Owl O Ween"    Day 16 - WIP "Faces of JE Mystery SAL"   Day 17 - WIP "Lizzie Kate's Jingles"    Day 18 - "Witch & Friends"
Day 19 - "Mini Mandala II - C"     Day 20 - WIP "Spring Bouquet"  Day 21 - WIP "Bonsai & Buddha"    Day 22 - Katie Kitty  Day 23 - Peter Polar Bear     Day 24 - MS Christmas Mouse #1  Day 25 - Mary Mouse  Day 26 - You are so Loved  Day 27 - MS Christmas Mouse # 2  Day 28 - MS Christmas Mouse #3  Day 29 - Flowerpot Kitten   Day 30 - Fizzy Moon   Day 31 - MS Christmas Kitten

Til next time, Happy Stitching