Friday Frolics and Weekend Stitching....

Hello!  I have now emerged from a wonderful 3 day weekend with some stitching progress to show off!  The weather was fantastic and both Hubby and I had a very lazy, do nothing but stitching weekend!  My favourite kind of weekend :o)

As you probably read in my last post, I have recently been stitching on my "Faces of JE Mystery SAL" piece again and over the weekend I just kept on going with this one!  I am finding it hard to put it away this time....

I was supposed to take a photo on Friday night before I started stitching, and another one after my Friday night effort, so that I could do a Friday Frolics post... but I forgot!  So this post is covering my FF stitching as well as a general update on my SAL piece.

When I posted last week after IHSW & FNSI my SAL piece looked like this:

She now looks like this:

I have now started filling in her skin by stitching 1 over 1 which is taking a bit of time..... (as it does!!)  I have so enjoyed stitching on this fairy which means I have to make a decision as to whether to keep it out for another few days or swap her for another WIP that is sitting in the basket.

Before I go I must show you a couple of pics.... one is of the gorgeous roses that I picked from the front garden on Sunday.  Our roses are starting to show off their Spring colours and they look amazing...

And secondly, seeing as I showed you a picture of Oscar enjoying the sun the other day.... I really should show you the other two.... Felix and Mitzi on guard in Daddy's office.....  Have no idea what was outside that was attracting their attention but they are certainly intent on something!

Speaking of Mitzi - I have to tell you what her favourite movie is at the moment: 101 Dalmatians.

We had the telly on the other night and the 101 Dalmatians movie was on while we were doing the dishes - next thing I noticed Mitzi sitting by the couch watching the TV!  I managed to grab my phone without disturbing her and took a video of her watching all the puppies.  She even barked when the 2 baddies appeared!!!  Don't think she likes Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams anymore!!  I was amazed at how glued she was to the movie!  So cute too....  She often watches the TV but this is first time she has sat for so long...normally after 10 mins or so she loses interest but not this time.  I think she ended up watching almost the whole movie!!

So that's for today!  See you again next week when hopefully I will have some more stitching to show you!

Ta-ta for now.... happy stitching!
Hugs xx

IHSW - Sept 2015

International Hermit & Stitch Weekend (IHSW).... held on the third weekend (Fri - Sun) of every month - hosted by Joyce (Random Ramblings).

Guess what?  I have finished "Feelin' Festive".... see what a weekend of stitching can do!!

"Feelin' Festive" - Designer: Lizzie Kate
Finished Sept 2015

It is such a wonderful feeling to have another WIP ticked off the list.  And, as I always try to do these days.... I am shoe-horning him into this month's theme for Christmas Ornie SAL Blog - Christmas Trees / Presents.  While there isn't a Christmas Tree in this design there are 3 presents!!

After putting the last couple of stitches into this one on Friday evening, I then had to decided what to stitch on for Saturday and Sunday.  So after a bit of thought (and a lot of "I don't feel like tackling this one") I finally settled on the "Faces of Joan Elliott SAL" which I have had on the go for some time now....

The last time that you saw this one (back in May 2015), I was tackling the cat in the middle (as opposed to the "Cat in the Hat".... sorry couldn't resist a bit of Dr Seuss!!)

Now for some reason I still haven't finished kitty... think I might be missing some threads as I have already started the Summer Fairy next time to him... and for some reason I didn't post my start of the Summer Fairy - and I forgot to take a photo before I starting stitching on Saturday....

... so now this is what the Summer Fairy looks like as of Sunday night.  I spent the weekend stitching the right side of this square, and added the start of the leaves on the left.  As you can see I am jumping around a bit with whatever colour takes my fancy at the time!!

The three top squares look like this now:

The Fairy on the left needs her bling and the kitty needs some filling in and he will be finished.  Every time I pick this one up I wonder why I put it down again....  I have decided to keep stitching on this SAL piece for the rest of the week so stay tuned for another update over the weekend!

Well, that's it for my ISHW update....  If you are wondering what everyone else did over the weekend, drop on over to Joyce's blog and have a look at sign up post for a full list of who was participating.

See you again soon!

Enjoy your week, happy stitching
Hugs xx

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!

**************

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

*********************

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

U - Unicorn

24th April "U" Post

"Unicorn"

Thank goodness it's Friday... and it's almost over and I am only now getting my post done!!

Today is Friday 24th April and Day 21 of the "Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge".

Today is "U" - "Unicorn"

Unicorn: The unicorn is a legendary animal that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a large, pointed, spiralling horn projecting from its forehead.   In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could only be captured by a virgin. 

I have always been fascinated by the legend of Unicorns... and always wished that they really existed! But then again who is to say that they don't exist!  After all they are in the realm of fairies and we all believe them, don't we? :o)

There never was any question what I would stitch for "U"!  One of the "faces" of the Joan Elliott SAL design I am currently stitching on is a "Unicorn"!

I managed to only stitch a tiny bit of this design last night... today was another early morning so less than an hour of stitching was done before bed!

I still haven't finished the first face but I just had to make a start on the unicorn!

Now it is getting close to bed time again... we have another very early start tomorrow as we are going to Anzac Day Dawn Service so it will be up at 4am to start the day!  So no stitching tonight.... but I will be back tomorrow sometime with my "V" post.

Til then....



Happy stitching and happy blogging!
Hugs xx

O - Oriental

17th April "O" Post

"Oriental"

Yee hah! It's Friday.... and as it is Friday 17th April, this must be posting Day 15 of the "Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge".

Today is "O" - "Oriental Stitching"

Orient: the Orient means the East. It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Middle East (aka Near East) or the Far East, in relation to Europe

Oriental: something pertaining to the Orient....

"O" is another one of those letters that I discovered I didn't have ongoing WIP's that I could shoe-horn into the letter.... so I had to have a new start!!!

"Jewels of the Orient" is a design that I have had sitting in my Joan Elliott box for quite some time.  I also have a number of Joan's "Geisha" designs that one day I would love to stitch, but as they are all quite large I decided not to start one for my "O" post.  Instead I decided to start the Kimono which is part of the "Jewels of the Orient" triptych.  This design is in a small D&C Joan Elliott book that came as a free gift with one of my UK magazines years ago (sorry I can't remember which one or when....). The design was originally printed in Joan's "Oriental Odyssey" book.

So say hello to my new start!

Besides the kimono in the set of 3, there are are two fans which I will stitch as I think they all look delightful together.

That's it for today's post... I thought I had better get it done and dusted early as I have to have a hydro-dilation injection in my "frozen" left shoulder today, and after that injection I am not if I will feel like typing.... fingers crossed I can stitch tonight as I think "Prancer" needs to come out of the WIP basket!

Don't forget this weekend is IHSW (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend).  Joysze is taking sign ups now, so head over to Joysze's blog, say hi and sign up for a weekend of indulging in our favourite past time!



Til then.... Happy Stitching and Happy Blogging!
Hugs xx

F - Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL

7th April "F" Post

"Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL"

Welcome to 7th April and posting Day 6 of the "Blogging from A to Z April 2015 Challenge".   I am back at work today after a wonderful 4 days off.... during the time off I managed to get quite a bit of stitching done so I am feeling pretty pleased with myself!

Day 6 is "F" day....

"F" - "Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL"

Mystery: Anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown

SAL: Stitch A Long refers to a group of stitchers all stitching on the same design

I love SAL's - which you may have realised considering the number that I have listed on my side bar!!  Mystery SAL's are something that I don't join in with very often... even though I do love a good mystery.... I am not always sure that I will like the final design so I generally prefer to wait to see how things start to appear before joining.

But having said that... there are certain designers that I know I will love whatever they design no matter what, so I just jump right in.... this Mystery SAL is the perfect example of me doing just!

With this SAL each month or so a new face is released to fill in the boxes that we have already stitched.  Of course I am languishing way behind again... there is one final face to be released and I am still stitching on the first face!

This is what my first face looked like the last time you saw her in February:

During a "Battlestar Galactica" Series 2 marathon on Sunday afternoon I managed to get some stitching done on her right wing.  Monday saw me do a number of hours on her face as I was determined to finish this one before the long weekend was over.... but sadly I didn't quite make that final hurdle! Oh well... there will always be another stitching weekend somewhere in the near future!

So here she is today - almost ready for her bling to be added!

The next time I show you an update on this one, our lovely angel will be all blinged up and hopefully Block #2 will be almost done as well - but no promises as the "over 1" stitching that I foolishly decided to do for her skin is taking so loonngg.......

So that's it for today's "F" post...  tomorrow is "G" Day and there can only be one "G" - Grumpy Cat!

Til next time.... Happy Stitching and Happy Blogging!
Hugs xx

How about a February stitching update!

Hello!  Did you miss me?  After all my prolific posting in January, I seem to have come to a bit of halt all of a sudden!

But I am back again now with a very quick update on some of my WIP's from the Crazy January challenges as well as some updates on my older but much loved WIP's.

Since the end of the January's crazy challenges I have focused my stitching efforts on three WIP's - Lizzie Kate's "Jingles", Joan Elliott's "Faces of JE SAL" and my little Winter Witch.  Below are the latest pics of where they are all at now.

Faces of JE SAL - designed by Joan Elliott
Last update on this SAL was on 16th January 2015 and she looked like this:

Progress as at 16 January 2015

After a bit of a stitching session (SAL within in a SAL) last weekend, she now looks like this:

Progress as at 9 February 2015

I am still way behind in this SAL but eventually I will catch up!  Part of the slowness of stitching on this design is that I decided to stitch the face and skin "over 1".... I am regretting that decision a little bit now as it takes so long..... but I think overall it will be worth it.  As you can probably see I keep taking a break from the "over 1" stitching other parts of the design to give my eyes a rest!

Lizzie Kate's "Jingles" - designed by Lizzie Kate
As you know "Jingles" has been around for awhile now.... and every now and then I do a bit more on them.  I picked it up again the other night and did some stitches, but as I don't officially need to do a "Jingles" update til the end of the month, this will just be a quick sneak peek!

When you last saw "Jingles" on 17th January 2015, it looked like this:

Progress as at 17 January 2015

And now "Jingles" looks like this:

Progress as at 10 February 2015

Slowly but surely this one is inching it's way to the end!  I will try and get a bit more stitched on this section before the end of the month.

and last but not least, there is:

Winter Witch - designed by The Snowflower Diaries
The last time I showed you my lovely little witch she looked like this:

Progress as at 28 January 2015

And after some intensive love and attention Winter Witch and her snowman companion are finished!

Winter Witch - designer: Snowflower Diaries
stitched on "Hocus Pocus" 32ct Belfast from Stitches & Spice
Finished 6 February 2015

So there you go my first finish for 2015!  I decided not to do some confetti white stitches around her wand and instead stitched on some pretty gold beads and blinged her up a bit!

I now have to post her on the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog and I can then tick "Witches" off my stitching list!

I am not sure yet what I will do with her as a final finish yet.... so for the time being she will go in the finished file til inspiration strikes!

That's it for this very quick stitching update.  I will be back over the next few days as TUSAL is coming up soon, as are a couple of other posting deadlines. so til then....

Happy Stitching and no froggin!
hugs xx

Day 15, 16, 17 - Crazy Starts 15, 16, 17

Sorry, I meant to come back on Friday and update you on my last new start for the CrosstitchCrazy Event and of course day 15 of Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2015 (DUCJC2015), but unfortunately my Friday was very busy and as is often the case of best laid plans.... I didn't get a chance to do an update!

So now I will do a 3 in 1 update!!!  Day 15 was a new start but Day 16 and Day 17 I worked on 2 of my WIP's which fall under the rules of the DUCJC 2015 challenge.

First up is my Day 15 new start.... another Halloween design!!

Happy Owl-O-Ween - Needle Bling Designs

This rather different owl is from "Needle Bling Designs".  The chart is a freebie that is located on their website but I actually downloaded the freebie from a FB group that I am member of - "Pumpkin Seed Stitchers".  Ever month there is a new freebie from a different designer available for download. This is the first one that I have stitched so far, but I am sure I will eventually stitch more!

I am stitching this design on another "Stitches & Spice" fabric - Rocky Creek Canyon 32ct Belfast. Love the colours of this fabric so I think I will be using it again for something else very soon!

While I have now finished the 15 new starts in 15 days for the CrosstitchCrazy Event, I still have the challenge of stitching every day for 31 days which is the challenge for the DUCJC2015.  So with that in mind Day 16 & Day 17 were not new starts but WIP days!!

Day 16 I worked on my "Faces of Joan Elliott" Mystery SAL.  The last time you saw the "Faces" was 23 December 2014... and she looked like this:

Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL status as at 23/12/14

I did some stitching on this SAL over the Christmas period and this is where I left her:

Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL status as at 31/12/14

As you may notice I have started stitching her face doing 1 over 1, but I decided to take a break from all that concentration stitching when I got some of the missing colours and went back to the hair and headdress.  I then put her aside when it was time to start the crazy challenges.  And I picked her up again on Friday night and did some more on her hair and headdress, and this is where she is today:

Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL status as at 16/1/15

I am so far behind in this SAL but I am not stressing as I will eventually catch up!  This is the last that you will see of "Faces" now for January but I promise she will be back in February!

Yesterday, Day 17, saw "Jingles" come out of hiding again!  The last time I showed you "Jingles" was back on 26th December 2014.  I didn't stitch on "Jingles" at all over the Christmas break so there isn't any change to what "Jingles" looked like when I started stitching yesterday:

Lizzie Kate's "Jingles" Flip-It as at 26/12/14

And this is what "Jingles" looks like after stitching on the next block yesterday:

As I won't play on "Jingles" again this month this is my monthly "Jingles" update as well...

So that is what I have been stitching on over the last 3 days.  Today is Day 18 and today I will also be stitching on one of my WIP's.

I forgot to mention on Friday that this weekend is the first IHSW for 2015.  I did remember to sign up and tomorrow I will do an update post and go visiting some other blogs to see what everyone else worked on this weekend.

So that's for now... I had better get off the laptop and get stitching before there are no hours left in the day for stitching!!

Previous updates for the FB CrosstitchCrazy Event and Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2015 (DUCJC2015) are listed below if you missed them:

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"

Til next time, Happy Stitching!
Hugs x

You know nothing Jon Snow!

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves

~ Edmund Hillary ~

Did you like my catchy title?  I couldn't think of anything overly witty to write as a title for this post.... saying "I'm back" seems a little bit silly given I have said that many times before and then I go MIA again.....  so when this comment from Game of Thrones came into my head I thought it might work.... Ygritte is constantly saying this to Jon, and I seem to always be saying I'm back... so my title is probably very fitting, don't you think?!?

My last post was back in October when I did the Around the World Blog Hop.... and I mentioned then that I was coming up to my 200th post.  Well this is it!  200 posts in 5 years..... I had planned to mark this very special post in some way.... but I just haven't got myself organised to have something ready for this post.  That special post will now have to wait for a couple of days (or weeks).  But hopefully you will think that it's worth waiting for!

So onto post 199 (a)....

So why have I been MIA so much this year?  Or maybe you hadn't actually noticed that I have been MIA???

I think I mentioned some time ago that work had been very hectic.... if I didn't, here's a quick synopsis, since April I have been doing 2 jobs and working 5 days a week.... I have limited energy reserves at the best of times with low iron levels and RA.... so doing these extra hours (I used to do 4 days a week) and having about 3 times the amount of stress in my work life there has really been no room in my head or spare energy for anything else - so no blogging, either posting or reading, and virtually no time for stitching!  I was also offered a promotion a few months ago which I original said no to.... but then my boss asked me again, and again.... so now I have said yes!!  Which means a busy time ahead, but the good thing is after the Christmas break I will only be doing 1 job again so I am hoping that 2015 will be much better for blogging!

Enough of my work update.... now onto my stitching update!

I have done some stitching this year and over the next few days I will show you my latest updates. The first one being my "Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL"

When I last posted in October I had only just been stitching the border.

"Faces of Joan Elliott" Mystery SAL
designed by Joan Elliott
Status on 30th September 2014

Now the border is finished, the centre is done and I have finally managed to make a start on the first face.  We had a "SAL within a SAL" over the weekend so I got myself organised and stitching again on this lovely design.

I am now going to try and keep stitching this until the end of the year while I am on leave from work to see if I can make some head way and catch up with everyone else.  Joan has designed 4 faces for this SAL so far and the 5th face is due out in Jan.

Now before I go today, I have something else to show you.... a finish!!!

Over the last few months at work we have had a number of changes as we have moved from one section of the business into another section.  This means new systems and procedures to get my head around and as you can imagine, has added to the stress and work levels that I have been dealing with. The reason I mention this is because throughout this time I have been dealing with some lovely ladies that have helped me with all the changes.  One of these ladies (Helen) has become a friend and when she was in Perth recently I gave her a gift to say thank you for her help over the last few months.

'Christmas Ted" designed by Joan Elliott
Cross Stitch Card Shop (stitched in Jan 2012)

Now truth be told I actually stitched this little cutie back in Jan 2012..... I even managed to show him off in a post in his finished state in April 2012 but I had filed him away and he didn't see the light of day again until earlier this month when I found him again and popped him into a box lid!  In the box was a glass angel for Christmas.....

As I close off my post, I want to leave you with the thought that the Heavens gained another star today..

Til next time, happy stitching!
Hugs, Stitching Noni xx

SAL's will be my downfall....

I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that

~ Lauren Bacall ~

I have a confession to make....

I think I am addicted to SAL's.... that's assuming you can be addicted to SAL's! Or am I just a serial starter?  Of course that one goes without saying.... which means I now have 2 confessions to make.... I am addicted to SAL's and I am a serial starter!!

As you know from previous posts, I am already involved in a number of SAL's this year... some more active than others on my part!!

The Lizzie Kate "Jingles" SAL is still happening and I will have an update in the next couple of days for that one.  My other semi-active SAL is the "Hallowe'en Ornie 2014 Blog" SAL.  I am behind in that one, but I have actually started stitching a larger design that covers off 2 or 3 months so that sort gets me back on target with that one.  Again an update is due for that SAL in the next couple of days - so stay tuned!

My poor old Margaret Sherry SAL's have fallen a bit by the wayside recently.... but hopefully I will resurrect them again soon as I do miss the MS kitty!

So, shall I show you what SAL I have joined and started stitching now??  My latest SAL is a Facebook SAL group, and is one of many FB SAL groups that I follow and aspire to eventually start stitching!  (Notice I said "eventually"....)

The weekend just gone was a SAL challenge within a SAL challenge for the group, and it was a good reason/excuse for me to start stitching on this new mystery SAL!  Not that I really need an excuse to start something new....

Let me introduce to you my new start:

This is a mystery SAL, so as yet we don't know what the final piece will look like... but each of the boxes will have a face designed by Joan Elliott.  I just adore Joan's designs so I couldn't resist starting this one....

Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL
Designer: Joan Elliott

The Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL

Joan has released 3 faces so far.... but I am behind most of the other stitchers, so I can only show you the beginning of the borders.  The next post will have the borders finished and the flowers added, and then I will be able to start on the 3 faces!  Who knows I may be able to catch up before the next face gets released in another month or so!

So until I have more of my "Faces of JE" to show you, I will say bye for now.... see you again soon when I come back with more SAL updates!

Til next time, happy stitching!
Hugs xx

Stitching Noni

Secret Stitching Revealed

Chains do not hold a marriage together.

It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years

~ Simone Signoret ~

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary Mum & Dad

After many hints on previous posts about the secret stitching that I was doing, I can finally show you what I stitched for my Mum and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary.

50 years of marriage is quite a significant milestone and I wanted to find something nice to stitch for them to mark this milestone.  I looked at many designs, rejected more than I put in the stitching pile but I still wasn't happy with the designs I had found!  You know how it is sometimes when you just can't find the exact design that you want to stitch...  To be honest I don't think I really knew what I wanted to stitch.... but I did know that I wanted something simple but exquisite - something meaningful.... 

And then all of a sudden I found it!  A Joan Elliott Sampler from The World of Cross Stitching Magazine (issue 129).  In the magazine it was stitched for a 25th Anniversary, but as the design included an alphabet and numbers it was very easy to adjust it to suit a 50th Anniversary.

So without further ado.... I present the 50th Wedding Anniversary Sampler I stitched as a gift for my parents to celebrate their marriage milestone.....

"Anniversary Sampler" designed by Joan Elliott
World of Cross Stitching, issue 129

In the original design there was a stitched heart above the swans heads, however I decided that I would add a beautiful Swarovski crystal heart instead.

The fabric that I used to make the wall hanging is a Robert Kaufman fabric - The Culture Club "A Passage to India".  The colours in this fabric are just beautiful - such a bright mix of blues and golds and purples.  All the colours in that were in the sampler.

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary Mum and Dad - may you have many more to celebrate! xx

On that note, I will say goodbye....  as it is IHSW this weekend, I am now going back to park my butt on the couch with my stitching and start watching Hercule Poirot in the hope that I will have something to show you after the weekend.



Til next time, happy stitching!
Stitching Noni xx