Stitching finishes

I finished the September Calendar Girl for this month.  Only three more of these monthly ornaments left to stitch now, I'm quite impressed with myself for keeping up with these each month this year.

My other finish is The Weathered Garden, I've shown my finish of this one before but I collected it from the framers at the weekend.

I'm really happy with the frame choice, and my LNS always does a great job with framing stitched pieces, but it's got a bit expensive now, this is quite small really but still cost £35, I need to be able to justify whether it's worth spending the money on framing in the future.

I'm still feeling the effects of tennis elbow but it has improved a little over the last week, I am stitching and knitting but making sure I take regular breaks, I have got a physio appointment booked, via video, face to face appointments are still not happening, I thought it was this morning but I must have got it wrong because I got no call and I accidentally deleted the text so can't check.  Never mind, it's only via a mobile video chat so I haven't 'missed' the appointment.

I might pop back later in the week to share some knitting

See you soon

-X-

This post is brought to you from the new blogger interface.....

And so far I don't like it one bit.  The only reason I used to was because blogger wouldn't let me upload photos from the old interface.  I know you are supposed to be able to revert back to the old style blogger but as yet I can't see how to do that.  (If you have discovered how then do let me know in the comments).  I don't much like change so this is going to take some getting used to!

More news about change later, but first finishes.

I have two finishes to show today.  The Weathered Garden was finished Friday night, it should have been finished a few days before that but those satin stitches and eyelets, (last photo) drove me mad.  I found I had an inability to count three spaces!!

But it's done and I like it, despite the colours not being as per the photo on the chart 😕

                                                                                   

My second finish is another shawl / scarf.

My daughter, Joanne bought me the yarn for this for my birthday when we went to Yarndale last year.

The pattern is the Sandstone Shawl by Drops, a free pattern on their website and the yarn is Drops Fabel and Drops Delight.

I can't remember which stall we bought it from now, they had it knitted up as a sample and provided a link for the pattern with the yarn

At first I thought it was going to be a bit dark, but It came out way better than I expected.  It's going to be lovely and warm come the winter.

So, other changes.  After all these weeks on furlough, (is it about 12?,  I've lost track) I got a phone call last Monday to say that they are thinking about doing away with the reception role altogether.  We, me and the other receptionist, are now under threat of redundancy.

 They are making the assumption that because the calls have been low while all this has been going on that the call volume will stay low afterwards.  I really don't know what their thinking is with this.  We have both had to email with a list of our duties and there is going to be a meeting this week to decide our fate.  So, as you can imagine, lots of different emotions going on at the moment.  

There are two new positions that we can both apply for should they decide to do away with reception, I have decided to apply for both, the other receptionist has decided against applying for either.  Although ultimately I would like to carry on with my job as it was I'm not ready to give up work just yet but we'll have to wait and see.

Well, that's all my news for this week

 The weather here has changed from hot and sunny to wind and rain.  Although today and yesterday the weathermen got it wrong, we missed the thunder storms that many had and it was really quite warm and sunny again.

I hope you are all still keeping safe and well, I'll see you soon

-X-

The Weathered Garden

I dug down deep into my stash for a new start last week.  I've had this chart for so long I can't remember when I bought it or where from.  It contains two of my favourite things to stitch, alphabets and houses, so goodness knows why it's taken me so long to get round to it.

I'm using 28 count vintage country mocha and the recommended threads, so how come my colours look nothing whatsoever like the picture???

I'm a bit disappointed to be honest, I mean, you know there is going to be some colour change in the photos, but this is just nothing like!   I know I could have gone back through my threads and pulled out some that look more like on the picture but once I'd started I just didn't want to go in search all over again and I still like it despite the difference.

Something else that was buried deep in my stash, a little stack of mini solid granny squares.

There were just enough to make Bonnie a blanket for her dolls bed.

I haven't been buying much in the way of charts or yarn this year but I treated myself to a Red Work stitchery last week after seeing Katrina's post on IG.

I've never done one before but have always admired Katrina's work when she shows them on her blog.  Can't wait to get started on this :-)

This particular one comes with the design already printed on the fabric, so all I need to do is sort out the thread.

We've had lots of time sitting in the garden this week, making the most of the beautiful weather while we can.  I'm happy with how the garden is looking at the moment, I've put the cosmos in this week and still have the zinnias to do, hopefully between them they will give us some lovely colour over the summer.

The roses are just starting to appear, not many white ones on the climber just yet but the others are doing well.

Have a lovely week.

-X-

Stitching for Arthur

Arthur's birth sampler

First Christmas ornament

And little Arty himself :-)  He will be 8 months old tomorrow!

I finished Arthur's sampler a few weeks ago and collected it from the framers on Monday, I'm pleased with how it came out, framing is not cheap but a good framing job makes all the difference to something special.  

I've stitched this same Bent Creek chart for all three grandchildren now, I love that it's not too babyish and will not look out of place in their rooms as they grow up.

His first Christmas ornament is also finished.  Again, I've stitched this same one for all three of them on their first Christmas.

Jenny hasn't gone back to work yet so I don't get to spend much time with Arthur on his own yet but on Saturday they took Oliver to the cinema and out for tea so I got to spend all afternoon with him, he was no trouble at all,  he is such a lovely pleasant little boy, and he loves to be snuggled :-)

I finish work tomorrow, so I have a lovely extended Christmas break to look forward to, and I need it!  

It's our Christmas 'do' next Friday but i'm giving it a miss again this year.   Years ago we used to have a proper sit down meal, which was nice and fairly civilised, but for the last few years it's been a buffet at one of the local pubs, not really my thing at all to be honest.  

Tomorrow is Christmas Jumper day and I was tasked with organising it, not that it needs much organising, more a case of putting up posters and sending emails round letting everyone know.  

The MD is giving a £25 gift voucher to the silliest creation, but the response hasn't been good I have to say, so we will see tomorrow.  I will be shaking my collection tin at them again in the morning, the money collected will go to Save the Children so it's all in a good cause.

Hopefully I will have a little more time next week so I'll try and catch up with you all again then.

Take care

-X-

A new stitching start at the meet up

We had a great time at the Nimble Thimble meet up on Saturday, it was nice to catch up with everyone and I managed a fair bit of stitching .too.

I stitched Oliver and Bonnie a birth sampler for their first Christmas and Arthur will be getting the same too.  I'm a bit late starting this one but I know that it's a straight forward one to stitch so I'm confident It will be all stitched and framed well before Christmas.

I put the first stitches in on the Friday night sitting while sitting in my little hotel room.

I'm really happy with my progress, I haven't really had a lot of stitching time recently so it was nice to get stuck into a project without and interruptions.

As I mentioned last time, I stayed at Ye Olde Boot in Whittington, which is just a few miles outside Oswestry town.  Friday was a horrible wet miserable day but I did stop off in Oswestry and have a wonder round  and the rain kept off until I got back to the car, which was good.

While I was there I picked up a few things to decorate for Christmas which I will show you once they come out again when I decorate.  I also bought  quite a few charts from Chris at the Nimble Thimble, again, I will show you another time as I haven't had time today to sort them out and take photos.

I have finished a few of the twelve (!!!) things I had on the go, I showed you two on the last post so this is the third of those.

When we went to Yarndale in September I also made Bonnie this little poncho.  This wasn't a WIP counted in those twelve, this is a bonus finish, lol

My aim is to start 2019 with fewer things stuck in bags so I will have to try and keep focused now.

I do have another couple finished up and I will sneak those into future posts.

For now I'll finish with a few photos of Whittington Castle which sits on the opposite side of the road to the hotel where I stayed at the weekend.  On Saturday morning it was only 3deg but the sun was lovely, a perfect Winter morning :-)

That white building you see is where I was staying

See you soon

-X--

A couple of finishes

I feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up lately, there are not enough hours in the day to do everything that I need to do let alone the things I want to do, but this weekend I'm going to the Nimble Thimble meet up with some lovely stitching peeps and I'm going to relax and stitch, talk and eat and not think about what needs doing at home or in the garden.

I'm stopping at  Ye Olde Boot Inn at Oswestry for two nights so I will have plenty of time to relax and stitch, or just put my feet up and read.  I do love to get away by myself, I think I could quite happily go on holiday on my own, lol

Anyway, I thought I would show you my October finish before it's time to pack it away.

October Curls Bent Creek

This one I found, half done, when I was having a clear out after my In the making confessions post a couple of months ago, (see told you there were more tucked away, lol)

And here is the mantle all done up for October with a few Halloween touches

Arthur's cardigan was finished

I have to say that this cardigan did not fit him for long, he is much bigger than I imagine when I'm knitting, lol

I also had a couple of nights knitting dishcloths

I must say that I used to wonder what the big deal was with knitted dish cloths, but now I'm a convert.

Right, I'm all packed up and ready to go now, just going to have some breakfast before setting off to save me stopping on the way, there is a market in Oswestry today and I want to be there before lunch time to have a good look around :-)

See you soon

-X-

Some stitching finishes

The snow has now disappeared, only to be replaced by miserable damp rain, ugh, I hate rain, give me snow any day over rain.  While the snow is here at least you know the days are going to be bright and the sun will shine, even if only a little.

Anyway, I'm catching up on some more finishes today, I have 2 stitching finishes and 1 crochet finish :-)

I must first apologise for the terrible photos, by mid afternoon when I get home from work the light has all but gone and these were taken on my phone which doesn't have the best of cameras and If I wait to get some decent photos i'll never get another post in before Christmas!

Bonnie's 1st Christmas ornament

This is the second time I've stitched this chart, I did the same for Oliver's first Christmas, and will more than likely stitch it again next year for the new grand-baby's 1st Christmas :-)

Bonnie's birth sampler.  

The frame is grey, although it's coming out greenish on the photos, the colours are also much better than showing here, (tut)

And again, this is the second time I've stitched this one, I also stitched it for Oliver for his 1st Christmas in 2012.  I do love this design, it's not too childish, something I hope they will still want hanging in their rooms as teenagers.

This blanket I started (and finished) a while ago but i'd forgotten about it.
It's one for the new grand-baby.

Just a simple granny square with a nice crab stitch boarder to finish it off.

The colours are actually turquoise and cream, see what I mean about terrible photos!!

Nothing else to report at the moment, I break up from work on Thursday and am looking forward to spending some time doing not-a-lot, lol  - Hopefully I can get one more post in before Christmas takes over completely.

See you soon
-X-