My Stitching Corner

First Feburary Happy Dance

2012-02-02T23:40:00.001Z

Good Things is finished!! It took a little longer to complete than I realised, life got in the way! However it is done now and makes my first happy dance of Feburary!

I decided to omit the flowers in the lower corner, opting to use a button from my stash instead. By doing so it does mean that I can't display it in the way I originally intended but the button looked so nice I've decided to make it into a small display cushion instead. This also means I can finally use some of the lovely sewing themed fabrics I have in my stash!!

Off to choose my next project now!! Only 8 January starts left to choose from!!

xX Fiona Xx

February Goals

2012-01-30T22:16:00.000Z

Well seeing as January is almost over I guess it's time to look to the future as see what February has in store:

Start LK Green Flip-it series
Stitch 2 Halloween Rules
Finish a Crazy or 2
Stitch the new LK Love chart
Organise my stash a bit better
Work through some finishes
Work on Super Mario

February is Fangirl month for theme-a-licious 2012, seeing as Lizzie Kate is one of my favourite designers & most of what I want to stitch is by her this theme is one that is very easy for me to complete!!

Still working on Good Things, should be finished before bedtime!!

xX Fiona Xx

LK Good Things Progress

2012-01-29T01:13:00.000Z

Managed to get quite a bit of this design done but not as much as I'd have liked, watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes this afternoon which was quite distracting!!

Hoping to stitch on this Sunday Evening and have it finished on Monday. This design will be mounted into one of my DMC wooden boxes when complete as I use these to store my received exchange items :)

xX Fiona Xx

Life's a Stitch photo

2012-01-28T12:15:00.000Z

Here it is as promised :)

Fabric is still in need of pressing so thats why the border looks warped in the middle.

Today I'm working on another LK Crazy 'Good Things Come' will update with progress tonight as I don't think I will finish it today.

xX Fiona Xx

Friday Night Happy Dance :)

2012-01-28T02:51:00.000Z

I do so love these happy dance posts, I can only hope their frequency continues throughout the year :)

My latest finish is Life's a stitch by Lizzie Kate. I have omitted the satin stitch border as it won't look right with the finish I have in mind & I added some blue buttons to the flower centers to give a 3D element, also these buttons are the perfect size!

Photo will be uploaded as soon as it is a more reasonable hour of the morning (it's 10 to 3am!!) and I have enough light to take a decent photo....

Until then, sweet dreams!!

xX Fiona Xx

P.S forgot to mention that Life's a sitch is my 7th happy dance & my 6th Crazy finish, the finishes are flying through, now if only I could show the same momentum to Mario....

World Book Night

2012-01-25T21:05:00.000Z

I love reading :)

So much so that I have signed up to be a giver of books for world book night, click here to find out more :)

I have chosen The Secret dreamworld of A Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella to give away, it's one of my favourite series of books to read when I'm in the mood for girly chick lit!!

Now I just have to wait and see if my application was successful! Excited!!

xX Fiona Xx

ps If I am successful I will have a copy to giveaway here :)

Tuesday Night Happy Dance :)

2012-01-25T02:30:00.000Z

It appears that my wayward stitchy bug which went AWOL shortly before Christmas seems to be making up for lost time, I promised a Tuesday Night happy dance and a happy dance I have!!

(excuse the creases, more excited about

photo-ing finish than I am about pressing it!)

Peep is my 6th finish for the year and is another Crazy Jan Challenge finish. Stitched using the recommended threads on sparkly blue aida instead of the linen provided, such a bright, cheerful design needs just that little bit of sparkly (not that it really shows up in the photos) Besides changing the linen for aida the only other change I made was to swop GAST morning glory for DMC 155 for the word Peep & to attach the egg button, I felt the finished picture was much more purple than Morning Glory which is very blue (at least mine is)

Not entirely sure what I'll be stitching on next, maybe Mario or another Crazy Start. Only time will tell!!

Happy Stitching
xX Fiona Xx

Sunday Night Happy Dance & TUSAL

2012-01-24T02:28:00.000Z

Hee hee, I'm loving my happy dances right now :)

Sunday night's happy dance was Peppermint Twist, another of my Crazy Starts, only 11 to go!!

Stitched using the recommended threads except the green, I used the DMC conversion colour instead of the original hand-dyed. The hand-dyed I had was so varigated in colour that it probably wouldn't have looked like leaves!!

Sunday night was also the night I picked up my new car, photo's of it will follow as soon as I've had a chance to clean it :)

It's time for the first TUSAL post of the year, lots of ORTs in my old coffee jar this month (can't tell in this slightly flash glared photo!) all my crazy jan challenges, new year eve start & even a few threads from Mario.

Tuesday Night will have another Happy Dance to blog about!!

until next time, happy stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

Weekend Happy Dances!!

2012-01-21T16:47:00.000Z

yes you read that right, I said dances :)

Friday night I put the final stitches into my New Years Eve start, chart was day one of my cross stitch calender, I picked my own colours and omitted the backstitch.

Today I put the final stitches into Alphabet Pumpkin, my day 1 start in the Crazy Challenge, this makes 3 in total!!!

No real ideas on how I'm going to finish either of these yet but onto the finishing pile they go!!

Happy Stitching

xX Fiona Xx

CJC 2012 comes to an end....

2012-01-17T02:39:00.000Z

and now the fun really begins!! 15 starts in 15 days is fairly straight forward, the hard part is finishing them by 2013!!

Day 14's start was supposed to be Jingle all the way, however the aida I bought to stitch it on is sooo soft & flexible that the stitches were getting distorted so I frogged and opted for Tigerlily by Nora Corbett instead, I've had this design in my stash since it first came out and I've been itching to start it, I'm stitching her on 22ct white aida but now I'm worried that she's going to be very small when finished (final design size just over 7x5!) so I may restart on 16ct. I'm looking at ways of stiffening the aida for Jingle all the Way and so far I think I need to get some interfacing to strengthen the fabric and stitch through that.

Day 15 was supposed to be Pumpkin Row by Chessie and me but due to some other news which I will get to in a minute I wanted to stitch something small so picked the scissor fob included with pumpkin row instead (just visible in the lower right corner of the pattern picture) & managed to finish one side !! I think I'm just going to stitch the year & my initials on the other side so this is technically finished too!! Stitched on 16ct? Aida using the recommended threads. The design is actually supposed to be made up of smyrna stars (sp?) rather than cross stitch but I felt more confident with cross stitch on the aida & I think the design works just as well.

So thats two projects completed and 13 to go!! I'm also starting a Lizzie Kate with my mum this week, she's stitching Christmas by the Letter & I'm stitching Halloween Rules!

Till next time, happy stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

Has it really been a week??

2012-01-15T17:50:00.000Z

It seems a week has flown by without me paying attention, luckily I have just about kept up with the Crazy January Challenge, even if I have only managed a couple of stitches a night! Hey a starts a start right?!
First up (as promised) the photos of days 5 & 6

Day 5, Darcy Day:

Day 6, Peep:

Day 7 was Life's a Stitch by Lizzie*Kate:

Day 8 was Dog's leave pawprints by Lizzie*Kate

Day 9 was Button Button by CCN

Day 10 was Peppermint Twist by LHN

Day 11 was Dandy Dreams by Silver Creek Samplers

Day 12 was Nose Garden by San Man Originals

Day 13 was Witchy Brew by Witchy Stitches

All designs have been stitched on Aida using the recommended threads with the exception of Nose Garden which I am in the process of substituting the recommended Six Strand Sweets for DMC, GAST & WDW.

Will post up final two days of the CJC tomorrow!!

Happy Stitching
xX Fiona Xx

Days 5 & 6 of the CJC

2012-01-07T03:32:00.000Z

were filled with frogs!!! No photos to show just yet (will upload later) but day 5's start was Darcy Day by the sampler girl, mananged to get a few lines of Darcy's sillouette done after frogging several times!

Day 6's start was Peep by Lizzie*Kate, I've substituted the linen provided with 14ct sparkly aida for ease of stitching, again it was stitching up pretty quickly and I was just about the start the basket below the chick when I realised I'd started stitching way to low on the fabric, a quick stitch count showed that my finished piece would just barely fit on the fabric (3 holes from the bottom to be exact) which left no room for finishing so I had to frog it all and start again, only stitched a row before stopping for the night!

Hoping to do a little more on both of these over the weekend but will take photos of them first! I also received the buttons for 'lil easter' so later on I'll be doing the finishing work on that piece too :)

Day 7's start will be life's a stitch by Lizzie*Kate.

Happy Stitching
xX Fiona Xx

CJC Day 4 A Start & A finish!!

2012-01-05T02:01:00.001Z

Today I feel the need to quote Winnie the Pooh and wish you all a 'Happy Winds-day' as it is undoubtably a rather blustery day here indeed! ( and a rather blustery night too!!)

My start for the January Challenge today was 'Lil Easter' by The Sunflower Seed, stitched on 14ct aida from my stash using the recommended Sampler threads. Really enjoyed stitching today as the colours were lovely and bright, the chart was very easy to ready and stitched up very quickly, so much so that I finished it today as well!

Stitching is finished, I ammended the chart as I felt the original 't' didn't look enough like a 't', I'm just waiting on the buttons which will hopefully be here tomorrow. Planning on finishing this as either a flat fold or a mini cushion for my display....

Tomorrow I will be stitching but I haven't decided what!!

xX Fiona Xx

crazy january challenge day 3

2012-01-04T01:48:00.000Z

Not much to show off today but here is my pitiful start on Snowman '10 by Lizzie Kate, had massive problems with the WDW thread tangling and knotting so this is as far as I got before calling it quits for the night! (Was gone midnight as it was movie night at my friend's house!)

Tomorrow's start will be 'lil Easter'

xX Fiona Xx

Crazy January Challenge Day 2 Good Things

2012-01-03T02:39:00.000Z

Today's start for the January Challenge was Lizzie Kate's Good Things. It's stitched using the recommended threads on aida & I plan to mount this in my DMC box when it's finished. Didn't get to much done today as I only started stitching once I got in from work but here is how far I got:

it's not much but it's a start!!

Tomorrow I will be stitching Snowman 10 also by Lizzie Kate!

Happy Stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

Crazy January Challenge Day 1

2012-01-02T01:40:00.000Z

So today was the first day of the Crazy January Challenge (CJC) and as I was working I decided to take my start for today into work with me so I could get started during my lunch break. Seemed simple enough as the chart, threads and fabric had already been kitted up all I needed was my hoop, scissors and I was set...that was of course until it came tomy lunch break and I realised I'd forgotten the most important part of my stitching kit...the needle...DOH!!

Despite my grandparents coming over to spend new year's with my parents and my friend popping round for a few hours this evening I have managed to put needle, thread and fabric together on JBW Design's Alphabet Pumpkin and this is as far as I got before stopping for the night:

It's stitched on brown cloud 16ct aida using the recommended sampler threads. The design actually only uses 3 colours and I've finished 2 of those today, the lettering that makes up the main body of the pumpkin is all stitched using a single colour.

Tomorrow I will be stitching Lizzie Kate's Good Things.

Happy Stitching

xX Fiona Xx

Happy New Year!!!

2011-12-31T23:32:00.000Z

Well there's just enough time left in 2011 for a quick recap before 2012!

I joined a lot of exchanges this year, I had a lot of fun for the most part but if I join any this year I can hoonestly say it won't be anywhere near as many.

Not to many finishes for me this year given that most of my stitching went to other people.

My largest project was the birth sampler I stitched in January, I can't count Super Mario cos it's not finished! Next year...maybe...

Best bit of 2011 had to be meeting up with my blogging friends at Harrogate, and making some new ones too :)

So onto 2012, I plan to do as much stitching as humanly possible:

-crazy January challenge (starts tomorrow!! So excited!)
-theme-a-licious 2012 (monthly)
-Lizzie*Kate personal rotation (6 fat men & green flip it series, monthly rotation, one pic a month)
-Lizzie*Kate SAL with Mum (Halloween Rules for me, Christmas by the letter for her)
-TUSAL (4th year running!!)

plus I hope to work through some stash, finish my 4 wips (super mario, santa 10, is it too late & hallow's eve)work through my finishing pile and try and update my blog a little more regularly as for the last two years I've struggled during the summer months.

Wishing my followers all the best for 2012 till next time

xX Fiona Xx

hi ho hi ho...

2011-12-27T01:21:00.000Z

it's back to work I go!

Yes that's it for my Christmas Break (2 whole days) and now it's back to work and the post-christmas sale (well it will be in about 8 hours, gotta sleep first!)

Boxing Day was spent with my maternal grandparents and my uncle and his family, the girlies have grown so much since I saw them last and had great fun opening their gifts, I spent some time playing the new professor layton game for the DS and wished I'd taken my stitching with me!

Hopefully I'll get some stitches in tomorrow, now it really is too late!

Hope those of you who are still on Christmas Break are enjoying every second

xX Fiona Xx

Merry Christmas to all!!

2011-12-26T01:55:00.000Z

& To All A Good Night!!

Lol hope everyone had a truly fantastic Christmas surrounded by friends and family and those people that make life so special.

I should be on again before the new year with photos of Christmas presents & hopefully a finish!

Love Fiona Xx

Final Tusal 2011 Update

2011-12-24T23:28:00.000Z

well here it is, the final TUSAL update for 2011 :(

New threads in the jar from Santa 10 & Is it too late?

Jar has now been emptied for 2012 TUSAL :) Roll on January!

xX Fiona Xx

3 days to go!!! Is it too late??

2011-12-22T01:26:00.000Z

Lol I was going through my charts for the Crazy January Challenge, making sure I had the nessessary fabrics/threads etc when this lovely design caught my eye and I knew I simply had to start it right away!!

Luckily I had a couple of extra charts already kitted up so it was fairly simple to replace! So far I've only stitched a little bit of the stocking but as tomorrow is my last day off before Christmas I plan to spend it stitching so I'll upload a photo of my progress then!

xX Fiona Xx

Stitchy updates...

2011-12-10T09:40:00.001Z

Nope I got nothing.... Hopefully this will change today but I'm not holding my breath!!!

xX Fiona Xx

Christmas is coming....

2011-12-08T02:03:00.000Z

Just a quick post because it's late and I need to sleep, just wanted to say that because I couldn't sleep earlier I decided the best, most positive thing I could do was put my tree up!! :D

Earliest I've ever managed to put it up I think!! LOL only presents to wrap and I will officially be ready for Christmas!!

the stockings were hung.....

2011-12-07T22:41:00.000Z

no I've still not put my tree up...however I can show you my new stocking!! One of the exchanges I entered on the cross-stitching.com forum was a stocking exchange, here is what I sent:

Design is by Rhona Norrie and can be purchased from her website.

Here is what I received:

I'm planning on stitching the mini kit on Christmas Eve :)

Also Bec finally received my giveaway package, this is what I sent her:

lots of lovely pink things!!

xX Fiona Xx

better late than never lol

2011-12-05T23:50:00.000Z

finally got round to posting my stash pics from Harrogate!! Not a bad haul, almost everything off my wish list plus a few extras!

lots of lizzie kates and well just a bit of everything really!!

I also won Kath's PIF giveaway and seeing as we were both at the show I got to pick it up in person!!

I was going to buy this chart myself at the show lol luckily I decided not too and then bumped into Kath who gave me this lovely cushion she had stitched, Mouse kindly did the finishing on it so thank you both very much, I love it!!

Also received my Christmas pressie from Michelle...my new snowman is watching it very closely...lol :)

My recent 123stitch orders came in last week too...I may have gone overboard slightly....

even more lizzie kates!! Oh well I'm sure I'll stitch them all...one day ;)

Finally I'll leave you with a picture of my sewing machine all dressed up for Christmas

Tomorrow the tree is going up!! :)

xX Fiona Xx

Happy December!!

2011-12-02T20:38:00.000Z

lol finally allowed to get into the festive spirit!! Decorations are going up on Sunday and I can't wait!!

I seem to be getting spam posts from this blog: http://toknitortostitch.blogspot.com/ on my blog feed today but I can't seem to find a way of blocking the content as I am not actually a follower of said blog.

Any ideas anyone?

Today has been spent at work and ordering the threads I need for my January challenges....there were quite a few!! Many thanks to Kath & Michelle for informing me about Patchwork Rabbit, a uk based seller of WDW, CC & GAST threads ;) Much appreciated ladies!!

xX Fiona Xx

Crazy January Challenge

2011-11-30T23:57:00.000Z

Charts I have decided to do are listed on the cjc2012 page :)

Now to make sure I have everything I need to stitch them!!

xX Fiona Xx

todays original post.......

2011-11-28T23:46:00.001Z

has been cancelled....something far more shocking has occurred....today after a week of uneventful driving including to milton keynes & harrogate I crash my car into a tree and wrote it off. Thankfully my mum & I are both fine, bit bit shaken & a few bruises here and there but nothing major.

no photos of the wreakage formally known as car either, much to the annoyance of the ambulance driver who drove us home. lol.

looking at buying a new car soon as Dad needs to be able to get to work.

xX Fiona Xx

P.S also wanted to say that several members of the public pulled over and contacted the emerency services on my behalf which was nice to see in this day and age where no-one seems to care about anyone else. -photos of Harrogate tomorrow I promise!-

finally home

2011-11-27T23:22:00.000Z

and pretty much gone straight to bed! Had a quick catch up on blog reading from today and will post properly after work tomorrrow!!!

Love Fiona xx

crazy january challenge

2011-11-26T22:29:00.000Z

I have decided to join in with the crazy january challenge....whether I manage to keep up with it is an entirely different matter lol.

No idea what charts I'm going to do yet, but I'm sure it won't take to long to figure out!!

xX Fiona Xx

p.s Harrogate was awesome in so many ways!! My stitching bug has returned with a vengence!! Off to put more stitches in Santa '10 before going to bed, lo-oo-ong drive back home in the morning!

November Tusal

2011-11-25T21:24:00.002Z

this is it, the penultimate TUSAL update for 2011!!

Can't believe how fast this year's tusal has gone but so looking forward to next year's!

ORTs added to my jar this month are from my final couple of exchanges and my new project Lizzie Kate's Santa '10, more on that next time.

until next time, happy stitching

xX Fiona Xx

ahhh!!!

2011-11-24T02:16:00.000Z

two sleeps till Harrogate Stitching Show!!! SO excited, there aren't words to describe it!!

lol have a bit of a wishlist and a list of threads i have to buy for various charts i wanna stitch asap!

now if only I could find my stitching bug....I know she's hidden round here somewhere!

will post photos of my weekend when I'm back!!!

Love

xX Fiona Xx

Halloween.....

2011-11-17T20:22:00.000Z

still waiting on an exchange to arrive from Halloween....seems like ages ago when its less than 20 days ago! Soon I'll be putting winter/christmas ornaments out, can't believe it's only a few weeks left till the big day!!!

.......speaking of Ornaments, I received a new one recently...not many people know that I love snowmen or that I buy at least one snowman ornament a year, well this year was no exception only this year my snowman orny is a sweet little cushion made by Betty over at primitivebettys, as soon as I saw them I had to ask if I could buy one, luckily for me she said yes!! He's been living here for about a week now!

so cute! love the jingle bells!

Really can't wait to put my ornaments out now, love this time of year!

xX Fiona Xx

Yahoo!!

2011-11-16T02:07:00.000Z

lol Daffycat is hosting the 2012 Totally Useless Stitch A Long again, this is one SAL I can always keep up with!! Sign up here http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2011/11/totally-useless-stitch-long.html
Happy Stitching!!!

xX Fiona Xx

still no sign of my halloween exchange

2011-11-15T19:05:00.000Z

but my new lizzie kate scissor fob kits have shown up, can't wait to start stitching but I will finish Santa'10 first....well maybe....

Pictures as promised!!!

2011-11-15T00:47:00.000Z

Obviously I can't show off any of the exchanges I've just finished until after Christmas but I can finally show off my October ones!
Starting with the Autumn theme Biscornu exchange! This exchange probably took the longest for me to stitch, I missed the posting deadline by 2 weeks and this was also my biggest biscornu to date as it was stitched on 14ct aida.

I stitched the Thanksgiving/Harvest design by Barbara Ana Designs~downloaded from creativepoppy.com

Top View

Side Veiw

And I received this Autumn Design also by Barbara Ana designs!!-I know because I downloaded the chart at the same time as the Thanksgiving one as I couldn't decide which one I wanted to stitch!!

Check out the cute card that came with it!! :)

Next up was the Halloween Card Exchange

I sent this bubbling cauldron...

poem inside reads:

"When witches go riding by and black cats are seen,

the moon laughs and whispers 'Tis Halloween!"

And I received this spooky black cat-I love the little button!

It was stitched by the same person who stitched my autumn biscornu!!

Lastly is the exchange that I actually set up and ran, the trick or treat halloween exchange (a halloween themed secret santa style exchange)

I sent out these spooky treats

Chocolates, Sour gummi bats, Halloween Candy's, halloween coloured threads in a trick or treat sack

& I received.....well nothing yet actually!! I've been informed that it has been posted out so hopefully it will arrive soon!!

That's all I have to show for now, until next time

Happy Stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

Blog shout out!

2011-11-14T03:37:00.000Z

http://craftmadlady.blogspot.com/

Finally managed to convince my mum that blogging is fairly simple and straightforward and after a few pointers from me on the basics she seems pretty into it so please go and check it out, obviously there's not a lot of posts yet but she's got quite a few recent finishes & wip's to talk about so expect more posts soon!!!

Tomorrow I will be posting up photos *Promise!!*

Love Fiona

finally I can stitch something for me!!

2011-11-11T23:33:00.000Z

yes that's right I put the last stitch into my final exchange this afternoon, done the finishing too and it'll be going in the post tomorrow along with the other 4 exchanges running in December so I'll be able to post pics up shortly :)

This evening I gleefully ran into the stitching corner, hell-bent on finding something to stitch from the masses of charts I've accumulated this year, I really wanted to stitch something Christmassy and preferably by Lizzie Kate as I love stitching her designs but wouldn't you know it, every single chart I picked I either don't have a suitable fabric or I don't have the right threads (even the DMC/Anchor equivilents!!)

So now I have a fairly large shopping list for Harrogate (13 sleeps to go!) but I did eventually find a chart I can stitch now, Socks & Underwear or Santa 10 by Lizzie Kate, had all the threads, embellishments & fabric so I'm off to put a few stitches into it before bedtime!!

Happy stitching everyone

xX Fiona Xx

P.S I'm going to Harrogate on the Saturday and would love to meet up with anyone else who's going!!

woohoo 1 exchange left to go!!

2011-11-10T02:55:00.000Z

Winter Biscornu is finished, sewn together and everything, tomorrow's project...Calender Exchange!

No rest for the wicked...on that note I believe it's bedtime for me :)

If my trick or treat exchange shows up tomorrow I'll do an exchange reveal...if not I don't know yet.... lol

Sweet dreams & happy stitching till next time

xX Fiona Xx

bored with biscornu's...

2011-11-08T16:18:00.000Z

Still stitching away on my winter biscornu exchange and can honestly say I'm not finding them fun to make anymore and probably won't be stitching one again for a very long time!
Luckily this is my penultimate exchange left to do and thankfully my last biscornu exchange. My next (and final) exchange is the calender exchange and the design I've chosen to stitch is a simple yet effective one which shouldn't take to long to stitch....well in theory anyway..... :-P

Then after making these last few exchanges up, I shall finally be able to get back to my sorely neglected super mario through the ages piece, I may even finish the sky before Christmas!!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful week

xX Fiona Xx

2011-11-08T00:08:00.002Z

I don't seem to be able to leave comments on anyones posts at the moment, everytime I click someone's blog to read their lastest news I am signed out of blogger but if I click 'sign in' I am sent back to my dashboard fully signed in, I am looking at everyone's blog posts & loving what everyone is working on, I just can't comment on any of it! Anyone know how I can contact blogger for help? Please either leave a comment here (if you can) or email me at the address on the left,

hoping to get chatting to you all again soon

Fiona x

waiting for a delievery

2011-11-07T15:05:00.000Z

well thats not really anything new....

However as well as my usual orders from 123stitch.com today I am waiting for delievery of a new cooker & a new fridge/freezer...We've moved out the old cooker & fridge/freezer so now there's nothing left to do but wait & stitch!!

Should have winter biscornu finished by the end of today & then it's just the calender exchange to do to finish my year of exchanges!

I haven't forgotten about showing off my halloween/autumn exchanges, still waiting on one more to show up before I can reveal them!

Until next time, happy stitching!!!

xX Fiona Xx

p.s - only 19 days till Harrogate Stitching show!!!

woohoo

2011-11-06T17:11:00.001Z

woo hoo I am the proud new owner on a new Dell laptop :)

Stitching updates to follow, still waiting on a halloween exchange before I show them off!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend

xX Fiona Xx

Bet you all thought I forgot!!!

2011-11-02T23:45:00.001Z

As many-if not all- of you know, October was breast cancer awareness month and in honour of this I decided to host a giveaway, most of the items included will have donated money to breast cancer research in some way or another. 7 People signed up in the end for this giveaway and the winner drawn from the bowl at random is:

Bec!!!
http://xstitchcreations.blogspot.com/

congrats hun, please email me via the address listed on the left & thank you so much to everyone who entered :)

I do have exchanges to show but I'm still waiting for one to show up (hopefully....) and for a photo of what I sent to someone as I forgot to take one....

Till next time, happy stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

P.S thank you to everyone who left comments about Gizmo, it still feels weird not having him around, but I have -for the most part- come to terms with his death and am looking forward to creating a scrapbook of all the photos/memories I have of him in the new year.

Giveaway is now closed

2011-11-01T00:16:00.003Z

Winner will be drawn from the 7 participants and announced tomorrow :)

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

xX Fiona Xx

feeling very sad tonight

2011-10-29T01:20:00.000+01:00

Sometime between 9 and 9:30 this evening my 3 year old cat Gizmo was run over after running into the road scared by some incredibly loud fireworks being set off in the car park opposite my house. As far as we know he was killed instantly and didn't suffer. We will be burying him tomorrow morning.
Although Gizmo wasn't the most loveable character as he was forever bringing home live mice and then letting them go inside the house, he was pretty unique, he was run over a few years ago which resulted in a broken tail which had to be amputated to nothing more than a stump but it never bothered him and he spent most of his time outdoors even when it was raining.

All in all Gizmo was my cat and I loved him, right now I still can't believe he's really gone, he'd spent the whole day asleep on my bed and now I just can't stop crying.

Gizmo asleep on my bed, taken earlier this year

Rest In Peace little guy and know that no matter what you did I will always love you.

Sorry it's such a sad post today, I will be back tomorrow with a more positive update on exchanges.

xX Fiona Xx

October TUSAL

2011-10-26T20:59:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone, here is my October TUSAL, only 2 new moons left to go this year! Where on earth has the time gone?!

Judging by the fact that my jar is now getting very full I guess I've done more stitching than I realise this year, mostly for exchanges which is probably why it doesn't really feel like I've done alot, this months threads were all from Halloween exchanges, which will be shown off on my next post

Till then

Happy Stitching!

xX Fiona Xx

best day of my life so far

2011-10-25T01:54:00.000+01:00

and it's not even stitching related!!! It's taken a couple of days waiting to post this cos I had to wait for a photo to get uploaded to the internet.

On Saturday (22nd October) I saw one of my favourite bands ever live for the 1st time, not only that but because my friend Simon is lovely he bought the VIP tickets not the normal ones so we got to enjoy a bunch of extra stuff as well as the gig. ( I say we but Si actually missed the VIP stuff cos he had to work and only just made it in time for the actual gig!)

VIP's got to go in about an hour earlier than everyone else, we got a signed poster of the band, a special 4 song acoustic set with Jaret & Eric ( I know they did Belgium & Stacy's mom but I forget what the other two were...)

& we got to get our pictures taken with the band!! I've hugged every member of BFS!!!

So here is my official meet & greet photo with Bowling For Soup at the O2 Acadamy in Oxford!

Pics of the show itself will be uploaded probably on Friday :)

breast cancer awareness

2011-10-16T19:08:00.000+01:00

well i don't know how it happened but I'm back down to 49 followers...boo..... giveaway is still happening though only now it's because it's breast cancer awareness month.

Almost everything included in this giveaway prize will have donated money to breast cancer research but I'm not going to tell you what the winner is receiving until the winner is revealed!! So to be in with a chance of winning this supprise giveaway please sign up on my original post here.

Winner will be drawn on Halloween & announced shortly afterwards!

Good luck & happy stitching
xX Fiona Xx

woo hoo finally time for a giveaway!

2011-10-15T12:28:00.000+01:00

just spotted I finally made it to 50 followers!! Greeting and thank you to all :)

To say thank you I am going to have a giveaway, not quite sure what it will be yet but I will figure that out soon enough, so to enter my suprise giveaway you must simply be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post only.

Name will be drawn on Halloween and announched shortly afterwards :)

Thanks again & tillnext time

Happy Stitching!!!

xX Fiona Xx

bug disappeared....

2011-10-13T21:37:00.000+01:00

Has anyone spotted my stitchy bug lately? I seem to have lost my stitching mojo....

Hopefully it will come back soon!!!

Exchanges, passing the torch & halloween displays

2011-10-08T02:27:00.000+01:00

Ok well I said there would be more exchanges and I wasn't lying!! Only 4 today so we should wizz through them pretty quickly!

First up the All Our Yesterdays exchange, I sent a stitched bokmark & a papercrafted card using one of the new Faye Whitaker decoupage designs (only the backing image as I didn't want to decoupage it)

My partner in this exchange has recently had shoulder surgery and was unable to stitch anything but I still received this lovely kit & yummy chocolate (always goes down well!)

Next up the Assisi Card exchange I sent this:

And received:

Then we had a butterfly exchange, this one I actually struggled with, the gift could be shopbought rather than stitched so I sent a 2012 diary with a butterfly print & a stitched card:

I received these lovely coasters, stitched on sparkly aida :)

Lastly for the exchanges today is the ABC exchange, probably the funniest exchange I've had all year so far. We had to choose either modern or traditional to stitch and we would be sent something from the catagory we chose, I chose traditional and stitched this design from Joan Elliott's latest book 'Cross Stitched Greeting Cards' and finished it as a pillow using the fabric pictured as the backing.

Now I'm a big fan of Joan Elliott and planned to stitch this again for myself in the new year after all these exchanges are over so you can imagine my surpprise when I received this in the post!

It's almost identical, I omitted the fractional stitches & french knots in my version (the diamonds above the houses and the leaves in the corners/between the houses) purely because time was running out to get it posted but the fact that I received the exact design I posted & it was finished in exactly the same way still baffles me, goes to show that stitchers really do think alike!!

After thinking long and hard about it, I gave up stitching my Krabby/Kingler pokemon quilt patch for the patchwork gym, I simply have to many other comitments right now and I knew there was no way I was going to make the deadline to get it finished, however all is not lost, I have sent my incomplete patch to another member of the patchwork gym to finish for me as she very kindly offered too so massive thanks to Blackmageheart (forum name) for doing that, hopefully it won't take her as long to complete as it would me! :) I'll be sure to post up the finished pic when she's finished it!

Lastly I wanted to leave you with a few pictures of my new (well it is to me) singer machine, all dressed up for Halloween.

And a few close ups of some of my new halloween/autumn bits this year (I try to buy one or two things every year as well as make some)

i love this wooden sign, it has fixtures at the back to hang in on the wall but I plan on getting some thick cord and stringing it up that way.

This pumpkin reminds me of Nightmare before Christmas (fave film) or something out of Halloweentown from the Disney Channel, so wish they would release the dvd's over here in the UK as me and my mum loved watching them on the Disney Channel every year!!

Finally I'll leave you with my spidey candle holder complete with orange cobweb candle, I hate spiders bit this little guy was too cute to say no too!!!

Till next time happy stitching!!!

xX Fiona Xx

Argh!!!!!!

2011-10-06T04:08:00.001+01:00

After all that waiting it didn't record properly!!! The ending's been cut off?! As far as I can tell it's not being repeated again and it doesn't seem to be available on DVD although I have emailed the BBC shop to make sure. So annoyed cos I've basically stayed up for nothing!!!

Really beginning to wish I had sky+...

2011-10-06T02:35:00.001+01:00

It's 2:30 in the morning and i'm having to force myself to stay awake so I can record a program on BBC4 about Jane Austin, I was watching it earlier bit only caught the last few minutes so I'm recording it to watch tomorrow at a reasonable time. Only downside is I have to stay up to finish the recording after the show ends just over an hour later... I've been stitching a biscornu for an exchange but now I'm worried I'll make too many mistakes!!

Only 20 mins till the show starts, might just have a snooze while it's on and set my alarm for 4 or something...

Hello Autumn :)

2011-10-02T21:25:00.000+01:00

well I've given my blog an autumn facelift depite the unseasonable heatwave we are experencing here in sunny old England!!

Its been a lovely weekend for me, not only was I not at work this weekend but I also had a lovely present from my parents.

I have always wanted a vintage singer sewing machine and my parents bought me a really really lovely one, not only is it a vintage machine but it's a vintage treadle machine!!! It's in need of a little TLC, the whole thing could do with a really good clean and the treadle belt has sadly broken but a replacement has already been ordered. I'll post photos up next time as hopefully the belt will have shown up by then but yay so happy!!!

I also made my inner geek very happy today as I picked up an Atari 2600 complete with 2 joysticks, 2 paddle controls & around 30 games for £35 in the boot sale this morning.

Right now I'm off to finish watching Star Trek followed by Big Bang Theory Season 4!!
Coming soon to the stitching corner....Zombies!

Happy Stitching
xX Fiona Xx

New additions to the stitching corner

2011-10-01T01:15:00.000+01:00

So i mentioned a few posts ago that I went to the stitching show in Epsom (Sandown Park Racecourse) and although it was a fun day out stitching wise it was a bit of a wash out compared to previous years... The only stand there selling kits was The Black Sheep and the only fabric stall was Sew-it-All. That said I still enjoyed my day and managed to come home with most of the stuff I wanted, along with a few 'just because' extras (namely fat quarters!)

DMC box, Gorjuss kit & bobbins from The black sheep

lots of Aida from Sew it all

Fat Quarters froma fabric stall called StitchWitch

Scissors from Coleshill Accessories

The ribbon & buttons were from a papercrafting stall and I forget the name of the book stall there.

If I had stuck to the things on my 'need' list I would have bought the book, bobbins & aida....oh well, I already have plans from most of the fabrics and the buttons.

I do have more stash to show but I don't have pictures from them yet and I'm waiting on one exchange to show up before I do another exchange download but hopefully that will be here tomorrow

Till next time,

Happy Stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

show and tell~updates :D

2011-09-28T06:42:00.001+01:00

Lots and lots to show and tell, possibly to much to remember or fit into a single post but lets see how far it goes shall we?

First up I have done so many exchanges this year and still have several left to finish before 2011 is done, in fact I realised the other day that while the majority of my stash buying this year has been for my own stitching stash (that is, stuff I want to stitch for myself) the majority of my stitching has been for exchanges and PIF/RAK's etc. Pretty sure next year will be a much more selfish year lol my stash is calling out to be stitched!

So so onto the actual exchanges, my blog history tells me that the last exchange I showed was the anytheme biscornu exchange from way way waaaay back in May so we really do have a lot to get through, first is the Summer Coaster exchange:

Here is what I sent

And here is what I received:

Next up was the Summer bookmark exchange, sadly this is the only exchange where I don't have a photo of what I sent out, mostly because I was still finishing it the day it was supposed to be posted and I panicked when it was finished to get it posted asap! however here is what I received:

it's actually hard to tell from this angle but there are lots of tiny pink beads sewn to this bookmark which sparkle lots!!

Next up was probably one of my favourite exchanges of the year the Coffee exchange,

here is what I sent:

And what I received:

and the other side of the cushion

Next up was the chocolate exchange ~ no stitching needed for this one, all we had to do was post someone £5 worth of chocolate!! YUM! lol here is was I sent out (I did include a DMC chocolate scented thread kit from my stash)

And here is what I received, I'd be lying if I said it lasted very long after this picture was taken!

Still keeping up? Still have a long way to go yet! The next exchange was the Like it LOUD exchange, could be anything as long as it was colourful so I stitched this:

(also on my list for next year as I loved it so much I found it hard to part with!)

And I received:

I love the little skeins of thread!!

Next up was a exchange for night owls, a card exchange featuring Owls and our wisest words, I sent:

And I received

this is now framed by my bed, the eyes & beak are felt!

Only 4 more to go for today!! I warned you there was a lot!! In fact there are more but I'm getting fed up with posting them and I haven't actually uploaded the photos of what I received to my computer yet so they can wait!!

Next was the Teatime exchange, I sent:

And received:

Quite tempted to stitch the other half of the forever friends design in another coaster as it's from a magazine I own :)

Next was the starsign exchange, I sent:

and received:

Next was another favourite of mine, the prince charming exchange, normally we stitchers hate receiving frogs as it usually means we have to ripout our stitches however these frogs we didn't mind getting!!

I sent a mirror pouch out:

And I was sent:

Lastly (for today) is the Quotation Orny exchange, literally was simple as it sounds, stitch your favourite quote or saying and make it into an ornament, I sent:

first time I'd ever finished an orny like this and I will definetely be making more in this style (and this one as again I loved it almost to much to part with it!)

I received this lovely wall hanging

Ok well thats it for now, honestly I still have so many exchanges left to show you all and then theres my lovely new stash to lust over that I may do a second post today, anythign could happen lol I hope you've enjoyed looking at my stitching, until next time

Happy stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

September Tusal

2011-09-27T23:15:00.001+01:00

ok well blogger seems to have changed since I last posted, appologies that update never really happened even though I promised it would, day off tomorrow so after i do a couple of errands I will try and get my blogging bug in gear!!

This post is basically ujust my tusal update for September's new moon, the small jar is full of my orts for this month and the large jar is for the year, mostly pokemon patch in my jar for the month this time round, have a few days left to finsih it and I honestly don't know if I'll make it :S

In other news I went to the stitching show at Sandown Park a couple of weekends ago and I use the term 'stitching show' loosly but more on that tomorrow so stay tuned for stitching reveals, stash and show rants!!

Happy Stitching

xX Fiona Xx

I don't seem to be very good at this blogging stuff lately

2011-09-12T23:15:00.000+01:00

but I have been stitching up a storm lately with one exchange after another, now that its finally slowing down again I hope to be back and blogging more regularly!! Hopefully i will still have some followers by then!

I hope to post up a lengthy couple of blog posts by saturday showing just what I have been up to but right now I have more exchanges to finish befre the stitchy show at Sandown park on Friday :D (mum's birthday too and neither one of us can wait!)

August TUSAL

2011-08-29T09:40:00.001+01:00

Well I don't seem to be able to access my blog through the laptop but I can on my phone so here is my TUSAL post for this month, I'll add a picture as soon as the server stops being stupid.... On the plus side I've spent the whole weekend stitching and I'm still going now :)

*edit** Photo :D

Ouchies in the stitching corner.......

2011-08-01T22:16:00.000+01:00

At 12.15 this morning I broke my toe. It is very painful and will take approximately 6 weeks to heal.

Good news is that I got to spend today on the sofa stitching. Sadly its an exchange piece again so I can't show it to you just yet!

Well off to bed for me as I was in A&E this morning till 2.

Till next time keep stitching

x Fiona x

TUSAL part 2

2011-07-30T20:15:00.001+01:00

Is it really July 30th already?? Feels like this year is just slipping away from me and my stitching is really suffering!! Have barely done anything so you can't really see any difference in my jar.

Hopefully I'll be blogging a bit more regularly soon!!

x Fiona x

Tusal

2011-07-01T20:37:00.000+01:00

nothing added to my jar this month, been redecorating instead of stitching, now its done though I hope to get some stitching in!

OMG so nearly missed it this month!!!

2011-06-01T23:58:00.000+01:00

lol just got in from bowling with my friends and realised its a new moon tusal day!!! So nearly missed it but thankfully just in time!! please excuse the hurried flash-glared photo!!!

New threads from exchanges, pokemon patch & Halloween Short Stack this month!! See you next time :)

xX Fiona Xx

serial starting bug is twitching...

2011-05-22T20:21:00.000+01:00

So in the mood to start something new but know that I shouldn't as I have a few pieces on the go atm. Currently working on a small exchange piece which is nearly finished so I'm hoping that the finish will kill the urge to start something, probably not but hey I can dream right?!!

work is slooowly progessing on the pokemon patch, background is so tedious so I find myself only doing a few stitches a night... not sure I'll be able to do my second one before the posting date at this rate!!

Mario has not been touched in at least 2 weeks and Bob the Builder still is just an arm...

Maybe reading this post back will kill of that new start inch!!!

Happy Stitching to you all

xX Fiona Xx

Tea with Jane Austen

2011-05-18T22:59:00.002+01:00

Seeing as I finally uploaded some of the photos from my trip to the Jane Austen Centre in Bath (a very late birthday outing with my parents) I thought I would share some of my favourite photos of the day.
Firstly the Jane Austen Centre itself, at 40 Gay Street, just a few doors down from where Jane Austen herself lived at No. 25.

The Regency dress on display which was originally handed into a charity shop in pieces for scrap!! (the board behind explains the story behind the dress)

After leaving the Jane Austen Centre we looked around Bath itself, my Dad had been here while he was at University and he took great joy in showing us around the Bath that he remembered, I really wanted to go the the Roman Paths and the Pump Room but sadly the queues were just too long - maybe next time! We wandered past the Parade Gardens, yet another place I would have loved to have gone in to and had a look around but we simply didn't have the time, however I did see these Janeites having tea on the roundabout just outside the Gardens and couldn't resist taking a photograph!!

Obviously no trip would be complete without a trip to a gift shop and I am pleased to say the gift shop at the Austen Centre is one of my favourites! I bought so many books on Regency Bath & Jane Austen's life in Bath as well as Lost in Austen on DVD. I also picked up a copy of Sense & Sensibility (the last Austen Novel I needed) and many of the fictional books based on Jane's work including A Weekend with Mr Darcy & Rude Awakenings of A Jane Austen Addict. Of course after I saw the Jane Austen Centre Teddy I simply had to have it ~ and no I've not named him Darcy!! I have called him Edmund after my favourite character in Mansfield Park!! (sorry no pictures yet! My room is in the process on being moved into a bigger room and he's alreday been packed up!)

Had a wonderful day and honestly can't wait to go back! I think I'd probably move to Bath if I could!

xX Love Fiona Xx

New Start

2011-05-16T01:20:00.000+01:00

Yes I opted for a new start, it's one of my pokemon patches for the PPG (patchwork pokemon gym) click the link on the right fr more info on PPG! Not much done yet but thought I'd show how much I got done before I started falling asleep!

this will be krabby & kingler from the original pokemon games!

xX Love Fiona Xx

Halloween/UFO Finish happy dances

2011-05-15T19:40:00.000+01:00

Yes my first (of many) halloween finishes for the year & it's my ufo project finish too

Designer: Waxing Moon Designs

Fabric: 14ct blue cloud aida from sewitall.com (run out of this one too now *sob*)

Threads: Recommended Sampler threads & DMC's except the dark purple around the hat, opted for the suggested DMC rather than the recommended Sampler thread as it was a weird dye lot that was more red than purple.

I left out the frog button as I liked the pumpkin so much I didn't want to cover it up at all!

Now that my Sunday nights are UFO free it's back onto Super Mario stitching now or maybe time to start something new....

Happy Stitching!!

xX Love Fiona Xx

Biscornu Exchange

2011-05-15T10:22:00.001+01:00

This is what I sent for the Any theme Biscornu exchange on the cross-stitching.com forum:

Stitched on a scrap of white adia using DMC varigated thread.

And here is what I received:

And a few close-ups, top:

and bottom:

I love the beaded edges on this biscornu, looks so elegant & sparkles in the light!!

xX Love Fiona Xx

Resting In Peace

2011-05-12T09:27:00.000+01:00

Today I received some very sad news , my Grandma passed away in her sleep in the early hours of the morning. She had been very ill for quite some time and had declined rapidly since Monday so it was expected but it still shocking to hear.

Hopefully will have some stitching to show soon but for now I am taking some time out to be with my family, especially my father who has now lost both his parents.

Love Fiona x

TUSAL time again (may 2011)

2011-05-03T23:26:00.000+01:00

Really? It's TUSAL time again already!? Ok then here is my jar update :) lots of exchange threads this month :)

also you can see the results of my bobbin thread winding session in the smaller jar :) still loads of threads to wind though now and it's all that super mario patterns fault!!!

Happy Stitching!

xX Fiona Xx

Had a lovely day off today

2011-04-27T23:38:00.000+01:00

the sun came back out to play today (was rather grey, windy and generally miserable yesterday while I was at work) so I took my dog down to the park for a run around in the sunshine, she loved it and I did remember to take some photos but then the camera battery died so once the battery has charged up again I shall post up a pic or two.

Had the house to myself today as well as my parents went to Wales overnight to catch up with some long-lost cousins of my Dad's so I also managed to get some uninterupted stitching time in today and completed 3 of my exchange pieces :) again no photos just yet because of the camera & the fact that none of them have been posted yet!

I've also been reading alot lately which is nice as I sort of stopped reading as much just before Christmas. I can strongly recommend Confessions of a Jane Austen addict & Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen addict by Laurie Viera Rigler for any JA fan out there. Just about to start reading the Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (I'm on a bit of an Austen kick atm!) and then I'll hopefully have bought the offical Twilight Saga guide by Stephanie Meyer to sink my teeth into (all puns intended!)

As always happy stitching

xX Fiona Xx

A couple more finishes.

2011-04-25T21:40:00.000+01:00

This is the last of my finishes updates (for now!) I stitched this freebie for Easter from primativebetty and finished it into a little pillow for Easter using the fabric photographed.

Designer: primative betty
Fabric: 14ct 'Brown Cloud' Aida by sewitall.com (last remmenant *sobs*)
Threads: recommended DMC threads except the pink which I subbed for a different one as I didn't have it!

I also decided to finally turn 'Fall into Autumn' into a cushion as I already had the sewing machine out!

Currently I have had to suspend my Mario project & the Sunday night UFO project as I am currently stitching a summer coaster, a coffee themed stitch and another biscornu for exchanges and two patches for the Pokemon Patchwork Gym. We are a group of gaming stitchers who have decided to stitch a quilt which has every pokemon from the first games (blue, red & yellow) plus all the gym leaders and the two trainers (the one you play as and your rival) on. The finished quilt is then going to be auctioned off and all the proceeds will be donated to the Japan Relief fund, click the Pokemon Patchwork Gym button on the right to find out more!!

Needless to say my needles are going to be very busy for the next few weeks!

Happy Stitching to you all!

xX Fiona Xx

Exchanges!

2011-04-24T18:36:00.001+01:00

Happy Easter Everyone!!

As promised today's post is all about my Easter exchanges! I joined three exchanges for Easter, a biscornu exchange, a stitched card exchange and a secret Easter bunny exchange (similar to secret santa)

Here is what I sent my biscornu partner:

stitched on 14ct opalescent pale yellow aida with DMC threads, not to shabby for a first attempt at biscornu!

And here is what I received:

For the card exchange I sent this:

design taken from cross stitch card shop and stitched on 14ct white aida using dmc threads.

And I received this:

I love this little felt bag, and the chocolate eggs were just yummy!!

Finally for the secret Easter Bunny exchange, I sent this:

the pinkeep is a free lizzie kate design from the website, stitched using dmc threads (own choice in colours) on a scrap of fabric from a grab-bag at a show.

And I was lucky enough to receive:

Again the chocolate egg was very yummy as it was filled with chocolate covered cornflakes & jelly beans!! I love Ty Beanie Babies & the biscornu is so funny that I can't help but giggle every time I see it!!

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter weekend &

happy stitching...

xX Fiona Xx

So many things to show and tell!

2011-04-23T23:34:00.001+01:00

I have lots to show and tell over the next couple of days, far to many photos to show in one post!

Things have been so hectic at home and work the past couple of weeks, I can hardly believe it's the Easter weekend and almost the end of April already! Seems like only last week I was posting my latest TUSAL update and now it's almost time for another!

Anyway, enough raving about 'where does the time go?!' and onto the updates, today's focus is PIF's!

Now long time blog readers will have seen my numerous posts recently about PIF stitching, luckily since they have both been safely received (thank god is all I can say, stupid RM!) I can finally stop going on about them and reveal what it is I have sent!

To the lovely Kath I sent this:

Designer: Lizzie Kate, published in a 2005 issue of Cross Stitcher

Fabric: 14ct brown cloud aida from sewitall.com

Threads: Recommended DMC threads

And this is what I gave to the lovely Gaynor:

Designer: Lizzie Kate, published in a 2005 issue of Cross Stitcher

Fabric: random offcut purchased in a bag of offcuts from a show

Threads: Recommended DMC threads

I really enjoyed stitching both these designs and will be stitching them both again, be my friend for mysef and peace to all for my mum who fell in love with the design when she saw it finished!

See you all tomorrow for a post about exchanges!!

Happy Stitching
xX Fiona Xx

A giveaway over at 'Hooked on Stitches!'

2011-04-18T08:23:00.000+01:00

Angela is having a wonderful giveaway over at Hooked on Stitches for her blogoversary, click the link below the picture below to find out more!!

blogoversary giveaway!!

Hoping to post an update on what I've been doing later today!!

Fiona

Only 3 days left in my PIF!!

2011-04-07T18:54:00.000+01:00

don't forget to sign up!! Kath I'm glad you're PIF arrived with you safely :)

April TUSAL, a finish (with photos!) & a PIF!!

2011-04-03T13:41:00.000+01:00

Well here is my jar for April's new moon - soon be time to squash it down a bit methinks!

New threads in the jar include orts from the wedding sampler (more on that later), 2 exchange pieces, my PIF's, bob the builder (admittedly it's probably only one or two!), Super Mario & Halloween Short Stack.

~x~

As previously mentioned this week, last Tuesday saw my parents celebrating their Silver Wedding Anniversary. This is what I made them and I pleased to say that they loved it!!

We spent the day in Witney and then my brother and I surprised them with a meal out at Parasol, a local Chinese restaurant.

~x~

Last week I entered Lynda's PIF over at a cozy little place for stitching and as only 3 people entered she's decided to send something to everyone which means it's PIF hosting time again!!! If you would like to receive something stitched by me in 2011 all you have to do is simply comment on this post only. I will be picking 3 lovely people next Sunday (the 10th)

Good Luck & Happy Stitching!

xX Fiona Xx

Wedding Sampler

2011-03-29T03:43:00.000+01:00

is done!!!! Just in the nick of time too, stupidly forgot to get a photo before I wrapped it up but tbh it's a rush frame job that I'm not overly happy about but seeing as they are going to unwrap it in about 4 maybe 5 hours time I will reframe it properly and take photos then!

Right now I am off to bed as I am shattered after my mad rush tonight to get it finished, framed and wrapped up in time!!

xX Fiona Xx

A change in plans

2011-03-26T00:47:00.001Z

UFO Night has been moved to Saturday night this week as I have plans with friends on Sunday night. Saturday daytime will be spent making up some finished items ready for posting on Monday & hopefully stitching on Mario inbetween while glue dries!

So far this week I have finished one of my Easter exchange pieces and have almost finished the wedding sampler, (hoping to get it framed over the weekend or at the very latest Monday night!!) I want to be stitching it now but my mum keeps coming in my room periodically to chat so for now I'm stitching Easter cards! (Easier than attempting to hide it every time she pops in!

Will be back over the weekend with updates and photos!

Happy Stitching

xX Fiona Xx

Weekend Progress

2011-03-23T01:00:00.000Z

This weekend was my first full weekend of 'me-time stitching'. That is that the projects I was working on are purely for me, not exchanges or comissions or anything else.

Saturday was a Mario day. I actually got quite a bit done despite a late afternoon start, but I am so sick of DMC 739 now!!! Hopefully I'll be able to get the last of the cream finished next week.

Sunday was my second UFO night and again I was suprised at how much I actually enjoy stitching this design! Makes me wonder why it's taken so long to pick up again after Christmas!

This week sees me continuing with Exchange pieces & that Wedding Sampler for Mum & Dad, so nearly finished and a good thing it is too, it's their anniversary on the 29th! Thought I had the perfect frame but the finished design is much more square than I thought so I'm going to buy a 8x8 frame instead.

Till next time, happy stitching!

xX Fiona Xx

Can We Fix It?

2011-03-18T01:39:00.000Z

Yes We Can!!

No I haven't gone insane, I'm stitching a Bob The Builder picture for my boss's 2 year old son who is Bob Crazy!! It's to celebrate the fact that he's just got his first big boy bed. Here is what the design will look like when it's finished,

It's actually going to be pretty big when it's finished, approximately 8x12, mostly because his name is quite long and secondly because I'm stitching it on 16ct Aida. Once I've knocked out a few more exchange bits and pieces I'll be able to focus a little more on this design during the week, so far all I've done a little of the black outlines on his arm.

I'm hoping to get the outlines and some of the lettering finished by the end of this month but I guess we'll see how it goes, I have quite a few easter exchanges and the wedding sampler to finish too so it's gonna pretty tough but hopefully I'll make it :)

xX Fiona Xx

a giveaway!!!

2011-03-15T00:26:00.002Z

Cath over at The Stitchin' Chicken is having a 100 followers giveaway, some lovely stash up for grabs so go and check it out!!!

xX Fiona Xx

UFO Night Progress

2011-03-14T22:20:00.000Z

So last night was my first UFO Night and this is what I achieved

I actually had a lot of fun stitching this design last night and am really looking forward to stitching on it again next Sunday.For now it's back to Secret Stitchings, PIFs, Exchanges & Comissions :)

Till next time, happy stitching

xX Fiona Xx

I've been thinking...

2011-03-12T23:35:00.000Z

not always a smart move but I'm hoping this time it is. I've decided that due to the volume of exchange stitching I have yet to do and the fact that I have taken on another commission pieceI will have to rethink the times I spend stitching on projects. As soon as I finish this wedding sampler (hopefully by mid next week) I will be putting this into effect.

Week Nights~Exchange/Commission Stitching
Saturdays/nights~Super Mario Sampler
Sunday nights~UFO Night!

This way I can keep the weekends free to do my own personal projects so they don't get neglected and i can use the weekdays/nights to keep on top of the exchanges! Seeing as I missed UFO night this week I will be stitching on Halloween Short Stack tomorrow instead of the Wedding Sampler, I could use a break from the late night stitching! Last nights work was so full of frogs I may as well have gotten some extra kip instead!

uh oh....

2011-03-11T23:22:00.002Z

lol, I've been looking at 123stitch.com and my wishlist has grown so much!!! I love that they have the wishlist feature there, means i don't have to try and remember all the different designs I like but also means I can pick and choose which charts to buy instead of buying them all in one go!

Proper update tomorrow hopefully, going to attempt to get some stitching done tonight so I can almost justify buying some new charts on payday!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend of stitching!

xX Fiona Xx

A giveaway!

2011-03-09T00:01:00.000Z

sadly its not mine but Carolyn at Just One More Stitch

is giving away some wonderful new charts.

It ends on the 13th so you've not got long to go and check it out!!

xX Fiona Xx

I hate to admit it..

2011-03-06T18:33:00.000Z

but I have a UFO again...I haven't picked up Halloween Short Stack since New Year's. In order to rectify this as soon as possible I have decided to spent one day a week (which day exactly will vary due to work shifts) stitching on this design until it is complete, I would spend more time on this project but as I have quite a few exchange pieces to stitch I don't feel I have enough time to spare. Of course I also want to keep stitching on Mario as it is such a large project I don't want to lose momentum and be faced with another large UFO! Here is how far I had gotten with Halloween Short Stack when stitching stopped.

Tomorrow will be spent finishing some exchanges to be posted and then it's UFO Night :)

xX Fiona Xx

Post, Stash, Progress & TUSAL

2011-03-04T22:48:00.001Z

Got home from work to find a parcel waiting for me, it was the chart and tuck pillows I’d bought from Kath- thanks Kath, they are perfect! I love the peppermint twist design even more in person and can’t wait to stitch it!

My mum & dad went back to Wallingford today as my mum needed something from Poppy Craft and they bought back these two chart booklets, not completely my taste but I’m sure they will come in handy at some point and I’m very grateful for them none the less.

I managed a little stitching done last night on Mario, here is how far I’ve gotten now.

Which brings me very neatly onto my TUSAL post this month, final threads from the Birth Sampler, a few stray ORTs from various exchanges and an awful lot of cream from Mario has been added this month

That’s everything for today, until next time happy stitching!

xX Fiona X

Well that didn't go exactly as I planned

2011-03-03T18:25:00.000Z

I was supposed to meet up with Laura for lunch yesterday to give her Archie's birth sampler, however that didn't happen as Laura text me to say she couldn't meet up as she had a ear infection and she thinks she may have given it to Archie as he was very poorly all Tuesday night. She did pop round to mine later in the evening after her mum came home to watch him to collected the sampler though and I'm please to say that she was thrilled!! She even gave me a lovely forever friends thank you card!

The evening was spent curled up on the sofa in front of the telly, I planned to get some more of Mario done but only managed about 20 stitches if that as I got caught up watching Mansfield Park on ITV3! This trip to Bath is getting more and more exciting!!

Oh well....hopefully I'll have better luck tonight, TUSAL tomorrow, don't forget!!

happy stitching

xX Fiona Xx

I have been stitching I promise!

2011-03-02T18:15:00.000Z

I just can't show any of it as they are all exchanges! Actually I did start my supprise wedding sampler but I am going to start it again as I am not happy with my original fabric choice.

On Monday I went to Wallingfod with my mum & Margaret, a friend of the family. Margaret is also a craft person and had been telling my mum about a papercraft shop there called Poppy Craft, so naturally we had to go and check it out! I tagged along as I do dabble in papercrafts such as scrapbooking and have been known to make the occasional card, also many of the embellisments meant for papercraft work very well in cross stitch, namely charms, brads, buttons etc. I've been looking for a scrapbook to display some of my cross stitch in for a while so when I spotted this hamper set I couldn't say no! The lamb die-cut sheet came seperately but otherwise everything in the picture was included!

After a quick spot of lunch, Margaret took us to the local fabric shop, Village Fabrics, needless to say I was in Heaven!So many beautiful fabrics and some gorgeous examples of patchwork quilts and wall hangings everywhere, I'm almost tempted to take up another hobby... Of course with all the exchanges and stitching I've been doing recently I couldn't leave without picking up a few pieces of fabric...

Pretty soon it was time to go home, however no stash buying trip would be complete without a visit to my local stitchy shop! Picked up a few bits and pieces to complete a few exchanges, the remaining threads for Mario & bobbins to hold them, the fabric needed for my next BIG project (don't even ask, it's going to be epic!) and also an ex display daylight lamp (not pictured) which was on sale at half the RRP!!

Also picked up the new Cross Stitcher (I love the free gift this month, the little mirror pouch is so sweet!) & the new Cross Stitch Collection, the new Joan Elliott fairy set is stunning!

Finally got home and discovered that my subs copies of World Of Cross Stitch & Cross Stitch Card Shop had also arrived that day, again some lovely designs & free gifts!

Spent the evening finding homes for my lovely new stash, cross checking new threads agains charts making sure I actually have all the threads I need and reading through my new magazines. All in all it was a lovely day to start what will be a very busy week.

See you all on Friday for the next TUSAL update!!

Happy Stitching

xX Fiona Xx

Focus On Framing!

2011-02-27T17:18:00.003Z

For once this isn't a post about Mario! Decided to spend yesterday doing some framing after the success I had framing my friend's birth sampler a few days ago.

I decided to have a go at doing my own framing as professional framing is so expensive. I used a store bought frame & pre-cut mount and I think it looks pretty good! I even used proper framing tape on the back to give a neater finish:

Yesterday I decided to finally frame 'I Stitch' a design I finished last summer. Again I used a store bought frame but decided against a mount as the design has such a nice border already.

'I Stitch' was designed by Rhona Norrie from cross stitch crazy magazine (I think it was issue 139) I fell in love with this design as soon as I saw it and strated stitcing straight away, I also have Rhona's 'Stitcher's Promise' design on my stitching list and my Mum wants to stitch her new 'Count Your Blessings' design from this month's issue on Crazy!

Should have some more framing to show soon as well as some more exchange pieces & PIF's!! Until next time, Happy Stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

***Edit*** Lesleyanne, I bought my mount ready made from a cheap shop in the town where I live but coloured mounts and double mounts (which is what I used on the birth sampler) are avaliable on ebay quite frequently or try and cheap shops in your area such as poundland, poundstretcher, wilkinsons etc. Hope this helps!

*** Edit 2*** I backed my design onto stiff card using double sided tape, than placed it under the mount in the frame.

Birthday Photos!

2011-02-26T21:48:00.000Z

Yesterday I turned 23, so far it feels much the same as 22 did. I received some lovely presents from my family, 2 cross stitch books (Joan Elliott's Cards & Cross Stitch Myths & Legends) and a beautiful fairy ornament from my brother and his girlfriend.

~funny story : I didn't actually get the Joan Elliott book for my birthday, Mum bought it after Christmas and said she was going to put it away until yesterday. Then about 2 weeks ago she came downstairs after tidying her room while I was ironing a shirt in the kitchen. She said 'I'm really sorry Fi, but we forgot to give you this for Christmas.' and produced the book. 'Mum,' I replied 'you do realise it's my birthday in less than 2 weeks so you could have just waited until then to give it to me...also you bought that in Hobbycraft just after Boxing Day specifically to give it to me for my birthday.' Mum then said that because she'd forgotten and now I'd seen it I could have it early!!

I love these fairies, I have a fair few of them dotted about my bedroom but this one represents all of my favourite things, Autumn, Halloween & Fairies! Plus she was picked out just for me by two people I love very much. Her wings aren't actually glittery or anything they just look it in this picture!

My grandparents called in the evening to say my present was to big to post but they are planning to bring it over in a few weeks, they have bought me a mount cutter of my very own! This will save me so much money in framing fees!!! Very excited to try it out when it gets here!!

Sadly I couldn't really do anything to celebrate yesterday, mainly due to a lack of funds and the fact that although I had the day off work, everyone else didn't. So I spent yesterday stitching on...you've guessed it...Mario. Suprisingly didn't actually get as much done as I'd hoped but to be honest I was also playing Super Mario World on the SNES a fair bit...

Plans are underway to celebrate my birthday properly in a week or so after everyone has been paid, planning a day trip to Bath to see the Jane Austen museum & hopefully pick up some charts by the sampler girl from the gift shop which the museum website says they stock ~ also very excited about this trip!!!

Thank thats everything from my birthday 'celebration' so until next time ~ Happy Stitching!!
~ xX Fiona Xx

Historical Exchange

2011-02-25T23:37:00.002Z

My exchange piece has finally arrived with it's new owner in Sweden which means I can finally show it off!! This exchange was a Jane Austen/ Regency/ Historical theme.

This is what I sent:

It's a needlecase with an extra pocket in the back for scissors.

back pocket detail & fabric lining ( i love this fabric so much!)

And this is what I received (from Italy):

Happy Stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

So Much Cream!!

2011-02-25T12:15:00.000Z

I have spent the last two days stitching on Mario. Here is my progress from wednesday night (not a lot stitched as I went for chinese food with people from work)

Yesterday was my day off and was spent stitching, in order to save myself from making a mistake and also to allow me to stitch without having to refer to the pattern I sketched the outlines of where the mario's are directly onto the aida in pencil, stitching got a lot quicker after that! Here is my progress as of yesterday:

Luckily this section is now nearly finished (that squiggly pencil line at the bottom of the hoop is the start of a large green hill!) as I am actually getting sick of DMC 739!! Sadly I can't fill in the mario's until Monday as I don't have the threads yet!! Should have more progress to show tomorrow as today is also my day off and my birthday so expect birthday photos tomorrow!

Happy Stitching!

xX Fiona Xx

A change in plans

2011-02-23T22:25:00.002Z

I was all set to show off pictures from the historal exchange I took part in on the cross-stitching.com forums today but sadly my parcel hasn't reached it recipient yet so unfortunately I can't show pictures just yet. However all is not lost as I can just give an update on Mario though the ages.

Still stitching that solid block of colour that makes up the sky. Added about 450 stitches yesterday.

for those that asked, yes the guide lines come off when you wash the stitching, as long as you are using coourfast cotton you should be able to wash it in the machine, however washing by hand in warm water works just as well. Really helps with counting as the blocks match up to the blocks on the chart and saves loads of prep time as you don't have to grid the fabric yourself!

Hoping to do some more on this tonight instead of starting the wedding sampler, I have decided to stitch that at work during my lunch hour, purely because there I know it won't been seen unlike here where there is a much higher risk, especially now that mum seems to have taken to staying up later than me!

Hopefully will have exchange pictures for you soon, happy stitching until next time!

xX Fiona Xx

Geek-stitch!

2011-02-22T02:15:00.000Z

Well I pulled the threads for all three game designs and Mario was the one I had the most for, (Zelda was second so that'll be my next stitch) I'm still 33 colours short though!! But I have enough that I can start stitching before picking up the missing colours on Monday. This is the biggest design I have done to date and because a lot of the design is just solid blocks of one colour I have chosen to stitch it on DMC's magic guide aida to make counting that much easier.

I started stitching this yesterday and this is how far I got with it (there's around 1,100 stitches done)

I'm really excited to finally be stitching this design, I downloaded it from spritestitch.com over a year ago and I honestly never thought I'd be in the position where I have nothing holding me back from attempting a design of this size. Maybe next year I'll finally stitch Aurora's Cabin by Dimmensions!

I'm also going to be stitching some exchange pieces, my two PIF exchanges and a wedding anniversary sampler for my parents in the evenings alongside stitching this as I will probably need a break or two from the solid colours! It's my parent's 25th anniversary at the end of March and I think it'd be nice to surprise them with a sampler. By stitching this Mario design during the day on my days off I hope to fool them into thinking that I'm not stitching them anything!

Should have some more progress to show soon but until then happy stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

It is DONE!!!!!!!

2011-02-21T02:48:00.000Z

FINALLY!!!!!!!

all ready to be washed and framed tomorrow. So happy because it means I can finally start my geek stitch! I'm still trying to decide between Mario, Layton or Zelda and currently I'm thinking Layton, I may just pull the threads and see which one requires the least amount of thread purchases!

Happy Stitching (I know I will be!)

xX Fiona Xx

Conquering backstitch

2011-02-20T02:05:00.000Z

As many long term readers of my blog will know, I detest backstitch and will often put off backstitching a project until the absolute last minute and then rush it. This reason among others including exchange stitching has held up the completion of Archie's Birth Sampler until now. It's still not entirely finished but is looking so much better!!

In fact more of the backstitch has been completed since this photo was taken earlier this evening, so fingers cross if I get time to stitch tomorrow it'll be finished!!! (just the mouse, details and a few french knots left to do)

I do find that once I get stuck into the backstitch of a design I actually enjoy doing it, it's just getting started I find hard to do.

Happy Stitching!!

xX Fiona Xx

Signed up for two more exchanges

2011-02-17T20:07:00.000Z

over on the cross stitching forum, a bookmark exchange and a coffee exchange.

The bookmark exchange has a summer theme, should be good fun to do as I love reading but have never stitched a bookmark.

The coffee exchange is a bit trickier, it's a coffee themed exchange so can be anything as long as it's stitched. Currently thinking along the lines of a tea towel with a coffee bean border or a coaster or something. I'm sure I'll think of something suitable!

2011 really is shaping up to be a year of exchanges, these two bring my exchange total up to nine! Still have several spring/easter themed exchanges to do before starting these ones though including a biscornu exchange (bit nervous about that one as I've not made one before!)

My Stitching Corner

First Feburary Happy Dance

February Goals

LK Good Things Progress

Life's a Stitch photo

Friday Night Happy Dance :)

World Book Night

Tuesday Night Happy Dance :)

Sunday Night Happy Dance & TUSAL

Weekend Happy Dances!!

CJC 2012 comes to an end....

Has it really been a week??

Days 5 & 6 of the CJC

CJC Day 4 A Start & A finish!!

crazy january challenge day 3

Crazy January Challenge Day 2 Good Things

Crazy January Challenge Day 1

Happy New Year!!!

hi ho hi ho...

Merry Christmas to all!!

Final Tusal 2011 Update

3 days to go!!! Is it too late??

Stitchy updates...

Christmas is coming....

the stockings were hung.....

better late than never lol

Happy December!!

Crazy January Challenge

todays original post.......

finally home

crazy january challenge

November Tusal

ahhh!!!

Halloween.....

Yahoo!!

still no sign of my halloween exchange

Pictures as promised!!!

Blog shout out!

finally I can stitch something for me!!

woohoo 1 exchange left to go!!

bored with biscornu's...

waiting for a delievery

woohoo

Bet you all thought I forgot!!!

Giveaway is now closed

feeling very sad tonight

October TUSAL

best day of my life so far

breast cancer awareness

woo hoo finally time for a giveaway!

bug disappeared....

Exchanges, passing the torch & halloween displays

Argh!!!!!!

Really beginning to wish I had sky+...

Hello Autumn :)

New additions to the stitching corner

show and tell~updates :D

September Tusal

I don't seem to be very good at this blogging stuff lately

August TUSAL

Ouchies in the stitching corner.......

TUSAL part 2

Tusal

OMG so nearly missed it this month!!!

serial starting bug is twitching...

Tea with Jane Austen

New Start

Halloween/UFO Finish *happy dances*

Biscornu Exchange

Resting In Peace

TUSAL time again (may 2011)

Had a lovely day off today

A couple more finishes.

Exchanges!

So many things to show and tell!

A giveaway over at 'Hooked on Stitches!'

Only 3 days left in my PIF!!

April TUSAL, a finish (with photos!) & a PIF!!

Wedding Sampler

A change in plans

Halloween/UFO Finish happy dances