Giveaway - Manchester cross stitch show ticket

Just a very quick post.

I have won tickets for the Manchester cross stitch show next weekend. I will be using one ticket but if anyone would like the other one please leave a comment below. First to reply gets it!! I will need you to email me your snail mail details and it can be in the post that day. The ticket is valid for any of the 3 days (Friday, Saturday or Sunday)

CSC Stitchathon

This week has been the CSC SAT (what a lot of initials there!!). I have worked on the Cotswold design from Cross Stitch collection this time. In fact I think this is going to be my SAT project this year as I want to get a good chunk of it done by December. I know I should start from the middle but I don't have a frame big enough for this one so I am stitching it in hand. If I start from the left, I don't have to hold the fabirc anywhere I have already stitched. (Yes, I'm a leftie!) The whole design is 30" x 8" when finished. When I started this week I had stitched 0.5% of the design, now I have stitched 6%.

This is my before SAT...............
..........and this is after. I have given up on the SAT now despite today being the last day. I MUST do some of my coursework. I am absolutely thrilled with the progress this week although I was missing a few threads which is why there are a lot of gaps in the stitching. I have been very fortunate to have some of the kids activities cancelled which naturally equals more stitching time!! I don't suppose I can be that lucky every month!

I just wanted to say thanks for all the offers of help for finding the TW chart. I am hoping that something is sorted for it now but if not, I may be taking you up on your kind offers.

Teresa Wentzler design help needed

I'm sorry for the begging post but I have seen a design that I have fallen in love with and NEED! It was discontinued YEARS ago and the only place I have found it is an ebay seller in US who will only ship within the US. If anyone knows anywhere I can get it or anyone else that is selling it or has it to trade, I would be ever so grateful if you could let me know. (edited to add - I suppose it helps if I tell you the pattern. It's TW's Floral Bellpull)

On the stitching front, not a lot has been happening lately. What with the children back to their activites now the holidays are over and trying to get some coursework done too, there doesn't seem to be much time. I have been working on How does your Garden grow and am about halfway or maybe a bit more through part 10.

This week is the CSC stitchathon and I am going to work on the Cotswold design for the week. The before picture is in my post for my yearly goals a bit further down the page and I will post after pics next weekend.

Luke had his Beaver's belated Christmas party last night. His Beaver's group closed down a while before Christmas but the leaders decided to organise something so that all the children could get together again. We had a really lovely night with lots of games organised for them and a lovely buffet. Luke is adament that he doesn't want to join another Beaver group and we are currently fighting to get the group reinstated.

Sparklies fabric arrived

I ordered a couple of pieces of Sparklies fabrics the other day after seeing them on the blog. They arrived yesterday and are gorgeous. They feel like they will be really nice to stitch with. I only ordered the small cuts of 9 x 13 as I wanted to try them before committing to a bigger piece. The 4 I ordered are Thalia, Shades of Autumn, Pumpkin Patch and Fire. The service was great, with lots of communication at every stage of my order. I was impressed to receive it so promptly and would highly recommend using them.

Also today, I finished part 9 of "How does Your Garden Grow?" Only 3 more parts to complete now. I have decided to focus on this now until it is completed.

Oh dear.......I have been BAD today!

Well actually you can blame my hubby for this one. A while ago, I left my gluegun on the side in the kitchen to cool down. he didn't move it before cooking dinner and burnt the lead. As I thought it probably wasn't a very good idea to use it, it got binned. I had forgotten this and when I came to make up my ornie this morning spent half an hour searching before the penny dropped. A quick trip to Hobbycraft was called for as theirs were on special offer at the moment. To cut a long story short, I ended up buying a new gluegun, sticks, backing fabric, felt, mountboard, 5 Mouseloft kits, some new DMC perfume threads and some stitchbows. Ooooops!

Ok, I admit it...............it was my fault for leaving the gun there after it cooled and I deserve to go without. TOO LATE!!

My mum gave us a Wii and some games as a family present this year. Rachael was doing absolutely rubbish at bowling, getting really upset because she couldn't do it. After a little gentle coaching in how to change the angles etc she managed to get 8 strikes on the trot. WOW. Her final score was 267. I'm not playing HER again..........lol. This is a screen shot of her 8th strike.

Anyway, whilst she was busy annhililating her brother, I was in the kitchen finishing off the ornie I stitched last night and here it is............

(Mine's the Christmas Tree not the angel!!) That's January's ornie stitched and finished.
Well I suppose I had better think of something nice for tea to sweeten hubby up a bit.........lol.

Woohoo...........first finish of 2009

This afternoon I got a little stitching time and as I still don't have my light until I get my stitching corner back (tree comes down on Saturday, so normality will be restored). Anyway, I thought it would be easier to stitch something on white aida to ease the stress on the eyes. I started a little Mouseloft Christmas Tree kit. It was a very quick stitch, probably taking about 3 hours including backstitch. Tomorrow I will make it up into an ornament but the decision then is do I put it on the tree for a day or put it away safely for next Christmas?