Hang on to your hats...FFOing in progress

Just to ease you into the shock of me FFOing, I will show you my latest 2 finishes first.

So first up is Lizzie Kate's 6 Fat Men which I originally started as a SAL - I have finally finished part 1 of it.  I do have 3 borders stitched too and when I got Luke to choose the next chart, he chose the biggest one with some cute little houses but about a third of the design is snow - boring, boring, stitches never look good snow.  Thanks Luke!

6 Fat Men - Snowed in - Lizzie Kate

Then I thought I might get another of the old Flip-It's done.  With August finished, I am now half way through the series.  Who knows, give me another 17 years and I may well have finished it!  Actually that isn't strictly fair as I definitely didn't buy these when they first came out.  I would still have been buying kits from Wilkinson's back then!

Flip Its - August - Lizzie Kate

Then onto the FFOs.  There is a bit of an odd reason why I did these.  One of my work colleagues, a lad of 21, split his pants the other day.  After I got over my giggles - well it was in front of 4 classes - I offered to sew them for him.  Fast forward to yesterday and I thought I would get my sewing machine out to do them and then thought I might as well make a couple of things up whilst it's out.  Luke was out at his first university Open Day (already?) so I could spread out over the dining area and the kitchen without getting under his feet.  

This first one, Boo, already had the front fabrics stitched onto it and so just needed the backing adding and stuffing. I think next time I might try a bigger fabric on the side and bottom but I like it and have added it to my hallowe'en display (yes, it stays out all year).  I can't remember who the chart was by for this so if you know can you tell me please so I can add it to the caption.

Boo - ???

Long time ago in...sorry I was about to burst into song then.  Once upon a time Gaynor of StitchersAnon was releasing a Hallowe'en SAL and gave the group loads of freebies beforehand.  This is one of them.  I kept the fabric plain and just stitched the ric rac on with a metallic green thread for the eyes of green in the design.  I also stitched the black fabric on with the same metallic thread. It needs a bit more stuffing in it and then the gap closing...but that's the easy part!

A Witch's Cat - StitchersAnon

Then we have another StitchersAnon piece which was supposed to be the Retreat piece that we all got to work on, but I couldn't make it in the end. I have always regretted not being able to go.  Still once I get another bag of stuffing, I will be able to add this to my finished pieces to admire.

Every Stitch is from the Heart - StitchersAnon

This is the backing fabric for it.  I thought the shamrocks were perfect.

The Key to my Heart - still true after all these years!  Again it needs stuffing and in real life it is straight.  I have no idea how on earth I managed to make it look SOOOOOOO wonky in the photo. 

The Key to my Heart - Sue Hillis

And finally, we have yet another StitchersAnon piece which I was apparently rubbish at taking a photo of today.  What it actually says is:

Whatever the distance

Wherever I roam

With needle and thread

I'll make it my home. 

I changed all the threads when I stitched it I think.  The bow on top was made from the ribbon of a box of posh chocolates that one of my colleagues bought me a few months ago.  It just goes to show that it is worth keeping things like that! The backing fabric was gifted to me a few years ago and although I loved the colour and design I didn't have a clue what to use it on.  It is actually absolutely perfect for the design.

        

A total mish mash of the week's events!!

On Thursday, I became the mother of 2 teenagers!  How that happened I have no idea.  It doesn't seem 5 minutes since they were both born.  The birthday boy had us all up bright and early so he could open his presents, the main one being a keyboard. I have to say that the One Republic tune he has been learning at school sounds pretty good. Excuse the mess on the window sill.  We have been sorting out lego for the last few weeks.

Luke didn't want to have a birthday party but did ask if he could be allowed a Choccywoccydoodah cake. Here it is in all its glory!  I have to say it's nice but not as nice as the ones the kids have made this year.  The thick layer of chocolate is quite tasty too!

On to stitching news!

Yesterday, I finished StitchersAnon's 'Every stitch is from the heart'.  It is stitched on Sparklies 'Spring Greens' 28ct something or other.  I can see this as a cube finish with some green shamrock backing fabric and emerald green ribbons. I loved stitching this as I thought of Gaynor and her girls on their stitching retreat.  I have already signed up for next year's stitching retreat and have my passport forms ready to fill in!!!

I also finished my first Crazy January Challenge piece too.  It turned out really cute and I turned one of the little reindeer into a Rudolph.  I stitched it on white so had to change the colour of the reindeer but think it looks ok.  Oh and there should have been a heart on top of the tree but I changed it for a star. 

I made a little progress on 'Oh Christmas Tree' but there is only so long that I can stitch one colour for before getting bored and moving on to something else.

Very quickly, look who was in our garden this morning!  Soaking up the sun on our potatoes.

Now if you have got this far (well done!), I have a dilemma for you.  I have joined a facebook SAL and need a fabric.  Originally I saw the 2nd piece of fabric (Polstitches, Cosmos) and thought it was the perfect piece - except it is too small and would have to be done over 1.  As Jo pointed it out, it would lose bling and beads if I did that. However, I could always order a bigger piece of that!  I then chose a piece of Permin aida in Almond which would be plenty big enough  - but is that boring?  So I had another look and found a piece of Zweigart lugana 'Lavender' but again that would be over one or finally there is a SMF 'Summer Twilight' that might work but is again only big enough for over one.  Arrrrgggghhhhh!  What do I do?