Shock! Horror!

Sit yourself down. Put down that cup. Don't bite that biscuit. 

What on Earth you may be asking. ..

Well, I have a finish!!!!!

I have just put the last stitch in Mary's Sampler.

Turtle Trot update - 10th June

I have made progress!!!  How about that?  Me...making progress!! Whatever next?

I worked on Mary's Sampler and now have less than 2 sides of the green bit of the border to do and most of the red bit.  I did take a photo but can't find it!  I have a slight problem in that I have stitched about 2/3 of  the top bit of green border one stitch too high.  As I am running out of GAST Endive I will have to try and unpick it carefully and use some Thread Heaven to straighten it out a bit or something.  I wouldn't usually reuse threads but I really don't have enough otherwise.

I have also worked a few threads into my Cut Thru Stable, sadly not enough to warrant the effort of taking a photo of it though!  

Turtle Trot - February update (edited to add photos of Cinders)

Turtle Trot time again.  It comes round so fast.

This month I have worked mainly on Cinderella just because I want to get her finished and sent off to her new home as soon as possible so that I don't feel guilty every time I work on something else.  Here is where she is at the moment.  I have started adding the Kreinik and backstitching as I go, the thought of having to do it all at the end is just too much.  I will do the beading at the end however.

I have tried to catch the sparkly dress in the next two photos but it hasn't really worked too well.  Hopefully you will get the idea!

I did a tiny bit on Positive Thinking too - but not a lot!  Progress is progress though, however small :)

I even pulled out my Cut Thru Stable, but the progress on that wasn't even worth the effort of a photo. Approximately 15 pale pink stitches before I gave up and put it away.

Mary's Sampler got a little attention and I made a start on the border.  I got bored of that too though so not much progress.  Still if I did a little each month, it would be finished for Christmas this year!  I have changed the red of the flower in the border as the one I had was a little too strong and I felt it would overpower the actual design.  At one point I wasn't going to do the border but I felt that it needed something to 'finish it off' 

Mary's Sampler - part 5

I would love to say that I am up to date but sadly I still have part 6 to stitch.  Here is progress so far...

Also Colin told me to treat myself last night.  I have been toying with this one for months and months after watching Debbie and Linda SAL together.  Finally I capitulated and bought it.  Thanks ladies ;)

Drac in the Box and Mary's Sampler

First up is Mary's Sampler with part 4 stitched.  Part 5 is downloaded and ready to be done some time this week.  So here is the whole thing so far...

Plum Street Samplers -Mary's Sampler SAL

..and a close up of part 4 too.

Plum Street Sampler - Mary's Sampler
Part 4 close up

 Some more progress has been made on my Drac in the Box.  I am trying very hard to ignore the fact that Jo (Serendipitous Stitching) has already finished hers and that it looks amazing!  I have worked on the body today and will take a photo tonight to show you.  That then leaves the 2 lid pieces, skull, bottom, rest of the arms and the top panel to do - oh and the small matter of making up!  I don't think there is much chance of it being done in time for this Halloween!

Acorn House Designs - Drac in the Box

Acorn House Designs - Drac in the Box

Mary's Sampler - part 3

Well after printing off part 3 yesterday, I thought I might as well get part 3 stitched up.  It was super speedy and only took me about and hour or so, even at my super slow speed :)

Plum Street Samplers - Mary's Sampler (part 3)

The fabric colour is better on this one but the brown is bit more orangey looking and the smokey grey is lighter. I love those little sheep, they are SO cute!

Positive thinking and Mary's Sampler

This is where I am up to with Mary's Sampler so far.  The fabric looks absolutely NOTHING like this AT ALL.  In fact I think if I had used a colour filter, I couldn't make it look less like the real thing than this does. It is actually a Silkweaver Solo 28ct Cashel Linen.  Linen...I'm using linen...woohoo.  Trouble is I hate the feel of the fabric and the 'unevenness' of it and the way it stretches when you hold it.  As it is only a small design, I will plough on with it.  I am also printing off Mary's Sampler II for a later date.

I have also been stitching on the Positive Thinking SAL (part 2) and this is where I am up to with it.  Again, the fabric is nothing like this.  It has been a really gloomy day here in Manchester and we still had the lounge light on at 10am this morning!

Other than these 2, there has been a little progress on Cinderella, but not enough to make it worth taking off the Q Snaps and taking a photo of it.