Birthday stash and giveaway stash too

First up is all the lovely stash that I received for my birthday. There is a chartby The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and another by Papillon Creations, 2 Just Nans, a Lizzie Kate Santa, one of the Snow Belles, a JBW Christmas Tree one and some fabric - Icicle by Crafty Kitten which is big enough to stitch the other 8 Nora Corbett reindeer on.

I also received my threads that I ordered with my gift certificate from Linda.  Thank you Linda.  They are shown with the chart and fabric which I already had and I can now get cracking on this...soon :)

WIPocalypse update

Another rubbish update on these

Cinderella?  Yes, I was plugging away with her slowly, but have lost the love for her at the minute.  I am feeling a bit of an itch to stitch her though so hopefully there could be progress on her next month.

Around the World, Cut Thru Stable, Honeysuckle Courtyard and Santa's Village are all sat next to me, on the bookcase, gathering dust!  I did actually put a couple of stitches into Around the World.  I won't give you a spot the difference, just where I am now! This is part 7 I think.

Papillon Creations
Around the World in 80 Stitches

WIPocalypse 2014 - January

This is my list of projects that I am focusing on as my WIPocalypse stitching.

Cinderella - Joan Elliott

Around the World - Papillon Creations

Cut Thru Stable - Bothy Threads 

Honeysuckle Courtyard - Patricia Ann Designs

Santa's Village - CCN

There is no photo of Honeysuckle Courtyard as it's not started yet.

For anyone who doesn't know me...I am really Sharon, 44 years old from Manchester, UK.  I have 2 kids - Rachael, 14 and Luke, 12.  They are both amazing (most of the time) and I am so lucky that they are 'mine'. I also have 2 demented cats - Biskey and Smudge who rule the roost.  Biskey is a soppy so and so and loves to be curled up on someone's lap.  At night, he sleeps on my feet although he often has more of the bed than I get!

I started stitching in 1995 when I wanted something different for my then boyfriend (now hubby) for our first Valentine's Day together.  I walked past a cake decorating shop every day going to and from work and noticed these cute little cross stitch cards they had.  I went in and the rest is history.

There was no charting for the initials in the middle.  I just decided to do them myself.  Thankfully my stitching has improved a bit since then!!

One thing that I am looking forward to this year is finishing my degree which will then free up around 20 hours a week for housework and jobs round the house stitching.  I am going to make up for the last few years where the coursework has stopped me from enjoying myself.

I have loads of favourite designers so won't bore you with them all.  Just have a look through my WIP's/UFO's list on the right hand side of my blog to see what I am into!  Favourite fabric is jobelan by a mile and discovering Sparklies, Crafty Kitten and Steph's Fabby's has greatly enhanced my fabric stash. 

One thing that I really love doing is being online and reading lots of different stitchy blogs.  There are several people that although I have never met them, I class as friends now who I have met through blogging.  One day I would love to meet up with them all!

Anything else you would like to know, just ask!!

Look at these!

Recently Linda of Stitching with my Furbabies introduced me to a new blog Pickle Barrels Designs.  Nancy was having a lovely giveaway where she was offering either a set of Christmas charts or Halloween charts to a follower and someone they introduced.  Me and Linda were lucky enough to win. Well actually, for some totally bizarre reason we were the only 2 people who entered.  I can only assume there was a total internet blackout directly after we entered until the closing date :)

As Linda introduced me, she got first dibs and chose the Christmas designs.  I therefore got Halloween and they are gorgeous.  There was also the Sullivan's threads required, some fabric and the cutest EVER halloween bag.  Look at these charts, aren't they lovely?

Thank you Nancy for offering such a lovely giveaway.  I would highly recommend a visit, so click on the link above and have a look.

And in other news...I have done a little bit on Papillon Creations Around the World.  This is part 8 (I think).

The second part of Positive Thinking has been released, so I have made a start on that too.  I have done a little more than it looks here as tonight I have stitched 2 more words.

Sneaking in the back door...

Well the study is still going full steam ahead with 5 assignments written and 1 more to go.  Then all I have is the final project which is due on 19th September.  My next course will start on 28th September so there won't be much of a break.

I have done a little stitching, but not much  :(

I have added a blob of 3371 to the bottom left corner and a bit to the lower middle area.  Just telling you in case you can't tell!

Sweet Pea - Nora Corbett

Cinderella has a little bit done to the tops of the steps.

Cinderella - Joan Elliott

A small amount has been stitched on the Stable.

Cut Thru Stable - Bothy Threads

Can you spot the difference here?  Don't worry it's only 4 stitches!

Santa's Village - CCN

 I did finish part 7 of Around the World AND make a start on part 8, woohoo!

ATW - Papillon Creations

Part 7 - upside down!

 Rachael has been bitten by the cross stitch bug too and decided to make a leaving present for her form tutor who is off to London.  He has been an amazing form tutor and looked after her so well, especially with diabetes issues so he will be missed by us both.  She rooted through my magazines and came up with this design.  I haven't a clue which magazine she chose in the end but she personalized it by putting the 'E' on his chest which is his surname.

With a little help from me, she turned it into a cube finish and I made the bow for her which she was happy with.  What do you think of her first attempt?  I didn't help her at all with the stitching after explaining how to read the chart and to start the thread off.  I think she did brilliantly.

Mr E was pleased with it apparently.

Belated (for a change) Turtle Trot update

These are the pieces I have worked on for my Turtle Trotting this month.  First up is LK's 6 Fat Men.  The new bit is the blue for his scarf in the top left picture and the writing in the box next to it.

A little bit of progress has been made on Santa's House.

I think that the outline for ATW is new since my last update but I should have checked first really.

A little progress for John Clayton's Racing one.  I ran out of DMC928 though which is a pain - I will just have to put an order in with sewandso.co.uk now ;)

Updates - most of them belatedly!

Ok...well...

Turtle Trot is updated on the Turtle Trot page, so I won't do that here.
Lizzie Kate's 6 Fat Men is updated on the 6 Fat Men page, so again, I won't post that here.
My TUSAL one is actually up to date and was posted on the correct day...woohoo!
I won't do a WIPocalypse round up as it is nearly the 25th and I hope to get back to blogging, so it might as well wait for that.
Theme-a-licious is overdue for the mid month round up but it had the end of the month reveiw in a few days too so I will leave that for another week or so.

But...saying that, here's some pics of the progress so far.

6 Fat Men

Cinderella

Henry VIII

Santa's House

Confetti of Hardanger

Garden Tools

Around the World

I have to admit to having been VERY naughty.  I have joined the Stitch a Pixie SAL on facebook.  So here is my floss toss followed by progress so far.  The photo doesn't do justice to the fabric which is a piece of SMF Angel Dreams (I think.  I will have to check the bag).  I love the colours on her which are VERY different to the chart pack photo. She still reminds me of a Cancan pansy rather than a Sweet Pea though.

I have finally caved in and bought my first ever Chatelaine design.  Colin was looking over my shoulder as I was drooling over them and saw Roses of Paris.  To cut a long story short, he twisted my arm up my back and ordered me to buy it (or something like that).  I'm just waiting for it to wing it's way into my inbox now :)

We went to Paris for our honeymoon and visited the Musee D'Orsay which has one of Colin's ancestors paintings in.  I can't remember what the name of the artist is though.

Sadly there is no news on the job front as far as Colin is concerned.  He will join the ranks of the unemployed on 5th March but his last day is next Friday as he gets 2 days 'garden leave'.

And finally....is this a cat who was desperate to sit with Colin?  What you can't see from the photo is that he had a book on his lap so Smudge couldn't sit there and had to 'improvise'...bless him!

WIPocalypse

And here we are for the first 2013 check in post. For those of you who don't know me...

I am Sharon, 43 and from Manchester, UK.  I am married to Colin and have 2 gorgeous kids - Rachael, 13 and Luke, 11.  We are also owned by 2 demented cats - Biskey and Smudge, who enjoy terrorising the Danios in their aquarium.  I work as a special needs teaching assistant in a primary school, mainly with year 3, 5 and 6 children.  (For US readers that is 7-8 year olds, 9-10 and 10-11 depending on where their birthdays fall.)

I have been stitching since 1995 and have too many WIP's and UFO's to mention here but they are on the right hand side of my sidebar if you want to take a look.  I would like to finish them all one day.  As you can see from the list I have a varied taste in size and style of things I like to stitch.  Among my favourite designers are Mirabilia, Lizzie Kate, LHN, CCN and Papillon Creations.

This year I have joined loads of organised SALs to try to give me the kick up the rear I need.  I am a butterfly much too often when it comes to stitching and with having so many lovely designs on the go tend to switch between them to frequently.  I am getting better though as I have put a rotation in place which I do mainly stick to.  So anyway, this year I am doing WIPocalypse (obviously!), Theme-a-licious, Turtle Trot and a LK 6 Fat Men SAL. Hopefully this will mean some good progress on lots of projects.  Further information can be seen on the pages at the top of my blog.  Turtle Trot has the 13 projects I intend to focus on this year.

On to stitching progress. I have worked on the following projects recently.  Firstly, I have worked a little on Confetti of Hardanger. I am working on the eyelets with a bit of blanket stitching round the outside of light relief.  I am finding these 2 stitches quite tedious so am only doing a little at a time.  I am looking forward to getting to the cutting and filling stitches.

Confetti of Hardanger - Abi Gurden
progress as of 27th January

Around the World is now only 3 parts behind.  I have finished part 6 and moved on to part 7.  I am really struggling with the maltese cross stitch.  I hate it and think it looks tatty.  I suspect that is down to me.  So far I have restitched it 4...yes FOUR times.  I tried it the way it should be 3 times first of all with the yellow thread wrapped around the metallic but it just looked awful.  I reversed the colours and it still looks awful!

Around The World - Papillon Creations
progress as of 27th January

This is a close up of part 6.  I found the stitches round the cutwork bit difficult until I realised what I was doing wrong...oops!

Part 6 of Around the World - Papillon Creations

 A little more progress has been made on Garden Tools, but not much!

Garden Tools - Fleur de Lys
progress on 27th January

 Cinderella is coming on nicely.  I really enjoy this project when I pick it up.  The fabric feels divine and the colours are so pretty.  I would like to do this for myself at some point and there is a beautiful pink conversion on Joan's facebook group.  Of course I may change my mind once I start adding all the back stitch.

Cinderella - Joan Elliott
progress as of 27th January

 And finally we have the first part of Santa's Village which I should be stitching on this weekend.  Sadly though, I can't put Cinderella away so it will have to wait for next weekend which should be a lot quieter than this week has been.

Santa's House - CCN
progress as of 27th January

Theme-a-licious update

Here is the progress on my Jardin January so far.

I started off by getting in the mood and giving my 'Garden Tools' a little loving. It's actually stitching up really quickly (for me) now I am getting into it a little bit. It's stitched on 18ct aida which is definitely NOT my favourite fabric.

Garden Tools - Fleur de Lis
progress as of 13th January 2013

Next is Around the World which has had some attention, although not much as I was doing more frogging than stitching.  Really part 6 shouldn't take too long...unless you're me :(

Around the World - Papillon Creations
progress as of 13th January 2013

 And of course, where do you build a snowman?  In a garden!  So it still counts as jardin January.  This is the progress on my 6 Fat Men.

6 Fat Men - Lizzie Kate
progress as of 13th January 2013

Sew and so

Just to let you know that sewandso.co.uk is having a competition where you can win your order if it's over £20.  In other words it would be free.  Here's the link Sew and So facebook page.

Thank you for the positive comments on yesterdays post and for sharing your experiences.  It is a hard time of year for us as Rachael was diagnosed on the 22nd November so it is coming up to her 7th anniversary.  Jo was quite right yesterday. Asking if there is a family history is not necessarily a silly/stupid question.  There is a genetic link.  If you have a parent with type 1 there is between 1 in 100 to 1 in 10 chance of getting it.  This depends on who has it and apparently how old they were when it developed.  There is a higher risk if it is the father who has it than the mother.  Siblings are about 1 in 10 too.  There is also thought to be an environmental factor at work to though and 26 research studies currently point to the possibility of  it being an enterovirus as it has been found that children with diabetes are up to 10 times more likely to have had this than children without diabetes.

My comment about assuming there is a family history in our family is due to the fact that I am overweight, a lot overweight and prejudice seems to be that people assume that Rachael has diabetes because of this and that Colin and I therefore must also have diabetes.

Please accept my apologies for any offence caused by that comment.  None was intended but it is an amazingly common perception.

Stitching has been good this week.  Part 5 of ATW has been done.  I have chosen something for Nicola's giveaway win which I really hope she will love.  I'm NOT going to share it here yet though!!!!  I am working on a RR too and a Christmas ornie for an exchange.

I am having horrible problems with the camera and can't get any photos to upload to the computer.  I think it may be a dodgy connection with the USB lead.  I know there is another one in Rachael's room but I don't want to disturb her by going looking for it.

Luke had his parents evening tonight and it was wonderful.  Almost every teacher used the word fantastic about him and the 'negative' comments if you could call them that were that he needs to speak up a bit more in class and needs to believe in himself more.  We have always told him that he is bright and brainy but he doesn't believe us.  Hopefully he will believe it now lots of other people have told him.

Right...got to go...it's time for Question Time!!!

I have been very lucky recently with winning 3 giveaways.  First up was Cath at The stitchin' chicken and below are the lovely goodies she sent me.  I love the scissors - they are compact and cut well.  I have been having a nightmare lately and have had to chop great chunks out of my Confetti of Hardanger.  I love these JBW designs so was fantastic.  The scissor fob is SO pretty and goes well with the new scissors.  And of course it is impossible to have too much fabric or too many threads...hehehe.  I was thrilled to bits with everything.  THANK YOU CATH!!!

The lovely goodies from Cath (The Stitchin' Chicken)

Then only a few days later I was fortunate enough to win again.  This time it was from Gaynor Stitchers Anon.  Below is the picture of all the gorgeous goodies she chose for me.  There were some gorgeous threads both metallics and variegated.  A gorgeous piece of fabric which is called Sage and looks absolutely nothing like how I have photographed it.  She also sent me one of the charts from my wish list - it's the 2012 LK Santa.  There is a beautiful, beautiful little pillow which has lovely stitching and amazing finishing, I wish mine was so neat. And finally...so rick rack in 4 fab colours.  Thank you SO much Gaynor!!

The lovely goodies I received from Gaynor

The third one was just the other day and was from Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  I have been lucky enough to win her giveaway for Home of a Needleworker.  I think she took pity on me and my dust!!!

Anyway enough of my good fortune and on to the stitching progress.

First up is the absolute bane of my life at the moment.  Confetti of Hardanger by Abi Gurden is gorgeous...well it is to look at.  I am having real problems in placing each part.  I had to give up on the flowers as they were just too hard for me.  So I thought I would move onto the next part which is a simple kloster block 'border'.  How easy can it be?  Hahahaha...wrong.  I have restitched the entire border 4....yes...4 times.  It was frustrating to be polite!!!  I am really hoping that the outer kloster block border won't give me so many problems.  Fingers crossed.....

Confetti of Hardanger - Abi Gurden

 Henry VIII caught my attention one night and had a little more stitched on his coat.  I am really enjoying this one and should give him more time.

Henry VIII and his 6 wives 

 When I was sorting through my stash during a stitchy slump a few weeks ago.  I found this from years and years ago.  I did the over one stitching for 'scissors' and put it away again!

LK scissor case

 I really like stitching this one!  It's Horse Racing by John Clayton and the grass is a lovely big block of mind numbing green!  I can stitch away for ages without looking at the chart or rummaging for a new colour.  The darker green is the start of a shadow for one of the horses.  Once the green is done, I will have stitched around 25% of the design, maybe slightly more.

Horse Racing by John Clayton

 I have worked on ATW a little too. Part 3 was finished and part 4 is now half done.  I am enjoying it but can only stitch it when I can really concentrate or I make mistakes!

Papillon Creations - Around the World in 80 stitches

 I worked on Two Little Love Birds by Love Thy Threads as well but ran out of a thread colour and need to go and get some more.  It is a lovely design and would make a cute wedding or anniversary design for a young couple.

Love Thy Threads - Two Little Love Birds

 And finally....we have Cinderella.  I love, love, love this.  I love the fabric, the thread colours, the design....how am I ever going to give it up?

Cinderella - Joan Elliott

And that's it.  Not much to report really and not much stitching for how long it is since I blogged last.  Thank you if you are still reading!!

I am way behind on reading blogs so I am sorry that I haven't been visiting.  I will get caught up again - honest!!