Its the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Last year was the first year i didn't get my kids a chocolate advent calender each. I was fed up of the kids arguing over who had been opening their calender and sneaking heir chocolate out. Remember Billy Bob Thornton in 'Bad Santa' and the scene with the kids advent calender? Well that was our house every year.
So to stop the constant battles that took place i bought this advent calender, and there was peace and quiet, no more arguing over missing chocolate, there was just arguing over NO chocolate, it was worse than ever!
Who ever said best laid plans and all that...

Well i liked it, its by Amanda Loverseed, who designs the Cut Thru Designs by Bothy Threads, and being a cook and food i thought it was fitting, i even tried to make everything on the calender ( but failed miserably - it would have been cheaper to buy the chocolate advent calenders three times over) I can honestly say that i would not have been a candidate for attempting to cook an entire recipe book like Julie and Julia, ( i watched it last night while attempting to stitch with the crappy light)

But this year there has been mutiny in the ranks and i was subjected to an ordeal that will scar me for at least a week, they all ganged up on me and i was bombarded with snowballs, till i yielded.
( which to be honest didn't take that long) so yes they are now going back to their calenders with the chocolate that tastes awful in ( unless i buy a Cadburys one then it might be me sneaking chocolate out of them lol)
and we will once again have a house full of the joys of ' WHOS BEEN EATING MY CHOCOLATE!!!'  ringing all through the house, yes Christmas brings out all the joy and love - just not in our house.

So the reason for this babbling post is that i have decided to share my advent calender with you and every day will post the days picture of it, along with what stitching i happened to get done the day before even if it is only 10 stitches - you have been warned.

Now i just have to dig my car out of the 4 ft drift it is currently sitting in, and decide wether i dare drive in the snow, or catch a bus, which come to think of it i haven't seen a bus for a few days- and buy the kids their advent calenders before they sell out( and one for me- but thats just between us)

oh i forgot to add yesterday that this is the chart my hubby bought me to try and cheer me up ( i couldn't start my other new charts as he didn't know i got them lol) it is called Christmas Dreams, but look at all that detail i will still be stitching this when I'm 70!

I have done a little bit of stitching but my room light is terrible for stitching at night really need to make sure our next house has better lighting. So really can only stitch on 28 ct 1 x 1 during the day. Can you believe this is supposed to be a Christmas tree?


Happy Stitching

Bev

Needle over Mind

I have not picked up a needle for weeks now as I have really no interest in anything at the moment, the whole homeless situation has not got any better but worse and even when we had the house fire and had nothing left i still didn't feel like this. My husband even bought me a chart to cheer me up.
The doctor wants to put me on some meds but i hate taking mediation unless i am really in pain ( or have toothache), so to try and pull myself together again i am picking up my needle and seeing if the power of the needle is mightier than the pill...    or something along those lines couldn't think of any thing funnier to say.

Hope i have some stitching to show on Tuesday

Shopping Spree revealed and a few progress pictures

Well I made a start on the baby sampler, as i thought the christening was in a few weeks, but that's been put on hold so there is no rush now, so i will work on it once a month, so i am classing this as Novembers work.

I can also reveal what i bought on my shopping spree ( without even leaving the house)

Yes it is a Mirabilia's  Royal Holiday and Lizzie Kate's Christmas Rules, in the kit for Royal Holiday i got Linen fabric, which to be honest i hate stitching on, so i have ordered some from Silkweaver, I am hoping that it wont take too long to come, as i cant wait to get started on her, but i did start on Lizzie kate's Christmas Rules.

Its stitched on 28ct Ivory Jazlyn, which i love stitching on, definitely my fabric now i want to stitch on.

I have also stitched some more of DOTF, did a few days on it. You can actually see some of the antique white now, the blue is next to it.

Here is a quick update of my mermmie, still not got page 3 finished but i am stitching page four too, i have a pile or ironing that needs to be done, but i cant put her down!

And finally here is what i bought from HAED....

By Randal Spangler, Home is Where The Magic Is... a meer 48 pages of charts, yes this is one serious long term project, and then i bought this...

Vixie by Hannah Lynn. I bought both in colour chart format and i love them, now when they will get started on i have no idea. 

sssh dont tell the hubby lol

I have been on a bit of a spending spree, spending my birthday money early, thats what you get when you cant stitch, hoping to have my christmas goodies by the weekend, so for now here is a little sneak to what i got, now can you tell what i bought?                                      

Sneak Previews

Since I cant stitch i'm going to show you the terrible updates i have made, some are not worth the photo, but i need to finish (or start) the baby sampler as i think its the christening next month.

                                     This is what it is supposed to look like when i have finished

This is what it looks like at the moment.

See terrible, i am hoping that it will spur me on

This is what i have done on Paradisal Bird, since i started it

i don't like it, i don't know if its because i don't like the colour of the evenweave and if it was white it would show more, but i chose this because of the dark greens that are in it, i didn't want them showing through, but maybe if i did a bit on it i would get back into it.

here is the progress i made on Dreaming On The Farm.

 there is 2000 stitches here, but the antique white makes it hard to tell, especially with the gridding, i hope that it washes out ok.

                                      And finally this is a piece of art by Brigid Ashwood, which i adore.

 i love the pin up style and have wanted to stitch something like this for years, i can only hope that this becomes available to buy on HAED

I Can't Stitch For A WEEK

I have just had eye surgery and i am not allowed to stitch until at least Thursday when i go back to the hospital for the results of the biopsy and for them to check my eye, i have a patch on ( i took it off as the tape was driving me to distraction but it is stuck back on and now i keep walking into things again!

Since i cant stitch i have been trying to sort out all my blogs that i read as they all went off for some reason, i am sure there is some missing so if your not on give me a holla and i will sort it out, its not like i can do anything else this week, imagine a week off work and i cant stitch.

So here is the progress i made on Mermmie, still didn't finish page 3 but i suppose if i hadn't started a bit of page 4 i would have, i will put a update on Dreaming On The Farm too, as soon as my batteries charge up, and speaking of Hannah Lynn Disney i received my picture yesterday that i won from her Facebook auction! i love it, as i was going to wrap it up and put it away in our new house, whenever and wherever that will be but i couldn't wait, so here is my one of a kind no copies available picture, i may be having a crap time lately but this made up for it.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, I'm off to try and get some sympathy- not that i will get any on this house lol

why can i never think or a catchy title

ok the title of this post if self explanatory as i am now brain dead with everything that is going off at home.

I have completed 3/4 of the page now, but you there is still 16, yes 16, colours left to stitch in the part i have left, that is why i love stitching HAED's so much as the detail is second to none, even if i will never stitch all the charts i have in my lifetime.

However with me getting a bit more nearer in finishing this blasted page done. I have learnt that

A) I really need to grid, i took the gridding out early to see how i went on, as i see people with no gridding but nope it doesnt work for me i keep getting lost, and
B) I REALLY need to mark off what i have done and  not think its ok i will remember, as sorry but i seem to have found that i have the memory of a newt and i am then trying for hours to see what i need to do next, especially in heavily confetti areas as her hair is.
I am sure i have made a hash of it, but it still looks good to me
and ....
C) Check, check and recheck that i am stitching the right colour  and right symbol. I HATE frogging but frogging that  wont come out is a nightmare, so i have had to go over certain parts, can you tell which?


So all these mictakes have took this page an age to do, how come can stitch a page a week i have no idea, maybe i ought to say bugger the housework, now wouldnt that be nice.

Mermmie and Stresses

Well still slow and still not done page 3, but i am still stressed to high heaven, were being evicted through no fault or our own, they company that owns our house want to flatten them so we have till the new year to find somewhere to live. the council says i have more chance of winning the lottery than getting a house so we are going to move into our caravan until something comes up .So if it goes very quiet in the New Year, its because i will have no internet. the kids aren't sure how they will survive life with out the internet.

when i tell them that we didn't even have computer in our house they cant believe how i survived lol

Anyway i  nearly bought a new HAED to cheer myself up but i cant spend money on patterns so i am trying not to look as i know there will  be something that i want lol

so here is this weeks progress, her hair is nearly done, sorry about the picture, our camera really is that bad

page 3 still not done

Life is getting in the way for stitching and this week has been a pretty shitty week at home, and for once its no ones fault, so very little has been done, but i love stitching on my mermmie

little progress

well not much to show really, on the HAED BB i joined another SAL, this time Light Of The World. and where some people are nearly finishing there second page, but life gets in the way here so i only managed about a 1000 stitches.

Also on my DOTF, that has been slow too only 500 stitches in that so not worth  showing that then, and then to top it off i have to start the baby sampler for my nieces christening, which she has now sprung on me will be happening sometime next month

A Near Disaster Averted, for A Happy Dance

OK another finish, yes I didn't exactly stick to the chart as i thought it had enough on it and i didn't want to overdo it and yes it is a week late as my wedding anniversary was last monday but i did it, nearly had to throw it out as i scorched it when i was ironing it, I couldn't believe it the first time i scorch something ironing, and its it a crappy shirt that i wanted to throw out, no its the bleeding wedding sampler that took me nearly 18 months to complete, but after a tip from a friend i finally got it out. You can see it a bit but only from the back.

Now i really want to start HAED's Dreaming On The Farm but i have so much to do, but i think i should stitch what i want to at that moment, so with that i decided to actually sort out my threads, I had boxes filled with threads for different pieces but i didn't want to have to order more, so i sorted them all out yesterday while trying to watch Ugly Betty ( hubby kept turning it over to some war film that he had seen 20 times before- so there was a battle of wills in our house yesterday)

and i couldn't believe how many duplicates of threads i have i mean how many bobbins of one colour do i need?
So the good news is that i don't need any threads for DOTF, woop woop!

Advice Needed

OK my hubby is going for a job interview this weekend, 500 miles away up in the wee scottish highlands.

its not better pay, its less in fact, there is no house, no job for me ( i would have to find another) nothing but a dream of his to work in the forest, and live in Scotland.

has anyone ever done this, just moved from family and friends, (not that i have many since i have  raised kids since i was 19 and they all partied so we just grew apart)

I am scared stupid but also excited as well, he might not even get the job but now he wants to move he will look for a job till he gets one.

I dont know anyone thats done this, just picked up there belongings and moved, 

well at least my stitching will fit in the boot of my car lol

are we stupid? am i  having a hubby that wants to have less money just so he is happy?

Happy Dance Time

OK finally its happy dance time, and i am SO glad i have finished this one, after two full on weeks of backstitching i got it done!

Now since i am on a roll finishing off things i started two years ago,  so i have restarted (again ) the wedding sampler. I spent all weekend finishing off the stitching so yes, i have some more backstitching to do , lovely!

Hoping it wont take me as long to get this one backstitched and beaded up as i didnt realise i had so many unfinis

Can You See Her Smile?

Two posts, in one week, well there is a first, but i just wanted to show the progress that  I have made on Mermaid. You can finally see her face ( well sort of). but she is finally coming along, if only i didn't have so much back stitch to do!

Update of The Gypsy Wagon

Didn't manage to finish the backstitching but this is what it looked like when I finished the cross stitching. This is not a design to stitch if you don't like back stitching! Hoping to finish it by next weekend.




Happy Stitching

Bev

Nearly there

I have been away from blog land for a while. Three jobs, three kids, and a allotment has taken my stitching time to zero. But as I am writing this I am in the Scottish Highlands and I have for 11 days stitched.
The result is I have finished all the cross stitch for the gypsy wagon and up to now I have back stitched half of the design.
I was hoping to show a picture of it all done by this weekend as I am back home after two weeks of touring Wee Bonnie Scotland ( without visiting one relative) but it doesn't look like it will get finished. Will post a picture on Sunday. Now off to fight them blasted Scottish midgies again-  and I losing miserably!

Happy Stitching

Bev

How Many Times Have You Re-Started Something

OK I have stitching to show, i have been reading peoples blogs on  my ipod as my computer died a death ( ie the kids put all their crap on it and made it run slowwww) but now i have my own, yes own, not kids allowed to touch laptop, hubby can though so not all good news, though i gave him a stern talking to. No going on dodgy websites AT ALL!!! yes and the finger came out pointing too, so its offical i have turned into my mum lol.

Anyway back to stitching, after some nagging from my hubby i have finished another page of Bothy threads Cut Thru Gypsy Wagon, 4 down 2 to go, then the dreaded backstitch and theres a LOT!

And i have done some more of my wedding sampler, not much but since i have changed using the metallics thread to satin threads for the names i will fly through them this week, and will be starting the dreaded back stitch soon on this one too, at least HAED dont have back stitch in them...

and finally I really wanted to finish page one of Paradisal Bird, but alas no joy as everytime i picked it up the kids started playing up, hubby needed something you know how it goes, anyway this week is the Freebie SK SAL on the HAED Bulletin Board and i have restarted this piece 5 times!!!!!

First  attempt28ct 2 x 2 (cross stitch) - too gappy, the white showed through

Second attempt 20ct 2 x 1 ( cross stitch) - this was the other way around, too bulky and looked really scrunched up.

Third attempt 28 ct 1 x1 ( tent stitch) - too gappy again maybe i needed  to use two threads

Fourth attempt 28ct 2 x 1 (tent stitch)  yuck tent stitch, says it all really hated it, great for fast stitching but looking close up didnt look nice, so at least i now know that i prefer cross to tent

Fifth attempt 28ct 1 x 1 ( cross stitch) yes finally , why didnt i do this from the start i could have finished this one twice over the amount ot restarting i have done on this piece.

New family Arrival

This little darling is my niece Charlotte Elizabeth and I am now on the hunt for a baby sampler for her.


A little bundle of joy that will no doubt drive my sister insane, like my eldest is with me hence no stitching to show.
We was going to go camping again but since daughter been playing up no chance of that so I am hoping for a sunny weekend to stitch in the building site that is my garden

Finished another page of mermaid

Well it took slightly longer than a month as I had originally planned, which could have something to do with stitching on my wedding sampler but here us page two of Mermaid.

I love it so far and just over 16,000 stitches in I am not getting bored if it either. Now I'm off to stitch a page of Paradisal Bird




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New start tomorrow for me and my sister

Here is the update of my wedding sampler as promised



I have only 500 stitches to do to finish page two of Mermaid, which I am supposed to put away and start on Paradisal Bird tomorrow for the month.

On another note my sister is expecting her first baby tomorrow so I am going to be a aunt!

Watch her have it when I am away camping this weekend

Well this is a first!

Well I actually stuck to the plan and did dome stitching on the wedding sampler, not sure if you actually tell or not I will have to check last piccie, but at least I did it.
Will post a picture when batteries for the camera have charged up.

Stitching promise to myself

Well the wedding sampler has been gathering dust and is fast becoming a UFO. So thursday night is sampler night. One night a week I will stitch on it and update on Friday.
Don't know how long it will last as I am itching to finish page two of Mermaid but I'm going to try...... Don't hold your breath though

Piccies

OK here are the bits of stitching that i have done, not much as my eldest has been driving me insane, but better than nothing.

half way through page two of Mermaid

Not much done on Paradisal Bird Also By Alena Lazareva

wedding Sampler not stitched on it for ages, and i know i should but not enjoying being married at the moment ( need i say more)

This is the progress i did for the HAED SAL SK, its stitched on 20ct 2X1 and i hated it i dont  know if its because i am now used to stitching on 25ct but it was bumpy and uneven so for the THIRD time i have restarted it, yes i know i am mad as i had nearly finished but  i didnt like it

This time i have started it on 28ct 2x1 tent stitch, which i love because this is one nights stitching but i dont like the gaps it leaves i think i need to try tenting on 32ct instead will have to find a bit on eBay as local shop doesnt stock it

Guess who's back, back again.....no not slim shady

OK here I am back online, no laptop made browsing the internet at Sisters, or using my ipod which is behaves like a man, plays up when you want it for something.

I have been stitching finished my first page of HAED's Mermaid, still on page two, finished the first part of the Mermaid Story Keep SAL too, but didn't like how it had turned out so i have started that one again.

The wedding Sampler well lets say it hasn't been out for a while, as i am enjoying stitching the HEAD's, that and the fact that hubby is annoying me and stitching a wedding sampler is something i am not wanting to do at the moment, 20 years and he still finds ways of winding me up.

So this post is a picture free post as i have just popped back to make tea, then off out again, as i am lambing and I haven't had time to take any photos, i was going to take my stitching with me, as sometimes the lambs like to take their time, but hubby says no i can muck out...lovely

Spending, Stitching and a Surprising Return

OK i have been too busy to blog, i started to stitch some more of my wedding sampler.

I bought two more charts ( well i couldnt help myself,) and yes more boobs, another one that my mum will frown on, but even my youngest loves this one, she says it reminds her of Avatar, and a butterfly fairy, which i love her eyes.

I also started on Alena Lazareva's Mermaid, not much to see really but i am liking stitching on 25ct, and can you believe there is other 2500 stitches here, after a week. not a great progress but its a start.

And finally I had a lovely surprise I got my Gypsy wagon back!

A woman discovered it in her caravan when she went off at Christmas so she went to the last caravan site she was at and the site owner still had my address on file and remembered me- probably with all the moaning i did at him. So here it is, a little dirty but nothing that wont wash out.

I am now going to decide what i am going to stitch for the remainder of this week , carry on with mermaid or have a new start and rotate my work on a weekly basis.

Restart on Wedding Sampler and New Start on HAED

Yet again i have been neglecting my blog, but i have been ill all Christmas, which is typical work all year and the when your on holiday your ill ( yes OK i do get 11 weeks off a year- but think about it when your child is driving you up the wall think about us that work in schools that over 100 children that can drive you up the wall, we really do need the holidays else we would crack up lol)

So stitching has been on the slow side.
I worked on the wedding sampler this christmas, and yes i wasn't happy with it, so i restarted it on some 28ct lugana, which i am so happy i did, and i have been stitching the wedding in it, but i used metallic thread 1x1 (2x1 would have been a nightmare to stitch as metallics is not my favourite thing to stitch with) if it worked out or if i should have stuck with the lace design that is stated in the chart,  I will find out when i backstitch it.

And finally..... this week we have had to shut the school as we had 2ft of snow and when that was clean all we was left with was a sheet of ice, yes the parents all complain, but when there child falls and breaks something they would complain even more, you just cant win.  which meant that i have been able to stitch more than normal!

So i started the freebie SAL that i joined on the HAED BB, and this is how far i have got with Mermaid of the Deep, she is stitched 2x1 on 20ct Aida, but she has now been put away till next month, where hopefully she will have some eyes next time.
Back to work today so no stitching , life is hard lol

Oh Happy New Year too!