More Baby Blankets for Harlow Baby Unit

20^th November 2015

In the last month I have managed to crochet another two little blankets for Harlow Baby Unit.  The Green and White one was made with some wool that was donated by one of the members of the Helping Hands     Facebook group.

When they were finished, I put some photos on the group’s page and was contacted by a lady who asked if I made them to order, as she liked a plain White one that I had made previously.   
We agreed on a price, I brought the wool and got busy with the crochet hook again.  She was thrilled with it and I donated the money that that she paid me to St. Clare Hospice, where my dad was cared for in 2010.
 

I’ve also made some progress on my Christmas Tree Skirt this month,  completely finishing  days five, six and seven

Five Gold Rings

 Six Geese a laying

 Seven Swans a swimming

and I managed a lot of the appliqué for days eight nine and ten. 
    

The trouble is, it’s getting a little too close to Christmas now and I know it’s not going to be finished before my decorations go up. 

they are going up early this year because I have a pre- Christmas dinner party planned for the 27^th November, so my plan now is to put it away and leave it until the New Year.

Happy Stitching

Sue

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On the Third Day of Christmas

Here’s my up-date for 16^th September 2015 and it's back to my Christmas Tree Skirt.

On the Third Day of Christmas my true love gave to me……………..

Three French Hens

 

And on the Fourth Day of Christmas it was 4 Calling Birds

 

There’s still a long way to go and not a lot of time left to finish it, so better get a wiggle on. 

Happy Stitching

Sue

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Another Productive, ‘Crafty’ Weekend

7^th September 2015 and my sewing machine is still out on the table………………and still being used!

 

Eighteen cushions for Broomfield Hospital, Cancer Unit.

This time  twelve hearts and eight bananas, all made with some fat quarters that I brought in Hobbycraft.

 

In the evenings I can’t just sit watching TV and doing nothing with my hands, so out comes the crochet hook and hey presto……3 more little cot blankets for  Lincoln Neo-Natal Unit

 

 

 

and one slightly larger blanket for Harlow Neo-Natal Unit.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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My Sewing Machine sees the Light of Day

Still doing catch-up and it's the 18^th August 2015.

My sewing machine rarely sees the light of day because I find it hard to stitch a straight line, but when I saw a project on the   Helping Hands – Stitching & Sewing for Good Causes,  group, I decided it was a great opportunity to dust it off and have a go.

 

The project……..small heart shaped cushions for people who have had surgery for breast cancer. 

Apparently they fit nicely under the arm, supporting it, helping to stop rubbing and relieve pain after surgery.

I had a good reason for choosing to have a go, because my dear friend Tracey had recently been diagnosed with this awful disease and had just undergone a mastectomy.

And so it was, with trepidation that I made my first two cushions, one heart shaped and a smaller ‘banana’ shaped one. 

 

Fairly pleased with my results, I made a further four hearts and two bananas. 

 

Tracey then chose the ones that she wanted for herself and the others were taken to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex, to the cancer unit where she was treated. 

I’ve also managed to crochet a 15” square blanket for Lincoln Neo-Natal Unit, another project on the Helping Hands group.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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More Appliqué!

It’s 17th August 2015 and having finished Freya’s Christmas stocking, it was time to start on my next Bucilla felt appliqué kit, a Christmas Tree Skirt.

I’ve wanted to do one of these for some time but was unable to track down the particular ’12 days of Christmas’ themed one that I really liked but came across this one on eBay, which I think is equally as nice and very sparkly with all its sequins and seed beads.

So, here are days one and two. 

Happy Stitching!
Sue
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Everyone needs Helping Hands!

As you'll be aware as a reader of my blog, I have been busy over the years cross stitching for various charity projects with my good friend Nicki. 

As a way of keeping track of the many projects, Nicki decided it would be a good idea to set up a Facebook group

The name of the group,   Helping Hands – Stitching & Sewing for Good Causes,   and they now have over 1780 members.

The way the group works is that if you have a charity project that you would like help with, Nicki will set up a project sheet and add it to the data files.  Then members can choose the projects they would like to help with, dipping  in and out as they please. There's absolutely no pressure regarding how much or how little you do, although a few of the projects do have time restraints.

I was just a spectator to start with, looking at all the wonderful quilts, blankets, little yellow ducks, fiddle muffs and other wonderful projects that people were working on and then in August of 2015 I decided to take the plunge  and get busy with my crochet hooks.

My first project was making little crocheted blankets for the neo natal unit at my local hospital, Princess Alexandra, Harlow, Essex. 

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Does an even longer absence make the heart grow even more fonder?

May 2015

At Last!

It’s been more than 17 months since I’ve been able to access my blog to update it but now it seems Blogger have done something and suddenly I have a temporary log on. .......yah!

Can’t help wondering just how temporary it will be though, so I guess I had better make the most of it  and take the opportunity to update some of the stitching and knitting that I’ve been doing while I’ve been away.

 The last time I blogged, back in May 2015, I had just started work on a Felt Appliqué Christmas Stocking for my God Daughter’s  2 month old daughter, Freya.

This was of course finished well in time for Christmas that year, meaning Nicola could hang all four together when the time came to decorate for Christmas.

 

Here are the others. 

The 1^st one was stitched back in 1981, using a kit brought in Orlando, Florida and the others were made when Nicola married and then started a family.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

 

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Wow, is it really 8 months since I last updated my stitching blog!

Just because I’ve not been here, it doesn’t mean I’ve not been keeping busy with my stitching and knitting though.  My fingers have been very busy!

Back in September last year I cross stitched a few more squares to send to Nicki, to incorporate into quilts, and the theme I chose to do was Carousel Horses. 

 

 

 

 

In October I went to the Stitch Show at Alexandra palace with my cousin and came home with four kits to stitch……… mind you, 3 out of the 4 are still untouched.

The one that I have made a start on is this one, Summer Days (Anchor PCE559)

 For some time I’ve been meaning to stitch a panel to go in my Heritage Album, something to mount my dad’s medals on.

Ideally, I was thinking of some sort of frame of Poppies, but not being able to find exactly what I was looking for, I decided to go with this and adapt it.

As you can see, I’ve stitched on Black rather than the White in the kit and left off the little houses in the background.  Now I need to flip the chart and stitch it again in the other bottom corner, so this is still a work in progress. 

By now we were into 2015 and what better way to start the New Year, than with a spot of knitting.

While at the Stitch Show back in October, I also brought some wool and this book.

 

and knitted these for my God Daughter’s little girl Ava. 

 

 

 

 I was so impressed with her because she was just 17 months when I gave them to her and she already knew most of the animals and the some of the sounds they make.

I enjoyed knitting the animals so much and I had loads of wool left, so I then brought this book

and proceeded to knit this little lot.

 Puss In Boots

 

The Little Mermaid

 Goldilocks & The Three Bears

 

 Pinocchio

 

Cinderella in Rags ( I designed the pumpkin myself)

Fairy Godmother

Cinderella in Ball Gown

Prince

Courtier

 

And finally, my favourite

 

Sleeping Beauty

 here she is in her nightgown

and here she is in her day dress

but there's a secret..........

 

she a topsy-turvy doll

I even knitted her bed!

 

 

After my knit-athon it was back to the old cross stitch and a birth sampler, as my God daughter was expecting for 2^nd child.

 When she had Ava back in 2013 I stitched The Historical Sampler Company’s ‘The Toy Shop’.

Because Nichola and her sister had the same birth samplers when they were little, I suggested that she might like the same for Ava and her sister when she arrived. 

So this one is finished with the same frame and stitched on the same colour background, but I changed up the colour pallet and switched the pictures around,  so it’s the same…….but different!

 

I’ve just started on another of their family traditions, a Bucilla Felt Christmas Stocking for the new baby,  Freya, who arrived at the end of April.

I stitched my  first two stockings for Nichola and her sister Kelly back in 1981. 

Then one for Nichola’s husband Paul in 2010. 

One for their first child Ava in 2013

And now one for Freya.

 

 

I’m hoping she’s not planning on a large family, Lol!

That just about brings me up to date I think. 

I’ll try not to leave it so long before I blog again, but in the meantime……… 

Happy Stitching! 

Sue

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