Autumn Vibes

October is definitely the month when everything really starts to change weather wise.   

The clocks go back, it gets dark earlier of an evening, it’s colder, much wetter, and I’m already sick of sweeping up leaves in the garden, but I shouldn’t complain because on the up side, it's only 6 weeks until Christmas!

It’s also been a month of change indoors too, with the arrival of a new carpet and furniture for my lounge.

and a white Kallax Ikea unit with 4 rattan baskets in my craft room. 

Yah……..More storage to fill with cross stitch Lol!

With everything that’s been going on, I only managed to work on four projects over October, which included an old wip that managed to finish.

I started 'Pumpkin Fayre' from October House Fibre Artz last October, working with my own conversion, pulling threads from stash and using a scrap of 36ct 'Antique Sampler Collection'  linen from Nicholas Flamel Designs.

I had stitched a fair bit but then came to the conclusion that my choice of threads weren't looking good on the linen, and I couldn't decide if I wanted to finish it or not.  In the end I put it away and didn't touch it again for a whole year.

With only a small amount left to stitch, the time had come to pull it out again this year and finish it regardless. 

 I'm disappointed that the pattern on the pumpkin doesn't show as much as it should have, but I couldn't face re-stitching it.  

I'm sure I'll be able to find a a gap somewhere in my display that it can hide in!

The only new start I had during the month was ‘Ten Lords –A- Leaping’,  the next panel for the Twelve Days of Christmas from Bothy Threads., which as you can see was also a finish.

And of course the letters from Emily keep on coming!

Jan 3
As I write this letter, ten disgusting old men are prancing up and down all over what used to be the garden, before the geese and the swans and the cows got at it. And several of them, I have just noticed, are taking inexcusable liberties with the milkmaids.

Meanwhile the neighbours are trying to have us evicted. I shall never speak to you again.

Emily.

What do think it will take for Edward to get the message, Lol.

The final thing I stitched on was 'Coffee Shoppe' from Dimensions, which I worked on for just 4 evenings but I totally forgot to take a photo of my progress, so this is where it was when I started.

Last but not least is the knitting that I started at the end of September.

I can honestly say that I’ve really enjoyed picking this up for an hour or two in the evenings, while watching the TV and it paid off because I actually finished it in the first few days of November!

Sorry about the model, Lol!

All that’s left to do is block it and it will be keeping my snug and warm, just as our temperature is about to hit zero degrees over the next few days.

 I hope you stay snug and warm too, and as always I wish you

 Happy Stitching

Sue

x

The Wanderer Returns

Hello dear friends, long time no see!

I bet you’ve been wondering where I had got to, since it’s been almost seven weeks since you last heard from me, but despite being a little lax keeping up with my stitching (if I’m honest I lost my mojo a bit) I did manage to stitch on four projects, had two new starts and three finishes. 

September got off to a good start, with a day trip to Henley on Thames

and a boat trip along the Thames to Marlow on the 1st of the month.  I even made a new friend of this little Egyptian Goose.  

Don't you just love his little pink feet!

Then on the 9th, I celebrated my 70^th birthday with special friends and family, at a favourite local fish restaurant ‘Smiths’.

The following day, my cousin and I headed down to North Devon for the nostalgic short break that I mentioned last month.

It was fun visiting some of the old places that we holidayed in as young kids!  Much was as we remembered,

but it was inevitable that after the passing on more than 60years many things had changed.  Those cone shaped buildings are on the site of the old seawater swimming pool we used to go to and it's now a theatre, but the little row of Victorian shops and the ice cream parlour were still along the road behind me.

Then, we were back just over a week before we were off once more, this time up to north Yorkshire, again visiting places we had been before.  

Unfortunately no photos this time because I came down with a chest infection and sinusitis on the day we went and spent at least one day in bed and slept all the way home on the coach, which wasn’t the best of outcomes.  One course of antibiotics later, I’m still not completely over it, but getting I'm getting there!

Back to the small amount of stitching that I did during the month and the first new start.

‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ from Bothy Threads and that was ‘Nine Ladies Dancing’ which I finished on 23^rd September.

As you have come to expect, there was another letter from Emily.

Jan 2
Look here, Edward,
This has gone far enough. You say you're sending me nine ladies dancing. All I can say is, judging from the way they dance, they're certainly not ladies. The village just isn't accustomed to seeing a regiment of shameless viragos, with nothing on but their lipstick, cavorting round the green, and it's Mother and I who get the blame.

If you value our friendship, which I do (less and less), kindly stop this ridiculous behaviour at once!
Emily.

 My second new start was ‘Sleigh Ride’ a beaded Christmas Ornament from Mill Hill, which was finished on 14^th September.

As with all of the Mill Hill ornaments, it's decorated with many tiny beads which make it sparkle and this one came with a cute Santa charm

My third finish of the month was ‘Bluebird of Happiness’ from Cottage Garden Samplings.

I started stitching on this back in March and picked it up on 22 days to stitch on.

The last piece I stitched on during September was ‘Coffee Shoppe’ from Dimensions.  This is where it was when I picked it up

And this is where I left it after working on it for two days.

That’s about it as far as my stitching has gone and as I’ve already said, my mojo is still on a break, but what I have been doing though is some knitting, because while in Yorkshire I purchased some wool and a pattern! 

I’m so pleased with the way this is going and I’ve already reached the armhole shaping on the back.

And the stitch is just a twisted stocking stitch, so I don't have to concentrate too much, which is a bonus.

So that’s about it for now.

I really do need to get back to my cross stitch if I’m going to say on plan with the 'Twelves Days of Christmas' and I still have a couple of Autumn stitches that I wanted to get done, so wish me luck.

Hopefully I’ll be back at the start of next month, so until then…….

 Happy Stitching

Sue

x

  

Time to Dust off the Sewing Machine

As Summer fast approaches Autumn, I'm pleased to say that our weather here in the UK has finally gone back to what's normal for this time of year, instead of the prolonged heatwave we have had.  As I'm getting older, I'm definitely finding it much harder to cope with the heat, Lol!

The hot weather didn't stop me from stitching though and August proved to be a productive month. 

My stitching diary shows that I worked on 3 wip, had 2 new starts, finished 3 projects and managed to fully finish 4 projects.

The first wip that I stitched on was Bluebird of Happiness from Cottage Garden Samplings, which was last worked on in back in May.    This is where it was left.

I stitched on it for another 8 days and this is where it is now.

Just love the little houses in this series!

The next wip was Coffee Shoppe from Dimensions.

I stitched on this for a total of 7 more days.

The final wip I worked on you have already seen because it only took another 4 days to completely finish it.

That was 'Santa Claus is coming to Town' by Historische Stickmuster.

The two new starts you've also already seen and they were both finishes too.

'8 Maid's A-Milking' - 12 Days of Christmas - from Bothy Threads

And 'Bristol Berries 2' from Erica Michaels, which is also the first of my 4 fully finishes.

I think I may have caught the ‘Berry Bug’ because I can’t wait to stitch the other two on the chart and I’m finding myself looking for more to stitch………….I’m sure I’m not the only one to go down that particular rabbit hole, Lol!

When it comes to fully finishing, I always find it a bit of a task, because despite having a dedicated craft room, it’s sadly small and doesn’t have enough room to leave my sewing machine out all the time.

So for that reason I tend to leave them until I have a few projects that need attention and this time there were a couple of other items that needed attention too, (a pair of curtains that needed taking up and the sleeves of a beach cover-up needed shortening) so the time had finally come!

I dealt with the two ‘boring’ projects first and then tackled the fun stuff.

I had the final 3 panels from ‘Beach Rules' by Primrose Cottage that needed sorting.

 ‘Build Sandcastles'

‘Roll with the Tides'

and finally ‘Make Memories’ 

I decided to make this pillow with a little pocket.........because I have a plan and a story!

You have to go back to my childhood and also think forward to a trip I have coming up in a couple of weeks.

From the age of around 5 (in the early 60's) my parents took myself and my two brothers down to Woolacombe, North Devon for our summer holidays, on five consecutive years, so as you can imagine, I have many memories of those trips.

I visited there again once in the late 70’s with friends, but haven't been back since.  

I'm sure you'll have already guessed, but for my late summer break I'll be going back for another visit, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much it's changed over the last 50 years.

The little pocket is destine to be filled with some 'Now & Then' photos and other little trinkets I might find. 

 Here’s my final display of ‘Beach Rules’

lay of ‘Beach Rules’ I don't know how much stitching I'll get done during September because I have a Big Birthday (70) coming up and as well as a few celebrations planned I also have two short breaks away.  

So we'll play it by ear and see where my needle takes me.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x