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

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12 in 25 - Merry Christmas – Christmas Blue Ornaments – Joan Elliott Designs

 Can you believe that we are already half way through November?

I’ve been busy stitching again this week and have just finished my latest ornament for the 12 in 25  ornament  stitch-a- long. 

Just one more to go for this year and I’m already thinking about what I want to do for next!

The plans that I mentioned last week have gone well for once and I managed to do everything I had hoped, so after finishing my ornament, I continued with the stitching on the Hindeloopen Pinwheel, from Modern Folk Embroidery, which I also managed to finish.

Now I just have to tackle the fully finishing!

Knitting wise, which I appreciate doesn’t look that interesting, I reached and cast off the stitches for the underarms and am about to cast on the first sleeve.

And the final thing I stitched on was my oldest wip.

I started  ‘Top Shoppe’, a Dimensions Gold Collection Petites kit in November last year and was hoping to get it finished in time for Christmas that year.  But I had forgotten that these kits can be a little complicated, due to the fact that the number of threads used and the type of stitch used varies a lot throughout the piece.

I did make great progress at the time, but realising I wasn’t going to get it done, I put it away, in favour of other stitching.

Yesterday, I pulled it out again and this time I AM going to finish it!

Here’s where I left it last night.

The other thing I was happy to get done, was to frame a couple of projects.

Firstly, the frame I ordered from Picture Frames Express for Log Cabin Christmas arrived and I’m so happy with the way this turned out.

The second one was an older project.

I was out shopping in the week and came upon a frame in the homeware store ‘Dunelm Mill’ which I thought would work well with the Blackbird Design ‘Flowers For You’ that I stitched to honour my mum.

The frame was a little big which meant that I was going to have a 2’’ border all the way around.   I was fine with that, but in the end I decided to put it on a  piece of mount board with a piece of scrapbook paper behind it.

This coming week I’m going to be stitching some more on the ‘The Toy Shoppe’, fully finish the Hindeloopen Pinwheel and possibly make a start on the pre-stitching for Liz Mathews  Jingle Ball ‘Snow Globe’ project, because the ball is just around the corner!

Are you going to the ball and if so what projects or classes will you be taking?

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Log Cabin Mr Snowman – Little House Needlework + Framing of Log Cabin Christmas

I started stitching the ‘Log Cabin Christmas’ series from Little House Needlework in October last year and at the time I completed the first three charts. 

Over the course of this year, I have been stitching the rest and have just completed the 9^th and final panel, which means I have a ‘ BIG FINISH!

The 9th panel is Log Cabin Mr. Snowman.

 

 I decided to stitch all 9 panels onto one large piece of fabric.

I love how it’s turned out and can’t wait to get it framed, in fact the frame is already ordered, so it will be on my wall for Christmas this year.

Updated

Here's the framing of  Log Cabin Christmas ( 15/11/25)

With that stitch finished, I decided it was time to make a start on the next project from the Quintessential Frisian Smalls Sal.

This is the ‘ Hindleoopen Pinwheel.

I’ve only made a very small start on the band that goes around the sides.

The last thing I’ve picked up this week is my knitting and I've just realized I have a bit of a red theme going on here.

Nothing very much to see at the moment but I have added around 8 inches to the length.  I’ll soon be up to the split and ready to start on the sleeves!

So this it for this week.

My plans for next week are to carry on adding to my knitting, stitching on the pinwheel and make a start on my 12 in 12 Christmas ornament. 

If I have time, I would also like to pick up a wip from last year and add some stitches to my Dimensions ‘Toy Shoppe’, so with me luck.

Oh, one last thing before I go.   

I had some happy, happy, happy mail arrive this week.

My 2025 Christmas Countdown from Evertote, Yah!

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

X

Chart- Log Cabin Christmas – 9 part series - Log Cabin Christmas

Designer – Little House Needleworks

Fabric – 32ct Zweigart Linen – Raw

Threads – Called for Classic Colorworks

 

Chart – Hindeloopen Pinwheel – Quintessential Frisian Smalls

Designer – Modern Folk Embroidery

Linen – 36ct Linen – Porcelain – Roxy Floss Co / Evertote

Thread – Falu Red (hand overdyed cotton) – Roxy Floss Co

  

Pattern – Dover Jumper

Designer – Margaret Holzmann

Yarn – Pure Wool Superwash Dk – Cygnet Yarns

Shade – Claret  (592)

 

Seasons – Autumn – Lila’s Studio

 Time is rolling on but I’m still in the mood for Autumn stitching, so after finishing Harvest Tiny Town last week, I pulled out a few more charts to choose from with the aim of trying to use up some of my stash.

The first one I picked out was  from the Lila’s Studio collection ‘Seasons’ and I found a scrap of 32ct Weeks Dye Works ‘Parchment’ which was the perfect size.

But when I looked through my threads I didn’t have one single skein of the called for threads, so I ended up doing my own colour conversion. 

I think it looks ok!

I added a strip of burgundy wool along the bottom, topped with a cream braid and used the same burgundy wool for the back.

After that I decided to stitch ‘Pumpkin Faire’ from October House Fibre Arts.

I've already stitched a couple of the other designs from this series and just love the detail in the pumpkin on this one.

I  pulled out another scrap of the 32ct Parchment linen from Weeks Dye Works and the called for threads.

I was getting on really well, until I realised that one of the threads ‘Sweet Potato’,  should have been Classic Colorworks and not Weeks Dye Works as the rest of the threads were. 

How did I not notice that the pattern in the pumpkin wasn’t showing up?

I debated whether to carry on stitching or to scrap it and start again, but the pattern is the whole point of the piece, so I ended up making it into a small pin pillow, using another piece of wool on the back and ruffled ribbon around the sides.

At least it didn’t go to waste, 

Then I started again, this time on a scrap of 36ct  ‘Antique 'Sampler Collection' from Nicholas Flemel Designs, on Etsy

Lastly this week, I actually put my sewing needle down and picked up my knitting needles again.

I purchased the book ‘ The Art of Circular Yokes’  by Kerry Bogert, almost 3 years ago with the intention of knitting

 ‘The Dover’ pullover which has a yoke of traveling, twisted Bavarian stitches.

I ordered the wool, which is ‘Superwash Dk, Pure Wool’ in shade 592, Claret back in September and did the cast on, but then for some reason I didn’t knit any more than a few rows.

Well, this weekend I pulled it out and finished the twisted 1 x 1 rib and around 6’’ of the body.

That’s about it for now, so whatever you are working on at the moment.............

Happy Crafting!

Seasons - Autumn

Designer – Lila’s Studio

Fabric – 32ct Weeks Dye Works – Parchment

Threads -   My own colour conversion –

The Gentle Arts – Cranberry, Dried Thyme & Tarnished Gold. 

Weeks Dye Works – Kohl. 

Classic Colorworks – Ye Olde Gold, Onion Skin, Khaki Mocha, Weeping Willow &  Hickory Sticks.

Pumpkin Faire

Designer - October House Fiber Arts

Fabric - 36ct  Antique Sampler Collection - Nicholas Flemel Designs

Threads - Called For

Small Pumpkin Pin Pillow ( from Pumpkin Faire)

Designer - October House Fiber Arts

Fabric – 32ct Weeks Dye Works – Parchment

Threads - Called For  + 1 Weeks Dye Works