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

  

FFO Frenzy

During my last post I said that my sewing machine was coming out and that I would be ffo’ing some of my finishes over that weekend. 

Well that didn’t happen for one reason or another and since then I’ve had some more new starts and finishes, so yesterday I eventually pulled out everything I needed and got stuck in at long last.

First off, I did the quick and easy finish of the Mill Hill Ornament ‘Angel with Lantern’,  by  making a beaded hanger with the left over beads and then covering the back with some sticky backed velvet.

The next ffo was also a simple one because it was going into a frame that I’m going to change out each season. 

That was ‘Floral Etchings 2’ from Heart in Hand. 

It involved lacing three flat pieces.

And they have been put into this frame for the Summer season.

This was Spring (Floral Etchings)

The third thing I had waiting to be ffo’ed was ‘Patterned Pretties’ by Jeanette Douglas, which was a Christmas gift from Stasi, over at Bee-mused and Bee-stitching.

It was a kit which came with the wool backing fabric, and I added some cream cotton lace around the edges.

Then, I as I was looking through my bits and bobs from my scrapbooking days, I came across a little oval frame that I thought might look ok on the back, with my stitched initial in it.

Then it was onto the three finished panels of ‘ Beach Rules’ from Primrose Cottage,.

Beach Rules

Soak Up The Sun

And 'Ride the Waves' which I had just started and mentioned in my last post.

With four more panels to stitch, last night I finished another new start, ‘Build Sandcastles’, so that's already in the pile to ffo with the next batch!

Here’s my little display so far

My final new start and ffo was my Cross Stitch Camp piece for JUne, ‘A Stitch for all Seasons’ from the summer 2026 edition of Just Cross Stitch.

Originally I was thinking I would make all four panels into pillows and I may still do that with the other three but when it came to the Summer panel, I decided to make a thread bed.

I still have to stitch this year’s camp badge and will be doing that with the same threads that I used for my June project, so until next time…

Happy Stitching!

Sue x

May = Cross Stitch Mania

 As I look back over what I stitched on last month and my stats,  I’m very pleased that I completed everything I had set out to do, and that was to have five new starts – one for each weekend in the month.

In actual fact I did better than that and managed 6, five of which were finishes. 

I also stitched on one of my wips too, not bad when you consider that I also had a four day break away and for the first time in ages I didn't take any stitching with me, so I only stitched on 27 day this month.

You have already seen the progress on my wip – Bluebird of Happiness from Cottage Garden Samplings. 

You have also seen the first of my new starts, which was also a finish. 

’5 Gold Rings’ , one the panels from  Bothy Threads, ’12 Days of Christmas’.

New start and finish No.2  was Floral Etchings 2 from  Heart in Hand Needlecrafts,

I’m calling these the summer panels, and when they are 

ffo’d they will be swapped into the gold ornate frame which currently has Floral Etchings 1 in it.

New start and finish No.3  was the first of the two Christmas ornaments that I stitch each year for my goddaughter’s two girls.

This is the Jim Shaw kit ‘Angel with Lantern’ which is a  Mill Hill Kit from 123 Stitch.

The final 3 new starts, two of which were also finishes, were panels from  Primrose Cottage, ‘Beach Rules’ ,

that will be ffo'd into pin pillows.

Beach Rules,

Soak up the Sun,

And a small start on 'Ride the Waves'.

I’m hoping to get my sewing machine out over the weekend and try and get some of this little lot ffo’d!

My next new start is already lined up and ready to go because now we are into June and that can only mean one thing…..

Cross Stitch Camp 2026, hosted by Sheri,  Colorado Cross Stitcher.

As always, Sheri has designed a free camp badge which I will

stitch and add to my camp project bag.

As you can see, I've participated in Camp for a good few years now and the back of my project bag is full, so this will be the first badge on the front.

Our task for June is to stitch a chart from a magazine and I’ve decided to stitch ‘A stitch for All Seasons’ from the Summer 2026 issue of Just Cross Stitch.

I thought these little quilt inspired pin pillows were so cute and I think I will eventually stitch all four of them, but for now I’m going to stitch the summer (blue) one.

I’m using a piece of 14ct unknown Aida and various thread from stash.  Some are the called for and others are substitutes.

See you all by that camp fire!

 

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue x