I Did It, I Did It, I Did It!!!

I finally finished Cirque Des Cercles about half an hour ago! Please excuse the creases, I'll try to get a better pic another day once it's ironed.

I started this on the 20th June 2007, took over 18 months to stitch the first 3 pages, and then stitched the last 3 in just 2 months lol. I am so proud of myself for having a BAP finish after so long, my last one was HAED Tomboy QS about this time last year I think.

It is stitched 1x2 on 32ct antique white I think, using HDF's discontinued Caribbean Splash in premium. I love the colour of this floss, but I don't think I'll be stitching anything else with it after this lol.

I will be putting the chart up for trade/sale shortly, along with the 4 full skeins of silk. If anyone is interested in either please holler.

I've still to do my interview for Helen and post pics of Cottage Garden and my recent purchase, but my eyes are tired after all this stitching today, so calling it a day for now.

Thanks so much to all those who read my blog and take the time to leave me wonderful comments. I've noticed some new readers/commentors recently, so welcome to all my new stitching friends.

I See The Moon!

As the title suggests, I've finally seen the moon! On my HAED Cabin In The Woods that is lol. I've been stitching on this every Wednesday with Sally in our SAL but sort of got the bug last week and decided I wanted to get to the bottom of the page with the columns I was stitching. So I kept going and the result is I can finally see the moon which is another landmark for me. I don't think I could stitch on a HAED all the time because I have to really concentrate and they just don't grow quick enough for me lol, but I do love them and am thinking of adding another day to work on it as well as Wed so I can get a bit more progress.

Not sure this will happen just yet though as I have other fish to fry for the next couple of weeks at least, my last page on Cirque!!! I finished page 5 last weekend I think it was and I am SO excited to be on the final lap with this. It's going back on the qsnaps later today and I'm going to try really hard to finish it this month. Not sure if that's going to be possible, but just knowing I'm on the last page feels so good, to be so close to a BAP HD!

I've stitched a bit more on Cottage Garden as well but forgot to take a pic of that so you'll have to wait til next time. I've been thinking that when I finish Cirque, as well as adding an extra day in for Cabin, I'm going to give my small/travel project a day as well rather than just when I'm out and about and waiting around. I have so many smalls I want to do and if I leave them just as travel projects they'll never get done, whereas if I spend a full day a week it should speed things up a little. Again this may need tinkering with but will see how it goes first.Helen emailed me before she went on holiday to let me know I'd been selected for an interview and sending me my questions. I will answer those in my next update as I have too many pics to show this time but she also asked to see Erin's first real attempt at cross stitch, using the kits we got her for her birthday. The first part of the set the outline is printed onto the aida and she definitely seemed to get the hang of it that way. She made me laugh as it's wool you use for the first two parts of the set and she wasn't too happy as she said she wanted to use floss like mummy, but she was pleased that she got to use a "proper" needle and not just a plastic one lol. So here is her elephant so far.

I have another pic to show of something I got when we went to Liverpool to visit BIL last week, but I think I've waffled on for long enough so will save that to show when I have my interview. Please wish me luck, I haven't had an interview in over 7 years lol!

Hope you're all having a lovely Valentine's weekend, whether you celebrate it or not. DH, Erin and I exchanged cards and then had a nice meal at home last night with candles, pink sparkling wine (pink juice for Erin lol) and we all dressed as if we were going out for dinner with a film afterwards. Erin thought the whole thing was wonderful and was so excited, so I think we may have started a new family tradition.

Stitching In The Snow

Well, yet again I let time run away with me and it's been 2 weeks since my last update. I seriously thought when I got made redundant that I'd have more time on my hands to be able to get all my daily chores done plus do the things I like, like stitching and blogging, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way lol, I seem busier than ever before!

Then this week most of the UK got hit by lots of snow and so DD's school has been closed 3 days out of 4 and my routine has been totally shot to pieces. School was open yesterday so luckily I managed to run around like a mad woman and get lots done, because it's closed again today and I'm just about to give DD a cross stitch lesson with a kit she got for her birthday last week. Below are a couple of pics of the snow on Monday taken in our conservatory, but we've had more since then and it's showing no signs of going for now.

Whilst all this has been going on I have at least been doing some stitching and I have pics of Cirque, Cabin and my travel project, the Cottage Garden thread pack. I am getting close to finishing my 5th page on Cirque and am getting so excited that I will have a BAP happy dance soon! I'm really really going to try hard to finish this in February but I don't know if it's going to be possible. Cabin is only being worked on on a Wednesday evening at the moment and I don't have a pic of it after last night but I really enjoyed stitching on it yesterday. I am tempted to stitch more on it today, but my Cirque goal is in my head so we'll see what ends up in my hands later lol. Cottage Garden only gets a few minutes here and there when I'm in the car either being driven somewhere by DH or waiting places for him or DD, but it's a pleasure to stitch. Once Cirque is done I'm considering spending one day a week on my small project so that it stitches up a bit quicker, but we'll see.

I do keep trying to catch up on all your blogs and comment, but I don't seem to be getting very far for some reason lol. I know how much I appreciate getting comments on here so I really am going to start trying to set aside some time each week to read and comment. You are all as always an inspiration to me with your beautiful stitching and finishing.