One Year Ends, Another Begins

I know it's not quite 2012 here yet but my regular readers will know how rubbish I am at posting so thought I'd do it today while I'm in the mood lol.
First of all I have lots of updates on my life in general since my last post so here goes.
The day after I posted last I had an appointment with my doctor about my depression and we agreed to keep going as things are, taking one day at a time and hoping that the second operation on my coccyx would prove to give me some relief again, along with waiting for my counselling to start and also hoping to get approval from our NHS trust to be referred for a coccygectomy if necessary.
Anyway, I went home and a couple of hours later had a call from my doctor who said he'd just chased the trust again and they had given approval, so he was in the process of referring me for the coccygectomy! Then later that afternoon I had another phone call, from the counsellor this time, who said that she had had a cancellation and was I interested in starting my sessions on the Friday!!! So within 24hrs everything changed.
So as of now my pain after my second operation is greatly reduced and I'm taking it one day at a time and hoping it lasts as long as possible. I've had a letter from the hospital about the referral for the coccygectomy and will be making my first appointment in the New Year to start looking into that if it comes to it. I've also had a couple of counselling sessions which although so far I don't feel have had any benefit, I'm trying to keep an open mind about.
Now onto what this blog is meant to be about, stitching! One very welcome result of being in a lot less pain with my coccyx is that at the moment I'm able to sit comfortably for much longer than I was and so my stitching time has increased again finally!
I haven't been following a rotation, have just stitched on what I've wanted when I've wanted really, except for my SAL with Sally on Lizzie Kate's 6 Fat Men which we have been doing on a Wednesday night. Here is a pic taken this morning with it as it stands.
I'm really enjoying stitching on this although have to say everytime I stitch a snowy design I wonder why because I hate stitching with white lol! The solution I think I've found is to do a bit of white then when I get bored I move onto a different area with another colour, and so on.
I've also stitched some more on my Nouveau Encore Designs Personalised Sampler and have finally finished my 8th page out of 20. This page seemed to go on forever as it overlaps quite a bit onto the other pages, but hopefully when I get to those pages they won't take as long lol. I still can't seem to get decent pics showing the true gorgeous colour of the silk, maybe in the Spring when we get some brighter weather lol.And my final stitching has been on my HAED QS Alisha. I don't know how but I did finally manage to get a pic which shows the true colours of this one, they are so yummy!
I'm so happy that because I'm able to sit and stitch for longer at the moment I seem to have got my enthusiasm for my stitching back again, and so I'm hoping to work things out and get back to a rotation in the New Year. Sally and I were chatting a few weeks ago and if you read her blog you'll know that she has decided to try to stitch only from her stash for the first half of 2012, except for any fabric and threads needed to complete charts she already has, within reason. Well mad woman that I am I decided that this seemed like a good idea because I already have more stash than I and probably all my lovely blogging friends can stitch in our lifetimes haha! So I have agreed to join Sally in her challenge which will begin on 1st Jan. Funny thing is, I seem to have volunteered to start my challenge early as I saw some charts a couple of weeks ago that I would love to get. However when I was looking for my New Year's Day start which I'm happy to be doing with Sally again (Kelmscott Miniature Monogram Hornbook this year) I came across yet more charts that I'd forgotten I had, and it just reminded me how much stash I have and how much I'd love to actually stitch some of it in 2012 instead of just collecting it lol! I've also had some gifts half kitted up for at least a couple of years which I'd really like to get stitched so that I can give them to the recipients in 2012, so I've dug those out as well.
I was trying to see earlier by going back through my old posts if I'd recorded how many wips/ufos I started 2011 with, but I unfortunately I didn't. I do have a strange feeling that it was 11, and I currently have 10, so I'm going to say that that's progress hehe. So in order that I can keep track of my stitching in 2012 I'm making a list of those wips/ufos now. I've decided that my main goal for 2012 is to reduce that list by another one, so getting it down to 9 lol. Keeping this in mind will also hopefully stop me getting too carried away with new starts, although I do have several planned, but the idea is to keep them reasonable so they can all be finished in 2012. In my dreams I'd love to finish QS Alisha and my Personalised Sampler in 2012, but I'm sure I said that at the beginning of this year and it didn't happen, so we'll see.

1. HAED QS Alisha
2. Nouveau Encore Designs Personalised Sampler
3. LK 6 Fat Men
4. HAED Cabin In The Woods
5. HAED SK Moon Fantasy
6. HAED Romeo & Juliet
7. HAED QS Garnet
8. HAED QS Always Dreaming
9. Cross My Heart School Of Dolphins
10. L&L Celtic Autumn Alternative Colours

As for planned new starts, these are:-

1. Kelmscott Miniature Monogram Hornbook (New Year SAL with Sally).
2. Prairie Schooler September (gift for DH who really loves this design which means it's a must stitch as he doesn't usually show much interest in my stitching lol) Aiming to stitch this when he's on a late shift at work etc so that I can do it in secret.
3. LHN Gentle & Kind (gift for DH's Nana).
4. LHN Quilting (gift for MIL).

Obviously I have loads more ideas for things I'd like to start, but those are at the top of the list for now. Rotation wise I'm going to try going back to a rotation:-

Mon - HAED QS Alisha
Tue - LK 6 Fat Men SAL with Sally
Wed - PS September (DH is usually out on a Wed)
Thur - LHN Gentle & Kind/Quilting (haven't decided which to start first)
Fri/Sat - Nouveau Encore Designs Personalised Sampler (have decided to try to focus on this and hopefully make good progress by stitching on it two nights a week)
Sun - Free Choice (this way if I'm really enjoying one of my wips I can give it some extra time, or if I miss a night stitching on something because we're busy or whatever then I have a chance to catch up).

Well, that post turned into a bit of a marathon I'm afraid, congratulations if you're still here and still awake! lol I hope you all have fun seeing in the New Year in a couple of days, and that 2012 is everything you hope for. I'm nervous of what the year may bring with my depression, possible major operation, counselling etc, but also hopeful that it is going to be better than 2011 has been, and that I'll be able to do lots of lovely stitching along the way.
Til next time, hugs and happy stitching...

Don't Know Where To Start

It's been so long since my last post, although I've been wanting to blog for a couple of week just thinking about it has made me feel totally overwhelmed as I had no idea what to say.
So I thought the best thing would be just to do a quick post which will hopefully get me back into it a bit and I can then go from there.
The last couple of months have been really tough for me, my depression seemed to come back with a vengeance all of a sudden and nothing I tried helped. I did end up visiting my doctor who put me on medication but they actually made me feel worse, along with some unpleasant side effects, so I stopped taking those a couple of weeks ago. For now I'm just taking it day by day and hoping that one day soon things start to get easier. I'm seeing my doctor on a fortnightly basis to make sure things don't get out of hand and have also been accepted for counselling but unfortunately there's a waiting list so I have about another 2/3 months left to wait I think before that will start.
I've also been in a lot of pain with my coccyx problems again, the pain unfortunately had got to the point where it was a lot worse than before my first operation in April which helped me be more or less pain free for 3 months. Anyway, I'm pleased to say that my consultant agreed to do the same operation again, which I had done on 25th November, and although it's still early days I'm hoping that it's worked again and I might be lucky and get longer than the 3 months relief this time. I'm also waiting to find out if my local NHS Trust will agree for me to be referred out of the Trust to enable me to see if I can actually have my coccyx completely removed. It's a major operation with up to a year recovery afterwards, but my consultant thinks I'm an ideal candidate for it because of my symptoms and reaction to the treatments I've had so far, and as I can't have the op I've just had done again because of the long term side effects then it's really my only option. At first I said there was no way I wanted the removal because of how major it is, but then I got to thinking that I'm 38 now and in chronic pain on a daily basis, with maybe 40 years life left in me. I really don't know if I can handle the thought of another 40 years in this much pain, so maybe up to a year recovery for the big op if it works would be worth it. Anyway, the decision might be taken out of my hands if I'm not approved, so guess I'll just have to wait and see and hope for some relief from the recent operation for now.
Stitching wise I'm afraid I've managed very little over the last couple of months because of the pain. I can't sit in my normal stitching position at the moment and the position I now sit in I can't do for long as I get stiff and achy, so when I have stitched it's just been for a little while, and I've often had several days in a row when I've not even picked it up :( I use my stitching as stress relief and relaxation so it's really hard not to be able to fall back on it like I used to. But I have managed a couple of finishes. First up is the IStitch Mystery SAL which I was determined to keep up with. I stitched this 1x1 on a piece of 28ct unknown hand-dyed fabric using a skein of Vikki Clayton's HDF silk.
My other finish is my 2011 Christmas ornament for our tree. I've stitched an ornie for our tree for as long as I can remember now. This year I told DH and DD that I really didn't think I'd be able to do it because of how little I've been stitching, but when I saw their dismayed faces I knew I had to try. So as this Shepherd's Bush Merry Be came as a kit I thought it would be the easiest option. I really enjoyed stitching it as it turns out, but the finishing cause me a lot of stress! I've never done ribbon edging before and it took me about a week to work myself up to do it, but I'm ecstatic with the results and I've learned several lessons for when I do this sort of finishing again.
I also had a new start but haven't taken a pic yet. Sally and I began a SAL of Lizzie Kate's Six Fat Men a while back and I'm really enjoying it. I've stitched the first chart, Snowed In I think it is, and am about halfway through the next, Snow Friends. Last night I stitched on it for longer than I've stitched in one go in a good while and it felt so good, here's hoping things are starting to improve.
Well, if you're still here and made it through thanks so much. I hope to be back soon with a pic of Six Fat Men, positive news on the operation etc and talk of Christmas which will soon be here!

A Happy Dance & More Progress

I was determined not to leave it so long before blogging again this time, so am back with a few more pics for you.
First up is my finish of LHN's Travelling Stitcher which I've been stitching as a SAL with Sally. I've really loved stitching this design and it was really special as we started our SAL in person when we met for our stitchy day back in August. With this in mine Sally and I agreed that we'd like to stitch both our initials on the design to remember it. The chart is now available on my For Sale page at the top of this page, along with the A New Day chart which I finished recently. Please go have a look and see if anything takes your fancy, and contact me if so.
Next up is Part 5 of Carol's IStitch Designs Mystery SAL. Looking forward to seeing what Part 6 looks like next weekend.The final pic today is of my HAED QS Alisha by Hannah Lynn Disney. I've been working on this one night a week now for a few weeks and am really enjoying doing one night on it, but don't think I'd want to do more as the confetti is hard going. I've decided for now to stick with this as my only HAED wip as it's the closest to being finished, although it's still a long way off. Once that is done then I intend to pick Cabin back up again and focus on that. But I reserve the right to completely change my mind at any point lol.I've spent this morning tidying my stash by putting away threads from various finished projects and then pulling threads for Lizzie Kate's 6 Fat Men which Sally and I are going to start soon as our next SAL. Unfortunately I haven't got a suitable fabric big enough, so am going to have to order some from Sew and So this afternoon I think, just hoping nothing else jumps in the cart at the same time!
I'm not sure what to stitch on this weekend. My Shepherd's Bush Merry Be Pincushion is calling as it's getting fairly close to a finish I think, so I might give that a bit of attention, but I'd also like to try to get a bit more progress in on my Personalised Sampler. The page I'm currently stitching seems never ending lol.
I hope everyone in the UK is enjoying this gorgeous weather we're having this week and making the most of it. Erin is away in Southport with my mum til tomorrow so David and I are taking the opportunity to go out for an early tea tonight. I've got some laundry to bring in but then I think I might stitch or read sat in the sun for a bit! Til next time, happy stitching...

Not Much To Say But Lots Of Pics

I'm afraid that I'm still struggling here, too long a story to bore you all with & to be honest I was thinking of stopping blogging altogether as I'm sure you're all sick of my long absences, but Sally convinced me to keep blogging for now, even if it's just to post pics of what I've been stitching on, so here they are.



My Big Toe "A New Day" Framed






Lizzie Kate Welcome Baby



Shepherd's Bush Merry Be Pincushion



LHN Travelling Stitcher


Istitch Mystery SAL Part 4
I'm sorry that a couple of the pics aren't showing correctly, I can't seem to rotate them on my phone for some reason. Please also excuse the creases on Travelling Stitcher.
I'll try to be back with more pics and a bit more to say soon, but until then happy stitching.

Lisa - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Withdrawals & IStitch Mystery SAL

We're away in our caravan in Derbyshire at the moment and are having to go back to basics somewhat lol. I have no signal at all on my IPhone on the site and so can't get my usual fix of Facebook, blog reading, collecting & replying to my emails etc & I must admit I'm having withdrawal symptoms, never realized how much I rely on my phone til I can't use it lol. We went to Carsington Water today where I did get a signal so quickly downloaded my emails & checked Facebook before my right arm was cut off again ;) David on the other hand is having withdrawals because as well as no phone signal the site has barely any tv reception lol! Now don't get us wrong, when we go away in the caravan we maybe watch an hour of tv a day if that, after Erin has gone to sleep on a night usually, but choosing not to watch it & not being able to are very different things I guess.
So I think this week we will be reading even more than usual, & hopefully I'll have more stitching progress to show as well.
Tonight & last night were spent doing Part 2 of Carol's IStitch Mystery SAL. When Carol emailed this part it looked to me like it was going to be a quick stitch but I had the hardest time with it, the frogs appeared & just wouldn't leave. Can you believe it took me four attempts before I finally got the C right?! Anyway it's finished now & has gone away for another 10 days or so til Part 3 is released.



Tomorrow I'll be hopefully making some progress on the baby gift for my friend.
Have written this as a draft post in the hope that if we go out for the day on Tuesday I'll be able to post it, so if you're reading this we did reach civilization for a while at least lol.

Lisa - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Dancing Again!

Way back in May I was so excited to be starting Seaside Retreat from the new Blackbird Designs A Stitcher's Journey book. I can't actually remember now why I decided to stitch it 2x2 on 32ct fabric, but it was a big mistake. More and more over the last year or so I keep proving to myself that I much prefer stitching with one strand on higher count fabrics. I stitch my HAED's 1x1 on 25ct, and I LOVE stitching 1x2 on 36 or 40ct fabrics, but for some mad reason I started Seaside Retreat 2x2. Right from the very beginning I didn't enjoy stitching it, I really should have listened to the voice in my head who told me early on I should do a restart, but I'm stubborn so told it to shut up and on I went on my miserable way lol. If I hadn't loved the design itself so much and been so determined not to add another project to my ufo pile I'm sure it would have been stuffed in a cupboard not to be seen again for sometime. But anyway, I persevered and persevered, picking it up, adding a few stitches, putting it away again in disgust lol. But last night I was finally able to have a much needed happy dance! As a reminder this is stitched with Vikki Clayton Hand Dyed Fibers silk in Ocean Breeze. I think I am more relieved than anything else really to have this finished. I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it off yet, but it's going to be displayed in our conservatory eventually and will be a reminder to me that perseverance pays off, and that I should stick to 1x2 in future lol.
I was hoping to also be able to show you a pic of my A New Day after framing. The framer rang me yesterday to say it had been put in the mail, but Royal Mail are doing their usual stirling job of being totally rubbish, and it hasn't arrived today. I'm just hoping that it comes tomorrow.
This weekend's stitching is going to be Part 2 of the IStitch Mystery SAL which Carol emailed today, as well as the baby gift for my friend. I decided after my last post that I was going to be a good girl and stitch the Lizzie Kate Welcome Baby chart rather than ordering something new, so I've got it kitted up ready to go.
Hope you all have a great weekend, a long one for those of us in the UK, that the weather is kind and you get plenty of stitching in. Til next time!

Thank You & A New SAL

Before I go any further I just want to thank everyone who commented on my last post SO much! It brought tears to my eyes to realise I have so many wonderful stitchy friends around the world who really do care and who still want to read my ramblings when I've been missing for so long.
I joined a new mystery SAL that Carol at IStitch has kindlly organised. The SAL is hugely popular and so unfortunately sign ups are closed for now, but go have a look at all the wonderful wips so far. I chose to stitch mine over 1 on 28ct and will possibly make it into a pinkeep when it's finished. The fabric I chose was a Jayne's Attic Count On Me called January and the thread is a Hand Dyed Fibers skein I had in my stash called Enchantress which is a gorgeous variagated pink. The next part isn't due to be released til a week on Saturday, so I've put it away til then, but am looking forward to seeing how the next part looks.
Today is LHN's Travelling Stitcher SAL day with Sally and I'm really looking forward to making more progress on it. I can't believe it's a week since our wonderful stitchy day, makes me sad to know that I don't know when we'll be able to do it again :( So I will just have to imagine myself sat in Sally's dining room tonight stitching together. I'll post a pic on how far I've got later in the week hopefully.
One of my friend's from the gym had a baby boy recently, a surprise miracle for them as they had tried for a baby for years with no success and at 45 she found out she was finally pregnant! I went to see her and the baby, Amos Charlie, yesterday and he is the most gorgeous baby, I could have eaten him, and if I was ever going to get broody for another child myself yesterday would have been it lol. Anyway, I decided I'd like to stitch a little something for them so have been trawling through my stash trying to come up with something. I have Lizzie Kate's Welcome Baby chart which I thought might be nice, but I keep going back and looking at JBW's Teddy Bear Chart, which I don't have lol. I could get it pretty quickly by ordering from Sew & So in the UK, but I'm trying to be good at the moment. So what do you think I should do? Go with the LK design or say to heck with it and order the JBW design?
And finally, I saw yesterday that Daffycat is having a giveaway on her blog of THE cutest gnome fob & needleminder. Get yourself over there and have a look!

Surviving, A Happy Dance & A Wonderful Visit

I am so sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. Things here the last few months have been a struggle to say the least. I had to finally admit around the time of my last post that depression had taken a strong hold of me again after being free of it for a couple of years. After a couple of severe meltdowns I forced myself to go see my doctor who listened to me and talked things through, and gave me a prescription for anti-depressants, but I couldn't bring myself to start them as I've tried so many in the past for them to only help me short term. So I decided to give St John's Wort a try, along with forcing myself to get out of the house each day, even if it was just to go to the gym (I knew things were really bad when I didn't want to go to the gym and see my friends). I can't honestly say whether the tablets and making myself go out have helped a lot and I'm still worried that there's going to come a point where I will have to try the anti-depressants again, but for now I seem to be on a slightly more even keel and am just trying to take it one day at a time.
Through all this however my stitching mojo took a serious beating. My rotation which had been working so well went out of the window and the only thing that I really tried to keep going with was my SAL on a Wednesday with Sally on A New Day. Even if I only did half an hour, I made myself get it out every week and it got me through some bad days. Although this piece involved a lot of tears at times it also brought out some good emotions and positive hopes for the future and so I was actually a little sad when I had a happy dance and finished it at the end of July.

I was also ecstatic to be able to take this and show Sally in person as we have just got back from a week away in our caravan in Hornsea, and whilst there I was lucky enough to be able to spend the day with Sally at her house, drooling over all her fabulous stitching, chatting, eating, drinking and of course we had to fit in a little stitching (we have now started a new SAL, LHN's Travelling Stitcher which seemed apt). I couldn't believe the amount of gorgeous stitching that Sally has displayed, I was in heaven, and after talking to her about her framer I ended up taking A New Day into his shop on Friday and it turns out he does lots of framing mail order so he is going to frame it for me and post it to me in just over a week! I've struggled to find a framer locally and have lots of finished pieces waiting to be framed, so hopefully if I'm happy with how he finishes this piece I'll start sending him a piece every couple of months or so and try to get some more displayed on my walls (although I'll NEVER be able to catch up with Sally pmsl!). We had such a wonderful day together, it went far too quickly, and I was really sad and tearful to leave her when the time came. Knowing Sally's love of sheep I had taken her a small gift of a sheep that I saw and knew she would love, and it turns out that Sally had also got me a gift. She stitched me this gorgeous LK Design, Friends Are Like Angels (hope you don't mind me borrowing the pic from your blog Sally, our camera is still buried in all the unpacking from the caravan lol). Isn't it wonderful? When I opened it I couldn't look Sally in the eye because I was filling up and knew if I did that I'd end up crying lol.

Having just got home today things are in chaos, unpacking to do, lots of laundry, getting back into my healthy eating and exercise routine, DH going back to work etc, so I'm feeling rather fragile tonight, but I'm hopeful that after my day with Sally and our new SAL start stitching a little in the caravan and getting A New Day framed etc, that I may have located my mojo again and be able to make a fresh start with my rotation.
One thing I've had to accept though is that try as I might, there is no way I can catch up with my blog reading and commenting. Before we went away I kept trying but got completely overwhelend, and as you can imagine after a week away the number of unread posts has increased massively. So I hope you will all please forgive me and understand when I say I'm going to mark all my blogs as read tonight, and make a fresh start with those as well as my own blog and my stitching rotation. I am really sorry that I have not been reading and commenting on your blogs, but better to start afresh and be able to keep up this way hopefully than to stop altogether which I had considered at one point when I felt really bad.
I will hopefully be back later in the week with a pic of my start on Travelling Stitcher and my other wips so you know where I am with them at the moment. Til then, I've missed you all and can't wait to catch up with what you're all up to!

Nothing To Say :(

I'm afraid the black cloud over my head is still here & whilst I've still been stitching I haven't been able to put the words together to make up a proper blog post or keep up to date on my blog reading and commenting :( Please know I'm sorry if I haven't commented on your blog in a while.
So I figured I would at least post some update pics for you for now so you know I'm still here.


HAED QS Alisha


HAED Cabin In The Woods


Nouveau Encore Designs Personalised Sampler


Blackbird Designs Seaside Retreat


My Big Toe A New Day
I will hopefully pick myself up & dust myself off & start to feel better soon, but for now please know that you, my blogging friends, mean the world to me.

Lisa - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I Need A Seaside Retreat

I'm afraid things haven't improved here since my last post. My stress levels are at an all time high and most days have involved tears and panic attacks which are scary. All I can do is pray that things start to improve soon as I don't know how much more this body can handle right now.
The only saving grace is that my stitching, when I force myself to sit down and do some, is a godsend. It's helping take my mind off things for a little while and easing the panic attacks on occasion.
I have updates on all my Wips but I worry that you might get bored seeing the same ones everytime so today I'm just posting my new start from last week, BBD Seaside Retreat and a full pic of my Personalised Sampler now I've finished another page.


Stitched 2x2 on 32ct white evenweave using HDF Ocean Breeze.


Stitched 1x1 on 25ct antique white evenweave using HDF Bewhined. I've now stitched 6 of the 20 pages in this and really beginning to feel like I'm getting somewhere with it.
Well that's it from me for now. Hope everyone is staying safe in the awful weather we seem to be having here in the UK and overseas.
Till next time.

Lisa - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Giveaway Winner!

Just realised I completely forgot to draw a winner for my Trilogy Easter Line Up Giveaway on Monday, oops!

I had Erin draw a name (think I'm going to have to do more giveaways as she loved doing this and wanted to keep trying lol), and the winner is:-

COLLEEN!!!

Congratulations Colleen, can you please contact me to let me have a note of your address, then I can get the chart in the mail to you in the next few days.

Quick Update

Testing to see if I can post from my phone.
Here are pics of my Wips after this week's rotation. Really pleased with what I got done this week on them all except A New Day as it's been a horrendous week here. Long story for another time when I can post without crying.



HAED Cabin In The Woods


My Big Toe A New Day


HAED QS Alisha


Nouveau Encore Designs Personalised Sampler

I had a new start yesterday, Seaside Retreat from the BBD A Stitcher's Journey booklet, but not much to show yet.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Happy Dance, Progress & A Giveaway

I really don't know how I keep ending up taking almost a month between posts. The only thing I can come up with is that I am an eternal procrastinator, if there is something that I'm not in the mood to do then I put it off and put it off until it gets to the point where I HAS to be done. I love reading blogs but it just seems that when it comes to posting on my own I'm rubbish at it lol. I'm also way behind on commenting as well, so if I haven't commented on your blog recently please forgive me, I think I'm going to have to mark them all as read and start afresh so that I can get up to date and know what everyone has been up to as I'm feeling really overwhelmed with them all right now.
I'd like to thank everyone for their lovely comments and good wishes about my coccyx operation in my last post. I'm ecstatic to say that it seems to be improving all the time and the pain now is about a third of what it was before the operation after about 4 weeks. I go back to see the consultant at the end of this month and we'll see how it is at that point and then decide what, if anything, needs doing next.
Well, although I've not been blogging I have been stitching, and I have a happy dance!
I finally finished The Trilogy's Easter Line Up late on Saturday night and am really happy with the way it turned out. I subbed all the called for threads for DMC for this one, and stitched it 1x2 on 40ct Sand Newcastle. So now for the giveaway! As you may remember from my earlier post, I won this chart from Bev last year so now that I've finished with it I've decided to pass it on again. So if you'd like to be entered for a chance to win the chart please leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name a week today, Monday 16th May.
Next up is my new start! Sally and I began our My Big Toe A New Day SAL and this is where I'm up to after last Wednesday's stitching. I'm really loving how this is stitching up so far and am finding stitching certain words very emotional and thought provoking in relation to the rest of my life. It feels a bit weird but it will mean that a lot of memories and emotions go into the piece and will be there for me to remember when it's finished.
And finally are three of my wips that I've been sadly neglecting but am now stitching on again.
Nouveau Encore Designs Personalised Sampler. I stitched on this on Friday night and am now down to the bottom of the current page with the border and working on the next letter.
HAED QS Alisha. Hazel and I were chatting on msn the other day and she said that she and Tracy are doing a HAED SAL on a Thursday night to motivate eachother with their wips, and would I like to join. So I decided to bite the bullet and go for it! So this is a pic of her after I last worked on her, and you'll hopefully be seeing a little more progress each week from now on.
HAED Cabin In The Woods. I started this years ago now, can't remember exactly when, think it was about 2006 :(, but although it became a UFO I still love it to bits and it's on my bucket list of things I'm determined to finish in my lifetime. I decided last week that in order to do that I had to get it out and start stitching on it regularly again. So I've decided to join in the UFO SAL on Needlecraft Haven and try to make a little progress on it each week the same as Alisha. This pic was taken yesterday afternoon and I actually put some stitches into it last night which I really enjoyed.
Well, got lots more I could waffle about, but I think I'll call that it for today before I bore you all to sleep lol. I'm seriously going to try to start updating more often, one wip at a time maybe, and try to do it from my phone as it's quicker, although the pics won't be as good, but could then maybe do a monthly update of them all from the proper camera. Will see how it goes I guess.
Thank you to all those who visit and read my wafflings, and those who take the time to leave me a comment. Hope you all have a great week ahead, get lots of stitching done, and you don't get any visits from the frogs.

More Life, A Finish, A Start & A Floss Toss

Last week things went a little crazy at home. I saw the surgeon about my operation on the Tuesday, and was then told that my operation would be on the Friday! In the end I'm glad I didn't have time to think about it because I was busy getting childcare organised for Erin etc. Friday came very quickly and I was surprisingly calm in the morning. The operation went well I'm told and I was allowed home later that day, although I was very spaced out from the anaesthetic and took to my bed for several hours. Friday night because I was still under the influence I had hardly any pain for the first time in months and it felt SO good. Unfortunately come Saturday morning the pain was about 10 times worse than it had been before the op. On looking into what I'd had done, it turns out that the steroid injections can take several days to start to have an effect, and this combined with the manipulation that was done had left me very bruised and inflamed. I spent Sat to Mon feeling extremely sorry for myself, but I'm relieved to say that the last three days things have improved a little each day, and today I'm about back to the pain I was in before the op. The expected results of this op can vary, unfortunately there's only a 33% chance this will be a good success. There's the same chance of it not working at all, and the same again of it being some help and me needing to have it done maybe another two or three times, so it's now a waiting game for the next 6 weeks or so before I go back to see the surgeon. I'm not a religious person but if anyone is and could spare a prayer or if anyone could just send some healing thoughts that this does start to work I'd really appreciate it.
Anyway, because I couldn't do much else over the weekend besides sit for about 10mins then pace the house again, I picked up my stitching and I had a happy dance on Sunday night (well, couldn't dance, just had to imagine it lol). I can honestly say if it hadn't of been for my stitching this last few days I would surely have been a lot worse and probably been a lot more frustrated than I was.

LHN Winter Band Sampler

2x2 on 28ct pale blue evenweave using called for DMC

I've also had a new start recently. I decided I needed something on an Easter/Spring theme, and although I know there's no chance it's going to get finished in time to display this Easter, I'm still loving every minute of it. I won this chart in a giveaway Bev had on her blog early last year I think it was, so it's about time I got around to stitching it, and once it's finished I'll be passing it on in a giveaway here, so watch this space.

Trilogy Easter Line Up
1x2 on 40ct Sand Newcastle Linen using mostly called for DMC

And finally here is my floss toss for another new start I have planned! Sally and I have both been having a rough time of it with various things this past few months and when we both fell in love with this design we decided it would be perfect for us to SAL together on, as it seems very apt.

I've chosen to use the recommended Flax Newcastle Linen although am going to use 40ct rather than 32ct, and have picked my own HDF silks. I've mainly chosen similar colours, except for the colour of the words which I decided I didn't want to do in a grey/brown. As I think this may end up in our bedroom when we eventually can afford to decorate it and it's going to be in magnolia, deep red and deep purple, I've changed the wording colour to a deep red, and the dark blue on the chart I've changed to a deep purple. I'm hoping this looks as good as I think it might when I get started, but if not I reserve the right to change them again as I go lol. I spoke with Sally earlier today and we've decided to make a start next Wed, 20th April, hopefully, so I should have a wip pic to show soon!
Well, that turned into a long post so I won't waffle anymore for today. I think I need to go back to posting shorter posts more regularly because I've been meaning to post for about a week now but kept putting it off because I had so much to say and didn't know where to start lol.
Til next time, hope you're all ok and happy stitching!

Gift Revealed, Gift Received, Life & Stitching Progress

The weekend before last I finally got my finger out and finished the giveaway prize that Jane won back in December! I sent it off on it's way to her last Wednesday and I had an email on Friday I think it was to say she had received it and loves it, thank goodness!The design is Needles & Pins by Raise The Roof, stitched on a 28ct Silkweaver Solo which is a mottled pale lilac, using various hand-dyed threads in some of Jane's favourite colours. I also included a mother of pearl thread holder, a skein of HDF silk, and an Aero Lamb (well it is spring now and everyone needs chocolate don't they?!). This is the first time I've tried a beaded edge finish and although I found it fiddly at first I was really pleased with the way it turned out, and will definitely do it again.
Postie brought me a gift last week as well which was so welcome. Ranae recently stitched Homespun Elegance's Holiest of Nights and I had commented on her blog asking what the design was called and who by as I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to add it to my wish list. Anyway, as she had been RAK'd the chart herself she was very sweet and offered to send the chart onto me! I'm not sure when I will get around to stitching it, but when I have I will be sure to pass on her generosity.After finishing the gift I didn't stitch for a few days as I was feeling a bit out of sorts. I still am actually, but figured that stitching usually relaxes me so I should get back to it. I've got my first consultant visit at the hospital tomorrow afternoon to see what they can do about my painful coccyx. From recent doctor visits and examinations it's thought that either it is fractured or there is an old fracture around which scar tissue as formed, which means that it hurts me to sit down in certain positions and is VERY painful to get from sitting to standing after being sat for any length of time. The plan is, if all goes well tomorrow, that I will be having an operation to manipulate the coccyx and break up the scar tissue, and then steroid injections to help it heal. I'm really scared about going to see the consultant tomorrow, although I know it needs doing. I just know that the examination is going to be very painful, I'm scared of hospitals so nervous of being there, and already getting terrified of when I have to have the operation itself.
Anyway, in an effort to try to forget my worries I've pulled LHN's Winter Band Sampler back out and put in some stitches the last couple of days, and have actually really enjoyed it, so I'm glad I did. I was going to pull something else out today to stitch on, but I think I'm actually going to keep going with this while I'm still enjoying it.
That's it for now I think, hope you all have a great week ahead. Thanks to everyone who reads my wafflings and especially to those who take the time to leave me a comment, they always give me a smile.

Garnet Progress

I've finished the front of my gift but can't show a pic so you're going to have to wait a bit longer I'm afraid. I'm hoping to get started on the back and then making it up soon, then it will be winging it's way to it's new home, hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
I can however show an updated pic of my HAED QS Garnet which I'm stitching using HDF silks. I'm so frustrated with the pics of this I keep taking, they make it look all blocky and like the colours are totally wrong, but in real life I'm loving it and it's really starting to take shape this week.No other stitching to show I'm afraid, but hope to be back soon!

P.S. Heather, the JBW Designs A Very Merry Spring is stitched using a Hand Dyed Fibers silk called Pastel Rainbow.

Better Photos Update

Last few posts have been done from my phone so the pics haven't been great.
Thought I'd take the chance today to get some pics with the proper camera of everything I've been working on recently and get them on here.
Here is HAED QS Alisha after the last 5hrs in rotation on her. Need to grid the rest of the page before I can stitch anymore, but really loving this at the moment and the colours.
Here is LHN's Winter Band Sampler after it's slot as well. Still not wild about this I'm afraid. I'm sure it's that it's because it's 2x2 on 28ct which I really don't enjoy much anymore after my 36/40ct addiction began lol, plus I think I've had my fill of xmas/winter stitching for now, but I'm going to persevere with it til it's finished.
This is my Nouveau Encore Designs Personalised Sampler. I decided to move down a page and work from right to left this time, and have most of the border finished on this page now.
And finally is my UFO slot! I'm stitching on this for 1hr in between my 5hrs each on all the other slots. It's HAED QS Garnet which I started way back early last year, and I'm stitching it in HDF silks which are lovely to work with. It will get another hour's attention after I finish my 5hrs on my new wip, then I will decide whether to keep it out, or choose another UFO to work on next round.
And talking of new wips, I started one last night which is to be a gift, so can't show any pics I'm afraid until it's stitched, finished, sent and received, but hopefully it won't be too long!
Thanks for looking!

Winter Band Sampler

Just a quick update. Realised I haven't updated in 2 weeks!
Here is my LHN Winter Band Sampler after just finishing it's slot in my rotation. I'm now just over the halfway point and will be moving down to the house next round.

Feels Like Spring!

The sun has been shining here today and I've seen a couple of crocuses peeking out in the garden so I'm really hoping spring is on the way.
I was close to finishing this cute design last night but my bed and book were calling so have just put the last half hour in and I now have another little happy dance!
Tonight is LHN SAL night with Sally & Lesleyanne so Winter Band Sampler will be coming out again, then I think my Personalised Sampler needs a bit of attention over the weekend.

Winter Band Sampler

Don't know what's been wrong with me this last week but my stitching mojo has been playing up again. I've wanted to stitch but just haven't seemed to have the energy to pick up that needle.
So on Friday I made myself sit down to watch one of my tv shows and picked up Winter Band Sampler and I really enjoyed it!
This is stitched 2x2 on 28ct pale blue fabric using all DMC although you can't really tell from the pic as it's really dull here today.
Hope to stitch later but not sure what on yet, maybe more on WBS but QS Alisha has been calling so you never know.