I'm Still Alive!

I know, it's been a LONG time since my last post, I'm sorry I disappeared without permission lol.

Unfortunately I hit a huge stitching slump which just does not seem to want to go away. I tried to not stitch at all for a few weeks to see if the need would come back but that didn't help, so instead I've been putting the odd few stitches into mainly small projects in the hope that eventually it will all click back into place. So far there isn't a great improvement but I do think that I'm starting to enjoy the little bit of stitching I am doing more so that's good.

Anyway, I thought I'd come on and liven up the blog a bit ready for halloween as we've put our decorations up at home today, and let you see what stitching I have done.

First up is a project I started for DD back in June, which I've only just finished (blush). She has been SO patient waiting for it, but I just couldn't get into it at all and had to force myself to stitch on it. Now I need to make it up so she can display it in her bedroom. Lets just hope she doesn't have to wait another 4 months for that lol.Next is a Pine Mountain pillow kit I bought when I visited The Nimble Thimble at Easter. Even though I'm in this slump I was determined to stitch this for halloween this year and luckily it was a quick stitch, only took me about 2 weeks rotfpml, can you tell I'm not stitching much?And finally is a very small update on my HAED Freebie SAL Moon Fantasy Storykeep. I really like this design, but at the moment HAED's are so much of a struggle for me, so the only way I can cope with them is to do say 100 stitches then put them away again. It's really frustrating because I love my HAED's and actually want to start more, but I know that right now it's just not practical. I've also put a few stitches into Cabin In The Woods, but not enough to warrant a new pic as yet.I've now started a xmas ornament that's to be a gift for a friend. I thought I'd better start early bearing in mind how long it's possible it's going to take me lol.

I'm in the process of sorting out some of the charts I've stitched and will be adding them to my For Sale/Trade page soon. They include the Princess Parade and Be Scarey charts, plus The Cat's Whiskers For My Friend Scissor Pocket I stitched a few months back, can't remember what else. If you're interested in any of these before I put them up just let me know.

Til next time, which hopefully will be very soon, happy stitching!

QS Alisha Page 1 HD

Just a quick post to prove that I am still stitching, if slowly lol.

I finished the first page of my HAED Alisha QS on Sunday after having a full day of stitching which was heaven.

I'm now going make a start on the next page of Cabin In The Woods, as well as doing more on CCN's Princess Parade for DD.

HAED Wip Pics

I've been stitching on my Alisha QS for the last few weeks, only managing a few stitches here and there, but she's slowly growing and I hope to finish page 1 before too long. I absolutely love the colours.

I also started the free Storykeep SAL on the HAED BB earlier in the month. I started Moon Fantasy and as you can see I've only done a tiny bit, but it's a start.

I've got 3 more weeks of the course to go and I can't wait til the lessons and placement are finished so I can relax a bit. I will still have my portfolio to put together before September when it needs to be handed in for moderation, but the pressure will be off to a big extent. Then I might be able to get more stitching time!

PIF's Sent & Received!

Following on from my last post, I sent our my three PIF's early last week and then waited with baited breath for them to arrive at their new homes. One of them knew where it was going, but the other two were going on a magical mystery tour with their new home being a surprise.

Those of you who read my blog regularly may remember my sneaky post a while back asking for favourite colours etc, and it's that info that was used for my pif's lol.

Sally received the dark purple/red one, Karan received the autumn colours one and Claire received the dark pinky one. The multicoloured one in the pic I actually made for myself as I didn't want to part with any of them lol. They are all stitched with Vikki Clayton's silk, on 28ct 1 strand over 1 thread and I loved stitching them.

I included with each some floss tags and a skein of Carries Creations thread in their favourite colours, and I think from the responses that they were all pleased with their gifts.

I'm still doing my course, six weeks lessons down now, four more lessons to go, then putting together my portfolio over the summer holidays before it all has to be handed in for moderation in September. Been at my lesson today and been doing about how numeracy is taught, and my head hurts now lol. Got all my homework to do which I may start on tonight once Erin is in bed, but depends on whether my brain can handle anymore thinking by then lol.

Thanks to everyone who visits and takes the time to leave a comment, it is very much appreciated.

Finishing Frenzy

I know it's been a long time again since my last post, I keep meaning to post but life is just so crazy right now I always seem to think about it when I'm too tired to even type lol.

I've been doing a course about helping in schools one day a week for the last 5 weeks, as well as volunteering at DD's school at least half a day each week, and added to that there is loads of homework from the course. To say the course isn't what I expected is an understatement, it is far more involved that I could ever imagine and I've been feeling really stressed about the homework and worrying I couldn't do it. But I've hit the halfway mark this week and the feedback from my homework has been great which has given me a boost to keep going. At the moment I'm just lurching from one week to the next as it's Mon - free day, Tue - course, Wed - school, Thur & Fri homework, Sat & Sun relief once homework is done and sent, then it starts all over again! lol The course itself finishes mid July although we have til the beginning of September to put our portfolio of work together and send it all in for moderation, but I'm trying really hard to keep up so that hopefully I'll be able to finish all my work sooner rather than later and I can give a huge sigh of relief.

Anyway, onto stitching, after all it's what this blog is supposed to be about lol. I've been stitching my PIF's for a while now on and off and finished the stitching on the last one a couple of weeks back (I stitched one for me as well as I wanted to keep all the ones I stitched lol). I've also stitched a gift for DD's teacher for the end of the year as she's been wonderful with her. So today when DD asked to have a craft afternoon I thought it the perfect time to get all the finishing done. Little did I know how long it was going to take me, 4 hours! I've only just finished tidying up, taking pics of them and then came on here to post and I'm exhausted lol. I know some people love kitting projects up and some love finishing things off, but me I just love the stitching lol.

So here is a pic of the teacher gift I did, LK's 2 Teach Is 2 Touch. DD asked her teacher what her favourite colours were without giving anything away, so it's done in pink, purple and blue. The star is metallic glissen gloss but you can't tell in the pic. I made it into a hanging pinkeep as I thought she might like to hang it in her classroom.
I can't show pics of the PIF's yet as I need to package them up and send them off this week, but as soon as I know they've arrived at their new homes I'll be sure to let you see them. One is going to Sally but the other two will be surprises to the recipients as Sally was the only person to sign up when I did my PIF. I've struggled to decide what to do about the other two and so have chosen two people who have read my blog for a long time, even when I haven't posted regularly, and often taken the time to leave me a quick comment. I hope they like their gift.

I have some other pics to show of my HAED stitching lately, and a little something else up my sleeve, so will be back soon hopefully. Hope you've all had a great weekend. Happy Stitching! x

Quick Update

Thought I'd better post a couple of quick pics before you all assume I've closed my blog and stop visiting completely.

I've been dealing with a few things in my life recently which have got me really down, and when that happens I tend to retreat into myself and avoid people, which I know isn't good for me, but I can't help it.

Unfortunately my stitching is also suffering and I've lost my mojo. I have been doing some but have not stitched more days than I have and some days I've just stared at it for a while before putting it down again in disgust.

Anyway here is a pic of a gift I stitched a while back for a non-blogging friend in the US, who plays floss fairy for me regularly and sends me any US stitching mags I decide I have to have. It is The Cat's Whiskers/Dinky Dyes Collaboration "Friends" scissor pocket released earlier this year, stitched with the silk that came with the chart on 32ct antique white linen.

As well as working a little on my PIF's I've also put a few stitches into my HAED QS Alisha and thought I'd take a pic with the latest column finished.

I have no idea what I'll stitch on next, I seem to be stitching for the sake of it rather than things calling to me, so just taking it as it comes.

If I don't update again for a while, I am still around, I just don't have anything interesting to say or show. I'm sorry as well for not commenting on blogs for a while either, but please know that I do try to read them when I can.

Finished The Page!

I was trying really hard to finish the page before the end of April, but with the way I've been feeling I just couldn't quite manage it. I did however finish it a little while ago so it's off the qsnaps, ironed and shown here in it's full glory. 22.2% done, loads more to go lol.

Now I need to decide what to do next, carry on with Cabin and start another page, or pull out one of my other wips and, if so, which. I think til I get some inspiration I'm going to spend a couple of days on my pif's...

Hope you all have a great weekend, and a long one for those of us in the UK.