Such a surprise (big news added at the bottom)

It's been quite a busy week with quite a surprise. Marsha (Everybody Loved Clark) had a giveaway for her John Foster chart, gorgeous premium silk flosses, 32 count linen and a cute floss tag. It's a beautiful design which has been stitched by many stitchers since 1885. Here's Marsha's beautiful finish.

To my amazement, I'm still in shock really, I was chosen and John Foster is now crossing the ocean. I can't wait to start stitching on it, my rotation will definitely have to be changed. Thank you Marsha x

Although Tuesday was Pancake Day I did not have time to make any as DH and I went to De Montford Hall to see Richard and Adam. They were in Britain's Got Talent last year and are amazing singers. To everyone's surprise their Dad joined them on stage and the trio sang ' Bring Him Home' from Les Miserables - it was stunning, such a moving rendition. The video below is their audition piece for BGT - they are good :)





Stitching wise I have finished the Spring item for the Four Season's Exchange on Needlecraft Haven - we could stitch anything on the theme of spring so I stitched a ............. sorry you'll have to wait a while. It's all ready to post :)

I have started my next house on the table cloth - Santa's House. It doesn't actually look much but it is over one so takes quite a while. So far I have done the heading and the tree trunk - a little more this Wednesday.

Santa's House

The other stitching I've done is on the monthly challenge that Christine puts up for us on NH - unfortunately again I can't share. I've been first to finish the last two months but this design is a little larger so I'm not sure I'll be first again.

I have been busy in the kitchen, making my welsh cakes and bread for St David's Day, and cooking profiteroles for last night's meal as friends came over. This week I have no main cooking themes but I do want to practice a scone recipe I've seen and a week tomorrow is St Patrick's Day so I'll be busy then.

Today was the first really sunny day to DH and I took our first 'topless' trip in our new Street car - we popped over to MIL's as it's a nice country ride. It was lovely hearing the birds and feeling the sun on us as we drove along. It wasn't too windy and my hair did not get blown all over. We're both looking forward to many more topless trips.

That's all my news for today - I'm sorry it doesn't have much stitching in. I'll be blogging again tomorrow or Tuesday as we have some very exciting news which I can tell from 7am in the morning - keeping quiet has been so hard but only a few hours to go :)


NEWS: I can finally say - Philippa has been chosen to carry the Queen's Baton for the Commonwealth Games when it travels through Wales :-)

St David's Day

Diwrnod yn hapus dewi sant - Happy St David's Day to all my welsh friends. My daffodils have come out with perfect timing and I'm wearing my welsh dragon necklace.

Daffodils for St David's Day in
my grandmothers vase

This year I am cooking meals for special days/festivals so tonight we have potato and leek gratin with lamb meatball and homemade bread, followed by homemade welsh cakes. We brought back from Wales a cream liqueur for my Dad and he did not open it so we may do the honours tonight after dinner.

I have put up my mantle for March although it will change throughout the month as there are a few things/special days happening. At the moment it has my daffodils, candle burner, March (The Drawn Thread) and my smoking dragon. You burn incense inside it and the smoke comes out it's nose as if it's breathing fire.



March Mantle

 

As it's a new month we have a new Christmas Ornament Challenge on Needlecraft Haven which also means the gallery for last month's design is open. Last month Christine chose a beautiful reindeer design from Steekjes & Kruijes van Marijke - you can find the design here. The finishes are amazing, so many different ideas; here's my ornament.

 

February Challenge 2014

I have also finished the Poinsettia House on my Santa's Village tablecloth - well all but the white but I shall do all that at the end as it will be a long project. I took it to Julie's when I went for a coffee on Friday; she was amazing how big the cloth was and how small the designs are as I'm stitching them over one. We laid it on her floor to show the dimensions, Julie is either studying it very hard, or she's camera shy!

 

Santa's Village tablecloth

Poinsettia House

I have also finished my part of Ursh's Welcome Round Robin - her design is Birdhouse Welcome by Lynn Norton Parker. I'll be sending it onto Dusty next and Ursh will pass Lynn's onto me. I chose the second house as I loved the two hearts and it seemed appropriate for Valentine's month.

 

Ursh's Welcome Round Robin



It's been a week of birds and flying things really - we had an unexpected visitor in the garden on Wednesday - luckily Ruby did not notice. It stayed for quite a while before disappearing. It's very unusual as we live in an urban area - although one has visited before a few back.

 

Can you spot it?

Mr Pheasant happily roosting on the fence

The other flying thing happened today - Hubby !! I bought him a helicopter flight around Silverstone for his birthday back in December and today was flight time. We drove down early and were a little wary as there was thick fog everywhere but as we arrived at the race track the fog vanished with blue sky everywhere. The flight was only 5 minutes but he thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

Ready to go

 

All aboard

Pilot's view

Looking down

Afterwards to went into Towcester and had a lovely breakfast and a browse around the shops. It certainly was a beautiful sunny day. Now we're home it's time to start cooking.

 

Before I finish though I must add a thank you to Julie and her Hubby as when I popped over they donated a bottle of wine for the 100 Wine Tasting Challenge I'm doing for our scout groups 100th birthday - you can read all about it in my Aimetu's blog.

 

I cannot believe but my blog will be 8 years old at the end of this month - I will be having a giveaway for my blogiversary later in March, it will be from my stash as I am doing Stitch from Stash so watch out in my later blogs this month.



Stitch from Stash - February

My month's slightly overlap because otherwise I would miss the deadline for emailing Mel. I am really enjoying this challenge - although I was never really a big stash enhancer.

It's a great way to see how much I have achieved over the month and how many bits and bobs I've used up :) so here's my February's update:

Charts

• The Drawn Thread July - previously purchased
• The Drawn Thread August - previously purchased
• alphabet from 2001 design book - I was given this book by my Mum and used the design for this thank you card

Fabric

• 28 count pale blue (Thank You card)
• 28 count ecru (Monthly Challenge - I can't share a picture of this yet) 
• 32 count off white (spring exchange)
• 28 count country blush (August - The Drawn Thread)

Thread

• DMC colours as required for charts
• DMC perle 12 & 8 ecru as required for charts

Finishing

• Blue 5mm ribbon (Thank You card)
• Blank card and envelope (Thank You card)
• Christmas material (Monthly Challenge)
• Christmas material  (LHN Pear Tree ornament) 
• Gold cord (LHN Pear Tree ornament)
• Gold ribbon (Monthly Challenge)

I had stitched this but hadn't finished it -
backing fabric and ribbon from my stash

All my other stitching this month has been on my on going projects - The Drawn Thread August, Poinsettia House from Santa's Village, Welcome RR and spring exchange. All threads for these have been from my stash.

Additions to Stash 

• LHN Home of a Needleworker chart (bought with 123stitch gift certificate)

• Cross Stitcher magazine - gift from friend
• Weeks Dye Works Begonia - Valentine exchange gift
• Amour - French Country - Valentine exchange gift

• Cross Stitch Card Collection by Clare Crompton - book from Mum
• 2001 Cross Stitch Designs - book from Mum
• Cath Kidston ribbon - used a gift voucher but had to pay £1.00

I had £3 left on a gift card and
this ribbon was £4 so I spent £1

• CCN Gingerbread Emporium - promised purchase from 2013
• CCN Santa's Sleighworks - promised purchase from 2013
• LHN Simplicity - promised purchase from 2013
• LHN Faith - promised purchase from 2013



These charts cost me £2.50 each but I had already promised
to buy them back in 2013

Here's my over view of my Stitch from Stash February - I'm certainly pleased with my additional stash and stash used :)

 

Amount Spend: £1.00 (but £11.00 if past promised purchases are included)

 

New Starts from Stash: August The Drawn Thread, Monthly Challenge(finished),  Spring Exchange, Thank You card (finished)

 

WIPs or UFOs worked on: Santa’s Village, Angel Blessings, Welcome RR

 

Month of Entry: February

 

I'll have quite a few finishes next month to share as much of my work this month has been secret - one item I declared in January was the Valentine Exchange which I sent to Dusty. Here is the scissor fob I stitched for her - its a Drawn Thread free chart and I stitched it over one.

 

Scissor fob for Dusty

Thanks Mel for organising this - now to start recording my stash for March - happy stitching everyone x x

 

 

New start - fun times

It's been a busy week - well 10 days actually. We took Hubby's Mum and her partner to Cardiff the other weekend to visit Philly at Uni. Nanna had not been to see her in Wales as last year she was too unwell to travel. We combined it with seeing Philly for her birthday (Monday this week - I can't believe she is now 20). We had a great time - lots of giggles.



Philly's snapchat on her phone to her friends
- I think she'd missed me :)
 

Me - Philly - Hubby

  

The three giggling girls

Café Rouge meal for Philly's birthday

The photos were taken on Philly's phone - a little blurry but they certainly show the fun we had.

Back home my February mantle looks amazing this year - lovely cards from and for Hubby, and two from friends. I have two ornaments from previous exchanges, my February Drawn Thread and a beautiful heart glass given to me by a good friend when I left work.

February Mantle

 You can see my gorgeous dozen of red roses in the mirror - DH arrived home with them of Friday and they have lasted so well. I took this photo this morning.

A dozen red roses from my lovely Hubby

Yesterday I did some baking but oil was a bit of a cheat. Aldi stores sell Wright's cake mix for £1.50 which is as cheap as the ingredients. If I need a sponge or special cake I make from scratch but Wright's mixes fro ginger, carrot, toffee and madeira cake are great for a quick bake. You can make them in the bread maker but yesterday I made a batch of ginger muffins - mixed and baked in 25 minutes - eaten in 5 !!

Ginger muffins

Last night I started my August piece from The Drawn Thread. I finished the border on my July piece when we were in Cardiff with Philly. I made quite a good start last night but it's away now until next Tuesday.

July stitched

August started

 The rest of my stitching this week has been on my secret spring exchange which I can't share. But I can share my UFO piece which I work on at the weekend. I am so near the finish with this - Angel Blessings - just one angel face to do and the back stitching so hopefully a HD this weekend.

Angel Blessings

Dusty has received the Valentine exchange and oh my it was so funny. I actually stitched for her what she stitched for her partner !! I stitched her scissor fob over one so it was slightly different as I had to alter a few stitches.

Scissor fob for Dusty stitched over one

Parcel for Dusty - LK chart, choccies, ribbon, thread,
scissor fob and handmade card

Dusty is also the current stitcher on my Welcome RR with Needlecraft Haven. She has so kindly done a little extra and has stitched two letters on each piece. Here's her photo of the pieces she's done.

My Welcome RR

Phew lots of news - I didn't think I had that much to write this time haha. Thank you for reading my latest news and for leaving your comments - I love knowing your thoughts so thank you for sharing them.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all my friends and family - it's a special day for Hubby and I as we were engaged on Valentine's Day in 1986 !!

It's Opening Day for the Needlecraft Valentine Exchange - the theme was hearts and friendship. The task was to stitch a scissor fob for your partner and also send three small gifts on the given theme.

I had great fun choosing my chart and stitching my fob - although I can't share just yet as my partner has not opened her gift. I hope she likes it :)

I have opened mine - it's been looking at me for over a week so I was very, very excited to be able to open it this morning.

My partner was Deb who is new to Needlecraft Haven but is an active member with lots of posts.

I have been very spoilt - Deb sent :

 

stitched a beautiful fob with scissors

an absolutely gorgeous beaded heart brooch

a quilted table mat

an apple scented candle

two quirky hearts

'Amour' by French Country

Weeks Dye Works Begonia

 

scissor fob with scissors

beaded heart

Valentine's Exchange parcel

I just love all my gifts - thank you so much Deb - I will be wearing my heart today as Hubby and I are off to the cinema this afternoon.

Enjoy your Valentine's Day - hug all you loved ones and hold them close x x x

Rotation update

This year as well as joining Stitch From Stash I am also stitching on a rotation along with my friends at Needlecraft Haven. It is certainly helping me stitch more - January was full of finishes and I made good progress on long term projects.

Here's my rotation with an update for each day:

Monday is exchange or gift stitching - this week I started my  NH spring exchange piece. We do chat a little eon the forum about fabric, threads and finishing fabrics but we don't show charts, finishes or say who we're stitching for. Here are the threads for my piece

threads for my spring exchange

Tuesday is catching up on my The Drawn Thread calendar pieces - they are for the mantle each month but last year I stopped at May so I'm trying to catch up. I have early finished July, just the border to go. I did change it slightly as there should be an American flag for Independence Day.

The Drawn Thread - July

Wednesday is one of my favourite stitching days as Barb hosts The Parlour at Needlecraft Haven where we stitch any design from Little House Needleworks, Country Cottage Needleworks or The Sampler Girl.

If you're a regular visitor you'll know I'm doing Santa's Village as a table cloth - a very long term project. I made quite good progress this week on my Poinsettia House, it's stitched over 1 so takes me a little longer.

Poinsettia House

Thursday is again exchange or gift stitching and Friday is time to work on my Round Robin. This week I did my Round Robin on Thursday as we had friends over for dinner on Friday.

There are 5 of us doing the NH Welcome Round Robin - Dusty, Gillie, Lynn, Urszula and myself. I am working on Urszula's at the moment, the start of the roof is my work so far.

Urszula's Round Robin

We had a lovely meal with our friends - we haven't seen them for quite a few years. After two cancelled dates we finally got together, lots of catching up :)

I made baked camembert starter, chicken in tarragon sauce for main and poached pears with chocolate sauce for dessert.

Baked camembert

Poached pears with chocolate sauce

The weekend is for UFO stitching with Julie and Mr Stick. I'm working on Angel Blessing but this week end I'll have to skip as we're off to Cardiff with Nick's Mum and partner to visit Philly for her birthday. I'm taking some stitching with me though - July to do the border :)

I am hoping for another successful rotation week this week - it is certainly a way for me to keep up with all my projects and I'm not rushing to finish for deadlines. In fact I have already stitched and finished this months Challenge set on NH by Christine - but I can't share that just yet.

Please add your comments about rotationing, its always good to read what others think - thank you for calling by at Aimetu's Stitching

February starts

February already - my rotation did not go so well for the last week of January but I did catch myself up.

I took a day out to do the Thank You card (previous post) so I missed Wednesday in The Parlour with Miss Barb and the Needlecraft Haven ladies. I did pop by late on Friday to do a little on my Poinsettia House - it was quiet nice to sit and quietly stitch but I'll be back on Wednesday this week to chat with the girls.

Poinsettia House

Yesterday Hubby and I popped to Leakes to have a browse - it had everything for the home, we came home with some great ideas. A new towel rail for the downstairs loo was our only purchase - fitted and looking good.

Yesterday afternoon was pure pleasure - RUGBY - the start of the Six Nations. The first match was Wales v Italy from Cardiff Millennium Stadium (Wales won) and the second match was France v England from Stade de France Paris. France were in the lead but the boys pulled it back to win by a small margin. Brilliant afternoon of sport and stitching, although I didn't get much stitching done as I was engrossed with watching the rugby boys.

Here's my progress on my UFO - Julie and Mr Stick will be pleased. I finished the top corner, the centres of the trellis and started the bottom corner. I'll be doing a little more this evening too so it should grow a bit more.

Angel Blessings

 I have my Valentine exchange parcel to put together tonight ready for posting tomorrow. My rotation should be back on track from tomorrow which means I'll be stitching on the Spring Exchange for Needlecraft Haven.

Thanks for reading my news - good luck to everyone doing Stitch from Stash with Mel