Quilts and 'the frog'

It's nearly Valentine's Day, we've a short break and a special birthday in our family so my next posts will be a little longer and will have many photos, but this one is a quickie.

Many bloggers have been asking about my Mum's quilts. Two were chosen to be in a Canadian exhibition representing the UK. She was very nervous about them being posted but they arrived and have arrived back in safety. This is the link to the exhibition http://www.ailsacraigquiltfestival.ca/

These are my Mum's two quilts

Mum makes many quilts, mainly hand stitched, large and small. We have many at our caravan and at home. She is involved in Project Linus which makes quilts for those in need, injured soldiers in hospital, young children. The quilts given go home with the patients - great form of comfort.

My stitching this week has been to finish off my secret projects as priority although I have kept to my rotation doing my UFO on Sunday and my Santa's Village tablecloth on Wednesday. This is my progress on my UFo which is now November by The Drawn Thread.

Doesn't it look amazing!! I had stitched the first chair and table when I realised I had the fabric the wrong way round so had to frog everything :( but it's all clean and ready to go for a new start.

Finally here's a little video of our son Michael - he's the Bar Manager at Saints Bar in our town. His speciality is cocktail making with the flare tricks and bar tricks. I love this one - enjoy

Thanks for calling by - have a great weekend and Valentine's Day x x

Meet Up Exchange Opening Time

Last November the members of Needlecraft Haven had our autumn meet up - it was a lovely day, as these meet ups always are. You can read about it here.

At the meet ups we always have a secret exchange - we all write our names and addresses on a card along with the answers to three questions. This time the questions were to do with favourite colours, flowers and cakes. The cards are mixed up and we all chose one at random. The exchange this time was to stitch a bookmark for the person whose card you picked, it had to have their name on and be linked to the things they had written on the card.

I picked Kate's card - her colours were lilac and green, her flower was freesia and her favourite cakes were macaroon. Using a free online chart I stitched this for Kate - it's backed with green felt and I used the same threads to make the fringe.

Kate's bookmark

A few goodies added for the exchange parcel 

My card was picked by Julie - she had picked me last spring too but did a swap so this was actually the first time she had stitched for me. I had put roses as my flower and Julie stitched this beautiful bookmark.

My bookmark from Julie

So that is one January stitch that's been revealed - the next one is the Valentine's exchange so not long to wait. I have received my parcel today and have put it away safe so I don't peep, it's very tempting though.

I have completed my October piece from The Drawn Thread. Using my rotation and stitching with the UFO ladies from Needlework Haven at the weekend it hasn't taken too long to finish. Now I have my November piece to work on.

October - The Drawn Thread

Yesterday I visited the Heart of England shopping village with a friend. It's a lovely place with little shops full of clothes, household bits and cooking items. We had a lovely lunch and I bought some primula for my hanging pots. I do need to re-pot them but it's too cold at the moment. They do look so bright and cheerful.

New flowers in my hanging pots

Thanks for calling by, we've had a little snow, I hope your weather is not too severe, stay safe :)

As January draws to a close

Amazingly tomorrow is the last day of January, a whole month of 2015 has passed already. It's been a busy month one way and another.

The month started off with us hosting a New Year Drinks Party at home - a great night with a house full of friends. We've been to friends for dinner and had friends at ours. A good friend of mine has had quite a serious operation but is very well, I've been visiting most days which has been great sitting chatting and drinking coffee. I've had coffee dates with a few other friends too and some lovely meals out with Hubby. We've had a full day in London visiting The France Show, sat quietly watching the birds in the garden for the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch and booked our June holiday. Phew it certainly was a busy month - you can read about our trip to London on my other blog Aimetu's.

Our day in London

I have been stitching too and started a new rotation for 2015 - it's gone really well all of January. I have joined Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness and Mel's Stitch From Stash 2015 but although I have been stitching I have not yet been able to share very much. However February will be a month of reveals as the two exchanges I've done have Open Days then and I will be able to reveal a gift I've stitched.

I have been keeping up with my UFO and Parlour stitching on Needlecraft Haven. My Drawn Thread October is looking good and Santa's Stocking Store now has a wall and a few windows.

Drawn Thread October

Santa's Stocking Store

My February stitching will be focusing on finishing my two projects above, finishing the January Monthly Challenge, finishing my Joy ornament for my church tree and if I have any spare time (hee hee) I'd like to get some finishing done as I have a few pieces stitched but not finished.

I hope January has been good for you too, even if it has gone by so quickly. Thank you for calling by :)

Stitch from Stash January 2015

I really enjoyed taking part in Stitch from Stash 2014 and was so pleased when Mel said she was running it in 2015 - thanks Mel (and team). I did really well in 2014 as most of my spend was on exchange items - here is my year overall.

And so 2015 begins : there are a few changes this year, mainly it's split into two six months and as January starts the first of those here's my first Stitch from Stash 2015 report:

Month: January

 

Spent: ZERO

 

Earned: £16 

 

My budget carried forward to February is: £41

I will be using English pounds £ as my currency throughout the year. I am hoping to use much of my stash again including finishing fabrics and trimmings although this year they are not included in the budget. Each log I will count anything up to that day, if it's stitched but is a gift or exchange I will count it but full details and pictures will be in my following SFS15 report.

My stitching from January 1st to January 22nd was:

Baked Goods - Lizzie Kate - those of you following my blog or Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness will have already seen it - it's here if you missed it. The chart was a gift from Barb; I used 28ct ecru fabric and DMC threads both from my stash. To fill the ornament I used my 2014 orts so stuffing was free and the backing fabric and cord were also from my stash - a completely free finish. I earned £4 on this finish.

I have finished another Lizzie Kate design which is a gift so I am unable to share this month. I earned £8 on this finish and will share all the details as soon as I can but all fabric and thread was from my stash and I bought the chart in 2014.

I have also finished the bookmark required for the Needlecraft Haven Autumn Meet Up Exchange. Again I am unable to share any details other than the chart was free online and again fabric and threads were in my stash, as was the backing fabric - another completely free finish. I'll be able to share this next month as the exchange date is February 4th. I earned £4 on this finish.

I don't have any other finishes this month but plenty of starts. I have another gift, the NH monthly challenge and Valentine's Exchange for Needlecraft Haven which are all pieces I cannot share just yet but I have been working on my Santa's Village tablecloth.

Santa's Sleighworks completed

Santa's Stocking Store started

I have not included my Santa Tablecloth in my SFS15 budget as they are not really completed as I have not yet stitched the white areas. I have nearly completed a few houses in a row and will then do the white for those and tack protective cloth over the top whilst I finish the rest of the tablecloth. It's going to be a long long project.

I have also been working on my Drawn Thread October piece. This is my weekend work on my rotation plan as it then fits with UFO stitching on Needlecraft Haven with Julie and Mr Stick. Weekend's are my slowest stitching time but I am getting bits done slowly.

Drawn Thread - October

I do not belong to the TUSAL but I do collect my orts and as I mentioned earlier I use them to fill an ornament at the start of the following year. Here's my 2015 collection so far.

Orts - 22nd January 2015

I've visited many new blogs recently thanks to Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness and Mel's Stitch from Stash. A big 'hello' to anyone new reading Aimetu's Stitching - thank you for calling by.

Gifted Gorgeousness in January

Jo has organised Gifted Gorgeousness SAL for 2015 - it's a great idea where on the 15th of every month we post about items we've stitched that are gifts, given or received. Thank you Jo, your blog activities are always such fun.

It's quite a short time for this month's check in but I have been busy on a couple of items that are Gifted Gorgeousness.

Unfortunately my main piece is a gift to be given at the end of February - it's stitched and is ready for framing. All I'll say is it's  Lizzie Kate design that I've added a bit too and you can see it at Needlecraft Haven as the recipient isn't a member.

My other item to share is my LHN Baked Goods ornament. Each Christmastime I stitch an ornament and fill it with the year's orts. It was a chart sent to me by Barb as a gift the previous Christmas.


I am working on more Gifted Gorgeousness items so I should have a bit more next month :-)

Plenty of progress

A week into 2015 and my rotation is going really well. I've stitched on all my pieces and will have another finish in a day or two but as it's a gift you will have to have a peek later. I have been able to share it on Needlecraft Haven as the recipient is not a member hee hee

I can however share this gift I made earlier in January for my stitching friend Gill's birthday. It's a simple but effective beaded scissor fob and I hope to do more beading this year as well as my stitching.

Beaded scissor fob

My weekend stitching is UFO time with Julie and Mr Stick (our Needlecraft Haven task masters who help us all finish those left behind project) I'm working on Drawn Thread October and did not have a lot of time this weekend as it's also gift stitching time. However my October house now has a roof and there is a black cat residing.

The Drawn Thread - October

Last Wednesday I was in the Parlour with Miss Barb and the other ladies working on LHN, CCN or Sampler Girl designs. There is some lovely work being done, I am using the Parlour to do my tablecloth as it's going to be a long job and the Parlour ladies certainly make it a cosy friendly evening's stitching.

Santa's Sleighworks - CCN

My tree at church next Christmas will be on the theme of Joy to the World. I did include a photo of my main ornament in my last post and I have now started my first ornament. It's from Just Cross Stitch - a page from a magazine I had saved in my stash.



Joy ornament

I have also started the Monthly Christmas Challenge that Christine chooses every month - this month's a actually a New Year ornament, it's lovely.

Later this week is the blog posting time for Gifted Gorgeousness, I will post on the 15th but there will not be much to say as like I said earlier because items are gifts they are not sharable when working on them hee hee

Have a lovely week, thank you for calling by Aimetu's Stitching - I do have another blog about my travels and other things if you'd like an extra read - Aimetu's our latest trip was to Portsmouth. 

A New Year, a new rotation and a first finish !!

Happy New Year everyone - I hope 2015 has started well for you and continues to be a happy & healthy one.

I have reassessed my stitching and my goals for 2015, there are a few special things to be done, exchanges and SALs, never mind things I see and fancy doing for me. The later part of 2014 saw my rotation plans slide away; I have set up a new rotation for 2015 - here's hoping I can do better this year.

Saturday and Sunday - gifts if time is short or UFO which is not my Drawn Thread October, November and December

Monday - finishing day or stitching as the weekend

Tuesday - ornament for church tree

Wednesday - Santa's village in the Parlour with Miss Barb

Thursday - monthly challenge or ornament for church

Friday - whatever is urgent or takes my fancy 

 

 

I'll be stitching with Julie and Mr Stick at Needlecraft Haven to do my UFO. My church theme for next year is 'Joy to the World', last Christmas Mary gave me the Lizzie Kate chart - the ornament I stitched will be be top of my tree and I'll be doing lots of other ornaments one the 'Joy' theme. The ornament is actually filled with my 2013 orts, but more about orts later.

 

 

Christine is doing the Monthly Christmas Ornament again on Needlecraft Haven so my Thursday night will be keeping up with this SAL. There is a lot happening on NH - it's such a lovely forum to host as everyone is so friendly. I'm organising a Four Season's SAL this year (instead of the exchanges we did the last two years)

Back to orts for a moment - I collect my orts firstly in my little pot in my stitch box but then in my beautiful bonbon jar. At the end of the year I stitch and ornament and fill it with the orts, as I said Joy to the World was stuffed with my 2013 orts. This year I have stitched LHN Baked Goods and used my 2014 orts - so I now have another ornament for our tree and an empty bonbon jar ready to be filled with 2015 orts.

Baked goods is also the start of my Stitch from Stash 2015 - the chart was a gift last year from Barb the fabric and threads from my stash, and the backing fabric and cord is also from my stash. All told a great start and because the chart was a gift I think I can also include it in Gifted Gorgeousness.

So a great start for my stitching year - and I have picked up one of my old hobbies but I can't share yet as it's a gift. Just my reading to catch up with.

Wishing you and your families a very happy & healthy 2015