HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Hope everyone has a wonderful year filled with love , fun and stitches .

First , I'd like to thank everyone for the lovely comments on my Dads' sampler . I am looking forward to stitching it , but have decided not to rush into it . I want to get Dandy Dreams finished first , I think . I don't like having too many things on the go at once , and already have WIPs ,but I'll go into that later.

I am not doing the Crazy challenge or anything like that , it would totally do my head in to have new starts every day for 15 days , even if they were small . To all those who are doing it though , I really admire you .

A quick re-cap on 2010 .

I finished 97 stitched pieces , 65 of which were squares for charity and 32 my own . Of my own projects , there was one big (Chicken Run) , 7 small-medium (the main one being Moon Struck) and the rest were all smalls.

I also stitched and stuffed a few teddies and had a go at crochet .

And , I read 89 books .

My last three stitches of the year are :

My last three Digimon characters . I have really enjoyed stitching these , but glad to have a break for a while. Thanks again Dawn for the charts .

Actually ,the last one was finished this morning , but I'm counting it as a 2010 finish so I can start with a clean slate.

I don't do resolutions , but I have a few aims and wishes for this year .

My aims are to stitch my Dads' sampler and complete my WIPs ,

Dandy Dreams

Christmas Recipe , started 2009 but I stopped stitching when my cousin was killed and didn't get back into it . I think I may fit his initials in somewhere discreet . And Three Little Maids , never been shown on this blog before . Started either early 2009 or late 2008 . Will be finished 2011 . Also, just realised I never showed my other stitch from the JCS mag

I made it into a little cushion, but I'm not totally happy with it , so may stitch it again , we'll see .

My wishes are to stitch

Bent Creeks' Hen and at least one of the Rows ,

LK ABC lessons

McDonald's Maple Leaf

Flamingos

And to at least start one of my L&L charts. There are lots more , but I'm trying not to be too optimistic , lol , and of course , some of these may not happen .

I'm also hoping to do more stitched cards and ornies and maybe some more individual exchanges with different people , so if anyone is interested in exchanging with me , please let me know .

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

We Got More

SNOW.

yeuck!!!!

It snowed last night , and is still coming. The local schools are closed , and fortunately my husband was at home last night and has decided not to go on his travels today. Something which I am very grateful for as I worry all the time.

This may look the same as from last post , but an hour or so before this picture was taken , my husband had cleared the car in preparation for going out. Other news , I have finished another Digimon square .

Only three more to go .

And , on Sunday I went to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show . It was a bit of a surprise as I wasn't supposed to go. My MIL was going on a minibus trip organised by the craft group she belongs to and someone dropped out at the last minute , so I got the place.

I enjoyed it , and would go again but I felt it was aimed more towards knitters than stitchers. I did get a bit of new stash , well got to make it worth the trip , lol.Bent Creeks' Winter Row , quite apt I suppose .

LK Housework and JBW A Very Merry Christmas And some Threadworx threads and some buttons , which I will hopefully be able to use with the JBW charts so I can do a few of them for next year. I also got some more scrumptious threads , but My MIL has claimed them for my Christmas present , so you'll just have to wait to see those , lol.

I heard from Michelle that I have won her giveaway , so that was a lovely surprise , thanks Michelle .

I will leave you with a shot of Mr Cool, our new resident .

Take care in the bad weather and if in doubt , stay in and stitch.

Thanks for dropping by,

Cath

We Got It .

Snow , that is . I was hoping that we'd escape it, but I woke at some point in the early hours and just knew it had snowed . The light is always different as the snow reflects the yellow from the street lights, and there it was. Needless to say I didn't get much of a lie-in this morning as the kids were too excited . Stomping down stairs, gasps and squeals of delight just made me chuckle.

Both kids and Daddy went outside to play while I organised washing etc. I just don't like the snow now I'm older , I find that I want to load up with groceries and hibernate indoors ,lol . So , apart from a few housey jobs , I've stitched and read a little and that's about it.

Here's what I've been doing for the last couple of weeks.

Three more Digimon squares , I just finished off the latest one . Only four more to do and I've done the 12 I promised , though I expect I'll end up doing more. I love the one in orange , he looks so much a tough street kid , lol.

Four little bunnies. The charts are really small for these , so I used some 11 count aida that I got in a bargain pack from Readicut and they turned out ok using 3 strands of thread .And, Jiminy Cricket , who will be joined by Pinnochio at some point , but I want to get the Digimons finished as they are for a quilt for one of the kids in Rachels' Place.

And , look what came in the post the other day. I saw this chart ages ago on a blog and fell in love with it so got in touch with Thread Bear on the off chance that they'd be able to get it for me . It's not one they normally stock , but my luck was in as I happened to contact them on the day they were sending an order in , so they added it for me . I love how they wrap things , it really is like getting a gift through the post .

Blowing dandelion clocks is something I've always liked to do , and something my kids like to do , so this is just lovely and I can't wait to start it . The bonus is it uses only DMC threads , so no faffing to get other threads , hopefully they will all be already in my stash.

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

Furry friends and other things.

I've just spent lovely half hour with both cats curled up on me . As it's wet and windy outside again , I can't think of many better things . Obviously , Finley thought it was a bit rough being ousted from my lap , so he went and snuggled himself under a fleece blanket , lol . And here's the boys together .

I have some stitching to show , I would have shown it sooner , but my laptop decided to throw a key at me , so it had to go to be fixed. Anyway , here are some more digimon squares for SFC.

And this is Mr Funny , I stitched him up yesterday . I'm now going to hopefully spread the joy a little . My local stamp factory/shop is closing down and getting rid of everything , so I bought a few extras and I'm offering them as a giveaway . I know a lot of stitchers also do paper crafts , so if you are interested in winning these brand new mounted stamps , just leave a comment on this post , saying that you'd like to be entered. The winner will be drawn on 20th November . (The one with no picture on the back says "have a lovely day")

Finally , one last thing in honour of the day .

REMEMBER

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

Charity stitches and exchange goodies.

Here I am again . The kids have broken up for half term , so blogging while I have the chance , lol.

I've been doing some small squares for Stitch for Charity . Six small logo squares with 'Made With Love' , 'Li entsoe ka lerato' (made with love in the language used in Lesotho) and two with names on for the kids who have moved into Rachel's Place.

I've also made a start on some Digimon squares . I came across a wonderful blog by Dawn , who charts all of these characters and offers them up for everyone to use. I contacted her and asked if it would be ok to use them for the quilts , and she kindly agreed . So we now have around 200 new charts to use . This is great as we can get tired of doing the same stuff all the time .

If you want to see the charts, got to Anime Stitching and follow the links . If you don't want to see the charts , go and look anyway as Dawn does some great stitching as well.

I have also received my Autumn exchange from Lainey . As usual I am behind on getting organised and sending mine out , but here are some pics of what I received.

I must be getting better at this , I actually remembered to take some photos before ripping off the wrapping , lol.

Ribbon , thread and buttons and pins.

Stitchy fabric and backing fabric. Hoop , frame , card and notebook. And a gorgeous cushion , I love the bird , so cute.

Thanks again Lainey , it's lovely , and the kids loved the choc .

Hopefully I'll be back soon to show what I sent to Lainey , trying to get my bum in gear .

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath