Catching up .

Well ,the offer of the Barney stitches and fabric has been gratefully accepted by The World of Charity Stitchers. Thanks to Joan (MargaretHolly) who suggested them . I could not reply to your comment as your profile is set to no replies , but Thank you . I am pleased that they will be put to good use.
 I do stitch for LQUK , but didn't think they would be suitable for them as they request the stitches are on 13" square fabric and the Barneys are just on odd sized scraps , but they will be posted off hopefully sometime next week .


 So, I need to say a belated Thank you to Barb who passed on this lovely chart and spare threads to me .

 Sorry it has taken me a while ,the last couple of weeks of the holidays and first couple of weeks back to school have kept me pretty busy .
 Also , thanks to Loretta who has recently had a giveaway , and I won the Halloween JCS , so looking forward to that arriving .

 So ,a bit of stitching . This is my new project .

And here is where I'm at at the moment . A lot of blue ,lol . Only a little bit more to do on the sky , then onto the cliffs . I'm looking forward to some different colours .

 This is going to be a gift , so I'm hoping to get it done sooner , sadly life has a habit of getting in the way .

 I have also stitched an exchange piece , but can't show it yet , and another one in the pipeline .

 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

I'm back !

Not entirely sure what was wrong with my computer , but it seems to be OK now.
 It would get so far in starting up , and then freeze. The mouse was still working , but nothing else would respond , not even shutting down .
 We found out that it would work if started up in safe mode , so did that a few times , then did a full virus scan , and here we are . No virus showed up , but everything seems to be in proper working order , for which I am truly thankful .

 Whilst my computer was offline , I borrowed hubbys' occasionally, but then his got hit with a virus bomb, so I wasn't commenting just in case. Both PCs are now seemingly OK , let's just hope that they stay that way .

 Well, while I wasn't able to waste lots of time playing daft games on line, I made up for it by stitching and sewing .

 I ended up stitching Tramp whilst doing the wren for MIL , so one happy little girl , but now I need to make a cushion cover or two ,lol .

 After finishing and framing the wren , I wanted to do something for me , and got to looking through some of my mags that I have hoarded for years. I found quite a few charts that I'd mentally book marked , and decided to go for it , so started this one .

  It is called Galah by Jill Oxton , and it's from Jill Oxtons' Cross Stitch , issue 33 . I have quite few of these magazines, and most of them have at least one chart in that I would like to stitch . I do love Jills' animal charts , they are fantastically realistic , and mostly only whole stitches with a tiny bit of back stitch for detail .
 This was my start , and where I was when the computer decided to play up .

  And here it is finished.  (started 26th June , finished 8th July) . I love it , just got to try and find a frame for it now .

  I have started another of Jills' bird charts , but this is not one that will be expected ,lol . I will show pictures next time .

 I have also been working on ABC Lessons a bit too . This is the latest progress pics ,though I have done another line and started the next one since these photos were taken .

  I did change the colour of the little bird here , to keep in with the bird further on in the chart .

  I cannot believe that school is over for the summer. My little boys first year at school has gone so quickly , but he has come on so much .
 Both kids were on the same team for sports day , and their team came second , so they were very excited about that .
 We had a special assembly on Tuesday , and my son got a super star award , one of  five in his class, for progress and effort through out the year . And , both kids got attendance awards , so we are very happy and proud parents at the moment .


 So , end of term means teacher gifts . Funds are still tight , so there were some home made gifts this year . I made a couple of cute "things" for my daughters' teaching assistants . The teachers got mugs and bag holders.

 My sons class had chicks in this year , and we also took our chickens in for a visit , so I made some little chickens for the teachers and assistants .

  They all seem to have gone down well , so hopefully the staff will have something to remember the kids by .

 I wonder if I will get as much stitching done now that the computer is back on ,lol . Mind you , the kids are now on holiday , so I will no doubt be kept busy entertaining them . Both kids want to do some stitching though , so that will be interesting .

 I have also been chosen to receive a travelling pattern , which has arrived ,so I will shortly be posting a pic of that too .

 Thanks for reading , I will hopefully be back to commenting now too , yippee !

Take care ,
 Cath

Thank you for the birds.

Tammy recently showed a new stitching start and asked people to guess what it was .Of the couple of clues, one was that it was for her Dad. Now , I know that she has stitched lots of birds for her Dad , so guessed it was some sort of bird. I was right , and Tammy sent me a lovely gift just for having a go. how nice is that ? 

 Look at the lovelies Tammy sent me .

 Gorgeous counting pins that Tammy made and packaged herself .

 Another hand made gift , a lovely scissor fob , with a maple leaf at the end . So pretty .

          Great fob. Got to agree with that saying .

  A foldable ort catcher . I have seen a tutorial for this before ,and though about making one , but never got                       round to it .

         And here it is all opened up .

      There was also a big bag of Smarties for the kids .They don't know about this yet ,lol .

                And a gorgeous chart.

Like Tammy , I am a big fan of bird charts , especially Valerie Pfeiffer . I just love her birds , and this is one of the charts that I haven't got , so it's even better . Another big Thank you Tammy, I love it all .

 To show how much I love the Valerie Pfeiffer birds ,I decided to get out my stash haul and show some pics.

     The collection of to do kits.

         Branching Out

            Chick Chat

          Duets

  Now , I have Three Little Maids as a WIP , I have stitched "Singing The Blues" for my Grandma , but don't have a pic of that one . It was finished just before my Daughter was born , and it came back from the framers when we were still in hospital. I just about had enough time to wrap it before my Grandma came to see us on her 80th birthday .
I also stitched " Simply Wren" for my MIL .

 I have a vision of all these birds stitched and framed and hanging on the wall going up the stairs . Obviously this is going to take some time , as I have had the kits years , and this is only a fraction of my stitching stash. Oh well , I am never short of something to do ,lol.

  Thanks for dropping by ,

 Cath

Stitching friends are the best .

 I have to say a huge Thank you to Lainey who sent me a lovely package last week .

 Despite having problems of her own , Lainey made me a lovely gift , and cheered me up no end .
 

  A fab chart . Gotta love the chooks ,lol .

A beautiful cushion

  And some lovely DMC threads .

 So, thanks again Lainey , you made my day .

I have posted a new page at the top (It's Gotta Go ) with sale or trade items if anyone is interested .

 I will be back with updates soon .

 Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

Catching Up.

Hi everyone .

I do not know where my mind has been lately, I'm forgetting so many things ,lol . The good news is , it means I've got plenty to show you now.

I've been forgetting to show off the lovely gift I received from a friend for Christmas , so here it is . My friend is very talented , and I've been lucky to receive some lovely things that she has created. I've even been lucky enough to keep some of them , lol , as my kids keep pinching them.

I've also been forgetting to show the lovely charts I won in Barbs' giveaway . (Blogger is still not letting me put a link in here )

Anyway , I have plans for these little cuties , so thanks again Barb. x

The last RAK has arrived safe and sound . I stitched up this lovely chart . If I remember correctly , it's a freebie from Primitive Betty , but I will check on that. Apologies if I'm wrong.

I turned it into a little pillow and sent it to Mylene . I'm glad to say that it got to her safely ,and she likes it .I got my stitchy bug back , but didn't know what to do so I decided to finally finish this little guy. That blanket was sending me potty last time I was stitching it , so it got put away for a while ,but once I set myself to finishing it , it didn't take long . Not sure what to do with him now , maybe a bag ,but we'll see. I may yet stitch some more Newton charts.

While I was debating on what to stitch , I really wanted to start a new project but I've got so many in my stash I didn't know where to start or what with . I finally narrowed it down to two I needed to start soon ,and this one won out , purely because I've had it longer . I can't believe that it's two years since I bought this chart pack . LK , ABC Lessons . Not loads of progress , but I'm enjoying working on it. It can be slow going with doing it stitch by stitch , and I'm having to get used to holding the frame again after working in hand for so long , but so far , so good. With all these new starts , I have also had some finishes. I made some gifts for Mothers Day . The little bird has gone down very well , both my kids want one , so I have another one stitched and one part done , and my SIL wants me to make some for her for Easter , so lots of birds coming up ,lol.

And here's what my lovely pair got me for Mothers Day (With a little help from Daddy).

Some good viewing coming up.

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!

Hope everyone has had a good start to 2012 .

Ours could have been better , my little lad is not very well again . He had a rotten throat just before and over Christmas, just got over that to start with earache. Not sure if it's infected or not , so we may be going off to the doctors' tomorrow if it's no better.

No stitchy goodies for me this Christmas , me and hubby only got each other a couple of token gifts with things being tight , we mainly spent on the kids , but I did get some money from other family members , just not sure what I'm going to spend it on yet ,lol.

So , I have a few finishes to show now that they have been received .

A friend asked me to make her a scarf a while back , then asked if I could make a hat to go with it . I'd started to knit the scarf in chunky white with pastel flecks , and she asked for cream , lol, so I decided to do both. The colours are not obvious in these pictures though .

These were my first attempts to make adult sized hats , they could have been better , but thankfully my friend liked them both .

I also stitched her these little kitties as part of her Christmas gifts . A also got around to sending out (rather late) my blogoversary gifts to Dawn and Jane , and both have been received . I knitted a little red and white stocking and made beaded scissor fobs. I also included a pair of scissors (not shown) . Sorry I was so late ladies ,things have been very up and down here of late . A few people were wondering what I was going to make with those knitted strips , so here it is , a paper chain scarf , just to be different ,lol . I had almost enough strips left over to make two smaller ones for the kids , just need to knit a few more strips . They thought it was cool . I have to show you a lovely gift I did get for Christmas . My best friends Mum - in - law made me this lovely scarf after I admired one she'd made for herself .

This picture really doesn't do it justice , it is gorgeous, and in my favourite autumnal colours too . Love it. Lastly , this is what I'm stitching on at the moment , hopefully a finish soon . So , looking back at my aims for last year , I managed to complete a massive...... one. Ah well, the best laid plans and all that .

I completed 67 stitched pieces , 40 of which were for charity.

I knitted 4 adult size scarves , 4 kids scarves , 2 teddy scarves (got to include them , lol ) , 2 adult hats , 8 baby hats , 8 pairs of bootees , 1 teddy and 3 stockings.

I also read 100 books.

This year , I just want to stitch and enjoy my stitching . I would like to finish my WIP/UFOs , but we'll see .

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath