Framed!

So last week saw me getting two of my pieces back from the framers, though I wasn't expecting them to be ready until this week at least , it was a happy surprise.
 I am very happy with how they turned out.

  Close up of the frame .

  This one was quite hard to get a good picture of. The mount is actually a dark blue/grey .

 Love them both. Got to start saving up for the next ones now . It may take a while .

 The Young Voices concert was amazing, much better than I had expected . Laura Wright sang a couple of songs . She has a beautiful voice . I could have sat and listened to her all night. We were also entertained by  The Beatbox Collective in between the schools singing , and Urban Strides ,a street dancing group were there too. Fantastic !

 Thanks for dropping by ,
Cath

Giveaway winner.

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay ,we have had a busy week , so without further ado :
 I put all the names in a box and asked my daughter to pick one out , and she chose.....
 
     CUCKI  ,

  and as anyone with kids knows , if one is doing something ,then the other one has to , so my son was also asked to choose a name . So the second winner is ...

JULIE 

So , ladies , if you could please drop me a line with your postal details , a few ideas of your likes/dislikes , favourite colours / designers etc. , and any ideas if you would like something themed to a season or holiday , or just a surprise , that would be great . Thanks to everyone who entered , and welcome to my new followers .

 Now for a quick update. Not much stitching going on over the last few weeks . I have had a lot on my mind and find it difficult to concentrate , so mostly I have been knitting.
  My MIL goes to a group where someone was giving away yarn , so she grabbed it for me. My daughter immediately nabbed it , and requested a snuggly scarf with hand warmer pockets , so this kept me busy for a few days .

 And of course , then the boy wanted one too . This was finished just last night . The pics don't show the true colours, but I can't get it right with the grey weather we've got at the moment.

On Saturday , I finally felt like doing some stitching , so pulled out this chart .

Finished it on Sunday , and then started this which I got for my birthday last year from Bekca .

I didn't have the called for threads for either of them , so just used DMC variegated to suit . Not sure about the chick , but I'm really happy with the LK one .

 Still not quite ready to go back to Butterflies ,so you may well see a few more smalls .
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!

 And an end at the end .

 After feeling that I hadn't accomplished much this year with my crafty finishes , I set to yesterday , late afternoon and all evening to stitch on LK ABC Lessons , and... finished it! The last stitch went in at 11.21 last night, and made the end of the year for me .

  I am really happy with the finish. I made a few small changes with colours, but overall it is as charted.
 I have to say though , that I was unimpressed with the threads. The colour variegation was hardly noticeable at times, which was a little disappointing. Lettuce Leaves was very blue , I hope I never get lettuce that colour , lol , and at least three times the thread just snapped as I was stitching, the ends also got very fluffy .
 I did end up with over a full skein of Cocoa Bean left , so if anyone is stitching this and buying the threads separately, if you are careful with thread, you will only need four of these .

   So , this brings my stitching project total for the year to 41 completed.
 They are , two large, LK and Calm Seas , three squares for LQUK , three medium projects and the rest are small or small-medium. Less than in previous years, but I haven't been churning out the charity squares as much , and there have been a lot of times when I haven't stitched for weeks on end , so not too bad .
 I have read 120 books in the year , and made seven swirly scarves .

  And here is my ort pot for the year , now I am hoping to start again today with a new project ,lol .

 I will be back soon with hopefully pics of that new start , plans for the year and pics of the new stash ,lol .

 It has taken me over two hours to read all the posts for the last 24 hrs, everyone has been busy ,lol .

 Take care , and enjoy the start of the year.
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Red sky in the morning

 Means stay in and stitch .

A beautiful sight this morning has left a very cold and windy day, and to top it off it is now wet .

 So , nothing to do but stay in and stitch . After a full day stitching last Wednesday (the kids were at an after school club so I got an extra hour too) and a few more sessions , I only had the sand left to do on Calm Seas , so now it is Happy Dance time !!!! YAY!

 I mostly enjoyed stitching it , but I'm glad it's done. Quite pleased with how it's turned out ,though it needs a good wash before taking to the framers. It is one of those that looks better from a distance though , as it is taken from a painting.
 So , what next ?
 Well, I have a square to do for LQUK, then I would like to finish off all of my WIPs/UFOs before the end of the year if I can .
 They are  LK ABC Lessons

Christmas Recipe

 and Three Little Maids , which at the moment is only Two ,lol.

 I would love to get these all done so next year can be a clean slate .
 Next year is going to be a Big project year I think , but more on that later .

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

Now I know my ABCs

At least up to "K" anyway , lol .
 I am 1/3 way through LK ABC Lessons . I am really enjoying it , though it seems to be taking forever to stitch. I usually stitch 1/2 the stitch in rows , then go back over to do the other half , so doing each stitch separately seems to make it a long job.
 Anyway , pics .

 Love those little sheep .X

 Sheep again , lol .

 I will be back soon , as I have just received a lovely gift from a fellow blogger that I want to show off ,

 Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath