My own kind of Maynia !

I am intrigued by the idea of Maynia and kind of wanted to take part , but I don't really do smalls as such and the idea of having that many starts would terrify me .
 So , as I have been on sick leave for the last few weeks following surgery , I decided to start a new HAED , with the aim of working on it every day of May and seeing how much I could get done.
  Coincidentally , On the HAED fb page , a challenge popped up starting 26th April to do a new start and try and complete a page by 26th June , my kind of thing.

  So , I decided to do this one as it was already kitted up , apart from fabric , and most of it from stash. .

 The first page was completed on 20th May

 I was cursing the confetti at the end , but the eye looks fabulous.

 And this is where I'm at with the second page.

 There are two partial pages underneath , so I am hopeful of a finish in the next couple of months as I am totally loving stitching on this.

   A couple of quick finishes for a friend , an Easter card and bookmark that I made.

 Still waiting on an appointment with a liver specialist , but my blood tests are showing improvements so , got to look on the bright side.

  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

Just a quickie

I haven't been stitching much with all the stresses at the moment. Mu husband lost his job last week, and whilst not unexpected , it's still not easy to come to terms with . When I did see something that I wanted to stitch , I jumped right in to do it while I was in the mood ,so I have a new start.

It's from the back of The World of Cross Stitching , issue 179 , though there are lots of others , I may end up doing a few of them. The saying on this just reminds me so much of my Daughter , lol. I also love Newton from Newtons' Law , my Daughter had just decided that she no longer wants her two teddies , so they have joined my two , lol.

On the positive side, my Husband has got to go to two sports days , and is able to be at school on Tuesday when our Daughter gets an achievement award , so we're making the most of it .

I can't believe the kids break up from school at the weekend , and come September , both of them will be in school full time. How time has flown.

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

A Start to Remember.

I had all the best intentions of having a new start to show yesterday, but this darned cold just hasn't let up enough for me to feel up to much .

It was ten years yesterday since my Dad died . I still miss him , and this time of year it's more noticeable , especially as he's missing out on the pleasure of the kids etc.

Anyway , a couple of years after he died I saw this kit advertised in a magazine and just had to buy it , despite having lots of stash already ( nothing compared to what I have now ,lol ) . I knew I wouldn't be able to stitch it straight away , so put it away , occasionally digging it out to look at and then put it away again .

I decided that it was time to get it done and had intended to start on the day , but haven't felt up to much , so this will be my first new start of 2011 . I'm figuring on taking a while to get it set up , plus I have a couple of other bits to finish up asap .

The verse around the edge reads :

" Some may have castles on the banks of the Rhine , and hire an orchestra each evening at nine . But richer than I , they will never be . I had a Dad who spent time with me "

The verse and the picture are so right as when I was a kid me and Dad used to spend a lot of time tramping in the woods ,especially in Autumn. We'd go hunting for chestnuts , conkers , hazel nuts , blackberries ... you get the idea .

I don't think it will be easy to do , not that it looks a difficult chart but each stitch will bring a memory . Not a bad thing , but hard sometimes .

Thanks for looking ,

Cath

Take a Breath.

Saturday was grey and foggy. The morning was spent digging out my husbands' car so he could go and do the shopping. I carried on when he had left , so he could get back on to the drive , and we did a pretty good job.

This is the pile of snow that we got off the top of the car and from round the side . Can you see the bumper impressions? Most of this snow was there before we started moving it lol. Trees in the fog .

So , we're stocked up with groceries again , and he also picked up a couple of kiddy presents which made me feel a bit better . I've just reserved some more online ,which he is going to pick up tomorrow. Then we only need some small bits and bobs and we're sorted.

So ,with the fog came a bit of a thaw , and later on some fine rain which also helped to melt a bit of snow. It did freeze overnight but has melted some more today with the sun, so I'm feeling a bit more positive now .

Friday night I decided I needed a new start , so Saturday morning I got organised with these:

and made a start late afternoon. Now it was Casualty last night , so nothing got done while that was on , but this is my progress so far.I'm loving it , despite a couple of small frogs , well can't blame them for wanting to get out of the snow . It seems to be slow going , but I'm using 32ct evenweave which is taking a bit of getting used to after using the aida for the charity squares . The colours aren't showing too well in this pic , but it's the artificial light. You get the idea anyway.

Thank you everyone for the lovely comments and support , I really appreciate it.

Take care ,

Cath

Stitchery Stash and a new start .

I got this kit as a bargain e-bay find before Christmas . It's one I've had my eye on for a while , but never got round to buying ,so I was quite pleased to find it. I have ups and downs with e-bay , I will look on every day for a while , then not bother for ages before going back to it again. Then , I noticed that the lovely Ranae (http://crazyxstitcher.blogspot.com/) was getting rid of some charts she no longer wanted . and asked what she wanted to swap for a couple of them ,and she has just sent them to me. Isn't that just so kind. I can see a little something winging its' way to her fairly soon. This actually came with the fabric you can just see peeking out on the left.And , I was very lucky to win this Window of Hope chart in Kaths' Christmas giveaway. http://kathsstitchingheaven.blogspot.com/(PS , can anyone tell me how to put a link on with just a name or word instead of the whole thing?)

So , on to the new start.This is not my normal thing at all. (Shellie will be happy-lol) . This is a freebie from The Workbasket , and for some reason it just called out to me .

I started it this afternoon , so not much done , but it seems to be stitching up quite quickly. This is a pretty good picture of the colours (DMC 4030) and I'm enjoying it.

Thanks for dropping by , Cath .

New start for Christmas

Until recently , I was never really bothered about stitching for Christmas. It seemed like a lot of effort to put in for it to be only seen a few weeks every year. Over the last year or so , I've come round to the idea a bit more . It would be nice to have a special seasonal picture , and maybe it would be appreciated more for not being up all the time. I've ummed and ahhed until finally deciding to do something. I've probably left it too late for this year , but we'll see. I had a couple of projects in mind , but this one came out tops :

It's from Cross Stitcher 127 , November 2002 issue and is by Rhona Norrie.

So , I turned the house over looking for a spare scroll frame ,and we haven't got one .We have six frames , five have projects on and the other one is too small for this . With my husbands encouragement , I went over to my LNS and bought a new frame. They didn't have the size I wanted in stock , and I didn't want to wait another couple of weeks, so I bought a slightly larger one and it seems ok. I also went for the easy clip frame instead of the type where you sew the fabric on to the bars , and it's a lot easier. I did learn though to put the clips all the way along the fabric , or it gets distorted.

This is where I've got to this afternoon , with less than an hours stitching.

It says in the mag that it will take about 45 hours stitching , but time will tell. Whether it gets done in time for this Christams remains to be seen , but if not , I've made an early start for next year lol.