Resistance is futile

I've kind of given up on the idea of doing less for Love Quilts , I always seem to think "I'll just do one more before having a break" and that break is not happening at the moment.
  My sons' wee doggy has been sadly neglected . I'm still getting into the work routine and am not up to counting too much at the moment , plus I have realised that I grossly miscounted at the start and he is not centred properly,which has put me off somewhat.
 But , still wanting to stitch so I have been doing lots of block colours for team Superhero.

 And loved doing this bright label.

 Just finished yesterday.

 Easter half term , hubby also had the second week off work so we had some fun days out when I was not working.
  We had a day in Skegness , it was chilly and foggy but we had fun nonetheless . We can never go past a branch of The Works , so popped into the Skeg one , and I found treasure.
  This is extendable , magnetic and has an LED light on the end . Perfect for if you drop your needles , and a bargain at  2.50 . I haven't seen them in the local shops , so not sure if they are limited .

Our local Hub has some very talented people who love sharing with the community . One such gentleman is a wood turner and goes into the local primary school to do demos for the kids .
 My son was chosen for the most recent one and was over the moon to be given this pen that he saw being made . It is absolutely lovely , and I'm a tad bit jealous.

  That's all for now , I am busy doing laundry so I can dry outside while we have the lovely weather.
Thanks for dropping by ,
Cath

Ooops , I did it again !

Square finished for Love Quilts.

 But , I also finished this , and love it.

 The stripes in the water were getting me down a bit , but I love the end result.

   Had a couple of questions about this , but some of your blogger profiles are set to no reply so I couldn't e-mail back .  Anyway , the design is by Jody Rice and is in Cross Stitch Crazy issue 226 March 2017. I stitched 2 over 1 on 19 ct fabric using the called for DMC threads.

  So , finishes mean starts right ?

 My latest project is another dog for my boy .

 What it will look like

I have another sign up for Love Quilts , but it's not due until end of May , so I'm not starting it straight away . I want to get more of the dog done before allowing myself to be distracted by anything else .

   In other news , after eight months or so of trying , I have got a job . No start date of yet , should find out from Thursday onwards when I can get cracking , but really looking forward to it . I will be working as a domestic at the local hospital three mornings a week. Ready for a new challenge.

Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

I have a problem !

I was reading some of my old blog posts earlier on , and for the last 3 / 4 , maybe even 5 years I have been saying that I'm going to do more personal stitching , and less for Love Quilts , and yet I still haven't managed it .
 My personal project of the moment is this :

 This is where I'm at , at the moment .

 I love the colours, I love the shapes and I love how neat the stitches are coming out.

 The model is stitched on 14ct , but my fabric is 18 , almost 19 count which makes the stitches much closer together, so no show-through and the colours look much more vivid.

 So , in theory it should have been done by now , but I have also been stitching on this

  Yep, you guessed it , it's a square for Love Quilts, I just cannot seem to stop myself .  Told you I have a problem !
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

A New Year !

Means time to re-cap .

 So , 2017 was a bit of a flop stitching wise , I had 32 starts and 29 finishes , 21 of which were squares for Love Quilts . No big finishes and not as many small ones as usual. I fell into a bit of a funk towards the end of the year , mainly due to stress and jury duty ,but thankfully things are improving now .
 My Orts for last year :

 My jar was emptied ready to start afresh .

Books read last year came to a grand total of 133 , quite a bit more than previous years but with not as much stitching , I had to be doing something , right? 

  Christmas saw a big enhancement to my book stash .

 And these were purchases from the charity shop  , so I am set for a few weeks ,lol.

I have been busy stitching since the holidays.

   This was started last year , but finished on the 2nd of Jan and is a sign up for Love Quilts.

This one was started 2nd Jan and finished on the 9th , another LQ sign -up. They have both been posted now along with the Green Lantern logo which was originally an a/c square but has since been used for a sign-up.

 After Mickey , I stitched this for my daughter. It was complete , but she's now decided that she wants her name and birth month putting on , but it shouldn't take too long to do .

I love doing my Love Quilts squares but I really do need to start doing more of my own stitching , my stash is languishing and has been for far too long , so I am now stitching on a personal project which is quite different to what I would normally do , but I'm loving it . I will show that next time .

 I did have a teeny bit of stash for Christmas , I ordered it before hand as I knew I would be getting mostly money , so just a few bits. Most of my cash went on new clothes as I have lost over a stone in the last few months and I was getting a bit fed up of my bottoms falling down ,lol .

So , Happy New Year , here's to a year full of stitching , stashing and reading and whatever else you would like .

 Thanks for dropping by ,

 Cath

'Tis the season

and the time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas .
I am rather late as this week has been extremely busy and I only finished wrapping gifts around 3pm today (so not organised this year).
  To my overseas friends , I apologise for not sending cards this year , to be frank I could not afford the postage costs , however it does not mean that I haven't been thinking of you and I do wish you the very best for the season.
 Thanks to all my followers ,especially those few who take the time to leave comments on this blog of mine , it is much appreciated. I will be back soon with the usual end of year round up and aims for next year .

With warm wishes for a wonderful Christmas filled with love and laughter .

Cath x

Winter already ?

We had some snow on Thursday , thankfully not a lot and it didn't stay around for too long . I am just not ready.
 Not ready for Christmas either. I am so not organised this year , it's dreadful.
 I finished the dog for my boy , and love how it turned out.

 This is an a/c square for Love Quilts. I needed some easy stitching whilst on jury duty and this fitted the bill nicely. I did the black outline the week before and then just had to "colour it in" . I couldn't take it with me as no sharp objects allowed , they even took a pair of baby nail scissors off me the first day , so I just left them out of my bag after that . Still , it was nice to have something to pick up in the evenings when I wasn't too blasted .

  Jury duty was not easy and it is extremely wearing mentally and emotionally. I am only now beginning to feel that I can put it mostly behind me . I only had one case Monday - Friday the first week . Had Monday and Tuesday off the second week , went in on Wednesday to wait around all day and then be dismissed , but to be frank it was a relief .
  After I finished Green Lantern I wanted to do some "me" stitching so finally got round to doing this gorgeous chart by Gaynor of Stitchers' Anon .

 This was charted as a memory piece for Cathey and I am so glad to finally have it stitched. Not sure how I am going to finish it off yet  but I'm leaning towards a wall plaque kind of finish. We will see.
 Now I've got to decide what to do next .
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Well into Autumn

And it feels like I should still be in summer. This year has positively flown , I must be getting old.

 Only a bit of stitching to show from last time , both sign-ups for Love Quilts. The butterfly one only took a few days  .

 This one felt like it took forever . I have stitched it before , three years ago but will not stitch it again , the chart has been sent off to someone else to enjoy. I love the end result , but it was not worth the stress . I was beginning to think I might not make the deadline , thankfully that has never happened yet and I hope it never does ,I hate to let people down. This one nearly got the better of me though.

I literally had to force myself to pick it up. Once I did , it was ok but it was an effort every time. Strangely enough , as soon as it was finished I really wanted to stitch. I have started another dog for my son, and it is nice to pick it up when I want to rather than feel I have to.
 Speaking of my son, he came off his bike three weeks ago and broke his arm. Thankfully it is not a bad break , and all being well his cast will be off on Monday, but we had a rough couple of days.
 Not much else going off , I may not get much stitching done over the next few weeks . Half term holiday has just begun then beginning of next month I have jury duty.
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Pumpkin Day

Sorry I am a little late in posting , I can only do it on the computer and tend to only get it out in the evening.
 So , today is Pumpkin Day , a day originally to celebrate the blogoversary of out lovely friend Cathey , but since her death it is more to celebrate her life and remember her with much love.

 Cathey was a lot of things to a lot of people ,to me she was a friend , caring , compassionate , sharing , loving , graceful , courageous , fun-loving and so much more . I think of her often , and miss her still.

With love Cathey , today and every day.
x

Squares .

Wow ! Half way through the holidays already. We have had busy times and quiet times , relaxing and fun. Hubby had the second week of the hols off work so we had a couple of lovely days out , and also some r&r at home. Been busy clearing out the kids' rooms (always a summer holiday thing). The boys' is done , and he has a lovely new bed so he's happy.
 The girls' is a work in progress.Yesterday saw 12 bin bags full of teddies going into the loft ,lol.
 Today she has gone off to her friends' for a couple of days. I miss her like mad , but so glad she has finally found the best friend she has always wanted.

  My daughter surprised us on her last day at school , by coming home with another gift card which she received for not only having the most A points in her year , she got the most ever in the school history of giving them . So very proud of her .

Still stitching when I can , but also reading a lot too. Some fabulous books both bought and borrowed from the library.

  I realised last time that I forgot to show one of my LQ squares. This was done between the fairy and the rocket.

 Another Batman , I did the background a different colour this time for a change.

 9 a/c squares altogether.

 And for a change , this one is for my son . Another Jack Russell for his eventual quilt.

 A label finished yesterday.

 I have two more sign ups to do for Love Quilts , then I will be taking a break to do some personal stitching .
 I have also stitched up a couple of free kits from the magazines, but have not yet took pictures , so maybe next time.
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath .xxx

Quick catch up

Well the summer holiday time is almost upon us , so I thought I'd better update while I get the chance.
 I am a very proud Mum at the moment , both my lovely kids have had excellent reports from school. My daughter has aced her first year at Comprehensive school , coming out with 100% attendance , working above expected levels for her age group and has been presented with a badge and trophy for completing the Leadership Bronze award and also received a gift voucher which she earned with her A points. They get given A points for various things , like good work , handing in homework on time and doing it well as well as many other things.
 My son got a fab report too , and we had a great time this morning watching the year 5s and 6s performing Grease.(He's in year 5 at the moment - last year at Primary starting September). So , really chuffed with and for both of them .

 Stitching wise , I have been a busy little bee , so let's have a look .

These are all any child squares for Love Quilts . The trains were finished just this evening .
 I have also nearly finished a gift for my sons' teacher , so will have to show you that next time .
 I'm sure that there was something else I had to write about , but cannot think of it at the moment , so will leave it here .
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Still stitchin'

And keeping busy . Latest finishes :

A LQ any child square. I have been doing these in between stitching on the next finish

  A Jack for my son. He is eventually having a dog quilt and absolutely love Jack Russell's , so this is the first of a few but it was a total pain to stitch . I love the finish , but definitely not stitching again.

 And this was finished last night. We are in desperate need of super heroes at Love Quilts. 155 kids in the lottery for a quilt and more than 30 of them want super heroes. Best get cracking then ,lol.

I am waiting on some stash , but it's just more aida and a few threads , so nothing exciting. I have however taken advantage of the HAED flash sale 50% off , so added these to my ever growing collection .

So , can someone please find me a philosophers' stone . Thank you , and see you next time .
Cath x