The End of the Summer...

I can't believe how quickly these last few weeks have flown and tomorrow I will be starting back at work! I thought I would do a quick update before I go back as it will be a busy term and not sure when I will get time to blog again. It has been a quiet summer and I have enjoyed the slow pace of it. We haven't done a tremendous amount and I have spent a lot of time at home, taking things easy and catching up on stitchy projects and stitchy gossip. It has been good to get time to read some of your blogs and be inspired.

August Goals

I did okay on these goals.

I completed two CCN ornies:

Christmas Birdhouse

Merry Merry

I completed and finished my Peace Design from My Big Toe

Stitched using Victorian Motto Threads on 28 Cream Cashel linen

I completed page 4 on Moira Blackburn's Three Things Sampler. I am over half way through this design now. Feeling very happy about this sampler. I am loving working on it. It is easy peasy and I love the colours.

The only one I didn't stitch was the Travelling Stitcher pattern, Love is Best. I will make that a priority next month. I thought I had seen this pattern before and I was right! It is already in my stash! I think I might have even stitched it before as a giveaway so I might do it again and do another giveaway.

September Goals

1. Stich Fa La La CCN ornie
2. Stitch Love is Best Lizzie Kate
3. Choose ornies for xmas exchange and prep
4. Just Nan Nan's Garden - As I am stitching this for my mum I am going to SAL with Tracy as she is doing something for her mum as well. I need to try to do a band a week. 

Had a bit of a splurge this month as well as I have decided to stitch a couple of Mirabilias. I went off them for quite a while but seeing Lynn's Mermaid at the Nimble Thimble meetup inspired me to start another, I had a mad time going on theviewer.net to look at hand dyed fabrics to go with the designs. I finally boiled it down to two designs: Fairy Moon and Lady of the Mist. I have gone with Crafty Kitten fabric.

Fairy Moon

Ocean Ridge Cashel Opalescent

Lady of the Mist

Aurora Murano evenweave.

I have ordered the beads for Fairy Moon and need to do a thread inventory and will be starting her first. It may take a few weeks for the fabric to get here anyway. 

I have added a few more hexagons to my blanket too and it is looking good. I do like the colours I have chosen very much. This is going to be a slow project I think which will last me through the Autumn and Winter. Which reminds me.... I am happy that the weather is starting to cool off now. I'm really not a Summer person. I love the start of Autumn and hunkering down, putting the fire on and cosying up with a blanket project. Roll on cool weather. I notice the heather has started blooming on the hills. Here are some snaps of a beautiful place we go to. It is near Hathersage in the Peak District. Love the purple. 

Right well that's it from me folks. Hopefully I will be back soon. Happy stitching and crafting. 

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Autumn Inspired....

Autumn is my most favourite time of year. I adore the colours and textures and smells that hang around in the air - old leaves and dead matter. I love the shift from warm sunshine to nippy cold air biting your nose. I love the fact that you can hunker down and stay in and not feel the duty to drag yourself out but if you do you can wrap up warm in cosy scarves and big baggy jumpers. 

I have a huge Autumn board on my Pinterest and look at it regularly.Here are some snippets...

So when Darling Husband decided that we really need another autumnal looking blanket to match the other I made for our living room, I got really excited. I chose my colours carefully. I really wanted deep, rich, warm shades that reflected some of these and other images from my Pinterest page. I originally wanted some Sublime yarn but the price would have been astronomical and when the blanket would be getting chucked around as much as mine do, well really I just couldn't justify spending so much money. I decided to have a look at what faithful, old Stylecraft Special had to offer and I was not disappointed. These are the colours I chose:

From the top we have:

Plum

Walnut

Copper

Spice

Gold

Saffron

Meadow

Khaki

Teal

Matador

Lipstick

Claret

Burgundy

My intention was to do some sort of square and then surround each square in Teal so I bought two of those. Thirteen colours in total.

However, after hunting several patterns, I stumbled across this image below I found on Pinterest and I just couldn't shake it off. Hexies it was going to be...

 You can find the link to this picture  here.

So I set about having a go at some hexies and I was not disappointed with the result. This was my first one. I used Attic 24's pattern for this if anybody wants to give it a go. It is a very easy pattern and you can find it here.

A few more emerged and began to connect....

The Teal surround idea went out of the window. I might use that for the border. 

So this is where I am up to. They are quite time consuming as I am weaving in ends as I go. I am loving the result so far. I will do a few more and keep you updated. I have a feeling this might be a long project and might take some time to do. I still haven't finished the snowflake hexies off yet that I started and stopped and started again! Oh well, the joy is definitely in the journey so they say. 

Do you like it? Does it shout Warm Cosy Autumn to you? I'd love to hear your comments. 

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I've had a Little Adventure...

Without going into loads of detail and reasons why, I decided to take myself off for a wee break to Scotland. My heart is always drawn to Scotland. I am English born and bred but my parents and the rest of the clan are all Scottish and I have many fond memories of taking trips and short holidays up there when I was younger to stay with relatives. I especially loved it near the coast and one of my Aunts had a house that overlooked the sea and I would love to watch the big boats and fishing vessels coming in to shore. I loved the smell too. Salty, fresh, sea air. I also have fond memories of Red Cola and Macaroon bars and my Granny would make an extra effort to buy fresh rolls and jam from the local bakers whenever we stayed at her house. 

So, feeling very brave, I went off on my own. The first time in a long time that I have been on my own, without husband and children chattering and squawking and fighting and pestering. No responsibilities but to look after number one. Just for a few days. Only a few days. It would give me time to pray and seek God and time to think and time to just be me.

The journey took a little longer as there were delays on some of the motorways but eventually I arrived at my destination; a beautiful little cottage surrounded by forests and hills, situated just a mile from the beach. The place is situated along the Solway Firth and boasts some lovely beaches and spectacular views. 

The cottage was immaculately kept and boasted two double bedrooms and two bathrooms. I would definitely go back there again. The name of it is Bracken Cottage. 

I spent some of my time wandering down to local beaches. 

Sandy Hills

Rockcliffe

This was my favourite beach as it had so many rock pools and a lot of seaglass. I collected a lot of it and when my husband and kids did come for a one night visit they spent a good time collecting as much as they could find as well. 

One night I went and found this lovely shell art mermaid someone had made.

Kipford

This was a sweet little fishing village with so many shells. Gosh I have never seen so many shells.

Kircudbright

This was another small town along the coast. I took the coastal route and there were a few interesting features on the way. 

This straw man for one... He was huge. 

Then there was Dundrennan Abbey. I didn't stop. I wish I had now. 

And then into Kircudbright. You pronounce it Kir koo bree.

There were cows on the beach. 

Most of the time I stayed home and read and stitched. 

I started this book which was a GoodReads win from one of their giveaways. 

Each of the chapters is named after a plant or flower with it's meaning or what it symbolises. I came across this:

Hmmmm...... 

Stitching wise I managed to get a fair bit done. 

I finished this:

Season's Greetings

LHN

And nearly finished this:

Stitch Every Day

Hands On Designs

I made a few friends:

but generally kept myself to myself. 

I had a good time. 

Now I am back. 

Happy to be home again.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate every one of you. I will be back soon with a new crochet project just in time for Autumn. Stay tuned! 

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The One I Nearly Forgot!

Firstly, I would like to thank each and every one of you who took time to comment on my last post. I read each and every one and the messages about my DD truly warmed my heart. Thank you thank you. xxxx

As I was sorting through lots of stitching finishes the other day I realised I had not blogged my finish on Snow Garden by Blackbird Designs. I can't believe I didn't show this one. This was gifted to me (threads included) by my lovely stitching sister Tracy.

I went with the vintage Country Mocha fabric from Belfast linen 32 count but some of the stitches look very pale. I notice that a lot of these designs turn out quite differently from each other depending on the colour run of the hand dyeds. 

You might have noticed the initials I have used on the left hand side. These are T for Tracy, L for Lesley and T for Tina (no blog) - my best three stitching buds and you will also notice the three Ws - they look a little like birds - these stand for World Wide Web as I met my three stitching buds through the WWW! So this first piece of the AotH series is dedicated to these three sisters. Cheers to you guys!

I have been busy with my August goals completing not just one CCN ornie but two! 

A Christmas Birdhouse

Merry Merry

These were fun to stitch and didn't take long. 

Today I got this through the post. I had entered Vickie's giveaway for the Travelling Pattern and I am next in line. I have to stitch it and then pass it on to somebody else to stitch and round and round it goes, connecting us all together into a kind of stitching sisterhood. So do look out for that post when I have stitched it. 

So, that's a quick update from me. I will be  going to the Nimble Thimble meet up on Saturday and I can't wait to see everyone again and have a lovely quiet day of stitching. I am not sure what to take to stitch as part of me thinks I should take the opportunity to start something new. I have many charts ready to start that I want to stitch but I do want to get some stuff finished as well. 

I will let you know what I decide soon. 

Please help yourself to a shortbread biscuit! 

Pop back again soon! 

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