So excited!

Just wanted to share with you that the little Dragon's head has been finished!

The confetti on the glass stem is a nightmare and it's been very slow going, reminds me of the bottle, but fortunately this is much smaller and at least when I'm working in columns, there is some light relief in the dragon's body.

Happy stitching,

Sam xxx

3 weeks in

Just to update you on my job search - it seems that I've put the stitching to the back ground and got stuck into application forms!

And today I found out that I got an interview for one of them!

Happy Stitching!

xxx

Page 4 is Finished!!!

Well after the month I've had, I've finally finished page 4!

So here it is:

Hope you like it.  So page 5 here I come, however with me being busy applying for jobs etc it may not be as quick progress as I'd like.

Also I'm starting a little business Arty Sam - not even had time to finish my blog for it yet that's how busy I've been!  I will post here to let you know when it's up and running!

Happy stitching!

I'm back!

Well it's been a hectic September! I was made redundant and my last day was yesterday and had to prioirtise Baby Friends (below) for a colleague - she loved it and I really enjoyed stitching all the detail and even the french knots!

I also did this piece of charity stitching as a square on a quilt.  It's a child's drawing converted to cross stitch.

So what next I hear you ask! Well going to be putting in lots of hours doing Curl Up and hopefully catch up this month in between looking for new jobs.  I will also be making Christmas cards to take around to friends and hopefully sell some!  also going to look into starting some new crafts too!

Updates will be coming more quickly now I'm a lady of leisure or housewife!  Oh and will also be making lots of cakes and cooking in general - I love to cook but never seem to have time!

Happy Stitching! xxx

Could life be more cruel to me?

well after everything - the MS and all that brings only to finally get a grip of my life and then being put at risk. I have 30 days and 2 of the 3 managers must go... all I can think of is how do I get a job where there are no jobs for the fit andf able let alone those with a disability.

The only thing I can think of to chear me up is that I have enough crafty stash to keep me going for a while. I created this department from scratch just to be thrown out with the dishwater. writing this blog cos can't stand to be around anyone. Even though I should be with my team to help them. How selfish of me.

Happy Stitching xx

Q:How excited can you be about an elbow???

Answer: Very!

Did loads of stitching yesterday and really enjoyed the fact that the dragon is making his full appearance since the begining of the year!  The hand that I've just done today was full of confetti, but enjoyed it just the same.

I also thought I'd sharte with you some of the other things I've been getting up to:

This was a leaving card for one of my team - she's gone doon suth! Not the most complicated card I've done, but I just loved the card and rub on combo with a butterfly I had in my stash!

Well gotta go - Durham CCC on TV - hope they win!

Nearly the weekend!

Well, it's been a long one, but at least my MS has calmed down now, I'm going to take myself upstairs and stitch Curl Up to my heart's content and then I'll have another update pic for you all at the weekend!
Happy Stitching!

Stitchy bug has come back!

Well it's been a while, but after my loss of charts I felt that I didn't want to stitch!

Good news the bug is back and Curl Up starting to take shape:

I haven't taken off the frame as it's a pain to get it all nice and tight again.  Am really looking forward to seeing the dragon appear (you can just see his elbow at the point I'm up to.

Happy Stitching!

Good News at last !

just had to quickly tell you that got rid of virus and when searched for the charts I foumd them! just need to remember all their names!! Picture update of Think Pink coming this weekend. xx

RIP Stitchy Stash

Hi all,

It's avery sad day in the world of stitching Sam, so please bow your heads for the thought of lost charts, papers, designs and all my lovely WIP pictures.

Yes a virus came to visit, McAfee got rid of it, but not before it blocked access to my desktop where all my lovely crafty stiuff was kept.

I've been thinking for ages about backing them up or getting an external hard drive, but out of sheer laziness never bothered as I've not had a problem with my PC since I got McAfee years ago.  Oh well it's taught me a very tough lesson.

I've just added up and it's really only 8 charts that I've paid for and not printed off (about £30) so it's not that bad, I'm more gutted with the loss of the photos.

Good news though my holiday and wedding snaps were backed up on my blackberry programme, and they can't be replaced so that's good. 

AND hubby has said I can buy more charts....

I don't think he meant right now, but he still said it right???

Well now go - everyone - save your charts, picture, designs and other bits and pieces onto disk, or 'the cloud' or something - just do it!

Baby Friends update!

So after agonising whether to plough on with Think pink's gridding or get this sampler out of the way before a new start I decided that actually it wouldn't take that long do get it done in a reasonable period of time.

So here they are:

I'm doing the backstitch as I go along since it really brings the designs to life, I'm to put the finishing touches to the dog on the left then start on the shelf they're sitting on - then onto Giraffe!  It's wierd how you create a relationship with the characters you stitch... maybe that's just me!

Well my poor little Peggy (my cat) has had a poorly tummy and she's on antibiotics at the moment to clear it.  I do hope the vet says she's fine tomorrow when I take her back for a check up.

Happy Stitching everyone!

I think my angel card has worked!

Well just a little bit!  Christine has texted me to say that the cancer is no so bad that she has to have chemo now and just radiotherepy on it's own which is something!

So thank you all for your prayers and kind wishes. xxx

I've ordered a new frame for Think Pink, I was going to wait until the birth sample was done, but had such a bad day at work today that I'm just thinking - stuff it!

May still change my mind, but I always find that cross stitch helps me with anything and trust me I've had some bad times in the past.  So what's everyone else up to at the mo?

Hippywitch - I love your latest posts, but for some reason can't post a comment!

Happy Stitching!

At last I've finished page 3!

Well it's taken a little longer than I would hvae liked, but page 3 is finally finished!  Page 4 doesn't arrive until July, so will be prepping for my new design Think Pink and continuing the birth sampler for my colleague.

I also finished the Breast Cancer card for my friend:

 

I gave it to her the week before her operation and she was so emotional when she received it in a good way.  The caption reads 'An angel to watch over you.  I know it's given her comfort, but I've since found out that the cancer has spread and she needs rodiotherepy and chemotherapy.  Please can everyone say a little prayer for Christine?  She's a special person and although I've worked with her for a while I've only got to know her well over the past few months.  It sort of puts my MS into perspective.  xxx

Page 3 has arrived!

Just a quick post to let you know that page 3 has arrived in my inbox, so Baby Friends put down and all needles on deck to finish page 3 of Curl Up!  I'll have then done over a half - next post will be to say I've done it! :)

My WIP progress

Well I've been stitching a few designs recently.  I started and nearly finished the little angel card for my friend, but waiting for the last 2 threads to arrive to finish it off.

I've done quite a bit more of Samantha, but it's the background and it's quite subtle as it's only one thread over 2 (28 count):

I've also started Baby Friends for my colleague - I'd forgotten how much prep there was when getting a kit!  It took ages to sort the threads, cut them to the right lengths etc!  But done a fair bit already despite DH putting in a few stitches when i wasn't looking (he's never stitched before!)

Well I'm waiting for page 3 to land in my inbox - hopefully it arrives later today!

Happy Stitching everyone!

Stitchy plans for May!

Last night I ordered the threads for 3 designs since thought better of kitting up for 4 designs.  Also ordered fabric for my next HAED -Think Pink.  It is out of stock until June but thought i'd get on the waiting list.

Once the threads have arrived I can do the card design for my friend - found the perfect piece of silver lurex aida in my stash!

Then on to page 3of Curl Up which won't take long so then on to the baby sampler design for my colleague!

It's going to be a busy one!

Halloween Teddy finished!

Well I've finally finished Halloween Ted!

This leaves me with only 6 designs in progress!  It's been a long time since I could say that!

So I'm now working on Samantha:

I've actually done a little more on her since this photo was taken and am now working on the background to the right of her head.

This should keep me occupied until the next page of Curl Up arrives next week, or else it better as last night I was drawn into making a list of threads that I need for the next 4 projects!  OK one of them is for the little card of the angel for my friend, I have the fabric for this one and the TT (Tiny Treasure) Kitty. So will just need about 80 odd threads, some Krenic and 2 pieces of fabric.  I also found the perfect design in my stash to try out hand dyed fabric, so I will try that too!

A day at the cricket

It's a lovely good friday and my DH and I are members of Durham cricket club so I'm currently sat at the top of the biggest stand writing this post on my kindle.

Although I've had a good day the thought of going back to halloween ted is daunting me as I'm hating the 14 count.

Not that you will care but Thorpe is on a hat trick.

so anyway am going to plough away and get it done asap.  Then despite Rachel's comment spuring me on to start a new desigh, I'm going to be working on Samantha. I'l post a pic over the weekend.

Happy Stitching!

The conundrum of whast to do next...

Well halloween ted is goimg well. it should be finished by the end of the week which is good because I can't say I'm enjoying it.

But then the problem of what to stitch next begins while I wait for page 3of Curl Up in May.

My head is saying go back to one of my other WIP (I have 5 other ones!) but heart is saying to start a new one!

Don't know what to do!

My stash reduction challenge is over...

After joining the stash reduction challenge on http://www.craftbubble.com/ I thought I'd be able to resist many if any purchases this year - BUT HAED were offering a sale of 25% then I got offered an additional 25% - I don't know who can resist a 50 % off sale!

So I bought not one, not two - BUT 5 small charts!

I have so many charts and probably won't get around to stitching them all, but I get so much pleasure from just looking at them - sometimes I worry about me!

Halloween Ted is nearly finished, I hope to get it finished by the end of the week, and then move onto one of my UFOs - Samantha by Lanarte.  Been stitching it for about 6 years off and on, but only about a quarter to go now.

Happy Stitching!

Update Pic of Curl Up - Page 2 done!

Page 2 is complete!  I'm so pleased as I'm ahead of schedule now after struggling with lots of confetti on page 1 (lots of colour changes).  I don't get page 3 until the first week in May so have some free stitchy time to do what I fancy!

So plans for tomorrow.  have another go at finding the angel chart or do some of the halloween teddy but it's on 14 count (yuk!), I've got so use to doing big projects now, it's really hard to go back to so little colours and a huge needle!

Well hopefully there will be another finish tomorrow!

Garden!

Well just come back from the garden centre!  I've spent a small fortune on some wooden pots for my back yard, some compost and some plants: A standard fushia, 2 x Dahlias and a lilly.

Do I'm going to get changed and spend the rest of the morning planting them up! 

I'm not going to plant my bedding plants out for another few weeks as don't want to get them frosted, but it's a shame as it's been so warm for April recently.

And then stitching this afternoon, hope to get close to, or finish page 2.

I've decided to stitch a special angel card for my colleague and friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer last week.  i know it's not much but I hope it will help her through this tough time. x

So going to dig through my WOXS mags as the design is somewhere in one of the past issues.

Happy stitching!

Stitchy bug please come back!

I don't know what it is but I just can't get motivated to stitch today either - but I thought by looking at my blog on day 2 would cheer me up!

I'm so pleased to have quite a few visitors already!

So I'm off to get Curl Up and hopefully get quite a lot of stitching done tonight.  I'm aiming to get page 2 done by the end of the weekend and then it's a few weeks of waiting for page 3 in May.  It's part of the Heaven and Earth Design (HAED) bulletin board (BB) Stitch a long (SAL).  As you can see, us stitcher have a lot of abbreviations.

I'm then planning to finish a tiny design of a teddy in a pumkin costume for halloween - it's not my usual stitch, but doing it as part of an exchange.

I've also promised to do a baby design for a colleague so will also be doing that alongside Curl Up throughout the year.

Well better go and get started!

Happy stitching!

A start of a new era...

I can't remember how long I've been talking about having my own blog, but here it is!  I've always like the idea of writing books, fiction, non-fiction etc, but never actually got around to it (or got past chapter 1!)

So this is my record of my stitching, but more than that, my life and how I am begining to get to grips with MS through my love of stitching.

Having been diagnosed at the age of 27, almost 2 years ago now, I still have to pinch myself - were they talking about somebody else?

Well less of the miserable stuff!  I'm currently stitching Curl Up with a Good Book by Heaven and Earth Designs.  Here's a little picture of my current progress:

Ok, it's not the best photo as I'm currently using a cheap webcam, but you get the drift - the design's pretty detailed and tonight I'm struggling to motivate myself to stitch - hence this blog.

Well I'm going to keep you updated with my stitching and what I'm going to be stitch next.