An overdue update!

Hello all!

I knew it'd been a long time since I'd posted anything, but February! So sorry about that.

Initially it was due to me focusing on my secret project which took a lot longer than I thought.  I can't share it with you just yet, but I should be able to have a special post with all my WIP pictures and the finished article, plus the reaction of the recipient.

So once that got finished in May, I turned my attention to some of my other WIPs.

I finished page 1 of Beacon Ridge:

So that's 1 more of my annual targets complete! But this is just page 1 of 20, so a long way to go yet!

Next I moved onto Ladybug Love:

  

I'm hoping to have a page finish very soon and then that's another annual goal!

In the evenings I've been stitching non-HAEDs since Ladybug is on one of my big frames and my Husband won't put up with it in bed! lol!

So here's an update of Lakeside Village:

I've finished all the full stitches in the top left hand corner, now I just need to do all the background - there is a lot, but as it's all half stitches, it should stitch up fairly quickly!

I've done a tiny bit on Samantha, but I'll wait until I've done a bit more before sharing a picture with you all.

There, I hope you've had your fix and I promise I'll not be as long before I post another update! 

Happy stitching!

County Durham - Finished!

Hi all,

I'm pleased to say that I've finally finished County Durham!

Classic Embroidery by Angela Beazley

14 count ivory aida

2 over 1, backstitch & French Knots

Started: December 2005

Finished: 8th February 2014

Total number of hours: 79

Looking at those figures, I'm really surprised at how long it's taken me to finish it!  I suppose that's a symptom of having so many gorgeous WIPs!

I'm going to be finishing off those Valentine's cards today and then doing a bit of my secret project - I can't wait to show you it when the recipient has got it!

Then I'm picking up my Summer Olympic new start - Lady Bug Love, which I'm really excited about!  My yearly goal for this is to finish page 1, so I'm going to try and finish that next.

Hope you're all having a lovely day,

Happy Stitching! xxx

County Durham Progress!

Hello all,

As promised, here is an update of County Durham:

Although I didn't get as much done as I wanted to (I wanted to finish it), at least you can see progress.

I'm really hopeful that next weekend I will get close to finishing it, but that depends on the number of valentine's cards I have to make.

I hand make all my own cards and make lots to order too, especially for my work colleagues.  At some time this year I'll finally get some pictures put on my Arty Sam blog.

Happy Stitching! xxx

County Durham Sampler UPDATE!!

Hello all,

As promised, here is my update of County Durham.

I'm really close to finishing this one now, but am rotating it with my Secret Project.  I'm hoping to get it finished before the Olympics start because I'm getting my Olympic new start (Ladybug Love) out which I haven't touched since 2012! 

Following on from my blog party, I'm going to have a giveaway next month if I reach 100 followers!

Happy Stitching! x

Grow Your Blog 2014

This year I'm joining in with the Grow Your Blog event!

Well as you can see from my blog title, I'm called Sam and I love to stitch, mainly cross stitch.  I also create cards and have other crafty projects.

I have 10 WIPs (Work in Progress) at the moment which are listed in my tool bar.  My blog was listed in the World of Cross Stitching magazine as Blog of the Month where the editors thought it fascinating bout how I juggle all my WIPs!  In truth I don't juggle them, I try different rotations and see what feels right at the time.  I think that so long as I'm stitching then it doesn't matter what!  

I'm currently stitching a map of County Durham and will post a picture tomorrow to show all my new followers!

It looked like this the last time I posted here:

I've done a lot more since this picture was taken, so I'd love to share it with you tomorrow!

I'm totally stoked to have you read my blog and I hope you hang around to see what I've stitched and possibly even become a follower!

Thanks for popping by and Happy Stitching! xx

My HAED goals for 2014

Hi all, just thought I'd leave a short post with the link to my HAED goals for this year.  I'm trying to keep them small for the purpose of this competition, but in reality I'd like to do so much more! :)

My HAED goals 2014

For those of you that do not have a Yuku account, or access to the HAED BB, here they are:

• Finish page 2 of Snowy Friends
• Finish page 1 of Beacon Ridge
• Finish page 1 of Ladybug Love

I'm going to post a picture of County Durham at the weekend, I'm making good progress and hope for a finish in early February!

Happy Stitching!

An update of Fred!

Hi all, it's me again!

As promised here is my latest new start Frederick the Literate (Fred) after 10 hours:

It's the first time I've worked on black aida and it's pretty tricky doing the black on black, but I think it's going to look lovely as the coverage is great.  However I think I'll have to unpick and redo the brown on the right of the picture since the needle it comes with is enormous and really difficult to use so when I switched back to my size 26 it was much better!

I'm going to do my secret project now for 10 hours then 10 hours on County Durham and I'll share a picture of that in a couple of weeks.

For now, goodbye! x