Maddy's Giveaway

I was lucky enough to win the blogaversary draw over on Maddy's blog and this morning you wont believe what arrived.....

There is this felt bag which is just begging to be decorated.... mmmm... can't wait. And threads, needles, ribbon, felt, a hair clip, a yankee candle that smells wonderful.

Here is the ribbon and felt... the ribbon is so ornate.....

And there is a really pretty card.....

This is the gorgeous needle book Maddy made for me

And this is a keyring which has gone straight on my handbag. I'm sorry that my photos dont do it all justice. Its all wonderful. Thank you so much Maddy

ATC Received

I have been taking part in the ATC exchange over at Exchange Heaven and today I was lucky enough to receive this ATC from Maddy. I am really pleased with it - thank you Maddy

For Tel x

Halloween.... and as usual my workaholic hubby missed it. Here you go babe, here is the pumpkin and your adorable little .... skeleton

Tel has recently rediscovered an interest in fishing. And he is moving away from carp to the beautiful trout and salmon that you can sometimes find in the rivers round here. So Tel, this is for you. It'll probably be a keyring to clip onto your tackle bag.

Sew Noel Completed Ornies

Here are the finished bits from Sew Noel. The light wasn't great so the colour doesnt show up well. I have two completed ornies for the christmas tree and a little keyring for Jacob

A Few Little Finishes

Have you seen Carol 's blog?

She designs sampler style cross stitch charts some of which she offers for free. I really like them all and when I wanted to make some Christmas ornaments I turned to her 'sew noel'.

And to be a bit thrifty with the fabric I used her alphabet to stitch Jacob to be made into a keyring at a later date.
And using her alphabet from 'sew autumn' I made these two little keyrings for J's friend and his sister - just a bit of fun.

I Won!! Thank you Michelle

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway hosted by Michelle. On my doormat this morning was a lovely tissue wrapped parcel containing linen fabric, needles, threads and lovely charts. Thank you very much Michelle.

What a Lucky Girl!!

Look! Look! The postman came bearing gifts from my wonderful hubby. I have had a few 'ordeals' lately with a tooth having to be taken out (I'm terrified of dentists) and then I had to have a colonoscopy which was most unpleasant. And all this had to be bourne without Tel with me for comfort and reassurance. And however awful it was... when this turned up I thought 'totally worth it!!' Thank you so much babe xxxx

These are mill hill cross stitch and bead kits. They look really scrummy. Can't wait to have a go.
Then there was this pinkish linen and a gorgeous deep pink thread and a basic hardanger kit. I've always wanted to try hardanger so watch this space. And a polstitches ornament pattern and a note to say the fabric and htreads will follow soon.

I think everyone must know how much I enjoy Lizzie*kate designs and these will go straight in my must do very soon pile!

And then there was a huge piece of batting and all these fat quarters for finishing.

I am so thrilled with all of it. It will certainly keep me busy for a long while.

Terry thank you so much babe. I am bowled over with all of it. And I promise to put it all to very good use

L*K Prayer Connection

I stitched this sunday, monday and today and it has appeared quite quickly I think. Its another Lizzie Kate design and I think it is really sweet :)

A Mad 48 hours

My needle was abandoned on monday in order to collect my lovely Tel from the airport. What a drive! Its about 90 mins from here to Manchester airport and I think every driver out had a deathwish! How J and I arrived in one piece I don't know, but there was Tel waiting for us and free to come home for just 48 hours.

Tuesday was our only 'proper'day with no airport runs and we had lots to get through including collecting Tel's watch which had been sent away by the jeweller for a new battery and had taken almost 6 weeks to sort. This is what Tel has to put up with for having a watch that does everything apart from turn into a liferaft!! We mooched round shops hand in hand and went to kit Tel out for some fly fishing which he hopes to indluge in at christmas.

We also had to visit the school for parents evening and got to sit and listen to how great our lil lad was doing. We have a few things to practice at home to keep the progress coming but couldnt help but admire his neat carefully formed writing. To think he is still only 5!!

I made a casserole for tea and then we headed down to the prom. Tel and J had a bike ride which was the one thing J had asked for while daddy is home and I walked Katy along the sea's edge as it started to get dark. It was a lovely evening.

Mum and dad popped over to drop some bits off at about 9pm and hearing people downstairs, J - who was in bed - reappeared. He was doing his usual trick of climbing on the furniture gatting into silly positions and then 'it' happened. Somehow he sort of somersaulted off a chair and landed cracking his head on the corner of the coffee table. It was one of those falls that you just know is a bad one. He wasnt knocked out and threw himself at me crying. I hugged him and cradled his head and then I realised there was blood everywhere.

I said to Tel we needed to go to hospital and J just started screaming 'I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go'. I was trying to comfort him and hold a cold wet tea towel to his head, Tel was trying to get him dressed and we were all trying to persuade him to go and let a doctor take a look. What a nightmare! It took 20 mins for 4 adults to get one little boy into the car and he was still kicking and screaming. He'd calmed down by the time we reached the hospital but then started being sick which worried me after banging his head.

Still the bleeding had stopped and face with a friendly nurse J gave in and started brightening up. Poor lad, he had split his scalp open and he had to have one nurse hold the split together while a second nurse glued it closed. J was very brave.

We didnt get home til after midnight and then it was an hour before we finally got to sleep.

Yesterday I decided to keep J at home to keep an eye on him and to allow him and Tel some time together before Tel flew away. We took him to the toy shop and chose a present for being brave and then we went to the lovely Dutch Pancake House for lunch.

All too soon it was time to go back to manchester and send Tel back to work. Still, it was an unexpected bonus having him home and I miss him more than ever today.

Still, I have time to sew again now so watch this space x

L*K I'll get my elves on that

Here you go... I have finally finished the L*K design 'I'll Get My Elves On That!'. It's taken me a week and it hasnt been without its problems. I think I will avoid Wisper thread for a while.

I was unable to get hold of the embelishment pack that matches the design so I had to raid my button box. Consequently Santa has only one button because I didn't have two matching small enough. Plus the star on top of the tree... mine must be bigger than the correct one so I had to place it lower on the tree.

However I fear the worst is yet to come as I am going to attempt to finish this as a flatfold. I need to get hold of some batting to pad it out. This will be my first try at a flatfold and I will be refering to the tutorial given by Angela and she rates it as very advanced. Many thanks to Michelle for pointing me in the right direction.

Thank you very much for all the lovely comments esp about my little darling Katy who is currently snoring away next to me.

And a final snippet of happy news..... Tel is popping home for two days next week!!!! Can't wait to see my gorgeous hubby.

Lucy x

Katy

Katy... born 2nd July 2010

Springer x cocker spaniel = SPROCKER spaniel!

WIP

I was hoping to have a finish to show you by today but my current project is taking a little longer than expected. Anyway here is a sneaky peak....

Its a Lizzie*kate design from Christmas 2009 called I'll get my elves on that. I love Lizzie*kate; they are always so much fun. This design uses a thread called wisper which is used 1 ply and had fluffy fibres all along it to give a fluffy and slightly 3d appearance.

I love the finished effect of wisper but threading the needle is a nightmare. I have never had a problem threading the needle before but I think I'm going to have to go out and buy a needle threader to cope with this. (and don't worry Tel, we are talking about a purchase of about 50p!!!)

There is something about september with the children going back to school and so on that makes me feel I can face a bit of Christmas stitching. The season is really changing here with leaves on the pavements and the evenings smell of smoke from all the fires.

I'm also working on 4 little gifts for Tel to take back to work for the wives of his mates. I have done the stitching for one needlebook so far but its not finished yet. If anyone knows of any small 'UK' charts I'd love to know. I'd like to stitch little UK image gifts with things like the tower of london etc.

I'm feeling a bit down at the moment. I'm very grateful for my sewing and being able to lose myself in what I'm doing. And of course I am always boosted by hearing from you so please leave a comment.

Lucy x

For My Mum

Did I mention it was my mum's birthday last monday? Well with her birthday money she bought herself a lovely toile de jouy bedspread in an offwhite with deep pink/red pattern. Well I saw the perfect design to compliment it and best of all it was a freebie from here

I'm really pleased with how it turned out :)

And a quick message for Tel - LOVE YOU BABE X

Goodbye Monty June 2010

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that animal goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm an comfortable.

The animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt and maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent, his eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your friend finally meet you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of yuor pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown

Thank you Teacher

Well we are starting to catch up on the stitch pics I have to share. Here are the little hanging pillows I made to thank J's reception teachers.....

I think both designs are Lizzie*kate but with 90% of my chartsstill packed for the move I cant check

Name X Stitches

Hello

A big thank you for your lovely comments. Its wonderful to think other people are stopping by to see my sewing and read my little blog. I really enjoy hearing from you and checking out your blogs too x

Last Christmas I made name plates for two of J's little pals, Adam who is a good friend to J and sister to Chloe who had the somebunny design, and Sam who is the most adorable little lad.

See what you think - the alphabet is a Lizzie*Kate one.

Cross Stitch for Chloe

Chloe is the daughter of a close friend and last Christmas I decided to make her a little cross stitch picture. This is the cross stitcher SOMEBUNNY design.

And here is a pic of a little koala sent to me (with other cute pics) from Tel when I was worrying about seeing the dentist. Did it stop me worrying? No, but it did make me smile.

Lastly I can't blog today without wishing my mum a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY - have a great day mum x

Family X Stitch for Tel

I haven't felt like blogging for ages as you will have noticed, but now we are in our new home and I am feeling settled I suddenly feel a great urge to stitch and to show you the work you have missed.

This is a piece I stitched for Terry. Its very symbolic for us with the word FAMILY and two pretty homes with friendly smoke billowing from the chimneys. With Terry being away its hard work to stay a family unit rather than me and J and Tel being the visiting daddy, and of course Tel is on his own out in Algeria, far away from home and us. He has the cross stitch with him on his wall.

I hope you like it.

A Little Pressie for school

Here is a little sampler (chart from cross stitcher and available free from the coats crafts site) made for J's classroom at school. His class is called 1NM. Hope you like it

YAY Terry!!

Terry is back til monday... unexpected bonus x

Back in Blogland

Hello

Crikey its three months since I posted!! I am still alive, sometimes well and still sewing although not as often as I would like.

Terry has completed another rotation and is now 2 days into his next stint at work. I had him at home with me for a whole month and the house seems empty without him. We were blessed with gorgeous weather and spent time walking with Monty and driving round the hills of North Wales. J loved having Daddy home of course and the two of them tackled soft play, swimming, endless bike riding and goodness knows what else.

The really big news is we have found a house we want to buy. We have put in an offer, had it accepted, done the survey and are now waiting for the legal bits to all be sorted so we can exchange contracts. I have a pic ready to share with you as soon as its all sealed!! Watch this space.

Well I feel ready to get back into blogging so I hope you are prepared to see a bit more of me from now on.

Lu xxx