The year's best achievement

Merry Christmas to all my blog reader friends.

I broke up from work yesterday and don't return until 4th January 2011.

Yesterday I picked up my "best achievement" of the year.... my Family Tree piece. Actually Stuart collected it for me and hung it on the wall ready for my return from work. I am so please with it - it looks stunning. It is hard to see the frame on the photo but it is carved in little patterns that suit the stitching! (hard to describe!) I also couldn't get a photo without the flash blurring a small part of it.

So what's in store for 2011..... well I need to make several cards first, which I intend to start over the holidays. I am stitching 2 shoe ABC cards for some of Becki's friends who have birthdays in early January. I am stitching a nice card for my best friend's birthday in February and a Golden Wedding card for my mom and dad at the end of February.

I also intend to finish Henry in 2011 and start the Nora Corbett Poppy Pixie (which is all ready to start !) Then anything else that takes my fancy.

Happy Christmas Stitching to all

Ginnie xx

Last of the Christmas bits

I have just finished The Snowman from the latest Card Shop magazine and think that'll be my last Christmas piece for this year. Although I have a few cards to show yet but need to wait until they have arrived to who they've been sent too.

Here he is - very cute but lots of white so I wouldn't want to do one any bigger!

Cross Stitch Card Shop issue 71

Last week I finished and framed another freebie but from an old Cross Stitcher magazine. I actually started this back in August on holiday in Spain - but only picked it up again a few weeks ago. He has a lovely red button for his nose!

Cross Stitcher issue 220

I have also stitched the letter R and L for the girl's Christmas sacks. I was hoping to sew some new sacks too but haven't had chance so I have used some old ones my mother in law made several years ago. Here they are being shown off by one of my Santa ornaments. -

World of Cross Stitching issue 171

I finally took my Family Tree piece in for framing yesterday, it'll be ready next Thursday. I can't wait to get it hung on my wall and admired over Christmas.

Tonight we have been to see Becki's college Dance Show, she was great as usual.... so much energy. The girls have nearly completed their first terms at college now and I am so pleased they have settled in really well and are getting excellent results. There's an Inter-College Christmas Party on Saturday night...... I have agreed they can stay until 12.30am...... late night for mom's taxi !!

Happy stitching

Ginnie x

Christmas Bits

I am finally back in Blog land...... I have been meaning to post something for days but just never seem to get around to it.

Firstly thank you for all the lovely comments about my Flatfold. I have to make the other one yet, I just don't seem to have enough hours in the day to sort everything!

Here is my Christmas Tree I showed you in the last post - now as a 3D card for my mom and dad. I hope they like it.

I also finished the Victorian Christmas Lady a few days ago and mounted it in its little frame. There are many designs with this one that I love, they are Joan Elliot ones. My next Christmas pieces I am currently working on are a letter R and L to put on a Christmas gift bag for the girls.

Lastly I made this Pudsey Bear bookmark the other week for Children in Need. Laura wanted it for college as her form were having a sale to raise money, but in the end they just sold cakes and Laura kept the bookmark for herself!

I haven't touched any of my larger stitching pieces, maybe once I have all these little Christmas pieces sorted I'll get back to them.

Happy stitching

Ginnie x

The Flatfold !

Here it is, the attempt at a Flatfold with my Forever Friends Christmas piece. It's not perfect but I am pretty pleased with it. There is just an annoying small blob of glue showing on the top left hand corner!!

Frony view -

And the side view -

And the back view -

My mom bought me the material and I have enough left to do the other Forever Friends Christmas Stocking stitching I finished a few months ago. So I will have matching Flatfolds!

I am in the "Christmas" stitching mood! I have also just completed this Christmas Tree on perforated paper. It is in the latest World of Cross Stitching magazine and will make a 3D card. I will post another photo when it is done.

Otherwise I have been working on some charity stitching, sadly the photos are a bit dark of these so I'll leave them off!

Sorry just a brief post to show photos as I have to go and pick up Becki in a moment from dancing!

Happy stitching

Ginnie xx

A selection of finishes

I wanted to wait until I had finished another piece before posting again, so it seems a while since my last entry. I was delayed by waiting for some thread, I thought it was taking a long while to be delivered then yesterday I discovered a package behind a plant pot at the front door, must have been there a few days and the postman forgot to let me know!!! Luckily the contents were dry and secure.

Firstly my cousin and his wife had their baby last weekend, it arrived a few weeks early but all is well. They had a little girl and called her Elizabeth Rose. So I was able to put the finishing touches to my Forever Friends birth sampler and get it posted to them.

I then work most of the week on the Forever Friends Christmas Ted as I was enjoying this so much. It was finally finished earlier today and I am going to be very brave and make it into a Flat Fold as I have seen some lovely ones on other blogs! So watch this space.

Lastly I started just 7 days ago this lovely Christmas Victorian Lady, I had seen the pattern in the same magazine as the Forever Friends Ted and found an oval frame to suit it. I needed some Kreinik thread though to finish it and that's what I had been waiting for. I did it on 18ct so it is quite delicate looking.

And here it is in its frame. I also have a round frame like this and another similar pattern to go in it.... so that'll be my next project although first I want to get another Charity Square started.

It is half term this week and I have had 2 days off, but it's back to work tomorrow. Becki has a charity Dance Show on Saturday so it is rehearsals all week! Laura has been having a major room tidy ! (hooray) and I have had a good sort out in the living room and moved the furniture around..... most contented now! Back to work for a rest !!!

Until next time........

Ginnie xx

The reappearance of Henry

Finally I got Henry out of his stitching bag and worked on him last week and I am very pleased with my progress. We now have another wife all stitched up !! I finished Catherine of Aragon's green dress and worked on the border at the bottom a little.

I now have just 2 wives to finish and then the rest of the border..... I am getting there slowly!

Stuart's mom moved house last weekend so I made a decoupage card for her. I haven't made many cards recently but I was pleased with it. I have also just made an 18th birthday card as Becki is off to a friend's party tonight, I will show that next time.

Lastly here is a Christmas new start, I picked it out to do a while back as I have enjoyed the couple of Forever Friends teds I have done. He is very cute but I have had little time this week to work on him as I have been very tired and out and about quite a bit, being a taxi service for the girls !!

At least it is Friday, tonight my friend Steve is treating me to a chinese meal, I am looking forward to that ! I must try not to eat too much though, as it is a buffet style place where you can go up and help yourself to as much as you like!!

Until next time
Ginnie xx

Sisters at the seaside

I worked hard on my All Our Yesterday's piece last week to get it complete for my mom's birthday. It is called Sisters at the Seaside and it is so lovely I am very pleased with it. The last bits of white and lilac on the wall were a bit of a pain, but I persisted.

Here it is:

And here's a close up of the 3 girls.

I also have a little Christmas finish of a cute dog playing in the snow. I will be making this into a ornament for the tree but mom has the sewing machine at the moment, so I will do it another time.

I have just started another of the Lizzie Kate Fpit-its. I have been a bit slow with these again and have none to hang up for October or November, so I have started December.... that should give me plenty of time to get it ready.

I have stitched my fabric to the big frame ready to start my Poppy Pixie chart that I had last Christmas, but no start on it yet. I also have a Joan Elliot fairy chart out and ready, it is from an old 2005 magazine I have wanted to do for ages. But I really must get Henry out again I seem to have been very slow with him..... I have lost a bit of enthusiam and must get it back!

Happy stitching

Ginnie xx

Becki's Ballet

No stitching photos today just my darling Becki in her performance of Giselle. I can't believe it was back in February that she auditioned for the English Youth Ballet and now it is all over. They had a photo call and certificate ceremony yesterday afternoon which most of these photos were taken at and then we watched the evening performance. She was fantastic, so confident and we were all so proud of her. She is sad now it is all over but has made some lovely friends and gained some lots of experience.

Here are a selection -

The Hunt Party (Becki in all black on left)

Becki (sorry a little dark!)

Becki with one of the Ladies in Waiting and one of the Hunt boys and her friend Scarlet.

A scene where Becki is getting the Duchess to take part in a game

Back stage with 2 of the principals and Scarlet

At home with her certificate and flowers.

I have had a busy week with all the rehearsals etc also my dad has been quite ill again with his gall bladder problems so very little stitching has been done.

Now it is all over maybe I will get to stitch!!

Until next time.

Ginnie x

Family Tree complete

Well I actually did it.... I completed my Family Tree piece before the end of August, in fact I finished on the 28th !

Here it is in its full glory -

Sorry I still don't know how to make the photo 'clickable' for a close up, but it is in my Facebook photo album too if you are a friend on there!

Just need to get it framed now, may wait until payday again now later in the month as it is quite big and will therefore be a little costly.... but it has to be framed !

Now I have an empty stitchng frame.... I think I will start the Nora Corbett Poppy Pixie I had for Christmas.

Ginnie x

Some stitching at last

Finally I have my stitching updates! It has gone so cold here my fingers are freezing and I am trying to type! Typical UK weather....arh!
So firstly here's my Spanish couple for the special quilt at SFCSFP group. After doing the majority of this while on holiday I finally finished it last night. I really enjoyed it too.

I also worked on my AOY while away and here's the progress. It is looking very sweet. Just the other girl on the left to complete then lots of background etc.

These final two I actually finished before my hols, they are another 2 squares for my charity group. The H is from the Fairy Tales alphabet that I have done a couple of letters for already.

And Mr Greedy is one of four Mr Men I am going to do.

I have set myself a deadline for my Family Tree piece as it is almost done. I am going to finish it by the end of August. I am not far off and should have no problems attaining this goal! So my next post should have the finished piece to show.

The girls got their GCSE results on Tuesday and did very well. Becki was very happy as she exceeded her expectations but Laura was a bit disappointed as she was predicted a couple of As that she ended up with Bs for. One of which was her History which is her favourite subject. We are going to check how close she was to the A grade as you can request a re mark which in many cases they find a couple more marks and this will up your grade. Mind you school said to phone today to check this out and surprise surprise no one is answering the phone! Luckily this doesn't effect her college place.

Becki also started her English Youth Ballet auditions yesterday, so far they are going well, although a lot of hard work. We are really looking forward to seeing it now.

Anyway until next time.

Ginnie xx

Holiday snaps

Hi all, I am back from Spain and thought I'd share a few photos with you. We sailed with P&O from Portsmouth to Bilbao which takes around 30 hrs, this was ok but a little boring after a while. We then stayed at a campsite called Playa Joyel at Noja in Northern Spain. It was lovely, the caravan was right by the sand dunes just a short walk to the beach. The weather there is a bit more varied then further south and we had a little rain and cloud but in between lots of lovely sun!

Girls outside van - and view of Isla a small village across the bay.

The lovely beach one evening (and my long shadow!)

The girls in the sea - which wasn't too cold!

Low tide, lots of small pools along beach

A bit of sunbathing !!

Me cross stitching in the sunshine (oh what a lovely place to stitch!)

The girls over at Isla with the view back to where we were staying.

Me and the girls on the boat at Bilbao.

I did plenty of stitching but haven't taken any photos yet. I have been working on a lovely Spanish couple for my stitching charity group, which is almost complete. I also worked on my AOY a lot and am pleased with the progess on that.

Next posting I promise to have stitching to show.

Have a good weekend

Ginnie x

Holiday

Just a quick posting to say "adios" as we are off on holiday to Spain today.

I haven't done a huge amount of stitching over the last week so I hope to make up for that while we are away. My stitching bag is fully packed and bursting at the seams !!

Be back soon

Ginnie xxx

A few bits

I don't seem to have much to show at the moment. My stitching mojo keeps coming and going! It has not helped that I haven't been feeling 100% recently, but I won't bore you with the details at the moment! I have also been out a few times, meeting friends etc, which has been lovely but effected my stitching also.
So firstly here is my Christmas Window, I think it has been a while since I showed this. It still has a long way to go. I have been working on the lady's red coat and the red doll's house. It will be lovely when it is done but I think that'll be sometime next year.... there is so much brown that is boring!

Here's another little start that has been on my "to do" list for a while. You can probably guess from the small part I have done that it is an All our yesterdays. It will have 3 girls and a dog on looking at a pier. This was in one of my magazines last year.

And finally just another charity square, this was a really quick stitch for the "robots" theme.

Everyone in my house are on summer holiday now, which is fun. I leave them a job list as I come to work and they sort of attempt it! We go on holiday in just under 2 weeks which I am looking forward too, I need the break!

Anyway until next time.

Ginnie xx

Blackwork Lady

Finally found time to blog again. I have had a busy week which included several early mornings. Becki had her Induction Days at college and I took her, then Stuart had to have his car mended and I took him to work. So by the evenings I have been too tired to do much!! Becki loved college and got on well with the other dance students so she'll be fine in September.

Stuart also got a new job last week. His school is about to close and we were beginning to worry he wasn't going to get anything sorted.... but he finally has. The school is in the next Education Authority and is about 12 miles away, but it's not too bad a drive. So all of my family will be starting something new in September...... very exciting.

I completed the Blackwork Lady stitching a few days ago. I didn't think I would finish this so quickly but I just loved it. I need to order the frame to go with it now.

I also finished another charity square, this one is for an "up in the air" theme. So I choose a colourful hot air balloon.

I have also been trying hard to get my Family Tree completed. I am now just working on the top border. The rest of the tree is done but that bit can't be seen now as I have rolled up the stitching just to work on the top. I am so pleased that I am close to finishing, it'll be such a great piece.

Happy stitching to all

Ginnie xx

Good holiday and stitching time

Finally back to blogging! Thanks for all your lovely comments about the girls at their Prom. It already seems ages ago!

We had a great holiday even though we were only away 5 days. The weather pretty good and we just love it at Charmouth. I managed to get plenty of stitching done, here are just a couple of pieces.

Firstly I finished the July Flip-It (Lizzie Kate) I never managed June so I was glad to get July sorted. Both August and September are done so I may do June next so it is sorted for next year!

On holiday I bought a bag of scraps of material for £1 which will be great for these ornies!

I also took my new start with me - "Blackwork Lady" which is in the latest World of Cross Stitching magazine. I have loved working on this as you can see! The chart does state that original blackwork backstitch goes through very hole on evenweave but I have done it my own way over 2 as I found it easier going. Trouble is now I need to go and get some more black DMC !! I can see this being finished quite quickly!

I also worked on my Christmas window and another charity square but haven't taken a photo of these. This week I wanted to work on my Family Tree again, but so far I haven't touched it. Maybe tonight!!!

Now here's a few holiday snaps -

Me and the girls on Charmouth beach one evening

Becki doing an epic jump in the sea at Charmouth beach - super sunny day!

Laura's not so epic jump the same day!

The gardens at Lyme Regis - looks like a tropical island with those trees. Very hot day!

Now it is back to normal, back to work just not back to school for the girls! Laura had her induction day at college on Friday and although she was very nervous I think she enjoyed it. Becki has hers next week. This Friday is the casting day for Becki's English Youth Ballet so she will see what part she gets to play! Very exciting.

Anyway untl next time....

Ginnie xx