Coaster stitching complete

I have achieved 2 of my goals for this week already. The penguin is all finished I just need to mount him on his shiny red card blank! Then this afternoon I have finished my poppy coaster for my MiL. It is actually titled Meadow Brown Butterfly and as you can see there is a lovely little butterfly on the left and purple flowers as well as the poppies! I managed to stitch this really quickly as I only spent 2 evenings and this afternoon on it. I will mount it in the coaster nearer to Christmas - I will have a finishing off week!!!

I did manage to do a bit more sneaky under the desk stitching at work over the last couple of days but not as much as I was a little busier! But Stuart's 40th card has grown thanks to that. I will post an update on thatnext time as I will work on Stuart's card again tomorrow as he is out all day. He is going down to Wembley to watch the NFL match, he and some of his football friends are going on the train and he tells me he won't be back until well after midnight! The girls and I are going shopping to buy some of their Christmas pressies - clothes and shoes probably!! Then we are having a Big Mac and McFlurry supper!! yumm.

Last night Stuart was out also! so the girls and I watched "PS I love you".... oh what a lovely film but boy did we sob!!! At one point we all had a big mansized tissue each mopping up our tears! What a sight we must have looked!! Good film though.

My Auntie has had her operation date bought forward to this Monday (27th) so I thought I would post a picture of her to wish her the best with her operation and recovery. I hope all my blogging friends can send their love and prayers for her too! My auntie is the one in the middle of the photo with my uncle on one side and my mom on the other. This was taken at my 40th Birthday party last year. It is not the clearest of photos as this was taken with my old camera and has had to be cropped a bit to reduce the people in it!

Tonight is TV night - Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor... love them both. So I will have to stitch during breaks and after! I will continue work on Capricorn Peekaboo tonight.

Ginnie x

Penguins and poppies!

I am doing well at achieving my goals for the week. Firstly here's my little penguin I have been working on for a while - cute isn't he I love penguins.... I have finished all the cross stitch now and started on the back stitch this morning. When complete I will mount him on a card. This was from the Cross Stitch Card Shop 62 that I subscribe too.

It has been pretty quiet at work, the boss and 2 sales guys are at a trade show in Germany and my friend Julie is off sick (Julz hope you feel better soon - I've been lonesome!) This meant I could do some sneaky under the desk stitching!! I work in the reception area so away from the rest of the lads (only 5 others!) but they do pass me to go to the loo and make tea/coffee. I stitch and stitch but as soon as I hear the inner door go the stitching hides back under the desk!!! hehehe. I have managed to finish Stuart's placecard and start my dads. I have also done a fair bit on Stuart's 40th card today - lots of green lines.... all will become clear when I show that one.

Last night I started my MiL's coaster, it is on 18ct aida so seems to be stitching up quickly, I think I'll get this done in the next week which will mean 2 out 3 pressies done before the end of October. Here it is so far -

I am off to Stitch Club in a minute and will take my Capricorn Peekaboo to work on there. This is coming along well and I'll show you an update on that next time. I also now have the Sagittarius chart (thanks Shellie) which I will start next week.

Ginnie x

Monday morning!

What a dark and damp Monday it is here in the West Midlands, really didn't want to get out of bed this morning! The only thing that kept me going is that next week is half term and I have a few days holiday....yeah!!

I managed to get plenty of stitching done over the weekend and I feel that my Family Tree shows a little progress again. I achieved my one goal of completing the left side of the tree, it is looking so nice! Here is an overall picture -

And here is a close up.... As you can see the little "Mom" of the family and her little house are complete (Except back stitch!) In front of Mom will be some children and below her is where I stitch one of my daughters names.

I also had another little start..... I know I have loads on the go but that's the way I love to work!! I promised my friend Julie that I would do some stitching for both her daughters who have birthdays in December. She mentioned something to do with their star signs would be good..... So when I found this Capricorn design in the latest WOXS magazine I just had to stitch it. I just need the chart for Sagitarius next which was in an older issue, luckily Shellie is helping me out with that..... many thanks.

I am changing my rota for the next few weeks as I have so many little bits and pieces to stitch. Instead I am going to just set myself goals each week as I enjoyed that last week. So sadly D for Dancer is staying in it's bag for a little while longer and here are next weeks goals -

• Start the next Christmas gift - coaster for MiL.
• Work on Stuart's 40th card.
• At least half complete Capricorn
• Complete at least 4 placecards
• Complete back stitching on a cute Christmas penguin I have been working on for ages!!

There that should keep me busy!!!!

Well I'd better go and get ready for work :-( I'd sooner stitch!!

Ginnie x

Back stitched bookmark and placecard.

I thought my bookmark looked nice even before the back stitching had been done. Tonight I finished all the back stitching and think it looks even better. I am sure my auntie will be thrilled with this, because I am. I found working on the plastic canvas easy and would certainly use it again. I need to trim it down now and add a tassle to complete it.

I have also started a mini Christmas project yesterday. I bought an old Christmas Cross Stitcher magazine off Ebay as I liked the poinsettia on the front. But inside the magazine I fell in love with a table set that included a table runner, napkin rings, napkins and place cards. I know I won't have time to do all of it this year, but I decided to get the place cards done for this Christmas and work on the other bits for next year! The design used just a plain red cotton but I choose my dark red variegated thread. This is the first one with my initials, I am working on Stuart's now but we always spend Christmas dinner with my mom and dad too so I have 6 to make in all. Once complete I will fray the edges and attach to a small folded card.

I have been working on the Family Tree too, because I have worked mainly on the green bits I don't think it'll look like much has been completed but I am happy with how it is going. I have also managed to work about 15 stitches in Stuart's birthday card!! I must put more effort into that next week.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Ginnie x

Some recent cards.

No new stitching updates today as I haven't taken any photos. I have been working on my Family Tree and have nearly completed the left side of the tree. Tonight at stitch club I started the back stitch on my lily bookmark but haven't quite finished that either, so I will update on both of these later in the week.

So I thought I would show 2 other cards that I have completed recently but not shown on my blog yet. The first was a birthday card for my friend Steve, who is a great singer and loves music. I mounted the stitching on a black card but the photo doesn't really show it's a card!!

Secondly I sent this to my friend Sophie last week for her birthday, she sent me a text to say she had received it and loved it, so I thought I would show it now.

So i'll get back to stitching now, but as it is nearly 10pm I think it'll be a short session tonight, I am always tired when I have been out to my club!

Ginnie x

Last week's progress

Here is my progress on last week's projects. I did manage to complete all the cross stitch on my lily bookmark but haven't done the back stitching yet. I am going to continue with this during the week along with My Family Tree. I love the pretty pinks behind the flowers.

We were invited out for tea on Sunday afternoon. Our friend's Pete and Lesley threw a small surprise party for their son who has just completed his 9 weeks training in the RAF. We had a nice afternoon and lots of nice things to eat. Their daughter, Helen is the one who is getting married and having a baby next year. They have found out they are having a girl - so I can adapt my stitching to suit!

Here is Dusky Dreams, I didn't put much time into this last week but it is progressing so I thought I should update you. There are some petit cream beads in between some of the pink stitching but the photo hasn't captured them!

Mamma Mia was fabulous still, I still laughed and cried and I could still sit and watch it over and over again! Looking forward to the DVD release now next month.

So this week is Family Tree time again. I have set myself a small goal - to finish the left part of the tree in the 3 shades of green. Then I am going to move down before I move across!!! So leaving the right side of the tree to a later date!! I also want to finish the bookmark and start Stuart's 40th birthday card as his birthday is just over a month away.

Thanks for all your lovely comments, I really love to hear what people think and appreciate your support.

Ginnie x

Here's another hobby

Just thought I'd show you a bit of one of my other hobbies today - Doll's House collecting. Well I have only 1 house (no room for any more) I have had it for about 3 years and it was bought as a kit. Stuart built it for me, then I decorated it and then started to furnish it etc. It is supposed to be late Victorian style. But I go through fads of working on it, it's not as exciting as cross stitching but looks nice!

Here is the inside of the house -

There are 2 top rooms too - the bathroom and nursery, but they need the most work still so I have left the roof down. Here is a close up of the kitchen. (I forgot to paint the ceilings and need to empty the house and do them all one day!) I loved the decorating part best of all!! The furnishing part is just costly.

Of course I have used my cross stitching skills too on the house! Here is a cute little cushion I made and I also have a mini sampler already finished that I want to make into a wall hanging but I haven't got a photo of that.... I'll have to find it!!

I have continued to work on my bookmark which is still on track to be finished by Sunday night. I'll show you it when it is complete! My Auntie went for a hospital appointment on Thursday and found out she hasn't got to go in for her operation until 10th November! So a bit of a wait but the doctors were still all very positive, which is good.

This afternoon I am going to see Mamma Mia again!! Stuart is out on a course today, the girls are at a birthday party so mom and I decided to go and catch the film again before it finishes in cinemas.... I loved it so much last time and am really looking forward to going again!

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Ginnie x