December IHSW

I can't believe it's the last one this year! These past few months seem to have flown by...

This weekend I decided to concentrate on Gorjuss Laundry Day as she is stitching up fast. Arms are finished along with the teddy bear and her face. All that's left is her hair, socks and all the backstitching.

Gorjuss Laundry Day as of 22/12/13

I've added a page at the top for the Crazy January Challenge 2014. I can now show you the final item that was kept secret. It's for Steph from Show and Tell.

Front

Back

The chart was a free one for Facebook fans of Dragon Dreams. The front is not straight, I couldn't find my cutting mat so just had to do my best with scissors. I enjoyed making this :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Pre-IHSW

I'm slowly getting back my stitching mojo.

Here's an ornament I made for an exchange:

Cute little owl from a cross stitch magazine

 Today, I did some more work on Gorjuss Laundry Day. Her legs are finished and her arms are half done.

Gorjuss Laundry Day 19.12.13

I have also partly worked on HAED TT Kitten 2 but will wait for a decent amount of progress on that and the Trio of Poppies before I grab photos. There's just one more finished project that I can't show you until it's reached it's recipient. Have a lovely weekend!

December TUSAL

Unfortunately there's not much to show for this month's TUSAL but I do have a few finishes to show you :)

First up was for an ornament exchange on the cross stitch forum. This design can be found in The World of Cross Stitching Issue 209.

There was also a birthday card for my other half. This Margaret Sherry design which came as a free kit with an issue of the World of Cross Stitching.

Last but not least is Tatty Teddy Graduation. It may be a bit late but it was still received with love and appreciation.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out in the end. There's one more exchange piece that I'll be able to show you next week. Now all I need to do is try to get two more Christmas themed smalls done and then the plan is to just work on whatever takes my fancy.

November TUSAL

Hello everyone :)

November TUSAL

It looks like my stitchy bug is slowly returning. I've finished two small cross stitches which I can't show you just yet but I did make this bookmark for Steph's birthday...

Hopefully, I'll have more to show/say to you next time. Have a lovely weekend!

October IHSW

This month, I actually stitched this weekend :)

I've been working on a Christmas ornament for an exchange. It's my first time using plastic canvas even though it has sat in my stash for a few months now and it's a delight to work on. You definitely need a small needle for casting off as I found larger needles difficult to get under the stitches. Hopefully it'll be posted by next week and then I can show you all a photo.

My main priority is to get Tatty Ted finished. Here he is just missing a day or two's worth of backstitch on the actual bear.

All that will be left to do is the personalisation which I had to re-chart as I lost the one I had done previously during the move. It's about time this little guy was complete since it is now 3 months after the graduation.Then I want to work on Trio of Poppies as I should be able to finish that by the New Year (well that's the plan anyway). 

I'm glad to have found a bit of the stitchy bug but he's not back in full swing yet.

October TUSAL

I'm sorry I didn't post for IHSW...I didn't actually stitch that weekend. I've not had a lot of stitching time recently and stitchy bug seems to have hidden from the cold weather that's decided to visit. I have started another one of my 15 - Travel Memories.

The small stitching pieces I have found time to complete will have to be a secret for now :) Hopefully I can get back to stitching and post again soon.

September TUSAL

Again there's not much to show in this month's ort jar. I started out well but lost my mojo...I found that I spent more time staring at the chart than actually stitching.

Here's my progress on the HAED BB free SAL...Mystic Garden (I've lost the stitch count)

Mystic Garden as of 8th Sep 2013

I've also added two small sections of sky to Trio of Poppies but I'll hold out on taking a photo until I've done a bit more. I'm also working on a crochet project, I'm up to round 25 out of 61.

August IHSW

When I had the time, I worked on HAED Mini Curl up with a good book. 

Mini curl up with a good book as of 19/08/2013

I am enjoying working on this one and you can already see the width of this page (9) which is the bottom right hand corner.

I will have to start the first square from the Art of Crochet again as there a few mistakes which are making it difficult to carry on with. These things just take time so patience is certainly a virtue. 

I hope your weekend went well.

Just a little catch up :)

I've caught up on reading blog posts and have just started replying to comments left on a couple of blog posts. I may not always comment on people's blogs but I do enjoy reading them and seeing all of the wonderful things you have been making.

I was involved in a lovely exchange with Steph, head over to Show and Tell to see better photos of the wonderful items sent and for a reminder of the package I received. The items missing from my photo are the Simply Crochet magazine and a postcard.

The items I sent to Steph

I have enjoyed stitching these past few days (I've not had much time recently) and have started one of my crazy 15 which was Gorjuss Laundry Day.

Laundry day with her dress completed.

Mystic Garden seems to be taking shape on the left hand side.

Mystic Garden at 800+ stitches.

Here is the photo I had promised of my small start on HAED Mini Curl up with a good book.

HAED Mini.

I'm pleased that I tried crochet again. Although the flower is not perfect this is the first time I've managed to get 5 petals rather than 4 which does help in the overall flower look. I'm not sure how I managed it!

I'm now working on the first square from the Art of Crochet and admittedly it's looking better than the first time I tried the square. 

This weekend is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend which I'm hoping to make use of providing I don't get too distracted by Rayman Origins. 

TUSAL and a winner :)

I'm happy to announce we have a winner of the £10 craft shop voucher giveaway...

ANNIE

Annie if you could please send me an email: emmylou[DOT]9223[AT]gmail[DOT]com

Thank you for those who commented and to everyone who reads my blog :)

Here's my ORT jar for this month's TUSAL

Sorry for the short post but I'm without internet and have been relying on my phone. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

1 year ago today...

I took the plunge in setting up a blog and wrote my first post. I've made a couple of good friends through this blog as well as others and I'm very grateful. I love reading your blogs, you all create lovely items. I've decided that I'll have a giveaway. The prize will be a £10 (or equivalent) gift voucher to a craft shop of your choice. This is open to followers of my blog, just leave a comment if you'd like to be entered. The winner will be announced in a week's time.

Can you believe I've finished one of my Cross Stitch Crazy Challenges? I certainly can't! 

E-type Jaguar completed 30/07/2013 from an issue of Cross Stitcher.

As time goes on, I highly doubt I'll finish many more if any and there are quite a few that haven't even been started. I've realised with HAEDs that a completed page, no matter how big or small will count as a completed goal. It's also the same with SALs, one part will count as a completed goal. For the 2013 challenge which in all fairness was my first time participating, I've set my goals too high and I'm keeping that in mind for the 2014 challenge. For now a goal is to start a couple more projects on the list. 

I have started Mini Curl up with a good book, I've started well and will share a photo when there's a bit more progress.

Take care.

July IHSW

This weekend I worked on 2 HAEDs, Tiny Treasures Kitten 2 and the BB SAL Mystic Garden.

HAED Kitten 2 at 443 stitches. 

HAED Mystic Garden at 601 stitches. 

The sewing machine came out this weekend and I made myself a small pincushion along with a little wrist strap as well as a crochet hook holder.

My pincushion.

First crochet holder.

First crochet holder.

I love my fabric choice for the first crochet hook holder and found the tutorial really easy although something went wrong and I was missing a hook space. One of the spaces also has an uneven line so the top is narrower than the bottom but I don't mind as I'm still trying to get the hang of sewing so I'm not expecting perfectly straight lines. Plus the ribbon is too big for the button.

Second crochet holder.

As it was easy, I whipped up a second one in the same afternoon but used velcro instead of a button. I don't like the velcro fastening for this one and my top stitching went askew so to me it just doesn't look as nice even though I managed to get all 7 hook spaces.

Second crochet holder.

July TUSAL

Sorry it's late. There's not a lot to show, my stitchy bug has gone off somewhere and some of these should have been included in June but had got put in the spare jar so they're here. :(

I'm desperately trying to get Tatty Ted's backstitch done as it's for Wednesday! Some of the backstitch especially his "fuzz" can make your eyes do little dances. I've decided on the personalisation and started it but I'm finding that some of the threads slip behind the fabric (I'm using evenweave).

I've also started some sewing projects, one of them has been so easy to do. I just need to embroider a face on it then sew the 2 sides together.

Sarah from Sarah in Stitches received her package from me :) I'm glad she likes it. Here's a link to the post she wrote about our exchange. http://stitching-sarah.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/exchanges-with-emma.html

I'm sorry I haven't got much to show for this post but I hope I'll be back soon with a couple of finishes.

June IHSW

This weekend I've finally completed the cross stitch on Tatty Teddy so there's just the backstitch left to do...

I also need to decide on the personalisation that I want to add. Mr W (OH) graduates mid-July so I can't dilly dally too long over it and I can't pick out a frame until it's finished. 

This morning I tried to do a magic ring with 6DC (uk) into it and it didn't turn into a nice circle but a small clumped mess but I'll try again at some point even if it is a bit frustrating. 

For my birthday at the start of the month I also received a £10 Hobbycraft giftcard and with that I bought some lovely yarn. The Sirdar Snuggly is so damn soft! Even Mr W had a feel and said it was really nice. I'm not sure what they will be used for. The yarn was 3 for 2 so I was able to get a couple of DMC threads along with it. 

June TUSAL

There hasn't been much stitching going on unfortunately but it looks like that will change.

June's TUSAL

Lovely exchange from Steph 

 I received my exchange from Steph and it is beautiful! She even included some extras for my birthday which was really sweet. As Steph may be able to tell, I've attached the mini biscornu to my Stork scissors.

I'm hoping to get my exchanges out by the end of this week and I hope Steph and Sarah like them :) This horrid cold that I've had all weekend looks like it's on it's way out.

We decided to visit Ely recently for my birthday and a fabric shop had opened since we had last been there...I was in heaven! There is also a cycle shop that sells toys, models and more craft stuff including fabric. I was given a bit of money to buy some fabric from both shops and for once it wasn't with a project in mind, it was just because I like them.

Fabric from Sew much to do.

Fabric from the Cycle Centre

Fabric from the Cycle Centre

I decided to include a close up of the tortoise fabric as you couldn't see them very well in the collective photo. I plan to use the orange dye to dye some fabric for HAED's Mini Autumn Owl Trio which I got in the 50% off sale along with Mini Hannah Lynn which I plan on stitching for my sister.


I've been trying to teach myself to crochet and have been following a flower tutorial from the making spot on youtube. In the few times I've tried it I feel like I've gotten somewhere although I still can't get that fifth petal in and I'm not sure why. Here's one of my poor attempts at the flower...

Please don't use my photos without my permission. 

May IHSW and exchanges

This weekend I worked on Mystic Garden and Tatty Ted.

Mystic Stitch at around 500 stitches

Not long left!

I'm pleased to say my recipient received her Secret Stitch (for a Facebook group) from me, here's the photo I took before sending it:

Pattern from http://www.brigittedadaux.com/

I'm still waiting for mine to arrive but I'm looking forward to it. I did receive my exchange from Sarah and I really can't wait until I'm able to send mine to her.

Gorgeous stitch from Sarah

These are my own images, please don't use them without my permission.

May TUSAL

May Tusal

I've not had much time to stitch recently. I did get my Secret Stitch for a Facebook group out on time but it hasn't been received yet so I can't show a photo.

Sadly, I only completed one of my April goals which was to finish the secret stitch. This will be the end of the goals at least for the next couple of months anyway, after that who knows? If there were any goals then it would be to get at least some stitching done. I still have two exchanges this month, after those I will take a break from exchanges to concentrate on WIPs. Although they have been fun :)

L*K's Welcome Baby stitched by myself.

I do have a finish, it was Welcome Baby by Lizzie Kate. This was stitched within 2 days, it would have been 1 had I a bit more time. This was given as a Congratulations/Christening present, the recipients really liked it.


Please do not use my images without my permission. 

April IHSW

Unfortunately I can't show you what I've worked on this weekend as it's for a secret stitch although I'm nearly done and as soon as it's with the recipient I'll share a photo. I must admit I had to change it, I was over optimistic with the original idea but who hasn't done that? As you may remember I'm quite close to finishing the E-type Jaguar, well I discovered I'm missing a thread for it! Luckily I have been able to order it so will try to get that finished before the end of the month. After this secret stitch, I have 2 exchanges to do with 2 lovely people. One with Sarah from Sarah in Stitches and Steph from Show and Tell (Wee Witchy), I'm really looking forward to these.

I've been watching The Great British Sewing Bee and have thoroughly enjoyed it! The winner certainly deserved that title, such beautiful garments to a very high quality. All of their work and skills certainly inspired me as well as giving me something to aspire to. I'm already looking forward to the second series they're planning for next year. I'm sure many will be looking forward to the opportunity of swooning over Patrick again learning new things and seeing gorgeous garments come to life.

Sorry for the lack of stitching photos, I promise there will be at least one next time but let me try and make up for that...Mr Patrick Grant.

Image sourced from Google images.

April TUSAL

How are you all? Hello and welcome new followers :)

Here is my little jam jar:


I'm I was working better than expected on the secret stitch. At first I wasn't really into it, I think that was because I didn't like the look Anchor gave to my stitches but I'm I was on a roll. Life has been a bit busy this last week so I've not had much time to add many stitches though I'm happy to say one row is definitely complete. I may have to change my stitch depending on how much I can get done on it this weekend...I'd like it to get out on time. I am eager to stitch on Mystic Garden.

I really don't seem to get on well with making pj bottoms. The first lot were too small at the waist and the shorts I'm working on have had me in tears. I was considering scrapping them but when I can face looking at them, I'll just unpick the waistband and make a new one. I've come to the conclusion I definitely need a walking foot for using jersey, there were quite a few times when it got caught in the teeth.

I've been thinking about doing a swap/exchange sometime in the next couple of months and wondered if anyone would be up for it? I haven't decided on the sort of thing to exchange, I just have some ideas written down so I'm open to suggestions. Maybe keep it small for the first time to see how it goes.

Anyway I better get stitching, hopefully next time I'll have something to show you all.

Well it's April...

You may remember in an older post I mentioned that I'm trying the idea of monthly goals well here's how I got on...

March goals:

• To have finished Tatty Ted and have decided on personalisation.
• To have completed the smallest poppy on Trio of Poppies.
• To have completed February of the Songs of the Weather SAL.
• To have reach 400 stitches on HAED Kitten.
• To have reach 400 stitches on Mystic Garden.
• To have completed the E-Type Jaguar as much as possible (missing threads).
• To have have 3 10x10 blocks stitched on Café de Paris.

January Songs of the Weather SAL

I have completed 5 out of my 7 goals and I think that's pretty good. I'll not post a photo of the E-type as there isn't much to go so I may as well wait until it's completely finished. Although I didn't get February of the Songs of the Weather SAL finished (it is started), I did get around to finally finishing January. 

Café de Paris

I'm glad that I worked on some of the flags on Café de Paris as I thought that in an older photo of this, it looked a bit like a candle as it was only part of the red shutter, the greenery and the top orange flag. The flags really add something to this piece and the large amount of backstitch will really make this project come to life.

End of April goals:

• To have finished the secret stitch I've started working on.
• To have finished Tatty Ted.
• To have finished E-Type Jaguar.

As I'm not sure how long the secret stitch will take, I've decided to keep these goals simple, I know I can finish the last 2...that's if Tatty Ted's backstitch goes to plan. Here's a little update of him since he's part of a finish:

I finally got around to fixing my R&R Craft frame (Q-Snap) cover. I started this earlier in the year using a free tutorial I had found on the internet but found it was too short and only found the motivation to fix it the other day. Next up on the sewing machine will be some shorts.