Joan Elliott SAL - January

Well I received the missing colour today so cracked on getting this little guy finished.

Joan Elliott SAL January 9.04.15

I have already started February which hopefully won't take long.

I received this lovely lot of stash this week. If you didn't know simplicity patterns are half price! I was gutted that I had missed out on Dark Force and The Master by Tilton Crafts but they had some leftover hard copy charts so I had to buy them for my partner.

This gorgeous card was made for us by partner's mum, I had never thought of downsizing a quilting chart to make card sized pieces.

I hope you've all had a good week and that your weekend is fab!

My new sewing machine and new stash.

Well here's the post about all of my new stash as promised :)

I'd briefly mentioned about struggling with my brother sewing machine on fabric bulk with a thickness of 4mm at a craft group. They suggested a new machine as it was also noisy, I protested as I didn't think I did enough sewing to warrant the cost but then they had a sneaky reply..."You might sew more with a new machine". I repeated this to my other half and he agreed with them so off on the hunt I went. 

I browsed the Sewing Machine Direct site as I had heard good things about them and was able to narrow it down to two choices. I sent an email to the company asking for more information, they were quick to reply with pros and cons of both and even mentioned a machine that was a good combination of the two. I decided to go for the combination of the two and here it is:

Janome SMD 3000.

 Here it is in action:

 I absolutely love this machine! I bought the special offer of the quilting kit which was an extra £30 but it included an extension table, a walking foot, a quilting guide, a 1/4 seam foot and a free motion foot. It's so much quieter than my other machine and just feels smoother in general.

I have started one of the planned quilted bags. I have zig-zagged fabric and made a small clutch bag from Studio Cherie. I'll be attempting it again soon as either the fabric wasn't heavy enough or the sew in interfacing was the wrong weight.

Sunglasses clutch by Studio Cherie

Fabric from Minerva Crafts

Cross stitch acquisitions.

I've got another metre of fabric on the way as there was a small mix up and two out of print charts from Tilton Crafts. I hope you're all having a good weekend.

Please do not use my images without my permission.

IHSW

For IHSW and in the time since my last blog post I have worked on January of the Joan Elliott SAL. Yes, you've read that right. I've finally started it.

I can't go further with this as I'm actually missing the last colour to do. This was on my "in stock" list but for the life of me I can't find the damn thing. I'll be glad when this block is finished as the frog has been a prominent feature.

Now, I asked you all to slap me when I thought about buying stuff but it didn't work. I've bought charts here and there as well as an order of fabric. I've also bought a new toy but that can wait for another post, I just need to get some good photos of it.

Enjoy your week :)

Ooh my second and third finishes of 2015...

That's right, I have 2 finishes! I would let you guess but I'm too impatient ;)

Here's the panda bookmark:

Royal Paris Panda Bookmark

Here is my second finish:

I started this cover kit whilst on a stitching weekend in York and managed to finish it soon after. If you've ever thought about organising such a weekend then I'm going to say to you to stop fretting about any worries you may have and go for it! I've met some absolutely wonderful people from the Cross Stitch Friends in the UK facebook group and I'd certainly do it again.

Disclaimer: Although it is a stitching weekend, be prepared for little time to stitch due to too much chatting :P

I am now on uni holidays so hopefully I can fit more stitching in than usual around revision. I'm planning to start and get caught up on the Joan Elliott SAL since I now have the correct fabric size. I hope you all have a good weekend!

IHSW

Not all this stitching was done this weekend but I've got a decent amount in. My plan to focus on the table runner went out the window as I got caught up in stitching the panda bookmark.

The only complaint I have with this printed on fabric system is that not all the crosses are equal. There's a larger gap between stitches on the two cherries on the bottom but if I changed it, it would throw the rest out of whack.

This has been a quick stitch. I started it around Christmas but stopped once I finished the green in the bottom left corner and just picked it up in the last week or so. I'm over half way with it now. I'm probably going to stick with this until the end now :) 

I hope the rest of your week is good.

Stitching and Sewing!

I have an update on Travel Memories which is coming along quite nicely:

Travel Memories 11.02.15

I have added a few stitches to the table runner but not enough for a photo. If I can stick to my plan and don't get carried away on Travel memories then I would like the table runner to be my focus piece for at least the next couple of weeks,

Saturday, I had a day of cutting pretty fabrics ready to be turned into better things...Tuesday evening I made both of these carrier bag holders.

One is for a friend and the other for my Aunty. I made these using this fabulous pattern.

I need to get around to those two travel duffle bags that I've been meaning to make since August. Luckily the people who asked for them aren't in a rush and understand that I've been busy with university.

Hope you all have a good week and welcome to my new followers :)

Pretty Stash from Casa Cenina

As the title of this post suggests, I received my orders today. Kindly they bundled them together in one. It did take a bit of time for my new year order to be sorted but a kit on there had a 15 day delivery period and then two other items didn't turn up from their supplier which they kindly refunded me for.

I've got to say when I got that tracking text, I loved watching it go from Italy to Germany and then on to the UK. Anyway, enough waffling...




Lizzie Kate's Housework Never Killed Anyone...

Dimension's Cardinal Joy kit:











I love that you can get some of Heritage's designs as just charts rather than the kit.

 Watercolours: Tower Bridge

 Watercolours: Westminster
 Dimensions' Sailor Bear
 Disney Dreams Pillow
 Riolis' Zebras in the Savannah.
I actually bought this kit on sale for 12.38€ it is normally 26.76€ however it is more expensive at Hobbycraft at £30...I'm amazed that they don't see how they are losing out by not looking at the competition.

I also bought 2 charts for a friend and 2 pieces of fabric however I can't remember what I had in mind for the 28ct evenweave that I ordered. Does that happen to anyone else?

I'm very pleased with my experience with Casa Cenina, it may have taken a while but I have no reason to complain as I have more than enough stitching to be getting on with and I chose not to have the immediately available items to be shipped ahead.

I'm now on a self-imposed stash ban, please slap my hand away if you see it go anywhere near a checkout button.