A FINISH!!!

Afternoon all (or whenever you are reading this!)

I've finally finished the first side of my christmas stocking! YEH!!!

(Snoopy happy dance - but off-screen!)

Looking good eh? I'm really pleased with how it's come out. The penguin bellies are done in ordinary white, but I've used the Sparkle white from DMC for the snow - gives it a bit of extra oomph!

I've been working on my other 2 main pieces as well - really cooking with gas this week! That's what you get when the weather's bad eh?

The Somebunny Birth Sampler seems to be coming on ok. Now that I see more of it, I think it will be right for either boy or girl. The recipient doesn't know what she's expecting, but I will wait until the birth, then I can spruce it up with writing in either pink or blue which should help to make it male or female. Not sure yet if I'll do the blocks all around the border - maybe just some corner ones? That will frame the picture without being too much extra work.

My little Rose fairy is also beginning to take shape. The work is so fine that I can only work on it during the day. The actual size of her so far is about 3" square, so you can understand why it's taking me a while!

We went up to see our daughter and granddaughter last week. While I was there my daughter gave me some clothes that she had been given (second-hand ones not new). They are all "labels" but some of them are not to her taste, but the fabric of them is good. So I've brought them home to try and make something out of them that she feels happy to put Jessica in. I made a cute pair of dungarees for her the other week. There's no reason why ALL dungarees have to be made from denim eh?

Well I'm off to make cards now - Erika's third anniversary is on June 12th and there's a couple of birthdays for good friends, so I'd better put my thinking cap on.
Til next time - KEEP CRAFTING!
Sandie

Progress at last

I've finally sat down after our holiday washing marathon and got back to my stitching!

Looking at the calendar I realised that I ought to make a move on this stocking - otherwise I won't have time to make up the second side and then make the stocking with it before christmas, so I've been beavering away at that! I now have just a small portion of the snow left to finish and then the small amount of backstitch to do! I hope that I can do a bit more tonight (after I've watched Bones on Sky Living!)

I know it's got hoop marks, but I promise I'll wash and iron them out when it's finished! It was left in the hoop while we went away - I forgot all about it in the excitement of packing! I just want to get it done now!

Back to the steaming needle and watch this space for a finish!
Sandie

I've been busy - honest!

I've just looked at this blog after being away - wow! I didn't realise it had been so long since I wrote anything.

Well this post isn't going to contain lots of apologies - it's MY blog - and I'll write what I like and when I like too! I saw that in someone else's blog recently, and I wholeheartedly agree! Still if I tell you a little about my life - maybe you'll see why I've been away from the keyboard lately!

First of all - the biggy! We've just come back from a tour of South Africa! We spent 16 days touring from Jo'burg, through Kruger National Park, down the Garden coast, and the Winelands, ending up in Cape Town. Our tour rep told us that we travelled over 3,000km (including an internal flight). It's been a wonderful holiday but both Mike and I have almost decided that long-haul flights will soon be a thing of the past. 11 hours in an Economy class seat leaves a lasting impression or two! When we've sorted out our hundreds of photos I'll post some soon.

Our daughter has been backwards and forwards to hospital about a knee injury she suffered several years ago. She's already had 3 arthroscopys and even an op to remove one of the screws they inserted as it started to move! When she was pregnant she gave up the painkillers which she was taking and since Jessica's birth, she's been struggling on. Recently it got so bad that she asked to be referred back to her consultant and as a result we have been travelling backwards and forwards to see her, in order to help her get to the hospital for physio sessions. She doesn't drive and a trip like that (complete with baby) would take over half a day for a half hour appointment; so we've been taking her - and it means that we get to look after Jessica while she's there so she doesn't have to worry about her during her session. And that's the icing on the cake for us! There is talk of a further operation for her - a donor tendon op - but who knows how long that will take to happen?

Anyway, my cross stitch has taken a back seat recently - I've been doing some sewing, dressmaking etc, so I've got no progress to show!

Hopefully I'll get round to some pics soon.
Sandie