Hello...is it me you're looking for

... probably not, but I'm here anyway!

Hello dear friends,

It's been 2 months since I blogged and I'm sorry I didn't post link ups for theme-tas-stitch, life has been so hectic due to work, family, college and all the other things that take up time in the run up to Christmas. I hardly stitched during November as I decided to do the School Christmas Fair and did my usual thing of making 100 felties in a month. (+40-odd pairs of earrings). I did make time for Flosstube - I guess that is still a new and shiny thing so still holds my attention, and is easier than blogging believe it or not!

Theme-Tas-Stitch October link up post

It's the 21st, so time for Theme-Tas-Stitch

This month's theme was...

Opulent October -

Break out the bling - stitch with beads, charms, metallics or on sparkly fabric.

A bit of a challenge for me this one as I have lots of projects that could fall into this but aren't necessarily blinged up yet!

I was reading my post from last month's TTS and realised that I didn't actually show the tree keeper from The Drawn Thread. It was stitched on some random fabric that was actually the piece from the kit up next. It has way more beads than were called for, but hey, it's a Christmas ornament it needs bling!

The fabric was from a cover kit from Crosstitcher in 2015 I think. The kit was enough to stitch one of the houses but I liked all three and had some nice natural linen from Sew it all grab bag and the kit floss was actually enough to do all three houses so that's what I did. I substituted the single cross stitches for beads to show snowfall. The little Christmas tree has gold beads and the snowman has petite black beads for coal.

My last bit of bling was on Plum Street Samplers 12 days of Christmas and I finally put in five gold rings. It wasn't as hard to stitch on 25ct with metallics over 1 as I thought it would be.

I also made some needleminders from buttons and pendants I've had for a fair while. If that owl isn't opulent then I don't know what is!

Link up here and show us what you've been up to. 

Next month's theme is:

No X November - 

Blackwork, Hardanger, pulled thread or speciality stitches the choice is yours or maybe it's time to tackle the backstitch on some of those almost finished projects.

I have more ideas for this month than stitching hours in the day so we'll just have to see how well I do. I plan to start the black work lady from walks, finish the half stitch on my giraffe silhouette and have a new Christmas start as part of #santasundayxs on Instagram. November is a very busy month for us so no X November could well be no stitching at all Eek. I'm back on the PTA at school so I could end up making felties all of November too...

You can now find me on Instagram as Kerry_in_stitches and I've also ventured into the world of Floss tube. I have 3 videos now - my channel is Kerry in stitches there too! Pop over and say hi!

Happy stitching friends. Have a great weekend.

Gifted gorgeousness October

Let's face it my blogging has been hit and miss to say the least so firstly apologies for not having kept up with my blog reading. 

I've decided to keep this one short and sweet to get me back in the habit and share some of the things I've been working on over the last few weeks as its time for Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by the marvellous Jo of Serendipitous Stitching.

September saw a new start on the cityscape from WOXS 251 which is on gifted fabric from my children for Mother's Day this year. Not a huge deal of progress as there is a lot more backstitch than you first realise. 

I also made some biscornu and used the teeny tiny ones to make scissor fobs which were gifted to my postcard pal from stitch from stash and to a flosstuber that I've become friends with along with some blackwork charts. They are stitched on gifted fabric too. 

I also had a good few days on my Just Nan humbug - spring frills. It's such a pretty pattern but is far more intensive than you think given its size. It is so pretty though. This was a giveaway win eons ago from Carolyn. 

I've been doing this next one as part of #santasundayxs on Instagram. (You can follow me there as kerry_in_stitches) I've really struggled for motivation with this one over the last year or more, so it has been so nice to really fall back in love with it and just spend one day a week working on it. I think I have about 650 stitches left to do so I am aiming for a finish next weekend. It's 12 days of Christmas by Plum Street samplers and was a free design from them in 2015. It also uses some threads left over from a gifted kit.

In other news I have been making Flosstube videos and you can find me on YouTube as Kerry in stitches. I'd love if you are a Flosstube watcher to go over and have a little look. I've done three videos now and do them fortnightly. I'd say that's the reason I'm not blogging but to be honest it's more that every spare minute is spent stitching at the moment. 

I have been fortunate to have won a couple of giveaways recently. I won two Nora Corbett charts from Tiff and I also won the Friday freebie from Crosstitch crazy which was fabric, a chart and threads. 

I've given up on trying to keep this short so I'll tell you about my final gift I've had this month and that was from three marvellous friends who took me to the Birmingham Hippodrome to see the musical Hairspray! It's my absolute favourite musical anyway so to see the stage production was just amazing so not a bad early birthday present at all.

I'll be back at the weekend with the theme to the stitch link up, until then happy stitching.

WIPocalypse - July edition

This post might almost be on time!! Wipcalypse is hosted by Measi and gets us working on the projects languishing down the side of the sofa or under the bed.

I have a finish, this is big, big, huge news!! it is the Anchor Traditional Sampler, oh yes the Anchor Sampler that has been a wip since the end of 2013 and was a present from my In Laws in 2012.

This was the first picture I put on my blog of it.

the last picture I posted was a couple of weeks ago for Theme-Tas-Stitch's Just One July...

and a further 806 stitches and 22 french knots later here it is (and in need of washing and ironing!)

Measi also posts a question each month for us and this month it was:

What are your oldest and your newest WIPs?

Well, The anchor sampler was my oldest until earlier this week so now it is...

Blackwork band sampler from Kincavel Krosses - started spring 2015.

My most recent is MLady's Greenhouse Sal by Gaynor French of Stitcher Anon and hosted by Lakeside Needlecraft. This was started last month. 

They are both going to be focus pieces for August. That will leave 12 days of Christmas as my only pre 2017 active wip (started October 2015)

I missed last month's check in but the question was Show us your stitching space!  Where do you sit, and what is going on around you while you stitch (TV, audiobooks, etc)? I wanted to show you my little stitching corner anyway. I usually watch Netflix or something I can happily ignore like a rom com I've seen 100 times before. I sometimes have sport on - I love Tennis and F1 so stitch whilst watching those too along with Olympics and sporting events like that. I watch a bit of floss tube too. I have been known to watch Floss tube on my phone and have sport on TV at the same time whilst stitching!

I have gained a little room when we moved last year so I now have the small table too. I keep a small basket of odds and ends in, it usually has floss waiting to go back into my floss boxes, small finishes, hoops, the odd hair band, earphones and my phone tripod. My chart stand stays up on there and you can see I've been working on Tea and Cakes this weekend, there is a little tub for orts and my thread cards for T & C.

I still have my little unit that has things like my button tin, fray check metallic threads and other stitchy stuff. The two storage draws on top hold beads, needles and other small random bits. I have my two pin cushions - the cactus holds mainly pins and the jar has needles and is full of beads for jewellery making. You can see my wip basket full of the fab project bags I picked up at home bargains and my full DMC collection underneath. My favourite Gromit mug hold a half drunk cup of cold coffee (as always).

So that's all about my stitchy corner too. One more blog post to write and I'm all caught up!!


Hope you all had a great weekend. Happy Stiching

Wipocalypse May check in

Hi Friends,

Wipocalypse time again (hosted by Measi) where we work on those pesky wips living down the side of the sofa! And yes, late again for the link up! Only 5 days this time!

For this month's Wipocalypse I worked on all my wips including my quilt would you believe! These are pics of the ones that were the original wips from the start of the year.

Theme-Tas-Stitch May Link Up

Hello lovely stitching friends

It's been one of those weeks! DD has had a viral infection so had 4 days off school and spent almost a whole week crashed on the sofa watching endless Cbeebies. Shes's nearly back to her normal self. So throw in working (very slowly) from home and masses to do for college, it's been exhausting.

So on to Theme-Tas-Stitch. This month's theme was:

Wipocalypse April

Wipocalypse time too (hosted by Measi)and another week late link up! Birthdays, college work (essay on employment rights anyone!) and illness all contributing factors along with the desire just to stitch!

I did loads on Blackwork birdsong which I know is a very new wip. I just need to stitch the metallics and beads that I'm substituting for the french knots.

Progress too on Anchor sampler - I got the right border completed. I had from the green horizontal border down to do.

12 days of Christmas - a start on day 10.

a bit more on the Celtic bird

my new work in progress is my stitching bullet journal!! I'm totally loving creating the pages and have monthly stitching plans, wish lists, inventories and lots more.

Just a really short post. I'm taking part in MAYnia on facebook so I'm working on all my wips and 8 new starts too. SO much fun!

Have a great weekend

Kerry

WIPocalypse February check-in

Hi everyone,

It's been a busy few days for blogging and apologies for things you may have already seen this week. Firstly a couple of people commented on the tiny hoops from Tiger in my last post. These are they so you know what you're looking for. 

Theme-Tas-Stitch February link up post

WIPocaylpse - January check in

Morning friends,

That's always a dangerous thing to say when it's fast heading to midday and you have a tendency to take ages to write a blog post.

Right last Sunday of the month means WIPocalypse hosted my Measi so here are my offerings this month.

I have two finishes to share - you will have already seen these so just to tick them off the WIP list we have...

Finished birth sampler, you can read more about it here.

I also finished the little tree decoration in my last post.

Right on to new stuff and this is the biggie...Progress on The twelve days of Christmas. The design is by Paulette Stewart at Plum Street Samplers and was released as the Christmas 2015 SAL I didn't get quite as far as I had planned but considering I was here at my last check in with this project.

and now I'm here - it's not bad progress. I love the wreath around the Goose's neck

I also brought 2 frames for completed stitches in my box of shame...progress! I just need to do something with them now.

I have a present to make this week and then I shall be back stitching this for Theme-Tas-Stitch in February along with that pesky biscornu. 

Edited:

 Oops I forgot the WIPocalypse question: What SALs are you taking part in this year?

I’m taking part in 3 SAL’s this year and hosting one of my own.

Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo and we post on the 15^th of each month about our stitching that is for gifts or made up of items gifted to us (thread, chart, fabric etc).

Smalls SAL hosted by Heather –posting on the last Friday of each month we finish something small each month of our choice.

Wipocalypse  hosted my Measi – posting on the last Sunday of the month about the WIP’s we’ve worked on.

And...

 Theme-tas-stitch is a SAL I am hosting each month where we use pieces in our stash to stitch around themes set. Many of you will remember Theme-a-licious - well basically I contacted Heather and asked if I could re-launch it - she said yes so here we are. More details can be found on the tab at the top of my page.

Have a great stitchy week friends

Theme-tas-Stitch - Join up January

Hey Folks,

As it is the 21st I though just a quick post to say the sign up is live HERE if you are thinking of joining us this year. The tab gives all the details of the themes and a couple of FAQ's. If you have any other questions, please leave me a comment and I'll try and answer them.