Halloween ATC's

Hi Folks,

Just a quick post to show my latest ATC's that I've made. The pumpkins were from an old WOXS design library on Autumn and the spiders web from a WOXS design library feature on blackwork. I'd been wanting to stitch the spiders web for ages and instead of black and silver on white as shown in the magazine, I used the black aida and DMC light effects thread E940 which is the glow in the dark one. My son thinks it's quite cool how it glows!

The wording and and bats are clip art images scaled to fit, which I think work quite well and the orange brads, peel off borders and card from my stash. I'm still undecided whether the pumpkin one needs a third pumpkin on it, so opinions greatly valued.

Thanks for stopping by. x

Surprise Parcel

Hi everyone,

Well it's a quiet Sunday in my corner of the world. I've spent the morning watching the Japanese Grand Prix. I love F1 so it was the perfect start to a Sunday for me. For once I didn't mind that DD got up at 6am. It was a great race for Jenson Button, and Vettel is an amazing World Champion.

I had a lovely surprise yesterday when a parcel dropped through the letter box from Canada. It was the biscornu from my bubbling friend Steff that I thought had gotten lost in the post as Steff posted it back in mid August. It's a welcome addition to my biscornu bowl. Steff also sent me a skein of thread and some pretty notepaper.

Goodies from Steff

Biscornu from Steff

My Biscornu bowl

I'm not sure if I shared with you the biscornu I sent to steff, so here it is (maybe again!)

Biscornu I sent to Steff

I'm still wrestling with my stitchy bug, it's disapeared just when I really need it. my to-do list is mounting up and my stitchy days until Christmas are ebbing away :-( If you happen to see a wandering stitchy bug please send him my way. I did stitch a couple of tiny motifs for my october ATC's they just need making up and posting in the week. I haven't quite decided how to make them up yet.

I hope you all are having a lovely weekend and welcome to my new follower Chris. Lovely to have you aboard and I hope you enjoy reading my blog. x

ATC's

Hi everyone,

Just a quick blog to share the wonderful ATC's I recieved this morning from Debs charity swap to raise money for Fybromyalgia Association UK (see Debs blog here). It was great to be part of this and I'm over the moon with the Peeping Tom one. (Lori you're a genius!) My fireplace is full of lovely stitched cards from exchanges I've been part of as well as my ever growing collection of ATC's (aren't they addictive). Getting these new ones in the post today inspired me to find some designs for October's swap on Bubble. I've found 2 great designs and I can't wait to stitch them. After a week where my stitchy bug was feeling rather 'meh', it's great to feel excited about stitching again. 

ATC's from Cherry and Debs



Gorgeous ATC from Lori

Thanks for reading everyone, Oh and if anyone would like the 30 days questions to use on their blog, please send me a message and I'll happily forward you a copy. They are easily adapted for most crafts.

Kerry. x

Sooooo warm

I'm loving this glorious weather, It's been very hot doing the school runs this week. I shall enjoy it before I have to trudge up the hill in the wind and the rain. I can't believe DD is in the garden in a sun dress in October - it's mad really.

I was very excited to receive my ticket to the HobbyCrafts show Thursday morning. I'm rather excited about catching up with Rachy and shopping until we drop!

Pluto finished

I've been stitching the little Disney kits that I shared with you all last week. I've not really had any motivation, coupled in with a migraine that has knocked me sideways for 3 days which means for such tiny kits they are taking an age.  My thread order came Wednesday so I've bobbinated them and I'm all set for my projects until Christmas now. I stitched a quick card for my friend Keira this week too. I met her and 2 other friends in the pub opposite school for a Birthday breakfast Thursday morning which was lovely.

Keira's Birthday card

Would you believe it's the last question so thank you for reading them all and telling me your answers to them too. Day 30: What kind of designs do you like to stitch?

I love stitching flowers, bright bold blooms are my favourites from designers such as Sheila Hudson and Maria Diaz. I have a soft spot for giraffes too and I've 2 kits of them waiting to be stitched. I'll stitch anything really that suits the recipient.

Fellow blogger Cucki is having a giveaway on her blog with some very cute bits up for grabs. Visit it here. It's a lovely blog to read and one of my favourites to visit.

Happy crafting friends. x

Completed Hydrangea

I'm very pleased to report that I finished the Hydrangea on Friday night (yay!) I'm very pleased with how it turned out so now I need to measure up Hydrangea and my Irises and get them framed and mounted. I have a feeling I will need to have frames made for both of them. We've a good little frame shop in town so I'll pop in and get a quote next time I go into town. I found it quite hard to decide on what to stitch next so I got all the threads ready for the next 4 projects. I think I'll get all the fabby ready for them too today. I'm still waiting for a thread order to come so I decided to start one of the little Disney kits and did Pluto last night. I shall back stitch him tonight and start Donald Duck. I just need to find a day time project that I can do in front of DS.

My friend has asked me to make her a handbag so I went fabric shopping for her yesterday and happened to pick up a few remnants too. The green with rose buds at the top is the fabric for Sarah-Jane's bag. I love this fabric and I will use the left overs to make a bag for me in a different style . As for the remnants, they were all less than £2. The pink checked is for a handbag and cost £1. The cream will make a great lining fabric and was 50p. The cupcake one I have ambitions to make a pram blanket for DD's play buggy. (designing in my head as we speak) The multi coloured one with the hearts and flowers and the green floral print in the middle are the only ones I have no plans for yet.

Time for the penultimate question...Day 29: Do you have any tips, or things that you’ve learned from stitching?

I Don't think I have any tips that most stitchers don't already know. I prefer to start with the loop method, I usually photocopy my charts so I can mark off on the spare copy. I think the most important thing is to enjoy what you are stitching, it is supposed to be fun after all.  

Thanks for reading and have a lovely Sunday. x

Back on track

Well the stitchy bug came home and brought the turbo needle and the frog with it so I was over run with stitchy visitors, one not quite so welcome though. I stitched a small section in the wrong colour as I'd parked the thread in in the wrong place. Despite the frog I hit my target last night (YAY!!) 300 stitches and now I feel like I'm back on track with Hydrangea. today I must write a list of the projects I need to do in the run up to Christmas to keep me organised. (I do love a list).

I can't believe I've almost finished the questions and I've enjoyed telling you all about my stitching. so here's the next one. Day 28: Do you do any other crafts besides stitching? What are they, and did learning to cross stitch come before or after learning these other crafts?I've crafted for as long as I can remember. I've always made cards for birthdays and I've had a go at scrap booking too. I made a whole scrapbook for some dear friends who moved to Durham 6 years ago and then they asked me to do another for them a couple of years ago. I've only ever done a couple of pages for myself. I started making beaded jewellery about 20 years ago. That has been the main other craft hobby and this is one of my favourite pieces I've made. I made all the tiaras for my wedding too.

Necklace, earrings and bracelet made using AB finished glass beads on black findings.

Lets see if I can list everything I've had a go at...Glass painting, decoupage, knitting, quilling, fimo, pottery (for GCSE), embroidery, long stitch. There must be others but I honestly can't remember any more. I often had making kits for Christmas and that is where alot of my passing fads have started. It's been the needlepoint, paper crafts and the jewellery that have stuck. The needle work is my favourite even though Cross Stitch is something I've only been doing for 7 years. I have recently tried crochet and it's just one that repeately defeats me so I shall persevere with it. I'm enjoying the machine sewing too and I need to go fabric shopping for a bag I've been asked to make. I'm looking forward to learning to make alsorts on that.

Right time to get that list started as there is only 3 months until Christmas. Eek! Happy Crafting. x

You gotta love new stash!!!

I'm having a bit of a stitching drought at the moment and I just can't seem to get anywhere on my Hydrangea. It's very frustrating as I really wanted to get it finished by Sunday. Hey ho that's how it goes.

I did get my Circles embroidery finished yesterday. The original design was alot smaller, so I expanded it a little as the fabric was generous. It's an Anchor living kit I brought ages ago and was in a sale. I just need to glue on the little diamantes now.

Having enjoyed the circles embroidery I was delighted to find the rest of the set that were at a price too good to refuse. I got them from Black Sheep Wools for £1.98 each. Now that's a bargain in my eyes.

Whilst browsing their website I also found these kits too at the same fab price and I shall stitch them for my son who is a huge Disney fan. he doesn't know I have brought them. My only dilemma is as they are only 2"x 2" what do I do to display them? Suggestions more than welcome!!!

I had a lovely surprise package from Laura this week to say thank you for her wedding present. I love the little brooch. Just my colour too.

Well time to see if I can coax my stitchy bug from under the sofa!