Far Too Many Half-Stitches

My first sewing finish of the year is done and it is also my first square for SOLAK.

SOLAK is a group which makes quilts and cushions for people with a long-term illness.

I have been sewing the February Hearts Snowman as part of a SAL and it has taken a lot longer than I expected. When I started I expected it to take a week at the most, in fact it has taken a fortnight and it is only done now because I haven't been able to do anything for the last three days accept sew.

Vermillion Stitchery

February Hearts Snowman

16 count white aida with DMC threads

Now that it's finished I'm very pleased with it but oh boy did it have a lot of half-stitches. To start with everyone of the hearts on the hat is made up of 4 half stitches and there are numerous others in the design. As I opted to stitch it on 16 count aida at times it was a struggle to keep all the half-stitches going in the right direction.

Despite all the half-stitches I have quite enjoyed doing it and I've just signed up to do the September Football Snowman as well. Mind I had a good luck at the pattern first and made sure there weren't quite as many colour changes or half-stitches as there were in the Hearts Snowman.

Before I start the next snowman I'm going to spend some time working on some other projects the first of which will be Celtic Autumn.

Thanks to everybody for your kind words about my back, it is getting better very slowly and housework is still something I can't do which as you might imagine doesn't upset me too much.

The First Finish of 2009

Sorry to disappoint all the stitchers out there but this is actually the first book finished in 2009.

Once the darts had finished on telly yesterday evening and I'd caught the end of Trial and Redemption (must watch the next one it looked rather good) the TV was turned off as there really wasn't anything worth watching on it.

I had been reading The Coffin Trail which is a crime/murder mystery in bed during the last week and now that things were starting to get exciting I simply had to finish it. The book came after a recommendation from Bilbowaggins and is set in the Lake District which is why it appealed to me.

At first the book seemed rather slow to get going but as its the first in the series I guess the author was just setting the scene and introducing the characters but the ending even I didn't see coming. If there was one disappointing fact about this book it was that there weren't really any clues to help you predict the ending it sort of appeared out of nowhere. Nevertheless I have the second in the series on order although it appears to be out of print so I hope it turns up soon.

Stitching wise I have been working on a snowman for SOLAK which I will show when I have finished him. I started him earlier this week when the threads and aida I needed to stitch him arrived from Thread Bear. This is one company that I can not recommend highly enough. My dad had bought me the Celtic Autumn chart for Christmas not knowing that I was already stitching it. When I contacted Thread Bear via email about exchanging it for Cirque Des Triangles and adding some threads and aida onto the exchange they responded very promptly, even though the shop was shut at the time.



I now have the threads and aida but not the new chart, as it is being ordered from the US and I've not paid for them yet as they won't accept payment until everything is sent even though I have offered to pay them up front.

The efforts to get fit have stalled a little this week, whilst I have visited both the gym and pool once I have also had an attack of arthritis in my shoulder so neither place will be visited again until that is better. I once went swimming when I had arthritis in my shoulder and ended up with a trapped nerve that required physio. According to my doctor, the nerve was able to get trapped because the joints was swollen due to the arthritis so that's a lesson I've learnt and remembered, arthritis and exercise don't always mix.