It's been a while since I've posted on my blog, a lot has happened. 

Grandchild number two has not only been born, but also celebrated her first birthday and grandchild number one has started school – already. 

 

I had a go at dying – big hint if you are going to go into anaphylactic shock do it when you have already been admitted to A & E. Turns out I’m allergic to a certain type of anti-biotics and now have to carry epi pens with me. Don’t knock the NHS in front of me, the quick action of three people in three different settings saved my life twice. I followed that up a few months later with another emergency admittance to hospital for something I’d never heard of but now make sure I stay well hydrated and watch what I eat. 

That about covers the highlights from the start of Lockdown to the end of 2023. 

I did manage some stitching, two Shepherd’s Bush stockings for my grandchildren. 

 

Shepherds Bush Stocking - Thomas

 

 

Shepherds Bush stocking -  Parker/Emily

Much of the rest of my time was taken up either reading, exercising, or gardening. We managed two big garden projects in 2023 and I finally got my greenhouse back into action. 

 

Now that I don’t have stocking to complete, I have picked up two cross stitch projects I abandoned to concentrate on the stockings, Apache Wedding Blessing and Celtic Autumn. The plan is to finish them both this year so I can move onto some other BAPS I’m keen to do. I’ve been doing the BAPS at the start of the week and setting myself a point to reach. Once I’ve reached that point, I’ve moved onto some small projects. 

Apache Wedding Blessing

Celtic Autumn

 

I’ve kitted up two of the Petites by Little House Needleworks and have two finishes from Winter Petites. I’ve also just finished Shepherd’s Bush Dashing Through the Snow. So far it is working well. 

Little House Needleworks Winter Petites & Sweet Petites

Shepherds Bush Dashing Through the Snow

 

I have also subscribed to the Cottage Garden Sampling Little House project, but I’ve yet to receive anything yet. Other cross stitch plans include starting a smallish Little House Needlework design, either The Library or The Bookshelf. I’ve had the patterns for years just need to decide which one to do and then kit it up.

Elsewhere the garden is springing into action, and I need to get seeds sown in the greenhouse and if it ever stops raining some weeding done. 

One final project I’m working towards is having a go at the Summer Spine - Challenger South. I’ve always wanted to do the Pennine Way and after my adventures in A & E realised, I’d better get on and do it. Rather than do it the easy way I’m going for the daft way which means getting very fit first is required although I'm aiming for 2025, not this summer. Fitness wise I have some exciting plans for 2024 although they have been pushed back a few weeks as my delighful granddaughter shared a rather nasty virus with me and it stopped me getting outside for almost a fortnight. I'm back out walking now, but currently only up to 3 miles a day, not the eight miles I was doing before she shared her germs.

Finally, here is my rather belated (by a couple of years) post for the TUSAL. The small jar probably contains all my orts for 2023 but at least half of them are from the last month. Since emptying the small jar into the big jar I’ve already got some orts for the next full moon. 

 

TUSAL Feb 2024

Perhaps more interesting will be to see if I actually have any readers left.

RAK for Jennifer

We are just back from the Lakes after 5 great days away. We went away a day late when we were confident Daughter was OK, knowing that Son was on hand in case she did get ill again. I rang her on Monday and got no reply so I knew then she was definitely OK. Having walked in the door and just seen her I can indeed confirm she looks the picture of health again.

Not too long ago I was looking at the Gazettte 94 blog and spotted a delightful free design for a lighthouse. Straight away I thought about Sweet Pea and knew I had to stitch it for her. Jennifer has now let me know that it has arrived so I can show you what I stitched for her.

Designer: Gazette 94

Design: Grille Gratuite 87

Fabric: 28ct Brittney linen Shade - Iced Blue

Backing Fabric: Coast - Seagulls

Threads: DMC

I decided to finish it as a pincushion. I found the finish I used quite fiddly as I had to hand stitch rather than machine sew it. I also had a go at making some cord to edge the piece with, another first for me. I have to say Husband Son and Daughter came in very useful here as it took several goes and each of them ended up holding the threads at one end whilst I twisted at the other. I hope Jennifer will forgive me for the imperfections in the finishing.

I backed the pin cushion with the seagull fabric you can see under the pin cushion.

An Old Finish

As I haven't done any sewing that I can share with you for a while now I thought I'd share with you something I stitched years ago.

When I was training as a teacher we were set a task of designing and making a fabric container as part of the Design & Technology course. This was a great excuse for me to spend some time cross stitching, but as we only had a week it had to be something small. I came up with a needlecase stitched on a scrap of aida that I had lying around and used DMC threads.

It was definately the smallest fabric container produced in my group as it only measures 3 cms by 5 cms. I think the patterns for the scissors and thread came from one of the many copies of Cross Stitcher that I had lying around.

It still makes me smile whenever I see it in my sewing box.

Green Shoots, Brownies and Valentines.

A funny week, with a lot happening, that has nothing to do with the blog but stopped me doing any real sewing or blogging.

Last week I had a go at making Chocolate Brownies, it's a good few years since I've made them and having tasted them I now know why.

To say they are rich and sweet is an understatement, even Son commented on how much chocolate there was in them. I hadn't actually put in the recommended amount and had to mix dark and milk chocolate just to make up the amount I did put in. I think they would have been untouched if I'd used the recommended amount of dark chocolate.

After nearly 3 weeks of checking on them everyday my sweet peas are starting to have green shoots.

I lost all of the geraniums, which wasn't really a surprise, now I just have to avoid killing the sweet peas. As the snow is going and the weather is maybe going to start to warm up I shall turn my attention to sewing some more seeds.

The only stitching I have done this week is the Valentines' Day card I made Husband.

Broken Fairy

Be Mine

18 count White Aida

DMC threads

It's based on a design Rachael did, although I changed the lettering to some I found in one of my cross stitch books. I received a card from Husband and a bunch of flowers which he gave me on Thursday. Tonight we are treating ourselves to a take-away and a bottle of wine, a real treat these days as the last time we did this was the night before he lost his job.