Letters From America

I arrived back from the swimming pool this morning to find the mat covered in post and two of the letters were from America.

I entered a draw for some floss on Jennifer's site and was lucky enough to win some of her hand-dyed floss.

I haven't decided what I'm going to stitch with it yet but I suspect that it may well end up travelling back across the Atlantic as part of the thread I use for my PIF winner.

At the same time a postcard arrived from Daughter who spent last week in New York and yes her and her friend did plan the trip to coincide with the election. The text message I received at 5a.m. (GMT) last Wednesday from her just after Obama had been declared the President-Elect said that NY was insane. She is of course now home, or rather back at Uni in London, having visited the one place in the world she has always wanted to visit.

No stitching yesterday, Son occupied the living room in the afternoon to watch a film with a friend and then I was too shattered and in too much pain to want to sit and stitch during the evening. I have somehow managed to pull a muscle in my side which meant every time I moved my arm it was agony. I suspect it was caused by a combination of doing a different set of exercises at the gym and hoovering upstairs yesterday afternoon. As it only came on in the afternoon I reckon the hoovering must have aggravated it. Sadly as I managed 60 lengths in the pool this morning I can't use that as an excuse to get out of cleaning downstairs so I'd better get on with it but at least once that's done I have all afternoon and evening to sew.

The PIF Winner Is .........

As Robin Titan was the only one person to sign up for my PIF she will be the recipient of some of my stitching in the next year. Robin has asked if she could pass the PIF forward in the form of e-books as she doesn't sew so it will be interesting to see how that works.

If anyone else wishes to sign up and feels they have missed out because they haven't visited my blog over the last week get in touch as I'd like to honour the PIF and pass on 3 stitched gifts rather than just the one.

Filling in the Gaps

A change of location for my stitching yesterday so Husband and Son could watch the first Star Wars film, i.e. episode 4 meant that I got more stitching done than I expected. Partly because Husband spent the evening watching two episodes of Cold Case that I'd already seen so I carried on sewing. Normally I sew in Husband's chair so pack up sewing if we watch TV in the evening.

I worked on Celtic Autumn and whilst she has grown a little most of my time was spent filling in the gaps on the yellow part of her dress.

The big gap between the yellow and purple parts of her dress will remain until I'm close to the end of her as that is a large section of white and I like to keep white until the end to try to stop it getting grubby.

I have also been working on some Christmas Cards but I can't show them yet. I picked a piece of linen to work on that I have had for years and so had no idea what size it was, other than very small. Having stitched the first card I measured the number of stitches yesterday and it's 30 count. Is there a 30 count? I counted the number of stitches per inch several times and each time I had 15 stitches stitched over two so that must mean there is a 30 count or am I counting wrong? Anyway one thing is for sure working on such a small count makes my eyes ache after a while but I love the way the tiny stitches look so perfect.

Not sure what will jump into my hands later today.

Goals

Setting myself monthly goals isn't working as I'm tending to find that unexpected events like impromptu holidays throw all my plans out of the window. Also since Husband is now working from home my routine is fast disappearing. In an attempt to get back into the habit of achieving things and so as that I can account for the current lack of routine in my life I've decided to make weekly goals/targets instead. Here are this weeks goals:

Swim - Twice a week (60 lengths)
Gym - Go three times
Walks - At least once a week
Website - Post last 3 walks
Love Songs - Work on it at least once
Celtic Autumn SAL - Stitch on it at least once
Good Friend's Count SAL - Finish
Christmas Cards - Finish second one
Greenhouse - Clear out & clean

With my recent bouts of arthritis and two days of doing nothing last week due to a really bad migraine my fitness regime has suffered a bit of a set-back. Also with Husband now working from home I'm finding getting up early enough to go for a swim or to the gym before it gets busy very difficult. I gave myself a good talking to this morning and dragged myself down to the gym before breakfast and plan on going again tomorrow before breakfast.

As Sunday dinner is cooked and eaten and Husband's washing up, the rest of the day is going to be spent working on Celtic Autumn and watching the Strictly Come Dancing results show. Nothing against John Sergeant but I really hope he goes today as it would be a travesty if one of the other celebs went when he really was doing little more than walking around the dance floor last night.

PIF Reminder

I was lucky enough to be drawn in Rachael's PIF last week and so now make the same offer on my blog.

The closing date is this Sunday so if you would like to recieve something hand-made by me in the next 365 days please sign up at the link on the 3rd November. The only condition is that you Pay It Forward by making the same offer yourself.

This PIF is open to everyone.

1/8th Completed

All of my stitching time over the last week has been spent working on Celtic Autumn and I can see some real progress with her. I was getting a little bit fed up of the fiddly bits in the yellow so opted to start on the purple part of her dress which gave me plenty of long stretches in one colour. Despite getting on so well with her I was still surprised to find, when I worked it out last night, that I'd finished 12.5% of her already.




I think she's going to have to go onto my roller frame soon as I don't want to risk crushing the braid in the hoop I'd also like to start putting the beads on so as that I don't end up with them all to stitch on at the end and I don't think they would survive being caught in the hoop.

She's going away now until the weekend and I'm planning on finishing Good Friends Count and getting some more stitches into Love Songs.

PIF

I have been chosen to be one of the lucky recipients of Rachael's PIF. This is the first time I will have taken part in a PIF and having seen how beautiful Rachael's work is I can't wait to see what she makes for me.

I was a bit nervous about taking part as I have to make the same offer in return on my blog and I've never actually given any of my stitching to anyone outside of my family.

If you would like to receive something handmade by me within the next 365 days, please comment on this post to say that you are interested. I will then draw 3 names out of a hat on Sunday 9th November (GMT). If you are one of the chosen three then in return, please post the same offer on your blog.

This PIF is open for everyone!

I have been working on Celtic Autumn over the last few days although i had to frog two rows last night after I spotted I was a stitch out on one row and found a knot in another row. After I have put a few more stitches in her tonight I plan on taking a photo of my progress and then putting her a way for a few days whilst I work on something else.