Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas!



Wishing you a wonderful Christmas spent with those you love....and (of course)some stitching!

Until next time..

Rhona

Monday, December 18, 2017

Stocking progress...and some new starts!

With Christmas day fast approaching, I'm desperately trying to find time to get in some sneaky, secret stitching....which really is not easy at all! Here's where I was last time I posted on my  Santa stocking secret stitching...


....and here's where I am now.....


There's still some hair to do along with some holly and berries to stitch and applique. I still have to embroider the name, attach the front of the stocking to the back and then make and attach the lining! All in  a week....I can see that I'll be burning the midnight oil to get this done in time and without the recipient seeing it!

So, while said person is around and I can't work on the stocking, I decided that maybe it was time to pull out this gorgeous kit that I got from my hubby a few Christmases ago......


......I absolutely love the design (and the fact that my hubby picked a cross stitch kit as a gift for me!), but I HATE stitching on black fabric.....which is why I have been putting it off for so long. Even with some white fabric on my lap so that I can see the holes in the aida, I still detest working on dark fabric......don't get me wrong, I love the finished result but I hate working with black or navy aida. So, with this in mind, I'm going to take it slow and only work on this design one night per week so that I don't end up having this project become a UFO.

So the other nights of the week (when I couldn't work on the stocking!) I have been working on this little kit...


This was one of those last minute grabs that I did in my local Wal-mart, so that I would have something to stitch when we were back in the UK for my father-in-laws funeral. As it happened, I didn't get time to stitch so have just started it. It's a cute little design with a sweet saying, which is probably too small to see on the photo, but it says 'Loved you yesterday, love you still. Always have, always will.' I wasn't too sure about buying it as I didn't love it, but it was the only one on the shelf that I would have stitched, the rest didn't appeal to me at all and I really wanted to have something to work on in the evenings while in the UK.  It was marked at $8 but when I got to the check-out it rang up as $3.50....what a deal! As you can see it's all blues, so i have a feeling that by the end of this design I'm going to be fed-up of stitching with blue threads!

I'm off to see if I can get a few stitches put in the Santa stocking before everyone else gets home from work.

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Jo's Advent Calendar blog hop....and an apology!

Again I'm having to start a blog post with an apology.  I had signed up for Jo's Advent calendar blog hop and then with everything that's been happening in the family and two trips back to the UK, I had completely forgotten all about it.  So, my deepest apologies to Jo for messing up her plans and to all the other participants and readers, my apologies to you too.

Sooooo........Jo's question was 'How do you spend boxing day?' Boxing day isn't something that's celebrated here in the US, but being true Brits, we confuse our American friends by talking about it and bemoaning the fact that you don't get another day off work! When we lived in the UK it was a day spent with my side of the family as we had spend Christmas day with my hubby's family.  Today, we spend Boxing day quietly, eating the left-overs from Christmas dinner and usually playing board games. I love the fact that my grown up children love to play board games. We often go for a long walk (which seems to be another typically British tradition!) and we are lucky enough to have a nature preserve very close to where we live, so if the weather is good and there isn't tons of snow, a good long walk is also something that we  typically do (it also means that you can then eat the last of the Christmas trifle guilt-free!) I also like to get some stitching done too....what's a day without stitching?

Since I don't have any pictures of our boxing day traditions, I thought I would just share some of my Christmas stitching from previous years (lots of pictures as I'm feeling guilty for missing my date!)....




























....and now that I have seen some of these old pics, I really want to go and stitch some of these little gems again!

For more of the advent Blog-hop please visit Jo's blog here.....you might find some new blogging friends to follow!

So, apologies once again for throwing a spanner in the works for Jo's carefully laid out plans.  Wishing you all the joys of this wonderful season, no matter how you celebrate!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona


Monday, December 11, 2017

Tis the season of ...seed beads!

I have seed beads everywhere! Luckily, I don't mind working with them....except when you drop the container with them in and they end up all over the floor!

So my first project with seed beads to show you, is a cute little Christmas card that I started stitching on my long flight back to the US....


 .... a cute little button, some fraying of the edges and the aforementioned seed beads....


...means one adorable Christmas card!



This was a little kit that came with the December issue of CrossStitcher magazine that I snagged while back in the UK. Oh my goodness.....I love the UK cross stitching magazines....and the prices of them compared to here in the US.

The next project uses not only seed beads but sequins too....got to get that Christmas sparkle! I haven't managed to get as much done on this Christmas stocking as I had hoped to......it's really hard to stitch a secret gift for someone who lives with you! 


Each piece has to be cut out, embroidered and then have the sequins and seed beads attached before being sewn onto the main part of the stocking. It's a very time consuming process.....


Some pieces have to be stuffed as you attach them so the end result is 3D.....


....don't you just love those hamster like cheeks?!!!!

The one thing that I have to do is buy another beading needle as the one that came with the kit is looking a bit worse for wear and is far from straight....I have a feeling that it won't last long! Keep your fingers crossed for me that the craft shop stocks those super skinny beading needles!

Until next time....happy stitching (and beading)!

Rhona


Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Late again!

First of all, I want to apologize for being late with the announcement of who won the giveaway. For those of you who are regular readers, I'm sure you'll understand how hectic things have been here and why I'm late posting.

Soooo......onto the news that you came here for! 



The winner of the chart is......RJ! You can check pout RJ's blog here - and I recommend you pay her a visit as her blog is wonderful!

So this wonderful chart by Veronique Enginger will be winging its way onto RJ, who I hope will enjoy stitching it as much as I did.

Congrats RJ....I'll be emailing you shortly.

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona