Tea....and an award nomination!

More tea....this time peppermint tea!

These blocks are stitching up so quickly....I can't believe how much I'm able to get done each week.

I did change some of the lettering on this one.....I just hope that the designer Krista Hamrick doesn't mind. I altered the letter 'p' so that they were both the same....she had each one slightly different and my OCD just kicked in :) It's not a huge difference and I'm happy with it, which I guess is what it's all about!

So, on to the surprising news! This little blog of mine has been nominated in the British Craft Awards for the category of Best Cross Stitch Blog.....wow! 

I'm thrilled and humbled that of all of the wonderful stitchy blogs in blog land that my little blog has even been noticed! So, if any of you dear readers would like to vote for me, please click here. You can vote from anywhere in the world. Please click on the Cross Stitch category and there are a couple of other questions to answer (all about cross stitching)  and will take literally less than a couple of minutes of your time. It would mean the world to me if you could do this. Please do check out the other nominated blogs.....they are all fantastic!

Thank you!

And some other good news.....look what arrived from Lion Brand.....

The replacement yarn! So not only did they replace the six balls that I had originally purchased, but they added another ball just to make sure that I had enough yarn of the same colour batch to complete the project! How awesome is that? So another big shout out to the customer service team at lion Brand....especially Ben who co-ordinated it all for me....Ben you are wonderful!

Just a quick reminder that there is still time to add your name if you'd like to be in the running to win the Christmas Gnome charts. If you'd like to add your name to the drawing, click here and leave a comment. Winners will be announced next week, Monday 31st October 2016.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

More tea.....and a giveaway!

Another tea block completed.......my needle is smoking hot!

 Black tea.....my favourite to drink!

I like my tea piping hot just as this one looks with all the steam coming from the cup....perfect!

My next decision is whether or not to do each block in order or to jump around the chart and use some different colours! Mmmm...what to do?

I might not be able to get as much stitching completed over the next couple of weeks as I am doggie sitting for my friend while she is on holiday and her pooch is rather an attention hog. Also, the thought of getting doggie slobber all over my stitching isn't very appealing. Sooooo.....a perfect excuse to have a little giveaway so that I'll have something on my blog over the next couple of weeks!

Remember my Christmas gnomes......

...well there's actually fifteen....yes fifteen all together. (You can see close up pictures of these three here.) There are twelve of the larger gnomes and three of the smaller ones.....and I thought it might be nice to share these little cuties with you. If you would like to be in the running to win the chart for all fifteen Christmas gnomes please leave a comment below.  I'll announce the winner two weeks from today which will be October 31st, giving the winner plenty of time to stitch these for Christmas :) Please feel free to share this giveaway on your blog if you want to. If there are lots of entries, I'll pick a couple of winners!

Good luck!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

More tea!

This little Tea sampler is just so much fun to work on.....I think it's because each little block is a finish in itself . You know how we stitchers love that feeling of a finish :)

So here we have blackberry tea...

....block number three in the sampler so far...

 ...loving the bright colours in this block...

 I originally thought that the blue was a bit strange for the cup and saucer and was in two minds whether or not to change it to white and greys, which was how the picture on the packet looked, but in the end, I decided to go with  designer Krista Hamrick's choice......

....she knew best! It looks great.

And the wonderful Krista Hamrick has designed a coffee counterpart to this sampler which you can see here. I think this coffee chart just might be going on my wish list to Santa!

Until next time..happy stitching!

Rhona

A surprise appearance by.......

.....good old Max! 

I finally finished stitching the third and last block. As you can tell the back stitching still has to be done.....I'm truly wishing that I had done the back stitching on each block before starting the next block....but I didn't, and now have to do it all....urghhh!

Here's how all three blocks look. 

So, decision time....do I crack on and get this finished or do I do another tea sampler block and then do the back stitching? Mmmm.....I know which one is calling my name!!!


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Tea.......and a shout out to the Lion Brand Yarn Company!

I just had to share a wonderful email that I received.

Those of you who are regular readers may remember my heartache over the baby blanket that I had started (click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about !)  I have to make it very clear that the fault was all mine....a rookie mistake if ever there was one! I had not purchased enough yarn to complete the project and the new yarn I bought on-line was completely different.

Anyhoo, I received a wonderful email from the Lion Brand Company from Ben who has probably the most enviable job ever....he interacts with bloggers from the crafting community! Sweet job, Ben....I'm rather jealous! He contacted me  with the offer of sending me replacement yarn for the project or a project's amount of any other yarn from their site! Talk about great customer service :) I'm totally over the moon with this offer from them. I love the original yarn and really would like to finish the blanket using this yarn as I think it's just a tad different for a baby blanket. Anyway, since we usually only hear of complaints and bad service, I wanted to highlight great customer service. Thanks Lion Brand....you rock!

Hopefully I will be soon able to show you, dear readers, a completed crochet baby blanket using that gorgeous multi-coloured yarn!


What I can show you today is another tea block completed....

 ...a bit of a grey day, so the lighting isn't too good.

 ....and with an empty teacup so that I don't have another panic attack!

This sampler seems to be stitching up pretty quickly!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

A cup of tea!

Quite literally, a cup of tea all stitched ....

...and back stitched too! And rather bravely of me (or maybe that should be riskily or stupidly, you pick the most appropriate!) here it is with the real thing...

...which was placed there just for effect and then whisked away rather quickly before there were any accidents with the tea spilling onto nice white fabric!

I had thought that each time I had completed one of the tea blocks I could photograph it with a different teacup or mug, but after the heart palpitations I had when the tea was close to the stitching, (I won't even begin to describe my panic as the teacup was placed onto the fabric!) I think I might just change my plan :)

Last week, hubby and I decided to head off to Canada for a short break (hence there was no post last week) Montreal was the place of choice since the World Cup Of Hockey had an exhibition match being played there.

Loved the hockey and loved Montreal...such a beautiful city....

I have to say that Montreal feels just like Paris, but with ice hockey and maple syrup.....lots and lots of maple syrup! 

And beer sangria.....

So, from tea to beer sangria all in one nice little post!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

All mixed up!

These bank holiday weekends really do mess with your head! Monday seemed like Sunday and today feels like it's Monday.....hence I'm late with my weekly post!

The bank holiday was great and hubby and I got loads done around the house and in the garden.....the to-do list was getting so long it was ridiculous. So, with all the work being done there wasn't really a lot of time for stitching or crocheting. Luckily I had a few nights earlier in the week where I had indulged in  my crafting therapy! :)

Max had some more stitches added.....not an awful lot, but better than none at all being added!

I really want to get him finished as I can feel myself becoming a bit bored with him. I don't want to put him to one side as I know I probably won't pick him up again if I do! Anyone else end up feeling like that about a project?

As for the baby blanket saga,(Click here if you didn't see what happened!)  I heard back from Lion Brand yarns asking for a picture of the colour change in the yarn and they said they would be looking into the differences in the dye lots. I was pleased that they had responded, but still not sure about what to do with the yarn that I already have and how to salvage what I had already started. Thank you to everyone who gave some suggestions....time to put my thinking cap on!

While I was waiting for a response from Lion Brand, I was itching to start something for the new baby.....so, this is the start of my new baby blanket.....

...and this time I have LOADS of yarn! Lesson learned :) The pattern for this blanket can be found here. I changed the colours to make sure I didn't have the same problems as last week :) I have so much white yarn that I could probably make two baby blankets....and some booties....and a hat or two!

Hopefully this week I will be able to find time to work a bit more on both of these projects.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

More Max!

With the end of summer in sight (sadly!) and the humidity returning to a level that's not too uncomfortable to be outside, I have been trying to catch up with all the chores in  the garden.....the weeds are taking over! 

With all this work in the garden, it means that I haven't had as much time to stitch as I would like to (again!) this week. Max was picked up and dusted off.....

I really want to get him finished off quickly as I have so many things on my "I-want-to-stitch-this" list and I know that if I put him aside he probably won't get picked up and finished for, well.....who knows how long! :)

I was also working on some crochet this week. We have a new baby arriving in our family soon and there's no better excuse to get the old crochet hook out!

I found this adorably soft chunky wool in a colour combo that I thought would be just a tad different for a baby. The pattern that I had seen called for three balls of a chunky baby yarn, but when I saw this one I fell in love with it. 

It crocheted up beautifully. Unfortunately in my haste to get on with the blanket, I didn't check the length of yarn in each skein.....BIG mistake. Yeah, I ran out of the yarn. Thank heaven for online ordering!

Since we don't know if baby is a boy or a girl, my plan was to pick one of the bright colours, maybe the orange or the green and do a couple of rows of the solid colour as an edging all the way round.

Buuuuttt.......you knew there was a 'but' coming there, didn't you? :) The new yarn that arrived was a totally different colour! I know that you can expect a slight shade variation, but this was awful, as you can see.....

I have emailed Lion Brand about the significant colour variation, but as yet (a whole week later!) I still haven't had a response from them. Needless to say, I'm so disappointed and kind of at a loss as what to do. I don't want to risk buying any more yarn as I can't be sure what colour I'll get. 

I guess the moral of the story is to buy more than you think you'll need.

Think I'll use that motto for cross stitch supplies too!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

It's unheard of!

Can you believe it....I've had a week without stitching! Crazy uh? 

Hopefully I'll make up for it this week and have lots to show you in my next post.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Lots of little bits!

It's been one of those weeks where I have been flitting from one project to another! I blame the heat....it's too hot and humid to be able to concentrate on any one thing for too long :)

I was also a bit naughty this week.......a new kit just happened to come home with me from the craft store....I have absolutely no idea how that happened * wink * wink* !

And of course when you get a new kit, you just have to start it....it's a rule. 

Unfortunately, this kit doesn't come with the threads all pre-sorted....and we all know the pain of having to distinguish all the different shades of threads. Luckily Design works give you the DMC equivalents of their threads, but even that wasn't a help for some of the colours, so I ended up just using DMC threads from my stash. At least the kit wasn't expensive so I don't mind doing that.....so much easier than having to unpick half way through when you realize the colours are wrong.

Anyhoo, I think this might be a design that I stitch for my Dad as he's been talking about getting his kitchen redecorated, so a cross stitched picture will be nice to add to the newly painted walls....when I eventually get it finished!

Max made a brief appearance this week too!

Slow progress with this poor kitty, but progress nonetheless.

And the last of the little 'bits' that I worked on this week is, quite literally just off the hoop.....

Yup, another Christmas card all stitched up! This was a fun design to stitch and was completed really quickly. Of course, the hoop mark will be ironed out. It will be added to my ever growing pile of things to be 'finished'. Maybe one rainy weekend I'll get round to that mammoth task!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Watching the sun rise

Well I was all set to post yesterday till I realized that the SD card from the camera was missing! DH had left it in his laptop after looking at some pics.....needless to say, I called him a few choice names! :) 


Last week, hubby and I decided to have a few days away so we headed off to the New England coast. The weather was wonderful, and although it was really hot the beach breeze kept it comfortable.  

My birthday was spent watching the sun rise over the Atlantic...

Another item crossed off the bucket list!

I did enjoy the New England sense of humour. The signs were honest funny.....

...and another one that made me giggle....

So no stitching was done while we were away, but I did manage to finish off the 'ugly' Christmas jumper when I got home...yayyy!

...a close up of the jumper...

 ....and the little coat hangers for (eventually!) finishing it off ...

The hangers aren't exactly what I thought I had ordered......next time I will take more time to read the description of an item! These will work though....I'll make them work ;)

So quite a few items to be finished ....maybe I'll spend the weekend  just 'finishing' all the recent stitching. Wish me luck!


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona 

It's been a busy week.....

....but not with stitching! 

For one reason or another,  this past week hasn't been a good one for stitching. Hey ho, that's life!

I did manage to get a little bit more done on my cute, but ugly, Christmas jumper....and I do mean a little bit....

Not as much progress as I would have liked to have made....but it is only August, so it's not as if I'm running out of time! :)

Max was a bit of a guilty stitch for one night....I felt so bad that I had come so far with him and then put him on the back burner so to speak!

This was where I was last time he made an appearance...

....and this is him now...

I should try to do a bit of him at least one night per week, but I'm just not that organized ......or disciplined! :)

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona