Life

I only managed one post for November and that makes me sad.
Life got very hectic very quickly. I was constantly handing in assignments (ongoing), working at Cath Kidston through the Christmas rush (ongoing) and trying to get all my Christmas things in order (ongoing!)
Now that I'm a grown up, things take a lot more organising. It was touch and go whether I was going to be able to see my parents at all before Christmas. I'm happy to say I've secured three days off where I can travel to Glastonbury and spend some time with them :)
It feels awful to moan. I really should put things in perspective. I love my blog and everyone involved in this community, but my degree is my life. When it gets to the point where I haven't been able to see Lawrence due to work commitments, you know it's too busy! My deadline date is mid-December so I should hopefully be a bit more active in blog world after that :)

I have been stitching most evenings. If I didn't have my needlework, I think I would have gone mad! Mississippi Riverboat is coming along nicely, as you can see.



I've put in a few stitches in my giant Farmhouse project, but nothing worthy of a photo. I'm thinking I will restart my efforts on that one after Christmas. It takes a bit of time to set up when I want to stitch that piece, but with Riverboat, it's just a case of grab and go.

Lynn, I must offer my sincere apologies. I am terribly late with your parcel. I am in the process of putting it together and my aim is to have it arrive before Christmas. I'm so sorry for the delay.

Also, this is an official call-out for Cindy. Cindy won my Birthday Stitch Surprise for December, but I haven't received an email from her about where to send it. Cindy, if you're out there, please send me a quick email with your address!

I've got an hour now before heading out to work (again!) so I'm going to indulge in blog reading, with a lovely mug of tea by my side :) I bet I will see some lovely Christmas stitching going on.

Best wishes to all,
 

Treats of All Sorts

What do you do when your housemate goes to throw away three perfectly good (albeit slightly brown) bananas? You stop her at once with promises of cake and shrieks of waste not want not. As a student, being thrifty is a necessity of life. I've had a lovely morning baking this sweet smelling banana bread. It's the first cake I've made using gluten-free flour and I can't wait to taste it! Although I love baking, finding the time to do it is such a treat. Sunday mornings before everyone else is up is the perfect time to spend in the kitchen :)



I had a lovely treat in the post last week. Tricia from The Stamper's Stitches sent over a chart from my wishlist and the most beautiful handmade card. The generosity of my fellow bloggers fills my heart and it was so thoughtful of Tricia to send me a gift. Thank you my friend, I hope to return the favour some day :)

Also in the post this week, just a couple of days ago actually, was my 123stitch order. I try to only do an order twice a year, a massive one after Christmas then a smaller one when I really need to. The rest of the time, I just make do with things I have. It's ok though, I have a lot of stitchy things!
So, in this parcel I got a large length of 32ct Lambswool fabric, JBW Designs Scottie dog (would love to get this finished for Christmas!) and a whole bunch of threads, mainly for Lawrence's Pokemon that he keeps pestering me for :P 

And finally, (phew! Quite a long post for me :)) I have an update to share on Mississippi Riverboat. This is the perfect design to work on in the evenings when I come home from Uni or work - sometimes both in the same day! It really relaxes me and let's me unwind after hectic days.

I've had some lovely comments recently with well wishes for my Uni life. It's going really well actually. I got my first essay back with a high mark and I was very pleased. My parents were proud too and gifted me with a £10 Sainsbury's voucher :) I have been a very lucky lion this week, recieving goodies, gifts and things that make me smile from all over the place. Life is wonderful.
I hope you've been having a relaxing weekend. It's a bit on the cool side here, but I'm going to take a wander into town to go and browse the farmer's market. Here's hoping I find even more goodies there too!
Best wishes,
 

PS I'm wearing my poppy with pride today and I hope you are too :)

Adventures

I had a brilliant time in London! We managed to squeeze in so much into our overnight stay. Our hotel room was gorgeous, and I just had to take a snap of the posh miniatures :)



We had a lovely dinner at Bella Italia before heading to The Queen's Theatre to see Les Miserables. It was impressive and powerful and one to be seen. I'm looking forward to seeing the film version that's coming out soon.

The next day, we had a long browse around Borough Market and managed to find the gluten-free bakery stall. I was very excited about this, as gluten-free goodies are often hard to come by. I bought some brownies, and oh my they were good! So good, they were gone before I could reach for my camera :P

We then wandered around the Churchill Wartime Experience, which is a quaint museum filled with personal affects from the Second World War. WW2 is a bit of an interest to me, I find the home front and everything that goes along with it fascinating. Lawrie enjoys history too, so he quite enjoyed this museum, especially the Blitz experience where you walk around London streets that have been "bombed". It was really moving to see it almost for real.

We had lunch in Borough Market, as there were  many stalls offering lots of delicacies. Even though I have particular dietary requirements, I didn't have to look hard to find a delicious salad stall. I had a huge concoction of different salad bits that cost me the grand sum of £4.50. As I said to Lawrie, you could spent more than that in McDonalds! I'd pick food from the market any day :)

I took this snap of The Shard just as we were leaving London. It is officially Europe's tallest building and it certainly awe-inspiring when you get up close to it. 

As I sipped my coffee on the way home (we needed hot drinks to fend of the wintery winds), I recollected my time in London and why we were there. My Lawrence really does spoil me and I feel very lucky to call him mine. I know I have found a good man and I love him. Hello darling, if you're reading this!

When we had to come back to reality, I had to face my second essay of the semester. This one was a lot harder. So to provide motivation, I promised myself that I could have a rummage through my stash once it was done. I handed in my best efforts well on time, so I dived into my stash and surfaced with a new start.
It's Mississippi Riverboat by LHN.

My stitching bug is back with a bang :D I've got three projects on the go now, and I've just done an order from 123stitch.com as it was pay day not too long ago. I'll have yet another new start when the threads arrive.
I'm truly loving my stitching at the moment. I have such hectic days filled with Uni work and Cath Kidston work that it really is a pleasure just to sit and stitch. I'm sure I'm not alone in relaxing with my stitching :)
I've been blog reading too and it's been wonderful to be inspired by lots of new projects. Hope everyone gets to cross some stitches on this Hallowe'en night!

Best wishes,
 

Cosy Cats

Don't you just love this time of year? I keep meaning to take my camera out for a walk and get some snaps of all the beautiful autumnal foliage we have around our house. It does make the walk to Uni a lot more pleasant when they are amber leaves to kick up! 

This is my favourite time of the year for stitching too. Getting cosy with a blanket and a lap full of stitching is where you'll normally find me this season. I feel like I haven't been stitching as much as I'd like to recently, but I have got a new start to share.

New starts are just the thing to boost stitching mojo!

I picked up this Solo the Cat kit way back in 2010 at a big cross stitch convention in London. There were so many stalls selling great bargains, I picked up two kits half price that day. This one above, and a wolves design that is yet to be opened too! 

The similar colours in this piece means I have to have a good light when stitching on it. But I'm going along well. I'm not looking forward to all that backstitching though. Some of you may recognise Solo, I've stitched another design with this character before. It's in this post if you'd like to have a nosy. It was the first piece I finished after I started blogging :) How time does fly . . .

I've got a week off from work this week, but still going to Uni most days. I'm looking forward to this weekend though. Me and Lawrence will have been together for two years at the end of the month, so we are celebrating with an overnight stay in London, dinner out and an overnight stay in a swanky hotel! I'm so excited! It's so lovely to be able to treat ourselves once in awhile :)

I'm off to blog read! Can't wait to see what your busy needles have been up to :)

Best wishes,

 

PS Massive thank you to Tricia from The Stamper's Stitches!! She sent me an email saying she had a chart from my wishlist that she would be happy to send me - I'm so delighted! Thank you so much Tricia for brightening my day :D

Birthday Giving

I've had two heartwarming emails this week, from two lovely women expressing their thanks for their Birthday Stitch Surprise parcels. This really is a selfish act for me, I really get a buzz out of sending gifts. I like to think of my little parcels making someone smile, it makes me feel all warm :)

The first email was from Peggy Lee from Kentucky Sampler who was August's recipient. I consider Peggy Lee to be a true blogging friend who is so kind and thoughtful. It was a joy putting this parcel together. As it was just after my holiday, Peggy Lee's package contained a couple of bits from France, as well as patriotic ribbon celebrating the jubilee. I suppose the theme for this one was summer :)



August's parcel contained two DMCs, a button tin, a length of soldier ribbon, a length of red ric rac, a postcard from France and a small bar of soap from France. I'm delighted to say that my parcel made Peggy Lee very happy indeed, and I couldn't be more overjoyed about that.

September's prize winner was a lot more closer to home. Cath from The Stitchin' Chicken was my victim this month and I'm glad to report she was chuffed with her package too, even if her daughter did run off with the sweeties! My thoughts on the theme were a cross between autumn colours and sewing bits.

Cath's parcel contained a pair of scissors, one DMC, a decorative button, a length of autumnal ribbon, sewing motif stickers, some Love Heart sweeties and chart - Heart in Hand Are you my mother?

Thank you both for taking part in my modest giveaway. I haven't got many parcels left to send now. I've already got ideas for a big Christmas giveaway at the end of November :) Stay tuned for that!

Fall Finish

Hi everyone!

I finally got round to snapping a picture of my latest finish. It's Lizzie Kate's Autumn Sampler . . .

I used a variety of different threads on this project, rarely sticking to the ones outlined. I changed my mind half way through about the colour of the grass too, so I had to rip out a sizeable chunk. But it's all done now and I'm really quite pleased with it. I plan on finishing this piece into a small pillow with some gorgeous autumnal fabric I've had for awhile.

Speaking of fabric, I realised the other day just how much fabric I've actually collected. It's getting a bit ridiculous! I have all this fabric and all these cross stitch finishes, and yet I don't often finish things. Well, I have a plan that should change all that. I've dedicated two hours a week on my class timetable to craft :) It's allocated time where I can sew and finish cross stitch things without feeling guilty that I should be doing Uni work. I've drawn myself up a timetable that means I've got time for everything I enjoy :) Wish me luck as I try and stick to it!

Happy stitching to you all, 

Two Decades

That's how old I am now :) Some days I think I haven't done much with my twenty years. Then other times, I think I'm doing pretty well. Studying a course I love at Uni, spending lots of time with my lovely family and I've met the love of my life already. I really am a very lucky girl :)

My luck continued a couple of days after my birthday when a lovely parcel popped through my letterbox. Mouse was kind enough to send me my own Birthday Stitch Parcel! Isn't this card so perfect? Mouse must know how fond I am of pretty tea sets :)



The parcel was wrapped with care and contained lots of lovely goodies. 

Hand-dyed fabric, tea cup backing fabric and a new pair of scissors, all in girlish hues of pink and purple - I love it all! Thank you so much Mouse for thinking of me, your parcel was very much appreciated.

The issues of last month meant I got behind with sending out my birthday parcels. But I have two wrapped and ready to be sent off in the post tomorrow. Cath from The Stitchin Chicken and Elisa from Old Ragged Threads are my next two victims for September and October :)

Gosh, it's getting close to having to think about Christmas stitching. I definitely want to do a big giveaway this year. I love the festive period and want to share my joy with you all :)

I'll be back with a stitching update soon!
 

Treasure

I can't thank you all enough for the outpouring of hugs, love and warm wishes that I received on my last post.  I'm sure you can understand why I took a little blogging break. I even stopped stitching for a time as I kept messing up my stitches! I believe my uncle is in a better place now and we are spending lots of time with his family to make them feel as comfortable as possible.
I am a believer in silver linings and even though the funeral was a sad day, I did get to meet the newest member to my family. This is baby Blake, my cousin's newborn son, isn't he a cutie? :)



I have had a busy time lately. I've started back at Uni and thoroughly enjoy my second year so far. There's lots of work to be done, but it's so enjoyable that it doesn't really feel like school work. I've been to visit Mum and Dad in Glastonbury. They seem very happy on their new adventure. I've also been to visit Lawrie in Southampton to see how he's settling in. His Uni halls are very different to mine, but he seems to like it and he's already made a lovely group of friends. And I also celebrated my birthday with dinner and cocktails with my best friend :) So yes, it's been a busy week!

I thought I'd get back into the swing of blogging by sharing some treasures that I picked up at our local car boot sale a couple of weeks ago. Car boot sales are a student's best friend! I thought these two soup mugs were retro and charming so I picked up both for £1 ($1.62).



Then I found the craft stall :) I didn't want to go too mad, but I couldn't leave these cards behind. They are the perfect colours for Christmas. Is it bad that we haven't yet reached October and I'm already gearing up for Christmas? :P

I have finished Lizzie Kate's Autumn sampler and have also begun a new start. I shall be sure to put together a post on stitching progress this week.

Best wishes to all,
 

Breathe

I'm sorry I have been absent my friends, but I have sad news to report. I lost my uncle in the early hours of Friday morning. He was an integral member of our family and we are all in a state of shock. My grandmother especially is distraught, no one should see their child pass before them. I'm just trying to be there for everyone and be as helpful to my parents as possible. My dad has lost his brother, and one of his best friends. He was only 48.

Stitching is keeping me calm and I am so thankful for that. I'm going to do some blog reading now to keep my mind off of things.

Thank you all so much for answering my plea. Lesleyanne was my angel this time, sending me some beautiful fabric that I can't wait to start stitching on. Thank you so much Lesleyanne!

Best wishes to everyone, and your families too. They really are such a blessing.

Progress and a Plea

Good evening everyone!

I definitely felt a chill when I was walking to work this morning. I do believe Autumn may be in the air, and I for one am very glad about this. Most of you know I love Autumn, it's the most beautiful season. So my next project is really rather fitting.

I've made a good start on Lizzie Kate's Autumn Sampler . . .

I'm using a mixed bunch of threads on this design, DMC, Sampler Threads and WDW. I picked out colours I had to hand, as well as some of those suggested. I want to get this displayed this year, so I better get stitching!

And now I have a favour to ask of the wonderful blogging community. I am a girl in need of assistance.

Who remembers the Pokemon stitches I was doing for Lawrence? This was the second one I finished, Blastoise. Both have been stitched on 28ct Mushroom Jazlyn. When I went to get the same colour of fabric from my stash to get started on the final design, I found I didn't have enough. No matter, I thought, I'll just order some more.

But 123stitch.com no longer stocks 28ct Mushroom Jazlyn!

I searched on UK websites too and it just appears to have vanished into non-existence.

So now I send out my plea to the blogging world. Does any one out there have a cut of 28ct Mushroom Jazlyn that I may have? I am quite willing to pay for it, or do a swap with some fabric that I have currently. I only need a 40cm x 40cm square. I understand it might now quite be the exact shade as the original cut, but it will be closer in colour to anything else.

I'd really like to finish the trio of Pokemon for Lawrence. I hope some one out there can help a girl out! Feel free to leave a comment or email me on:

stitchinglion -AT- hotmail -DOT- co -DOT- uk

Thank you so much my friends for reading. Here's hoping someone can save the day :)

Best wishes,
 

Stitching in the TARDIS

Finally! Some stitching!
I thought I'd share what I was stitching on prior to and during my holiday. The pair were suppose to be a gift for a dear friend. They still are, but she knows all about it since I left one of the charts out in my room. Still, I know she will love them all framed up :)



Fans of the TV show Doctor Who will know exactly who I have stitched up here. On the left is Mr David Tennant and on the right is Mr Matt Smith. My friend is a massive Doctor Who fan (or Whovian!) and after I collected the Matt Smith chart, I just had to stitch them for her.
I've got frames at the ready, but was halted in finishing them by a severe problem. My house is without an iron. This hindered my finishing day that I was suppose to have had this week. I've got nothing to get the crinkles out! Hopefully, we are purchasing an iron early next week so I can get finishing soon :) Returning to blog reading has shown me so many beautiful examples of finished pieces, I am envious of the talent out there. I'm sure I will learn with practice :)

So, although I couldn't finish any cross stitch pieces, I did get a couple of craft things ticked off my to-do list. I fixed the hole in my CK bag, ordered more bobbins from eBay and popped a button on this cute bag . . .

I've had this bag for ages and was quite upset when I lost the button. Now it has a nice new shiny button and is ready to be used once more :) I don't like things going to waste.

I hope you've all enjoyed a wonderful weekend!

Best wishes,
 

Pretty in Pink

Thank you all so much for the truly wonderful comments you left on my latest post. It really made me feel proud of myself :) I cannot wait to get started on catching up with all of your blogs. I plan on making a start tonight. I did the morning shift today so I've got all evening to relax and read blogs. Ah, bliss.

I thought I'd show you what I sent to Teresa just before I headed off to France. I know Teresa's favourite colour is pink, so that was my starting point for this parcel.
I sent two lengths of ribbon, a DMC thread, two sachets of tea, a card and a small kit. I'm pleased to report that Teresa liked the parcel and could find use for all of it :)



I really should have been more prepared for August's Birthday Stitch Surprise Parcel. Peggy Lee, I'm sorry I'm so late! It will be on it's way very shortly, I promise :)

Just thought I'd share my favourite souvenir that I bought in France. Mostly, my money went on ice creams, postcards and maybe a cheeky bottle of wine or two ;)
But when I spotted this in a trinket shop, it booked a place in my suitcase immediately. Isn't it cute?

I plan on using this tin to store mini cross stitch projects. Maybe when I'm working on a card design perhaps?

I have a day off tomorrow, and since Lawrence is away at Reading Festival, I have decided to dedicate the whole day to craft. I plan on finishing up some cross stitch pieces that have been hiding away for too long. I'd like to do some scrapbooking too, plus the mending on a couple of bags that need tending too. Ooh, it's going to be such a lovely day! I'll be sure to post about my efforts :)
I have a new start to share with you soon too. I like that it all goes quiet on my blog for awhile and then a whole load of posts come at once! I do hope you're enjoying them, I really love typing them :)

Best wishes,

Excitement!

Thank you all so much for all of your beautiful comments on my last post. They really did make me smile. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to send me a comment, I can't tell you how much it means to me :)

So I'm here to reveal an exciting piece of news. As many of you know, I have been working as a temp at Cath Kidston in Winchester over the summer. Well, when I went into work just after holiday, I was offered a permanent position! HURRAH! Now I don't have to worry about finding another job to pay for rent, I have secured a consistent wage for the foreseeable future. And I can't tell you what a relief that is. I know it's not much, but the income I do have keeps me independant and that's really important to me.
My manager let me know that I was being hired, and then had a discussion about my experience so far at the company. She said she was so pleased with me and was very complimentary. I was told I was reliable and a hard worker and she really made me beam :D And then the best part, she offered me to pick something out of the Incentive Box!
The Box is filled with products that have been returned with a fault of some kind. They are used to motivate staff, so whenever anyone does well, we get to pick something out of the box. Look at this lovely book bag I came home with!



The fault is a small hole near the base of the bag. As you can see, I'll have that fixed no trouble.

The best news about being taken on as a permanent member of staff is that I'm eligible for discount. Oh boy, that was very exciting. I couldn't resist purchasing the very next day. I had ogled it from afar as soon as it had come into store. I had picked it up longingly and put it back down with a sigh. But now it was in my price range, now I could finally have the Cath Kidston bag of my dreams. It's the Berry Mini Dot Carryall. Isn't it a beauty? :)

And do you know what, I couldn't be more pleased that I earned this bag myself. No one else paid for it, just me. And I think that's a delight that I think more young people would do well to achieve too.

Now, I realise that this has been yet another post on a stitching blog without a whiff of stitching, but it will be here soon, I promise! I hope to catch up on all of your posts soon too. I've got two days off from work now, plenty of time to blog read to my heart's content :)

Best wishes to all,
 

An Unforgettable Trip

 Wow.
I had the most amazing time in France! It's taken me a whole week to re-adjust to my life back home and I don't think I'm quite there yet. At least the unpacking is done :P
This is a post about my lovely holiday. A stitching update will be here soon :)

So, we set off early to get to St Pancras station in order to get across to France. St Pancras is a beautiful station, I thought the Olympic rings looked very impressive.

The Olympic Rings at St Pancras station.

When we arrived at our villa very late that night, I thought I had just arrived on a movie set. It was a large, stone coloured building with a huge kitchen, rustic interior with it's own swimming pool and cinema system. I was in awe to be in such luxury. 

The next couple of days were mainly spent relaxing by the pool and diving into my books I had saved for the occassion. I started reading the Sherlock Holmes stories, and they're really rather good.

On the first cloudy day, we went out for an adventure to Carcossonne castle. As you can see by the picture below, it's quite an impressive place!

 

Me and Lawrence at Carcassonne.

The food in France is amazing. Although I couldn't enjoy the national baguettes or croissants, I really did tuck into all the gorgeous fresh produce. Every corner shop sells amazing fruit and vegetables. I wish it was that accessible in the UK.
I also enjoyed a lot of local seafood. We were really close to the coast, so that is all very fresh too. Lawrence treated me to lunch one day at a local seafood restaurant. I went with the mussels and they were delicious.

But alas, you can take the boy out of Britain . . .
Despite all the wonderful French food that we could indulge in, my Lawrie couldn't resist ordering this beast of a burger one night! Oh well, at least it came with French fries ;)

We were staying in the village of Capestang which really was very typical of the South of France region. There are a handful of shops, including an ice cream place that me and Lawrence frequently visited :) I thought the following picture really captured the lazy essence of Capestang. It really is a slow-pace of life there.

You can just see Capestang church over the roof, and I love the little pup on the doorstep!

As I said before, we were very close to the coast and took advantage of this for a couple of days. It was very lovely lounging on the beach, but when the heat got to us, me and Lawrence escaped to the beach cafes to sip cooling drinks and eat yet more ice cream :)

Valdras Plage

I really did have the most blissful two weeks away. I know just how lucky I am to have been treated to this holiday by Lawrence's parents. They were so unbelievably generous and I couldn't thank them enough. I got spoilt the whole trip, with Lawrence gifting me with souvenirs and meals out. I am a very lucky lady!

Outside Beziers' Cathedral

I would love to return to France one day, it's a beautiful part of the world. But there are lots of other beautiful places I want to see too :)
Thank you so much for reading this post! I had a few requests for pictures from my holiday, I think I picked a good selection. I won't bore you with all of them, I got a little snap happy I think!

Coming up from me will be a stitching up and a Cath Kidston update :)
Best wishes to all,