Big thank you and finished gift tags

Hello my friends, I hope you are all well. The sun is shining and the sky is blue and it looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day. 

I've been doing lots of little bits of stitching lately. I finished off my flamingo design, quickly stitched up a card for a colleague who was leaving and I also spent a couple of evenings working on these cute gift tag designs.They're from the latest issue of CrossStitcher, but I actually had some of the card tags leftover from a previous cover gift at Christmas time. I really enjoyed picking my own thread colours from my tin of leftovers to create these.

I just have to say a huge thank you to Cath from The Stitchin' Chicken who sent me a lovely surprise parcel. Cath was gifted recently with a collection of DMC threads, and was kind enough to share the love and pass some on to me! There was also two huge pieces of aida in the package. I feel so lucky when people are so generous and think of me. I know I will make good use of the threads and the fabric, so thank you so much Cath!

I'm definitely on the look out for my next big project, but I'm quite enjoying the small pieces at the moment. I find there is certain satisfaction in taking a scrap of fabric and a few old threads and making a brand new card or gift tag with them. I think stitching and craft in general can be quite thrifty if you want it to be, although I love spending money on stash!

I hope you're all enjoying a lovely weekend. 

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

April finish and yet another cover kit!

Hello all, I hope this post finds you well. I seem to have got into a real groove with my stitching again and it's nice. I have one evening a week where I spend a good three to four hours with my latest project, and then I sometimes sneak an extra hour or two at the weekend, depending on what we're doing. 

Now that I've got into a good stitching routine, Autumn Bird came together very quickly. Here is a picture of my latest finish:

I'm really pleased with this one, I just love the colours in it. I look forward to stitching more pieces from Satsuma Street Designs. 

I haven't picked up Highland Walkies in awhile. It's a chart that's spread over a couple of pages, so requires a fair amount of concentration to make sure the matching is correct. Sometimes I don't fancy it in the evenings, but I should hopefully pick it up again soon. 

I really like receiving my copy of CrossStitcher through the door every month. It keeps me connected to my hobby and I've been enjoying the cover kits they've released this year. I didn't think much of the phone cover idea in this issue, so I've stashed the fabric and found a piece of linen in my stash to use instead. I love the bright colours in the flamingo design, it's so fun! Here's where I'm up to so far:

I think I'll get this one finished this week and then comes the fun bit - stash diving for my next project! I think I'm in the mood for ornament making, but you never know what take my fancy when I actually go looking. 

I hope you've enjoyed a lovely weekend. I went to the cinema with friends to see Avengers: Infinity War and thought it was absolutely fantastic.

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

Happy Easter 2018!

I've had a lovely long weekend thanks to the Easter Holidays. I left on Thursday night to visit a friend in Southampton, and then we both travelled onwards to London the next day. We met up with another friend and watched her perform in a show. A great night was had by all, especially because it ended with pizza :) 

I visited my family on Easter Sunday and we had lunch and went on a refreshing walk afterwards. It's unusual for me not to have picked up my needle much during the break, but I do have a couple of things to share.

This is my new start. It's Autumn Bird by Satsuma Street Designs, featured in Issue 193 of Cross Stitch Crazy magazine. I fell in love with the colours, so purchased the DMC threads needed to complete this design. It's a mainly block stitching, so an ideal project for after work in the evenings.

Speaking of work, I'm still really enjoying my new role. It's not quite as new anymore, I've been there for a month already. I can't believe how the time has flown by. The latest free gift with Cross Stitcher came in handy though. It was a key ring design and I stitched it up in one evening and it now guards my work key! 

I hope you've all had a fantastic Easter break and had plenty of time for craft and stitching. Thank you all so much on your kind comments on my last post. They truly brighten my day.

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

A finish and a new hobby

Hi there everyone! I hope this post finds you well. I have started my new job working as an admin in a foster care agency and I'm truly enjoying it so far. It can be busy, and there's a lot to read and learn about, but the people are so friendly and it's nice being in a job where I feel useful and like I'm making a difference. Sadly, I didn't get to go to Southampton last weekend - the snow meant my train was cancelled. I made the most of my time at home though, and seeing as it was wintry conditions, I felt inspired to work on my Christmas sampler. And it's finished! 

I've tucked it away for now, but I'm looking forward to getting it out again around November time and make it into a wall hanging to be displayed over the festive season. I'm quite proud of this piece, because I only used threads that I had in my stash. The only thing I had to buy for this project was the fabric. Everything else came from threads I had squirreled away after finishing kits, or odd Anchor threads that my sister had given me when she finished with cross stitching. It was a nice, cheap project, which is good to have every now and then to keep costs down!

I have started a new design that I did buy some new threads for, but only because I loved the colours used so much, I wanted an exact match. I've got a fair few stitches in, but haven't had a chance to take a pic yet. I'll be sure to get one up next week.

I've had a lovely weekend so far. We had Lawrence's mum come for a visit and yesterday afternoon, we went to a needle felting beginners class. I always enjoy craft, but I haven't tried very many of them, so it was nice to try a new skill. The class was in a gorgeous craft shop/work shop/tea room and was taught by a patient and kind teacher. There was only four of us learning, so we had time to each receive personal instruction as to where we were going wrong. We had a cup of tea half way through and it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I definitely felt I had a thorough understanding of the basics of needle felting by the time we finished. 

This is another cheap hobby to enjoy, because it only needs a little bit of equipment and you can find free designs on line. In the class, we each made a teddy bear. Mine is a bit wonky, but I'm very fond of him! 

Apart from cross stitching, what other crafts do you enjoy? I would love to hear all about them, it might give me an idea for the next class I could sign up to. I've got some chores to do now, but I can't wait to settle down with my stitching this evening.

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

A glimmer of Spring

I'm sitting in my living room to type this post and the sunlight is streaming in through the bay window. I have a beautiful bouquet in a duck egg-coloured vase that was gifted to me by a lovely friend. It could almost be Spring, if only it was't so cold outside! Still, that means plenty of time inside and stitching :)

I finally picked up my Christmas sampler for the first time in awhile. I only managed to add a couple of motifs, but I'm glad I spent some time on it. I think I'm just going to pick it up as and when I feel like throughout the year and definitely get it finished by November. There's not really much to do, but I can't find the perfect colour for the house in the centre of the design. I think I need to go to a craft store and take it with me and see if I can find a colour I love. Here it is at the moment:

The designer of this piece, Faye from Little Dove Designs, has just done another sampler in the latest issue of CrossStitcher - Spring Sampler. It's the first in a four part series and I love the look of them. I don't know whether to wait and collect all four designs, or kit it up right away. What would you do?

Speaking of CrossStitcher, they had a fab cover kit on this issue. It was a wooden pendant where you could select one of three designs to stitch on it. I normally tuck my cover kits away for another time, but I couldn't resist starting this one straight away and I finished it in one evening! I'm not sure what I would actually wear it with, but I do love the look of it.

It's been a good week for stitching, because I even had time to put some stitches in on Highland Walkies too. I love the colours in this piece, they're so cheerful. I think I'm going to pull this one out right after this post and spend the rest of Sunday working on it :)

I only have three more days working with District Nurses, then I'll be off on a long weekend to Southampton to visit friends, which I'm so looking forward to. It will be the perfect way to relax before starting my new job. 

I hope you're all enjoying a lovely weekend, and thank you so much for your kind comments on my last post. It's so important we look after ourselves, especially when times are tough.

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

All change for February

Hello my friends, I hope this post finds you well. I've been having a busy time of late, as always! We've merged two district nursing teams as part of a cost cutting exercise, but sadly, the result has been that many staff have left. That means more work divided by less people and it's been a bit of a strain to say the least. However, I'm coming to the end of my contract with the District Nurses, so I only have to do my best for the next two weeks. I have another job lined up to start in March, I'm going to be a placement administrator for a foster care company. It looks like a difficult, challenging job, but I'm ready for it. It looks like it could be truly rewarding too.

When life gets a bit much, I always like to concentrate on looking after myself. That way, I can fire on all cylinders and get as much done as I can. For me, that involves sleeping plenty, eating right and always making time for cross stitching. I've made some good progress on Highland Walkies. It's a lot of block stitching, which makes it a good project for the evenings. Lawrie bought me a clip on lamp for Christmas too, so I use that a lot for good sight. Here's where I'm up to on my latest project:

I'm only working on one piece at the moment, which is unusual for me, I normally have at least two on the go! My Christmas chart hasn't seen the light of day since January, I still can't decide if I want to power through and finish it, or wait until November when I start to feel the festive spirit again. What would you do? 

I hope you've had a marvellous weekend and you should never feel bad about taking a little time out for yourself :)

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

Organisation and a new kit

I've had quite a busy week, with no much time for stitching unfortunately. But I did have a lovely time last Sunday with all of my DMC threads. I finally got round to getting them all out and putting them away again in numerical order. I'm lucky to have quite the collection of DMC, but it was making it more difficult to find the ones I needed! I'm glad they're all organised now for easy access. They list the threads required in Cross Stitcher magazine in numerical order, so it should make kitting up projects a lot easier.

I have just started on my new kit that I bought with my Christmas voucher for SewandSo.com. It's called Highland Walkies from Bothy Threads. It was on my wish list for a long time so I was so pleased I got to purchase it. However, I was a little disappointed when I opened it because the threads were just draped over the thread holder, not secured, so the threads were in danger of mixing up. I spent most of the time when I opened the kit sorting the threads and only got a few stitches in. I'm sure I'll have a progress picture for next time. 

I've still got my Christmas sampler on the go. I thought about packing it away until next December, but I don't like leaving a project unfinished. Besides, if I finish it soon, it will definitely be ready to display next Christmas. I've got a couple of new projects on the bench, but I'm going to finish some before I make another new start.

I hope you're staying warm. It's been very bitterly cold in Bristol lately, I'm very glad for tea and stitching!

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

A Fresh New Year

Hello friends and Happy New Year to you all! Thank you for being so patient with me during my little break from blogging over the holiday season. 

I'm glad to report that my surgery was successful. The surgeon found endometriosis, but it was mild and they were able to remove it through key hole surgery. I have three little scars that I'm sure will be almost invisible in the not too distant future. I got to come home the same day as the operation, which I was really grateful for, it's much more comfortable being in your own bed. I was very slow and a bit weak in the days following, but my recovery has gone well, and I went back to work at the beginning of January. During my recovery time, I got to do plenty of stitching, which was a wonderful distraction to my swollen tummy. 

I've been really enjoying editing the magazine projects to suit my own tastes. I've been working on two pieces lately, one wintery and one Christmas themed. The first one is adapted from card designs by Durene Jones in Issue 326 of CrossStitcher. I liked the modern designs, but not the orange pallette, so I whipped out my thread boxes and started making my own combinations! This one just needs a little more backstitching and it will be complete. Do you think it's too big to be an ornament? The characters remind me of us, so it would be nice to have it up on the tree.

My other project is definitely too big for an ornament! This is Christmas is Coming from Little Dove Designs that was in Issue 324 of CrossStitcher. This was my big project I was working on during recovery, as it was an easy stitch on 14ct ice blue aida and block colours, with very little backstitching. I'm choosing my own colours again for this one, which has meant I could add little bits of metallic here and there for extra Christmas glitz. I've still got quite a few components left to add to this piece, and then I've got to make my mind up about adding the border or not.

I was lucky enough to receive a Sew and So voucher for Christmas and I stocked up on some lovely stash, I'll have to post the picture next time. I got a couple of kits too, one of which I think will be my next project. It will be a lovely introduction to Spring :)

I hope you've all had a wonderful start to the year and had plenty of stitching time this weekend. 

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx