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!