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,