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

Stitching through the Winter

Hi all, I hope this post finds you well. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying my stitching lately. Even when I'm not putting needle to thread, I'm reading magazines or browsing blogs or eyeing up my next stitchy purchase. It's lovely to be fully immersed in a hobby once more. 

I've got another card finish to share. This one is a birthday card for my grandmother, who doesn't own a computer, so no risk of her seeing it before the big day! I used a design from an old magazine from my stores, then picked the colours as I went along from my box of leftovers. I'm glad I'm not the only one who keeps leftover threads - they're so handy for small projects like this. 

I finished Love Cats fairly quickly. It was all block colour then a bit of back stitching so it was a nice quick one. I'm thinking of adding her wedding date and gifting this to my sister. Just got to find the perfect frame first!

And I have a new start to share. I don't think this one will take me too long at all. It's Time for Tea by Country Cottage Needlework and I've subbed a couple of the threads for ones I already had. I'm definitely a budget stitcher! 

That's it from me this time. Only two weeks to go until surgery, then there will be no stopping my needle :) I've started kitting up a few things so it will be nice and easy for me to pick things up during my respite time. And then it will be Christmas! I've sent some SewAndSo links to Lawrence so hopefully Stitchy Santa will leave something for me under the tree!! 

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

Projects aplenty

Hi all, I hope you're well. I've been having a strong week this week. I'm enjoying work again and really feel like I'm making a difference. It's the best feeling to feel so content. I've been really into my stitching lately, even browsing the Sew and So website in my lunch break to seek out new projects! I had a lovely time going through my stash earlier this week and surprise surprise, I've got a lot more fabric than I thought I did :)

I've got a finish to share with you first. I'm lucky enough to have a subscription to CrossStitcher magazine and I'm trying to complete each of the cover kits in the same month as the magazine. So here is the card cover kit, Driving Home for Christmas, from the November issue all finished up . . .

This was a nice quick stitch actually, but I really like the effect, especially with the card board button. I've got some one in mind to send it too, alongside a festive parcel of goodies. I found another kit that I had misplaced in my stash for a pin cushion design. I think I'm going to get this one finished before the end of the year too, so I'm all up to date with my cover kits. 

I'm afraid I've made no progress on Cook's Notes lately. The back stitched letters are charted in such a way that I keep having to split aida blocks and really concentrate on it, so it's not one I can just pick up to do a few stitches in to unwind after work. I think it might become my weekend project, and during the week I will work on my latest new start, Love Cats by Brittercup Designs . . .

As I said, I went stash diving this week and unearthed so many lovely threads and fabrics that I haven't had a chance to use. I think I'm definitely to be able to stitch from stash for most of 2018! I'm using a mixture of beautiful variegated threads for this design and I think the finished look will be excellent. It's just whole stitches and a bit of back stitch, so I don't think it will take me that long to get it finished up. Then it will be on to the next project!

Are you doing much festive stitching? I'm thinking of whipping up a few cards with some of my scrappy pieces and odd and ends of threads. It's amazing what you can create with off cuts. Do you save your leftover threads from kits to make cards? It's a habit I got into when I didn't have much of a budget for stitching :)

I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful weekend. We had friends over for dinner last night and today we're off out with Lawrence's family to enjoy a Sunday lunch. I'm sure there will be stitching time this evening, after the baking and the laundry first!

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx