A Stitching Love Affair

It's been far too long since my last post, but I have been busy stitching! First up is Lake Como Mandala, I have made a small start on this- Using 32 count white lugana sparklies Recommended threads I am also coming along nicely with the Multiplication sampler- Before- After- And lastly but not least, the little Paris cushion (well it will be one day...) Before- After- I also have been outdoors on my bike for the first time after my shoulder operation, though I did pick the windiest day of the month to go out! Shoulder was a bit sore after but it's coming along nicely 12 weeks post-op. Bring on summer! (even if it is 6 months away) Happy stitching! Michelle

There hasn't been a whole lot of stitching going on since I finished Tuscany Town, I am now back at work so   even though that's good because I get a decent pay packet now, I don't have the time I use to for stitching! I have how ever been working on the Multiplication Sampler, and this actually stitches up quite fast because you only use one colour. Before- After- I have also brought another Chatelaine! The new addition is Lake Como I already have some fabric - 32-count white sparkles from Country Stitch, so all I need now is some threads... I have started a new project, it's called Je T'aime by Anette Eriksson, out of the February issue of the Cross Stitcher magazine. Fabric 28-count Linen DMC thread It uses 3 strands of thread so uses up a lot of thread rather quickly, but looks great! I will be making it into a cushion (one day...) I was having a clean out of my cupboards the other day and found all sorts of trea...

It's finished!!! I finally finished Tuscany Town mandala on Friday, I had to finish it by then so I could enter it in the Oxford A&P show. And I won! 1st prize, premier exhibit and most outstanding cross stitch! I can't believe I have actually finished it! It has taken about 2 years, which is quite a while but I don't really spend huge amounts of time stitching every week. I also started the Multiplication Sampler by the Historical Sampler Company, this chart was very kindly lent to me by Nicola . This chart is now out of print so I was very lucky that Nicola could lend me hers! I also got some more stash!  I'm really looking forward to doing one of the Scarlet Letter  samplers, as they have lots of specialty stitches which I love to do! I hope everyone had a happy Easter, I know I have enjoyed some lovely autumn weather here, unfortunately daylight savings finishes next weekend which is always a bit sad because wi...

I am about half way through beading Tuscany Town, so no much to go! Though I have hardly been doing any for the last 2 weeks as I have had my shoulder operation and I can't stitch more than 10 minutes at a time, which I guess is better than not stitching at all! My shoulder surgery went really well, I had an AC reconstruction done and down have 6 weeks of work with my arm in a sling and no driving, still I am getting a lot of maths study done (lucky I am left  handed, but only in writing so it doesn't help my stitching much!) Anyway here is an xray of the finished product, you can see the little metal bits top and bottom which have pulled the collarbone and shoulder blade together So hopefully in a couple of weeks I can start running again, though I'm not sure when I will get back on my bike. I got some stash in the mail the other day, this cheered me up! Here is the Tuscany Town progress- I am aiming to have this finished for the Oxford A & P show on ...

As the title suggests I have good and bad news.. Firstly though, thank you for the kind thoughts and comments on Tuscany town and my accident, it's really nice to have such lovely readers of my blog out there! I will start with the bad news because it leads to good news...kind of... In my last post I reported my wee bike accident, well 4 weeks on it was worse than the orthopaedic surgeon thought, it's now classified as a type 5 injury rather than a type 3 dislocation of the AC joint. Considering it's quite a severe injury, it hasn't been that painful, and I have quite good range of motion in that shoulder (I put it down to good fitness and I regularly stretch anyway)  So (deep breath...) I now need surgery to relocate the collarbone down to where it should be, which involves keyhole surgery and a rubber band, so to speak...well not quite a rubber band, but they attach a band or loop to my collarbone and hook it around the corocoid process (which is a sticky out ...

Oh dear I have had a bad weekend, I had a wee accident on my mountain bike and fell off and dislocating my AC joint in my shoulder. A very very painful experience, so after an x-ray confirmed the injury I now have 2 weeks off work and I can't drive! (and yes biking is out of the question) The arrow shows where clavicle is meant to attach to my scapula (shoulder blade) It's not too painful, only when I get dressed or try to raise my arm. The good news is I can still stitch!!! Woohoo!!! very carefully of course and holding my arm against my side. On the stitching front I have done some more on Tuscany Town Before- After- I have also done a bit more on English Garden Sampler Before- After- I will endeavour to get it out again every once in a while! I really want to get Tuscany Town finished so I can enter it in the Oxford A&P show, so I guess now that I have a couple of weeks downtime I should get a lot done. Happy stitching! Michelle

Happy new year everyone!! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas (I know I'm bit late with that...) and I know I'm looking forward to a fresh new year full of plans and resolutions. Here's hoping I can stick to them! I had a fairly quiet Christmas with the family, it was a very hot day on Christmas day, about 30 degrees I think and the last think you want to do is eat a hot lunch! Anyway Santa was very kind to me and brought me sewing machine!!! YAY!! (thanks Mum you're the best) So I have been practicing on it and I will be able to show you soon what I have made. On the stitching front I have swapped the Christmas stocking (I will finish that for this Christmas) and picked up Teresa Wentzler's English Garden Sampler. I haven't picked this up for months, or is it a year...a long time anyway. Before- After- I'm not sure when I started this, probably about 2-3 years ago and as with every TW chart it has billions of 1/3 stitches! Ha...

Hello everyone! That for the kind wishes when I was sick, I am much better now, actually it only lasted 12 hours, so I was lucky. This weekend I am at my Mum and Dads to put up the Christmas tree which I do every year. Lots of fun! This is the stocking I made a few years ago for myself, so I am making another one (which probably won't be finished until next Christmas!) for my SIL. On to some sad news, I recently broke up with my BF which was very sad, so I feeling a bit depressed and sad which is always worse leading up to Christmas, but I'm trying to be Christmas happy! I am also looking at a change of career, from dental assistant to quantity surveying or engineering technology. It's a bit scary changing careers but I really have had enough of dental after 13 years! So I guess I have lots to think about over the summer/Christmas holidays. Anyways here is my happy pictures!- The Ginga's favourite chair! He's just so cute happy stitching!...

Hi everyone, I decided since I'm sick today that I should at least post something even though I haven't done very much stitching at all since the last post! Please don't read the next paragraph if your squeamish! I would actually rather be at work than sick because I got a nasty vomiting bug, whether it be from something I ate or a virus, anyway since 9am this morning I can't stop vomiting, hopefully it will pass soon because it is no fun what so ever! Anyway back to the more pleasant things in life, namely stitching! This is a chart I have been wanting to stitch for a while, so I thought it would be a nice Christmas gift to myself! Its called the Francophile sampler by Nouveau Encore from my favourite needlework shop ABC Stitch . It only uses 2 colours -  black and red (or any other colours you like) and is done 2 over 2 with one strand. I had maybe thought of doing it one over but I think I may go blind doing that! So I thought using 40-count, if you have any o...