Another UFO finished

I posted about this little guy here but didn't stick to the plan and he got put aside once more until this afternoon.

He's probably my third oldest PHD and I worked out one reason he kept getting left was the short lengths of floss (he's a kit) so I stuck with them to finish him off but used my own to do the green pine needles. I've got no idea what I'll do with him now other than put him in the drawer so he doesn't get lonely :)

If anyone wants the chart and leftover floss let me know and I'll gladly pass them on

Erica James

My WI President orgnised an evening with Erica James and she was kind enough to pose for a pic with me (please don't fall off your seat with shock, it's a very rare event in itself!) Feel free to admire the lariat I have on, it's my latest beading finish and isn't yet 24 hours old.

Not much I can say about the evening really other than she was very entertaining and it was very interesting to find out how she goes about writing her novels and I'm now the owner of 4 signed copies of them inc. her new one.

I noticed when I came to write this post that yesterday's was #500!!!!! I had noticed a little while ago that it was approching and I had planned on doing a giveaway to celebrate but it snuck up on me so I've got nothing prepared for one so bear with me for a few days while I scratch my head and figure one out

Silly Snowquakes

By the end of November I want to have at least a dozen of these finished so that I can give them out at the WI committee Christmas lunch so I made a start while Caleb was here.

The one in the centre is on a Sparklies fabric but I've got no clue which one as it wasn't labeled and will grace my tree this year. The other two are on a scrap of linen from stash that was the perfect size to fit two and I used Caron Wildflower Sky Blue Pink.

It's a freebie from Erynne and the chart is here

Snow pics

I wasn't planning on doing a post today but certain family members (aka Mel) have complained about the lack of one for a few days so........

We woke up to a covering of snow this morning and as this was Caleb's last day we took him outside for a little while

Any more complaints should be done in writing and presented along side a cuppa :)

Happy Dance

The afghan is finished, woohooo.

This was my second oldest UFO at around 15/16 years old so I'm really happy to be able to cross it off the list.

I need to get the sewing machine out and do a line around the edge before I fray it but I'll do that next week when Caleb has gone home but I'm still calling it a finish.

I've now made a start on an ornament for this month and it's a easy stitch so hopefully in a day or two I'll have another finish to share.

TUSAL

I've added a fair few orts to my jar since last month and it's getting more colourful now.

There's orts from the Teddy Afghan (fingers crossed I'll finish it tomorrow), Mary Busby, UFO RR, Dwarf Rabbit square, Not a Creature, Kaleidoscope and off course Legends. Oh and there's 3 clolours of nymo as well from beading projects.

If you fancy joining in with the SAL the sign up page is here

And before I go Happy Valentine's Day if you celebrate it and Happy Chinese New Year if you celebrate it

UFO RR

I've spent this week working on the current UFO RR, Laural's Madonna of the Garden

As she arrived

As she leaves me


And the area I worked on in a little more detail

Updates

Have you ever had one of those projects that you love but for whatever reason it doesn't like you at all?

Well mine is Legends, it really doesn't like me. I picked it up on Monday and was stitching away on his title when I discovered a mistake and had to frog again. Every week I've picked him up after the first couple of weeks I've ended up frogging so next week I'm giving him a rest (also because Caleb will be here and stitching time will be in short supply) in the hopes that a week off will help.

On the other end of the rainbow I picked up the afghan yesterday and finished the square I was working on. In fact I'm enjoying it so much that once I've finished my time on the current UFO RR I'm planning on going back to it and hopefully finishing it. Now that the mostly white square is done there isn't really that much left to do so fingers crossed this weekend I can cross it off the PHD list.

My postman is the best

This morning he brought me this beauty from Blyn

Sew Blue freebie from iStitch Charts stitched in GAST Holly Berry on RR Reproductions 36ct Straw.

And so it didn't get lonely on the trip over Blyn included all these goodies as well (my other pinkeeps will be jealous they only have plastic stands to sit on, lol) and it all came wrapped up in the really pretty Valentine/spring fabric in the background

It's now sat front and centre of the little display area I have getting dirty looks off it's neighbours

An inspector called

AKA Millie and her fascination for cupboards strikes again.

I'd left the door to the cupboard where I keep my DMC open by accident and Millie spotted it.

Mel was in the kitchen and made a noise so before the inspection began that had to be checked out

DMC smells good it seems

Hmm can I get up there (it's the cupboard to the left of the window in the second pic of this post)

All was well so she settled down
And Toby decided that Mel needed help with an assignment while Millie was safely in the cupboard

I've done poking in my freebie favorites folder and have found the link for the Peacock Heart you'll need to save it to your puter to print it

Updates

I've fianlly got my butt into gear and taken pics of my progress this week.

First up Legends, I've made a start on the over one title

Sleepy Bear afghan. The white is finished, yay

And lastly here's yesterday's progress on Mary Busby.

I've added a few things to my sale blog (link on the right) and there's going to be more added as soon as I get round to scanning them!

Valentine Exchange

Mel has let me know that the Valentine Exchange I sent to her has arrived safely.

I stitched a freebie for her called Peacock Heart in Stef Francis' Noel floss and finished it into a pinkeep. I'm really pleased with the way it tuned out and was sorry to see it go.

As usual the fabric in the background is the backing and the ribbon has a cream coloured stitch running through it

With the goodies

Apologies for not giving a link but I've downloaded IE 8 today and it won't let me paste the web address to turn it into a link. If anyone has any suggestions on how I fix it I'd love to hear them.
Oh and Blogger is the one putting all the break in the text not me

Finishes

I finished this today, my first SOLAK square of the year.

It's from one of the UK magazines but I've got no clue which one because he was cut out by a friend who passed it on to me.

Yesterday I finished another one of those PHD beading projects, a Daisy Vine bracelet. This one took me less than an hour to finish off once I'd dug the instructions out and refreshed my memory.


And these guys should of been posted weeks ago but for some reason or other that didn't happen and I came across them when clearing the camera card off.
The kid panels of Snowman trio. I've started getting the bits and pieces together to finish off the entire bauble so hopefully this will also be finished this month.

I've realised that I've not posted my weekly update on Legends or the afghan so I'll try and get that done tomorrow

Beading finish

In the vain of finishing off some beading projects I made a start on this one a week or so ago and finished it today.

It's one of the first projects I ever started so must be about 5/6 years old, not sure why it got put down but I do know if I started it now the tension would be so much better.

Ric Rac Purse

Jill Devon @ The Bead Merchant

I love the clasp

The fringe doesn't have a big gap in it, it's just the way it's sitting and I never noticed when I took the pic this morning.

PHD's came about when I was talking to Carrie while taking her Angel Box class a while ago but I couldn't remember what she'd called her WIP's so when I took another class with her in November last year (Christmas tree this time and surprise, surprise it's not finished but it's on the list) I asked her again. A PHD is a Partly Half Done or as someone said on a BB a Potential Happy Dance. I decided to have PHD's rather than WIPs in the future but I'll leave you to wonder which one I prefer of the two.

January Progress and Febuary Goals

For January I said
Get the UFO RR done and mailed Yes
Get an ornament done Yes
No more than 5 Guilt free starts If you don't count the ornament, SOLAK square and exchange project then yes :)

For Febuary I'd like to
UFO RR
Finish the Bear Afghan
Get an ornament done
Get a SOLAK square done
Finish as many other things as poss.

I stitched for 112 hours 52 mins had 8 new starts and 4 finishes that were all new starts (I have a bad foot that I have to rest as much as poss, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

So those 3 new starts in one that a few of you want to know about, well the first was Doro Theos from My Big Toe, Carriage House Samplings Quaker Alphabet Sampler and a Dwarf rabbit that's for SOLAK. Alice asked what the story was behind 3 in one day so, yesterday was the last day Jan and in turn the last day of Guilt Free Jan and I decided to throw caution to the wind and start 2 things that have been calling to me for a while. The rabbit was because I realised I hadn't even started a SOLAK square for Jan so if I did I could claim it for the month but it will be finished in the next few days and when there's a little more of the other wo to see I'll share.

Now I know that my PHD total has creeped back up to the number it hung about for most of last year but I signed up for the Sprint in the Stitching Olympics over on the Wagon so there should be a fair few finishes this month. And in the same spirt I've decided to have a bit of a Finish it Feb with my beading and hope to finish off lots of the projects that have been left half done from the weekly class I used to go to.

Current PHD total = 43