Mystery bead a long progress

I realised this morning that I'd not shared any progress pics of the secret bead along I've been doing.

I did start it on Dec 1st and kept up for a few days then had to put it aside to finish the trees then a thread broke that meant having to undo a fair bit to fix it so it got put aside again while I did Mum's present so got behind :( 

Now those projects are finished and Christmas is over I'm back on it but of course still behind because the bead a long ended on Christmas eve! 

This is days 1-9

also day's 1-9 but the other side of it

and this is days 10 & 11 with day 12 started, it's also just past the point I was at when the thread broke 

I've decided that as long as I get it to day 16 or more tomorrow I'll still add the 2014 plaque that came with it as I will if completed 2/3 of it in 2014.

Keep your fingers crossed for me but it should be OK as I have no new year plans this year

Christmas presents

Lucy got another skull bookmark for her collection

And my Mum got the companion needlecase to last year's gift

Penguins and stash

I finished stitching the penguins on Sunday morning and my Mum made the stocking up for me because my machine was put away with Lucy and Teejay being here.

No pic of that tho because I forgot to take one and it's packed ready to go home tomorrow but you all know what a stocking looks like anyway :)

I got some new stash this year:)

This is from Ursh who was my advent exchange partner

And this was off my fella.

Both will be started in Jan as part of Gifted Gorgeousness

A late TUSAL from me

I finally remembered to take pics of my ort containers this evening for the final TUSAL of the year :)

I've only really added orts from Toy Gatherer, Skating Penguins and a few from Reindeer Stables since last time out

And my beading orts with lots of green in it from making the trees

Advent Blog Hop

This is my first time taking part in the advent blog hop or indeed any blog hop organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching and hopefully it won't be the only/last time!

I don't have much in the way of Christmas stitching which is a bit daft when you think it's my favourite time of year but I do have one that is out all year round and it's this one......

Under the Evergreen from my favourite designer Teresa Wentzler and unusually for a TW it's all in whole crosses.

Now for part 2 of the blog hop, the best present I ever received.

Well it won't be the empty box my Mum gave me one year or the one empty box my fella gave me a couple of years ago, or the head/shoulder make up thingie I had one year as a kid.

I think I'm going to go with the viv for Baby and Baby herself that I given in 2012 by exh and Mel although the handbag (red suede and black leather) from fella last year and the new winter coat that my parents have given me this year were in the running for the title (I was in need of a new coat and so I have it early)

Family ornaments

Every Christmas I make an ornament for my parents, both girls, both grandson and the last few years my fella as well and I try to make them the same one but different this year I went for a tree from Threadabead

Apart from no 4 it was a lucky dip as to who got which tree

Tree 1 went to Lucy

Tree 2 went to Mel

Tree 3 went to my fella and it's my favourite one

Tree 4 went to my parents and was the only one planned

It's exactly the same pattern each time but everyone turned out different esp on the bottom branch 

Stitch from Stash December report

I've not spent a single penny this month not even the rest of the bonus budget so I'm quite pleased about that so I don't really have anything to write about this month.
I have continued to find new homes for some of my unwanted stash and plan to carry on next year.

New starts from stash = None
PHD's worked on = Skating Penguins and Toy Gatherer
£ spent = a big fat zero
Budget left = £144.64.  £124.64 carried over and £20 for Dec
Bonus Budget left = £19.33


Over the course of the year I have spent £95.36 on stash from my budget not including the bonus budget for Nov/Dec that averages out to just £7.94 a month!

We have a break now until the new Stitch from Stash starts on Jan 1st so you never know I may invest in Peacock Cypher so that I can finally use the silk pack for it that was gifted to me by Daffycat several years ago!

I'd like to thank Mel of Epic Stitching for all she has done for all of us taking part this year and I hope she doesn't have any grey hairs from it :)

More penguins

Another quick update on them taken this morning.

These 2 guys are ready to back stitch now and then I just have to finish the one above them

Penguins update

Just a quick update this evening on Teejay's penguin stocking.

I have 2 complete penguins left to do and the one on the right to finish off and I've already made a start on them 

Stitching updates

I never got round to posting an update from last weekend on Toy Gatherer so here it is.

There won't be one this next week because I've decided to take the weekend off from it so that I can finish Teejay's stocking before he arrives on Thursday.  My stitching time will be a lot less when he gets here and I won't be able to work on it in the day while he's about.

This was how it looked on Saturday morning, it's a little further on now

Ornament Exchange

I took part in the annual ornament exchange over on Needlecraft Haven again this year opening day was Dec 1 and here I am 10 days later only just getting round to posting it.

This is the beauty I received from Dusty 

And the one I sent to Ursh

couple of close up for you

Penguins progress

Now that December is here I'm spending all my stitching time on weekdays working on Teejay's stocking and this week I finished off the top 3 penguins, got the band done along with his name and made a start on the next 5 but one of them was just to finish the thread off

The plan for next week is to finish those 4 and hopefully make a start on the last 6

A bit of useless info for those in the UK.

The outside bit of the Iceland Christmas ad was filmed in my local store in August.  It very odd to go into town on a Wednesday afternoon and see Christmas trees everywhere!

Toy Gatherer progress

Here's how I got on last weekend

This weekend I'm hoping to finish the shirt but now I've said that I bet I won't

November progress & December goals

For November I said
Finish my weekend project   Done
Decide for certain what's next at weekends  Done
Get Teejay's stocking half done   Not quite I have 6 out of 16 finished
Finish at least one other project   Done, I finished Flower Tender
Keep selling stash  A few more package have gone out
Post every day for NaBloPoMo 2014  Done

For December I would like to
Finish Teejay's stocking
Finish something else
Decide on my Jan 1st start
Keep selling stash

I stitched for 91 hours and 15 minutes in November, had 2 new starts and 4 finishes 2 of which were new starts and I stitched every day :)