Thanks Minnie!!

To Minnie,

I'm so pleased to have won the Christmas Ornaments 2012 Just Cross Stitch magazine from you, and it has now arrived safely here with me in the UK.

Yay!

So many thanks, I can't wait to choose my first one to work on!

What a lovely stitching community we have, I'm so pleased to be a part of it!

Have a great week everyone!

Knitting and Stitching Show 2013

Well, Sunday couldn't have been any more miserable weatherwise, but I dragged myself out of bed, made bacon sarnies, got ready and went to stand at the bus stop to go to the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally.

I went with a list in mind and actually managed not to stray too far from that, which I'm pleased with.

As for the show, I arrived just before 10 and got to look at the Nicola Jarvis and May Morris exhibition pieces that I'd missed at the William Morris Gallery.  Some stunning work, really beautiful.  Since the queues started moving into the main hall at 10 though, I thought I'd better get on with the browsing before it got too busy.  I was right to do so, because by about 11, it was starting to get a bit pushy and by 12, I was in danger of viciously digging my elbows into people who were starting to be rude and impatient and you could barely get close enough to look at some of the stands.  I'm normally quite patient but for the few times I've visited this show, I've been pretty disgusted with the behaviour of some of the people there once it starts getting busy.

Thankfully, I had bought everything I wanted to by 12, so I made a swift exit and looked at the other exhibition pieces in the entry hall on the way out, including a large number of interesting works by Margaret G Nicholson - it seemed like it must have been a good chunk of her life's work, and I found her long career with embroidery fascinating.

So then, onto the new stash!  Here are the things that I bought at the show!  I'm particularly excited by the crewel work kit, it's something I've wanted to try for a while as I love the effect.  So I'm starting gently but I have my eye on a firescreen piece from the same company which is quite expensive.

Magnetic board for my needle needs stand
Introductory Goldwork kit
Introductory Crewel work kit
Boo Club Lizzie Kate charts
Autumn Alphabet Chart
Small Pumpkin sampler chart

And fabrics:
Backing fabrics in autumn colours
Neutral fabrics for cross stitching on!

There we go - not too much, so I'm not too poor, but enough to keep me going for another year!

Thank you :)

Thanks to everyone that replied to my stitchy question.  It seems that you each have your own way of working on these fabrics and that I must find my way too.

I'm actually finding that if I stitch in daylight by the window, I find it much easier to see where the holes are than by daylight lamp and magnifier, so I think I'm going to stick to this for now - typical isn't it that I figure this out when it's starting to go dark too early for my liking!  Oh well, there's always whole days of weekends :)

I'm hoping to post a stitchy update after the knitting and stitching show to show you all what lovely stash I get hold of, or before then if I manage to get the piece I'm working on finished.  Not too much to go now, just a birdy.

Hope everyone is having a lovely week :)

A stitchy question

A bit of a question today for those of you who stitch on Linen or high count evenweave.  How on earth do you see what you are doing?

I've started a piece on 28 count which is the highest I've used so far.  Sadly the fabric was just too small to stitch over 2, so I'm doing it over 1, and I'm doing ok, but it's very slow going.  The magnifier helps a little bit but it also irritates me.

Those of you who stitch on the high count fabric, do you use a frame with a magnifier or do you have magnifying glasses or do you just have exceptionally good eyesight?  Do you stitch only in daylight or in the evenings with a lamp?

Thanks!
Jo

That time of year

Hello everyone,

It is indeed that time of year again... the air has gone a bit chilly, I'm stitching a pumpkin and it's the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally next week.  I wasn't going to go this year because last time I went I got a bit overexcited and bought waaaaaaay too much stuff.

However, I've decided that although I have a complete set of DMC to be going on with, and I have more than enough charts, what I need is more fabric to stitch on.  Specifically, some black, some neutral (I want to start a sampler next year), a piece of pale blue to do Rocky Mountain Christmas (which doesn't even seem slightly daunting anymore now that I'm doing a HAED) on and whatever else strikes me on the day.

Of course, I'm also looking forward to seeing all the exhibition pieces - they were absolutely incredible last year.

I'm sure my husband won't mind a day of peace and quiet and the house to himself, but I'm sure he'll be bracing himself for my return and the stash I bring back with me!

Is anyone else popping along?  If so, I hope you have as much fun as I do!

Tigger's Log Finish!!

Hello everyone!

Apologies for the lack of posts, we have been away on a family holiday to Northumberland, but more about that another time.  I'm very behind on everyone's blogs, so I dread to even look at how many posts I have to read, but I will get to them this week :)

Before I got back home, I managed to get a finish on Tigger's Log, hooray!

And here it is, the design is about A4 size:

Tigger's Log
Stitched on 14 Count Cream Aida

Very glad to have it finished, and thankfully my new frame has arrived from Needleneeds, as the old one had well and truly had it, so I'm straight back onto the Moonlit Waters (yes, still on page 4... )

Tropical Wings Zoo

This week, a friend had decided she wanted to go back to Tropical Wings Zoo with her 2 year old and 4 month old.  I had never visited before, so I decided to tag along.

Tropical Wings is a zoo in Essex, where the main attraction is probably the indoor butterfly house, hence the name.  But I'll get to that later.  We decided to start with the 'furry friends' session.  Here they had a guinea pig and a rabbit in a long run that the children (or adults) could pet.  Next to this was the enclosure for the goats, and the visitors were given food to feed them - they were very friendly indeed.  Up in this farmyard section there were also a number of chickens and other rabbits and we spent a little time looking at these.

Rabbits

Chickens

We started a slow walk back.  The next thing we came across were the Meerkats.  They were having a lot of fun digging holes and looking around with their inquisitive faces.  Always fun to watch.  Just around the corner and the next thing on the schedule was the Lemur feeding.  The 2 year old was a bit apprehensive at first, but you are able to go right inside their enclosure.  They had bags of energy and there were quite a few youngsters jumping around.  When the zookeeper came out to feed them they walked along a rope right in front of us!  There were also some giant tortoises in the enclosure.

Lemurs

The next thing we knew, it was absolutely throwing it down, so sadly we had to give Tractorland (there is also a Diggerland) a miss as they were all locked up.  Instead, we decided to eat our picnic.  We found that there were quite a few areas outdoors for a picnic, both out and undercover. We stopped in the area next to the huge playground - a real shame that it was too wet to go on as it looked like a lot of fun.  There was also a sandpit with many plastic toys.  There are also toilets nearby so this was indeed a good place to stop.

Outdoor Playground

Sandpit

Following lunch, we had a look at the many birds.  There were a wide variety of colourful birds chirping away and we probably spent about 10 minutes looking round them.  Then the rain was starting to get heavy again, so we headed back to the main building.  There is another seated area next to a lovely kids softplay with areas for both the younger and older children and a coffee machine to revive the adults.  According to the website, there is a largish looking cafe, but we didn't stumble across it as we were going round and we didn't need it since we brought lunch with us.  There is also a fairly large shop in this main building selling stuffed animals, toy bugs, books, and snacks.

The 2 year old currently has a fascination with bugs, so next to the indoor play area we stopped in Discovery Kingdom to look at the cockroaches, millipede and other creepy crawlies.

Finally, we definitely saved the best until last - the Tropical House, with its fish pond and butterflies. Absolutely beautiful with lovely flowers and heaps of butterflies fluttering by and a couple of caterpillars walking around.

Overall, we had a lovely day, despite the weather.  There is still quite a lot to do which is inside, although I think we could have made a much longer day of it had it been sunny as there were a few animals we didn't see and the outdoor playground would have been fun - however because of the weather I think it was fairly quiet which was great!  There are loads of signs giving info on the animals which is really useful and the whole place looks really well looked after and neat.  Everything is accessible for buggies and wheelchairs, which makes life easier. If I lived closer and had children, I think it would definitely be worth buying the annual pass that they offer.  I'm definitely looking forward to visiting again!