Paine Free SAL Update 1

Not too much to say about this one... I am enjoying it but haven't got too far yet.

Here's the link to the chart: http://www.painefreecrafts.com/cross-stitch-charts/55-tea-ceremony-snipz-esmira.html

And here's my first update:

Tea Ceremony Update 1

Not a good start... Turtle Trot SAL January Update

Oh deary me.

I'm not sure what happened.  One minute Christmas was miles away and I signed up for a couple of SALs thinking it would be fine and straightforward.  The next, Xmas and New Year have been and gone, I'm back in the middle of things at Significant Seams and my husband went on a work trip so I went to stay with my parents.  While I'm on the train I realise I've not done the update so I snap a couple of pictures actually on the 10th so I can record my accurate progress to post as soon as I can.  And then I come back from visiting my family feeling rubbish and put off posting until I can face turning on the big computer.

So here we are today.  Although the post is late, the photos are actually from the right time - i.e. the 10th Jan.

I've only worked on a couple of my pieces between December and January.  There was way too much sightseeing with the husband so I barely picked up my stitching as my eyes were so tired by the end of every day!

Cat Update 1
So much unpicking and restitching...grrrr!

Snowman Update 1
Coming along nicely!

Happy New Year!

I'm a bit late with this, I know... but the good thing is that I've had a nice break and spent some much needed quality time with the Hubby.  We have been out and about doing lots of fun things, which I'll tell you all about when I've grabbed the photos from my camera in the next few days or so.

But for now, I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year and to say thank you again for following my little blog - I really do appreciate all of you who take the time to come and read and leave comments.  I'm pretty backed up on the blog reading with over 800 posts to go and look at, but I am going to make a start right now :)

Hope 2014 brings you all that you wish for!
Jo

Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Happy Christmas! Hope you all have a lovely day.

Volunteering

For the last few months, in an effort to gear up my brain for going back to work, I've been working as a volunteer at a local Community Interest Company called Significant Seams - yes, you've guessed it, it's textile and crafty related.

I have to admit, it's a completely different experience to working in an office job, but I am very much enjoying it.  I'm volunteering as their Librarian, and you can read an interview that we did here on their blog (and yes, the knitting book I'm holding is extremely retro!):

http://www.significantseams.org.uk/2013/12/06/volunteer-voices-jo/

Pop by and have a look at the website and if you're ever in East London, we are on Wood Street - please do drop in for a natter and come and browse the shop and Library :)

Paine Free SAL

Hello all!

Well, not content with the madness that is the 10 pieces for the Turtle Trot SAL, I also decided at the last minute on the 30th Nov to join the Paine Free SAL running on this facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/497318636958523/

Basically, people are stitching one of the designs from Paine Free Crafts.  I've had my eye on them for a while, but I just felt like I had too much to do already.  However, everyone's photos made me want to join in too, so with a couple of hours to go, I bought this lovely smallish chart (although I love all of the oriental designs): http://www.painefreecrafts.com/cross-stitch-charts/55-tea-ceremony-snipz-esmira.html

Here are all the colours laid out before I started:

So watch out for further updates over the next few months :)

Turtle Trot SAL for 2014

Okie dokey.  I've seen some of you posting your Turtle Trot SAL posts this year and I've decided I want to play too.

If any of you want to join in too, the signup page and rules are here.

So I've picked my 10 for next year (I thought I'd definitely got at least 10 started, but a lot of them are only teeny ones and I wanted to go for the larger pieces).  They are in various states, but I thought I'd get them organised now as it's probably going to be a bit of a busy month in December, there is all sorts already in my diary.

So here are my 10 at their starting points - more than anything I wanted a variety of colours so that when I get bored of one, I can hop right to the next one:

Seashells

A santa ornament from JCS 2012 Christmas magazine

Bluebell Lane

Moonlit Waters

Froggy piece

Dolphins - this has been in my stash
for YEARS!

Cottage

Cat to go with the other cat

Cat Coasters (this is the first piece)

Orchid with printed fabric

I really wanted to get a start on more HAEDs but I think that's a bit unrealistic to get it all kitted up and ready to go in time for this SAL starting, so I'm planning to get through some of my backlog to leave some room to start another HAED when time allows.  Even if I finish all these, I've still got a few kits and heaps of other stash.

Wish me luck!