So, where on earth will I find space for these???

I've picked up two pieces from the picture framers - Fantasy Triptych and Waiting for Ships. It took me ages to pick out the frames and mounts, but it was worth the effort. I'm really pleased with how they turned out.





There's only one problem - where on earth am I going to find room to hang them? I feel a major picture reorganisation coming on!

I spent part of last week on holiday in Spain with friends. Although I took some stitching with me I didn't do any at all. It was a lovely trip, I'll share some photos later on. Since I got back I've worked on a couple of pieces. Last night I finished stitching Bird in Hand:



And since then I've been working on Classic Pooh Birth Sampler - a gift for my friend Helene, who had a baby girl 2 weeks ago. This is how far I have got:



Hope everyone else is having a lovely relaxing weekend, with plenty of stitching time!

FT Happy Dance!!

Yes, it's finally finished:


Fantasy Triptych, (c) Teresa Wentzler

I really slowed towards the end of this project. I think subconsciously I didn't want to finish it...

Last night we watched Wallander in Swedish - so once again I did some knitting so I could read the sub-titles!! I started my second scarf for Cancer Research UK:



After finishing FT tonight I picked up Pooh and Eeyore and finished the xs. And yes Avivah, there were a few more stitches in that gap!!! I've just started the bs, and will share another photo in the week. I seem to be having a very productive October, which is lovely... wonder how many things I can finish before the New Year!

I am still here!!!

I am still here, and finding a little time to stitch - probably quite a bit of time really, I still stitch most days, but not as much as usual!! Term has just started at Uni, and I have acquired a master's course to run... so I'm a little busier than usual!

Anyway, when I have had chance to pick up some stitching, it has usually been Fantasy Triptych, and here is a photo of where I've got to:



I don't think I'll make my target of finishing all of the xs by the end of September - but I probably won't be that far off.

In other news - my friend Krista had her blessing in church this weekend - she got married in the Seychelles in August. She wore the garter in the Seychelles, but not in Balderton. So no throwing the garter to the men (which Heidi asked about) - to be honest it's not a big tradition in England, although I am sure I have been to a wedding where the garter was thrown. We do usually do the bouquet bit though... Anyway, here is a pic of the happy couple, Dave and Krista, with their niece Emily.



Finally, thank you for popping by my little corner of the internet - I rarely say it, but it makes me really happy to read the comment and see that people are following me!

Happy stitching x

Fantasy Triptych Progress

I've not had a huge amount of stitching time, but when I have, I've picked up FT. I've finished the big trees in the background, and (since taking these photos earlier today), have started on the half stitch far background:





I've been making steady progress with weight watchers, and hit a major goal yesterday - I've now lost 3 stone 1lb (43 lbs). Yeah!!! Since I started back in January, I've lost 1.4lbs a week on average - sometimes more, sometimes less, or not at all. I've only put on weight twice - both after holidays - 3lbs after the 4-week long trip to the US at Easter, and 0.5lb after the weeks holiday last week. People are really beginning to notice the difference, and it's really nice seeing my old face reappear from the chubbiness I had before!!!

This weekend I'm having a long weekend - took tomorrow off work. I'm driving to Sheffield tomorrow for a new hair cut (admittedly a long way to go for a hair cut, but my hairdresser there is AMAZING, and I still go back after living in Leeds for 6 years!). Then on to Nottingham, where I'm meeting my mum for some retail therapy, followed by dinner out. I'm staying at the flat in Nottingham with Eddy overnight, then we are off to Birmingham again on Saturday - will see Paul and Margaret, have dinner out that night with good friends, then it's our niece's Christening on Sunday. Busy busy busy...

Long weekend stitching

This was a long weekend in the UK... I took full advantage and booked the rest of the week off work!! We've been away for most of the weekend, and got back home a few hours ago.

On Friday night we enjoyed a fabulous curry with friends at our local restaurant.On Saturday we went to Sheffield for a BBQ at Kay's - it was fantastic to catch up with the Sheffield crowd - many of whom we've not seen since Kay's BBQ last August!!

At about 6 we left and headed south to Birmingham to see Eddy's parents. Last week Paul went into full-time care, and we wanted to see how he was settling in, and how Margaret was adapting to the change. All seemed good, and it's very obvious that Margaret has made the right decision - Paul's dementia has reached a level where he really needs 24 hour care. He seems to be settling in OK at the home - although he's already lost his slippers and acquired someone else's glasses (thankfully EVERYTHING is named)... He's there on a 1-month trial, hopefully everything will go well, and he'll be settled there permanently - it's quite nice for a home, with lots going on, and very clean.

On Monday we went to Coughton Court, just south of Birmingham - it's the family seat of the Throckmortons, who looked after Mary Queen of Scots while she was imprisoned. There was a chemise on display reputed to have been the one she wore when she was beheaded. The lace edging was wonderful, and it is embroidered with something in Latin about Mary being a martyr - sorry, can't remember what exactly, but the cross stitches were so tiny and neat. Although it's probably of the period I have my doubts that she really wore it when she was beheaded (it was too clean for one thing...), but it was fantastic to look at. I also had a naughty buy - a lovely metal two-seater garden bench, which was on sale... we'll have to put it together tomorrow!

And now for the stitching part of this post... I took 2 pieces with me - the LHN ornament I started last week, and Fantasy Triptych. We spent Sunday afternoon (which was quite cold) and all of the evenings watching movies, so I made great progress... I finished the ornament, and did loads of the background on FT:

Winter Sampler, (c) Little House Needleworks
Stitched in Weeks and GAST on Sparklies' Parchment

Fantasy Triptych, (c) Teresa Wentzler

Finally, I had a wonderful surprise when I got home and checked blogger - I won a giveaway on Heidi's blog!!!! She is giving away some amazing beaded scissor fobs... I'm so excited!!!

Jo the crafting butterfly...

Do you ever get in one of those moods where although everything you are doing is fun, you just can't stick with it? Well that's been me this last week...

After the last post I struggled for a few days to settle down to anything in particular... I did a bit of knitting on and off - my scarf is now 75cm long, about half way - which is good as it's freezing today, I think I'm going to need it sooner rather than later!

At the weekend I was in the mood for quilting again. But I was worried I didn't have enough of the paler shades... so I had a quick look online for quilting shops, and realised that there was a real brick-and-mortar (well, stone-and-mortar, this being Yorkshire) quiliting shop not 10 mins drive away... (I tend to buy myself quilitng supplies when I see them - as I don't generally actually do any quiliting, something I am trying to remedy). So I popped over to the Skep Knitting and Quilting Shop, where I got 3 fat quarters - one in white with lilac spots for the sampler quilt I am attempting to make (ahem), and two lovely bright ones to use as cover cloths for my lace - having stolen my cover cloths back from my lace pillows for use in the supposed quilt (it WILL be a quilt, it WILL be a quilt).

That night we watched Wallander in Swedish. Brilliant I thought, I can read subtitles while knitting. Except I can't very well, managed to get the knitting going the wrong way, and realised after I'd done about 6-8cm of knitting. I can confirm however that I can unpick knitting while reading subtitles....

Sunday I made a single block for the quilt, having spent most of the day thinking about the design and colour combinations (again).

Sunday night and Monday I picked up Fantasy Triptych. Which I am loving again... have made some good progress with the green:


Tonight, however, I fancied a change - and started the LHN ornament from last years JCS special issue.

Yup, I am a self-certified crafting butterfly...

On the road again...

No not me, but the lady in Fantasy Triptych!! Last week I celebrated hitting the 20 inches mark with the lace garter with a couple of evenings of TW heaven - and have now completed the road in the maiden panel:


Sorry, it's not the best photo. I'm leaving the unicorn and maiden til last, as I just love the colours and would rather finish on a high than with lots more green :)

This weekend has been busy - I was working all day Saturday, manning a stall at the Pontefract Medieval fair - in a lovely fetching yellow t-shirt. We were discussing medieval food and had a re-enacter recreating medieval dishes which people could try out. My favourite was Black Poray - basically cook cabbage or kale in a little salted water (so it's mostly steaming). Fry some bacon pieces. Once both are cooked combine with each other. Season to taste. This dish comes from the Forme of Cury - the oldest cookery book written in English, written by Richard II's cooks in the 1390s. And it's really tasty!!!

Today I did the grocery shopping (was too tired on the way home last night), Eddy cooked a fabulous veggie lasagne, we watched the Grand Prix (naughty Ferrari at it again...), tidied the house a bit and made some lace...

This is a stitching blog, honest!

Hmm, it's a while since I shared any stitching photos. This month I've been focussing on the lace garter - 12 inches long and growing. I am enjoying making it as it's not very complicated. A few people commented on the lace in this post... Angela - it's really not as complicated as it looks, there are 2 basic stitches - cloth stitch and half stitch, which both use just 4 bobbins (2 pairs). It's the sequence of which pairs to use and if it's a half or cloth stitch that's a little tricky, but in torchon lace (the type I'm making the garter in) there are a few combinations that we use again and again - cloth stitch trails, half stitch trails, spiders, rosegound and honeycomb. To answer Theresa's question - yes it is honeycomb down the centre, but there are some 6-legged spiders also, which look like slightly larger honeycomb in this pattern. I've not posted another photo of the lace, as it looks essentially the same, just longer!

I did start A New Beginning (Abbey Lane Designs):


I'm stitching this on some platinum Belfast linen, in the required Weeks. I'm really enjoying it so far, even is I did have to frog the yellow triange on the right, which I'd put in the wrong place first time round.

This week I picked up Fantasy Triptych. I think I was inspired by seeing some TWs in progress on Dani's and Michelle's blogs. I'm really pleased with my progress (last photo - taken in March - is here).


When I compared it with the last photo I was amazed how much of the road I've stitched in a week!

Some stitching

I've not had a huge amount of stitching time in the evenings, but when I have had chance I've been working on FT. The greenery at the bottom of the maid panel is done, and I've started the path:


Fantasy Triptych (c) Teresa Wentzler

Over the weekend we went to Birmingham to see Eddy's parents. Paul is much the same as ever, if a little less responsive. Margaret and I went out for lunch and shopping while Eddy and Paul watched the cricket and Rugby. It was a good job we went shopping, as I'd managed to leave the needle from Mini Greek Island with my emergency stitching in Nottingham last weekend... luckily John Lewis carries decent needles! In the evening we watched more rugby, and I worked on Mini Greek Island:



Mini Greek Island (c) Michael Powell

On Sunday we went out for lunch with Matt, Wendy and Molly, then headed back to Nottingham, where I picked up the Lincoln Cathedral piece again, and finished the trees on the right. Sadly I forgot to take a photo before I left!

With all the eating out that took place over the weekend, I was delighted to lose another lb at ww. Not quite 1.5 stone, maybe I'll manage that at my last weigh in before the holiday.

I'm amazed to see I now have 19 followers - thank you all, and thank you for your comments, they really do make me smile.

Knight panel finally finished!

Yesterday evening I finally finished the back stitching on the knight panel of FT:


Fantasy Triptych (c) Teresa Wentzler

I love the way the image 'pops' after the bs is done. This seems to have been a goal for months and months, but I've not really been in the mood for TW. Or maybe it's the unwieldy wide frame which has been putting me off! I put a couple of lengths into the maiden panel tonight. I do have itchy fingers for a new start though. I have a Michael Powell kit (which I bought of Michael in person at Harrogate 2 years ago), a Maria Scharrenburg fairy (night) and a cute classic Pooh (Pooh and Eeyore) which I'm trying to chose between.... I'm not feeling drawn to my other WIPs at all.

It was ww again tonight and I lost another 2.5 lbs, a total of 13 lbs so far. I'm losing weight a little more radpidly than is recommended, but am eating all of my daily points over the course of a week (I tend to save a few and have some treats on the weekend). Hmmm. I suspect this week might change the rate of weight loss though... it's my mum's birthday at the weekend and me, mum and Michelle are having a girlie day shopping (with a light lunch out) then in the evening we are going to an Italian restaurant. We've chosen one that's WW friendly - Michelle is at goal weight, and mum has just joined as well (we are a great support network!!). BUT... I've just been asked to take our guest speaker out for a curry tomorrow night. One day of splurging I can manage. Pretty easily. But two??? And one is a curry... nightmare. I need to make sure I go swimming several times this week, otherwise I'll suffer my first gain.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement about my weight loss - it's going so well so far, and I really appreciate the kind comments you all make. My back is all good again thankfully - taking it easy on Saturday really paid off.

Knight progress

This week I've really focused on the knight panel of FT. I've now finished all of the cross stitch, back stitch and over one stitching:


Fantasy Triptych, (c) Teresa Wentzler

The bs looks tricky - I'm struggling to work out what colour goes where, so I've switched to Postman Pat for a little light relief. Last night I finished his head and hair:


Postman Pat, designed by me!

I've just got his hat to finish and then the personalisation. Hopefully he'll be finished by the end of the weekend, it would be nice to get another project ticked off the list - this is the last of my obligation stitching!

WW went well last week, another 2.5 lbs off. That's 6 in 2 weeks. Not bad given I had a leaving do with curry to negotiate. This week I am accruing saved points - I'm just not very hungry, and at work not having time to eat much. I enjoyed a dairy milk on Tuesday (and still saved points). Today I have lots of points left too (plus I earnt some by going swimming -making use of the expensive grym membership!) - which is good as I really fancy pizza! So tomorrow we are enjoying a Domino's... while still on plan. I'm quite impressed. This diet seems so much less faddy than anything else I've ever done before. We'll see if I stick to it though...

Still here!!!

I am still here, just rushed off my feet! I've been meaning to post for over a week, and even took photos ready to share, but just didn't find the time. Work has been busy (it always is!), but this semester I'm also busy advising an archaeological excavation - which means a long day once a week driving to site (2.5-3 hours), advising, excavating (if I get chance) and having meetings before driving home - 13-15 hour days, which do leave me a little tired for a few days afterwards. Not that I'm complaining - it's years since I've worked on an excavation, and I am loving it!!

The other thing that's kept me busy is planning our trip to the US in April. Yesterday I finally got our flights booked (and from our local airport at a not too bad price, which is unusual - usually I have to drive to Manchester). The bad news is a 6am departure, which means we should be at the airport by about 3am... thank goodness it's only 15 mins away! My conference is in Albuquerque, and this seemed a good opportunity for a road trip to see some of the SW. So we are flying to Vegas, visiting the Grand Canyon, Mountain Valley and the Mesa Verde, then Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Ed's coming along for a 2 1/5 week holiday... hopefully he'll find things to do in Albuquerque while I'm working. Any tips on places to visit (and needlework shops especially) gratefully received!!!

I also joined weight watchers. 2 weeks in (I weigh in on Mondays). I lost 3.5 lbs last week, and now my (admittedly always baggy jeans) are so loose I can take them off without undoing them. I don't think they are decent enough for anywhere other than in the house now!! Hopefully my smaller jeans will start to fit soon - most now do up, but are a little snug!

Anyway, with all that going on I've not done a huge amount of stitching, but I have done more than these photos, which I think I took last Saturday:


Fantasy Triptych - I've been working on the background today, and will go back to it as soon as I have posted this


Postman Pat - worked on this during the week (a little) - he has a face now!

In my last post I said I'd share my latest 2 framed projects:

Elliot and Buttons Wedding Day - for Jane and Keith. I really love the way the 'aged' silver frame sets this off


You were hatched birth sampler for Jamie and Matt - again I'm delighted with the framing job

I'll take new photos of FT and PP when it's light - I forgot today. But they are coming along brilliantly. Neither will be as far along as I hoped at the end of the month (ie bedtime!), but both are much further along than at the start.

A knight in shining armour

I finished the knight on FT last week (well, apart from his face which is over 1):


Since than I've been ornie stitching, but as these are for exchanges I can't share any photos.

Life is pretty busy right now, so not much time for blogging, but I do try and read my blogs when I get chance... This week is VERY hectic. Last night I gave a public talk in Masham to a local group about some skeletons from the town which we've been working on, tonight I have a seminar to go to, tomorrow I should (in theory) make lace and on Thursday I'm going out for a curry with last years' masters students (our last get together before they all head off to various jobs/courses etc). Not bad - or it wuldn't be if Margaret wasn't coming to stay on Friday. Not sure when I'll get the necessary cleaning done! But it's wonderful that she's sorted respite care for Paul, and we can go to Harrogate knitting and stitching on Sunday.

Thank you for all your kind comments on the last post.

Happ stitching everyone!

TW stitching

Well, I think it's fair to say that the xs world or at least my little corner of it) was rocked by Teresa's announcement that she was giving up designing. I've made lots of comments about this on various BBs, so I'll just say I'm sad to know that there will be no new TWs released, but I've got plenty to keep me going. This is a tough time to make a living from many crafts, including designing.

Anyway, it was odd timing for me, as I had finally picked up FT again - I've not worked on it since our holiday to Wales! As you can see I've made significant progress with the Knight:




Fanstasy Triptych, by Teresa Wentzler

On Wednesday I came down with a flu/virus thing. Probably not swine flu, but I did have a temperature (and major shivers). I came home at lunchtime and curled up in bed, Thursday I was a little better and parked my bum on the sofa all day - I managed a little, supposedly simple, xmas stitching,but ended up frogging several bits - clearly the virus had affected the stitching part of my brain! Friday I was feeling mostly better, so went in to work and did some gentle admin!

Today has been a day of chores - I scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom, attacking areas of mold etc. We then replaced the toilet seat (a hinge had broken) and are in the process of resealing the bath. We then encountered unexpected areas of mold on a blind, and on the curtains in the spare room, and mildew in the spare wardrobe.... it's not a damp house, but we don't have a tumble dryer and we do get lots of condensation. I had a random idea about getting a dehumidifier about 2 hours ago... we had a look online, and I think we'll buy one tomorrow. Maybe that will solve the problem.

Right, back down stairs to pick up FT, watch some rugby and order takeaway pizza...

Holiday orts!

We've just got back from a week on holiday in Wales, which is why I haven't posted in a while. I took FT with me, as it's been neglected for most of June, despite being my main goal, and I made great progress with the Knight Panel.

While I was there, I was inspired by the Totally Useless SAL, to keep my orts and take a photo at the end of the week - although this was also to stop the orts blowing away when I was stitching on the roof terrace! I'm not really one for keeping orts, so I won't be joining the SAL, but it does look fun and I'll be keeping track of some members of the SAL in their ort-collecting progress!



Orts for the holiday (less the first few which blew away)



The knight panel (which I started at the beginning of the holiday - not bad for a week of stitching!)



Fantasy Triptych

I'll post later with my July goals, stash shopping updates and some photos of the holiday!

Fantasy Triptych has a border!

Well it's taken me FAR longer than I anticipated, but I finished the border of FT last night (less the beading and the bs I need to do after I have stitched the maid and knight panels!):



This is the first time I've done a plaited cross stitch, I think they turned out OK! (as always, Teresa's wonderful stitching diagrams were perfectly clear):




I'm enjoying the long weekend here, we had got plans for a friend to visit but I was feeling ill on Friday (well, most of last week really), so we cancelled. I had taken Friday off work anyway, to get the house sorted (2 trips for work - to London and York, meant I spent 1 night at my sister's, then the next 2 nights I got home at 10.30pm - I knew I couldn't manage work on the Friday after that!!). So on Friday I slept, on Saturday I did very little other than watch TV and stitch. Yesterday I felt much better and poddled around the garden a little (Eddy spent most of Saturday and Sunday building ANOTHER raised bad - dry stone wall this time!!). I plan on helping in the garden again today, but not too much, just in case. Hopefully I'll get plenty of time to stitch... not sure what to pick up yet!!

Thanks for your lovely comments about the lace heart - I learnt such a lot on this tiny piece - Christine is a very thorough teacher! Theresa asked about how I got the leaves so tight - here's a Christine Springett tip: work the leaves (or tallys) so they are 1/3 longer than the patten suggests, put up the pin, tension the passive threads and voila, a lovely tight leaf.. it really does work.

At last - some stitching!

I have a stitchy photo to share:



As you can see, I'm not going to get the border finsihed this month, but at least it's moving in the right direction. I've also done about 1/3 of my TOP SECRET PROJECT.

On Tuesday night I hosted a Stitch and B**** evening. Chrisse was teaching Emma and Jo how to crochet:



Everytime she told Jo something I got really distracted - on some occasions I even jumped. Both Emma and Jo did a great job with the crochet, I'm sure they'll be creating all kinds of exciting projects soon!

Sonia was busy working on the waistcoat she's been making Terry for years - the end is definitely in sight:



This weekend Sonia and I are off to Stratford. I'm doing a Bedfordshire lace course with Christine Springett, and Sonia is learning to turn lace bobbins with Stuart Johnson. Tonight I need to wind another 50 pairs of bobbons and pack my things - we'll leave immediately after work tomorrow! So soon!!!

It's those little froggies again...

I'd nearly done the bottom half of the border on FT when I realised the area I was wroking on (tracery wood on the knight panel) was darker than the other 2 panels. I'd stitched everything one shade darker than I was supposed to. Teaches me that, however much I think I know what the symbols are, I really must double check, even if I can't reach the key. This is someone's way of telling me to not be lazy and get off my bum to find things.....

Stitching progress...

Except not on what I was planning on focusing on for March! I am absolutely loving Mira's Waiting for Ships, I don't seem to be able to put it down. This is where I'm up to:



I'd have lots more done, but I don't have that Kreinik yet, so there are lots of gaps! I had planned to 'stitch a little' on this in March - oh well, progress is progress!

I have dome a little on Fantasy Triptych:



I am sure you can all see the difference the bs has made to the centre panel??? Hmm, it's more obvious IRL. I've also started the border. Given there is more border at the top that the bottom,with all of the wood tracery, I think this is probably about 1/4 of the way done. I'm hoping to make more progress with this over the weekend.

I have been going to Louise's to make lace on Thursdays, and that is progressing well (sorry, no photo, but it's just a turquoise blob at present), but I won't be able to make another Thursday this month. I've not touched any other goals yet... Hmmm, they are made to be broken aren't they???

Busy weekend!

wow, this weekend has flown by! Friday night I travelled down to Nottingham and stayed in the flat with Ed. On Saturday he had to work, so I popped over to see my folks - mum is doing amazingly after her knee op. I can tell she's going to be up and about and up to trouble in no time!! I'm also pretty impressed that she's sticking to doctor's orders re: resting and physio exercises. She was busy watching one of my DVDs when I arrived - the latest Jane Eyre by the BBC. I really enjoyed watching the not-quite-a-wedding scene with her!

Later that afternoon I drove back to Nottingham, picked Ed up and we went down to Birmingham to see his folks. Sadly his Dad is getting worse, it's really heartbreaking. There's so little we can do to help. But we had an enjoyable evening watching TV as a family and just chatting - although with Paul it's mostly nonsense. He gets really annoyed if we can't understand him, and recently we've learnt that nodding and saying yes when he's muddled is often the easiest, and nicest way of dealing with the dementia.

We went back to Nottingham Sunday lunchtime, then I came back up to Leeds, and immediately hit the gym. It was a good workout but I wasn't feeling as motivated as on Thursday. I'm hoping to get to the gym 4 times this week - we'll see how that goes!

Anyway, I did a little stitching on Waiting for Ships over the weekend. It looks so odd without the BF, but I'm determined to wait a month and get it while I'm in the States - it will be so much cheaper!



I also took a photo of Fantasy Triptych this morning. I've not stitched on it so far this month, but hopefully I'll pick it up tonight for TW Monday. I'm hosting a stitch and bitch here tonight, so it'll depend on how mad the house feels.. the BSing I have to do looks a little tricky!



I picked Birth Band up from the framers this weekend too - I had to pop by twice as there was some fluff behind the glass, but they sorted it quickly. I was really happy with the combination of mount and frame - they suited the colours perfectly. Irritatingly it was a little dark when I took the photo which didn't do the colours full justice:



Happy stitching everyone