January Happy Dances

I've not been blogging much recently - last Monday night I had an allergic reaction to something, not sure what, and had hives across my entire body for a week. Not a pretty sight! The highlight came late on Wednesday when my face started to swell up... not sure if this was the hives or a reaction to one of the many drugs I'd been prescribed, we had to trawl across Leeds (by taxi - I was in no fit state to drive) to the out of hours doctors, with strict instructions to call for an ambulance if I started to have breathing difficulties ... £30 in taxi fares later I had yet more meds and a diagnosis of 'probably the hives, perhaps you have had an allergic reaction to a cold virus'... I can safely say the trout pout is not a good look for me!

Anyway, Thursday the hives were getting worse (cue more meds...) and worse of all I don't know what to avoid to stop it happening again. I've been told I probably never will but the 'best guess' is a virus... how do I avoid viruses??? Anyway, all in all a terrible week (I was too itchy to stitch... now THAT'S a bad sign), but I am totally fine now...

As I started to recover on Friday night I decided to start an ornament - something little and not too taxing, and on Saturday I finished this little stocking by Blackbird Designs (from the 2008 JCS ornie issue):

(c) Blackbird Designs, stitched on bone Jobelan from my stash in the required speciality threads.

The I picked up Pomegranates and Pears again... I had a short break while waiting for beads to arrive from Sew and So, no doubt held up slightly by the snow, but I finished it last night:


Pomegranate and Pear Stitches (c) Jeannette Douglas. Stitched on Sparklies Parchment in the required speciality threads.

I even put a few lengths in to Fantasy Triptych, but not enough to photograph...

January goals

Hmmm, I didn't have time to set any goals at the beginning of the month - too busy recapping the last year! I also didn't set any in December, so I'll take my November goals as November/December goals:

1) Finish waiting for ships yes
2) stitch an ornie yes, two for the TWCOE
3) work on Fantasy tripych yes, finished the knight, apart from his face
4) work on Gaelic banner yes
5) a new start, yet to be determined! yes, two - Postman Pat and Wild Thyme Fairy

January goals:
1) start new project on Jan 1st yes, Pomegranate and Pears Stitches :)
2) get 1/2 of Pomegranate and Pears done almost there already...
3) Pick up SOMETHING other than P&P for stitching this week...
seriously...
I'd also like to
4) finish the knight panel on FT
5) stitch an ornie
6) make significant progress on Postman Pat
7) stitch on another WIP, if I find the time

So, guess what I was unable to put down yesterday:


I had a long first day back at work today, but after I've posted I'll pick up some stitching. It's Monday so it should be FT, but I suspect it will be P&P...

While most of my WIPs haven't changed since I last photographed them, I did make some progress with Wild Thyme Fairy over Christmas, mostly with the left foreground...



Thanks for popping by :)

Jan 1st start...

On Jan 1st I wasn't sure what I wanted to start, so did a little stash diving.I took the opportunity to update my online stash list (which I started last year), with the aim of keeping track of what stash I have.... I also added a wishlist (which was my intention last year). The TW section is lengthy, but this is so when Ed buys me something as a surprise off Ebay (I think Teresa Wentzler is one of his favourite searches...) it isn't something I've already got... I have 3 versions of somethings...

Anyway, the project that jumped out at me was Jeanette Douglas' Pomegranate and Pear Stitches. I first saw this on Dani's blog, and LOVED it. Last Christmas (2008) my sister got me the chart and thread pack (and was alarmed at how much the small amount of thread costs. I assured her she hadn't been ripped off...). I got a lovely fabric called Parchment from Kate at Sparklies when I was at Harrogate, as a Christmas present from Margaret, and a quick floss toss showed it was perfect.

I have to say I'm loving this piece. The perle thread used for the border was a PITA as the end kept unravelling, but other than that I've really enjoyed the speciality threads so far, and also the speciality stitches... so much so I've not been able to put it down. The over-one pears took a lot of time, but I love the way the turned out. I started it at 5pm, or thereabouts, on New Years Day, and spent most of yesterday with it. I have a stinking cold, so my afternoon will be spent with it on the sofa, hopefully in front of a good movie.... (although I'm enjoying this piece so much I don't care what's on TV, and was quite unaffected by Eddy's channel hopping last night).




I'm really pleased with my progress so far, and plan to stitch some of the pomegranates next....