I have done it!!!

Hello happy friends :)

Well I have had my sewing machine on none stop.... Ha ha it seems that way! It's cooling down now waiting for the next project! 

As you all know I have been working away on the Cozy Afternoon free block of the month designed by Jacquelynne Steves. (See previous post for link) 

There are 5 blocks and I had already shown you block one... But... I have finished them all now!! Omg!!! They are all done!! Yippppeeeeee!! I can hardly believe it myself that I have done all 5! 

It's my first experience at making blocks, it was not easy, and some places actually frustratingly hard too. But by block 5 I had just started to get the hang of it! Ha ha 

I got to block 4 and NO!!! Actual maths needed! Eeek!! I tell you having dyscalculia is no fun at times... I really am useless.  Jon again helped me :) you will see on the photos what I mean!! 

And a HUGE thank you to Han for helping choose fabrics and colours as I am 100% useless!! 

Here is my 'block' journey...

Block 1..

Block 2..

Block 3..

Block 4..

Block 5..

All together....

Lol you can tell it's my first time .... They are not all the same size!! I had a lot of fun making them and stitching them too.  I still cannot believe I made them! Eeeeek!!

Ok... So what now? I am wondering the same thing! What shall I do with them? I don't have any of that  filler thing you all use to quilt so that's out! I am going to have a think.... Or if you have an idea, please share!! Thank you :)

Oooh I have to share with you all a lovely giveaway gift I selected for.... 

This box.... Ah but what is inside??

As you all know I am a huge fan of The Scarlet Letter designs, I am a member both blog and Facebook  and am currently stitching Mary Gale.. More on her next post! There was the most awesome giveaway to celebrate a members birthday, such a sweet kind thing to do :) and lucky me was chosen!!! Eeeekkk!!! 

Oh yes!! Here is what is in the box!! 

THE most amazing needlework scissors I have ever used!! Seriously!! I cut some thread with them and it was like a knife gliding through butter...smooth and soft.  The scissors are very light too, lighter than I has expected, they are so lovely to use.  I feel ever so lucky to have been chosen.  

But wait,...

There was something else in the package!!

This beautiful diary..

Inside are pictures of the most beautiful samplers I have ever seen, with snip its of little sections all charted to stitch yourself.  It's brilliant and oh I love it!! And the added bonus it's a diary!! Again I feel so very lucky.

Ok I am going now as I have some primitive hearts to stitch! Smiles to you all and thank you so much for popping in :)

Xxx

Go me!!!

Hello wonderful happy friends.... I have indeed been busy.. Have you??? 

Last time we spoke I was stitching the wonderful designs from Stitchers Anon... And yes I have done another one!! 

This one is Primitive heart - love

Look at the two I have done... Two to go...

They are a lot of fun to stitch... When I have stitched the other two I will decide how I am to finish them... I think I have a few options, so will have to look at my stash and decide.

Oooh now!!! I have to show you all the sweet package I got in the post.  Halloween is not celebrated in our home anymore so a lovely person sent me a treat!! 

I was thrilled with all the goodies :) it was from Maria over at Dottysdaughter blog.  She is ever so sweet.  I just love the cute pumpkin, I have it on my stitching shelf... Lol it will stay there all year!! Why not?!  And Oooh yummy sweeties too!! Thank you for your friendship and kindness Maria :)

So... What else have I been up to...

I can say that I have 2 parcels to post out!!! Yes I have been a busy bunny!! I am slowly working my way through sending thank you for friendship and kindness smiles out. Watch out you may recieve one!! Hee hee more on those later!!

I have been wanting to be a little more adventurous and try a quilt block... Nope not made one yet!! Well let's logically look at this... I have dyscalculia and accurately measuring looking at numbers is not a strong point of mine!! Let's just say I am useless!! It's taken me all day, yes all day to complete one block! Oh but let me tell you I am REALLY REALLY proud of myself for actually completing it.  I went into it this morning thinking, nope, this is going to be near impossible.. Hard! Jon encouraged me to give it a go, he actually helped me a lot with measuring and looking at the numbers.  And yes a few times I got a little frustrated as I just could not understand from the instructions what I was supposed to be doing.

I am a huge fan of everything Jacquelynne Steves designs... For some time now I have been meaning to 'experiment' / try her Cosy Afternoon Free Block of the month.  I think the reason I have not tried it is due to me thinking I was not up to the challenge.

But I gave it a go...

My journey of block 1 complete with naff photos! ( yes still rubbish at taking photos!)

As you keen eagle eyed folk out there would of spotted.... The side strips are not the same size.. Well they are on all four sides!! But not exactly like the pattern, this is and was due to me measuring it wrong! So now it has the quirky Jacquie look! 

To be honest it came out so much better than I had ever expected it would! It's given me the boost to try the other blocks! There are 5 blocks, each block is 12 inches, so they are a fair size, bigger than anything I have ever tried!.... I can do this :). Lol I will give it a good go! 

That is all I have been up to since I last posted!! Ha ha I love doing things, it's so much fun :)

Well off I go... Thank you for popping in to see me, feel free to leave a comment, I love reading them :)

Happy happy smiles to you all :) xx

Is it Christmas yet?

Hello friends thought I would I pop in and show you all what I am doing :)

I have been blog hopping and even on Facebook there are a lot of people doing Christmas things.... So I jumped on the band wagon! Was feeling left out so decided to make something Christmassy! 

I think Christmas will be here before we know it..... So..... Eeeeeek!! 

I simply love Gaynor French's designs... She is the lovely lady behind Stitchers Anon designs.  Naturally I am stitching her design right now! Lol

It's called "Primitive Heart -Joy".... I decided to stitch it on 32 count antique linen with DMC threads.  Well that was until I got side tracked!! Ha ha oh yes!! I got side tracked again! 

I stayed with the same design, as you will see from the photos shortly.... I made a mini one!! Lol I was experimenting again! 

Here are the photos...

Oooh yes the start, with my 'special' glasses (tinted for my SpLD's) and the clip on lens as I am so blind and old now lol! 

I actually finished the ' normal' sized one!! Decided not to complete the finish yet as I have more in the same series to do! Will finish it off when completed the rest in the set.. More of those in next post! 

Then I got side tracked...

Stitched the smaller one....

Cut them out, at this point thinking what have I done!! Lol

Then onto the best part for me... The fun stuffing :)

I love making a mess!!

Then...

It turned out ok!! 

I am pretty pleased with the way it went.

Ooooh.... I have to say, the little thread attached to the mini heart Han braided for me.... Lol got to give her credit! :)

Now onto stitching the rest in the set, lol normal sized I think! Was fun side track! 

I want to share with you all my yummy dinner... Yesterday, but it was so good and tasty I felt it deserved a spot in my blog! Mmm lol and for me putting it here it's acting as a reminder, lol to eat it again! 

Being a veggie I love all veg, this has... Courgette (zucchini), mange tout and sugar snap peas, mushrooms, baby corn, carrot, peppers, noodles and sweet chilli sauce...

As I am still not up and about a lot, I managed to chop all of this up whilst sitting on the sofa and then hobbled with crutches into the kitchen where I sat on a perching stool a very short while whilst giving directions to Han and jon.  I went back to the living room! Lol... It's like musical chairs in our kitchen... Jon and Han then took turns on the perching stool whilst stirring the mixture.  Bless them, meal times is hard in our home with all of us having one issue or another.  Something quick and simple is what usual what goes! 

Yes if your wondering why I am still on crutches and why my mobility is still no better... Well.... My left knee has had it!! Can't use it really, just grinds and grinds with pain all day! I use crutches to get about in my home but it's hard as with my SpLD's my balance is bad, fallen off the crutches a few times already! I am just getting on with things now... Plodding on.  See nothing is going to change until the NHS (national health service here in England) give me a new knee!! I am on the waiting lists of a few specialists, these things take time! So I have to wait!! And wait!! 

My doctor has agreed to give me funded self propelling wheelchair, from the wheelchair service... Ha ha but again I have to wait, and wait! It takes time!! Getting out the house would be easier with my own wheelchair.  Walking if you call it that with my crutches exhausts me, does not help with my breathing.  My lungs are still affected from all the multiple blood clots and pneumonia I had recently.  

I literally have stopped dwelling on all of the above and just do what I have to each day, to get me through.  It's been a while since I have chatted about it, I probably won't mention it again unless I get an appointment or my wheelchair arrives.  Life is difficult right now, thank goodness for stitching and me having side track moments! Lol

Ok... Thank you so much for popping in..

Happy smiles to you all :)

Inspired by flowers...... Lol edited!!

Hello wonderful happy friends...

I have been side tracked from everything I have been doing! Ha ha this actually happens a lot! I just go with it now, if I don't the urge to side track gets worse!

So I had flowers in my head... I know totally random right! 

I love flowers, all types and colours....

So what have I been up to? 

A little while ago the lovely Cheryll over at Stitchingcubbyhole celebrated a birthday... Yippeeee! And for her celebration she kindly gave away some designs :)

I was lucky enough to be sent an awesome design... A Rosalie Quinlan design called Pretty Strippy Bag.  Thank you Cheryll :)

Welł here in England now we have to pay for carrier bags in shops... No more free ones!  So I thought make a bag!! Lol of course I did!! Ha ha never made one before and well as you all know I am totally useless at following instructions... But I gave it a go! Ah.... But with a flowery fabric... Not strippy, I just wanted to make sure I could follow the design first!! 

Welł I made it... I am not going to say it was easy, for me it was hard!!

I have a lot of this white blue fabric, perfect as I have this flower thing going right now! 

I made it and Han took a fancy to it! She loves all fabric bags, should of guessed really! So Han now is the proud owner of my first ever made bag!! 

I added some ric rac at the top... And added a pocket inside, Han loves it!!

Thank you to Cheryll again, and now I know I can make it and kind of follow the instructions I will make a strippy one!! 

Then... Yes still on the flower theme... Ha ha got side tracked a lot!! 

I wanted to do some wool / felt applique, with some flower... I chose pansies... I love how they 'smile' at you. So this is what I decided to do..

I did not follow any pattern, just picked up everything and made it! 

I also had a purple thing going! Ha ha.....

So then had to decide what to do with the pansies, hardest part for me as I just like to make things!

I thought about making a pin book.... Lol why not! 

This is what I come up with for the inside... But something was missing??

I was guided to look up the cictorian meaning of flowers, pansy basically means thinking and remembering.  

I have to come up with a little saying...

Did some thinking and sticking! Jon made the words on his laptop and printed them out, I cut them up and stuck them on a piece of paper... And did lots of things to make me understand how to stitch it! 

Then this is what it turned out like...

I am happy with it.... I think?! 

It was fun to make!!

Still on the flower theme... I have been trying to stitch and stitch more of The Scarlet Letter, Mary Gail design.  It's been doing my head in a little... I stitch some then frog some! Lol but I am still loving stitching it, it's beautiful...

So here is the flower that is taking so much of my time up...

I will get there slowly!! 

Cannot show you the design I made as its not been received yet... Oh I posted it!! But don't want to show you all yet, soon I promise :)

*****************************************EDITED BIT**********************************************************************

Lol.... 

I just literally had a email confirming that my little happy package arrived!! Eeeeek!!! And I only posted it yesterday! Wow!! 

Well whilst blog hopping I came across someone in need of a smile... So I posted something out to them :)

I sent it to Maria over at http://dottysdaughter.blogspot.co.uk.... Darn it linky thing not linking :(

Here is what I made...

Remember I gave you only these clues! I know I am mean!!

Here is what I made and posted...

Front...

Back..

It's a design adapted from Kathy Schmitz called Three Cherry Cheers!..... It's a red work design available here... Www.kathyschmitz.com under freebies :) I decided to applique it! 

Well I am pleased to say the person I sent it to ..... Maria...actually likes it! I am thrilled as it was to give them a smile... when they stick a pin into it, they remember me and smile? Maybe? 

Oooh I love sending smiles in the post :)

Well got to go and catch up with some stitching!! 

Big smiles to you all :) 

Xxx