Gifted Gorgeousness - December 2022

Hello Dear Readers

Just a little post before Christmas! Probably not the best time to post ….. I know we are all so very busy!

So sorry if I haven’t been able to comment on your post. Blogger changed a little while ago, and I’m not sure if my old blogging friends will all see my posts as Blogger stopped sending notification emails to followers, so I hope you will have found me via my blogging friends Blog Lists. Google now asks one to sign in on some blogs, so, as I am not very computer orientated it makes it impossible for me to comment …..

Anyway, I digress, back to the subject - Gifted Gorgeousness is where we share photos of gifts received and given. See who is joining in, and maybe you’d like to join in too, over at Serendipidous Stitching. 

Firstly, I can show you the completed alphabet letters I sent to Clare of Ametu’s Stitching for her church’s Annual Christmas Tree festival (read about the festival here).  The “B” is stitched on pale green which, sadly, is so hard to photograph, and the “E” on tea dyed fabric. (Clare’s photos are much better than mine!!!)

All of us who sent letters of the alphabet to Clare left them unfinished so she was able to finish them in one style before they went on the tree. I do hope you will pop over to see everyone’s stitching. The Trees all look magnificent. 

-ooo-

Also this month, I finished stitching a second “Bees” by Melisa - forgot to take a photo, if you need a reminder you can see the first one I stitched on this previous GG post and then gifted this month’s “bees” to a friend at my handicraft group along with the yellow check fabric I used for the first finish (as my friend wanted to make “bees” into a gift for a friend of hers). 

-ooo-

I’ve encouraged a few ladies at my handicraft group to try cross stitching this year and one of them gave me this cute card, saying she was thinking of me as she stitched it.  Thank you so much, Peggy, if you’re looking in. 

-ooo-

Another friend at Handicrafts bought in some fabrics she wasn’t going to use, and I thought they might be useful in finishing one of my Christmas decorations:

This same lady decided cross stitch isn’t for her, sadly, and so kindly gave me this kit ….. although stitching with gold is not my favourite, so I will have to see whether I will actually stitch these.  However our club has a big anniversary next March and if I don’t use it it might be a little something for the sales table.  

Anyway, I must go now. I’m off to see whose blogs I can comment on!

I’ll be back before long with my post about tea dying. Oh, and I’m going to try changing my header photo too. I might not be able to because I’m using my iPad mostly now and I’m not sure it will accept my edited photo. 

If I don’t return before Christmas do have a super one and I look forward to hearing from you and seeing your blogs too in the New Year. 

So,

Here’s wishing you a

Very Happy Christmas,

and

A Peaceful 2023

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

2022 Advent Calendar Blog Hop - Day 17

Hello Dear Reader,

 

I’m here today to join in with Jo’s annual Christmas blog hop on day 17. 

Jo asked us to show some Christmas/Winter stitching and talk about “afters”.  

You can visit Jo for all the details and for the list of everyone joining in here. 

And so this is my Winter stitching:

Stitched from this free pattern
by Melisa of PinkernPunkin Quilting 

I had hoped to have finished this, but sadly not. It’s going to be a small cushion, the same as Melissa’s - but the scrap of fabric I was intending to use wasn’t wide enough for the backing so I need to think what other fabric I can use !!!

I’ve also been stitching the advent calendar from CrossStitcher magazine, 

as I love every motif, 

but, alas this too will have to be finished for 2023. 

Surprisingly I got a little diverted from my Christmas projects by a little “everyday” stitching, when my crochet hook, pens and nail file all jumped out of their place in my project bag  - obviously I needed a little pouch to keep all these little things safe.  I wonder if this will be finished soon ….. or will it join all my many WIPs in “The Dreaded Cupboard” ???

My latest whim. 

I’ve been tea dying a lot of my fabric lately - I find I just don’t like plain white fabric any more, and I keep wanting to see what colour the different teas will make my fabric. I could be back with more on that. 

- oooooo -

Ooooh! I almost forgot ….. “afters” - Back when I was growing up my maternal grandmother used to stay with us over Christmas and she would do lots of cooking to help mum and dad, each Christmas she would  cook : Christmas pudding, a Dundee Cake and lots of mince pies for all the family, however, nowadays we don’t eat many puds or cakes although hubbie and I are rather partial to mince pies and custard, or a Christmas pud - but sadly shop bought. 

I have lots more sewing I want to do before Christmas, and a couple of photos for Gifted Gorgeousness,

 so I’ll try and write here again soon. 

A Very Happy Christmas to you!

Many hugs,

Barbara xxx

Halloween Blog Hop - 2022

Hello Dear Reader,

Well here we are again, it’s Halloween! And it’s time to visit Jo’s Halloween Blog Hop. 

  

Jo, of Serendipidous Stitching has kindly organised us all again this year  The aim is to visit a number of blogs to collect letters which will form a mystery phrase and there will be Halloween stitching too! You can see who else is joining in over at Jo’s!

Here is my Halloween stitching for 2022  This is one of the very many free patterns from Melisa of Pinkernpunkin Quilting & Stitching  I have a long list of her gorgeous patterns I really just have to stitch that should  keep me going for many years I’m sure! 

Thank you Melisa 🙂👍💕

I stitched this on 28 count evenweave which I had previously tea dyed - if you visit her blog you will find Melisa loves tea dyed fabric too! - I think I can say I’m beginning to enjoy stitching on evenweave, even though it probably takes longer to stitch!

Jacks, Cats, and Chickens

As I finished this one from Melisa I was wanting to start her witchy woman too (Halloween Parade ) 

….... just not enough time in the day!!

ooooooo

And before you go here’s a couple of items from Halloween past:

Sorry I can’t remember where this pattern came from,
but it was very therapeutic stitching all those swirls

Oh, goodness me, I nearly forgot! You want a letter! Well, here it is:

I 

(That’s a capital I, not a little L)

And the next blog on the hop is 

Dragon Stitches & Stuff by Astrid

Hope you have a great Halloween, 

and see you soon!

Hugs,

Barbara xx

Gifted Gorgeousness

Hello you wonderful stitchy person! 🙋‍♀️

Today I’m joining Jo at Serendipitous Stitching for Gifted Gorgeousness which is where we show items we’ve received or given as gifts. 

This month I’ve been cross stitching and have actually had a couple of finishes!

The first was a free pattern from Melisa’s blog - Pinker ‘n Punkin Quilting & Stitching and you can look for the pattern under the name “Bees”, strangely enough😆

And this was a free pattern from Ann Woods blog - an Imperial Cat and has now been gifted

And then I’ve finally fully finished a birthday card for my mum’s 90th birthday! 

Happy Birthday mum! Yay!

Can you tell I was really pleased to finally FFO! And at the very last minute I decided it needed a couple of rows of crosses top and bottom ……… just to really finish it off! 😁 I found these patterns in World of Cross stitching …… I think! Just a shame mum can’t actually see this now as she has completely lost her sight! 😟 So sorry I took so long to finish it mum💕💕💕 xx 😘🤗

.

Well, I’m off to visit other Gifted Gorgeousness participants now!

And this is the project I’m currently working on,, once again it’s a free pattern 

from Melisa.  -  Thanks so much Melisa!

I hope to finish it for Jo’s next SAL - Halloween 

Are you playing along? Well even if you’re not don’t forget to visit here and Jo’s blog - Serendipidous Stitching 

on 31 October! 😁👍💕🙋‍♀️

See you all again soon (Blogger permitting ……. Grrrr)

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

GG - Birds and things

 Hello Dear Reader.

Hello my lovely friends, today I'm joining Jo of Serendipitous Stitching for Gifted Gorgeousness where we shoehorn in any stitching that even remotely comes under the title of "gift"!  Read all about it on Jo's blog (Serendipitous Stitching) and to see what everyone else has stitched visit Jo HERE

-oooo-

Aaaaargh! Last post I asked for help with line spacing and the lovely Jo (yes, same Jo as mentioned above) told me how to do it! And what have I done? Only forgotten to put the code before I started typing! Aaargh! Must try and remember next time!

-oooo-

It was only as I started to type this post that I realised there were a few birds involved, and I will start with this Robin!

This is the letter "E" that I tried to stitch for Jo's last Blog Hop ..... but didn't leave enough time to fully finish - now finished, although not Fully Finished Off..

Pattern from CrossStitcher Magazine

( Issue 351 Dec 2019 )

Stitched on: tea dyed aida

And, just because I love the Robin here's a close-up

This is included in Gifted Georgeousness because I am going to send it to Claire of Aimetu's Stitching for the Annual Christmas tree she displays in her church, although it won't be leaving me just yet as I want to stitch a second letter.to accompany it!

-oooo-

Secondly - oh no! I've just realised the photo doesn't show the little bird very well! But anyway the pattern for this was one of the very generous freebies from the lovely Melisa of Pinker & Punkin Quilting.

"A Basket of Spring"

Tea Dyed Aida

Pattern : Melisa of Pinker & Punkin Quilting

At the time of writing this post we had a beautiful pheasant visiting us and I kept trying to take a photo but every time is saw me in the window it flew off!!!!

As you can see, this time was no different!

-oooo-

And lastly, and only because this shows a bird, - here is my "current stitching". coming along slowly.

Oh, and here is another visit from that elusive bird, but why does he have to stand with one foot in the water bowl?????? Funny critta!

And here we are - hiding again!

Oops, and "just because" another project I've been working on lately - until I found I've run out of one of the colours!!!! 

Right, I'm off to visit a few blogs now, and maybe stitch a few stitches later!

Hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

FNSI

Today I'm sharing my slow progress! Tee hee!! Linking to Friday Night Sew In with Wendy and friends at Sugarlane Designs. Go here to see who else is joining in. This is a special Easter weekend link up.

00000

On my previous post I had a fun time joining in with a Treasure Hunt Blog Hop (read all about it here on Jo's blog) where participants were visiting to collect letters to form a phrase and my letter was "E". 

I must admit it was a little late in the day when I decided to stitch this letter. so, last night I was searching for the colours listed for the rest of the pattern - which took most of the evening with threads split between DMC and Anchor and spread around my many projects!

Started on Thursday

Pattern from CrossStitcher, 

Issue 351, December 2019. 

Stitched on tea dyed aida 14hpi,

And now my piece looks like this, but alas the pink section you can see is one space out - aaargh! How did I do that ..... I counted the squares so carefully too! (It will be a Robin when its finished)

I intend to finish this very soon, like before starting on something else! And maybe keep myself blogging more often.

By the way, does anyone know how to get back to single line spacing????? 

Any assistance gratefully accepted!

I'm off to see what everyone else was stitching for:

Friday Night Sew In with Wendy and friends

at Sugarlane Designs. Go here 

Barbara xxx

Easter Treasure Blog Hop 2022

Hello again blogging buddies! I hope I find you all well!

👋👋🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️👋👋

And it’s time to join Jo of Serendipitous Stitching once again for her annual Easter Blog Hop. The idea is that we all show some Spring or Easter stitching and you collect a letter from each participant to form a phrase. You will find the list of all the other participants over at Jo’s blog here. 

I don’t usually stitch Easter pieces but this year I kept finding lovely patterns I couldn’t wait to stitch! Alas, as usual, I started too late so I didn’t stitch as many as I wanted to. To start with I visited Melissa of Pinker n Punkin where, if you’ve already encountered Melissa’s blog you will know she shares lots of her beautiful embroidery and cross stitch free patterns. I am still stitching “A Basket of Spring” and already she has newer patterns she is sharing with us!

A basket of spring

I did finish two Easter cards - next year I need to start earlier 😁 These were another free pattern this time from The Merry Needle - a "new to me" blog! She has other free patterns too, but I've yet to investigate those.

Spring Springing

And here is my letter, sadly I only decided to stitch one yesterday, so predictably its not finished!

and so, in case you cant tell, it's an "E" .......... It's such a cute pattern.

Now you need to visit the next blogger on the list, the lovely Sheryl at Sewing After Seven

Have a lovely Easter!

Big Hugs,

Barbara xx

👋👋🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️👋👋

Gifted Georgeousness - Feb/Mar

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for visiting today.

It was great fun joining in with Jo’s blog hop in my previous post, but I'm sorry I might not have visited/replied to everyone, and consequently I felt too guilty to write another blog post until today!

 This was my stitching, which appeared on Astrid’s blog -  still awaiting FFO'ing. 

Free kit from CrossStitcher magazine

And the beautiful stitching I received, which you saw on my previous post, was from Felicia of Simplicity in Beauty.com.

----------------

Today I'm excited to show you two little projects:

I'm hoping to link to Gifted Gorgeousness - visit Jo of Serendipitous Stitching to read all about it.

The first is one I've had in my Books file for simply ages! I actually never thought I'd stitch it because most of the colours are simply not my style and I had to buy new cottons specially.  So this is Sister Stitcher.  It is a free pattern from Isabella Abbiati of The Primitive Hare. 

I really enjoyed stitching it, such cute little characters! I used all the called for colours (in DMC), fabric from stash -  really old stuff  -  it's something rustic, I think 18hpi.

I was trying to find a good way to show my tiny stitches, although I'm not sure it helped much!

Not quite sure how I'm going to finish it but it is going to be a gift!

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and this little card is a gift I received from Val of www.fabricandcrafts.co.uk @val_fabricandcrafts 

(although I didn't have the pattern and stitched it from the cover photo of the kit).

As it happened it was just right to send
to my mum for Mothers Day  

Before I sealed it into the card for posting!

Well that's all for now, I will be back with some WIPocolypse stitching soon!

Barbara xxx

Oooh, one more thing:

Beautiful little
gift I received from a lovely
stitching friend (not a blogger)

 

Secret Stitching Sweetheart blog hop

Hello Dear Reader,

Happy Valentine's Day!!! 

In the world of cross stitch Jo of Serendipitous Stitching is renowned for her blog hops! And today we are joining her for the latest!

Those taking part have sent Jo a photograph of stitching suitable for a gift to our:

Secret Stitching Sweetheart 

Jo has randomly distributed those photos amongst those taking part, for us to show on our blogs. The idea is that now we go and visit everyone else to discover who has our piece of work and then let them know it is ours!

If you visit Jo HERE you will be able to visit those taking part and see some beautiful stitching  

This is the photo I received:

NOT MY STITCHING!

I can't wait to discover who stitched this beautiful project and now I'm off to Jo's to start visiting the:

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog hop

I expect we will find lots of gorgeous projects to add to our stitching lists. I love reading your kind comments, but don't forget ..... if you don't comment no-one will know you've visited! (I'm sorry I have a few comments still to reply to but your comments still mean a lot to me).

I hope you  have a lovely stitchy week!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx 

A little knitting post

I’ve suddenly become interested in knitting. It happens once in a while! Usually when it’s cold!

I had all this wool hanging around, found a pattern I liked and hey presto. 

Talking to my sis the other day I groaned that my wrists were hurting a bit after knitting so much, and complained I couldn’t knit fast enough, she suggested I tried Continental knitting which is supposed to be less strain on the wrists, so I’ve been investigating via utube. 

Sis also suggested other methods of knitting which are meant to be quicker than English knitting - Lever, Russian and Portuguese, but they seem a little awkward to me - not that I won't try again some other time.

 Anyway, I've spent a fair amount of time this week trying them out and I think I will probably be using Continental Knit in future. And here is a link to a 5 minute Continental knit tutorial which I found quite easy to follow. 

Go on, you know you want to ...... have a little go!

Mind you, I do hope I have enough wool or I will have to rip it back - again!

although I do have a few more scraps I can use

The handy thing about blogging is that it makes it easy to keep track of when the knitting reaches a certain length.

Well I'll be back tomorrow joining Jo's Secret Stitching Sweetheart bloghop.

Bye for now!



Hugs,
Barbara xxx

 

WIPocolypse

Hello stitching buddies, old and new!

I've not been here for so long I didn't know how to start up again! 

So ........ I'm just going to jump in and say that I have been stitching lots of cross stitch last year and most of it is over on Instagram - you can find me there as "flashinscissors"

I didn't manage to finish any WIPs last year thanks to my Cancer, and hospital appointments.. I mainly stitched small cross stitch projects that I could carry with me. and for WIPocolypse this year I am going to try to finish a few of those things I started in 2021:

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In the days before my operation I quickly half-made a little bag with the aim of having something with me, to finish in hospital! Although, of course, I wasn't able to do much ...... mostly I slept! But using a big stitch and DMC random thread I was able to stitch the lining in place around the top and finish a row of stitches around the handles. 

I intended stitching some tiny embroideries to decorate the bag.  Crabapple Studios were running a SAL on Instagram at the time I made my bag, with a free download of patterns of tiny embroideries.  I didn't join in at the time because I was mainly stitching the tiny monthly cross stitch calenders from CrossStitcher magazine, for my monthly page markers on Instagram and so this year I aim to stitch those darling little embroideries from Crabapple Studios  

 

Then later last year I started making another larger bag ..... to carry all the paraphenalia I would want with me when I went for my Chemopherapy. Ha ha, of course Chemo has been and gone and the bag is still not finished. There probably isn't much more to do either .....

Then, of course a WIPocolypse post wouldn't be complete without this project I've been stitching for many years, it is getting closer to a finish, ha ha!

Cocoa Sampler

And I have already started a couple of new projects this year!

This will be a scarf/wrap/sweater

Most evenings I've been knitting the scarf/wrap thing as I'd like to finish it while its still chilly weather, but it's slow going.  I need to knit until it's 52" long and I'm about half-way. So I'm investigating different ways of speeding it up - Continental Knitting and ....... oops sorry this is probably too much for today so maybe there will be another post about this soon! (Well OK soonish)

"Snow Place Lke Home"
From CrossStitcher magazine - Jan 2021

 I've even started knitting socks now

Who knows, maybe I'll do better at finishing this year!?!?

Happy 2022 everyone!, 

Hugs,

Barbara xxx! 

Now I'm off to visit some of you. See you soon!!!.