Secret Stitching Sweetheart - 2020

Hello Everyone!

Gosh, it’s been a while since I’ve been here on my blog!

Over the Christmas holidays I became addicted to lace making ..... I mean really addicted!!! I did finish my Christmas stitching, must do a "Finished" blog post soon. Thank you all for the lovely comments ..... I think I replied to everyone but if I missed you I'm sorry, it got a bit hectic!

I made a few little samples of lace, experimenting I suppose I should say. Then I saw some lace making books on Amazon and ordered them, thinking they would be ages arriving because of Christmas, but one arrived before Christmas!!

I made a little lacy bookworm bookmark from one of the books, even adding beads for eyes, it was great fun to make!

Oh, and I also became addicted to Instagram!!! Bad news for the poor old blog! You can find me on Instagram as “Flashinscissors” if you’d like to visit. There is so much inspiration on Insta I could look at my screen all day if I’m not careful!

Anyway, I digress, we are here today for Jo’s annual Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop
 and this is the photo I received ..... I wonder whose stitching it is? I can’t guess, it’s really pretty, isn’t it?!

Edited just to let you know: This is Tiff’s beautiful stitching, (from Tiffstitch a Blog).

The participants will be visiting each others blogs in turn, and in due course the owner of each beautiful stitched piece will identify themselves in the comments on the relevant blog.

I’m off to visit all the other bloggers taking part to find my stitching. I hope you will come visit Jo with me  over at her place Serendipitous Stitching.

And on my next post I’ll show you my stitching in case you haven’t found it.

Have fun visiting, and

 Happy Valentine's Day .

Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Christmas Hop 2019 - Day 20

Hello!

Today is my day on Jo's advent calendar bloghop! If you haven't already visited her, pop over to see all the fun!! 

HERE!

And, what a surprise, I haven't been able to stitch as fast as I thought I would!!!

I've been stitching this little free kit from CrossStitcher magazine every spare minute ...... and I still have more backstitching to do!! I don't know why but my photos look a little fuzzy to me, they were alright in "files", so, if you can't see them very well don't forget to double click on the photo and all should be much clearer!

The kit has a frame to make it into a Christmas Card, so I guess you could say this is my virtual Christmas Card to all my friends! (The binding you can see here is only temporary, to stop the edges fraying.)

CrossStitcher Issue 351

Despite the little tree being finished, it's still not FFO'd. I wasn't sure what to do with it really!

PM25 Christmas Tree by Anchor

But now I've decided ..... it will be an ornament. I'm going to add  ric rak, then make it up into a little cushion thingy that can hang from a tree. I am aiming to finish very soon as otherwise I shall probably lose track of it!

This year Jo asked us to talk about our favourite Christmas film. My favourite film of all time has already been mentioned and is "It's a Wonderful Life"! but there are so many I really love but I'm not sure of their names (what am I like?!?), but I do think Christmas isn't Christmas without seeing at least one version of "A Christmas Carol"!



Have fun, but remember the old saying "A moment on the lips, and a lifetime on the hips" ..... oops, tee hee, did I really just say that out loud type that out loud!?

Ha, ha!

As always, Jo, "Thank You so much for organising us!"



And here's wishing you all a "Very Happy Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"





Hugs,
Barbara xxx

A Cross Stitch Small and Slow Sunday Stitching

Hi there stitching buddies!

I'm linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, 'cos finally I have a few hand stitching projects to work on.

Yay! I finished the first of my three “new to me” cross stitch projects. 

If you already follow me, you might remember?.... this is the one I told you that "took me over" ..... it was meant to be my travel stitching, 

but it's finished already!

Now I need to think how to FFO (fully finish off).

Pattern PM25 "Christmas Tree" by Anchor

But I have to say, with all the needle changes for the different colours it felt it took forever to stitch 

(probably three days) despite being such a tiny picture! Stitched on 14 count

 (14 stitches per inch).

~~~~~~~~~~

Today I’m stitching a little more on this pattern from CrossStitcher - it’s the free gift from the magazine.

 I've found I really needed grid lines, 

but are you supposed to keep putting them in and pulling them out? Possibly not, but I don't want to get the grid threads caught in my cross stitching.

The pink binding is temporary while I stitch, so the rough edges of the fabric don’t catch and ruin my thread. The pink tab on the top helps me to pick up and stitch quicker ..... you know what it’s like 

when you can't easily tell which way up is!

From CrossStitcher Magazine issue 351

~~~~~~~~~~

Just a couple of pictures while writing. My mum was saying how she missed the "Five on Friday" posts I used to do where I showed places DH and I had been walking, so just a couple of photos from a walk today:

This "little" guy was so happy sitting here that when we returned 30 minutes later he was still sitting in the same place! He obviously had plenty of grass to chew well within reach!

I know!! This is a bit funny, a veggie taking photos of cattle! But still, he does look cute!

~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, and this was a delicious veggie meal we had last week at our favourite cafe. Not the clearest photo, I took it with the camera rather than phone and there wasn't really enough light.

Nut Roast with steamed Kale, roast parsnip and carrot,
with a special gravy, and finished with a salad of pea shoots

It was such a tasty meal we've ordered one to cook at home for our Christmas dinner. Just hope the train strikes are all finished so we can go and collect the order!

~~~~~~~~~~

Even more hand stitching:

 When I was browsing on Pinterest last week I saw some teeny "Cocktail Napkins"!

Well, as I'm always thinking "Eco" and "Save the World" I thought this would be a good idea! 

I hate going into restaurants and being given paper napkins (often with each course) that get very little use and then go straight into landfill, so this is my very latest hand stitched "Squirrel" .....

using a small piece of Osnaburgh (6" x6") I'm now considering how to decorate! 

This isn't the lace I'm going to use, I was just testing to see if it was suitable. I think the napkin needs brightening up, but not too much as I do plan to use, and wash it plenty, and it might not last too long if it gets stained! So, its not meant to be a heirloom piece!

And, of course, I want this finished NOW! Tee hee!

Must go now, lots of you to visit, and I want to carry on with some of this stitching!

I do hope you'll come back to visit on 20th ..... when I'll be joining in with Jo's On line Advent Calendar. Why not pop over to see what is happening so far HERE.

Hope you are having fun, stitching, too!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching

(may add to this list later)