Stash/Stitching & Friends!

Sorry I have been M.I.A for a while life has been busy and I just haven;t had time to get online as much as I would have liked.
I hope everyone has been stitching, patchworking and knitting as I am looking forward to catching up on all the new projects and wips. As some of you know I have been clearing and sorting out my stash recently. Even though I;m blushing furiously I thought I would post a few pictures of my little collection, minus six boxes of magazines, a crate of fabric and two boxes of finishes...lol. Now I must ask am I in the minority or majority off untidy stash collectors? Please post some stash pictures on your blogs, even those that I will be green with envy with who have not just a neat pile but a stash room to die for.

As my followers know I don;t really enjoy finishing but when I came across my huge pile of stitched pieces just sitting there in boxes I knew I had to get my butt in gear and do something. So the past few weeks there hasn;t been a lot of stitching but I have managed to finish off one cube and seven ornaments...woooo hooooo!!! The cube finish you will see later but I can;t show the ornies as the recipients all read my blog, well I think they do...lol.

The one piece I have been stitching on is my November SAL. I got to choose this month and I decided on this cute Santa by Heart in Hand. The chart was given to me by my friend Corinna. Sadly she doesn;t blog anymore but I know she still reads them. Thank you dear Corinna for passing forward this darling Santa. I have so enjoyed stitching him and once he is finished I too will pass on the chart. If anyone would like to have the chart leave a comment on this post. All I ask is that once you have stitched him please pass the chart on to someone else.

A few weeks ago myself and DH had the most wonderful week-end when Erna (http://scotlandandstitching.blogspot.com/) and her DH Ron who were on holiday from Holland came to visit us. Thanks to blogging Er and I got to know each other and have now become wonderful friends. We have been emailing and recently started chatting on messenger. It was so lovely to be able to actually meet her and Ron in person. I;m sorry I didn;t take more photos of our meet up but we were just all enjoying ourselves too much. Er and Ron arrived at our home in the morning and we had coffee and cake and exchanged some gifts we had for each other. Er also brought some gifts for my lovely neighbour who is Dutch himself. Sadly I couldn;t take Er and Ron to visit as he is very ill but him and his wife were very touched by their gift. Never one to miss an opportunity to visit my favourite place to eat we took Er and Ron to the Cornhill House Hotel for lunch. The weather was very kind to us and it was a lovely drive to the Hotel. Everyone really enjoyed the meal and my tablet ice-cream and caramel sauce was just too die for. My DH said he should bring me here more often as when that sweet is placed in front of me it;s the only time I shut-up...lol. After lunch we visited the local heritage village of New Lanark. We had a walk around a craft fair that was on and Er decided to buy a lovely hand-made Scottish themed card to take back to her Mum. As she went to pay for the card I turned around and she was talking away to this women in Dutch. It was too funny she came all the way to Scotland buys a card and the lady who serves her is Dutch...lol. Sadly not long after we returned home Erna and Ron had to leave to drive to their holiday cottage. On speaking to Er she said they had a wonderful weeks holiday here in Scotland and Ian and myself can;t wait until they can come back for another visit. They are both such lovely people that we are now delighted to call our friends.

Elaine & Er

Beautiful gifts from Holland minus the biscuits that were all eaten...lol. The pictures underneath are from the gorgeous stitchy book that Erna brought me. I thought you might like to see inside.

The Cornhill House Hotel where we had lunch.

A few images off New Lanark

Hamish Haggis

Our Scottish gifts to Ron & Erna, Whisky, Shortbread & stitchy stuff.

Well once again blogger has been a nightmare to create this post. I still can;t upload more than one photograph at a time and have had to resort to the old edition. It is such a pain. I hope everyone has had a great week-end and maybe it won;t be too long until I come back with some more thoughts and blethers from my wee hoose. Hugs!