Hello Again!

For anyone interested I am still here. Thanks to those of you who hung around for my last up-date way back in July. I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog and leave me a comment. Close family health issues and other life problems are still a major concern. Sadly I have very little time for my online friends, groups and stitching. I apologise for not keeping up with everyone.

My stitching is very rarely in my hands these days. If I'm really lucky I will snatch a few hours in a week. I'm way behind on my SAL with Sally and Mouse. Baby gifts and Birthday presents I had hoped to have all done by now are going to be very, very late. I also wanted to do some Halloween charts and have at least made a start on some Christmas stuff but it is just not going to happen soon.  

With life in a mess I sadly took the decision to close StitchedWithLoveExchanges. I am very thankful to all those who took part and helped to keep the group going for so long. I'm proud to say there were 530 packages exchanged all around the World and many new friendships made throughout the term of the group. I was very touched by those who personally took the time to email me. Though it will take me a while to get round to it I will answer each and everyone.

A few weeks ago our DD Heather celebrated her 21st Birthday. She didn't have a party but celebrated with her friends at a nightclub in Glasgow a few days before her Birthday. On her birthday we went out to lunch at the Inn on the Loch http://www.lanark.co.uk/attractions/lanark-loch and in the evening family and friends visited for a little Birthday tea.   

The following week we had a lovely dinner at my favourite restaurant http://www.cornhillhousehotel.co.uk/restaurant.php with family and friends for Heathers 21st and my upcoming 50th in a few weeks time. I'm afraid we didn't get any photos taken that evening that I could share. I have made up a slide-show though of Heathers 21st fingers crossed I hope the link works on here. 

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d5619061k9903273o1/21st

It has been a very long nine weeks but on Saturday we travel to Fife to collect our darling puppy Cupar. Brenda at Lomondhills has kept in touch regularly, shared photos with us and when he was 5 weeks old myself, Ian and Craig got to visit him. As you can see he is just adorable, I dare you not to fall in love with him...lol! I will try not to overload you all with pictures in the days and weeks to come but here are a few to get started.

2 Days Old

12 Days Old with his only Brother

5 Weeks Old 

6 Weeks Old with his Brother & Sisters.

Cupar is on the left of each row and in centre photo

with Brenda.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying many happy hours of stitching. I will return in a few weeks time with hopefully some photos and a give-away to celebrate my 50th Birthday. 

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Hugs

Lainey

Happy News at Last!!!!

Can you believe it I've got happy news to share. Our darling puppy was born on Wednesday evening. This is him with his Mum Pippa , brother and seven sisters. There were only two boys in the litter. One cream and one red. You can see Cupar (dark coloured puppy) on the left off the picture. We need to wait 5 weeks before we can go visit him and then another 4 weeks before we get to bring him home. It;s going to be a long 9 weeks. 

I have been working on this piece to give to Brenda & Brian at Lomond Hills as a thank-you for our new puppy. I hope to frame it when finished.

The only other stitching I have been doing is a little progress on my Curly Q stitch-a-long with Sally and Mouse. I really need to give her some hair as she is starting to freak me out..lol.

I couldn't resist treating myself to this cute tea-bag holder last week. There was also some lovely sheep tea towels. I may need to buy one on my next visit.

I thought I would give you a closer look at my sheep scissors that a few people commented on in my last post. I was thrilled to receive them from a lady in the States in a exchange package. I believe they came from this site http://www.uncommonscissors.com/ 

My dear friend Rosemary surprised me with this beautiful bunch of flowers yesterday. I think they are "Sweet Williams". I was so touched by her kindness.

I just want to finish by saying thank you so much to everyone who took the time to comment on my last post. Not having been around very much lately it was so nice to see there are still people out there interested in reading my blog. I hope everyone is having a lovely Summer. Happy Stitches!

This,That & Everything Else!

Hello! Thought I would come by and give anyone who hasn't given up on me an up-to-date on what's been happening here lately.It's supposed to be a blog mainly about stitching so let's start there. 

At the beginning of May I gave myself a talking to and got down to some finishing. All three designs were freebie charts. The blue-bird pillow was given to my dear friend June as a Birthday gift. The other two will be mailed out soon as RAK's to some other lovely friends.

My DD & DS bought me Little House Needleworks Summer Joy chart and threads for Mothers Day way back in March. I started it in May but as you can see I didn't get very far and haven't picked it up since. I really must make an effort as the colours are so pretty.

I'm a very lucky girl with such generous stitching friends. A few months ago dear Sally and Mouse surprised me with these longed for charts from my wishlist.

Curly Q Ewe from Mouse

My Sheep hear My Voice from Sally

Anyone that knows me knows I'm mad about sheep so I couldn't wait to start on the Curly Q chart. Sally and Mouse decided to join me in a stitch-a-long. Dear Mouse sent me some lovely fabric but my head in the clouds as usual I never noticed until I had started stitching that it was linen. I find it much easier to stitch on evenweave. I felt as if every stitch was taking forever and that little green frog started jumping all over it. Into the lost box it has gone. 

A few days later I found a lovely piece of lambswool in my stash so off I went again. Few hours into my stitches I realised I had made another mistake. I started frogging and oh dear lord it was a nightmare the thread just wouldn;t come out the holes. It kept fraying and splitting. You thought I had stuck it with super glue..lol. Enough was enough off to the lost box it went. 

Once I calmed down I was determined to try again. This time I found a piece of evenweave that I had stitched on recently, perfect or so I thought. I was so anxious to get started what did I do? I cut my fabric wrong, it was too small!!! I was in tears now, I had wanted to stitch this chart for so long and three attempts later I was getting no where. I thought about giving up and working on my Summer Joy but when I saw Sally's progress pictures I just had to give it another go. I ordered some fabric from Sewandso which with their amazing service arrived the next day. I've begun again and so far it looks good, though right now my lady looks like an alien..lol and off course it wouldn't be right if I didn't get something wrong. It was only when Mouse showed me her lovely progress picture I realised I've stitched the jacket in the wrong colour. There is NO way I;m frogging this one. Wish me luck please and pray this one doesn't end up in the lost box.

Not sure if I should be making any more stitching plans just now but I'm planning to be stuck in front of the tv in the next few weeks watching Wimbledon. I've got three small pieces I'm hoping to tackle. All being well I shall share in my next post.

Well if your still with me here is what else has been going on around here. Our DD Heather completed her third year at University and now has a BA degree in 3D Computer Animation. She had majors exams when her Dad was having his Operation and awaiting his results so it was extra pressure. We are so proud and we know she will do well in her Honours year.

Craig is still having a tough time and we are still waiting to hear from the hospital but some recent blood tests have showed some deficiencies. Hopefully the new medication will help and he also started a new job on Monday. The contract is only for four months but we are hoping that this will also give him a boost. I tried to sneak a photo of him all grown-up in his shirt and tie but that wasn't happening..lol.

On the May bank holiday we had a lovely family day out with my Mum and Dad. We visited Floors Castle in the Borders area of Scotland. As you can see it was rather a dull day but the castle still looks rather impressive. Sadly your not allowed photos inside. The tapestries were stunning! 

On our way home my DH treated me to this little beauty. I told him I would use it daily to drink my tea from but it's just too pretty. How appropriate for me is that name on the bottom..lol! 

For the last few weeks we have been blessed with some spells of decent dry weather. Ian was on holiday last week so we've been busy working in the garden. A lovely new shed and fresh stones in the driveway has given the outside a boost. New plants in the garden and the pots have been filled. I didn't want to bore everyone with too many photos so I just took a few of the garden plants and some from the pots. Hope you enjoy.

I hope you have enjoyed catching up. I will try harder not to make it so long until my next post. All being well I should have some puppy pictures to share next time as our new little family member may be born next week. We are all so excited!!!!!!

Take care everyone and happy stitches. Hugs!

JUST ME!

Well here I am life is gradually getting back to normality. My DH Ian had a tumour removed from his face at the beginning of March and after three long weeks we got told it was benign. The operation went well but there has been some damage to his eye. We have been told it could take up to 18 months for complete recovery. He is doing well and we are just taking each day as it comes. Our next hurdle is for our DS Craig to get a clean bill of health too. He is awaiting an appointment to see a neuro-surgeon. He has been unwell for about six months now so we are hoping to finally get some answers. Our DD Heather has just fnished university for summer and as she is going to be working full-time until September we decided to grab a much needed family holiday.

We managed to find a last minute deal in a cottage right by the sea in Lower Largo, Fife. I;ve made a short slideshow off where we stayed and a few places we visited, fingers crossed it works okay. As you will see the weather was very cold and windy. Regular followers of my blog will recognise some of the places as I;ve posted lots of photos of the area over the years. 

Create a free slideshow

My favourite fabric shop that I try and visit at least once a year was only 100 yards from our cottage door. I was very good and managed not to visit until the end of our week. All the finishing fabrics came from there and the scissors, ribbon and buttons I found in a wonderful wool shop The Wooly Brew in the village of Pittenweem. I spent a wonderful hour chatting to the lady on the left of the photo. The wool stock is gorgeous and they are more than happy to mail to anyone.

Though I haven;t stitched much at all in the last two weeks I have completed a number of pieces since I last posted. Most of them are for gifts and raks and I need to find time to make them into something decent. So many of my stitching friends have held me together through these difficult months. Once again I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their love and support.

Finally I have some happy news to share. My DD Heather and myself are going to be celebrating some milestone birthdays this year. Our perfect present that we have both longed for since we were very young is to have a dog. My DH Ian and DS Craig were not so eager but about a month ago I finally persuaded Ian and we went along and visited a breeder off Australian Labradoodles. By the time we left DH was hooked. We went back for another visit with Craig and Heather last week. They got to meet lots of the dogs and we were lucky enough to view and hold some puppys. Craig fell in love with them too and   told us we had to have one. After lots of discussion we went back and have booked ourselves a puppy. Ideally we would like to have one the same size and colouring as Bouncer. Everyone is so excited though we may have to wait at least six months or longer. I know that no matter what other challenges life is going to through us a little puppy will bring love , laughter and joy to my dear family.

BOUNCER

I hope you have enjoyed catching up and maybe I will return with another post before May has come and gone. Happy Stitches everyone, hugs! 

Thank you & more stitches!

I just want to start this post by saying thank you to everyone for your messages off support, love and prayers. My DH will have his operation on Wednesday. All being well he will only be in hospital 48hours. We haven't been told how long we will need to wait for the results.  I'm sorry if I haven't got round to answering all my emails yet. I shall hopefully get to them this week-end. As you will see most of my free time is still taken up with my stitches.

These are my February SAL Christmas and Halloween ornaments.

It's a free theme choice for the Christmas March SAL so I have chosen to do this design. I'm looking forward to starting it tomorrow. It's the third time I've stitched this chart.

My dear friend Cath recently won a wonderful voucher give-away. She very generously treated me too these gorgeous purple scissors and a huge piece of evenweave. Knowing my love of sheep she also brightened my day with this sweet little fob.

Even though it looks a completely different colour I did use the cream evenweave that came from Cath to stitch this lovely freebie design by Victorian Motto Sampler. I will probably finish it into a pillow for a future RAK.

I've had this chart kitted up in my stash for a long while. I have so enjoyed stitching it this week.

As usual I changed some colours and instead of putting in the year and my initials I added some buttons.

I've also been working a little on my Sam Sarah Wild Flower WIP. I'm going to try and at least do a few stitches a month on this one from now on. I need to have it finished by August.

I also managed a few more crocheted squares this week. It will probably take me about a year but hopefully when I have enough I will be able to make a blanket.

Well I shall hopefully be back soon with more new stitches. Have a good week-end. 

Happy Stitching!

STITCHING MY BLUES AWAY!

Happy Valentines Day!

Any regular readers and friends know how much I love trying to make something of my stitched piece.  I was determined to finish this for Valentines Day so let's just say today my swear tin made a lot of money! This is my version of "My love for You" by The Sampler Girl. If you want to see how the original looks it's on my "Remember Me" post.

My dear friend Catherine knows what a Snowman addict I am and very kindly gifted me this cute chart last year. As usual I worked with what fabric and threads I had in my stash and created my own tree. I've no idea what happened but I think it got caught in a snow storm..lol. Hopefully by my next visit it will resemble a small pillow of sorts.

As well as these finishes I've also had a few stitchy mishaps this week. I was finishing off a small gift for a friend when I noticed a mark on the fabric. I gave it a quick wash and left it inbetween a piece of kitchen roll to dry. The next day I had it sitting on top of my stitching basket ready to pick up and stuff. A few hours later I stood up to answer the phone and knocked my cuppa right over the side of my chair and into the basket. Thankfully most of it was soaked up by the kitchen roll but once again the poor piece had to be washed. I will share when it finally reaches it's destination. I have also somehow managed to lose my threads for my February Reindeer ornament that I showed in my last post. I've searched everywhere and actually think I may have put them in the bin by mistake. I will finish it if they turn up but for the moment I started on this Reindeer by Nancy at Victorian Motto Samplers.

I'm beginning to wonder if stitching just now is a good idea for me. I;ve been trying to stitch and read to keep me busy as I'm finding it difficult to function at the moment. We received some unexpected bad news last week. I won;t go into any detail as I still get really upset when I talk about it. Thank you to Cath, Catherine, June, Elaine, Lisa, Mouse and Nataly for making my days a little easier with your prayers, love and support. Sorry to end my post on such a gloomy note. I hope everyone is having a good week with lots of stitches and crafty fun.

LAINEY 

A Few Finishes!

I didn't think I was going to make it but on the last day of the month I managed to finish "It;s Snow Cold" by LHN for my January Ornament SAL. Being a Snowman addict I just love this cute design.

The theme on the SAL for February is Candy Canes or Reindeer. I chose this little guy from the JCS 2012 Ornament magazine. It's designed by Cathy Jean at The Victoria Sampler.

This teeny tiny pumpkin finish was my January Halloween Ornament. Februarys theme was a Black Cat. I took this little guy from part of a freebie design at the Silvercuteddwarf blogspot.

My eyes were too tired to stitch last night so I decided to try crocheting some squares. Last time I tried these was well over 30 years ago. Just like my stitching there not perfect but they'll do ..lol.

I hope everyone is having a good week with lots of stitchy and crafty time.

LAINEY