Not that kind of Stitch!

Im feeling very proud of myself . I ran the Portsmouth 10k Race for Life today, in memory of my father-in-law who passed away from throat cancer 4 years ago.
I had to walk some of it, mainly due to stitch(the bad kind hehe) but I still felt great as I crossed the finish line. I have been training whenever I had the time since about April, but before that I could not even run 1k let alone 10k. I also managed to raise about £50 so feel very happy tonight!

Pirate

I have fished out my HAED (http://www.heavenandearthdesigns.com/)  Pirate Dragon to take some progress pics. Unbelievable I started this about 3years ago, and Its only a quick stitch! I really want to get at least the page im working on finished this year but would really love to get another one done too!

I really love how its looking. The detail is amazing, really worth all of the effort I have put in over the years. I am working 2 threads over 1 on 25hpi Laguna linen.  It took a while to get used to it but I think the coverage is great. I'm not sure I would have felt 100% happy with anything else. I mainly see these designs stitched in tent stitch which would make it a lot quicker but im not planning to do one bigger than this anyway so full cross stitch is perfect. 


                                                                                                    

                                                                                   

Close up of the area im working on

               

Stash Sorting

I've spent the last few evenings sorting my stash cupboard rather than actual stitching. After finding the problem with my Owl in Flight I have been thinking it over and have decided I will have to frog at least the owl... hoping to get away with tweaking the sky around it but I cant quite face it yet! So stash sorting it was. I came across different fabrics and threads and charts that I had sorted for various projects I wanted to start and to be honest should have started and finished in the time that has passed since I first sorted them. Never mind! I'm back to it now at least. I love stash sorting almost as much as stitching itself, all those possibilities in one cupboard, marvellous!

I also came across some treasure in a local charity shop, which I endlessly look through and have only once ever found anything stitchy related! Well my luck was in. There hidden on a low shelf in a dark corner was a Needlecraft subscription folder full of magazines form 1992-1993. I have been reading through them one at a time and although I am yet to see anything im eager to try its fascinating to see how the trends have changed so much in ten years, and how the prices have gone up so much too hehe!

Not Good!

First of, sorry about the sideways pics, I took them on my phone and never thought about the fact I may not be able to rotate them, I will remember next time!!!

Well after my resent finish I decided to work on another UFO. Owl in Flight. Here is my progress so far: (In the last week I have stitched the main body and face of the owl)

 The trouble is it was in a hoop and tonight I realised it wasn't matching up... gulp!Can you see... the sky and foot underneath is 1 stitch in than the top? The trouble is the chart is over so many pages that I cant work out what has happened. So all I have done for now is mark the bottom of the page of chart with white thread and I have gone back to the bottom of the design to start the right hand side. I will leave this page until last to see if it needs frogging( please no!) or just a bit of tweaking!

On a good note, I saw a bargain piece of stash and somehow managed to persuade my husband that it was essential that I own it, wanna see lol?

It was about half price in argos and I have wanted one for years. I have had a practis but I really need to get through my UFO's before I start new projects. Although I have already gone through hundreds of ideas in my head :)

A Finish

Well my lovely husband did indeed do my ironing for me, leaving me an entire evening to stitch, meaning I finished my Culinary cat

Such a cute face.  Im hoping to get a nice apron to add it to.

Well my husband has had a weeks holiday from work. we can't afford to go away at the moment so we just had a week at home, catching up with some gardening and DIY projects ( and getting back to some serious cross stitch sorting :)) 

He went back to work today... so it was only fair that I got back to housewife duties lol. Only this is what was waiting for me this evening..........

Ouch...........

 double Ouch.............................

Only this is only half of it. Note to self, never ever skip a weeks ironing, the magic holiday fairies will not come and do it for you :P 

Luckily my husband has said he will do some tomorrow mmm..... we will see.

So this is the sort of thing that has been keeping me away from stitching, although if I don't get a chance to stitch tomorrow evening then I will 100% get time on Wednesday evening because I refuse to do anything but!!

1st on the list, those UFO's!!

I think I'll start on these at the moment because one is very close to being finished. It is Margaret Sherry's Culinary Cats. I originally started it as a gift for my mum for starting a new job in a cafe- unfortunately I didn't finish it before she started so it became a UFO. Its been so long that my mum doesn't even do that job any more :) Because I wanted it to fit onto a card I stitched it on 18ct rather than 14ct aida.

 All that's left is the white stitches, a bit of shadow under the cat and then the backstitch.

Stitching goals for 2011

O.K So it may be a tiny bit late to start a list of things I want to do for 2011 but there are still 6 months left so better late and all that so here goes:

1. Finish my 3 UFO'S (Unfinished Objects) which are mainly stitching magazine freebies.
2. Finish Owl in Flight - John Clayton
3. Finish at least one more page of my QS Pirate Dragon- Heaven and Earth Designs.
4. (Possible design) Stitch and make a needlebook.