My own kind of Maynia !

I am intrigued by the idea of Maynia and kind of wanted to take part , but I don't really do smalls as such and the idea of having that many starts would terrify me .
 So , as I have been on sick leave for the last few weeks following surgery , I decided to start a new HAED , with the aim of working on it every day of May and seeing how much I could get done.
  Coincidentally , On the HAED fb page , a challenge popped up starting 26th April to do a new start and try and complete a page by 26th June , my kind of thing.

  So , I decided to do this one as it was already kitted up , apart from fabric , and most of it from stash. .

 The first page was completed on 20th May

 I was cursing the confetti at the end , but the eye looks fabulous.

 And this is where I'm at with the second page.

 There are two partial pages underneath , so I am hopeful of a finish in the next couple of months as I am totally loving stitching on this.

   A couple of quick finishes for a friend , an Easter card and bookmark that I made.

 Still waiting on an appointment with a liver specialist , but my blood tests are showing improvements so , got to look on the bright side.

  Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Stitching

With everything going on , I needed some stress reliving stitching but I found it hard to concentrate so went for some easy block colour charts.

   I loved doing this as a sign up for Love Quilts , adding my own twist by using variegated floss.

 Was so excited to finish this

 Then when I finished this I realised that I hadn't done the back stitch on the previous one ,

 So ....

 Nice and easy

 Not sure what I will do with these at the moment. If my daughter wants any of them turning into something , that will happen but they are more likely going to be any child squares for Love Quilts .

   I got some stash !  Love these charts by Cottage Garden Samplings and will definitely be getting more. Quite sad that they call for Weeks Dye Works threads though as it would work out quite expensive . Still debating whether to save up or just bite the the bullet and stitch using DMC

 I ordered these just before Mothers Day , so they became part of my gift as as usual , hubby left it far to late to organise things for the kids.

The "new" threads are for this chart. I have started it but not gotten very far , will try and get pics next time.

   I am also doing my own thing for Stitch Maynia , but I will post about that at another time. Let's just say that enforced sick leave is doing wonders for my cross stitch ,lol.

  Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

I stitched !

Not a lot , but some , and it's better than nothing , right ?
  First off , I did this little kit from one of the magazines .

 Not totally happy with it , I'm not sure that white back stitch works for me , but it's pretty in its' own way.

 Then , I have just today finished this , sorry for the poor picture , it is grey , wet and windy at the moment.

 Sadly , my sons other gerbil died a couple of weeks ago .

 Brave Shadow has gone to join his brother Popcorn over the rainbow bridge . They are both very much missed , but the boy now has two new little friends to ease his loss. I will try and get some pics of them to show , they are so cute.

One of my daughters' gerbils has a lump , which we are treating with anti-biotics and it does seem to be helping , but they were all the same age , so time is not on our side. However ,we continue to do out best by them and he his still living a very active happy life at the moment.

  Other news , I am dealing with some significant health issues at the moment and the next few weeks are going to be tough , so hopefully my stitching will help see me through them .

 Thank for dropping by ,

 Cath

A slight delay in posting

Sorry I have been AWOL for a while , last time I posted my MIL had been admitted to hospital with pneumonia. She was in for nearly two weeks and on being discharged went straight to the bedside of her Mum (hubby's Grandma) who also had pneumonia .
  Due to her age (nearly 101) the doctors thought sending Grandma to hospital would be too stressful , so she has been bed bound at home for the last couple of months with my MIL and her sister looking after her and more recently with help from carers.
 My lovely Grandma in law passed away on Saturday morning , just three weeks shy of her 101st birthday. She remained stubborn to the end , and will be very much missed , but for her sake it was a blessing as she wasn't comfortable and had no quality of life. Whilst it was not unexpected , it still hits hard .

  So , I have done a little stitching and lots of reading since last time .

This one is an a/c square for Love Quilts. I sent it in along with the previous squares and this one and the batman and robin from last time have already found their place on a quilt .

  This one is for me , and a good job too as I made so many mistakes it was unreal . Still , I like it and that's all that matters . It's an original !

I have started another one in this series , but not much progress as yet , I tend to be too tired to stitch when I've been at work and then have lots of stuff to catch up on the other days , so at the moment stitching time is limited.
  I am hoping to get more done on my HAEDs and hopefully start a new one soon , as I've bought the threads I needed for it , so watch this space.
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Ooops , I did it again !

Square finished for Love Quilts.

 But , I also finished this , and love it.

 The stripes in the water were getting me down a bit , but I love the end result.

   Had a couple of questions about this , but some of your blogger profiles are set to no reply so I couldn't e-mail back .  Anyway , the design is by Jody Rice and is in Cross Stitch Crazy issue 226 March 2017. I stitched 2 over 1 on 19 ct fabric using the called for DMC threads.

  So , finishes mean starts right ?

 My latest project is another dog for my boy .

 What it will look like

I have another sign up for Love Quilts , but it's not due until end of May , so I'm not starting it straight away . I want to get more of the dog done before allowing myself to be distracted by anything else .

   In other news , after eight months or so of trying , I have got a job . No start date of yet , should find out from Thursday onwards when I can get cracking , but really looking forward to it . I will be working as a domestic at the local hospital three mornings a week. Ready for a new challenge.

Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

I have a problem !

I was reading some of my old blog posts earlier on , and for the last 3 / 4 , maybe even 5 years I have been saying that I'm going to do more personal stitching , and less for Love Quilts , and yet I still haven't managed it .
 My personal project of the moment is this :

 This is where I'm at , at the moment .

 I love the colours, I love the shapes and I love how neat the stitches are coming out.

 The model is stitched on 14ct , but my fabric is 18 , almost 19 count which makes the stitches much closer together, so no show-through and the colours look much more vivid.

 So , in theory it should have been done by now , but I have also been stitching on this

  Yep, you guessed it , it's a square for Love Quilts, I just cannot seem to stop myself .  Told you I have a problem !
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Winter already ?

We had some snow on Thursday , thankfully not a lot and it didn't stay around for too long . I am just not ready.
 Not ready for Christmas either. I am so not organised this year , it's dreadful.
 I finished the dog for my boy , and love how it turned out.

 This is an a/c square for Love Quilts. I needed some easy stitching whilst on jury duty and this fitted the bill nicely. I did the black outline the week before and then just had to "colour it in" . I couldn't take it with me as no sharp objects allowed , they even took a pair of baby nail scissors off me the first day , so I just left them out of my bag after that . Still , it was nice to have something to pick up in the evenings when I wasn't too blasted .

  Jury duty was not easy and it is extremely wearing mentally and emotionally. I am only now beginning to feel that I can put it mostly behind me . I only had one case Monday - Friday the first week . Had Monday and Tuesday off the second week , went in on Wednesday to wait around all day and then be dismissed , but to be frank it was a relief .
  After I finished Green Lantern I wanted to do some "me" stitching so finally got round to doing this gorgeous chart by Gaynor of Stitchers' Anon .

 This was charted as a memory piece for Cathey and I am so glad to finally have it stitched. Not sure how I am going to finish it off yet  but I'm leaning towards a wall plaque kind of finish. We will see.
 Now I've got to decide what to do next .
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Well into Autumn

And it feels like I should still be in summer. This year has positively flown , I must be getting old.

 Only a bit of stitching to show from last time , both sign-ups for Love Quilts. The butterfly one only took a few days  .

 This one felt like it took forever . I have stitched it before , three years ago but will not stitch it again , the chart has been sent off to someone else to enjoy. I love the end result , but it was not worth the stress . I was beginning to think I might not make the deadline , thankfully that has never happened yet and I hope it never does ,I hate to let people down. This one nearly got the better of me though.

I literally had to force myself to pick it up. Once I did , it was ok but it was an effort every time. Strangely enough , as soon as it was finished I really wanted to stitch. I have started another dog for my son, and it is nice to pick it up when I want to rather than feel I have to.
 Speaking of my son, he came off his bike three weeks ago and broke his arm. Thankfully it is not a bad break , and all being well his cast will be off on Monday, but we had a rough couple of days.
 Not much else going off , I may not get much stitching done over the next few weeks . Half term holiday has just begun then beginning of next month I have jury duty.
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Squares .

Wow ! Half way through the holidays already. We have had busy times and quiet times , relaxing and fun. Hubby had the second week of the hols off work so we had a couple of lovely days out , and also some r&r at home. Been busy clearing out the kids' rooms (always a summer holiday thing). The boys' is done , and he has a lovely new bed so he's happy.
 The girls' is a work in progress.Yesterday saw 12 bin bags full of teddies going into the loft ,lol.
 Today she has gone off to her friends' for a couple of days. I miss her like mad , but so glad she has finally found the best friend she has always wanted.

  My daughter surprised us on her last day at school , by coming home with another gift card which she received for not only having the most A points in her year , she got the most ever in the school history of giving them . So very proud of her .

Still stitching when I can , but also reading a lot too. Some fabulous books both bought and borrowed from the library.

  I realised last time that I forgot to show one of my LQ squares. This was done between the fairy and the rocket.

 Another Batman , I did the background a different colour this time for a change.

 9 a/c squares altogether.

 And for a change , this one is for my son . Another Jack Russell for his eventual quilt.

 A label finished yesterday.

 I have two more sign ups to do for Love Quilts , then I will be taking a break to do some personal stitching .
 I have also stitched up a couple of free kits from the magazines, but have not yet took pictures , so maybe next time.
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath .xxx