A finish and a new hobby

Hi there everyone! I hope this post finds you well. I have started my new job working as an admin in a foster care agency and I'm truly enjoying it so far. It can be busy, and there's a lot to read and learn about, but the people are so friendly and it's nice being in a job where I feel useful and like I'm making a difference. Sadly, I didn't get to go to Southampton last weekend - the snow meant my train was cancelled. I made the most of my time at home though, and seeing as it was wintry conditions, I felt inspired to work on my Christmas sampler. And it's finished! 

I've tucked it away for now, but I'm looking forward to getting it out again around November time and make it into a wall hanging to be displayed over the festive season. I'm quite proud of this piece, because I only used threads that I had in my stash. The only thing I had to buy for this project was the fabric. Everything else came from threads I had squirreled away after finishing kits, or odd Anchor threads that my sister had given me when she finished with cross stitching. It was a nice, cheap project, which is good to have every now and then to keep costs down!

I have started a new design that I did buy some new threads for, but only because I loved the colours used so much, I wanted an exact match. I've got a fair few stitches in, but haven't had a chance to take a pic yet. I'll be sure to get one up next week.

I've had a lovely weekend so far. We had Lawrence's mum come for a visit and yesterday afternoon, we went to a needle felting beginners class. I always enjoy craft, but I haven't tried very many of them, so it was nice to try a new skill. The class was in a gorgeous craft shop/work shop/tea room and was taught by a patient and kind teacher. There was only four of us learning, so we had time to each receive personal instruction as to where we were going wrong. We had a cup of tea half way through and it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I definitely felt I had a thorough understanding of the basics of needle felting by the time we finished. 

This is another cheap hobby to enjoy, because it only needs a little bit of equipment and you can find free designs on line. In the class, we each made a teddy bear. Mine is a bit wonky, but I'm very fond of him! 

Apart from cross stitching, what other crafts do you enjoy? I would love to hear all about them, it might give me an idea for the next class I could sign up to. I've got some chores to do now, but I can't wait to settle down with my stitching this evening.

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

Stitching through the Winter

Hi all, I hope this post finds you well. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying my stitching lately. Even when I'm not putting needle to thread, I'm reading magazines or browsing blogs or eyeing up my next stitchy purchase. It's lovely to be fully immersed in a hobby once more. 

I've got another card finish to share. This one is a birthday card for my grandmother, who doesn't own a computer, so no risk of her seeing it before the big day! I used a design from an old magazine from my stores, then picked the colours as I went along from my box of leftovers. I'm glad I'm not the only one who keeps leftover threads - they're so handy for small projects like this. 

I finished Love Cats fairly quickly. It was all block colour then a bit of back stitching so it was a nice quick one. I'm thinking of adding her wedding date and gifting this to my sister. Just got to find the perfect frame first!

And I have a new start to share. I don't think this one will take me too long at all. It's Time for Tea by Country Cottage Needlework and I've subbed a couple of the threads for ones I already had. I'm definitely a budget stitcher! 

That's it from me this time. Only two weeks to go until surgery, then there will be no stopping my needle :) I've started kitting up a few things so it will be nice and easy for me to pick things up during my respite time. And then it will be Christmas! I've sent some SewAndSo links to Lawrence so hopefully Stitchy Santa will leave something for me under the tree!! 

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx

Festive Fun

Wow! Thank you so much for your kind comments and well wishes on my last blog post. And thank you also for your blog reading tips, I've added a couple to my reader :) There is still time to enter my 200th post giveaway, just leave a comment on this post here.

As I've possibly mentioned before, I'm making a lot of my Christmas gifts this year. In between days filled with reading and writing, I decided to have a day off to play with my craft stuff. This is my creative mess!

 

As well as cutting fabric for a few presents, I also managed to finish up a couple of decorations for my own tree. They just needed sewing up and adding some ribbon. I can't wait to display these on our Christmas tree! First up is a Prairie Schooler freebie I stitched up awhile ago, now complete with "Merry Christmas" ribbon and cute heart buttons.

 

And I added ribbon and a pin to this other little design (I'm sorry, I can't remember the designer!) so that it will now hang neatly on the branch :)

 

I shall take pictures of all the completed gifts when they are ready to be wrapped and share them all. I'm really enjoyed making some special presents for the people closest to me :)

Have a lovely weekend!

 

 

Getting the Job Done

Picture the scene. It's a drizzly Sunday morning, no more Uni work to contend with, no work at Cath Kidston today. You've got a whole two days ahead of freedom and you decide to get a few jobs done. The type of jobs that take a little time, but are very satisfying.

This was my Sunday yesterday. I filed away the last of my Uni work, did a little cleaning and had the best time organising my thread boxes. Call me crazy, but it was so relaxing to spend time sifting through all my threads and finally getting them into some form of order.

Some of you may remember that when my sister decided she didn't have time for stitching any more (I know, it's practically blasphemy! :P), she donated her stuff to me! She gave me a whole box of various threads and I had to go through and check off the ones I didn't have on my list. Then it was bobbin winding time! It's not my favourite job, but I had the grand prix on in the background :)

Look at all those lovely colours! Going through my boxes really made me appreciate just how lucky I am to have an abundance of crafty goodies. I try not to waste anything and any odd threads that didn't have numbers have gone into a pot, ready to be used to make up some card designs.

After a couple of hours, I was delighted by my efforts. I've got DMC threads in the two larger boxes, and the small box contains Anchor threads and a few unknown colours wound onto bobbins. I think they look quite pretty in a strange way :)

I'll be back soon with a post detailing all of my projects that I've got on the go at the moment. I've got one more meeting at Uni and then I'm officially on summer! I'll have to keep up with my independent studies of course, but there will be plenty of time for craft. I'm itching to get my sewing machine out and have a good play on that :)

Best wishes to all,

 

PS I have now also officially caught up with blog reading since the start of the year! Now I'm all up to date, I'll be sure to comment a lot more :)

Stitching in the TARDIS

Finally! Some stitching!
I thought I'd share what I was stitching on prior to and during my holiday. The pair were suppose to be a gift for a dear friend. They still are, but she knows all about it since I left one of the charts out in my room. Still, I know she will love them all framed up :)



Fans of the TV show Doctor Who will know exactly who I have stitched up here. On the left is Mr David Tennant and on the right is Mr Matt Smith. My friend is a massive Doctor Who fan (or Whovian!) and after I collected the Matt Smith chart, I just had to stitch them for her.
I've got frames at the ready, but was halted in finishing them by a severe problem. My house is without an iron. This hindered my finishing day that I was suppose to have had this week. I've got nothing to get the crinkles out! Hopefully, we are purchasing an iron early next week so I can get finishing soon :) Returning to blog reading has shown me so many beautiful examples of finished pieces, I am envious of the talent out there. I'm sure I will learn with practice :)

So, although I couldn't finish any cross stitch pieces, I did get a couple of craft things ticked off my to-do list. I fixed the hole in my CK bag, ordered more bobbins from eBay and popped a button on this cute bag . . .

I've had this bag for ages and was quite upset when I lost the button. Now it has a nice new shiny button and is ready to be used once more :) I don't like things going to waste.

I hope you've all enjoyed a wonderful weekend!

Best wishes,