The night before Christmas

Well hello all, I expect you think I have disappeared never to be seen again,sorry no such luck. Are you all ready for the man in red.So are you all getting excited only 1 sleep to go.I have so much to tell you but I am not sure how much time I have now.  Martin went with grandsons and son in law to see Star Wars last evening and I wrapped parcels .
We have  had so much to celebrate  this month and it seems an age since I last blogged.
However I think I will leave family until  last and wish you all a very happy ,peaceful and joyous Christmas.
Thankyou to all of you who have sent little gifts all tucked under the tree to wait for me to unwrap and no doubt oooh and ahh over.
I have not stitched so much this Christmas, but Sally and I did our normal Christmas exchange and this is the lovely ornament she made. SO clever with this ruched finish and it is a sheep too,

This is the one I sent Sally.

I am pleased to say Sally loved it ,she had it in her stash to stitch so I saved her a job too.The other person I stitched a tree ornament for was Julie , I did this new release from The Little Stitcher . Blue Christmas. I stitched swarovski crystals on the points of the lace.

I am not going to share a lot with you as it is Christmas Eve after all. The header of course is Ollie,but I do have to share a card we and Ollie had from one of the dog walking crowd.

From left to right,another Ollie,Blaze, Gracie and Snoopy,it rather amused me.

Tomorrow we are going to Kates for dinner, we saw Graeme at his store today,they have been very busy he said. I took a pic at Caitlins 18th birthday meal of Kate ,Graeme,and Sue Graemes wife.

Kate is in the middle of Sue and Graeme. Next a picture of the 18 year old.

Caitlin is standing behind Ella our other grandaughter who is 15, They are growing up so fast.
So on to the 21 year old whose birthday it was the next weekend.

This isJack in the middle with his fiance Katie who was 21 yesterday. The other one is a friend from uni who was determined to get in the photo, I did not meet any rugby players though even though it was held at the Rugby club. 

I have to mention Sam as he is growing into a fine young man too. 

Last but certainly not least is the one very excited Alfie who was going to bed early tonight or so he said. He is the one left that still believes . 

So that is us all , wishing you all a very happy Christmas with yours and also to say thankyou for cards etc that have been arriving , More of those in the next post, I will also show you my fa la la finish and what I have planned for the  New Year. 

Take care , and keep safe.

Much love 

Barb

Countdown begins..........

I always feel that once November the 5th is over we are only a countdown away from that time of year. My days seem to go quicker than everyone else so I start my  countdown in November. The trees are really lovely or they were until the non stop rain we have had since Monday last. I still have some flowers in the garden but all is looking rather sad and bedraggled.
The mantle has changed and all to do with Remembrance this month. We now have rather a simple mantle shelf after the Halloween mayhem'
Here it is now.

The little girl under the tree with the poppies is a new addition, I thought she really looked as if she belonged here.

The two glass pictures are Martins creations , one gives details of my grandfathers brother who died in the first World War and the other is a general remembrance for all those who fought and gave their lives so we may live. 

These will stay for the rest of November.

I am hoping to stitch these ready for my November stitching next year, nothing like getting ahead of yourself is there!

I am also thinking that Martin could make some red poppies to hang from the trees branches , so really the mantle is just a work in progress.Also  next month  it will be full again. 

I  had a little treat last week ,, I know I have one in a million ,this was a wish granted. I thought my scissors were getting a little tired, so he bought me these so the new fob and case will be used for them. Meanwhile they are being looked after by the fob Tina made me , and a case I stitched in 2004 ,11 years ago!

Back view of case.

Inside the Holder.

So there you have it still in use after 11 years,
Of course there are still sheep.
When  we went shopping in our local Sainsburys, I saw this and thought it would look nice on the sofa, for the winter,this was the back that I did not see until I got it home.

So would you like to meet Holly, here he is

They did have a rather nice Scandinavian type throw that he would  look rather nice on. Hmm 

maybe next week.My  friend Julie sent  me a link this week, and I had to order it as it is right up my street, I had not heard of these mysteries before so I , looked at Amazon and of course they had it. I ordered it yesterday and it arrived today.

My pile of books grows. I wonder if the pile will ever go down , I very much doubt it. 

Now onto stitching I have a few finishes to show you. I have firstly finished my second Christmas Cube. I am really liking these too, in fact I may have to get the LOVE ones for Februarys mantle lol

I stitched the flames on the candles with the colour called for but decided they did not show up   enough so I stitched over them with some metallic thread.

Of  course it is only the stitching that is finished. Still have to be made up.Next is one I started a couple of years ago and for some reason I was not enjoying  it so it got put in the box of abandonment. Stitching with Miss Julie on Strictly UFO nights ,it came out to play again and perseverance has paid off . Not sure what to do   with it , I suppose something to do with lavender but what ?,have to go look  in the dusty cupboard for some inspiration. Unless you have an idea of course.

Here is Lavender Hill

Next is Merry Merry that is the 10th in the series Sally and I have  stitched this year ,just 2 more to go and the next one features sheep!! 

Again still to be made up ,next is new starts. The Blackwork Journey has started , I am praying I do not do anything wrong on this as I would never be able to unpick it , can  you imagine  stitching 50 or so of these blocks and then finding you have done something wrong , that box of abandonment would be calling I am sure, but for now I am really enjoying it I am now on block 3 of the 131.

As you look at it the bottom left one has a copper line of pattern and the one on the right the straight lines in the middle of the blocks are half gold and half black it is very interesting ,the one I have just started I think has silver somewhere in it. On Wednesdays in the parlour I am stitching Moonlight and here is where I am at.

A few more trees  and  snow since last week.Last but certainly not least is a picture of our medal winning grandaughter Caitlin. The day after she completed The Great South Run.

 She was well out of her comfort zone doing this, she had done a little training but not as much as she should. She had to stay in a BB  and  share a room (and bed) with the lady she was running with. She had an attack of the jitters the day before when she asked her mum if she would go too. However when the lady turned up off she went. She ran 10 miles in 2hrs 15, She said at first you had to walk as there were so many in front. 24,OOO took part. She was running for charity and they raised over £1000 .We watched the race on tele but did not see her . We are so proud of her. I could not run 10 yards let alone 10miles.

So on that note my post comes to an end ,now I am off to see what I can restart tonight with Miss Julie Mr Stick and the Strictly dancers. Let you know what it is next time. A friend has just been over (so I went missing for a while) she came to show us a scan photo of a golden retriever that is having 6/7 puppies, She has a beautiful boy called Barclay who is 1,they have put their name down for one and she was trying to persuade us to have another . Oh I wish ,need to work on the man of the house. Lyn was solving all our problems about being too old. Like if you cannot walk it we could walk it for you .   If y

,u want a holiday we will have them both. It would give Ollie a new lease of life. Oh dear temptation has kicked in.

Going for real this time. To my new followers and those that kindly left me a comment last time thankyou so  much   , send anyone over  I would be so  pleased to meet them

 Take great care of you and yours and keeeep stitching or whatever.
Hugs
Barb

Catching up at last!!! warning it is a bit long

Here we are another month almost gone and again I am so far behind in catching up with this old blog of mine. I know some of you are going through worrying times you know who you are and thoughts are winging your way, Talking of winging your way I  have just sent off my annual Halloween exchange with Tina (no blog), I will show you what I sent and what I was sent. I put together the things in the verse and wrapped it all separately
Mine to her.

I stitched a Notforgotten Farm design, Of wicks and wax ,and bits of string, and thoughts of Owls on the wing, of cats and crows and spirits high we wish you well this Hallows High. I bought a calico bag and attached the the stitching to it  Tina is hosting a meet up of the Needlecraft Haven ladies at a needlecraft store ,I thought it might come in useful. She will probably need 2  lol.
So I  bought a beanie Owl, and cut up a few bits of string, the white candle has a crow and ghost on it, and the card had the cats on. The trick was the confetti but I took it  out of its wrapping  so it would be a spooky mess lol, the black yankee candle was Witches Brew. I think she liked it.I wrapped it all in spooky napkins.
Will show you a pic of the really nice goodies she sent me later . Thanks Tina for the Halloween Exchange 2015 Here is to next year.
I have had some finishes to show you too. I have started my Christmas cubes this last Monday and here it is .

I  used tiny sequins I had for the bell clapper. The picture does not  show the sparkle.These will replace Mondays Halloween stitching.  Sally who is sal with me , is trying to get her AOTH  Blackbird designs  finished so she  stitches those while I am doing the cubes. On Fridays we stitch  the  CCN ornaments and I have finished 2 since  I last  wrote. At least I do not think I showed you Holly Jolly. 

,

Here is the latest one to be  finished , Birdhouse and I am now stitching  Merry Merry ,we are both rather giddy as it is a sheep!!next time.

On Wednesday I was in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven and I finished Louise and Henry. I am going to put it on a bag as  I did with Tina's Halloween one , and use it for keeping my wool in.Do you think that is a plan. So you see Barbara in Orlando, I stitched it ,thankyou for the gift.

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Saturday  I stitched on my Strictly UFO piece, The sheep is now outstanding in its field with a new addition to the flock due this weekend. 

It is very crumpled I am afraid. I got quite excited when doing the sheep so maybe I shall have another finish soon and Miss Julie and Mr Stick who host the ufo nights will give me brownie points towards the glitter ball . 

2 new starts this week for me,  On Sunday whilst watching the rugby I decided to pick up my Blackwork journey,This one will take a while I am sure , just hope my eyes play nicely. This is a large project and I will pick it up as and when . It has 131squares and I have the outline done for 6, Wish me luck.

The other one is to replace Wednesdays L&H, it is Moonlight by LHN and here is where its at ,

We have not been out and about so much as Martin has had his archaeology hat on and has had several courses to go on. More time for me to do my thing wink. He has been busy with his glass too and we now have a pumpkin sitting next to the witch in the window. Have taken a pic for you to see, but it is better when the sun shines through as his mouth and eyes shine an orange red colour like flame.

So all  set for Halloween here, just got to polish the broomstick Just for you here are a few bits and bobs round the lounge.

This is my tin pumpkin bought my son when he went to the U.S.

I have another cauldron with Take one my pretty and a witch on .

I expect you know most of  the designers of the various things.Hope to get more done for next year.

A slight mishap there with alignment. . Ju st have to show you the beanie owl.

So last but certainly not least Tinas  Exchange parcel to  me. It arrived and was opened to reveal.

Inside the orange  piece of felt that was  held together with a purple headed pin.was this ,and I love it love it.

Can you guess what is in  here.

Oh how lovely is this,I had not seen these before. Tina always finds something a little different.

I think this was a little treat but I cannot eat this so the grandchildren ate it for me. Really yummy they said. Alfie the youngest said Can you come to our for Halloween Nannie, and bring all your Halloween stuff , that would be really cool.Hmmmm!!!!

Then I even had a parcel from the cat.

Oh wonder what is in here ,could it be fish, or a mouse no NO NO.Yes you have guessed it's the

RAT .......

Such a lovely exchange ,thanks Tina . I was bought this little trinket when Martin did a craft fair last week.He thought I would like and yes I do.

Also this week I have been reading about Lyn and her shawl so I bit the bullet and sent for this, it is  

sooooo soft.

It even came in this white bag .It is for 2 shawls ,I have started the pink.The other arrival was the latest book from Kate Morton,

I am reading another new one at the moment, Spectacles by Sue Perkins.,I think I have probably got to the end of my missive. Hope you all have a good Halloween as I will probably not get back before. Take good care of yourselves and thanks for any comments , I know how it is , its so good to visit your blogs but then I get sidetracked into looking for things you mention and it simply slips  my mind.  Quite a  lot slips my mind these days , I almost forgot to stop typing. 

Bye for now 

Spooky wishes

Barb