It's your last chance

to enter the 13 days of halloween giveaway that Missy is hosting. Good luck :-)
Happy Halloween
Sadie x

You guys are the best!

Thank you all so much for putting up with my stitchy tantrum yesterday. Reading through all of your comments and suggestions really helped. I sent an email to Nikki Leeman (BTW I know that it's not her fault the colour was different) to see if she had any suggestions, and she did. Nikki replied the same day and she suggested four other colours that I could try and said that she has run into problems too with colours not matching. Now, isn't it lovely that she was so helpful, great customer service from CCN! Now, after all that, I haven't ordered any of the colours she suggested! (I know, hanging head!) A couple I had in stash already and they aren't a match, the other two seem to be too green so no go there either. My first thought was CC Old Blue Jeans ( Sharlotte, great minds again) but it is too gray. I have instead ordered GAST Dungarees, so fingers crossed that this will be the one.

I received some great stitchy goodies in the post recently, I was after a copy of this years JCS ornament issue and Cindy got in touch to say that she would send one to me as a gift, how sweet is that. When I opened the parcel Cindy had not only sent me the magazine but a wonderful Leisure Arts book and a quilting magazine too. Isn't that fab, and so, so generous. Thank you Cindy :-)

I also received a freebie chart that I was looking for, thank you Marjorie :-)

AND my sweet stitching buddy Mary RAK'd me a Prairie Schooler chart 'November' , thank you Mary :-)

Here are some pics from our weekend in Edinburgh. This is hubby Stuart, son Cameron and nephew Charlie. Three of my favourite guys! Sorry bro, not sure where you were when this was taken. It rained a lot when we were at the zoo so I didn't take many pics at all.

There was an indoor enclosure which had loads of small parrots. We bought little pots of nectar so the children could feed them. Cameron was to scared at first, but after a little encouragement he gave it a go. And, as always, going one better here is Caitlin, who needed no encouragement at all!
Because of the rain a lot of the animals were busy sleeping out of the rain, but we still managed to see nearly everything we wanted to. The new chinpanzee enclosure and exhibit is fantastic and really informative and fun. Despite the rain, we managed to happily spend 5 hours there and we will probably go again next year.

I'm going to work on christmas ornaments for a bit I think. Would anyone be interested in doing a private Christmas ornament swap with me? Just the ornament, no extras (keeps costs and postage down at this time of year) and bear in mind I live in Scotland. Email me if you are interested sleepback@yahoo.co.uk

Don't forget to hop on over to Missy's blog and enter her fantastic 13 days of Halloween giveaway spectacular extravaganza

Well better get off my butt and finish up the housework.

Hope you have a great day, and thank you all again :-)

Sadie x

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

I fixed the problem I had with the browns, I ripped out what I had already stitched and went with the CC Cocoa Bean. It is perfect :-)
Now for the AARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH part. The CC Deep Fennel the chart calls for is blue (as seen on the front page of the chart on the picture of the stitched model, bearing in mind that I bought this chart because I liked the stitched model!!!!!). The CC Deep Fennel that I have is GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am really hacked off! Out of the 4 CC colours this chart calls for, only one is close to the model, two are lighter (one a little, one a lot) and one is a completly different colour! I understand that different dyelots will vary but surely going from blue to green stretches the boundaries of acceptable colour variance.

Edited to add - No suitable substitutes in my stash :-( I'll leave it until tomorrow when I am a little calmer to try to find something that will work. Not a happy bunny!

Last night

was lovely. I started stitching 'Forest Snowfall' by Country Cottage Needleworks. I watched Bones and Lie to Me and then I stayed up too late :-) watching Jaws. Sad but true, and I loved every minute of it. Here is a progress snap.

The fabric is a little darker IRL, but just a tad. It's 32ct Flagstone Gray from Fabric Flair, the floss is the called for CC and DMC. Now, this morning I have noticed a problem :-(

The brown stitching I have done so far is using CC Little House Brown and I have noticed that the floss I have is a lot lighter than what was used to stitch the model pic - Look at the roof, that is way darker. As a result there is not much contrast between it and the *lighter* of the two browns, Country lane, in fact in some places they are the same colour.

So what to do? I could order another skein on Little House Brown and hope that it is darker (but there is always the chance that it will be just the same) or I could subsitute for something from my stash ( CC Cocoa Bean looks like a contender). So, any thoughts? Sometimes I find it hard to just make a decision!

This weekend we are going to Edinburgh Zoo , and combining this with a visit to see my brother, his fiancee and their son, and their new house. So I'll be back next week with pics of wild animals and cute kids, or should that be cute animals and wild kids! :-D

Don't forget to check out my stash for sale.

Have a great weekend,

Sadie x

Stash for sale

I am havinga clear out of some of my stash. These are things that I have either already stitched or will not stitch. Take a peek.
And what's that you ask? What will I do with the proceeds? Buy more stash of course :-)
Sadie x

Spooky stitching

Today I received the most wonderful exchange for the 'Halloween Exchange' on HoE . Stitching for me was Jayne and this is what I found when I opened the package.

I love the piece that Jayne stitched, it's by La D Da and is from this years JCS halloween issue. I have much admired this on other blogs and now I have one of my very own! Jaynes stitching and finishing are perfect and she also kindly included some other goodie too, 3 colours of ribbon, a wonderful piece of fabric for finishing and some spooky chocolates (which the children have offered to help me with!)

I also heard from Aubree that she had received the parcel I sent to her for the same exchange.

I stitched a freebie offered by Leeanne on her blog 'My Nifty Needle'

Stitched on opalescent evenweave with DMC, hand made cord (DMC) and finished as a flat ornament. The ribbon on its own looked a little plain so I had a root around in my button stash and came up with the large faceted black button. I snipped off the loop at the back, added a little glue and voila! I am pleased to say that Aubree loves it, and the rest of the spooky goodies I sent for her to enjoy. The fuzzy orange is actually a pencil case but I couldn't resist sending it!

Well it's back to Christmas stitching for me now. I have been cracking along with the PS 'Woodland Santa' and nearly have it finished. I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping this past couple of nights (not sure why but have cut back on the coffee!) so have capitalised on all the 'awake' time to stitch more. I am paying for it today though, feel a bit like death warmed up.

Hopefull I'll be back with a finish in the next couple of days and maybe a new start or 2 or 3 !

I am having a sort through my stash, and will hopefully have some charts up for sale by the end of the week on my sale blog so watch this space.

And if you have the time, go check out Missy's blog for some Halloween fun.
Bye for now,

Sadie x

Something wicked ....

...this way comes.

'Wicked' freebie from Primitive Bettys

28ct evenweave distressed using coffee, the oven, an extremly hot iron and the cat(don't ask)

WDW charcoal and CC bandana

This was a lovely little stitch for a lazy Saturday evening and I hope to have fun finish finishing it this week. If I can find the supplies I have in mind that is.

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments you left for me about my first tin finish. I truly appreciate all the stitchy love and encouragement.

Edited to add - Michelle Lutzen, the designer/owner of Stitchy Kitty left a comment on my finish of her design. I am on cloud nine :-)

The wonderful Suzie over at Cat in the Moon has given me the 'Over the Top' award for my blog. Thank you Suzie :-)

Now, I am supposed to pass this on to six others but I am afraid that I cannot narrow down the field to just six blogs. So, if you are reading this you have been awarded the 'Over the Top' award for your blog.

Now, go spread the love people :-)

Sadie x

Here Kitty Kitty.

It's finished!
What do you think? My first tin. I'm grinning from ear to ear, I love it so much :-)

There were a ton of fractional stitches in those pumpkins.

I wanted to have some lovely halloween sweets to put in the tin (that's why I left the inside as it was) but forgot to buy some when I was doing the shopping earlier. Oops!

I made the cord too. It's a little squiffy (technical term *wink*wink*) on the lower left but I can live with that.

'Halloween Kitty Moon' by Stitchy Kitty

Mystery 28ct evenweave from Polstitches

Called for DMC

Homemade cord made with DMC floss

3/8" purple ribbon

In other news

It's been one of those days here. DS spilled a 4 litre jug of juice in the kitchen this morning. It stained all the worktop pink! Thankfully it has come off with lots of bleach and elbow grease. The floor needed a good scrub too, so it was after 9 before we left to do our weekly shop.

That part of my day was uneventful at least. We got home and I started to put the shopping away when DD walked dog dirt into the living room carpet! I really just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry, and have someone come in and be the grown up and sort it all out for me.

That didn't happen so a very speedy trip to my mums house to borrow her carpet cleaner (thank you Mum) and now, an hour later the house smells nice again. Phew!

The scary part is that it is only 2:20pm. I still have to make it through the rest of the day. Please let nothing else go wrong. But if it does, please send chocolate and wine.

Sadie x

Foggy start!

It would seem that Edgar doesn't have a monopoly on all the fog :-)
Here are a couple of snaps from our walk this morning.

The schools here are closed for two weeks, for what are imaginativly called the 'October holidays' , so progress on the stitchy front has slowed down rather dramatically with two monkeys to entertain, but I'm not complaining too much. They are great kids (I know I am biased!) and they are such fun to be around so it's not such hard work :-)

I did manage to get santa into his frame.

Sorry for the less than spectacular pic, but trust me he looks lovely and I'm happy and can't wait to have him on display at Christmas.

I have finished the stitching on Halloween Kitty Moon and I'm sooo close to being finish finished. I hope to get it done and dusted tonight when the kids are settled. I'm really excited about this one and I think it looks fab IMHO :-)

I stitched these three tiny designs up one evening, they are from the current issue of CrossStitcher magazine. Stitched on a scrap of red aida with DMC blanc. They will be backed with felt and given a little padding and then a ribbon hanger and they will be ready for my tree.

Lastly here is my new start.

This is one of the santas from the 'Woodland Santa' chart by Prairie Schooler. I'm stitching this 2 over 2 on 26ct natural evenweave. I am loving this! I know I say that about all my projects, I guess I wouldn't stitch them if I hated them!

Off now to fix lunch and then this afternoon we are going to make some bats to hang in the windows for halloween.

Have a great day,

Sadie x

No matter how hard I try

I can't get the random number generator loaded onto my blog so you all can see it. Sometimes I get so frustrated with my inability to be able to just figure these things out!
Well enough of that.
The random number generator says that the winner of BBD 'Their Song' is comment number 17 which is Gabi! Congratulations Gabi, I guess all that hammering paid off! I will have the chart out in the post this week.
Well that's it for today, I have finish finishes but it is too late for decent pics so i'll be back tomorrow with those.
Hope you had a great weekend,
Sadie x

Brrrrrr!

Because I have the attention span of a 2 yr old on E numbers, I have started 3 (that's right 3!) new projects since my last stitchy update
Number 1 is 'Halloween Kitty Moon' by Stitchy Kitty
Isn't that the most fabulous opalescent fabric ever! I got it in a grab bag from Polstitches. It's so beautiful! I am using the recomended DMC floss but I'm not bothering with the kreiniks. I think the fabric has all the sparkle this project needs. I have a nifty idea about how I am going to finish finish this so watch out. I'm all excited about it :-)

Okay, onto new start number 2

I liked this SO much that I just kept right on stitching until he was finished. This is taken from Prairie schooler book 80 'Old World Santas'. I already have the perfect frame for him so he will be all done by the weekend.

New start number 3 is also a finish AND it's a finish finish too! I know, someone sure did light a rocket under my backside this past week! Alas, there are no pics (yet) of numero 3 as it's for an exchange, so I need to wait until it gets to its new home.

Finally here is a pic of Travis all bundled up on our bed this morning. The temperatures are starting to drop here, brrrrrrrrrrr!

We had a good frost this morning and it was lovely to see everything sparkle in the morning sunlight, whilst still being warm and cozy inside.

Well I'm off now to see what to start next :-)

Don't forget to enter the BBD giveaway, you've got to be in it to win it!

Have a great week,

Sadie x

Giveaway

I was gifted this chart by the lovely Jody, who had the chart gifted to her by the lovely Vonna.

Blackbird Designs 'Their Song'

So, who wants to be next? Leave a comment and I'll pick a winner next weekend.
Happy stitching,
Sadie x