More cherries

Here's where I am at so far.
Very close to the end now. I think I could have finished it last night, but I lost my needle :-( and didn't want to disturb DH ,who was already in bed, to get another one. That is the second needle I have lost recently. It's my birthday in a couple of weeks so I am thinking of getting a needle minder with my birthday money.

I really love the z.

Not so much all the confetti stitches.

When I'm finished with it, I'd love to trade this chart for one of the other fruit salad sampler charts (pear, apple, strawberry). Email/comment if interested.

Busy, busy this week. Kids on holiday from school for two weeks and next week my best friend and her family are coming to visit. Can't wait :-)

Crap weather here this week, non stop wind and rain and even some talk of snow too. Time to huddle up with my stitching next to the fire.

Have a great week,

Sadie x

Edited to add - DH just found one of my missing needles on the floor in the lounge, he said he saw the light glinting off it. One down one to go.

Cherry progress

More stitching on Cherry Sampler by Sisters and Best Friends over the past couple of days.
Only the z left to stitch to finish off the alphabet.

The colours are so scrumptious. The floss names make my mouth water, Green Apple, Ohio Lemon Pie, Black Raspberry Jam.

When I am finished stitching this design I would love to trade it for one of the other Fruit Salad Sampler charts (pear, apple, strawberry) email/comment if you are interested :-)

I have a bit of housework to catch up on and then I'm going to make the fire and cozy up on the sofa to stitch. It is quite cold and windy here today so I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere.

Have a lovely day,

Sadie x

Music is my sunshine

Elaine & Missy gave me this lovely Sunshine award for my blog. Thank you both :-)

Now, I'm supposed to pass it along to 12 other bloggers but I'm not going to do that. Instead I'm going to share it with you all :-)
On dull, grey, cold days like today, reading your blogs brighten my day and transport me to wherever you may be. But, for me, the one thing that brings the sunshine to each and every one of my days is music. So I thought I would share some of my favourite music with you. Sometimes it is just one song that catches my ear, other times it is an album or at the other end of the scale, an artists whole body of work that I love. Rather than embed videos here on my blog which would make things really slow, I've linked back to videos on YouTube.

So sit back, relax, close your eyes and enjoy :-) a little beam of Sadie sunshine.

• Mumford and Sons- A recent obsession of mine. I love The Cave and Winter Winds.
• Low - I have the album 'Guns and Drums' it's okay but for me the stand out track is Murderer. So so beautiful.
• Biffy Clyro - Many of Horror
• The Cranberries - Dreaming my Dreams. Also from the same album Ode to my Family
• Pendulum - Propane Nightmares Turn it up loud :-)
• Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have An old boyfriend gave me a mixtape with this song on it. The boyfriend didn't last but the music stuck. There is a lovely accoustic version here, it is softer than the album version.
• Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits - This is my dads influence here :-) Telegraph Road is my favourite,I love songs that tell a story. Couldn't find it all in one so here is part one and part two. Also love Brothers in Arms and Romeo and Juliet. The Killers did a great cover of Romeo and Juliet.
• The Killers - Mr Brightside
• Metallica - My favourite album is Load, every song is a winner but this is my favourite :-)
• The Lemonheads - Being Around
• Lady GaGa - Paparazzi and Poker Face. Also this accoustic version of Poker Face is worth a listen.
• Suede - Animal Nitrate one from my teens.
• Amy MacDonald - This is the Life, Poison Prince, Mr Rock and Roll and my favourite Run
• Shed Seven - Chasing Rainbows, Where Have You Been Tonight
• All American Rejects - Swing, Swing & Gives You Hell
• Coldplay - Violet Hill. Also check out the covers of this song done by Pendulum and The Kooks
• Ben E King - Stand By Me if I could only listen to one more song it would be this one.

I hope you enjoy listening

Have a great week,

Sadie x

Apple smiles and cherries

This is what I spent a good part of my weekend doing.
'Cherry Sampler' by Sisters and Best Friends. Stitched with the called for GAST floss on 32ct Creme Brulee linen fron Vikki Clayton. The colours on this are to die for!
If anyone has one of the other fruit salad samplers from Sisters and Best Friends (apple, pear or strawberry) I would be happy to do a pattern swap :-) Email me or leave a comment if interested.

I made these smiles on Saturday for the kids. I found the idea on a blog somewhere. Apple slices smeared with peanut butter and mini marshmallows for teeth. They were a big hit with adults and kids alike.

Tasty and fun!

Cameron joined in the fun too, even though he was exhausted from his Beaver Scout sleepover the night before. I think it qualified as a stayawakeover.

Thank you all for the stitchy love for Jean-Luc. You made him blush! As I wrote in my last post I got the pattern from the deviant art website, it's a free download.

Off now to make some more apple smiles :-)

Have a great week,

Sadie x

Star Trek bunnies

Couple of little finishes to share today.
First up is a little spring/easter stitching.

From 'Prairie Year Rounds' by Prairie Schooler

Stitched with DMC

28ct white linen

I think I'll finish it as a little round pinkeep.

Next up is a little Star Trek finish. The pattern of Jean-Luc is a download I found on the deviant art website. The words I added myself. Stitched in DMC on 16ct white aida.

I love this little guy. Think I will keep him for a while but he will get his forever home with my dad :-) My dad loves Star Trek, we used to watch it all the time.

I am hopefully starting a new project sometime this weekend (fingers crossed!) using some of the yummy floss from my last post, so watch out for pics on Monday :-)

Enjoy the rest of your week and have a great weekend

Sadie x

Gifts and stash

Yesterday was Mothers Day and it was wonderful. The kids gave me homemade cards and gifts, and wonderful hugs all day long. It was a quiet day and then we went along the road to the in-laws for dinner. We gave MIL a card and some flowers and I made this little bookmark for her.

Freebie pattern found here

16ct white aida

DMC 4030

Backed with white felt

For my mum, I was planning on making a bookmark too. I even knew which design I was going to use, sweetpeas from an old issue of CrossStitcher. When I went to look for the magazine I couldn't find it, typical! So I picked out a couple of other magazines with possible alternatives. The alternatives turned out to be not quite what I was looking for, but in one of the magazines I came across a pattern for a glasses case and it was perfect! So I made that for my mum instead of a bookmark.

CrossStitcher Issue 212

16ct white aida

DMC 310

Lined with white felt and padded with wadding

Mum has just recently got new glasses so hopefully this will come in handy. Mum was away this weekend so I will hopefully see her later today or tomorrow to give the case to her then :-)

A few weeks ago I won Beckys un-birthday giveaway of a gift certificate for $100 for Down Sunshine Lane.
I had great fun deciding what to buy, it took me all day come to a final list of items I would like.

Well, today it all arrived! Yipee!

Here are the pics of my treasures. Charts first.

And I stocked up on floss for several projects too. And a couple that I just liked :-) CC & GAST

Thank you once again Becky :-) You're a star!

Well I think I will go and play with my new stash and try to work out what to start next :-)

Have a great week,

Sadie x

It's a wrap

I finished this up yesterday evening, I just couldn't put it down :-)

Little House Needleworks 'The Rain Fell'

32ct Murano evenweave in 'Blue Lace Agate' from Sparklies

Called for CC and DMC floss

I'm going to save this one for framing. It will hang on my LHN wall.

When I have an LHN wall that is :-) At the moment it only exists in my head!

Here are some more pics, they're clickable too. So you can go large :-)

Look, she has boots just like mine. And no buttons on her dress, because I forgot to leave spaces for them. Oops!

I have crows that visit my garden but they don't sit in the flowers, they take the birdseed and run.

No flowers in my garden yet, but I do see some lovely green shoots that will soon give me my first flowers of the year.

Today I emptied the pantry and scrubbed and cleaned it from top to bottom. Tomorrow I will paint the pantry walls and ceiling, and then I'm having a cocktail, or two. DH is away for the night tonight so this will be a surprise when he gets home tomorrow. I know it is a job he wasn't looking forward to doing and now he doesn't have to.

Well, I'm tired. Better drag myself off to bed.

Night all,

Sadie x

The Rain Fell

I started this on Friday. It's LHN 'The Rain Fell'. I've wanted to start this for ages and now I have :-) Stitching on a piece of 32ct hand dyed linen from Sparklies. It is soooooo beautiful :-)
I need to get my bum in gear and stitch mothers day gifts (mothers day is this sunday here in the UK) but I think I will keep going with the LHN till it's finished. It really is a joy to stitch.

The lovely Sharlotte awarded me this blog oscar :-) Thank you Sharlotte x

Meari and Shelley also thought of me for this award, thank you ladies :-)

Now here are seven things about me :-)

1. I have quite big feet, UK size 8 (US size 10 1/2). My feet have been this size since I was about 12. I've also been the same height, 5'8", since I was the same age. I grew fast :-) BTW DD is 8 and is already 5'1" it's in the genes, oh and DH is 6' 4". DS is tall too. It's like the land of giants in our house!

2. My favourite scent is vanilla.

3. I love to watch cookery programs, my favourites are The Hairy Bikers (who I have met!) and Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame.

4. I love to cook too :-) And eat :-D

5. I have very quick labours. DD was 3 1/2 hours from start to finish and DS was 1hr 20 mins from start to finish. That's the whole shebang from first twinge to 'Here's your baby'. Both were born naturally without any pain relief. I'm not having any more kids but if I did, it would probably be born in the car on the way to the hospital :-)

6. My favourite authors are John Connelly, Dean Koontz, Jefferey Deaver, Kathy Reichs, Harlan Coben and Jim Butcher.

7. I like to play Guitar Hero 5 on the Wii.


Okay, so that's it. Feel like you know me better? Feel like you know too much? LOL
I'm passing this award on to anyone who wants to play along.

Edited to answer a question.

Courtney - John Connelly is fantastic. His books are quite 'graphic' but so enthralling. Look out for the Charlie Parker series, they are my favourites. Jim Butchers book are set in the present and are about a wizard called Harry Dresden. Lots of magic, mystery and evil doing. Again really gripping reads :-)

Have a great week,

Sadie x

Awwwwwwwww

My hands are just about back to normal now :-) and I have been stitching up a storm! I stitched, finished and posted the prizes for my OWOH giveaway. I've finished the stitching on my pin pillow exchange piece, just need to make it into a pillow now. *done it* And I stitched the two little pretties above for my friends daughter and her new little brother. The design is from the current issue (224) of CrossStitcher magazine. In the magazine, the designs say 'beautiful bridesmaid' and 'perfect pageboy' but I changed it to suit the occasion. Both stitched on 16ct white aida with DMC floss and backed with white felt. The idea was to make them sturdy and washable :-)

Thank you all again for the well wishes and the lovely comments and emails too. I love reading them and it is great to be connected with others who enjoy the same things I do. I don't know anyone IRL who does cross stitch so you lot really are important to me :-)

Well I'm off now to stitch some more. It feels so good to be stitching again, I really missed it and though I enjoy knitting, cross stitch is the tops for me :-)
Happy stitching,
Sadie x