The bird

I managed to finish up Red Winged Blackbird :-)
He is so cute! Design is by Bent Creek, stitched on 28ct natural linen with DMC floss.
I have flitted from one project to another since finishing the bird, but haven't really done enough to warrant loads of update pics. I spent Sunday stitching on PS Rain.

The fill stitching is pretty mindless, so I'm going to save it for nights when I don't have it in me to concentrate too much. Do you get nights like that too?

Friday morning weight in was good again this week with one and a half pounds lost :-) That makes a total of six and a half pounds so far :-D I've gone in a notch on my belt and I'm nearly into the next size smaller in my jeans too. Thank you all so much for your continuing support and encouragement, you are really helping to keep me motivated :-)

Off now to make the curry paste for tonights dinner,

Sadie x

Stash report

So, here is what my bout of 'ebay claw' has netted me :-)
3 Three Prairie Schooler charts :-)

Another Bent Creek Row, winter this time and a super cute band sampler from The Drawn Thread.

L*K Tiny Tidings XV with the embellishment pack and a bewitching mermaid from CHS.

A trip to the local charity shops today saw these two books coming home with me :-)

There is the most wonderful blackwork snail in the Jane Greenoff one, DD is getting a Giant African Land snail for her birthday this year :-) how could I not buy it!

My last ebay purchase was this copy of JCS. The little snowman was very kindly passed on by Staci when I was the lucky winner of her giveaway :-) Thank you again Staci x

And finally two pieces of fabric which were a wonderful gift from my MIL, to say thank you for looking after their pets whilst they were away. Both are cream and huge! 54" x 16" one linen and one evenweave.

So that is the end of the stash report :-) I'm itching to get started on a couple of my new charts, but I want to make a little more headway on the Crazy 15 first :-)

Off now to see if I can finish Red Winged Blackbird,

Sadie x

3 .........

.. is the magic number :-) Because that is how many pounds I lost this week :-) (or should that be eliminated Libby!) I feel great and I'm confident that, despite a busy week ahead, I can still eat healthily and find the time to fit in some exercise. I'll let you all know how I do next Monday. I'm a day late this week as DH had the day off yesterday, so no computer time.

Stitching this past week has seen me finish my second project for the year.

A Very Merry Spring by JBW Designs

36ct Grape Ripple linen from Silkweavers

Anchor 1335 floss

And also my third :-)

Now I Know My ABC's by Blackbird Designs

32ct creme brulee linen from Vikki Clayton

Called for WDW & CC floss

Today I have been working a little more on Red Winged Blackbird by Bent Creek.

Probably another evening and he will be finished too :-)

I have been having fun on ebay spending the last of my christmas cash, I'll be back with a pic tomorrow.

Have a great week,
Sadie x

Phase one complete

Hi peeps :-) well as the title says, phase one of the Crazy January Challenge is complete. I have started a new project every day for the fist fifteen days of January. To bring you up to speed here are the last of my new starts.

• Day thirteen

Awake the Dawning Day by Blackbird Designs, stitched on a piece of palest lilac 28ct linen with the called for WDW.

• Day fourteen

A Very Merry Spring by JBW Designs, stitched on 36ct Grape Ripple Edinburgh linen from Silkweaver with Anchor 1335. I love the colours in this floss, it is so sherbet sweet that it hurts my teeth just to look at it :-) Perfect for this easter egg I think.

• Day fifteen

Happy Bunny Bunny Day by The Trilogy, stitched with DMC on 28ct light mocha evenweave.

I have ordered all the supplies I was missing, so when they arrive I will have everything I need to get all of them finished. Despite being desperate to work on Moon And Stars by LHN again, I am going to pull out A Very Merry Spring again first. It is so close to being finished, an hour or two tonight should do it :-) then I can move onto the LHN.

Friday was weigh in day and I lost 2lbs :-) I'm really pleased. This week I am dog sitting, so there will be no excuse to not be out and about, walking the pounds off.

Have a great week,
Sadie x

Friendship

My headache has now gone :-) I think it was a tiredness headache so a few early nights should get me back on track. Yesterday saw quite a good bit of progress on my Crazy January Challenge piece.

• Day twelve

Friendship by Brightneedle, stitched on 32ct white linen with DMC, Gast and NN floss. This pic is a bit gloomy but it is a lovely piece. I'm stitching this for my best friend Kim. She lives a six hour drive away so we don't see too much of each other but we are hoping to get together this spring and again in the autumn this year. Can't wait. I think I will give this to her for her birthday when we visit in the autumn. Hope she likes it.

I'm having second thoughts about one of the projects I have chosen for the CJC. It is French Country Snow Globe by JBW Designs. I am really not happy with my fabric choice and I don't have a suitable alternative in my stash so I think I will be picking another design to take it's place.

I am really enjoying this challenge and it doesn't bother me at all that I will have 14 WIPs at the end of it. *I'll only have 14 because I've finished one already* I have been toying with the idea of continuing to stitch on a different project each day until all 14 are finished, but I'm not sure if I could keep to that :-) LHN Moon and Stars is practically screaming at me to pick it up first and not put it down until it's finished :-D I guess it will be a case of wait and see.

Off now to do my Cardio Box DVD, it's weigh in day tomorrow. I'm hopeful but nervous too.

Sadie x

Short but sweet

Much less stitching than I had hoped last night thanks to a killer headache.

• Day 11

Now I Know My ABC's by Blackbird Designs, stitched on 32ct Creme Brulee linen from Vikki Clayton with CC, WDW and GAST. When I kitted this one up I didn't really like these green/grey/brown colours but now they are stitched, I'm in love. Swoon.
Off now to choose which project to start today :-)
Sadie x

Now I know my ABC's

I saw this on Dani's blog yesterday and thought I would join in too. Here are the ABC's of me.

A - Age - 31, although I have trained the children to tell anyone who asks that I am 29 :-)
B - Bed size - King size. DH is 6'4" we need the space.
C - Chore you hate - cleaning the toilet, hate, hate, hate it.
D - Dog's name - we don't have a dog, we have a cat named Travis who acts like a dog.
E - Essential start of the day item - cuddles from my kids
F - Favourite colour - Red
G - Gold or silver - Silver
H - Height - 5' 7"
I - Instruments you play - none but I live in a very musical house. DH plays drums, guitar, violin and piano, DD plays violin and piano and DS plays drums and piano.
J - Job - Stay at home mum
K - Kids - two
L - Living arrangements - Me + DH + DD + DS + cat + 4xfish
M - Music you love - I will pretty much listen to anything. Pop, rock, country, hip hop, dance. Favourite at the moment is Ellie Goulding.
N - Nicknames - My parents call me princess, still. :-D
O - Overnight stay at hospital - 2, one when I had my daughter and one when I had mystery stomach pain last year. Still don't know what it was but it hasn't happened again.
P - Pet peeve - When someone uses the last of the toilet paper and doesn't get another one out. Also when people don't say please or thank you.
Q - Quote from a movie - 'You guys give up? Or ya thirsty for more?' - from Home Alone.
R - Right or left handed - Right
S - Siblings - 1 younger brother and 1 younger sister
T - Time you wake up - My alarm goes off at 6:30 and I usually lie and listen to the radio until 7 when I actually get out of bed.
U - Underwear - Always. Depends on what I am wearing as to what kind, but never granny knickers.
V - Vegetable you dislike - none
W - Workout style - I'm not sure I have a style but I like to power walk and also cycling.
X - X-rays you've had - Dental
Y - Yummy food you make - I like to think that all the food I make is yummy. I really enjoy cooking. My personal favourites are a boiled leek and onion pudding and a parsnip and squash bake.
Z - The best place to visit - Always friends and family

So now you know a little bit more about me, why don't you play along too.

Here is yesterdays progress on the Crazy January Challenge.

• Day ten

Red Winged Blackbird by Bent Creek, stitched with DMC on 28ct natural linen. I had very little stitchy time yesterday but I enjoyed what I did manage to get done.
Today I am going to work on Now I Know My ABC's by Blackbird Designs. I should manage a bit more stitching today as sadly, there is no Brownies tonight as the hall we hold our meetings in has a burst water pipe. Another casualty of the very cold weather we have had.
Off now to make the fire and then snuggle up with my stitching and the snooker.
Sadie x

Rain, rain go away

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my last post. I have to say that it was quite scary putting my weight on my blog for all to see but the support from you all has been wonderful. I feel ready to tackle my weight and get it under control. Thanks guys :-)

Back to the Crazy January Challenge.

• Day seven

Little Angel in the Clouds by Heart in Hand, stitched on 32ct sand linen with DMC floss. Poor little headless angel at the moment with only one wing :-( but she will be finished before too long no doubt.

• Day eight

Simply Red Ornaments (Angel) by Imaginating. I've decided to stitch with white on red for mine, they are red on white on the chart. My fabric is 26ct evenweave so it is going to be too big for a tree ornament but I think it will be lovely on one of the hallway doors. We woke up to snow on Saturday morning, just about 1", but then on Sunday morning we woke up to about 3" of snow, so after some taxi driving for DD Caitlin, Cameron and I hit the slopes :-) it was cold but so much fun.After the sledging there wasn't much stitching time left, so not much got done on Sundays project.

• Day nine

Rain, rain go away by Prairie Schooler, stitched with DMC on 32ct cream evenweave. (I'm stitching the medium sized design) This design turned out to be a clue about what was to come (weatherwise), because this morning I woke up to rain! And, unless I blinked and missed it, it hasn't stopped all day :-( and all the snow is nearly gone. Driving is not going to be fun when all this rain and slush freeze tonight. I'm glad I don't have to be anywhere.
I haven't decided which project I will stitch on today yet but I'll be back with pics tomorrow.

I am on the mailing list for our local arts centre, and today I received their program of events for this spring/summer. I have already been on the phone and signed myself up for two of their workshops. One is an introduction to basket making and the other is a rag rug workshop. I'm thinking that these will make great presents for birthdays and Christmas :-) and hopefully I will be able to make things for our home too. I have a while to wait though as one is the end of February and the other is the end of March, but that just means I have lots of time to get really stuck into all the cross stitch WIPs I will have when I have all fifteen projects for the CJC started :-)
Off now to see if the rain has stopped.
Have a great week,
Sadie x

How much?!?

First up is yesterdays progress for the Crazy January Challenge.

• Day 6

Winter Welcome by Country Cottage Needlework. As I guessed yesterday, I really would have loved to carry on stitching this one :-) but I am really having fun picking out which project I am going to start on each day, so it's not really such a hardship to leave it behind for a while.


Now, as I mentioned yesterday, my personal goal for 2011 is to lose weight. Well I weighed myself this morning and I currently weigh in at 15 stone 10lbs, that's 220 pounds. OMG!
I worked out that to get to about 10 - 11 stone (140-154lbs) a sensible weight for my height (5' 7") , I will need to lose just over one pound every week. Now that doesn't sound so hard does it? But in reality I know it will be hard. I am not following a specific weightloss or diet plan, I am just trying to cut out fat and sugar and also go easy on the carbs (I could eat rice or potatoes until I popped!), I aim to exercise every day too, either through walking or cycling.
So that's the plan :-) I'll be weighing myself every Friday and I'll let you all know how I do. Hopefully seeing the number on here and sharing them with you all will motivate me to keep going. Or shame me into it! :-)
Off now to make the fire, it's chilly here today.
Sadie x

This and that

A headache stopped me doing lots of stitching last night, but I did make a start on the next project in the Crazy January Challenge.

• Day five

Hope Perches by The Sampler Girl, stitched on 28ct white evenweave with DMC. It looks quite plain doesn't it, but it will be lovely when finished :-)

The last of the christmas presents has now left the building so I can show it here.
I knitted this scarf for my SIL Jenny. I had the purple wool in my stash and knew that I was going to use it but I didn't have enough. Oh no! So I used the plain black wool to make make the purple stretch further. I love the stripes, I so wanted to keep it.

The pattern is available free on Ravelry, it's called Baktus.

Yum!

Today I'm going to work on Winter Welcome by Country Cottage Needleworks, I suspect that this will be another one that I won't want to put down after one day :-)

My stitching goals are in place for the year, simply to finish the Crazy January Challenge and stitch gifts as much as I can. Pretty simple really. My personal goal for this year will be the same as it was last year, to lose weight. Last year was pretty much a bust with me ending the year at much the same weight as I started it. I am hoping that this will be the year :-)

Is anyone else aiming to lose weight this year? I know that it is usually a common resolution, maybe we can cheer each other on :-)

Off now to burn some calories with the hoover and the duster :-)

Sadie x

Crazy January

Hi peeps :-) Happy new year to you all, hope you are all recovering from the festive period and that you are settling nicely into 2011. Our January has been a little crazy so far, with Stuarts car packing up and the heating not working. Thankfully the heating has now been restored but alas, there is nothing to be done for the car and so it will be going to the great scrap heap in the sky.
More January craziness has been going on in the stitching department, with the Crazy January Challenge. Here is my progress so far :-)

• Day one

I had lots of stitching time on the 1st, so I actually finished this one :-) Spring Fab Fob by Lizzie*Kate, stitched with the recommended floss on a piece of 28ct Sadie-dyed evenweave.

• Day two

Coffin Buzz freebie by Plum Street Samplers. I am liking this so much better now that I am stitching over two!

• Day three

Moon & Start by Little House Needleworks. This is the one I am stitching for my son Cameron, I could have quite happily carried on stitching until it was finished. I bet this will be the first project I go back to stitch on the 16th :-)

• Day four

Cat freebie of unknown origin. If anyone knows who this freebie is from, please let me know so that I can credit the designer, thanks :-) This one is going to be for my daughter Caitlin, I think it will be a needlebook, but I'm not fully decided yet.

So, that is where I am at so far, no stitching yet today but I will get an hour or two in this evening.

Finally, here is our new family picture for the new year.

Wishing you all the very best that 2011 has to offer.
Sadie x