Grannies and Cosies

A few finishes ready to go in the mail....3 granny squares for the 'Love them for what they are' exchange at Swap-bot - these will go to 3 different partners, and I should soon be receiving 3 from my own pals. There is a similar swap, 'Scraptastic' taking signups at present - you need to be a member of Swap-bot to take part.

The three little hats, are in fact egg cosies, covering 3 little Cadbury eggs. One will go to a winner in a contest I recently ran, the other 2 will be received by an exchange pal at Friends To Seniors. Thanks to Jacky for help with the size of the cosy patterns!

Westward Ho!

It was my birthday yesterday, and my Mum treated me to dinner. We decided to pop down to one of our local seaside towns, Westward Ho! It was a grey day, so not great for taking pics....not so bad if you cut out the sky ;)
We then decided to gamble some pennies is the arcade - okay, not a lot of risk involved in the penny machines, but the fun of watching them all drop down is just the same. Almost. Now I just need to tear myself away from the new addition to my Sims game...Seasons...so that I can finish all the projects that need to go in the mail this week!

Kindness

My progress so far on 'Kindness', by Robin Busch....if anyone is interested in stitching this design - featuring the border as shown, and the wording 'No Act of Kindness, No Matter How Small, Is Ever Wasted' - Robin has kindly given permission for this design to be shared. It is a pretty piece and lends itself nicely to a stitchalong - which is exactly what I am doing with the ladies at 1-2-3 Stitch. It will be fun to see the different effect using different fabrics and threads.

If anyone looks at the slightly enlarged view of this pic, try to imagine there is no cat hair......

Busy crafting week ahead!

Well, I have set myself up for a busy week of stitching....as well as my 'Oriental Beauty', I also have plans for a few other projects. I have an RR to get finished and mailed by March 31st...my chosen theme is cats, and I have yet to pick a design!! Think it'll have to be something very quick and easy!! LOL. Currently sharing space on my lap with the laptop, is a large piece of aida with the beginnings of a new project...I couldn't resist signing up for a stitchalong at 1-2-3 - I love to stitch a design that is so versatile, and really looking forward to seeing different colour variations on this one. My own is being stitched on black, main colour DMC 3804 (pink). It is quite large, but very quick to stitch, so I hope to get it done before our big one at Stitch Clubs starting April 1st - Red Velvet Inscription Sampler from Blue Ribbon Designs. Not to mention of course, a set of knitted egg cosies for an exchange, thoguh they will only take a few hours.

So, hopefully lots to share with you this week, but it'll mean less time at the PC!!

Oriental Beauty

When I was tidying up my WIP album the other day, I came across this pretty piece that I haven't worked on for a while - it is 'Oriental Beauty', by Joan Elliot. You probably all know me well enough to know that I have a HUGE amount of WIPs, and that I will no doubt put this one away again and not get close to finishing...but it'll be fun trying ;-)

The sun is shining, I should be making the most of a beautiful day, but I REALLY want to stitch!! LOL. I could really do with a nice conservatory or summer room right now - reckon my landlord would take on the request? LOL

So, with three cats for company, a large mug of coffee, and of course, my trusty laptop....I settle down to a day of stitching!

A few more FTS finishes

I finished a few more squares for Friends To Seniors this week. Pics are lousy...they really are all stitched on white aida!! LOL



I am going to give the quilt squares a break for a few days and concentrate on some of my own stitching.

Stitchers' Galleries

I made some updates to the Stitchers' Galleries yesterday - as well as making posting to message forums/blogs easier by adding 'Get URL' capabilities to the images, I also added some new themes and frames to make albums even more customisable. The galleries offer 30MB of space to all users, in a community of like-minded people...with thousands of other images to browse!

I also updated my own album with some of my recent finishes and WIP updates.

A few finishes for FTS

Finished a few squares this week for Friends To Seniors last week - they will all be used on quilts for the Universal Beneficent Society - an organisation which helps some of the poorest elderly people in the UK. Our association with the UBS has meant that we are able to reach out to many more people than before.

A new look

I thought I would give my blog a facelift - I finally found something that really suited me, hope you like my new look!

Back on the Early Shift

UFO Tuesday once again prompted me to pull out 'Early Shift' for another session. I was able to get in a good few hours stitching, and at the end of the night, the result was this:

I am enjoying this piece more and more each time I work on it!

Ah - this is the life

Couldn't resist this snap of my eldest cat - Kitty....she has been curled up like this all day on my in-progress crochet blanket - put paid to my plans for the morning!! LOL. Cats look so contented in their sleep don't they - I wonder what they dream of?




A couple of stitchy pics to share - this lily I finished yesterday....it was mostly done, just needed backstitching:

And this one was finished some months ago, and was sent along with the lily to Friends To Seniors:

'Early Shift' revisited

Another UFO Tuesday at Stitch Clubs saw me make another dent in this long-time-completely-forgotten piece, I was quite pleased with my progress, and was actually disappointed to put it down...though if I didn't, no doubt one of my curreny projects will become neglected and, in turn, become a UFO itself!! LOL. Very much looking forward to picking this up again next week, and just goes to show a UFO deosn't have to be a chore if you are filled with renewed enthuisasm!

Hats again - LOL

Finished putting together an envelope to send to WOCS - as well as the 2 hats I blogged about previously, I finished another 6..also in the envelope are 10 packs of scratch mitts, which I was lucky enough to find on sale for 10 per pack of 2 pairs!

If you aren't a member of the WOCS group, but would like to see some of the squares, quilts, and knitted/crocheted items that have been collected since the group began, they have an a photo album at Webshots - WOCS PICTURES. Enjoy, there is already a lot to see - and the group was only formed in January of this year! I really enjoy knowing that whatever I stitch/knit or crochet....however large or small, it can and will be used somehow :)

And the winner is...

Sue Clarke - who correctly guessed that the WIP posted below, is Legolas. As you can see, I have a long way to go yet!!

Well done Sue....thanks for playing, your mystery prize will be on the way soon! :)

Well done also to Linda M - who was the second person to guess correctly, before I had posted the result, a little something will be on it's way to you too!

Mystery stitching, mystery prize...

Well, it is much later than I originally planned it, and I didn't finish page 1 after all (didn't do a single stitch whilst my sister was visiting) - but here is the promised WIP pic of my latest 'start'. It is a White Willow Stitching design, and the first person to correctly email me with the name of the design I am stitching, will win a mystery prize :)

Sloganizer

My sister sent me this link:

http://www.sloganizer.net/en/

I typed in my blog name, and got the slogan...

Jo's Journal Strikes Back

Rather fitting for my recent return to blogging, don't you think?

'March'ing on!

Wow - 2 days into March already, where has the time gone.....doesn't every year pass so much more quickly the older you get? Been a quiet few days for me craft-wise - my sister is visiting on a week off from Uni, so I haven't had a lot of time. Did put in half a round on my crochet blanket, and knitted another couple of preemie hats (will post pics shortly before I send them to WOCS)

I haven't managed to finish page one of my 'mystery' project yet, so I will post a WIP tomorrow, finished or not.

Have a great weekend!