TAST

This weeks TAST challenge was Chain Stitch and this is what I stitched for the challenge....

As I wanted the Chain Stitch to form the sea I did it using 2 colours in my needle. It's the first time I've used 2 colours at once rather than swapping them, easy to do once I got the hang of it.

The design is by Abi Gurden and she designed it for me in 2009 as part of an exchange with my Friendly Stitchers Yahoo Group. This is the first time I've stitched it using other stitches rather than cross stitch.

I'm getting there slowly

As the kids have been on half term holiday and the 2 youngest being ill I've not had as much stitching time but here's where I'm at on my main projects....

Bothy Threads Cut Thru

Noah's Ark

Page 1 completed

Castles In The Air

Papillion Creations

This is the Tango piece that I'm doing for our youngest son. I only need to put the word Tango at the bottom now and frame it ready for his dance exam on the 25th March.

Here's my Great Escape so far. Part 10 was putting the mouse into the picture...our daughter has named him "The Big Bad Mouse" from her Gruffalo book so that's now what we call him.

The Great Escape

designed by Abi Gurden

The Stitch Specialists

A new project I started one very cold morning...

Cedar Sampler

by Elizabeth's Designs

Finally here is my TUSAL, a few days late but with illness and a husband recovering from an operation I hadn't had time to update until today...

to join in go to Sharon at Daffy Cat

TAST 2012 weeks -7 Catch Up

Here are weeks 1-6 on my TAST stitch dictionary, still have to do week 7 yet.

This is what I made during the week and incorporated Fly, Cretan, Feather Detached Chain as well as some French Knots, stem stitch and Tulip Stitch.

Last week I had already been busy stitching up this hanging for our daughter after I refused to let her have my Great Escape Owl. It already incorporated some of week 7's detached chain stitch so I was pleased.

If you want to join Sharon in the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) click and it'll take you to her site. She's also on Facebook which is where I found her under TAST 2012.

The Snow Has Arrived

Yes the snow has arrived in Yorkshire to the total delight of our 3 children...you wouldn't believe by looking at these photos that DH took on Sunday morning that we live in Sheffield which is England's 4th largest city.

There are a lot more photo's on Tony's website, address is at the side. He's finally given into pressure and added an Arts and Crafts section as well :-)  Though there's not a lot in it at the minute so I'd better stitch faster!  And just to prove that I have been stitching as well as enjoying the snow...

The Great Escape

designed by Abi Gurden, The Stitch Specialists

Tango

designed by Ty Wilson

This is the beautiful biscornu sent to me by Sheila in the Friendly Stitchers Spring Biscornu exchange.

And finally last but not least after seeing a beautiful full moon last night on the way home from Sheffield Dragons with DS2 here is my TUSAL...

it's not showing as much as I'd like it to but our daughter has been besieged by a virus in the last month and has now added an ear infection and conjunctivitis. Lets just say our little princess is spending a lot of time on either my knee or her daddy's knee!  However you can still join us in our Totally Useless Stitch A Long by going to visit Sharon on her blog which is  http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com  

A Bit of This & a Bit of That!

I've taken part in a couple of exchanges during January. The first was with my Facebook Group and was for an ATC (Artists Trading Card).  This is what I sent to my partner Sue

This is what I received from my partner Pauline

The second was with my Yahoo stitching group Friendly Stitchers and was for a Spring Biscornu. This is what I sent my partner Sheila

Chart for the Speciality stitch version found here

Chart for the Cross stitch version found here

I had a bit of an ornament thing going in December and this is what I made just before Christmas....

Chart for the Noel dangly can be found here

During January I've had to re-dye my son Peter's karate Gi as the red was completely faded. As I'd got some 28ct white evenweave just hanging around doing nothing I took a couple of teaspoons of the dye before tipping the rest into the washing machine with Peter's Gi. This is the result of me having a morning with no kids and some dye .......

A January Start and Finish

Well January got off to a good start with a finish...this is a coffee design I did for my husband.

by Plum Street Samplers

I've also been working on my Great Escape SAL, here it is with part 7 done...

The Great Escape

designed by Abi Gurden

The Stitch Specialists

Part 4 has finally been started on my Castles in the Air, here's what I managed to do whilst watching the first episode of series 2 of Sherlock....

Castles In The Air

Papillion Creations

I've also been working a bit on Mary Wigham, here she is...

An update on my Noah's Ark, still on page 1 but getting there...

Noah's Ark Cut Thru

Bothy Threads

It was a full moon earlier in the week so here's my 1st TUSAL vase....lots of room for my orts to go into :-)

2011 TUSAL

Here's what my TUSAL jar for 2011 looked like -

If you would join in with the TUSAL it is hosted by Daffycat and to get to her blog click on the post title.

My vase is now emptied and all cleaned out ready for 2012 :-)  I managed to finish 21 projects last year including 2 big UFO projects, a photostitch and DS2s dragon so I'm pleased with my year.