Theme-a-licious 2012 January Update

It's time for a quick update on Jardin January. I've not managed to get as much done as I hoped so far this month because the eye infection put paid to doing much stitching last week. Fortunately it's cleared up now so I'll be able to crack on.

I had just picked up Anniversary Roses when the infection hit so there has only been a little bit of the over one in the centre rose done.

Anniversary Roses by Forget Me Nots in Stitches copyright 2009

using the silks and fabrics provided

Once my eyes started recovering I decided that it might be wise to give the over one a rest and picked up 20 Flowers. Most of this has been stitched this month, apologies for the terrible photo

20 Flowers by Just Nan copyright 2004

stitched with the kit materials

I'm planning on working on 20 Flowers for the rest of this week, then I'll pick Anniversary Roses back up.

Happy Winter

I'm a bit late with this weeks update but I've managed to pick conjunctivitis up from somewhere, not the children who'd be the obvious source. They're both fine so I just need to avoid passing it too them but it does mean that I'm trying to limit my screen time so my eye gets time to recover.

Last week I worked on Rosie's ornament, I let her chose her ornament this time which as she went for one of the more stitching intensive ones was possibly a mistake on my part! I've almost finished the front I just need to finish the backstitching and add some Rhodes stitches to the border. Then I need to stitch the borders again for the back.

Happy Winter by The Nutmeg Needle from Just Cross Stitch Ornament edition 2000.

On the knitting front I've started the front of the Pembroke Vest for Christopher.

Pembroke vest by Kirsten Kapur
knit in King Cole Merino blend DK

As I'm sure many of you know Betty Ring's Sampler Collection is being sold by Sotheby's later this month so I treated myself to a copy of the catalogue and it arrived at the weekend. I've not managed to have more than a cursory flick through but I'm looking forward to going through it in more depth soon.

Theme-a-licious 2012

I don't have any set stitching goals for this year apart from trying to get as much stitching in as possible. I decided that a fun way to do this will be to join in with Heather's Theme-a-licious.

So for Jardin January I'm planning on working on two of my wips - Just Nan's 20 Flowers and Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches Anniversary Roses.

But before I can get stuck in to those two I need to finish Rosie's Christmas ornament.

A Final Flourish for 2011

I'm finishing 2011 with a finish! They've been a bit thin on the ground this year so maybe stitching 2011 on Sunflower Bellpull back in November was a touch on the optimistic side. However I managed to get the last stitches in yesterday so no restitching was required.

Sunflower Bellpull by The Drawn Thread copyright 2000

Started May 2010 - finished December 2011
Stitched using the recommend fabric and threads

I hope you all had a great Christmas, Father Christmas was good to me again this year bringing me several things off my wish lists. I was in a Secret Santa exchange with some friends and my Santa sent me Plum Street Samplers - Fruit of the Spirit & a piece of hand dyed fabric. I also got Blackbird Designs A Stitcher's Journey.

On the books front I got River Cottage Veg Everyday from which I've already earmarked a long list of recipes to try. I also got a couple of sewing books, Home Sewn by French General and Sewing for Boys by Shelly Figueroa and Karen LePage. Unfortunately Father Christmas forgot to leave me some time for crafting!

I hope that you all have a lovely New Year

I hope that everyone who visits here has a very happy Christmas

Persephone Secret Santa

I think I've mentioned before how much I like Persephone Books so this year I joined in with the Persephone Secret Santa organised by Claire and Verity.

My Secret Santa was Joan at Flowers and Stripes, I got a lovely parcel containing High Wages by Dorothy Whipple and a special reprint of the Time & Tide Alphabet by Eleanor Farjeon that was done for Persphone's fifth birthday. I am very much looking forward to reading them both. Thank you Joan.

Catching Up

Apologies for the length of this post, it's a catch up of everything I've been working on since October.

First up is Anniversary Roses by Forget Me Nots in Stitches, I took this to the retreat to stitch when I wasn't working on Tend thy Sheep. I was thinking that I could get a fair chunk stitched but then I realised that the band I started was one of those fiendishly complicated ones that Lauren does so well (there was unfortunately also a fair bit of frogging)

Anniversary Roses by Forget Me Nots in Stitches copyright 2009
using the silks and fabrics provided

One wip that I have been working on here and there is Just Nan's 20 Flowers, this is my go to project for when I'm too tired to work on one of my larger projects and am now at the half way point on this one.

20 Flowers by Just Nan copyright 2004
stitched with the kit materials

The project that I'm shooting for finishing this year is The Drawn Thread's Sunflower Bellpull. I'm now down to the last part of the stitching but I've put it down for the present as I need to stitch the children's ornaments.

Sunflower bellpull by The Drawn Thread copyright 2000
stitched using the recommended threads and fabric

And now a finish! I completed the socks I was knitting for Rosie this week.

Basic top down children's socks knit in UK Alpaca Sock yarn in Moss

I completed the knitting on the Ishbel just before I went to the retreat but haven't yet managed to block it so no photo's yet. Maybe next week! My new project on the needles is a Pembroke Vest for Christopher, this is the back I'm about to start shaping the shoulders.

Pembroke vest by Kirsten Kapur
knit in King Cole Merino blend DK

And of course now Rosie is in school I had to make her a costume for her nativity play. Rosie was a snowflake which stumped me for a while. However we eventually came up with something that worked. I made her a small tutu based on the instructions on Simple Kids and then Rosie & I decorated a white t-shirt with glittery fabric paint.

Thank you all very much if you've stuck with me till now, I'm cautiously optimistic that I can go back to more regular updates from here in.