I hope my updating this blog so soon isn't too much of a shock for you all! There hasn't been much stitching time this week but I've managed to stitch some more of the centre panel on the Tend thy Sheep box band. As always with one of Merry's projects this is being a joy to stitch.

From Merry's Heart - Tend thy Sheep 1998
stitched using the kit materials

As I stopped working after I had Rosie, I've tended to save my meagre stash budget so I can do some classes but recently I've had a little splurge. The first photo shows my stash from my trip to Fobbles. It was probably a good thing I was only at the last class that Ellen taught and that some serious shopping had already been done by the other participants before I got there!

I treated myself to Ellen's Within My Heart Sewing Case, Blackbird Designs Honeysuckle Manor Book and the Clara Ellen chart. I've wanted Clara Ellen since it came out as that was my Great Grandmothers name.

The other stash came later, I decided that I could no longer resist the Birds of A Feather Mystery Sampler by With My Needle and Thread and as I've missed reading Sampler and Antique Needle I got a copy of the latest issue to make the postage over the pond worth while.

Before I go we had an early birthday party for Christopher yesterday and Rosie helped me decorate the cake in her signature style LOL!

The party was at my parents house in Filey as my sister was up with my nephew. In the afternoon the weather was glorious so we went to the beach as you can see.

Stitching Update

Sorry for the lack of updates, I'm just not getting much time at my laptop at the moment. Mainly because Christopher is fascinated by it especially the keyboard so I'm finding it better not to have it on when he's around. I'm doing the bulk of my blog reading on my phone as a result but I struggle with commenting on it so I apologise if I don't leave as many as I would like.

Anyway onto much pleasanter things. As I mentioned in my last post I had the great pleasure of taking the Fruits of the Vine class with Ellen Chester of With My Needle while she was in the UK. In the class she had us working on the speciality stitches on the needleroll, since I got back I've started to fill in the other bands and I've discovered that I took my inability to count to the class with me and I got some of the spacing wrong. Nothing that couldn't be worked around (so far) however.

Fruits of the Vine by With My Needle
stitched using the kit materials

I've also made progress on Teresa Wentzlers Above the Clouds. It's almost a year since I last shared progress on this one and I have now finished all the cross stitch on the bottom half. Just the wings and the backstitching to go

Above the Clouds by Teresa Wentzler
stitched using the recommended DMC