Jardin January round up and Fan girl February

January is almost over, thank goodness. Finally the days are getting longer and it's starting to get light just as I get to work now.

I had hoped to have a little more progress this month but just after my last post, I got completely flattened by a sinus infection which even after I got better, stopped me from looking down as it brought the pain back.

I have managed a little more progress on Winter in my garden.



And I managed to stitch up a little Shepherd's Bush kit from my stash - A Rosey Garden



On another slightly garden type note, I finished another Bunny tail hat for another soon to be born family baby



One of my other goals this year to frame or finish off a lot of the cross stitch finishes that I have unframed. This month, I framed 2 pieces using some shop bought frames and mounts.

Firstly Mirabilia Halloween fairy.



And Miss New Year also by Mirabilia



Next month's theme is Fan girl February. Stitching wise, I'm going to concentrate on Mirabilia designs again, continuing with Winter in my Garden. I've also promised myself a new start - Mirabilia Tiger Lily. On the knitting side of things, I'm going to go a little more literal. I have quite a few Doctor Who based things in my Ravelry queue so I will work on at least one of them.

WIPocalypse so far

This month, I'm trying to concentrate on 2 stitching projects - Winter in my Garden and Autumn in my garden. Both are Mirabilia deisgns.

At the start of the month, Winter in my garden looked like this



And Autumn in my garden looked like this



Winter in my garden now looks like this



Autumn in my garden looks exactly the same as it does at the start of the month however as I haven't stitched on it yet.

My other big achievement is that I've finished a secret project that I can't share pictures of right now but will be able to in a week or so once the recipients have received them.

New year, new post, new plans

Happy 2012 to everyone. I'm very glad to see the back of 2011 as whilst there have been lots of good things to the past year, my family and myself have had lots of problems and dramas to deal with, particularly in the last couple of months.

Still new year, new start and it's going to be an exciting one. 3 of my cousins are having babies, a very good friend is getting married, I have a big birthday (my 40th) and in a few weeks I begin studying again. I'm starting a Masters degree in Oncology via an online course in addition to working full time so I'm going to be busy.

I want to get back to Cross stitching more this year too. I have a lot of cross stitch projects which are in progress and I really want to get back to them. As a bit of motivation, I'm going to join in with 2 stitchalongs with the stitching community.

The first is 2012 WIPocalypse organised by Measi, where you work on your existing projects and report back at each full moon. It's a no pressure SAL which really appeals.

I'm going to combine it with Theme-a-licious 2012 organised by Heather, firstly because I have projects that fit in all the themes and secondly it has the best SAL graphic with the lovely Nathan Fillion.




I'm hoping to get some knitting done this year too plus there's quite few sewing projects to get to also. 2012 is definitely going to be a busy, busy year.

More knitting

Time is pretty much flying by at the moment. My job is really busy at the moment so I'm pretty brain dead when I get home hence the lack of posting here.

I have been knitting away. Here's my latest finish - Stevie by Sarah Hatton from a recent Rowan studio in Rowan wool cotton.



I've also been trying out some colourwork in the form of mittens. Mitten one is done so far. The pattern is by Garnstudio/Drops and was originally fingerless mitts but after the last two winters, I think mittens will be more useful.



I'm planning a relaxing weekend of crafting so hopefully I will have more progress to share soon.

Of sewing, secret knitting, splints and framing

The past couple of months have been quite busy with an annual stitching weekend away with friends, Knit Nation and just general life busyness.

Prior to Knit Nation, I had agreed to test knit some lovely new sparkle yarn from Old Maiden Aunt yarns, ready for it's launch at Knit Nation. The yarn is merino sparkle in the shade Dreich and the pattern is Undine.



Another thing that has been taking up my time of late is sewing. I grew up with a Mum who made a lot of my clothes. My mum spent many years working in clothing factories as a sewing machinist. I have sewn clothes in the past with her help but I decided recently that I'd like to try to sew on my own.

So far I finished a Wrap style blouse in some very basic black fabric. This was my testing garment to see if I could do it.

Last week, I moved on to a tunic top with a concealed zip. The pattern is Juliet tunic by Serendipity design studio. It was a little tricky as I had to adapt adjust the skirt part of the tunic to fit my hips and lengthen it. The having to lengthen the skirt section blew my mind as I'm really not tall, only 5ft tall. Usually I have the exact opposite problem. But it now fits really well.

My most recent finish was another wrap blouse from the same pattern. I've altered it somewhat at the arms and shoulders so it fits better.

I've also managed to frame up a recent cross stitch that I already had the frame for.

The only downside lately has been a further recurrence of my previous hand problem so my right hand has been strapped up in a splint for the past month or so and I'm currently having more physiotherapy to try and resolve it. Thankfully it seems to have improved over this weekend so I'm feeling a bit more hopeful about it that I was last week.

Race for life update

Well the Race for life was yesterday and it went very well. I managed to finish in 48 minutes 50 secs which I was very pleased with as I thought I was going much slower than last year but I ended up finishing quicker.

My Sister and I before the run.

Me crossing the line.

My sister, my mum and I after the run. My mum couldn't run this year but is planning to take part next year.

The post race scene.

There's still time to donate and win a prize in my Race for life draw. My donation page is at Race for life and I've listed the rules/prizes for the draw in my last post. As of tonight, including some off line donations that aren't on my online page, my total is sitting at £243, which I'm very pleased with. A very big thank you for all that have donated.

Prize Draw for Cancer Research

Just like last year, I'm going to be participating in the Race for Life 5km for Cancer Research. Its a 5km women runner only event for Cancer Research, the leading UK charity for research into the causes and treatment of all cancers. Cancer Research does amazing work and they have a great website full of useful and accurate information for Cancer patients and their carers. I use their site a lot in my work with cancer patients so its a cause close to my heart.

Last year Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt yarns donated a gift voucher for her webstore as a prize for a draw for anyone who donated to my sponsor page. I'm very pleased to say that Lilith has repeated her offer again and has offered some prizes for anyone who donates.

The first one is a kit for Fugue, a design by the very talented Kate Davies, knitted in lovely OMA yarn.

The prize is for the full kit. She has also offered a couple of skeins of her lovely merino sock yarn as separate prizes.

In addition, I'm offering a prize of a pair of hand knitted socks to fit the person who wins this prize. I'm hoping to have a couple of more prizes to offer which I will sort out in the next day or so.

So how can you win one of these lovely prizes. Well its pretty simple. Donate to my Race for life page using the link at top right of my blog page or visit my fundraising page to donate. Due to the rules regarding Gift aid, you can't gift aid your donation if you wish to be entered into the prize draw. Any donation of whatever size would be greatly appreciated. The race is on the 5th of June and I will keep the draw open for a week after the race.