More stitching

So the stitching bug is really starting to come back. Last week I found a Sashiko kit that has been around for a while. The little straight stitches helped to soothe what was a very stressful week.



And in a very handy coincidence, it fits with the Monochrome May theme of Theme-a-licious 2013.


Most of this past weekend was spent stitching on the Paisley 1930s panel of the Great Scottish tapestry project. As the deadline for completion draws close, I brought the panel home with me to stitch on. I made a lot of progress and completed the central female figure.



The whole panel looks like this.



I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished panel hanging with all the others in the Scottish Parliament in August.

Last week was stressful for 2 very different reason. Firstly I was waiting to see if I had passed my most recent MSc module. Thankfully I have. The second reason was that the police made an arrest in the hunt for the man who killed my Uncle and finally at the end of the week, a man was charged with murder. The next few months are going to difficult but I'm much more hopeful we will get justice for my uncle.

Saturday stitching

Again I spent this past Saturday working on a local panel for the Great Scottish Tapestry. Last week I stitch some shoes and a bit of a dress.


This week it was more shoes and some grass.





Another stitcher finished this lovely thread label section



The stitchers might recognise the Anchor motif - Paisley is the original home of the Coats and Clark families who founded the original companies that are now the Coats brand. The town has many statues dedicated to the family members, they also paid for the local town hall and built a local Church in memory of Thomas Coats. When I graduated from the local university, the memorial church is where we graduated. The town's textile history is also reflected in street names - Thread, Cotton, Lawn and Gauze streets amongst others.

Knitting finish - Blue milkweed

Like most Scottish people, I have relatives overseas in Canada.  My aunt went to live there over 40 years ago.  Unfortunately she's unwell at present and my mum and one of her sisters have travelled over to Ontario to visit her.  My aunt in Canada appreciated some knitting that I did for her grandchildren last year so I thought I'd knit her a little shawl to help whilst she has treatment.

The pattern is Milkweed by Laura Chau.  I've knitted this pattern before and its an enjoyable knit.  The yarn is Drops delight in blue.







Hopefully she likes it.

Stitching progress

Before knitting came along,  stitching was my main crafty thing. Of late it has fallen by the wayside for a variety of reasons - mainly hand problems and the addictive properties of sock and shawl knitting.  After seeing the Prestonpans tapestry, I had an urge to stitch this past weekend and even finished a few things.

A little hardanger embroidery book mark.  This went much better than my previous attempts at this type of embroidery

A little hedgehog in satin stitch with french knots

And I finished a Shepherds bush scissor fob that I started ages ago.

Here's the front

and the back

I then moved on to some finishing, sewing together the Trick or treat sacoche that I finished a few years ago.

Hopefully this wanting to stitch feeling will stick around for a little longer as I have a lot of projects I would like to stitch.

On stitching and heritage

The past two Saturdays have been spent in the company of some really interesting stitching.  The area I live in is famous for it's textile history of Paisley shawls and lots of mills.  Unfortunately the mills are now closed but at the end of my street, there are still several old mill buildings.  The biggest one is the old Anchor thread mill



Most of the building is now flats but a small part is a business centre with a small exhibition space.  For the past week or so, its been home to a exhibition of the Prestonpans tapestry - a representation of the Battle of Prestonpans in needlework.  It was an amazing sight.







Whilst I was there, I got talking to the local organisers of a panel for the Great Scottish Tapestry which is planned to be the biggest tapestry ever and arranged to go back last weekend to spend some time stitching on it.  The theme of the panel is Paisley in the 1930s



And this is a plan of part of the panel



This weekend, I'm going back to stitch on it a bit more.  The finishing deadline is fast approaching and they need to finish soon.

A finish for April

This month has been busy so far with work, studying and family stuff.  I'm coming to the end of my current module so am working on a final assignment for that.

I have found the time for some knitting - my latest finished object is a hat.







The pattern is Gretel by Ysolda Teague and the yarn is Soft Donegal by Donegal yarn.  It's gorgeous green colour and is a souvenir of my visit to Dublin in September.  I visited the lovely This is knit in Dublin whilst I was there and bought a few skeins of this in green and in purple also.  The yarn is absolutely fantastic to knit with and has great cable definition.  I foresee a cabled hoodie in my future with this yarn someday.

The pictures in this post are the first ones I've taken with a new camera.  Sadly earlier in the week, my much loved Fuji camera hit the floor for what must be the millionth time but this time it  didn't recover from the fall.  So I treated myself to a very compact Lumix FS40 which is tiny compared to my old fuji.  The first few pictures are much better than with my old camera so its looking to be a good purchase.

March Madness progress

Really can't quite believe that March is over already.  What has made it particularly unbelievable is the very wintery weather.  Scotland doesn't have the best weather but snow at the end of March is fairly unusual and it snowed most days last week.

March has been a pretty good month for craft progress.

First, of course, was Autumn Queen.  I had hoped for more stitchy progress but my hands are causing me a few problems at the moment again.



Knitting wise I finished these very bright socks which are very much in keeping with the neon clothes in the shops just now.  I'm having flash backs to 1984 when I go into a clothes shop just now. I wore a lot of neon then including some very bright tights - my school had a very strict brown uniform but no one thought to specify colour of the tights we wore.




There has been a little bit of a jewellery product line going on.

Lots of bracelets



Some assorted other stuff



There are a couple of more jewellery bits but as they are for gifts, I can't share just yet.

April's theme is Amazon April - to work on your biggest projects.  I have a more than few things that fit into that.  I'm planning to work on my long term sock yarn left over blanket.  Also I think some of my long term Chatelaine projects might need some attention.

March Madness happy dance

Life continues on at a fast pace just now. Work and studying are keeping me pretty busy.  Thankfully I am still managing to get some time to other things.

The big news is that I've been stitching and I managed to finish Autumn Queen finally. Its stitched on Autumn sunset cashel linen by the Blended needle.





I started stitching her in 2001.  The fabric had to be resent initially as the first fabric order got lost in the transatlantic postal chaos immediately after 9/11 as it was first dispatched on 10th of September.  It got set aside for newer projects again and again and in favour of my knitting projects. At the start of this year, I decided it was time to finish her finally.

This month's theme-a-licious theme is March madness. I've decided to use this to see how many things I can finish this month and I'm including any sort of crafty project.  The Autumn Queen finish gets this off to a good start.

January crafty progress

January has been as it always is, a busy month.  Britain has been slammed with snow which has, in an unusual turn of events, almost completely missed my part of Scotland.  I am very pleased about that as whilst snow is fairly common here, the public transport doesn't cope well with it.

Knitting progress has continued this month with two finishes so far.

Baker Street mittens in Old maiden aunt BFL aran in Royal



Karise in Wollmeise sock yarn Fritzi frizzante



Both of these designs are by the very talented Karina aka Kariebookish and you can see more of her designs on her blog -  http://www.fourth-edition.co.uk/knitting-crochet-patterns/ and also on Ravelry.

I've also been stitching a little and made some progress on a couple of projects.  Today I even finished this little needlepoint kit.



I've also been making a little jewellery - these are for the bridesmaids of a colleague who is getting married in a few weeks.



The other positive thing is that I passed the 2nd module of the MSc I am working on which means I can move on to module 3 next week.

2013 plans and themes

This year, I'm hoping to stitch a lot more. I am going to join with Heather's theme-a-licious themes again. Again the graphic for this year really swung it for me - how could I resist the lovely David Tennant as the Doctor.



Stitching wise, I hope to finish Autumn Queen and Japanese Octagon box, which are both long term WIPs and I think this is pretty realistic. Anything else is a bonus.

Knitting wise, I think it might be a year of cardigans and socks. Some of my previously knit socks are a little worn and I have a lot of sock yarn so that seems like a perfect match. I've worn the Stevie cardigan I knitted last year a lot and my wardrobe really needs more cardigans for the somewhat variable temperatures at work. I also want to get more comfortable with colour work this year.

Life goals for the coming year are fairly simple - continue with the MSc and the job and have more fun. I'm hoping that my Internet dating journey results in finding someone special and I'm currently working on that.

2012 progress report

Well 2012 is finally over so it's time to look back at the year, both from a craft and life perspective. It was a very challenging year for me.


Stitching wasn't something that happened a lot this year. My stitching slump has continued somewhat although I am seeing signs of it ending.. I made quite a bit of progress on Autumn Queen and I'm hoping to finish it in the next month or so.

Here's what she looks like now



Another big finish was Elizabeth's stocking by Shepherds bush which I also turned into a stocking, along with 2 previous Shepherds Bush stockings. One for me and the others for my sister and her husband - they loved them.








Knitting continued to take up a lot of my time and I finished quite a few things, most of which you can see here.




I haven't been so good at updating photographs and sharing progress however. My computer began to slowly die earlier this year and finally gave up the ghost in September but it has now been replaced with a shiny new iMac so I'm gradually trying to catch up.

Life has remained very busy. I've now finished the second module of my MSc and am anxiously waiting my results. Work has remained very challenging as I've started working towards promotion but it continues to go well.

September brought my 40th birthday and a lovely trip to Ireland. Being 40 has turned out to be much less scary that I would have ever thought and in a lot of ways, I feel like it has freed me from a lot of things. I had said I want to try a lot of new things before my birthday, time meant a lot of that didn't happen but I have tried a few new things. Having been very single for a long time, I've been trying Internet dating, it's been scary, sometimes frustrating and upsetting but ultimately fun so far. More about that later though.

Sadly the situation regarding my uncle's death has turned out to be more devastating that we hoped. He was murdered and the police are currently looking for a suspect. This site explains the situation and who they are looking for - www.michaelpoldingmurder.co.uk . It has made 2012 a very difficult year indeed.

On being a grown up (nearly)

One month from today, I turn 40.  In fact, today is my little sister's 38th birthday as we have birthdays exactly one month apart.  40 seems like a grown up's birthday to me, when I should have figured out how this all works and what I want out of life.

This past year has been challenging for me. I returned to studying whilst still working full time and successfully completed the first module of my MSc. I've had to deal with some painful family issues which have ultimately shown me how my mother is the strongest and bravest woman that I know.  The past month has been particularly painful as my Uncle died a sudden and very suspicious death which is currently being investigated as murder and has devasted my family.

But in a weird way, it's shown me how many good things I have in my life - a family who love and care for me, friends who have been a rock to me and really understand what makes me tick, a job that I'm good at and is worthwhile and interests outside of work that make me happy and keep me sane. And it's shown me how strong I can be, inspite of all that life can throw at you and finally at 39, I'm the most comfortable I've ever been about who I am.

Earlier this year, I started to compile a list of 40 things that I wanted to do before I turned 40 with the intension of tracking my progress through the year.  Time has meant that most of year has slipped away before I could do it but I have been trying a few different things.  Updates on that to follow soon.

Now if I could just figure out how to cure the insomnia that's keeping me awake tonight then that would tick off one item on my list,

Race for life

Tomorrow I will be taking part in my 3rd race for life. For anyone who is not familiar with the event, it's a women only 5 km run/walk event to support Cancer Research, one of the leading UK cancer charities. They support people with cancer and are one of the leading researchers into Cancer treatment. I use their resources a lot at work so it's a cause close to my heart. I spend my work day talking to patients with cancer and their families about their treatment and there is still so much need for support out there plus far too many people still lose their fight against cancer.

If you would like to donate, I have an online fund raising page at Race for life

I find it an emotional day to take part in. The runners/walkers all wear signs on their backs with who they are running for. I find myself thinking about family that I've lost to cancer - my Grandpa, Uncle Chris, my sister's FIL Bill, those who are still fighting - My uncle Donald and aunt Joyce and all patients I've nursed over the past 19 years. Certain patients are in my thoughts more than others and several patients that I was supporting through their treatment have lost their fight recently will be amongst them.


As the Cancer research slogan says - it's all of us vs cancer.

Of secret projects and life in general

The past few months have really whooshed by for me. My job has kept me very busy and I've also started my MSc. Since my last post, I've actually started and finished the first module and I'm anxiously waiting for my results.

Various other things have kept me busy and there has been more secret craft projects going on. I'm very lucky to part of a lovely local knitting group in Glasgow and one of my closest friends in the group is getting married in 5 weeks. We decided a few months ago that we couldn't let this occasion past with out creating something special for the happy couple. After some quick discussions, it was agreed we would knit a blanket and recruiting the knitters started. there was a lot of secret conversions and much passing of parcels of yarn and finished squares everytime Elaine left the table at knitting group. There were even secret yarn drop offs at a local joke shop that one of members works in. 2 weeks ago, a lot of the participants got together at my flat to sew up and finish it off.

There was crocheting to be done






And sewing of squares





And then it was done









The pattern is from the Leisure Arts booklet Sampler afghans, 60 squares to knit and yarn is undyed Blue faced Leicester from Old Maiden Aunt yarns, probably the loviest Aran weight yarn I've ever knitted with. The dyed yarn goes on sale tomorrow and would really recommend it


Another secret project which I finished earlier in the year is this pin keep. The design is Amite by Jardin Prive and is stitched using silk thread from the Yarn yard. It was given to a friend for their birthday

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.