JCS SAL

This is the 3rd year that I have been part of the JCS SAL group on Facebook. Here is my first finish for the year which should have been November's ornie.  I just thought that it was SO cute that I would do it first.  The fabric is a random piece from my stash as are the threads.  It should have been stitched 1 over 2 but I have done 2 over 2.  I decided not to add the button or to do the nun stitch border.  Apart from that, it is exactly as charted!!

Mine and the magazine!

Third finish of the year :)

I love cross stitch

Well, I do - but it is also the 'thing' that I finished today. This little bookmark kit was a cover freebie from CrossStitcher magazine around about a gazillion years ago.  I probably won't finish it as a bookmark but after about 10...15...ok ok...maybe more...here is I love cross stitch, the bookmark!

The one thing that is annoying me is how there was a wider gap at the top between the design and the border to what there was under the flowerpot.  I will have to see how much it annoys me and perhaps change it so they are the same width.  The border should have been 3 wide but looked very heavy so I changed that as well.  Oh and it should all have been stitched with one thread but that clearly didn't register when I started it as it was 2 threads.  I left out the back stitch too as it was that blocky outlining that doesn't usually add much to a piece. Apart from that it is as charted/designed 😜

Last year, I got loads of SewandSo vouchers for Christmas and birthday presents and therefore treated myself to a floor stand.  Today I have put Gardens of London on it so that I can work on that more effectively.  I thought I would bore you with a few pics of what it looks like at the moment.

Tried to capture the bling of the metallic threads but clearly failed miserably!!

I have found a couple of flosstube channels that I really enjoy (Kitten Stitcher and Stash Queen).  Please feel free to give me some recommendations or if you know I have followed your blog, let me know that you are on flosstube.

2018 plans

Having not done a lot of stitching lasy year really, well certainly the latter half of the year, I intend to get back to it. I was going to carry on with the tapering rotation but have decided to go through my stash - honestly and with the critical eye. Whilst doing this I ended up with several boxes - the 'yes I still want to stitch this as some point in my life' box, the 'eurghhh, why did I ever buy/start that' box, the 'oooh yes, I love that' box, 'hmmmm, don't know' box and the 'why the hell is that still not finished?' box. I have listed a whole load of stuff on ebay and made a few pennies from it and re-arranged everything so I know where to find it, with the exception being a few WIP/UFOs that I can't find where I put them!

So the box I am currently working with is actually a partial amalgamation of 2 boxes.  I have the 'why is that not finished' box and a few from the 'oooh yes, I love that' box. These have become my Focus for 2018 box. I think there were 25 pieces on there, which makes it just less than a third of my entire currently started list.  I can already claim a finish from the WTHITSNF box with Strawberry Scissor Case by Lizzie Kate being finished after about 10 years!!!  Is that some kind of appalling record for a very small Lizzie Kate design?

Lizzie Kate Strawberry Scissor Case

There's been a lot of changes in the last few months - Rachael's gone off to university to study biology. She didn't get the grades for Lancaster in the end so had to go through clearing. After a scary week of visiting unis that we had never even considered before, she settled on Keele and has been loving it ever since.  She has made loads of friends and seems to be enjoying the course very much.

Luke has college now and is studying psychology, geography and sociology.  He had a bit of a blip a few weeks ago and was skiving but is back on track now and working hard.

I'm just carrying on - work, home, archery, church (not always in the same order!) That's it with me really!

I know a lot of people seem to have given up on blogging for other platforms but I haven't really found any that I like as much as blogging. So I do read facebook, but didn't get on with Instagram and others.  I have started watching a bit of flosstube and have found a few bloggers I have followed are on there. Of course I have to be able to get the TV first! It's not the same watching it on the laptop.
So anyway, hopefully I will get a bit more blogging done as well as stitching this year!