I took pictures!

I finally got around to getting the camera out earlier on - woohoo! I also found the best spot for taking a picture was our bedroom - the natural light in there is fantastic... It'd be wonderful as a stitchy room. Hmmmm, wonder if I can convince hubby LOL!

So, here's Lizzie*Kate's Home Is... finished excpet for the names - I want to keep that a surprise until it is framed and given :D



It needs a darn good iron too, but again, that'll wait until after the details are put in. :)

I made a start on the first of the birth samplers on Tuesday of last week, so I have now been working on it for a week. I took the piccie before any stitching today, so it is already out of date! Some nights I haven't been ab;e to do any stitching, and some nights have been minimal with stitching time, so I feel like I've made a good start. After confering with the stitchy girls, it was decided that I start on the pink sampler first, so here it is:



I've decided to stitch the border in stages as I go, due to the fact that there is so much of it. I think it'd probably do my head in if I left it all to the end. I'm really liking the colours on this one, whichis very strange as I have never been a fan of pink... They look much better than on the pattern too. I'm really loving that I am back into my stitching, and projects like this one make me excited to keep going too.

Must take pictures!

That's a mental note for myself... lol! I have been putting off posting as I wanted to get photo's taken first. Now I have decided I can't wait that long, so I'll post pictures later. I want to have natural light to take the photo's but every time I have chance to think about it, it seems that the daylight has gone... I'll try tomorrow :)

I finished my Home Is piece on Monday evening - yay! - and am now working on one of the birth samplers I have to stitch. I am currently unsure as to whether I am posting pics of these as I go, as the friend whose children they are for reads my blog. I am leaving the decision up to her as to whether she wants to see them as I stitch them or if she wants a surprise at the end. So c'mon Jane - let me know! :D

I have had a pretty good stitchy week, to be honest. I had a stitchy meet on Sunday at Cassie's house which was smaller than usual but it meant that we all got plenty of stitching done (despite the snacks calling out to be eaten!). The company was fabulous and I realise now why we try and make the meetings as regular as possible. It's lovely to get together with a couple of friends and stitch the afternoon away.

On Monday afternoon, I headed over to Belinda's house for some more stitching. She couldn't make it on the Sunday so it was nice to catch up. Bek came along after work and we all had dinner together and then did some more stitching. It was a great couple of days - lots of stitching and lots of good company.

Besides those two days, I have managed to get a little bit of stitching done in the evenings, but not as much as I could have done. Unfortunately, my daughter is teething and has a pretty bad cough to boot, so she's having difficulty in getting off to sleep and staying asleep (understandably) so my time has been taken up with trying to settle her. I'll be so glad - for her sake - when the cough goes and the teeth coem through. How hard it must be to be a little one...

Stitch and slim update - finally!

Things have slowed down of late, which is why I haven't posted about my weight loss, but also because I want this blog to be primarily about my stitching, so there may only be a once in a while post about the weight. I am so happy with this week's progress though - I lost 4lb!!!! I'm not entirely sure how I did it, but I think I might have focused on the job in hand - I took my eye off the ball the previous week and had a little gain, but this week corrected that and then some! It brings my total since mid-July to 12.5lb when my friend and I decided to go for it, but the total since the end of January to 1st 11lb! There's still a long way to go, but I feel like I am actually getting somewhere this time.

I think it's also helped that I am trying to stitch every night to keep the munchies at bay. I have started on a Lizzie*Kate design that reads "Home is where our story begins". It's going to be a pretty quick stitch, I think, and I am already thinking about what I will stitch next. Maybe Jack or Megan's birth sampler. They are the twins of my best mate, Jane, and I think it's going to be difficult to choose which one to do first! Hmmmm, decisions, decisions.....

Lizzie*Kate finish

I finally did it! I finished stitching a design. *happy dance* I really enjoyed stitching with the specialist threads, and I think the button sets it off nicely. I love stitching Lizzie*Kate!

It's been so long since I have finished something, even longer since I have finished something I am going to be keeping myself - it's a great feeling. I'm thinking about getting it framed fairly soon too, rather than add it to the finished designs I have waiting to be framed. It almost feels like jumping the queue, but I'm itching to get this one up on the wall.



I now have to decide what I'm going to stitch next - such a lot to choose from too! I'll have some fun making that decision today.

Lizzie*Kate update

I feel as though I have made a lot of progress on this design over the past week or so. It feels like it won't be long before I am finishing it off either. It's been a while since I have had a finish, so it's a bit exciting!



I ended up fixing the mistake too - I decided on taking out the top row and moving it up, and stitching an extra row on the bottom of the oblong too. I think it looks ok, and if I had left it and moved the bottom up one, I think it would have looked too squashed.

I'm really enjoying using the speciality threads now too. The effect is subtle but good. Just a little more time consuming, and I have to keep reminding myself to cross the stitches individually rather than doing a whole row at a time!