Another Unfinished Project

This is the Father Christmas I made at Buttons and Bows at the end of November. Despite Christmas being practically over he still isn't finished. All that is needed is his mittens stitching to his sleeves and then stitching to the sack. And then the brave trimming of his beard so that you can see what is in the sack. The sack looks a little plain and I think I will try and make some holly from felt but it has gone walkabout so that is the reason really why I have not finished it - honest.

Goodies

Friday saw the annual day out to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate. A lovely day was enjoyed by 7 ladies - some 'old' showgoers, some new. We had a fabulous time shopping, chatting and eating.

I think I am right in saying everyone purchased something - some far more than others and there were various reasons for justifying said purchases - they are presents (that old story), I NEED it, I got approval from the board and we have to have something to keep us busy for a whole year until the next Harrogate outing. Don't we?

Here are my purchases, just two - quite restrained I think but then I did spend quite a large budget earlier in the week!!!!

I can't wait to start the knitting - not sure you can see it very well on this photograph. I love the vintage pattern and even better - it came with a free bag. You know me - I LOVE bags of all sorts :-)

I ought to be doing something useful as I can hear activity in the kitchen and I feel a tiny bit guilty, only a tiny bit though. But it is still the weekend so maybe  I should just go and knit some more mitts - another 2 done since yesterday's post :-)

Camp Blanket

I was hoping to have the bag finished this week but it was not to be. All the needlework is done, but I just need to fix it to the bag - easier said than done. I had hoped to get this done but I have been at Guide camp all weekend so not had chance.
So what to post - and Guide camp gave me an idea.
This is my camp blanket bought for £4 many, many years ago but the badges make it worth an great deal more than that. I haven't got many badges compared to some and if you look closely you will see that I wasn't a very good Guide, well at least not as far as badges were concerned! But on the left is a whole pile of badges waiting to be stitched on.
A Guider friend of mine has got together with other Guiders to sew their badges on whilst chatting - a lovely idea but I have been lazy and started machine sewing mine on - not exactly easy to do in company.
I'd like to think that inspired by Guide camp this weekend that I will start sewing these on but what are the chances of me putting them back in the bag in the corner? What is worrying me looking at the picture is that I think there are even more badges somewhere else, just waiting to join the blanket!

January's Picture

Storming ahead now with these pictures - here is the one planned for January. Sorry for the picture quality - still having problems with the batteries in the camera - not enough charge. This afternoon I went to St. George's Day Parade with the Guides and I left hubby with two jobs to do whilst I was out. One was to charge my batteries for my camera - only the other job got done so a small charge in the end and that didn't seem enough to get the camera to focus properly - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I have started the jumper with the wool I posted a couple of weeks ago - it is going well so far - almost a ball put in in just 24hours :-)

Ta-Dah!

Finished at last - the scissor keepers from previous posts - and fastened on to the recently discovered scissors :-) That should stop them disappearing between the sofa cushions.
The finishing off of the roof was really quite tricky and it is not perfect - but what is the opposite of perfect? Yes, finished!!!
So what next - well probably another unfinished project, however I have had two people say I can start a new project - and one of them was none other than the Lady of the Rules - yeeesssss! So I see this as a great triumph and a cause for celebration. So far, despite having had the go ahead for 48hours, I have resisted a new project - wow! But that will not last much longer as this week it is both knitting and craft group meetings, and experience tells me not to do anythng complicated or I will only end up unpicking it when I get home. The Nile picture, well much of it, falls into the complicated category so I think I can justify a simpler project for these evenings out with like-minded ladies.

Almost there

I was hoping to finish this for today's post but the really good weather meant we went out so there was no time to finish off the fiddly little bits like stitching the roof. Also need to make the cord to fasten it to scissors but that requires two pairs of hands so bribery might be involved somewhere. Anyway there cannot be too many hours(??) left with this so can I start something new then? Pleeeeaaaassseee?????

Blackwork Penguins

I first started cross-stitch back in 1990 and it wasn't until last year that I completed this first picture for myself. Although mostly blackwork, this picture does have a little bit of cross-stitch - I think just on the baby penguin. I bought this kit to try something a little different and because I liked the baby penguin. 

Now unless I find the most wonderful picture in the world, I don't think I will ever do blackwork again - having said that I am pleased with the end result.

Progress will have to be made with something this week and find the battery charger found, so that I can take photographs otherwise I have no idea what will be on here next week!

"The Sofa is so last year" - or maybe not!

Earlier this week a dear friend said to me "The sofa is so last year" - puzzled I thought it must be the latest in home stlye - you know like open plan living (yuck!) and hence the sofa was out and armchairs or something worse was in! Anyway puzzled I had to ask, only to find out he was referring to my blog - cheeky! :-( I should have known - he isn't a friend I often have conversations with about home decor! Ok so I apologise for the lack of posts - I never intended to fall by the wayside so soon but the run up to Christmas was even more hectic last year and other things have had to (or should have) taken priority for myself and a number of friends since New Year, but here I am with the first post of this year, so a rather belated but Happy New Year to you all.

I had hoped to show you a finshed article today but that has clearly not happened. I have numerous articles nearing completion and I am sure someone is going to get me to finish a few of them off! It was so tempting the other night to start a new project at craft evening as there would have been no-one to stop me and I had an excuse of having  been a little fed-up of the year so far, but no I resisted, well not exactly - I couldn't find the equipment to start said new project!

Enough waffle and on to the photo above - can you tell what it is yet? This is a scissor keeper from a kit by Sue Hawkins - her patterns are a pleasure to follow - so clearly explained and use colour. I bought this a number of years ago at a craft show - Birmingham at a guess - and since then I have bought and finished a second scissor keeper - a post for another day perhaps. Well my intentions are good and I plan to finish the above in the not too distant future - note, not promising it for next week.

Well that is all for now - I have projects to finish and many more exciting ones to start.