A couple of finishes and a UFO

It's not quite New Year yet but my resolution is not to start anything new but complete some UFO' (unfinished objects) Like many stitchers there's so many gorgeous projects out there I find it difficult to finish a project before starting another. Every time I say to myself that I will work the current and the new project along side each other but usually one of them (usually the older of the projects) become a UFO. 

What has not helped for me is through November and December I lost my stitchy bug so got very little done. I am now also into crochet in a big way and do a little bit of knitting. 

On Boxing Day I finished this small finish which took me 3 weeks (yes 3 weeks) to finish.

One thing I love about the time between Christmas and New Year is I have the time off work (yippee) and there's loads of easy watching TV to sit with feet up and stitch/crochet and I can do it without feeling guilty about housework. 

This morning while everyone was still in bed I got up to a lovely quiet house, made myself a cuppa and caught up with my soaps while I finished this. 

I should have taken a before and after picture but all I did to complete was the pink flower on the right hand vase. My photos aren't brilliant its me and my tablet so there's shadows in the pictures. 

I've picked up this as the next UFO on my list

I started this in September 2014 and it was suppose to be a surprise Christmas present for my hubby. It's really nice to work on. I've done about 30 minutes on it today but hope to get a good run tonight and hopefully I might be able to get it finished for hubby's birthday in April. 

My other resolution. To update my blog regularly. 

A Lovely Surprise in the Post

I received this gorgeous card and candle ornament from a lovely lady from South Africa in the post yesterday I am in a Christmas card exchange on a cross stitch forum and this was my card. It's the first Xmas card I have received. 

Day 25 Vase of Flowers

I'm still enjoying this one but sometimes find it difficult to see the holes-they're not in straight lines

Day 18 of vase of flowers

It stitches up quite quickly and the colours are fantastic. 

Vase of Flowers - Day 4

This is day 4 of my new project. I know I shouldn't have started a new project yet but I did fall in love with it when I saw it in July 2015 CrossStitcher. I ordered the material - a whopping £15 plus postage from Willow Fabrics and this is the first time I have stitched on 19 count aida. It was out of stock so it took a fortnight to come but it was worth it when it came and I'm pleased I didn't use another alternative. 

The material turned up on Friday 26 June and I couldn't wait to get started but due to the type of material I decided to edge it with my sewing machine. 

I tried to edge the material with my sewing machine but my sewing machine and I don't get along too well  And after an hour of trying to thread it and get the bobbin to sit where it's suppose to I finally set off to edge the material AND the material got snagged up!!! And as I've probably mentioned The material was expensive so I spent Friday afternoon over stitching by hand. 

Finally about 5pm I was ready to start and I loved putting the first stitch in. I've stitched loads over the weekend and am pleased  The results. I am using 4 strands of DMC thread on 19 count evenweave. 

Here's the results after 4 days of stitching. 

The only thing is I have a busy week this week with work, evenings out and kids sports days/end of term assemblies so I won't get much done this week. 

This weeks crafting

I haven't done much this last week or so. Now the lighter nights are here we've been out and about on an evening and hubby and I have taken up swimming so by the time we've got in from work, gone swimming and walked the dog and had tea I'm too tired to stitch. 

I'm still working on my owl. I don't feel like I'm getting far with this but I am enjoying it still

I'm really onto my crochet at the moment. I'm working on 3 blankets at the moment working them in weekly rotation  this one I call Scandanavian Cool 

There is only one row of dark brown. I have tried doing it again further up but it doesn't work so this might be the only row of dark brown in the blanket. 

I am also trying my hand at knitting. I have subscribed to The Art of Knitting and am working through the squares. 

This is what I've done so far. Im falling way behind I've only completed 4 and started the 5th but I have 14 issues and to make it worse my sister has also subscribed. I'm not saying my sister and I are competitive but she's way ahead of me and I don't like it so my challenge now is to complete a square a fortnight!!!!

I'm 

A finish

I did finish this at the weekend but have only just got round to showing it. 

It was a great little stitch but like all my stitching it took me a lot longer than I thought to stitch. I did hope to finish it over a weekend but it took me 2 weeks to finish. I am also not on target to complete my other WIPSby the end of May so I can start my summery kits. It hasn't helped that I've been doing extra hours at work which sounded like a good idea when I said I would do them but now I'm regretting it. I did not realise how much it would cut into my craft time.