Half way through March already!!

 I really don't know just where the time is going...

...and this little piece should have been done 'n' dusted last month...

...but...

...it's done now...

...and that makes THREE in the Little House series :-)

I am so enjoying the small finishes (even if they take a while longer than I thought originally)...

...but with all the treatment going on, there are days when I just cannot do anything except sleep.

I have pulled out the next chart..... "The Clock Shop".....

....and will make a beginning on the snow this weekend. :-)

I think that my next post might contain a bit more than cross stitch as I've been clacking knitting pins too. Nothing too big....just some cosy hand-warmers in lovely wool yarns.

Hope you are all keeping safe and well.

x C

...end of August....

 I really don't know where August went!

It seems to have slipped by...

...in a damp, grey haze...

...not much to write home about.

But...

...I have managed to get a few bits done...

...cross stitch finishes...

...from Blackbird Designs...

...and a special little panel...

...for a rather special Postie! :-)

(I dooooo enjoy making things for special folk!!)

There are more things in the pipeline....

....see you in September.

x C

Flaming June!! Sun at last...and some bits to show :-)

 Where did May go?

Lost under clouds and rain!!!

So many plants in the garden suffered terribly...

...and the grow-house got wrecked in the last storm!

But...

...the crappy weather did at least allow plenty of time for stitching and gathering thoughts.

We had a lovely couple of weeks away from the end of April into the beginning of May...

...and, luckily, the weather was mostly fine, warm-ish and dry. :-)

We spent our time in the caravan at Burford...

... enjoyed the beauty of the Cotswolds...

...and finished a band sampler.

I only had band with baby-blue edging (yuck!)...

...so I used some red thread and did a crochet edging after the stitching was finished.

Much better!

...and I love it wound onto that silk bobbin from Lyons.

Back at home with winds howling and rain lashing...

...I got down to stitching a couple of Quaker pieces.

...and I finished putting together this twinky little Biscornu.

There is a reasoning behind doing all of these small pieces...

...I shall tell you next time ;-)

Now, I have cut some evenweave...

...put it onto a roller-frame...

...and wound some thread bobbins...

...ready for a rather loooooooooooooong project.

This is the Jade Sampler S.A.L from istitch designs

It has been going since January, so I am more than a bit late starting!!

I also don't have the "correct" linen band and thread...

...but I am doing it as a "stash-busting project" and using up what I already have here.

It's all wound and ready to go, so, after posting this...

...I shall be threading a needle and making a start.

Better late than never!!??

I have been faffing around with many other things...

...but will show more in future posts.

For now...

...adieu...

...until the next time (hopefully not quite as long before then!!)

Hope you are all keeping safe and well...

x C

On the trail.....

 Seeing as we were (at last!!) allowed out of Wales yesterday...

...and it's been months and months since I had a "colour-fix"...

...we took off across the Severn Bridge into Somerset and Wiltshire...

...to do a bit of background history trailing...

...and some serious retail therapy!!

As you know...

...I am working on Selena's sampler...

...and I've been looking into the family history.

Her parents - Samuel & Mary Watts came to Blaenavon from Somerset/Wiltshire about 1840.

I say "about" because their son Thomas was born in Westbury Wiltshire in 1839...

...and Selena was born in Blaenavon 2 years later.

Samuel and Mary were married in Mary's local parish church in Nunney, Somerset in 1838.

This was our first stop yesterday.

A lovely old church dating back  400-500 years...

...and, no doubt, on a foundation much earlier than that because of the castle right opposite!

The interior is delightful...

...although I felt a bit sorry for the monuments shoved into a corner...

...and especially so for the poor guy put onto a windowsill!!

They have uncovered some rather early wall paintings too.

I left a lengthy note in their visitors book...

...and my copy of the marriage entry...just for their interest.

After Nunney we drove over to The Patchwork Rabbit at Bromham...

...where I had a SUBSTANTIAL dose of retail therapy!!!!! :-D

This bagful will keep me stitching for QUITE some time.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Back at Ty Mabon...

...I've done a few more bits with my Selena samplings...

This was the piece I showed last week...

...now mounted onto a patchwork of William Morris fabrics...

...and finished off with mother-of-pearl buttons.

Another piece was charted and stitched...

...the strawberry border and a few "doodles".

When I looked closely at one of Selena's trees...

...I noticed that they were stitched in blocks of four cross-stitches...

...but also had a larger cross - corner to corner- over the top.

It raises the surface and has a different look from the "normal" crosses around it.

I enjoyed playing with this one!

I am now charting trees and getting ready to stitch another couple of sample pieces.

Oh Happy Days!

I have such an amount of stuff that I want to get done over the next couple-or-so weeks...

...so I'm taking a bit of a blog-break until early May...

...when I should have quite a bit more to show.

Meanwhile...

Take care lovely folks...

See you in May

X C

Returning to the "traditional".......and enjoying every minute of it!!

 For quite a number of years now...

...I have experimented with various different techniques...

...some more successful than others!

This last 12 months though have found me returning to the more "traditional" kind of stitching...

...the one that started me off at the age of about 3 or 4...

...simple cross stitch.

You will have noticed that there has been quite a bit of it appearing on my blog in recent posts...

...and this week is no different :-)

I have finished a small piece called "Nebraska Prairie" by BlackBird Designs...

...changing a few of the colours...

...and intending to make it up into a needle-book rather than a pin-roll or wall piece.

It took a wee while as it was stitched using one thread on 18 count Aida...

...but my new pair of +4 magnifying specs work brilliantly!!!

I am also working on a piece from "Hands Across the Sea Samplers"...

...by Marion B Horsburgh (finished by her on April 9th 1866).

This is my "upstairs stitching" as I have it on a roller frame in my workroom.

I decided to dye the threads for this one...

...so the dye bags came out for a dozen or so skeins of fine cotton...

...and I got the results that I wanted...

...slightly mottled and "aged" looking :-)

I am so pleased with how they look on this 16 count Aida "aged" with a black/brown Bister mix.

Downstairs stitching is also progressing...

...and I'll show that next week!

Best wishes from Ty Mabon for now...

...keep safe and well lovely peeps.

x C

February 2021 ~ week 4~ Spring is on the way!!

 It has been fairly glorious the last few days!!

So much so...

...that I decided that it is high time to gather some local inspiration for new work(shop) ideas :-)

Off we went...

...up REALLY narrow lanes...

...to make a visit to Patricio aka Patrishow Church and Holy Well.

The little stream is delightful...

...and folk have left so many offerings here.

Just a bit further up the (steep) hill is the church...

The locals were beautiful!!

I have now got a REAL problem...

...too many ideas going round and round in my head!!!

Back at Ty Mabon...

...stitching continues apace.

That little Valentine heart has now become a pendule...

I have also finished these tiny squares...

...but haven't decided how to make them up yet.

A new chart has been started...

...and the next Grove panel is in the hoop...waiting....

I do hope that Spring is on the way for you too...

...wherever you may be :-)

Take care

x C

February 2021 ~ week 3 ~ wildlife stitching etc.....

 It's only the 22nd of Feb...

...and we were able to have lunch outside on the terrace today!!

I only went out to put in my first seeds...

... and found that it was so warm that I had to take off my little cotton jacket :-)

Si I dashed back indoors...

...put on a saucepan of packet Minestrone soup...

...and we had that...

...followed by tinned peaches with double cream...

...and an espresso with chocolate mendiants that I'd made on the weekend.

All feels a little more "right" in my world :-D

Meanwhile...

...indoors over the last week...

...I've been stitching some "wildlife".

I had some "Grove" panels from Makower a couple of years ago...

...and have only now done anything with them.

This is number #1

I have another 7 to go!!

Another bit of wildlife was done in cross-stitch...

...a "BlackBird Designs" strawberry entitled..... "Dancing Sugar Plum".

Done on 18 count linen Aida...

...it was a bit hard on the old eyeballs...

...but I love it!

Especially made up with some lovely grey lace and a pink hanging ribbon :-)

I have a lot more cross-stitch planned...

...and have been dyeing some Aida to dull it down a bit...

I used various bister powders from yellow ochre to walnut brown and black...

....mixed in different amounts in spray bottles.

I am happy with the results and now need to alter some threads to "age" them before stitching.

Have a very pleasant week dear folks

x C