Last day of 2010 (just)

Hi everybody ... I've just squeaked in with a small update of how things are at the mouse house before the end of 2010 


We had a lovely Christmas spent with family and friends and lots to eat and drink  and even managed to feed us all again boxing  day with left overs ..lol 

      

from DJ                                           

I got some lovely presents  and a small amount of money to spend on some crafting /stitchy stuff in the new year so watch out shops here I wizz ..lol


DJ sent me a beautiful stitched bear ornament which hung with pride from my little sledge I have on my display of Christmas ornaments . I think its a mill hill design and he is beautifully stitched and beaded and backed with felt and is sooo nice I'm having him out on display in my craft room once the festivities are over and we are back to some sort of normality .......


I managed to send out over 30 hand made cards really pleased with myself as I didn't think I would manage to get them done in time ... I didn't manage to do any more pics of them either :(


I even managed to get some stitching done and a finish with the help of a few tutorials from Vonnie of the twisted stitcher I managed to put together my LHN needlebook after seeing a few done like this on the French blogs I have been perusing these last few weeks for ideas and also  having a bit of a ladylike drool ... actually  lots of it ..lol. they are so talented on how they put things together ... so I attempted my version with a lot of blue steam coming out my ears I got the desired effect I was after  and also used some of the yummy silk ribbon I won off kathys blog  http://www.shawkl.com/.......

I was intending on doing a stitched inner bit with bits of the front design on it  but the fabric I started on turned out to be slightly different in the count department DOH !!!!! sooo after a bit of thunking and talking to Cindy one night is remembered I had some quilting fabric that had similar colours in it and so it was to be :)
Any way the new bit I've started is now mark 2 and will be finished hopefully soon :)

I have spent most of the morning in casualty at the hospital with DH and then I had an appointment to see my consultant too so we are a right pair heheheheh ....  He is fine... just had an accident to his eye and my eldest DD is calling him Blind eye Pew !!! he will be ok after the creams pill n potions he has to take .
Me on top of all the Arthritis (two sorts)  n secondry Fibro.... I've developed spondylitis at the top of the spine and neck ...  I know I know I shouldn't be greedy ...lol  so I have been told to keep on the tablets I'm on as they are working ...yippeeee :) and he will see me in 6 months :)


On to the good bits now ..lol ... I have spent the afternoon going through my Fabric collection getting it together with the charts for the 15 new starts as of tomorrow :) where we start a new project every day for the first 15 days of January and get them finished in the year .. progress reports to be put up on your blogs .... my list hasn't changed from the earlier post and I am also trying to get my Celtic Autumn and " the castle" done as well as any other bits n bobs that crop up in the daily lives of us stitchers :).


I have also said that I would mention that Sharlene has got to 50 followers and that she is doing a give away for it :) so here is here link ....http://sharlenesstitchingsite.blogspot.com

Right I think that this is it for the final post of the  old Year :) I wish every one a healthy, happy and stitchy /crafty new year ... see you next year ;)
love mouse xxxxxx

OHHHH more to come !!!! snow that is ..lol

Hi everybody ..... just when you think you can step out safely on three legs !!! it has forecast more of the white stuff for the weekend ... don't get me wrong I love it when it comes down and is all lovely and fresh and it is safe ish to go for a pootle especially with a walking stick but that's it ... I was house bound for above a week and was unable to get the car out as DH had to put all the snow from his part of the drive onto mine so he could get the van out eventually to get to work....

from dd's window

 sooooo moan over heheheh except will show you some of the icicles that were hanging from DD bedroom guttering..... 


the good side though was I was able to get a bit of stitching done and some card making too ready for the big event next weekend .. I think  I've made nearly 30 cards but only taken a picture of the first batch as I was so trying to get them finished and wrote to get them in the post in time !!!!

just a few made !!!

Nancy from friendly stitchers designed a lovely Christmas ornament for the group as her Christmas present to us  and I was lucky enough to get the first peep and able to sew it as well so here is my little Ogee. I stitched it on some pink sparkly even weave with a fushia pink DMC thread and added iridescent beads to the snowflakes and also made a iridescent beaded tassel for it too ... I think that I slightly over stuffed it as it is supposed to be more Kite shaped than mine but I didn't stiffen the fabric either ....I've also been working on the LHN needlebook chart and  it is now shouting rather loudly at me to finish the roof off (only 2 rows to do !!) and then I've to do an inner bit for it and make it up so I shall show you the progress so far :)

Nancy's Design

LHN needlebook

I am stitching it on a piece of Polstitches fabric called chestnut and the recommended DMC threads and am really liking how it is turning out :) hopefully by the next time I post it shall be finished and put together .

I have had my arm twisted by a few individuals from the LHN and CCN Yahoo group .. you know who you are ladies hehehehe to do the 15 new starts from the first of January 2011 to the 15th and then finish them all before the end of the year ..... so I have gone through my stash and have chosen my charts and luckily have all the threads required for them ... not too sure have got enough fabric but I shall wing it somehow  soooo my list is as follows (give or take a change or two ..lol)

1. winter whites
2. garden pleasures
3. needlework shop
4. bee sampler
5. natures beauty
6. poinsettia house
7. thread gathering
8. hollies and berries
9. necessities sampler
10. my needles work 
11. queen bee
12. the rain fell
13. daisy lane cottage
14. rose cottage 
15. the tea room

Not sure which I will start with first but I shall take photos each day and put on the blog when I update so you can see and also make a record of them as well :)

So there you are its in writing ...lol

Ok if you have managed to get this far thanks ..lol and you deserve a cuppa hehehe... mine's tea white no sugar ( got to watch the waist line ..lol)

Take care one and all hope that every one has a lovely Christmas and merry new year 2011 ..if I don't manage to blog again before the festivities I will see you very soon .. so happy stitching, crafting or whatever hobby you do to keep sane hahahah

love mouse xxxxxxx

Snow Joke !!!

Well here in the mouse house we are surrounded by the white stuff tons of it to say the least ... we have approximately 14 inches of it and it keeps on falling out of the sky in huge flakes......
I took some photos this morning ... DH cleared the path to the back door and the garage twice and its still covered :(
The good thing is DD no 2 and I managed to get lots of shopping in yesterday soooo we are ok for a few days being holed in ..lol 

 So here are a few pics for you to have a look at :) I have never seen soo many folks on our street out at the same time shovelling snow from the drives .. a pointless exercise today but I suppose it kept them warm hehehehehe ;)


well I personally snuggled under my blankie and got 

 on with some stitching ... I decided yesterday that I deserved a bit of for me stitching and started on the LHN needle book (one that I was given the other year) It has sheep,a little house and some trees on it ...I'm stitching it on a Polstitches evenweave called Chestnut and using the recommended threads and have made great inroads into it :) I would show you an update but the batteries have been taken out of the camera so that Super Mario can be played on the Wii !!!
                                                     




What is can show you is some little prezzies I made for  my fellow mods on my group Friendly stitchers ,I sat the week before stitching one ornament a day then spent the Sunday making them up, then I stitched a bag for Sandra on the Monday ... so my needles were flying rather fast just before Harrogate  as I wanted them to have them for then and I achieved this :)

For the mods clockwise, Ally, Gillie, Karen and Val 

 The bag for Sandra was a freebie chart * thanks* link  will be given once I find the owner/designer :)  but I made the bag pattern up by myself :)

Quilted bag for Sandra

Its now 9.30pm (uk) and its still snowing here soooo it definitely looks like another snow day tomorrow  so I think a sausage casserole in the slow cooker is in order to make tonight which will leave me more time to hopefully do a bit of stitching or make a start on the Christmas cards ooooo the choices ..lol

 I hope every one stays safe and warm and gets to have a bit of me time on their own snow days how ever you choose to spend it :)

Take care squeak to you all soon

                                                          love mouse xxxxx

Fantastic time at Harrogate :)

 

inside the show

Ally's favourite place a bead stall

Hi Folks hope everyone is snuggled up nice and warm and getting some sneaky
stitching in ..lol.......... I advise getting a cuppa before you read this as its probably
going to be a longgggggg post heheheehh :)

Well here goes ... I arrived at Harrogate Friday morning after a sleepless night
wondering if the snow was going to stop play but thankfully it didn't :) The
only snow I saw was on a car at the start of my journey and that was it until on the way home.


Within and hour of getting there, there was me Karen, Gillie,Elizabeth and Val
so before we hit the show we fortified ourselves with lunch at the hotel :) Our
Phones were pinging on and off with updates of where everybody was on their
journey so we knew we had a bit of time to eat and do a wee bit of shopping :)

So we set off after lunch and hit the show and WOW is all I can say again, even
though I have been before it still has that factor when you get in ... I had my
trusty note book of things I needed to get and with a vague idea of where my
stalls were we pootled off to explore the hidden delights before we splashed out
on our purchases.


As we wandered round oooing and ahhhing and having the odd fondle of stuff  and lady like drool over the silks etc we were joined by Sandra. Sandra and I had a contest going on who would buy the most stuff unfortunately she won hands down hehehe.


I had my travelling stitcher bag with me which was very much admired and oo'd and ahhhd over  by everybody  including Jane Greenoff as I was showing her my Biscornu that I had designed using her program and we caught up with gossip and laughed about the time when Bumbles ate the lemon cake when I was down at her house the other year , Bill was called over to look at the biscornu too  and was really impressed :) ( I've bought her new design program as well )...... The Girls from Nimble Thimble were really impressed with them too and was glad to see me again at the show 

"Tales of a stitching mouse" original design 

 After a few hours of blissful delight we went back to the hotel and met up with
Maureen and Ally who had arrived safely from Scotland , there was no where to go
and sit comfy so we went and crashed out in Ally and Karen's room and had a good
ole natter.
By teatime all who were arriving that day had turned up safely and we all had a
delicious meal at the hotel followed by more merriment upstairs along with some
wine and choccies :)

my small stash haul pin keep is in the middle front

Val had a surprise for all of us she had stitched us all a pin pillow and made us all matching counting pins to go on  it :) Mine is in my favourite colours and goes well with some other accessories I have :)I t did snow while we upstairs all yackking at about 11.45 and I have taken some pics of my car from the bedroom window ..... 

spot the car ..lol

The next day dawned bright and early and we all made it downstairs for breakfast
with plenty of time to come round and get ready for the big day of stash
shopping :)

Friendly Stitchers before we hit the show

By 3ish Shelley , Jo and I were ready to drop and headed back to the hotel for some feet up time and catch up with the rest of the group :0
We had out tea/dinner early and much merriment continued after with me being
introduced to the delights of X factor and Wagner !!!!

By the time I had got upstairs to meet the rest of the gang I walked into the room to apologise for being later and said "ooo choccies" and as I promptly bit into one Ally came out with the immortal phrase " I once went to a Physic
Handbag meeting" needless to say after I had finished choking from laughing and the chocolate, they had to explain what I had missed in the conversation before but unfortunately for the rest of the night Maureen and I would burst out  laughing from seeing faces talking on the handbags etc etc etc and yes we had  had some drink ..lol ;)

Sunday dawned bright but cold and we all had a lovely breakfast before we all had to get ready to go our separate ways , all promising to let someone know they had all got home safely as we had had snow there on the Friday evening and it still hadn't gone by the Sunday.

Needless to say we had a excellent time making new friends as well as meeting
the oldies and I mustn't forget the wonderful cuddles from Isla either :)


Thanks Girls for such a wonderful time and looking forward to seeing you all
soon xxxxxxx and I am starting to save up for next year already so watch out
Sandra heheheh ;)
Off  now to go and snuggle up with some stitching  .... take care every one :)

love mouse xxxxxx

Hi Ho HI Ho Its off to Harrogate I go

Hello everybody :) well we have survived so far with out any snow so hopefully and a fair wind I shall be travelling in my car up to Harrogate tomorrow morning YEAHHHHHHH .


I have almost packed , finished off some bits and pieces that needed doing before I escape tomorrow and I shall be off for a long week end of stash fondling , silk drooling (ladylike of course) and lots of chatting and laughing with the girls from the friendly stitchers who are coming from all over the country to the International Halls at Harrogate for the Knitting and stitching show :)


I spent last week going through my stash and organising my charts and kits etc into designers and putting them into plastic folders neatly labelled for future reference along with the speciality threads that they needed, that I had got at the show last year and sorted out my anchor threads to go with them ... after converting them from DMC .. I was a very busy mouse ...lol . 


Not only that but I even wrote them all down so that I know what I need at a glance and exactly what I have got so I don't double buy ..lol


I also managed to squeeze in a bit of stitching and some designing but all will be revealed after I get back :) 


So I have just got to pack my clothes and my wheelchair and am sorted :) At least I am guaranteed a  seat this year heheheh...... so while the mouse is away please behave yourselves heheheh.

my blog win

I received my wonderful blog win last week as well I came 4th in a blog give away  on Kathys blog to celebrate her "punkins" 7th birthday and here is my prize..... aren't they lush :)


Right I'd better go and finish getting ready and to all my American friends HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you all :)
take care and I shall squeak soon with lots to tell and show and I've got to take lots of pictures for DJ as requested ...
by for now and happy stitching
love mouse xxxxxxx

Being organised ..lol

Well I have been given a  bit of useful info from Gillie on how to put my favourite blogs on to my side bar ... Thanks babes :) SOOOOOO if yours is not there yet do not panic am still getting to grips on finding them ..lol , have them saved on my blogs list on my main google page just not got round to getting them copied and pasted but I will dooooo honest:)


Ok there were a few things I had forgotten to put on my last post so hopefully that will be rectified in a few mo's. I have to say that since Halloween I have been poorly with the dratted *cold* and have not been well at all so I have been languishing in my craft room armed with a blankie and tissues and been doing a bit of stitching so  I have got all my commitments done and dusted for the exchanges etc on friendly stitchers I can't show you the latest one as the owner won't get it till we go to the Harrogate Knitting and stitching show in two weeks time :)




Firstly I forgot to show what I sent to DJ for her *big * birthday I shall be kind and not mention the age hehehehe but if you bob to her blog tickled pink you will find out ..lol ......so here is a picture of what I sent 

For DJ 

Beaded scissor fob for DJ

Right that's that bit remembered ...lol , then I also have been making some cards which I forgot to show you , told you I was trying to be organised heheehe (just wish i could figure out how to put the pics where i want them ..lol

Made for an 80th birthday 

    If I have put these one's up before sorryyyyy ..lol  

Then what else mmmmmmmmmmm thinking here heheheh...... oooooo yes while languishing I decided to have a go at doing a simple logo design for the friendly stitchers and sat down at the computer and with the help of the Jane Greenoff  designer gold stitch program I have  achieved this heheheh soooooo here is the stitched result .... I found some 24 count evenweave that I had bought a while ago when down at Jane's having a stitching retreat and thought mmmmm voila I shall use this ... it took me only a few hours to stitch up and then I made it into a pillow cushion .... I had to make a pillow insert for it as it was such an off the cuff size so I had to rummage round in my material stash to find some cotton to do this.... unfortunately it is not quite big enough to give if a plump fullness I was after but hey ho it is for me and now I have worked it out, if any body want's something similar  I have the "I know what to do now " ...lol  sooooo here is my first attempt :)

First attempt at designing

so there you go :) If I had done it on a smaller count of fabric it would have been much smaller all round but I like to make a statement heheheheh ;). 

Then finally I move to the being organised bit and my 2nd cuppa of the day :0 ..... I decided last night that as I was feeling much better and a wee bit braver I would tackle the *to get list* for Harrogate sooooo  I settled down in my comfy chair and got to work ........ I opened the first drawer and thought mmmm ...went and got some plastic A4 document holders and some sticky labels and started to organise my charts into designers and went oooo forgot had this and ooooo keep that one out and so on and so forth ..lol Till about 10 folders later I had organised that drawer !!!!!! My DH just shook his head when he saw all the folders ..lol and I said I've only done the one drawer heheheh ...... soooo today dawns bright and sunny and I shall go back in and tackle all my Little House Needlework charts now as most of them have the specialist  threads , so need to check what else I need so that I can get some more of them done, as I do like these charts :)

Ok if you have go this far I am impressed ..lol you deserve another cuppa... go one you know you want one and while we're at it a sticky bun as its almost elevenses ;)

Right I have waffled enough so I shall scurry into my craft room and go and get some more done t.t.f.n. and happy stitching or crafting which ever you are deciding to do today :)

love mouse xxxxxxxxx

All sorts of everything

Hi Folks well all I can say is it has been very busy round here ,,, some very low bits and some good bits and some even scary bits too ......

my beloved  Bracken

I will firstly get the low bits done as I'm still very saddened by the loss of my dear furbaby Bracken my beautiful springer spaniel who we had had since he was 9 weeks old and he was my constant companion till we had to let him go to the rainbow bridge to be with his son Monty at the grand old age of 14 years and 3 mths old ...... this picture was taken just around his birthday in July this year ....


we then decided it was time to move so we have put the mouse house up for sale as it seems far to big now and I'm rattling around on it on my own during the day .... we have decided not to get another furbaby as my heart is broken into a thousand pieces and I am not really fit enough to deal with a pup :(
So  we have put the house onto the market to see if we get a sale to down grade to a smaller property literally down the road, so keep all fingers crossed  that we manage it :)


On the stitching front I have made a humbug for Denise in our stitching exchange on the Friendly Stitchers  so here is mine to her and her's to me .... 

mine to Denise

Denise's to me

I have then been busy getting things ready for the christmas ornament exchanges and also making an ornament for the Ward where one of our members of the Friendly stitchers spent a lot of her time on before she sadly passed away just before her birthday. Alison Joy was the original wielder of the Wet Noodle before passing it over to me ,earlier on in the year . She will be sadly missed by all those who knew her.

Alison Joy ornament

A group of us from the friendly stitcher are going to the Knitting and stitching show at Harrogate at the end of the month, we are making a weekend of it and staying in a hotel near by and I am looking forward to meeting some new faces and stash fondling and the occasional purchase or two ..lol ..... we have decided to do an ornament swap so being the good little mouse mine is all done and finished ready for it :) It has already been oooo'd and aaahhh'd over and I wan'ts it ..lol  so here it is :)

Harrogate swap

And now onto the scary bit ...... DD Jo decided this year she wanted to throw a Halloween party and went all out with the decorations and food and drink..... we all got dressed up and had a FABULOUS time  so here are a few pics of the night beware there is a squeamish one !!!!

my beautiful kitchen

the three amigo's

think I need to dust in here !!!

and here ..lol

bubble bubble

My bath is finally not this colour !!!

actually the loo roll :)

Scary prisoner

OOOO thought you might like to see the latest "Do" done for me by the youngest DD :)

side view

from the back

So this is it for now folks I am busy working on my UFO's and hope to have an update on the Celtic Autumn for you soon as well as my dragon and also doing a few exchange pieces in the meantime....

so I shall bid you tootles and will squeak to you all soon, hopefully with more news on the moving front and definitely on the stitching front.

take care one and all 

love mouse xxxxxx

The last rose of summer (very long post lots to tell :)

Hellooooo everybody sorry to have been so quiet recently but it has been with good reason honest :)
First of all I shall catch up on the news then show the photos........ where to begin mmmm i think I shall sneak some wording from something that was written by me and Ally regarding the main reason I've been silent hang on ..lol

 Due to DJ's recent illness and diagnosis and the ongoing treatment, the

> > moderators decided they would like to do something for her on behalf of
the
> > whole group. A few 50p in the meter later we decided to make her one of
our
> > Friendly Stitchers quilts of which there have been several in the past.
The
> > next challenge, after a few wines, was to decide on a theme - and knowing
> > her passion for biscornu a light went on and the idea was born. A cry for
> > help went out back channel to various members, some of whom had already
been
> > in touch with us to express a desire to help in any way if we had any
plans
> > for doing something for DJ. We set up a separate group for planning and
> > discussion - not in any way to exclude anyone but more to keep it off the
> > main group so as not to let the mouse out of the bag, especially as we
knew
> > that DJ did pop in from time to time to read messages when least
expected!!!
> > We wanted to get the quilt to DJ as fast as possible so we were working to
a
> > tight deadline, so needles were flying frantically on both sides of the
> > Atlantic, Europe and Australia in order to get the squares to Mouse who
had
> > kindly stepped up to the plate and offered to put the quilt together (or
> > rather she opened her big mouth and fell in with both feet). Mouse felt
like
> > Mrs Tiggywinkles when all the squares arrived and she set to washing them
> > all by hand. Then came the fun part - much cutting and sewing, cutting and
> > sewing and cutting and sewing later the quilt finally came together -
photos
> > of progress have been placed in a separate file on the group if anyone
wants
> > to see the whole process. The bias was handmade and hand sewn by Miss
Mouse.
> > Karen bobbed over to the Mouse House and played a critical part by
unpinning
> > the safety pins and holding the quilt while the bias hem was folded over
by
> > the iron and got through a whole box of hankies in the process leaving
Mouse
> > to mop up after her. Many hours later, by candlelight the bias was finally
> > hand sewn on and the quilt was pressed for the last time and packed ready
to
> > go to Gillie who was wearing her Fedex hat and being our personal delivery
> > person. The quilt duly arrived at the house on the pond and was then
> > delivered to DJ who just happened to be in hospital again recovering from
a
> > gallbladder operation! There was much relief in the Mouse house and she is
> > so glad she can talk properly on the group again as she has been so busy
> > behind the scenes getting everything together. Many thanks to all
concerned
> > - you know who you are girls (wink!) We very much appreciate all your hard
> > work and we know that DJ does too!


soooo there you go reason one ..lol  .... then as I was feeling all creative we at the mouse house decided we needed to redecorate the living room and then the kitchen as it follows on from there so that kept us out of mischief for a few weeks ..... during this time I didn't get any stitching done due to the craft room being rather full of things from the other rooms but that has now been resolved and I'm back in business YIPPPEEEEEEE 
sooo mmm where did I get to oh yes  I got a lovely biscornu from Rebecca in the summer lavender biscornu exchange and she even put a little mouse on it :) it is soooooo cute I love it ... the little tag went onto the scissors straight away ..... Abi received hers from me and loved it too so I can show you pictures now phewww ..lol  and I've found the up to date pictures of "the castle" as well . 
I also got a really cute bookmark of Jillann in the book mark exchange but it was only in my paws long enough to take a photo before eldest DD Jo whipped off with it saying she wished last night for a book mark and one turns up in the post today !!!! so Magic really does happen ..lol 
other than that Jo and I went into the garden and did some much needed pruning of the grape vine and other bits and bobs while we had a few sunny days last week :) 
soooo now for the photos .......

Biscornu from Rebecca

Abi's lavender biscornu from me 

Front of quilt for DJ

Back of Quilt for DJ

The Castle so far 

My Bookmark from Jillann 

Bookmark made for MIL birthday

MIL's card 

.I must point out that the quilt is the first I have ever made so I am very very pleased with the way it has turned out and it is unique one of a kind Biscornu quilt :) I did say if DJ didn't like it I would have it back ..her answer was" its MINEEEEEEE ...lol " 

So there you are I'm up to date and here is now the last rose of summer , my patio rose bloomed 2 days before the official day of autumn .... I shall now leave you to put the kettle on as if you have got this far you will have deserved one :)
hopefully the next instalment won't be as long in coming ... take care one and all till next time 
happy stitching 
love mouse xxxxxx