Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year 2012

Hi Every one :) just a quick squeak to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a merry stitchy new year 2012 .... :)
to all who are starting the crazy challenges etc in the new year I wish you luck and steaming needles :)


I am keeping this one short and sweet ;) but I will leave you with a design I designed especially for my group the Friendly Stitchers ....


 I stitched it with Evergreen Gast and Hollyberries Gast which I thought was quite fitting for the season ..lol 

and finished making it up in the wee small hours of Christmas eve eve ..lol


hope every one has a wonderful Christmas and a merry stitchy new year (again ..lol) 
take care one and all and squeak to you all in the new year :)
love mouse xxxxx 

Hi every one :) ooooo can you see this mouse move ????

Hi every one :) ooooo can you see this mouse move ????  methinks you need to grab a cuppa or a wine seeing as it is the season to be merry ;) and sit back ready for the ride and eye candy to follow hehehehhe ..... don't scroll down to the end first ..lol


It was the weekend before Christmas 
when all through the house not a creature was stirring 
except a hermitting mouse 
she sat in her chair with her needle and threads 
while images of new crazies and humming birds danced through her head 


she stitched and she stitched through out the long winters night 
as she knew the end of her crazies was in sight
as the clock struck midnight, she scampered to bed
with only one row to stitch "yeahhhhh " was all she said 


and on the morning of the 18th of December 
a pretty good date for you all to remember 
she sat in her chair and stitched that last row
and took a photo so you all would know .....


that mouse had finished all fifteen of her crazies .....


yeah I know that last bit don't rhyme heheheh


anddddd this week the postie has been extra busy bringing un expected goodies to the mouse house as well as some that were expected :)


first of all I got a wonderful card from Inky with a raspberry tea in it and a needle minder in the shape of a wee frog .... he is sooooo cute .... then Patty C sent me not one but two absolutely gorgeous stitched ornaments which are on my tree .... I've got stitched ornaments finally on my tree whoop whoop ..lol ..... I can now show you mine that I sent to her ..... I've also heard that my partner on friendly stitchers has received her ornament soo i can show you both of those tooo :)
then my blog goody wins from freddysmama turned up as well ...... 


are you jealous yet hehheheh as there is more ......a box from Finland turned up from my good friend Niina and inside was a Moomin tin filled with yummies and tea :) I will have to fight with DD1 for the tin as she loves Moomins ..lol and then .. yup there is more ...lol  a parcel turned up for me with no identifying address on it at all ... soooo i carefully opened to find a letter in it saying please read .... and so I did ...lol ....Fiona had sent me a Christmas gift and one that I could open straight away ..... so I did ..lol and found a cute red mouse pincushion ..... I can't wait to see what my other goodies are .....I want to thank you all very much for making this little mouse sooooo happy not only with the presents but also for the cards that have come too :)
I must admit to being very behind with the cards etc and If one doesn't get to you it don't mean that I don't love you .. just time hasn't been on my side and the last posting dates came and went before I knew it ......


so are you ready for the eye candy ?????  well you'd better get another cuppa first .. piece of chocolate roll or mince pie to go with it ????

mine to Patty C

mine to Amy on Friendly stitchers

Amy 's to me 

Winter White finished 14th December 

crazies kitted up

crazies all kitted up

crazies all kitted up

crazies all kitted up

crazies all kitted up

stitched by kath finished by me :)

stitched by Kath finished by me

thought this was cute my 

mantelpiece

from Patty C to me sorry photo a wee bit yuk

my blog win goodies

my cute needle minder and card from Inky

from Fiona :)

my second gorgeous ornie from Patty C

yummies from Niina :)

thread gathering finished today 

closer look :)

sooooo if you have managed to get this far .... well done and an extra cuppa for you ..lol


thank you to every one who has been on this years stitching journey with me and kept me company and encouraged me all the way .... I will say it again ... you stitchers are the best ;).... and I will need you all again  for next years crazies hehehhehe :0)


take care and have a great week and see you before the big day :)
love mouse xxxxxx

ON the 9th day of Christmas ......

Hi every one :) Jo at http://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/  had a brilliant idea for an on line calender and today's my day :).....
so here is my picture for behind my door 

Stitched by me 2010

 as to traditions for Christmas ... welll since we have been married, the main one was having the decorations up by the 6th December (our wedding day 23years this year eeekkk ..lol)


but I digress .....
as a wee child I remember being soooo excited on Christmas eve as we hung our stockings on the door handles of our bedrooms my sister and I .... and they  nothing special, just a pair of nylon tights, but the love that went into the wee gifts in there was second to none .... my mum and dad couldn't afford much but there was always an apple and a satsuma at the bottom..... and each small present was wrapped and eagerly ripped off  in glee ..lol
We always got the yearly annual of our favourite comics .... Dandy , Beano , Mandy or Bunty .... mine were the first two and my sisters the second .....
I blame the parents for my wicked sense of humour ;) 


I  loved the run up to the "big" day with the carol singing ... I was always the first to start and loved going to church, as it  always seemed more special as the candles were always lit each Sunday in December ......
One year when we were very small my sister and I were woken up early as it was snowing and we hadn't played out in the snow before..... so we were bundled into our warm coats and wellies and joined the rest of the children on our street and had a wonderful time ....  one thing that always puzzled me was the fact I could see the stars twinkling in the sky ..... I asked my dad years later and apparently it was midnight we were playing out in all the snow ......


so there you go  a wee insight to a little mouse's Christmas  :)


ho ho ho and merry Christmas to one and all .....and peace and goodwill to all, as it is the season ......:)
until next time take care :)
love mouse xxxx

Harrogate, Stash and lots of goodies to boot :)

Hi every one :) ... better warn you in advance this post could be a wee long heheheh ... so grab that cuppa and keep the pot hot, methinks you are going to need it hahahahah .....
In case you didn't know I and a few friends from my group .. along with thousands of other folks descended on the knitting and stitching show at Harrogate this last weekend :)
The preparation for this event started a good few days before making my list for stash I would require to do my crazy list as per last post ..... well I duly wrote this list out three times !!!!! on the final one I wrote on two sides of A4 paper with all the flosses in alphabetical order or number order and the count of the fabric I required or needed ;) on the other and popped it into a plastic wallet and into my travelling stitcher bag :)
The sunshine was duly ordered as last year we had terrible snow storms we were praying that it didn't happen this year and thankfully it didn't :) ... any way Friday dawned beautifully early .. I asked Shelley to text me when she set off from her house to mine so that by the time she had made it to the mouse house I would be up and a wee bit with it ..lol ..... I had the  kettle on for a reviving cuppa for when she got here ... showed her the tidy mouse house craft room  and the list  before setting off to Harrogate .... I was that excited I couldn't remember whether I had put the list in my bag and all the way there I was fretting I had left it at home and how could I get it to me for the show eeeekkkkk ....
We pulled up at the hotel around 11.00 am and I breathed a sigh of relief when I found that blooming list ..lol ... Val and Shelia were already there and Sandra was on route and before we knew it, Karen and Gillie along with a wee Scottish Lady (Ally) that had been whisked down specially for the weekend as a surprise to the others turned up not long after .
We all went down to the show once we had got organised and met up with Frances from our group who we had not "seen " before .... she fits in very well ;) and it was lovely to meet her face to face *waving paw hellooooo again ....
I zoomed round the show as fast as my little legs would let me and found the Sparklies stand and promptly got out my stitching to show Kate what I had done on her fabric ...... Gillie turned round to Shelley and said "shall we go and have a three course lunch and a coffee afterwards and come back to get her in a couple of hours " ... oooo the cheek ..lol 
I managed to get nearly  all on  my list after cutting it up and leaving bits at at Trudy Ann Designs before going to West End Embroidery for the other threads I needed :)
Gillie and I returned late in the afternoon with arms laden with my goodies as she very kindly brought my new lamp back with her ... its hard only having one arm free ..lol
We came down to dinner for 7.00pm and was still there yacking and laughing well passed 10.00pm and carried on till quite late in mine and Shelley's room as ours was the biggest this year ... Ally and Gillie  were stitching on the biscornu I had designed for the bran tub while we were all in  there ... Gillie stayed up till 2.30 am and finished it :) ... considering I gave them the chart well in advance of the weekend you would have thought it would have been done before ..lol 
ok I've had to put the kettle on now ..lol .....
On Saturday we met up with some more friends from the group who had come down for the day along with Fiona  at the Trudy Anne stall and photos were taken by Michelle sooo if you want to have a peek at them go there :)
stash wise I got some backing fabric and buttons and charms and Ally's belated birthday prezzie a lovely piece of fabric from Sparklies ... Kate kindly said she would come to the hotel that night to talk to us all :)
we went back at dinner time for a well deserved cuppa and for the girls to have the hardanger class with Val back at the hotel in her posh sitting room :).... not much was got done, I hasten to add as there was too much hilarity and Karen got a stitch from laughing !!! Although I did take a photo to prove that Ally actually stitches hahahaha .... 
Kate from Sparklies  came back to the hotel before we had dinner and gave us a lovely talk on how she learnt to dye and how she works to get those lovely colours of her fabrics ... she fitted in really well as we were all in fits of laughter after her talk .... we learnt quite a lot and are really grateful she took the time out to meet us and offered to come and do a "class dyeing " session once we could work out the where .... looking forward to it very much :)
we carried on with more chatting and laughing over dinner ... the chuckle muscles certainly got a good work out .....laughing at Karen and Shelley forgetfulness as to what they went looking round the show for that afternoon ..lol... they finally did get what they went for ... good job I did a list is all I can say ..lol..... must mention that Val had stitched us all a lovely biscornu bud for each of us as well as a wee Christmas prezzie that had to go under our tree when we got back home :)
On Sunday we all swapped the Biscornu's before we all split up to go back to normality or at least some of them did .. Shelley and I gluttons for punishment pootled back down to the show to get the bits in we had missed ....  we discovered the "Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry 1745" which took the whole of the underneath corridor up on both sides ... 105 panels of work which took over 18 months from start to finish with bits stitched on by folks who had never picked up a needle before ..... the end result is very impressive and I hope my photos do it justice ....
we also went round the guild stalls downstairs and had a good look at the work the students had put in  and also of the stunning work of the exhibitors upstairs in Hall M ... unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos there .... but some of the work was exquisite  to say the least :)
Shelley and I decided to take a pit stop and got a drink and a sticky bun to revive us and had a right giggle when a lady stopped us to say to go and prop ourselves up in the corner of the cafe area ...  I said I am already propped up ..lol with my crutch ... she said we looked like we needed to lean against something  .... I looked at Shelley and said do we look that bad hahahahah .....
We finally emerged from the show at 4.30pm !! and made our way home to to the mouse house  and a restorative cuppa or two before Shelley went on her way to her house.......


so there you are.... the tales of the Harrogate weekend ... the stash will be shown in a wee while .... I just have to tell you of the kindness of a fellow blogger Karen  who sent me the box for "Casting a Spell" as we over here cannot get it ((((HUGE HUGS)))) to her and many thanks ... I shall have a lovely display for Halloween next year :) 
I also received a lovely parcel from my secret pen pal which arrived over the weekend with an adorable mouse , some mouse backing fabric, a wee mouse button and a beautifully stitched mouse and tape measure scissor fob with matching scissors (pattern is from the brooke books alphabet freebies)  and some lovely autumn fall sweeties ... which taste just like our fudge over here yummmmmmmm ......Thank you soooooo much, they are  all gorgeous *VBG can't wait to know who you are so I can thank you by name ..lol :)
And today Teejay popped over to the mouse house with my calender girl goodies .. she got the thread as they reminded her of me .. Jolly Joker and steaming needles are amongst the names heheheh 
so endeth this huge blog update ..... three cuppas later I get to the end heheheh .... I must admit I am still recovering from it as I didn't realise but I have an upper respiratory infection so it was no wonder I sounded like my bellows had bust when I laughed hahahah.....



ok folks I will love you and leave you to drool over the photos of the weekend and my stash and goodies  ...

Calender Stash from Teejay :)

My pudding had same both nights it was soo yummy ..lol

Hardanger class in Val's suite 

My Biscornu design stitched by the girls to swop

the length of the tapestry  !!!

my biscornu bud stitched by Val :)

Royal Hall Harrogate

gorgeous goodies from my pen pal ... my mouse is adorable

the box from Karen with my chart :)

Jane Greenoffs stall at Harrogate 

My small stash haul 

my backing fabric haul

so there you go hope you have all enjoyed the write up and I shall leave you in peace for a wee while ...lol .. take care and happy stitching one and all :)
love mouse xxxxxx

ISHW Craft room and a finish or two :)

HI every one :) soooo pleased it was international stitch and hermit this weekend .. I could actually get my petite derrière in my chair legally and stitch hahahahaha with the odd cuppa or two (that goes with out saying really hehehe)


I am also really pleased to say that I have got both my ornament exchanges finished finished and are all ready and packed to go the post office tomorrow and be on their merry way across the pond  and on time tooo PHEW heheheh photos will be shown once they have been received safely :)


here at the mouse house earlier on this week the weather has been glorious sunshine and sooo mild for this time of year .... I have had the back door into the craft room open while I have been merrily sorting and putting stuff away and I can finally say I'VE DONE IT !!!!!..... can you see this happy dance ???? 
three weeks later the room has had a spring clean, a lick of paint and a whole lot of sorting done ...... 
the best comment was from a friend ,when moaning about stuff not going back in he said it was like digging a hole then trying to put it all back ... it won't go in no matter how hard you try ...lol


I promised Cindy that I would get Afternoon tea out and work on it this weekend as she was getting Gillie to nag me at Harrogate (this Friday whoop whoop) soo last night I worked on it for 4 hours ... as its over one ... it doesn't look much ... I was sorry to have to put it down as it was late and bed time for me .....  have taken photos as proof !! 


Cindy, Shelley and I were talking on FB the other night and we got round to how many pieces we had stitched on this year and finished ...  well I got my little book out and counted 1,2 miss a few 45 ,46...... eeekk I had finished 46 stitched pieces and have 9 more on the go *KERPLUNK ..lol
I have had to take a photo of the book too ..lol they are a suspicious lot ..lol


As you know I am going to do the crazy January challenge 2012 again as I have thoroughly enjoyed doing it this year and as we are going to Harrogate stitching show on Friday till Sunday .... I have this afternoon got together a list of charts I wish to do from my stash pile next year .... this could be subject to change if I can't get the threads/ fabric notions etc to do them at the show ..... do you want to know then ?????


ok.... deep breath.... and go 

1. flower patch.... loopy lou designs
2. souvenir sampler .... the drawn thread
3. scissors .....cherry wood designs
4. needle ... as above
5. winter band sampler ....LHN
6. Melicent Turner sampler.... LHN
7. ladybugs and bumble bees....  LHN
8. the north wind doth blow.... LHN
9. pumpkin Cottage ....CCN
10. summer splendor ...LHN
11. bloom sampler ....threadworks
12. bushel and a peck .... La D Da
13. Cranberry sampler ... the Sweetheart Tree
14. there is a garden ... Purely samplers
15. a sampling in the square .... Blue Ribbons

as well as doing the Cottage SAL by CCN  and one or two smalls too ..... I have also been doing a wee bit of designing for my group the friendly stitchers but that wont be released till next year .... 

soooo  all I need to do this week is go through my stash and check what I need to get and all being well this will be the list :)

ok Cindy and Shelley here are the photos for you hahahahah......  DOOOHH I forgot to mention that I worked on Winter Whites this weekend too and worked with whisper thread for the first time too on the sheepies ..lol and my finish was Fa la la by LHN :)

here you go now ..lol

poinsettia all ironed :)

view from my chair

the gallery :)

outside onto my garden

to the left stitching to the right card making etc

Fa la La finished (LHN)

Afternoon Tea Haed 

Winter Whites 

Whisper sheepies

my book of remind  me to do 's ..lol highlights are the ones finished 

please excuse the hand writing .. usually updating when I remember and have to get it down quick..lol..... sooo I hope you have enjoyed the insight into my wee room and it is still tidy hehehehe 

right I had better get this on to the blog land as I have peeps waiting to look ..lol 

off to go and make a last cuppa before bed 

take care and happy stitching :) 

love mouse xxxxx