Last Stitches of 2013 and beyond :)

Hi folks :) hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas however you celebrated and are looking forward to what the new year holds :) Some of you are already there  sooo I hope you had great time celebrating HIC ....lol 
Soooo have you got your cuppas and comfy chairs ??? ok .... let me begin ....
I have been counting up the finishes ... not the starts  ;) heheheh .... and this year I have managed a credible 33 finished cross stitched projects.... one quilt and a few Christmas presents that will be on their way at the weekend .... so I could either be late or in front for next year???? hahahahahha 
Not bad for a wee mouse who works full time :) 
I have over the Christmas period made up the Yellow Bird from La d Da and love it ... I stitched it on some of Jane Greenoffs spaced dyed linen with Nancy's thread (Victorian Motto) and finished it with some of her chenille trim too that perfectly matched the thread :) I managed to put some stitches into the cottages by CCN but no photo as not worth it ... believe me ...lol  and I did a wee bit more on the Alphabet by La D Da  as it was a repeat of what I had already stitched ... I just followed it :)
On the Saturday before Christmas I went for a walk with Master Bentley and took my camera as the moon was out and the sun was just about to rise and got some fab photos even if I say so myself ... Bentley posed for you Anne :) so I will pop them up for you to see .... he got a wonderful help the hero's coat off Santa Paws and he wouldn't take it off  and he posed on Christmas Day for you too ...lol
Talking of presents I got some lovely goodies , June sent me some candy cane thread :) Michelle sent me a cute wee stitched  Quaker mouse and calender , DJ sent me some cute mouse slippers and a beautifully stitched coin purse as well as the wee mouse ornament :)...Wendy and Chris (no blog up and running yet but there will be ..lol) sent me spool Pin cushion ,a lovely tea light jar and candles and also a gorgeous stitched piece framed ... hmmmm now where did I see someone stitching that ...lol.... I also joined in the Secret Santa with my group Friendly Stitchers and my wonderful partner Amy sent me the charts from my wish list ... guess what I am doing tomorrow ... ordering the threads so that I can kit them up to get them started as soon as ....  Thank you all once again, I have been spoilt ....  not to mention all the other goodies from family and friends :)

Posing for Anne ...in his new help for hero's coat :)

from Wendy and Chris :)

close up of the stitched piece :)

can't wait to make this up :)

from DJ ...:)

from Michelle :)

love the back :)

from Amy my Secret Santa from Friendly Stitchers :)

from June :)

Robin Singing on Boxing Day

La d Da Yellow bird finally finished 

Christmas cake decorated by moi :)

did I tell you I loveee this coat ...lol

early morning moon

closer look

was a tad windy in the woods 

start of the sunrise

woooo hoooo my friends are here 

Molly on the left and Jack on the right 

just love this shot of the sun ... no filters just aimed at it 

newest member of the gang Zophia 

wishing you all a happpppy new Year :)

Well I had better finish this post before the new year comes in and before I go, I wish everyone of you a wonderful Stitchy New Year full of finishes and new starts .... and look forward to sharing more posts with you next year :)
take care one and all  love mouse xxxxxxx

Surprise can be revealed :)

HI everyone :) from a very dark mouse house this morning ..... its 6.30 am and I am wide awake .... sooo if any one is up too... pop over for a cuppa :)
I can't believe it is a week till Christmas day and I am waaayyyyyyy behind .... no decorations up ... cake not marzipaned, never mind iced  but there is a good reason for this .... I can reveal the secret I have been working on as it has been received and she loves it .... woooo hoooo....
soooo cast your mind back a few months .... in the days when it was warmer and the days longer Lainey had a idea to make Sally 's 50th birthday on the 12th December a special one .... we had a wee chat or two and came up with the idea to make her a quilt .... so we sent out some emails to peeps that we knew between us, that knew Sally and asked if they could stitch a square and join in the fun and I would make up the quilt :)
and that my friends is what I have been doing .... the squares were all dispatched to the mouse house back end of October onwards and I had  the wonderful job of coming up with a pattern that would work and I think I did .... (not bad for a beginner and this being only the second one I have made :) 
There was a lot of organizing to make sure that a camera was on hand ... thanks to Sally's DD -Abi * waves small paw at ya the wonderful moment was captured :)
So with with great a plume and many thanks to .....Chris , Lainey , Gill, Gillie, Jane , Julie , June, Kate, Lesleyanne, Lisa , Michelle , Tina , Cath (and I) ..lol
Taaaaa Daaaaaaa

If you bob over to Sally's blog you will see all the individual squares  close up ... I forgot to take photos of each one DOH ...lol 
It was sooooo hard to part with it soooo giving advance warning ... you have two years before mine hahahahahahah.... 
I have had a commission to make a memory quilt from this ... coooooo ...and also a few peeps have hinted they want one too ... but you will have to wait and see ;)
So I shall leave you all for now and I had better go and have some breakfast before work eeeekkkk ....
but before I go, if I don't see you before the big day .... hope every one has a wonderful time , get lots of gorgeous goodies and just to say there will be a few late parcels from the mouse house but I hope every one will let me off now for being late hehehehhe
Take care , happy stitching and  how ever you celebrate this time of year enjoy :) 
T.T.F.N  as tiger would say ..... love mouse xxxxxxxx

Harrogate , stash , stitching and gifts :)

Hi every one :) .... sorry for being so quiet for a wee while but life got in the way as it does on occasions and I just didn't have the time or the energy to write :(
but hopefully now I will make up for it hehehehe.... so be warned ... grab a buttie , a brew and a few biscuits as you  pull up your chair and join me ....
ok are you sitting comfortably then I shall begin.....
At the back end of November it was the annual Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate and as you know I don't miss it if I can help it ... how else is a mouse to get her fix of sumptuous goodies ....
This year we decided to hire a house for the length of the show (Thursday to Sunday) and what a gorgeous one it was .... we had a really gorgeous bathroom with blue lights in the flooring surrounding the bath not to mention the changing lights in the shower ... the kitchen was fully equipped and everything was just sooooo nice :)
It was really nice to be able to come and go and have friends over for tea and also for Kate to bob over for a few hours to chill after a busy day at the show :) it made every thing  so much more pleasant we thought :)
On the Thursday we went into the show, Ally Frances and I  and while I wandering round I saw a familiar face .... Stuart from the Great British Sewing Bee  and he kindly had his photo took with me and admired my travelling stitcher quilted bag I made  OHHHH the Fame hahahahah ... *gives a wee wave just in case he reads my blog .... ;)
I pootled round the show Friday and Saturday looking at all the stalls over again in case I missed something ... sometimes you couldn't get near due to all the excited visitors to it .... and came away with lots of eye candy ... DD commented that I hadn't bought as much as I had before.. Whoops ...lol  but what I did get I was happy with ...and came away with lots of ideas to do stuff ... hopefully I can remember when I get round to doing ...lol
Sunday came round all to quick and this year we decided we would actually wander around Harrogate and visit the Pump Rooms as the costumes from Downton Abbey were on show ... unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos inside ... it was a lovely wee museum and it was nice to see them close up ... and boy were those peeps small and petite ...  we also watched a video of days go by and had a good giggle at the clothes and they way things were going I remember this and that ... DD enjoyed wandering round too ... after there we popped into the big park and had a gorgeous pootle round looking at the roses that were still in bloom and spotting the robin (thanks DD) before heading back to get something to eat before we set off back home ....
Ally went back home on the Monday which I took off to recover ... next year remind me to take off longer ...lol 
While I was away DJ sent me a wee parcel and I was allowed to open one of the goodies inside as it was an ornament for my tree and wow it is gorgeous .... this is what she wrote on her blog ....Last, but not least, I can show you this ornament I sent to my dear friend Mouse.  She has told me she has received her package and I told her she could open her ornament to hang on the tree.  This was stitched on 45 count over two threads.  Yes, I've been told I was crazy in the past, and I can honestly say, though I loved the result, the stitching was difficult on such compact count.  Treasure it Mouse, as I dare say I won't be stitching on such a high count again. 
DJ don't panic I will ...lol I love it :)
I managed to get the Travelling Pattern off to Cath  and I know its been received .. she is going to have to send it back as I didn't have time to fill in my bits in the book ... and I haven't quite finished my second piece ... almost there :)
I have also sorted my craft room out and packed away my scrap booking stuff and my card making things ... the room looks loads better ... a wee bit more fuller than it was ....lol but I still have things to sort out and reorganize that and I have been busy stitching and sewing but I can't at the moment show any of this ... but all will be revealed very soon after all Christmas is coming wayyyyy  tooo quick for my liking ....   you would think that as we know its on the same date every year that we would be sorted and organised and everything but No not a scooby do chance this year ... sooo Christmas could be a wee bit delayed until the New Year folks ...lol  in fact scrap that it WILL be delayed .... there isn't a mouse chance that my goodies will get to folks before then as the Post Office in there wisdom decided to go on strike at one of the busiest times of the year .... soooo to be on the safe side ( I have things that haven't turned up ) I am not posting out until after the big day ... think it makes more fun that way as it extends the holiday festivities ....  that's my excuse and I am sticking to it ...lol 
ok I think I have waffled on a wee bit soooo I shall go and pop the kettle on again and  upload the photos for you to drool over :)

Gorgeous ornament from DJ 

December  TUSAL

second of the Travelling Pattern pieces
done a wee bit more to this but not photographed

first one finished and sort of framed ..lol

see looking much better ..lol honest 

Ally's and mine room 

just look at that bathroom 

Stuart (Great British Sewing Bee )and I 

One of my favorite stalls eh Kate ...lol 

another drool at that bath ..lol

dusk 

in wee park land opposite the show 

nearest we got to Betty's 

Dragon ... Astrid :)

The Pump Rooms with the costumes inside

smelt beautiful

Squibbble

more roses

gorgeous copper colour

Robin

ermmm not quite sure ...lol

outside the pump rooms 

stash

more stash

closer look at the stash

oooo and some more 

Coughs* did she really say I hadn't got as much ..lol 

Sparklies Grab Bag picked specially for me :)

and finally another gorgeous rose :)

 and there you have it .... I will be popping round to see you all as soon as I can :) I almost forgot that it was Tusal time the other day ... I took the photo on time Daffy but didn't get round to posting it till now ..  but hey better late than never eh ??? ..lol ;) Thanks for all popping round and welcome to my new followers ... :) hope you enjoyed your visit to the mouse house .. please pop by again :)
take care and happy stitching one and all :) love mouse xxxxx