Christmas Blog Hop

Helloo it's that time of year again, the annual Christmas Blog Hop by the wonderful Jo of Serendipitious stitching , she has given me Christmas Eve to wow you with ...lol. Her theme this year is "Afters" what do you have after your Christmas dinner, for us it has to be Christmas Pudding with Custard, as well as a mince pie or two ... it's no wonder I get more rounder at this time of year hahahah. We also get to cut the Christmas Cake for tea too, and it has to be iced and mazipan'd and no cheese with it for me.

Boxing day for "Afters" has to be trifle but with Dream Topping for the top or Emlea Cream and a flake with Raspberry Jelly, Sponge fingers and Angel Delight in it as well which makes it lighter to eat and Dear Husband does not do cold custard ...lol sooo angel delight it is .. and there you have it.

My Christmas Design is a freebee from The Primitive Hare called Christmas Bells and I did the finishing for it myself and it hangs proudly on my stitchy goodies tree which I have managed to put up this year finally :) 

So, all that remains is to wish you one and all Merry Christmas and hope that you get lots of stitchy goodies and have a fabulous time over the festive period, however you celebrate it :) 

Take care one and all ... love mouse xxxxxx

A long over due catch up

 Helooooo everyone ...it's me mouse, in case you had forgotten me ...lol .. I am under house arrest atm,  as I have tested positive for Covid last night and this is after my 5th booster last Sunday ... not got a scooby do where I have got it from, so I am not allowed to go to work until I have had two negative tests 24 hours apart from Wednesday ...

I am quite poorly with it too sooo I thought that I would do a long overdue blog post to take my mind of it all and catch you up with the stitching and life of this wee mouse ... so pull up a chair, grab you brew and cookies as this could be a long post..lol

I have been busy stitching on quite a few things, Study in Blue by Sue Hillis, What remains is love by Blackbird designs, FFO'd  A Sewing Bee strawberry by Erica Michaels and stitched the companion piece and started on her Stitch all things too. I have made oodles of project bags for Lainey and a birthday gift too for her and more project bags for my friend Lynn and for my 2nd mum Elaine (technically my step mum but we have never called her that). Finished some Christmas/ Birthday gifts that should have gone into the post today, but life has a way of saying nope .... finished off Miss B's blankie and worked on the one for me that I started about 4 years ago ..lol ... done an exchange Fall piece as well and then to top it all I have changed jobs and only work Tuesday to Thursday so then on Monday's and Friday's most weeks I munchkin sit, taking them out on walks and to town etc ... I managed to drop on a child's old-fashioned pram for Miss B so just need to make some new covers etc for it and she can then play with it when she is at the mouse house :), she is almost walking on her own fully .. she just needs that bit more confidence, then she will be off ... 

Looking back through my book of day's I have finished 26 items up to press and most of these have not been small projects either ... I think next year I am going to concentrate on some smaller pieces as got loads I want to stitch. I am hoping that What remains gets finished in the next few weeks .... I have almost finished all my Christmas / birthday gifts for around this time of year so feeling glad I have after coming down with the dreaded covid now .....

DD2's wedding is getting ever closer, and I have now got my outfit having lost almost 3.5 stone and counting and will have a fitting early Jan 2023 ... going the full hog of posh frock and hat hahahahah ... bit of a change from tracky bottoms and tee-shirts I tell you ...mind you with two munchkins and two dogs I am never going to be clean, think chocolate, biscuits and mud ...lol, we are definitely hands on grandparents.

Miss B admiring the Christmas grotto 

put some stitches in 
the Cottages of the month this week too 

Progress on What remains 

Stitch all things by Erica Michaels 

Munchkin sitting ... feeding the ducks

bought this for small munchkin at a steal ...

Small munchkin is learning to walk 

Box top of Study in Blue by Sue Hillis 

Band to go round box from Study in Blue 

Miss B's blankie finished 

elder munchkin on one of our walks looking for squirrels 

Sewing Bee strawberry FFO'd by Erica Michaels 

another one FFO's finally 

For the Birds Series progress

My exchange piece from my Partner 

Lainey's birthday gift

Stash Haul from small Harrogate show 

my exchange piece to my partner 

Oh Joyous Day finished .. just needs to be framed 

Ok don't think there is much more to add this time apart from thank you for getting this far ... wishing you all lots of stitching time, take care one and all :) love mouse xxxxx 

Halloween Blog hop of 2022

 Spoooky greetings one and all .... its the annual Halloween Blog hop hosted by Jo of Serendipitousstitching.blogspot,com

it is the usual thing of hopping from one blog to another to get all the letters to form the spooky Halloween word that she has chosen .... 

the letter she has given me is .....T

A piece I stitched  in 2015....

the next blog to hop over to is ....

http://theflashingscissors.blogspot.com/

enjoy your hopping like a toad ...lol

take care and happpy stitching everyone :) love mouse xxxxx

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop 2022

 Helloooo everyone , as you can see from the title it has come round to the Summer Blog hop ... we have been allocated a partner to introduce to you all and to write a wee blurb about them .

My partner is a new blogger to me and she lives in the UK ( I hope ..lol as she mentions a wee kit from Aldi) and she does SALs with her BBF , she has just completed one of a lovely Tree of Life. 

She is also on a software development journey too via Open University , and seems to be doing really well with it too ...

I learnt many moons ago how to do it with 1 and 0 ..lol showing my age here.

From reading her posts and her BFF's blog she quilts as well , so we have that in common too :) she also does the gifted gorgeousness that Jo organised too.

She does black work as well as cross stitch and has a washing line of smalls , which I think is really cute way of displaying your stitching . She also isn't afraid to try new skills and as a family watches "Forged in Fire"  so they have had a go at blacksmithing and made some beautiful blades with twists in them and she would like to learn more too :)

I have chosen The Inn at Fox River Mill as a piece that I hope she will like as thinking it would be the ideal place to have a forge there for her ..lol 

if you haven't guessed by now my partner is Roni from

https://lifeoutsidethewashingbasket.blogspot.com/

take care one and all, until next time .... love mouse xxxxx

Going on a squirrel hunt

 Morning all, on this bright and sunny May morning , last Saturday I took my wee grands on an adventure to go for a squirrel hunt in the woods near where they live ... it was a glorious day , we saw a woodpecker, birdies, doggies of different varieties ... had a picnic , saw a buzzy bee , a tractor and popo's ( horses) but alas no squirrels ... Master Billy was calling "where are you to them" but they wouldn't come out to see us at all :( .... which is typical as last time we went there were hundreds of them hahahahah

On a stitchy front I have done more on Winter Rose Manor and loving it even more now the big house has been built, finished off the stitching of my first Christmas ornie for this month, just need to find some beads before I fully finish it and started Summer Flock by BBD last night and almost finished it , its from the Sewing Club book.... , I have also been making dice trays for my DH for his wargaming pals as they had a big game last Saturday and while I was in the sewing mood have made some project bags for my friend and going to make a few more for gifts too ....

coooo a few days later I have had a fully finishing spree and got my pile down to zero ...lol, pictures below for your perusal , as well as getting my sampler wall up too with help from my best friend A .. she did a cracking job  :) 

so I shall leave you now and catch up with you all again soon 

take care one and all , love mouse xxxx

not often you see an elephant on the high street ..lol

Jubilee piece 

more have been added but no photo 

done more on this since 

Master B and Miss B

new cushions for DH man cave 

 

ripe pear and summer flock
from Sewing club by BBD

Nimble Thimble visit 2022

 HI everyone, hope you are all well and stitching merrily away ... I have just got back from a long weekend away to The Nimble Thimble in Wales with a few like minded stitchy friends , we had a fabulous time, chatting, eating gorgeous pavlova and of course the stash hauls ...lol The journey there was a bit horrendous but the weather was kind and was warm and sunny, my accommodation was lovely with a great view of the castle and the moat surrounding it .... The Napoleonic's Society were also there this weekend and it was lovely to see them all in their costumes, Napoleon was staying in the same guest house as me.. hehehe

I bought quite a lot of threads to kit up thinks from the sewing club book and the new My heart remembers both by BBD, just need to marry them up with fabric and away I go heheheh. On the Sunday I met up with Tina , Pat and Hazel who had rented a cottage at Wem and had a lovely few hours chatting , drinking and eating as well as stitching, as I got a finish of Ripe Pear by BBD too ... I did work on Winter Rose by With Thy Needle and Thread while away ... I am doing this one as a stitch along with Sally and I am loving it more now that huge house has got painted ...lol 

My wee grandson and grandaugter have kept me busy as well and my little man is 2 tomorrow .. time sure flies ... we went shopping today to get his presents and DH said we ought to have took him with us and let him choose as it was hard work hahahah ....

Master Bentley and Master Cooper are doing fine and enjoying the nice weather we have bee having too as well as snuggling up near to the new multi fuel burner we have had installed in the front room .. we have had the room re decorated and it looks sooooo nice even if I say so myself hahahahh, I even have got my Celtic ladies back up again ... the rest of my framed pieces are waiting for my friend Amanda to come and help me get them up on the wall leading up to my craft room. I have been busy in there too making project bags for Lainey and a bee bag for Tina and I have a few other items in the pipe line to get finished and started too ... I have been good and organised my quilting fabric into colours and labelled all the kallax drona boxes so I know what is in them now ... sooo much easier that routing through ...

ok doke I will leave you with some photos of said visit to Wales and my bits of stitching too .... until next time , take care one and all, love mouse xxxxx

Napoleon

The Nimble Thimble

The view from my room

Ripe Pear by BBD finished 

View of the river from The Nimble Thimble 

Progress on Winter Rose Manor by WTNT

sun shining onto my stitching seat 

small stash haul .... not been for 3 years ..lol 

Easter Blog Hop 2022

 Hi everyone , it is almost Easter and today is Jo' blog hop once again 

My photo is of an Easter piece I did many moons ago and mounted onto a box top . Of the top of my head I cannot remember the name of the chart but it was one that did the rounds.

My other photo is of some blossom taken today whilst out with my wee grandaughter for a walk to get her to nap ... it worked ..lol 

My letter for the blog hop is ....L 

And the next blog to hop to is .....https://lifeoutsidethewashingbasket.blogspot.com/

Enjoy blog hoping and solving the word puzzle , take care one and all ....love mouse 

Secret Sweet Valentine Hop

 Today is Valentine's day and I am participating in Jo's blog hop again where we are doing the secret valentine hop again  ....

I have received this beautiful lavender and lace stitched piece from my Secret Valentine and hopefully my valentine will reveal themselves whilst going round the blog hop ... details are on Jo's blog 

My choice for this year Valentine Blog hop included two hearts , one I received many moons ago(2012) from Lee ( notes from under a mountain) which is simply gorgeous and one heart that I stitched called the Stitchers Heart by LittleHouse Needleworks that was a joint pattern with Shakespeare Peddler ... (I did do both pieces of the collaboration  ..lol ) and these pictures have gone to my secret Valentine,  so I will need to go blog hopping to find who has them ..lol 

Thank you for visiting my blog today and please nip over to Jo's to see everyone else's Valentine choices 

take care and merry stitching one and all, love mouse xxxxxx

Happy New Year

 Happy New Year everyone ... I hope you all had a lovely Christmas however you celebrated the festive season ... we spent the days with the family having meals out at the daughters, sooo not a pan or pot was used at the mouse house for the first time in 34 years ..lol whoop ....I got thoroughly spoilt with lots of goodies and the odd bit of chocolate .yummmm and I have some pennies to spend too :)

I finally got the extra sockets put in my craft room and my stitching chair is finally up in place and has been used these last few days soooo all is good .. still got a wee bit of sorting to do which should be finished this next weekend all being well 

Doing a tot up of how many pieces I got finished last year and I managed to get 15 done .. some of those were big projects too .. not as much as previous years but with the arrival of my wee granddaughter on top of my little man has made life a tad more busy and interesting as I had to virtually live there due to my DD having an emergency C section. And then 10 days before Christmas our wee granddaughter came to "live" with us while her mum and dad had a new kitchen fitted. as it was much easier for me to look after her here at the mouse house .. so not much got done stitching wise at all over that period ...lol , the house was definitely less full of stuff when she went back hahahahah

my wee GD with her protector Cooper 

Master Bentley was a trouper with her and let us know if she stirred awake in her pram if we were in another room and  he had to check on her every morning to make sure she was ok too  ... Master Cooper has the role of protector and made sure she was safe at all times ...( she is never left alone with the boys btw just in case anyone worries about this ) 

checking she is ok :)

I got some lovely gifts from my friends for Christmas and DH and I swapped our usual Toblerone's ,... we buy stuff throughout the year when we see things we want, soo when it gets to Christmas it is really hard so we have made a pact ..lol 

photos will be at the end .

I am on the last leg of Our Lasting Friendship which will be my first finish of 2022 , I am also trying to work on an ornie a month as a Sal with Tina and working on Sally's new birthday start, which is Winter Rose Sampler by Brenda Gervais and I have changed the house colour to GAST Cottage Blue just to be different .. mine is a very dark fabric Vintage Shilock by The Wee Linen Company and the recommended colour didn't show up. I have also started Bluebirds Message but not got very far with that at all at the moment but once OLF has been finished then I can get back to my rota of stitching again. 

Yesterday I took a wee road trip to The Viking Loom at York to meet up with a long time internet stitchy friend and her husband who had come over for a visit to the UK . I think her husband is a hoot in the enabling dept as he was you like it you get it ... said to my DH I need to borrow his philosophy when I go stash buying hahahhahah. We spent a pleasant few hours browsing and buying and for once her stash haul was greater than mine hahahahha

Today at the mouse house we are having a new gate and matching railings put up .. it is something we have been wanting to do for ages and they look really nice ...

then we just need to get the chimney swept again and the we can get the wood burner in :) update got a new sweep coming to see what the problem is with the chimney on Monday whoop whoop ... things are coming together :)

Well a few more days have passed ... the sweep came ... still clearing up the fine soot that gets everywhere ..lol 

I have my first cross stitch finish of 2022 .. Our Lasting Friendship by Blackbird Designs, stitched on 32 count country mocha fabric using the recommended threads one over two. I have worked on as well this week Bluebirds Message BBD, Feed your Soul , Primitive Merry Christmas and AOTH too .. trying to be good here ...lol

ok I had better find the photos otherwise my birthday will be here ( friday 28th ) and I will be 21 again hehehehe

for Tina's 60th birthday 

from Lynn in an exchange( sorry upside down ) 

                                                                            from Sally 

from Lainey

from Butterfly

from DJ 

from Roz 

from Barbara B

from Wendy and Chris 

from DD .. its soooo cute 

first finish of the year Our Lasting Friendship 

Ok I had better sign off now .. will try and find the progress photos of the other stitches as soon as possible , might have even worked on them more by the next instalment ...lol 

Take care one and all and HaPPyyyyy stitching ... love mouse xxxxxx