Just for fun, here are a couple of piccies of me and my daughter in a fashion show last night. It was to raise money for the Ugandan orphanage and abandoned babies unit we support. It was fun to do, we had a great laugh putting on the ole makeup & fiddling with our hair, we all felt like real princesses for the evening, very beautiful, which is good cos in the eyes of God thats what everyone of you women are! I especially enjoyed wearing the genuine 1920's dress which was really pretty and sooooo not me. Me showing my legs no never, fortunately i had remembered to shave!

Hello again, I just received a couple of photo's from Sally of the biscournu I sent to her, cos I being a 'bear of little brain' forgot to take one. I stitched it with Carries Creations hand dyed floss Banana Split, which are really yummy colours. Here they are:

The theme was autumn and yeah I know 'Banana Split' (I think I was thinking with my tummy when I ordered that one!) doesnt sound very autumnal but when it came I thought that might turn out ok I think with the leafy design. I sent some little cones and leaves too, I'm a bit mad for cones I pick them up all the time, everywhere I go, got em all over my house, drives my hubbie potty!

Hi there folks

I just took part in my first exchange. I was soooo nervous that my biscournu was not gonna be up to standard, you guys are so hard to follow! The very lovely Sally was my victim...I mean..recipient, she was really pleased with it so thats a huge relief. I forgot to take photo's though so thats a bit annoying, maybe Sally will email me one of hers.

I, of course, also received my biscournu. Mine came from Tracy and its beautiful. I love the detailing and all the little beads, she's used gorgeous colours too. I also got a little pattern and enough thread, beads & material to complete a matching scissor fob, so thank you very much for that Tracy. Photos below:-

Ok have found camera so i can show some of my wip. This one is 'A Bouquet for Cheryl'. Hazel gave me the fabric which is dyed Silkweaver, can't remember the shade but it's pretty and the thread is good old DMC Colour variations.

I've also done a little bit more on the Looylou design 'Ruby', I have to stitch this with my wits about me though as a lot of the stitches are new to me, hence the slow progress.

Gareth (my dh) and I went for a short break last week in our brand new caravan, I love it so much its only a two berth one so is just perfect for us. I decided to stitch a little pomander thing to hang in it whilst we were there, I filled it with lavender and its lovely.

Ok massive apologies for not writing anything sooner...I have my excuses at the ready though :) I have been having a bit of a tough time healthwise but God is good and I am feeling ok. Also on top of that I have had the threat of redundancy over my head for the last month, that seems to have worked out so I am currently safe in my job but for how long is anyones guess. I have been trying to find other work and its been quite difficult and stressful but I have had an interview in a Dr's surgery and am waiting to find out the results of that. It may be I will stay where I am, I don't know yet and need to pray to make the right decision. Things seem very uncertain right now. So after all that I haven't actually been stitching except bits and bobs here and there. I started 'A Bouquet for Cheryl' I know many of you have already completed that. Hazel H came round to do some stitching last night and it inspired me to pick it up again, I will post a picture when I can find the camera later!

Oh my goodness after all that I forgot my camera! If you go onto Hazels blog you will see more pics. It was extremely scary using scissors on a piece but I think the effect you get is really rather stunning and as we all got a marvelous design from Lynda Bodkin as our present involving all the new stitches we have learned I will definitely be doing it again.

Hazel and I are intending to get together to complete the design, our first night will be tomorrow - Wednesday, but as she's already further ahead than me I might have to have a sneaky stitch moment before then.....shhhhhh.

I'm just doing a little pinkeep at the mo, making it for a lovely lady at our church, she gave me a little present of a china bird the other week so I've carried on with the bird theme.

The chart was a little freebie from my aunts attic.
Bye for now.
A
x

Well Hazel (Quietly Stitching) and I are off this weekend to the Bedford School of Embroidery to do a drawn thread workshop which should be great, I'm really looking forward to it. Its a Stitch & Stash weekend organised by Jayne from Jaynes Attic. We have a full itinerary planned so I hope we will get some time to spend actually stitching! I am intending to take my camera so hopefully we should have some pics to reveal next week. Have a lovely weekend everyone.
A
x

Hello and greetings especially to my brand new floss mom from the USA and thank you for adopting me! Just thought I'd pop in a couple of piccies of where I live so you can see....

These pictures were taken on a winter walk (despite what the faulty camera date says!)and it was freezing but we'd just hiked up the hill at the back of our house and were a bit sweaty lol.

Theres plenty of these things where we live, sheep, sheep and more sheep....oh look whats that over there is it a horse maybe?.....no its just another bigger sheep!

And you definitely need a pair of these for all the lovely English weather (not) that makes the place so green, I have several pairs for walking my dog & riding but these are my faves, Tulips.

This is my gorgeous softie dog Ruby Tuesday and my puss cat Pippin having a naughty catnap on the bed...chat soon.

Amanda

x

If you go on Rowyns blog - Stitching under the Southern Cross, there's instructions on how to do this fun mosaic, you have to answer some questions and it comes up with photo's that represent you in some way, its a bit of fun and a great way to pass some time.....who can tell I'm sat at my desk at work again ..hee..hee.

I'm not sure why Prince William came up, I don't think I gave him as an answer to Who is the love of your life? ....or maybe I did LOL!

Well finally I am able to start on Anita D's Emery Collection as all my threads & ribbon have arrived so I'm happy about that, not sure when I will have the time though? Its coming up to the mad time of year when we have all the parades & fetes & festivals and as Kids Worker boy that means busy busy for me. We've just had our annual town parade and we entered a walking group. We dressed as animals and pushed along a huge Noahs Ark that the kids had made and decorated, the weather was kind to us and we had lots of fun. Got the 'One World Festival' coming up which for me means planning childrens activities for the day, crafts, face painting, biscuit decorating and the like. Lots of end of term stuff planning for me at the weekly kids club, parties etc. On top of that I'm studying a Bible College course from Hillsong International Leadership College and I'm behind on my assignments already...Aaargh!

BUT

I have still managed to do a little bit of stitching on my Victorian Sampler so thats good...

I've also finished a little banner I made for my mums birthday. I think she will really like it as she has no idea about my new hobby and used to love making things by hand herself when me & my little sis were kids. She's also a bit of a softie (like me) and is quite sentimental about stuff so I think she will appreciate the time and effort above the actual quality!!! Thought it would go nice with a lovely bunch of roses & freesia's which are mums favourite.

Thanks for leaving comments, I really appreciate it and I'm finding them hugely encouraging. If anyone has any tips for where I can improve or maybe some ideas for finishing or helpful web sites etc please do tell. I'm relying on you guys :)

A

x

Oooh it worked if a bit skewed, well thats a start. Well this above is a little lavender filled pillow in honour of my gorgeous angel daughter Lauren otherwise known as Lolli or Lollipop whom i just adore....she really is an angel and thats saying something for a teen... (It must be God cos its definitely not the parents hee hee)

This is an idea I saw in a magazine that had it as a suggestion for using up some old buttons, I thought it was really simple and dead pretty, it looks cute hanging on the piano.

Well thats kinda it for now, I'm working on a victorian sampler and am just waiting for some threads to be delivered so I can start on Anita Ds Emery Collection. Was just saying to Hazel the other day its a bit of a nightmare when you first start a hobby cos you are starting from scratch with nothing and have to buy everything and it costs quite a lot (not in comparison to other hobbies I tell my hubbie :) ) Im starting to build up a little bit of a stash now and Hazel has been very good to me too. I'll just go find a piccie of my family then you can see us warts and all and then I'll say bye for now til next time.....

My Lolli & me behind a waterfall in sunny Tenerife, ooh how I wish I was back there it was gorgeous, mind you today has been nice here in England too, we've been relaxing after church in the sunshine...well I have, Gareths been mowing the grass!

Hey all, well I'm trying to get to grips with this blogging thing, I'm gonna try and put in some pictures of some stuff I've done......please bear in mind I'm new to stitchin so its not fantastic but its a start :) My first attempt was late last year when I bought a kit..
Erm it seems to be on its side...lol oh well! I liked it cos I liked the sentiment and loved the colours. Its only fairly small but it took ages for me to do and I kept getting really fed up with it...I was learning patience and the ability to sit for longer periods than one minute at a time.



This is a little pincushion of the Alphabet Tree, I did it with my first stash purchase of some chocolate coloured fabric and Carries Creation threads in Autumn Leaves colours. Whoever invented variegated threads needs a medal they're great!
This image is a bit blurry but its a piccie of my first and only biscournu!














I have no control over where these pictures are ending up sorry......still need my tutorial from my mama..Haze....

I'm gonna put this one up and see how we are faring before I try and upload anything else. Thanks for all your welcomes by the way, I was really touched.

Amanda
x

Thank you for welcoming me to stitching and blogging. Am looking forward to chatting with you and making some new friends. This blog will prob undergo some changes when Haze and I get together, she's promised to give me a tutorial so thats great and very much needed.

Amanda
xx

Gosh am I having an incredibly boring day. I am sat on the desk in reception all day totally alone due to my colleagues who have all deserted me and gone on holiday. Unfortunately this means I have had adequate time to go surfing the net for some lovely stitchy things, things which I really shouldn't be buying and I really don't need but yet the pull is too great. Went on Anitas blog www.anitalittlestitches.blogspot and bought the Emery Collection just because they are so cute. Looking forward to receiving my accessories pack so I can get started on them soon. I may even bring them into work with me if its gonna be like this next week. I keep thinking about the stuff I could be doing at home whilst I'm sat here..... y'know like starting the lovely chart I printed off last week whilst I was bored at work :) or going back to the sampler thats taking me ages....

Well - Introductions

Erm this is me, Amanda, friend of Hazel who is quietly stitching! Hazel introduced me to cross stitch and now I love it. I have to confess though to generally not having a clue how to actually do stuff, I'm amazed by what people stitch, so many absolutely gorgeous things. The things I have tried so far have been a biscournu, a couple of little cushions and a kit! As I've put in my title I rarely sit for long and so stitching has become a good discipline to relax me. I have no idea how to blog either and this has been done during a quiet moment at work....naughty yes I know but hey! I will get Hazel to show me how to do it. Right now I feel a complete fool typing in stuff about me that probably will never get read! Well, bye for now.......air.