More Charity Shop finds...

 

A phoenix necklace for £2

 

I like the scarf on the front knitted in Noro wool. I may have to indulge in some of this gorgeous wool again.

 

Italian DMC pattern book. Possibly 1970s

 

Making Samplers book from the Embroiderers' Guild - this one has some lovely charts for samplers inside

 

And from Doodles, I bought 3 metres of red ribbon which I plan to use for some valentine crafting

Latest update on Blumen im Raster

It's just over 90% complete and I'm going to try to finish it before I go to Athens on 1st February. Thanks so much to Jacque for sending me the thread that was out of stock locally. Now I can fill in all those gaps.

Thursday Finishing Frenzy 23rd January

First piece I've turned into a finished item this year.   This little beauty was stitched for me by Sara in 2003 as part of a "Squares Exchange", and he's now on display in my hallway next to my blackwork owl, only 6 more slots to fill!  

 

I love my little display unit and I'm hoping eventually to have enough seasonal or occasion ornaments to swap them out for Valentine's, Easter, Halloween, Christmas etc...

January Stitchathon on Cross Stitch Crazy

and I had a busy week, I stitched to take my mind of the emptiness and quiet without Charlie.  

 

I was working on my focus piece Blumen im Raster. This is my WIP that is closest to being finished and is now at 85% complete

On Friday 17th January we said good bye

to our much loved Westie Charlie. He had cutaneous lymphoma, an aggressive and not easily treatable cancer. He was almost 16. We made the heartbreaking decision to put him to sleep as he had begun to show signs he was in pain.     You will be forever remembered Charlie Barker  

 

 

 

 

 

Charity store finds

You may or may not notice but I LOVE thrift, charity and vintage stores. Yesterday was a bumper day with two finds:

A steampunk necklace with a navy cameo and ribbon detailing £3

And this skater dress with leopard print detailing which I picked up for Cat to wear to job interviews £4.50

Goodies from Copenhagen, Liberty of London and Benefit

I'm so spoilt. On my trip to Copenhagen I was given some Danish Krone to spend how I pleased. I had great fun crusing the vintage, thrift and charity stores there and found some lovely crafting goodies.

 

Calendars produced by the Danish Handcrafts Guild, there is a design theme for each book and charts for each month inside.

1964 Flowers by Gerda Bengtsson

1967 Copenhagen by Ida Winckler & Gerda Bengtsson

1969 Birds in trees by Else Thordur Hansen

1982 Samplers by Ida Winckler

 

A couple of finished table runners with gorgeous hand stitched Hardanger

 

A bag of antique lace

 

Some hearts for Valentine's day 

 

Danish Flower Thread and a packet of antique John James needles

 

And I bought a knitting nancy in Panduro Hobby as I've wanted to try this again for a long time

And on the flip side, after Alan's Christmas do on January 10th, we stayed in a nice hotel so we didn't have to travel back late at night and went shopping the next day at Carnaby Street and Liberty of London

 

Who wouldn't benefit from this?

 

Bought at Waterloo Station on the way home. I need to make more socks as they keep my feet so warm.

 

 

And two remnants from Liberty, one gorgeous peacock colour print and one dynamic print that is coated so I'm going to use it to make sandwich wrappers probably.

Belated Christmas Celebrations

 

January 10th and we went to Alan's work Christmas do at an Argentinian restaurant in London. Gorgeous steak and beautiful dessert. 

We both dressed up, Alan wearing the top hat I bought him in Copenhagen. His colleagues are used to his eccentricities now.

 Alan's boss gave all the partners a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne for putting up with all the uncertainties and extra hours that have had to be worked this year.

It was a lovely evening and so great to get together with everyone.

2014 Goals

Project	Goal	Completed?
Blumen Im Raster	100%
Four Horses of the Apocalypse	75%
Celtic Spring	75%
Spot of Summer	50%
Winterhaven	25%
Stargazer Lilies	10%
Companions	10%
Birdhouses	5%

  My new goals for this year are set. I'm aiming to finish only one project this year but it's a huge project - more than 24500 stitches still to go.   Wish me luck!

How did I do against my 2013 stitching goals

I think I did really well considering my health challenges now onwards to set some goals for next year!

Project	Goal	Completed?
Coffee Lap Quilt	100%	Yes
Blumen Im Raster	75%	Yes – 75%
Four Horses of the Apocalypse	50%	Yes – 50%
Celtic Spring	50%	Yes – 52%
Spot of Summer	25%	Yes – 27%
Winterhaven	10%	Yes – 11%
Stargazer Lilies	10%	No - 1%
Companions	10%	No - 1%
Birdhouses	5%	Yes – 16%

 

Athens street art

There was street art everywhere in Athens. I could have taken hundreds of pictures but here are some that I did capture.