Sweet Shoppe

This firescreen design was in a McCalls magazine in the 80s and was finished years ago. It has been rescued from the loft and will be used over the Christmas and winter season. I am hoping that my husband will needlepoint a rug with a gingerbread house design to go with it.



I have been working on Soda Pop Santa which I think is a great design BUT the chart is very faint and difficult to see. There are two symbols which are virtually identical and it was only when I found that Santa would have a green mouth that I realised this. There was not enough of 762 and 801 does not have a symbol. I have worked 3 Dimples Designs before and not had a problem so this was a bit of a disappointment. As you can see from the photo all that needs to be done is the backstitching on Santa and the border to be completed.



All my good intentions of finishing the Santa went out through the window on Christmas Day when my super sister gave me Christmas Eve by Just Nan. I could not resist starting and as you can see from the photo I made quite good progress. I haven't beaded or backstitched yet but will do that at the end. The chart is lovely and clear as always. I think it is a great design, I hope you do too.

Phew! It's finished.

After sewing like someone demented for just over two weeks the Twelve Days of Christmas is finished. There was enough linen band and silks in the accessory pack to complete the design on 24 count. What a relief!

I am now spoilt for choice as to what to do next. I have my Christmas SAL to do. I have posted a photo of how far I got with the Windswept Santas before putting it away several years ago. I have my TW's Tapestry Peacock (another UFO) but this is going to wait until the New Year when the tree is down and my stand can be put up again.







I do want to start something new. I have some Lavender Wings charts of delightful snowmen but I think these can wait a while. I have decided on Soda pop Santa by Dimple Designs. I thought the charts, fabric and threads from Silver Needle were very reasonably priced.

Now the decision is made I just need to start. My conscience tells me I should really finish the first windswept Santa which is nearly complete but I think Soda pop Santa will win, at least for today. I will let you know how I progress.

Difficulty with linen band

I have been busy stitching Victoria Sampler's Twelve Days of Christmas over the past ten days. I did not want to do the fancy stitched edge and decided to work it on linen band. That was when the problems started. Finding linen band of the right size in the UK is not easy and I was told that some had been discontinued. Thank goodness for the internet after some googling I found a linen band at Nordic Needle which would acommodate the number of stitches. One little problem though the stitch count is 24 the pattern says 28. I ordered a yard which is what the original pattern says completely forgetting that a smaller thread count is going to make a larger item. Panic stations! I waited anxiously for the band to arrive. Luckily it will fit but will there be enough silk in the accessory packs to complete the project? I just don't know, which is why I am not stitching anything else until it is finished. When it is I shall be starting my Christmas SAL and working some more on TW's Peacock Tapestry.

The photograph shows the four seasons in the square by Just Nan. I had them framed together because I thought they would take up less room that way.

Our costuming got off to a slow start. Putting the lace round the collars proved a little difficult because of the width of the lace and we did not want to gather it too much. We had difficulty finding a lace with Van Dyke edging but thanks to Ebay the problem was solved. There is not unlimited funding for these costumes so we have to be quite careful in our shopping. I will get my husband to take photographs after the festive season to show our progress.

Evetually following Yoyo's advice I will get round to listing blogs I follow and my favourite designers. Who knows I may become adventurous and set up links!