Happy dancing at the end of the year!

Last weeks I have been concentrating on two items. A stitched one and a crocheted one. I was hoping to finish them both before the end of the year and, thanks for a long Christmas vacation, I did it!!
Here is my Cirque des Carreaux, design of Ink Circles. Stitched on 32 ct. Belfast Sudden Storm (Silkweaver) with Carrie's Creation Epiphany. Stitch count: 247 x 185.

I also finished my Not an Addict Cowl, here it is, on my youngest daughter's lovely neck.

I am happy to end this year with two finishes, so I can start some new projects next year. There is a Chatelaine waitng for me, kitted all up. And I casted on the Wintermystery Shawl by Renee Leverington.

Last but not least I want to thank all my followers for reading and all the lovely comments I received this year. They are hightly appreciated. I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013!

Last week of the year

The last week of the year is almost there and, like always, I get the feeling I have a lot of things I wanted to be a finish this year! There is my bedquilt, waiting for me for almost three or four months. There are some WIPS I really wanted to be done, like my Red Wine shawl, not to speak of my HAEDs. I get the feeling they will never be finished .... I know, it is because I got distracted by other things, like knitting lace ;)
Yet I have some pictures for you, and maybe they can be finished this year, if I don't cast on the latest Mystery of Renee Leverington, that is. This afternoon I have been winding yarn ....
Here is a picture of my Not an Addict Cowl.

And some close-ups of Cirque des Carreaux. There is progress again, but to keep the tension I won't show a picture of that. do I make it a finish, this year? Working on it ...

 

 

Stitching again

Another week went by, only one week and we have Christmas holidays. I look forward to it! We set up the tree this afternoon, so our home gets in the mood already. Not me, I'm not a Christmas type, I think, I just learned I am an Autumn type of person LOL.
This week I mainly stitched on Cirque des Carreaux, so I can show quite some progress.

And since my youngest DD bought my presents for Sinterklaas, I received some lovely yarn and the saying I had to crochet a cowl. A specific sowl from a booklet she also bought me.
Obedient girl as I am, I started right away, last weekend. And this is the result until now.

Yesterday a friend and me visited Midwinterwol, a yarn festival at Winschoten. We had a very good time and I bought some beautiful stash. I've got no plans for it right now, but I'm sure that will come ;)

Let it snow

It's not Christmas yet and I really don't like snow, but this is the first part of the new SAL I am doing. I am stitching on a handdyed Silkweaver Jobelan, Summer sky. The thread I use is Necessities overdyed floss, number 1352.
The SAL is going to be in 16 parts,every three weeks a part. I am a little behind, should have done two parts by now, but I have been extremely busy doing other things ;)

There was a trip to Delft and Utrecht, some partying and the preparations of a wellknown tradition in The Netherlands, Sinterklaas. That means buying gifts, making surprises and writing rhymes. All that means less stitching time.

Yet I have progress on Cirque des Carreaux.

And of course, Call of the Raven's monthly update. Anothere 1000 or so crossstitches added.

Also there is progress on my knitting as well. Clue 4 of Whispering Grass is ready. I hope to show the whole shawl next week. No picture yet, because it doesn't look like a shawl at all.  

There is however a picture of Red Wine. Another row of flowers is finished, 'only' four rows to go!

New SAL

Since Many Years Ago is a finish I could start another SAL. And so I made a beginning at Let It Snow. Although I didn't finish part 1 yet, I wanted to take some pictures and show them to you. I hope the pictures show the stitching, because I am stitching on a lightblue fabric with lightblue yarn.

Part three of Whispering Grass is done. Two clues to go, so in about two weeks this should be a finish.

And due to my stitching friends of a Dutch group I have some progress on Cirque des Carreaux. 

Mary again ;) and a welcome to all 'my' readers

In spite of a lazy Sunday (there is a flu coming up, I am shivering and coughing, but not yet ill enough to spend the day in bed. So an update on my blog is a good idea, taking some pictures, writing a blogpost.

I noticed there are 200 followers since this week! Thank you for reading my little adventures with needle and thread! I know most bloggers are doing a giveaway to celebrate something like this. I am not. I am a different kind of woman. I like blogging, I like you following me, I am just not into organizing a give-away. But I welcome you dearly :)

Now Mary. She has a grip on me, these  days, so I can show some more progress on her.

And there is another piece that has some progress. I doubt if you have seen it before on my blog. It is my summer stitching, in companion to Mary. Cirque des Carreaux by Ink Circles.

Work has been very busy, so I am strongly in need of relaxing. Did you know, knitting is relaxing? I did, so here is some progress on Red Wine.

And progress on NightInGail. Almost a third done.

Oh, I almost forgot, I have a little progress on quilting too! Autumn colours and the sun rising early, a rather strange combination, but I chose the fabric because of the lovely feathers.

This week's progress

It's been a busy week, work is hectic so there's no energy left for complicated projects. My Holland Springtime has to wait until things are back to normal, so HOHRH has a new house under construction. In the afternoon, coming home from work I sat down for an hour or so and started to build the houses on block nr. 7. I decided I want to have it finish by the end of June, so in July and August I can continue my 'summer stitching' that has been waiting for me all winter.

I have two works I concentrate on this summer. The first is the Mary Wigham Sampler, stitched on 40 ct fabric, the second is a design of Ink Circles, Cirque des Carreaux. This is how I left them at the end of summer, 2009.

I spend my evenings stitching on Call of the Raven again. She's been neglected for some time and I want to give her some extra attention. Besides that it is an easy stitch, so I can accomplish some progress without getting exhausted.

I also made a good start on block number 5 of Red Delicious. Fanfare it is called and I have been puzzling and thinking about how to do this all week long. Finally, this afternoon I started and this is how it is now.

Winter Exchange and Spring arrives!

Finally it seems Spring arrives in The Netherlands! Snow disappears and today it was sunny, so I installed my chair on our balcony and stitched! I have a sort of rotation between winter and summer works, so I pulled one of my summer works out of the drawer, Cirque des Carreaux, an Ink Circle Design.

All week I have been stitching on some presents for our quilt retreat. I had to make seven presents and I am finished! Obviously I can´t show them yet. Last week I received this beautiful Winter Exchange from Edda. She stitched me two lovely items, a biscornu and a fob (or little ornament)

and she knitted the perfect shawl for me, in a bright orange/yellow. It makes me feel sunny and it's warm and cozy on my shoulders.

Edda also added a little booklet in Icelandic and English (as I don't read Icelandic, I am happy to be able to read in in English). It is about thirteen Icelandic Christmas lads, a Christmas Rhyme. Isn't that a perfect exchange?

Again: Mystery XI and a new start

From last Friday on I have been stitchting mainly on Mystery XI, and I still have some hope I can finish this before the (self chosen) deadline of May 1st. I don't want to concentrate on this one only, because when I get home from work, tired, the HAED stitching is much more comfortable to me. Stitching the Mystery XI means I have to keep concentrated, and after a day's work I sometimes find it hard to do.

So, apart from the Mystery, there is also some progress on Vibrant Vista, and this afternoon I decided to make a fresh start on a brand new design by Ink Circles, Cirque des Carreaux. I will stitch this on Sudden Storm, 32ct Belfast, by Silkweaver, using Carrie's Threads, Epiphany. The chart indicated this threads, and I think it is stunning, so I decided not to look for any other, but to order the chart, including the threads.