Chatelaine progress

So here's a little more progress on Misty Morning Vineyard from Chatelaine. Photography just does it no justice!

Also some progress on Egyptian Garden, hopefully you can see the detail in the beaded centre and the 1x1 fishies!

HAED progress

Another mermaid from Heaven and Earth designs. This is from a painting by Selena Fenech called "Sea of Roses"

I am stitching it 1x1 using full cross stitches on the recommended 25ct lugana fabric.

Christmas...it's nearly here!

Rich dug us out & we ventured to Sherwood Pines to buy our tree & here it is!

Also, I have been experimenting baking bread & mulling wine. The bread is made with vine ripened tomatoes & parmesan cheese & tasted amazing! The mulled wine recipe was one from Jamie Oliver which my best friend recommended. Previously I have used sachets of spices for convenience but would recommend going the extra mile... the results are out of this world. Full marks Jamie!! You can cut & paste this link - unfortunately the clickable link I tried to post is not showing up.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/other-recipes/jamie-s-mulled-wine

Snow!

We're still mid "deep freeze" in Mansfield with the daytime temperatures barely reaching -5C but thankfully now, at least our snow has all but disappeared. We were buried under 2 feet of the stuff a couple of weeks ago though so here's a few pics. The chickens were throughly miserable & refused to come out of the shed at all.

Our little ex-Batt Princess Layer sadly died in November. In previous snow falls she had been the only one to venture out.

My Wedding

On 28th August 2010 I got married to my lovely hubby Richard...so technically I'm now Ang_B!

The day could not have been more perfect & all of our guests have commented on what a beautiful wedding they thought it was. Thankfully all the effort & planning seems to have paid off!

I was also very proud of myself for having dropped 32lbs since January through a combination of (strangely enough...) diet and exercise! Running to be more precise...me!!!....not something I thought I would ever say! In January, with a little encouragement from my best friend, we started running - I could barely manage 30 seconds without stopping. By June we were running 6+ miles in one go. My sister and I even ran 9 miles one day. Next year I plan to run a half marathon...so it's amazing what can be achieved with persistence!

Wedding stitching

Here is my little boy Aidan holding the ring pillow which I made for my wedding. It is from the "Hardanger Chart Collection" from Col's Creations. I purchased the kit from Sewandso.co.uk
I did modify the design slightly to add our initials & the date of our wedding in the centre. The whole thing took approximately 2 weeks from start to completion & I was thrilled with the result!

First ever HAED finish

I finished this earlier in the year. It is called "Violet and Gold" and is by Molly Harrison & subsequently charted by HAED (Heaven and Earth Designs).

I can't pretend that I enjoyed stitching her since the colour changes virtually drove me insane - Honestly 85 different colours in a single 10 x 10 square ?! However, hopefully my effort was worth the end result.

Adding together the time I actually worked on her I would say it took approximately 8 months, although in real terms this was spread over more like 3 years!!

My Latest Chatelaine Efforts

Here is my WIP of Chatelaine - Misty Morning Vineyard. I originally bought this about 5 years ago and put very few stitches in until October '09. Here is the progress so far.

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I haven't worked on it for a couple of months so I'm hoping to bring it back into rotation shortly. It is an absolute joy to stitch - as with all of Martina's beautiful Mandalas. I have chosen to work the peacocks over 1 & having finished one, I am pleased with this choice since the as you can see from the close-up (hopefully) the detail captured this way is stunning!

Ever seen a Tiger lay an egg??

I have to say we were pretty suprised the other evening when we went to lock up the chicken shed and found this....


Not only did we have a very comfy looking Tiger sleeping in the hen's nesting quarters, but on further inspection he appears to have laid an egg!!

First ever attempt at a Biscornu!

Here is my first ever Biscornu... It took a few days to make. I have a feeling it may well be the first of many, since it was very enjoyable to make and the end result, I think is pretty pleasing too.... if slightly bizarre!

It is designed by Polstitches - "Coloured Jewel 15 sided Biscornu" purchased at www.sewandso.co.uk

An introduction to the menagerie

Meet the chooks. Bluebelle the Cochin is on the far left. Next to Blue, we have Betty then Ethel, Mavis & Cheesecake. Those four are all Brahmas. In the foreground, the scraggy looking hen is Princess Layer. She is an Ex-Batt and is the flock's principle escape artist!

Polstitches "Rose Bowl Needlebook"

This kit was a present from my sister for my birthday the other week. It has only taken a few days to make - so has been very satisfying! My first attempt at making this kind of thing too, so I'm pretty pleased with the outcome!

Hi! Welcome! ... & out of curiosity.... What on earth are you doing here?!?!

Introductions then...my name - somewhat unsuprisingly is Ang!

I'm a 30 something working mum. I work as an Audiologist in Birmingham 4 days a week, with a hideous commuting distance of 80 miles each way. The rest of my time is spent gardening, sewing, playing the piano, looking after my 6 chickens, 2 cats, husband to be and of course, my 4 year old son Aidan...... oh, and Steve the fish...

This blog will eventually contain WIP pics of my various xs projects, other crafts projects I'm working on, and family / pets /gardening things....

This is my first jaunt into the world of blogging... who knows whether I will keep it up.... but here goes!!

Feed the fish whilst you're here won't you!!