Espritpatch

  The first week of the year is over and I am happy to report that I have managed some "stitching time" 5 times this week. I am counting the stitching time rather loosely by including pattern printing and cutting into the mix. The first 3 days I managed some stiching on my Grimm Along cross-stitch, 3 nights in a row. Not massive progress but some progress indeed! I finished a long-standing bag UFO one evening (blog post to come soon) And today I spent some time printing and cutting a pattern. I also selected a backing fabric for a mini quilt that I started quilting tonight. I also spent a full evening decluterring and tidying my sewing corner which was much needed and felt so good! For a better definition of my goal, for next week, I will aim to spend 4 times 15 minutes in my sewing room doing anything sewing/stitching related. Linking to Life in Pieces Céline

Many moons later... clue 4 of the Grimms Fairy Tales stitch along is finally finished! And clue 2 that I had started a long time ago is also nearly finished Still a lot to do of course but this is finally slowly progressing... Linking to  Off the wall Friday ,   Put your foot down ,   Patchwork and Quil t ,  Design Wall Monday,   Monday Making ,  Midweek Makers ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Happy Needle and Threa d Celine

  We had a week off last week that we spent in the Alps. It was lovely to have a break in the sun. The week was quite laid back really, making the most of the weather the scenery. I hadn't taken much with me but I had my cross stitch that I hadn't touched since our last trip in May.  In a week I managed to progress clue #4 significantly, but quite finished yet though! And I can't stitch in the car anymore, my eye sight is not as good as it used to be... Linking to  Design Wall Monday,   Monday Making ,  Midweek Makers ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Happy Needle and Threa d ,  Brag about your Beauties ,   Off the wall Friday ,   Finished or Not Finished Friday ,   Put your foot down ,  Peacock Party ,   Patchwork and Quil t Celine

  While I didn't manage as much sewing as I was expecting while we were away, I made a little more progress on my cross-stitching, mainly on the way down. Last week, my Mum stayed over one night so I stitched away while spending the evening with her by the fireplace. And at the week-end, we took a daytrip to Paris with our daughters so that gave me time for a little more stitching. Little by little this one is growing! Linking to    Design Wall Monday,   Monday Making ,    Midweek Makers ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Happy Needle and Threa d Celine 

Not much sewing yet this year but I've tried to do some stitching every day, just a little some days when I didn't have time but the idea was to pick up a needle every day. This is my progress over the first 10 days of the year I am trying to keep it up, partly because it's nice to see the progress but also because with my sewing space not fully set up, it's harder to sew in the evenings. I don't have much space for it and I'm reluctant to use my machine when the kids are in bed as I'm worried the noise might wake them up.  Linking to  M onday Making ,   Monday Design Wall ,  Midweek Makers ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Happy Needle  and Threa d ,   Free Motion Mavericks   Celine

Clouds Factory released a free rainbow pattern "Andra Tutto Bene"  in March during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy. I downloaded it and ordered sky blue iridescent Aida fabric and DMC threads from Cross Stitch Workshop to make it promptly. Although it is quite small and easy, it took much longer than I anticipated but it is now finished and I will keep it as a memory of this unusual time we are going through. Another OPAM for April and one more of my Q2 FAL list. Linking to   M onday Design Wall ,   Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Makers ,    Needle and Thread Thursday Celine

It's been a while since I have joined a cross-stitch along so I have been tempted again. I really like the Nutcracker Parade that Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery released before Christmas but I never managed to order the supplies to start it before Christmas unfortunately, too much work and too much on... I finally ordered some lovely crystal hand-dyed linen fabric in December but it arrived while we were away so I found it on my return. And finally earlier this month,  I did the first few stitches... I am loving the colours, not sure how long it will take me, considering I *might* have signed up for another cross-stitch-along... Celine

Finally! Postcard #11 is finished. I can't even remember when I started stitching this postcard from Vancouver but it has taken a looong time... not helped by the fact that I have had to unstitch so many times and quite a lot of it too. Anyway a few hours in the car at the week-end means that I have finished it. And that also means that I have only one left now to finish this sampler from 2 years ago... Celine

While travelling in the last 2 weeks, there was quite a significant amount of time sat in transport (mainly planes) which gave me some time to finally work on my Postcards from the World cross-stitch again. And I even managed to finish the 10th square: New-York! I also made a good start on #11, only to realised that I had made a mistake and needed to unpick almost everything so we won't talk about that one just yet :-( Celine

There has been hardly any sewing done in the last 2 weeks because largely of an excess of work eating up my evenings and also some of my week-end, plus there has been some travels too. The only thing that I have managed to squeeze in is some cross-stitch. So I have been able to finish one more postcard: Tokyo! And I started the next one which is New York, just started. I am hoping to have more sewing time in the next few weeks. Celine

I started this cross-stitch sew along in January 2016 (well I started 2 at the time, which of course was over-ambitious.... well no surprise there!) and after I finished the Pumpkin Passport one earlier in the year, I finally went back to the Postcards of the World. I was really hoping to get back into a routine of stitching one a month and finishing this one this year but, well the year is nearly finished and I still have 4 months to do. Anyway, I had a long train journey to and from Glasgow last week which allowed me to finish Sydney, finally! I am not sure if it is because Sydney is so far from me but I really felt it has taken me forever to stitch this postcard. Anyway, the next stop will be Tokyo now. Celine

This month I managed to finish another stitchery.... just in time to enjoy in the season! I started the Very Merry Christmas stitch-along in August last year and of course, when I fell behind, I abandoned it after Christmas... I also started 2 new cross-stitch projects in January so that was more exciting than finishing a Christmassy one.... I know I am hopeless at not joining in... I brought this one back out now and then and little by little... well it is finally finished and I am very please with it. Just need to frame it now!  But for now, I will call this an OPAM since it is "finished" and this is one off my  Q4 Finish Along list  too! Linking to  Sew Cute Tuesday ,  Let's Bee Social ,  Needle and Thread Thursday ,  Whoop Whoop Friday Celine

Here too I have fallen behind (nothing surprising there I guess!) but I finally finished the February frame for the Postcard Stitch-Along Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

I have finished as much blocks last week as the week before but I have had some time for some hand sewing. And I have spent a large part of it stitching little crosses :-) And now I am so happy that I have caught up with January and February clues for the Pumpkin Passport Stitch Along going from London to Paris. Now I am ready to start sewing the Febuary frame of the Clouds Factory sampler! Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

Last year I finished the Once Upon a Time Sampler and I didn't sign up for another BOM so this year I signed up for 2! I started with the Cloud Factory one: Postcards of the World. The first clue was for Venice and I am happy that I have finished it already! Of course, I could have finished the first clue even quicker if I didn't have to unpick the frame so many times! I kept making mistakes and it wouldn't match. Anyway I got there in the end, let's hope my next frame is easier. And I have also started the Frosted Pumpkin one Let's go an Adventure that starts in London but I haven't stitched much yet! Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

I have plenty of these at the moment because as I was saying in a previous post, I got tempted by so many lovely new projects. Never a dull moment really! On top of that, I am currently keeping up with the morning yoga, which I feel is great for my body and mind and also with the decluterring. This week task on Shelly's blog is to declutter/order/back up computer files. I think this is almost like a full time job but I'll try to delete afew! So I have made a few more blocks for the 365 challenge quilt, blocks #9, 10 and 11 are done, which means I still have 3 to catch up with. I worked on my #100days challenge by making a belated Bee block for Bee Europa, and a belated Bee Hive block I have almost made a start on the #hkqal, in that I have laid out the first block, ready for stitching! I have sewn 2 blocks for the Block lotto so far, and I must say I love how they turned out. I'll keep my fingers crossed, I wouldn't mind winning! And I couldn...

Last year, I got back into cross-stitch with the Once Upon a Time sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery , which was a monthly sampler revealed throughout 2014. I didn't quite finish it in 2014 but I did the last few stitches earlier this year. Over the summer, I handed it over to the framer and I finally picked it up last week and here it is in all its glory! I love how the frame finishes the lovely cross stitch and I am so happy to finally be able to hang this frame up. Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

I tried very very hard to resist, but then I have no will power and Instagram doesn't help! So I caved in and joined the Christmas fun proposed by The Frosted Pumpkin for the A Very Merry Christmas Town mystery stitchery . I ordered some custom dyed linen fabric from Jodyri designs which is gorgeous and got started while we were driving to our holiday destination. Although I stitched for several hours, it doesn't look like I have done that much! But then I made quite a few mistakes and had to umpick quite a lot :-( Anyway, I love how this is turning out. The second chart is already available and I haven't finished the first one yet but never mind, let's hope I can have it finished by this Christmas! Wish me luck... Linking to Let's Bee Social . Celine

This one has been a labour of love! I started my Once upon a Time sampler about 15 months ago in February 2014. The first pattern was revealed in January but I didn't gather my supply until the end of the month as I ordered a gorgeous hand-dyed linen for the sampler. So of course, starting late, I tried to play catch up the entire time. Because I started late, I worked by colour rather than month and finished Snow White square in July! Over the last year my cross-stich had become my morning commute companion and grew gradually over the months with the Princess and the Frog the 3 Little Pigs Godilocks and the 3 Bears Jack and the Beanstalk The Princess and the Pea Thumbellina The Musicians of Bremen So this was my commute work:  But then I changed job at Christmas and my new job no longer involves a commute (which is great!) so that meant that there was no longer a dedicated time for my cross-stitch, and it had been a little bit "abandoned...