I'm not cross, just stitching.

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas. We had a very enjoyable time. Christmas Day was unusually quiet as there was just the three of us but on boxing day both my daughters and their boyfriends joined us for a family meal. It was very noisy and chaotic but really enjoyable. I had been worried how the cooking would go as the kitchen is in bits but it all worked well in the end. 

Quilting bits worked their way into my presents with an A3 portable cutting board from my son which will be perfect for my quilt classes.

He also bought me a quilting calculator. It helps works out the yardage. Being me I don't always trust calculators so I gave it a test with a quilt I had already planned out and done the maths on. It came up with the same answers so I'm very happy. The calculations took me a lot of effort but the calculator did it really quickly. That means more sewing time. I'll let you know how useful it is as time goes by.

In my Christmas stocking I also found three fat quarters. As these are the only pieces of fabric easily available in our house at the moment I gave them a good petting and stroking. I've missed pulling out fabrics as I decide on a new project!

As all my sewing stuff is packed up at present I've been catching up on some hand stitching. I seem to have a backlog of cross stitching. I realised that this was because several of the LED's in my sewing light/magnifier had gone. Richard helpfully replaced these and now I can sew what I'm doing. Some of my cross stitch is on high count fabric so my old eyes have a few problems without the light.

I started on the crown on the millenium sampler. This piece really has to be finished in 2015. (I have been threatening to get it finished for ages.) I think I'd better stick to smaller projects in future as it takes a lot of stamina and determination to complete these big projects. There is still a lot of work to do on the crown (not to mention the remaining bits of the sampler.)

I also pulled out this teddy bear cross stitch. It had been put away in a box and forgotten about. This is how it stood when I found it earlier this year. I hadn't done any work on it until today. Scamp seems to have eaten something he shouldn't so he has been on my lap whilst I stitched. I wrapped a hot water bottle in a towel and he lay on this on my lap. I got rather hot but he got better and the stitching has moved forward so a good day all round.

The finished size is 8 x 8 inches. There is still quite a bit to do but it should be finished soon. I know the instructions say to leave the outline stitches until the whole thing is completed but I find it helps to do it as I go along as it helps me keep track of my place.

I still have the rest of the little teddy plus the butterfly net and one more butterfly to do. I think I would have done more hand stitching over the holiday if there had been more interesting programmes on the TV (Not that I'm saying there wasn't anything interesting to watch as there certainly was.) I always stitch or knit when watching TV. Lack of good programmes meant I did some reading instead. 

I'm linking this post with Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's Quilts. 

I hope you've had some time for stitching over the holiday and that your Sunday has been relaxing and peaceful.

Lyndsey