I thought I'd post an updated picture of Celtic Spring.  I decided not to paint but haven't started stitching either yet - but I have bathed my two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, they're bright and shiny and snoring away  now.  I'm going to get my stitching out now though.

Well I'm still waiting for the fabric to come so that I can start the portrait of my mother. They did say it would be 3 weeks though so I'll have to be patient. The trouble is that I have these bright ideas on the spur of the moment and there's a real danger that I'll have gone off the idea by the time the fabric arrives.  Not that I'll go off the idea of stitching her but my original bright spark idea was to stitch 5 of them - one for each of us siblings (I do get carried away sometimes with these theoretical thoughts).  I suffer from the stitchy equivalent of my eyes are bigger than my belly I'm afraid

In the meantime I've got quite a bit more done on my Celtic Spring and I've been looking for frames for her. I'm undecided whether to use a mount or not but am leaning towards not at the moment. I'm thinking of a nice thick gold frame so have been pricing them online as the Lady is not a standard size.

Compared to the HAED one that I have going, the Celtic Lady one is very easy to do but for some reason I haven't really enjoyed stitching her as much as I thought I would so I don't know whether I will get all of the series of four done.  However, I do love the way she looks and they will look lovely as a set on the wall so may do them all.  The other thing to take into consideration is that if I do stitch the set of four Ladies then it might be an idea to buy all the frames at once in case I can't get the same frame again - but that's more expense of course - decisions, decisions!

I've haven't done any more on my Spirit of Winter project but she has not been forgotten!  The trouble is that I'm like a kid in a sweet shop with all the designs available.

To prove the above point, I've added to my 'stash' with a kit of a Christmas stocking to be done. (I know its only March but it takes so long to stitch them and I need 3!).  It's by Dimensions Gold and I've looked at this one for a very long time and thought I might as well buy it while it's not expensive (well relatively).

 This is it.

The idea is to do a stocking each for my 3 children - they're 18, 20 and 23 by the way but I'm sure they'll have a good laugh when they get them and hopefully will keep them for any future grandchildren should I be blessed, and if not it will be something to keep. This first one is my favourite but my son Joe will have to have a Santa Claus one as he's inherited his mothers childish delight at Christmas and I've seen a nice snowman one for my other son John.  I know my daughter loves penguins but I really love this sleigh ride one so I'm afraid this is hers - unless I manage 4 of course - but I'm getting ahead of myself again.

I have a day off work tomorrow so to stich or to paint walls?  We'll see what tomorrow brings......

Hi everyone, I'm just back from a lovely break in Cumbria with some of my family.  The weather wasn't the greatest but we had a lovely time and it was especially nice to be away from the annoyances of the internet and modern technology in general.

I did take my Celtic Lady with me and got some stitching done, she's coming along really nicely.

Well I've spent a couple of hours doing Spirit of Winter today and although it doesn't look like it, progress is beginning to be made because I've gotten out of the confetti stage I was stuck in.  Its not really worth taking a photo at the moment though, I'll take one when I get to the end of the first row of five pages.

I've decided to go for the project I was thinking about last time I posted.  I can't start it for about three weeks because I'm waiting for the threads and some hand dyed fabric to arrive.  Its going to be a stitched photograph of my late mother and its to be a birthday present for someone so mums the word!

This is what it will look like when its done, it has no background and isn't going to be large so hopefully it won't take me that long to do.

Well I've been concentrating on Celtic Spring for a few days now and she's coming along very nicely.  I'm beginning to get the urge to do a bit more on Spirit of Winter though so this may be the last update on this one for a while.  Having said that, I've got an idea for another project altogether that I'm investigating - so watch this space.

Anyway  here she is.  If my daughter wasn't away at university she would have a name by now (the Celtic Lady  not my daughter :) - she does have one).

I don't know why, but my photos on here always look wishy washy compared to how they look when not on the blog - I'll have to investigate that.

I got some more of Spring done today, in between looking at family history which is my other big love and doing housework (which isn't such a big love).

Here is how she is looking at the moment.

I did some of my Celtic Spring last night and took a pic to show everyone.   I made a mistake and put some treasure braid where there should be beads along her waist and down the bit at the back of her dress.  No big deal though, it'll only take a couple of minutes to rip it out when its time to add the beads.  Its coming along quite nicely I think.

I have to get off to work for a few hours now (nuisance isn't it?) but tonight I think I'll add a page with some of my past work.   I'm slowly working out how things work on here (I think!)