Remember Elizabeth Jackson?

 Nine years ago this month, probably almost to the day, I started stitching on Elisabeth Jackson.

(Two photos from my blog post in February & March 2012)

The photo above shows how much stitching I'd done and was the last time I worked on her, March 2012.

Fast forward a good few years and I joined a group on fb where people posted their unfinished projects and asked if anyone would either finish it for them and send it back or alternatively you can put you unfinished project up for adoption.

I still had some affection for Elizabeth and didn't feel I wanted to put her up for adoption, so, I asked if anyone would be willing to finish her for me.  Lo and behold a lovely lady called Nadia said she would do it for me.  We didn't know each other so it was a bit of a leap of faith for me to pack Elizabeth up and send her to someone else to stitch on, but pack her up I did.

That was back around the end of July last year.  Nadia messaged me a couple of times letting me know how she was getting on but the last time I heard from her was around October/November and then with Christmas and New year to be honest I forgot about poor Elizabeth until Nadia messaged me to say she's done!

I received her back in the post last Wednesday, do you want to see?

Elizabeth Jackson 1824 by Samplers Revisited

Nadia did an absolutely brilliant job, she's a stitching angel!  The back is as neat as the front, you would never know that two different people had stitched on this, I'm so happy 😁

The lighting in the photos is not brilliant its making the fabric look slightly different in all of them, I would say the last photo is more true to colour now.   To tell you the truth, I didn't really like the colour of the fabric, never did, it had a yellow tinge, and that was probably one of the reasons she got put to one side.  So, when she arrived back I gave her a bath in tea and coffee, and put her in the oven to dry 😨

But it's ok, don't panic, she came out fine.  I'm still not totally in love with the fabric colour but it's toned down the yellow-ness and given her an aged look.  I like it.

 As soon as lockdown is over i'll take her to be framed.

I now only have one very long term WIP left, I won't be asking anyone to finish that one though as I know once I force myself to pick it up I will like working on it.

What's the longest WIP you have hidden away?

-X-

Not Your Typical TV Hunks (and Elizabeth Jackson)

I wouldn’t consider myself a a big TV viewer, I don't put TV on unless there is something that I want to watch. We have what feels like a zillion channels to choose from but there never seems to be anything on them, that’s worth watching anyway, well ok, Sunday nights have been good lately with both Titanic and Homeland 

(on different channels but same times mind you! – what did we do without catch up tv!). 

Anyhow, I do like to have something on when I sit down to stitch in the evening so a couple of weeks ago I joined lovefilm and have been enjoying the delights of Lark Rise to Candleford.  

I vaguely remember this being aired but never took too much notice at the time.  It's set towards the end of the 19th century and tells the day to day story of the lives of the cottage people in Lark Rise who are poor working folk and the town’s folk of Candleford, who are more prosperous.  I’m on series 2 at the moment and it really is a joy to watch, of course the gorgeous Brendon Coyle (who plays Robert Timmis) makes it easier, lol

This picture of him is from The Glass Virgin, a TV adaptation of a Catherine Cookson novel – OK, this is him in his younger days, but it’s the eyes, they just scream passion, lol and there seems to be laughter lurking behind them, he may be older (and slightly heavier) but those eyes are still the same J

Another TV programme I've become totally addicted to in the last week is Life on Mars 

 Now this was one I'd never heard of, but It's brilliant! 

(See that old Alegro Panda Car in the photo, do you remember them?   and a police woman in a skirt!! - This series is set in 1973, there are some great reminders of the '70's - how the world has changed!

There is something about Philip Glenister who plays Gene Hunt, don't quite know what it is, but he's got it J

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 I've been watching is Torchwood on catch-up TV

I remember some hype about Torchwood, but again not something I watched.  –WOW I’m totally hooked, can’t get enough!  John Barrowman, aka Capt Jack Harkness is just brilliant.

Isn't he cute and so fresh looking!

I've almost watched all of Torchwood now, I'm going to miss this one.

~~~~~~~~~

So, while I’ve been watching all these wonderful programmes I've been stitching on Elizabeth Jackson and here’s my progress.

I really want this one done now, all the little bits are starting to get to me and I'm itching to start something new.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The guy is just finishing off laying the kitchen floor as I type,  and I've been painting all week so hope fully next time I may be able to show pics of my finished kitchen - at last!

I hope you have a good weekend whatever you are up to - someone  in our house is 18 tomorrow :-o  and I have nibbles to put on for about 12 teenagers before they head off to town clubbing - oh to be young, lol

Until next time x

Mad Birds and Winter Houses

I haven't had the inclination to stitch much lately, when i have sat for any amount of time it's been easier to pick up some knitting.  I have got a knitty finish and something new on my needles but i can't share either of those with you at the moment, that will have to wait until after April 3rd.  Why April 3rd,?  Well, something exciting is afoot and I can't tell you just yet :-)

The kitchen re-fit went really well, I made countless trips to the tip that week, sorted, cleaned and swept and finally I have just about put everything where it belongs.  I'm very happy with the work that 's been done.  Many of you left me comments that you liked my old kitchen with it's green units and country look and i started to wonder if I'd made the right colour choice with the new ones, but now that it's all fitted I'm so glad i went for the cream units, they have made the kitchen feel so much lighter, and the whole space is so much more user friendly:-)  I do find the whole process of choosing things so stressful, and with something this expensive you really can't afford to get it wrong.  Now i have to go through the process of choosing wall and floor tiles...more stress, lol

Mark has been away for two weeks straight so as soon as he has a free weekend that will get started.  I don't want to bore you with kitchen photos so i will share some pictures when it's all done.

Back at the beginning of February, before my stitching mojo left me I started Elizabeth Jackson, 
This is my progress. (crappy photo, sorry!)

I changed some of the colours, the basket, wording and some of the birds were a really pale pink which was a bit nothingness, so i changed them for something a bit darker, it's made the birds a bit on the funky side, lol but it's growing on me :-)

Something else I started at the beginning of March was LHN Winter Band Sampler.  This is way smaller that i thought it would be, here's where I'm up to.
(Another crappy photo!)

It looks from the photo that there is a stain on the fabric, there's not, it must be a shadow, oh, and that brown blob is the roof on the house :-)

My plan was to keep this one for a weekend project, but the weather was so lovely last weekend that i spent my time in the garden tidying up and cutting the grass, so i didn't have any stitching time at all.


Thank you for all your visits and comments, they are always appreciated, i even think i have a few more followers since last time which is great, I've noticed that sometimes though i can't always find a link back to a blog from the followers list, so do stop by and say hello :-) 
Right, there is a large glass of red grape juice with my name on it, so cheers, till next time xx