A rough couple of months :-(

As the title says, it's been a rough couple of months for us - unfortunately just after my last post in May my Nan was taken to hospital and very sadly passed away at the beginning of June after a battle with cancer. This all coincided with my two weeks' annual leave in June which in a way was fortunate as it meant I had time to spend with my family and get my head together before going back to work. To say we're all shocked is a bit of an understatement I think - I'm just so pleased that I managed to get Ragetty Ann finished for her last Christmas :-(

I didn't touch my cross stitch for a good few weeks whilst Nan was in hospital and then gone, but somehow since then I do seem to have done quite a lot. I'm not sure when to be honest, but here's a progress pic of Snap Dragon. I'm really pleased with the way he's going - I'm just about to switch pages on the chart and move on to the legs and the bottom wings. As I'm off work this week I'm hoping to make a bit more progress.

Snap dragon - July 2011

In good news over the last few months, I have had a new little addition to my household again. This is Lilly (or Tiger Lilly or Lilly Pad - whichever takes my fancy!). She is absolutely lovely, but very different from Rosie and Jazzy. She's settled in very well, and her current favourite playtime is hiding in a blanket on the sofa and popping her head out every now and then!

Dragon progress (pic heavy)

Just a quick update on how I'm getting on with my Little Snap Dragon:

I love the colours in the wings, which is just as well as there's so much still left to do!! The couple who I'm stitching this for had their wedding last weekend and it was absolute fun from start to finish. Great to catch up with old Uni friends and have a good laugh. Here's a pic of me and my best friend - I even managed to find a vaguely medieval/gothic dress for it!

I haven't been stitching much recently because I've been making the most of my National Trust membership and the sunshine and visiting some local places - I would definitely recommend Charlecote Park near Stratford on Avon - they have deer and some wonderful birds and gardens (plus baby ducks which is always a winner for me!). Pics below....

The happy couple!

I finally managed to give my brother and sister-in-law their wedding picture this weekend. It was framed by Maxim Picture Framing/Cross Stitch Framing and I think they've done a lovely job - I'm really pleased with the frames and mounts that they chose - and they were so friendly and helpful - I'd definitely recommend them if you have anything that you want professionally framed:

Here's a close up of it framed:

I was quite amused that they looked up at the wall as soon as they opened it to figure out where they were going to hang it!!

New Project - Little Snap Dragon

I have already started my next project - it is Little Snap Dragon by Kustom Krafts, and will be a wedding present for a university friend who is getting married in May. I've taken the pressure off myself by deciding that it will be a first year anniversary present for them - there's absolutely no way it would have been done for the wedding itself!! (I really have to admit to myself that I'm rubbish with deadlines!).

I have done the dragon's head so far, and I'm enjoying it already although there's lots of colour changes which is a bit different to the other wedding picture! I must admit though that blues and turquoises are my favourite colours so it's not too much of a hardship...

It's a lot bigger picture than I've ever done before, so I'm a little daunted by that, but I'm trying out a scroll frame for the first time and that seems to be going well, and much easier than taking a hoop on and off all the time. I'm also doing it on 16ct aida rather than 14ct so it's taking a little time for my eyes to adjust.

Why did I choose a dragon? Well, both of my friends are very into role-playing/RPG and gothic 'stuff'. Even the wedding invites ask for gothic dress! Also, I thought the shape of the flowers are almost half a heart - so it looks quite romantic. I couldn't have done a traditional wedding picture for them!

I think I might interchange working on this with Snow Hunter and Winter Wonderland. I'd really like to get WW finished by the end of the year if I can. There's not too much left of Snow Hunter either, but that one had me bamboozled a little with the amount of colour changes so it might come third on the list.

Wonderful Wedding!

Well - finally the wedding day arrived! It was an absolutely wonderful day and everything went very smoothly. The weather was beautiful on Saturday, the Bride was absolutely stunning in her dress, the church service was full of laughter, and the reception venue really pulled off everything that was required of them - and I danced the night away (barefoot! no stillettos) with family and friends!!

Here are a couple of pictures of the day:

The Bride and Groom!

Ushers, Best Man, and Bridesmaids included! (I'm the bridesmaid on the end to the right of the Bride)

I can't stop saying that I now have a wonderful sister-in-law!! They're lovely together and I wish them all the happiness in the world for their future together :-)

Anyway - enough soppyness - here is a pic of the (unframed) wedding sampler. I'm really proud of this - and I enjoyed every single stitch.

Vervaco - Private Moment

There were less than 10 colours which made it really quick to make progress. My only slight gripe with it was that there was *only just enough* thread in the kit, and I realised too late that there was a warranty in the original packaging to get more thread from Vervaco. I was ok in the end, but it would have been helpful not to have had that niggle at the back of my mind.

The other thing I changed was the beads that went in her hair. The beads that came with the kit seemed far too big, so I changed them for some seed beads that I had in my lace spangling stash. I'm much happier with the smaller beads as they don't seem to take it over quite so much.

I'm hoping to get this framed and give it to them when they get back from their honeymoon - everything has been so frantic for us all recently that it will be good to give it to them when they've had a chance to relax a bit.

Phew! I can't quite believe my brother is married - it's still all a bit surreal at the moment....

Drum roll please....!!!!!!

I've finished it!!! Only 3 days before the wedding but it's done!

I'm not posting any pics until after the wedding as I think it might be bad luck... I'm so pleased to have at least finished it completely before the actual day - I feel like I can enjoy things properly now without feeling like there's 'unfinished business' left to do.

Now all I have to worry about is walking in stilletos, not tripping over my dress and remembering to smile in the photographs!!!

I can't wait to post a picture - I'm so totally chuffed with it! :-)