The "no frills, no gremlins (hopefully)" cross-stitch cafe

Ailsb

We have a run of birthdays durkng December and into January. My sisters birthday is December 15th so the tree was always put up the wekend after her birthday. Despite the fact we haven't lived in the same house for 34 years we still keep to this tradition. My second cousin was born Christmas Day, my nephew's birthday is December 30th and my son's birthday is 2nd January (we didn't plan on having him them, as some of you know we hadfertility treatment, lost a baby, were told we couldn't conceive, had a baby ready for placement for adoption and then found out I was pregnant - a most wonderful surprise) cousin is Januray 9th and my other Nephew is January 22nd. Its a very expensive time of year.

I've never given any of them a joint present and make a point of buying proper birthday paper. I can always remember my sister hating it one year when her birthday present was in Christmas paper.

Sorry to have gone on so much. On a stitchy front Rhaben I like the look of the reindeer, how do they work? I assume you stitch all the parts then have to sew them together and stuff them.

Have finished the Rock symbol and done one of the arrows between the Spock and Rock symbol. I can only stitch when , my son isn't in the room and seeing as his xbox is connected to the telly he stays in the room most of the time. He's got Explorers tonight so hopefully I'll manage an hours stitching.

flowerofscotland

rhaben Love the new 3D designs. Even when we have a hot summer in the UK it's not what you mean by heat

We have lots of birthdays in Nov and Dec as well including my mum on Christmas Eve - she arrived early and every Christmas my dear Grandma would say that my Mum's arrival spoiled her Christmas lunch that year.

ailsb what a lovely happy ending. Some friends of my parents (whom I always called Auntie and Uncle though they weren't related) had a similar experience - they adopted after years of no baby and then Auntie J became pregnant so they had 2 children with only 10 months between them. Instant family

As some of you know I am a huge fan of the Shepherd's Bush Christmas stockings. They release a new design each year and this year's has gone straight on to my must stitch list (though not for this year) Linky

*Louise*

Mrs Congratulations. I read the part about the vests but just assumed you were stitching for someone else! :rotfl:

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

ive been really bad today, i did my paid jobs some excercises and about an hours housework but since then all ive done is work in the stocking.

So you worked, exercised, did housework and STILL feel guilty? I'm a terrible person then :rotfl:

flowerofscotland wrote: »

louise I have a GD who loves Hello Kitty so have been persuaded to stitch her a small design which she wants appliqued to her ballet shoes bag This wasn't on my schedule of stitching but I never have been able to resist requests from grandchildren

I am stitching a second HK now, and it would be a perfect size to applique (and is very quick to stitch)- I will find the link online for you.


Edit: It's on my Pinterest- HK


regarding birthdays, we are quite lucky that OH and I are May/Jul and the kids are Jun/Jul/Oct. On the downside my Mum is Dec 23rd and my nephew is 27th, so I always factor in two extra gifts - I wouldn't like to be the person who would dare give either of them a 'joint' gift to cover both. :eek: My mum got a present wrapped in Christmas paper for her birthday one year....she never said anything but when the person's birthday came round in March she did the exact same to them. Her point was made, never happened again :rotfl:

*Louise*

HK Ballerina completed:





I had been quite pleased with how many cards I got made up last month, but had a look through my pieces waiting to be made up and realised I need to have another card making day very soon (what a hardship)

Christmassy:



Baby:


Fairies:


Random:

blue_eyed_girl

Mrs MP - good luck with all those beads and sequins :eek: Looking forward to seeing more updates.

Mrs_T_M - Congratulations to you and your family. :j

shelly - hope you're feeling better now.

rhaben - lovely update pics. :T Woo hoo on becoming a non newbie. _party_ Thanks for sharing your past experiences with us.

Done a little bit more stitching this morning on Nordic Santa - only a little bit more to do. Not looking forward to it though. It's snow - very spread out confetti stitching. Was going to use perlescent thread to give it a bit of sparkle. Question time - do I stitch each stitch separately and knot them or do I trail the thread between stitches. I think I know the answer but would just like some confirmation.

Take care everyone

b_e_g

nmm

*Louise*, you have been busy, I really like the blackwork snowman and fairy and the silhouettes in red/black, where they in a magazine?

emslovesmickey

Hey everyone,

thought it was about time i posted an update. It's felt like i've made no progress, but when i see the last pic i put on here i know that's not true.


DSC02809 by slaughter.emma, on Flickr

Mrs_T_M

rhaben wrote: »

And the world keeps getting smaller...
So you know what I mean about the heat. I live in the northern part of the state, about an hour north of Raleigh on Kerr Lake. I'm not from here originally, I grew up outside of Washington, DC.

I know you are thrilled that it worked so much faster for you, than it did for your mom. I worry about my daughter (when she gets to that point in her life), her fraternal grandmother had difficulties in conceiving as well. I hope she takes after my side with her lady bits.

I'm expecting an argument/disagreement with the midwife about me wanting to have a home birth due to my weight. All I'm going to say is that my grandmother (dad's mom) weighed around 400 pounds and had 7 children, 2 of them twins, all at home and was fine.

The entire rest of the family had kids when they were 'young,' under 25. I'm 28 now, will be 29 when the lo gets here. My mom was 34 (nearly 35) when I was born. I don't mind, and I actually think I'm closer to my mom for it.

flowerofscotland wrote: »

And if the lo arrives in the middle of June it could be the ideal Father's Day present:D

What sort of birth sampler designs do you like? If you posted some links then someone might be able to help

I hadn't even thought of Father's Day! That would be awesome!

I really like the tatty teddy ones (I know I'm setting myself up to hate them with all of the greys!), but anything that is gender neutral would be wonderful.


I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. I am thinking of stitching my mom a poem that will let her know that I'm pregnant, sending it to her, and making her get on skype before she opens it. I'll be 12 weeks and will hopefully have a scan near the beginning of December, so I'm hoping to send her a pic as well. It will be the first grandchild on both sides of the family, so lots of travelling to tell people the news in December! I can call all of my family in the States for next to nothing (DH works for a local telecommunications provider), so I'll be doing the rounds the day after we tell mom.

We also have a friend coming from the Netherlands to spend Christmas with us, so I'm super excited about that.

Hippipal

I seem to be able to post pictures now, so here goes. This is what I'm working on at the moment. It is the most ambitious project I have attempted yet.

When I have done enough to show I will post an update of how I am getting on.

blue_eyed_girl

Hippipal wrote: »

I seem to be able to post pictures now, so here goes. This is what I'm working on at the moment. It is the most ambitious project I have attempted yet.

When I have done enough to show I will post an update of how I am getting on.

Good luck with your new project. Look forward to seeing those updates.

b_e_g