Cold, Grey November

 It's been a gloomy week, one for staying indoors and staying warm. Having said that I did spend an afternoon in town browsing the shops in search of Christmas present inspiration and yesterday we met family at a garden centre for lunch and I stocked up on spring bulbs and lovely winter cyclamen. I made a big batch of mincemeat too this week ready for my December mince pies - definitely none here until December!

Here is my Stitch Journal for the first week of November.

I have been knitting and am now working on the rib around the neckline. Not exciting to look at so no pictures.

I had hoped to crack on with some quilting this week but the thread I ordered from a well known UK quilting supplier took nearly a week to arrive and then the dark grey thread I had ordered turned out to be dark green. I remembered having to chase this company for my last order which took over a week so I have struck them off my list! I found online a Discount company selling just what I wanted at a ridiculously cheap price, but I took the plunge and ordered not expecting any miracles. Instead, my package arrived in two days and was exactly the good quality quilting thread I wanted so now they are top of my suppliers list😂😂 Hopefully I will have something to show next week although looking at the calendar we have a busy week ahead.

I have however been playing in my sketchbooks so have been doing something creative and this new book arrived today so I am looking forward to browsing through it later.

And if you want to see some stunning embroidery then here you will find the amazing winners of the Hand and Lock Prize for Embroidery, just gorgeous work to drool over. Enjoy.

See you next week.

Chookshed Challenge 2026

 It has been good to get a few more UFO's out of the way this year. Many thanks to Deanna for organising this again. I have found the monthly challenge a great help. So here is a round up of what I have achieved.

January - this was a Sue Hawkins kit given to me by a friend at my quilt group. She had started it and given up, but knew I would love to do it. Which I did.

February - was the embroidered rabbit that I had been planning to make for some time.

The March challenge was to make a Retreat Bag but once again this one went on hold (next years list possibly)  and I made this crochet cardigan instead.

I thought this would be useful for chillier days over the summer. Humph, what chillier days! I didn't wear this or any other cardigan as we had such a hot summer. Oh well, it's there ready for next year.

April was snap top bags and I made these (very) early Christmas presents which have been sitting on top of the wardrobe ever since waiting to be filled.

The May challenge was to use some eco printed fabric but that went by the wayside when I started on a crochet bag to hold my crochet/knitting projects.

I also basted a load of hexagons in preparation for #5.

In June I worked with my rusty fabric and added to my rusty scroll.

I also made a good start on this picture which got me a first at the local Flower and Produce in August.

Not easy to get a picture without reflection or shadows so here is one pre framing.

In July I worked on my swap hexagons. This is now ready for straightening up and finishing next year.

August saw me working on small flower embroideries to fill some gold oval frames I bought at a brocante in France some years ago.

And finally in September this little embroidered kit.

October was a failure as my final challenge is on hold until I can sort out some sashing fabric - it might be on next years list!

Anyway, a profitable year and I am glad to have joined in again.