Good afternoon to all of my lovely readers from across the globe 🙂 I hope you are all well and having fun crafting or doing what you enjoy most.

I’ve been away for a while and missed you all sooooo much. However, don’t worry……..while I was away I did a lot of sewing YEY! That means I have another finished project to share with you. My Bothy Threads Cut Thru Narrow Boat cross stitch kit is complete.

Now I just need to order a frame and get it up on the wall with the others. I really enjoyed sewing this one as it is densely stitched. There are many thread colours and lots of detail. Bothy Threads kits are lovely to stitch as they include quality fabric and threads and the charts are always very clear.

It’s been fun, fun, fun to make up.

Even though I’ve stitched every single stitch, I’m still finding new things in the picture when I take another look. I like the cartoon appearance of the design.

“What’s happened to the patchwork?” I hear you ask 🙂

Well, I always change the calendar date in my sewing room when I work at the sewing machine. I couldn’t believe the date when I was last in there. It was the 13th of April!!! Not only that, but I hadn’t tidied away or vacuumed the floor last time I finished sewing. I always clean up when I finish a project. What on Earth got into me? So, this morning I got out the furniture polish and cleaned down all the surfaces after putting all of the “stuff” back in its proper place. The floor is now free from threads etc. which is good because the carpet in there is very dark and it shows every speck of muck. So tomorrow I’m going back in there to start something new on the machine. Who knows what it will be……but the green mean sewing machine will definitely get some welly tomorrow 🙂

Also, while I have been away, the little award fairies have been dropping in on me and leaving nominations so I’ll deal with those now. Those of you who know me well, know I like to bend the rules. To be honest, this time I wasn’t going to do that. However, as two awards have landed in my lap almost together, I’ll break the rules just a tad 😉

First up is Angela from Pretty Little Things in a Box. She took part in my blackwork stitch along and has very kindly nominated my blog for this award.

I really like the title of this award as it really does feel like having a virtual family here on wordpress 🙂

Secondly, a big thank you to Jean from Creative Pixie who has nominated my blog for this award called the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award.

As usual, the acceptance of the awards come with their own set of rules. The first award asks you to nominate 10 worthy blogs and the second one requires 14. So, I’m going to nominate a grand total of 13 and split it 7 to 6.

My nominations for the “Being Part of the WordPress Family Award” in no particular order are:

Minerva’s Meanderings

Sew Rosey

Nero’s Post and Patch

Treadle Music

Tinyinc

Rutigt

Claire93

The award rules can be found here.

My nominations for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award, again in no particular order are:

One Lady and One Dog

Thread Medley

Basildon Kitchens

Made by Patch

Quilt Obsession

Lindashee

The award rules can be found here.

I can certainly recommend all of the above for different reasons. This is quite a mixed bag for you to enjoy!

And last but not least…..

Megan at Lindashee has sent me some photos of the needle case she made by adapting my mug rug tutorial. Not only did she re-invent the pattern to suit her own needs but she also designed and stitched the cross stitch heart on the front cover. Isn’t it fabulous? Thank you for sharing the photos Megan. If anyone else uses the tutorial, please send me a photo. I’d be more than happy to include it in a future post 🙂

So, if you have got this far…..thanks for sticking with me in my absence. It’s always good to read your comments and I really enjoy your emails too 🙂

Now, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do on the Reader.

Back soon!

Avis x