So many things to catch up on!

Wow, it's so long since I posted! August passed by in a blur. I haven't been doing a lot of stitching but I do have an excuse reason...more on that later.
Firstly I need to say a big thank you to Conny for the exchange she sent me. This was round 5 of the Blackbird Design Exchange Group. The pincushion that she made is so 'me'. The colours are beautiful and I love that she stitched my initials. Conny wrote that the design is from Loose Feathers 38 - Summer Basket and is stitched on 32ct Zweigart linen. Thanks again Conny, I really love it!



Next up are my latest stash acquisitions. Edgar very kindly sent me a LHN design from my wish list. I've wanted to stitch 'Winter Whites' for so long and I'm definitely going to stitch it in time for Christmas...this year! Thanks so much Edgar! Next to 'Winter Whites' is CCN 'Ladybugs & Bumblebees'. When I first discovered the wonderful world of cross stitch blogs, I saw this completed on a blog (but don't remember which one unfortunately). It had been framed so beautifully and I knew I just had to stitch it.



The following patterns were purchased as a bundle on ebay. I already have Heart in Hand 'Angels Sing' but I purchased the bundle anyway as it was such a good price (can't resist a bargain being Northern and all!).



The baby boom amongst my friends continues as Gaynor had a baby girl (Evie) a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to stitch something that I hadn't done before so I purchased JBW Designs 'Baby Carriage'. I didn't want the chart to get lonely 'en route' so had to buy JBW 'A Very Merry Winter' and JBW 'Alphabet Pumpkin' to keep it company! 'Baby Carriage' was an easy stitch and I've just got to personalise it before I go and visit Gaynor this week. (photos of the finished item in next post).



My final purchase is this years JCS Ornament preview issue. Again, this was bought on ebay from an English seller at a very reasonable price. I think I bought last years JCS Halloween issue from the same seller. The first ornament I will stitch is 'Gingerbread Tree'. I love the look of Gingerbread men but not the taste unfortunately! In fact Christmas is a not a good time of year for me food-wise - I don't like Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, mince pies, stuffing, anything with ginger in it...the list goes on! Bah humbug!



And finally, below is the reason I've not been able to do much stitching lately...I'M PREGNANT!




This last month has been a very stressful time for us (not least of which because I suffer terribly with morning/afternoon/evening sickness!). But back in March we lost a baby during pregnancy, a little girl we named Martha. It was the most horrific, heartbreaking, soul-destroying time of our lives. There were complications during the delivery that made me believe we'd never be lucky enough to conceive again, but somebody, somewhere had other ideas! Because of what happened last time, we are being cared for very closely by the medical profession. I had a 9 week scan last week up at Kings College in London, where the fetal care is the best in the World. The scanning machinery there is just amazing. They can tell you very little at a 9 week scan, but the baby was a good size and had a very strong heartbeat. DH says it looks more like a frog than a baby at this stage, but I don't care - it's our little frog!! The telling time will be our 12 week scan in 2 weeks when they will be able to do much more thorough tests. Please do send prayers, good thoughts in our direction, they would be very much appreciated. I'm not a particularly religious person, but I've had many a conversation with God this past few weeks let me tell you.

Anyway, I think I'd better leave it there, I didn't expect to rattle on for so long! I've already used up 1 hour of DD's 2 hour nap!!

Regards,

Christina