Half BFF SAL 26 and half RAL

 As my BFF notes HERE she was unable to utilize her dispensation for off screen catch up stitching. She did let me know in time before our stitching session that was the case and therefore I would need something to work on until she was in a position to backstitch the SAL.

As per my previous post I did have something I could be working on.

This is as far as I got by the end of the joint online session.

Some progress since I last shared a picture of it,  but not all tonight, I had added the inner pale gold, green and mauve before tonight's hour and three quarters. There is also also some unpicking of that innermost white bit as it was a stitch out which adding the grey clarified.

Of course the good part is its a RAL so no dispensation required to keep going after the sessions end and every reason to get it to a better stopping point.

Well one stitch lead to another as these things do and I got my white fixed plus a bit.

I wonder if the subtle colours give a clue to the designer? 

The link to my BFF's blog is at the top this week just in case you missed it.

and a link to a different version of the musical clue.

A discovery, a change and a start

 I found my shinny thread, the thread I was waiting on to start a new project intended for my wooden thread box top that was the alternant after I got the size wrong so the castles and Wyverns did not fit.

It was exactly where I thought it was and had looked there twice already, but not in the floral paper bag it used to be, it was in a white plastic one!

Now I needed red and two shades of blue. The red was there but there was not the right shades of blue.  And I realised I was not that disappointed?  Oh, take another look at the pattern and decide I don't feel like doing that anymore.

Put away in my main storage bag all the threads pulled for that and then?

Get out threads for something completely different, had this free pattern for an age, not that sure I even wanted to do it but it was free.

So making a start now, it probably won't be finished before the 1st of November so I may just include it in to the stitching options for the challenge.

Progress so far stitching with one strand over two on linen 

Not much to show so far, would you like a clue?

Sunday Stitchings 25.10.2026

 Forty nine stitches in white, on most other projects that would be an average sort of stitching session.

On this area of this project it is a very satisfying amount and feels like real progress.

There are still a lot of stitches to go even if this is a very small space on the pattern, however I feel a bit more hopeful about getting this bit done now.

And a suitable Forestella link 

A little closer

to the Alzheimer's Research UK fundraising challenge  for November.

My project bag and progress chart have arrived. 

I have pictured it with my initial choices of kits to sew during November, Not sure if I will get them all done or if I might need to add to it.  It can be hard to tell how fast something will stitch up. And whilst I am sure I can manage to sew something every day some days may get more time than others. 

CLICK HERE  for a reminder of what I will be doing and why and links to the face book and Just Giving pages if you want to make a donation before the start date. 

I will be posting updates each day both here, on the Charity Facebook page , and on the Just Giving Page.  If you are able and want to donate please note that the Facebook link will apparently show all donations including those made via Just Giving, but the Just giving will only show donations made there, so there will be a difference on the totals between the two.

BFF SAL 26 feeling very Autumnal

 the nights are arriving sooner, it is no longer an option to sew with the light from the window the light needs to be on.

Its not far away now turning the clocks back an hour for daylight saving. 

Some things even though they happen every year still come as a sad surprise. Ah and I wish we could turn the clock back at times.

So new shades that will be, once the backstitch is added, fallen leaves. I was noticing little drifts of them on my walk today. 

I did contemplate changing the green from the eyes, I find it a little neon and strange. I was however feeling lazy and could just not be bothered to look for something else so the kit shade they remain.

We should have the backstitching done next week and be ready to start BFF SAL 27 if not next week then the week after and it will get to be one of the stitches for my fundraising endeavour in November.

To see my BFF's progress click here .

Gifted Gorgeousness October 2026

 I had these things back in July and in September but as noted stuff happened.

So firstly retirement gift from my former boss's daughter.

some wool for felting, not feeling the felting at the moment but this might get me back in the grove.

Then  the gift for having a letter make Star Letter in the WOX

A fox kit and a printed  piece of Aida. I have thoughts about that but I need to check the size and the recommended thread count. 

Now regular visitors will know that the 15th of the month GG posts were started by Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching. She has had to pause some of her regular link ups and hops. However, a few are keeping up the traditions as we can. So Click Here to pop to another blog trying, and so far managing better than I, to keep posting GG on 15th.

BFF SAL 26, Shades of grey.

 It was time for the second shade of grey, started with the left ear. 

But it looked wrong to me, too close to the shade already used.

It looked different on the card but not the cat.

So I changed it, to an Anchor thread that was in reach.

Finished the grey and therefore the cat. Started on the next shade.

It was a nice steady normality that was much appreciated today. Small anniversaries of  things, a week, a month are by their nature odd. It will get less so over time I expect, the anniversaries will become counted in larger chunks, years, decades, time moves at a strange pace all of its own.

Anyway my BFF had a somewhat frustrating night however, the rules of the SAL allows for off camera stitching to put a project back into the position it would have been had a mistake not happened.

CLICK HERE to see her update for this evening.

A beginning of a Fundraising event and hopefully

 a continuation of a path to better treatments or a cure.  There are many things in this life that feel unfair, sicknesses and illnesses that are cruel and take people away from us. 

Alzheimer's is one of those terrible, frightening illness.  I had an awareness of it but had been fortunate that it did not impact directly on me. There was in 2007 the deep sorrow that a favourite author had been diagnosed when Terry Pratchett  made public his diagnosis.  Then a friend of my father's who I never met but would hear stories of, Harry, was also diagnosed and when walking his dog could only rely on the dog remembering the way home, it sounds funny but of course it is not.

It came a full step closer when a family friend I had known all of my life that I can recall was also diagnosed and for the first time I was present as his memories slipped away like water through his gripping hands. Pieces of his past and present flowing away. Before he forgot how to speak but a few words he would repeat the things he wanted most to hold onto. " I have a wife, her name is Anne, I have five children and their names over and over. We lost Martin in 2021 and he was a special person who should have had so many more years as a husband, father, and grandfather and friend.

It then moved right by my side when my own father was diagnosed and had his own struggles with its progression and loosing things that had been a part of him. His ability to drive, his bowling, being able to fix everything.  It was not this aliment that eventually took him from us, cancer beat it to that. He went before he forgot who we were, at times there is comfort in that, but it did take much of the quality of the time he had left and I resent that.

So this November I am going to do something I am good at, that my Dad both liked that I could do, when I made things for him or his friends or just that he liked, and was annoyed by when threads got all over the place and pins and needles were lost and invariably found by him! I am going to sew every day in November to try and raise funds for the Alzheimer's Research UK.  If you have visited before with me here you will understand why I am unlikely to  do much with the first two crafting methods shown below. 

Please feel free to verify the fundraising event via an independent search. 

This is the link to the Facebook donation page.Click here for the link I will be posting as I go. Thank you for visiting and taking the time to read this. 

Or there is also a Just Giving  option as well.     

I will be starting on the 1st of November I think I will be doing little kits mostly, but I might add some WIP's and BFF SAL days in there as well. Pop back and see.

BFF SAL 26

 and as the black was all completed last time it was onto the dark grey.  I started at the top, got so far and my stitching was suddenly wearing a balaclava!

Roni agreed and felt I should take a picture before further sewing removed the effect. So here it is.

I did manage to finish all of the  dark grey and it is certainly looking like , well you can see what it is now and the balaclava effect is much diminished.

Pop over to my BFF's blog..CLICK HERE to see her progress.

A little tweak to

a previous finish. Scotty dog key ring . Whilst still looking for my missing thread I came across some little charms and felt inspired to think again about a dog collar for the Scotty dog.

I had some chain, and jewellery plyers and this is the result.

Doggy has a bone. Still not sure what will happen to him but quite pleased with my modification.