Long time no stitch

Up until yesterday I went a good month without doing any stitching at all.

I simply put it away in the drawer when tidying up one day and never got it out again. I have been so busy with other things over the past few weeks and wasn't feeling too motivated about The Castle Sampler as progress is slow and its not easy. I kind of got out of the habit of it.

I was starting to get worried that the longer I left it the harder I would find it to pick it up again but in fact when I finally retrieved it from the drawer yesterday morning I launched into where I'd left off and got going again very quickly. The fact that I've been marking the chart off as I go along was a big help.

I've worked on it now almost all day yesterday and today. Its all or nothing with me! I've now completed the rocks on which the castle is standing and the first three buildings of the actual castle. The castle itself is easier than the rocks as the design is more blocky rather than individual stitches all over the place. I need to slow down a bit on it now as there are other things need doing, but I mean to get at least one more of the buildings completed tomorrow.

I finally got the Celtic Christmas chart for a bargain price on ebay just before Christmas - I've been after this one for a while. No idea when I'll get started on it though! I got absolutely no stitching goodies for Christmas which was a little disappointing but understandable really considering how much stash I've got, plus there are no decent stitching shops in the local town to where most of the relations live. Must try to convince them all to come live near me where there is the lovely Hobbycraft!