TAST week 2 - Buttonhole Stitch

Good morning.  It was my intention to post last night, but yesterday sort of got away from me and besides, I was too cold.  Our boiler has packed up and our up-to-now very mild winter has decided to take a dive for -5.  Not so cold?  No, probably not as cold as Canada or Siberia, but in our old, big, drafty Victorian house, it's a bit like being outside. 

Yesterday was a day of running around getting ready for my business trip to Tunisia on Monday (25 degrees - yay!) then a hasty trip to take my washing to my mum's.  I felt like a teenager doing that but there's no way it'll be dry enough for me to pack on Sunday night if I try to dry it here - it probably wouldn't be dry by the time I get back!  Then when I got home at half past 8, I was too cold to do anything but sit infront of the TV.  You should have seen us, both in wooly hats, layers of jumpers and fleeces and a hoody, thick socks and slippers and covered in a blanket.  We gave up and went to bed early, under layers of blankets and still in the wooly hat! 

I'm now sitting here in my nightwear - fleece, thick socks and wooly hat included - too cold to get in the shower or get changed, though I have to at some point as I've heard John Lewis is having a half price sale on fabrics such as Amy Butler and Joel Dewberry (I'm not not sure that's his name!  It's the cold, I have frostbite of the brain!) and I have vouchers!!

Don't panic about the wordy-ness of this post - I do have photos!  Not many though, it's been to cold to make anything.  First up is my TAST for week 2. 

This week was buttonhole stitch - a stitch I know as blanket stitch and have done plenty of.  I enjoyed trying out some different versions of the stitch, but my work below looks a little pathetic!  I'm such a slow embroiderer. 

I had a go at the ideas on Sharon's post, including overlapping blanket stitch, barb stitch (though you can't see the whipping, I only used 2 strands and I think I needed more), up and down button hole stitch (it's like a little miracle, it doesn't look like it's going to work but it does! Love that one), some very unsuccessful circles and a knotted buttonhole which I don't think you can make out above.  I then turned to my Crazy Quilting book and had a go at the bottom stitch which is laced buttonhole.  My stitches are incredibly wonky, but I think it'd look great if I practiced some more.

That's all I've got to show you in the way of craftwork, but I do have a giveaway win and a purchase to show you. I've been quite lucky with giveaway wins recently, I won a $50 gift certificate for a handmade jewellery shop in Sew Mama Sew's countdown to Christmas giveaways - though sadly it has never materialised...  I've also won two stitching kits which I'll show you when they arrive and I won the book below in the SMS giveaway day.  It came courtesy of Kopeckys.

Oh!  Nearly forgot, I also won two PDF patterns from Jojoebi which I'll show you when I've made them!

And my purchase?  Well I've made a few, but the most interesting is this Hoopla Yarn.

Which I'm going to make a doily rug with - as soon as I find the pattern which I KNOW is in one of my recent magazines - can anyone point me in the right direction?

That's it for now ladies.  I'm not sure when I'll be back...