I couldn't resist taking a few hours today to begin stitching one of the kits I bought yesterday - this fabulous fox from Hawthorne Handmade.

As I'm stitching I'm wearing my new Finger Gloves which I ordered after realising that when I do any needlepoint I need a bit of help with my grip and strength and these seemed the perfect took to help me - and they are. They make those fat, slippery needles so much easier to hold and pull through the fabric.

Once I'd finished my fox I moved onto this crewel-work robin kit from Nicola Jarvis.

I found over the day, especially when stitching the fox whom I had put a backing fabric behind to hide my stitches when I hang him, that the stitching is very tiring on my hands, especially my left-hand. I guess because when I bead it is mainly my right-hand doing all the work and my lazy left-hand normally gets to just hold the work whilst today it's actually playing an active role.