In Stitches

Thank You Claire G!

2009-05-18T18:30:00.003Z

I'm delighted to report that I received my Spring Fair Squares from Claire G on Saturday :) She stitched lovely squares for me - I'm thinking pinkeep. She tells me they are designed by Gail Bussi, from a design called Emily's Garden. Thank you so much Claire, I love them :)

I haven't really been inspired to blog much recently, as you may have noticed. Hopefully I will regain my blogging mojo soon!

Oh, and one last thing - Bernadette, please can you contact me as you were the winner of my Spring Blogoversary draw at the beginning of last month! The countdown is on - I'm afraid if I don't hear from you in the next seven days I'll declare the original draw void and draw another winner from the original contestants.

Thanks for stopping by - happy stitching!

Stephanie

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

2009-05-07T11:40:00.003Z

Yay, it's my birthday!! And what better way to celebrate than to take a day off work. Yes, I'm truly relaxing today :)

But, important blogging matters need to be taken care of, because I'm a member of the SBBC, and a package arrived for me the other day, which I managed to save patiently for today. And what a package it was!!

It turns out that Diane was my partner - and I count myself very lucky that she was :) Diane stitched not one, not two, not even three, four or five, but SIX, count 'em SIX smalls for me for my birthday surprise! Isn't that amazing?? I so would have lost the will to live after about four (hope my partner isn't reading this ;)

Here they all are: a pinkeep, a scissors keeper, a scissors fob, two floss tags and an ort bag, all stitched with pale blue floss as a set. I think you'll be forced to agree with me on their gorgeousness!

And that wasn't all, oh no, this wonderful lady wasn't done yet - look, she included some fantastic little extras for me too - a chart from my wishlist, some backing fabric (look, it's the same one that she used for the smalls!), some DMC (again, same colour: clever, eh?), and a beautiful pair of Gingher embroidery scissors - again, matching!

Diane, you have truly outdone yourself and I am delighted with every single thing, and I so appreciate the patience and effort that you so obviously put into making this a special birthday for me - THANK YOU SO MUCH :)

Happy stitching!

INSERT SIGNATURE

And the (very late) winner is...

2009-04-10T08:09:00.003Z

Hello all - I'm sorry that I'm nearly a week late with the drawing for the LHN needlebook. We had my SIL and her daughter over last week which kept us quite busy, and then things got a bit hairy at work with a few people being made redundant (laid off). So has been a busy week in which I haven't done much of anything stitching related.

But now it's the Easter weekend, and four days of freedom stretch out wonderfully before me, so the very first thing to do is get this draw sorted out!

With the help of my trusty hat and helpful H, I can now tell you, the winner is...

Congratulations Bernadette! Please send me an email or leave a comment on this post with your email address so I can get your contact details and get this in the post to you.

Thanks as ever everyone for stopping by - happy Easter to all!

Happy stitching

The Second Giveaway

2009-03-31T12:50:00.002Z

In honour of my second blogoversary (last week) and only slightly later than advertised, here it is, my second giveaway!

Continuing on in the Spring theme (my very favourite season) (is everyone else's favourite season the same season their birthday is in?), I will be giving away this:

(please excuse the rubbish photographs, it was quite dark when I was attempting to capture these)

It's Little House Needleworks' 'Season of Hope' finished as a needlebook. I'm quite fond of this one, I nearly couldn't part with it :)

The giveaway is open to absolutely anyone, please simply leave a comment on this post by Sunday 5th April (I'll probably do the draw in the evening UK time). Good luck! And, of course, thank you as ever for stopping by and making blogging such fun :)

Happy stitching!

And the Winner Is...

2009-03-29T11:45:00.003Z

Whoops, events slightly overtook me yesterday, so here is the result of my first blogoversary giveaway a day late.

With the help of H, I present to you the first winner:

Congratulations Staci and thank you all for entering :) I will post the second giveaway contest tomorrow - thanks as ever for visiting and making blogging such a great experience :)

Staci I have sent you an email to get your snail mail address.

Happy stitching

Christmas Stitching, Of Course

2009-03-24T07:16:00.003Z

Well, it's that time again - time to stitch for Christmas! The little SAL that Leena and I stitch each third weekend of the month. Last month, I had intended to stitch Gabrielle's Star by La-D-Da, but was foiled in my plan by the online stitching shop where I bought the threads for the design - they only had 2 of the 3 threads I needed. But they have since arrived, so here it is, all stitched:

Design: Gabrielle's Star by La-D-Da (from JCS 2008)
Linen: 36ct Navy Bean - Lakeside Linens
Floss: NPI Silks as charted

Now that will be a challenge for a little later on in the year, to finish it in the star shape!

I also have had plenty of time to stitch over the past few days, because I've managed to strain the ligaments in my knee - hockey (field) is a great thing to keep you fit, but you do feel the knocks a little more the older you get I find! So I'm limping around the house, signed off work by the doctor for a few days, icing and taking ibuprofen and trying to keep it relatively rested. I always thought I'd fancy a bit of a holiday from work, but I'm finding that as I can't go anywhere (I can't drive, and I'm walking sooooooo slowly because I can't straighten or put much weight on my knee) that actually I'm a bit bored. Sod's law!

But I have had time to finish up the Just Nan Needlebook Fob that I started recently, and this is going to be another finishing challenge (for another day of course!):

Design: Hop! Needlebook Fob by Just Nan
Linen: 28ct Olive Grove by Country Stitch
Floss: DMC as charted (with one substitution - if you're stitching this, beware that I think 3865 is a misprint and the intended floss is 3864 judging by the photo on the front of the chart)

Well, it's time for me to go and get the bag of carrots and peas out of the freezer (who actually has proper icepacks??) and retire to my sofa (stitching in hand of course!). Don't forget that I'm doing a giveaway to be drawn on Saturday March 28th, entry open to all, so leave a comment on this post and good luck to you all :)

Happy stitching!

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

2009-03-22T11:18:00.003Z

Happy blogoversary to me! It's been two years since I started this blog, and although I'm not the most regular of bloggers, I really enjoy being a stitching blogger, particularly in seeing what you're all up to :)

So, in celebration of my second blogoversary, I'm going to do a giveaway. In fact, I'm going to do two. But I'll do them one at a time, so for the first giveaway, leave a comment here on this post - it's open to anyone - and I'll draw names out of a hat next Saturday 28th March in the morning (UK time).

My first giveaway is this:

It's Brightneedle's 'Spring' design from Season Petites, and stitched 1/1 on 28ct pale lilac linen. Not a brilliant photo, but you get the idea.

So welcome to the giveaway; simply comment on this post and I'll post the winner (and the next giveaway) on Saturday 28th March.

Good luck and thank you for making blogging such fun :)

Happy stitching!

Glue, Tack, Baste, Cut, Measure, yes MEASURE, Stick, Snip

2009-03-17T18:12:00.002Z

Bar my hockey game (3-1 loss, don’t ask), and a VERY expensive *tears* trip to the VW garage, I spent every spare second this weekend finishing up a number of smalls. I didn’t even take time to change out of my jammies on Sunday in the final push to get everything done (oh how I love a jammy Sunday). Finishing holds a fair amount of peril for me – I try to measure 4 times and cut once, but sometimes, sometimes I just measure wrong 4 times. You know? But I had given myself a deadline, and a list (something else I love, a list. And don’t even get me started on an alphabetised list – bliss) so I was determined to get everything done. And, I’m proud to say, with only a few minor hiccups, I did!

Now I can’t show you everything, because I posted off Edda’s return Crazy Exchange to her on Monday, and it wouldn’t be fair to ruin the surprise here. And I finished 2 secret stitchings which I will reveal to you very shortly (maybe even as soon as tomorrow).

But I can show you the last two.

First, it’s a needlebook that I stitched back in 2007. (Once they’re stitched, things tend to languish in my finishing drawer for quite some time before I finally get around to finishing them off. It’s just the way it is.) It’s not really very spring-y, but I will think of it as being ahead of the game for autumn 2009, rather than 2 years behind since autumn 2007.

Design: A Touch of Orange Needlebook by MTV Designs
Linen: 32ct Vintage Country Mocha
Floss: Gloriana, Atalie, Kreinik
Beads: Mill Hill

And, second, I finally got around to stitching the first Just Nan tin from last year – Hop. It stitched and finished up really quickly, which is encouraging me to stitch the rest of them this year too. (Yes, of course I’ve signed up on an auto for this year’s lot…I’ll stitch them next year.) I’m now stitching the companion piece, the Hop needlebook fob, so that will undoubtedly sit in my finishing drawer for a few months before I get around to completing it :)

Design: Hop Tin by Just Nan
Linen: 28ct Lilac Grove by Countrystitch
Floss: DMC
Beads/Charms: included with kit

Oh, and nearly forgot, I picked up Their Song from the framer’s – I was in two minds about whether to have a matt or not, went into the shop, chose a matt and a frame, walked out of the shop and immediately began second guessing myself. I nearly walked back in and cancelled the order. But in the end my pragmatic and shy streaks won (too time-consuming and would look like an eejit going straight back in the shop), and I’m delighted they did:

It was a bit expensive (as in, framing in general, not that this framer is any more or less expensive than the average), so I’m going to wait a bit before dropping in the next thing to be framed. Perhaps Awake the Dawning Day which I finished back in July 2008, to match Their Song?

Happy stitching!

PL Update

2009-03-07T07:36:00.002Z

[I’ve been so busy that this update is a week late!] I had planned to stitch with the Let’s Stitch SAT group on Friday night (last week), but a late night in work and an early morning on Saturday to go play hockey meant that I didn’t really have much time to devote to Paradigm Lost. I did get a few stitches in and here’s a progress photo:

Also, I finally got Sailing Home back from the framers, and they did a wonderful job – I’d never used them before so that was a good find. My boss was delighted with the sampler as well, phew :) (Sorry for the inexpert photo, I realised I had forgotten to take one and so this is my attempt at work to get a photo of it.)

I’ve since taken ‘Their Song’ to the framers, which I finished back in 2007, so I will post a photo of it proudly hung in the house in a couple of weeks when it’s ready.

Happy stitching!

February's Christmas Ornament

2009-02-25T13:51:00.002Z

Well, it was the third weekend in the month this weekend, so of course I made time to stitch a Christmas ornament, as I do with Leena every month. This month I’d been hoping to stitch Gabrielle’s Star, the La-D-Da ornament from the JCS 2008 ornament issue, so I ordered the floss (I love stitching with NPI silks as it is charted with), but then only two of the three colours arrived in the packet as the shop was out of stock on the third one. So back to the drawing board, and I thought I might as well get my sister’s ornament out of the way – two years ago she got ‘A partridge in a pear tree’ and last year she got ‘Two turtle doves’ so this year it was pretty clear that she will be getting ‘Three French hens’! I’m stitching the designs from Prairie Schooler’s 12 Days of Christmas design. At least that leaves me without any difficult decisions for her ornament for the next 9 years :)

Stitched on: 32ct Opalescent ‘Dune’ from Countrystitch
Stitched with: DMC as charted

Happy stitching!

Panic Stations!

2009-02-24T11:45:00.002Z

Oh no, I just realised that I forgot to post photos of the wonderful Prairie Schooler Exchange I got from Chris QUITE SOME TIME AGO! I feel terrible; Chris I’m so sorry, I really thought I had posted it, but I think I must have posted it to the exchange blog and then not my own!

The clue is in the name, so Chris stitched me not only a wonderful mattress pinkeep, but a cute scissor fob as well using a Prairie Schooler design – I absolutely love what she’s stitched, it’s gorgeous :)

Check out the wonderful detail on the side of the mattress pinkeep:

I posted my Prairie Schooler exchange off to my partner a couple of weeks ago (Thurs 12/2/09) so hopefully it will turn up soon – otherwise I’ll be stitching a replacement!

Happy stitching!

P.S. To the person who anonymously berated me for not passing on the blog award I mentioned in the last post – if you’re not prepared to sign your name to your comment, then I’m not prepared to listen. You’ll probably be aghast to know that I have also broken every single chain letter ever sent to me, EVER. It’s my blog, and if I don’t feel like passing on an award, I bl**dy well won’t.

A Surprise!

2009-02-23T11:23:00.004Z

We came home from Dublin on Sunday evening last week (sorry Edda it has taken me so long to post this – I know I’m very naughty!) – we’d been to see H’s family and help his brother celebrate his 30th birthday. I was very tired and…maybe even a bit cranky…until I found that a mysterious package had been delivered over the weekend. I wasn’t expecting anything, so was delighted to find this:

Edda had sent me a Crazy Exchange, and I love the bourse that she sent – it’s a lovely pattern (it’s Three Emblems freebie by Papillon Designs which can be found here if you're interested!) and Edda’s stitching and finishing is really lovely. Thanks to Edda also for including some lovely well-chosen extras for me. Now to get my head down and work out what to stitch back for Edda – by the Crazy Exchange rules, I have 30 days to ponder, stitch, finish and send something back to her. Needle to the ready!

I’ve also been busy with Paradigm Lost – my new plan of leaving it on the frame seems to be paying off as I’m really rattling forward with it. I am a lazy so-and-so, and often when PL is off the frame, I can’t be bothered to do all the set up and pull out all the bits and pieces I need to start stitching, and instead just pick up something small and easy. So on the upside, I’m stitching more on PL and really hope to meet my goal of finishing it this year. On the downside, my stitching chair and stool are now never tidy because I never put PL away, and I am not getting as many photos, because I can’t get a good shot when it’s on the frame. And which is also why I have no photo update for you...

And, finally, thanks have to go to Angela who nominated me for an award:

According to the rules of the award, I need to name 5 things I’m addicted to, so here goes:

- Acquiring stash – I just can’t seem to help myself. Now, I know I'm not alone in this one...
- Cigarettes – it’s up in the air whether this truly belongs on the list, as I gave up on Sunday evening a week ago, but I’d still LOVE to have one. Or two. Or…
- Driving – preferably with my iPod cranked up.
- Chocolate – yes, another obvious choice, but the truth is that I send H out for chocolate most evenings, and I just can’t seem to get by without at least a tiny taste. Dark for preference, and never Cadbury.
- Me time – I’m a social creature, but only up to a point, and after that I need some space, so ‘me time’ is definitely on my list of must-haves.

I’m very naughty about passing on awards. This one I think has been around and around, so I think it’s safe for me to not pass it on – although thank you to Angela for thinking of me in relation to it, and if you haven’t had it yet, and want to, then by all means consider yourself awarded – if you’ve managed to stick with me this far, you definitely deserve an award!

Happy stitching!

It's a Snow Day!

2009-02-02T15:04:00.002Z

Well, half a snow day anyway. We woke up to 1/2 inch of snow here in Berkshire so we travelled into work as usual to find that London had had a proper snowstorm - 6 to 8 inches in most places. And, because London is not generally a snowy place, you can imagine the chaos that ensued - all bus services suspended, the Tube only working on the actual underground bits, all the train services from the south and east of the country suspended... I was one of only 8 people who managed to get into the office. So after fielding dozens of calls from colleagues and clients cancelling most of the meetings for the day, and seeing that it continued to snow heavily outside, I decided not to risk getting stuck in London for the night and headed off home around noon. Now, it did take me almost double the normal time to get home, but hey I made it and I'm home about 3 hours before I'd normally be home! So what am I going to do? Stitch, of course! :)

I stitched with the Let's Stitch group for Friday's SAT, and made some great progress on Paradigm Lost - I'm now finished page 6, meaning I'm over halfway done. Hurrah!!! Perhaps a goal of a 2009 finish isn't totally insane?? (For the moment, I am ignoring the fact that it has taken me two years to finish up to page 6...)

Happy Stitching!

A Whole Lotta Update (and lots of photos)

2009-01-26T20:16:00.009Z

This may be a long post, so I’ll start with the stitchy bits first, and move on to the holiday bits second.

I didn’t think that I was going to have a chance to stitch with Leena in December for our monthly ornament SAL, but in the end I did get to stitch an ornament – mainly on the plane on the way over – although not strictly speaking on the weekend we normally stitch on.

Design: Snowman, House and Rabbit, from Snowmen and Santas leaflet, Prairie Schooler
Stitched on: 32ct ‘Acorn’ linen by Country Stitches
Stitched with: DMC

And then two weekends ago (the third weekend of the month) it was time again to pick up my Christmas needle and choose something stitch along with Leena.

Design: Star Bright Snowman, Ewe & Eye & Friends
Stitched on: 28ct Jubilee ‘Seabird’ by Country Stitches
Stitched with: DMC

I chose to stitch this quirky snowman, and I stitched it over one – it was my first time stitching on Jubilee linen, and it sure is easy stitching over 1 on it: not only is it an evenweave, but it’s quite heavy compared with normal linen as well, so it doesn’t pull out of shape when stitching over 1. I think I’m going to attempt to finish this off into a star-shaped ornament, but that could prove tricky given its very small size (it’s about 2-1/2 inches square).

I also managed to finish Sailing Home for my boss’s little baby – he’s 5 months old tomorrow, which isn’t so bad really for a gift is it?! Not in my world :) I have yet to frame it, and of course give it to her. I’m hoping to get to the framer’s this weekend.

Design: Sailing Home by Blackbird Designs
Stitched on: 32ct Examplar by Lakeside Linens
Stitched with: GAST and DMC

January also saw me finish a little design for myself - in the spirit of 2009 selfish stitching (well, it's worth a try?). I stitched Love by Birds of a Feather - originally intending it to be a scissor fob for my love scissors, but it's come out a bit big, so I think it might be destined to wind up as a pinkeep, or possibly a tin top for some rectangular tins I have in my stash.

Design: Love by Birds of a Feather
Stitched on: 36ct Summer Khaki linen
Stitched with: GAST

I also finished off 2 little projects in December before we flew off to Canada which I didn’t have time to post about:

First, the AMAP Pinkeep which I’ve embarrassingly been stitching since August 2007! Yes, it was always the first thing to be put aside when something more urgent (like an exchange, or, well, like anything I preferred stitching) came along, mainly because I didn’t particularly enjoy stitching with the Vikki Clayton silk, and also because I stitched over 1 on 32ct fabric – and there’s a lot of stitching in this one.

Design: Victorian Quaker Pinkeep, A Mon Ami Pierre
Stitched on: 32ct Tundra linen by Country Stitches
Stitched with: Vikki Clayton Silk

And, secondly, I finished off a tin for myself – this was originally going to be for Vonna for the SBEBB Here’s to Ewe Exchange last April, but I attached the stitching so badly to the top (it’s very off-centre) that I decided to put this one aside and stitched her another one. So we finally finished a tin of lemon sweets, and I duly washed up the tin and attached the crooked stitching :)

Design: Two Friends by Drawn Thread
Stitched on: 32ct ‘Raw’ linen
Stitched with: DMC

And that’s about it for the stitching-only crowd, the next part of this post is going to be about our wonderful holiday back to Vancouver and Vancouver Island for 3½ weeks over Christmas and New Year.

I’d been telling H for months that he wasn’t to expect snow during our trip, because South Western BC doesn’t get much snow, and if by strange chance it did snow, it would be there and gone in a matter of days. How wrong I was! This is what happened over the first few days as we stayed with my sister and her boyfriend in Vancouver:

Yep, that’s snow all right, and plenty of it. And contrary to what I’d been telling H, it didn’t just go away quickly – in fact, it didn’t go away at all and we had snow the entire time we were there. It’s quite pretty to look at, but frankly it gets a bit dull trying to slog your way through it, particularly when the snowploughs don’t come around often enough.

H practised his snow shovelling, and realised just how tiring it can be, particularly when you get a lot of snow immediately after you shovel!

After a few days in Vancouver (plus one extra because another big dump of snow kept us on the mainland), we headed over to Vancouver Island to meet up with mum and dad. H got to show off his snow shovelling skills in very cold weather…

…and unfortunately did such a good job getting the snow off that he uncovered all the ice on the drive, and dad slipped on the ice and we had an unscheduled trip to the emergency room at the local hospital. He’s fine – some pulled muscles and I think now pretty much recovered – but H then decided it might be prudent to pour an entire 50-lb bag of salt on the drive (that’s about enough salt to last for a few years). Got rid of the ice though ;) And it also meant that I was on dogwalking duty for the next two weeks. But the dogs are so cute, how could I complain?!

Christmas morning we woke up to more snow and no electricity (thankfully it came back on before the turkey needed to go in):

…and Santa was very generous this year – we’d obviously been very good! My mum had been super crafty busy in the run up to Christmas and not only managed to quilt us all a placemat (which will never be used to hold a plate full of food, because they are so gorgeous), and she personalised them all too. H’s is all about golf, and mine has cross stitching on it – isn’t she great?!

She and I were also busy knitting – mum knitted fancy scarves for me, my sister and herself…

…and I’d been busy knitting one for H:

[My Gram taught me to knit when I was a small child (I think I must have been about 7 or 8), and, apart from a lot of ‘scarves’ for dolls in very holey garter stitch, I have never ever finished a knitted project. But I quite enjoyed knitting H’s scarf, so I’ve found a few patterns on the internet, bought some needles and notions, and of course had plenty of fun choosing all sorts of pretty yarns to knit with. I’m intending to use some of my three-hour round trip commute each day to knit.]

Mum had also managed to get me lots of crafty gifts for Christmas in her bid to make a quilter out of me – cutting mat, rulers, cutting blades, fabric – I’m now totally set for my (other) new hobby :)

And, we got the BEST Christmas present ever – when H and I got married in January 2006, mum had made a number of small quilt patches that all the guests signed at the wedding, instead of having a guest book, with a view to making us a wedding quilt. Now, things can either go two ways with mum and these sorts of projects – they can be done in two days or two decades, so I wasn’t expecting to be presented with this:

OUR WEDDING QUILT!

Above - the central blocks, and you can see the signatures along the white strips

Below - the sides of the quilt

Above - corner detail

Below - more detail of the sides

Above - the backing, and detail of the quilting - it's heart-shaped!

Below: the quilt on our bed

It’s just the most amazing thing – we totally love it. And mum made matching pillowslips and also is in the process of making 2 matching pillow covers – isn’t she just the most talented EVER??

I thought I’d take advantage of that talent, so I brought along these quilt squares that I’d been working on (remember these?):

I hadn’t done much to them since making them much earlier in 2008 (in the Spring I think), as I’d kind of fallen out of love with them and didn’t really know how to continue. So she taught me a masterclass and I watched her quilt and sew and stitch away, and now I’m set to finish them off (with a lot of help!). She decided that we would make two ‘sofa runners’ out of 4 of the squares, and 2 pillow covers from the remaining two. I won’t show photos yet, because I’m hoping that it won’t be long before I finish them (I need to bind one, and then make the second, and finish off the first pillow cover and make the second). Oh, and I also bought all the fabric I’d need to make another quilt – hopefully this one I’ll not fall out of love with and manage to finish it by the end of 2009. (That sounds suspiciously like a goal, although I’ve sworn I’m not going to set any this year, but I’m going to leave it in anyway, just in case.)

So, that was about it really – we caught up with friends, stayed in a lot, played cards, stitched, watched hockey, quilted, listened to Christmas music, watched several films, did a fair bit of shopping (H is now the proud new owner of several warm pieces of clothing: 4 toques, one pair of earwarmers, 3 scarves, 4 pairs of gloves/mitts, one winter jacket, one pair of heavy duty socks, and one pair of long johns). It was SO relaxing.

And now back to reality and jobs and work and suchlike. Apparently today is the bluest Monday of them all, but actually I’m feeling okay today, and looking forward to the weekend and a trip down to the Kent coast to visit friends.

I’m not going to set many stitching goals for 2009 – I think this year is going to be the year of selfish stitching and relaxed stitching. Last year I got a bit over-keen with exchanges, and ended up stitching and finishing in a blind panic half the time, so this year I’m going to take it easy, stitch a lot for myself, only do the odd exchange, and hopefully finish some of the bigger things I’m stitching, as well as lots of smaller stuff. Let’s see how it goes :)

But for now, this is probably (more than) enough, so Happy New Year again to you all, and here’s to a year full of happy stitching!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-12T18:19:00.003Z

Phew, we're back! My brain is still a bit mushy from the jetlag (it seems to take longer the older I get), and I'm feeling fair knackered after my first day back at work today.

We had a brilliant time in BC, and I'll update you with photos and tales over the next few days, but first things first. I found these lovely squares waiting for me from the lovely Dani when we got back this weekend from Fair and Square Round 10:

I'd asked for something Christmassy and, well, she certainly delivered! The colours are so vibrant, I absolutely love this design - so thank you so much Dani and apologies again that it's taken me so long to let you know they arrived safely.

I hope you all had a peaceful and happy holiday season, and wishing you a healthy and happy 2009!

Happy stitching

2008-12-17T19:50:00.001Z

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2008-12-17T19:33:00.006Z

Hello all! We're soon heading off on our Christmas holidays, so just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy holiday season, and all best wishes for 2009!

Also, I'll leave you with this, hopefully (if it works!) it's a slideshow of all the Christmas ornaments I managed to stitch this year during the little SAL that Leena and I did each month. I'm delighted that we'll be carrying on this year :)

**EDITED - Okay, couldn't get the slideshow to work here, but it's in the next post! **

Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Christmas, and a prosperous and joyful 2009.

Some Goals for December

2008-12-04T19:14:00.003Z

I had a finishing weekend last weekend, and among all the Christmas ornaments (more on them shortly), I managed to finish some Fair Squares – these are the ones that Mercy sent to me a while back. I finished them into a needlebook. I absolutely love L’R de Rien designs, I must add some to my already overflowing stash ;)

Also on the subject of Fair and Square, Dani received the squares I stitched for her for Round 10. Dani is going to make a friendship quilt from all her squares, so is collecting Quaker-themed squares stitched in red – I’m really looking forward to seeing it when finished, it should be amazing! I chose to stitch her a design I took from part of Examplar Dames 'Honesty'.

I’ve also had a bit of time this week to work on Sailing Home – and it’s going remarkably quickly I’m pleased to report! The design is predominantly in blue, so I have a few letters and numbers, plus the baby’s name and birthdate to stitch, then just a few stars and sailboats. There’s no chance it will be done before Christmas, but early in the new year should see this one finished up. At which point, the child in question will nearly be six months old, but nevermind :)

And, finally, a goal review for November, and some goals for December:

November Goals

- stitch and send Fair and Square Christmas Squares to Barbara – YES
- stitch and send Fair and Square Round #10 Squares to Dani – YES
- Christmas ornament SAL with Leena: stitch one ornament – YES
- Finish 6 Christmas ornaments – YES, in fact I finished 7
- Finish one non-Christmas item from finishing drawer – YES
- Finish Kitty Cat into scissor fob – YES
- Carry on stitching Paradigm Lost – YES
- Carry on stitching Spanish Wine – YES
- Carry on stitching secret stitching – YES
- Carry on stitching Sailing Home – YES
- Carry on stitching AMAP pinkeep – YES
- Start x-box quilt – NO (I never seem to do my quilting goals do I?)

December Goals

- Finish last Christmas ornament
- Finish something from finishing drawer
- Carry on stitching Paradigm Lost with Let’s Stitch group
- Carry on stitching Spanish Wine
- Carry on stitching secret stitching
- Carry on stitching Sailing Home
- Carry on stitching AMAP pinkeep

Happy stitching!

What a Week

2008-11-29T09:46:00.005Z

Whew. What a week. By Wednesday, I had already worked more than my 40 hours, with the prospect of Thursday and Friday to come. It was exhausting - I feel like I've been through the wringer. And we have a friend coming to stay this weekend, meaning all the chores needed to be done (I usually let them slide when I'm having a week like this! I am no 1950s housewife, that's for sure).

So, as a consequence, I haven't much to show you in the way of stitching. Last night for the Let's Stitch SAT, I was running around doing chores until 10pm, so I didn't actually achieve much - so I opted to stitch the very unglamorous (but passing the easy-to-stitch-when-extremely-tired test) right hand border. [Sorry for the oddly-shaped photos - for some reason Blogger won't resize the photos that I'm uploading from Photobucket - if anyone knows why, happy to hear from you :) ]

Earlier in the week, I managed to put in a couple of hours on Spanish Wine, so I'm now working on the central motif. You'll see I've stitched the '2' and the '0' of what will eventually be the year (the next two digits are at the bottom of the central design), but I think I might just leave off the next two, just in case this one goes a little bit into 2010 :)

We've a friend staying with us this weekend, so not sure I'll get much stitching done, but will be having plenty of laughter and wine, so that will make up for it ;)

Happy stitching!

Friday SAT Let's Stitch Update

2008-11-22T08:52:00.002Z

I tell you, this SAT Friday thing over at Let's Stitch is an absolute corker - it helped too that H was away on business and so I only needed to stop briefly for a quick snack rather than prepare a proper meal ;) (Shhh, don't tell him, he will frown at me!)

My goal this week was to finish the big motif I was stitching, and had been stitching on seemingly endlessly since July. JULY, folks. Which is ridiculous really, but I did have quite a bit of holiday and other commitments in August, September and October, so I suppose I have half an excuse for why this took so long...

The good news is I'm on to page 6, and once I'm finished page 6, I'll be at the HALFWAY POINT in this sampler! In fact, I'll be a little bit past halfway because I've stitched little bits of pages 7 and 8 aready. I'm really hoping I'll hit halfway before the end of 2008, but with a long holiday in prospect, I may not quite get it done. I will keep you posted of course ;)

Here is last night's progress:

Happy stitching!

Last Christmas Ornament for 2008

2008-11-17T20:15:00.002Z

This past weekend was the Christmas ornament SAL weekend that I’ve been stitching with the lovely Leena all year – and I’m delighted to report that we’ve agreed to carry on for 2009! I’m really pleased about this because it’s so much nicer to stitch along with someone else, particularly when that someone is Leena, who I’ve really loved getting to know better – you are a real gem Leena :) So this past weekend was probably my last ornament SAL weekend with Leena for this year as the weekend that it falls on in December is during our trip home to BC for Christmas, and I’m not sure yet what I’ll be taking with me to stitch.

I’ve had my eye on this little Lizzie*Kate design for a while now, and have finally gotten around to stitching it – actually, it’s fair to say that I have had my eye on a vast number of Christmas ornaments that I plan to stitch as I’ve just measured my Christmas designs folder – it’s a whopping four inches thick. That’s vertical, people, as in a four-inch high stack of charts and designs that need to be stitched up. That’s the other reason that I love the weekend with Leena – because it ensures that I actually do something about actually stitching up all these Christmas designs that I so love rather than just admiring them and telling myself that eventually one day I will stitch them up :)

Okay, enough rambling, here is the photo of this weekend’s stitching:

Design: Wishing Ewe Joy – Lizzie*Kate (from Tiny Tidings IX)
Linen: 32ct Raw linen
Floss: as charted, with one substitution

And here's a photo I've forgotten to post before, it's the finished for for my sister this Christmas (shhhhh mum and dad, no telling!).

Happy stitching!

Paradigm Lost Update

2008-11-15T09:07:00.003Z

Another Let's Stitch Friday SAT, another Paradigm Lost update from me. I set myself the goal of finishing the outer ring of the large motif I'm working on, and beginning to stitch the centre of it. And, despite some desperate anguish and rather a LOT of frogging, I managed it! I did have to stitch into the wee hours, and H was asleep when I finally went up to bed, but I just wasn't ready to admit defeat over this one.

The goal for next week's SAL is to get at least half of the centre of the motif finished. I'm finding the Let's Stich SAT Fridays really motivating - maybe my goal of finishing PL in 2009 isn't so unreachable after all!

Happy stitching!

Let's Stitch!

2008-11-13T19:08:00.003Z

This past week, I had an email from Kathy letting me know that she was closing the Snowbird SAL blog, as most of the stitchers (who were stitching either Cirque des Cercles or, like me, Paradigm Lost) had pretty much drifted away (or completed their stitching!). So, in the hopes of not becoming demotivated, I saw Becky’s blog ‘Let’s Stitch’ and decided that this could be just the thing to keep me going. So I signed up, and last Friday participated in my first SAT! Here’s my progress on PL – my goal for this Friday’s SAT is to finish the ‘outer ring’ of stitching and move to the centre on this particular motif:

Before:

After:

I also saw that Barbara received the Fair and Square Christmas Squares I sent her – my only worry was that she had stitched them for herself from the latest JCS ornament issue, because as soon as I saw them, they just shouted ‘Barbara’ to me.

As if by magic, there was a package waiting for me at home tonight – Barbara’s squares to me! She adapted ‘A Tiny German Folk Sampler’ by Threads Through Time from the JCS 2004 ornie issue, and she stitched it with Belle Soie silk – mmmm some of my absolute favourite silk! They’re gorgeous Barbara, thanks a million! I can’t wait to finish them up into an ornament for our tree (even though we’re not having a tree this year because we’ll be travelling, but well, for lampshades and picture hooks and doorknobs and such!).

And, finally, a little progress photo of Sailing Home, which is a delight to stitch (as are all BBD designs as far as I’m concerned), and stitching up relatively quickly (for me, that is). (I'm not sure why that photo is suddenly small - should be clickable though!)

Only 35 days before we jet off for our extended break to BC for Christmas (so excited, so so SO EXCITED!), do you think it’s too early to plan stitching I’m going to bring??

Happy stitching!

And the Winner Is...

2008-11-09T14:22:00.002Z

Barbara!

Congratulations to you - I'll get the Kitty Cat chart to you in the post tomorrow; I know I have your address as I've just posted your Fair Squares to you last week :)

Happy stitching!

A New Start!

2008-11-06T18:53:00.003Z

Yes, well, it seemed about time for a new start, and it seemed more than about time to start this particular design, which is intended to be a birth sampler for my friend’s child, now born more than two months ago (whoops). Luckily it is stitching up fairly quickly, so with a bit of application this shouldn’t take too long:

Sailing Home – Blackbird Designs

And better late than never, an update of last month’s goals, and a roundup of this month’s:

October
- stitch and send Fair and Square Autumn Squares to Jill – YES
- Snowbird SAL: stitch Paradigm Lost on Thursdays – YES
- Christmas ornament SAL with Leena: stitch one ornament – YES
- Finish 5 Christmas ornaments this month – YES (I’m especially proud of that one!)
- Start stitching secret stitching – YES
- Start stitching baby gift – YES
- Carry on stitching AMAP pinkeep – YES
- Carry on stitching Spanish Wine – YES
- Finish at least one non-Christmas thing from my finishing drawer – YES
- Quilting: spend at least one day quilting this month – NO

November
- stitch and send Fair and Square Christmas Squares to Barbara
- stitch and send Fair and Square Round #10 Squares to Dani
- Christmas ornament SAL with Leena: stitch one ornament
- Finish 6 Christmas ornaments
- Finish one non-Christmas item from finishing drawer
- Finish Kitty Cat into scissor fob
- Carry on stitching Paradigm Lost
- Carry on stitching Spanish Wine
- Carry on stitching secret stitching
- Carry on stitching Sailing Home
- Carry on stitching AMAP pinkeep
- Start x-box quilt

Don't forget, if you'd like to be entered into the draw for the Kitty Cat chart (see last post), then leave a comment there before Saturday.

Happy stitching!

(

What, Another Giveaway Already?!

2008-11-04T19:04:00.003Z

I know you’re thinking ‘but you just did a giveaway – what gives?’ Okay, no, you probably don’t think such atrocious puns. Yes, I just had a giveaway, but Clare recently stitched Kitty Cat by Twisted Threads and when I commented on her blog that the design would be perfect for my sister, who loves cats, she very kindly volunteered to send me the chart. So that is now all stitched up and waiting to be finished into a scissor fob as a stocking filler (shhhh, mum I know you’re reading this, so don’t let the cat out of the bag [sorry, couldn’t resist]), and I thought why not pass on the chart to someone else who may have a fondness for cats and stitching small designs? So leave a comment on this post, and I’ll do a draw (if there is more than one of you!) on Saturday 8th November in the evening, UK time.

Here’s the photo of the one I stitched:

Twisted Threads – Kitty Cat
Stitched on Lakeside Linens 36ct ‘Navy Bean’ using a mixture of Carrie’s Creations, DMC and GAST threads

By the way, Sally received the JCS Hallowe’en Ornament issue from the last giveaway (congratulations again Sally!) and I slipped a little gift into the envelope for her:

From Sleepy Hollow – Cross-Eyed Cricket
Stitched on 32ct raw linen using DMC
(the fabric in the photo is the fabric I used for the back and also for the loop)

Finished as floss tag

(But don’t get too excited, because I haven’t had a chance to stitch anything for this giveaway, so it’s just the chart!)

A special hello to all you American voters out there – we’ll be watching with interest into the small hours over here to see the outcome!

Happy stitching!

Snow!

2008-10-30T14:50:00.002Z

Yesterday morning I took one look out the window and headed straight back upstairs for my gloves and hat – snow in October? In southern England?? So how appropriate that for the Christmas ornament mini-SAL this month that I stitch with Leena, I stitched a Just Nan ornament called ‘Snow Faces’.

Design: Just Nan, Snow Faces
Linen: 28ct Sugar Maple Fabrics ‘In the Clouds’
Floss: WDW and DMC as charted

This weekend I was having a bit of a finishing frenzy (all these Christmas ornaments I stitch, now I need to finish! I love the stitching, bit ambivalent about the finishing, it just takes SO LONG to get it just right), and I managed to also finish up some lovely Lizzie*Kate squares sent to me in a distant Fair & Square round (I won’t reveal which one, because then I will feel guilty about how long these squares have been sitting in my finishing drawer) from the lovely Melissa – I used a tuck pillow kindly gifted to me by Becky, and I attached the signature square to the back of the pillow, and did some arty-type fraying. I think it’s turned out rather well if I do say so myself.

After a furious bout of dusting (yuck) on Tuesday night, I rewarded myself with some quality stitching time on Spanish Wine – been a while since you’ve seen an update on this I fear. But I slowly stitch away at it, and I know that one day it will be done. I managed to finish Band 3 (yay!) and get a start on the centre motif.

Happy stitching!

Giveaway Winner!

2008-10-29T15:16:00.003Z

I was all ready to stay up last night and wait for H to come home from his European Supply Chain Awards dinner - he was in black tie, which I thought would be perfect attire for a giveaway draw! Alas, I fell asleep before he came home, and so the job has been put off until today. But, a quick trip to http://www.random.org/ and... we have a winner!!

Congratulations to:

!!SALLY of Stitchyangel's Treasures!!

Sally, please drop me an email (email address is in my profile) and let me know your address, and I'll pop this in the post for you straight away!

Another update to come later today :)

Happy stitching!

An Old Friend

2008-10-27T14:25:00.002Z

Finally, this month I’ve had some time to get out an old friend and put in some stitches on Paradigm Lost. The Snowbird SAL seems to be losing momentum a little bit, but I’m going to persevere with my Thursday stitching and finish it to my revised timeline – end of 2009 (yes, I have just like that given myself an extra 12 months – average lifespan of a worker bee, but a manageable extension for myself!). I’ve been stitching on it (on and off, to be fair) since March 2007, so I think another 15 months should just about cover it :)

I also managed to stitch an ornament for the mini SAL that Leena and I stitch each month, but I seem to have forgotten to load up the photo onto my memory stick (I am at work you see – shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone), so you’ll have to wait for a photo next time!

Don’t forget, you’ve about a day and a half left to sign up for the giveaway :)

Happy stitching!

A Giveaway!

2008-10-24T17:27:00.002Z

I’d forgotten that last month I had ordered a copy of the JCS Hallowe’en ornament issue – and then Paula sent me that gorgeous Hallowe’en pinkeep for the HOE exchange, remember, and she also included a copy of the magazine. So now I’ve got two! But I don’t need two. So I thought – this looks like a giveaway, smells like a giveaway – IT IS A GIVEAWAY! So no matter if you’re nearby, faraway, a faithful or a first-time reader, simply leave a comment on this post before the end of Tuesday 28th October (UK time) when I will draw a winner. You never know what else I might just slip inside the winner’s parcel :)

Happy stitching!

PS In case you are curious what is in the magazine, it boasts not only Hallowe'en ornaments by Just Nan, Mosey 'n' Me, Sweetheart Tree, Monsterbubbles, Homespun Elegance, Prairie Schooler, La-D-Da, and SamSarah Designs (among others), it also, amongst the usual columns and designs, features a design by My Big Toe Designs and one by Carriage House Samplings. Good luck to all!

And the Last One Arrives!

2008-10-13T16:46:00.002Z

Whew, the last one made it safely! Jill F received her Fair and Square Celebrate the Season: Autumn squares and tell me she likes them, always a relief :) I stitched her a Lizzie*Kate design – it’s supposed to be on gingham linen, but Fair and Square rules are strictly no varicoloured linen, so I chose a colour called ‘Haystack’ instead – seasonal if not quite what the designer intended, but I think they turned out nicely.

Design: Fall Squared, Lizzie*Kate
Materials: WDW and GAST as charted, on 32ct Country Stitch ‘Haystack’

Now, I just have to wait to get my partner info for my single, solitary, only exchange in November – Fair and Square Christmas Round. See, I have been good, listening to my advice to myself and not signing up for a million exchanges :)

Thank you also for all the kind words about all the finishes in previous post – it was a busy time for me, so thank you for taking the time to comment :)

Happy Stitching!

Exchange-tastic (Photo Intensive)

2008-10-10T17:34:00.003Z

I have a raft of finishes for exchanges to catch you up on, so beware: this post is going to be fairly photo-filled. Before I left for Canada, I had 2 exchanges and 1 gift to send, and on my return in September, I had 5 more exchanges to send, so here’s the update with what I’ve been madly stitching (in fact, looking back I can see that the last time I put a single stitch in anything destined for myself was…early August!!).

First – Joke kindly sent me this gorgeous Shepherd’s Bush needleroll for a Crazy Exchange, so according to the Exchange rules I had 30 days to send something back to her. Knowing that Joke likes Bent Creek designs, I elected to stitch this door knocker which had recently caught my eye:

Design: Hospitality Door Knocker by Bent Creek
Materials: GAST and Weeks as charted on Country Stitch 32ct 'Haystack'
Finished as: Door knocker

Second – back in May, my partner in the SBEBB Garden Exchange was Mylene, and by careless accident I stitched Mylene Peony by Crescent Colours and finished it as a pinkeep. I was mortified to find out that not only had someone else stitched her this design for an exchange, but that they too had finished it as a pinkeep! Imagine, getting the same thing twice? So I vowed (A) to be more thorough in future when selecting designs to stitch for exchange partners and (B) to stitch Mylene a replacement so that she had a proper surprise for this wonderful exchange. This is what I came up with:

Don't you just love The Sampler Girl designs? I do :) Here is the full design before it was finished, for a better appreciation of the whole thing:

Design: In the Garden with Jane Austen by The Sampler Girl
Materials: GAST, Weeks, Crescent Colours and DMC as charted (with one substitution) on 28ct Stitches ‘n’ Spice 'Wintered Marble'
Finished as: Treat bag

Third – It was the lovely Leena’s birthday in early September, just as I was getting back from holidays, so being the occasionally organised person I strive to be, I did manage to stitch, finish and send her a birthday gift before I left in mid-August. I don’t know how she did it, but she actually managed to hang on until her birthday before opening it – I know I wouldn’t have :) Leena and I stitch Christmas ornaments together in a little SAL, so of course I thought it would be perfect to send her a Christmas ornament.

Design: Joy by Prairie Moon
Materials: Crescent Colours Belle Soie Silk as charted on 28ct Permin/Wichelt ‘Blush’
Finished as: Christmas ornament

Yes, there’s more – I love Fair and Square exchanges, not least because there’s no finishing involved (so I can’t panic about it not turning out!) and also because you know who your partner is, and you get to have a bit of a chat with them and find new friends, which is kind of cool. So for Round #9, I was paired with Clare who also lives in the UK – I love meeting/finding other UK-based stitchers, as sometimes I feel a bit alone here with no LNS and no friends IRL who stitch. So it’s always nice to meet lovely people like Clare who live nearby (ish) and also love to stitch! Clare loves quaker designs, and is working on Papillon Creations’ Simple Little Quaker, so I stitched this small companion piece for her:

Design: Tiny Little Quaker by Papillon Creations
Materials: Dinky Dyes ‘Gum Leaves’ on 32ct Cashel 'Cream' (I think?)

Next, Joke was, in addition to sending me a Crazy Exchange and being the recipient of the door knocker above, also by coincidence my partner for the HOE Prairie Schooler exchange! So this is what I made for her:

Design: Sewing Ladies, from The Needle’s Eye leaflet, Prairie Schooler
Materials: DMC as charted on Sugar Maple Fabric 40ct ‘Nostalgia’
Finished as: Mattress pinkeep

And – still more! – Fair Squares! Jen R was my partner for the Hallowe’en Round, and I stitched her a motif from ‘Sleepy Hollow’ by Cross-Eyed Cricket – one day I’ll stitch the whole thing, but not this day :)

Design: Headless Horseman from ‘Sleepy Hollow’, Cross-Eyed Cricket
Materials: DMC as charted on a 32ct Country Stitch Lugana fabric which I can't now remember the colour name of!

And, finally, Cathy B was my partner for the HOE Hallowe’en Exchange. I kind of made up the finishing as I went along, so the final article didn’t quite match the picture in my head, and I was a bit worried that it would arrive with Cathy in one intact piece, but Royal Mail seems to have done a careful job, as she assures me she likes it and it did indeed arrive safely.

Design: Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls, Just Nan
Materials: DMC as charted on Country Stitch 32ct 'Cappuccino'
Finished as: Needlebook

Phew! Now just one more exchange in the post – my Fair Square Autumn squares to Jill F – and I’ll update you about those when they arrive at their destination.

October is looking much more relaxed stitching-deadline-wise – and I’m going to try and keep it this way as I’m a bit of a stress junkie, but these past 8 weeks have been a bit crazy altogether. Of course, now I can start stitching all those things I’ve promised myself that I will be giving away as Christmas gifts. The fun never ends :)

Happy stitching!

More Beautiful Squares!

2008-10-08T17:22:00.003Z

Yesterday, I had a lovely package arrive from Jen R – my Hallowee’en squares from the Fair & Square Hallowe’en Round! She stitched a pair of beauties for me – using Jeannette Douglas’ Hallowe’en Pumpkin Ornament design from the recent JCS Hallowe’en issue. I’m so glad that Jen stitched them, because as soon as I got the magazine I admired Jeannette’s design, but thought that I probably wouldn’t stitch it myself because although I love the look of the fiddly stitches, I sometimes can’t be bothered to stitch them for myself. So I am thrilled that Jen bothered for me!

These squares are definitely getting finished off as a hanging ornament (eventually!)

Thanks a million Jen, I so love them!

Happy stitching!

Fair Squares

2008-10-02T17:39:00.002Z

Two days, two sets of Fair Squares! First, the Round #9 squares arrived from Clare. She stitched me these beautiful squares from a Prairie Schooler freebie – I just love them. Check out the really cool signature square as well. I’m thinking of finishing it into a floss holder a la Staci here, once of course I work out how she does it ;)

And then, the lovely Jill sent me my squares for the Fair and Square Autumn Round. I’m a Brightneedle fan, so these are great – also in my stash and not yet stitched so saves me the effort ;)

Isn’t the over 1 stitching on the signature squares amazing? These I’m thinking of making into a floss tag.

I didn’t explicitly set any September goals, and you’ll know from my previous posts that I’ve been quite busy doing exchange stitching these last several weeks, so I didn’t achieve anything goal-wise beyond meeting my exchange commitments. Hopefully October will see a bit more variety in my stitching.

- stitch and send Fair and Square Autumn Squares to Jill
- Snowbird SAL: stitch Paradigm Lost on Thursdays
- Christmas ornament SAL with Leena: stitch one ornament
- Finish 5 Christmas ornaments this month
- Start stitching secret stitching (my ref Munro banner)
- Start stitching baby gift (my ref Sailing Home)
- Carry on stitching AMAP pinkeep
- Carry on stitching Spanish Wine
- Finish at least one non-Christmas thing from my finishing drawer
- Quilting: spend at least one day quilting this month

Happy stitching!

Spooky Time!

2008-09-29T16:43:00.003Z

Yay, I just love Hallowe'en, and I tell you, these Brits don't really go for it in a big way, so I struggle. I've lived here for 10 years and not once, NOT ONCE, has my bell ever been rung or my door rapped on Hallowe'en to reveal little trick-or-treaters. Can you believe it?? So, when the opportunity came to join a couple of Hallowe'end exchanges, of course I signed up straight away (no no, not regretting it, but truth be told both of them have yet to be posted *grimace*).

But guess what, my HOE Hallowe'en Exchange has arrived! My partner ended up being Paula, and it turns out we've had some eerie pseudo-coincidental happenings in our lives - I live the UK, but I'm not British. Paula has lived in the UK too, and she's not British either! I lived in East Anglia for while - so did Paula (East Anglia - just FYI it's the eastern part of England, just under halfway up). Paula now lives in Washington State - and I'm from British Columbia, only a stone's throw away! Spooky, eh? Okay, admittedly not that spooky, but work with me here I'm trying to get into the Hallowe'en swing of things :)

Paula made up a very cool package for me, and the crowning glory was the pinkeep she stitched for me - she used a Bent Creek freebie called 'Owl on an Egg' which I absoultely love - just check out this masked owl!

And look at the fabric Paula used for the reverse - see, he's in a tree!

I love the ribbon she used to surround the pinkeep - I've tried to take this next shot to make the ribbon more obvious - it's so beautifully vibrant.

But do you think she stopped there, with this wonderfully stitched and expertly finished pinkeep?? No, she did not, she continued to spoil me rotten (it's like a state of grace for me, I never say no to rotten spoilage!)

LOOOOK: 2 charts, a skein of seasonal floss, some Hallowe'en stickers, 3 fat quarters of seasonal fabric, some Hallowe'en treats (hidden away from husband's greedy fingers straight away), and the Hallowe'en issue of JCS (which is difficult to find here, so doubly appreciated!). Thank you so much Paula, I absolutely love it all and I am delighted that you were my partner for this exchange!

Now, in order to avoid the guilt, I must head off and finish these 2 Hallowe'en exchanges that are very soon due - including the HOE one. I will be back in a couple of days to update you on all the secret stitching that I have done in August and September - not a single stitch in anything for myself since the end of July! So lots to share, but time is of the essence - get cracking Stephanie!

Happy stitching!

A Beauty!

2008-09-28T16:20:00.002Z

Lucky me, Friday brought an excellent treat for me - I discovered that Rowyn was stitching for me and she sent me a great little pillow, which I adore :) She used the F is for Friendship chart from the PS alphabet series (how appropriate!) and told me this was her first finish using her sewing machine - hopefully the first of many because she's done a stellar job.

Rowyn was kind enough to also add in 2 charts from my wishlist - of course, one was a Prairie Schooler chart! - and also included a beautiful leather bookmark from New Zealand and a beautifully handmade card - she definitely has talent :)

Thank you so much Rowyn, it's a beautiful exchange and I am thorougly delighted :)

Hopefully more news from me tomorrow as I have to update you on a couple of exchanges and gifts that I sent before my holiday and haven't had a chance to post about, and also it looks like my HOE Hallowe'en Exchange has arrived, so I'm going to open that one tonight.

Happy stitching!

Return to Blog-land

2008-09-25T17:06:00.008Z

Well, I’ve been away for quite a while. It’s fair to say I’ve been busy, but it’s also fair to say that I’ve been trying to keep from thinking about blogging because every time I start to think about it, a sense of mild dread sets in because there is so much to update you on! But it can’t be that difficult, so I’ll start from the start, and see where we get to.

I suppose the real beginning was on 24 August 1968, the date my parents got married. But that seems a bit far back to go, so let’s start with something a bit more contemporary, say this Spring?

So early this Spring, my sister and I decided that as it was going to be my parents’ 40th anniversary this summer, we couldn’t really let the occasion pass by without marking it in some way. We decided that the only thing for it was to throw a surprise party for them, and for me and H to secretly travel back to BC to co-host the party with my sister and her boyfriend. Thus began the planning stages – they went on an awfully long time, so I’ll spare you the gory details, but eventually we found a venue, a theme, made some invites, started to track down long-lost friends and relatives (with varying degrees of success) and it all started to take shape.

Along with the party preparations, I decided that it would be a nice idea to commemorate Mum and Dad’s big day with a special anniversary sampler – well, of course I would! I mulled over the choices, and eventually settled on Marriage of Minds by The Drawn Thread, not least because coincidentally Mum had chosen this off my wishlist as a Christmas present for me just a few months earlier. I had to keep my stitching very secret, because both my parents are avid readers of my blog (isn’t that sweet??) and I didn’t want to give the game away. So I stitched diligently and determinedly, and eventually it got done – and even in enough time to get it framed.

Above - unframed, and below - framed and hanging on Mum & Dad's wall

Finally it came time for me and H to get on the plane back to Canada – I was so, so excited! We stayed the first day with my sister and her boyfriend in Vancouver, and then headed over to Vancouver Island to surprise Mum and Dad – we were all giddy and giggly on the ferry over with the excitement of it. And, when we finally got there, their faces! Oh, it was priceless! My sister and her boyfriend were expected, so we waited until they had been welcomed and then rapped at the door – I shocked Mum speechless for the first time in a good number of years :)

And the party? It was a blast – my sister and I spent a whole afternoon blowing up balloons, making table centrepieces, hanging decorations, cutting out photographs, picking up the cake and organising music (yes, and gently panicking that no one would turn up on the night!). And it was all worth it because Mum and Dad had a wonderful time.

And then, the relaxing part of the holiday started! We spent about 10 days altogether in BC, golfing, shopping, eating out, playing bocce, visiting friends and family, spending a day at the PNE and chilling out. It was magic. I’ve posted some photos below for those of you interested (they're small, but clickable).

And then, refreshed and relaxed, we arrived back home. And the best part? We’re heading back for Christmas in just three short months!

I think that’s enough for today, so over the next few days I’ll update you on some other goings on, including a couple of exchanges and gifts that I sent before I left, and bring you up to date with life as it stands. Actually, that wasn’t so bad, I should have blogged days ago :)

Happy stitching!

The signing table at the 40th anniversary party

These centrepieces took T and I several hours to make (all 8 of them)

Happy families! Sister's boyfriend A, Mum, H, sister T, Dad, me

The 'boys' Venture and Pepper

Mum and T walking the boys

Bocce!

Taking a break from bocce to have an impromtu picnic. L-R: A, Mum, H, N, T, J

Dad teeing off at the 10th

Elk Falls in Campbell River, about 3 hours north of Duncan

A tearful goodbye to Mum & Dad on the deck

My favourite ride at the PNE - the Coaster! Me and T in the second row, with her boyfriend A and his brother L practising their pose for the photo which is taken on the second big 'down'

me and T on the midway, the Coaster in the background

T, H, L and A - whose stupid idea was it to go on the log flume????

H and L queued for 15 minutes to ride the bumper cars amidst a score of 10-year olds. Who had the most fun??

T, showing off her fairground prize

More Christmas Stitching

2008-08-18T21:50:00.002Z

First, a big thank you to Marne, Erica and Jen who all nominated me for blogging awards. I hardly feel I deserve your kudos seeing as I have been largely absent from the old keyboard recently, but thank you all. I won’t nominate any blogs, but do check out my blogroll on my Wishlist page – there are tons and tons of really good blogs in there!

This weekend was the Christmas ornie SAL weekend with Leena. I started this ornament last month, but didn’t get around to finishing stitching it, so that was my job for this month, and here it is:

Design: ‘Santa’ by Knotted Tree Needleart from JCS 2007
Linen: 32ct ‘Natural’ by Permin/Wichelt
Floss: DMC, GAST, Carrie’s Creations, WDW – mainly as charted, some substitutions

Now, I’m busily finishing off a couple of exchanges, so I haven’t got much else to show you. I think that my busy Olympic-viewing schedule has also contributed to my lack of progress on many fronts, I just LOVE the Olympics, and although it’s quite a challenge to try to see our Canadian medals being won here on the British coverage; I’ve managed to see one or two, and shouted my head off during each race/fight. Hopefully more to come :)

In the meantime, happy stitching!

Hazel Has Spoiled Me!

2008-08-04T18:44:00.003Z

Oh my word! Saturday was spent at the spa at Hanbury Manor (*more on that below) and finally I arrived home, tired, pampered and hungry with the prospect of opening the wonderfully large box which Hazel had sent containing the PIF gift she stitched for me. I am truly amazed and delighted and really touched at the effort Hazel went to – not only did she send me an enormous and totally over the top package full of lots and lots of goodies, just look what she stitched for me!!

It’s a lavender-filled heart-shaped beauty, a Tournicoton design called ‘Le Temps d’un Thé’, and it is just fabulous – Hazel has stitched it so beautifully, and the finishing, well, you can see for yourself what an amazing job she did. I feel so very honoured to have some of Hazel’s stitching to hang up! I haven’t yet decided where I’m going to hang it – somewhere it can be admired (both to look at and to smell), but not somewhere in a high traffic zone where it will get knocked or bumped…thinking cap on! The reverse is, by the way, an excerpt from a poem by Théodore de Banville (isn’t Google amazing…).

Here is a very busy photo of all the wonderful extras that Hazel included - thank you so much Hazel, your generosity is so much appreciated!!

It was the lovely Carol’s birthday last week, and she sent me a very kind email to let me know that she likes birthday gift I sent to her ages ago (I didn’t think it was going to arrive that quickly – but how did she let it sit there wrapped up for so long?!? I wouldn’t have been able to!). I know that Carol has been on a Brightneedle kick recently, so I elected to stitch her a sort of hanging pinkeep sort of, um, thing. Anyway! She tells me she likes it so that is the important thing :)

Marne has kindly nominated me the Kreativ Blogger Award – I’m a terrible one for sticking to rules, but I feel Jen would be disappointed if I didn’t include some links to blogs I read, so, in no particular order, have a look at these wonderful blogs if you don’t read them already:

Claudia
Rachael
Marie
Simone
Linda

*For those of you interested in the spa weekend update, 5 of us went to Hanbury Manor in Hertfordshire – it’s a beautiful manor house with lovely grounds and set in the middle of a golf course. Very picturesque! We each booked ourselves in for treatments – I had a super deluxe amazing wonderful manicure, and a pedicure. I’m just hoping my nails don’t chip before the wedding on Thursday. Hmmm, it looks like that means no washing dishes for this beauty queen (imagine me sobbing in disappointment – oh, no, wait that’s H sobbing because he has to do them instead). We then had a fairly pleasant dinner which was so late in arriving that we didn’t pay for it (actually, that might have been the best part about it, but the hotel was in the middle of catering for 2 separate weddings so I think they were fairly flat out). We were out on the terrace enjoying the beautiful views over the lake and one of the golf holes, so we didn’t really mind about the delay. A few drinks were had, a few stories were told, and all in all we had a great weekend catching up. A nice break before the rest of my busy August!

The girls! L-R in back: Louise, Emer, Helen, front: Desiree and me

The main hotel building
The view from the terrace

Happy stitching!

Updates and Goals

2008-08-03T14:19:00.003Z

I managed to squeeze in a (short) night’s stitching on Spanish Wine – it’s very slowly progressing, but hopefully now that I’ve finished off a couple of larger projects this should start to proceed more quickly.

And of course Thursday was the Snowbird SAL and Paradigm Lost, here is this week’s progress:

Right, so, the monthly goal review:

July’s goals:
Stitch, finish and send a birthday gift – yes, Carol received this
The other gift – finish and send – yes, Marne received this PIF gift
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost – yes
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – yes, I stitched 2
Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day – yes, and I finished it!
Keep stitching Spanish Wine – yes
Finish the secret stitching – yes, and I finished it!
Start the other exchange piece – yes, and it’s nearly complete
Finish one item from the ‘to be finished’ drawer – yes
Quilt – carry on with Vintage Holiday quilt – no
Quilt – carry on with patchwork bag – no
Quilt – start Xbox quilt – no

I also stitched and finished a gift. You can see I wasn’t too motivated with the quilting in July :)

August’s goals:
Send a birthday gift
Stitch, finish and send the other exchange piece
Stitch, finish and send the Crazy Exchange return exchange to Joke
Start stitching the HOE Prairie Schooler exchange
Start stitching F/S Holiday Round Squares
Start stitching HOE Hallowe’en exchange
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – stitch one ornament
Keep stitching Spanish Wine
Resurrect the AMAP pinkeep from my UFO pile
Start stitching the baby gift
Quilting – carry on with Vintage Holiday quilt, carry on with patchwork bag, start Xbox quilt

That should keep me busy at any rate!

I’ve just gotten back from a lovely weekend with the girls being pampered at Hanbury Manor and I’ll post some photos and tell you a bit about it tomorrow – I am too knackered just now :) Also, Hazel’s long-awaited PIF arrived on Saturday, so I’m going to go open that - which I'm totally looking forward to! - I’ll update you on that tomorrow too.

Happy stitching!

A Finish - One of the Few...

2008-07-28T17:39:00.002Z

I was busy finishing a surprise this weekend, so decided to finally get around to finishing some Fair Squares which the lovely Marg sent me way back in February. I’m trying to finish at least one thing out of my finishing drawer each month in an effort not to have all these beautiful squares languishing there forever! I decided to finish these lovely ‘Think Spring’ squares as a pincushion, in honour of Marg’s extremely large (100+!) collection of pincushions, and I also intended to practice my tassel-making, which isn’t brilliant, for each of the corners of the pincushion so I sat down with (what eventually transpired to be) a too-large piece of cardboard, not enough floss, little patience and sticky fingers (from the heat). So, as you can see, my pincushion ended up rather plain – but still gorgeous as even my ham-fisted attempts couldn’t ruin the lovely squares from Marg!

I saw from Hazel’s blog that she is sending me a PIF which I signed up for on her blog – now I’ll be hounding the postie as I’m very excited about this!

Happy stitching!

Surprise Envelope for ME??!!

2008-07-26T09:00:00.002Z

Royal Mail managed to surprise and delight me – although not as much as Joke from the Crazy Exchange did by choosing to stitch me this gorgeous needleroll using the Shepherd’s Bush ‘Shepherd’s Roll’ pattern and I just love it – not only has Joke finished it beautifully, but she stitched me sheep, and I love sheep!

She also kindly sent me some lovely extras, and you’ll notice that one of the chocolate fingers has inexplicably gone missing… Thank you Joke – I think I have a great idea (I hope!) about what to stitch for you, so needles to the ready...

Here is my weekly update of Paradigm Lost – this big ol’ motif is going to take me some time!

Happy stitching!

Jigging Around

2008-07-24T17:58:00.004Z

Finally, those last 80 eyelets are FINISHED – and yes, Awake the Dawning Day is now done! Thank you for all your lovely comments throughout the (inordinately long) time I stitched this wonderful design.

Design: Blackbird Designs ‘Awake the Dawning Day’
Linen: 28ct R&R Linen ‘Iced Cappuccino’
Floss: WDW as charted

I heard from Marne (who signed up for a PIF an embarrassingly long time ago) that she received the PIF gift which I finally managed to send her (nearly using up the full 365 days!) – happily it managed to land on her porch on her birthday, which is a bit of happy coincidence. I had previously stitched her a scissor fob and scissor case, and so now I stitched her the matching pocket – I chose to finish it as a zippered pouch, and it was my first time ever putting in a zipper, so hopefully Marne (who is a very talented sewer and quilter) will allow me some leeway in the not-quite-perfect finish that I executed for her!

Front
Back

Design: Reflets de Soie ‘La Brodeuse et l’Oiseau’
Linen: 32ct Silkweaver 'Sapphire Sky'
Floss: Crescent Colours Belle Soie ‘Ocean Tide’

And, finally, the delightful Hazel nominated me for an award:

Now, I’m supposed to nominate 5 people whose blogs I think are very creative, but let’s face it people, we’re all here crafting busily away, so we’re each as creative as the next! So give yourself a pat on the back, because I’ve just nominated YOU! Well done you!

Happy stitching!

Little Tree

2008-07-22T17:07:00.002Z

This weekend was the weekend of Leena’s and my little Christmas ornament SAL, and this weekend I chose to stitch a small freebie from Drawn Thread ‘Tree Keeper’ (yes, it’s meant to be a scissor fob rather than an ornament) which you can find here. It’s a teensy little design (particularly as I stitched it on 40ct linen), and didn’t’ take me long. I started a second ornament, but ran out of time and didn’t manage to finish it as H and I were glued to the telly watching Padraig Harrington see off all challengers in the very exciting Open Championship – H as you can imagine was jumping up and down and fist-pumping through much of the back 9. So I plan to finish the second ornament for next month’s mini-SAL and will post a photo then. In the meantime, here is the titchy Tree Keeper (sorry the photo isn't brilliant):

Design: Drawn Thread ‘Tree Keeper’
Linen: 40ct Sugar Maple Fabrics 'Brindlewood'
Floss: WDW as charted

Happy stitching!

She Slowly Stitches

2008-07-18T17:57:00.002Z

Well, I haven’t really felt motivated to blog, but I thought I should post a few photos of my progress on my [seemingly endless] projects – it’s not that I’m a slow stitcher (well, not that slow), but more that I can’t find enough time to do it every day, and so I forego things like blogging when I want to spend more time stitching. I need at least a 27-hour day, or maybe I just need to retire from my actual paying job…(hope my husband is reading this and taking notes).

I did stitch on Paradigm Lost last week, but couldn’t find my blogging mojo, and so didn’t post a photo – here is this week’s progress instead. This is now 26 weeks after I joined the Snowbird SAL for PL, and all in all I’m pretty pleased with my progress. I have swallowed the bitter pill of realisation that I won’t get around to finishing it in 2008, but I’m hoping for an early 2009 finish. Luckily, the date is at the bottom of the design, so I have some space to manoeuvre.

I’ve also spent a little time on Awake the Dawning Day – I think you people must really love either this design in particular, Blackbird Designs in general, because I always get a lot of really lovely comments on this whenever I post a progress photo. I’m hoping though not to post too many more – you’ll see that the verse, date and initials are all now completed, as well as 5 of the 85 remaining eyelets that I counted up last time, so with only 80 eyelets to go, the finishing line is surely in sight.

This weekend is the third weekend of the month, and therefore my mini-SAL with Leena, so hopefully I’ll report back on Monday with photos of the Christmas ornament(s?) I’ve stitched.

Wishing you all happy stitching until my blogging mojo returns more forcibly.

Ah, Aren't They Lovely?!

2008-07-08T18:33:00.003Z

Well, Mercy was hoping for closer to 5 days than 10, and I think USMail and Royal Mail teamed up quite well, because the lovely squares she sent me arrived on Saturday. I was dashing out to the wedding though, so didn’t have a chance to open it until Sunday, and frankly on Sunday I was a bit too tired and emotional to post about it!

But aren’t they great! I really love them – Mercy thank you so much! She tells me they are a design called Une Poule au Jardin by L'R de Rien – I just adore the style of it. Mercy you’ve chosen really well :) And, for the final round of Fair & Square, Mercy included some goodies for me – these are being banned from here on out, so I’m even more thankful to Mercy for including the thread holder, mesh zippered bags, gorgeous smelling cream, nail file and post its – things I can always use :)

The wedding ended up being quite big (around 180 people) and had a joint hockey-farming theme (she is a hockey player, he is a farmer). She had a beautiful off-white dress with amazing red roses picked out in sequins and beads. The church was very sweet, a tiny little local thing set in fields – very picturesque (although on a hill, so the gusting and swirling wind was NOT FUN with a dress on! At least it didn’t rain). Her father does Morris dancing, so we had lots of Morris dancers jingling around bashing sticks and waving hankies – all very celebratory! Dinner was GORGEOUS, with a choice of grilled king prawns, a hog roast, roasted lamb or BBQ’d steak, as well as lots of yummy salads and greens. I admit I tried a little bit of everything, and it was all very very delicious. Obviously still managed to find room for the fruit pavlova to finish! Then to the dancing, and all us hockey players strutting our stuff amidst the farmers and aunties and uncles – my legs are still aching. But definitely a good weekend – don’t you just love a good wedding?!

Happy stitching!

Paradigm Found!

2008-07-05T06:55:00.002Z

After six weeks of stitching deadlines, a large project at work, and not much time to stitch, finally July looks a little calmer, and I've been able to pick up my needle for things other than exchanges with deadlines fast approaching. Paradigm Lost really suffered in that six weeks; I didn't put a single stitch into it. But this Thursday I was able to rejoin my SAL-mates and this week I nearly managed to finish the crowned heart - soon I'll be on to the huge motif that covers most of pages 5 and 6.

I woke up early today to get ready for a wedding (haven't managed to get a card, or a cardigan, yet) and it was pouring with rain - oh no! But the weather is clearing up a bit now - hopefully that carries on and it is at least dry for the day; my shoes in particular are definitely not meant for wet weather! I'll have my camera with me, so hope to get some good photos to share with you.

Happy stitching!

Catching Up

2008-07-01T18:07:00.003Z

So the news wasn’t too bad, the car will cost about £400 to fix, and the leak was sorted out for around £200 – but just think of all the stash I could have had ;) It’s money well spent for peace of mind though!

Mercy has let me know that the squares I sent to her for the Fair & Square exchange Round 7 have arrived safely. Mercy is an avowed Hallowe’en lover – she even has a Hallowe’en ornament tree! – so despite the time of year I thought I would stitch her something Hallowe’en-y – and Lizzie*Kate’s Hallowe’en Flip-It caught my eye:

Design: Hallowe’en Flip-It by Lizzie*Kate
Linen: 32ct Permin/Wichelt 'Natural'
Floss: GAST and DMC as charted

I used the style of the design to chart out a signature square. Now, don’t look too closely, or you’ll notice that I did one of my infamous counting mistakes and the signature square is significantly narrower than the main square – oops!!

I’ve been busily stitching away on my secret, but I did get one evening to spend on Awake the Dawning Day, so here is my progress:

As you can see, I’m nearly, nearly finished this one – I have just a few words, some initials, the year, and 85 eyelet stitches (yes, sadly, I did count them!). I’m hoping that a little applied effort in between secret stitches will see this one finished off by the end of the summer.

And, finally, because it wouldn't be a new month without a goal round-up!, goals achieved (or not, in fact) for June and proposed for July:

SBEBB ABC - finish stitching, finish and send – YES Hazel received this
Fair & Square Round 7 - stitch and send – YES Mercy received this
The other gift - finish and send – NO, still not managed to finish it
Thursdays - Snowbird SAL - keep stitching Paradigm Lost – NO, sadly did not put one stitch into PL this month
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena - finish stitching the big ornament from May – YES, hurrah, achieved a goal!
Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day – YES
Keep stitching Spanish Wine – NO
Keep stitching the secret project – YES
Finish at least one thing from the 'to be finished' drawer – NO
Quilt - carry on with Vintage Holiday quilt (sashing and corner blocks) – NO, didn’t get around to any quilting in June
Quilt - start X-Box quilt – NO
Quilt - finish patchwork bag – NO

As you can see, it was a busy busy month for me, and not much of it stitching or quilting! Hopefully July will be a calmer month, and I will be more productive. Here’s what I’m hoping to achieve:

Stitch, finish and send a birthday gift
The other gift – finish and send
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena
Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day
Keep stitching Spanish Wine
Finish the secret stitching
Start the other exchange piece
Finish one item from the ‘to be finished’ drawer
Quilt – carry on with Vintage Holiday quilt
Quilt – carry on with patchwork bag
Quilt – start Xbox quilt

Happy stitching!

A Beautiful Exchange from Aniza

2008-06-28T11:39:00.002Z

I’ve been admiring all the beautiful exchanges sent and received for the ABC Exchange and was keen to see what treasure I was going to receive – and I wasn’t disappointed! Aniza was my partner, and this lovely treat arrived for me all the way from Malaysia. She stitched it with her own hand-dyed threads, isn't she talented?! (Please excuse the photos.)

It's just gorgeous. Although I’ve stitched a few needlerolls before, I’ve always sent them away to other homes, so in fact this is my very first needleroll to keep. I’m delighted with it – thank you Aniza. She also included a lovely piece of fabric and, of course, some of her own hand-dyed thread, which are beautiful. Thank you so much Aniza!

On the down side, my car failed its MOT this morning, and we woke up to a large leak in our spare bedroom... This could be a costly weekend, hopefully the plumber will arrive soon and the news won't be too bad :(

Hope your weekend is shaping up better than mine :)

Happy stitching!

Christmas in June

2008-06-23T17:26:00.002Z

Hurrah, this weekend I managed to finish the ornament I started last month for my monthly Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – Tournicoton’s Petit Noel. I’m looking forward to finish-finishing this one, as it’s meant to be four small separate ornaments joined together with ribbons to make a long hanging ornament/wall hanging. I plan to start doing the finishing for all the Christmas ornaments I’ve stitched so far (9 this year already, whoop whoop!) in the autumn – it’s too nice to stay indoors doing finishing over the summer :) Yes, this is me being hopeful about the British summer.

Design: Petit Noel by Tournicoton
Linen: 32ct Vintage Country Mocha
Floss: DMC and Kreinik as charted

Happy stitching!

ABC Exchange

2008-06-21T15:14:00.002Z

Although I was a day late in posting my SBEBB ABC Exchange, I knew it hadn’t got far to go so I just waited for that last little extra to arrive – arrive it did and I sent it off to Hazel,who emailed me the next day (yes, the postal service here is pretty wonderful compared with back home!) to say that she received it and loved it – phew, because I’d never finished a treat bag before :) Here is what I sent her:

Design: EEF Alphabet Basket
Linen: 32ct Lakeside Linen ‘Examplar’
Floss: DMC and GAST as charted
Finish: treat bag

Hazel has more and better photos on her blog if you’re interested.

Now I hope my ABC exchange comes through soon – I’ve been so impressed with everyone’s amazing stitching for this exchange that I’m really keen to see what arrives for me :)

The hen weekend in Galway went really well, but although I took my camera with me I didn’t actually take it out of the case, so no photos to share with you – we didn’t do much sightseeing it must be said!

I’ve been busy stitching (when not travelling!) on my secret project, so I’m afraid no photos to share – I’ve even had to co-opt my Paradigm Lost SAL Thursdays :( as I’ve been feeling quite under pressure to get a few exchanges out. I’ve finished up the last one for this summer though, with a view to getting on with the secret project in a very serious way, so hopefully will have some photos to share before long. And this weekend is my mini-SAL with Leena so I’ll be stitching away at the ‘E’ and the ‘L’ of Tournicoton’s Petit Noel design, and will share my progress with you at the end of the weekend.

Have a safe and happy weekend, and of course happy stitching!

More Freebie Exchange

2008-06-11T17:35:00.002Z

Katrina posted that she received the HOE Freebie Exchange I sent her, and that she’s really pleased with it, which is a relief as it was another ‘first’ finish for me and I hoped she would like it. I stitched a freebie from Shepherd’s Bush called ‘Scatter Sunshine’, which unfortunately for you all I can’t post a link to as it was a paper freebie that I received with an order I placed some time ago from a stitching shop (I can’t remember which one now, sorry folks!). I stitched it on 28ct Waterlily Jobelan, and pretty much completely changed the flosses from the charted ones as it was charted mainly for Crescent Colours floss, which I don’t have a lot of (sadly!) in my stash, and I thought it would be more in the spirit of the exchange to use floss that was already in my stash – it was a freebie exchange after all :) So this is a mish mash of DMC, Crescent Colours, Olde Willow Stitchery, Carrie’s Creations, Weeks Dye Works, GAST and Atalie threads. I finished it as a pillow, using my quilting skills (such as they are!):

Katrina says it goes perfectly with her stitching chair, and when she isn’t occupying it, the pillow will :)

More photos are on the HOE blog, here.

I was away last weekend on the north Devon coast for a hen weekend – we had absolutely gorgeous weather, and I had a great time. The region is really beautiful, and the coast is just amazing – wonderful beaches too! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so sorry no photos to show you. I’m on another hen weekend this coming weekend, in County Galway in Ireland, and I’ll definitely bring the camera this time. I’ve just checked the weather though, and apparently it’s meant to be 14C and raining – boo!

Happy stitching!

Freebie Exchange Arrived from Shay - WOW

2008-06-09T17:52:00.003Z

OMG, wow. I am completely and utterly charmed by what Shay (no blog) made for me for the HOE Freebie Exchange.

She clearly put a lot of thought, time, patience and effort, not to mention considerable skill and talent, into this exchange for me - I feel honoured! She stitched me this really lovely scissors keeper, and personalised it with my name and the exchange and the date - I've posted quite a few photos, but I wanted in some way to do this exchange justice (although that is debatable given my lack of photography skills!)

Front of scissors keeper: see my name?! It closes with the pink ribbon and the dainty crystal heart

Back of scissors keeper

Inside of scissors keeper - see where Shay has stitched 'HOE and May 2008' (next photo shows the date better!) The beautiful scissors came in the keeper!

I tried to show the detail in this photograph, so you can see the sumptuous silk lining, and the skill with which Shay put this all together

Wow. Seriously wow. Thank you so much Shay, I just adore this scissors keeper, and it's already sitting beside my stitching chair waiting for me to sit down and stitch tonight.

Shay also kindly included some lovely extras: 2 FQ of fabric, 3 skeins of Needle Necessities floss, a journal and matching notecards, and a very handy calendar.

Happy stitching!

Lucky Mail Day

2008-06-03T17:53:00.003Z

What a lucky girl I am (yes, I am still a girl. I will always be a girl. I will be 95 and still be a girl :)... Iris was well enough to be able to stitch a return gift for me on the Crazy Exchange - she has been suffering with bad hands and wrists for 2 months, so I was more than happy to wait for her to recover to stitch my return exchange, I can't imagine not being able to stitch or even use my hands or wrists for so long :(

But the wait was most definitely worth it - just look at this wonderful hornbook she stitched for me!! And, not only did she stitch and finish it herself (and she made the card too!), but her father made the hornbook himself - how talented a family is that?!

Thank you so much Iris, I absolutely adore it - my first hornbook ever! Now, I will have to go and stitch one for myself :)

Happy stitching!

Been Awhile

2008-06-01T09:54:00.006Z

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted - a combination of travel and work still being a teensy bit out of control (don't I sound like a broken record...).

But, here is a quick update for you on what I've been up to (of what I can share anyway!).

Firstly, I got a message from Suzanne on the Crazy Exchange that she received the floss tag I sent to her in return for the bourse she sent me earlier this month. I used a La-D-Da freebie for the front, and stitched an 'S' from an A Mon Ami Pierre alphabet on the back - 'S' is perfect as it represents the both of us.

Design: La-D-Da 'Rose' freebie on front, AMAP alphabet 'S' on back

Floss: GAST as charted, with one Le Fil Atalie substitution

Linen: 40ct Georgia Clay by Silkweaver

Next, H gave me the second part of my birthday present this weekend - I know my birthday was now several weeks ago, but he wanted to take me to our local quilting shop and treat me, and unfortunately the shop is only open Mondays to Fridays, making it impossible for me to ever get there (they close before I leave work in London, and the shop is in Oxfordshire!). Rustic Angels is a wonderful little shop about 15 minutes' drive from us, and I had been looking forward to their open day this weekend for a good month at least! I browsed, compared, matched, ooh-ed and ah-ed over their models and samples and displays, and finally chose the following, along with 2 quilting rulers big enough to let me square up the 14" blocks I'm currently making (sorry for the blurry photos - I only realised after I've put all the fabric away!)

I have a quilt in mind for most of this, particularly the blues and creams, which I've decided to call the X-Box quilt and will hopefully be able to start in June. Of course, I should finish the other quilt top first, but you know how it is...

Last night, whilst watching Britain's Got Talent (I am so addicted to these programmes, and frankly H is at least as addicted as me, if not more so!), I stitched a bit on Awake the Dawning Day. Whoop whoop, I'm on to the words! The end is nearly in sight!

And, finally, here is this month's goal review. I didn't do so well against last month's goals as I would have liked, but nevermind, sadly I can't spend every spare waking moment stitching and quilting :)

Stitch, finish and send Suzanne’s return Crazy Exchange - YES! And Suzanne received it
Stitch, finish and send the HOE Freebie exchange - YES! Posted by the deadline
Stitch the SBEBB ABC exchange - YES!
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost - YES! Well, most Thursdays, anyway...
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – stitch at least one ornament - SORT OF - I stitched half a really big one, to be finished in June
Keep stitching the other gift - YES! I finished stitching it, and just need to finish and send it
Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day - YES!
Keep stitching Spanish Wine - YES!
Keep stitching the secret project - YES!
Finish at least one thing from the ‘to be finished’ drawer - YES! Ah, that's the thing that I keep forgetting to show you - photos below!
Quilt – start the sashing and corner blocks - NO, but now that I have the new rulers, I can keep going with this
Make a quilted patchwork bag - SORT OF - I cut and sewed together lots of blocks, but haven't yet ordered the walking foot for my machine to quilt the bag - this is the final part of H's birthday present to me.

GOALS FOR JUNE:

SBEBB ABC - finish stitching, finish and send

Fair & Square Round 7 - stitch and send

The other gift - finish and send

Thursdays - Snowbird SAL - keep stitching Paradigm Lost

Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena - finish stitching the big ornament from May

Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day

Keep stitching Spanish Wine

Keep stitching the secret project

Finish at least one thing from the 'to be finished' drawer

Quilt - carry on with Vintage Holiday quilt (sashing and corner blocks)

Quilt - start X-Box quilt

Quilt - finish patchwork bag

Ha ha, I'll be amazed if I manage all that, especially as 2 of my weekends in June are going to be spent at hen weekends in Devon and then Galway! Good to have a stretch challenge ;)

Here are the phtoos of my drawer finish for this month: I finished up the very first Fair & Square sqaures that I received from Sue Wild (no blog) - they are a Just Nan design, and I decided to have a go at a triangular scissors case finish, as instructed so ably by Linda here. I discovered as I was doing the backstitch that it turns out the linen that Sue used was an uneven weave (LOL, that took a bit of headscratching and re-counting before I worked that one out!) so the scissor case isn't 100% symmetrical - part of its charm, I'm sure you'll agree! You can see I used the signature squares to line the inside.

Right, well, I'm amazed you got this far, so thanks for bearing with me :)

Happy stitching!

May's Ornaments

2008-05-21T17:40:00.002Z

This month, I didn’t have so much time to stitch ornaments for Leena and my ornament mini-SAL. I chose to stitch Tournicoton’s Petit Noel design, which is really cute - see the finished model here - but essentially it's 4 ornaments in one. I managed the ‘N’ and the ‘O’, so next month I’ll be stitching the ‘E’ and the ‘L’. Here’s what I managed so far (albeit without beads and charms, which I’ll add when all the letters are stitched):

H and I are off to Ireland this weekend to celebrate two happy family events: his youngest sister’s 21st birthday (the main event), and the return of his brother from four years’ sojourn in Australia. We also hopefully get to meet two new extended family members: H’s brother’s girlfriend (she’s English, but they met in Australia), and our new nephew, Darragh Patrick, born the day after my birthday (I kept telling his mother to push harder, so he could be born on my birthday, but he missed it by just half an hour!). So I’ll definitely have the camera charged and ready to go on Friday.

Happy stitching!

WIPping along nicely

2008-05-18T16:36:00.004Z

I managed to put some time in on a few WIPs this past week - Thursday of course was devoted to Paradigm Lost. I promised myself I would finish this medallion this week, and I have! I didn't have time for much else though, as I was late home - work, trains, occasionally everything conspires against me! So here is my progress thus far:

I also managed to get some time on Spanish Wine. I stitched the red flowers and the gold accents around the first red flower (okay, yes, not much progress, I think that was another night hijacked by work).

I am beginning to realise that starting a lot of big projects and then only stitching on them occasionally is not really working for me. I like variety, so I like to have several things on the go, but equally I am only a medium-paced stitcher and I get frustrated by something that takes too long to stitch (especially if I'm only stitching it once a month, and I never seem to get anywhere on it!). So I think my solution is going to have to be to only have 1 large project on the go at any one time, supplemented by some smaller projects for exchanges and such. Theoretically, this should mean I finish the large project much quicker (because my effort is more focused), but don't get too bored stitching on the same thing day after day. What works for you??

Oh, and here are some improved photos of the lovely ornament that Leena sent me for my birthday - the weather has vastly improved today, so the photos turned out a bit better.

Happy stitching and wishing you all a prosperous week ahead!

Another Wonderful Gift!

2008-05-16T17:48:00.003Z

Lucky me, my birthday keeps going on and on! I got home on a very dreary Thursday afternoon following a delay on the trains to discover a wonderful parcel from Leena waiting for me - I don't know what it is about you wonderful people, but you always manage to arrange for lovely packages to be waiting for me when I've had a particularly bad day!! And Leena cheered me up no end with this birthday treat. In fact, as I opened it, a big smile came to my face - you will probably remember that Leena and I stitch a little mini-SAL with each other once a month, and we stitch Christmas ornaments in the hopes that we'll have some nice things to give away at Christmas time without all the last-minute panic (and maybe even a few nice things left over for our own trees). So, of course, Leena mailed me....a Christmas ornament :) I was laughing when I read her lovely note, it's just so apt!

Now, the weather has been gorgeous and beautiful and hot and wonderful right up until Wednesday this week, and now it's grey and grim and grungy, so the photos I've been able to take this evening are...well they're not great. So hopefully in full and proper daylight tomorrow, I'll get some better ones and share them with you later this weekend.

Leena stitched the Scandinavian Stitches' contribution to the 2007 JCS issue, with mainly Atalie threads - I love how she managed to stuff it, yet keep it relatively flat - it's so gorgeous!

Leena stitched our initials on the back, and went to some trouble to get them right - I know how she feels as I was born with a straightforward surname and my initials were always SM, but then I married a Mc and now I regularly flop back and forth between SM and SMc, depending on mood, size of area to be stitched, and frankly whether I can be bothered to put the 'c' in :) In fact, shortly after getting married I did check with H about what my new intials were, and he said SMcA, but let's face it, I'm a ~~lazy~~ simple girl so I've never ever used that one!

So thank you once more Leena - I love my ornament :)

Now, off to kit up another ornament, because it's our ornament weekend this weekend - see, perfect timing yet again, isn't she great?!

Happy stitching!

More and Further Birthday Presents for MEEEEEE!

2008-05-10T14:31:00.003Z

Well, you all know how much I love a Saturday delivery here in the UK, and today is especially good, because the postie brought even more presents for me!!

First, my birthday exchange from Jacqueline came through the door. And what a great birthday present she made me!! She has clearly been hanging out on my blog, finding out about my love of sheep and Drawn Thread, because she made me this amazing wall hanging, and this fob:

And do you think she stopped there? No, of course she didn't! She also made me this very sweet gingerbread pincushion man:

And of course, she was kind enough to put a few stitchy presents in the package as well - some fabric, some buttons, a Shepherd's Bush kit, and some yummy chocolate! I am so spoiled :) Thanks Jacq, I totally love it! Now I just need to find a pretty hanger so that I can hang the wall hanging in the bedroom...

And, because I am the most lucky girl, the birthday presents didn't end there! After a somewhat painful trip to the local Post Office...

('Hi, I'm here to pick up this parcel.'
'We don't have this parcel.'
'Are you sure, the card says you have it?'
'I'm sure, trying ringing the depot.'
'Hi, depot, where's my parcel?'
'Your local post office.'
'Are you sure? They say they don't have it, can you double check?'
'They signed for it on Thursday, they have it.'
'Hi, I've just tried to collect this parcel, and the guy couldn't find it, but the depot assures me that C Fox signed for it on Thursday, so you should have it.'
'We don't have a C Fox.'
'Oh. Well, where do you suggest I look for the parcel?'
'I'm not really sure.'
'Can you check one more time, just in case?'
'I guess so. [Pause while she goes and checks.] Here's your parcel for you.'
'Erm, thanks.')

...I finally got my package and it turns out that it's my SBBC birthday exchange from Anna! She is an amazing crafter, not just a stitcher, as I was quickly to discover! I knew it was gonna be good when I opened the outer parcel, and found this:

She made nearly everything in the parcel herself, including the card:

and the stitched scissor fob (I think it's a Ewe & Eye & Friends design - and I love it!):

AND the beaded scissor fob:

AND this wonderful bag (it's all very chic, with pintucks and EVERYTHING). I tucked the front edge down on the photo, so you can see the lining:

And it didn't end there, she included some DMC variations thread, 2 small Prairie Schooler charts, 2 fat quarters, some linen, and some very clever finger grips for needles (oh, and the scissors that the fobs are attached to, those were in there too!).

Phew, what an amazing birthday day for me!! I've got such a huge smile on my face :) I can't wait for H to come back from Dublin, so I can show him all the wonderful things I got. I am really such a lucky, lucky girl!

And just one stitching update - my progress on this week's instalment of the Snowbird SAL - I really wanted to finish this medallion I am stitching on, but I was so tired after this super long week at work (even though it was only 4 days), that I fell asleep on the couch before I could finish it. Next week, it will be done!

Thank you Anna and Jacqueline, and also all of you who have left birthday wishes for me over the last few days - I love you all!! :)

Happy stitching!

Happy Belated Birthday to ME!

2008-05-08T18:24:00.004Z

Happy birthday to me! It was my birthday yesterday (I've reached 34, I cannot believe it!), and I had a wonderful day with lots of lovely little presents, and H took me out for a yummy dinner last night to celebrate. In fact it was a double celebration as he passed his driving test earlier in the afternoon - well done to him!!

I have seen that Mylene received the SBEBB Garden Exchange that I sent her - I stitched her Peony by Country Cottage Needleworks and finished it into a pinkeep. Now, clearly I on the one hand I did my research well, because Mylene loves CCN, but on the other hand I was somewhat disappointed in myself to hear that she had received the exact same design, also finished as a pinkeep, for her birthday last year. So somehow I feel I've short-changed her - sorry about that Mylene, I intend to do something about it over the coming months, hope you don't mind waiting! Here is the pinkeep I sent her:

Peony - Country Cottage Needleworks/Crescent Colours Threadpack

Linen: 32ct Antique Rose by Stitches 'n' Spice

Floss: Crescent Colours as charted

I have been very busy with stitching secret things and also extremely busy at work. In fact chaotically and quite exhaustingly busy at work :( So I haven't been posting as much as normal. I did, however, find time to put in a few stitches on Awake the Dawning Day, and would you believe I have finally finished the house - what a big job that was! So now I just have a couple of birds to finish off, the eyelet border and all the text, which actually feels like I'm nearly done. Definitely this will get finished 'soon' (like before autumn...).

Happy stitching!

Exchanges and Monthly Goal Roundup

2008-05-03T10:01:00.002Z

I’ve been away for a couple of days on a work strategy event (yawn), and I was delighted to find a package waiting for me on my return home – it was my SBEBB Garden Exchange from Mama Joan! I’d been admiring Joan’s stitching and finishing, and her trademark project bags and chicken pincushions, so I am extremely pleased to report that I now have my very own samples of all three!! Joan made me a terrific project bag, and stuffed it with not only this gorgeous pinkeep that she stitched – LHN’s Cottage Garden is the design – but also lots and lots of goodies (including the chicken!) – hand cream, some of the same backing fabric she used on the project bag and on the pinkeep reverse, some cute little notecards, a garden-themed teatowel with a stitchable band on the bottom, a little needleminder and a chart with all the floss and buttons required to stitch it. Joan, you have been so generous and kind, and I really love it all!!

And, as if that wasn’t enough, this morning (I so love Saturday mail delivery here in the UK!) another package came through the door – this time it was Melissa C’s Fair & Square Round 6 squares for me – she stitched Lizzie*Kate’s ‘Life’s a Stitch’ which is just perfect, and included some backing fabric, pins, needles and a small tin which had a little surprise in it – a beaded scissor fob! Thank you so much Melissa :) I intend to finish the squares into a pincushion or pinpillow – more photos eventually when I get around to doing it!

There was a special birthday last month – my mum’s! I decided to stitch her something for it, and although it didn’t quite arrived in time (oops), she let me know the other day that it arrived and that she loves it – I stitched Time to Quilt: Winter by Jeannette Douglas as my mum is a talented quilter, and I finished it into a bourse (my first) because I thought she might be able to use it to pop bits and bobs in it when she lugs her sewing machine off to her weekly quilting gatherings. I chose the Winter design in the series because it had the most green in it (my mum’s favourite colour), and also because, being a dedicated golfer, I think she probably quilts far more in the winter (relatively, that is – she pretty much does it constantly!). Enjoy mum :)

And because it’s the beginning of the month, here is April’s goal review, and I’ve of course set a few more for May:

April’s Goals:

Stitch, finish and send 4 exchanges due this month – Yes, sent Vonna the SBEBB Here’s to Ewe exchange, sent Melissa C the Fair & Square Round 6 exchange, sent Heather the SBBC birthday exchange, and sent the SBEBB Garden exchange, which is still en route
Stitch, finish and send Becky K’s prize for winning the giveaway – Yes
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost – Yes
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – stitch at least one ornament – Yes, I stitched three!

Keep stitching the special birthday gift – Yes, I stitched and sent mum her bourse
Keep stitching the other gift – Yes, I did
Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day – Yes
Keep stitching Spanish Wine – Yes
One new start – Yes, but it’s a secret so can’t tell you about it
Finish the 6 quilting blocks – Yes

Here is what I have planned for May:

Stitch, finish and send Suzanne’s return Crazy Exchange
Stitch, finish and send the HOE Freebie exchange
Stitch the SBEBB ABC exchange
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – stitch at least one ornament
Keep stitching the other gift
Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day
Keep stitching Spanish Wine
Keep stitching the secret project
Finish at least one thing from the ‘to be finished’ drawer
Quilt – start the sashing and corner blocks
Make a patchwork bag

Phew, that should keep me busy...

Happy stitching!

Oh My, It's a Long One! (With LOTS Of Photos

2008-04-28T17:59:00.006Z

It seems like an age ago, but our short break to the Cotswolds last weekend was amazing – the weather didn’t do much, but the village we stayed in was so peaceful and small, we couldn’t help but relax. H mastered the woodstove, and I got to be toasty warm for 4 days (this is a bonus, as my hands and feet are usually like blocks of ice, regardless of the season).

Our cottage (above), below, a view across the fields to the village

Below: looking up the only street in the village

And, of course because I had 4 days at my leisure, I found lots of time for stitching – I managed to finish three, yes THREE ornaments for the mini-SAL that Leena and I have together:

Heart in Hand - Winter Forest

Sam Sarah: Winter Love

Prairie Schooler: Blackwork Angel (with trumpet)

The holiday does seem like a while ago because I’ve been so hideously busy at work, but I was cheered up immensely by finding a mystery package on the doorstep this evening on my way in from work – Suzanne sent me this adorable bourse as a Crazy Exchange, so now I have 30 days to send her back something nice. I will get my needle to the ready! Here is the bourse, and also the extra goodies she put into the parcel for me – thank you so much Suzanne!

I heard from Becky K that she received the giveaway treat that she won about a month ago – sadly, her father passed on this week, so she has not been posting much. My thoughts are with you Becky at this difficult time. But she did find time to send me a very nice email to thank me for the floss tag I made her (but really, it’s me should be thanking her for reading my blog, LOL!). It’s a C Mon Monde design from Boite a Tresors, and the B on the reverse is from an A Mon Ami Pierre alphabet. I think purple is a big favourite of Becky’s, so I changed the pattern to suit.

I also heard that Melissa received the Fair & Square Round 6 squares that I posted her – these are one of the extra little pillow designs from one of the LHN Dear Diary series.

Oh, and I had a wonderful email from Heather letting me know that she got her birthday parcel from me – she was my partner for the Stitching Bloggers’ Birthday Club this year. It was a real delight getting to know her on her blog, and following her quilting and stitching exploits. Check out her blog for an extremely cute photo of her daughter burrowing into some of the extras I put in the parcel for her :) I stitched her the In My Garden needleroll by Shepherd’s Bush.

And, speaking of Heather and quilting, I managed to find some time to quilt this weekend, and finished off my first 6 blocks – whoop whoop! So now I have just to square them up, add sashing and corner blocks, and 3 borders. It’s a snap, eh?!

Last week I managed to find time to stitch a bit on both Awake the Dawning Day and Spanish Wine – my two long term projects (along with Paradigm Lost) which really aren’t that big, but which sadly I don’t seem to be able to find much time for. I seem to be always stitching for exchanges or other people, so stuff for me tends to quickly make it to the bottom of the pile!

And, lastly (sorry, I did say it was going to be a long one!) here is the progress from my last session with Paradigm Lost, which was actually now nearly 10 days ago as I was working late this past Thursday night and didn’t have time to haul it out.

Thanks for bearing with me for this long – it’s difficult to find time to stitch, blog, clean house, work full time, commute, bake, cook, quilt and have 3-hour conversations on the phone with my sister – I don’t know how we all manage!! :)

Happy stitching!

Exchange - And What an Exchange It Is!

2008-04-17T17:41:00.002Z

Yesterday a lovely big box was waiting for me at home – Becky and I did a personal exchange, and it had arrived! On Becky’s instructions, I opened it very very carefully, and you will just about never believe the amazing exchange she sent me – I am still having trouble believing it now, because it is so...so perfect and beautiful and gorgeous. Really, I am overwhelmed by the time and effort she has put into this! We had agreed a Spring theme, and you can see that Becky stuck to that to the letter – this is what she stitched for me:

The box is so beautifully lined with a gorgeous green fabric (green is one of my favourites, hurrah!)

And it didn’t finish there – she spoiled me absolutely rotten (and far more than she needed to!!) by filling the box with all sorts of wonderful bits and bobs, just look:

There was linen, silk Mori, a pincushion, a thread holder, a little scissors holder and fob kit, a calendar, some Altoids, some Hershey’s kisses (okay, take a quick breath...), some Mary Englebreit post it notes, a cute Easter bunny, a whole boxful of buttons and charms, a notebook, and a tuck pillow. Whew, it was like a never-ending Aladdin’s cave opening up this box! Thank you Becky, from the bottom of my heart – you are a special person.

It’s our holiday weekend this weekend, so once I finish gazing admiringly at the box Becky sent (I can’t help it, I just keep staring at it in wonder!), I’m going to get busy with dinner, packing and of course sorting out a couple of small stitching projects to bring with me – perfect timing that it is Leena’s and my mini-SAL this weekend, so I can dig out a couple of Christmas ornament designs and hopefully stitch at least one of them!

A special happy birthday to my mum today!

I’ll post an update when we’re back – until then, happy stitching!

*** Thank you for all the comments on the exchange to Vonna, particularly the sheep! I forgot to include the details, so if you are thinking of making one for yourself (and let’s face it, if I can do it, you definitely can do it!), it is a book by Tone Finnanger called Crafting Springtime Gifts and is available from Amazon either UK or US and likely its other regional sites as well. Let me know how you get on! ***

Here's to Ewe Vonna

2008-04-15T18:32:00.003Z

I had a very kind email from Vonna to let me know that the Here’s to Ewe exchange I sent has landed with her. I hope that she is able to get some good photos – in my rush to re-stitch this because I messed up the finishing the first time round (I didn’t centre the tin top properly – but I’ve kept it to finish one day for myself, factory second, ha ha) I didn’t remember to take any photos! So you’ll have to believe me when I say it was a tin finish :) This is the photo of the original stitching, before I started finishing it

I also was inspired by CathyMK’s blog to try my hand at a bit of dollmaking – Cathy’s lamb is here and here is ‘Mama Sheep’ (as named by Vonna’s daughter). I had difficulty in making myself actually put her in the parcel!

I finished stitching my SBEBB Garden Exchange piece, and have even managed to get a few stitches in on Awake the Dawning Day. It has been a while since I posted a photo of ADD, so here’s one more to remind you what it looks like than to show any progress (a bit more house, a bit more door – you wouldn’t notice really!). Someone asked what fibres I’m using: the answer is the charted Weeks floss.

Happy stitching!

A Finishing Weekend

2008-04-14T17:52:00.002Z

This weekend we had guests over so I didn’t have a huge amount of time to stitch, but I did find the odd few minutes here and there to finish a few things – two you’ll have to wait to see until they make their way to their new homes, but the third I can share with you. If you remember, Annemarie sent me some gorgeous squares for the Fair and Square exchange we were in, and I rescued them from my ‘to finish’ drawer yesterday. I so love this design that Annemarie stitched, and (even if I say so myself) I think the pinkeep that they became turned out quite well!

Front
Back

Detail

There wasn’t a PL update last week as I spent an awful lot of time at work (much more than usual), and my Thursday was completely given over to other endeavours. But I’m hoping to be back on track with it this Thursday.

It’s H’s birthday coming up next week, and we’re going away to the Cotswolds this weekend to celebrate. Obviously the first thing I’m packing will be my stitching, and then my hiking boots and the golf clubs! I plan to bring a little ornament with me to stitch, as it is also Leena’s and my mini monthly ornament SAL this weekend. Perfect, as it will be small and portable! Hopefully I will be able to show you photos on our return (if I manage to finish it).

Happy stitching!

MORE Exchanges!

2008-04-08T17:45:00.002Z

Well, my plan to do some gardening at the weekend was foiled by the weather in grand style – this is what we woke up to on Sunday morning!

Luckily it has all melted and gone, but the temperatures are set to remain chillingly low, so the seeds are staying in their packets for the moment.

I had a lovely surprise on Monday – Karen K was revealed as my partner for the SBEBB Spring Quaker exchange. She stitched me this gorgeous pinkeep by Milady’s Needle. The weather may not be particularly Spring-like, but this pinkeep surely is!

Front of pinkeep:

Back of pinkeep:

She also included lots of wonderful extras for me, which I can’t wait to use. Oh, and did I mention that she handmade that lovely little card?!

As well, I heard from Becky that she had received the parcel I posted over to her for our personal Spring-themed exchange. It was a real challenge stitching something for Becky – I was quite anxious about my finishing – but she has reassured me that she loves the stitched pieces, and will get use out of the extras I sent too. There are more (and better!) photos over on her blog.

Drawn Thread 'Spot of Spring'

36ct Stitches 'n' Spice 'Celtic'

DMC floss

Finished as: pinkeep, needleminder and scissor fob

Oh, and I have to report that my horse was pulled up with just a few fences to go in the Grand National on Saturday (not that he was in contention) so no contribution to my retirement fund from my winnings LOL!

Happy stitching!

More Exchanges - Keeping Royal Mail Busy

2008-04-05T09:28:00.002Z

Well, my postie is surely being kept busy by all these stunning packages being delivered to my door! It turns out that Andrea was my partner for the SBEBB Here's to Ewe exchange, and her parcel to me arrived last night (and has spurred me on to finally get the last finishing done on my exchange so my poor partner can finally receive hers!). Andrea is a big fan of The Drawn Thread, which suits me fine because so am I, and stitched me a truly gorgeous pinkeep - the finishing is really really beautiful, my photos don't really do it justice!

Designer: The Drawn Thread 'Two Friends'

Linen: 32 Water Lily Jobelan

Front:

Back:

Detail:

Isn't it just stunning?? And, of course, being the wonderful person she is, Andrea included lots of brilliant extras (it's not easy to tell, but the fluffy object on the left of the photo is actually a pen, complete with its own stand and topped with a marabou feather arrangement and a sheep!!), for which I am truly grateful. Thank you so much Andrea, I love it all!

Now, off to send off that exchange!

Happy stitching!

Weekly PL Update

2008-04-04T18:10:00.001Z

Well, this kind of snowflake-y medallion is coming along nicely. I really long to finish PL this year. I may perhaps think of adding another half day to PL each week… I keep thumbing through my stash and really want to start something new (for me!), but I’m trying to abstain (except for exchanges or gifts) until I’ve finished a WIP. Must stitch faster! By the way, you can see the (very attractive) crease through the middle of the linen, which I’m very relieved to report is nearly through the centre of the design – I had a few moments of panic recently, thinking I’d started the whole thing too far down the linen and would run out before I finished stitching the bottom of the design – can you imagine?!?!

It’s the Grand National this weekend and I’ve managed to pull an Irish horse, Dun Doire, out of the sweepstakes at work. This means that tomorrow I will make my annual pilgrimage to the local bookies and put a few quid each way on a horse. Last year I won nothing (one of my horses fell at the 1st!) so this year I’m hoping for a bit better return on investment ;)

Happy stitching!

I'm Delighted!

2008-04-03T17:28:00.002Z

I think we all know what troubles Annemarie has been having – and how she was struggling to even be able to stitch at all late last year and early this year. Thankfully, she is recovering and has found renewed joy in her stitching. The point of the story is, Annemarie was my partner for Round 4 of the Fair and Square Exchange back in late 2007, and I was acutely aware of how awful she felt at not being able to stitch my squares for me – not a problem from my point of view, as squares can always be stitched whenever, but health is a much more precious commodity, and I just hoped she would quickly recover and feel her old self.

Well, clearly, she’s feeling much better, because I had a mystery package drop through my door yesterday, and boy was I ever delighted with its contents! Look at these simply stunning squares that Annemarie stitched for me:

They are a design by Christiane Dahlbeck and Annemarie couldn’t have chosen better – I absolutely LOVE them – I can’t wait to finish them into a special…well, I haven’t quite decided what yet, but definitely something special! She also included a bag of yummy loose tea and a sweet postcard – I’m going to have to ask her about the fairytale of the root children as that’s not one I’m familiar with. Thanks again Annemarie, I truly am delighted!

Happy stitching!

Exchange Has Found a Home

2008-04-02T17:19:00.002Z

Hurrah, Carol has received her SBEBB Spring Quaker Exchange! I always like trying something new if I can when I’m stitching exchanges – it’s the same for my dinner parties, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t (*see below). And this time it looks like it has worked out! Carol says she likes it and especially all the goodies I sent along – it’s nice treating nice people to nice things! Here is a photo of what I stitched (as usual I didn't take photos of the treats, but Carol has posted some photos so swing on over if you're interested to see):

Design: The Workbasket: Quaker Tree Third (freebie here)
Linen: 32ct Silkweaver ‘Seafoam’
Floss: Carrie’s Creation ‘Irish Kiss’ and Atalie ‘Soleil’
Finished as: A…scissorcase? and scissorfob

Front, back, then inside

*One of the times my new finishing ideas DIDN’T work out was for the SBEBB Here’s to Ewe exchange – which I’ve now successfully re-stitched. I’ll now be a bit more careful with the finishing LOL. At least the first one isn’t completely ruined (it’s just a bit wonkier than I’d like to be sending out!) so I keep it for myself – which is actually quite funny because I was really of two minds about which coordinating colours to use when finishing it, would I use the one or the other. So now I can see how both would have turned out!

Now that the clocks have (finally) moved forward, I’ve realised yet again how much my moods (don’t believe H when he tells you that I’m moody *wink*) are affected by the weather – I’ve been cheerful and smiling coming home from work all week! I also have found the odd extra hour or two after work and before dinner, and have been industriously clearing weeds and snails (the little b*st*rds) and pruning the roses (yes, it is a bit late, but never mind, they’ll be fine). So I definitely plan to spend some time in the garden this weekend – time to start planting seeds, hurrah!

Happy stitching!

Biscornu Exchange and Goal Roundup

2008-03-31T19:18:00.003Z

I had a nice email from Margie, who was my partner in the Hooked on Exchanging biscornu exchange – she was kind enough to let me know that she liked what I stitched for her, which is always a relief! Here are some photos of the biscornu I stitched, and as per usual I didn’t take a photo of the rest of the goodies, but she has some photos on her blog so go and check those out if you are interested (her photos of the biscornu are also much better than mine!!).

Biscornu for Margie (front above, back below)

Tudor by Cross Stitch Direct

Silkweaver 32ct Periwinkle Mist linen

Carrie's Creation 'Clouds in the Sky'

I’ve been busy with exchanges and finishing, so not much else to show you – I have just started re-stitching my SBEBB Here’s to Ewe exchange as I made a bit of a boo-boo with the finishing! Luckily it is not a large design, so I should have this finished fairly quickly – thankfully, as the sending date is looming!

Happy stitching!

Goal roundup for March

Stitch, finish and send the three exchanges due this month – yes, sent HOE biscornu exchange to Margie, SBEBB Spring Quaker and personal exchange with Becky
Start stitching for two further exchanges – yes, I started my SBEBB Here’s to Ewe Exchange (which, due to a finishing error, I now have to re-stitch – oops!), and one further exchange that I can’t talk about yet
Carry on stitching one gift – no, I didn’t manage to do this
Snowbird SAL - stitch Paradigm Lost on Thursdays – yes, every Thursday like clockwork
Awake the Dawning Day - stitch at least one day – yes, did manage just one day
Spanish Wine - stitch at least one day – no, unfortunately due to the SBEBB mistake above, I didn’t manage to fit this in
Mini-Christmas ornament SAL with Leena - stitch at least one ornament – yes, and I might even keep this one for myself!
Choose what I'm going to stitch for Fair & Square Round 6 once my partner is assigned – yes, and I even stitched 1 of the 2 squares
Start a mystery gift for a special birthday – yes, but haven’t gotten very far with it!
Sort-of-mini-quilting SAL with Nicki – get to grips with cutting and sewing – try to make a whole block?? – well, I’m going to give myself a big tick, because although I didn’t quite finish a block, I’m mostly finished 6 blocks, which is more than I thought I’d accomplish!
Start a sewing project – yes, and finished it too

I also ran a giveaway draw for my blogaversary, which Becky K won, so stitching that one will be included in April’s goals, which are:

Stitch, finish and send 4 exchanges due this month
Stitch, finish and send Becky K’s prize for winning the giveaway
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – stitch at least one ornament
Keep stitching the special birthday gift
Keep stitching the other gift
Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day
Keep stitching Spanish Wine
One new start
Finish the 6 quilting blocks

And the Winner Is...

2008-03-30T12:29:00.002Z

My lovely assistant, my husband, helped draw the winner this afternoon (you see, I told you he likes his sleep - he didn't quite make it out of bed this morning!). And the winner is...

Becky K! You've won the giveaway! Well done :) If you can send me an email (it's in my profile) with your snail mail address, I'll start stitching something for you and soon you can start hassling your postman!

This is the hat H pulled Becky's name out of - my mum made it for me about 15 years ago, and it's my gardening hat so I don't get too sunburned (I live in hope that I might actually be able to get a sunburn in the UK... LOL).

Happy stitching!

HOE Exchange Received!

2008-03-28T18:07:00.003Z

Oh, wow, did I ever get spoiled! I was really excited to see Tuula’s name on the return address portion of the lovely fat envelope that made its way through our mail slot yesterday – I’ve been admiring her stitching so knew that I had a treat in store :) And I was right! She stitched me this gorgeous red biscornu scissor fob, taking the design from a Papillon Designs freebie, and using a beautiful Atalie thread called ‘Rubis’. I absolutely love it – it is so me! I’ve immediately looped this on to my scissors, and even H has commented on how beautiful it is :)

Front
Back

Tuula was also kind enough to include a number of wonderful goodies for me – linen, backing fabric, threads, pins – all the sorts of things that, as she rightly pointed out in her note, stitchers can never have too much of.

Thursday was of course my Paradigm Lost SAL night, and here is two weeks’ worth of progress – I didn’t get much done either last week or this week (mainly this week because we went out for a few glasses of wine at lunchtime, and one is my limit! So I was concentrating v e r y h a r d in order to see the chart, although it was still a bit skew-whiff – I’m hoping I don’t have to frog too much!).

Don’t forget to sign up for the Giveaway – leave a comment on this post by Sunday morning UK time – I’m giving away a stitched item by me as a thank you to all my wonderful readers out there as a celebration of my recent one-year blogaversary. Good luck!

Happy stitching!

GIVEAWAY!

2008-03-25T18:49:00.004Z

Brrrr – it was really cold this weekend – we had snow flurries and hail flurries, mixed in with sun (albeit cold wintry sun) and rain all weekend. So my plans to get out into the garden and tidy that up and our idea of going golfing – nope, all didn’t happen. So the weekend became mostly about indoor pursuits – stitching, quilting, sewing, baking, (and, yes, the ubiquitous laundry), and of course sampling the gorgeous Easter egg that the Easter bunny brought! How did he know my exact favourite?? :)

Now, I believe I may have mentioned recently that my blogaversary is upcoming…well, I didn’t manage to post on the actual day (which was Saturday just gone) – but don’t think I’ve forgotten! And because it’s all of YOU who make blogging so rewarding (let’s face it, I’d be doing the stitching anyway!), I think you should be the ones to get a big thank-you, so I think a giveaway is in order, don’t you? If you want to be entered in the draw for a stitched item (which I have yet to stitch, so I can’t tell you much about it at this point LOL) to help me celebrate one whole, full, satisfying and very exciting year of blogging, leave a comment on this post and I’ll enter you in the draw! H will help me draw names on Sunday morning (30th March) UK time, so you have until then to enter (he likes his sleep, so it’s likely to be quite late morning LOL). Good luck!

Now, Nicki and I agreed that we were going to use the Easter weekend to, in her case catch up with her quilting project(s), and in my case start my very first ever quilting project. And I have to say it was quite a learning curve! I managed to rack up about 5 hours on the phone over several days with my mum, my personal quilting guru. I thank the stars for digital cameras and instant messaging, because we spent a lot of time saying ‘What? I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me …MSN me a photo of what you’re talking about.’ Here is what I managed to achieve – 6 blocks that are nearly complete. I have yet to attach the last two strips to the top and bottom of the block, and then it’s on to the sashing and corner blocks (yes, you can see I’ve been trying to pick up the lingo from my mum as well!). I am only praying at this point that the blocks are somewhat straight, or I’m going to have to claim that it was a crazy quilt pattern to start with!

In addition to quilting, I managed to put in a few stitches on both ADD and PL, but the emphasis is definitely on ‘few’ – even with side-by-side ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos you’d be hard pressed to identify any progress – so I’m just telling you about it, and not posting any photos. Hopefully next time with each of these I’ll make better progress and have something worth showing!

Much of the weekend was spent sewing and stitching for exchanges – my HOE biscornu and SBEBB Spring Quaker were posted, my personal exchange with Becky is finished ready to post, SBEBB Here’s to Ewe is stitched and sewed and ready to finish – so I haven’t much in the way of photos that I can yet share. I’m going to slow down on exchanges after April to focus on one bigger project. I haven’t decided whether I’ll be posting about it or not (as it’s meant to be a surprise), but I think perhaps I might – you’ll see soon enough :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter break – happy stitching!

Happy Noel!

2008-03-18T19:14:00.003Z

Well, it’s a tiny bit out of season, but this weekend was the mini-SAL that Leena and I have to stitch Christmas ornaments. I know that Leena is secret stitching – her ornament is for an exchange with a group of Finnish stitchers who are all busily stitching for a Christmas ornament exchange at the moment. I managed to finish a gorgeous one this weekend (if I do say so myself LOL):

Design: Just Nan ‘Holly Noel’
Fabric: Country Stitches 28ct Lugana ‘Kiwi’
Floss: DMC as charted

I’m thinking this one is going to be a flatfold for myself – I don’t know if I can bear to part with it :) All this Christmas stitching throughout 2008 will have to bear some fruit for me!

Now, I’m just about to post off my HOE biscornu exchange, and I’m just waiting on one piece of mail to post off my SBEBB Quaker Exchange. So soon I shall have more photos to share.

Happy stitching!

More Paradigm Lost and a bit of STASH!

2008-03-14T19:28:00.003Z

It was a bit of an anniversary for me and Paradigm Lost this week – I started it a year ago on Tuesday! Now, I am a slow stitcher to be sure, but to be quite fair to myself, I stitched one test skein’s worth back in March 2007, decided I liked the colour (Crescent Colours Bejeweled), and then ordered a whole batch of it (I think around 35 skeins) to make sure they were from the same dye lot – after a bit of an escapade, that didn’t arrive with me until late June. I guess that means that really I’ve only been stitching on it for just over 8 months. (8 MONTHS??!!!!) And, to celebrate my PL anniversary, I actually managed to stitch over the halfway point! (Just to clarify, that would be, the linen rests on my WIP pile folded in half widthways and so after a year has a bit of a crease in it, and I stitched below the crease! This is not in any way a statement that I have finished half of the project, which would be a blatant lie as you can see from my progress photo.)

My bit of stash arrived from Carol at Heirloom Embroideries – and I must just show you a photo of the chart – Embroiderer’s Huswif – which is so beautifully presented! The covers are laminated, the whole thing is bound, there are colour photos of each portion of the huswif, the charts are partly in colour, and there are two copies of the chart – one for keeping, one for working from. Yet another urgent thing to start, I have so many things I want to stitch! (Sorry for the flash glare in the photo.)

Hopefully I’ll have some exchanges to show you soon – I’m imminently going to send off my HOE Biscornu exchange and my SBEBB Quaker Exchange. I’m being held up by waiting for some goodies to arrive in the post. I really don’t want to have to send the exchanges off without some of the goodies, but I’m being foiled by…weather? postal delays? shipping delays? bad post karma? Something, anyway…

This weekend is Leena and my ornament mini-SAL this weekend - so I'm about to sit down with Just Nan's Noel ornament design. Hopefully I'll have photos for you at the end of the weekend.

And one quick celebration – H passed his driving theory test! Yes! He’s since booked his practical test (on my birthday – I’m hoping that’s a good omen) and now has just over 7 weeks of driving lessons to go… Fingers crossed for him!

Happy stitching!

Return Crazy Exchange Arrived!

2008-03-11T19:01:00.002Z

I got home to a wonderful package from Virpi in Finland today - I had sent her a Crazy Exchange earlier this year, and her return exchange arrived today! She stitched me a truly gorgeous piece - the satin stitching is so beautiful! I have decided to use it as a liner in my basket of pinkeeps - the basket is smaller than the stitched piece, so the borders hang over for all to admire :) It is really lovely - thank you again to Virpi!

She also treated me a number of wonderful goodies in the envelope, so I've included a photo of those as well. I am a lucky stitcher :)

PS I have looked up my blogaversary - it's imminent! I'm going to do a giveaway, so check back in March :)

Happy stitching!

Squawking in the Kitchen

2008-03-07T18:12:00.003Z

I’ve been busy with lots of mystery stitching – most of it for exchanges. So I don’t have much stitching to show you. But I did find a spare hour on Sunday night to finally finish up the patchwork chickens my mum made for me. If you remember, she knocked up the log cabin squares, added in the comb and beak, and sewed them together, leaving me one seam open to stuff the chickens with rice. After all, it doesn’t make much sense to pay to post a load of rice from Canada to the UK :)

So, half a bag of Sainsbury’s Value Rice, several stitches and 4 black plastic beads later, the chickens are done, ta da! They’re now happily clucking on the kitchen windowsill.

And, of course, here is this week’s instalment of my progress on Paradigm Lost. I’ve been stitching for 16 weeks on this SAL – and still very motivated - so I'm grateful to Dani and Kathy for persuading me to join. I’m about 25% done – so it looks as if I won’t be finished this until early 2009. Phew, what a project! In the more short-term, I should be finished up page four a bit later this month.

Happy stitching and enjoy your weekend!

Round Up and CHOCOLATE PUDDINGS

2008-03-02T12:49:00.004Z

Just a quick post today, with a summary of how I did against my goals last month:

Snowbird SAL - stitch PL on Thursdays - yes!
Fair & Square Round 5 - stitch and send squares to Marg - yes - and also received Marg's squares to me
Crazy Exchange - initiate one exchange - yes, sent an exchange to Iris and awaiting return exchange
Christmas ornaments - stitch at least one ornament with Leena on our mini-SAL - I stitched two!
More exchange stitching - make a start on 5 exchange projects, and send the one with the February sending date - I started 4 out of 5, and I did send the one with the February sending date, so nearly met this goal
Spanish Wine - spend at least one day stitching this - yep
Awake the Dawning Day - spend at least one day stitching this - yep
Gift - carry on with stitching one gift - yep, did this too

So, here are March's goals:

Stitch, finish and send the three exchanges due this month
Start stitching for two further exchanges
Carry on stitching one gift
Snowbird SAL - stitch Paradigm Lost on Thursdays
Awake the Dawning Day - stitch at least one day
Spanish Wine - stitch at least one day
Mini-Christmas ornament SAL with Leena - stitch at least one ornament
Choose what I'm going to stitch for Fair & Square Round 6 once my partner is assigned
Start a mystery gift for a special birthday
Sort-of-mini-quilting SAL with Nicki - get to grips with cutting and sewing - try to make a whole block??
Start a sewing project

Phew, that feels, um, like a stretch challenge! We'll see how far I get - as long as the exchanges are finished on time and out the door, the rest is just a bonus :)

And, in honour of Mothering Sunday here in the UK and Ireland today, I'm going to share my favourite chocolate recipe with you (I should say, my current favourite - being a chocolate addict means this can change at very short notice!). Happy Mother's Day!

Truffle Chocolate Puddings
Makes 6
Takes about half an hour to forty minutes to make and bake (allow time after for cooling)

(For the Americans - sorry, being an English recipe, it's in weights, not volumes)

150g butter (plus extra for greasing ramekins)
150g caster sugar (normal white sugar) (plus extra for coating ramekins)
150g good quality dark chocolate, broken up into manageable pieces
3 large eggs
50g flour, sifted
6 x milk chocolate truffles (use what you have available - Hershey's kisses would work well - anything smallish and pure chocolate will fit the bill)

Preheat the oven to 200C (that's Gas 6 or 400F). Lightly grease 6 ramekins with butter, and then coat with caster sugar. On low heat, melt the chocolate and 150g butter together. Set aside to cool. Whisk 150g caster sugar into eggs until pale and thick. Stir chocolate mix into egg mixture, then fold in the sifted flour. Spoon half the mixture into the 6 ramekins, drop in a truffle (or whatever small piece of chocolate you are using) into each ramekin, and top up each ramekin with the remaining mixture. Transfer the ramekins to a baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes or until risen and coming away from the edges. Cool on racks, and serve when they are still a bit warm. Serve with your choice of double cream, vanilla ice cream or whipping cream. Enjoy!!

All Squared Up

2008-02-29T18:10:00.003Z

Last night the most wonderful parcel was waiting for me when I got home! Marg was my partner for Fair and Square Round 5, and she stitched me these wonderful squares which are just popping with Sping-ability and cheerfulness! They are a Calico Crossroads design, and she used the most beautiful variegated thread. I think I’m going to turn these into a pincushion in Marg’s honour – she has over 100 in her collection!

Marg also treated me to a bagful of goodies – a very cool Cat’s Whiskers chart, some lovely threads, a handmade (by her!) bookmark, and a set of needles for counting stitches – which I just know I’m going to find THE MOST useful tool ever invented as H has an uncanny ability to ask me a question and distract me just when I’m right near the end of a big count. He can manage to keep quiet for 10 stitches or less, but as soon as I start murmuring ’26, 27, 28…’ it’s suddenly imperative that he knows what we are having for dinner. Here are all the lovely extra goodies (note to self, try to ensure that chocolate hangs around long enough for it to make it into photo next time!).

I managed to get my one day of Spanish Wine done earlier this week – I do really love this design, and I think I enjoy stitching it probably more than any other of my WIPs. I wish I had more time to devote to it! Maybe after the summer, as I have a lot of exchanges and secret stitching and one big secret project to finish by then… This is my progress on Band 3.

Thursday was also my weekly SAL day, so here is this week’s update – slowly progressing on page four.

A wonderful thank you also to Nicki who (more than) answered my plea for UK-based online and bricks-and-mortar quilting shops – in fact, it turns out that Nicki has truly impressive enabling skills, and thanks to her I have signed up for two Blocks of the Month clubs from Honeysuckle Cottage. I’m going to keep quiet about what they are, because I think they just might be perfect to make as gifts… Nicki, thank you (and, equally, curse you *grin*)!!

Happy stitching!

A New Hobby! (Maybe)

2008-02-27T17:45:00.002Z

After many years of being a confirmed non-sewer, I have decided, with a little encouragement from my mum, to try my hand at quilting. I’m not sure whether this is an inspired decision which will open up a whole new world to me, or whether this is just going to frustrate me and be a total disaster. My sewing machine and I are now on cautiously good terms, but that could change at any moment – typically it shows its disgust at my beginner’s antics by sewing lopsided seams, or by spewing up lots and lots of thread from the bobbin where it is not wanted. But more and more we’re getting on just fine – straight seams, good tension, even an occasional specialty stitch or two! So I’m thinking the time is right to take the plunge…

Now, I’m not going to do anything sensible like take a class. I’m just going to jump straight in – why not, after all? (Okay, there are many reasons why not, most of which I haven’t really thought about too carefully, but I work full time, and I spend a lot of time commuting, so classes are going to be difficult to fit in to my life.) My plan is to use my mum as my teacher and mentor – she’s only a few thousand miles away, but that’s why they invented telephones, digital cameras and instant messaging, right? Hmmm… :)

Mum, always keen to turn someone to the dark side happy to help, kindly sent me a very simple (so she claims) quilt pattern, which involves 9 blocks that look a bit like this:

And then a bit of sashing and a few borders (I love bandying about these terms, as if I have a good grasp of what they mean!). All very straightforward, right? We shall see :)

I’ve managed to find a colourway that I like, and bought all the fabric (hopefully – the design ‘recipe’ was based on a jelly roll, and I’m using fabric by the yard/metre). I bought them from Fabric Inspirations here in the UK (which has FABULOUS service, I could not recommend it highly enough) and the Fat Quarter Shop in the US. Here are the fabrics:

Thanks to computers and digital cameras, I can have even mocked up what I plan that the blocks will look like:

So now all I need to do is cut up a few bits of fabric and sew them all together. Couldn’t be easier?? I’ll let you know… I’m intending to start on this over the Easter weekend break, so look for an update in a few weeks’ time!

By the way, if you have any favourite shops for quilting fabric particularly in the UK, either near to Reading or on the internet, please do tip me off, I’d like to hear about them!

Happy stitching (and quilting!)

What a Fantastic Surprise!

2008-02-22T18:59:00.004Z

After my long daily commute yesterday, I was trudging home in the chilly, damp darkness, feeling tired and completely fed up with winter. I turned the corner around the hedge near our front door, and caught sight of something sticking out of our mail slot at a funny angle. And you’ll never guess what it was – I know you won’t, because I couldn’t guess either, which made it a delightful and cheering surprise! The wonderful Deb had sent me a beautiful card and a Just Nan chart, Satin Blossoms, for no reason, just because. Isn’t that the most wonderful thing? I have to tell you, it made my whole week. It’s just so lovely meeting all you wonderful people through stitching and blogging, and I just can’t thank Deb enough for her unexpected generosity and kindness – I was really touched! Even better, I didn’t already have the chart, and I was looking for something with flowers on it in a long and narrow shape, so this is absolutely perfect! Thank you again Deb :)

I managed a good bit of stitching last night, although you wouldn’t really know it – I worked on Paradigm Lost and mainly extended the borders, which isn’t very exciting, but is one of those very necessary tasks. I did a few smaller motifs as well, but I kept getting distracted by ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ which we had put in the DVD player. We’re halfway through it, so I’m looking forward to watching the second half tonight.

I am quite pleased with myself as well – I’ve managed to get my blog reader down to…zero! Yes, I have read (well, not EVERY word, but most of them!) all your blogs and completely caught up to date. You are such inspiring people – I am constantly intrigued and amazed by what you all get up to!

Now, having grown up in small town Canada where driving is a key skill, I, along with most of my friends, rushed out to get my learner’s license at 16 and had my full license a couple of months later. H, however, spent his teen years in Dublin, where there is a pretty excellent bus service and where traffic is always heavy, parking is scarce, and insurance costs are exorbitant (think in the many hundreds if not low thousands for adding your young learner driver to your insurance). So he never got around to getting a license. Now, however, it’s all changing! He got his learner’s permit here in the UK last summer, and today he had his very first driving lesson (I am overlooking the 2 lessons he once had about 9 years ago in Dublin) and is determined to get his full driving permit. Better late than never I say! The lesson went really well, and H proudly – and apparently very cautiously ;) – negotiated a big, busy roundabout. Next lesson is Wednesday, so hopefully he’ll get a test date soon (there’s always a waiting list, sometimes of several months, for road tests). In the UK, it’s quite common to fail your test once or twice (or, in exceptional circumstances, 8 or 9 times!) before you get your license, so I hope he’ll be practicing lots and fingers crossed everything will go smoothly!

Happy stitching!

Exchanges, PL and whole bunch of other things!

2008-02-18T21:05:00.003Z

Gosh, doesn’t time fly?! Here I am thinking I’ve just posted a nice long entry, along with photos, and suddenly I have a million more things to tell you! Okay, well, maybe six or seven!

Firstly, I heard from Marg down in Melbourne that she received the squares I sent her for the Fair and Square Round 5 exchange. Marg, like me, is a big fan of Drawn Thread (check out their new look website if you haven’t already!), so the confluence of DT and February made me think immediately of An Open Heart. I adapted the top heart motifs and sent it off to her with a few things in her favourite colours. As per usual, I didn’t take any photos of the whole exchange, but here are the squares (main square and signature square) that I stitched fro Marg. I used the recommended NPI silks (they are a dream to stitch with, I really like them):

Secondly, I also heard from Janneke, who was my secret exchange partner for the Crazy Exchange (more on this below) Birthday Exchange. I stitched Janneke a little pattern from Nostalgic Needle called ‘Rose Ornament’ – this was my first ever go at bullion stitches, and I’m quite pleased (and extremely relieved) at the way they turned out. I finished it as a pincushion, and stitched her initials as well as mine and ‘gelukkige verjaardag’ which I’m trusting is an accurate translation from English to Dutch of ‘Happy Birthday’! Ths was stitched on 32ct Cream linen using Au Ver a Soie Soie d'Alger threads as charted.

Thirdly, I got a lovely message from Iris another Crazy Exchanger who had very kind things to say about the mattress pinkeep I sent her – this was a C Mon Monde design and seemed perfect for February and Valentine’s. It’s stitched on an unnamed bit of Silkweaver linen using Atalie threads (silk and cotton) as recommended on the chart. If you’ve never tried Atalie threads, I’d highly recommend them – their silk in particular is beautiful to stitch with. You can buy direct from the manufacturers (although they only process orders during the first 15 days of each month) or from the lovely Leena at her shop Violarium – Leena ships everywhere and really quickly. This was my first mattress pinkeep finish (with a little help from drooling over all your finishes out there, and from that special tutorial wizard, Vonna!)

So, the Crazy Exchange. You may remember me mentioning it – it is a group of assorted crafters based in Europe and the US, and the basic premise is: make something at any time, send it to anyone who is also in the Crazy Exchange, sit back and wait and within 30 days later your chosen partner will have made you something in return and posted it back to you. It’s a great little exchange, although slightly chaotic in nature (I think that’s intended, the clue’s in the name, ha ha). The group moderators have recently let us know that due to family considerations they are not going to be able to carry with the group. One of the exchangers, Jacqueline, has kindly stepped up and will take over the group, but I think I’ll hold off sending any further exchanges until things settle down a bit. I'm glad at any rate it isn't coming to an end.

Now, a Thursday has gone by since I last posted, so of course I’ve got my weekly update of Paradigm Lost which I’m stitching along with all the lovely ladies over at the Snowbird SAL. I was stitching with flying fingers this week, and I could definitely see the end was near (of the big motif I was stitching, not of the whole thing!) so I stayed up til gone midnight to finish up this motif – HURRAH! I’m so pleased with the fact that it’s now done!!

Now I’m on to page four, which is littered with little tiny and medium-sized motifs, so I should fly through that a little quicker than I got through page three!

Now, as you may remember from last month, Leena and I have a little ornament SAL between us, and this past weekend was our ornament weekend. I managed to stitch two small ornaments this month rather than one bigger one, so here is the second of Prairie Schooler’s 12 Days of Christmas, Two Turtle Doves:

And, on the scrappiest of small scraps of linen which I found in my stash, Lizzie*Kate’s ‘Joy’ ornament from the most recent JCS ornament issue.

I promised recently to show you the wonderful stacks of stash I treated myself to before Christmas and which have just arrived (long story – digressing, if you haven’t been to the LNS Report Card do go and visit, it’s a great resource for both online and bricks and mortar shops, and it gives you the low-down from other stitchers on just how good – or not – a shop is, and whether it is worth spending your hard-earned stash cash with them!). Here is the (not briliant) photo – too much to list, but essentially I treated myself to a large number of charts, some linen and some threads. Yum, I can’t wait to stitch it all! (Yes, I can hear you laughing in the background – what stitcher could ever hope to stitch everything in their hoard of stash!!)

Now this is getting to be a very long post, so just very quickly before I go, for those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, Periphaeria Designs is starting a Mystery Spanish Sampler which starts in mid-March. This could be quite fun… :)

Thanks for making it this far, I wish you a relaxing week and much happy stitching!

A New Look for Spring!

2008-02-12T20:46:00.000Z

Well, I live in hope anyway. But that grey was getting a bit dreary, and so I've gone for a new look.

Now I haven't managed to post for a few days (okay more than a week) because I've been finishing secret stitching projects - none of them have arrived, so I'm sorry but that's just going to have to remain a secret for a little bit longer. I hope to update you soon!

In the mists of time (last week), I did get around to doing a bit of stitching on Awake the Dawning Day, and I don't think I posted about it, so here it is: I stitched a little bit on Awake the Dawning Day! I'm aiming to stitch this at least once a month, so that is all done and dusted. Here is my progress, but you'd probably have to have the last progress photo right beside it in order to work out what has happened - essentially a lot of stitching on the house which isn't too interesting but has the plus side of being quite straightforward when you're not concentrating 100% on your stitching and devoting some of your interest on, say, Law & Order, or CSI.

Last week I also did my weekly Snowbird stitch on Paradigm Lost. It is progressing. Slowly. In fact, I believe that I started it nearly a year ago now, although I didn't seriously devote much time to it before this SAL started at the beginning of November. I am STILL stitching the endless motif on the right hand side - but the end is very nearly in sight. I should have all the cross stitches in this week - and then it's on to a sizeable backstitching job. Maybe a week or two left on it? Then, on to PAGE FOUR - Hurrah!

And, since it's February, and Nashville, I have been treating myself to a bit of stash recently - in a controlled manner! So I'm hoping for a few orders to arrive and I'll share that with you. I don't think I've shared any of my stash acquisition with you for ages. Don't worry, I haven't been neglecting my stash :)

Now, my back has been playing up most horrendously this week, but no sympathy please because the physio has given me a perfectly simple, straightforward, quick and easy set of exercises which really work and take the pain away like magic. As long as I do them every day, that is. Which I kind of haven't. So I'm off to contort myself womanfully, and hope that my back settles down very soon!

Happy stitching!

More to Show You (Part 2)

2008-02-03T10:15:00.000Z

Okay, here it is, part 2 of my very long post. This part is the exchange part - hurrah!

First, I received my Hooked on Exchanging scissor fob from Sandra all the way from Barbados! She's done an absolutely top job of the fob she sent me - not only a wonderful choice of pattern and luscious thread, but a great finishing job (check out that tassel!) AND a bunch of goodies! Thank you so much Sandra!!

Next up in the exchange category is my scissor fob that I stitched for Barbara Ana - she doesn't have a blog, but she is a designer (so no pressure there!!) and her website is here and has some really great freebies, as well as showing all her designs. Luckily, Barbara Ana took some photos of the fob I stitched her, because I finished it so late one night and then posted it first thing the next morning, and realised as soon as I dropped the envelope in the mailbox that I hadn't taken any photos of it!! So these photos are courtesy of Barbara Ana. I found out that Barbara Ana likes Prairie Schooler designs and Hallowe'en, so I found some perfect linen in my stash (Pumpkin Patch by Sugar Maple Designs) and stitched her up a fob using some small designs from Prairie Schooler 'Autumn Leaves'.

And, finally, I am so far on track for meeting my goal of initiating one Crazy Exchange per month - Virpi let me know that she received the needleroll I made her. Two firsts there - my first needleroll finish and her first needleroll received! Now I'm looking forward to what she sends me in return :) This is MTV Designs A Touch of Pink Needleroll stitched on 32ct Silkweaver 'Wandering Ivy' linen with Dinky Dyes 'Raspberry Ripple' and Kreinik metallic thread.

Right, phew, we're nearly there! Thursday has come and gone, so that means I have an update to share with you on my Snowbird SAL progress for Paradigm Lost. Getting there ever so slowly! I'm still working on the huge medallion on the right hand side, but the end is (nearly) in sight. There is a ton of backstitching to do on this particular one, so I reckon 2 more weeks and I'll be on to page 4. Yes!

And, finally, a few goals for February:

Snowbird SAL - stitch PL on Thursdays

Fair & Square Round 5 - stitch and send squares to Marg

Crazy Exchange - initiate one exchange

Christmas ornaments - stitch at least one ornament with Leena on our mini-SAL

More exchange stitching - make a start on 5 exchange projects, and send the one with the February sending date

Spanish Wine - spend at least one day stitching this

Awake the Dawning Day - spend at least one day stitching this

Gift - carry on with stitching one gift

Give yourself a pat on the back - you've reached the end! Well done and thanks for sticking with me :) Wishing you happy stitching for the coming week!

So Much to Tell You!

2008-01-31T23:39:00.000Z

Well, I was feeling quite relaxed after our trip to Prague, and now I've just jotted down a few things that I want to remember to blog about, and would you believe there is just too much for one post! So I'm going to shamelessly serialise it like a cheap Victorian novel and you'll just have to bear with me for a few days :)

So, first, obviously we've made it back safely from Prague - which was absolutely gorgeous, although fairly grey. It's such a romantic city, no matter what the time of year. I've posted a few photos towards the end of this in case you are interested to see some of the sights of Prague! Some highlights included: flying Swiss Airlines and discovering that the complimentary chocolate that they provide on all their flights is GORGEOUS and definitely not to be missed - see, a helpful tip even if you're not going to Prague LOL; the medieval Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square (or variously Atomic Clock or Astrological Clock, if you are my husband and have difficulty with names); gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous food - we ate so well, and only got away with it because we walked for hours on end during our stay; Charles Bridge; the view over the city and the wonderful quiet solitude on the grounds around the Strahov Monastery; but mainly the chance to spend a quiet and happy few days with H celebrating our 2nd anniversary.

And it wouldn't be a holiday without a bit of stitching stuffed in my rucksack now would it?? Of course it wouldn't! I took along a simple chart in one colour, and even managed to finish it! This is JBW Designs' Christmas Sampler Motif on 36ct Examplar linen from Lakeside Linens using Crescent Colours' Apple Fritter floss (does anyone else wonder about the misnomer 'Apple Fritter' for a maroon/dark cherry coloured skein of floss? One of life's imponderables I suppose).

As I mentioned before we left, I was intending to put in a few stitches on Spanish Wine before we left, which I did do. I finished Band 2 in fact (with the grapes) and started Band 3 (the slim cross stitched band directly beneath it). I do so love this design, and I wish I could spend more time on it - that, however, would mean signing up for less exchanges. Such a difficult balance to strike!

I don't think I actually posted my goals for January - but I did have a small list of them, all of which I'm quite pleased to say I achieved! I'll post my February Goals in part 2 of this post.

January:

Stitch, finish and send SBEBB Winter House Exchange - Yes, I did this

Stitch, finish and send Hooked on Exchanging Scissor Fob Exchange - Yes, I did this (photos in Part 2)

Stitch an ornament with Leena - Yes, I did this (in fact I did 2!)

Stitch a gift, and start another - Yes, I did this, one is ready to go and the other is firmly started

Initiate a Crazy Exchange - Yes, I sent Virpi an exchange (photos in Part 2)

Carry on stitching Awake the Dawning Day - Yes, I spent one day on this

Carry on stitching Spanish Wine - Yes, I spent one day on this

Carry on stitching Paradigm Lost with the Snowbird SAL - Yes, I did this each week

Oh, and just before I go, one small piece of indulgence: despite my rigorous (yeah, right) attempts at sorting out my small stash acquisition tendency, I treated myself to a gorgeous new pattern today and linen for it as well - although it won't arrive until after it's formally released. It's Shores of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings and isn't it gorgeous!! (Photo courtesy of the Carriage House Samplings website)

Right, Part 2 of this post will be available in a day or two :) In the meantime, Happy Stitching, and enjoy the photos of Prague:

Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square

Charles Bridge - above, facing the eastern tower, and below, the view of the Charles Bridge from the next bridge over

Above - Prague Castle at night, and below, the main gates of the castle the next day. Below that, we managed to be just in time to catch the changing of the guard

Above: a typical street sign in Prague (incidentally, this street was the one in which Kafka was born, obviously subsequently renamed!). Below: trams are the main method of travel for Prazaks

Paradigm Lost Update and A HOLIDAY!

2008-01-25T18:55:00.000Z

So this weekend is the weekend we go on holiday - hurrah!!! I'm so excited - I really hope the hotel I've booked in Prague is a nice one :)

Before I go check out the weather and start to plan my wardrobe and packing session (I am trialling doing this the night before after nearly causing us to miss our flights to Dublin over Christmas by getting absorbed in a quilting book the morning of the flight and having to throw a few inadequate things in a bag, shower, wake H who also had to shower and pack, all 10 minutes before the taxi arived - whoops!), I thought I would do one last post to update my weekly SAL progress on Paradigm Lost:

As well, I've finished two Crazy Exchange pieces and intend to get them in the post very soon - I will share photos when I can.

I'm hoping to actually get to spend a couple of hours on Spanish Wine tonight - which I haven't picked up since December (or maybe even November!) so no tarrying - have a lovely weekend everyone, and I'll catch up with you on my return!

Happy stitching!

Ornament SAL

2008-01-21T19:48:00.000Z

This weekend was the occasion of my little mini-SAL with Leena - we are going to stitch an ornament a month in the hopes of having a tidy little pile of Christmas ornaments around Christmas time, without the usual last-minute frenzy of trying to stitch them all after Thanksgiving. And I can always use a bit of Christmas cheer, no matter what the calendar is actually telling me!

Here is what I stitched this weekend - it's the Blue Ribbon Designs' contribution to the 2007 JCS ornament issue, and is called 'A Wish for Hope and Peace' - I've stitched it pretty much as charted, just changing the linen slightly as this was in my stash:

Also, I'm just about to send off my first Hooked on Exchanging exchange - it's a scissors fob this time around, and it hasn't really got very far to go so I hope my partner likes what I've stitched.

And just a quick hello to some of the new people I've noticed reading my blog - welcome! In my usual haphazard fashion, I'll be over to your blogs soon to have a look at what you're up to!

Happy stitching!

Working on a WIP

2008-01-18T19:13:00.000Z

I finally got to work on a WIP this month - hurrah! This week I pulled out Awake the Dawning Day and stitched some windows and some house. One day I'll actually finish this amidst all the exchange and secret stitching that I'm currently embroiled in! Here's my progress:

Thursday is my Snowbird SAL night for Paradigm Lost - I'm still doggedly stitching the massive medallion on the right, and probably have a few weeks yet to finish it.

I'm also happy to report that we did eventually (!) book our anniversary holiday, so we're headed off to Prague for 4 days at the end of the month. H hasn't ever been to Prague before and I haven't been for several years, so we're both really looking forward to our well-earned break!

And, lastly, Cheryl asked about the tray that I made for Nicki - I certainly didn't come up with this myself and credit must go where it's due: I used the extremely helpful Focus on Finishing site and followed the links to the tutorials and found Barbara's tutorial on basket finishing which I used as a basis for making the tray - I hope it helps!

Right, now I'm off to enjoy my weekend and also stitch some ornaments with Leena - it's the third weekend of the month and we've decided to stitch some Christmas ornaments in our own little SAL - in the hopes that we'll have a stack of them ready for next Christmas. Time will tell :)

Happy stitching and thanks for stopping by!

SBEBB - More firsts!

2008-01-14T00:05:00.000Z

Oooooh, I was SO excited on Saturday - the postman rang the bell and that means only one thing - something too big for the letter slot! And that means, only one more thing - fun things come in big packets :)

And so it proved, as he handed me a packet from Carol. Well, I knew this had to be good, and I had barely closed the door before I had ripped it all open (carefully, of course!). And this is what she sent me for my first SBEBB exchange, the Winter House exchange: a simply gorgeous pinkeep!

She tells me it's a Lizze*Kate design, and I love it - doesn't the red colour just jump off the stitching? It's sitting behind me now as I type, and I can't stop myself from turning around to look at every so often :) She also sent me a truckload of goodies - scrummy bubble bath, sweets, some spring-y linen and DMC to chase the grey away, a gorgeous scissors fob and a Drawn Thread chart off my wish list which is ever so kind of her - she even included some felt for the chart which is just perfect - thank you so much Carol, I have so enjoyed this exchange! Oh, and even better, contrary to my last post, the SBEBB is staying open, thanks to some lovely stitchers (including Carol) so I can look forward to even more wonderful exchanges (I went and signed up for one or two more already LOL!).

Also on Saturday (this is one of the things I love about living in the UK, post on Saturday!), Nicki let me know that she'd recieved the Winter House exchange I sent her. Here is a quick photo, but the ones she has posted on her blog are far better, so click on over to her if you are interested. I stitched her Bent Creek 'Redbird' and finished it into a tray - it was my first attempt at this kind of finish (ha ha, the beauty of being fairly new to stitching, you get to jump in the deep end an awful lot :) and I think it turned out okay - Nicki says she loves it, which is the main thing!

Now, I think that's nearly enough excitement for one weekend :) Although we were meant to book a holiday for ourselves for our upcoming anniversary, we didn't remember to do it - stupid people eh??? Well, it'll get done when I have a few minutes spare at work. Maybe our forgetfulness will mean we can get a cheap last-minute deal ;)

Happy stitching and thanks for stopping by!