MailArt

I posted out my U.K. mailart yesterday as part of the stitch & stash mailart exchange, the theme was to be snowmen, so I feel safe in posting up my pictures of the front and back today. The design was taken from Erica Micheals January 2004 freebies, I changed the colour of the scarf and shortened it a bit to fit the envelope as it was a tadge too long, I also had to use my own choice of threads - whats new I hear you say!! So its all done with DMC in bright clours. The back are just my own design of snowflakes with a couple of buttons added, I fastened it up using whip stitch so that it was safe to send in the UK mail..... And Oooh its on 28ct mid blue linen


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Stash Attack

I've been bad, bad, bad at the weekend and had a stash attack!!!LOL!! I have ordered myself from Elegant Stitch Fingerworks by Designing Ladies (Elizabeth Tolledo) and I also treated myself to the finishing works book for 2006 so I know how to put it together when I've stitched it. I also joined the Esmereldas friends automatic programme (which is good so it makes up for the bad).
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No Bees No honey progress

I thought I would show you my progress on No Bees, No Honey,by Birds of a Feather I am currently stitching this, and started during last week I have chosen to stitch it 1/1 on 32ct evenweave, I am using the piece I received from the WFC exchange and its called Highland, - its lovely to work on. I have changed a few of the colours as I didn't have them in my stash, but I do think my colour choices are OK, maybe the hive isn't as bright as it should be, but I prefer the colour I used. All the threads are hand-dyes a mixture of GAST, WDW, Heavenly Hues & Ozark Sampler and finally a DMC. Progress is a little slower on an evening as I don't use a magnifier, - no wonder I wear glasses LOL!! But I have been wanting to do this for so long and the urge took over, hopefully I'll have it finished by next weekend and then I will start back on my Neighbourhood RR.

EDIT NOTE: I have been requested to list what changes I made for the threads so here goes.

Leaves: Substituted with Celery - GAST and kept Advocado
Flowers - substitured with Heavenly Hues Carnation Kept Burnt orange
Hive - Substituted with Schneckley - WDW & Old Gold - Ozark Sampler
Writing - Schneckley -WDW and Kept Maple Syrup
Substituted Tropical Ocean with a similar colour I had in my stash but haven't a clue what its called and who its by.
Alphabet substituted some letters with WDW - Beige

What kind of cat are you????

You are a Ragdoll! You are known for your laid

back attitude. You are the ultimate in

low-maintenance. You'd rather hang out

around the house all day than seek adventure.


What breed of cat are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


Funny this, this is my favourite cat and I have always wanted one, who'da known it, but I had one all along LOL!!, better not let Mark see this one as I have been working on him for the last 5 years to get one LOL!!!

Quiet week

I seem to be having a quiet week this week, I have no new work to show you as yet, my neighbourhood RR hasn't been touched since the 15th, but plan to stitch it over the weekend, Barbara has finished hers and it looks great. I have been stitching a project I have wanted to do for so long now and you know when you really get the urge to start it, well that was me, so I'm currently stitching 'No honey' by Birds of a feather, I have chosen to do it 1/1 on 32ct evenweave, I will post a picture of my progress on Friday, I know I should have a rotation, but I tend to be one of those stitchers that when I REALLY want to stitch something, I can't stop til its finished, though believe it or not I'm like that with the RR, but my mind has gone blank a bit at the moment and I have frogged the tree out that was growing in the bottom right corner as I hated it.


The picture I have to show you is Tap and Blackberries, this is a design by Oehlenschlager (sp) with this I won 1st in the linen section of our local show this year and I was really happy about it, its a real favourite of Marks, I have the companion piece to stitch as yet, called spade and berries, I loved doing this one very much, it was stitched 1/2, 2/2 and 3/2 so it has depth and texture to it.

Finishing

I have been busy over the last week and have neglected my blog somewhat, but I have got things to show you because of it. The first is a small ABC sampler freebie by Anne Les Petites Croix which I stitched last year sometime (I think it was then), its been lying in the drawer waiting to be finished, I finished it as a small door hanging, its stitched on 32ct evenweave which is hand-dyed, I thought this was a nice spring coloured design..


The second is another by Anne Les Petites Croix, this is one of the 4 seasonal hearts she has in her freebies, they are beautiful, this one is Spring, again its been sat in the drawer waiting to be finished. I have stitched this one on 32ct hand-dyed linen by Kates Specials Kolours Klub, I thought it was a really nice spring coloured fabric, I loved doing this one and hopefully will complete all 4 when I have the time. I have made it into a small cushion and it is now hanging off the bedstead.



My 3rd finish I have had done for ever, but just not finished it, so I decided I would make a small pillow out of it and place it in the pillow basket. Its by Lizzie*Kate and its self explanatory, I stitched in on Aida, I always feel L*K designs suit Aida better, I changed the colours somewhat and used my own, its more muted than it should be

Now, I have a fourth, which I started stitching on Tuesday and finished on Thursday night, I have done all the finishing on it too yesterday and it looks lovely, but I can't show you yet as its a gift for someone, and I know she comes to my blog, so as I don't want to spoil the surprise you'll have to wait for that one.
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TAGGED!!

Barbara from Mainely stitching tagged me, so here are my answers to the questions:

4 Jobs you've had
1. Nurse
2. School Matron
3. Garden Centre assistant
4. Barmaid
None of the above are in particular order.

4 films you'd watch over and over
1. Breakfast at Tiffanys
2. Under the Tuscan Sun
3. Calender Girls
4. Ghost Ship

4 T.V. shows you love to watch
1. Lost
2. CSI Miami or Vegas
3. Gilmore Girls
4. Property Ladder
I actually could add more to this as there are a few others I really love to watch

4 Places you've been on holiday
1. Feurtaventura - been here over and over and over LOL!!!
2. Zante
3. Bruge
4. Devon

4 of your favourite foods
1. My curry
2. Lasagne
3. Chocolate Fudge Cake
4. Prawns

4 Places you'd rather be right now
1. Feurtaventura
2. Feurtaventura
3. Mauritus
4. Feurtaventura

4 sites you visit daily
1. Sanman Chat board - really nice people on there
2. Cyberstitches
3. Veroniques blog
4. Our neighbourhood of Makebelieve blog - Its in my links

4 Bloggers you are tagging
1. Jennys stitching
2. Shell a stitcher from Nottingham (To Knit or to Stitch)
3. & 4. Now here I would have put Annemarie but she's been tagged by Barbara already, so then I thought of Dianne but I think she was tagged by Barbara too.
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RR Update

I have taken a picture of my house progress, as you can see I have done some more to it, the brown block in the bottom right corner will be a tree that sweeps over the house, but I haven't got any further with it than the few stitches that are there. This is as 15/01/06, still a lot to do in the garden yet too.
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I have a picture

of some work for you to see, Annemarie asked to see my Fingerlakes Sampler by Brightneedle, as she is going to stitch one sometime this year. I finished this piece a couple of years ago now and Mum made it into a cushion for me, as I never seemed to have the time to do the finishing, it was a nice piece to stitch, I did it on 28ct evenweave in a soft faded peach colour and did it 2/2.
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Isn't it exciting...

our neighbourhood of Makebelieve is off with a whoosh!! The link to our blog is in my links. I am so excited about it all, thanks to Barbara for setting up the blog.

We are a group of likeminded stitchers who after discussion amongst ourselves and inspired by the neighourhood sampler that we found by another group of ladies decided to do our own, its a RR and our first posting date is 15 March, there are 7 of us in it, Annemarie, Barbara, Novia, Rachael, Dianne, Veronica and myself, it should last about 18 months as we have a 3 monthly rotation.

Unfortunately I have no photos today of any finishes, stitching or the like, I have been busy stitching and blogging (well reading loads of blogs) and unfortunately feel YUK!! (I know AGAIN), I seem to have got a cold, must have been from all the kissing at New Year LOL!!

I would like to thank everyone that visits my blog and I love comments thankyou for those, I haven't quite figured out how to answer some of the questions so that the question er, can have an answer so if you know please can you tell me how to do it and then I can answer them or do I just post an answer on my blog???
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Stash, Exchange and a Finish

It may be Friday 13th, but I have had a wonderful day, I received an amazing Exchange parcel, some lovely stash and I have a finish.
My mittens are complete, the picture I apologise for, as its not brilliant.
I loved doing these, they are so dinky, I stitched them on 14ct Aida and used DMC thread. The design (Thanks to Maria who knew I would love them), is by Mill Hill, I omitted all beads and changed the thread colours and I hung them together with dk green ribbon. They will hang this Christmas on my miniature tree.
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This is my lovely exchange parcel I received today, I joined an exchange on the Sanman board called Winter Friends, and we had secret partners, Marion sent me mine and its really wonderful, I have never been so spoiled in an exchange before. I received Jingle Bells Xmas Tree Farm by VS - I have lusted after this design for ages. Holly Berry Whimzi ornaments by JN, 2 pieces of hand-dyed 32ct fabric one in Shadow (linen) and one in Highland (evenweave) and finally to top it off, 2 packets of my favourite gold needles. - Talk about spoilt!!! I hope that my partner (Suzieq) enjoyed her surprises as much as I have.
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My stash parcel today was from The Natural Dye Studio, and its 18 hand-dyed silk floss skeins, in rainbow colours, there is 10m on each skein, Barbara from Mainely Stitching (Thanks girlfriend) - enabled me with this lovely company when she got a lot of threads and fabrics from them and was so enthusiastic - I can see why now and as they had some on their ebay shop I chanced a bid and got these, the colours are really beautiful and I can't wait to use them. I think they are really lovely and I love the smell of silk and these are BEAUTIFUL.


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Minor stash day

Had a minor S.E.X. (Stash Enhanced Experience) day today, As part of the Stitch and Stash monthly ornament SAL for this year, its the new L*K Flippits and my first 3 have arrived, I think they are really cute and won't take long to do, my first one I am going to stitch (as I like to be different and not do as I'm told, or in the right order), will be Hope (No 48), next month I will do Love (No 46) and March I shall do Friends (No 48), only cos I think they match the months better, New year -Hope, Love - Valentines, Friends cos they are there!!
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DT - RR Finished

Well I have finished this months piece for the DT - RR, I do hope that Nelly likes it, it was a nice piece to do, I enjoyed it, even the french knots which is what the heart is done in and the little bunny tail I think I may do it again and finish it as a fob doing it 1/1, but not yet.
Tonight I am going to stitch my mittens (they are so dinky) for the 1-2-3 Xmas Ornie SAL, I have just found out my thread and material, I intend to make a pair of them and hang them from ribbons, I have picked a nice Christmas red and green, I was going to use an overdye but changed my mind, I will let you see them once they are finished, hopefully I'll have them and the finishing done by the weekend.

Then I will return to my neighbourhood house, I have much to do in the garden for that one, plus I want to get my middle bit sewn too, as we are slightly short of numbers (there are 7 of us not 9) and I have divided my fabric into 9, I will have 3 houses to do, so I thought I would do them before the first posting date at the end of March. I think the heart of my village will be a needlework shop, in fact I'm 95% certain thats what I will do next in there.
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DT - RR

This is as far as I have got with the DT RR, this is Too Tiny Sampler Too, by DT for Nellys RR, I am stitching this 2/2, to fit the piece of linen that I have been given, I didn't get any stitching done last night so hopefully I will get it finished tonight then I can start on mittens as part of the 1-2-3 Christmas Ornament SAL
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Progress

The past few days I have seen some progress with my stitching, not as much as I hoped but at least I've done something

My first progress is on my Neighbourhood RR, I have started on my first house and garden, as you can see its not finished yet, but this is the progress so far.

Another progress for the weekend has been my mailart exchange envelope I have completely finished and sewn up the envelope, though I can't post pictures of it yet until I have sent it next week, just in case its spotted before its received.

Lastly I received Nellys DT RR, from MarieLouise, I have chosen to stitch DT's Too tiny too sampler, I scanned it tonight but it hasn't turned out well on the scan, so I'll post a better picture tomorrow, this I'm doing 2/2 although it should be 1/1 but it would be far to small if I did it 1/1.

I still haven't done anymore work on Les Dentelles or Pinn Mermaid Heaven and I still haven't got ready for stitching Woodland Walk, but I have found the chart I want to do for this months 1-2-3 Ornament SAL, courtesy of Maria and I will be doing that this week sometime and will let you see when its done.

My next small project for this forthcoming week following the SAL is a stitching small and I am still trying to decide what I want to stitch its a toss up between DT Samplar necessaire or DT Rabbit pincushion, but there again I could change my mind again.
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Thanks to everyone...

For your nice comments and concern over my health, I'm feeling much better now and have gone back to work, fingers crossed I don't come down with anything else, it was bad enough last year when I had no voice for 3 months!! But it was peaceful for everyone LOL!!
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Winter in the Square/Jasmine Mix

This is Jasmine mix


Isn't this gorgeous!! - Has to be my favourite new one


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New Just Nan designs

Oh I soooo want these designs, I found them today over on the Just Nan website, I love 'Winter in the Square' and the winter visions charm, this is I'm afraid a MUST HAVE for me, its part of a collection of 4 another will be out next month, now I'm off to hunt which online store has it already so I can order it, I also love 'Jasmine Mix' the companion to Wintry Mix which is nearly at the top of my Christmas to do pile, and the last one I like and I'm sorely tempted I can tell you is 'Flying Colours' its part of her Lessons in Linen series, I just like the design and the small acompanying one too.
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First finish of 2006

Well as I have taken an extra day as leave, as the stomach still doesn't feel too good, I have stitched away at this Shepherds Bush freebie called Be Happy. Its stitched on 10ct Heatherfield using Crescent colours (I do like the names of the hand-dyed threads, they are much nicer than numbers), it was very quick to stitch up, especially being on such a low count fabric. The fabric in the picture is what I intend to make the pillow out of, my finishing is often slower than my stitching and I tend to do a few at the same time, so I'll make it up later this month into the pillow.

Well I think after I have finished taking down the decorations today I will go back to my neighbourhood house, and see how much of that I get finished, maybe it'll be done by the weekend. Will post pictures later this week as to my progress.
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A New Year

A New Year celebration wish to you all from Mark and I. We had such a wonderful night and we had some amazing fireworks which lasted for 25 minutes - everyone all clubbed together and bought loads of them and Mark and Graham (Karens husband) went off just after midnight and let them off, we had such a spectacular display. Nugget here took what I thought was a wonderful group photo of us all and off course its turned out very abstract and blurry, so I can't show you us all.

I have started on my Neighbourhood RR and began stitching my first home, I'll update with pictures later this week, and I have also started on a SB freebie called Bee Happy and I hope to have that finished tomorrow, but its back to work then, so I will only have stitching time on the evening.

I have to put the fabric on my stitching frame for woodland walk which I will do later today so thats ready to start stitching at the weekend - I have decided to make that my weekend stitching for this month and then rotate next month with Les Dentelles.

I'm going to make cumbrian pasties for tea tonight as Mark is out playing golf and will I'm sure will be bringing some of his golfing chums back.
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Well 2006 has commenced, and I'll share with you a couple of pictures from our new years eve celebrations, here is Karen and I we were up in Karens garden as we always do for New Year Eve having the last and first BBQ of the year, we had a great time.">Link