Fortunate

I really consider myself so very fortunate to have such wonderful stitching friends and I really don't know what I have done to deserve them, my friends give me pleasure with their blogs, emails,albums,phone calls and comments.

So yesterday afternoon there was a knock on the door and yes I mean knock I thought he was going to come through the glass LOL!! and it was the parcel force man with a HUGE envelope for me from Japan.

Now Yuko and I decided to do a pinkeep exchange together, so I wasn't expecting the large envelope that arrived at all,I was expecting a much smaller one and it came in record time, Yuko had posted it on Sunday and it got to me Wednesday now there's speedy delivery, poor lass is still waiting for mine to arrive and I posted that on Saturday!

As I unwrapped it all I was fairly gobsmacked to see what was in it, Yuko had made me one of her beautiful bags and had personalised it for me with my initial. Inside the bag there is a pocket and that has Yuko's initial beside it. Its so lovely in real life my pictures don't do it justice I'm sure. Its now hanging in my bedroom as its too nice to use.



The next part of the parcel was no exception either it was the reason for our exchange. The pinkeep, again its so beautifully stitched and finished. Yuko has stitched EEF Rose Cottage for me as she knows how much I adore EEF designs its just perfect, I love the personalisation on the back and the wee pocket, you would never know that she has only been stitching for a year would you. Yuko is so incredibly talented.

I'll leave you with a picture of the extras that I received too and the of the bag and pinkeep and I think the quote below says it all about ALL the lovely exchanges that I have received from some very wonderful ladies throughout the year.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever; Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness." — John Keats. 1795-1821 Endymion. Book i

Wonderful surprise

I got up this morning feeling distinctly green and not well at all - so much so Mark said not to go to work, so I went back to bed after a few visits to the loo! To be only woken up by the postman, not 30mins ago, and oh how I feel so much cheerier now, I opened the envelope that he handed me and saw it was my Seasonal exchange, from my secret partner who is now longer a secret, I have admired my partners blog for a very long time now as she stitches and creates some very beautiful pieces and this one is no exception, and LUCKY ME, I get to receive 3 others from her throughout the year- yippeeee!



I will leave you in suspense no longer as to who she is, its Claudia



Thankyou so much Claudia for this beautiful set of summer stitching I will cherish it very much and thankyou to for all the lovely stash goodies that you sent with it I much appreciate them.

I was when I got in from work tonight going to continue showing my holiday stitching, but it can wait as this really deserves a posting of its very own!

Holiday stitches

Here is the first of my holiday projects - I only ever take quickish things to stitch and it was no exception this time whilst we were away, and as I have been busy doing some finishing this week I thought I would do the finishing for this so its the first one to show.

Its by Bent Creek and its called Buzz - I have been itching to stitch this one since I got it ages ago, I have changed the colours as always to match the box I had and I used GAST Hyacith, and WDW Purple haze, plus for the flower centres I used a scrap of DMC from my scrap box it was the closest I could find to the pink on the box. Its stitched on 32ct vintage linen.



We have a new blogger and stitcher in our midst too, I found Michele by chance when she had visited my blog - Hello Michele - Michele is stitching away and has decided to blog too as she wants to help and inspire other brand new stitchers as well, as she has been loving the stitching she has found on other blogs and wants to learn to do it for herslef, so please if you've a minute pop over to her blog and give her a blogging welcome.

Hope all the UKers are having great Bank Holiday weekend and that your weather is significantly better than ours wherever you may be, I'll leave you with a photo of me and my MIL taken yesterday T-time at a golf society BBQ we were at - and yes it was raining and Yes we stayed outside all the time until we went home at 11pm.

August Bank Holiday who would have thought we would need fleeces, blankets and brollys, but oh it was ccccccold!!

Biscornu

Whilst I was on holiday it was my sister Helens birthday, so I wanted to make her something she had to open whilst we were away, so I made this wee biscornu by Atalie, it is the May one, I love those Atalie designs they are so lovely.
This one I stitched on 36ct white linen, using Kaalund silk thread.



I forgot to mention that my wee neice Amy has completed her exchange with Katie and she has posted some pictures up on her blog if you would like to pop over and have a look, again as doting aunty I am so very impressed with her finished piece, she is so very clever.

Cooo eee I'm back!!

What a great time was had by all on our holiday after the Comedy of Errors that started it and finished it LOL!!

I'll download some pics soon of the great times.

Comedy of Errors - well what can I say about them, good job we have a great sense of humour!!

Here is the list.

Departing day - 2 out of the 3 check in desks at Newcastle airport didn't work, so check in took forever - it was a full plane too. Plane was like a cattle market - we didn't get allocated seats for some reason (in fact NO-ONE) got them, so our party of 6 became 1 here, 1 there - your get the picture!!
Arrival at resort - J and Mark went to check us in at the apartment- they could only find a booking for us for 1 week not 2 weeks - Yaarrgh! J and Mark stood their ground and it was eventually found for the 2 week! Nephew 1 hadn't packed any swimming gear!!
Night 1 - I started feeling very nauseated followed by Mark, then Dawn then J we all then started with the runs and sickness - mine of course has to last longer than everyone else and I had it for 4 days - mild food poisoning we reckoned from the food off the plane we reckoned (Not I hasten to add substantiated by any doctor - just a good guess) - weight loss 7lbs for me - yipppeeee!
Day 2 - Factor P20 on lying in the sun, wind very strong and very warm - burnt my back and bum!!! OOOO I can't sit properly!! (I never burn usually)
Day 3 - Gets out of bed in the morning back goes crack - can't move a muscle, still stuggling with being sick, toilet so low its a struggle LOL!! - Are you seeing a very unpretty picture here LOL!!
Day 4 - Back still a problem so can't lie in the sun still as sunbeds too low plus still a bit sunburnt, spent the day near to the loo in the apartment sickness and runs are now reaching a crescendo!!
Day 5 - sickness all gone and the runs to the loo have stopped - brilliant! Back still very painful!
Night 5 - Out for our evening meal, forgot to put mozzie milk on to stop the little beggars from biting - but it is very windy - Yep you guessed it - All the Mosquitos in Tenerife had a party that night and I was the buffet!! Covered I was 36 bites on my legs alone!
Days and Nights 6,7,8 - Thank heavens my SIL takes some extra extra strong anti-histamines for an itchy skin complaint she suffers from, as I had to take them to stop the damn itching, all the bites have bruised into horrid red marks the largest being an inch and half in diameter - the mozzies must have been dive bombing me at force. Relief to stand in the pool up to my waist in cool water - you could see the steam coming off my legs and arms every time I did!
Though finally over those the days the back improved as did the sun burn and I was able to do my now spotted beached whale impression lying on the sunbed, soaking up the sun and improving my tan.
All the following days were wonderful with no mishaps. dive bombing mozzies, bad backs or anything!!
Departure Day - Well what can I say about our departure from Tenerife - flying home was scheduled for 12:30pm - Checked in 10:00am - Departed Tenerife 3am (Yes you aren't seeing things it was 3am) Flew back into Newcastle airport 7.40am Saturday morning!! All in all we had been up from 7:45am Friday and the journey home took us almost 24hrs! Ho hum thats life and holidays LOL!!

P.S We are returning to the same place again for a week at Easter - gluttons for punishment or what!!

P.P.S - I have some stitchy pics to show in the next couple of days though I didn't get loads stitched on holiday for a change - tho' I don't have a clue as to why ROFL!

Holiday

See you all in about 3 weeks