Busy, busy, busy

I have nothing new to show you so I'm showing you an old design which I don't think I've published on my blog before it is by The Drawn Thread and was a Round Robin I was in either last year or the year before I've modified it by adding the house at the top and trees.

The reason I've nothing to show is that everything I'm stitching at the moment are BIG secrets - they are either gifts or exchanges and of course I don't want to spoil the surprises so its a case of wait and see LOL!!

Quick stitch & finish

This is by The Needles content and its called Sampler heart - I've stitched it 2/1 on 28ct, I decided to stitch it 2/1 so that it was a more heavier look, though I found that my stitches didn't sit at all neat, but its for me, if I was sending it away I think I would have gone back to 1/1 and unpicked it all.

I've finished my stitching on my seasonal exchange for autumn and have the finishing to do, but I'm waiting to start that as I'll do that and my LHN exchange piece at the same time as I'm just starting the LHN piece tonight.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Whats the buzz FROM me

I haven't a clue yet whether my partner has received the 'Whats the Buzz' exchange I sent to her as I know that she is away on her honeymoon to somewhere lovely, so I thought I would just publish it now as I sent it last month and it seems like ages ago and I am sure Nadine won't be surfing blogs whilst she is away so won't get a peak.

The design is by Victoria sampler and I finished it as a pinkeep I used the recommended DMC for this.



I have still got a couple more finishes to show but I haven't done the finishing yet I'm getting carried away with something else at the moment which I can't share I'm afraid.

Thanks everyone for the Congratulations for my 9th place in the onion show, I'm still quite delighted with it!

Well I never...........

........would have believed it you could have knocked me down with a feather yesterday, when I saw how WELL I had done at the onion show!! I received 9th place!!!! I was so surprised as it was not where I expected to be placed I really thought I would be in the 20's somewhere, not as high as 9th. The picture above is of my onions!!


Here you can see part of all the onions that were presented in our little show - there are 30 members of the club and we each have to show 3 onions of a kind (similar size and shape) and one onion for the heaviest onion category which I failed miserabley at, pictures below show mine and Marks heaviest onions and the winning heaviest - we both had a lot to catch up with there.




A lot of hard work and organising the show entails here is a picture of Karen our secretary working out the points for the heaviest.


Later on in the afternoon we have the grand presentation, Colin our chairman resigned after the show he has been our chairman for the past 7 years and he has been brilliant - he's such a comedian is our Colin and he will be sadly missed, but he isn't leaving the club he will step down to vice chair for a couple of years, the lady members suggested I stand as Chairlady but I don't think I will, as I remember all the blood sweat and tears it entails when Mark was chairman, but maybe another year I will stand.


Here is a picture of the winning onions and very well deserved was the winner his onions were great.


By the Way our onions are wonderful to eat, full of flavour even though they are very large, they cook beautifuly.

Oooh and P.S. Mark came 22nd

Edited to add - The judges are looking for conformity of shape, 3 onions that are as identical as possible in shape, size and the way they are dressed (i.e. necks tied accurately with the same distance from top of onion, the bottoms where the roots were neatly cut and and level with the onion)

Exchange FROM Simone

I received yesterday from Simone this lovely Flatfold for the 'Whats the Buzz' exchange on SBEBB, isn't it just so cute!!!. Simone also sent me lots of lovely goodies too which I forgot to photo, This is really lovely and its by 4 my Boys, I really love it, you couldn't have picked a more perfect design for me - thankyou so much Simone.

On another note its our Onion Show today, I really don't think I'll win 1st prize this year, but there are some lovely onions on show - more photo's over the weekend.

I've been busy stitching but not finishing, and I have started my autumn exchange for the seasonals, and its looking pretty good if I say so myself, it might not get to Nicki yet LOL!

I have also been stitching up one of the pieces for the CA Wells workshop I'm going to in November, its not my usual style and I can't say I'm loving it all and I have been very disappointed with the chart quality etc etc, for all the money its cost I had hoped it would be much better than what it is but hey never mind you pays your money and you takes your choice, Hopefully the class will be worth it as I'm sure it will, thats what I'm really looking forward too!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and thankyou all for your visits and comments I do appreciate you taking the time to come.

Birthday gift

I can show you this now as I know that its arrived safely to its destination and the package has been opened (naughty, naughty not your birthday til Sunday LOL!)

The design is by A Needles Content and I stitched it on 32ct fabric using the recommended colours. The angle I took the pictures at actually make the fob look much much bigger than the scissors but it isn't really IRL.



On the back of the fob the writing is stitched using tent stitch over 1.

I'm still waiting to hear from my 'Whats the buzz' partner that she has received my exchange for her I do know that she has been on honeymoon or still is, so it shouldn't be long now til I know that its arrived safely at its destination - I don't know about you but I always worry until I know that whatever I have sent has arrived safe and sound.
I'm still waiting for my exchange to come to me I know that my partner posted in Septemeber but its not arrived just yet!

I also received a lovely little package from Isabelle at the weekend I was a lucky lady as my name was drawn out of the hat for one of Isabelles competitions and I recieved the most lovely heart and some chocolate (which I didn't share with Mark as it had nuts in and he is allergic to nuts and I cleaned and mouthwashed after I ate some of it as he is that allergic so kissing him would have been a problem) and the stitching small Au fil Aiguille magazine which is wonderful and have some plans to stitch a few things from it.

Pinkeep for Yuko

I received a lovely email from Yuko today letting me know that her pinkeep had arrived and how happy she was to receive it - I was so relieved to hear that it had arrived safely and that she loved it.


I chose for her LHN - Ladybug, ladybug as I knew that she loves LHN designs very much, its stitched using the recommended threads on 40ct R&R light cappacino linen.


I double trimmed the edge with silk ribbon and a red flower braid I had and edged it with black and red headed glass pins. The top of the pinkeep has a handmade (not by me) pin in reds and yellows that matched the trimming and fabric I felt.

Now I'm looking forward to our next exchange Yuko!!

Seasonal exchange - Summer

A while ago I was invited to join a Seasonal exchange where we are given a partner to send to for a whole year, the first time we send is a secret to your partner (like the posting below with Claudia, she is sending to me), but of course for the 3 others after that, they know that its you sending to them. I was given Nicki as the person I was to send to and I was truely delighted as we like a lot of the same type of designs and I knew it would be fun to stitch for her.

Now I knew that Nicki was a lover of 1/1 and of redwork, so I really wanted to at some point in the exchange stitch something in redwork for her and I deliberated whether I should do that for Winter, but I changed my mind as I found the cutest design by L'R de Rien in my stash and decided that it would be perfect. Its very small when done 1/1 especially on 32ct linen, it turned out about almost 2 inches in size. I wanted to finish it as a hornbook as I had an itsy bitsy wee one that I wanted to use. Nicki emailed me yesterday to let me know that it had arrived and that she really liked it so I was quite chuffed that she did.


I would like to thank everyone thats sending comments my way and visiting my blog I see a few new names are appearing and I am so pleased that you like to visit my blog, it really makes blogging more fun when folks visit - Thankyou to all my visitors old and new!

Holiday stitches Part 2

Though not technically a holiday stitch, I did finish Blackbird Designs - Garden of Life whilst on holiday. Many of you will know that I was part of a SAL for this earlier in the year, but it fell by the wayside a little - sorry Eva, as other commitments took over, but I am pleased to say that its finally finished.



I stitched it on 40ct linen in cream and used 1 strand of the recommended colour threads, so its quite soft in colour.


I did enjoy stitching this very much - now to decide how to finish it - cushion?, picture? bag?