Thimble Fob

For some reason I just couldn't get really good pictures of this wee Thimble Fob that I stitched for Carol for our exchange but I did my best,

This is Side 1 as you can see I have placed Carols Initials on there amongst the squirrel and the tree of life, with a bluebird of happiness.

Side 2 has my initials on, 2 more blue birds, a wee acorn and crown, there is the tiny heart and the pretty flowers.

and the base has the year on and I stitched a rhodes style heart in the centre, the base reminded me a little of a knot garden.

The whole piece is as you can see 3 sided and is about 2 inches wide and about one and three quarter inches high (all approx sizes as I forgot to measure it). The inside I have lined with two-tone silk dupion fabric (kind of green and deep pink)- the thimble sits in there, to get to it you have to gently squeeze the sides and it opens enough to get the thimble. The fob part I made cord using perle thread and ended it on the other side with a tassel.

Its stitched on 32ct evenweave I used cream not the recommended flax colour. The threads I converted to GAST and WDW to suit as I didn't have any of the threads recommended for this piece and its all stitched 1/1. It was great fun to stitch and finish - it was a new finish for me and I definitely think I will try it again

The design is by Betsy Morgan and its in the 'Classic Inspirations' magazine Issue 61 which is the current issue here in the UK.

A real stunner.....

.... arrived through my letter box yesterday.

Carol and I have been doing an exchange, here is what I received from Carol

I could not believe my eyes when I saw my parcel, a while ago I had admired this finish on Carols blog, and she made one for me - yipppeee!! Its so beautifully stitched and finished, the white on white was difficult to capture on photo, but I have done my best but I just can't seem to do it justice.

All around the edges is our names and the year, the top is trimmed with a beautifully soft silk ribbon and a little button. Also included was some wonderful fabric, threads, marking pins, beaded fob and the nicest stitched button which I will show at a later date as I have plans for it already.
I hope Carol enjoys what I have stitched for her as much as I am enjoying hers. Thankyou again my friend and watch out for the postman tomorrow!

I'm having a real busy week this week, I've worked late a couple of evenings and I am working all of the weekend - phew, I will be shattered next week!! but will probably be working again the following weekend - thank heavens for my stitching it gives me my sanity when I get home and start on it LOL!!

'Tis the gift

When my order arrived from Thread Bear the other week I just couldn't decide which of the La-De-Da charts I had ordered to start on first, but I decided I wanted to stitch 'Tis the Gift', I just loved the wee poem and the design as always from La-De-Da is both simple and elegant.

I've just finished it and so its hot off the ironing board after a quick press. I have stitched it on 32ct sand linen using GAST & WDW threads, mostly the design actuals, but I did change the pink outline of the flowers to a warmer richer colour than was suggested. This is another I think I will frame.

I hope that everyone has had a good weekend, we have!! It was my friend Gills birthday last Thursday and we all went out for a meal last night to a lovely little restaurant at Wasdale, here is a picture of us all after we had finished the meal.

Whose who?? I hear you ask, well the birthday girl is sat behind me at the back and her partner JB is opposite her, then its me and opposite is my Mark.
In front of me is my SIL Dawn (Marks sister) and opposite her is her husband Jim, and in the front is my friend Helen, with her husband John.

Angelas birthday gift

It was my dear friend Angelas birthday this week, and so I made her this little fob the design is taken from Brightneedles - Eastertide sampler. I stitched it on some hand dyed 28ct fabric I got from Jaynes attic at Christmas - the fabric was quite odd to work on as it felt like it had a rubbery feel to it! but I was pleased with how its come out, the backing I used a piece of the same fabric but covered it with a bright lemon hand dyed piece of lace and then edged it with cord. Ang tells me she loves it so I am happy she is happy - Happy Birthday my friend!!


What else to tell, well I have finally been convinced it would be a good idea to sign up for a patchwork quilt course being run at Fobbles, in April, I have been wanting to make my very own quilt for years and now hopefully this will be my opportunity to make one - I hope I don't get bitten by the quilting bug too much as I have enough with my stitching LOL!! and it will be taking me away from my normal 'comfort' zone LOL! But nevertheless I will give it a go and hopefully produce something beautiful that could be an heirloom!!

I have finished Part 3 of my Sail Away SAL but have yet to take some pics, and I have finished Carols exchange piece after a previous disaster with the first thing I made, so this weekend I will do some finishing work I think as I must send next week.

Hope you all have a great weekend, at the moment its not raining here, just bright and cold which I like, better go and help Nephew 2 sort out my little pond.

Exchanging and thankyous

Chris let me know that my Valentines exchange to her had arrived safely and that she was more than delighted with it, which made me very happy.

The design is 1st Exemplaire by EEF and I have stitched it on 40ct linen using the recommended thread colours, it was a really feminine design and I thought it deserved a very feminine finish and I made a small cushion using silk fabric. the trim and the edging around the design I made using some of the thread colours and I edged the underneath with some of nana's lace cos thats very feminine and pretty.


I also owe a massive thankyou to Barb (from Stitch and Stash Board), Barb has RAK'd me and she has sent me the new Blackbird Designs book "My heart is true" I was absolutley blown away with it and it made what has been a totally crappy day into a wonderful day, I don't know what I have done to deserve such a wonderful gift, but it certainly pepped me up and made me smile (I'm still smiling).


Also a rather belated thankyou to dear Nancy who nominated me for this award, I was so touched by what it stands for and delighted to receive it. It's called the Special Friends Award and "Love" Pendant.

The description for this award reads "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind writers. When you pass the award along please include these guidelines. I am to choose eight friends to share this with.".

Again finding 8 friends is difficult as I have made so many friends through blogging, but my 8 in particular for me have to be
Nancy I know she gave me the award but it doesn't say I can't send it back and I feel we have become 'good' friends over the past year
Barbara - who encouraged me to blog in the first place and is always there
Annemarie who I think I have known the longest as an online and phone friend, and I do love our friendship and her wonderful blog
Vonna Love you sweetie!!
Yuko for being my friend and the kind, generous beautiful person that she is
Romy cos I think she is so talented and modest and kind
Becky for being my friend
Carol for our blossoming friendship
and last to be mentioned (remember this list is not in any particular order or exhaustive) but certainly not least Helen for being my wonderful little sis and my oldest and closest friend.

My Heart

I thought I would carry on in the vein of romance and love as its Valentines weekend, and this wee fob finish was inspired after seeing some of Loretas pretty fob finishes that she does. I decided I would stitch Shepherds Bush 'My heart', I used my own choices of silk thread and I have stitched it on 36ct white linen.

The edges are trimmed with small oval beaded trim and I have used organza hand-dyed ribbon and the wee butterfly came from my mum, and I thought it looked perfect on the back of the fob.

A little Romance

For Mark for Valentines Day, La De Da 'Autumn Heart', stitched on 40ct French Lace linen, using an assortment of silk threads in my stash, trimmed with cream cord and a heavy glass bead, hung with a satin ribbon.

Hope you all have a Romantic weekend!!

Valentines exchange

Aren't I lucky Chris and I did a Valentine exchange and this is the wonderful little heart that I received from her yesterday

Its really lovely, so beautifully stitched and finished as Chris's work always is, I love her stitching and finishing and to top it all you would never know that this was Chris's first heart finish and ruched ribbon finish, my first heart was very skew wiff not in the least bit perfect as this one is. Thankyou again Chris I really love it.

Glad Heart

Another finish to show, this is Glad Heart by Shepherds Bush, stitched using everything from the kit - I made no changes to this one what-so-ever, again its to be framed when I find the perfect one LOL!

Yesterday was a great day at Fobbles, I got a little stitching done on Sail Away and a little stash buying done too - naughty!!

Well as I type this I can honestly say its SNOWING!! - Yippeee, this is the first we have actually had in the village and its actually laying - can you tell I'm a non driver as I adore the snow though I am happy to be this side of it at the moment stitching away on my La De Da piece. Thankyou for the kind comments about my last posting its really nice of you all.

There's No Place Like Home

I finished this up on Thursday its taken me 3 evenings and 1 day to stitch this gorgeous design by La D Da, I have stitched it 1/1 on 40ct R&R linen (Creme Brulee) using the recommended NPS thread - which was a dream to use. Its not cross stitched I used petit point stitch for it - that was due to inspiration from dear NatalieJo who had stitched La D Da 'Big Flower' 1/1 on 40ct.

I did use my Mag eyes later in the evening and my little light as my eyes got tired, but I think its worth all the effort, now to find a suitable frame for it and decide where to hang it! I can't tell you how pleased I am with it.

Thankyou to everyone who passed on the Birthday Greetings to mum, it was appreciated.

Thankyou too for your lovely visits and comments ..... again its very much appreciated.
Its a Fobbles stitch-in day tomorrow so guess where I will be all day!! Its Sail away stitching time too so I will take it with me I think, instead of the latest one I have started this afternoon when I finished work, which is another La D da.

Have a GREAT Weekend everyone and keep warm!!

Happy 60 + 10

Over this weekend it was this beautiful lady's birthday and we travelled over to help her celebrate.

We all bought her a very large cake amongst other things....

I only hope that when I reach my 60 + 10 birthday I have as much energy and get up and go as Mum does, she puts me to shame now, as she is just one little bundle of energy and laughter - Love you Mum xxx

Post Edited to add the above pic of Mum,my sister Helen and myself - all us girlies together LOL!! My niece Amy reckons we all look 'Happy' on this one

Travelling back yesterday we found our journey was magical as we had lots of this......

and it gave us views (taken from the car whilst moving) of this.....

..... and this

Shame when we actually arrived home there was no snow in our village, it had disappeared about 4 miles away, but the fells are beautiful today as there was a fall last night but I haven't been able to take any pics of them yet ...brrr its cold!!