An exchange received

I received today a wonderful exchange piece from  Ellen  I feel very lucky, this is from the Swap with Nina Round 4 - French Designer exchange. Mine hasn't been received yet by my swap partner, so I can't show that yet, but this one is stunning that Ellen has made for me.

Ellen tells me that the design is from Les Petites Croix de Christne and is a freebie. I didn't get just one pillow I got 2, the little pillow is made with the same fabric that Ellen used for the backing on the larger pillow. Aren't they just lovely!! I also received a wonderful array of goodies, fabric, needles, beads and buttons.

Many many Thanks Ellen for my exchange pieces, You are a very talented lady - please go and visit her blog, she has stitched and finished some wonderful things.

Hope that your weather is as wonderful as ours is here. I have Mum and Dad staying with me a for a week, and I am so enjoying it, Mum and I are starting a little SAL, that we hope to have finished by Thursday.
I'll leave you with this weeks flowers in my jug - mostly stolen roses from next doors garden (they do know that I have taken them LOL! and some peonies from my garden added too.



2010 Fob - Shepherds Bush


What to do on a Rainy Sunday? Stumped for something to do? Well I thought I would do a little stitching and finishing and here are my results.

As you might see I made some changes, I didn't like the straw coloured fabric that came in the kit - now don't get me wrong I love straw fabric but this cutey seemed to me to cry out for a gentler, softer fabric and so I had a good ratch in my stash and came up with 'Mountain Rose' by silkweavers, this is 32ct linen.


The back of the design shows the fabric colours a little better I think, as you can see its a kind of bluey/grey/pink and I do like the stitched finish on this fabric better - I used all the recommended threads that came in the kit and I also used the wonderful over-dyed silk ribbon and the tiny little amethyst beads, it says in the kit that they are teal coloured  beads, but to my eyes they are definitley amethyst not a greeny colour at all (which is what I think teal is - my car is teal blue and its not purple LOL). As you can see I have also treated myself to the ginghers, though not engraved ones, they are such lovely colours on the handles - reminded me a little of Renoir colour choices in his paintings.


Rainy Sunday

After all the lovely weather we have had, its now raining, so I thought I would share with you some summer cottage sunshine, in the way of the flowers I bought on Friday.

A few white aliums, freesia and lysanthus and elephant grass, sitting in my creamy white jug on my mantle, they make me smile.

Hope you are having a good Sunday.



SweetHeart - Shepherds Bush


I couldn't remember if I showed you all this, and I don't think I did, I finished it earlier this year, in fact just before Valentines Day.
I've stitched it on 40ct fabric - colour was alabaster and I played around slightly with the colours and finished it with a tiny green button and some antique french lace I had in my stash, which my sister had given me a while ago from her trip to France. I also added a small MoP heart button at the top where the ribbon  starts.



I hope that you all have a really great weekend, its supposed to be hot and sunny here this weekend and I have plans to go out into the garden and do some weeding, cos after the rain we have had this week and the warm sun, the weeds have taken off, as has my grass so that needs cutting too, so a little work to do there Plus I want to finish painting my fence - one side of the garden is done and not the other so it looks a little odd.  I also want to get up to the allotment and weed my onions, if I remember to take my camera with me I'll take some pics of their early progress, I was talking to the club chairman the other day and he reckons that I really stand a really really good chance this year to win as they are really lovely onions, but I won't hold my breathe yet - just in case something disastrous happens LOL! Its a long time til the show in September.


BIG Fish


Another finish for the Fobbles exhibition next month, this time its Big Fish by CHS, - though why its called that I haven't a clue cos really he is just a minnow fish, he's not even as long as my hand and I stitched him on 30ct linen, using the recommended DMC threads to make him a little bigger, I decided to make him into a little pincushion, its such a cutey and I've christened him Fred!!.

Thanks for all your nice comments about my last couple of finishes I do appreciate them and that you made the time to leave them for me, comments are so encouraging and definitley brighten up my day and it was so interesting to see which of the flip flops you all preferred I do believe that most of you liked the seahorse one the best.

I've made a start on the SB 2010 scissor fob and its coming up a treat, though I have changed the linen fabric - the linen that came with the kit was just toooooo dull for this pretty design and the scissors.

I thought I would leave you with a picture of my Oriental poppies that have just popped open today, there are many more to come, but these are the first 2 of this year.



Some finishing


I thought I would do a little finishing this weekend and decided that I would finish this pretty design by Danybrod  which she designed in 2008. The design is called 'Ancien filet crochet'

I made it into a scissor keeper/thread holder, and I also made a scissor fob.


I edged it all with an ivory beaded trim and used a Kelmscott Designs thread ring.

This is the back of the scissor holder/thread keeper, I used a moda fabric and some 1/8" ribbon for the holder, and its the most perfect size for a pair of the Kelmscott 'Little gems' scissors.

The fob I trimmed with the same trim as the scissor holder, I also used the same ribbon. I finished it of with a MoP heart button so that it matched the MoP thread ring of the thread holder part.

Its all stitched it all on 32ct linen - colour unknown and I used silk thread - Belle Soie 'Vanilla Pudding'. I wanted it to have that soft vintage cameo look to it all and I am really pleased with how its turned out.

I do like Danys designs and have recently treated myself to a couple of them, I am looking forward to starting another soon.

I hope that you are all having a good weekend? The weather here yesterday was really nice - the sun was shining and it was very warm, but today we have had lots of thunder and now its raining quite heavily, but it still feels warm, I did a bit of work in my garden again yesterday for a while, and I am getting excited about my plants blooming in the next month or so, I really think its going to be quite pretty this year.

Holiday flip-flops


This year the theme for Fobbles exhibition is the seaside, and at the moment I am busy stitching little things that reminds me of the seaside, and nothing was more perfect than flip-flops. These little cuties are by Cross-eyed Cricket and they were so easy to stitch and finish.


I've stitched them on 30ct linen using the recommended DMC colours. They are quite small about 31/2" long, - I can't decide which out these 2 is my favourite - which one is yours?



Many many Thanks.....

....to all who have contacted me either by leaving a comment here or by private email, text and phone, I also appreciate the friendship and support you have shown here, I would have emailed you all personally, but I am finding this all so very upsetting, You never would think that something like this could happen where you live, this is such a 'sleepy hollow' area with very little crime. West Cumbria has been hit very hard over the past few months, what with the floods at Cockermouth  and Workington and the death of the 'hero' policeman and also the tragic coach crash 10 days ago when the children were killed - today was the funeral of one of those children, it all seems so pointless and a waste of so many lives, today I have really questioned my faith, and I am not a particularly religious person, but I am sure that there must be a greater plan somewhere to account for all the horror and that something good must come out of this in the end, we are all tested in strange ways and I hope that the survivors of this mayhem find comfort in their faiths and love  -  I truely appreciate your thoughts for all those in my home area, its been such a long and tragic day, more so for so many who have really been touched by this as it was members of their families. Cumbrians are very resilient people I have found in the 26 years I have lived here, and they have such a strong bond with each other, especially around here.

I also really feel for the gunmans family, they will probably be finding this all the hardest to bear, and I truely hope they have no repercussions of all this. I really do wonder what can make a person flip..... to do something that is so out of character from what his neighbours and colleagues have said..... we will never know now why!

Utter Sadness

This has happened in my village and surrounding area today, I personally know at least 2 of the people who have been killed today of some of the names that have been released, I am so upset by it all.

Twelve people have been killed and at least 25 others are injured after a gunman carried out a series of shootings in Cumbria.


The suspected attacker, taxi driver Derrick Bird, shot dead two colleagues in Whitehaven, Cumbria, before driving his cab through the countryside as he opened fire on other victims.


Following a manhunt, police found his body 20 miles away in woods near the hamlet of Boot about three-and-a-half hours later.
Officers have found a gun in the area and said he had taken his own life.

They added there were 30 separate crime scenes in the investigation.

Watch the latest developments live on Sky Player

Following the Whitehaven attacks, Bird, 52, drove south along the coast, shooting at people, apparently at random.

The gunman drove through Egremont, Gosforth and Seascale before turning inland and ending up in Boot.


Two people are thought to have been killed in Egremont.

A woman in her 60s is believed to have been shot dead outside the home of resident Billy Boakes.

Another man is understood to have been killed on the old bridge in the town. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a victim lying in a pool of blood.

A man was reportedly shot dead in Gosforth. The victim was apparently in a field trimming hedges with his uncle when Bird apparently drove past, wound down a car window and blasted him.
The victim has been named locally as Gary Purdham, son of farmer John Purdham.
Gary Purdham is the brother of Rob Purdham, who is a Harlequins rugby league player, Sky sources say.

Two people were killed in Seascale, where local GPs were called to the scene, according to Sky sources.

Stitchy Loveliness


I recieved a most wonderful package from Aniko the other week, she sent me a Thankyou gift for doing her a favour and I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the parcel, inside I found this stunning thread holder/pin-cushion, scissors and fob, its ll stitched and finished absolutely perfectly. The fabric is 50ct - YES 50ct, and each stitch is a perfect cross stitch its so awesome in real life to see. The design is by one of my favourites - LA D-DA. Isn't it just wonderful! Its teeny tiny and just perfect. Thankyou again Aniko for the wonderful gift - I so love it.


Its my turn to say thankyou to you all for the lovely comments you have left me welcoming me back and about my lounge, I was very proud of my lounge finish and I loveed doing it. I will let mum know the praise you have given her regarding all my cushions that we made together.

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