Tulip Pincushion & Fob

I sense a theme going on here lately with my posts - tulips, baskets, spring.... Blackbird Designs......

Barbara emailed me today and said that she had received my Spring Exchange piece that I stitched for her and that she was VERY happy with it, so that made me very happy too.

This is from the Sarah Tobias book by Blackbird designs, I have stitched it all on 35ct cream linen and used a mixture of DMC and WDW.

I added the scissor fob, by using one of the tulips and birds and added the year and Barbaras initials. To make it a little more unique I have blanket stitched around the edges of the pin cushion and the fob, its not meant to be evenly blanket stitched, its meant to be a little rougher to give it a less romantic look, I strived for a more rustic look, anyway whatever the final look is, Barb's happy with the finished result and thats the important thing.

Spring.......

.... is arriving and its come all the way from The Netherlands just for me.....

Barbara and I have been doing a year long exchange called the Seasonal exchange which originated from our own dear Becky, when the board closed Barbara and I decided we would like to carry on with it. Yesterday this wee beauty dropped through the letterbox, Its called Mama Bird and is by Brightneedle, Barb has stitched it (so beautifully) she tells me using HDF linen and silk thread, I love the finishing and the satin ribbon around the edge too, and it smells wonderful too.

BUT Not only did I get this wee beauty I also received......

TA DA....... One of Barbaras Prim creatures (which I adore, and I am already the proud owner of a prim sheep called Gert!My name choice not Barbs as my sheep looks like a Gert), this one Barbara has called 'Prim Fem' bird, and she is VERY feminine with her lace flower wing and pretty pink colour. Now to think of her name hmmm!

I love the choices Barb made to stitch and finish for me and will be saddened when our exchanges come to an end - we only have one more left to do and thats the Summer one. Hopefully mine will arrive at Barbaras door in rapid time I'm sending tomorrow.

Just to show you them both together - Aren't I the lucky one!!

Also a big thankyou to both Elisa AND Dear Yuko for nominating me for this wonderful award, I have to say I was really really flattered and I am passing it back to ALL of you as I just cannot list all the blogs that make me smile its impossible for me - so please take it with you when you leave as I think all your blogs are in my top 10.


Hope you are all having a good weekend, I finally have 2 days off - yippeee, today and tomorrow though tomorrow is taken up with dentist and clinics, but its a day off, I only realised yesterday (whilst at work) I have only had 1 day off in the last 3 weeks, no wonder my poor brain is frazzled LOL!!

Spring Exchange

Claudia's final seasonal exchange dropped through the letter box today, and its another beauty. The design is by Tralala and is called Un air de Printemps..........

.......as you can see Claudia has come up with another wonderful finishing idea and made me a lovely little sewing bag and floss fob. Claudia told me that she changed the stitches around as it was all cross stitch, and she wanted to add a little more interest and has done satin stitches amongst it all and the result is perfect. I LOVE it. I also received some wonderful scented bags and tissues in my favourite fragrance of roses and some pretty floss.

This is the last Seasonal exchange I will receive from Claudia and I am sad that we have finished as its been such a wonderful year of surprises from her. We are going to do a personal exchange nearer to Christmas though which will be fun.

I'll leave you with some pictures of all the wonderful stitching and finishing Claudia completed for me throughout the Seasons 2007/2008.

Spring Exchange

Nicki emailed me yesterday that my last seasonal exchange has arrived for her this time it was 'Spring'. The design is called 'My Gift to You' and its by Blackbird Designs, I have adapted it a little as I wanted to make a small stitchers pocket. I have stitched it 1/1 on 28ct linen and I used the recommended thread colours and all the finishing I did by hand as it was too small for me to use the sewing machine.

This is the back of the pocket and I used the background pattern of the design and changed the outer border slightly.

This is the inside of the pocket where I added our intials and the yesr, again I adapte the outer border a little. Its lined with a pretty MODA fabric I had in my stash. Inside the pocket I added a little tiny hornbook for Nicki to decorate herself.

I was pretty pleased with the finished result and I am glad to say that Nicki is too, I have enjoyed stitching for Nicki in the past year for our seasonal exchange my next partner for this will be Barbara , this time we are doing it differently we are partnering each other for the Year so I send to Barabara and she sends to me so it will be fun as I have all sorts planned in my head as to what I want to do for her.

Its a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, and the weather is warm and windy, I was in the middle of doing this post when the electricity power went off for about 1 hr 30mins or so, came back on for 10 mins and went back off again for another 15mins, I am glad to say it appears to be staying on this time!
I hope everyone is having a good weekend, and getting some stitching done maybe, I am busy stitching on a couple of exchanges, I have a couple to send out next week too.
I might get some pictures of my garden taken next week too, now I'm off to make lunch.