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.

Christmas gift

Here is part of my Christmas gift to my SIL Dawn, I usually stitch her something for Christmas but this year my time seems to have been a bit limited, so I just did her one, its very similar to the one I stitched for Nancy, the same finishing and fabric and it also by Brightneedle and again I changed the colours to a much warmer richer shades, I feel quite confident that 1. She's gonna like it and 2. She won't see it before Christmas as her computer time is extremely limited at the moment.

Hope everyone is almost ready for Christmas, I still have to go the Post Office but its the number one thing to do tomorrow otherwise my brother and his fanily will be getting gifts late and that just wouldn't do now would it.

A stocking for Nancy

OK, so its not a huge stocking but here is what I stitched for Nancy its a Brightneedle stocking, which I stitched on 1/2 on 32ct fabric and changed all the colours of the threads so that they were warmer and not as pastel as I wanted a change to the original. I also added a crochet trim with ribbon running through as an alternative which I thought looked different and quite pretty. Nancy assures me that she loves it, which I am glad, as isn't it funny we always worry what the recipient will feel about our choices for them - I think we are all the same aren't we.

Mum, Dad and Helen have just rung to say they are more than halfway here this morning in readiness to get to the Christmas party, I had better get my camera and stitchy things ready before they arrive - Whatever your plans are for today I hope you have a good one!

Garden Exchange post No 2

As promised here is what I stitched for mum, we must have both been on a similar idea for the exchange as I made Mum a necessaire too, but one a little different. The design on the front is from Brightneedles Nine-Patch Village, stitched 1/1 on 32ct linen, I changed the colours slightly to suit the lavender haze border colour I had in my stash.

This is the inside of the necessaire, the designs for the pinkeep and the little pocket on the top part are from Brightneedles Nine-patch village...

... and the scissor pocket is kind of like Brightneedles Ladies Collection (I kind of piltched the writing a little as it was how I wanted it to look). Its all fastened together using overdyed silk ribbon for the scissor fastening and to close the necessaire.

I was really happy that Mum loved the whole thing as it was the first I have made like this.

We have had a really great day today down at Fobbles, as always Bev and Edna were wonderful hostesses, and Anne provided us with a lovely lunch - these stitching days there are really good and I will go back to do one again soon. It was so lovely to spend the day stitching with Mum and other fellow stitchers.

Welcome........

........by Brightneedle is my latest finish to show, I wanted to finish it as something simple, and a double ended small pillow was perfect and as I am in the mood for spring so I chose a fresh green fabric for the cushion ends and back. The lace that you can see here, is what Marks grandmother made 60 years ago, when she used to make her own lingerie, Marks mum thought I would like it when she was clearing nana's stuff out earlier this year, the lace is handmade using silk thread and I love it.

I've stitched this on 36ct white linen, using the recommended threads.

I have done all the finishing on my Here's to Ewe exchange and I am really delighted with how its turned out, so much so I don't want to part with it now LOL!! But I will of course as I stitched it for my partner specifically in mind!

Also on the exchange front I am getting a little anxious about the tea time exchange I sent, It was almost a month ago since it went on its journey and as yet no word about it all, I really hope it gets there soon - I think thats the one and only thing I dislike about exchanging is the not knowing it got there safely until your partner posts up about it or emails you.

Well I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend, we are off to yet another Birthday party this time its Marks Uncle Alans 70th, it will a more quieter affair than the last one we went too (though only just), we are having dinner and few drinks and Dawn and family will be over again for this one too, this year must be a big year for nought birthdays anyone else having a year with a zero? I know I am later on, mine is the Big 50! (yikes)

I have a picture

of some work for you to see, Annemarie asked to see my Fingerlakes Sampler by Brightneedle, as she is going to stitch one sometime this year. I finished this piece a couple of years ago now and Mum made it into a cushion for me, as I never seemed to have the time to do the finishing, it was a nice piece to stitch, I did it on 28ct evenweave in a soft faded peach colour and did it 2/2.
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