Incredibly fortunate ......

....... to have such wonderful stitching friends, people are so kind, I am so touched by the lovely presents that keep arriving and the good wishes I have had.
I received not 1 but 2 parcels today.

One came from The Netherlands from Annemarie Look at the beautiful things that she has stitched for me, my very first Biscornu, Annemarie has told me that its a Belgian design.



Also in my package was this lovely origami bag I can use for my bits and bobs, its been stitched on 35ct linen and the designs were taken from DMC book Houses and Gardens, its beautifully made.Also it doesn't end there, there was some pretty fabric and some green apple tea - which I have never tried before, so I will give it a whirl. - Thankyou so much my dear friend you have really spoiled me.



The next package came from Anita and again I have been incredibly spoiled, inside was some lovely pieces of stitching fabric - 1 of the pieces is the right shade and count for me to stitch Busy bee (With my needle), also there were some thread rings from Kelmscott- which I have wanted for so long, some DMC thread, some pretty stork scissors and a needle threader. - Thankyou Anita you are such a generous friend.



Haven't I got some lovely stitching friends, I wasn't expecting anything from anyone (well perhaps from Helen and mum), and I am overwhelemed by everyones generosity and friendship - Hope that doesn't sound gushy, but if you were all here I would just give you all a hug. ((((HUG)))) - LOL!!!

I see Annemarie has tagged me too, so I will make a seperate posting with my answers when I have had a think.

Thankyou Carol

Carol sent me this beautiful scissor fob and LHN chart for my birthday and it arrived today, I love it my friend and Carol told me that this was the first one she has ever made, so I'm doubly honoured that I'm the first to receive a fob that she has stitched. It really is lovely. Thankyou once again my friend - I've emailed you too. - (((Hugs)))

Autumn Exchange I received from Cathy

I received the Autumn exchange from Cathy today, she has stitched me a lovely fob, and included lots of lovely goodies which was very kind of her.
Thankyou so much Cathy, it was a lovely exchange.

Also I would like to thank everyone that sent me birthday wishes, I really do appreciate them, thankyou.

Birthday Gifts

Today is my birthday!!! OOOh I love birthdays LOL!! I have received some wonderful things, with more to come so I am told.

So the first thing I would like to do is to thank folks for their good wishes and some wonderful cards and gifts - BIG HUGS and Thankyou, I appreciate them.

Well the first thing I will show you is the wonderful mailart envelope I received from my mum - its gorgeous and I love it, I hid my address using what I think will be a few from my last bunch of sweet peas this year. Inside the envelope was some beautiful fabric and some pretty buttons - mum informs me when I go to her home next weekend there are gifts from her and dad waiting for me.





Next to show you is this beautiful bag which Helen has stitched for me - thankyou sweetie I really love it, its so me and so apt for me, I really appreciate it and your stitching as always is perfect.


I received 2 total surprises in the post, one was fromDianne Dianne and the other from Sue , Dianne sent me the pretty Marjoleon Bastin kit which is just so lovely and Sue sent me the Brightneedle chart - Bless the cooks which was on my wish list, Thankyou both so much it was a total surprise.



Gels sent me a lovely box full of goodies - she does spoil me, in it was the JCS 2006 ornie mag, PS 2006 Santa and the fabric to stich him on, some Mary Kay moisturiser which I love and also chocolate covered pretzels, which I adore - Gles first sent me them a few years ago and I have been addicted to them everysince, she also sent me some bee things a gorgeous tin garland whcih has bees and hives on it and a beehive stencil.




I have also received lots of lovely e-cards, people are so kind - thankyou.

Ish and Natty have both asked me where I get my charts from, well basically from all over the place, some I buy on-line (Elegant stitch, Sew n sew, needlecraft corner), a lot I get from ebay, others are gifts, exchanges, swaps and I go to a couple of different shows in the UK and hunt out supplies from there, plus a couple of bricks and mortar shops in the UK, I'm always looking out for new LNS 's also I have been collecting an awful long time.

Scary Wabbit

Patti emailed me today to say that she received the SBEBB Halloween exchange that I had sent her, I do worry when I send them, in case they don't get there, or the person doesn't like what I've done, but I'm glad to say even though Patti has been lumbered with my stiching twice she loved what I had sent her.

I really love these Wabbits and have stitched a few, as yet I have never been able to keep one to myself LOL!

This one I sitched on Silkweaver 32ct fabric called Midnight(which was a one off), I'm afraid I had resort to the magnifier to see what I was doing but it stitched up well, I changed the threads of course apart from the large pumpkin. The edge of the small pillow I blended DMC Glo-in-the-dark thread with WDW and it really does Glow.



I added a small black button for the spider and stitched him on with Glow thread as well as his legs. The web I used some silver thread I had in my stash. The back fabric is the fabric you can see it lying on and the trim is voile ribbon in black and turquoise, and the hanger for the wee pillow is black voile ribbon too..

A Wooden box

Remember my LHN finish - Daisy Lane cottage, well I have decided it would look perfect in a wooden box lid. I have padded and lined the lid of the box and the inside bottom with some pretty blue and white checked fabric, I didn't want anything too fussy, edged the lid with white silk cord and added a wee heavy dragonfly charm, I think its turned out great and I am really pleased with it.

I still haven't heard yet whether my Halloween exchange has got to my partner yet, I do worry about things getting lost. I'll be sending off my Autumn exchange and Stitching smalls exchange this week too so there will be more piccies to show soon.

Plus I have done some more Christmas ornaments and I have nearly finished the finish for Peaceful Ways which I stitched in the summer.

23 colours......

...... yep 23 in this tiny design, its only 2.1". I was amazed when I was finding the DMC out for it and realised. This is the Christmas gift I was doing for a special friend, I'm safe as she doesn't read my blog often as she hasn't a computer, so I knew I could post a piccie up.



I felt as soon as I saw the design it would be perfect for the crystal jar I had, and I think I was right. I stitched it on 36ct white linen 2/2, using DMC thread.

From Myrna

Spooky surprises flew through my letterbox this morning and it made my day,Myrna was my SBEBB Halloween exchange partner and she has sent me the most wonderful spooky goodies.

Myrna has made me the most gorgeous needleroll isn't it spooky?



Our initials are stitched on the side of the roll and at the bottom the name of the exchange, all tied with halloween ribbon.



Plus Myrna sent me loads of goodies - boy do I feel spoilt, there was a towel set, a magnetic pad, tissues, ghost brooch, halloween stickers, and a Brittercup chart called 'Boo' and the fabric to stitch it on,all this was wrapped in orange, purple and green tissue paper.




THANK-YOU so much Myrna, I love it all.

Seriously neglecting.......

......my Blackbird SAL. I had planned in my head that I would sit and stitch the SAL all weekend as I was going to be a golf widow, of course after I had cleaned the house. Well the house got neglected as the mood to stitch Christmas ornies took hold and I did these 3. La-D-Da - christmas bird, Hillside Samplings - Christmas, Theron designs/Gentle Art - Bird and berries, Now I'm stitching Mary Garrys Christmas strawberry and will finish tonight I hope, then to decide which to do next. Next weekend I think I will do the finishing on them.


What else have I been stitching? well I have made a good start on Rachaels RR, I will take a pic of that later in the week and I have been stitching a surprise for a friend, can't show that yet as I know she visits my blog.

Thanks to everyone who made comments on all my stitching works and my pics of the ball, I really appreciate them very much.

The Ball

Last night we went to a Ball, the Onion club was celebrating 20 years as a club and we decided last year to celebrate this by organising a formal dance. What a great time was had by us all. Mark looked so handsome in his Tux



We sat on our table with Karen and Graham,and we had such a good giggle,

this is Karen and I, Karen wore a beautiful sequined dress we called it her mermaid dress and she looked lovely.





My SIL Dawn - missed you hun!! and BIL Jim and the boys were supposed to be with us, but unfortunatley J has damaged his back and they couldn't drive over - but we all had a great time, we danced to 'Midnight Express' and good duo and they sang a good mixture of music, people were up dancing to Dashing White Sargeants and St Bernards Waltz as well as to disco and barn dancing, it was good.

Mark took a piccie of me before we left so here is my dress, I love this dress and my glamorous shoes. Its velevet devore in shades of cherry and the back has a fishtail (not that you can see that here), which is good as it hides my big 'bum' LOL!! My wrap was a gift from my mum and this was the first chance I had to wear it even though I have had it a couple of years, this was a really soft velvet and covered in pretty sequins.

Blackbird SAL - Part 3

Well I have caught up a little with my Blackbird SAL, I am now about to start Part 4. I got behind with Part 3 due to me stitching exchanges - which have been great fun, though no pictures to show as yet cos I've not sent them out yet and because we have been socialising - August and September have been very busy months. Plus what didn't help was the 'frog' came a visiting and I had to frog out the whole of the tree on the right hand side.

If you would like to see our SAL groups progess we have an album which you can find here - http://perso.bellapix.com/SALBLACKBIRD
I have completed and finished my SBEBB 'Stitching Smalls' exchange piece and I am really proud of the way its turned out, so now I want to do one for me in the near future, - can't show a pic yet though.

Look what I got - Redwork from Cari

I received the most gorgeous Redwork exchange from Cari on Saturday, I really love it.

Its a scissor case, Cari told me its pattern was from Amonami Pierre which is one of her favourite designers. Its stitched on gingham linen and its all done 1/1 and has our initials on the back, I absolutely love it. Inside the case was the cutest small pair of scissors with red silk ribbon tied to them.

Thankyou so much Cari, this is so lovely.

Know your Onions

This may or may not come as a surprise but Mark and I grow Onions!! We are committee members of our local Onion Club and this year the club celebrates 20yrs. We only have 30 members so we are quite a small club. On show day we have to present 3 onions cleaned and dressed for the supreme category and 1 onion for the heaviest Onion award, then various prizes are given for most points awarded in show, movement of most places, best onion in show etc etc.



Also Mark and I have a mini competition between ourselves as to who beats who, well this year I did miserably against Mark (girl power didn't help me this year Annemarie), he moved up about 18 places to 8th and I dropped 10 places to 16th, still never mind there is always next year.



The winning onions were deservedly winners each onion weighed around 6lbs so our winner Dave really grew some beauties, he also won the heaviest onion class. My heaviest onion only weighed 4lb 7oz so I was out of the running fairly quickly

My redwork exchange to Patti

The redwork exchange from SBEBB has been great fun and I really enjoyed stitching for Patti and I was pleased to hear today that it had arrived to her. My pattern choice I used was Miniature Alphabets by V Graindorge and I used Vicky Clayton silk thread in Dragons breathe.

I decied to make it into a scissor holder, I stitched it 1/1 on some pretty banding that I had, then lined it in red material and added a silk ribbon fastened with 2 tiny hearts to close it, The scissors are attached using a magnet. I managed to find some dark red scissors to match the thread as well as I could and this was the first time I made a keep this way and was really chuffed with the way it came out. So much so I'm going to make myself one now.

A new Finish

Gosh isn't life busy, I don't think I've paused for breathe much all week, apart from when I have been sitting stitching. My latest finish is by LHN - Daisy Lane Cottage. Stitched on 32ct almond linen, the only change I made was the house colour as I didn't have the CC one and so used GAST Cornflower.
Haven't decided as yet how I will finish this one, maybe a box lid, maybe a cushion.....
I have also started again on the Blackbird designs SAL, we are now on part 3, no pics to show yet.
I had hoped the redwork exchange piece I did would have arrived at my partners, but as yet it hasn't, bu as soon as it does I will show a pic.

This weekend I am off to Durham and leaving Mark house/cat sitting, I am going over to my SIL and we are off to get our hair done, so next week I might come back with a total new style and colour!!!!

The Wedding

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Thought I would share a few pics with you of the lovely wedding we went to the other week of Jo and Tosh - Jo is my best friend Karens daughter, we had a really wonderful time.

August SAL Ornie

Can't you tell the weather is changing, I have had to photograph this inside as its raining outside and very dull. I picked 'Sit and Sew' by Mary Garrys Sewing Cabin, I have loved this wee one for ages, and decided as the weather is so rotten I would stitch this one yesterday and I did the finishing yesterday too, it didn't take very long to do as you can see.

I am still trying to catch up with blogs and emails, I have a good excuse tho' I have been stitching all week, I have finished 3 of my exchanges, - sorry can't post pics yet, the first finish is the Redwork exchange and I will send that out tomorrow. I have finished the Autumn exchange and the Halloween exchange and done all the finishing on them I am really pleased with how they all look, but I'm afraid you'll all have to wait a bit to see them.

The other excuses I have, we were at a wedding not last weekend but the one before and that lasted the whole weekend I have some wonderful pics to show you but haven't sorted them out yet. The weekend gone was a bank holiday here and we went to a Hot Tub party at my friends on Friday after work - WOW I want one now they are wonderful things, and then on Saturday we went to a BBQ for Marks Golf society, in fact the whole weekend revolved around socialising.

I will catch up with blogs and everyone soon.....meanwhile enjoy the rest of your week.

Link

My House exchange

Whew relief, my heart is always in my mouth when I send an exchange in the post, but I am relieved to hear from Annette that she received my house exchange to her.



I chose 12 houses by DT - I couldn't decide what house to stitch when I first thought about it, then decided 12 houses would be perfect. I finished it as a Bourse.



Instead of the alphabet which is in the centre of the design I placed a wee pin cushion and added buttons on the four corners instead of ribbons as I thought ribbons would be a wee bit too fussy for the design. Its all stitched on 32ct linen using the recommended colours.

Blackbird SAL - Part 2

I have completed my Part 2 of the Blackbird SAL 'Remember Me', it was real fast to do, and I used the recommended threads. The fabric I'm using is 30ct R&R reproductions linen - American Chestnut, this was the recommended fabric and as I liked the colour so much I just had to use it.


This is a close up of the finished flowers on the roof, my lazy daisies leaves went slightly askew I'm afraid. My next part 3 starts again in about a week I think, I don't know whether to start the right side, the top or start on all that chamomile grass, I'll think about it this week.

I haven't any other stitching to share at the moment as I am busy stitching exchanges for Septemeber and October, but hopefully some time this week I'll have one to share as my partner will have received it (I hope!!)

House Exchange from Svenja

I received the most wonderful house exchange from Svenja. It is a notebook holder which is so beautifully stitched and finished, I really love it - Thankyou so much Svenja for this. Svenja also included some wonderful linen banding which I know I will use and 3 of my favourite threads by Vicky Clayton


This is the noebook holder opened and you can see the inside, with pad and the pen holder.


This is the notebook holder opened so that you can see the front and the back.

I'm Back

Well we had such a wonderful time on holiday it was a real chill factor holiday and we all relaxed, sunbathed and ate and slept, it was wonderful, I'm afraid I took very few pictures whilst I was away I kept forgetting to take the camera out with us. We did manage on the last night to get a group photo taken which is what I am sharing with you.



The resort was so peaceful and quiet I always thought Tenerife was a real boom, boom, boom place but I was pleasantly surprised and we have great plans to go again next August this time for 2 weeks. The lads had a great time playing Golf 3 times, Jim won the first game (or is it round?) and then Mark won the next 2 that they played - Mark is in love with the golf courses over there. Dawn and I, well we just lazed by the pool and I did a wee bit of stitching.

Mind the only stitching I did was for my redwork exchange which is now completed and I just have the finishing work to do.- So thats one I can't share just yet.
On the stitching front when we got home Sunday - well I have to play catch up with the BD SAL - Remember me.



So my needles are red hot, we start the second 5th tomorrow and I'm not ready yet, plus I had to be at work today so I haven't done any stitching today, but this is my progress so far, and I should by a wing and prayer get the first part finished tonight, everyone else in the SAL seems to have theirs finished.



When we got back into the country on Friday - ohh it was way late, we had some delays but we didn't mind as it was all about security. Saturday we went down from Durham to my sister Helens as it was her birthday and what a lovely time we had,
all the family were there, my brother, SIL Sara, their children, Helens family and her in-laws and of course my parents, we all met at Helens house and then we all went out for a meal together, it was really nice and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone. Helen received some really great presents but I will let her tell you all about them on her blog, and her cake was sooo her LOL!!!

Excitement and holidays

I am so excited - 2 more sleeps and we will be on holiday, I only have to go to work for a couple of hours tomorrow and then I'm finished - yippeeee!!!LOL!!!

On the stitching front I have made a start on the SBEBB Redwork exchange - can't say much about it all yet.
As from August 1st, we started our Blackbird Designs SAL - unfortunately I was going to post a pic of my start, but the weather is awful and lighting not good and my camera battery is on charge so I haven't taken a pic yet, but I will work on it again tonight and then put it away til we return and then I can take a picture of my progress, its such a nice group of ladies I'm stitching this with.


So this is my final posting for the next 10 days or more.
Hope everyone has a great stitching time and a fun week next week. - Will visit everyones blogs when I get back - Now I'm off to finish the packing and pack my stitching stuff.