Have you missed me???

We have both been poorly sick what with tummy bugs and heavy colds - I won't elaborate - you get the picture!!! But we are both feeling a bit better now.

I haven't much to show you as a lot of what I've completed lately are secrets but I can show you that I have completed the next stage of the Blackbird GoL SAL. This is such a great piece to stitch and I am really enjoying it. I love this birs it really has texture and gives the piece some texture and depth.



I received Annemarie NRR from mum (Veronica) and I am now planning what I'm going to stitch on it, I have always known the house I want to do so I'll be starting that soon.

I'm sending away 2 of my tin exchanges this week and so hopefully sometime next week I will have some pictures of them to show you.
We received our names of our parthers on the FGBB Biscornu exchange and I have already starting stitiching my biscornu, the way its shaping I don't think I'll want to part with it LOL!!!

A pinkeep

Its a friends birthday real soon and I wanted to stitch her a little something as she is a lovely friend to me, so I chose to stitch this pinkeep by Fancy Work from the chart 'A pair of pinkeeps' this one is the Victorian one, its stitched on 32ct white linen and I used my silk threads by Kaalund. I'm going to pop this in the post today so that hopefully it will get to its destination in time.

New Build - new neighbourhood

It was Barbaras turn to get a house built on her neighbourhood, and for me this time I found it surprisingly easier to think what to stitch for her.

The house is by the 'Irish Hare' and taken from the chart Love thy neighbour. I of course changed all of the house colours to tone in with Barbs neighbourhood. The tree and squirrel are an adaption from Sheepish Designs 'Betsy' The fence and birdhouse is from Prairie Schooler 'A prairie village II' The flowers/butterfly are my own as I wanted them to kinda tone in with Barbs as I wanted to link our gardens together. The wee bird, I shamelessly copied from Barbara so that he followed on from her little chubby birds.

If you would like to see how her full neighbourhood is progressing (2 blank spaces waiting for their homes - Carol next to build) then pop over to our neighbourhood blog. There is also progress on there of the other neighbourhoods.

Needlework smalls exchange FROM Nancy

Nancy was drawn to send to me on SBEBB which I thought was great as I had sent to her (even though we didn't know we had each other - if you know what I mean), anyway she stitched me this gorgeous needlebook I just love it and its so beautifully finished and stitched, unfortunately the day is very dull here and my photos I don't feel does it justice.



On the reverse of the 'book' Nancy stitched our initials. - Thankyou so much Nancy I really love it.

Part 2 completed

I've completed Part 2 of the SAL for Garden of Life, - this wee house is so sweet and I love the colours that was used for it the bricks look old and warm, I'll be starting Part 3 in the next couple of days. If you would like to see everyones progress on this delightful design please visit our album that Eva set up - SAL Album

I've almost completed Barbaras Neighbourhood, and I was feeling very inspired with this one and I hope that she likes what I have stitched - pictures tomorrow.

I received my needlework smalls exchange and I received from Nancy, my camera is charging up at the moment, but hopefully before today is out I will have pictures of what she has sent - its really lovely.

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. You are very wise, observant, and analyctical. You have a very "well-organized" mind, which makes you function in a calm and fair manner. Though you get angered easily, its rare of you to ever act our of temper. You are constantly seeing the good in people and are naturally forgiving because of it. You're easy to please and a great person to learn from. Albus Dumbledore 84% Sirius Black 69% Luna Lovegood 69% Neville Longbottom 63% Hermione Granger 56% Remus Lupin 56% Harry Potter 53% Lord Voldemort 47% Severus Snape 47% Ron Weasley 44% Oliver Wood 41% Bellatrix Lestrange 38% Percy Weasley 16% Draco Malfoy 13% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

My stitching small exchange to Nancy

I heard from Nancy that she had received my SBEBB Stitching smalls exchange and that she liked it - which I'm glad. I had wanted to stitch for the longest time, carnations by Prairie schooler and after visiting Nancys' blog I could see that she liked PS so I was pleased. This chart is an old freebie. I reckoned the design shouted 'pinkeep, pinkeep' so thats what I did, I stitched it on 32ct pearl evenweave using all the rich recommended colours for it and I have backed it using a dark but faded green. When I was in Durham the last time I found a market stall that sold the really large headed glass pins and those were what I used for around the edge.



I always worry that folks won't like what I have stitched for them, but saying that I have signed up for 2 more exchanges lol!!! So this year I'm yet to be exchanging in the Our Love of Needlework, Spring Quaker, ABC Exchange, Needlework Smalls (Pinkeep), Garden theme and Biscornu, the Garden theme I'm moderating again.
Plus I have my PIF's and I am doing my Neighbourhood RR, and the Blackbird GoL SAL, I'm doing a SAL with KarenV when I get back from Holiday in April we are going to do BRD- Sealed with a kiss and I'm really looking forward to doing that one.
Plus on top of that I have some private exchanges I'm doing, I'm doing one with Chris and then I have my 4 tin exchanges - all of which are now stitched, I just need to do the tins all pretty and then I'm ready to start sending them out. So I can't share pics of them just yet but will be able to soon. I don't think I've missed anything out - all the exchanges are well staggered for me - Oh yes, I have missed out FGBB SAL's I'm moderator for Shepherds Bush SAL and we are in the process of seeing how many people would like to join in on a SAL and also I'm moderating the freebie challenge and for March I've set the challenge of 4 freebies to be stitched in the month - so come over and visit us, you don't need to be a blogger to join and its a friendly international board.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and if you've snow - Pleeease send some to Cumbria.

My Valentine exchange to Chris

target="_blank>Chris let me know today that the exchange I sent for Valentines Day has arrived safe and sound.

As Chris had told me that it was her wedding anniversary on Valentines day
I really wanted to stitch something very romantic, my inspiration came from target="_blank>VeroM's blog, a friend of hers had sent her a lovely pillow and I just loved the way it had been finished, so I'm truthful to say I stole the finishing idea and adapted it for myself.

The design is a Blackbird Designs one and its called 'Fond Hearts', but as usual I changed the colours, I didn't want the colours that were stated on the chart so I changed them to my own choice and used Linen thread from DMC. Its stitched on Pearl evenweave (32ct).

I just love the verse on this design:

'When two Fond Hearts unite
The yoke is easy,
The burden light'

Valentine Exchange from Patti

Patti sent me this wonderful parcel which I received today - Isn't it wonderful, she made this delightful and beautifully stitched and finished scissor fob with scissors attached in a pale pink leather holder - I have never seen any holders like that before.


I was absolutley delighted with it. The exchange was the Valentines exchange from SBEBB. It really brightened up my day as I'm not having the best of weeks so far, so now its bound to look up don't you think with all those wonderful goodies which were all beautifully wrapped in heart tissue paper (which I will try and re-cycle.



What else has been happening on the stitching front? - Well I have almost completed Part 2 of the Garden of Life SAL I will pos
t pictures before the end of the week for that. I have completed 3 of the tin toppers for the tin exchanges I just will have one more to do and then I can make up the tins and decorate the insides. One PIF has been stitched, but not made up yet and I'm still trying to decide who to send it to.

Hope everyone is having a good stitchy week?

Exchange Goodies

I was very fortunate on Saturday to receive my Valentine exchange from the JABB Valentine exchange, I was partnered to Sandra and she sent me a beautiful fob and some threads and a treasure, I love the fob and gifts- Thankyou Sandra.


This exchange was a great one with a really wonderful bunch of ladies.


Becky invited me to join her Friends Gather Bulletin Board (FGBB)which you can join even if you aren't a blogger which is marvellous and what a great board its going to be, there are all sorts of parts to it not just for exchanges but chat about various different designers and help and enthusiasm for stitching things well worth a vist I would say.

Exchanges & Birthdays

Yesterday was my mums birthday, she was 21 again or maybe not cos what age will that make me? - Amy told her she was going backwards now in age and promptly knocked her 2 years off - don't you just love 8 year olds LOL!! I stitched a wee fob as part of her birthday gift. The fob is by Shepherds Bush and called in my garden. Its stitched on 40ct white linen and for the writing I used WDW Iris the rest is the recommended colours.



On the back of the fob instead of the date I personalised it with her initials. Mum said that she loved it, so I'm pleased.



My next stitching piece is an exchange piece for the Valentine Exchange on Jaynes Attic and I heard yesterday that my partner Chris has received it. The design is by Ewe & Eye & Friends, I stitched it on pink 32ct evenweave I had in my stash, using the recommended colours I really enjoyed stitching this and I finished it as a flat fold (which was my very first one and very nerve racking to make up and hard to do when you've got both your fingers and toes crossed all at the same time LOL!!)

Look what I got today....

Isn't it lovely, Vonna said that she would love to do a tin exchange with me and............



this is what came in the post today - I just love it, I love bees and bee skeps and so Vonnas' choice was just perfect,



its all so beautifully lined with a really sweet fabric and really wonderfully finished, I love it - and Vonna spoiled me and kindly sent some goodies which was very unexpected, I really love my tin - thankyou so much Vonna.



I haven't done an awful lot yet on Vonnas tin, due to other commitments, but I will have it done soon and be sending to her.

I've been forced to change to the new blogger, not sure that I like this very much, I had no problem uploading pictures on the whole before but with the new blogger
its not playing nice, so its giving me quite a few problems to upload these ones, I'll give it a fair trial, but if it carries on like this then I might have to move blogs.

Valentines finish

Our eldest nephew Ryan (soon to be 16yr), asked me when I was over at his home the other weekend if I would make him something for his girlfriend Lauren as a small gift for Valentines day, so of course I said YES, I was very flattered that he wanted me to, so I made a small ornament and trimmed it with a beaded trim.

The design is by Ewe&Eye&Friends and is called 'I give my heart to thee' Ryan is quite a romantic young man and so I thought it fitted him perfectly, he thought so too when I showed him it.



I've stitched it on 36ct antique white linen and used mostly DMC thread apart from the writing which is an overdye and the crosses in the heart itself - again an overdye by WDW called Romance - very fitting I thought.



Now what else on the stitching front - I've been busy finishing exchanges and so I can't show them yet, but there are 2 valentines and a needlework smalls exchange to show you.

I'm doing 3 tin exchanges now as Argone (Vivi) has said she would love to do one with me so I was delighted. I have found some small altoid sized tins and they are from Marks & Spencer and contain extra strong mints and they only cost around 90p they are the perfect size and have hinged lids. So I am busy planning what to stitch on all 3 of them, plus its coming up to mums birthday and I want to stitch something for her too, so I'll have to get a move on with that as its real soon.

Thankyou so much for visiting my blog and leaving comments I really do appreciate them very much, even if you don't leave a comment I appreciate your visit.

Knitting & Finishing

Well I have a finish to show and some knitting!! - First the finish, the design is by Ewe&Eye&Friends and its called Brown bunny. I have changed the colour ways (as usual), Its stitched on 32ct hand dyed linen by Polstitches and the colour is called Hot Chocolate and I stitched it using dragonfloss which is a hand-dye by Polstitches and the colour is pearl.



The brown bunny and writing is stitched using DMC. The design had a mixture of stitches. I finished it as a pin keep, it looks a bit bumpy on the picture but it is quite smooth IRL.

The next to show is my knitting - I haven't picked up a pair of knitting needles for a good 10 years or more but I saw this wool and fell in love with it, unfortunately I thought I would have got more stitched than I have but other things keep side tracking me, but I have got one part completed and I have strted knitting a bit more - Can you guess what its is? The blob on the right is a finished knitted bit, not a ball of wool LOL!!!



Vonna and Eva have both said they would like to do a tin exchange with me, both ladies are such wonderful stitchers and finishers I am honoured that they wanted to, so watch this space for the results of our exchanges.

The weather here has been dreadful - really high winds - yesterday a few areas at work were sent home because of it - unfortunately we weren't one of them, but I don't think it would have mattered if we had cos when Mark and I got in yesterday afternoon we had no electricity, it had been off apparantly since lunchtime and came back on again at 5pm, but at least it stayed on when it did come back on again.
The weathermen are reporting that the Lake District will have snow on Sunday and Monday - hope we do then it will feel like winter!!

Hope evreyone has a great weekend!

Winter Quaker Exchange

I heard today that Cathy has received her Winter Quaker exchange piece from myself. It really got to Australia fast. Our theme from SBEBB was Blue and white so I stitched on 32ct white linen using an overdye that I had in my stash.

I chose to stitch the Balckbird Designs Quaker strawberry that was in the Christmas 2006 Ornament book, this was my first attempt at a strawberry and wasn't to sure whether I had made it up correctly, I trimmed it with some white glass headed pins as I felt it looked a bit plain, Mark thought it looked good (but there again, when have I ever listened), but I still wasn't to sure so I explained to Cathy that it was my first attempt and that if she wanted me to stitch something else for her I wouldn't be offended at all, but I think she seems happy with it.

No I've been asked for directions on how to decorate the biscuit tin, if you go Here there are some wonderful step by step pictures on how to do it. If you scroll right down to the bottom of the page and click on the わたしの空き缶リメイク text it will bring you to the step by step. All the other text above are wonderful tins that have been covered, its a very inspirational site. I hope that helps?? Does anyone fancy doing a small tin box exchange with me?????

Knitting pics will be added before the weekend!!

Loads to show

Yay - Part 1 of my blackbird SAL is the first thing, what a great design we have picked this time to stitch its 'Garden of Life' I opted to stitch mine on 40ct cream linen using the recommended threads, its such a quick stitch so far and I'm really delighted with it, you can see more of our pictures here http://perso.bellapix.com/SALBLACKBIRD this time there are 21 of us in the SAL.


My next picture to show you or should I say the next 2 pictures to show you (and I apologise for the yellow tone, its just so dark here at the moment - I will edit and replace with better pictures when the lighting improves a bit) is the wonderful Quaker Exchange I received from Becky today, she has made me the most beautiful pinkeep and I was well and truely spoiled with some wonderful goodies too.

Front of pinkeep


Back of Pinkeep


Now whats next? - Ah yes I have completed my part on Rachaels Neighbourhood RR, I really hope that she likes it, I have adapted about 4 Elizabeth Designs charts to do this square and I really hope that she likes it as much as I liked stitching it.




I was away for part of last week getting my hair cut etc etc - I had an extra long weekend and stayed with my SIL and family - it was Kiers birthday and as a surprise we went Go-Karting - now bear in mind I can't drive a car, so with trepidation I sat in this very low Kart, when we set off (we had the track to ourselves, so there was just us 5 on it), the boys soon realised that Aunty Su was not going to be any competition - in fact the birthday boy shunted me out of the way once and I crashed once which wasn't so bad as Dawn who can drive she crashed twice. Well I couldn't manage the 30 laps of the track after about the 18th and my fastest lap (21seconds) I felt very nauseated and had to pull in to the pits, its to low to the ground for me and the diesel fumes and the bends soon took their toll. Still it was an experience I really had fun doing and at least I can say I did it and the boys were really proud that I managed it (I think they think I'm ancient), but I won't rush to have another go, course now the back/shoulders and forearms ache like mad LOL!!

Oh and guess what else I have started doing which I haven't done in a long time - knitting - more o show of that later in the week along with a couple of finishes I have done too.

My first 2007 project finished

This is the project I started that has grew and grew. The design is by Aux fils des Reves and I have wanted to stitch it for ages, but I didn't want to do it in the colours given in the kit, so I finally decided to stitch it using soi d'alger silk thread in soft pinks and blues and greens on 36ct linen fabric and I was happy with how it looked.



I already had a biscuit tin and I knew I wanted to finish it as a padded tin lid, but thats when my idea just sort of grew a bit. I lined the inside with co-ordinating material, the darker pink I received from Annemarie and the lighter one I already had in my stash. I then padded the inside of the lid using the darker fabric and made a pocket with the lighter colour and added some thread rings.



Then of course the tin was empty so using parts of the design I made a wee pin keeper and a small scissor fob, the pin keeper is edged with the same crochet white lace I had used for the tin top - I just had enough left to do it. I used small glass headed pins in pale pink and white around the pin keep. On the back of the wee fob I have stitched my initials.



So this is the finished project Atelier de Brodeuse by Aux fils des Reves

You know when.......

a project just seems to get bigger and bigger, well my forst finish of 2007 has gone that way. I was hoping to be finished with pictures to show, well half of it is finished and I'm really pleased with how it looks, but as I have decided to add extras its still growing, so there won't be any pictures of it til next week.

Also on the stitching front I have been stitching on Rachaels Neighbourhood RR and its looking pretty good if I say so myself, our next posting date is January 15th. I have also got all my bits and bobs together for our next Blackbird Designs SAL, this time we are doing Garden of Life. I am going to stitch it on 40ct soft cream linen and use the recommended threads. Both mum and Helen are part of this SAL too.

I have finished my Quaker exchange for SBEBB, I only have to sew it up, so nothing to show yet for that one, and I have finished my SBEBB smalls exchange and thats all sewn and finished, but again I can't show that one yet, those 2, both get sent this month.

I have also stitched both my SBEBB Valentines exchange and Jaynes Attic Valentines exchange and I am also moderator for both those exchanges, neither piece I want to part with, but of course I must, but will definitley be stitching them again for myself, they are both due to be posted on February 1st.

Now what else have I stitched over Christmas, I did make a start on 1 of the PIF's (Pay it Forwards), its stitched but not finished and I also can't decide which girl to send it too... decisions, decisions.

This afternoon when I got in from work I took down our decorations, the lounge always looks so bare doesn't it after they have gone.
I spoke to mum last night and passed on all the wonderful comments that you made about the box she did for me and she was delighted and said to say a BIG thankyou to you all. I wish I could get her a computer and get her learning to use it, but funds don't stretch that far, but Helen and I pass messages on and Helen lets her visit the blogs on hers, and of course she does when she visits me.

We also had some very sad news today Mums oldest dog Gemma (she was 15yrs - which is 105yr in doggy years) has had to be put to sleep this afternoon, she hasn't been well for a little while, so we are all really sad. Poor Gem, we will certainly all miss her as she was such a sweet wee bijon and had such a wonderful personality.

From my Mum

For Christmas mum had stitched for me this lovely box for my thread bobbins, it was a real surprise as I had no idea, and its really lovely.



She has stitched the design on pink evenweave fabric and added a wee silver heart as a door knocker - can you see? isn't it sweet.



The trees have small pearlescent beads in amongst them. It really is lovely and I love it very much and so now I will be filling it with threads.

I have completed my first stitching of 2007, I started it on New Years day and finished the stitching last night, hopefully I'll get the finishing done tonight and I will post it up tomorrow. My first 2007 project is by Au fils des Reves, but I have totally altered the look of it as I have changed all the thread colours!!

Thankyou too - I'm amazed by all the wonderful comments that you have all left me for 'French Heart' I really appreciate them and welcome too to new readers.

Final posting of 2006

Well this year is almost at an end and a new one about to start, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone who stops by,

I've been terribly lazy this past week or so and have hardly turned the computer on, never mind blogged, but I have enjoyed the rest and have accomplished a few finishes and finishing, here is one I stitched quite a long time ago, this is what I strted with for the finishing - Can you guess what its going to be??



The design is called French Heart and its by Shepherds Bush it came as a kit and included the silk thread and the fabric (32ct) and included a wonderful little shoe.



I actually completed this design about 3 or 4 years ago, but could never decide whether I wanted to frame it or finish it as something, I didn't really want to make a cushion of it. So I looked in my finishing box of beads etc and found some heavy lace that I had and some beads and ribbon



and I finally came up with the idea of making it into a bag, which is now hanging from my mirror, I was quite pleased with how it has turned out.