Exchanges received

Found out that Staci received my freebie exchange in the post today and that she likes it yay!! I made her a mattress pincushion with a freebie from Les Grilles de Maryse. I have had to pinch her pics as I forgot to take some doh!

These are the extras I sent to her as well. I also know that Angie got my Needleroll in the Jayne's Attic Needleroll exchange. I struggled to find a pattern so I rummaged through my old magazines and found a pretty band sampler. I took a few bands out and came up with this:

Sorry the pics are a bit blurry. I was so proud of myself for making one of these and learning the hemstitching. I used it for the Monthly challenge blog too.

Slowly adding to my blog list. Still need to write down exchange dates so I don't forget them. Rachel reminded me she was about to start my pif I signed up for and it has reminded me to get on with Steph's that I have begun. So tonight I am going to finish the stitching on my summer house sbebb exchange then I will do a bit on Steph's pif. I have also got two biscornu (biscorni??) to think about too. I really do need to get organised. Another rotation perhaps??

Have managed to get a babysitter for my big day next week so dh and I can go out for a nice meal. Woohoo! Escaping the house for a night. What a treat!!

Till next time, have a good weekend everyone. Thanks for your comments.xx

Changeover has begun

Alas I did lose some widgets and page elements so in the process of putting them back in. Collecting blog addresses from comments and links to other blogs so bear with me if you're not on. Also need to go and write down my stitching deadlines. Very important!! Lost my blinkies too. I like it though. Will have fun re-doing it. xx

Finished!

Design from Repertoire des Frises

Stitched on 32 count willow green belfast linen

Stitched with Needle Necesseties 135

Thanks for all the lovely comments saying you couldn't see the stitch! Unfortunately it was one of those stitches that makes the rest of the design not meet up at the end. And, as it was a biscornu and had to be perfectly square, I had no choice but to unpick the left hand row. It didn't take too long and had it finished last night. So this is for the monthly challenge blog. So far these challenges have been not too difficult. I am dreading it if the challenge is something really difficult that you might need a machine for or if you have to do loads of sewing in neat straight lines. I think my worst challenge "fear" would be a basket lid!!!

I have finished my abc exchange piece now but awaiting something to send with it. Sally mentioned in her blog that Jacqueline Holdsworth from Needleprint is re-releasing authorised copies of the Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler on ebay. I spent my whole bank holiday waiting for her to put more charts up as they were and are selling like hotcakes!! So, finally, I got my copy. Yay!! Sally, Tracy and I are thinking of doing an SAL on it next year so if you fancy joining us, jump on in!!

I may be changing my blog background soon but the only way I can figure out how to do it is by losing all my added pages and elements which will mean slowly putting them all back in again. I will probably work on doing this this week. I think it's nice to have a background that suits your own individuality. I can only try and see I suppose.

Well it's my birthday next week so hoping to get some stitching stuff this time. No-one tends to buy me that which would be the best thing they could buy me really. Well both my friend and my sister have asked me so I have given them some ideas so hopefully I'll get something stitchy. My birthdays are usually very disappointing days so I am not getting my hopes up too much. I have decided I am going to take myself off on my own and spoil myself and do what I want to do even if only for the evening. It may involve just sitting in the car on my own with a book and some cake but hey that's fine!!

Yesterday I broke the washing machine by putting something in it that disintegrated into the machine so now I'll have to wait on somebody coming round today to fix it I think. :(

Happy stitching day everyone. Take care. xx

What an Idiot!

So here I am happily stitching away at my biscornu for the may monthly finishing challenge blog in a gorgeous colour of Needle Necessities thread. I have worked up the left side and then across the top and down the right side. Hmmm lovely isnt it:


and then I spot this!!!!!!! Can you see the misplaced stitch at the top of the left row before it curls up. Out by one stitch!!!! So I now have some unpicking to do.

It really spoke to me actually about mistakes that we often make in our lives and how sometimes we have to do some "unpicking" and starting again. We have a friend who is getting married soon - her 3rd marriage. We are having a little night of celebration for her and if we have a word of encouragement or a poem or something to give her then we can do it then. I am thinking of giving her this as a gift to help her remember that God is still weaving and embroidering her life even when she has made "mistakes" in the past.

Doh! I sent off two exchanges and completely forgot to take pictures of them. I'll have to wait till they have been rec'd then "borrow" the photos!!

And here's a couple of pics of Lily and Elijah at four and a half months old.




Just got "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory. I only read about one book a year but I am really enjoying this. I love tudor history.

Race is on to unpick and finish this biscornu so I'd better get on with it. Have a good stitching week. xx

quick update

Just a quickie so you all know I am still alive. I have been doing secret stitching so have nothing to show as yet. Exchanges are due to be sent soon so hopefully I'll have pics to show of the HOE Freebie exchange, Jayne's attic Needleroll exchange, SBEBB ABC Exchange. I am working on a little biscornu for the May Challenge on the Monthly challenging blog. Also the Summer House exchange on the SBEBB. Also need to think about doing a couple more biscornu for other exchanges I'm in. I am in the process of setting up a mini exchange with Tracy, Sally, myself and a friend of mine to do a biscornu exchange. My friend loves the idea of doing an exchange but lacks confidence as she is a new stitcher and needs a lot of time to complete something. So I have organised this little exchange between us for Sept/Oct time. So much secret stitching!

Hope everyone is well.

xx

Long time since I blogged!

Firstly a big Thank You to everyone who made a lovely comment about the death of my cat. It did take me some time to get over her. We still have her sibling who seems quite content and happy at the moment and is all over us in the evenings when we settle down.

Okay, so here's some pics of some lovely things I have received recently:
This is a needleroll made by Rachael for the Jayne's Attic Needleroll exchange. I think it is adorable and the fabric is a gorgeous colour. I love it. Thank you Rachael. Rachael also sent me some lovely threads too. Lucky lucky me!! They will get used on my Patchwork no doubt.


And here is a lovely surprise from Tracy!! As if you hadn't given enough already!! This arrived for me a couple of days ago and it is gorgeous and the same colours as Elijah's nursery too.

I love it Tracy - thank you so much. xx

And here's something I made for my very good friend Amanda who I introduced to stitching not so long ago. I think I have her hooked haha. I made this for her birthday. I used Caron waterlilies silk for it and I love it!! It is from the book Repertoire des Frises from Amazon France.


And Yasmin let me know that she received the spring quaker exchange I sent her so here is a pic of what I stitched. It is taken from the Gift of Stitching magazine and uses Polstitches threads. I sent her a few extras too, threads and a chart from her wishlist but forgot to take a pic of the whole bundle. I stuffed it with lavender.


I also got some gorgeous fabric from Stephanie as a rak. Can't wait to stitch something on it. Will show you when I have made something from it. Got an order from A mon ami pierre today as well - very quick delivery. I only ordered it on Monday or was it Tuesday?? She know takes paypal so ordering is easy yay!! However the Euro is very strong against the Pound at the moment and it cost me a load of wedge but hey - A mon ami pierre!!! You can't argue with that. So I got Quaker Amap and Alphabet Amap 8 click for links to the pics. In fact Cari made me the letter H for the redwork exchange and I loved it so much that I bought the chart for the whole alphabet!

So that's me. Sorry it's been a while. I have been really busy with ds who is being very demanding at the moment and sometimes it is just too much for me. I am loving all the new people on the blogs and trying to browse as many blogs as I can. Even if I don't leave a comment be assured that I do visit. Till next time, happy stitching in May! xx