Lily fairy!

I recently bought some professional face paints for my dd's birthday which is on Friday withe the intention of doing the kids faces myself instead of paying a small fortune to hire someone else to do it. So it's Wednesday and I thought, "Oooh I'd better have a practice". So with the help of a little book here's my attempt:



Not a bad effort hey? It took a while to get the colours and textures right but hopefully I'll be a lot quicker on Friday. I'll have eight girls to do! Hopefully they'll all be happy to have something similar and nothing too taxing!

Just thought I'd share that. I thought she looked too cute. xx

Lots of pics!

I have a fair bit of stitchery to share today. First up is this gorgeous ornie I recieved from Carol B from HOE2! It is the Sweetheart Tree ornie from this years Just Cross Stitch magazine. It is so pretty and on sparkly fabric too. I just love it. It is so me! Carol kindly sent me these two wonderful charts off my wishlist too and I am so happy to have Quaker Christmas finally!! Also she sent some pins in pretty colours. This was a wonderful surprise today. Thanks Carol.



Margie K got my ornie in the post last week too:

Here she is and I did include some extras too but I did not photograph them.



It is also from the Just Cross Stitch ornie edition magazine this year. I did rouched ribbon agding and backed it with some pretty white fabric.

I have been working hard on the Mirabilia Angel last week for the Let's Stitch weekly challenge and the Friday Night SAT. She is so lovely to work on with sparkly threads and pretty beads. I have to put on some white beads too as soon as I have finished the rest of her dress.



Also, last week, I got the fabric from Lauren at Sassy's fabric. This is what I will be doing the Needleprint Beatrix Potter SAL in. If you remember, she wasn't so sure my colour choice would work with the threads I had chosen so I went with her better judgement and here's the result and what a result!!!



This is Tan Marble 32 count jobelan with Victorian Motto threads in the Antique Wine set. Lauren also sent me quite a generous cut of the Creamy Cocoa (my original choice) to compare and I think she was right. The Creamy Cocoa is more orangey but I still love it!! I chose jobelan over linen this time as I wanted a smoother, more even, coloured fabric which Lauren said tended to happen with the jobelan. I can't wait to start this now. We are at about 60 members now and I will close it for membership once January 1st starts so if you want to join in the fun then now's the time to join.

Someone tagged me to tell you six random things about myself. I'm not tagging anyone back but feel free to do the same. It is interesting to find out a little bit about people I suppose. I'm a bit boring really. So here goes:

1. I can drive and passed my test first time which was a miracle as I had been in a bad BAD car accident two weeks beore my test where two people were killed instantly!!

2. I love chocolate sooo much and go through terrible withdrawal times when I don't have it.

3. I drink lots of de-caffeinated coffee.

4. I can sometimes be quite paraniod about people not liking me.

5. My perfect evening would be spent at home, stitching, with my DH and a DVD, some chocolate and perhaps a small glass of red wine.

6. I have recently had my hair dyed red but I wanted it redder than the hairdresser did it!

Thats it! Very boring me.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate every single comment!

Another post????

Goodness I have more stuff to share. What is going on?? Some months I don't hardly post but recently I have a lot to share. Perhaps something to do with DH being away??? Cats will play etc etc.. Or at least GET ON THE COMPUTER!!!

Okay firstly, I have a finish:


Yay! This is my Wiehenburg mystery Suzanne! It was a freebie on the Yahoo group but not there any more although there is another freebie being collected on there at the moment(Shhhhh!!)
Stitched on 32 count Natural belfast linen with DMC Variations 4210.

Next up:


This is another freebie as a sorry to someone. I don't think she reads my blog but I could be wrong. You can hardly see it in the picture but it is very pretty stitched on polstitches fabric with dragonfloss. I filled it with rice and lavender.

And lastly:





This is the Harvest time Exchange I sent to Leena. It is Autumn Song by Blackbird designs using the recommended fabric and threads. I stitched it over one and made it into a pinkeep. I gave it a rouched ribbon edge (my first) and used some fabric that Leena herself sent me during the last Harvest time exchange last year!! So all in all I am quite pleased with how it turned out and I believe Leena loves it too!

Have a good week everyone. xx

Harvest Exchange recieved!

I got the sweetest pinkeep through today from Becky in Oklahoma. It is for the Harvest Time Exchange on the SBBEB. I love it! Thank you Becky!



Hopefully mine will arrive at its destination soon as it was posted a week ago. xx

A gift and another fine tea (dinner)

Here is a gift I have made for someone. It is someone I promised a gift to a while ago. Someone will get this little giftie in the post in the next week or so. One of my blog readers. It could be you...





A Rose is a Rose - La D Da freebie
Finished as a mattress pincushion
32 count lavender mist belfast linen
Sampler threads and weeks dye works

And tonight's tea (or Dinner as the South like to call it!)....

Hotpot - my own recipe - with lashings of red cabbage. (No it's not prison food and it is actually really nice).



And finished with another winner from Becky's blog! Peach Cobbler!! I had to cook it a bit longer as it was still uncooked in the middle but then it was very scrum esp with cream!



These are doing wonders for warming me up as it is quite cold here in the North of England. The weather is utterly miserable as well. Rain and rain and more rain it seems.

Still ploughing away on the Vierlanden mystery quaker suzanne. I have half a page left!! I will hopefully get this finished tonight! Yay it is about time I had a Happy Dance for one of my larger projects. Also I have signed up for the Year long Prairie Schooler exchange which I am soo looking forward to. Right off to do some serious stitching and a little blog reading/catching up.

xx

Becky's Skillet Supper - Superb!!!

Browsing blogland the other day, I came across Becky Bee's Home blog where there were a few lovely looking recipes that I just had to try. So tonight I made her "Skillet Supper". I used the Doritos hot salsa and just used one jar and I had to add a littl emore water to it to stop it sticking but it was perfect! I never needed to add any additional flavourings to it as it had all the flavour wrapped up in the smoked sausage and the salsa. Here it is:



And here's the proof that it is indeed very good....



Tomorrow I will be trying the Peach Cobbler!! Yumm.. Yes indeed my diet has gone out the window!

As for stitching, I have been busy but a lot of them are gifts and exchanges so nothing to show as yet. Hopefully next week I'll have some pics to show.


ps edited to add: See Chiloes post for a free drawing - ends saturday.

A Ram, some Squirrels and a Mystery!

Okay, here's the ram!



We found him in our garden this morning and he was there all day! I phoned the police earlier this morning and they came and had a look and said they were trying to find the farmer but then left it here. It came running around the side of our neighbours garden as she has a little brook there. This is where I managed to get this picture of him. Apparently, two years ago they had a cow and a calf here (before we moved in). You'd think we lived on a farm but it is just an estate with houses on. We do have lots of fields and farms nearby though.

I have managed to do a fair bit on the Wiehenburg mystery sampler but I kept getting lots of knots in my thread for some reason and it got me thinking about where the term "frogging" came from. Someone must have made it up. If it was you, please own up! So I was thinking of perhaps a nicer term to call these dratted knots and I came up with "squirrels". Why? Well, to start with I was thinking of knots and that got me thinking of "nuts", which got me thinking of "squirrels", which got me thinking of "big bushy tails", which brought me back to my dratted knots that look like bushy tailed squirrels. Do you think I am mad or can you get the picture??? So if you hear me moaning about my squirrels in future, you'll know what I mean!

So, regardless of my "squirrels" here is my progress!



I emailed Lauren of Sassy's fabrics the other day as I had ordered some fabric from her for the Needleprint Beatrix Potter SAL. I chose Creamy Cocoa and I am using the Antique Wines collection of Victorian Motto threads. Anyway, after a little chit chat with Lauren, she has recommended I go with Tan Marble instead. She thinks it will look better with those colour threads. "Okay" I said. I so hope it is okay as some of you may remember that awful experience with a certain company where the fabric was unuseable (Yes I still have it). Speaking of the SAL, we have 52 members joined the blog already! I can't believe it! So many peeps. I am really looking forward to getting my fabric so I can do some floss tosses.

Righto off to put the children to bed and settle down with some nice stitching. Ahhhh....

Cake anyone?

Chocolate and cinnamon buns.

They're gorgeous!
What more can I say?

PIF Winners........

Lisa
Cathy

Chris

Tracy

Congratulations you four!! Thanks to all of you who entered. The reason I have picked four of you is that I have also won a pif on Jessie's blog so instead of reoffering I have picked an extra person. I think four will be my limit! Please remember to Pay it Forward by putting the same offer on your blog and spreading a little stitching cheer throughout the year! I have sent out emails except to Lisa as I can't find your email hun. Let me know your addresses and favourite colours and I'll get something stitched up for you inthe next 365 days! Hopefully they will get made up sooner than that! I already have some ideas that I want to stitch up for you guys.

I have just spent the best couple of days away in Wales ever!! Just went to visit some friends who live in a farmhouse on forty acres of land and we had the most blessed time there! Amazing. I wish I had taken some pics!

Sorry this is a short entry. I got a load of stitching to do!! Catch up with you all soon. Thanks for visiting. I appreciate all your lovely comments.

xx