Angels and Fairies

I finally completed my Mirabilia Christmas Angel and the result is stunning. I just can't get a picture to show how beautiful and shiny the beads look though. I stitched her on 36 count Edinburgh linen with the suggested threads and beads. The design is from a WOCS magazine from a few years ago. I really would like to try a new finish on this - perhaps a flat fold??



And here is a picture of a half finished HAED that I decided not to complete fully. I decided to turn it into a pinkeep and gave it to Tracy as part of her Christmas present and I think she liked it.



Happy New Year to all my blog readers and visitors and best wishes for 2009. xx

A Very Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas. Here we are at Lapland UK (the one that IS okay lol) with our one to one with Santa. We had a wonderful time and felt really looked after by all the elves. We ended up ice skating which Lily had never done before and I hadn't done it in a few years so was a bit wobbly to start with.

We had a lovely day today and DH got me a new laptop YAY!! which means I can come on here a lot more now. He also got me those gorgeous scissors from France that some folks have been seen with. Woot woot!! He also got me the complete seasons dvds of Prison Break.

Now I have been stitching. I stitched this for my good friend Amanda's Christmas present but she hasn't got it yet so if she happens upon my blog it's game over. Anyway, here it is. It is from Cross Stitch Happy's blog and is the hummingbird triangle scissor case stitched on silkweaver opalescent 32 count linen. It was my first attempt at making one of these.





I will have some more pics of stitching soon as I am doing a few exchanges and am I waiting for the folks to recieve them.

Some peeps were interested in the Basket of Biscornu idea I mentioned in the last post. Well if you are still interested, my good friend Tracy has set up a blog for it and will be sending out invites to anyone interested in joining. She is also offering an incentive to people who do all 12 biscornu. Go take a look and if you are interested then please email her and tell you you'd like to join. The more the merrier!

On another note, I have been contacted by Paula from Kelmscott Designs who has asked if she can give something toward the incentive I am offering on the Needleprint Beatrix Potter SAL blog. We are pretty full on there now - only a few places left and I will be closing for membership come 1st January. But what a great, thoughtful thing for Paula to do. She is of course joining us in the SAL as well. Yipee!

Here are some pictures of projects I have kitted up ready to start next year - goodness so many of them..

Marquoir Marie Rose



This is a beautiful freebie which you can see and find how to get it on Tempus Fugits blog here

Papillon How does your Garden Grow mystery 2008



I still need to choose two greens for this but love these Anchor multicolours.

Gift of Stitching All Things Counted



Look at those Rajmahals shimmer!!

Ink Circles Quackworth



Chart kindly gifted to me by Edgar. I can't believe I finally got my hands on Old Willow Stitchery Threads!

So there's me for a bit. Have a great rest of the Holidays everyone. God Bless you all for reading and leaving me such kind comments through the year. I appreciate every single one of you. xx

Next year...

I'll probably be editing this post regularly but I think I need to write down all the stitching commitments I have for next year and also any ideas I get along the way. It seems I may have signed up for way too much.

Needleprint Beatrix Potter SAL
Christmas Ornie SAL
Prairie Schooler exchange (1 every 2 months - no extras)
Birthday Exchange (around may/june)
4 PIFs to do
BB exchange (Jan)
Winter House (Jan)

and I have this idea....

Basket of Biscornu!! Stitch one biscornu a month and have a lovely basket of 12 of them by the end of the year. Anyone interested??


Oh and I have some cool cool news as well.... Is anyone doing the Papillon mystery??? Well I have been collecting the parts and umming and ahhing over all the gorgeous ones in the gallery and itching to start. I emailed Yvonne from Papillon to say how gorgeous all the pieces in the gallery were and to thank her for this wonderful design and I happened upon asking her whether she thought this piece could be made into a stitcher's wallet. A couple of days later I got the most wonderful reply saying it could be made into a stitcher's wallet and my suggestion had prompted her to do some instructions on how to make it into a wallet and she had spent a little time designing some extra bits to go inside it. She said she would post out an extra newsletter in a couple of weeks time!!!!! Wow!!! So look out for that one ladies. I guess this means I better get and start that one too hey? I did actually go and purchase some Anchor multicolours for it.

If anyone does not know what on earth I am talking about go to the link in my sidebar and the mystery is called How Does Your Garden Grow. It is free for this year but you need to sign up for the newsletter to get it so if you haven't got it - better get it now before it is too late!!

Hugs

Hazelxx

Lovely visit from Tracy!

Yay! Today, Tracy came to visit me. It got cancelled the last time due to unforseen circumstances but she was able to come today even though it was just for the day. It was wonderful to at last meet my friend. We have been chatting away on the internet for a couple of years now but never actually met or even spoke in person.

When she arrived it was like meeting an old friend that you hadn't seen for a long time. We hugged and started chatting straight away! I made us a nice lunch of carrot and coriander soup with fresh bread rolls and salami and Leerdammer cheese. Yumm. We finished it off with some of my baking that I had done yesterday for Lily's school's Christmas fair:



Apple and carrot cakes, chocolate and cinnamon buns and crispy sesame and fruity nut squares!

Her mum came too and listened whilst we chatted on and on about our stitching. Tracy did her "show and tell" lol:



And here is the two of us together. There's me with my very red hair!!!!



Tracy gave me this gorgeous baby biscornu which she designed herself!! You can find it on her blog and on her freebie blog too. It is the sweetest little thing and is only about an inch wide!! It now sits on my tiny rag dolly's knee on my mantlepiece in my lounge. I so love it.



And to top it all off, she came loaded down with Christmas gifts for my children and also quite a few for me (naughty, naughty girl)!!!



But secretly I love it because now I'll have some presents of my own to open on Christmas day. I have only got her one thing up to now so I will be going shopping and sending out a little parcel of parcels of my own!!

So all in all, this was a really lovely day. I only wish they could have stayed longer. Definitely will meet up again.

xx

Oh and just to add, Lily's party went brilliantly - all the kids loved it. Thanks for all your comments concerning my "handiwork" on their faces lol.