Some stitchy stuff and thanks to KarenV!

Just had a lovely couple of days at my good friend Tracy's house. We had a lovely relaxing time (no kids for me although I did miss them like crazy). We went to the cinema to see the new Thor which was fantastic and then stitched our hearts out the rest of the time. I finished up page 1 of Breaking Dawn HAED. You can see the little pink wing forming.



I am stitching this for my dd - aren't they all for her??? And she loves the way it is turning out. Such an appreciative girl for an eight year old! Just hope she still likes it by the time I have finihsed it. I looked at my last pic update and it was July last year so that is almost a year since I worked on it. Poor girl. The one in the picture I mean hehe.

Before I went to Tracy's I got a beautiful gift through the post from the lovely KarenV - she has a beautiful blog. If you haven't already discovered her then head her way. Karen does the most beautiful pieces of stitchery ever! So a couple of weeks ago (prob less than that), Karen was giving away some bits and bobs she no longer wanted and look what came for me in the post:





Karen had done a little bit of beading in the past and had made this tiny purse necklace. My dd is modelling it for me. She has gone crazy over it! It is exquisite. Beautifully crafted and has a very Elizabethan feel to it which is perfect for me being a big Tudor history buff. So Thank You so very much Karen. I love it and will treasure it for ever!!!.

Now, speaking of dear Karen, some time ago I noticed a beautiful needle keep she had made on her blog and asked her how she had made it and Karen kindly replied and told me all about "finishing forms". I got onto Amy at DSL and ordered a couple and made this up for Tracy as part of her birthday gift. It didn't take long and I just love how easy it was to make up. I popped it into a circular box I had and took it with me. For my first time at using these forms I don't think I did such a bad job! So again I have to say a personal Thank You to Karen for the inspiration and help. Now I really need to make myself one. The design comes from Blackbird Designs Honeysuckle Manor book. Here you can see the front, side and back of it.







Well, that is all for me for now. I have just found out that next Monday the SIL has offered to have the children so me and dh can spend some oh so much needed time together. Yippeeeee! We really REALLY need some kid free time together. I just hope we find something nice to do. Any ideas???

I have been slowly reading and catching up with all your inspiring blog posts. Keep them coming! And also thank you so much for the gorgeous comments that flow my way. I appreciate and treasure every single one of them.

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Oh ETA: I have addded another sidebar thingy to my blog for any recipes I find on fellow bloggers' blogs. If you have one you think I may be interested in then let me know and I'll add it.