Okay big update - lots of pics

Right something is definitely up with my camera - it is not charging properly but I have managed to get six minutes on it to get some pics and download them!! First up is this lovely gift from Lisa from Needles and Threads. I won a blog giveaway from her a while ago and look at what she made me - isn't it beautiful. It is a lovely thread holder and i love the pocket at the back. She sent some lovely extras too, all of which I'll use. Thanks so much Lisa. I love it.





Also I was admiring Margarets little bird sampler a while ago and she sent me the chart and some linen and thread to go with it!!! Wow I am so amazed at the generosity of stitchers!



I also got my Prairie Schooler exchange through. At least I think it is this exchange as Rebecca (can't find her blog) didn't put a note in with it to say what it was or where the design is from so I am presuming it is the PS exchange. It is a lovely strawberry emery - my first and is very nice. So if you are reading Rebecca, thank you very much.



Cheryl got my little gingerbread men ornie that I made her for her newborn. I got the idea from Danybrode's blog and I was quite pleased with my humble efforts.



Now you may remember the post about my "I am Half Sick of Shadows" project that I eventually gave away to my Dad to work on. Here is how I sent it to him:



And here's a pic of it that he sent me today!! How much progress is that??



Now onto knitting. I am araid I have started getting the knitting bug again. I joined a group called Ravelry (takes about 4 days to get an invite)and it is amazing. I would really recommend it to knitters and crocheters. I found a lovely scarf pattern on it and here is my progress on it:



It is hard to describe what it will look like in the end as its not your usual scarf! So I will take a pic of me or someone else modelling it when it is finished!
Speaking of knitting, here is Lily learning to knit - just a minute long but you're welcome to share this precious moment with me if you care to:



lily knits!

Oh and before I forget here is my christmas ornie (unfinished as I am going to finish them altogether) for this month:



I must admit, I feel like my stitching mojo has gone awol this month! I have hardly touched the BP and have only just started the biscornu. I think maybe I overdid it with that french mystery. I have finished stitching it up but need to finish it now and yes I did get those vital finishing instructions. It is like a littel pillow inside a pouch and I hope I'll be able to finish it sometime. Right now I want to get my scarf finished and I also need to get on with some exchanges but I just do not feel in the mood for stitching right now.

Oh and I have put the BP blog back to the public domain for a bit if anyone's interested.

We have just come back from our friends house in Wales - so lovely and DH has some pics so I'll get them off him soon and post them up. Well that's me updated for a while. Happy stitching and thanks for reading everyone. xx

Just to let you know..

I have loads to update but my camera's playing up! Hopefully get it sorted soon. I'm still alive and well. xx

Winter House exchange from Karen

Wow all the way from Australia! Karen sent me this gorgeous pinkeep of a LHN design and she sent me some wonderful extras too. Some six strand sweets, another perle thread which is beautiful, several other threads in a blue range, some pretty printed fabric which I am sure to use, some butterfly buttons and a fab notebook!



Thanks so much Karen, I love it. This was my last exchange from the sbebb as it is closing down. I'll miss it. It was a lovely group of exchangers and I have learnt a lot from it.

For any readers wondering why they can no longer read the Beatrix Potter SAL. I have had to make this blog private due to a hacker getting in and using it to spam (possibly) dangerous adverts. It is now only open to its members only although this is up for a vote. I am sorry for all the well meaning and honest people out there who genuinely did just want to read but I have had to do it for the safety of the members. I have never come across this before so have taken what I believed was the right course of action. Hope you will understand.

Have a fab week and thank you for all the encouragement on the french mystery. I am up to the last part!
xx

French Mystery Part 2

Here is my Part 2 of the mystery. I am sure the first parts colours are supposed to correlate to the second part (I think I made a mistake here). Never mind - it is only an experiment. Thanks for all your lovely comments and encouragements. I am stitching this up quickly and I think you were probably supposed to choose either the cross stitch or the speciality stitch and stitch two of those but I did one of each. Another ooops!!

Thank you Leena and everyone else who has offered to help me with the translations. I will surely be knocking on your doors soon.

Some have asked how I manage to get so much stitching done. That is such a big compliment as I don't feel like I get enough done! I do struggle to juggle childcare, housework, blogging, stitching and prayertime in my life and I never seem to get a right balance. I like deadlines though and feel I achieve more when I have a deadline set. I sometimes get an hour of two in the day when I can stitch when Elijah has his nap. Then in the evenings as well. But I also try to blogread as well as you guys are so my stitching inspiration.

Thanks for all your encouraging comments. I'll be popping by your blogs soon,

xx

This is indeed a mystery...

At the end of last year I signed up for a mystery on a french blog. I don't speak a word of French - never had a single lesson. The designer Anne Marie has been sending out charts bit by bit each week or so and I have been steadily collecting them. Yesterday we all got an email marked "important" so I used babelfish to translate and the jist of it was that if you haven't sent your photos of your stitching you won't get the finishing instructions!!!! Oh heck thinks I and begin this mystery which is indeed a mystery as I haven't the foggiest idea what it will turn into. I only hope I am understanding the instructions correctly and am stitching it right. So yesterday I stitched up part one.



This will be a mystery for me as well as any of my readers. So I have sent her that photo and now onto Part 2. Hurry hurry hurry!!! I have till next week to get all parts in so I get the finishing instructions.

xx

Oh, snow! and an award!

Jeanne and Sally gave me this lovely award:



Thank you both so much. I am supposed to tell you my 5 addictions now. Hmmmm...

1. Stitching - obvious
2. Blogging
3. Chart collecting - esp freebies
4. Food - esp chocolate, and crisps (chips in the USA)
5. My kids and husband - my wonderful family.

Now I cannot possibly nominate 5 blogs as I go through so many of them and they are all wonderful but recently I have been browsing a lot of french blogs and some are listed in my sidebar at the top so check them out! I am going to add to these as time goes on. And, no, I don't understand a word of french, I wish I did, but I just get so inspired by looking at all the pictures.

Now it has done nothing but snow here all day and now night and I am a bit peeved as my DH and I were going to go out on a date tonight. I haven't seen him in 3 weeks so his parents offered to sit for us so we could go out. Well, due to the bad weather we have had to cancel. I am due to go out tomorrow night too and also Wednesday and I hope they won't get cancelled. No, I am not a socialite really, it is just that a few things have come along at once!

So here is some footage of my dd playing in the snow with our neighbours. My dd is in the red coat:


MOV04529.MPG





Just for some stitchery, here is my biscornu for the January basket!



As you can see, it is yet to have a button attached. I am yet to find a suitable one. The design is from the book Repertoire des Frises and it uses Carries Epiphany thread and DMC jewel effects. I am intending to do all my basket in Carries and use designs from Repertoire des Frises. I love that book and you can get it from Amazon France and is so worth the purchase.

That's me for a bit. I have been trying to get through as many blogs as I can but there are just so many wonderful blogs. I just can't comment as much as I'd like! Do know that I am reading though. xxx

Bits n Bobs

Here's some bits and pieces that I've been working on this week. Before I do that I just want to show you this gorgeous exchange I got through today from Becky K. It is for the BBD exchange that got cancelled. I sent my exchange off to Su (thanks for all your lovely comments on that one) and I wasn't sure I was going to get anything back. But look at this lovely....





The design is from Thank You Sarah Tobias and I just love the backing fabric! Thank you so much Becky this really cheered me up. I am home alone at the moment with DH away so this brightened up my wintery day! I love the extras too. I have already used the cream (my hands are getting dry, esp my fingers) and I gave my own needleminder away so it is lovely to get one as a gift. Great pins too.

A while ago, Angela sent me a recipe for a yummy looking cake she had made and shown on her blog so this weekend I finally got round to making it and it was a huge HUGE success! Thank you Angela for this lovely recipe. Get ready to drool.

Malteser and chocolate cake courtesy of Nigella Lawson. I'm going to go and get the book now...





My dd decorated the top! Hasn't she done a great job?

I have stitched up my first christmas ornament fromthe PS Book Cranberry Christmas:



I am using 4210 and 319 on Brittany evenweave fabric 28 count which is lovely to stitch on. I am going to wait to make these up as I want them all to be the same shape/size etc. I have soem holly green felt but as yet I am waiting on some pinking shears.

Barbara - I said it was six sides - it is indeed eight sides - doh!

And lastly here is Teresa Wentzler's beginners whitework ornament which is hard to see in the picture but it really is beautiful. The stitches are all speciality stitches and so so easy to do. Don't be put off by it. It is a free design and can be found on her website. I used weeks dye works in Cherry Vanilla and used antique glass beads:



Happy stitching everyone,

xx

Exchanges received and bp update

Here is my Beatrix Potter January progress. I am using Victorian Mottos threads in Antique Wine set on Sassy's Tan Marble Jobelan. It is so nice to work on. I am loving the blends of the colour and they go so well together. Some people have asked if I have a plan for doing the colours but I don't really. I am just ad-libbing and seeing how it comes out. I am not going to get over stressed with this piece.

My two recent exchanges have arrived I have been told by the recipients. Mamajoan was my recipient for the Winter House sbebb exchange and this is what I made her:



It is taken from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas ornie mag from last year and the design is a PS one. It was a joy to stitch and finish into this miniature pinkeep.

I have also heard from Su that she has got my Blackbird Design sbebb exchange. This exchange was cancelled but I had already started it and was prepared to send it anyway and Su really likes it I believe. I stitched it on some special fabric that Stephanie gave me from Silkweaver and used Cresent Colour threads and antique glass beads to edge it.



Speaking of Christmas ornies... I got this through today and intend to use it for the Christmas ornament challenge blog. I have bought some Holly green coloured felt and am awaiting some Fiskars pinking Shears so I can finish them just like the picture:



So guess what I'll be working on this weekend?

Have a good weekend to all my readers and commenters. I love hearing from you and finding new blogs to visit. xx

Elijah's First Birthday!

Yesterday was Elijah's first birthday! I can't believe how fast this year has gone and that my baby boy is a year old already. We had a very quiet one - no family came round or anything. We went to Frankie and Bennies for our tea and they turned out all the lights and played Happy Birthday to him when they brought him his cake. We all ate some fab food. I had Penne Aribbiata and Lily had the biggest Hot Dog you've ever seen. Rick had Spag Bol and Elijah really loved that tomato and pesto garlic bread. It was very lovely and a good time was had by all.

ABC exhange and do I really want to do this???

Another successfull exchange has been completed. Becky got her Biscornu that I made.





Mary's Pin pillow
Indigo Rose

I love the over one alphabet around the edge! I beleive Becky liked this.

And I got this spectacular piece in the post today from Mama Joan. Thanks Joan, I absolutely love it and it is finished so perfectly too. It is a little round box with the alphabet on top and she has lined the inside with some gorgeous abc fabric too. Joan says she cannot remember who the designer is which is a shame as it is so pretty.





And now onto the "Do I really want to do this?" question. I have decided that I am going to give this UFO to my dad to work on. It has about 50 pages in total and as much as I love it, I just know that I am not going to get round to completing it. I am going to suggest to my dad that we could even work on it a page each and pass it back and forth. My Dad stitches. He is super quick and although he has never done anything like the size of this, I know he will be up for the challenge. So I discussed it with my dad and he agreed to have a go at it but when it came to pulling it out of the cupboard, my heart just sank at the thought of giving this away. But I know I have to let it go. Here was the last pic taken in May 2007!!!! I have not touched it since. It is a beautiful picture - quite stunning.



I will let you know the outcome, but right now I need to go to the post office and get a mighty big envelope to put it all in.

Happy stitching everyone. xx

A wonderful surprise....

Today I got the best surprise ever through the post! Sue aka Redwitch had recently finished A Quaker Study and it was a chart on my wishlist. Sue not only sent me the chart but also three Vicki Clayton silks that she used with it! I love her colour choice fot this design and think I will use the same ones. Thank you so much Sue! It was a wonderful gift and I will treasure it!



xx

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.