Starting to feel Christmas-ish at the Villa Maylandia!

Hello friends! I’ve made a start on decorating our home for Christmas!

Mistletoe Testing Here (from Tiny Tidings XVI) / Lizzie Kate

Here’s a recent finish – Mistletoe testing here by Lizzie Kate. Stitching on this piece triggered my search for the perfect fake mistletoe (I was pretty sure the real thing was not available in this country as our customs regulations have been strict on the sort of plant matter brought into this country for a long time). For some reason, we just didn’t seem to have any fake mistletoe in Western Australia – I looked and looked! Finally I gave up and gave Etsy.com a try and found the rather wonderful example you can see in the picture (I love it!) Wouldn’t you know, the same day it was delivered I found a kissing ball in one of our department stores (which is now by our front door – I just couldn’t leave it behind!)

Christmas Blessings / Milady's Needle

And here’s a better photograph of the lovely ornament that Andrea sent to me last month which as you can see is now on our tree (and looking fabulous!!)

I have another finish to share but I have misplaced it for the moment! It’s Shepherd’s Bush’s Cotswold Sampler -  I’ll show you soon when I figure out what I have done with it!

In other stitching news I’ll be joining Vonna and the rest of her mad crew stitching on the Prairie Schooler Alphabet (probably a new year start)- I’m really looking forward to some PS stitching!  I am still plugging away at the purple spot sampler and now have more than half of it done!  I’ll have to share a photo of my progress soon!  Till next time my dears, happy stitching.

Wonderful Christmas Ornament received!

… from Andrea of the blog The Craft Room.

Andrea stitched Christmas Blessings by Milady’s Needle from the JCS ornament issue 2007 (coincidentally I also selected an ornament from that issue for my partner). As we all know, Andrea does beautiful stitching and finishing and this ornament is just stunning. I love it, it is beautiful. You can also see the lovely extra’s Andrea included with the parcel. It was a wonderful surprise. Thank you so much Andrea.

I suggest you look at Andrea’s photos as they are much better than mine at the moment – there are a couple of factors influencing this – I took mine at 6am before getting ready for work and I don’t have my Christmas folderol out, to stage the photo nicely (it’s in our shed). My excuse: I was in a bit of a rush to get these posted to let Andrea know that the package arrived safely. Now I’m all inspired to get it all out and start decorating for Christmas. I’ll replace the photos above when we’ve decorated (it will make me feel better – goodness I can see coffee rings on my desk that I didn’t know were there – what a slovenly housekeeper I am!!)

Dowerin Stitching Weekend

Hello Friends,

I’ve just returned from a weekend away in the wheatbelt town of Dowerin with some of my stitching girlfriends. We had a wonderful time – stitching, eating, stitching, drinking wine, stitching, laughing and stitching some more.

Beware of Cat / Lizzie Kate

Here’s the only finish I had over the weekend: Beware of Cat by Lizzie Kate. This is a retired Pocketbook Kit (included the fabric and button). I’ve had this as a work in progress for a long time – so I’m glad to have finally finished it!

Spot Sampler Mystery / Stickideen von der Wiehenburg

Whilst we were away I also got to work on some of my long standing WIPs. Here’s my progress on the Spot Sampler Mystery by Stickideen von der Wiehenburg (now published as Spot Sampler Patricia). I have been stitching on it quite a bit since I finished Mary Thompson. Here’s a link to the last post featuring a photo of my progress on this piece.

Countdown to Christmas / Blue Ribbon Designs

I also pulled out Countdown to Christmas by Blue Ribbon Designs and finished the right hand side of the top panel. To complete this section, I just need to complete the row of flowers beneath the text and finish stitching the bottom row of the outside edge. Then there’s the rest of the frame to do (oh, joy!)

Felix (Emperor Meow) draped in the Purple Spot Sampler

Whilst I was taking the photo of the Countdown to Christmas, I had draped the purple mystery spot over my stitching chair instead of putting it away in my WIP basket, imagine my combined horror and amusement when I turned around to behold the sight in the photo above. Mr F cat had found away to drape the spot sampler over his shoulders in a very regal fashion!  I couldn’t chose between this photo and the one that follows so I have included them both. I think that the Beware of Cat finish was timed exactly right!!

Felix again, such a cute (and very naughty) boy

Finished Peacock Cypher at long last!

Well friends, when I looked through my old blog posts to find out when I started this beauty I found it has been been languishing more than 2 years in the WIP pile! Shock horror! Started on the 7th of May 2007 and finally completed it last night 2nd Oct 2009. It’s stitched on Stitches and Spice “Moonbeam” 32 ct Jobelan with AVAS silks (as charted). Loooooove it!

Peacock Cypher / Just Nan

I’m so glad it is the weekend at last – even though we had a short week this week (WA had a public holiday on Monday) – it’s seemed a really long one – lots of long days at the office.  I’m working today but I have dinner with my SIL and her husband to look forward to tonight and Stitching time with the Stitchy Girlfriends on Sunday (followed by a BBQ).  Looking forward to seeing Alison who is visiting from New South Wales with the Stitchy girls – she’s such a fun lady – it will be great to catch up. Anyway, best get this published and get my tail to work.  Thanks for visiting!

Lovely gift from Suzanne

Hello Friends, a quick drive by post just to showcase this absolutely fabulous fob I received this week from Suzanne. It’s one of the bookmarks by Prairie Schooler stitched over one and it is adorable! Thank you so much Suzanne, such a beautiful keepsake (I’ve already attached it to one of my pairs of scissors).

Floral bookmark / The Prairie Schooler (Stitched by Suzanne)

We went out last night to Deville’s nightclub in Perth (it’s decked out to look like a cavern in hell and all the cocktails have a “devilish” theme). It was such fun, especially as last night they had an Elvis impersonator performing who was just fantastic, he did a wonderful Suspicious Minds. He also had the moves, which just made the performance for me – a great night out.

Today? Well, I’m off to catch up with the stitchy girls – yay!