News from the frontline…

In the war against ennui, we have another casualty. Yes, I am bored.

The winter doldrums have hit hard folks. I’m not stitching, I’m eating like a pig and I’m not exercising at all. Just feeling a bit blah. Everything feels like hard work. I like to think we have all had these moments (it can’t just be me, surely).

You will wonder why I’m feeling so blah, when you see the piece I am stitching (when I am stitching, that is) - a class piece designed by Janie Hubble of The Cat’s Whiskers, this piece has Pizazz! Here are some thumbs of my progress so far…

These doldrums are a temporary thing, I’ll bounce back soon - my natural temperament is unbelievably cheery.  Annoyingly so, in some cases.  Till next time, friends.

Strawberry fobs

I finished these two strawberry fobs this morning.  I’ve written a tutorial on making Stawberry fobs for the Focus on finishing blog, which I hope you will find useful. Looking at the photo, I prefer the strawberry on the left.  The ribbons used for the second are a little too wide, but it is still pretty cute on the whole

Sorry to be so quiet lately, work has been crazy and I haven’t had much time to be online.

I’ve been stitching and have lot’s to share!

I finally sat down and stitched a baby piece for my new niece Cate. The day after she was born I grabbed all the baby themed pieces in my stash (a surprisingly large pile) and asked Lucy to choose the piece she’d like stitched for Cate. Lucy selected a Lizzie Kate Snippet, Welcome Baby (S70). It’s all finished except for the JABC button which I’ll add later when I have one.

I’ve also stitched Lizzie Kate’s 1st Christmas Snippet (S61) for our little Cate. I stitched one of these for her brother Niall during his first year (he’s three next Friday, can you believe it!) I really like that the ornament matches her birth piece. Don’t be concerned, those traveling threads you can see in the scan are not so obvious in real life. I’ve still got a bit of that fabric left and I am thinking it would be good to make a name plate for her door using another LK chart - ABCrazy.

Here’s one of my little finishes from my weekend away with my Stitching Girlfriends. This is Shepherds Bush’s Take my heart. Very cute and a fun stitch.

I don’t remember if I shared this finish - here is one of the Prairie Schooler’s Christmas Strawberries (PS chart no 101). Stitched with Hand-dyed fibres by Vikki Clayton - Old maid of the forrest and Old maid of the heart on White belfast fabric.

And here’s another (this one was started and finished on the weekend away) using the same fibre and fabric combination.

And lastly here is my little start on The Shores of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings. I’m using Vikki Clayton’s silk conversion with Vintage Autumn Gold Edinburgh linen by Lakeside Linens. I like how it is looking so far and it has been a fun stitch so far.
Well it’s late, time I was in bed really, so I’m going to leave this post here. Happy stitching everyone.

Seasonal exchange from Barbara.

My mail box runneth over! Here’s another wonderful seasonal exchange from Barbara! Barbara has been stitching seasonal exchanges for me for the past year and this is the last package I will be receiving. Barbara sent a wonderful needlebook and fob designed by The Sampler Girl. It’s just beautiful!

Here you can see the outside of the needlebook. Barbara has used linen banding to great effect.

And here is the inside of the needlebook, I love the fabby inside, which is also used on the back of the fob, which I neglected to photograph. Thank you so much Barbara, this has been a lovely year of packages - each piece you have sent has been delightful.

Spring Exchange for Goldie.

Here’s a picture of the Spring Exchange I sent to Goldie.   This is part of Cherished Stitches’ Amethyst  Collection (The LE tin, needlebook and fob).  This was such a fun stitch! I am going to do it over for myself sometime soon.  I’ve had to borrow this picture from Goldie because (like the utter boob you all know me to be) I carefully wrapped the exchange stitching and goodies up in tissue before I realized I had forgotten to take a picture.  You can see some other pictures of the whole package I sent over on Goldie’s Blog.

I’ve been away this weekend with my stitching friends, Janine, Marilyn, Maggie, Kathy, Margaret and Bev.  We stitched, chatted, ate and drank way to much!  I have a couple of little finishes to share with you but I am a bit bushed right now and can’t be bothered getting up to go to the scanner so I’ll share them with you another day.  I also started The Shores of Hawk Run Hollow (I just happened  to have it in my WIP basket). Pictures to follow soon…

Time for a bit of an update…

Stitching has taken a bit of a back seat this last week, Dad’s been visiting from Adelaide. He’s been looking forward to meeting my sister’s new baby since she was born in April.

Once I finished up with my seasonal exchange for Goldie, I was at a bit of a loose end. I know I really should have got started on my next seasonal exchange for Carol, or the biscornu exchange for a secret recipient but instead I decided to pick up my And they sinned… This is a restart with the called for GAST fibres. Very pretty so far - I have to admit I thought the colours were a little garish to start with but I am starting to really like how the piece is looking. Want to see a bigger pic… follow this link.

Now, I couldn’t end this post without a picture of the reason Dad came to visit, our sweet baby Cate. She’s 2 months old now! What a cutie!

Oh help! (Enabling alert!)

I’ve just finished my blog browsing for the morning and saw on Amy’s blog that Down Sunshine Lane has the new issue of Just Cross Stitch - which is the ornament preview issue… very exciting to see! The only piece I wouldn’t stitch (at the moment, never say never) is the kid with a snowball at the bottom (though maybe this might be a good ornament for Baby Cate).

Of course whilst I was browsing DSL I also saw the new Limited Edition Prairie Schooler Kit - a must have for me - I love him! I also love the new Lizzie Kate - Normal is just a setting on the washer (which I hope to stitch for our laundry room someday along with this piece which is already in my stash).

In stitching news, I completed my spring exchange pieces for Goldie last night, I’m reasonably pleased with them - I hope she will like them. Now to get them packed up and ready to post! I also have the name of my partner for the Biscornu Exchange on the SBEBB - I know just what I want to stitch!

And because I don’t like to post with out a picture, here’s an old picture of Felix all wrapped up warm under a blanket. As it is getting colder here, I find he is getting much more insistent on joining me for cuddles!

A couple more motifs on Mary Thompson

I’ve been stitching away on an exchange gift this last week or so and unfortunately that means there has been a distinct lack of blog fodder. Lucky for me, I had been obsessively stitching on Mary Thompson before the exchange stitching began and so I present for your inspection yet again, Mary Thompson!

I’ve added the brown-y and pink leaf and the yellow and blue half medalions at the bottom of this scan.  I think the T is new too.

I went over to my friend Janine’s today to catch up with some very dear stitching friends.  As always the opportunity to spend money on stash was not ignored and I bought:

• Cupid and Vixen (Christmas Eve Couriers) - Nora Corbett (Mirabilia)
• Rose Garden Etui - Cherished Stitches
• Rose Garden Tin Topper - Cherished Stitches
• A Virtuous Huswif - Cherished Stitches
• Harvey scissor fob and sheath - The Heart’s Content
• Squirrel Scissor fob - The Heart’s Content
• Cabbage Rose Scissor Fob - The Heart’s Content
• 7 skeins of DMC (and I’ve come home to discover I need one more - poot!!)

Some truely yummy stash there.  It was great to catch up with everyone and hear all their news.

Till next time,  Fare thee well.

Feathered friends around the world…

Well folks, today’s my wedding anniversary. Another year has passed! It’s been four years since we tied the knot and we’re still very happy. If you want to see a pic from our big day here’s a link to last year’s post reflecting on our anniversary.

And to top off a lovely morning (Joel and I had a sleep in and traveled to work on the bus together) this wonderful package arrived from Joan, just as we were leaving the house. It’s a Feathered Friends Exchange package. Thank you Joan! Joan stitched this lovely pincushion from Blackbird Designs’ With needle and thread book. It’s just beautiful. Joan also sent along one of her gorgeous project bags, a fantastic needlecase painted by her daughter in law, a fabulous chicken pincushion (love it!!) some DMC from my wishlist, some yummy mints, some needles (in the needlecase), handmade thread-drops (love these too, I was just about to place an order for more of these) and some handcream. I feel so spoiled! Thank you so much Joan.

Here’s a picture of the pincushion front.

And one of the back.
Simone has received the package I sent to her too. It took less than a week to make it from Western Australia to The Netherlands!! I forgot to take photos of this package so please visit her blog to take a gander of what I sent. I stitched a couple of designs from Prairie Birds by The Prairie Schooler and finished them into a fob and a pinkeep.

I’ve been unwell with a cold this week so I had a couple of days at home to recover and managed to stitch a little - here’s my latest finish… Sweet Heart by Shepherd’s Bush. Sorry, not the greatest photo but it is very cute in real life.

I’m now waiting for Joel to come home, we haven’t quite decided if we want to go out for dinner tonight or have our current favourite from our Weight watcher’s cookbooks - Cumin Chicken and Carrot Couscous (really very yummy). We’ll have a marvelous time what ever we’ll do.

The return of Mary Thompson

Well, Mary Thompson leapt out of my WIP basket again this weekend and demanded some attention. I had a lovely time working on her. This time around I worked on the yellow wreath (inside the wreath are the initials MT to FT and the date: 1805). I also stitched the flower basket below the wreath and the letters N, E, D and P. Below is a picture of the whole thing so far…


Here’s a little information about Mary from the chart (which is inside the Jacket of the book, Quaker Schoolgirl Samplers from Ackworth by Carol Humphrey)…

Mary Thompson stitched this sampler in 1805, the year she left Ackworth School. She was at Ackworth for just two years and this is the only sampler by her in the school’s collection.
Mary was, relatively speaking, a local girl. She is recorded as coming from Ferrybridge which is close to Pontefract. Ferrybridge is in the heart of old coal mining territory and so the stay in Ackworth would have been a temporary respite from the smog, coal-grimed faces and the hard, yet closely knit life, of a colliery community.

It’s been an interesting experience working on a reproduction of her sampler.