a surprise and a wip or two...

I have to start out by saying that I've had the worst headache today, so bad in fact that I ended up coming home early from work... just couldn't handle sitting in front of a computer anymore...

So I came home had a nice long nap, which helped tremendously, (not to mention the extra strenght tylenols) and I found a wonderful package when I woke up. I got mail! All the way from New Zeland!!!

I was so excited to get this, and it was a total surprise as well. It was from my wonderful friend Evi, as a belated Christmas gift! It could not have come at a better time! Oh the goodies inside! So beautiful, so lovely, such a great way to fix an icky day!!!

Here is what I recieved, with a huge thank you to Evi for spoiling me so much!

- a lovely hand sewn and stitched cover for my e-reader (the striped folded fabric bag with my initial stitched on it)
- a friendship bracelet in lovely blues and browns
- some great lip balm - how did you know I was in desperate need of some!?!
- a lovely small piece of mother of pearl
- the cutest little kitty tin (I *heart* kitties) which contained the two thread rings
- a beautiful jade necklace!!! love love love it
- and last but not least the bestest hand knit mittens a girl could ask for! so nice and soft and warm! (especially with our winters)

I have been totally spoiled and I just want to thank you again for all the wonderful goodies!!! Al lof them will be put to good use!

Now for the second part of my post - my wip... I started the Birds of A Feather mystery SAL by With Thy Needle & Thread last weekend (Jan. 21) and I continued to work on it all last week. Here is where I am as of this past Saturday.

I'm stitching mine on 28ct and I think I'll have enough thread, so I've ordered some extra and am just waiting for it to arrive. I'm enjoying stitching it, the stitches seem to lie so nicely on this fabric.

This week I am working on the Last Supper, but not much progress has been made, as Monday and yesterday I spent my stitching time organizing my bobbins... something I should have done a while ago but kept putting off. I finally finished it yesterday, and now all my threads are nicely arranged in my boxes next to my stitchy spot. Now I can actually pull threads for any project and know where the DMC threads are! (instead of searching the house for them!)

I've already pulled the thread for another project - also a wip... Fairy Moon, but I think I'll be putting that one back on the back burner as last year my little niece requested that I stitch Mirabilia's Sabrina for her for her birthday... Well I didn't stitch it last year, as I just didn't have time as her sister had already asked me to stitch Sweet Pea, and with both their birthday's just weeks apart, there was no way I would be able to do both. So I'm going to start Sabrina next week and see how far I can get.

So I'm off to stitch, as I have a few fairly large projects with tight deadlines!

a start, a finish and a gift...

Yesterday, Barbi and I started on our next girl for our Sunday SAL... Mary Margaret by Carriage House Samplings... here is my progress on her so far...

Not too much done, but considering I didn't have too much time to stitch, she progressed fairly well. Also considering that I've been working a lot on 28ct lately, changing to 32ct last night was strange... those darn holes were so small! it will take a little getting used to again, but all will be well.

Next up, is a finish for me! Happy dance time! I finished off my Batch of Pumpkins by Homespun Elegance... what a fun and quick stitch it turned out to be! Except for that darn kitty! I had to frog that thing 2 1/2 times last week, but I finally learned to count again, and got everything in order so I could continue. And as you can see continue I did! I had only a little bit left as of Saturday night, but I had a sick day today, so inbetween naps I managed to do a little stitching and finished those pumpkins right up!

I stitched it up using the recommended DMC threads - with one change - I changed the pumpkin colour to 780 instead of the 782 listed just becuase I had no 782 on hand... it is also stitched on 28ct praire grain joblean - a very nice fabric to stitch on, as well as a very nice colour. I think I may need to add some more of it to my stash as I only have a small piece left.

And last but definitely not least... my gift... I recieved a belated birthday gift from my niece. She made me a pin cushion. I just love it to pieces, and it now sits proudly by my stitchy spot already with some pins in it!

I also recieved the next part in the iStitch SAL over the weekend, so I'll probably pull that out and stitch that up next. After that is done, there is only one part left before a happy dance! Then for the rest of the week, I will most likely go back to working on the tulips as I really should get those done...

gifts, finishes and wips...

Today was my niece's 10th birthday, so we did some celebrating... picked her up from school, went to the mall where she wanted to go to build-a-bear. She got a puppy from there, and then we came home to balloons, and flowers. We had at her request pizza for dinner, and of course birthday cake and presents.

Here is what I stitched her, as per her request...

She got a lined bag with a skull and crossbones on it, and you can just see the lining peeking out - hot pink spiderweb fabric, which she will also get a pillow case made from it, and she got a little ornament pillow with another skull and crossbones.

It is a freebie, that can be found here.

I stitched it up on 14ct damask aida, the last in my stash. I've always loved the colour of this fabric, and only had a small piece left and have been hanging onto it literally for years for the right project. I love the way it turned out and judging by my niece's reaction, she liked them too.

I also finished up La~D~Da's Flowery Alphabet. From my last post, all I was missing was my initials and the date so here you go...

And last but not least, my minimal progress on Elizabeth... I'm not sure what is going on with this project, but it seems that I'm stitching on it and stitching on it but I'm not going anywhere! Hopefully now that those two birds are out of the way, I'll be able to progress a bit more. For some reason they were just taking me forever to do!

She is still an enjoyable stitch, just a very slow going one!

I'm not sure what to work on this week. I have a little bit of new stash that is just calling my name as well as several other projects that I would just love to start but then my pile of WIPS is just sort of languishing... so I'm sort of stuck as to which to pick up for the next few days...

I guess I just see which one it is that calls the loudest tomorrow night!

slowly stitching away...

Even with the best intentions, after I posted last Sunday, I didn't get a single stitch done on Elizabeth by CHS. So I'll just show you my progress from last night. Not much, and I was getting sick of the grey in the birds so I moved up a little...

Not a lot of progress, but at least I managed some. I was so distracted yesterday that even though I had lots of time to sit and stitch, I just couldn't sit still and concentrate. Last week, I managed to pick up the thread that I ran out of for La D Da's Flowery Alphabet, and I am basically finished it. I have a 99% happy dance to show.... I'm just missing my initials and the date, which I put on tonight, but I'll save the proper happy dance for tomorrow's post.

I stitched it on 32 ct Sand jobelan by Silkweaver... I also switched out one of the recommended DMC colours as the converstion looked a little dark and blah when I pulled the threads... I switched the colour of the letters, as the pattern says to use DMC 844 but I found that too dark of a grey especially since the cover picture showed blueish letters. I really enjoyed stitching this one and like how it turned out. I hope you do too.

Also, I have one more quick happy dance. I actually finished this a while ago - sometime last month, but completely forgot to post it.

My little niece's 10th birthday is coming up and she too asked me to stitch something for her. She originally wanted Sabrina by Mirabilia but then saw a freebie I downloaded onto my computer and wanted me to stitch that for her. I actually found two of these freebies, and here is one... all stitched up.

She has a fascination with skulls and crossbones, so this one will become a lined bag that she can keep her little things in. I couldn't find pink skull lining fabric, so it will be lined with pink spiderweb fabric instead. I have another skull freebie, with a pink heart around it, that I will also stitch up for her as a little ornament.

I'm also a bit frustrated with blogger... on my side bar (to me at least) my 2011 finished all seem to be spaced out funny compared to my 2010 finishes list... Does it look that way to you or is it just on my computer?? I've tried fixing several times, including completely deleting it and redoing the text box, but it still comes out funny for me.

I forgot...

Seems I've forgotten to share something with you all... I could have sworn I did, but I was looking back on my past blog posts I saw that I completely forgot to share with you a lovely gift I recieved for Christmas! I'm so embarassed... I know I sent a thank you and posted a picture on facebook, but completely forgot to share here.

I'm hoping its better late than never... so here it is! I recieved a wonderful package from Evi - and all of it handmade!

It included two beautifully crocheted granny squares, that are now hanging by my computer so I can see them all the time, a crocheted pin cushion, which is getting put to good use by my stitching seat, two very cute and very little crocheted snowman/snowballs who are also sitting here by my computer watching me as I type this, and last but not least, one of her very sought after "big head" bears. This is Napsugar (or Sunbeam though I prefer Sunshine in English)

She has lived up to her name as well, as since she has arrived she has brought much needed sunshine to me, and put a literally permanent smile on my face! And to top it off, I'm not sure if it was a coinscidence or not, but my stitching mojo returned at the same time! So another great big thank you to Evi, I love all of it and couldn't believe it then and still can't believe that I was lucky enough to recieve such wonderful goodies.

I sent Evi her Christmas gift as well, but as I'm sure I've mentioned many times before I am the Queen of Procrastination, so needless to say my gift was late (as usual), but it has arrived safe and sound and I can finally show part of it. Only part of it as it totally slipped my mind to take a picture of everything together.

Part of her gift was two stitched ornaments, one was the Happy New Year one, shown previously, and the second one was the mystery ornament which was my last finish of 2010. Here is a picture of that since you've only seen the back of it so far!

It is the "Seaside Whale Ornament" freebie ornament by Casey Buonaugurio. You can find it here: click . I thought it was not only cute but appropriate, as she just spent her first Christmas in New Zealand.

On to other stitching... yesterday was our Sunday SAL with Barbi, and I worked on Molly some more.

I had more spots filled in on the cat, but ended up frogging it and redoing them, as the second colour called for - the 3787 was way to close to the 844 that the cat was stitched in, so I switched it out and blended a couple of colours together -830 and 869. I think it looks a bit closer to the cover model now.

Last week I also worked on Nora Corbett/Mirabilia's Sweet Pea...

She is coming along nicely, her skirt is almost finished and despite all the various colour changes, she works up quickly. My other niece, has choosen her Mirabilia as well - Sabrina, though I may try and talk her out of that one, as there is now way I would be able to stitch that in time for her birthday in April!!!! I'll try and talk her into her second choice which is Nora Corbett/Mirabilia's Pansy. That is much more "doable" in the time frame I have than Sabrina.

That's it for now... I do have two photo hunts to share, but I'll do those in a separate post later. I'm not sure what I'm going to work on now, but I'll find something to stitch!

sharing a gift...

I can finally share with you my mystery stitching I did a little while ago. After every sort of techinical difficulty you can imagine, the whole gift came together, and now finally we were able to deliver the gift to its recipients. It was a long difficult road to get there but I think it was worth it and I hope the recipients think so too.

With out further ado... here is the stitching!

I stitched Heart In Hand's - Together, on a mystery pale green/mint 28 ct fabric. It was a fun stitch, and I just may have to do it again for myself! I really like the way it turned out.

And here is the whole gift... I stole the picture from her facebook page as all the ones I took didn't turn out!

My hubby made one of those photo books on his mac and it turned out lovely. I wouldn't hesitate to make more of these, the quality is great. The only thing not showing in the picture is the cd we made for them with all their wedding pictures on it. My computer can do the light scribe thing where you can add a picture to the front of the cd - I've never used it before, but it was fun and the cd turned out super cute if I do say so myself!

back in cyberland...

I'm back! And almost back to normal! My computer died the day after my last post, and I'm finally up and running again! I wasn't totally gone, I had my the use of my hubby's laptop but I didn't want to fill it with all my stuff, so I tended to just stick to facebook (including my farm on farmville) and reading blogs and emails via webmail.

Its good to be back! Also a good thing that the Saturday prior to my computer dying (still don't know what caused it) I did a backup, so really not much was lost. Now the only thing we need to figure out is how to get my emails and contacts back from the recovery files... we've seem to have gotten everything else but those back... but in time those will be too...


Now on to what I was up to while I was semi computerless... well stitching of course!!!! LOL

Last post, I just put down Quaker Samplings III and was trying to figure out what to work on next... well I decided to pull out a WIP that hasn't been out in a few months, so I grabbed my Antique Lace canvas project. I hadn't worked on this one since October 2009.

I did the filling stitches for the next band down - the one with the flowers in it.

Here it is in its entirety, it looks a little off, as I was leaning over my hubby to take the picture as he held it flat for me.

I still have two bands to fill with the medium grey and then all the little bands need to be filled - those are left black right now, with a darker grey and then I am on the final layer - the backstitch layer which makes it look more lacey... Sadly as much as I enjoy working on this project, I really can't spend a lot of time on it as it seems to make my hands hurt... so this again gets put away for a while...


Next up, is a little freebie I stitched up and made into a scissor fob for a friend's birthday gift.

Its a freebie by Marika Belfiori ( http://www.marikabel.splinder.com/ )stitched over 1 on some mystery 28ct fabric with Ollalieberry Glorianna silk thread (one of my favourite colours by them). There was more to the gift, but I didn't take a picture before giving it to her...

Next up, I decided to again go back to a WIP and I worked on Cappuccino by LHN. Here is that one:

as well as a shot of the whole thing so far:

Well Mother's day came and went, and I didn't get to take any lily of the valley out to my mom, as they are just starting to bloom now. Mother Nature really did a job on us these past few weeks, and really showed us who was in charge. In my last post I mentioned how we had a little spring snow blizzard that weekend, well we managed to get two more of them, the only good thing was that our end of the city didn't get blasted as bad as other parts, though I know the farmers won't complain, as moisture is moisture and they'll take it anyway they can get it. :O)

Knock on wood, we're supposed to have some nice weather the next few days and into the weekend, and we plan on taking full advantage of it! I won't be stitching for a little while now, as the canvas project really took its toll on me, so I'm giving my hands and wrists a little break, at least here at home, since at work I still need to be on the computer.

Anyways, till next time, happy stitching, and happy spring!

*edited to add the website for the freebie, since my link wasn't wanting to work... blogger kept adding the "blogger.com" in front of it

saturday's drive by posting

I've been plugging along on my Quaker Sampling III by With My Needle, and I finally have a good chunk to show off... here is where I am as of Thursday night...

I'm really enjoying working on this, and I just love the thread colour - Rose Garden, Simply Shaker GAST, its definitely one of my favourites.

Thursday was also the TUSAL day, and I (as usual) forgot to post my ort jar... here its is... I just took the photo now, but I haven't stitched since Wednesday, so not much has changed.

I also got a message from Evi, who let me know my belated birthday gift to her arrived. Actually it got there very quickly, as we mailed it on Monday and she had it in Europe on Friday! I'm so glad though that it didn't take long to arrive, as well as to read that she liked what I sent her.

She was the suprise recipient of my Blackbird Designs - Bird in Hand. And we (mainly hubby) sewed it into a lined bag for her.

Also included in the package were 4 balls(skeins?) of Alpaca wool, two cross stitch patterns - one by the Trilogy: Friends in all seasons and one by A Mon Ami Pierre: Nine Red 1, and a small SanMan tuck banner - I love Tulips. You can see a better picture of them on her blog, as I took my pictures late Sunday night before quickly packing it to mail.

tusal and other stitching goodness...

First off, I'm a week late with my TUSAL progress report... here it is! the layer where you see the fabric pieces, is where I started off from last month after squishing everything down. Everything above that is new, and already squashed after taking this picture. All pictures are clickable to biggify!

Next up, I've been working on a few birthday gifts, two of which I can show you... these are for my nieces, who will be 15 and 8 in the next month. I just need to finish getting together a little package for them and off in the mail these go. The backs of both have "happy birthday" stitched in Hungarian.

The ice cream cone is a freebie by Casey Buonaugurio - How Sweet it is, and the kitty was a freebie from the Stitcher's Village 1 year anniversary newsletter, designed by The Cat's Whiskers. I changed the colours on the kitty to make the cake more of a girlie cake and the kitty to match mine.

Last but not least, I started a new project again... what else is new right? This is a small one though, so it shouldn't take too long to finish... its Bird in Hand by Blackbird Designs. Its one of their new ones that came out at the Nashville market. Here is my progress from one night of stitching...

So many new pattterns and projects I would like to start already but I'm trying to actually finish off some wips...

However, to quench my startitis urge, Barbi and Iwill be starting our Sunday SAL up again soon and this time we will be doing the 4 girls by Carriage House Samplings - Molly, Suzannah, Mary Margaret and Elizabeth. We'll be starting with Molly, as her kitty and her pigtails are just too cute! (at least I think so) And then as we finish one girl, we'll just move onto the next. I'm really looking forward to these, as they have been in my stash for a while now and I will finally be stitching them.

Another one that is really calling my name is Rose Quaker Sampler by Stickideen von der Wiehenburg, maybe once I get another finish or two (larger ones) done then I'll start it, but it will be difficult not to start it right away!

what cupid brought...

Well Dad and hubby both opened their little packages and this is what they got...

First up my Dad...

his packet contained some lovely Valentine's day candies, and a little stitched pillow with a cherub. I fell in love with this pattern when I saw it on Carol's blog and it is a freebie by Ariane Jean Pierre. As soon as I saw it I went searching the internet. Its stitched on 28ct white joblean, with GAST Claret thread. I really love the way it turned out...

Here is what my dear Hubby recieved...

His also contained some lovely Valentine's day candies (sadly no cinnamon hearts - but I'm the only one who likes those) and a little stitched hanging ornament. It is Erica Micheal's Hugs and Kissses freebie, stitched on 28ct white joblean and DMC threads - 3326, 3350, and 3625

My Valentine spoiled me with some of my favourite happy flowers... gerbera daisies!

I just love how these look, and they always make me smile. Don't get me wrong, I love roses too, but somehow these call to me more...

And while I'm sharing, I thought I would share a little happy dance that I actually had over a week ago, I just sort of forgot to post... how terrible is that - forgetting to post! But better late than never here is my "Blessings Be Thine" happy dance!!!

Blessings Be Thine by Blackbird Designs, stitched on 28ct ivory joblean, using GAST in Rose Garden and Baby Spinach (I just love these two colours together) and DMC 433 and 677.

Last but not least, it is also time for the TUSAL! For once, I'm finally on time for posting ti!

Its been a few days since I had a needle in my hand, but I'll show you my progress as of Sunday...

Saturday night I picked up "Blessings Be Thine" again, I was truly hoping for a happy dance with this one still this month, but I have to say right now its not looking good... too much to still stitch with not much stitching time in the forseeable future... but I am liking how its coming along...

I am however, not liking the white stars on this one, and have already pulled the floss to change it to a more yellow colour. As it is, you can't see the white in the picture, and though you can see it in real life, it doesn't appeal to me... so those will be coming out soon.

On Sunday, I pulled out my LHN Neighbourhood SAL, and continued working on the border on that one... I had plenty of stitching time Sunday, as we had a nice relaxing day/evening, even watched two movies. Though, I guess I was watching more than stitching, as it doesn't feel like I got that much done compared to how much time I had to stitch.

Then yesterday, I got a wonderful package in the mail, from my very special friend Evi in Hungary! She orginally wanted to send it for Christmas but that didn't work out, and that is fine with me, and it is a great "new year's" gift!

She sent me a wonderful new kitty friend called Dezso, who is all dressed and ready for our winter here, as it can get quite cold...as well as a beautifully crocheted angel (she has the matching one herself) some lovely cream and hand sanitizer and of course some very yummy Hungarian chocolate. Here is Dezso sitting next to my teddy who watches over me while I stitch.

And in the off chance you missed the cute little tag hanging of Dezso's scarf, he is all hand made by Evi herself! He's such a cutie, and I really hope he likes his new home over here! I forgot to take a picture of the crocheted angel, as well as the rest of the gift, but the chocolate is already half gone... and I promise next update I'll show you the angel. She is really very pretty and oh so delicate... again handmade by Evi...

So a great big public thank you for everything! It was such a wonderful suprise to open the envelope and see everything.

christmas continued...

I recieved a few stitched gifts right on the 24th in the mail and thought I would share them with you...

LHN Holly and Berries from Polly


Chocolat from Dia

It was such a lovely surprise to recieve these in the mail from these two lovely ladies. The stitching on them is beautiful, and I believe I'll get hubby to help me (read as him) to finish off the chocolat one into a similar little pillow/wall hanging. Again thank you ladies!

I also love to collect Nativity scenes, and have a couple around the house during the holidays. For Christmas this year, my dear sweet husband got the last two pieces I was missing from my large set. I recieved the three wise men, as well as the "manger" itself. He surprised me, as when we set it up on the 23rd on the piano, I was still missing those two "pieces" by the time I woke up on the 24th, they were there all set up as if they had been there all along. It was such a sweet and wonderful surprise.

Willow Tree nativity

I have also done a little finishing and stitching over the last couple of days when I could, and I "finished" my 4 Joy ornaments - one of which has already gone to its new home, as well as I stitched up the Quaker Snowman freebie by Midnight Stitching the other night. I've been wanting to stitch this one up for the longest time, and now I have one, but he is calling me to stitch him a few more times, and I probably will - maybe as a head start on next year's ornaments! Last night I also managed to stitch up another cute freebie, this one called Christmas Hearts by Happy Threads.

Quaker Snowman freebie by Midnight Stitching
stitched over 2 on 25ct natural peal linen

Christmas Hearts by Happy Threads
Pattern found here

great mail day!

I'm at home not feeling well today, so I was a little blah and down. But what a better way to cheer up than to recieve something fantastic in the mail! (finally something other than bills!)

My wonderful friend Evi from Hungary sent me this wonderful package as a belated birthday gift. She makes the most wonderful knitted and crocheted things, its an honour to get anything from her belated or not! You have to check her blog and her meska site out to see all the neat things she makes. Though her blog is in Hungarian, please drop her a line (she speaks English as well) if you like what you see.

I recieved a beautiful scarf and mitten set, as well as a very pretty cross stitched bookmark, and a gorgeous skein of hand dyed floss - she dyed it herself and made only two skeins, one for her and one for me! How sweet is that! Now to just find something super special to stitch with it!

Check out the close up of the detail on the scarf... I just love it and think its beautiful! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! No words can say express just how thankful I am or how much I love it!

Though I don't really want to rush winter and the cold weather, I can hardly wait to start wearing these! They are such a pretty eggplant kind of purple, so very pretty and so very difficult to get a good picture to show off the true colour!