Nearly A New Year Blog Visit :-)

Hi to everyone who may still pass by here and my very best wishes for a very Happy New Year 2010!!

As you can tell it has been a while since I have blogged - however it has been very wintry here in the UK these past weeks and it reminded me of something I'd stitched and not yet shown on my blog. I made this for my friend Colette, I actually started the stitching late in 2007 , more in 2008 plus the finishing , therefore I changed the date... and I think I finally sent it in 2009 ! It was a very late Christmas present ;-)

I used Little House Needleworks - 'Woodland Sampling' for the front of what was to become a needlecase, stitched 1/1 on 32ct Lambswool linen. I used a mixture of stated threads and some of my own choice. I changed the little bird to a British Robin as we don't get the red one on the chart here.

For the inside - which I completely stitched by hand, I used a pretty silk along with flannel needle pages. The ribbon is made from linen. It was my first time of making a needlecase with a spine.

I used a small part of 'Forest Snowfall' by Country Cottage Needleworks for the back which I also personalised. I thought the two different designs went well together :-)

This last picture shows how the spine looked with the tiny buttons I added for decoration.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my pictures, I thoroughly enjoyed making this. I didn't stitch much last year but do have a couple of things to show you some other time when I call in again... until then take care and thank-you if you have visited :-))

From one 'H' to another...

After getting over Marsha's birthday celebrations and waiting for The Royal Mail to do their thing ;-) here I am with a little something to show.

Part of a design taken from the chart by Little House Needlework 'Home of a Needleworker (too)'

I stitched this for one of our blogging friends and by sheer luck it happened to arrive smack - bang on time, exactly on the day of........her birthday !! Whooo hooo - Now, if I had tried to get it there on time I would have failed miserably, so I am feeling very pleased with myself for this unknown punctuality :-))) I stitched this on 40ct using DMC threads that I matched up more or less to the cover photo........ apart from, I couldn't resist a Red front door on my house ;-) I always fancy my 'real' house, because of its bay windowed style, to be Black (guttering & down pipes ) White (windows) & Red (front door), next time it is painted outside I think I might go for this look!

I am still working on my Brenda Keyes sampler (I LOVE it but just do not stitch quick enough for my liking! I shall keep the stamina going, I shall keep the stamina going, I shall..... but SORRY (to myself) have to admit I have drifted off (go on, admit it you all knew I would ;-) actually this is the third time I have 'difted') and have nearly finished a BBD mini chart, of course LOL this is just a TEMPORARY hitch and I will be back to BK even before I can think of an excuse in my head not to be. Do you follow ?? Maybe not ?! On that note have a lovely Sunday and thanks for calling by, I am baking Fairy Cakes tomorrow if you fancy to stop for a chat and the kettle is always on ......

Take care , happy stitching


Ooops nearly forgot.   Edited to add : Did you know Ellen Chester the lovely designer behind 'With my Needle ' now has a blog ? You can find her here  :-))  Thanks Claudia for the original info :) 

Happy Birthday Marsha

4 Today 

In her favourite spot , the dolls Bunk Beds that she is far too big for , on top of Amy's wardrobe either sleeping or looking out of the window :) xxx

Good Morning and Happy Weekend Everybody

It will be a good one here as it is a long weekend for May Day Bank Holiday :-) The weather looks bright and like it is going to be cheerful, fingers crossed, hope nobody has ordered the usual UK Bank Holiday rain ?

I have got some mighty big plans for this weekend I do hope I fit it all in! I must be excited as I went to sleep at 1.30am dreaming of a nice Saturday lie-in until little DS gets up at about 7 ish (well I did say dreaming of a lie-in). BUT I had an attack of insomnia waking at 4.30 am, couldn't get back to sleep so came downstairs of a cup of tea and hey, I am still here!

Why the excitement, I hear you ask, I have decided to become Barbara Good from 'The Good Life' . I am going to pull out my old dungarees (to look the part) and *make* our garden grow some organic vegetables . However , like Barbara I don't really have much of a clue but surely it can't be that difficult, can it? I'll just plant them in amongst the flowers and hope for the best, well , should I say hope I don't poison us all by doing that ! I have some little seed pots to start some of them off but others can go straight into the ground. I am really hoping growing some veg ourselves will encourage DS to fancy eating it a bit more, will it work , do you think ;-) ? Oh NO ! I have just realised that I have forgotten the all important potatos! I am right into the idea of natural alternatives , so is my neighbour - I think , as I saw them pouring what looked awfully like cooking oil of some variety into their car the other day..... no, I am NOT that naturally alternative !!

For the other time, I am off to a Farmers Market this morning and going on a hunt for the April issue of Quiltmania, the one with BBD in and Potatos now , of course. I plan to get back to my Brenda Keyes sampler (once I have scrubbed my hands of soil) as I can tell my stamina is waning with me not stitching as fast as I would like. I haven't picked it up in a few weeks ! I must summons up 'my stitching stamina' like you all seem to possess, can anybody loan me some ? I also have Mount Ironmore to plough my through, thing is if I start that bang will go the whole weekend as there is that much........ maybe I will just phone the Iron Ladies instead. So we will see what happens to my intentions as DD and DS have intentions of their own, of the Sleepover variety and a trip out somewhere nice!!



Here are some nice grainy wobbly pictures taken with my camera before it went totally caput , modeled by The Winter Fairy who has been re-visiting this past week! She has packed her bags and gone until December seen as I made her work ;-)

This was the BELIEVE freebie from the lovely Tanya .

I stitched it 1 over 1 , left off the snowflake bits and made up the border round the design . I cannot remember the linen or thread colours I used but they were Dark Brown, Green and Deep Red.

I used some Organza ribbon for the hanger and another couple of bits and bobs to pretty it up , it is really small and I love it :)



While I remember seen as I have mentioned her earlier ...... Brenda Keyes who owns 'The Sampler Company' has a website , not only can you see her wonderful designs here but she sells other interesting things including some one-off ready stitched samplers and the most gorgeous Sampler Hearts. Go have a look by clicking on her logo below :-)))




Enjoy :-)


P.S. Does my blog display correctly to you all? Are all 5 pictures in one line across? I had not realised until I was at a friends the other day that there had been a problem with how it looked for months as it always looked fine on my computer. I hope it is fixed now, I have got my html errors down from 87 to only 15 :) Thanks again Leena for helping me and keep looking.

Petites Lettres Rouges

Hooray :-)) I am so pleased I managed to get my little sampler finished in time to enter the Blackbird Designs contest that a lot of us have joined into this past week. I hardly dared send my entry in as there are some stunning little samplers that have been created by you all.

I loved the idea of a competition not that I think I would win but for the deadline and having to find myself the time to do it . As soon as I saw the sampler, that was originally stitched some 91 years ago, it immediately made me think of my own DD who is round about the same age as Alice was when she stitched the piece. So with that in mind I have stitched mine for her.....from one little girl (Alice) to another - especially for my own DD Amy.

I would like my own small letter to my DD , to read within this sampler , stitched forever for her with the following interpretation....For Amy....I have put the required bird in so you will always have the freedom to feel free and spread your budding wings, I have added an anchor that you may always feel secure and steadily confident in your own self and beliefs, there is a little crown because my sweetheart you will always be my beautiful princess and lastly but by no means least I have added a heart because I love you with all of mine xxx

My picture is not the best 'in focus' as my camera is away being mended and I had to try to use my Dh's which was a bit difficult for me , however you can get the idea :)

Stitched 1 over 1 on Antique White 36 Count Linen by Permin (Wichelt) using thread colours

Dark: Anchor 897

Medium: Anchor 1019

Light: Crescent Colours 'Root Beer Float'

I am looking forward to making this up into a pretty something for my DD :)

Seen as this is a French style posting I thought I would include this picture I took of the Eiffel Tower for you to see. I was in France towards the end of last year with my family and I thought this shows really well just how absolutely HUGE the tower is, do you see the cranes near it for size comparision??

Good luck everyone and take care :-))