Winter Exchange TO Claudia

I am so pleased, my exchange has arrived to Claudia in Italy !! I should be used to it by now but I do get a bit worried about a safe delivery !!

I am also so pleased that Claudia 'truely loves' receiving another Mary Garry design from me :-)) I have had a lovely email from her :)) This time, for Winter, I have chosen 'Amelia's Ice Skating Remembrance'. This design is a little rarer (?) than the Ice Skating Party, I must say I LOVE them both :-))) I chose this because of the obvious Winter aspect but also because I stitched it on Sunday evenings when 'Dancing on Ice' was on TV!! I stitched Amelia near enough as the colours were stated with a blue hat and scarf and an OD blue coat. I *know* Claudia loves blues :-))) I just pulled colours from my stash so have used a mixture of DMC , GAST and TG Silk n Colours !

I handstitched this French lace around the edge , you can also see the ribbon I used to go around the tin, this was from York :-)) yet again ;-)

I had the best fun creating an inside to my tin (which is actually an empty cigar tin that I got given) . Because it was a cigar tin I had to cover everything as everywhere was covered in writing !! I used felt for the inside of the lid in two colours , I also finished up the last bit of my much loved "River Island' jeans ribbon on this, for the bow, as it went so well :)

On this picture you can see how I lined the inside bottom of the tin, I used a nice gingham fabric that I have, as close as I have found in `England to the gorgeous silk gingham Natalie has :) (I am keeping my piece (silk) from her to me for my MC SPH :) I loved the feel of the tin bottom and could have curled up to sleep on it ;-)

I used 40 count linen in ivory-white (for Winter snow) with 1 strand of thread over 2 and this is my first ever 'Tin' finish :-)

Thank you for your visit, Happy Stitching :) Our Schools break up for a 'Spring Holiday' (Easter was too early for my area ;-) on Friday so I may not be around much for 2 weeks from then for blogging, commenting etc :-)) I do have a little something to show you on my return though ;-))) Take care xx

Summer Autumn Winter Spring

As you might know, my Mum Veronica does not have a blog. So, now all 4 of her Seasonal Exchanges are completed and have been received by Becky :)........I am showing you, for her, what she stitched for the Seasonal Exchange Group that a few of us have been part of.

VERONICA SEASONAL EXCHANGES TO BECKY

 In the order they were sent ... starting below with ........

SUMMER : Ewe & Eye & Friends 'Be Industrious' with Veronica's own colour choices throughout, finished as a tray with a little fob ( Shepherds Bush design used for that) and a matching pincushion pot :)

AUTUMN : Helen Phillips 'The New Cross Stitch Sampler Book' a Halloweeen design was chosen and was stitched basically as stated with just a couple of colour changes and slight design change (the cat). On the bottom of one of the tassels is sitting a little witches cat :-)) Finished as a Hanging Ornament and included one of the little felt 'field mice' made also by Veronica .

WINTER : The same Helen Phillips book was used. The finish this time was a Treat Bag, Shepherds Bush NR style......(please excuse my most rubbish bag picture, ooops sorry Mum !! ) A little extra this time was the country prim style Heart topped off with a bit of string and a MOP heart :)

SPRING : Just Nan 'Spring! Pillow' Many of you will know this sweet design? Stitched on a soft pinky/lilac linen, finished as a pillow with a matching 1/1 wee fob :-))

I shall also show all 4 exchanges Veronica has received from Isa in France who stitched for her, once the last one has arrived. (We do have until June 15th to send Spring but my Mum is an early bird ;-)) Anyway for once I am early!! Yes, that has surprised you hasn't it LOL ;-)) as I actually stitched my 'Spring' one before Winter LOL and I shall send it once the Winter one does get to Italy :)) Soon, I hope soooooooooon!! Can you tell I wonder about the postal service ;-))

Have fun !! Thanks for calling by :-))

EDITED TO ADD: My Mum (Veronica) has asked me to say a big thank-you to you all for taking the time to comment on her work, she is really thrilled by them all :-))

Winter Exchange From Leena

This is the wonderful Winter Exchange that I have received from Leena, this is Part 3 so it means only one left to go now, which is a bit sad.

However :), for this time Leena remembered that I really admired a house exchange she did for another blogger (Katrina) using what was called Mixed Media. So in view of that Leena wanted to do me one of my own and this is the unique result. Including... the 'Bobbin Lace' which was made by Leena herself and I think it is just gorgeous. Leena says she is only learning this new skill, looking at this she will soon be a master !! :))

The backgound, if you look closely has little silver symra stars , tiny white beads...they are the snow gently falling against a snow filled sky. As one snowflake gets closer, real closer, look now, you can see it in all its glory with every detail (the lace medallion). The flowers I thought might be 'Love in the Mist' perfect for keeping warm on a cold winters night ;-) See the snowdrift along the bottom (Bobbin Lace) where the winter flowers gather. Look up and you can see the glow of the candle light (the wording). Jack Frost has made some patterns in ice (the buttons) but.....look now , high, high up on the roof to see the frost and icicles glowing in the moonlight (the bow etc at the top). Here you see Winter all wrapped up in a breath of cool winter air (the braid around the edge) ........

WINTER EXCHANGE FROM LEENA

Rightio ;-)) I will stop story telling now LOL !! Thank-you so much again Leena for this special, truly unique exchange piece and all the other things you sent , I love them all and the eggs have gone down very well with DD and DS :-))

See you all again soon as mine to Claudia should be arriving in the near future, until then thanks for your visits and stitch happy :-))

Todays mail :)

I love nice mail and today I received an exciting little package from The Netherlands :-)) I entered a competition Barbara ran, for a bit of fun, on her blog, for an 'Unbirthday' gift and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners!! This is the pretty gift that I have received from her :-)) The design is by 'Indigo Rose' and came with such a lovely letter saying why Barbara chose to do this design for me, thank-you that is so nice of you !! This is my first 'Floss Fob and I think it is great :-)) It really is delicate and has one of those pretty MOP hearts holding a really pretty blue shaded VC silk :-))

FLOSS FOB FROM BARBARA

Like I said in my email Barbara..... this has made my day and I am delighted thanks again !! :-)))

Tea if you please.......

For a while, I have wanted to find the time to stitch Tanya's tea freebies as ( goodness ;-) I can hardly decide my order here ) 1, it is by far my most favourite drink and 2, I fell in love with her simple designs :-)) Plus, I knew exactly how this would be finished before I started , from way back in the Autumn ( I hope it was not the summer) !! Anyway , I was longing to make it come to life !

I have a bit of a liking for little things that I can hang here or there, so in good old Northern English terms... this is my bit of ...'neither nowt nor summet' that I came up with .....

Stitched on an ivory linen scrap with a little mix of an unknown overdye and DMC threads , one over one. I had the cutest, tiny Polka dot fabric which was so good with this (I love Polka's and stripes), I used it for the reverse. This is one of the new Spring fabrics my LNS has in :-)

Funny , this happens to be the second one I have stitched of this design, which I have finished before the first !! The original one (my first) is even tinier as I stitched it on finer linen than this and it is for my brother . I have done it in different colours but sadly, it is unfinished as yet ! Lets just say it will be perfect with his and his DW's new kitchen :-))) I love this design so much I think I could stitch one an evening for a month !! Maybe I shall just do that as it is just my size !! Thank-you Tanya for such a great little freebie, I can't wait to do my others that you know I have :-)))


Thanks so much for visiting, I hope you all have a 'Happy Easter' weekend, it is freezing here at the beginning of Spring with Gale force winds trying to blow my big, high wooden gates away, fingers crossed they don't finally tear off with a huge gust and crash into my Mini !!