Birthday Fairy

I heard from a Birthday Fairy that she wanted to send me a birthday treat and sure enough an envelope arrived from the US yesterday. I sat with my cup of tea and opened the envelope, inside was a lovely gift, that was so me. I got these things which are, some lovely 28ct evenweave in a beautiful colour of muted pinks and greens called Rhaspody and a Shepherd's Bush kit called 'Sweet Heart'. I am absolutely delighted as not only did the fairy choose a kit by my favourite designers Shepherd's Bush but.....it is also a Heart another favourite.
Now this fairy knows I don't have much stitching time at the moment, so the size of this design was just perfect as well. Another perfect aspect to receiving this kit is, I bought a lovely frame a few weeks ago and had not found a design the right size or style to go into it and I knew as soon as looking at this it would be just right.
Now and most important the very kind and very lovely lady who was my Birthday Fairy is... Carol... from Garden of Stitches who has bowled me over with her thoughtfulness and sprinkling fairy dust of happiness across the world :-)))))

The kit and fabric from Carol

Now to show Carol just how much I love the kit she sent me, I have stitched it (Yes, straight away) and not only have I stitched it...I have framed it myself in the frame I had just waiting for something lovely to go init. I really love how it looks all finished and hope you do too Carol. THANK-YOU again, so very much for being so nice to me (((((Hug))))) from me to you for really making my day!!!

The kit stitched and framed by me

Seen as this is a bit of a birthday posting do you remember the cake picture I somehow lost??? Well I have found it and am proud to show you... ta da ...my cake :-)

My cake

Have a lovely week everyone :-)

The Show

This year for the first time my Mum and myself decided to enter the local Annual Show with some of our cross stitch embroideries for a bit of fun...not expecting to win anything at all. The entries are all judged very early on the 1st morning about four hours before the show starts, with the Best in Show prizes being judged just before the end of the event on the 2nd day. We could not go on the 1st day as it was my DD's birthday so we went on the second day...and to our surprise we had both come somewhere!!!

My winning tickets

I won a second place in the framed embroidery category with my Shepherd's Bush 'Heart Blooms' picture (that I had actually stitched in January 2001) and was delighted !!

Heart Blooms 2nd Prize

Heart Blooms...close up

In the other embroidery category I won a second place with my Au fil des Reves 'Rose Bourse' (stitched 2006).

Rose Bourse 2nd Prize

Also a third place with my Lizzie*Kate limited edition kit for 'Plant a little Sunshine' (stitched 2003) which I was so chuffed about as it was so unexpected to have come anywhere at all!!

Tuck Pillow L*K 3rd Prize

My Mum won a third prize in the framed embroidery category with this wee cat pictured here that she had stitched a long time ago but it is really sweet :-)

Mums Cat 3rd Prize

The first place of the framed embroidery category went to a Mirabilia fairy picture that was stitched on aida. The best in show of the needlecrafts section (non knitted) went to a Tapestry picture of an old man with a pipe. So all in all we are two happy people with our results :-)

My prize winning collection

Completions

Now back to stitching...This is what I stitched whilst on my holiday...it is a Shepherds Bush design called 'Sophies Roses'. I have yet to add the handmade clay buttons to the bouquet but I will leave that until I am getting it framed. This along with 'Peters Patch' are two designs I have had for a few years now but had never got round to stitching them...it is supposed to be this one for my daughter and the other for my son.




As usual with a Shepherds bush design it was lovely to stitch, maybe because they are my favourite designer, who knows, it was a pleasure anyway! My only gripe whilst stitching was...I had taken a new frame on holiday...a type I had not used before (big mistake) and it would not hold the tension at all and was slipping all the time and driving me bonkers!!

This was stitched on 32ct antique ivory with Soie D'Alger and Mori silks and has a lovely delicate look to it. I just stitched on a night and it took me ten nights to do which I thought was pretty fast for me. I'm thinking of ordering the Jill Rensel handpainted mounts/mats and maybe the frames as well for these designs (when I have done Peters Patch).





I had mentioned in my last posting that I also did some knitting...I saw this wool in a really tiny shop that was packed full of all sorts of nice things. It is a Rowan wool and is called 'Tapestry' and I love it as it reminds me so much of overdyed threads. They had various colours in this range but these muted shades of blues, greens, terracottas etc were my favourite. Now my knitting skills are by no mean as advanced as my stitching ones so I bought myself a pair of big 8mm wooden needles and decided I would knit a scarf in garter stitch (all knit) to keep it very simple. This wool goes really far I had 15 stitches as I didn't want it too wide and bulky and it is 43" (110cm) long and I have what you can see of the ball of wool left and I would say my tension for knitting is on the tighter side, so I was quite impressed by that. Needless to say a little person in my family wanted the scarf so badly it was making him ache...so what could I do but give up ownership...it has been worn with shorts and t-shirt as a certain person has decided he loves it!

What a morning...!!!

I know I don't normally write alot but this morning was quite eventful and rather funny when I think of it now so here goes.....

Now those that know me will not be surprised by this...will you Su...Today was the return to school and last night, thinking I may sleep in, developed to a worry once I was trying to get to sleep, the later it was getting, the worse my worry was getting. I eventually did get to sleep but the last time I looked at my clock it was 5.15am and I had to be up at 8am.
I knew no more until my very young daughter seeing the neighbours come out of their house ran upstairs to say Mum its 8.41am hurry and at that same time my DH phoned to see if I was up, rather late in his do good deed!
Total rush and panic ensued involving teeth brushing...all of us, me throwing my clothes on (at least my two little ones had got themselves dressed), grabbing holiday homework, getting drink bottles ready and throwing packed lunch into a bag. I grabbed my car keys, thinking I would just make it before 8.55am and rushed out of the gate...only... to find my neighbours stood there waiting with their daughter (1 school year above mine) to walk up to school with us as it was my daughters 1st day in a the new school. Oh no, oh no, oh no!!
I stood there with my car keys poised trying to get my still in bed head around what was happening!! The immediate problem was there were 3 of them Mum, Dad and daughter and 3 of us making 6 in total and I only have a mini car so there was no way we would all fit in that. I so desperately wanted to just get in my car and go but no, how could I?
So we set off walking, me and the 3 children at top speed and the neighbours at snails pace following behind...This was all well and good apart from there were no signs of life from any other people as we were dashing up the road. As we neared the next road we turn into...suddenly... a sign of life in the shape of another parent in her car coming back from the way we were heading. Oh no, I thought but then consoled myself with the fact she is an 'early bird'. Having got just about to the school I vaguely saw another mother walking and heading back home. Thinking we may just still scrape in, without anybody noticing, if we do a quick sprint for the final lap. I am stopped in my tracks...by...my neighbours voice, miles back shouting their daughter to let her know they have her drink and bag... and will we wait for them to catch up!!! Oh double, double bother!!
After what seemed an eternity they caught us up, in the mean time I was toying with the idea of phoning the school to say we were all ill with some sudden bug and my 2 wouldn't be at school that day...but then I thought, NO, how can I, as my daughter needs to get in there to get a seat with her friends and to miss the 1st day would maybe be even worse than being late...wouldn't it? So we valiantly turned the corner at last to find infront of us...an empty playground, not a soul. Ahha, I suddenly thought, jubilantly, I have got the wrong day afterall and they are back tomorrow, until, at the other end of the playground I could see lights on.......my spirits dropped once more... The neighbours say a hasty goodbye to their daughter and said, "Oh, you can sign her in at the office seen as you are going that way now and we'll see you later" then they walked off!
Quite mortified with feeling terrible for making 2 people late for the 1st morning of school, I by now felt pretty close to tears, but I walked valiantly on up the schools tree lined avenue, to the office, with 3 little ones in tow. Expecting to get a stern telling off, I was greeted by a big smile and a "Oh don't worry they have gone in early today as its the 1st day , no need to sign in as its not 9am yet"! Relief flooded over me and a big smile as I went from that building to Nursery, to put my son in there...thinking, Ha, I'm not really late after all just on time...and feeling quite impressed with myself for doing all that in about 15 minutes.
Now I wouldn't actually do this, unless I was poorly, but I was sort of dreaming about going back to bed when I got home, to have a sleep and get over the events. It was such a nice thought until I suddenly realised the door infront for Nursery was shut...ahhhh...what is going on now??? My sleepy eyes took a few seconds to focus on the notice stuck on the door, saying, "Sorry, closed today but open on 07/09/06" and there I am in a deserted school yard with my son and a packed lunch bag and all my days plans suddenly changing upon reading these few words. Thinking, I have got sandwiches and have a packed lunch here, I AM organised, it can't be shut, it must be wrong, still the door did not open!! The fact did eventually twig in my brain that I was now going home with my son and a sandwich bag! We walked the 10 minutes home with me saying there has been a change of plan for today as much convincing myself as my son , whilst trying to get my still not yet awake head around all this.
Never- the- less fully cheered by the thought of a strong cup of tea, now home, I opened my back door...to a strange smell! Not thinking that much of it ( as it must be outside, thought I ) I made my tea. Then...ahhrrrgggg, as if things were not enough, there on the wooden floor of my dining room was a dog poo!! This must have happened as I had not let him (Hamish our dog) out before leaving. Now bearing in mind he is still a puppy, he NEVER does this, so why today?? Nightmare, I go get the bag and the spray for cleaning...then something catches my eye, there, chewed on the floor is a treasured painted heart stitching accessory I have. When I pick it up to examine it further, Hamish slinks off to his bed with such a woeful look that it fails me to be mad. Marsha (my cat) must have knocked this off my dresser to him for him to have had it!! Nevermind, things can only get better can't they??
The time was 9.10am...what a start to the day...!!!
Tomorrow I have my Mum phoning me and DH at 8am ish...just as a precaution because of course I will be up and ready for when I am supposed to be...lol!!


Tonight when my very young daughter realised I was updating my blog she disappeared, when she returned not alot was said. When we went up for her to go to bed I admired a display she had made of some of her holiday treasures. I congratulated her for her artistry in the display and she asked me to put it on my blog. Not thinking too much about it until I went up later, I found this note, along with another note saying this is what you can say when you put it on your blog!! So ladies, here it is, from my daughter ...lol!!!




In her words above..................