A joint effort...

When Su my sister was over at my side of the country last weekend she brought several stitched things with her. Some of them were the gifts she had received for her birthday and exchanges and I must say all of them were absolutely beautiful, both the stitching and the finishing :-)) Anyway amongst these items she had a little something stitched by herself. It was the design that you can see above...this is from a chart by Homespun Elegance. Now because it is October and as we all know October is 'Breast Cancer Awareness' month, we thought it would be nice if we did something together to signify the importance of this. Su has stitched on 32ct white linen with a limited edition Vikki Clayton 'pink' silk thread. I have then finished the stitched piece into a pinkeep to be our 'joint effort' to signify the meaning of 'pink' in October. The backing fabric you can see in this picture below is from a limited edition 'Breast Cancer Awareness' range of 'pink' quilt fabrics. My local store did some 'pink' pins for the October month so I used them as well in the finishing.
Hopefully we are all aware that the pretty 'pink' things and the month of October as the official "Breast Cancer Awareness' month do give all us ladies the message to check ourselves every month!!! Put your needles down and 'Go do it', if you do not already!!! You can find much more information at this site and many more.





Another 'joint effort' that is a celebration for me and my DH this month is our Wedding Anniversary. This year we have reached our 10 years anniversary. To celebrate this my Mum stitched us both a lovely Mailart envelope that features a man on bended knee proposing to his sweetheart. This you can see the front of in the picture below :-))





This second picture shows the back of the envelope with a lovely heart in the centre and a mother of pearl heart button. The picture after that shows the fabric it is lined with and the tiny 10 inside a heart, to signify the 10 years anniversary.







The next picture is from my wedding photos in 1996, now I know you cannot see mine or my DH's face very well, he was infact wearing a Kilt, but I have this picture on permanent display. I love this picture as it is in an antique frame from my 'Nanny' Winn and I also love how my Wedding Dress looks on this picture, as I think it made me look like a 'Snowdrop' flower....can you see it too?? I actually tried my dress on the other day when it was our anniversary for my DD to see it for the first time. I am proud to say it did still fasten.....all the way up, but I tell you a secret, it would not have been comfortable to wear for any length of time, such as a full day.....a few minutes was quite enough!! So, yes......lol.....I have put some weight on since that day!! Of course, it is having babies as they alter the line/size of your ribs.....do they not??......lol!!





Happy Halloween to everybody and more importantly 'Happy Stitching'...thank-you all so much for commenting on my blog, it really does make it so worth-while :-))
See you all again in a week or so...take care!!

Mini SAL

Su came to visit at the weekend and we all went to the Creative Crafts show in Newcastle. We all had a good time and even though there was not really that much even there for us stitchers we still managed to find plenty to buy :-) I bought a couple of charts and some threads and mainly fabric as one stall had some lovely silk fabrics that I will use for finishing. One thing we did buy... all of us...was a heart shaped frame that came with a free mini chart, we bought a charm and button. We decided as we were all together to do it as a mini SAL on Saturday night at my Mums.

This is Mine

I stitched mine on 32ct lambswool, the writing is 1/1 in black DMC 310, I had a large pair of scissors in my stash and decided to use them as I liked the contrast of the big frame, big scissors and the tiny writing. I put my button onto the stitched piece as well which is a dull red.

Su's

Su stitched hers on white evenweave with one of her new silk threads called 'Bushfire' it is a lovely colour. Su used her button to decorate her frame and she tied a bow onto the hanger. Su's scissors were tarnished gold.

Veronicas (Mums)

Mum's is also stitched on white evenweave with the 'Bushfire' silk thread and used her button and charm on the stitched piece and wanted to keep hers quite plain and simple. Mums scissors are bright gold on hers and her heart button is bright red.

All Together

Our results are all a bit different even though we all used the same chart, we all had a bit of a different idea of how we wanted it to look :-) We enjoyed doing these all together for a bit of fun and a nice memory when we look at our own :-))

Isn't this nice

I saw this chart and I love it from The Drawn Thread....THE GOOD NEIGHBOR.... now this is a must!! All Profits on this to be donated to Horizons Specialized Services





Hope you like it too, if you have not already seen it or better still stitched it :-))

You can find here at The Drawn Thread website under 'new' and there is a PDF order form to link to from the page it is on

Do not disturb....

This is what I stitched for my sisters (Su) birthday, I actually found and bought this chart in the spring-time and had to have it to stitch for Su's birthday as the words were so appropriate :-)) This picture shows the wording and how it's finished :-)





I had set out on the finishing to make this into a small cushion or possibly an ornie, in the end I felt the design was slightly too big (and a bit of a wierd shape on one side) for an ornie to look even and thought a cushion was not really suited to the design. I had bought the backing square whilst on my holidays in Scotland with the intention of using it with this stitched piece, when I had done it.....somehow. This picture shows the reverse of the bag with the said backing square, and again appropriate wording :-)





I must say the bag idea sort of evolved as I was going along (at midnight last Saturday) , I decided to line the bag with some calico that I had and to make a border at the top. I wanted it to look quite primitive, but still feminine, so I added the cream cotton lace flowers to the top edge. I used shop bought cording for the handle/bag strap and attached that with a button to either side of the bag as you can see in this picture





This is stitched on 32ct vintage (light) linen with Cranberry GAST 2 strands for all main wording and the smyrna's (can anybody pronounce that word?) and the darker colour is from a DMC varigated thread and I just used the dark section 2 strands again except the backstitch on sign 1 strand.
Now onto other stitching...not alot to tell, I have not got started on my MC Spool Holder yet :( ...but I have finished another gift :-)).....so here is hoping I can get on with it (Spool Holder) this week.

Thank-you again for the comments you have left me lately..... it makes my day!! Have a great week with happy stitching and I'll be back soon :-)))

My first Pinkeep

I can sew and I can embroider, plus loving to fiddle about making things this much is true... and have as long as I can remember. The trouble was as I got older with more demands on my time, I just couldn't find the time and was continually frustrated about it. In my local area cross-stitch is not a big hobby, so the choice of designs and supplies is pretty limited, mainly to Lavender and Lace, Miribilia and DMC/Lanarte kits if your lucky. Which, whilst there is nothing wrong with them I would get bored before I got the time to finish them. I would go to the Knitting and Stitching show once a year which is where I discovered some Shepherd's Bush, Lizzie Kate and Just Nan. Now to my limited knowledge this was just about it for the stitching world..........until.........I discovered the internet and what treasures in the way of linens (I only thought you got linen in 28ct white or cream 32ct if you were very lucky), threads (I only knew about DMC and Anchor) and all the stunning charts and kits and charms and all the other array of beauties that are out there for a stitcher :-)))

After this huge break through of a discovery for me, my sister (Su) knowing what I like, one day sent me a link to an album.......not much you may think!!! Ah, but....I had kind of discounted much stitching based purely on the fact I was not into big designs (remember, I thought that was all there was) and then through Vero's album I first discovered 'smalls' imagine my delight !!! My eyes were growing bigger and bigger and I loved them as Su had quite rightly said...."they were right up my street" ....lol. Next I went on to discover more albums then blogs and I must say there are some beautiful pieces of work out there. I think I am mainly influenced by the French ladies stitching and I personally find it very inspiring, maybe due to my French ancestry. who knows...lol??

So now I have a bit more time to get my needle out , I even started my own blog a few months ago. As I now realise that I can be an embroiderer/stitcher without the need to do a massive project. I am so happy about this, so much so I cannot tell you :-))) it's like a whole new world has come to life for me again.


This little scissor fob is from the Mary Garry 'Get Well Sweetie' chart, I changed the colours as I wanted them a bit stronger than the recommended ones. I stitched this 1/1 on 32ct and made my own cording for the first time which was great fun and so easy I don't know why I waited!! I finished it with some small pearl beads...




Seeing this shape pinkeep that Vero and Nataliejo have from the Merry Cox one (see how you ladies influence me...lol) I really fancied to have one of my own so following Vero's instruction on how to do a square pinkeep (can still be found on her blog) which I'd had a trial run at doing an ornie for my daughter a few months ago....we have below my very first pinkeep....ta da!!! Stitched 2/2 on 32ct with chiffon ribbon edging and pearl effect pins.




I am so pleased with how they have turned out, I think they might be my favourite things I've made, probably because I like small things so much!!




I have also had a busy week doing a couple of other small things that are finished but they are for birthday gifts so I can't show them yet (watch out Su for the end of the week).....I am also planning on making a start on the Merry Cox Shaker Spool Holder which is a very late start for me (due to getting supplies needed) with the SAL on Danielles blog once I have finished what I have to do. I have all my things at the ready to start now, thanks first to Sandra and then Nataliejo who has so very kindly sent me the silk gingham for the finishing, so there is no stopping me now!! Take a look at the stunning MC Shaker Spool Holder Nataliejo has done , I hope I can do mine as nicely :-)

So thats about it for now, have a great week and I'll be back soon.....

Wabbit, wabbit

I have liked the Sheepish Designs Wabbit series for quite a while now, so I decided I would stitch one for my DD, the only trouble was she wanted two of them as she could not decide what she liked best. So I came up with the idea of doing both designs she liked but only making one actual Wabbit. I added a couple of buttons to make it a bit prettier one of them is a bee and the other a small heart. I used a selection of my own overdye thread colours as I had none of the correct colours and could not get teal green linen but I like the way the softer colours have turned out.



I decided to make 'Wabbit's Garden into a pretty little needlecase and added a small bee button to the top left corner so it matched with the big Wabbit. I also made the little carrot fob that goes with Wabbit's Garden, on this I did the ribbon ruffle so it matched in with the larger Wabbit, I used silk overdyed ribbon and silk chiffon ribbon for the ruffles.




I added a cross stitch border around the edge to give a nice finishing edge for the needle case, on the back I did a small carrot. I did think of adding DD's name and the year but decided against that as I think it suits the simplicity. I did the Hadebo buttonhole stitch for the fastener but did it a bit larger for young fingers to manage easily ;-)




I lined the inside of the little case with some raw silk fabric that I have, I also had some pretty french ribbon which is silk and thought it would be perfect to make a little pocket on the inside to put a packet of needles in. I had a pewter four leaf clover button so I have used that for good stitching luck (no frogs please....lol) for DD.




I think it has made a nice little set of 'smalls' for my DD, the scissors are not really very sharp or pointy (not like we have, but they look the part for her) and I gave them to my DD a little while ago also they have the benefit of having the leather cover to go over them. Sorry for the pics not being very clear but it is raining today and I find it hard to do them indoors!! If you click onto the last picture you can see it huge and alot clearer :-)


Well have a nice week everyone, I'll be back when I've finished something else in a week or two :-))

Thank-you for all your comments to me, I appreciate each and every one of them very much!!