Sunday, December 30, 2007

Exchanges and gifts.

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great Christmas. I can now share pictures of the needleroll exchange I took part in. This one was wrapped and couldn't be opened until Christmas day, and I was good. The first picture is the needleroll I stitched for Angie (no blog), and the second picture is the one I received from Kathy (I can't find her blog address at the minute). I love needlerolls, and love the one Kathy stitched for me, as I have admired that chart for a while.



Below we have a couple of Christmas ornaments, both for me. The first was stitched by Edera from my stitching club, she had stitched Tatty Ted in the summer, and I admired it, and jokingly I said she could stitch another for me - so she did. I then made it into a Christmas ornament. The second picture is the wonderful ornament I received in an exchange, again it was wrapped, and opened on Christmas day, it came with a cute little Christmas frame, and a gorgeous Dinky Dye silk. Thank you very much to my partner, I love it all (and I still don't know who you are).



Next we have Just Nan's Christmas Biscornu. You know I'm a JN fan, so obviously I couldn't resist this one could I? It was a lovely stitch, and it's so sparkly. I definitely recommend it. And speaking of Biscornu's, I've still not received mine from the exchange I did, but maybe it's lost-just like the ornament in my last post-I still do not know if my partner received it.


And here is a picture of an ornament that I made for a friend of mine. My friend Carol, is a spinner, and often buys sheep's fleece to dye and spin, so I couldn't resist making this for her. Hope you liked it Carol.


And lastly we have Shepherds Bush Chill bag, which I filled with Chocolate Snowmen, and gave it to DD with her Christmas gifts. It was very fiddly to stitch, as the bag was premade. This meant you had to stitch from the front only, and hold the bag with one hand inside, although thankfully it didn't take too long. Afterwards I suffered with contact dermatitis on the hand that I held the bag in, so I think it must be an allergy to the dye, it's cleared up now, but my hand just peeled for a couple of days, and left a large red sore patch. I had to stitch this in secret, so it was done whilst dd was away in Berlin, the week before Christmas.


I think that is all my Christmas stitching shown, but if I think of anything else, I'll be back.

Thanks to all my exchange partners, and many thanks to the organisers, and the group owners. Without you all we would not be able to take part in such great communities.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Tuffet Exchange

I took part in a Christmas tuffet exchange, and this is the one I stitched. I sent to Selina, but I haven't received anything yet, maybe mine will turn up today. Now I have no idea why this is underlined, and I cannot seem to get rid of the underlining. Blogger Fun.


This is an ornament that I stitched for another exchange, although this may be lost in transit, there is a little confusion about whether my partner has received it. My partner says she has received her parcel from the exchange, however this is not the picture she has shown, so I'll keep my partner a secret for now. The fabric on the reverse is the one shown next to my stitching. The ornament is stitched on 28 ct vintage cashel linen. I have used this a lot recently, and I have also stitched some things on the reverse, as that side is plain.

I hope to be back later today, but just in case. I wish you all........
A Merry Christmas

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

SBEBB Exchange Received

Well, here's the gorgeous ornaments I received from Satomi. As you can see, not one but two, and they are so cute. And they are stitched on both sides too. the one with the tree is stitched over one, and the other is stitched over two. I really must have a go at making these. If you look on Satomi's blog, she has put instructions, OK it's in Japanese, but there's step by step photo's. This is the second time I've received from Satomi, so when I saw the package from Japan, I knew I was in for a treat. Don't you just love them.

Well, I've been decorating the house up for Christmas-still not finished, and I'm loving having all this time off work before Christmas, so I may think about doing it again another year. I cleared away that much, I couldn't find the lead to get the photo's off my camera, but I've finally tracked it down today. We saw DD off on her trip to Germany on Sunday, and then ended up going on unplanned Christmas shopping until the shops closed. Today, I plan on wrapping some presents - not something I enjoy!

Friday, December 14, 2007

SBEBB ornament exchange



Here's the pics of the ornament I stitched for Simone, and the gifts I sent her. This is an ornament which is in this years JCS ornament mag, and I really enjoyed stitching it, so hope to make more. Sorry about the lighting, but it's not easy to get nice pics in artificial light.
Hopefully if this works, I've finally worked out how to get the photo's onto this OS. Please let me know if it doesn't display right for you, as since changing from windows, and using a different web browser, I am finding that not all blogs display correctly, often what's meant to be at the sides is on top of the middle of the blog, if that makes sense, and prevents me from seeing and reading the post.
Heres hoping to be back tomorrow with more pics.


Home for the Holidays.

It's Friday, and yesterday was my last day at work until the New Year. I have lots of things I want to do, but nothing is set in stone. I really must get some sorting out done around the home. There's still no tree up, and I haven't even written my Christmas cards-oh dear. I've been really tired on a night after work, and yesterday I put in more than a 10 hour day. Last night I just about fell asleep on the sofa after my meal! But I'm up bright and early this morning, I'm on the second load of washing. This morning I have a pedicure booked for 10am, so that will be a nice start to my Christmas break. DH also finished work yesterday, but all he has planned for today is a trip to the doctors, but I'm sure he'll be persuaded into shopping, but then again maybe not, I might be better going on my own.

Well, I've not managed to upload photo's on this PC set up, so I'm going to have to try something else. So hopefully you'll get pics soon.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Hi everyone

I can't believe it's been so long since I was here. Well, once again I've been ill. Just recently I've had one thing after another, and it's really getting me down, although it has been said that I was already run down, and that's why I keep getting one thing after another. My latest thing is a really bad cold, and I just can't shake it off, had it two weeks now, and just wishing to see the back of it. At first I was suffering with really bad sinuses, and felt like I had a hangover for several days, feeling really sick all the time, now I have really bad catarrh.
Anyway, enough of that. I got my new PC up and running, and I'm learning my way around Ubuntu, I've not tried to upload any photo's yet, but I'll be giving that a whirl tonight. I've been awake since 4 am, and hence that's why I'm on here this early, I'm not sleeping, so I just knew I had to get up.
I've got out all my exchanges. I've received a needle roll from Kathy, thank you, well it's still wrapped up, we have to save them for Christmas Day, so it'll be awhile before I can show pictures of the one I've received, and the one I've stitched. I have another stitched gift, that's still wrapped, and that's another we have to save until Christmas Day. I received two beautiful ornaments from Satomi, I'll show you the pics later, they are stunning, and really something I have to try. I've sent my Christmas orni out, but getting worried that it's not arrived yet, and I posted it at the same time as my stitched gift, and that's not arrived yet either, so hoping they turn up soon. I've also stitched a Christmas tuffet for an exchange, but that's another you'll have to wait for. I'm hoping to upload a picture of an ornament I stitched for my friend Carol, now I know that's arrived as I delivered it personally on Saturday.
What else have I been up to, well, I went to the NEC on 9th November to the Crafts for Christmas show, and had a great day, well afternoon, unfortunately due to the traffic it took over 4 hours to get there. This show also includes entry to two other shows - Hobbycrafts and Art Materials Live, but I hardly spent anything. In fact I can't remember what I bought now! Then on 24th November, I went to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Harrogate and had a great day there, now I did spend there, but can't remember what on. I did buy some back issues of New Stitches, I used to subscribe to this magazine when it first came out, up to about issue 100, and then stopped, and now just buy them now and again, but a good buy at the show at 10 issues for £10. I also bought a book on Kumihimo, and DD and I have had a go at making some braids. I've been looking at this for a long time, and I think I'll definitely be doing more. Maybe I'll take some pictures to show you.
I better go and get ready for work now. Hope to be back soon.