A surprise in the mail

Here's the pictures on my surprise mail. On Monday, it was my birthday, unfortunately it was my turn to stay late at work, and then not being organised, I had to supermarket shop on the way home. Eventually, I arrived home. I still had all my cards and presents to open, as I'd told my daughter I'd save them for the evening. When I arrived home, there was a small package from the US, and when I opened it there was this wonderful gift and a card from Carol. This is the first time anyone has ever stitched anything for me as a gift, and it's gorgeous. Thank you Carol, isn't she wonderful. Carol stitches so many gifts, and exchanges, I 'm not sure how she finds time to go out to work. And how did Carol arrange for it to be delivered on my birthday?



This was stitched as a monthly challenge. The pattern is a freebie called Eliza's Pyn Pillow, by With My Needle, available here. Today was reveal day, when we could all show our finishes. As you can see I made mine into a fob. I stitched 1 over 1 on 36 count evenweave. The stitch used for the basket was Narrow Closed Herringbone, but when I stitched the first row, I could tell it wasn't suitable for such small stitching, so then I stitched the second row in cross stitch, but that too was too bulky, so the rest of the basket was done in tent stitch, but I like the effect it gives at the top of the basket, it gives it some depth. The letters are done in cross stitch. I'm giving it too my friend Carol, when she visits tomorrow, so I added her name on the back.




And this is the first part of the Round Robin I'm taking part in. You can see the others here. I've been contemplating the thread colour for this for some time, I knew I wanted blue, but just couldn't decide on which shade. I finally decided on DMC 791. Now I can't wait to receive the next round. There's some lovely colours, that the others are doing. I think this pattern works really well for a Round Robin, we all get to stitch two pages each. And this is what it will look like when it's made up.

A few pictures

I've not had a good week this week, and haven't really done much stitching, but hoping to rectify that tonight, hoping to nearly finish the stitching on an exchange. Here's the picture of the sides and ends of the casket I'm doing as a SAL. Not a good picture, it's too big to get close.



And here's more pictures of the Christmas tuffet I received, so that you can see the details on the reverse. I just love it.



Pay it Forward, I haven't had any takers yet, so if you're thinking about it, please sign up, or I'll have to tell Carol that I can't take part. I think maybe there are too many PIF's around at the moment. Anyway fingures crossed someone signs up.

Pay it Forward

I've signed up for Carol's Pay It Forward, and would love you sign up with me. In case you don't know how this works, well the first 5 people that ask to join, I promise to make a gift for you, and in turn you Pay it Forward, by making the same promise on your Blog. You will receive your gift from me within the next 12 months, and in turn you will make a gift for the first 5 people that sign up with you within 12 months of you posting, and in turn they will each make 5 gifts for the first 5 people who sign up with them, and in turn.....LOL. I'm sure you all know how it works, so come on, please make me happy by signing up. I love stitching for others, the challenge is deciding what to stitch.




Look what I received on Tuesday, this gorgeous tuffet from Judy Odell, I can't believe how long it took to get here. Isn't it gorgeous. I'll photograph it another day, so you can see the back which has a cute little Christmas wreath charm. I have the pattern for this one, so I was thinking I may stitch this one as a PIF gift. Another reason for you to sign up.

I've also finished the sides and ends of Sampler Garden Casket, but it's just too dark to get a good picture today. The next part of the chart isn't out until middle of February, so I can now get on with my other plans as mentioned in the previous post.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone, hope everyone gets plenty of stitchy time. I think 2007 was a year when I stitched more than ever before, and this time I kept a diary of how much time I spent stitching and on what. I can't believe I stitched 43 things, although I haven't blogged about everyone, and I haven't uploaded pictures for all of them. I think I must do better on that front this year. There are also plenty of things that need making up, so I'm going to try harder with that too.
This month I have to get my SBEBB Valentines exchange finished and in the post. This will be the last SBEBB exchange, as the sadly the board is closing. All the best Becky.
I also have my Quaker RR to start.
I've joined a monthly challenge, and will be stitching Elizas Pyn Pillow. The challenge is to make it up into anything you like, and then we all post our finishes at the end of the month.
And then my new start for this year is:









I've joined the group at Just A Thought and we will be stitching this over 6 months. Here's my first progress pic. I started on New Years Eve, and this was taken on New Years Day, I've done a lot more since then. First I chose my colours to match my lining fabric, but then decided the colour I'd chosen for the birds and animals didn't show on my fabric, so I've now gone for a blue colour.
And the good news is that Mylene received my Stitched Gift Christmas ornament I sent her. And the bad news is that my Christmas Tuffet hasn't arrived, but I've not given up hope on that yet. It is absolutely stunning, as I've seen a photo, and I'll post it on here soon. It was designed and stitched by Judy Odell, and it's wow, so please everyone cross your fingers for me.