Saturday, January 26, 2008

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.


13 comments:

Karan said...

Love what you did with the Challenge piece & the colours are gorgeous.
Quaker piece is lovely too - adding the RR Blog link to mine so I can follow everyone's progress. :0)
Cure exchange piece too, lucky you. :0)

mainely stitching said...

Lovely!! :D

Stitchingranny said...

Love your challenge piece Chris. It was lovely seeing all the different colours and finishes.

I am enjoying watching all your different colours in the RR too, its lovely.

Carol said...

You are so welcome Chris. It really was my pleasure to stitch you a gift :-) How do I find time? I have no kids... and a hubby who runs the house :-) I adore the fob you made for your friend, and that is a pretty RR you have started too!! Very nice!

Andrea said...

The challenge pieces are wonderful, I have seen one or two of these challenges now and it's so interesting seeing how everyone has stitched something different.
Carols birthday gift is lovely too, she is so generous.
Pretty start to your rr too.

Julie said...

Belated Happy Birthday, a lovely gift

Love Eliza too, a nice pressie fro your friend too.

The RR is super, you've all done so well with these, great choice of colours and all so different

Myrna said...

Happy Belated Birthday! Your fob is adorable, and isn't Carol just the nicest person!

Your Quaker RR is going to be beautiful. I love the color you picked out.

Sally said...

Your challenge piece turned out beautifully Chris.

The fob from Carol is gorgeous but it's even better in real life and the RR is too! Can't wait to make a start on it.

tintocktap said...

What a lovely surprise from Carol! And a well timed arrival.

I love what you've chosen for your RR - it will make a wonderful keepsake after!

Sue said...

What a great idea for a RR. You're off to a great start ;)

Hazel said...

Thats a lovely gift from Carol. She is so good at making fobs. Love the rr you are doing. xx

Nicola said...

Belated Happy Birthday Chris! Carol's fob is gorgeous as is the one you've stitched for your friend. It's interesting to see how different stitchers finish off the same piece of stitching. Your RR looks great too.

Karen said...

Very nice stitching, the bag looks great