Christmas Cross Stitch Box arrived from Marie

Look what arrived in the post for me!

This lovely Christmas cross stitch box arrived from Marie ( blog here ) and I absolutely love it!

Marie very kindly sent me the beautiful box that contained chocolates, a Mill Hill beaded cross stitch kit, some lovely Christmas buttons, ribbons and a small cross stitch chart.

Thankyou so much Marie for this lovely exchange! 

The box I sent to my partner has not arrived yet, as soon as it does I will post a picture and a free cross stitch pattern.

 

If you would like to see how to make a covered cross stitch box then check out my cross stitch box tutorial here

The trim looks ,like snowballs - how cute!

I am looking forward to making something with these cute buttons.

 This is the beaded kit that was included.

Thankyou for all of your lovely comments and welcome to all of my new followers.

Happy stitching everyone!

Happy New Year, christmas pressies and an exchange.

Hi everyone, Happy New Year to you all! This year I am looking forward to doing more stitching than I did last year, I have got lots of stitching planned and many projects I can't wait to start. In fact, talking of projects I thought I would show you some of the pressies my husband bought me for Christmas.



I also received this craft cutting machine, in addition to cutting paper and card it also cuts small pieces of fabric! I am looking forward to using it when I make projects out of felt.  



Stitching News

I am still waiting for my Christmas ornament from the Hooked on Exchangng group, I am sure it will arrive sometime soon. I made this ornament for Sadie from Stitching up a Storm blog, this ornament is from a Prairie Schooler pattern.
  

This week I started stitching this pattern again for myself, I have made a concerted effort to stitch everything twice so at least I have a copy of everything I send in exchanges or giveaways. 

Happy stitching everyone and thankyou for your visits and comments over the year!

  

        

Box for Christmas Ornaments, Tatting, RAK for Lizzie and an exchange.

Gosh, I have had a busy week this week with cross stitch, I have finished a Christmas Ornament box for my sister and filled it with ornament's that I have been stitching since last January, I found the image for the top of the box from The Graphics Fairy blog here, under the Christmas section.

I have also just heard that Lizzie from A Stitching Fairy's Rambling Under The Willow Tree has received my random act of kindness, and I have received a lovely tatting gift and an exchange in the mail.

Here are the contents of the box above, I gave it to my sister today and she was thrilled with it.

The box is covered and lined with silk.I have made a tutorial to show how I covered the box, you can see it here.

I received a lovely surprise in the mail this week, it was a tatting gift from Kate, she saw that I liked the idea of learning to tatt and she kindly offered to send me these goodies, needless to say I was thrilled with them, thankyou Kate. 

Here is my first attempt at tatting, only trouble is I  feel another addiction coming on! lol

Here is the lovely exchange I received from Sharlotte in the Hooked on Exchanging Group, thankyou Sharlotte, it is now hanging proudly on my fireplace!

I will show the pictures of my random act of kindness to Lizzie in my next post, for some reason I am struggling to upload the photograph's to my blog for this.

Thankyou for all of the lovely comments in my last post!

Happy Stitching everyone.

Karen has received my halloween exchange.

Here is the halloween exchange that I sent Karen from the Hooked on Exchanging group, I made a pinkeep and a needlebook together with some fimo clay pins, you can find inspiration from You Tube for polymer clay. The pattern is a freebie from Gazette 94 blog here , I stitched it 1 over 1 on linen using DMC threads and the pinkeep was stitched 2 over 2. 

Have a happy stitchy day everyone, thankyou for all of your lovely comments!

Halloween exchange, PIF received, and a blog award!

Halloween exchange from Wendy.

I have received my halloween exchange from Wendy in the Hooked on Exchanges Too Group blog and the Hooked on Exchanging blog here.  Wendy made me a lovely pillow and sent some fabric and a Little House Needlework pattern, thankyou Wendy, I love it all!

I have posted my halloween exchange last Thursday and it should arrive sometime this week.

Pay it forward for Akila

Here is the pay it forward that I sent Akila, I made a pinkeep and decorated it with silver butterflies.

Akila has let me know that she likes the gift.

I am currently stitching this ornament for the Christmas Challenge blog, I am making four ornaments in one!

It is stitched 2 over 1, however I think it is a bit tight and I should have used one thread instead of two, but it looks quite cute.

I finished stitching this cross stitch design for a pillow I am making, but I forgot to post a picture. The cross stitch design is a freebie and can be found here.

Stitching news 

I am currently stitching my Heaven and Earth Design - Gothic Rose,  it did get relegated to the bottom of my stitching stash as I was busy stitching exchanges and gifts, but now I have some spare time to catch up a little bit, hopefully I will post a picture soon. Here is the start of the Gothic Rose design.

I am planning to stitch a random act of kindness for a blogging friend  but I don't need to send that until the end of November, I have planned what I am going to stitch  and I am really looking forward to sending it.

My halloween stitching is in progress but I can't say what I have stitched as one of them is an exchange and the other is a surprise.

I was having a tidy up amongst my crafting stash, I found lots of patterns that I forgot I had, I really must not buy any more patterns until I have stitched them all, but of course you know we stitchers find that impossible to do, don't we!

I am planning to start one of my Mirabillia patterns sometime soon, as  I love having a couple of large projects on the go, I have a choice between : 
 

Crystal christmas

Angel Proclamation

Titania, Queen of the Fairies.

Happy stitching everyone!     

Wendy has received my Christmas in July Exchange

Wendy has received my Christmas In July Exchange for the Hooked on Exchanging group, I stitched a Prairie Schooler Ornament from the Winter booklet.
I included some Christmas fabric, 2 packets of ornaments and some DMC threads that smell of strawberry and apple.

It was a pleasure to stitch this for you Wendy.

Stitching news

Jennifer should receive the exchange I sent last week, hopefully she should get it today or tomorrow, I will post pictures as soon as I hear.

Happy stitching everyone, thankyou for your visit and the lovely comments you leave!

Christmas ornaments

Hi everyone, I hope you are enjoying the summer sunshine, however these pictures will make you feel quite chilly as I have a few winter Christmas ornaments to show.

The picture above is the ornament I have stitched for the Christmas Challenge blog, I was a few days late for the June ornament but I finally managed to get it finished, it is a Prairie Schooler pattern stitched on 28 count and made into a little felt pillow. I really love this Christmas Challenge because it makes me adhere to my Christmas stitching, I can't believe there are only 6 more ornaments to make for Christmas, where does the time go? The pictures below show the lovely Christmas in July exchange I received from Ellen L for the Hooked on Exchanging Too blog, as you can see from the pictures Ellen was very generous with the extras!

Thankyou Ellen I love it all.

Stitching news

I have sent my tea exchange to Jennifer this week so I will have some photo's to show probably by the end of next week. I have started to stitch my July ornament for the Christmas Challenge blog as I do not want to be late this next time, and I am concentrating on the Prairie Schooler round 3 exchange for August and my first anniversary blog giveaway on the 31 July 2009.

Happy stitching everyone, thankyou for your visits and the lovely comments you leave, I really appreciate them all.

Another blog award and biscornu received!

More pictures of Sharon's biscornu at the bottom of this post.

I was surprised when I visited Lizzy's blog as she had given me this blog award, I feel really bad because I had not noticed it until I visited Lizzy's blog two weeks later, even though I do follow Lizzy on her blog! I knew I was due to catch up on my visits and it was a lovely surprise, I do apologise Lizzy that I have only just seen it!

I am to list five things about myself and then nominate five people to pass it on to:

1. Some of you will know by now I love anything Gothic, I particularly love the Heaven and Earth Designs with a gothic theme.
2. I hate going out in the rain!



3. I love treating myself to a typical English afternoon tea with scones , jam and clotted cream and the salmon and cucumber sandwiches must have their crusts cut off!



4. Roses and freesia's are my favourite flowers



5. I would love to learn tatting embroidery one day.

The five people I wish to nominate for the award are:

Kim's quilt blog - Kim creates some gorgeous quilts and her blog is amazing.

Melissa at Honey Bee's Bliss - Melissa's blog was one of the first blogs I ever visited, her ribbon embroidery is gorgeous and her tatting is really pretty.

Tatting Chic - This lady creates lovely tatting embroidery

Donna - The miniatures are breathtaking

Sherrie - If you like pin keeps this is the blog to visit!

Stitching news

I received this lovely biscornu from Sharon C in the Hooked On Exchanging Group, Sharon read my blog very well as she noted that I love anything Victorian, anything pink or blue and butterflies, she included them all when putting the package together, it was very well thought out and I appreciate it all, thankyou Sharon.

Petal Fairy Pattern - and the winner is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would just like to say thankyou for all the lovely comments that I received regarding the finishing of the Petal Fairy by Mirabilia, I was delighted that everyone liked her so much.

I have visited all of your blogs, some I have seen before, others are new to me, but you all do gorgeous stitching!

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for da da!!!!!!!!!!!!

The winner is

Kim D Messick

Congratulations Kim, please leave me your email address and I shall reply to you and arrange to get it sent to you as soon as possible.

Stitching news

I have heard that Deb H has received my cup cake biscornu in the Hooked on Exchanging group and therefore I can now show a picture of what I sent.

The pattern is a freebie from the Floss Box , I made the card from my Anna Griffin card making selection.

Here is the reverse side

I also made a little pillow with Deb's initial on using linen and variegated DMC thread.

I have also received the biscornu from my exchange partner today, I shall post a picture later.

Valentine cross stitch exchange mailed today!

I mailed my Valentine cross stitch exchange today, (bear not included) I think the box looks really nice, it had some lovely picture frames in it and I thought it could be put to good use, we will just have to wait and see when my partner receives this then we can take a peek inside!

Christmas Ornament arrived at it's new home!

Now I can show you the ornament I stitched for the Christmas Ornament exchange in the Hooked on Exchange Too group as my partner Marjean has now received it.

Including the goodies

This is a Glory Bee pattern designed by Nancy Boyarsky featured in the Just Cross Stitch 2008 Christmas Ornaments Magazine on page 54. I decided to add beads to give it a little sparkle, I used the colours given in the pattern using DMC threads 816, 890 and 725 and I stitched it on 32 count Belfast Linen in Light Mocha.

I liked the design so much I made two - oops no I made three - no in fact I made four!!!! There was no way that I could part with this ornament unless I had a second one nearly finished all for myself!

The others are quite different, I shall post pictures when they are all ready.

I loved the fact that it was really easy to stitch.

Happy Stitching!

Christmas Ornament sent today.

I have posted my Christmas Ornament today for the Hooked On Exchanging Too Group, it should take about 7-10 days to arrive at it's destination, I really hope my partner likes it, I will post a picture when it is received. I liked this one the most out of all the ornaments I have stitched, in fact, I liked it that much I made two, one for my partner and one for me.
I knew that if I did not make two I would struggle to part with it!

Happy Stitching!

Noel and Peace ornament completed.

Finally finished the Christmas ornaments! The Noel is from the Gift of Stitching Magazine (no longer available) and Peace is from Christmas Ornaments Just Cross Stitch Magazine 2008.

I stitched the Noel ornament using 2 threads over 2 using DMC threads but I have forgotten the number of the colour, I finished stitching it last week but I had run out of the binding and had to wait until I had time to get some more! I am pretty sure it was not the colour suggested in the pattern. I used 32 count Belfast Linen, light mocha. It was really easy to stitch and I love the result of this one.

The Peace ornament is on page 81 of the Just Cross Stitch magazine, I did this 1 over 1 using the colours in the pattern, obviously it took a while longer to do this because I used smaller stitches and you really need to concentrate on the pattern but I liked the result. I used 25 count cream Lugana. I posted a close up picture of this ornament in an earlier post, it gives a better idea of how it looks.

I have one more finish that I will be mailing tomorrow for the Christmas Ornament Hooked on Exchanging Too, I shall post a picture when my partner receives it.

Now I know why everyone says that ornament stitching can get addictive!

Happy Stitching!

Christmas Ornament arrived from Joan

What a lovely surprise I received in the post this morning, it was the Christmas Ornament from Joan in the hooked on exchanging group. She enclosed some tins, piecemaker needles and pins that were on my wish list and also enclosed a handmade chicken pincushion, some lovely ribbon, a handmade bag and a snowman notepad. Thankyou Joan I was very pleased with everything you sent, you read my blog very well!

Here it is!

What a beautiful mattress pincushion this is, the photographs do not do it justice. The stitching was perfect and the goodies were a lovely surprise too, thanks for reading my wish list Jennifer, I am really looking forward to using this blue silk thread!

I was so thrilled with it, I took it to work to show the ladies and they loved it too!