Works in progress, a new start and a finish!

Hi everyone, thankyou for your lovely comments on my last post about my sons bithday, time certainly does fly!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year, we visited England and travelled around a bit, we returned on Wednesday this week and we are very glad to be home.

I thought I would start off the new year with photos of my recent framing, I finished these quite a while ago but I am happy to have them framed, and as you can Santa's Village is finally finished, I am so pleased.  

A random act of kindness and other stitching..........

Hi everyone, I have been busy catching up on some cross stitch finishes, the first one being this altered design of Little House Neighborhood that I stitched for a lady who I only just met!

Free valentine cross stitch patterns, Rosey finished, new stash and Tilda dolls!

I have bought some new fabric to make this Tilda Doll from the book Tilda's Summer Ideas, this fabric is really pretty,  I got it from ebay, it is from the Tilda fabric range. I also bought some other fabric from a website called Crumbly Cottage in the UK, they arrived very quickly and Claire the owner placed a  free bag of buttons into the parcel, it felt like my birthday, they were such a treat to open! 

New design Valentine patterns see below   

Stitching news and a free pattern

I have now finished Rosey from Little House Needleworks, I think she is so pretty, the photos are below.

As Valentines day is approaching I decided to make a couple of free patterns for you, the cross stitch freebies are at the bottom of this post.

My trip to Paris    

As you know I am off to Paris to the embroidery show and I am thinking of making a small gift for the first person who recognises me. There is only one exception to this, if you have already won one of my giveaways you are not eligible to claim this at the show but you can claim one of my patterns from my Etsy shop, I will be putting the full details on my post on Sunday evening.

 I will be wearing a badge with my blog name to make it easy to find me! 

Hopefully I will have made the small gift by this Sunday  when I will post a picture on my blog, if no one claims it at the show I will offer it as a free gift when I return. 

  

    

Here are the cross stitch freebies, they make lovely scissor fobs!

This love birds cross stitch design is available to purchase, just email me in my profile. 

Thankyou to all of you for the lovely comments you send my way, and may I extend a warm welcome to all of my new followers! 

Happy stitching!

Little House Neighbourhood finished and framed and Chocolate Shoppe framed

Little House Neighbourhood finished

I finally finished Little House Neighbourhood ( English spelling ) for my sister's Christmas gift, however, it was not without it's trials and tribulations! I started stitching this in January 2011 thinking that I would have plenty of time to finish this, I had everything planned and thought  it would be an easy task. Now, the pattern is very easy to follow and I had no worries there, however, the time skipped happily by and before I knew it September had come and gone and then I was in the middle of October thinking "Oooooo must finish my sister's cross stitch" but I got busy with other commitments.

Finally I had one week left before Christmas to stitch merrily away on Little House Neighbourhood and then this happened........................

I sprained my thumb by banging it real hard on the door handle! The bruising soon appeared and it was quite painful but all I kept thinking was Christmas Day approaching fast!!!! Aghhh!!!

Panic set in!!!! .lol 

I struggled through finally putting the last stitch in thinking " wonderful, it is now finished" and suddenly realised I had stitched it in the wrong colour and forgot to alter the chart for the English spelling of neighbourhood!  I knew if I left it with the American spelling everyone would think I had spelt it wrong, so it was much easier to change it.  

         

I then had to unpick all the stitches and start again! I decided it would be best to put it away for a couple of days, trying not to think about Christmas Day getting ever nearer! lol     

I finally finished framing and gift wrapping very late on Christmas Eve! lol

I framed it in a Cherry wood frame.

I suppose the moral of the story is.................

If you ever start stitching a piece of cross stitch in January don't presume you will have plenty of time, don't procrastinate because one never knows what may happen! lol

My thumb is much better but it is still quite sore, but at least I got it finished, and, by the way, my sister Ann- Marie loved it!

I framed The Chocolate Shoppe today.

Thankyou for all of your lovely comments on my little red box set in the previous post and welcome to all of my new followers! 

Have a wonderful New Year, see you in 2012! 

Happy stitching!

Little House Needleworks Rosie makes posies progress.

Hi everyone, firstly I would like to welcome my new followers and thank everyone for leaving comments on my blog, it is always appreciated. I am thrilled I have reached over 1300 followers, it is so nice to know you enjoy reading my little piece of the blog world! I considered doing a giveaway to celebrate but I am currently working on my 3rd blog anniversary giveaway for the end of  July, however, I will certainly be doing one just to celebrate my followers a little later, maybe sometime in September.

Stitching news
I have started stitching Rosie from Little House Needlework and I have posted more pictures below.
I chose the cream fabric because I did not have any darker coloured fabric in the right thread count and I particularly wanted to stitch this on 32 count. To allow for the fact that I used the cream fabric I had to backstitch the bee and the flowers to make them stand out, but I think it looks ok.

 

My work in progress on Rosie

Close up of the back stitched bee

Thankyou for your visit, I hope you have a happy stitchy week!
     

Ye Ode Chocolate Shoppe finished and I won another giveaway!

Hi everyone, I finished Chocolate Shoppe last weekend, it was nearly a disaster as I cut through the linen when I realised I had missed the coffee coloured row of  stitching at the top, thankfully I managed to cover up my mistake! I am going to get this framed when I have finished other designs in this range because thay are all going onto the same wall in my new kitchen, I also have Ice Cream Sundae still to frame, now that really is one of my favourites, it just makes me want ice cream as soon as I look at it!

I am getting ready to stitch Rosie with her posy design next.

Other stitching news.

I received some wonderful news the other day, I won Lees giveaway from Notes from Under the Mountain blog here if you have never seen Lees blog then I ask you to go over now as Lee makes some beautiful creations, her embroidery is exquisite! I was so thrilled and excited when I realised I had won the beautiful embroidered bag with another stitched item that will be a surprise made from my choice of colour.    

I first heard about Lees blog when I saw a beautiful cushion Lee had stitched for another blogger, then I saw this little bag that literally took my breath away here it is called a Pocket for Titania, I am sure you will all agree Lee is a very talented needlewoman! 

Thankyou Lee, I look forward to receiving your giveaway gift!

I have also been planning my third anniversary giveaway for July, I am already stitching another one of my tea bag holders that will be one of my gifts, you all seemed to really like that so I thought I may as well stitch another for the giveaway. I think it will be themed around cupcakes, I have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head, you never know I may change my mind a million times until I actually start the stitching process! 

Thankyou for all of your lovely comments, they are always appreciated, I would also  like to welcome  all of my new followers!     

LHN Ye Olde Chocolate Shoppe work in progress and new stash.

Mmmmm Chocolate is one of my favourite things, especially when it is designed by Little House Needleworks, Ye Olde Chocolate Shoppe! I have stitched more on this since I took the photo, so hopefully I will have this finished at the weekend. It has been such a quick stitch but I have really enjoyed stitching it, the colours are lovely. 

I have also been buying some stash, I chose some linen and another selection of Country Cottage and Little House Needleworks patterns. I particularly like the Rosie pattern below, she is just so cute, I think that will be my next project.

Le Boutique and The Flower Shop

And

The Needlework Shop and Bakery

I also needed some new linen, I bought red, black, pale blue and pink, I have some ideas for the black as I am working on a black and white stitched piece at the moment, it has been a work in progress for quite a while, the black linen is to make accessories to match. I bought the Christmas Red as I am planning to make some red pieces for Christmas this year.   

 

 Other stitching news

I have received some photos recently of the projects that some of my readers have stitched using my patterns, I am hoping to show those in my next post.

 Today I was cutting out the pattern for a new dress I am making so I didn't get much cross stitching done but I have been thinking about my third blog anniversary giveaway gift that I am planning for July, hopefully I can rustle up something that you will all like!

Welcome to all of my new followers and thankyou for all of your comments, they are really appreciated!

Until next time, happy stitching!       



Box making and my work in progress for this week.

Hi everyone, I am currently working on a couple of boxes, the first is covered in white silk dupion, I used this embroidery to cover the top of the box. Here are a couple of sneak previews of the work in progress, I will show you the box and contents in a couple of weeks when it is finished completely.

Here is a  close up of the spider web roses, I think the colours are beautiful.  

I have also been working on my Little House Neighbourhood, here are the latest photographs.  

I have also been working on a box tutorial for my tutorials blog here, I decided to make the box (below)  I had previously made for Hazel from the Quietly Stitching blog. I know you have seen this photo before but if you would like to see the instructions how to make it you can pop over and see part one on my tutorials blog.

Talking of tutorials, Lei B sent me a lovely photograph of the little pillows that she stitched using my tutorials, you can see Leis blog here , they are so beautifully stitched Lei!

If anyone else has used my tutorials or patterns I would love to see them and would be happy to show them on my blog here, just send me the photo with your blog details.

Thankyou for the lovely birthday wishes on my last post they were really appreciated.

Happy stitching everyone and welcome to all of my new followers!

My birthday gifts and work in progress on Little House Needleworks.

Hi everyone, it was my birthday yesterday (Saturday 2nd April) and I received these lovely patterns from members of my family, these included  Little House Needleworks, Country Cottage Needleworks and Sue Hillis Designs and I am really looking forward to starting them. I think my favourite is the Chocolate Shoppe,  I may start stitching that one over the next few days.

I loved this pattern, it has been on my wish list blog, my sister very kindly bought me this together with The Cafe pattern - thanks Sis!   

Here is my progress on Little House Neighbourhood, I managed to stitch the border and start the second panel by stitching the tree in the centre and the house roof on the right.

Other stitching news

I was hoping to finish another tutorial this week for my tutorials blog but I got busy with other things, I am hoping to get on with finishing the tutorial over the next week or so.

Welcome to my new followers, thankyou for the lovely comments, I really appreciate them all.

Happy stitching!

Little House Neighbourhood progress

Hi everyone, I have not much to show you apart from progress on Little House Neighbourhood which I am really enjoying at the moment, this week I am hoping to stitch some of the border on the top and along the sides and then I can progress to the second part.   

Sorry about the photo, I seem to be having problems with the focus on my pics, mmmm I will have to look at my camera and see what I am doing wrong, my photo's used to be clearer than this. I think I have accidentally clicked on a button on my camera and it has altered something?!!!! 

I have been sorting out my craft room and taking photographs for a tutorial that I will put on my finishing blog, hopefully next week. 

Have a happy stitchy week, until next time!

   



Afternoon tea and Little House Neighbourhood progress

Hi everyone, I have had a lovely week this week, I finally got the chance to use my two tiered cake stand that my sister bought me for my 50th birthday last year, it is a very pretty design with flowers and butterflies on it and I absolutely love it.  I invited my sister one day and my friend on another day but basically made the same sandwiches  for both days. We had salmon and cucumber sandwiches, ham sandwiches, scones,  fondant fancy cakes and crunchie chocolate rocks and it was absolutely delicious!  Of course we had tea which gave me the excuse to use my favourite strawberry tea set and matching plates. 

I bought some lovely white napkins and a matching table cloth for a crisp white finish as I do not think there is anything nicer than  a clean white tablecloth for afternoon tea, do you agree?

I sometimes think I may actually be brave and invite some blogging friends that live close to me - would anyone come? lol   That would be fun to have a stitching day with people I had never met before but had chatted to on line!   If I invited you what stitching piece would you bring to stitch on the day?

I just love these tiny dessert forks and the matching teaspoons.

And now for my stitching progress on Little House Needlework pattern The Little House Neighbourhood.

I just need to stitch around the door and the fence   

I just love these patterns, they seem to grow so quickly.    

 I have a number of Little House Needlework designs in my stash that I have yet to stitch, I just love them!  

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

Happy stitching until next time.