Another year older ...

I had my birthday on Saturday, and right on cue - but fortunately after I'd got home from my day out - it started to snow! I know we've not suffered as much as many places, but this has been a bad winter by UK standards, and I'm ready for Spring now ...

This is the view from our living room window (we're in a first floor flat - second floor for US readers!) looking over the communal garden to the neighbouring building, which is an undertaker's business - the big rolling door is where the hearses come out of... it's nice to have quiet nieghbours ;o)

So, Sunday's plans got cancelled - the Aged Parents were going to come over and we were going to go for lunch, but the road to get here is a minor country road, exposed and not gritted so they stayed home. I stayed in too and stitched. I've made quite a dint in my UFO pile, so there's plenty of blog material to come - I even finished some pieces before showing them on a "Finish or Fling?" post :o) I can't believe that some pieces were abandoned so close to completion...

The Hermit bought me the remaining Prairie Schooler alphabet charts for the SAL, so I'm all set with that. The guinea pigs bought me a lunch bag in the shape of a bee (I think they had help...) and the Aged Parents gave me a cheque - I spent half of it on a new pair of flat black shoes on Saturday which I really needed, the previous pair were about worn through. I'm going to look at the Nashville releases and see if there's anything that catches my eye - have you seen anything you've just got to have? Sis gave me a giftcard for Waterstone's (a book chain) so equally, if you have any craft book recommendations... I wasn't in any birthday exchanges this year, and I really, really missed it. I'd hoped my Sew Red for your Heart exchange would arrive in time, but it's not turned up so far - and my piece hasn't made it to its recipient yet either :o( Oh well, something to look forward to!

I'd like to thank Carol who pointed out that pictures on my blog had vanished ... because there's been so much interest in my designs, I'd exceeded my monthly bandwidth limit over on Photobucket - who host my pictures - and nothing could be seen! It's all sorted now, I never realised there were perils in being popular! Hopefully everyone who has asked for a chart has one now, I took a break for a couple of days ... don't forget, if you like the charts and would like to make a donation to the MS Trust, it's really simple to do, just click here - donations can be made via Paypal as well as debit/credit cards.

Right, better get cracking, I have a Uni class later, just need to gather my thoughts and find a bit of critical theory to discuss in class...

Fall Into Autumn - Rainbow Gallery

Design: Fall into Autumn Designer: Erica Michaels for Rainbow Gallery (freebie available here) Threads: own choice (mainly Anchor stranded cottons) Fabric: 14 count aida, cream Finishing: Pinkeep

Although I'm currently not active on the Crazy Exchange group, I recently completed a birthday exchange for Marlies there - I had already received you see, my birthday being in February. It was really nice to have another exchange to put together and I found lots of nice autumnal themed items to add to the package - it's amazing what one can get in a fairly small padded envelope! LOL

The card is one I made myself, as is the floss tag. Also added to the package were two small charts, a small kit, some backing fabric, beads, rayon floss, metallic floss, multi coloured floss and a small spring hoop!

Marlies told me she felt very spoiled, so I feel my work is done :o)

Birthday Cards

July and August are always manic months for birthdays in my family. First of all, there's my sister, then my brother in law, then my mum, then my partner's sister and finally, my partner.

I've already posted a picture of my sister's card which I made using ribbon embroidery, but here are the others:


It's really hard to find cards for men that aren't a bit of a cliche - cars, football, fishing or sailing seem to be about the limits! This was a card from a kit to which I added peel off lettering. I can't say I recommend stitching with raffia, it's a bit of a struggle :o)

Stitching with silk organza is much more pleasant and it grows so quickly! I do get a bit tangled up with the sticky tape on the reverse, but fortunately, no one needs to see that! Again, this was a card from a kit, and I embellished it with additional lettering, which not only makes it more personal, but I think it balances the design better. I'm all for blank space in designs, but there can be too much of a good thing! The needleroll was an earlier finish which I also gave to my mum. It's all her fault I stitch anyhow LOL


This is another card from a kit - I bought the kit locally on sale, but I think the designer/maker is a Dutch company. It wasn't the best stitching experience ever. First of all, I had to prick every single hole - they weren't pre-punched, unlike the ribbon embroidery card. And then, to get the effect pictured (and which had been on the picture on the packet) I had to fudge how I folded the whole thing and incorporated the liner. I wonder if everyone else had to do that, and thta's why they were so cheap? :o) I'm pleased with the effect though, and it was nice to make something for The Hermit in his favourite colours, as I rarely stitch anything blue - it really is a colour I dislike!

Birth Sampler - Helen Philipps

Design: Birth Sampler from The New Cross Stitch Sampler Book
Designer: Helen Philipps
Threads: DMC and DMC Color Variations
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, blush

I made this sweet little sampler for my sister for her birthday, as I didn't stitch her one when my niece was born - I stitched an afghan instead, and Ma stitched a sampler. However, the sampler has jungle animals, so was more for my niece than my sister, and she'd admired this when looking through my books, so I made this as a surprise!

It was easy enough to stitch, although I had to re-size the name and date blocks. I also modified the back stitch on the border - I wasn't going to do any over-one when I didn't feel it added to the design!

The book I've taken this from is probably the most used in my stash - I love so many of the designs, I'd highly recommend it!

Butterflies Birthday Card

This isn't a particularly good picture, but it gives you an idea of the card I made my sister for her birthday.

The butterfly wings are organza ribbon, so are 3-D in effect. The card and ribbon came in a kit, but I added my own peel-off lettering, and a butterfly peel-off inside. The card came pre punched, so it was a little like going back to my childhood, when I had lacing cards to play with :o)

My sister loved it - she's a great card maker, so creative, so neat. She said 'and you say you can't make cards!' - so I did get a scolding too :o)

The kit included 8 cards of 4 different designs, so I've used another one for my mum's birthday card - I'll post it after the event. She's unlikely to find my blog, but I won't take the chance!

Spring Basket - Lizzie*Kate

Design: Spring Basket Snippet

Designer: Lizzie*Kate

Fabric: 14 count aida, antique white

Threads: DMC

Finish: Pinkeep, trimmed with ricrac braid, backed with the fabric shown.

I stitched this for Kendra in the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club. I made a huge boo-boo and got the date of her birthday wrong, but she has been very nice about it. The daft thing is that I had stitched the piece in plenty of time, and left it to one side to finish! Initially, I thought about just making a mini pillow, as I'm okay with those, but then I decided to be brave and make a pinkeep. The construction is slightly unconventional, but it looks okay. The backing fabric is the blue folksy style print you can see in the background of the pictures, and the trim is ricrac braid. The pins were some I received myself (from Sonda) - isn't it great to share with stitchers :o)

I stitched the piece with the DMC conversions given on the chart, and omitted the buttons - frankly, I forgot about adding any!

These are the goodies I added - I wanted to co-ordinate a bit, but also to take into account Kendra's likes and dislikes.

I hope she enjoys them - I enjoyed making it, and putting the package together, I just didn't feel too happy about getting the date wrong!