Needleroll Exchange Pictures

Last week, the postman delivered most wonderful parcel that had come from Joan! In it was a fabulous needleroll (from a design by Lavender Wings) - complete with some needles! And no longer do I have to look with envy at others who have been given one of her lovely project bags and cute chickens - because I have my very own! And the goodies didn't finish there, either! Joan hit my wishlist in a big way, and included a Shepherds Bush needleroll kit (Forget-me-not), a whole raft of SB freebie charts and a heap of Prairie Schooler freebie charts too, as well as two skeins of DMC color variations in my favourite shades!

I was well and truly spoilt and 'thank you' hardly seemed to cover it - wasn't I the lucky girl?

Star Santa - Lavender Wings

This is a little peek at the ornament I stitched for the exchange run by Simone. I haven't taken a picture of all the goodies I sent too as I don't want to completely spoil the surprise on the off chance that the recipient reads my blog :o)

The design is from Lavendar Wings, from an old edition of the JCS Ornament Issue, but I made some modifications - I omitted the stars in the background, and added beads for the berries. The background fabric is actually a pale blue, it looks a bit washed out in the picture!

Saturday's Sampler - Lavender Wings

This was stitched as a Round Robin on the (now defunct/imploded) Yahoo group "Round Robin Crazy". It was stitched in the DMC conversions given on the chart, which is why it looks quite a bit different to the model on the chart.

Stitched in 2005, this hasn't languished as long as some pieces in my "to be finished" box! I made this into a bell pull by backing it with glazed cotton in cream, which had been given more body by ironing on some lightweight interfacing. Initially, I made this sandwich up wrongly, so I had to do a little unpicking - fortunately, I was stitching by hand (as I always do) so it wasn't as tough as unpicking machine stitching!

I gave the final piece a press, and even from the wrong side, managed to damage the button - it softened and "fell off" the stitching - fortunately, it was repairable, but I will be ultra cautious next time!

Having done all the work, I'm not sure where to hang this, as it doesn't really fit in with decor in the living room or bedroom - it might end up in the hall, which due to its small size and many doors, has some narrow spaces just crying out for bell pulls!