Little House Needleworks Exchange

I received this lovely parcel from Lillie. It was my gift on Hooked on Exchanges Little House/Country Cottage Needleworks Exchange. She made this wonderful pillow with the message of "Hope" on it - isn't the finishing and trimming just deliciously frivolous? You can't feel it from a picture, but it is lovely and soft, and the backing fabric is too.

And I received not one but two pin pillows which she had stamped - plus the handmade flower pins you can see.

And if that wasn't enough, there were some cute buttons - very appropriate, as I'm planning a Sunbonnet Sue quilt for my niece, and some delicious sounding teas and chocolate.

Thank you Lillie, for your generosity, I feel very spoiled!

PS In one of those coincidences, the tea came in a good luck envelope from HSBC bank - both my sister and brother in law work for them, and they have a major centre in my home city!

LHN Exchange Received!

I had a lovely surprise this weekend - my Little House Needleworks Exchange from the Hooked on Exchanges blog arrived!

Shelley stitched me this gorgeous pinkeep, using parts of the Garden Pleasures design - there is even an little amber coloured butterfly. The pinkeep is beautifully finished - the backing material is the one you can see in the background, as Shelley kindly included some - just exactly 'my' colours :o)

The other goodies included a candle in the shape of a flower with a bee on it, a piece of linen/silk mix fabric - feels fantastic, I'll use it for a special project - and three skeins of Carrie's Creations threads in lovely colours - I've heard great things about these threads, but these are my first, I look forward to using them! There was also a very sweey stripy/sparkly card too!

Thank you Shelley for such a special exchange, I love everything!

Summer House - Little House Needleworks

Design: Summer House (freebie)
Designer: Little House Needleworks
Threads: DMC Colour Variations and Six Strand Sweets
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, colour unknown

This is the Little House Needleworks exchange I did for the Hooked on Exchanges group. My partner was Annette, and as she is in the USA I thought that Summer House seemed appropriate. Carol S. had very kindly sent me a whole bunch of freebies so I could participate - and now I have another favourite designer to add to the list! This was a joy to stitch - the colours blend beautifully - even though they were my pick, and not the charted colours... - the frog stayed away, and the whole design seemed to 'hang' just right.

The picture above is the whole package I sent to Annette, and below is a picture before I added the trim to the pin keep - you wouldn't think something so simple as a piece of braid and some pins would make such a difference, would you?

I love doing the exchanges on HoE, I have three more lined up over the coming months and I'm looking forward to each and every one of them!

I think I might restitch this design for myself, and make the flag either a maple leaf or a Union Jack.

Pinkeep Exchange

I've finally got some pictures to show! I hope you think it was worth the wait :o)

This is the lovely pinkeep which came all the way from Brazil - thanks Janaina! It's a Little House Needleworks design, and Janaina has personalised it with our initials and the date. It's beautifully stitched, and very neatly finished.

Here you can see everything else which came - the threads, the tea, the linen, the backing fabric, the shower gel, the sequins, the postcard - and the outer packaging too, so covered in stamps it looked very festive!

Thanks again Janaina, for such a wonderful gift!

Another Christmas Exchange

This exchange was organised by Simone, and my sender was Robin - she knew I like sheep, so stitched me the lovely Little House ornament in the picture. She also handcrafted the Christmas card that came with it.

The sheepie is so nice, he's going to stay in my smalls basket all winter, at least!