From me to you (part II)

Back again with the next installment of the weeks stitchy happenings. Thanks for all you comments on the last post. It seems that we have all done things like that at some point. And, knowing myself, I'll probably be there again before too long ;-)
So another of the exchanges I sent out has arrived safe and sound. One of the groups I belong to (ILCS) had a Summer Ornament swap. I stitched for Heidi :-) and here is what I sent.

'Strawberry House' by LHN

32ct cream linen

CC & DMC floss

Cotton backing, 1/4" ribbon, seed beads & pearl headed pins

I personalised the back with our names, the group and the year.

Credit to DH Stuart who helped me pick out the backing fabric. I stood for about 20 minutes looking at countless different fabrics and then turned to him and moaned about how there was nothing that would work. He just looked at me, looked at the fabric and said "How about this one?" and picked the perfect one.
I couldn't find peach, pearl headed pins anywhere. And neither could DH! So I used nail varnish to tint some red pins I had. I think it worked a treat. I stuck them in a potato, painted them and left them to dry overnight. I think leaving them overnight was overkill but I did not want to risk getting nail varnish on the stitching.

The top needed something a little more than the round pins. This heart pin came free with a magazine a couple of months ago. Well it was a whole set of hearh pins (not just one) but I only needed the one :-)

Like I told Heidi, when I think of summer I think of strawberries :-) I'm glad you like it Heidi, it was a joy to stitch.

Speaking of strawberries, my MIL has just dropped off a 2 punnets of them. On one punnet is written 'love from us' and on the other it says 'and Jugal'. Jugal is my in-laws dog. When it works out that my in-laws have to work on the same day I help out with Jugal. I either have her here at our house or I'll pop up at some point and give her a walk and some fuss, it is a two minute walk from my house to my in-laws and about the same to my parents house too. She is such a sweet natured dog that it really isn't a hardship at all to spend time with her. When she is here at our house, she can usually be found within a few feet of wherever I am :-) she is a great companion. Thank you for the strawberries mum, dad and Jugal. They will be lovely for pud tonight. Nom nom.

I received my ornament for the Early christmas Exchange on HoE . Lillie had my name and I'm so glad she did! Look at this beautiful ornament she made for me.

Isn't it wonderful! I love the design and the colour and Lillies stitching are perfect. It even has little jingle bells on the bottom, I'll have to make sure it goes near the top of the tree well out of cat swiping range :-)

Thank you so very much Lillie, I really love it.

Well I still haven't taken any pictures of the garden, we have had quite a bit of rain here this week and on the days we haven't I have been busy helping out at the kids school. I went fishing with Camerons class on wednesday, nobody caught anything but it didn't stop everyone having a great afternoon. I'll try and take some garden pics this weekend but that will be depend on the weather, I'm not sure what it is supposed to be like this weekend, fingers crossed for some more sun.

My stitching is still for exchanges so no pics of those till they arrive at their new homes. I have finished another seven crochet granny squares so I have nine in total. I think I am going to make them into a pillow, so maybe pics of that next time :-)

Have a great weekend,

Sadie x

From me to you (part I)

The sun finally deciced to make an appearance this weekend in Scotland (about bloody time!). We had temps around 25-27 C, which is up into the low 80's. Heatwave! It's a bit cooler today but still nothing to complain about.

Now, our garden is pretty small so you would think that keeping it in order would be a piece of cake, but DH and I are not natural gardeners (through no lack of trying on my part) so our garden has always looked scruffy. Well, last weekend DH made a start on getting rid of all the weeds, and through the week I started to lay out weed control fabric and a good thick layer of mulch. On Saturday DH and I spent nearly all day out in the garden and it is finally finished. The garden looks the best it has ever done and when all the little seedlings I planted start to grow and bloom it will be so pretty. I really wish we had taken some before pics but we didn't (imagine dandelions, weeds, dandelions, more weeds, dandelions, more other weeds, dandelions) so I'll take some after pics and share them later in the week :-)

Last week my friend Hazel celebrated her birthday, so I stitched this little cutie onto a tea-towel for her.

The pattern is a free design and can be found here. Stitched with DMC on 100% cotton and my first try at satin stitch, not as scary as I thought :-)

Finally, I have some pics of the exchanges I have been working on for the last month :-)

Well, when I say I have pics, I actually don't have any pics of this first exchange piece because I didn't take any before I sent it on it's merry little way. So I have snaffled this picture from Maries blog (hope that is okay Marie) as she is now the new owner of this little guy.

This ornament was such a fun stitch, but the finishing was pretty much a disaster. When I finished stitching the design ('House on Holly Hill' by BBD) I picked out some lovely, co-ordinating, red velvet from my stash for the back and then three different ribbons, in red, green and cream, to use as the hanger. I was pretty pleased as they all matched perfectly and I didn't need to go out and buy anything extra, I had it all right here already :-)

(so, that's the pride bit out of the way, here comes the fall, get ready)

So, I pinned the ribbons in place and, using my sewing machine, I stitched round three sides and left an opening in the fourth so I could turn it the right way out. When I came to turn the ornament the right way out, I saw that I had put the velvet on the wrong way, so the nice velvetty side was on the inside of the ornament!

After a small rant at myself, which turned the air blue and made the sailor next door blush, I sat down to see if I could salvage the stitching. I could :-) Thankfully I had left quite a generous margin around the stitching so I snipped off the velvet, cut another piece and started again. This time with a slightly smaller margin and the velvet the right way round and quite frankly, feeling rather chuffed with myself for being so clever and being able to salvage the ornament.

(more pride, you know what's coming next)

So, I stitched round three sides, left an opening, turned it the right way out and ........................ the angels didn't sing, there was no brilliant ray of light bathing me and there was no triumphant punching of ther air with my fist. I had pinned the ribbon hangers on the wrong way, so inside the ornament, I had the best part of six yards of ribbon but on the outside, I had little one inch tufts.

So, after a mammoth rant at myself, which turned the air a thick, dark navy blue and made the sailor next door choke on his rum, I sat down to see if I could salvage the stitching. I couldn't :-(

So I gathered my supplies and stitched the whole thing again, and I very, very, very carefully finished it with the red velvet and the three ribbons and I didn't take a picture, I just wrapped it up and posted it.

Marie, I am so glad that you like it, I had quite the adventure stitching it for you. Twice :-)

Well this post has turned out longer than I had thought it would so we'll have a short intermission I think (drinks and ice-creams are available in the lobby) and I'll see you again with part II in a couple of days :-)

Sadie x

Waiting for supplies

First up, thanks for all the stitchy love for my embroidered tea towel. I ordered some more blank tea towels yesterday so you'll be seeing more of them in the future :-) They are so inexpensive, it works out at about 90p each! If I could afford to buy them in greater numbers they would be even cheaper.

I have my next two projects lined up in my head but I have to wait for supplies to arrive before I can start. I hate it when that happens.
So what shall I do to fill my time? Well, I was mindlessly searching through Flickr when I found the Granny Squares group. So I dug out my crochet hook and went stash diving in my big bag o' wool and this is where I am so far.


Two down, and who knows how many more to go.

Now, I was just wondering if I am the only person in the whole of the world who doesn't get the whole 'flower/scissor frog' craze. I really cannot see the appeal of them at all. It seems that nearly every blog I visit is either proudly displaying the one found at the thrift shop or bemoaning another empty handed trip *sigh* the search goes on.

So, is it just me? Am I the only one who doesn't get it, or are there more of us out there? I would love to hear what you think, either for or against.

One last question before I sign off. Does anyone have a Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers #25 'Awake the Dawning Day' that they would be willing to loan me in exchange for a stitched item from me? The prices being asked for this OOP chart are way out of my league. I would take very, very good care of it.

Edited : Many, many thanks to Susan for pointing me to the Homespun Sampler website. I just ordered the chart (for the very reasonable price of $8) and now I need to be patient until it is in my hands and I can touch it and hold it close :-) and stitch it of course! Thanks again Susan, I don't know how that escaped my web searches.

I really wanted to get out into the garden today and put some of my seedlings into the ground,but we had rain through the night so the ground is a little wet and it's also a little cold today too. Fingers crossed that it will warm up and the sun will make an appearance and then, maybe, I will be able to get outside later today.

Oh well, time now for a coffee and then onto some housework, can't have Stuart thinking I spend all my time on the computer/stitching/crocheting ;-o

Have a great day,

Sadie x

Kokeshi Kitchen Kitsch

It was birthday time yesterday for my friend Sue. Happy Birthday! So continuing with this years efforts to give handmade gifts, I embroidered this little cutie onto a tea towel for her.
This is a freebie pattern from Jenny Hart over at Sublime Stitching. Stitched using good 'ole DMC on a 100% cotton tea towel, so it can be washed and washed and washed and the colours will stay put. Even if my stitches don't! Only joking I secured those ends nice and tight. This is my first proper try at embroidery as an adult, I think I did it in school when I was about seven or eight. Some of my lines are a little wobbly (somewhat like me!) but on the whole I'm pleased with it.
Next week the birthday girl is my friend Hazel, can you guess what she will be getting?

Still in the thrall of exchange stitching here so that's it for today folks.

Hope you have a fab week,

Sadie x

Where the wild things are

We went to Blair Drummond Safari Park for DDs birthday. A really great day out and my brother, SIL and nephew came too :-) This is a pic of the kids doing their fierce faces. They were having a hard time being fierce because of a fit of the giggles :-D

I'm still stitching, but it's all for exchanges so no pics yet. I have a day to myself today as DH and DS are away fishing for the day and DD is away shopping with my sister. I think I will try to do a little work in the garden and then sit and stitch whilst keeping one eye on the snooker :-) I will have to make a fire first though as it has been colder here the last few days, todays high is 9C (about 48F) ,chilly!
Well, hopefully I will be back soon with some stitchy pics, take care and have a great week.

Sadie x