WARMTH FROM AUSTRALIA

With snow still on the ground and below zero temperatures, a knock on the door from Mr. Postie with a parcel all the way from Australia is the perfect tonic for an instant feeling of warmth and happiness!

Last week I heard from Fiona  http://peacefulthreads.blogspot.com/  that I was the lucky winner of her giveway celebrating her 3rd blogoversary and yesterday, only 1 week later, I was thrilled it find it had arrived.  Fiona had posted pictures of the giveaway gifts and they were all gorgeous but to actually see them for real is something else . . .

Matching pincushion, scissors in attached scissor pocket and needle case

all in beautiful co-ordinating fabrics in duck-egg blue, mustard yellow and terracotta 

burgundy check tea-towel with applique basket of pears

'Tis The Season' Christmas Stitchings book

Fiona's gifts are beautifully stitched and I'm really happy to be the proud owner of them.  The needlework trio will be displayed on my new cream shelves in the lounge, the applique tea-towel is going to be a wall~hanging in the kitchen and Tis The Season will be my first attempt at redwork and hopefully result in a finished quilt!

You can see Fiona's finished quilt here

 http://peacefulthreads.blogspot.com/search/label/Tis%20the%20Season

warning ~ it's gorgeous!!!

Thank you so much Fiona for bringing some warmth to my day xxx

Thanks for stopping by

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

TWO 'SNOWY MORNS'

Introducing 'Snowy Morn' number 1 . . .

As forecast, we woke up this morning to our garden covered with a pretty white blanket of snow ~ no more to follow just yet but the freezing temperatures mean it will be hanging round a while!

I know snow does cause problems especially when it turns icy but I have found one advantage to it ~ the brightness it brings means I can actually see to cross stitch the dreaded 1 over 1 on 'Snowy Morn' number 2.

Yes, after my last post and breathing a sigh of relief that that horrible part of Snowy Morn was complete, I now find that there's more in store!

Last night I sat for 3 hours stitching and un-stitching and went to bed feeling very fed up with my inability to see what I'm doing BUT this snowfall overnight has given such brightness to the day that I have, at last, seen a bit more progress . . .

The white row of feather-like satin stitch is repeated in blocks of 10 over 1 all the way round the design ~ YUK!

It has taken me an hour just to complete that one row and now at 3.45pm the brightnness has gone so if I could just ask for a little more snow overnight so I can finish it tomorrow, I'd be most grateful!

Thank you to everyone who sent 18th birthday wishes to DD, celebrations continued until 2am and a good time was shared by all.

Thanks for stopping by

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

PARTY TIME

Lots of celebrations today as DD turns 18!

Those of you more observant will note that this post was published at 23.45pm and whilst DH, Tilly, Oscar and I sit cuddled up in the Study thinking of bedtime, the rest of the house has been taken over by many, many 18yr old girls, champagne glasses are clinking, the iPod docking station is blaring out Lady GaGa and 'Party Time' has just begun! (funny my 14yr old twin boys seem to want to be with the girls rather than Mummy & Daddy and seem only too keen to be Waiters for the night!)

DD ready for Party Time

Her Grandad bought her the pink roses behind her, they've been sprayed with silver glitter and almost look as pretty as she does!

Oh 18 seems a long time ago, so long I don't think I can even remember!

21 was different as that was the age I was married so who knows what the next 3 years will bring  her ~ well hopefully it's going to bring 3 years of Uni as she has now had acceptance offers from all her chosen Uni's ~ yes, you've guessed right . . . very proud Mum posting here and very happy to sit up until dawn breaks!

Now, I could be putting all this spare? time to good use but have I had a yucky week with my current WIP or what?  1 over 1 on 32~count is just not me despite a pair of glasses, a magnifying glass and a daylight lamp and still those rotten frogs kept marching right on in.

So last night I was more than happy to have completed the 4 small squares that needed this horrible size stitching, put it aside and take time to fall in love with it again!

Snow expected here tomorrow, not as bad as some parts of our Country have at the moment, but it will  be our first snowfall of 2012 ~ I am actually looking forward to it, I do love the Winter Wonderland it brings but the 1 fall is enough and if it can come and go by Monday morning that will be great!

Thanks for stopping by

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

THE COUNTRY FEEL . . .

Happy Sunday afternoon everyone ~ hope your weekend is going well?

I can now show you what I was 'itching to finish' in my last post.

Lurking back in the depths of my craft cupboard was my first unfinished attempt at a patchwork wall hanging and this is the sorry state it had been left in . . .

I'm embarrassed to say I bought this to do back in 2005 and progressed with it really well so why it got hidden away I'm not sure?  I just had to finish making the binding strips for the edging, hand-sew them on and then add buttons to each heart SO two afternoons of stitching last week gave me my first patchwork Happy Dance!
(Am I allowed to add it to my Happy Dance list even though it's not Christmas or cross-stitch? ~ I think Yes, as it is a finish and was from my stash ~ oh please!!!)


DH is, at this very moment, staining some wooden dowelling for me so that I can add some tabs to the top and have it on display next to the fireplace ~ I love the country feel it gives!

'Country Heart' Wall Hanging made with homespun fabrics and finished with buttons

As I was in the mood for 'finishing' I let the sewing machine out for its monthly outing and got 'Such Delight' sewn up and finished . . .

Keeping with the country feel, I added gingham fabric, ric rac and added a cream star button ~ I'm pleased with this one and think it might have to stay out on display for the foreseeable future!

So full steam ahead ~ what's the next choice from the stash list?

'Snowy Morn' kit by Shepherds Bush

My stitching needle was smoking on this until last night!  The design is stitched 1 over 2 on 32-count~ fine except the star in the top left hand corner is stitched over ONE and boy did that cause chaos to my eyes with the added visit of the odd frog or two!

Midnight saw me complete that first star BUT there's one more to do in each corner yet so I'm thinking that my 'smoking needle' will be more like a wet firework tonight!

There's some other interesting stitches to this design too but I'm not brave enough to think ahead to those at the moment ~ one step, hurdle, mountain at a time!

Thanks for stopping by

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx