I heard the postman knock and could not wait to get to the door, as I had heard from Su yesterday that she had mailed an exchange package to me. Now I am usually most careful when I open bubble envelopes as I like to recycle them but, with no thoughts of re-cycling, I tore open the envelope. Inside there was a beautiful package of red tissue with tiny silver spots and inside that was this plethora of goodies. Look at the beautifully stitched and perfectly finished pinkeep! The pattern is a Ewe & Eye and Friends design stitched on 40ct alabaster linen - isn't it gorgeous - check out the close-up photo to show Su's perfect stitching. And not only this lovely pinkeep, also enclosed were 4 cuts of finishing fabric, 2 cuts of linen in pink and peach, a box of multi coloured pins and card of pretty leaf pins. Oh I am so spoiled - thank you so much Su - I love it all. I am sure Su will post much better pictures than these so do go and take a look at her blog.

After this excitement, I have now climbed down from ceiling and can tell you that last night I finished stitching my ornament for the HOE Ornament exchange so I will be busy over the weekend with finishing both this and the two Reindeer ones that I did for Tom and for Georgia so, hopefully, there will be new photos of these on Monday (the reindeers not the HOE one). 

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Yesterday I realised that the deadline for the HOE Christmas ornament exchange is all but 2 weeks away so I made a start on my ornament. It will be three-sided and I have already stitched one side completely and nearly finished the second. I hope to be able to finish the stitching today and then I think I should have a 'finishing' day as I still have other ornaments to make up too. So no stitching photos today.

If are wondering where the 'bows' are, there aren't any - just a catchy title!

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As you can see I finished stitching Quaker Blackbird. As I thought, it came up much bigger than I intended (note to self: don't rely on labels on fabric). I squared off the border and I just need to add my initials in the top right hand corner and then it will go into my finishing box. I now need to stitch an ornament for the HOE ornament exchange so I will chose a pattern, fabric and floss and make a start today. The exchange deadline for this has crept up on me but I was waiting for the JCS 2008 ornament magazine to arrive before I decided what to stitch. 

I have had numerous enquiries about the button fob that appeared in a picture I posted a few days ago (here). I purchased this at the Golden Needle in Port Charlotte in Florida last year so I contacted the lovely Cathy and she still has them if anyone is interested. They are hand-made and cost $12 plus postage and packing and come with either white or coloured buttons. You can contact Cathy at cathy@goldeneedlecom 

Thanks for the lovely comments on the pinkeep I made for Su - they are much appreciated. 

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I heard from Su that she has received the package that I sent to her for our private exchange. We had decided on a pinkeep finish and, because I knew that Su likes French designers, I chose to stitch an Isabelle Vautier design from 2005. It is on 40ct antique white linen with DMC 370 and backed with gold dupion silk. Although I had wanted to use a silk floss, I did not have the right colour to match the silk ribbon, which I had already chosen for the trim, so DMC it was. I changed the pattern slightly to incorporate the year and our initials and to make a change from finishing the ribbon trim at the top, I added four separate pieces of ribbon from the middles up to the corners and then tied the ends together into tiny bows. Su has a lovely picture of it on her blog - much nicer than mine!

I didn't do any stitching at all over the weekend as, on Saturday, I was busy with laundry and household chores and yesterday Kirby decided to spend the day with us as her mum, dad and brother went to the Chelsea v ? game. She knows where to come for a Sunday roast dinner! She also brought along her course project to work on and was content to chat to me while she was working - cutting out photos and drawing and painting a very large 'negative slide' onto which she will be sticking the photos. She told me she is really enjoying the course but is not sure what she wants to specialise in yet although she will have to choose soon. She also said that the class tutor mentioned that no-one, apart from her, had even mentioned cave drawings or samplers (let alone designed and stitched their own) for the historic art project they did a short while ago! (here). Do I sound overly proud? Well, yes I certainly am! She is calling back today to collect the 'negative' as she left it here for the paint to dry.

Last night we watched Little Dorritt, part of which was filmed at Deal Castle, which is the castle we can see from our bedroom windows. We did see them filming but unfortunately, as they didn't ask for 'extras', I won't be making an appearance!

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Some new stash arrived today. My JCS 2008 Ornament mag - I must admit that I am a bit disappointed with it this year as there is nothing that immediately jumps out saying 'Stitch Me' 'Stitch Me' but I will read through it again later and maybe that will happen. Along with the magazine were two gorgeous cuts of fabric, a piece of 40ct linen in Bisque and some 36ct pearled barley linen - I have no idea what I will be stitching on these but I am positive they will not go to waste! The two skeins of threads that make an appearance in the picture are Caron Waterlilies in Peacock and Polar Ice. And yes the scissors you can see are the Chinese Dragons that I won on Ebay a few weeks back. These have pretty engraved handles but the reflection of the sun makes it difficult to see - try clicking on the picture - you can just make out the engraving.    

 

And now an update on Quaker Blackbird. As you can see I had a good run on this last night but ... why is there always a 'but'? ... I thought the fabric I was using was 36ct - it certainly had a tag in the corner that said 36ct - but alas I think it's 32ct as the design is stitching up larger than I had wanted. I will finish stitching it but I will have to re-think my finish. It certainly is a lot easier on the eyes to stitch on 32ct but I do so love the delicacy of a higher count fabric so I will probably stitch this again at some point.

I also finished the Quaker SAL with Yuko but as it needs ironing I will wait for it to be framed before I show a 'finished' picture. Yuko and I are now planning on another SAL and have chosen a LHN piece this time round. 

May I now introduce to you the latest addition to the family. Ken called into 'Mouse World' (or did he say PC World?) after he finished work last night and chose from a large litter this beautiful little girl mouse who I shall henceforth call 'Milly'. Isn't Milly beautiful? Just look at her glossy white coat and that adorable little scroll button and she behaves perfectly too. She not only scrolls upwards and sideways but downwards too! I think Milly and I will be very happy together. 

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I finished a exchange gift over the weekend too but of course I cannot show this yet so I will be putting my package together shortly so I can get it in the mail to the recipient. Suffice it to say that I like it and I really hope she does too! 

Now for those of you who complain that their husbands do not buy them flowers - look away now. Ken buys me flowers every weekend and has done so right through our marriage. These are the beautiful red roses that I received on Saturday and I could not resist taking a picture with the sunlight catching them - aren't they gorgeous?

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Today I received a wonderful package from Karen K in Australia for the HOE Halloween exchange. It was beautifully wrapped in orange and brown tissue paper and inside were ric rac braid and threads in different shades of orange and brown all tied up with ribbon, some orange finishing fabric and some BOO buttons. Her Just Nan piece is so pretty - 3 little ghosts and finished in a sweet little frame with a scary spider in the corner. A lovely Halloween package - thank you Karen.

As you can see from the above picture I have been playing around with Photoshop Elements! It's fun but very time consuming. On Fridays I like to clean the house from top to bottom so I can relax over the weekend so this morning, so I would not be tempted to sit at the computer and 'play', I turned the computer off and would not allow myself to turn it on again until my jobs were finished. How sad is that?

I didn't get any stitching at all done yesterday as I watched a movie in the afternoon and we went to Nicola's house for dinner last night. I have decided on the fabric and floss to use for my private SAL with Yuko - 36ct flax Edinburgh linen with Au Ver a Soie silks in 1424 (deep blue), 4624 (burgandy red) and creme. We are stitching Midnight Stitching's Quaker Faith Hope Love and I will post a photo as soon as I make a start. I am looking forward to stitching this beautiful piece with a beautiful lady!

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I finished stitching the JBW Designs French Country Reindeer but I am undecided whether to finish this as a pillow or a flat finish and I will not make a final decision until my 'finishing' day. Once this ornament is done, I have one to do for Alex (grand-daughter number 5), one for the HOE Ornament Exchange, a couple more for gifts, some floss tags and then that's it - I am ready for something different. I would like to go back to Miss Hannah as she must be feeling rather neglected but until I have finished all things 'Christmasy', she is on the back burner! 

I have so many new projects I want to start: a private SAL with Yuko (Midnight Stitching's Quaker Faith, Hope, Love); Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler; Little by Little's Quaker Blackbird; a re-start of the Merry Cox Diminutive Sewing Set (do you remember I started this way back on New Year's Day (here) but I didn't like the fabric and floss I was using?) and... the list just gets longer day by day! I also want to stitch something for my new header picture. I have something in mind but I need to chart it up and, as I no longer have design software (well I have the software for a pc but not a Mac), I will have to go back to graph paper and a pencil.

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When I stitched Jayne's Attic Monthly Challenge for August (here), I thought that the little corner with the robin would make a great floss tag and, as I wanted to stitch a tag for Wendy Jo, I decided on this one. I used the same 40ct linen and Vikki Clayton and AVAS silks that I used for the pinkeep and, I got to use my Crop-a-dile too! I then decided to send both the pinkeep and the floss tag to Wendy Jo and I have heard from her that she has now received them. I could not resist adding some floss tags with tiny robins to complete the theme.

It's dull and dismal here today so I think a stitchy day is called for. Yesterday, I stitched part of the JBW Designs French Country Reindeer. I decided to go with Glorianna Poinsettia on 35ct white linen - one strand over two and he's nearly finished. I have left off the word "Reindeer" at the bottom and added my grandson's name instead. I do love those French Country designs. I will post a photo when the ornament is finished.

And so to stitch ...

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I also received a package from The Sampler Guild with a fat quarter of 36ct Puck Elne of Lynnyn fabric. You can see just see a peek of this fabric under the scissors (click on the picture for a close-up view). It's a lovely shade of hand-dyed linen and TSG website states that Puck is 'another tea-dyed linen but with a beautiful sandy cast' - it is beautiful - trust me!

I am ashamed to admit that I did not pick up a needle and thread yesterday as I made the most of the weather and went out into the garden with my latest book. It's called 'True Evil' by Greg Iles and is a gripping thriller about "a divorce attorney who has a cluster of clients whose spouses have all conveniently died apparently of natural causes ...". Well worth reading.

Nearly forgot, for those of you looking for a new look to your blog, I came across a website at the weekend here which has some extremely pretty templates. I could have saved myself an awful lot of work if I had discovered it sooner but I'm pleased with my new look and with a bit more 'tweaking' it will be just right.

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And now to the stash haul. I was a tad disappointed that there were not as many stitching stalls as I would have liked but I did manage to pick up some pretty finishing fabrics, some teeny weeny buttons, some Glorianna silk threads, some abc braiding and a beautiful jade scissor fob. I think this is actually a mobile (cell) phone charm but who says I can't use it as a scissor fob? The symbol means 'Double Happiness'. 

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my lovely Tommy has decided it's time to hibernate. Yesterday morning he was walking around his domain - the garden - but by 4pm he had disappeared! Now my garden is completely enclosed by a 10ft wall with acess only from the house, so there was no way that a gate had been left open or that someone could have walked in and taken him. I methodically searched all the nooks and crannies but could not find him. There was no obvious signs of him having 'dug himself down' and I was beginning to panic. Ken came home and told me not to be silly, of course he's in the garden somewhere! After another hour search we eventually found him; he had buried himself into the garden under the bamboo. Both of us had searched under the bamboo and not noticed the disturbed earth. Now it's not a good idea for him to hibernate this way in case we get a severe winter, so we had to gently dig him up, wash him as he was absolutely filthy, and then put him into his box. I miss him during the winter months as he will now sleep til mid-March.  Goodnight Sweetheart!

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