A gift arrived across the English channel and amongst other goodies was this beautifully stitched and finished key tag/floss tag and a charming lace bobbin complete with some exquisite lace. Thank you my dear friend for your generosity!

I stitched a little more on Beatrix Potter SAL and posted on the SAL blog to show my progress for August.

I updated my Mac to 'Snow Leopard' yesterday although I haven't noticed much difference. Maybe it's a little faster?

Enjoy the weekend.

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Take care

Brown Bunny, more affectionately known as BAM V, is now finished. Valie chose to stitch on a 40ct brown linen using DMC ecru, AVAS turquoise blue and tan threads. My friend has such a good eye for colour! And check out those rabbit/hare scissors. I really need a pair of these in my collection!

I chose to stitch on a 36ct creme French Gander linen using the recommended DMC floss 3032. I omitted the motif above 'bunny' as I had planned on adding a tiny rabbit charm in the space but he was a little too fat, maybe he has eaten far too well this summer? I have decided to 'finish' this as a pinkeep and I will attach the charm to the back.

The weather has changed dramatically and I do hope this is not the end of the summer! I have been charting motifs and alphabets into Macstitch and very soon I will begin to design.

Last night was our Stitch-n-Bitch group meeting. I worked a little on Beatrix Potter but I had to unpick at one point - too much chatting and not enough concentration!

'tpdebbie' asked me about Gander linen. It can be ordered from here although it looks as though they only do 32ct so I suggest that you email them and enquire about the higher count fabrics. I am lucky that my French friend makes sure I have a good supply :-)

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No, this is not Brown Bunny that I am stitching for BAM 5 with Valie but a beautiful Brown Bunny pinkeep made for me by Amy for an exchange. Isn't this just gorgeous? It's much nicer than mine which I will show to you later in the week. It's stitched on 32ct Antique Ivory Belfast linen with DMC thread and the backing fabric is Blackbird Designs Moda. Amy personalised the stitching by changing the B to a C and adding both sets of initials and just look at that incredible bow! What a wonderful exchange - thank you so much Amy - I love it!

I have just heard from Amy that she received the red cube pincushion that I stitched for a personal exchange. I mailed it to her last Monday afternoon and it reached her today - how fast is that? I think that Amy had been coveting one of these cubes as she got in touch with me to say that she had been unable to locate the pattern. Unfortunately, as this is part of a CA Wells' class piece, I was unable to help her but I did suggest that we could do an exchange and that I would stitch her one in the colour of her choosing! As we all know Amy loves red so this is the colour she chose. It's stitched on 35ct white Brussels linen with Glorianna Poinsettia silk thread, DMC 12 white perle cotton and has a 7mm white silk ribbon trim. Inside I placed a British coin to give it a little weight. The picture is 'clickable' for a closeup view.

I have also finished a gift that I have been stitching so this is now ready to be packed up and mailed out to it's new owner. I call it 'a splash of red' - are you intrigued?

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the weekend

Take care

I finished my section on the Emblem of Love RR on Tuesday evening but have only just got around to photographing it. This is a beautiful design and I am looking forward to stitching the other sections on others. Another one in blue, one in red and, I think, three polychromatic ones. As you can see I stitched my initials 1*1 into my section too and I hope the others do the same on the sections they stitch.

I started a new gift project which is almost finished and have another one ready to go in the mail if I can find a box to put it in!

Thanks for visiting and have a good weekend.

Take care

I made a start on the Emblem of Love RR. I am stitching 1*2 on 36ct fabric and I love the delicate blue against the antique white linen.

I think that Spring is in the air even though it's August as Tommy is trying to escape from the garden! Either that or the hot weather has sent him crazy. He is marching around the garden at top speed, trying to climb walls and even mounted a rock only to fall headfirst into the border. I am wondering if there is a female in the neighbourhood?

He climbs the plants and even attempts to climb the wall. At one point he fell over onto his back but was quickly rescued.

The last picture shows a tiny Jenny Wren. Just before I took this picture there were three birds, a male and female who, I think, have been nesting in the clematis and a tiny baby! Wrens are quite rare in this area so we feel honoured that they chose our garden for their home.

I have been stitching and will post pictures soon. I made a start on the Emblem of Love RR, I have part-stitched BAM 4 with Valie and have finished stitching the cube pincushion which now needs 'finishing' before it can be mailed to it's new owner. All of these pieces have been stitched on 35/36ct fabric which seems big after my miniature stitching. A friend showed me a piece of 28ct linen banding she had just purchased - it was enormous!

To celebrate the birth of her new grandson Oliver, Patti of Tapestry of Dreams has a great giveaway. You have until September 4 to enter.

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I finished the tiny red sampler called Rouge Velours that I was stitching from Isabelle Vautier's book 'Samplers en Rouge et Blanc' as a BAM (Brode Avec Moi) with Valie. I am happy with the result and wonder what we will choose for our next BAM?

My Emblem of Love RR is ready to be started once I have finished some stitching for an exchange with a very excited young lady in the US - you know who you are! Yes it's started and it won't be too long now.

A short and sweet post today - the sun is shining and I need to be outside.

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Take care

Although Valie and I had planned on designing our next BAM (Brode Avec Moi) whilst on my trip to Paris, we unfortunately ran out of time so we chose a pattern 'Rouge Velours' from Isabelle Vautier's book 'Samplers en Rouge et Blanc' and, of course, I chose a vibrant red Soie Surfine silk thread for the 48ct Gander linen. Patti has previously said to me that she cannot tell how small these samplers are so I have placed a US 25 cent coin to add some perspective. Tiny eh? I hope to finish this sampler later today and post a 'finish' tomorrow. Valie has finished her BAM and there is a picture on her blog. She also used AVAS silk threads but in blues and mauves with an accent of green and a few embellishments. I am a sheep to follow the pattern!

Saturday's mail brought me a surprise gift of this beautiful needlebook from dear Susan (no blog but should have one to show off her wonderful work!). As you can see it's in my favourite colour blue. Thank you Susan - much appreciated.