A Finish and an Exchange

Hi, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that you are looking forward to the coming week.  I'm most certainly looking forward to the end of the week because I'll be on my annual V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N for the month of August! Can't wait to have some lazy days in the summer, yea!

Stitching wise, I am so glad to be able to show you my latest finish.  I was away for a few days with my daughters on the island of Puerto Rico.  We had a wonderful time on the island but it was much too short, then again, a little 'time out' is always too short. Though I'd show you some a pic of my daughters shopping at one of the stores in the Mall, Plaza las Americas.  I think the store was Old Navy.

Before I left Barbados, however, I stitched a couple of pieces and an exchange for the HOE Board.  My first finish was a little drawstring bag.  I enjoyed stitching the design which is by Dany, a French designer.  I first saw the drawstring finish done by Carol  (justcarolsplace blog) and I liked the way she did it.  Mine however, was done slightly different.

Design by: Dany

Fabric: 28 count Mocha Jobelan Linen and

matching floral fabric

 Thread:  DMC 3862

Trim: Cream lace and cream ribbon

Finish:  Drawstring Bag

I have another stitched piece but it's just to make a decision on how I will finish it.

I mentioned earlier an exchange which I was a part of on the HOE Board.  That was the ABC Exchange.  My partner was Kathy in the US.  I enjoyed stitching this freebie design from  Zoe I had to change some of the letters on this particular pattern as they were not quite right to me.  Changes were made to the letter V and X. I finished it into a pin cushion.  From all reports, Kathy liked it very much.

Designer: Zoe

Fabric: 28 count cream evenweave

and floral fabric for backing and sides

Threads: DMC 815

Trims: Red ribbon and red button

Finish: Pin Cushion

I received my exchange from Nic in the UK.  She stitched me a freebie pattern from CarolR at istitchaholic blog with a Dinkey Dyes thread called Major Mitchell.  It is a cute little pillow and I love the colour she chose.  As you can see it is a very light pastel colour and pastel colours are my favourite.  She also included a cute post card.  Thank you Nic, great job!

That's it for now.  I have the HoE For the Birds exchange to complete for mailing on August 2 which a holiday here so that means my mailing date will have to be at the end of July, so I'd better get back to stitching and finishing before I am late for the post. So look out for that in my next blog posting.

A small piece of stitching and working on an exchange

I did a small bit of stitching last weekend for a round plastic 'box'.  I purchased this Keep-Sake plastic box  while on vacation in Puerto Rico some time ago and it has come in handy to store my pins.  The motif comes from the 'The Big Book of Cross Stitch Designs by Reader's Digest.  I used white ric rac braid to cover the edges and a piece of floral  fabric to cover the bottom of the box.  This was very easy to complete to my surprise. I was thinking that I would encounter some difficulty getting the fabric glued on to the plastic, but not so.  It turned out well in my opinion.

Design: Motif from The Big Book of Cross-Stitch Designs by Readers' Digest

Threads: DMC recommended
Fabric: 32 count White linen

Trim: Ric rac braid
Finished as: box for pins

A Pending Exchange

I am currently involved in an exchange on the Hooked on Exchange Board.  I am happy to say that I have completed the stitched piece and will be adding the finishing touches this weekend.  I'm hoping that my partner will be please with it!  Will have pictures to show when she receives it probably at the end of June.

A Stitching Rotation

I have some stitching which I just have to work on on a rotation basis.  I need to do this if I want to stitch all  my patterns,  freebies included.  So I started on that last night.  Hopefully it will work out as long as I have the time but I'll see how it goes.  Wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy stitching!

Back to Blogging!

It's great to be back and to blog again after a break from the computer and so I think  it is about time I let you in on what I have been stitching over the past weeks.  But first, I wish to thank those of you who visited and left a comment and those of you who follow my blog.  Thank you all for your encouragement.

Over the past weeks, I have been experimenting on making a box from cardboard (I think the French calls it 'cartonnage') for my buttons.  The experiment was somewhat successful but with a few flaws in between which I hope to have rectify when I attempt my next box. The stitched piece is a freebie from the SAL Collection de pinkeeps 2009 organised by Maryse. I love the autumn colours she chose for the month of October which is my birth month.  The box took me longer than I had anticipated but I am pretty much okay with it. Will show more in my next post!

Top of the Box

Inside the box

Back of the Box

Design from the SAL Collection de Pinkeeps - October

Designer: Maryse

Fabric: 28 count cream evenweave, floral fabric

Threads: DMC recommended

Trims: Satin ribbon and cording

Finished: Button Box

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time,  happy stitching.

A Pillow Finish

It's that time again when I just pop by to show what I have been stitching since my last post. I finally finished a freebie which I always wanted to stitch but could never find the time. Having stitched it about a month ago, I was able to complete it over the last weekend. It is from the French designer Carinne. She is a very talented designer in my opinion and I find her freebies are lovely. Although this is my first stitched freebie from her site, I plan to stitch many more in the future. It can be found in her freebies section for 2009.

Design: Au plaisir des oiseaux

Designer: Carinne

Fabric: Cream Evenweave 28 Count

Threads:  DMC Recommended

Finished as: A pillow

By the way, Au plaisir des oiseaux was translated as "with the pleasure of the birds".   

Thanks for stopping by!

A Busy Day

After a long day taking care of my feisty one year old granddaughter, I am now able to relax and do a bit of blogging and may be a bit of stitching since she is out of the house for the evening. I don't know where there little ones get the energy! Maybe one day I will ask Asia where she gets all this energy from and would she kindly show her grandmother where she can get some too, lol!

I finished a scissors fob a couple of weeks ago but only now get to show it off. This one is a freebie from The Drawn Thread called 'Pearls and Rosebuds'. I found this one to be very delicate to stitch with its smyrna and eyelet stitches using one strand of thread. Actually, this was the first time I have ever attempted to stitch these type of stitches so they may not be done perfectly. I am always ready to try something new to me so they are many other stitches that I am yet to encounter and try.

Design: Pearls and Rosebuds
Designer: The Drawn Thread
Fabric: Natural Light Jobelean
Threads: DMC
Trims: Silk Ribbon, Pearl seed beads, Two 6mm pearls
Finished as: A Scissors Fob

I have been trying to "dress up" my photos but haven't found the ideal editor to do them in yet. If anyone can help me to find one that works well please let me know. It would be much appreciated. So I'm off now to finish up some stitching since the house is all mine now, at least for the moment, lol.

Thank you for stopping by!

A Prairie Schooler finish

The runaway pancake is back! Yes, that's right I'm back and have something to show for my long absence! As usual, life got in the way of blogging along with the fact that I am having some issues with my laptop. I need more memory and I am getting a hard time finding out what type of memory I need. I took it to the technician and he should come to my rescue hopefully by tomorrow. When my DH bought the computer he didn't think I will needed more than 512 mb but with my cross stitching patterns, photos etc I surely do need more memory. So as a result the laptop is very slow and sometimes unresponsive which is making me very, very frustrated.

Anyhow without much further ado, here is what I stitched in my long absence away from my blog. I love Prairie Schooler designs and hopefully I should be stitching more in the coming months. This design was taken from the Designer Series - Forget-Me-Nots.

A pinkeep was not my first choice for a finish but I couldn't seem to find the right fabric to match the design to make a pillow so I decided to use what I had in my stash at the time and make a pinkeep.

Design: Parrot in Cage
Designer: Prairie Schooler
(From Designer Series: Forget-Me-Nots)
Threads: DMC recommended
Fabric: Creame Evenweave
Trims: Matching ribbon, cording and backing fabric
Finish: Pinkeep

So until the pancake comes by again, here's wishing you happy stitching and thank you for stopping by.

More stitching to show.....

It's such a good feeling when you have stitched and finished an item to show off! And so I am feeling elated that I can show off this piece I finished last November. I found it a bit difficult to stitch since I had my fair share of frogging to do on this one. However, the finishing turned out beyond my expectation and so I am please to present 'Bonne Fete!', a freebie designed by De fil en aiguille. The freebie is no longer available because the site closed late last year. What a pity!

Design: Bonne Fete
Designer: De fil en aiguille
Threads: DMC Threads of my choice
Fabric: 28 count cream evenweave
Trims: Pink cording, floral backing, cream beads
Finished as: Heart-shaped Hanger

I finally decided that I will let it hang in my office to brighten up the place.

During the Christmas season I found some time to stitch ornaments for two workmates. They have been very supportive throughout last year and I wanted to show them my appreciation. They are not stitchers so I was a little nervous about how they would like my stitched gifts. I chose to stitch they first initial which incidentally is 'J', Jennifer and Judy. They seemed really surprised at the gesture and said that they appreciated the gifts.

Design: Initial 'J'

Designer: Tempusfugit
Thread: DMC Thread
Fabric: 28 count cream evenweave
Trims: Blue beads, blue ribbon
Finished as: Ornament
Stitched for: Judy

Design: Silhouette Half Doll Script Alphabet Ornament Letter 'J'

Designer: Meridel Abrams
Thread: DMC Thread
Fabric: 28 count cream evenweave
Trims: Blue beads, blue ribbon
Finished as: Ornament
Stitched for: Jennifer

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for stopping by and do have a great weekend. Hugs and stitches to you!

An apology and some stitching news

First I must start with an apology to Patti who was my partner in the "By the Sea Exchange" on the HoE Board. At the time of posting my exchange, I forgot to mention that I had received her stitched piece. I received her exchange late due to her illness but she did a good job of stitching me a pincushion and she also made me a beautiful beaded fob. She also sent me a Biscornu Pincushion from the Sweetheart Tree which I hope to stitch soon. So Patti please accept my apologies for not posting about your exchange but it was not intentional.
I added the towel as I thought it went well with the theme of the exchange.

My first Christmas ornament

For Christmas 2009 I managed to stitch my first Christmas ornament! Hopefully for 2010 I will make many more of them as I had fun stitching up this one. It was a freebie from Plum Pudding Needlework, stitched on natural light jobelan linen and I am really pleased with how it turned out. I thought it was a cute pattern to stitch.




In a previous post I mentioned that I won a prize for being the 1000th poster on the Freebie Gallery site. I received my prize from Carol around Christmas. She stitched me a wonderful Christmas ornament. Thank you Carol for my prize!

So, it's time to prepare for work tomorrow which mean searching my wardrobe for something to wear which is always a chore. So until next time, hugs and happy stitching!

Sandrajay