An Exchange at Christmas

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday morning so far.  It haven't started so well as I having some back pain which seems to be getting worse as the day go on.  However, as promised, I'm back to show what transpired while was away from my blog.  There was a Christmas exchange at the HoE and we had to stitch a Christmas ornament for our partners.  I chose a design by Lizzie Kate, Inc. taken from the Just Cross Stitch 2006 Christmas issue to stitched for my partner Shalotte in the US. It was my first Lizzie Kate design which I did with little modification to the pattern. Shalotte seemed to like the ornament which I thoroughly enjoyed stitching for her.

Designer: Lizzie Kate, Inc.

Design: Happy Holidays

Fabric: 28 ct Creame eveanweave

Threads: DMC recommended

Finish: Christmas ornament for HoE Christmas Exchange

I received my Christmas exchange from Janet also in the US.  She stitched for me "Winston the Snowman" by the Trilogy on 28 count Cashel linen in "Flax".  She used Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art.  I thought it was a cute ornament and I thank Janet very much for stitching him for me.  I think he's probably the first snowman to arrive in Barbados without melting in this heat, lol!

Have a wonderful weekend and happy stitching!

Thank you for stopping by!



Reactivated!.........

I just couldn't think of any other word to get my blog going again after such a long hiatus!  I'm happy to say that I'm alive and stitching and hopefully I wouldn't be away for such a long time again!  Well, what can I say, the demands of life really took over for the past months and have been taking a toll on little old me.  I haven't had a lot of spare time to do much stitching but I try to participate in an exchange or two and do some other stitching since I haven't been blogging.  I have a few pieces I want to share with you all over the next couple of days.  So here goes!

So, how was everyone's Christmas and New year holiday?  I hope the holidays were good for everyone and I do wish everyone a healthy and prosperous 2011 and most of all I wish you lots of finished stitching projects.  By the way, I wish myself the same thing, too lol.  Oh, how I wish I can have lots of finished projects done  this year but I shall see how things will go.

During the month of August 2010, I took part in the HoE For the Birds exchange where I received from Nic my partner from England. She stitched me a design from Brenda Keyes, a British designer. She used DMC threads, one over one and finished it into a pillow.  Isn't it cute!  Nic's stitching is so lovely. She also included some goodies which will surely be used.  Thank you, Nic!

and the goodies!

And this is what I sent to my partner Nicole in the US.  I stitched a pattern from one of my favourite designers, the Prairie Schooler.  I chose  "From the Heart" from their Designer Series.  I loved stitching this pattern for Nicole and from all reports she liked it as well.

Designer: The Prairie Schooler

Design: "From the Heart"

Threads: DMC Recommended

Finish: Pin Cushion



Well, that's it for now.  Will continue later, not too much later, I hope.  So bye until then!



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

Some Good News!

Someday day this week, can't remember which day exactly, I got word that I was the 1000th poster over on the Freebie Gallery and for this I will be receiving a surprise from Carol! How good is that??!!! I am so looking forward to receiving the surprise! This was really great news to receive now that my vacation is at an end. Not that I don't want to return to work because there are so many persons out there without jobs during these tough times and I am grateful for this job that I have but you know how it is after a long break from work, you have to get back into the thick of things. So its off to work I go, the bills have to be paid, lol.

Some more good news! 'My By the Sea exchange' on the HoE board has been received by my partner, Stacy in the USA! She got it in just a matter of days of me posting it off to her and to think I was a few days late. Great job by the post office! I chose to stitch a pincushion using the freebie 'Sommer' from Mausimom freebies. Most of the colours used reminded me of colours you will find on the beaches here in Barbados on any sunny day. I thought I would add a sea shell from the beach close to my home to embellish the pincushion. I also enclosed some small sea shells as a little souvenir from Barbados. I do hope Stacy will enjoy her exchange as I enjoyed stitching it for her.

Design: Sommer

Designer: Mausimom's
Fabric: 32 count white linen,
flora fabric for backing
Threads: DMC
Finish: Pincushion

So, I off now to prepare for work on Monday. Thanks for paying me a visit and have a great weekend!

On with the Exchanges!

The next exchange I did with HoE was held in September 2008. This was a Prairie Schooler exchange and I stitched a pincushion from Pins and Needles Book No. 115 for Yasmin. It was my first time sending out an exchange to Malaysia so you could imagine my fear of it being lost but she got it in about two weeks or so which wasn't bad. I enjoyed stitching this for Yasmin.

And I received this wonderful floss ring from Marie. I think this is the second time she got my name last year! But I am not sorry because she does such a great job with her stitching and finishings. I hope some day to turn out project just like her. Here is what she sent. She stitched me Friends Book No. 84.

November saw the exchanging of floss tags! My partner for this one was Joke. I stitched her a motif from "Life is Sweet" designed by Ria Lanser. I tried to be different on this one just for variety. I did not use an eyelet by just a piece of ribbon for the loop. I made my own cording. It didn't turn out as I would have liked but nevertheless Joke liked it. This is the floss she received from me.

I received in this exchange the tiniest floss tag I have seen from Caroline in England! She did it on 40 count fabric one over one and it was her first time stitching one over one. I think she did a wonderful job and I am hoping that she wasn't crossed eyed when she was finished, lol. It is too tiny! I must try that one over one thing some day.

In February, 2009, I started my exchanging with the Valentine's Day exchange for Sadie in the U.K. I stitched a piece called "Valentin" from the website http://feutrieetpetitescroix.fr/.

I also crocheted a doily for Sadie as she is learning to crochet. I hope she found it useful.

Michelle in the U.S stitched me a scissors fob and a sachet bag for my Valentine exchange. "Heart Throb" from the Drawn Thread. I love the way it was finished. I think it is very cute and a "Teeny Tiny Love Bag" from Victoria Sampler. Thank you Michelle.

She also included a sachet bag, bath salts and needles which I am sure will come in handy.

My last exchange so far is one which was done for Arbor Day - with a woodland theme. I chose my piece from Just Cross Stitch Magazine Christmas Ornaments 2004 for my partner Becky K. I wanted to stitch this one for myself but thought that it would go well with the theme. I am glad I stitched this one because Becky loved it. I finished it into a pinkeep/scissors keeper.

And my exchange for Arbor day came from Marie in Sweden. She stitched an oven mitten taken from an English magazine called the "Cross Stitcher. It depicts the chestnut tree.

So that's it for the exchanges. Thanks to all of you who sent me beautiful exchanges. I love every one.
Please note: Sorry but I am not able to get the links to show up so that they can be clicked on. I think that I am doing everything right but they just won't show up! Grrrrrr!
*Edited to say that I finally got the links figured out so the links are clickable now.

It's been a while.......

As you can see, it’s been a while now since I wrote anything in my blog. No, I haven’t been having writer’s block or anything like that but the latter half of 2008 was not a particularly happy time for me and my family. As you can imagine, it was very difficult for me to concentrate on blogging and most of all spending quality time on my stitching was out of the question. Just when I thought my life was going fairly well then I was suddenly in a tailspin which left me wonder what next to do. Though the problems are on-going, I‘m trying to cope and I am taking one day at a time. As a result of all this, I’ve only completed small pieces of stitching. I’ve also participated in some exchanges which gave a welcome break from all that was going on around me. I am happy to say that I did a couple of exchanges with my favourite group,none other than Hooked on Exchanging (HoE). As mentioned before I love exchanging especially on the HOE board from which I have received some lovely exchanges. I did a Biscornu exchange on the SBEBB Board also in late August 2008 for Susan in the US. I had a couple mishaps with this exchange and had to start over at the last minute and then I made a mistake in her address! It got there eventually after returning to me. Here is what I did for her. I also included a fob to match the biscornu.


And this is what I received from Maria in Venezuela. Her first biscornu was lost in the mail so she did another one which came only in January this year. Thank you Maria, your second biscornu finally arrived and it was well worth the wait.

That's it for now. Will publish more picture soon and I promise I wouldn't take another year to do it, lol! Thanks for stopping by.

Sandrajay

In between the exchanges.....

It wasn't all finishing of projects I must add. Yes, there were a couple of exchanges too as well. The Hooked on Exchanging (HoE) board had a Summer Quaker Design for August 1. My partner for this exchange was Wendy Jo. I chose to stitch a pattern from the Gift of Stitching called "A Quaker Seasonal - Summer" in her favourite colour, red. I finished it as a small pillow. The fabric I used was called crepe back satin. I used the crepe side of the fabric as I did not particularly like the satin side. The pattern was stitched on 28 ct ivory evenweave. I was happy with the way it turned out and from all reports Wendy Jo was pleased as well. Here is how it turned out:


I received my Summer Quaker exchange from CathyB. She stitched me a pinkeep from "Little by Little" called "Quaker Blackbird". She also included in her package some goodies which I am sure will come in handy. I already know what I am going to stitch to go along with the piece of farbic she sent! I must also try those Week Dye Works floss she sent me. It will be my first time using them. Here is what she stitched for me:


I have sent off an exchange and it should be on its way to its new home. This time I participated in the SBEBB Biscornu exchange. I have an HoE exchange pending for September, 20 - a design from Prairie Schooler.

The exchanges are coming fast and furious but I am trying to keep up. Admist all these exhanges, I also have some other projects I want to start. Oh dear, I am going to needs some prayers if I am going to get through all of these project! I recently increased my stash of patterns so I should be very busy until the end of the year.

I must say a big thank you to those of you who left a comment. It was nice reading them. do have a great weekend and enjoy your holiday all of you in the U.S.A!

Time to blog....at last!

It has been a long time since I've written to my blog so I have a lot of catching up to do and at the same time showing you all what I have been up to for the past couple of months, stitchwise, that is!

Hooked on this stitching thing.....

During the past months I have been into some exchanges on the Hooked on Exchanging (HoE) board. I am really enjoying the exchanges and look forward to participating more in the future. I have receive some really nice things and I appreciate them all. The board gives me encouragement to stitch and to finish off my projects. I get a lot of satisfaction from being a part of the whole exchanging thing. So you can rightly say I am really hooked on this stitching and exchanging thing!

Biscornu Exchange

My biscornu exchange, held in late March, was for Rowyn from New Zealand. I never sent anything to New Zealand before so I was keeping my fingers crossed for it safe flight. It got there sooner than I could imagine and my partner seemed to like it! I stitched her a well known pattern by Indigo Rose, Four Little Hearts. I choose this one because of the speciality stitches which I had not tried before and the pastel colours which went together well. I though it came out pretty good and I was pleased with it.

I received this lovely biscornu from Veronica in the USA. She stitched me a free pattern from Papillon Creations on Belfast Linen. Lovely colours and beautifully stitched! I also love the goodies she enclosed. She got me a Needleroll kit from Shepherds Bush - Birdhouse needleroll from my wish list and some fabric - 32 count from Silkweaver. Here have a look!

Pinkeep Exchange

Next came the Pinkeep Exchange in April which was for Irmeli from Finland. I stitched a freebie pattern from Debbie Drapper called 'Love'. I had fun stitching this one. I thought it was a cute pattern and did it with DMC 115 to go with the theme of love.

My partner, Jacqueline from the US stitched me something from one of my favourite designers, Prairie Schooler. I called it the flying stitcher because it was a fairly sitting on a bird. This too was very nice. She sent me some goodies as well! One of my daughter ate all of the peeps and the other liked the pinkeep. Well, I love them all.

Feathered Friends Exchange - A SBEBB Exchange

This exchange finished up in May. My partner received her exchange so I can show what I stitched for her. We had to stitch a pattern with a bird in it. I choose part of a pattern from a French designer - A Mon Ami Pierre, Quaker Six Mains. It was easy to stitch and I added her initials from another cross stitch pattern.

My exchange came from Mylene of the Netherlands. She stitched me a lovely piece and a cute scissors fob! She also got me some things from my wish list - Halloween printed fabric and blue ribbons of different sizes and patterns. I will sure need these, they are so pretty! See what she sent.

This is what I have been doing for the exchanges. I have about three more exchanges to stitch and send out. So my hands are full. Still have a few favourites I want to stitch in the meantime. That's it for now. Thanks for visiting!

Hooked on Exchanging

Well, my partner from Hooked on Exchanging, Stephanie, received her scissors fob exchange! Wow, kudos to the postal workers who got it to her in the UK in record time! I am very happy to learn that she love it and all the other goodies I sent her. I, personally felt that I could have done a better job but since it was just my second fob, I will most certainly be doing lots more of these fun projects as time goes by. I did get to stitch up one for myself as a little treat. Please see the pics on both scissors fob. The one with the stitched 'S' is the one I stitched for myself. Hope you like the both. So now off to do my next exchange!

Thanks for stopping by!