A very pleasant surprise!

In my previous post I mentioned that my Biscornu exchange from August 2008 had gone missing and my partner, Maria (lolopx.blogspot.com/)from Venezuela, graciously made me another one. Guess what,! The first Biscornu arrived safe and sound at its new home and it is a very beautiful biscornu. I love it and the extras are just lovely, especially the floss. I hope that you can see the delicate stitching on the biscornu. Thank you, Maria for all the hard work you put into this exchange!

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!

Weekend of Finishings

It's been a while since I've made an entry on my blog! I always promise myself to blog a little more often but due to exchange deadlines, housework and my job there is very little time to blog. Time is such a precious commodity and is in no way renewable, I have been trying to find ways of gaining time for my hobby. So, I have decided to dedicated a couple of weekends to stitching and finishings and this is what I have achieved so.

First is a flanged pillow. I stitched this freebie "Blessed Be" from Plumpudding Needleart . I stitched it with the recommended DMC threads. It was my first attempt at a flanged pillow. I hope it won't be my last.
I also managed to finish an altoid tin. There was some experimenting going on here with this one. This is also a freebie called "Jour de fete" from a French designer, Au fil de fee. I like French designs and have a few freebies I wish to stitch later. I found this to be a cute pattern with the pastel colours. I think I made an error with the petals because they should have been done in daisy stitches! Then again my French is not very good so you have to excuse me for that. That reminds me I have to buy me a french dictionary!


I made the cording (first time) and was pleased with my achievement. I have to make some more though, as it was fun to make and it does make you finished work look nice and complete.

Another "first" finish is a scissors pocket. I made this from a Prairie Schooler freebie "S is for Spring". I got the instructions from Beckysc. Thanks Becky. The instructions were well written. I love how this turned out! I thought the backing fabric was just perfect. I found it among some remnants I was about to throw out. Oh, this was stitched on aida fabric (28 count). This was before I ever heard of evenweave and linen! I used the recommended DMC thread for this as well.
I did this pinkeep a few weekends ago. This freebie is from Pelin Tezer which was done on ivory 28 count evenweave. She did not have a name for this particular freebie as a single pattern so we decided to call it "Ring of Roses". Very appropriate, I thought. I finished it was ruched ribbon which was very easy to make. I thought it came out well and the backing fabric really complemented it. I stitched it with DMC threads.

Well, that's it for now. I have some more to share but it is getting late here and I want to go visit some of your blogs. I think you ladies have some wonderful blogs and I do enjoy perusing them after a long hard day at the office or in the kitchen, lol.