I'll be back in just a while!

I didn't manage to get the back of Milady's Needle Little Quaker Ruler Pocket finished - my eyes wouldn't stay open quite long enough to let me get the last stitches in. But here's a shot so far. I'm liking this one lots.

Tomorrow afternoon New Zealand time I meet Mr Right oops.....Mr Wright!

He's tall and handsome - and he's the specialist who is going to stop me stitching and driving and cooking and cleaning for some weeks. Well now, let's be honest about this- he's actually going to attempt to repair the damage caused by too much stitching, too much driving, too much cleaning, too much cooking!

So from tomorrow I put away out of sight (= reduce probability of frustration) my stitching and pull out the huge pile of books, make sure my ipod is tanked up, overdose on the suave spy with the James Bond DVDs Andy has loaned me and settle in for some non-stitching time. Probably about two weeks - this is where Mr Wright and I have some difference of opinion!

Now the rest of you have no such excuse and I will be checking up! See you soon.

An Exchange has arrived & an ornament is finished

I see on the HOE site that my Lizzie Kate exchange has arrived safely. Since it was to arrive in USA in winter I decided to go for a Spring theme. It was fun to stitch and as I hoped brightened the recipients day a little.This weekend I stitched up a small Mill Hill Christmas Ornament Bead kit that my sister gave me. Beads and I have a kind of difficult relationship but this one has turned out well and the sun obliged so I could get a clear photo. Thanks Sis for the surprise gift - it has come up well don't you think!I will be working on my Milady Quaker Ruler Pocket tonight as I have almost completed the back. Before surgery on Wednesday I hope to be able to finish this third which will be tidy place to leave the stitching for a while.
Hope you all have a good day.

Blogaversary Box has arrived

Carol R has just emailed to say the box has arrived safely. Only 9 days from go to whoa to NZ Post did a good job. I made a door sign which I got from the EMS pattern download site but I didn't take a picture of all the "ingredients" in the box so go have a look at Carol's blog for her photo. Here's a photo of the actual door sign. I am currently stitching busily on an exchange so can't show you any pictures of that but here's one other finish. This one made me decide I'm not really in to quilting! But I am pleased with the colour combinations. Its a gift for a friend and I found a box just the right size to mail it flat and still include other goodies too so I am very happy.

Today is Friday and I am looking forward to gardening, stitching and the inevitable grocery shopping this weekend. Hopefully there will be some stitching to report after that :-)

An interim Happy Dance

Saturday night I danced the interim happy dance - page two of Martina's Wiehenburg Christmas Quaker was done (well apart from two white snowflakes which will go in later). I am so pleased with it even though my eyes are really tired.

But not too tired to make good progress on the Milady's Quaker Ruler pocket. I'm loving this one - the fabric and the colours. Stitching over two on Edinburgh linen is nowhere near the strain of stitching over one on Cashel. This photo is fairly true to colour - which amazes me completely. How did my camera do that this time??

I sorted out fabric and threads for another exchange and went to bed tired but happy after a lovely weekend -what a pity Monday follows Saturday and Sunday!

Seven steps to a tulip biscornu

EDITED : An update picture of the finished article has been inserted

I finished my Christmas Tulip Biscornu. This was such a fun stitch - not quite such fun to put together and here's why (NOTE TO ALL - I expect loads of sympathy for my linguistic failings)

First step - work the large square for the base

Second Step - make a smaller square half the size for the top. I used the centre of the chart without the border part you can see at the top of the photo.

Third step - stitch up each side only half way

Fourth step -worry (no good consulting the internet link where I found it as all the words are in Lithuanian!) - do I stuff or not? Try stuffing. No good -makes a round tulip and whoever heard of those. For that matter whoever heard of a square one. But to get back to the point

Fifth step - more worry - should I use card in the base? Look at the picture again. No help there - it does look like stuffing that white bit?!

Sixth step - go to another room and cry privately. Put sodden handkerchief into laundry basket. Take a deep breath.

Seventh step - use your own intelligence and finish as you think it should be done. Result - Not too bad even if I say so myself.

And if your Lithuanian is better than mine you can have a look at this link and read how it was done. I merely followed the photo steps. The worry ones were all my own addition - clever me!!!

PS The photo of the finished tulip is BAD so BAD and I promise to take a better one over the weekend and replace it next week.

And now a confession - I love reading and I read lots and lots and am daily thankful for a one hour lunch and an office only a few seconds walk from the public library; but I gave up reading pictures many many years ago. Well, until 2008 when I started again. After finding Blogs at the beginning of 2008 I found Blog links too and through that I found Finnish blogs, Russian Blogs, and blogs from all sorts of other languages and these Generous Hearted Stitching Bloggers tantalised me with their wonderful creations so I became friends with Google Translate, read pictures avidly and gave thanks that so many others have learnt English and that communication however limited is possible. So many many thanks to all of you and for this tulip especially, Linute.

Another Quaker Start

Father Christmas (aka Darling Mother) was kind enough to bring me a longed for chart. A small start has been made - in one DMC thread over two fabric threads so progress is not too slow. And the thread is dark navy not black even though this amateur photo shows it black!

Also I want to show you my Politically Incorrect Golliwog Bag. Don't you think its cute? I used the scraps of Anne Cloth from an Afghan made by Darling Mother. This was a must for two reasons - one I love Golliwogs and second I had these cute little toggles just crying out to be used!!

Have a good day everyone.

Happy Blogaversary to me!!!!!

One year ago today I entered the wonderful world of "Generous Hearted Stitching Bloggers" and it has been an amazing year. Inspiring, interesting and altogether enjoyable.

As a Blogaversary gift I promised the mysterious but beautiful box! So last night the names were put in the bowl. And then "the strict but impartial hand of my half deaf, half blind elderly Mother " chose one name ....... and that name was Carol R! Congratulations - the box is now packed up and will go out with the mailman tonight! Thank you all for sharing my first Blogaversary. Finally here's proof that my Mother is half deaf and half blind!!!! Have a great day everyone!

A great start to the New Year

Welcome to 2009 everyone. In New Zealand there was a four day weekend for New Year's this time and so that was plenty of stitching time. It was marvellous!

First up my first ever flat fold! Thanks to Vonna's excellent tutorial nothing went wrong and I am pleased with the result. This is also my first Christmas ornament in the 2009 Christmas Challenge (its Ok to have ornaments that don't go on the tree right?) I did this in DMC threads on a scrap of 32 count natural linen. The chart is a freebie which can be found here.

So - Christmas Ornament Number OneSecond, I made a start on the Quaker Christmas from Martina at the Wiehenburg Sampler Group. I am doing this in one thread of the recommended DMC floss over one fabric thread on 28 count Cashel so it is coming out very fine. However the finished size will be more appropriate for the walls of my small apartment. This shows the photo from the pattern too. And then a close up of the two thirds point of the first page!

And because I only have 16 stitching days until my shoulder meets Mr Wright's scalpel I am in a sprint to get ahead with my committments:-) So with apologies to Carol R I have also done Christmas Ornament number two and made a start on number three! Hopefully by March I will be able to stitch again and be back into schedule.

Christmas Ornament Number two was lucky enough to be finished and photographed on my 2008 tree before it was taken down exactly twelve days after Christmas! This is a freebie from Aury - done in variegated DMC on Belfast linen. And I tried a beaded edging - my first attempt and now I am wiser and will do better on the second effort I'm sure.

Christmas Ornament Number three is currently a WIP but will be finished as a tulip biscornu in Christmas colours. I got this idea from Lina's blog and as I had received the threads in an HOE exchange I was able to get started straight away.

And there's more to come but I'll leave that for tomorrow. Have a Happy Day everyone.