Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas to you all and best wishes for a Happy New Year.

This will be my last post for this year as I won't have access to computers until I return home again on 2 January 2010 but I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your friendship and for the inspiration you have been to me over the past year. May you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy family, friends and good food.

And now I'm off to do my packing. I know that I need to have a suitcase and take clothes etc !! But first up I have readied the fabric and floss for two small projects I plan on starting during the week I am away. 26 count brussels linen and DMC floss. I plan on stitching over one thread of fabric so this linen should be perfect. Watch this space to see what will result.

And in the mood of Christmas plan on doing some more of my Wiehenberg Christmas Quaker.

So to all - a Good Night and Merry Christmas.

Inside and Outside

My garden is cutting in to my stitching time but I am looking forward to the harvest. This warm weather is great for my veges.

Our warm weather and diligent daily waterings are making my garden grow. This little Butter Bean plant along with a dozen of his cousins sprouted overnight! My Scarlet Runner beans are flowering profusely and making both the bees and me very happy. I have to be careful of the bees when I am out with the hose as I love the job they are doing and don't want to deter them in any way. On the inside I have been stitching a small pocket to hold my "2009 Art Cards" - this year I kept a record of momentous events -slight exaggeration there:-) on small cards and decided to make a pocket to hold them. I'm using Misty Blue Belfast linen and Caron silk floss in Charcoal - this is a progress shot showing the size. Now my designer skills or lack thereof come in to play while I decide what to put in the middle - I am leaning towards a Quaker emblem as I have so enjoyed Quaker designs this year. As to the Art Cards, I'm none to artistic and this has been more labour than love but it is a record of this watershed year. Only December to go now and I have that planned in my head. Nothing momentous happened in November so will give that month a miss.

And finally the New Zealand native Pohutukawa tree blooms red at Christmas time and is fondly called our Christmas tree. We have a small one on the property which is profusely red at present. No doubt all of you, like me, are busy this time of year. I hope you too have time to enjoy inside and outside - even if outdoors is not as warm where you are.

Have a good evening evrybody.

Suzanne's RR - An Emblem of Love

Despite the setback of reverse stitching I have now completed my section of Suzanne's RR. The top right of the picture was the section I chose and although this photo doesn't do the colours justice (too late at night!!) they were a pleasure to work with. The motif at the top with the three red flowers is my favourite I think. Suzanne it took some time to decide where to "hide" my initials - I hope you like them modestly hiding under the flower.

Life is a little too busy pre Christmas to start something else so I will wait until 24th when I will pack to go away for a week. No prizes for guessing what is the first thing I will want to pack - my needlework of course.

Hope you are all having a restful evening.

Oh woe is me - I am the Queen of Reverse stitching!

I had almost completed my section of Suzanne's piece in the Emblem of Love RR when I noticed that I was two threads out! Oh dear. I had to call on all my patience and reverse stitch the whole section - cross by little cross. And then start all over again. But this time all is correctly lined up and your piece is not ruined Suzanne :-) The small branch of three hanging 'flowers' and the incomplete motif on the top right are the progress so far.

Last night Judge John Deed was on TV and I admit to being thoroughly distracted from my stitching by the convoluted plot and the intricate conspiracies. And he's not such a bad looker either! Tonight 'The 39 Steps' is on and for nostalgia's sake I will watch it. The book was a set text during my first year at High School - over 30 years ago. Shall we see if the impression made on me then means I will remember the plot now??

Have a great evening everyone.

Tatyana has a giveaway

Tatyana from Moscow has a beautiful Nativity Scene on her blog - you should go check it out. She has really professional finishing and this is fantastic. I can see that I NEED this chart. Hope you all have a great evening - I'm off on-line shopping.

The Ball is finished so its back to Anne again

Hello there - a photo to prove that the Ball is finished. I need to get some more DMC 520 to finish a twisted cord and a tassel but the ball and its construction are done. With the instructions in Dutch I had to follow photos and there were a couple of detours en route to completion. Still all in all I am really pleased with this - many thanks Ina for sending me the chart. I stitched with one thread of floss over one thread of fabric on 32 count platinum Belfast linen. And yes, my eyes did get rather tired when it came to whip stitching all this together.

At present there are lots of "year end" activities so little stitching is getting done. However I really want to get my Anne of Green Gables finished over the summer holidays. Watch this space!