Christmas Goodies Part 1...

Christmas stitching continues here at a steady pace...I've stitched ten (yes ten!) Christmas tree ornies to give away as presents. Below are tree numbers 4,5,6 and 7!



I've stitched 3 more over the weekend which means my gift stitching is now complete...phew. Any ornies I finish now will be staying with ME!

Below is another freebie from Casey Buonaugurio. I took a risk as I couldn't find any images of the finished design but I love how it turned out.


Christmas Pudding Ball (freebie)
by Casey Buonaugurio
32ct Summer Khaki Linen

And yet ANOTHER freebie (wow, loving the freebies this year!) below. I've stitched this gingerbread ornie before and love how it looks on my ornie tree so I've stitched it again - twice - one for my friend Yvonne and another for my friends little girl, Clementine.




Gingerbread Freebie
32ct Natural Linen with pearl lurex

And to finish, here is a photo of our mantelpiece with a few of my stitched ornies. The stockings were bought about 10 years ago before marriage and children came along. I must have known I'd have a boy and girl...the red stockings are DH's and Isaac's and the cream, mine & Iris's. Goodness knows what I'll do if a third baby makes an appearance? Perhaps a stitched stocking (gulp) and a bigger mantelpiece!




I'll be back soon with photos of the finished, half-finished, ornies below and a WONDERFUL Winter Wonderland exchange!



Regards,

Christina

Let the Panic Commence...

Just over 4 weeks to Christmas...yikes! How did that happen? My plan to stitch one Christmas ornie every month kinda fell by the wayside around erm, February so once again I'm left with a gazillion ornies to stitch in a short space of time. I thought I'd join in on the fun over at BeckySC's Christmas Ornament Challlenge to give me a bit of momentum. Without further ado, here is what I've stitched so far...


Christmas Tree Freebie
by Alexandrina
32ct Natural Belfast Linen

This oval finish was a nightmare. Once I'd finished it my lovely (painfully honest) DH asked 'what happened to the tree?'. Yes, I know it's not central, but it's as central as it was going to get so I left it! I then stitched another - they're so quick, can be stitched in less than an hour - and finished it in a way I'm more comfortable with. With a beaded-edge pillow finish I can get that blooming tree 'slap bang' in the middle!


Christmas Tree Freebie
by Alexandrina
32ct Natural Belfast Linen with pearl lurex


Down the Chimney
by Cherrywood Designs
32ct Natural Permin Linen


Just a Little Flaky
by Val's Stuff
32ct Natural Belfast Linen with pearl lurex

This design is taken from this years JCS ornie issue. I omitted the icicles and text because I wanted to do a circular finish. I wish the sparkly fabric showed up a bit better in the photo!


Tis the Season
by JBW
32ct Raw Linen


Merry
by Miss Crescent's Crowne
WDW 30ct Scuppernong Gingham Linen
This ornie turned out a lot smaller than planned but I only had a teeny, tiny scrap of Scuppernong (I just love that word!) fabric.

And last but not least, my favourite finish...ever!! This particular ornie can't be included in the Christmas Ornament Challenge as I stitched it earlier in the year, but only just got around to finishing it.


Peppermint Twist
by LHN
32ct Natural Linen



As you can tell from the finishes that I've shared, I've fallen back in love with ruched ribbon. It still gets on my nerves when I'm doing it but I just love how it looks onces it's done. When I ruche my ribbon I don't like to scrimp and I end up using 4/5 metres per ornie. My LNS charges 40p per metre for organza ribbon so it ends up being quite an expensive finish! However, I've recently discovered a seller on ebay (I know, bay of evil, tut tut) that sells organza ribbon, in all manner of colours 99p for 22 metres! That's less than 5p a metre dontcha know?! Wow! I'll be putting ruched ribbon on EVERYTHING at that price! Being Northern I do love a bargain.



And finally I'll end my post with the last bit of Halloween stitching that I did. I loved the Halloween pin cushion that I stitched for Marjorie in the 'Fall into Halloween' exchange on the Stitched with Love Exchange blog. So much so I stitched it again using the relic fabric that Catherine sent me.


Halloween Pin Garden
by Raise the Roof Designs
36ct Relic Linen



Halloween Pin Garden
by Raise the Roof Designs
36ct Relic Linen

Berit had commented how much she liked the design, so with Catherine's permission I sent it to Berit in her birthday card a couple of weeks ago. I hope you received it ok Berit?!

Ok, I'll leave it there. I'm exhausted after all of the typing, uploading photos etc! I'll be back soon with more Christmas ornie finishes (hopefully).

Regards,

Christina

The Sky is Blue...

...the grass is green, have you got a penny for Halloween? If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do, if you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you!

I thought I'd start this Halloween post with the rhyme that we used to say when my friends and I would go 'Halloween'ing many years ago! Does anybody else remember this rhyme? Do children still say it I wonder? All of the children who visited our house tonight shouted 'Trick or Treat'!

Anyway, on to some stitching...I was (once again) very keen to participate in the Fall into Halloween exchange over on the 'Stitched with Love' exchange group. My exchange partner, who it turns out was Lainey, sent me a truly amazing exchange. She stitched two (yes, two!) Halloween ornies that both have the cutest finish. They are a welcome addition to my Halloween display this year (which is a little depleted as I can't find the box containing my Halloween decorations...still unpacking boxes I'm afraid!) I cannot wait to use the tiny Halloween themed buttons that were included in the package. Iris and I used the cake moulds last week - I should have taken a photo of the finished cakes but they didn't last long enough! Thank you so much Lainey - you really did spoil me.


Halloween exchange goodies received from Lainey

I stitched for Marjorie this round. I know from her blog that she's a huge Halloween fan so I worried about stitching something that she had already stitched for herself. In the previous exchange round Catherine sent me a lovely Halloween chart called 'Halloween Pin Garden' by Raise the Roof Designs. I was itching to stitch it so I went ahead and stitched this for Marjorie. I finished it as a pin cushion and stitched Marjorie's initials on the reverse.


Halloween Pin Garden
by Raise the Roof Designs'
32ct Natural Linen



The extras that I included are pictured below. I've twice included the spooky Steweb scissors in an exchange (Hi Berit!) and never kept a pair for myself. I simply must put them on my Christmas list because I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! I hope Marjorie hadn't already purchased the new BBD Halloween design. I also bought the chart for myself, but I'm not allowing myself to stitch it until I've stitched the other BBD Halloween chart 'Midnight Watch' that I have in my (ever increasing) stash. I included some spooky Halloween address labels in the package but I didn't photograph them as I assumed Marjorie wouldn't want her home address splashed across Blogland. I hope you liked everything that I sent Marjorie!



I'm very much looking forward to the Christmas exchange and I've started buying bits and bobs for my partner already!

My lovely blogging friend Catherine from Bramblewood Stitches very generously sent me her LHN 'Singing the Blues' chart after I drooled over her finish of it a couple of months back. I hope to get stitching this once all of my Christmas ornies are out of the way - it seems a long way off at the moment! Thank you so much Catherine, I'll take very good care of it i.e. not stuffing it to the bottom of my sewing bag, not holding it between my teeth, not using it as a tea coaster etc, etc! :0).



Ok, I'd better leave it there, I'm slowly working my way through Iris's ridiculously huge stash of Halloween sweeties as I write this post. I'd forgotten how more-ish skittles are! I was feeling a little guilty but I notice Tom has just helped himself to a mini mars bar!

Until next time,

Christina

Summer Exchange Part Deux

After having so much fun participating in Lainey's Summer Picnic exchange I simply had to participate in the Summer Holiday exchange. Given that I'm trying to lose my baby curves at the moment, everything revolves around food for me, so why should my stitching be any different? I decided to go with a summer cherry theme (healthy, right?!) I went with a double sided pin cushion, both designs taken from CCN Cherry Hill. I love this design so included it in the package I sent to Lisa (no blog).






pin pillow with the additional goodies sent

Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted that I included a Christmas design in the package, not entirely appropriate for a summer exchange but Lisa had written that she enjoys stitching Christmas ornies & the Christmas chart I included was by CHERRYwood Designs! I heard from Lisa a few days ago and am pleased to report that she liked what I sent her. Apologies for the fuzzy photographs - I think a certain little lady has been putting her fingerprints on the lens of my camera!

The exchange I received was from Catherine over at Bramblewood Stitches. Just look how beautifully everything was wrapped...I was like a small child on Christmas morning!


How the package arrived...


...a few seconds later!

The pillow that Catherine stitched for me is a design I've admired for a long time. Jennifer from Confessions of a Serial Starter had this design as her blog header for a while and I was disappointed to learn that I couldn't get the chart as it was a BBD retreat special?? Anyway, I have the design now and it's beautiful. Catherine included lots of lovely goodies. The scissor fob is so pretty and my first EVER! Thank you so much Catherine, I love everything that you sent.



Family news is that it was Iris's first day at pre-school last week. As usual she took it all in her stride and seems to have settled in without any problems at all. Below is a photo of her just before we set off. She had been sat with her ruck sack on for an hour before asking 'Is it time to go yet Mammy?'! Will she be this enthusiastic when it's 'Big Girls' school next year I wonder?



Until next time,

Regards,

Christina

Happy 40th Anniversary Mam & Dad!

40 years ago today my mam & dad were married, despite the torrential rain that lasted weeks and flooded lots of roads in the area. This is my favourite of their wedding photos. The man in the background had just given them his umbrella and I love that you can see him looking at the happy couple, perhaps wondering what the future held for them (or maybe wondering how he was going to get home without getting drenched!) The wedding photographer got his camera wet so had to borrow somebody elses which unfortunately was unable to take coloured photos, but I like that their album is in B&W.
Anyway, Happy Anniversay to my lovely Mam & Dad, Christine & Harrison - here's to 40 more years of wedded bliss!

Halloween in August

I've put my Christmas stitching to one side for the time being to concentrate on some Halloween goodies. My sister is a huge fan of Halloween and always whinges that I never stitch anything for her, despite teasing me about my 'granny-ish' hobby for years! It's her birthday this week (I can't believe I have a baby sister turning 33) so I decided to stitch her 'Something Wicked' by La D Da. I LOVE this chart - the colours, the verse, the spiders, the curly shoe, just EVERYTHING about it! And I love it even more now I've stitched it. Don't get me wrong, I didn't enjoy stitching row after row after row of black, black, black but I tried to mix it up a little by doing the verse one evening and black, black, black the next.


'Something Wicked' by La D Da
32ct Mocha Belfast Linen

I would have loved to frame it using the frame shown on the chart, but I find we're pretty limited here in the UK with framing (unless you want to pay an absolute fortune). Apologies for the rubbish photograph, the colours are so much brighter in reality but I find it so difficult to get a good shot without getting a reflection of myself in the glass!

I knew that once I had this little gem framed I would want to keep it for myself, so I got on with stitching another Halloween chart that I've wanted to stitch for a while - 'Uber Jack' by Bent Creek. This one I get to keep for myself. Below is a photo of how far I've got with it. I usually buy my overdyed threads from Patchwork Rabbit but unfortunately they were out of stock of WDW 'Sweet Potato'. It's on order now so it shouldn't take too long to finish this once the thread arrives.


'Uber Jack' by Bent Creek
32ct Natural Permin Linen

I have been busy with other stitching but as it is an exchange it has to be top secret for the time being.

We had a lovely few days down in London last week as it was my Father-in-Law's 60th birthday. Luckily the weather held out for his birthday B-B-Q. It was very strange being in our old neighbourhood. DH & I drove past our old house. I found it quite tough and even shed a little tear! I think I found it hard because we're not yet in our own home. We've been in limbo since May now and I'm itching to get into our new house. It looks like that will probably be happening on the 26th of this month...fingers crossed.

As I've often mentioned on my blog, I am a real book person, particularly children's books, in fact I have over 400 Enid Blyton books stored in our loft. Rachel (FIL's girlfriend) works in a library and she happened upon the book shown below. How amazing?! I was totally blown away when they gave it to us. I guess somebody else thinks that the names 'Iris & Isaac' go well together! The illustrations in this book are spectacular. As you can imagine Iris has asked for this book every bedtime since our return from London!



Ok, well I'll leave it there. I will be back with exchange stitching in the not-too-distant future and hopefully some news on our new house!

Regards,

Christina

Summer Picnic Exchange

I had the great pleasure of participating in Lainey's recent Summer Picnic Exchange. The instruction was to include a stitched item relating to something one would eat/drink at a tea party or picnic. I originally decided to go with a cupcake theme - something I LOVE eating and stitching! I stitched a pin cushion using part of a chart from the Historical Sampler Company. But as I was enjoying this years Wimbledon coverage, I saw several hundred people consuming copious amounts of strawberries & cream and thought a strawberry theme would be cool too - so I went with a little of both!


Cupcakes by The Historical Sampler Company






All parceled up and ready to go!

My exchange had to travel all the way to Lisa in Australia. Luckily it didn't take too long to get there & Lisa emailed to let me know that she really liked what I'd put together for her...phew...success!

******************
The exchange that I received was from Nataly. To say I was thrilled with my parcel would be an understatement! Everything was beautifully wrapped and I got a bit teary opening it all. I couldn't believe somebody had gone to such trouble for little old me! Just look at all of these goodies.




So creative and good enough to eat!


My first ever pair of embroidery scissors


I CANNOT wait to use these homemade pins.
I read on Nataly's blog that she hopes to sell her pins in the near future.

If you haven't already done so I'd highly recommend having a look at all of the fabulous creations made for the exchange on the Exchange blog.

Well, I'd better leave it there. I'll be back soon with some Halloween (yes, Halloween in July!) stitching.

Regards,

Christina

Summer? Really??!

Well, since the start of summer on Tuesday it's done nothing but rain here! Good old British summers eh, dontcha just love them? Rather ironically then my first finish is 'Winter's Nap' by Erica Michaels. I've wanted to do this design for a long time. I stitched 'Peace & Quiet' by Erica Michaels a couple of years ago for a friends Christmas wedding and saw this complementary design on the 123stitch website. It's taken until now for me to buy the design and get it stitched...that's kinda the pace I'm working at at the moment!


'Winter's Nap' by Erica Michaels
32ct Natural Belfast Linen



This is definitely a keeper, although it stitched up so quickly I'll probably do it again for a Christmas gift. Talking of Christmas, I noticed that the JCS Christmas Ornie preview magazine is out now *squeals with excitement*. Can any of my UK followers let me know where they get their copy of JCS from please? I've found a great seller of JCS magazines on ebay but he doesn't tend to get them in stock until a couple of months after they hit the shops in the USA.

Another quick stitch was this little gem from the Better Homes & Gardens Christmas 2002 magazine that Lainey loaned me. I've not decided on a finish for it yet, but to be honest it's not top priority so it may get 'lost' in my stitching bag for a wee while!



My love affair with LHN Christmas ornies continues. Here is 'All is Calm'. I decided to stitch this on 40ct, a decision I instantly regretted...I HATE stitching on 40ct! I can't wait to get it done though, I have a finishing idea in my mind that I hope works out as well in reality!


'All is Calm' by LHN
40ct Natural Linen

House news is that our offer on the house that I mentioned in my previous post has been accepted, despite there being 3 other offers on the table. Phew. I must admit, it certainly isn't the house of my dreams and it's smaller than I would have wanted, but the location is absolutely perfect and we can extend at some point in the near future. Kirsty Allsopp would be proud of me putting location, location, location at the top of the wish list!

Well, better leave it there. Isaac had his 12 week injections this morning and he's been a little unsettled since. He's chewing his fist at the moment which is a subtle hint to me that he's hungry!

Regards,

Christina

Time Flies When One is Sleep Deprived!

Wow, where did those weeks go?! My new arrival is now 7 weeks old and growing fast as you can see from the photograph below. Thank you so much for all of the well wishes on my last post, I enjoyed reading each and every one of them. Isaac is such a lovely baby. He sleeps for much of the day/night but still feeds every 2/3 hours. He was a small baby so I guess that's to be expected for a while yet but 3am is one lonely hour!



I'm managing to grab a few minutes here and there to catch up with my stitching. I finished the baby boy record that I was working on just before I went into labour, for Isaac. I'm waiting until he has his own nursery before I decide how to frame it.


'Sweet Baby Birth Record' by Dimensions
32ct ivory linen

My sister-in-law was due her baby the week after me but had to wait until the 15th of April before the baby made an appearance. She had a little girl named Milly Edith. She's absolutely gorgeous! She doesn't look like Isaac at all, she's huge in comparison with a mop of jet black hair. Poor Isaac will have hair envy! My sister-in-law is mad about bunnies so I adapted the Trilogy's 'Happy Bunny Bunny Day' and made a birth sampler. Coincidentally 2011 is also the year of the rabbit. I stitched Milly's initials in a contrasting colour so that they would stand out. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and the framing, despite being very cheap, looks great!


'Happy Bunny Bunny Day' by The Trilogy
32ct summer khaki linen



The charms that I'd ordered for 'Charming Santa' arrived the day that I went into labour, so unfortunately they sat in my sewing bag for over a month! As you can see from the photograph, there's a charm missing from top right of the gold strand of beads that Santa is holding. I thought a little gold 'made with love' charm would look really cute here, but I can't for the life of me find them anywhere! My sewing bag is a bottomless pit at the moment that is long overdue for a good sort out.


'Charming Santa'
Better Homes & Gardens Christmas 2002'
32ct Natural Belfast Linen



I'm still on track with my ornies for Christmas. This past couple of weeks I've finished two LHN ornaments from the 2010 series. I so enjoy stitching these although there are charts from the 2010 series that I've yet to buy. Have you seen the latest 2011 May ornie 'Gingerbread Village'? It's a 'must have' for me.



Peppermint Twist by LHN
32ct Natural Belfast Linen


Under the Tree by LHN
32ct Natural Belfast Linen

The other news from me (and I can't believe I haven't mentioned it before now!) is that we're moving north! In fact, we already have to all intents and purposes. My DH came home from work one day when I was 7 months pregnant and told me he'd applied for a job in Leeds. I kind of put it to the back of my mind, not expecting that anything would come of it, but lo and behold he got the job! So, 8 weeks before Isaac arrived we had to finish refurbishing our home and get our affairs in order for the big move! I've always wanted to move back north and in the back of my mind I knew we would one day, but not this soon! And not when heavily pregnant! Luckily we finished the house seconds before the valuer came round (with lots of help from my parents) and it sold 3 days after going on the market, for asking price and to cash buyers. We are now living with my parents whilst we search for a house. We're hoping to move to a lovely market town in North Yorkshire, but it seems lots of other people do too as we keep on getting pipped at the post with houses we like. We put an offer in on a house yesterday and the agent rang to let us know 3 other couples had put offers in too! I'm sure the perfect house will come up soon. The link below is to my lovely home on Right Move. If only we could have picked the house up and moved it North with us.

Ok, better leave it there, hopefully I'll be able to post again very soon!

Regards,

Christina