Monday 28 February 2011

We're Marching through the year!

Well here we are it;s the first of March already. I was hoping for some lovely signs of Spring but it;s another dull dreary cold day here in Scotland. I long for some sunshine, daffodils, crocuses and baby lambs romping around the fields, roll on Spring...

Don't look too closely at this one as I still have to invisible stitch it around the edges. I;m just pleased I managed to finish my SAL ornie for February on time. For March I have chosen Merry by Glory Bee from the 2008 Just Cross-stitch Ornament magazine. I started on it this morning and who knows I might even have this one finished before the end of the week and not the end of the month.


Does anyone know why the mail takes so long to go to Canada. It bugs me when I pay the extra for Airmail that is supposed to arrive 7-10 days and it takes more than 3 weeks. Anyway at least it didn;t get lost and Heather safely received her Valentine package from our exchange. The design on the pillow was a lovely freebie I found. The buttons are actually all the same colour as the button on the bottom and not different as the picture shows.


Thank you so much to everyone who signed up for the Easter/Spring exchange. There are now 18 people taking part. I hope everyone like me is having a fun time stitching and putting their package together. I;m sorry a few people missed out but I do have an idea for another exchange soon.


I won this gorgeous penny-pocket in the lovely Myra's give-away http://gr8damesplace.blogspot.com/ It was filled with so many goodies, chocolate (mmm..seems to be missing..lol) pretty stickers, pencils,threads, beautiful fabric and a lovely chart. Even though it will drive me nuts I'm hoping to attempt making one of these pretty pockets sometime soon.

Delivering Winter

At Christmas time I saw this Snowman design Delivering Winter on display at Lois's http://ofneedlespinsand.blogspot.com/ blog. I contacted her to ask who the designer was and being the sweet lady that she is she very kindly sent the chart to me. I had been hoping to stitch this on a piece of 4" wide natural colour banding but after ordering Thread Bear came back to me to say they no longer had any and e-bay sent me 14 count instead off 16. As soon as I can track some down it is going to be my next project all for me. Knowing about my little Snowman addiction Lois kindly went through her stash and sold me these other charts. It;s snowing Snowmen again..lol.

They are just about to do the ten year Census here in Scotland and this year for the first time one of the questions is going to be how many people use and understand the scottish language. They have set up this great website where you can hear the different dialects from around Scotland. http://www.ayecan.com/ The nearest to me is the centre button on the map. Enjoy, Hugs!

26 comments:

Patty C. said...

LOOOOve the Snowman chart -Too Cute
Have fun with the exchange :)

staci said...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your SAL ornie...I'm gonna have to do that one too!

Postal workers here tell me that mail is slow to Canada because of Customs. I've sent things halfway around the world that have taken less time than it takes to hop the US/Canadian border!

Lesleyanne said...

Lovely stitching and finishing. Great new stash.

Annie said...

Very nice stitching. We're all waiting patiently for spring.

Have fun with those snowman charts!

And mail between the US and Canada is slower than between the US and any country I've sent to or received from. No one knows for sure what the issue is, but I wouldn't pay any extra postage if I were you.

Annette said...

I also long for Spring...
What a cute sheep!
So beautifulll that February pillow!!!
Congratz on winning such a lovely give/away

wait with sitch winter designs...we want first some lovely weather :)

Fiona said...

All your stitching looks great. I really like the design on the pillow you made for Heather. I will have to check out the Census website. My 3 boys are all studying Gaelic at school. Will look out for your next exchange.

Friendship Crossing said...

Hey Lainey,
LOVE that first pic of the sheep ~ could you tell me what chart that is??? too cute!!

Love all your other stitched pieces/goodies you received as well!!!

I can't wait to listen to the Scottish people! I have a thing for accents! LOL

Tanya

Anonymous said...

The snowpeople in the wagon are adorable! All of the projects are.

valerie said...

What a cute sheepie ornie! Love it and your valentine exchange piece. Great job. Looks like you have some fun new stash to work with.

Lois said...

Enjoy all that snowman stitching! Love the ornament and congrats on winning one of Myra's giveaways! Do you want to hear that we've had some lovely Spring-like days? I'm sure it won't last though!!!

Giovanna said...

The ornament is so cute, well done!

Carol said...

First of all I love those little sheep wearing their sweaters, scarves, and boots in your header--so cute! As is your newest sheep finish :)

How nice to win Myra's giveaway and you sure got some more great snowman charts to add to your collection!

Colleen said...

Love your sheep header!! How cute are those outfits they are wearing!! Love your projects, you've been busy!

Catherine said...

Oh my!! Your sheep are so cute! I love the one in the pink!! And what stitching goodness in this post!!

Maggie said...

Hi Elaine, i tried to leave a comment before but couldn't for some reason!

I love all your projects and what great charts you managed to buy :-)

I especially love the little sheep in your blog header photo too cute :-)

Edit said...

I love those sheep in your new header picture! they are so great :)
Just like your ornament and the superb penny pocket you received. And the charts... well, what can you say about so many lovely charts :)

Pumpkin said...

Lovely ornie! The sheep is so cute :o)

I have no idea. Sometimes packages arrive really quickly and then others take forever :o(

Myra included some goodies! Hope you had fun going through it all!

If you ever want to sell the BC Snowman Knocker once you're done, would you let me know? I've been looking for this pattern for awhile now :o)

Mylene said...

Love your header picture...soooo CUTE!!!

Lovely stitching and wow! such great goodies!!

Siobhán said...

Beautiful finishes and beautiful stitching! Great job. :)

We're doing the census later this year, too. I always love doing that just because I've found so much info from previous census reports!

I did get your e-mail, btw, I'm just waaaaay behind on all e-mail. I'll write soon! xo

Cheryl said...

Lots of lovely pictures! I know Canada mail is really bad....my inlaws are always talking about how unreliable it is.

Brigitte said...

Your ornament is so pretty, and so is the little pillow that went to Canada. Sometimes it's not the postal services that delay our packages but customs. When I get a package that goes through customs it takes two weeks longer than the other ones.
That little bunny is so sweet. I'm also stitching bunnies at the moment, lots of bunnies, lol. Have fun with your Easter exchange.

♥ Nia said...

Beautiful finishes :) oh I had fun getting my exchange package ready! I'll send you a new picture tomorrow ;)
So many snowman charts!! :D
Have a great Sunday

Daffycat said...

Mail to Canada always takes a while. I'm sure the Customs must be to blame!

I love the Census site! Fun to listen to all the different Scots voices. I can understand most of it, not all though!

Mary said...

Awesome stitching and love all those cute snowmen! You'll have fun stitching them!

Nicola said...

Really enjoyed the Scot's website! Thanks for sharing. Wish I could have heard some Gaelic!

Lynn said...

Your spring stitches are wonderful!! It's so nice to see all those lambs and bunnies again.
Your Valentine package was wonderful and I bet Heather was thrilled to receive it. Pretty gift from Myra too! I'll be checking that dialect site as well since my heritage is Scottish and Welsh.