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!

So much to share!

Let me start by thanking all you wonderful ladies out there who have responded to my Easter/Spring exchange. I now have 15 who wish too take part. There is still time to join in as the closing date is tomorrow. Just check out my previous postings for details.




Well my stitching over one was quite an experience as the frog continued to stamp all over it but as you can see I got there in the end. It will be 25years tomorrow since I had my first date with my DH Ian so I decided to personalise this one with our initials and the date. I;m so glad I;m not sending this pillow to anyone I had such problems putting it together. I just can;t seem to fathom out the right way to do these tall pillows. Can someone please share a tutorial with pictures off how it;s done

I was so delighted recently when Heather http://heatherstitch.blogspot.com/ and Sarah http://craftymoo-sarah.blogspot.com/ answered my plea for someone to do a last minute Valentine exchange with me. The first two pictures are the exchange that I sent to Sarah.

This is a freebie design that I changed the recommended colours and added a few twists too. I meant to put a label on the finished pillow "please do not fondle" as I basically glued it to death to put together..lol. But as I told Sarah I was so happy with how it looked I was tempted to keep it too myself. I don;t have a picture of the rest of my package but it included Valentine fabric and ribbons, threads, chocolate hearts, heart frame, buttons and a glass heart cube. Sarah has a picture over on her blog if you would like to see.

My exchange from Heather included this gorgeous Be Mine pillow, isn;t the fabric really pretty. I just love the goodies she sent me. It;s so difficult to get any pretty bits and bobs for finishing here so the buttons and cute heart pegs will be put to good use.

Sarah must have realised I;m as mad about Cows as she is, isn;t my Moo Moo darling. I just had to show a picture of the reverse, I love the fabric and cute little buttons Sarah has used. So many wonderful goodies too, I have the perfect chart in mind for the that sweet ladybird pillow. Thank you so much Heather and Sarah you have both really spoiled me with two wonderful exchange packages.

Look at this wonderful surprise my mailman brought me last week. A gorgeous Snowman for me to treasure. Catherine http://bramblewoodstitches.blogspot.com/ you touched my heart with this one you are such a dear sweet friend.

Well they say it;s better late than never but I know she;s such a sweet friend that Maggie wouldn;t mind I was a bit late with her (December )Birthday present. She loves her pillow and the scissors are getting put to good use already. I love this little design and one day I am going to stitch it for myself. Maggie is a keen photographer and has started a blog of her photos, please pop over and say hi http://maggies365daysofphotos.blogspot.com


Now that this one has safely arrived I can show these Christmas goodies I sent to Corinna. Sadly she is not blogging anymore but she is such a sweet lady I;m so glad we still keep in touch.


Finally this is my progress on my SAL ornament for February. I don't know whats the cutest my stitching or Jamie on top...lol!

Hope everyone has a "Happy Valentines Day" and a good week with lots of stitches. Hugs!

Come join Spring/Easter Exchange!

Well it;s kinda looking like I was just babbling to myself in my last post as so far only 5 people have signed up for the exchange.
I;m forever hopeful and will leave the closing date until Tuesday to see if I can maybe entice some week-end blog readers.
C;mon ladies it;s SEVEN weeks you have just to stitch a little bitty piece. You know it will be fun and I know we all just love it when a stitchy package drops in our mail-box. Details to join are all in my previous post.
Have a nice week-end. Hugs!

SPRING/EASTER EXCHANGE!

I know that all you ladies are busy, busy, busy with all your projects for the year but I;m hoping that I can get some of you to take part in a Spring/Easter exchange. If you haven;t taken part in an exchange before do come and join in as it is a good way off making new friends and having fun. Okay now for the rules. It;'s been quite a while since I;ve organised anything like this so if there is something I have missed please let me know.

Make and finish a small stitched item with a Spring or Easter theme. e.g. ornament, pillow,needlcase,pinkeep etc.

Put together a package off 5 other items. Now you can include in this whatever you wish and they can be stitchy items/non-stitchy or both. Not everyone has a large stash or access to goodies or the money off course to buy stuff. So your 5 items can be to the value off whatever you wish it to be. It's all about the taking part and having fun. For people that are new to exchanging here are some ideas that you could include in your 5 items.

Stitchy - chart, threads, needles, buttons,ribbons,fabric,scissors,trimming,pins, measuring tape, magazine etc.

Non stitchy - stickers, notelets, chocolate,key-ring,fridge magnet,magazine,candles,scented sachets,etc.

When you are ready to send your package or you receive a package please email me and let me know the date you sent out and recieved. Please also get a proof of posting for your parcel.

Now I know it;s like a kid waiting for Santa but please don;t open your parcel or post pictures to your blog until Easter Week-end. This gives everyone time for their packages to have arrived and a chance to see everyones exchange.

Please also send a photograph to me off the package you send so I can put pictures on my blog over Easter week-end to let everyone see who has taken part.

If you would like to take part please send me an email by Saturday the 13th February at elaine.main@virgin.net (subject line Spring/Easter exchange) with the following information:

Name:

Address:

Blog Link:

Postal preferences:

Also include a little bio about your interests, stitching likes/dislikes and any information that you would like your partner to know about you. I will email the information to your partner and this way it means that it will be a surprise on opening day who your parcel is from.

The mailing out dates will be:

Sending Overseas from Europe/America/Canada/Australia etc - Monday 4th April

Within UK - Monday 11th April

Within US/Canada - Monday 11th April

Well I do hope that I will get some people to come along and join in and I haven;t sat here and babbled on about nothing..lol. I;d also really appreciate anyone mentioning this exchange on their next blog post to try and pass the word around and get as many people to join in the fun.

Hope everyone is having a great week-end. I shall hopefully be back in a few days with an up-date on my stitching. Hugs.

ps..GO PACKERS!!!!

February finish & some other stuff!

I've had some free time the past few days so I managed to stitch and make-up this cute little guy. He is the January chart from the SAL on the yahoo Oakhaven design group. Februarys chart arrived this afternoon and it looks like it is going to be a really fun SAL. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OakHavenDesigns/

I also did a few more stitches on Mr Cranberry but I had to put him aside this morning as the darn frog came for a visit and started jumping all over him. Trying to pick out stitches over one is noooo fun!

I got a lovely surprise recently when I received an email from Clare http://aimetu-clare.blogspot.com/ to tell me I had won a competition on her blog. She sent me this really pretty kit, I just love the delicate colours in this one, thanks Clare.

Thank you so much to Nicola http://allandale-cross-stitching.blogspot.com/ who nominated me for a Stylish blogger award.
I need to tell you five things about myself so here goes:

I went to Highland Dancing from about age 5 to 16. I won lots of medals and some trophys. I was only a few exams away from sitting my teachers exam but typical teenager I gave it up as I wanted to hang out with my friends and not go to dancing. It's like riding a bike though and even though I would probably cause a hole in the floor I still remember the steps..lol.

Being a bit of an old Moo myself I love Cows. From left to right meet Moozart, Moocho Amour,Disco, Hugs and Smoochies and Babe in Toyland.

I;m also a bit of a hand-bag collector. Now these ones in the photo aren;t mine and I don;t mean designer bags, just any old bags. I love hand-bags.

I love to watch movies. These are just a small peek at a few of my favourites. We have over 500 DVD/Blu-rays in our collection. So there is nothing I like better than watching a movie while I stitch.

I rarely have the time these days but I do love to Bake. One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting at the kitchen table and licking the remnants of the mixture for this chocolate cake with a big wooden spoon from my mothers baking bowl.

Well I hope you enjoyed learning a few more things about me. I;m supposed to nominate five bloggers but I would just find it impossible to choose. So I nominate anyone who reads my blog. I know some people don;t like to do these awards but I hope there are some people who will accept this award as I love to learn more about friends and new bloggers.
See ya soon, hugs

Nataly is having a wonderful Valentines Day Give-away go check it out..http://natalysneedle.blogspot.com and say Hi.