Some finishes!

First of all let me thank all those "chanters" out there for sending me some sunshine this week. Sadly though it didn;t last long and we have had more heavy rain and right now there is a thunder storm that wants to join in. I haven;t stepped out the door all week-end but have put my time to good use with some stitching and finishing.

On Saturday I wanted something small to stitch that I didn;t need to concentrate too hard on as  I had parked myself in front off the tv to watch the British Open Golf tournament.  I found this perfect little chart in my stash and was delighted that I managed to get it stitched and finished all in the one day. I won this chart in a give-away so I would like to pass it on to someone now. Just leave me a comment on this post and if there is more than one person I will draw a name.

My dear friend Colleen celebrated her Birthday last week. This is the little package off goodies I sent her. Like me she loves Sheep so I couldn;t resist making this one for her. I was so thrilled how this finish turned out I just love the sheepy ribbon. I really wanted to keep it for myself.



Finally though I do think these have turned out quite pretty I am glad they are finished. Stitching the same chart twice within a few weeks gives me no joy and as usual I got another chapter for my "how not to finish" book. They had to be ready to hand over to my Mum this week-end and I was quite anxious as I was still stitching them Friday morning and the finishing cubes didn;t arrive until the afternoon. My DD gave me a hand to put them together. We did the lemon one first and as Heather was doing the bow I started on the pink one. As I went to put on the fabric I realised that I had used pink fabric around the lemon one. Thankfully as its mostly pins and a little glue we managed to quickly swap them around. We then got the pink one complete. I was pleased with how they looked and Heather was well chuffed on what a great job she had did on the bows. We were sitting at the kitchen table admiring our work when DH arrived home. He is leaning on the kitchen work-top chatting to us and then he starts laughing. He said did you realise one of the girls had the surname Murpy and the other is Murphy. I couldn;t possible post my reply. Once again the same cube as before had to be pulled apart and sorted. I was so relieved when they were finally finished and handed over. If anyone spots any other mistakes ....NO COMMENT!

Until next time when I shall have a new start or maybe even another finish. Happy Stitching!

Exchanges & Gifts!

I recently started a blog for Exchanges and I;m delighted to say that our second Exchange with a Tea-party/Picnic theme has been a great success. Please visit our Gallery  to see all the wonderful packages sent and received by everyone who took part. For anyone interested sign-ups are open until tomorrow on our latest Summer Holiday Exchange.

These wonderful goodies were from my partner Lisa Isn;t my Watermelon pillow so pretty. I just love the Cottage Sampler chart, cute buttons, ribbon, fabrics and as I seem to be on a baking kick just now I;m looking forward to trying out those cute cookie cutters. Thank you so much Lisa for such a fabulous Exchange.

This is my Tea-party package that I made up for my partner Debbie I included some cup-cake napkins,recipe cards, stitched cube, fabric and pin cup-cake, thread cup-cake, button cake, tea-bag, tunnocks biscuit a mug and tea-tray.

I also received this wonderful surprise Tea-party RAK from Teresa My pretty mat is now displayed under my buttons and ribbons jar. My notepad which will be well used (I;ve a thing about making lists..lol) is on my fridge and I off course will have no problem using up those threads and that lovely kit. Thank you so much Teresa it was so kind of you to suprise me with this.

This is the one of the little Birthday gifts I gave you a peek at on my last post. It has now arrived with my dear friend Erna who said she was delighted with it, though I did have to apologise for the scary faces...lol.  As you can see even after many, many years off trying I still can;t do french knots.

Apologise to dear sweet Nia I was tidying out my display basket in the kitchen and I spotted my darling little bunny she made for me and I realised I hadn;t posted him on my blog. Isn;t he cute...ty sweetie. If I ever get any new mindees I;m sure we will be making him a few little friends as it would be a great craft project for the little ones.

Recently I was lucky enough to won a give-away that Edit had on her blog. My photo doesn't do these coasters justice. They are so delicate and pretty. I really don;t want to get them all grubby by using them as coasters. I want them displayed nicely so everyone can see them. These were crocheted by Edits Mum Kati a very talented lady.

Sorry for making this final picture so large but I just wanted to share what a horrible Summer we are having here in Scotland. As I mentioned in my last post we have had a few days of sunshine but on the whole since June we have mainly had weather like this. So this week friends when you are sitting there stabbing your needle through your fabric I want you all to chant  send Lainey sunshine, send Lainey sunshine, send Lainey sunshine. I will let you know on my return if it works..LOL. Happy Stitching!

Tuesdays Tales!

Life is still a bit crazy around here so apart from the sad stuff I have nothing off great interest to blog about. I must say thank you though to everyone for their prayers, hugs and support. We are finally having a few days off sunshine so I thought I would post some pictures of my garden and this years potted plant flowers. 

 My baking mode has also really kicked in just now. Last week it was another Chocolate cake and Spiced cake. Vanilla slice, Empire Biscuits and Scones are on this weeks agenda.

My needle has been on overtime for the past two weeks as not knowing whether I am coming or going these days I suddenly realised I didnt have a lot of time to stitch two July Birthday gifts. I;ve only given you a sneak preview as the two lovely receipents read my blog. I shall hopefully be able to reveal all in my next post.

While reading my friend Catherines blog http://bramblewoodstitches.blogspot.com/ recently she mentioned that Ned the family gnome had decided to go off on a trip. My daughter Heather discovered him in our front-door planter a few days ago, I just can;t imagine the trip he had to get here. He must have been too exhausted to ring the door bell..lol. He is going to be spending the Summer with us here in Scotland. To follow his time with us and to find out where else his travels will take him check out his blog 

Lastly for anyone interested sign-ups are being taken at the Stitched with Love blog  for a new Summer Holiday Exchange.

Have a good week. Hugs!