Christmas Exchanges

Edda in Iceland was given my name in the stitched card exchange and today i received the most wonderful card, it's the Just Nan Christmas Wallet design. Edda i am so thrilled with it, thank you so much for stitching such a fabulous card for me, i will treasure it always. Edda also stitched the inside as well, it reads "Christmas 2007 To Julie from Edda, wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" You can see better pics on Edda's blog if you click the link in her name). The gift that accompanied it remains unopened and has been sent to Father Christmas. Quite a few of the cards have been received now and they are all lovely, well done to the girls in this exchange at Jayne's Attic

I'm also in the stitched gift exchange at JA as well, what i've stitched has been despatched via Royal Mail (snail mail and thats no joke!!) but this is a secret exchange and cannot be opened till Dec 25th so i can't reveal what it is or who it was sent to till after then and the partners are revealed by the organiser. Of course, the same will apply to the gift i receive. BUT ... i can show you a pic of the package when it gets here so you can be kept in suspense like me and have some sleepless nights wondering what it is as well LOL

Saturday is Dec 1st and that means i can show you the advent parcel that i received from Jorja on the TS MB. This exchange is an advent calendar for stitchers. We had to wrap up 24 small parcels (both stitchy stuff and anything else you thought would make a nice small gift and bring a smile to a friends face) and 1 larger one for Christmas Day. My box arrived earlier this week and is shouting to me to open them all. I have been good and only opened the outer packaging and left the contents alone so far .... 2 more sleeps and i can open day 1 *snigger*. How are you other girls doing? hope you are being good too, remember Santas little helpers will be watching you and reporting back any naughty behaviour !!!!

Much love to you all

It's arrived !!

****Drum roll**** here it is .... a design out of an old gallery magazine, had a tough job finding something i thought was nice and suitable to put into this tuck, well done Joann for giving me a challenge. Stitched 1x1 on 27ct linda using DMC

Rachael, my decorations are definately not up yet, they are safely tucked away in the attic till nearer the time, we aren't even in December yet, your friends must be bonkers!!!! But i do promise to post a pic of my tree etc when i do put them up, if i forget you have permission to nag me LOL

Christmas is coming ....

The tuck exch at TS is such fun, i love to stitch/receive tiny tucks made by Joann. Mine arrived today and was from Christina, she also sent a lovely card telling me the design reminded her of her grandmothers ornaments when she was a child, i hope whilst stitching she had fond memories. Mine is taking the slow route again so no reveal yet of that!!



I can reveal this one..... this was the stitched card exchange at Jayne's Attic. My partner was none other than Jayne herself LOL. What a job i had to find a design that i thought would be perfect. I finally decided on 'Oh Christmas Tree' by The Cats Whiskers Design Studio in the 2006 JCS Ornament Magazine, stitched on 32ct ivory linen using good old DMC and gutterman for the goldwork. It was a fun stitch and i'm so pleased Jayne likes it, i always worry when it's an exchange gift, do you ????


Hope you are all nice and relaxed and not getting too stressed with your preparations for the festive season, just think 1 month and Christmas will be all over and you can make plans for your stitching in 2008 then .....

Progress report ...

Hello Bloggers, i'm still around, just had a busy week this week and not a lot of stitching has been accomplished

The theme for this months ornie SAL at TS was reindeer, i chose this lovely chart from JBW called 'Country V ~ Reindeer' it's stitched on 28ct opalescent linen using CPR floss in mahogany.

I've also made up the Stitched gift item for the exchange at JA, thats due to be posted out 2nd Dec and yet again will have to remain a secret till the lady receives it, although i must say it has turned out really nice and i am pleased with it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating today, i hope you are having a wonderful day with your families

Where's the Saturday Challenge?

Sorry to all those expecting a Saturday challenge pic, but this week Karen and I are not doing it, other things need to be stitched/finished pre-christmas (i'm sure you all have things too). Instead i put the last stitches into the CCN Ladybugs & Bumblebees this afternoon. We've decided to put on hold our Wednesday SAL's till the new year, although we've already chosen what will be the first one we stitch in 2008. Wonder if anyone will guess which one it is, it's not like there are many LHN/CCN charts to choose from LOL


Look who was in my garden this morning wafting his tail back and forth with great speed till he was given his breakfast. Do squirrels talk in 'sign language' with their tail?? i'm sure he was giving DH a real telling off for being late with his breakfast, i'll have to try and think of a way to tell him it's the weekend and we don't get up so early !!!! I was watching out of the conservatory window when i took this pic. The tray is now empty and there are many holes in the lawn where he decided to bury some of the nuts for later, i hope he remembers where they are ...


Enjoy your weekend whatever your plans and thank you for stopping by, i really appreciate your visits and comments

Organised? or NOT !

Yesterday DH and i went off to try and do some Christmas shopping, thought we better make a start. What a waste of a day that was, all we came home with was a new coat for DH !!! I can honestly say that i didn't see anything that i thought would be nice, all the Christmas goodies were really poor this year i thought, much the same as last year and overpriced into the bargain. Will have to get my thinking cap on to try and come up with something nice and different for members of my family LOL

On the stitching front ... todays the day for the CCN SAL with Karen as it's also the stitching club. We've decided to stick with it after tonight and complete it this week as there isn't much left to do now and hopefully i'll soon be able to show you a finish on that. I've also completed the xmas card for the exch at JA, it's all made up too and ready to post out 2nd Dec (can't show you that, sorry). I still need to finish off the gift exch at JA and a couple of other smaller things as well. Where do the days go to, i seem to be chasing my tail every day just lately ......

Our Saturday Challenge

This week we chose another Quaker chart from The Workbasket, this one's called Quaker Autumn Tree. The same rules as last week - chose any fabric and thread you want and stitch and make up, then reveal .... i decided to make a herb sachet and filled my 16ct aida band with mixed herbs. The thread is good old Anchor 262 to match the coloured edges of the band. You can see Karens version on her blog it looks lovely.

Hope you all have a nice weekend and thanks for stopping by

Ladybugs SAL

Week 9 of the SAL with Karen - next week will see it finished i think. I did quite a bit this week as i had to stay home by the phone in case the vets needed me as Midge had to go for an exploratory operation. He had been coughing and sneezing badly again and she didn't know the cause. They found a 15cm piece of grass lodged inside the nasal cavity which has been removed but is now all inflammed. Here he is back home nice and comfy on his cushion feeling a bit sore and sorry for himself and mum was £150 (about $300) lighter in her purse LOL

My advent parcel - an advent calendar for stitchers!! for the exchange at TS is all ready to send now and i've kitted up the card exchange for JA and the tuck exchange for TS yesterday as well. I just need to sit down and get them stitched up now ....

In the dark ...

What could be nicer on a Sunday evening than an electricity power cut right in the middle of tea - bangs and explosions of light outside with the fireworks going off but only candles and torches to light up our life. We did however turn this unfortunate event into a fun filled evening with a card game by candlelight, lots of laughter and merriment and the odd glass of something sparkling for those who partake (not me i'm tee total). I've not laughed so much in ages so out of this disaster came some good. Power was restored again at midnight after i had gone to bed, so no stitching for me LOL

Hope you all had a good weekend and enjoyed the firework celebrations if you're in the UK, wonder if tonight will be the last night of them, my cats certainly hope so.

Saturday Quaker Challenge

Karen and I chose another Workbasket freebie for this weeks challenge, we decide on Friday night which chart we will do, but have no idea of which fabric/threads each of us will use until the reveal, it's such fun. This time mine is stitched on 28ct mushroom evenweave using Six Strand Sweets 'Fire Jawbreaker' and the little bit of fabric is what i used to back it with. I added the bead feet to it to stop it skidding about when it is being used as thats what happens to the one i have now .. an experiment, hope it works!! You can see Karens over on her blog, she had a very clever idea this time - well done Karen

Mumble, grumble

What comes to mind when i say Jeremy Fisher ??? thats right a rotten green frog LOL thats whats been visiting the Ladybugs SAL on week 8 ... the word 'leaves' should be stitched in green (dandelion stem from Cottage Colours) so that needs to come out before next week. Was it lack of concentration, eagerness to stitch it or just that we were having a heated debate at the stitching club about a local derelict public house and whats going to happen to it and the fact that a lot of the local residents had not been invited to the public meeting that was being held in the next room to ours .. we gatecrashed that LOL

Did i stitch everything i was going to in October?

FINISHES
Looplyou Silent Flutter SAL, Loopylou Hollyberry SAL, Just Nan - Special Delivery Biscornu, The workbasket Quaker Heart, Just Nan Beehive Violets, Secret stitched gift for JA xmas exchange
PROGRESS MADE ON - CCN Ladybugs - 5 weeks progress
DIDN'T STITCH ON - HAED Leo, TS monthly ornie

A few finishes, but still LEO didn't see the light of day this month and its the first month i didn't get a Christmas ornie stitched for the SAL