April's challenge and a gift

April came and went... a few nice things happened and a few infuriatingly stressful times too, but you don't want to hear about those.

Being the last weekend of the month means its reveal time for the monthly challenge over at Needlecraft Haven chosen by Christine.

I used the lovely silken threads I showed you in my Gifted Gorgeousness post.  They stitched up really nicely using 2 strands on 22ct golden aida. I went for a traditional red/green combination.  

I have a person in mind for this as a Christmas gift so decided to put it into a little frame and add the wording ribbon along the bottom.   The frame only cost £1 from a well known supermarket so a bargain gift.

Sunday, April 30th is also the birthday of a family member.  When sorting out I came across Royal Blossoms 2007 by Just Nan.  The charm was stapled to the chart - when did I do that?  I decided that would make the perfect small gift and use up more of my forgotten about stash.

Stitched on a piece of 28ct jobelan from a Polstitches grab bag using the asked for threads it turned out well and fitted into a 4" x 4" frame perfectly.  This frame has a double mount so the depth of the bee doesn't matter.

Such a detailed Queen Bee charm?

1st May is May day so we have an extra days holiday, time for plenty of stitching, reading, gardening or are you out and about having fun doing other things.

Thanks for taking time to visit

Love and blessings to you all

Julie 

Fun with friends



 Yesterday I took a little drive to meet up with a few friends from Needlecraft Haven. 

Clare organises our meet ups but due to her recent accident we met at her home.

I took a small spring planter arrangement with me as a get well gift.

 

We each brought our needlecases we had made in the meet-up exchange after the autumn meet up.  A great collection and all so different. 

 

The fronts -

 

 

and the backs -

 

 

There was a book exchange....

 

 

I received from Angi - not an author I have read before

 

Gill went home with my book

 

 

The theme for the goody bag this time was 'My Favourite Place'  -

 

I came home with Angi's and what a 'beach bag' filled with delights it was.  Thank you Angi

 

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the bag I made up.  It went to Clare's mum.   I didn't choose an actual place, thinking outside the box this time, I decided my favourite place was 'Anywhere I can have a little hygge time i enjoy' and put into my parcel a book about hygge, a large candle, fabric and threads, a sponge for a nice bubble bath, a mug with hot chocolate sachet and a well known chocolate cake mix (I decided not to add a cake itself as some ladies venture to us on the train and I thought it might not survive their journey home).

 

I gave a little RAK gift to Justine.  She's named her Hyacinth as there was a lovely bunch in a vase and Justine has been smelling them all day and the pink and blue colourway reminded her of the flowers. 

 

 

There was the usual show and tell.  I had a little Prairie Schooler spring finish from the Gift of Stitching magazine (Brigitte, this was one of the charts I had printed out and found in the sort out!)  

 

I'm going to do the others in the Seasons SAL this year.  Summer next then. 

 

One sock completed.  Gill had a read through Christine's lovely sock book, so maybe we might have another sock knitter in future.

 

 

We had a lovely day and it was good to see Clare in person and how she was in herself.  She took a pic of us in her garden bedroom (that's a double bed in the conservatory to you and me lol) and you can see us on her blog post together with the other gifts the ladies brought and her more detailed write up of the day and the exchanges and swaps.

 

I hope you have all enjoyed a lovely weekend

 

Love and Blessings

 

Julie 

 

 

Gifted Gorgeousness - April

Just in case you don't know what Gifted Gorgeousness is all about -

It is a chance for us bloggers to show off gifts we have received.  It could be yarn, a thread, a piece of fabric or something that's not for crafting but was sent/given to brighten your day.  Have you made or given a gift, that counts too as does a free chart you have found and have used, given by the designer.  Did you previously receive stash that you have finally got round to using? 

You can read more about 'GG' here.  It's the brainchild of Jo at Serendipitous Stitching


Clare the owner of the Needlecraft Haven forum was running a little competition for the first 3 months of the year.  It was a bit complicated and involved a lot of maths (not for me) but for Clare to work out.  It did look impressive though when she showed us her workings out - definitely a 'A' grade maths pupil! 

It reminded me a bit of Jo and the pie chart she shows each month of her stitching - she has so many WIP's this month, the pie chart is going to be interesting to look at? 

Enough waffling..... back to the story... I won one of the gifts and here is my prize.  Thank you Clare and sending {hugs} - Clare recently had a nasty accident.

 

My handmade entry for Easters GG and finished during April is a knitted cardigan gift for a little one with some Easter choccie bunnies.

 

 

I also stitched and finished a Prairie Schooler little Easter bunny pillow, a gifted free design from PS back in 2012, but you all saw that in my previous post, or perhaps you haven't yet?

 

I belong to a weekly craft group and last Thursday we were given a 'Do It Yourself' Easter gift of the following items :-

 

An ordinary new flannel, 2 pieces of ribbon, double sided sticky fixer, 2 googly eyes and a Cadbury's crème egg....

 

 

Instructions followed ....

 

Fold the flannel in half diagonally

 

Roll up all the way from the thin end

 

Place the egg in the centre and fold the ends in.  Tie on one of the ribbons with a bow facing frontwards

(It's a good idea to get someone to hold this for you so you get it nice and tight otherwise the little egg is liable to drop out)

 

Add the second ribbon halfway between the first ribbon and top (making a knot at the back)

 

Cut the sticker fixer in half and attach one then add a googly eye

 

 

Add the second fixer/eye and fluff the ears up 

 

Voila.... you have a lovely little Easter bunny treat

 

 

DH gifted me these cute Lindt kissing Easter bunnies.  Shoehorned into the GG post as I will add the ribbons and jingly bells to my stash when I have eaten the chocolate.

 

 

Special embroidery machine threads were a lovely gift from an 85 year old local resident. 

 

The outer covering still on two of them are lovely ...

 

She brought them all the way from Bombay many years ago and has used them for crafting purposes in the past.    Unfortunately, she is struggling now with health issues and thought I might be able to put these to good use.

 

I've used them in a little project to see how they stitched up, i'll show you what I did with them when I have made up the little item.

 

Bit of a long GG post this time, hope you enjoyed seeing something a little different.

I'm looking forward to seeing what GG goodies you will be telling us all about this month in your blog posts.

Love and blessings

Julie

Happy Easter

Last weekend we had the most glorious weather, I hope we have some nice sunshine for the Easter weekend too.

A wander round the garden and there were lots of lovely things, a feast for the senses, both eyes and nose.    

The camelia I showed previously is in full bloom, such huge flowers and I think its the best it has been for a few years.  It must have enjoyed the wet weather we had earlier this year.

 

 

Tulips opening ..... 

A little lily of the valley starting to pop, the smell around this plant is heavenly - I have some handcream with this scent.

 

A pretty primula....

 

 

DH took this beauty out of the greenhouse where it has been overwintering, we have flowers already with the hot sunshine.

 

A smallish variety of rowan tree that DH's late mum grew from a sapling and planted for us has had to be cut down due to something nasty in its trunk.  It's been here since we moved in over 30 years ago.  The logs will be used on our open fire so nothing wasted, but another link to a past generation and happy memories of gardening together made us a little sad.  Do you have plants in your garden that were given for a special reason or occasion that you cherish?

 

 

The greenhouse is also bursting with activity and the promise of lots of nice things to come. Plenty more in the right hand side too.

 

 

 

Whilst DH was pottering outside, I sat a while and finished off a little Easter design.  A chart found amongst the forgotten stuff.  A little free one from Prairie Schooler from 2012. 

 

Stitched on a small remnant of 22 count spring green and finished as a hanging pillow with two little bee buttons to compliment the gold yellow trimmings.

 

 

It was then added it to my new little tree with some bunny friends and other gifted items.

 

 

Last night was parlour evening with Barb and the ladies at Needlecraft Haven, a virtual stitch evening and I added the last few stitches to the Four Seasons Autumn block

 

 

and before i sign off, last time I forgot to show you the West Yorkshire Spinners 'hollyberry' socks that were knitting up nicely.

 

 

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter weekend spent with family, friends and those you hold dear.  I hope it leaves you with happy memories you can dip into in the future.  For us, we have no set plans for the weekend, a quiet one, taking advantage of the late starts and whatever else we decide to do.

 

For those who are experiencing difficulties, be they illness, bereavements and other sad times, I'm sending you {{hugs}}

 

Love and blessings

 

Julie 

 

 

 

Missed the deadline

The end of March means reveal time for the monthly challenge over at Needlecraft Haven.  For those who do not know about it, the monthly challenge is an ornament chart chosen by Christine, always a freebie that you can stitch and finish using anything you like.  It means that come Christmas we all have 12 lovely ornaments to use ourselves or give away as gifts to friend and family.

I missed the deadline for the reveal day, only a few days late, but still not good enough!  Here's my version of the March choice from Pineberry Lane from 2011.  I'm using up scraps of fabric for these this year and a piece of 18ct grey aida seemed the perfect background for this primitive design.  A little Nordic type red ribbon brightened it up and the inclusion of two little silver jingly  bells finished it off a treat.

 

The others in the March gallery are here.

 

The cable socks, a design from Christine over at Winwick Mum, were completed for DH.  He's very pleased with them.    

 

 

Another pair of socks in the West Yorkshire Spinners Hollyberry colour are already on the needles (forgot to take pic of those), I think I have a sock knitting addiction!  They are so easy to pop into your bag and take along to hospital appointments - of which I have been to a couple recently and more to come.

 

Four Seasons Sampler by Giulia Punti Antichi has had quite a bit of attention.

 

Summer was finished....

 

 

and over halfway stitched on Autumn... 

 

 

The whole piece looks like this now....

 

I don't know why this has sat in the drawer for such a long time?  Like most of us, we acquire stuff and forget what we have and only find things when we are sorting out or looking for something we are sure we have and have put it 'somewhere'.   I came across a few things when I 'found' this one, some old designs that really need to see the light of day and will be coming out of hiding this year.

 

I hope you are finding time for your hobbies.  I know with the growing season starting in earnest now it means that crafting does not happen so much for those who enjoying growing seedlings and pottering about outside especially now the clocks have sprung forward here in the UK and you can be outside in the late afternoon sunshine till later.

 

Happy stitching, knitting, crafting and growing, i'll look forward to reading about your hobbies in your next blog post.

 

Love and blessings

 

Julie