"Their Song"

As the replacement fabric for the exchange did not arrive yesterday I decided to give Blackbird Designs "Their Song" an outing. I'd last worked on this in the middle of last September and actually didn't have very much left to do on it. I stitched on it for most of yesterday, finishing it up this afternoon. It really was a very enjoyable piece to stitch, and I have another BBD in my stash that I'm looking forward to stitching. Apologies for the slightly dark photo which is clickable for a better view.

Blackbird Designs "Their Song"

Polstitches 28ct Heirloom Sampler Linen

WDW threads

The new fabric came today so I'll be able to get started again soon on the exchange.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog, but especially to those of you who take the time to leave a comment, they are greatly appreciated.

Nicola

Just dropping in......

..... for a quick update. I have finished my Lizzie*Kate exchange and just need to "finish" it. I made a start on the HoE Summer House exchange but have hit a snag. I started stitching it on 40ct fabric in one thread and things weren't going to badly. However, I picked it up this afternoon and was having trouble seeing the holes, even with my glasses on. Out came the magnifier and I then discovered a mistake which meant pulling out quite a lot of stitches. Well the thread kept breaking and I was getting frustrated, so in the end I decided enough was enough and I ordered some 36ct from Sew and So. Hopefully that will be here tomorrow or Wednesday and I can start again. I'm signed up for round 3 of the Year Long Prairie Schooler exchange and should be getting my partners details soon.

As I don't have any current stitching that I can show you, I thought I'd post a photo of Just Nan's Wintry Mix that I stitched back in 2005. I have the companion piece, Jasmine Mix, in my stash and once I've stitched that I'll then get them both framed.





Hope you all have a great week.

Nicola

More Stitching

Last week I took time out from exchange stitching to do some more on my PS Harvest Time Village. I did stitch on it last month, but not really enough to post a photo. This is where I'm up to with it now.


Close up of the part I've been working on. I shall have to put it aside again for a while as I have more exchange stitching to do.

As Melissa has now received her HoE Just Nan exchange from me I can now show you what I stitched for her. It's JN's Roselady made into a pin keep and is shown here on the fabric I used to back it with. For the stitched piece I used 32ct antique white Jobelan and the recommended DMC threads and Mill Hill beads, except that I substituted the perle 8 with stranded cotton. I find that perle 8 is just a bit too thick and I really don't think that it made much difference to the overall look of the design. I also didn't have the necessary colour.

I'm afraid that I might be rather quiet again for a bit, while I get on with more exchanges.

Nicola

Exchanges

At last I can show you some stitching. I heard yesterday that Christine had received the pin keep that I made for her in the Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. As she is a keen gardener I decided to stitch a design from PS's Prairie Garden, now OOP. Fortunately I picked the right one as she tells me that the colours match her lounge where she is going to display it. It is shown here on the fabric that I used for the back. I couldn't find any ribbon to match so picked the darkest colour pink in the design and made some cord using my cording drill. This is the first time I've used cord and was very pleased with the way it turned out. I stitched the design on 32ct antique white jobelan fabric and the recommended DMC threads.


In the same exchange Conny stitched me this delightful pin cushion using designs from Prairie Schooler's April chart.

I also took part in the Just Nan exchange on the HoE blog, and Tracy spoilt me with this lovely box finish. She stitched JN's Porcelain Nosegay for the lid and the box was filled with all the lovely extras shown here on a piece of fabric that was also included.

I'm just waiting for the exchange that I stitched to be received, so photos of that will follow shortly in another post.

Nicola

A Picture Post......

......but it's not stitching. It's the decoupage birthday card that I made for my aunt. I'm sorry it's not a great photo, but it's the best one of the few that I took.

My visitors arrived late afternoon on Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning, set off by train, for Aberdeen to visit my uncle and aunt there. They will return here on Saturday afternoon to spend the rest of the weekend with us, then going home on Monday. It's lovely to see my aunt, we don't see her very much, and don't know how much longer she'll be able to make the trip over from the U.S.A. She'll spend another week with my parents before flying home.

I took advantage of the fact that the house is spick and span and spent yesterday working on my Lizzie*Kate exchange piece. I'll probably do so again today, it doesn't go out until the 1st August but I'd like to get it done so that I can then spend some more time on my own stitching and have more photos to show you. My other two exchanges went in the post yesterday, so I'll soon be able to post photos of those.

Nicola

Hello!

This is just a short post to let you all know what I've been doing since my last post, which was a long time ago. I have been busy stitching, finishing two exchanges, the Prairie Schooler and HoE Just Nan. These are now ready to be photographed and will be going out shortly. I did stitch a wee bit on my PS Harvest Time Village, but not really enough to show you at the moment. Since then though, I haven't done much stitching or blogging as over the last couple of weeks we've been busy with some spring cleaning and clearing out. We have my parents coming next week and they are bringing my aunt, who is over here from America, with them. Now though, I am about to start on my piece for the Lizzie Kate exchange and, hopefully, in a week or so, I'll be back to normal with blogging too. My apologies to everyone for my lack of commenting over the last few weeks.

Nicola

Harvest Time Village

Slowly but surely my harvest village is growing. A couple more trees and the small house at the top, and the large house on the right have been added since my last post.

Having joined Becky's Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange I felt that I needed (!) some more Prairie Schooler charts other than Santas, of which I have many. Keith agreed (gorgeous man that he is!) with this and bought me the April chart, and I added Summer Breeze to the order. It took a while to get them as Thread Bear had to order them from America, but they arrived last week. I'm itching to start stitching April, fortunately I have all the threads for that, however, I think I'll be good for once, and finish off the harvest village first. As for the exchange, well I know who my partner is, but I'm still cogitating over just which PS design to stitch.



Many thanks to everyone for your comments on my last post, seems you all like Prairie Schooler designs! To those of you who left comments for the first time, thank you so much, and I do hope you'll come back again.

Wishing you all a happy Easter

Nicola