Merry Monday Everyone!

We got the O.K. from Elaine over at STITCHED WITH LOVE EXCHANGES last week to post pictures and comments about what we sent/received for the Spring Exchange. I was a little naughty in this department because I posted pictures of what I had received back in early June when I wasn't supposed too... Being my first time doing an exchange I was bound to make a boo boo somewhere!!! I quickly removed my pictures when alerted to my error and have since put them back in their original post since being given the OK. However, I want to do a little recap for those of you who didn't see it and to show what I gave to my exchange partner :)

This is what I received from Christina over at Whilst Iris Naps:

The theme of this exchange was My Favourite Things. No joke, to say I LOVE the package I received is a tremendous understatement. You can tell this package was lovingly put together! And all the goodies... well I nearly fell over when I kept pulling things out the package. On all counts you can certainly tell that Christina puts pride into quality. 

As for what I sent to Lisa over at Blackflies and Snowflies here's my package to her! Pictures kindly provided by Lisa - in my rush to send off the package I completely forgot to take a good picture of my finish and everything I sent! *Note to self - manage time correctly next time round***

May Wordplay Doorbell - With Thy Needle and Thread
Stitched on 18ct Oatmeal Aida

I so enjoyed putting this package together. I made some dyed floss to go along with the package and then felt a blue/brown theme emerging. SO I added some blue fabric and some ribbon. Tossed in some extra jingle bells, memory trim and a wonderful little magazine with some cute patterns .

As for my stitched piece. Knowing that Lisa enjoys the wordplays by With Thy Needle and Thread, I set to stitching up the May Wordplay. I did most of the stitching work up to my cabin and thought that the spring feeling of it certainly was fitting. Birds chripping and the leaves had started to make their way back onto the trees at that point. It was fantastic to stitch! I took considerable liberty in the floss colours as the chart called for special hand dyed floss which I had not ordered when purchasing the chart originally. So I tried my best to convert to DMC using the picture provided with the chart as a guide. I finished it with some brown ribbon and chose to add just two bells as I didn't want the 'jingling' to be overwhelming. All in all, I was VERY happy with the result. 


I have to say, for my first exchange I had a total blast! In fact, I have signed up for 2 more exchanges, with one to be sent off VERY soon. There's something so exciting and satisfying about exchanges. Perhaps it's the giving aspect, or perhaps the mystery. Who knows! All I know is that I don't think I'll stop doing exchanges any time soooooon!!!


Happy Stitching!


Melissa

Happy Friday everyone :)

Last night was our last night with this little fella... Blue. He's off to live with his rightful owners - my brother and his girlfriend in a brand new house that they've just moved into. 

I have to admit it was VERY sad to see him go and I'll tell ya I may be crying just a little bit right now. Oh how easy it is to get attached to animals... Luckily he'll be living just down the street and around the corner from us, no more than a 5 minute walk. This is a perfect excuse to visit... of course my brother will think I'm visiting him when in actual fact I'm visiting his little puppy!!! PERFECT hehe. Of course I'm joking (maybe...). I just hope my little pup, Leia, will not be too sad because she really is losing her brother - they've been together since birth pretty much. I see many a puppy date in the future!

OH IT'S JUST TOOOOO TRAGIC! :( :( :(

I have to move on to something else...

I was so VERY surprised to find the mail man had delivered this to the mail box yesterday evening!!!! 

So carefully and lovingly wrapped!

YUP! It's an exchange package all the way from my exchange partner in the UK!!! So crazy to received such love from all the way across the pond! YEY!!! I was so excited I could hardly wait to open it. 

And here's the stitched piece! Lovely isn't it! And very appropriate for the weather we have been having alllllll week... it's still raining now. Not only is the stitching perfectly divine, the fabric has hint of sparkles throughout and the bead work on the trim is amazing!!! I'll have to  give it a try. 

Front

Back

It was even personalized on the back! So I only have 2 clues as to who this person may be. Her initials CR and I know she's from the UK. Boy would I ever love to know who it is! It's just KILLING ME! I'd say thank you to my mystery partner right now but there's MORE!!!!!

A wack of gorgeous floss, a beautiful skein of green variegated floss,  2 packs of mill hill beads, a magazine (which I LOVE - I just subscribed digitally, but do not have this edition!!!), a beautiful birdie fridge magnet, needles and needlebook from Natelye's Needle Creations (spelling?), the chart for Earth Goddess by Joan Elliot that I've had my eye on forever!!!!, and THE most sweetest card ever!!! She had to do some wicked detective work, because I didn't put much down the the survey - it being my first one :) So koodo's and MANY thanks to my AMAZING exchange partner!!!!!  

Finally before I take leave - here's where I'm at with my friendship sampler.

Almost 1/3 of the way done!!!! I'm praying that I don't run out of floss....

I hope everyone has a fantabulous weekend! (frantabulous = fantastic and fabulous all mushed up... just in case my made-up words confuse anyone.)

CIAO!

Melissa

PS: Don't forget to sign up for my give-a-way here. Ends June 19th!!!

Hello again my stitchy friends :)

Firstly, thank you all for the wonderful comments on my last post. I'm so glad you all enjoyed to pictures of South Brigus - I love this beautiful Island of mine and cannot resist sharing the photos I take with you guys!!!

My post title today is very appropriate because we got DRENCHED yesterday. It rained, and then it rained some more right up until 7pm and then the sun came out for just a quick hello and goodbye. 'Weather' also happened to be the very first thing I stitched on my new start!

This is the beginnings of the Friendship Sampler I purchased from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe not too long ago. I'm loving the hand dyed floss so far, especially since it's not quite the same shade throughout the length of the floss so the end result is rustic - which is exactly what I'm going for on this project. The only liberty I've taken with the design/instructions so far is that I'm not using full floss stitches - and by that I took it mean the whole 6 strands of floss!!! So instead I'm using just 3 - essentially halving the floss. I did a couple of stitches in full floss but the result was far to bulky for my liking. 3 strands on 18 count aida is just full enough for me I think. 

On another note ... I'm beginning to feel a bit guilty for not working on 'Oh Christmas Tree'... but I'm just not in the mood :( There are so many other fun stitchy projects calling my name! I know this is probably no excuse but I simply want to do other projects first. Maybe I'll get around to it soon... no promises though. 

Oh! Also, this weekend I finished up part of my project for my Stitched With Love Exchange partner, this of course was between helping my brother put the finishing touches on his new house. Just got to get the ok from the inspector and he'll be in the house and my free time will have doubled (or maybe even tripled!). Seriously though, I'm very happy for him and his girlfriend. Soon I hope to have a house just as beautiful as theirs. 

I'll leave you with a puppy picture, it's been some time since I posted a picture of these two rascals. Blue (the black and white one) will soon be leaving us to live with my brother - the true owner. I'm not sure how Leia will like that seeing as I'm pretty sure these two are in love with each other.  I see many a puppy date in the future...

Happy Stitching dearies!

Melissa

Hello again readers,

Firstly thank you once again for all the wonderful comments on my last post! I hope you will all be able to make it here one day, perhaps even take in a kitchen party or two ;) And welcome to the new follower's I've picked up as well :)

It's been quite a while since I posted last, almost a full week. Wait did I read that right? A full week?! Shockin' I know. I so enjoy posting here and reading up on everyones blog but I seemed to have fallen a little behind this week. SO I spent my morning break and lunch hour reading away and am now feeling inspired.

I have a new start that I'll be beginning today, but shhhhhh it's a little bit of a secret. I'm participating in Stitched With Love Exchanges and this start will represent my beginning my very first exchange!!!! EXCITING! I didn't have a wealth of patterns to avail of to suit my partner, but I have one I think may do the trick. I really want to whip up something nice and the creative juices are flowing! Bright fun colours for the summer months ahead.

Apart from this 'Oh Christmas Tree" really has taken a backseat to the Papillon SAL piece. I know I've said this before, but the combination of the different fabric and the speciality stitches are making this so fun! I can hardly put it down. I have one more heart to do until this part of the SAL is done. I'll be anxiously waiting for part number 2 this week!

On a good note though I'm starting to feel the itch to pick up 'Oh Christmas Tree' again, the complete aversion I had to it last week has dissipated considerably and I think I'll brave the 'green' of the tree very soon.

Putting stitchy news aside, life has been pretty straight forward over the past week. I'll be starting pottery lesson VERY soon (first class was postponed :(  ). OH and here are some lovely little pics of what mother nature decided to surprise us with this morning...  unfortunately that white stuff is not a figment of your imagination... it's snow... The warm, veritably balmy weather of last week has disappeared. I look at the weather forecast and I think, when are those people going to give me some news that's real and not just false hope. For instance, the 14 day trend has predicted this week's forecast to be pretty darn crappy, lots of rain/snow showers and temps that would make anyone cry... BUT I seem to recall the previous 14 day trend last week had predicted this week to be awesome... how very wrong they were. Thing is, this is not a one time thing - it's all the time. If they predict rain, we either hardly have any of what they had predicted OR the sun literally splits the rocks. Take for instance that warm lovely weather I was talking to you about, on all the days it got to 20+ degrees... the weather forecasters had predicted showers and temps in around 10-12 degrees. Talk about discrepancies!!! But I guess I can lament all I want, but that doesn't change what mother nature throws at us in terms of weather, just going to have to truck through it.

Ughhhhhh...

Oh and before I forget! This past Friday was my younger brother's grad. Don't they look beautiful?!!!! What I wouldn't give to have her dress back when I graduated. 

And of course, it wouldn't be a complete post if I didn't add any puppy pics. These two were quite curious of the impromptu grad photo shoot taking place in the back yard. I'm sure they were trying to come up with devious ideas on how they could devour that pretty sparkly purple dress. 

Until next time my dears! Happy Stitching!!!