I heard the bells on Christmas Day!!!! - or was it the doorbel?

Yes I did hear the Christmas bells. It might be only November...but that's a minor detail. BECAUSE...firstly I'm in Christmas spirit...secondly I finished block 1 of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow.

Of course the picture doesn't show the colors as they should be. The fabric should be darker. I'm stitching it over one on 25ct Lugana in the color "Vintage Marble Country Mocha"

Or did I get confused with the doorbell? While writing this post the doorbell rang and Santa the postman brought a packet from Kathy.  I won one of her fantastic give aways - a chart from Blackbird Designs called  "Awake the Dawning Day" . I LOVE that chart. Kathy not only sent the needed threads for it, she spoiled me also with lots of nice gifts. See that little Christmas ornament? The letters are tiny. It's stitched over one and it is so lovely. The picture doesn't do it justice. Thank you so very much Kathy.

And to stay in Christmas spirit I finished a Christmas ornament as well. Stitching snowy themes while the airco is running.It's even too hot to go outside today. I'm going strictly from airco to airco while humming Christmas songs.

Christmas Eve Deer

by The Prairie Schooler (The Gift of Stitching 11/2009)

stitched on a Silkweaver Solo (28ct Cashel) with recommended DMC

Another piece I recently started is called Alla Turca. It's a free design from Pelin Tezer, and a turkish variant on samplers.  Even the pattern is free to download on Pelin Tezer's website, I chose to stitch it together with a German yahoo group called Marquoir.  They cut the chart up in lots of small parts which get every 3 weeks released and are easy to fit in. That way I have a tiny finish regularly and I'm able to fit the whole thing into my stitching schedule. I'm stitching Alla Turca over one on 25ct white Lugana with my favorite red... Threadworx Bleeding Heart.

And some more Christmas ...I came a bit closer to finish my place mats. The never ending amount of long long long stripes were finally finished and I could cut out 40 pieces. And ...phew...I counted out how much fabric I would need, and got exactly 41 pieces out of 80 stripes. And I was slightly nervous while cutting not to make a fault. Anyway the front is done...batting added. Now "only" the back and the binding. And I'm dreading the binding.

Grand Marquoir finished :) (and some other stuff)

Can you see my happy dance? Yesss....it's finished. It was a lovely relaxing thing to stitch with only 2 colors and a bit gold. There are couple of more designs of Isabelle Vaultier that I love and I'm tempted to stitch. They are on my never ending "to do" list.  She is such a talented designer with a load of beautiful designs. Anyway...here it is:

Coming to Water came back from the framer and is proudly hanging at the wall now. Can't take a better picture because of the glare I can only take a decent(ish) picture from this angle.

And....drum roll please....I WON. I never win...lol. Not that I see that as a problem, but this one I really really really really really wanted to win. I was after this one since donkey's ages. Browsing the internet, trying Ebay, searching for hours. No luck at all.  And Sadie had a give away for it. This one came originally from Vonna, then Jodie had it, then Sadie...and as the lucky winner of her give away (YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY) it's now mine!!!! For the time being. Once it's finished I will give it away to the next stitcher in line. And for once I will order the threads and fabric as charted. I'm SO in love!!! Thank you so much Sadie, also for the lovely thread and the needles. Love both of them. Nothing can spoil my day!!! 

Hmm....almost nothing.  That brings me fluently to the next subject. Because Christmas is this year at our place, we'll having around 20 people here. Christmas is in Australia a Summer event, and we celebrate it outdoors in our garden with a buffet. We're having a large outdoor roofed area and a pool too...so nothing can spoil it.  That's all fine and dandy. What is less fine and dandy are that stupid ideas I do have occasionally.
I thought it would be a great idea to make a beautiful table setting. And to celebrate me having a new sewing machine I could make 20 napkins and 20 place mats. Shouldn't be a problem. Can't be that much work. It might have not be THAT much work if one would choose something easy to make. But no...I need of course to find something really work intensive and THINK that I would be able to put that all together in no time. That's not the first time I'm "slightly" wrong in estimating time...and it might not be the last time.  The 20 napkins are finally ready. Now "only" 20 placemats. First I need to sew together 80  1 1/2" strips (44" long) which I had to cut of course first. These are only a small part of these place mats. And do NOT ask why for Christ Sake I didn't buy striped fabric in the first place. Please do NOT ask.

It's impossible not to finish it in time. Failure is not an option.  Mister (Always) Right had some raised eyebrows when I told him about this plan and asked why we don't simply buy some nice napkins and table decorations? For that money that the fabric and batting cost, we could easy buy some fancy stuff and it would save heaps of time. As you might imagine I waved that as com-ple-te-ly nonsense off the table.  What do men know about these things!!! Nothing at all!!! And he is NOT right!!!!!!


Still trying to figure out a nice way to fold these napkins. Here you see one of the ideas. If I fold it that way,  I fill it with a chocolate or something like that. Not sure yet.

Ohhh....and then to the more brighter things. We don't celebrate Halloween here. It's not custom here, nor was it in Germany and the Netherlands. But my nieces got dressed up, and we had a nice family dinner at our place. With monster cakes for the kids. Here are our beautiful nieces with my mother in law holding little Sofia :)

Update on Manhattan

Most stitching was lately for "Manhattan Wonderland" which I have troubles to stop with. Finally I love every stitch again and look forward to the evening to sit down and stitch.

AND (insert a happy dance here)  I received the chart for "Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow" and will start that soonish. The  fabric is already sown to the scroll rolls, and the threads for part one are ready and sorted too. I ordered a beautiful 25ct Lugana in the color "Vintage Marble Country Mocha" and will use this. Because I never stitched on 40ct I tried that on a small piece. I have a fat quater of Light Examplar 40ct floating around. But decided after only couple of stitches that stitching over one on 25ct flows way easier off my hands. For 40ct I need a magnifier and have to be careful not to miss one of these tiny threads. 25ct is easy to see, and needs way less concentration for me. I rather do something small on 40ct first. But who knows, may be in couple of months I at once love working on 40ct. Things tend to change from while to while...lol.


3 weeks ago I started another travel project. One of my kitted up ones which was patiently waiting for its turn. It's a scissor pocket. Nancy started stitching it as well, and she finished it now couple of times to give it to some friends.You should have a look here at her fantastic color choices. I'm not using the original colors either, but chose a mixture of Threadworx and Gentle Art threads

 A Token of Love

Designer Barbara Bernard

On the knitting front I finished another square for the Aran Afghan. This one is designed by Ann Strong. And I still haven't started to put the squares together...lol.

 And because I was tired of my wool floating freely around while knitting- and because my Jack Russel Lucy AND my cats thought that was purely to pleasure them - I made a "Caddy" as it's offially called. I call it a sown bucket...LOL. The plan was to put a hard bottom into it, but I decided against it and leave it as it it. This way I can easy put it away next to my seat. I also store smaller stitching wips in there.

Back in Manhattan!!!

Sometimes an old love is better then anything new. While dabbling what to start next and since Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow is not here yet, not being able to make any decent decision, I pulled up my good old "Manhattan Wonderland" and fell in love again with it. Have everything laying here to start a LHN for my Christmas stitching, but simply can't put Manhattan away. Oh well, who cares. At least I have fun stitching again.

I also knitted another square, this time the Janet Martin square.  And I *should* start sewing these squares together. Because I do not like hand sewing. And sewing together 24 squares - followed by the huge edging, gives me now already night mares. So I better start it...soon....next week (may be).

And lastly there is a sewing update. I made a knitting needle roll. Looked through all online patterns and made then one up that I liked. Plus I added some padding on the main body (not on the flap). All by all I'm a happy camper with it. And I might make something too for my circular needels. Saw a really cute one that suits my needs.

Coming to Water ...FINISHED!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.....it's done. It's finished. And I'm SO exited. Finally. Now I'll wash it and next week it's off to the framer. With a bit luck it will hang at the wall in no time.

While sitting here now since 30 minutes trying to say something meaningful...smart...whatever...while staring at the screen...I give up. "Coming to Water" is washed meanwhile and hangs to dry. And  I'm brain dead today. I do have that sometimes - even more when something big is finished. While being overly happy it leaves also an empty spot - which I will fill in NO time though...lol. But right now I can't get my brain into working gear nor to get myself moving to do anything. May be I should have a look into my charts. That is something that tends to cheer me up. 

Hmmm....what should I start next?

• Mary Wigham? I have all my supplies gatherered already. Found a MOST beautiful variant from a French stitcher, and will copy her color choices - sort of. She used DMC while I'm going for Threadworx.
  
• Christmas at Hawk Run Hallow? <---it's a must be. It's gorgeous. Chart will be sent my way somewhere next week. Not sure yet if I will do it on 40ct over 2 or on 25 or 28 count over one. I have to try out 40 count first (never stitched on that) to see if it's just as easy as on 25ct over one. I will most surely take the one that flows easier of my hands
  
• Alla Turca from Pelin Tezer- love it
  
• Floral Sampler from the Sampler Company - another one I'm deeply in love with - everything here to start it.
  
• Letters from Nora (G, M and S) hmmm...not all supplies here yet, so that has to wait a bit
• The Stitching Chair
• A Scenic Farm (will replace the 18ct Aida with 36ct linen)
• Amsterdam by Thea Gouverneur
  

And there are more in my stash waiting for me to start them. Lots of little things I bought thinking I MUST have it and never started it. Until I decide which one to start I'll grab my Manhattan Wonderland. It's about time that that poor bugger gets a bit attention. I could also go into my craft room to sew something. Or clean the house? Sigh...I might well do just that.


Oh...and I have also an update on the knitting front. I finished the Jay Campbell square. It was a very interesting square to do. Stitching a square while stitching 4 sides from the outer end to the inner one. Was new to me, and I loved doing it.  Another one that dearly needed blocking to look good.

Coming to Water - Julie H. Levy Square and a Valisette

Almost there!!!! Almost. I can smell the end!!!! If it wasn't that I suffer from a sudden aversion against aida I would be even further....lol. I HATE working on that stiff fabric. Didn't mind it all the other pages, but recently stitching on this fabric puts me off quite a bit. Why? Not the slightest clue.
To make sure that "Coming to Water" won't end as an UFO, I promised to not stitch on anything else until I finished it. Hence my sudden interest in all sort of other handy work....LOL. Although I have to admit I enjoy these other things as well and consider them now keepers too.
Coming to Water is a gift for Michael, and I want to have it over and done with. When finished I probably can forget that fabric and simply enjoy looking at it again. Anyhow...lol....I may gladly say: another frigging page done. "Only" one more to go.

I also finished another square of the Great American Aran Afghan - Julie H Levy.  Happy with that too:

And....I made a bag!!!! My first bag ever - I loved every bit of it - and best thing of all is, it only took couple of hours. If you consider that in these couple of hours also is quite some time involved to find out how my new machine works and HOW to install a walking foot for example, it's not bad at all.  Which means I got a very nice bag in no time - thanks to "Un Petit Bout de Fils" who has a tutorial for it on her website. It's on French...which I can read a bit but not speak (don't ask....lol).It's very good explained with pictures and so it was very easy to follow the tutorial. The name of the bag is Valisette, which means translated to English suitcase if I'm not mistaken. The name is a bit over the top size wize...lol....considering  I made the biggest size out of 3 possible sizes and it's really not that big. Just the right size for me.

Grand Marquoir part 5 - and a Needle Book

Having here a major happy dance after finishing part 5 of the "Grand Marquoir" Now it's waiting for the last part which will be released end of October. The picture doesn't do it justice. Somehow I really like these days stitching over one.

Nancy K sent me a note that the needle book I made for her has arrived. :)
She is a fan of Quaker motifs, which we do have in common. The design is taken from a chart by "With my Needle" and is called "Of female arts". I changed it a bit to suit it to over one stitching...to which I got slightly addicted...lol. "Of female Arts" is part of the "Little Sampling Etui" and I stitched it on a 28ct Cashel solo from Silweaver using Gentle Art threads.