Another Fold Up

After getting notice that Cathy received the Valentine Exchange, I can show a picture of it now. The designs are taken from "Valentine Wishes" from Blue Ribbon Designs and it's finished off as Fold Up. It was a pleasure to stitch it for Cathy, and I'm glad she likes it.

Valentine Wishes by Blue Ribbon Designs
Finishing technique by Judy Odell (Just A Thought)
Stitched on 28ct hand dyed Jobelan
using the recommended Gentle Art Sampler Threads


Backside of the fold up




And here a picture of the complete exchange. That is not a box of chocolate, but a calendar. I had to save that one from my daughter....lol.

There are not much stitching related news here. Because of my father not being well I didn't have much time for stitching.

Lizzie Kate Exchange

Another day - another packet from the postman. And again a most lovely gift inside which makes my day. This is from the Lizzie Kate exchange on HoE (Hooked on Exchange). Bernadette stitched for me a lovely Lizzie Kate design called " Home is where our story begins". She finished it most beautifully off as flat fold. It's so lovely. It has now a place in our lounge where I can enjoy it daily.

Bernadette sent also a pocket calendar and a bookmark kit. Thank you so much Bernadette for this lovely exchange. :)

Valentine Exchange received

Some while ago I subscribed to the Valentine Exchange from HoE (Hooked on Echange) And when I got home today I found a great envelope in my mailbox. And I really could use this cheer up. Verena stitched "Valentine Bird" from Heart in Hand Needleart for me and finished it off as a beautiful pin keep. I adore this beautiful pin keep and am very happy with it. I love birds anyway. Funny thing is, that I had that design on my order list and almost ordered it. Verena also sent some ribbon and a 2 skeins of DMC floss. And she also created a most beautiful card herself with stitched hearts and a 3D fairy. So lovely. All by all I can say that this exchange made my day :)

Pin Keep and goodies


The back is beautiful as well

Lizzie Kate Exchange and Stitching Update

Because of me obviously still not being able to keep track of everything, my bog didn't get updated much lately. Although I managed to follow the blogs of friends and the yahoo emails a bit better - and that gives me a bit better feeling. I love it to follow and admire the stitching of my fellow stitchers.

I heard that my Lizzie Kate Exchange reached Ina in the Netherlands. Ina doesn't have a blog, so I can't give you a link to her. I stitched for Ina two Lizzie Kate Flip It designs (January and June). Thinking of Flip It, I thought a "Fold Up" would go well with it. Flip it from Summer to Winter - or other way around.

A Fold Up is a new finishing technique, developed by the master of finishing techniques, Judy Odell from "Just A Thought" . How to do a Fold Up like this was shown in the digital magazine "The Gift of Stitching" in November 2008 and I really like it.

Lizzie Kate Flip It June
Summer Side of the Fold UP
Stitched on 28ct Lugana, Cream
Using Variegated Silks (Waterlilies, Gloriana, GA Sampler Threads and DMC

Lizzie Kate Flip It January
Winter side of the Fold Up
Seen here with the goodies I sent Ina as well

I also finished another page of "Coming to Life". With page 4 done the first row of pages is completed

And I also was able to finish another part of the Dragon Fly Boudoir Box from Chatelaine Designs and...lol....change the date from 2008 to 2009.

Happy New Year to all my friends

First of all I would like to take the opportunity to wish all my online friends a very happy New Year. :)

To my absolute shame I have to confess that the last update of my blog site is more then a month ago. There is a very good excuse for that though. My parents are visiting from Europe and that is of course a joy. It also means that my internet time is cut down to a complete minimum because I don't want to miss out much of that precious time with them and there for I barely have the time to sit at the computer. And almost all of that little computer time is eaten up by my girls who are in Europe because we try to talk shortly with each other in my late evening/their late morning.

I do however have now again a bit more time for stitching. The Christmas and New Years stress is gone, the kids are in Europe and we often sit together in front of the tv in the evenings. Usually that time get used for stitching too. I managed to finish 2 exchange pieces - which I can't show yet, and I finished page 3 of "Coming to Life"

Another good news is that Mike fixed my second magnifier lamp - which means that I can go on with the "Dragonfly Boudouir Box". That one is stitched on black and there is no way that I would be able to stitch on black without that magnifier. That's why I didn't work on it since October. Mike was too busy and had no time to fix it earlier. Thank god he did it now and he did a great job. He made a complete new foot, this time from metal, so it won't break again. I'm most happy with the result. Soon as I have page 4 of "Coming to Life finished" I will start again with the box. Pity enough I do have to change the date now. It still says 2008, so I need to frog the 8 I guess.

And there is one more good news. I got a lovely Christmas gift from Mike. He gave me several gifts - one of them was a cross stitch kit. It's called "Amsterdam" by Thea Gouverneur. It's not only a lovely picture, but for us it means precious memories too. I was suprised how big it is. It's 590 x 290 stitches. But it will be worth it. Even more because Mike loves it too.