my Needle Art

Fair & Square finishes

2012-01-22T15:14:00.001+02:00

Almost two weeks ago, I bought myself a brand new sewing machine. My first one. It's just natural that I was highly motivated to try it out. I couldn't think of any better sewing project than turning my Fair & Square exchange pieces into finished objects. I still have 2 more exchanges that are waiting for finishing, but this is how my Fair & Square display basket looks so far.

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Here are the pictures of all the single pin cushions

These were the very first ones from Gillie back in 2008

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Those squares are from Kim and they are completely stitched 1-o-1

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from Kathy A.

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from Jennifer F. in 2009

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Summer exchange from Malinda in 2009

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from Suzanne in 2009

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from Renée in 2009

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from Marcy in 2011

Crazy January Challenge - Days 8 to 15

2012-01-22T14:38:00.000+02:00

Here are days 8 to 15 of my Crazy January Challenge.

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Day 8 - Merry Christmas Stockings by Blackbird Designs

I started stitching this 1-o-1 until I realized that the design calls for 2-o-2 AND 1-o-1. So how am I going to make the 1-o-1 parts even smaller? I will just have to start it allover again with a a different fabric.

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Day 9 - Monsieur Cockerel by V. Enginger

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Day 10 - Night Time in Olde Towne by Elizabeth's Garden

I am stitching this one on 40ct. white linen

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Day 11 - Old World Santa by Carol Emmer

I'm embarrassed to say, but I haven't yet placed a single stitch to this project.

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Day 12 - Pur vegetal (3rd of 3 French designs from an old German magazine)

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Day 13 - Tante Minna by Kreuzstitch Liebe

Not much done on this project.

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Day 14 - The Good Neighbor by the Drawn Thread

I find this one a rather difficult project. Some parts are stitched in cross stitch and some in tent stitch, but all with 2 strands of floss. Which is fine, but the fabric is a 26ct and I am stitching over one thread. I think I will get myself a hoop before continuing on this project.

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Day 15 - Volle Fahrt voraus by Kreuzstich Liebe

Don't get overwhelmed with this start. It is by far not a start at all. I have been stitching on this project all week long, mostly while taking the bus or train to work. I just love the design. It's from a brand new German Designer.

A special present for a special person

2012-01-08T12:14:00.000+02:00

As I said already in my previous post. I have been really busy assembling a box for my boss's daughter. She is going to art college and is a very talented painted. I have asked her a few weeks ago if she would like to paint the logo to my own cross stitch design label and she did the most wonderful job on that little cloudberry painting.

As my way of saying than you, I have stitched her initials on coffee dyed and baked fabric and finished it into the lid of a box.

I really love how this box turned out. Especially it is my first box finish ever.

Crazy January Challenge continues - Days 3 to 7

2012-01-08T12:04:00.003+02:00

The Crazy January Challenge continues!

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Day 3 - 1999 Christmas Sampler by Carriage House Samplings

I am almost ashamed of showing my day 3 start. These ten crosses is all I got done that day. But I have a really good excuse. I am working on a present for my boss's daughter. She is in art college and a very talented painter. I asked her if she would like to paint the logo for my own cross stitching design label and she did the most wonderful job on the picture. As my way of saying thank you, I am making a box with her initials. But more of that in the next post.

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Day 4 - Atelier de Brodeuse by Passion Bonheur

The chart calls for really bright red floss, but after just a few stitches I've lost my mojo continuing this project. So I frogged those few red stitches and started again with a more antique pink floss. It looks so much better on the Summer khaki linen. Unfortunately I didn't get much done this day either, still working on the box.

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Day 5 - Bienen Emblem (1st of 3 French designs from an old German magazine)

I really enjoyed starting this project. I love designs with bees and this one is especially beautiful. The entire design is stitched in just two colours.

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Day 6 - Bonne mère (2nd of 3 French Designs from an old German magazine)

Just a small start on bonne mère. I finished the box that day and therefore didn't get much stitching done.

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Day 7 - Fruit Wreath from a German magazine

On Saturday, I visited Virpi at her home for a stitching-get-together. We had a wonderful time with tea, English fruitcake, home-baked bread and of course a lot of stitching. This is how much I got done in only a few hours of stitching. I am stitching this design on 14ct aida rustico. I think the colour of the fabric is just perfect to give the wreath a country style look.

Crazy January Challenge - Day 2

2012-01-04T07:18:00.000+02:00

I'm a little bit behind on posting my starts of the Crazy January Challenge. It is already day 4 today, but I have only a picture of day 2 to show.

This is the start of the 1827 Biedermeier reproduction Sampler. I have the chart in my stash for at least 15 years but never really liked the colours in this sampler and therefore never started it. Now that I finally did start, I realized that the picture on the chart got the colours all wrong and that it is actually quite beautiful.

I got a lot of stitching done on the first day, due to my meeting with Niina, Jaana and Virpi in a Helsinki café. We had a great evening with tea and hot chocolate and lots of stitching.

No need to say that we draw a lot of attention to other visitor of the café. Knitting in public is, at least here in Helsinki, quite normal, but stitching, that is a whole different story.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:40:00.000+02:00

Finally! Today's the 1st January and the start for the Crazy January Challenge 2012. The day I've been waiting for so long.

I have decided to start my 15 crazy projects in alphabetically order and the first one is "1814 Butterfly collection" by Carriage House Samplings. What I didn't take in consideration is, that the Butterfly Sampler is the most difficult project in my selection. Almost each butterfly has different instructions, lots of parts are stitched 1 over 1 and I am stitching on Indian raw linen which is about a 38ct and extremely uneven.

As many others the Mr. and I celebrated New Year's Eve. We have been invited to a friends party, had good food and drank beer, champagne and Russian vodka (one of the invited friends is from St. Petersburg, Russia that's why there is always vodka included). Now our friend lives on the other side of the town and there was no way of getting home during the night. (I tried to get a taxi for hours without any success) So we got home today around 10am, after having a "Robert's Coffee"-breakfast at the railway station. (Chai Latte and French Croissants)

And with this huge lack of sleep I've started bravely my first butterfly right after a little nap. I took this picture soon after starting to catch the last beam of sunlight, but by now half of the butterfly is ready.

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Just a few days ago, I have also started a new Christmas design. It's called "1999 Christmas Sampler" as well from Carriage House Samplings. I am stitching on 18ct. black aida and to make a confession: It is the first time for me stitching on black fabric, even thou I am stitching for almost 30 years in total already.

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Last but not least, I like to share the Fair & Square Round 27 pieces, that I received from Milly.

Aren't those the most beautiful squares. I love the design and the colour they are stitched in. They will make a great addition to my exchange-pieces display.

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Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

2011-12-25T14:05:00.003+02:00

This years Christmas is really quite for the Mr. and me. Both of our families are living far way and we decided to skip the travelling and just staying at home alone. So beside cooking the dinner, I have nothing else to do, and that gives me plenty of time for stitching.

Yesterday I have started and finished stitching two more Christmas designs.

Design: Mistletoe & Holly

Designer Cloudberry Samplings

32 ct. raw linen

DMC thread

Mistletoe and Holly are both my own Designs. I made them for the Adventkalender of my German stitching group.

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Also, a couple of weeks ago I have finished two Christmas ornaments.

Design: Merry Xmas Design: Weihnachtsvogel

Designer: The little Stitcher Designer: acufactum

26ct. coffee/tea dyed evenweave 1 over 1 26ct. natural evenweave 1 over 1

DMC thread DMC thread

Poro and a 2012 private challenge

2011-12-22T13:25:00.000+02:00

Only ten more days until the Crazy January Challenge starts. All 15 projects are kitted and I can't wait to start stitching.

Beside this group challenge I have decided to give myself another private stitching Challenge. During the year 2012 I will mainly stitch Christmas related designs and also finish them all in ornaments, pillows and box-covers.

I have started this challenge a little earlier and finished this morning a reindeer design from Aury TM.

II will finish it into a little pillow using the fabric in lace that can be seen in the picture.

Design: Reindeer

Designer: AuryTM

32ct. Light Taupe Zweigart Murano

DMC thread

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Fair & Square for Milly

2011-12-11T16:28:00.001+02:00

I have heard from Milly that she received my exchange squares sometime last week, so I can finally share the picture of what I have stitched for her. Thou I have to apologize for the bad picture quality. We barely get sunlight here in Finland this time of the year and if we do it is usually covered by a thick layer of clouds.

The design is a small part of a much bigger Sampler by Kathy Barrick-Dieter. It is one of the very early designs still published under the name Barrick Sampler. and called "An American Landscape". A picture of the whole sampler can be seen on my Crazy January 2012 page.

it's almost Christmas

2011-11-24T07:41:00.001+02:00

Can you believe? It is already the end of November, which means it is almost Christmas. Have you started already with your Christmas preparations, like baking cookies, decking the halls and buying presents for your loved ones? To be honest, I haven't and I am not sure if I will this year. I am just way to busy with my day job as an upholsterer. Lots of chairs and sofas to repair and rebuild and it all has to be ready before the holidays.

But it also has its advantage to be an upholsterer and that is all that beautiful fabric scrap. just last week I was able to lay my hands on a fabric sampler book that has been discontinued.

The fabric comes in 27 different colours and has this roughly woven surface. I just love it. Of course with a surface like this I have to count the threads per inch and....

the count is 22 in one direction and 20 in the other. That makes it almost even and therefore suitable for cross stitching. I think it is perfect for making primitive looking ornaments and other smalls. And if not for the stitching, it is great as a background fabric.

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Even thou I probably won't do much holiday decoration this years, I've done some Christmas stitching. My German cross stitch group started an advents-calender on November 8 and I think this is the most wonderful idea. Our groupmoms asked a few designer (including me) if they would like to design small holiday related ornaments. Now we are receiving every other day a new Christmas design. There are already 9 designs published but so far I found only time to stitch 2. The first design is by Kathy Bungard but the second one, the Holly branch is mine. I really love how it turned out.

I've got a lot of positive response on my first published design and that encourages me to now getting all my other designs ready for publishing. This first one I will finish into an ornament and I hope I will get it ready before our next Finnish cross stitching meeting in beginning of December.

A project revealed

2011-11-08T18:21:00.001+02:00

Finally after many month of waiting I can reveal a long finished stitching project. This is the heart that I have stitched as a 50s birthday present for one of the group moms of my German Stitching Group.

My stitched heart is one of many that have been assembled to a huge quilt. The quilt was presented today and as I have heard it came as a total surprise. So once again: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSANNE!

Received Squares and Petit Sampler update

2011-10-29T14:45:00.005+03:00

Again! It's been a long time since my last post. I wish I could find a good excuse but honestly, I believe I was just too lazy writing and editing pictures.
Here are the beautiful Square that I've received during the Fair & Square Round #26 from my partner Marcy. I can't thank her enough for these beautiful squares. I love them very much and I shall finish them very soon into a little pin cushion.

And here is a little update on my Petit Sampler which I am stitching as a SAL in the German group Sticklounge. It is almost ready and I can't wait finishing it into a box lit cover for one of my floss boxes. At least that's the plan for this piece.

Design: Petit Sampler (freebie)

Designer: Claire Findlay

Thread: Cherry Cola from Nina's threads

Fabric: 40ct. white Newcastle Linen

A new, or rather old project

2011-09-26T07:59:00.000+03:00

Has it really been three weeks since my last post? I can't believe it. And I don't even have much stitching progress to show.
Well, a lot of things have been going on. A few weekends ago I went with the Mr. and his band to St. Petersburg in Russia. The guys where playing a gig there. I have never been in St. Petersburg, so I went along to join them. They gave me all kind of fancy titles like Tour Manager, Producer, Make Up Artist...It was a lot of fun and we made some new friends over there.
I have also started working in my new job. For the next six month I will be working at a traditional upholstery remaking antique furniture. It has been a while since I have worked with these old techniques. It is quite exhausting and I feel dying tired after a days work but also satisfied, because I love this work so much.

Due to so much happening here right now, I haven't been stitching as much as I wanted to. I am still working on my Petit Sampler and I am working already on the third part of it. Beside that I have started a new project, or should I rather say an old one.

My aunt started a table cloth about five years ago, but got problems with her eye side and never managed to finish it. She asked me if I would be willing to finish the stitching and after all my aunt has been doing for me, of course I said yes. As you can see in the picture it is a rather big tablecloth but the design is simple and nicely to stitch while drinking tea and watching a movie.

I will be stitching this design a total of eight times. I am hoping to finish the first one tonight after I am coming home from my day job. I will keep you updated on my progress.

my new Treasuries

2011-09-05T08:56:00.001+03:00

For today I only have pictures of my new treasuries to share. I found these items in the sale section of our local Supermarket. Instead for 10€ each I got them for 10€ all together. At first I just bought the tea box. I've always wanted to have a tea box. For the chalk board and the board with the hooks (I will use it for kitchen towels) I went back to the store with my Mr.. Not that I need the Mr.'s permission to buy home decoration. But I just wanted to make sure that the items are also to his liking.

My idea is to take the metal decoration out of the frames and exchange them with small cross stitched samplers.

But since I am starting those samplers within my Crazy January Challenge 2012 it will take quite a while before I can share pictures of the finishing.

Unfortunately for now I don't have any new stitching to share. I have been under the weather for quite a while now and Saturday evening it finally turned into a fully grown flue. I feel like I got hit with a shovel, which makes stitching very difficult. I dug out my Tante Minna Sampler. It's stitched on 32ct linen and I thought those big crosses shouldn't be a problem even with a dizzy head, but I didn't get more than a few stitches done. I will try to occupy myself with something else or I just go back to sleep.

Petit Sampler part 1 and a Crazy Challenge

2011-09-01T18:48:00.000+03:00

After many weeks without stitching a single cross, I've finally picked up my stitching needle again. I am behind on almost all my SALs and it will take me a little while to catch up with them. Well today I finished the first part of the Petit Sampler SAL I am stitching in my German cross stitching group.

One reason for me to now quickly finish all my WIPs and small SALs is that I have signed up for the Crazy January Challenge 2012. Many of you have probably heard about this indeed crazy challenge or are even participating in the 2011 Round. I have already picked a few of my projects and started assembling fabric and threads. The hardest part for me is to wait until January to finally start stitching. But wait, there is still that huge pile of WIPs that has to get ready first.

my new threads from Nina

2011-07-24T14:57:00.005+03:00

It has been hot here in South Finland lately and I didn't feel sitting in front of the computer. Not much in the mood for stitching either. For some reason I am most active stitching in Spring and Autumn.

So for today I only have only one new thing to share. A few weeks ago I've ordered some skeins of hand-dyed thread from Nina. They arrived already last week and I have wanted to take pictures right away but I thought it would be nicer to show you how the floss looks in a stitched project.

So here's the start on a new SAL called Petit Sampler by Claire Findley.

I am stitching on 40ct Newcastle linen with Cherry Cola hand dyed thread from Nina.

Tante Minna and Heart Note Alley

2011-07-12T19:56:00.001+03:00

It's been a while again since my last post. I've taken a few days off from work, enjoying the hot summer weather here in Finland and didn't care much for my computer and the internet. I spend most of my days outside on the balcony and got a really nice tan. While tanning, of course I did a lot of cross stitching. After finishing Special Delivery by BBD I've started a complete new project. It is called Tante Minna and it is a lovely little antique sampler. I am stitching it on white 32ct linen with DMC 3817. You can find more information about the Tante Minna Sampler on Sylvia's blog.

Besides this wonderful sampler I've been also stitching on my Heart Note Alley SAL and I am finally up to date.

I have been stitching a little more on a few other projects, thou I didn't take any pictures of them.

Another finish - Special Delivery

2011-07-05T14:50:00.002+03:00

A few days ago I picked up Special Delivery by Black Bird Designs again and this morning I finally finished stitching it. It still needs finally finishing, but I am not sure yet what to use this sampler for.

It was really difficult for me to decide which name to stitch under the sampler. First I thought to stitch my own, but I only have one first name and a birth year of 1978 is not as impressive. So I had to come up with a different solution. At the end I decided to use my grandmother's maiden name Maria Anna Mekers and her birthday. After all, it was her (and my Aunt Anny) who taught me how to cross stitch.

Here are some more close ups:

A new start and a finish....

2011-07-01T15:34:00.010+03:00

it's been a while again since my last post. Since then I have finished one project. The Flowery ABCs. I really love how it turned out. It looks so elegant. My initials are stitched in a different colour. I think I will finish this one into a box, thou I don't have any nice fabric for it yet.

I have also been thinking of changing the look of my blog. I don't really like the old look anymore. As you can see in this post, I have already started editing my pictures differently and added a watermark. Just last week I read on a friends blog, that one of her pictures has been taken and published on someone else's blog without even asking for it. This actually happened to myself ones before, but the person who took the picture was so kind to mention my full name and linked back to my own blog, thou still without asking.

I really like my background picture, thou it limits the space for pictures and side sections quite a lot. I have not yet figured out how to change this. Maybe I just have to let my pretty background go and do something totally new on my own.

And what I've always wanted to ask is: How often do you change your blog looks, layouts, backgrounds, header and so on?

Stitching up-dates

2011-06-03T19:06:00.003+03:00

I've been stitching lately on my Sticklounge Sal projects in rotation. The 3rd parts of both Alphabet 1900 (Riesenmustertuch) and Old European Sampler are ready now. Being up to date on the European Sampler I do have a lot of catching up to do one Alphabet Sampler.

I have also started a new project within the Sticklounge group. It is called Heart Note Alley designed by Kathy Bungard. Here's a link to her blog.

Something new....

2011-05-27T18:54:00.001+03:00

.... to show to you. I have started stitching a new design last Saturday. The chart is stitched in only one colour. The original designs suggest bright red, but I've decided to give this piece a more elegant look by stitching with DMC ecru on tea-dyed evenweave. Stitching one over one, the design is quite small and I am thinking of mounting it into the lid of a box.

The chart is kind of a freebie from the site Cross Stitchers Club. The site requires sign up for downloading charts, but the sign up is free. This is already the second design I am stitching from this page and I have a long list with To-Dos in my bookmark bar. Most of the designs are really cute, but I love especially all the mono-colour designs.

I've been busy....

2011-05-21T11:01:00.003+03:00

I am very sorry not updating my blog lately and posting new progress pictures. BUT... this time it was not due to laziness. May 1st, the Mr. and I went to a Sauna party at a friends place, and my camera slipped somehow between the sofa pillows and we did not notice. I got it back only a few days ago and took right away pictures of my stitching progress.

First of all the "Old European Sampler" by Steve Rousseau. The second part of this SAL is finished and I moved along already with the third part. I mainly stitch this sampler in the train and metro on my daily trip to and from work. The trip takes about 1 hour in each direction and since this Sampler has repeating designs, I don't need any charts for it, which makes it very easy to stitch.

I have also worked last weekend on my Oak Tree Sampler. I've started the corona and it is already half way done. It is stitched in three different shades of green.

Then I've finished a smaller projects on Aida, thou I can't really show a picture of that yet. It is going to be a present and I don't know if the lucky receiver is reading my blog. Oh well, here's a tiny little sneak peak

At last I'd like to show you a little side project of mine. I've stitched three very small designs on 40ct linen and transformed them into buttons. the edges of the buttons aren't all smooth, which is disturbing me a little. Maybe I have to try a different backing for the fabric, or maybe it is because the linen is so stiff. Anyway, besides that, I really love they look like.

Alphabet 1900 - Riesenmustertuch

2011-04-18T19:29:00.003+03:00

Right after finishing the first part of my Old European Sampler (see previous post) I've continued stitching and finished the second part of Alphabet 1900 or Riesenmustertuch (Giant Sampler) as we call it in my German cross stitch group. I really love how elegant it looks like. To bad that you can't really see all it's beauty in this crappy picture.

As you can see in the picture I've continued already with the third part. Some of the SAL stitcher are already working on part 9 or 10, so I have some catching up to do.

Old European Sampler update

2011-04-17T11:15:00.001+03:00

... right after writing my last post yesterday afternoon, I started stitching on Old European Sampler and I didn't stop until this morning. (well, I did take a break for sleeping in between, lol) But I managed to finish the first part and and I am so happy with it.

I am stitching on 26ct. cream evenweave 1 over 1 with DMC 502-722-724-729-758-3371-3776-3828

Quilts 4 Kids square

2011-04-16T17:11:00.001+03:00

Again it's been way to long since my last post. And I still don't have much progress to show. I didn't do much stitching, just a square for the Australian Charity group Quilts 4 Kids. I stitched a square with a beach theme for one of the children. The picture is horrible. The blue colours appear much brighter than they actually are. But I took the picture in a hurry and send out the square before editing the picture. So it was already in the mail when I noticed that I should have taken a better shot.

Thinks are also going a little crazy at my day job in a boat upholstery. Spring finally arrived in Finland, most of the snow is gone and the ice at the sea also started to melt already. It will be only a matter of weeks until the sea is ice free and that's why we are so damn busy. Most of the boats have to be ready before they are going into the water again. That means very long working days and not much time for stitching.

But I've started stitching again on my "Old European Sampler" today and I am making good progress. I might get the first part of this SAL ready by the end of the weekend.

New Start on Old European Sampler

2011-03-06T15:08:00.002+02:00

Just a few days ago, I've started stitching a new SAL project in my German stitching group. It is Old European Sampler by Steve Rousseau. The sampler is pretty big, all together 354 x 354 stitches. I'd rather wanted to stitch a small design for my next SAL project, because our rental apartment has very limited wall space. But I just couldn't resist.

So to make this big sampler a little smaller, I've decided to stitch over only 1 fabric thread. I've been stitching almost non-stop for the last 3 days and this is how far I got so far. The first part is almost ready.

The original design calls for Gloriana thread, but I've changed colours a little and am using now regular DMC floss. I've promised my Mr. to use up my stash first before starting to buy new threads and fabrics. And I have a really big stash. I should take a picture of all of it someday.

I also have some other really good news. Well maybe not relevant for you folks, but for me: Spring has arrived in Finland. Yeeeeaaaahhhh! Temperatures are just above freezing point, the sun is shining almost every day and snow and ice slowly is starting to melt.

New start on the Oak Tree Sampler

2011-02-23T17:22:00.001+02:00

I am so excited! I started stitching on the Oak Tree Sampler last night and this is how much I got so far.

In my last post, I wrote about creating my first own sampler. And this is the one. I don't have a digital cross stitch design program and I am stitching it from my hand drawn sketch, so I don't have a complete picture to show yet. But I will post lots of pictures while it grows.

Oh, and btw, my arm is as good as new. No more sore muscles :)

not much stitching but lots of other stuff

2011-02-19T12:36:00.001+02:00

Hi everyone,

unfortunately I don't have any up to date stitching to share with you today. It is almost impossible for me to stitch at the moment.

One of my New Year resolutions was to exercise more and get into a better shape, and that's exactly what I did last Tuesday. I took on an exercise change including lots of dive bomber push ups. And here's the down side, my arm muscles are so sore now. The right arm is alright, but my left arm, boy, it is useless, can't lift it, can't bend it and it hurts all the time. It just makes cross stitching impossible.

Today, I feel already a lot better, but still don't want to pick up the stitching yet and get a little more rest. Instead I've started last night designing my first Sampler. My Mr. printed a pile of graph paper for me and I am now drawing little crosses all over it. I am very satisfied with the progress and I believe it will look very nice. It will show a scene of the Kalevala, the Finnish National Epic.

Last week I've continued stitching a little on my Special Delivery Sampler. I am almost done with the main part and then just have to add the name and birth date. I've decided to use my grandmother's name for it. After all she was the one who taught me to cross stitch.

I have also picked up my Riesenmustertuch again. But it is not worth a picture yet. I will post a picture as soon as the second part is ready.

The Mr. is going to have a sauna night with his band pales tonight. Lot's of steamy hot sauna, sausage eating and beer drinking. I have my doubts that he will be coming home tonight at all, but that's alright. I am prepared for this: I have quite some movies on hand, a big bag of potato chips with yummy dip and if I am still getting bored, I can continue designing my sampler.

Wishing you all a great weekend and Happy Stitching!

I am ready!

2011-02-15T10:37:00.004+02:00

Hi everyone!

I finally finished my See the Star project. I placed the last few crosses last night.

Now I am wondering if I should tea stain the finished piece a little. Just to get a little more aged look. I have stained fabric before, but never after stitching and that makes me a little nervous about it. Does anyone of you have experience in staining an already stitched design?

I think for this design I will go with a nice dark brown squared frame, thou it will take a while to get it actually done. I'd like to use an antique frame for this one and will look at local flea markets for one.

Valentines Day Exchange and the downside of spring cleaning...

2011-02-14T15:06:00.001+02:00

Hi everyone, wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day. A few month ago I signed up for the Valentines Day pinkeep exchange in my German cross stitch group "Sticklounge" and today is the day that we are finally allowed to open our exchange packages. I received form my exchange partner a biscornu with little dragonflies in pastel purple.

It will be very good use for me, because until now I always used my sofas armrest as a pincushion :)

Here are some more pictures. This time of the pinkeep that I send to my partner. The pictures really don't do the mustard yellow fabric any justice.

Today's another beautiful freezing cold (-17C) but sunny day. So I decided to continue my spring cleaning. I've started already last week with washing all the walls in our apartment. Today I moved on to the living. Now the walls are again clean and white, all furniture and books are wiped clean from dust and of course I also washed my curtains.

And here's the bummer. After pulling my cotton curtains out of the washing machine and hanging them back up to the windows I realized that they are now 10cm shorter than they were before. Damn it! But since I've decided to get new curtains in a lighter colour sometime during next summer anyway, I will just ignore the missing 10cm.

For the rest of this beautiful day, I will continue stitching on my See the Star. I am almost done, just a tiny little bit left.

Winter Wonderland

2011-02-07T11:35:00.002+02:00

I slightly remember that I promised you in one of my previous post that I will share pictures of all the snow here in Finland.

This morning I had some errants to run in the neighbour town and decided that instead of taking the train, I am going to walk the 3 miles home. The sky is fairly clear today and the sun is shining. With only -5 C it's the perfect winter walk weather.

See the Star and other stitching....

2011-02-05T11:15:00.002+02:00

It seems like the stitching bug bit me again. For the last couple of days, I've been stitching, stitching and stitching. I've finished today the 18th part of my See the Star Sal. Only 7 more parts to go.

I didn't like the font of the original chart that much, so I designed a different one myself.

When taking the See the Star pictures, I've also decided to take pictures of all my other projects in progress, or at least a few of them. I have way to many.

... beginning with this one:

Sew Red by i Stitch Designs. It is one of the first chart that Carol designed and was available as a freebie. By now she made many more beautiful little sampler designs and they can be purchased here.

Sew Red by i Stitch Designs
natural rough Indian linen
DMC thread

Here is also a little update on my latest start. The mono colour designs from the blog Tantes Zolder

Design found at Tantes Zolder
40ct Newcastle linen
DMC 3033

I like stitching this one so much that I started another little piece from Tantes Zolder

Design found at Tantes Zolder
40ct. Newcastle linen
DMC 453

This design looks like one of those medieval armorial bearings with a fish on each side. So far only one fish is ready.

See the Star 12-14

2011-01-28T07:32:00.001+02:00

I've finally managed to upload the pictures from my See the Star progress. The cable to connect my camera to the computer was broken and it took until yesterday that I got a new one. I still have a lot more to stitch and only two more month time. This is going to be a race.

I have also remodelled my blogs a little. New backgrounds, new fonts. I was so bored yesterday that I played around a little with the new templates. I am still doing little changes here and there, but when I am ready with everything I will share the link with you.

Besides cross stitching, I am very busy knitting winter hats. It is still so cold here in Finland and we have so much snow ... and there is more snow coming. I can't wait for spring. If the weather is fine this weekend I will take some pictures of the Finnish Winter Wonderland.

New Project

2011-01-04T19:10:00.001+02:00

I have started a new project just a few days ago.

Just before Christmas, I decided that my home needs a little bit of pimping. Since I am very found of anything in Country style and not having anything like that in my home yet, I thought it is about time to get started.

I've ordered some 40ct. Newcastle Linen in white. It's my first time using this fabric and I am in love with it. I wanted to have some in the colour Raw Linen and use a white or ecru thread but that wasn't available. So now I am stitching it just in reverse. White linen with creamy DMC 3033.

I was thinking of making various home textiles, like pillow cases, little centre table cloth and also some hanging ornaments.

The designs I am stitching is a very long and narrow one. I will and some lace ribbons and insert it into a pillow case once it is ready stitched

The pattern is available as a freebie at Tantes Zolder. I am stitching the one with the lions head at the bottom.

See the Star progress

2010-10-04T12:15:00.005+03:00

I've finished last night another part of my See the Star SAL. Here's how it looks now. In the dark brown wreath at the right bottom corner will be stitched the initials. I am going to leave it open till the end, or until I have found a fitting font.

I'd also like to thank everybody for their input on my new project. I kind of thought going with option 3, the purple fabric, but I might switch now to option 4. The piece of fabric is rather small and would suit perfectly this project.

The fabric in option 1 is a rather big piece. Maybe it is just me, but I hate cutting into big pieces of fabric when I only need a small piece. I have the habit of "saving" big pieces for big projects.

Heeeeelp!

2010-10-03T15:14:00.004+03:00

I need your help today. I am starting a new SAL in a few days and I can't decide on the colour combination.

The design is a tree with lots of leaves and a bird sitting on a branch. So I thought it would be nice to stitch it in Autumn colours, including purple. I have now 4 different fabric options while the thread colours are all quite similar.

No.1: 32 ct. natural colour linen. 2 over 2 in cross stitch

No.2: 26 ct. mustard colour evenwear. either 1 over 1 in cross stitch or 2 over 1 in petit point

No.3: 21 ct. greyish/purple something. 2 over 1 in cross stitch

No.4: 28 ct. pale yellow something. either 1 over 1 in cross stitch or 2 over 1 in petit point

Which one should I choose?

See the Star part 8

2010-09-16T10:28:00.001+03:00

Here's a picture of my finished part 8 of the See the Star SAL. I've already started the 9th part, but haven't stitched much yet.

Part one is ready....

2010-08-19T07:41:00.005+03:00

First of all, I'd like to thank my dear blog readers for always leaving such kind comments. Even after being away for such a long time, there a still people reading my rare posts. And yes, it is good to be back. I can't tell you how much I missed stitching and blogging.

Here's a picture of the first part of my Giant Sampler. The Border is completely stitched in DMC ecru, as well a few of the letters. The inner borders and most of the letters are stitched in different shades of light sand colours, some are more yellowish and some have a blush of pink in it. But I guess one can't really see it in the picture.

New project

2010-08-15T20:25:00.007+03:00

As I already pronounced in my post yesterday, today started the huge alphabet sampler SAL. I have been stitching all day long and like to show you my so far progress.

It is not much yet, but the patterns isn't easy either. I am stitching this one in Petite Point with mostly ecru. I really love the way it looks like. Will now continue stitching for a few more hours, while watching a movie or two.

Back in the stitching business

2010-08-14T21:15:00.004+03:00

As the title already says, I started cross stitching again. After half a year of absence doing a lot of other stuff like knitting and sewing, I finally feel like I got my motivation for stitching back.

As my first project, I picked up on a SAL that I started during last fall. It is called See the Star and has been designed by Monika Buro. There are altogether 25 parts and I finished today part 7.

The same group I am stitching the See the Stars SAL with, is going to start a new project tomorrow. It will be a rather simple alphabet Sampler by Marie-Francoise, thou it is huge. It measures 600x600 stitches and I am going to stitch it.

The only fabric that I have available for a project of that size is 26ct sand coloured evenweave. I tea -dyed the fabric and stained it afterwards with coffee to get some darker spots in there. It look really aged now. I will be stitching with scrap threads in very light colours such as ecru, off white, antique white. And I will be stitching in petite point.

This is going to be my biggest stitching challenge so far.

As you see, I have big goals with lots and lots of progress pictures to come.

Just a few words....

2010-04-05T16:13:00.002+03:00

Hello everybody! I am still alive. I can't believe that it has been already that long again since my last post. To bad that I don't have anything cross stitch related to post this time. Well, I do have done a little cross stitching, but just a little and not for myself. I am still working on a project for a friend but I don't have a picture to share yet. (and it is really not worth taking one of those few crosses)

I am still quite busy with knitting at the moment. A dear friend ordered two matching scarves, that he'd like to gift as wedding presents to the bride and groom. We decided to do both scarves in lace knitting, because that is more suitable for the upcoming spring.
Besides that I am experimenting a little on new projects at the time. I have made a handbag from thick felt, doing a lot of paper goods and soon I will add lovely attached pillowcases to my collection.

One of my dutch aunts is attending every year a hobby market in the Netherlands and she asked me if I can send a package with my handmade things, so she can sell them there. The hobby market is already in July and I am a little stressed about getting enough beautiful things ready in time.

I also opened my first Etsy store. Yes, I am a fellow Etsian now. I made the decision after Matt and Benedikta came for a visit to Finland and held a meeting for Etsy sellers in Helsinki. It was a real delight meeting other creative people and learning from their experiences.

Besides that and normal living, nothing much happening here. We are still desperately waiting for spring. We still have a lot of snow and not a single leaf has sprung on a tree yet. Spring seems to come a little later this year. At least most of the ice on the streets and pavements has melted and the temperature is above zero.

New stitching progress!

2010-01-15T13:25:00.004+02:00

Surprise surprise! I have a few cross stitching pictures to share.
First of all I'd like to show a picture of the Round Robin, that has been stitched for me. I got it back just a few days ago. It's not hard to guess what theme I have chosen. In the empty square bottom right I will stitch some more information, like when it started and when it ended.

As next I made a little progress on Special Delivery. Beginning of December the Mr. and I went to his hometown Oulu and I used the time in the plane to stitch a little.

Then there is another kind of Round Robin, just that this one came with the floss and pattern. It is a Sampler from a German cross stitch magazine and I made the start.

At last I have to show the square I received from my last Fair & Square Round. I am very sad to say, that I am disappointed with this one. It is required to stitch two squares, the actual square with a nice design and a second one with the name and hometown of the person who stitched it. This time I just got the one. No second square, no message, no note and about 3 weeks late. I kind of have the feeling that my exchange partner had no interest in exchanging this time and just stitched something quick after my squares already arrived there. But oh well, the tree sampler square is a really cute design and I bet I will find something nice to turn it into.

For snow lovers...

2009-12-29T13:50:00.005+02:00

If you like snow you will enjoy these pictures. I took them just a few days before Christmas. It was really cold, about -15 degrees C. The sky was crystal clear and the sunset provided a glowing light. Usually it is rather cloudy and dark during Finnish winters.

It's almost Christmas

2009-12-17T16:44:00.005+02:00

It is almost Christmas! Yeah! The Mr. and I bought yesterday night our tree and today I set it up and decorated it. I love it! It is a huge one, almost touching the ceiling. The picture is just not giving justice about how nice it looks.
For decorating I used the old Christmas ornament I inherited from my grandma. They are really old and have quite a few ugly spot, but I find that makes them even more charming.

F & S Round 16 received

2009-12-17T16:28:00.002+02:00

Here's a picture of the beautiful squares I received a while ago from Linda. Aren't they beautiful? she stitched the design in purple silk. I just love them so much. Thank you very much. Unfortunately I don't have a picture to show of the squares I stitched for her. For some reason I forgot to take one.

No time to stitch

2009-12-01T09:26:00.002+02:00

It is unbelievable that I missed an entire month. In November I haven't posted a single note. I haven't had any time for stitching either. December will not be any better.

I am just very sorry for my fellow followers that I have so little to nothing to share. I promise I will try to keep up with the stitching part in the New Year.

Fair and Square

2009-10-24T13:52:00.003+03:00

It has been quite a while since my last post and I am so sorry about that. Live is getting really busy over here and I haven't done much stitching at all. The only few things I was stitching on are a couple of Round Robins.
I stitched these three doves sitting in a tree for a friends wedding sampler. It was quite a challenge for me. The fabric is something around 11ct. and it was supposed to be stitched over 2 threads. I haven't done such a rough fabric for nearly 20 years and it took me quite a while to get used to it.
I personally stick to my high ct. fabrics.

I also got notice for Jennifer that she received my squares of the Fair & Square Autumn round. So this is what I stitched for her:

The design is by Brooke's Book and is called Autumn Pantry. I thought it is quite fitting. I am just very sorry about the quality of the pictures. I like to iron my pieces before taken pictures to have a nice and smooth surface, but just right before taking the shots my iron broke. Now how does a woman survive without an iron. I am desperate getting a new one soon.

F & S Autumn Round

2009-10-13T12:22:00.005+03:00

I received just a couple of days ago The squares from the Fair & Square Autumn Round. This time I was paired with Jennifer from Sweet Pea Stitches. Take a look at those beautiful squares she stitched for me. The design is by Bent Creek but Jennifer has chosen her own colors for this. Along with the Squares came a skein of her own hand dyed floss called "Autumn Leaves". Aren't the colors amazing? I can't wait to use this thread. Thank you so much Jennifer.

I have been a busy girl

2009-10-09T16:29:00.008+03:00

I just haven't done so much cross stitching during the last couple of weeks. I am mainly stitching exchanges at the moment, but because my swap partners haven't received their packages yet, I can't really show any pictures yet.
But I have been busy knitting a lot. And I really mean a lot. I finished 3 1/2 scarves and I am almost done with my first felted bag.
The last couple of days my Mr. and I have taken tons of pictures and just finished editing them about an hour ago. I would like to share a few of them with you. Enjoy!

The parcel arrived!

2009-09-30T13:30:00.004+03:00

A couple of days ago arrived the parcel from my aunt. The package included floss of the first 10 columns from the DMC color book. The next 10 columns will arrive soon as well. The colors are almost complet. In this batch are only 3 or 4 colors missing. The plastic boxes came along with the floss and I am really glad about. Why? You can see it in the second picture. That one shows the new floss AND the floss I already had before: 6 boxes full of thread twisted on bobbins and a big pile of double colors. Now I have enough DMC thread for a lifetime stitching.

I also managed to fit the rest of my stash into my craft closet. I reorganized all my boxes. So at least for now I don't have to search for new spaces.

Special Delivery

2009-09-26T13:22:00.004+03:00

It is almost unbelievable how fast time is flying by. Also this week I don't have much progress to show. I only did a few stitches on Special Delivery and started to stitch the Autumn Squares for another Fair & Squares Round. Too bad that I can't share any pictures of it yet, but it would spoil the surprise for the lucky receiver. The only thing I can say is, that I love the design so much, I will definitely stitch it one more time for myself.

So here are only my pictures from Special Delivery:

I finished the big blossom and started stitching the upper line of the alphabet. I was thinking of finishing this piece into a cushion, but haven't decided yet what kind of background fabric I am going to use. Something very light colored would be fitting best, I think.

Pla-a-a-a id

2009-09-21T12:59:00.005+03:00

It is finally done! I finished the plaid sheep by Casey Buonaugurio after working on it for several month. Yes, month! Isn't it unbelievable? I don't know myself how it could happen that it toke that long.

I thou know how I managed to finally stitch it up. I was already for quite a while very disappointed with my stitching progresses. I just couldn't manage to stitch as much as I wanted even with having so much more spare time than I used to have before. Whenever I sat down to do some stitches on one project I thought: "Oh no, I rather work on the other one", so I started something else and then again: "But that one would be so much more fun now". This basically went on for the whole day and before I noticed daylight was gone I barely placed any crosses.
So I worked out a rotating system. I read about it on a few other blogs and I though, what is working for so many other ladies might work for me too. I started working out my rotation system on Friday and so far it is working. Well let's see how long I can stick to it, but I want to try at least until I worked down my pile of WIPs.

I also managed to finish the 4th part of See the Stars. I like this design more and more.

Oh! One last thing that I almost forgot. I am going to get a parcel with lots of more stash. My aunt send me an email today letting me know that she send a package full of DMC thread. My aunt has an attic half of the size as my apartment packed with Cross Stitching supplies. Most of the things up there belonged already to my Grand mother. There are kits with floss, floss without kits, charts without pictures, pictures without charts and lots and lots of fabrics and threads. A while ago my aunt started to organize everything, but already mentioned that it is time to clean out a little, because my aunt isn't one of the youngest anymore she decided to give most of the stash to me. I just shouldn't tell my Mr. that there are packages already on their ways. I do have quite some stash myself already and we are literally running out of space. My living room nearly looks like a craft store. There are big bags with knitting yarn spread on every single chair and sofa and boxes with fabrics, charts, etc. not to mention all my cross stitching project.

Unusual beautiful Autumn

2009-09-15T12:56:00.012+03:00

Normally around this time of the year we are having a lot of rain already, but not this time. This year we are having an unusual beautiful and warm Autumn.
Those of you who are reading my blog for quite a while already, know my passion of taking pictures of nature. And around autumn it always turns out that I am shooting mushrooms. Yes mushroom! So I did also this year. Want to see also last years mushroom pics click here.

Most of the pictures are quite dark, because even the sun was shining very bright, it didn't reach much of the ground. At this part of the forest the trees are standing very close to each other. It gives the forest the feeling of enchantment. I think I love this the most about living in Finland.

Besides shooting mushroom pictures, I also got some cross stitching done. I finished finally the 3rd part of See the Stars.

Just while taking this pictures I recognized that I am stretching out my Autumn love even into my cross stitching projects. I never realized that I am using so many Autumn related colors like this year.

Here is also my progress on Special Delivery. I really love to use the GA threads.

Last but not least are here a few knitting updates and pictures of my new stash. YEAH! I haven't bought the black yarn for my Mr.'s scarf yet but I went shopping for some other yarn. The felting experiment the other day turned out great, so I went ahead and bought nothing less than 1 kg of felting wool. Wuhuu, the bag knitting can start now. I also purchased 6 balls of a very bright lime green Acrylic yarn. It is so super soft. I already started knitting with it. It is the first time that I am knitting a swirled pattern. I always thought it is so difficult, I could never do anything like that, but it turned out to be quite easy and I love the result.

I'm a cheater!

2009-09-06T12:48:00.006+03:00

Besides a little progress on my Mary Wigham I have barely stitched anything this week.

Instead I cheated on my stitching needles with my knitting needles. I just can't help myself, but when summer's gone and autumn arrives I always get a lack of stitching motivation.

With the first leaves turning and falling from the trees the only things I can think about are nice, warm and cozy winter scarfs. So this is what I was doing during the last couple of days. I knitted a scarf for my sweetheart, or better to say, I started. Because I run out of yarn and have to go to the wool store before I can finish it.

It is a real delight knitting a simple but beautiful pattern like this. I saw a similar one a couple of weeks ago somewhere in the net and wanted to try it myself. I am not much of a knitter that's why I like the turn out so much. I can only do some basic things but I would so much love to learn knitting socks and lace. Maybe someday I will get there.

I also knitted these few squares. They are only samplers. I knitted them from 100% wool and am going to felt them now. I want to see how the patterns turn out after the felting process and how much they are shrinking. My plan is to knit and felt a few handbags. Christmas is almost here and I like to have a few selfmade gifts on hand.

small stitching progress

2009-08-31T17:46:00.006+03:00

After all of my not stitching related posts lately I finally have some progress to share with you. I only stitched a little bit here an there. Usually I am trying to stick to only one project at a time, but this time I wasn't really in the mood for that and stitched a few crosses each on all my WIP.

First of all I like to show you my update on Mary Wigham. It isn't as much as I liked to show you, but I am getting there.

Next one is something I stitched for a Round Robin. The Theme was "Winter" so I decided to stitch some cozy winter warms. The patterns for the gloves and hat are from a very old dutch cross stitch magazine. I got it once from my aunt.

This one is a freebie by Casey Buonaugurio. It is the same designer I stitched the Chocolate Covered Cherries from, which can be seen in an earlier post. I started this one quite a while ago and even thou it is such a small design I still haven't finished it. Shame on me!

Next there is "See the Stars" by Monika Buro. The colors look quite the same than my "other" new cross stitch project, don't they? Well, it is the same project. When starting the 3rd part of the SAL I recognized that I started at the wrong spot. It turned out I didn't leave enough border. So I had to frog everything and started all over again. This time I started with the 3rd part, so this way I am pretty sure that there is enough border left.

Last but not least is here a picture of my brand new project. Special Delivery by Blackbird Designs. I just couldn't wait any longer and had to start this. The picture showes the result of one evening stitching and I am already very happy with it. The fabric I have chosen is the same one I am stitching Mary Wigham on. It is a very rough raw linen from india. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can actually see how uneven it is. But I love it. I wish I could get more of it.

A new designer!

2009-08-25T21:17:00.004+03:00

I'd like to share this beautiful design with you. It is from a brand new designer called "Tree of Life Samplings". The designer behind this is Jan from Belfonte Notes, I bet many of you know her.
To celebrate her first release she is giving a Giveaway. If you like to participate just go to her block Belfonte Notes and leaf a comment. Good Luck!

Day trip to Tallinn, Estonia

2009-08-25T18:22:00.016+03:00

Again I don't have much stitching progress to show to you. I made a little progress on my Mary Wigham, but by far not as much as I was hoping to make.
But I'd like to show you some pictures of our yesterday's Day Trip instead. At the moment we are having two friends from New York staying over and yesterday we went for a short visit to Tallinn in Estonia. It was also for me the first time to visit Tallinn and I was so amazed. We took the boat, which takes only 2 1/2 hours, in the morning and walked a little bit around in the Old Town area of Tallinn . We were about to go for lunch somewhere when we met a girl in medieval clothes offering home backed bread in the streets. The girl belonged to a Medieval Restaurant, so we went there to eat. We actually just wanted to have a quick lunch and then move on, but it was all so good that we spend our entire time in that restaurant.

Our boat and a picture of Helsinki while leaving the harbor.

The Old Town of Tallinn

Olde Hansa, The Medieval Restaurant of Tallinn

I had for lunch game pot with ginger turnip and my Mr. had lamb stew with lentils. On side dish we both also had pickled vegetables and white mashed beans backed in bread. For dessert Mr. had a very delicious apple pie with almond butter sauce and I had a rose pudding. But for some reason we forgot to make pictures of the desserts. Throughout lunch we had spiced red wine and many different kinds of homemade spiced liquors. It was all so delicious!

These pictures are showing the porch we had lunch at, our two American friends, my Mr. and me and as you can see we had a great time. Lots of happy faces.

New Stash!

2009-08-25T17:58:00.004+03:00

With today's mail came my first order of Gentle Art Threads. I have never used this brand before but have read lots about it on other blogs and always wanted to try it. It is the recommended thread on one of the charts I bought sometime beginning of this year. The main reason that I finally bought it, is that a few days ago I ordered 3 new charts from Carriage House Samplings and Elizabeth's Garden.
My Mr. never minds me spending money on my hobby because he is spending a lot on his one too and he thinks it is a good thing to investment in the things one love to do, but he got a little irrigated when he found out that I am ordering new stash, thou I haven't even started stitching the last charts I bought. Well, I think he has a point, so I finally ordered the GA Threads to start stitching Special Delivery from Blackbird Designs, which is one of the charts I purchased last spring.
I can't wait to start stitching, but I have to wait a little longer. I have a lot of due date stitching to do until the middle of next month and that really has to be done first. But having my new threads laying on the living room coffee table waiting for me to use them, hopefully gives me the extra portion of motivation to finish up my other projects.

New Stitching Motivation

2009-08-18T12:51:00.003+03:00

For some reason always when it comes to the weekend I am loosing my stitching motivation. I just can't get myself into the mood to stitch at least a little bit. It might has to do with me working only on the weekends and then the night shifts. So I sleep at day and stay up at night. From Sunday to Thursday then I am off from work, and always try to have a little normality in my life. I try to get back into the sleep at night, stay up at day rhythm. Sundays and Mondays are always troublesome. I feel like sleeping all the time. But by Tuesday I am used to it again and my stitching Motivation is hitting back. And because today's Tuesday I can show you the finished 2nd part of the new project I started.

I also started stitching on Mary Wigham again. So hopefully soon I can show you an update on this one too.

Kesäkuu

2009-08-17T17:58:00.005+03:00

I finished another house of my Cottage Sampler. The June cottage is finished and I am now half way through. I really would love to finish the whole thing up by the end of the year. I am having way to many projects in progress. Some of you know that I am stitching the month names in Finnish language. The Finnish word for June is kesäkuu. kesä means "Summer" and kuu means "moon".

Great news!

2009-08-15T11:45:00.005+03:00

Those of you who are reading my blog frequently know that in the beginning of Summer I got my bicycle stolen. Well, guess what? IT IS BACK!!!
Because of not having a regular day job (upholstery jobs are very rare and I have to wait until Autumn until something comes up) I am working shifts at a nightclub a couple of nights a week. So while I was on my way to work I saw my bike at our local train station. It was locked up, so I couldn't do much myself. I called for the police immediately and got also my Mr. somehow to the station. I was on my way to work and haven't had the time to wait for the police and since it was Friday night in the Capital area, they were busy, I made my Mr. wait. While he was waiting I took off to work so the following has only been told to me. After about 1 1/2 hours of waiting, a guy showed up to take THE/MY bike, so MR. jumped up and claimed the bike back. It turned out that this guy bought the bike for 20€ without knowing it was stolen. But of course he didn't like to get into further trouble, so he just handed the bike over and my Mr. took it home. The police never showed up, nor did we get any further notice on a reaction. Well, I guess they were way to busy to get all the drunk driving party people of the road.

Fair and Square and something new

2009-08-11T09:06:00.004+03:00

I am finally able to show you the squares that I send to Kathy, my F&S partner in Round # 14. She gave me notice that they arrived and now I don't have to keep this as a secret anymore. I stitches a design by á mon ami pierre for her. The original design is rectangled and a bit to big for the sizes we use for a F & S square, so I adjusted it a little bit to fit into a nice square.

I also started a new project. It was really not my intention, but I kind of had to. I am a member of a German Group of stitchers, that are stitching SAL's all the time. All the designs that are been stitched in this group are exclusive designs from European designer that are not available on the market. The major rule of this group is to stay very active and I have to be honest activity is not on my plus-side. I am a very lazy writer. Updating my blogs always takes me forever, because I never really know what to write. Anyways, here is a picture of my new start.

A little bit of this and that ...

2009-08-05T11:00:00.007+03:00

Good Morning everybody! Today it is a beautiful morning promising a beautiful sunny day. Too bad that I cannot really enjoy it. It caught a flu or better to say a bronchitis and running around outside might not be the best idea, warm sunny weather or not. So I will enjoy the day from my big living room windows.

I wish I could show you some progress on my Mary Wigham Sampler but I have to admit that I was too lazy working on it. From time to time I get this disliking of big projects and than do only very small ones for a while. So I did also last week. I finished the Bergamot that I started already in the airplane and also finished a Freebie called Chocolate Covered Cherries. I really love the colors of this one. After finishing up those small ones I usually just store them in a box and than once a year I mount them into greating cards.

I also received an email from my Fair & Square Summer Round partner Malinda. My Squares for her arrived a little while ago, so now I can share the pictures with you.
I picked a design from By the Bay Needleart because it is one of my favorite designers without even knowing it is one of Malinda's favorites too. The design has been a Freebie and can be found on by the bay's blog.

Blueberry time!

2009-07-27T22:58:00.008+03:00

I love the time around end of July because that is the time when here in Finland the blueberries are ready to get picked. And blueberry-picking is what I did today. My Mr. joined me on this quest as you can see in the picture. We picked altogether about 2 kg of berries. I portioned one kilogram into 200g bags each. We love to have berry-smoothies every once in a while and 1 bag is just the right amount for one pitcher full of smoothie. The other kilogram I cooked to jam today and I got 3 big and 1 and a half small jars out of it. I also added my secret ingredient: star anise. It doesn't give the jam much of a flavor right after cooking, but if the jars rest closed until about Christmas the anise starts to kick in.

Airplane stitching

2009-07-26T22:24:00.003+03:00

Last week the Mr. and I have been on a short vacation trip to visit my parents in Germany. I haven't posted about this visit earlier, because it was mend to be a surprise for my mom, who's birthday was last week. My dad was celebrating his birthday as well. They gave a big Barbecue party and my sweetheart finally met the rest of my family. 7 remaining from 11 siblings of my dad and a brother and a twin sister of my mom. The party was kept to the closest family and a few friends only, because all my aunts and uncles have children that have children that are almost grownups and that kind of family party would burst every budget.

It takes only 2 hours by plane to get from Finland to Germany, but that time is long enough to get me bored out of my scull. So I always take some cross stitching stuff with me. I like to stitch very small designs on an airplane, cause they are very handy and don't need much space.

I stitched the chamomile on our way from Helsinki to Germany and almost finished it all up, but 30 min before landing we had turbulence due to bad weather and after poking the needle several times into my fingers I had to stop.
The second one I started is the bergamot flower from the same design pack, but due to I kited it up to myself I ran out of thread and had to stop. I will finish it sometime during upcoming week.

I also started this little angel during our stay at my parent's place and finished it up yesterday night. It is called "Candle Light" and a design from Hummel. My aunt (she came to the birthday party) gave me again a big bag full of cross stitch kits and this one is one of them. I like the colors very much of this one.

Fair and Square Rounds received

2009-07-25T11:55:00.002+03:00

Both rounds of my open Fair & Square exchanges arrived during the week. The first two squares are from Malinda. The design is by Maryse and the July design of the Monthly cottages. I like how she added my name to the design in exchange for the month name.

The second ones are from Kathy. Kathy read on an earlier post that my bike got stolen (btw nothing heard from the police yet) so she decided to stitch a little bike for me. This is a wonderful idea and so thoughtful.

Thank you both so much for these wonderful squares. And watch out your mailboxes. Your squares are on their ways as well.

Mary Wigham update

2009-07-16T14:37:00.004+03:00

Hi everybody! I am back to blogging. The time with my sister and her boyfriend was just flying by. We had a lot of fun together and we were very lucky with the weather. Besides a few hours of rain the one or the other day it was very warm and we had a lot of sunshine.

I haven't had much time for stitching during that time so I can only show you a little progress. I continued stitching on my Mary Wigham Sampler and part 2 is almost done.

I love how the squirrel turned out so here is a close up.

I also started stitching the squares for 2 rounds of the Fair & Square Exchange. I'm almost done with both of them and I am trying hard to get them out in time.

A little bit of this and that...

2009-06-30T15:52:00.005+03:00

Unbelievable that is has been almost 2 weeks since my last blog entry. So many things have happen.
First of all I made a little progress on my Mary Wigham Sampler.

It is not as much as I planned to, but we had some disturbances going on last.
My beloved bicycle got stolen from my back yard. It was actually looked but the thief removed the front wheel where it was looked to, than stole another front wheel from the neighbors kid's bike, set everything back together and took off. I had the bike for 13 years and is actually a piece of crap (the tires get flat if not pumped up once a week, the gears are broken so it can only be driven in one gear, the saddle has a whole bunch of holes which can be very uncomfortable when it is raining, it is rusty every here and there and the lights are all missing) but I have to say, I loved that crappy old bike. I bought it when I was 18 from my first job ever. Took me have a year to safe enough money to effort it. I think the main thing that is disturbing me, is not that the big is gone, it is more that I cannot understand why people do such things. I have been raised with strong moral values therefore I can not understand that some people obviously don't have any morals at all. Anyhow, that is the main reason that I haven't worked on Mary Wigham since then.

But to keep myself busy with just something, I stitched up two freebies that have been on my ToDo-list for quite a while. First one is a pattern from prairie schooler called "rain" and the second one is "sweet heart cottage" from Maryse. I thing both turned out great. Especially the sweet heart cottage is most adorable.

I also would like to excuse myself if I am not updating my blog during the next 3 weeks as much as usual. My little sister and her boyfriend are coming on Thursday for a vacation. Since I am living in Finland, I do not see my family more often than once a year. So I like to give them my fully attention on this rare visits.
Happy Stitching to all of you and a beautiful summer (winter in Australia and New Zealand)

Mary Wigham part one

2009-06-17T15:16:00.003+03:00

Part one of my Mary Wigham Sampler is ready. I am very pleased with the colors as they look now, but I can tell you the decisions about matching the different colors to the ornaments wasn't easy at all. For the gray flower ornament I had to pull stitches twice. I started of with a brick red but than though that the sampler is getting overall a little bit to red, cause I am using so many different shades. Than I used the light sand color that can be seen now in the initials. That wasn't good either, cause it would have made the bottom part just too light. Finally I desided to go with a plain medium gray. And this is how I like it best for now.

Mary Wigham and a small finish

2009-06-14T18:19:00.004+03:00

First of all I'd like to show you my latest finish. I stitched the Checkerboard Bunny from Waxing Moon Designs. When I started stitching it I realized that the white color for the bunny is so not going with the fabric (it was pale yellow before) so I decided to dye it in tea over night. After dyeing then the white was looking great, but non of the other colors where matching anymore. So I basically changed every single pastel color to a much bolder one. I really like how it turned out.

I also made some progress on my Mary Wigham Sampler, thou I haven't even finished the first part yet. But also here I made a few changes. I wrote in a previous post that I would go with the original colors, but my Mr. wasn't to happy with them. So I created a new color pallet for my Mary Wigham. The new colors range from black, over dark gray, brown, salmon, sage green to a rust red. My Mr. is now very happy with the color choses and I have to say I am a lot more pleased too.

I am so lucky!

2009-06-09T12:06:00.003+03:00

Renée's squares arrived yesterday morning. Aren't they stunning? I love just everything about it: Colors, design, fabric, just everything!
And I can even here the screaming: " Make a needlebook out of me!"
Thank you so much for these beauties!

Mary Wigham

2009-06-06T09:43:00.003+03:00

First of all I want to thank all of you for the nice words about my passed exam. Yes I am very glad it is all over now. Rowyn also ask me, if that means that I have now more time for stitching and yes, it means exactly that. But I also started to read my fellow stitching blogs more seriously. In the past there was just time and patience to look at all the beautiful pictures. I found out, that many of you are stitching the Mary Wigham SAL and posted already the first pictures. It was also Rowyn's blog where I discovered the link to this SAL. Thank you so much for this. Here is now my start of the Mary Wigham Sampler:

I am stitching with the suggested DMC colors, just because I have so much on stash of it that I could start right away. The fabric I have chosen is a raw unevenweave linen from India. The count is something around 39, it's hard to tell because the threads are not all of the same thickniss, as well there are many knots in it. This fabric isn't meant to be used for embroidery. I usually use it for upholstering furniture. But I think it will give the Sampler a nice old touch. Thou it will take a while until I am used to it and I only make slow progress because I have to be so carefully where I poke in the needle.
I love this sampler already now a lot, thou my Mr. isn't really impressed by the design. Maybe in later progress I am able to change his mind.
The Mary Wigham is published by Needleprint. Check out their blog, they have amazingly beautiful Samplers there.

I made it!

2009-06-04T11:13:00.005+03:00

I don't know how many times I have bothered you by telling about my upcoming exam. Well, I can promise I will no longer do so. Cause the exam is OVER! It started on Monday and ended finally yesterday afternoon.

For the finals we had to build a "K-tuoli" chair. It is a very old Finnish design chair. I would say, it is one of the easiest chairs to built but it also has some tricky parts. The seat is supposed to be flat and not bumpy, the sides have to be very straight and not coming over the frame more than 5mm otherwise the armrests would push the sides inside and make ugly bumps, thou the front side has to be pulled out over the frame a little it less than an inch. And of course the corner have to be as pointed as possible, they can never ever be round and that isn't as easy to do as it sounds.

I can tell you, there is a lot of stuff to think about and it is tough to focuse on all these things when being under pressure. I have to admide that I also made some really stupid mistakes that costs me presures points in the evaluation. I built the back part of the seat a little bit too high, it is supposed to fall off a bit. But overall I am satisfied with the result. I graduated with a good 4 what would be in American terms a B+
Here are two pictures of my pressures. The chair is upholstered with violet felt. Not my favorite but I am not going to keep the chair for myself. It will probably go to sale.
In the right picture you can also see that the back is leaning to the right side. Well the frames we used have been really old and that is just something I had to ignore.

I guess I should be happy and proud of myself now, but for some reason this feeling isn't really coming yet. I was under so much pressure for the last 4 month, with working 2 jobs, school and the upcoming exam and now everything just stopped from one moment to another. I feel empty! Or course also released, but I think it will need a couple of days until my mind also realized that I finally made it. I am now an upholsterer.

Fair & Square Round 13

2009-06-01T21:12:00.002+03:00

I received yesterday an email from Renee, my Fair and Square partner that she has received her squares. She says that she like them very much. Her square for me are also on its way and I am very excited to see what Renee has stitched for me.

These are the squares that I have stitched. It is from the chart "The good neighbor" from The Drawn Thread.

M-O-O-N spells moon

2009-05-21T10:18:00.007+03:00

It is done! My Little Moon Sampler is finished up. Just about an hour ago I made the last cross. Now I only have to find a fitting frame for it.
I only made a small adjustment to the pattern. I stitched the letters for "Friend" a tone darker, because the original color was not giving a strong enough contrast to the fabric.

The name I stitched to the bottom is my Mr.'s last name. We are going to get married anyways, so there is no point of using my maiden name. "Mattila" is a very common name here in Finland, almost like "Smith" in English language. The meaning of it is basically "House of Matti", while the name "Matti" can be translated as "Mathew" or "Mathias".

Back to normal

2009-05-20T07:08:00.004+03:00

The happy family days are over. My parents and god parents are back in there home countries and slightly everything is going back to normal over here.
***
On my last post, I have been asked if we really eat reindeer here in Finland and YES, we do. It is traditional Finnish food and very delicious. There are all kind of different recipes out here. Just don't tell your kids about it, we don't want to ruin Christmas :-)
***
Than, while reading your lovely comments, I got to know that you are at least as crazy about sweet treats as I am. So here are some more. For teatime on Sunday, I made for my family Chocolate cupcakes with Vanilla cream topping. I got 32 cakes out of the dough and we ate at least half of them.

I love cooking and backing at least as much as cross stitching and I am considering on giving a cooking / backing blog a try.
***
I also got a little bit of new stash. The missing colors for my Little Moon Welcome Sampler have been brought by my parents. My aunt has a huge stash in her attic, so I never have to buy those things. I just give her a call and she sends it over. And always, she sends a little bit more. This time I got some 16ct. Aida and 25. and 28ct. linen and two new kits. I have no idea, when to use that all. I have so little time.

***
Last but not least. My secretary desk is finished. Well not entirely, there are some small things missing that I will adjust later. But the paint is on and it is standing already in our hallway.

Today is the day!

2009-05-14T06:28:00.004+03:00

Yes! Today is the day that my parents (living in Germany) and god parents (living in The Netherlands) are coming together for a long weekend to Helsinki. I haven't seen all four of them for at least one year and for my god parents it is the first time ever coming to Finland. Too bad that I still have to work today and tomorrow, but I will see them after my shift, that ends about 4pm. On Saturday and Sunday than is Family-Day on the Agenda. Saturday is some sightseeing, Red-Tram-Riding (Bar in a Streetcar - very funny) and Eating Reindeer planned and Sunday the whole crowd is coming to our place. Having coffee, tea and lots of backed goodies and BBQ in the evening.
So far we are also very lucky with the weather, it isn't to warm thou, but the forecast is talking about lots of sunshine and no rain.

I also recognized that is has been already more than a week since my last post. Well, I was spending the little bit of spare time to clean up my precious home. Not that it is messy, but you know: when Mama is coming, it has to be sparkling. The only stitching I did, was on my current Fair & Square exchange. I finished up the main square and am now busy stitching the one with my signature. To bad that I can't show anything about that yet.

Toukokuu

2009-05-04T17:32:00.003+03:00

Actually the Mr. and I planed on going to the movies yesterday, but due to a lack of motivation we stayed home launching on our couchs. While the Mr. was busy killing Monsters with his PlayStation, I took the time to stitch some more.
Now that I can't do much more on my Little Moon Sampler I dug in my WIP-basket and pulled out my SAL des maisons from Maryse. I finished the month May and I really love this one. The colors are so bright and lovely to look at.

***
Yesterday was also the asignment of the new Fair & Square Round # 13. My this time partner is Renee. While surfing through her blog and reading her profile, I got the idea that our Likes and Dislikes are besides of a few exemption quite much the same. So I decided to stitch something that I would love for myself. But of course I will not tell you what it is. That's all top secret.

Little Moon update

2009-05-02T12:17:00.005+03:00

Unbelievable that it has been already two weeks since my last post. Well nothing much happening here either. I'm still busy with work and studying. It's now only 4 weeks until my exam and therefore there is not much time for stitching left. Thou due to the Labor Day Holiday yesterday (we call it also Vappu) I got a couple of days off and that means lots of stitching time.
I made some progress on my little moon sampler. I'm still busy stitching and I technically could finish it over the weekend, if there were not one color missing. But I ordered it already and when my parents and god parents coming for a visit in two weeks, they will bring the missing color.

Something way better than cross stitching.....

2009-04-18T19:05:00.005+03:00

... at least in the point of view of my Mr.
The last couple of month I was working on and off on a poker table for his birthday (which will be next week) and last week I finally finished it. Today he came to my working place to pick it up and he is very happy with it. Actually he is playing with some friends right at this moment that I am writing this post.
I know poker table pictures do not belong on a cross stitching blog, but I am showing them anyways to you.

Fair & Square Round 12 arrived

2009-04-18T18:52:00.003+03:00

Take a look at these beautiful Squares from my Fair & Square partner Kim. They arrived yesterday and are maybe the most beautiful squares I've ever received. Well, I know I say that about every pair of squares I receive in this exchange group, but every single pair is beautiful and one of a kind. Kim stitched this little Deer Sampler for me on 32 ct. linen with 1 over 1. I also tried to stitch my squares on 1 over 1, but I realized that I could have never finished it in time. So I did the regular 2 over 2.

For Kim's Squares I picked a design from à mon ami pierre and rearranged the single motives to fit them into the right size.

Little Moon Welcome

2009-04-13T20:05:00.004+03:00

Easter holidays are almost over. Besides some nice long walking through the woods that almost ended up in 3 hour hiking trips, we stayed most of the time home spread out on our sofas. And that means I had a lot of time for stitching.
I made some great progress on Little Moon Welcome. There are a few blank spots due to two colors missing. I figured I will substitute them when everything else is stitched up.

Pikkuloma!

2009-04-09T18:39:00.008+03:00

Today was my last day in school! Now I have 4 days of during the Easter holidays and than I am going straight back to my internship at the Helsinki City Theater.

I have been quite busy this week. I finished up a sofa for a customer and finally, after almost a year, my own bench. The top can be taken off and I am storing our winter scarfs, hats, mittens, as well as a few of my handbags in it. I made the seat in "chesterfield upholstery" style. I also finished up Emma's Sampler.I finally sewed it up to a cushion yesterday. Of course I had to place it on my brand new bench. It goes so well together. The Mr. was as well positively surprised when he got home yesterday.

While getting already in the holiday mood yesterday evening, I also started a new stitching project. But it is not my new chart "The Good Neighbor", it is supposed to be stitched with silk thread and I don't have it yet in my stash.
I started stitching "Little Moon Welcome" from Brooke's Books. Usually the designs by Brooke are a bit too cute for my taste, but with this Welcome Sampler I literally fell in love. And the best thing of all is, that it is a freebie.

New Stash!

2009-04-07T19:06:00.005+03:00

Juhuu! With yesterdays mail, my new chart arrived. It is "The Good Neighbor" from the Drawn Thread. With the moment I have seen this design, I fell in love with it. But I think I will keep this for a little later start. I am really trying to finish up some more of my WIPs before I am starting the next big project.

Today I finished one of my current stitching projects. But I will not show you a picture yet. It is the squares for my Fair & Square round # 12 partner Kim and I don't want to spoil the suprise. I will post a picture as soon as she received her squares.

Virvon varvon tuoreeks terveeks tulevaks vuodeks. Vitsa sulle, palkka mulle.

2009-04-05T13:15:00.005+03:00

I love traditions!By living in Finland for 3 years already (my anniversary was April 1st - no kidding!) I got to know a bunch of new traditions that I had never heard of before. One of my favorites are the Easter traditions in South of Finland. On Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, children are dressing up like witches and going from house to house telling their saying, while waving a feather decorated willow branch, giving this branch and receiving candy in return.The saying, you can read in the headline, basically means that they are wishing healthiness for next year and will give you a branch if you give them a reward. Instead of buying candy from the store, this year I baked a bunch of lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting.

snowflakes and antiques

2009-03-28T19:06:00.011+02:00

Even thou there is almost no time for my favorite hobby, I made a little progress. Today between my porridge and a cup of coffee I finished the snow crystal I was stitching for Evelyn's Round Robin. I actually don't like to stitch that much with light colors on dark fabric, but I think it turned out quite nice. I kind of like the idea of having something simple as snow crystals on a winter table cloth. I'm thinking about making something similar for myself, but than with a light colored blue linen fabric.

I also have to show you 2 pictures of my newest treasure. It is this real antique secretaire desk. It is in a rather bad condition. The paint is peeling of and some of the wooden parts have to be repaired of changed. I also have to build 2 little drawers, cause the original ones are missing. My only problem now is that I have so less time fixing it right away. And I really would like to have it at home middle of May when my parents and god parents are coming from Germany and The Netherlands to visit.

Spring has sprung....

2009-03-22T13:53:00.008+02:00

...also in Finland! Well, not quite yet. But temperatures are rising and the ice on sea, lakes and rivers slowly starts to melt. Today the Mr. and I jumped into our long johns and went for a nice long walk to Keravan Joki (river). There is still a lot of ice on the river, but it is already quite thin and went the weather stays that sunny and warm than it takes only a few more weeks until all the ice is melted.
Here are a few pictures from today's walk. Enjoy!

Emma's Sampler

2009-03-19T19:13:00.006+02:00

Juhuu! Emma's Sampler is finished. I didn't make it during the weekend, but over all it is finished now and I'm so happy with it. Today after work, I went to a quilting store for some matching fabric, cause I will sew a little cushion from this sampler. I went with patterned fabrics in brown and rusty red. I think that looks quite fine together.

A little bit of this and that

2009-03-13T19:13:00.005+02:00

I feel so sorry that lately I don't have much of my stitching projects to show. Life is so busy right now. Last week I have been told that I can make my final exams to become an upholsterer already in June instead of December. That means a lot of stress preparing for the finals now. I also started a new internship last Monday. It will take about 2 month and will end right before my exam starts. But the thing is, that the internship is at the Helsinki City Theater. It's the biggest one in Finland and I just couldn't say NO to an offer like this. I work in the upholstery of the theater and am part of building the scenery for an upcoming new play.
***
But even though I don't have much time for stitching, I made a little progress on Emma's Sampler. Only a few boast buds and the surrounding is missing. I think I can finish this over the weekend.

And couldn't the weekend begin better than with a parcel from the craft store carrying you latest order? - Here they are: I treated myself with the 1999 Christmas Sampler from Carriage House Samplings and the Special Delivery Sampler from Blackbird Designs. I discovered after placing the order that Special Delivery is actually a Birth Sampler, so I don't really know now what to do with it. Maybe I stitch it with the name that comes in the chart. I don't really know yet. But it is anyways very pretty.

My first House

2009-03-04T20:31:00.006+02:00

I almost forgot to show you.
This lovely wooden house has been stitched by Susanne from Germany for me.
I am taking part in a Round Robin (the first one ever for me) and I wished for houses. This is the first one out of seven. We are a rather small group with only 8 stitchers all together.
I will keep you updated how this Round Robin is going along.
Right now, I am waiting for the next piece to arrive that I can continue stitching my part for one of the others.

Huhtikuu

2009-03-03T18:16:00.003+02:00

I actually finished the April-month already on Saturday after coming back from the craft show. For some reason I forgot to upload this picture. Well here it is: Huhtikuu!

My day at Wanha Satama....

2009-02-28T13:51:00.013+02:00

It was really crazy at the Fair this morning. We went there quite early and got in right at that time when they opened but still it was so packed. Some stands were that crowded that we just passed them, because there was no way getting a good look at the outlet anyways. So over all we spent only one hour at the fair, but I was glad getting home after that. I'm anyways not a big fan of crowded places.
Here is a picture of the prey I made. I was a nice girl and bought only a few things: 2 skeins of turquoise felting wool for making a nice summer shoulder bag, 3 bags (I got one extra for free) of naturally dyed felting wool in indigo blue, green and yellow, 3 bags of KoolAid for dying and 2 hand painted greeting cards.

No cross stitch stash thou, cause it seems to me that cross stitching is not very popular in Finland. There people are knitting and felting like crazy. I can knit a decent scarf but I have never felted before and thought I give it a try. My friend is a big felting expert and gave me some advises and helped me picking the right wool.
If you are interested in felting or felting wool in generous you should take a look at Värtsilän Villa & Värjäämö. This is the site from the stand I bought the little packs of felting wool. It is very impressive and all in English with many pictures.

Fair & Square and a little progress

2009-02-26T20:59:00.004+02:00

Last Monday I received the Fair& Square squares from my round #11 partner Suzanne. Are the not absolutely beautiful. She picked for me a design from the Prairie Birds from Prairie Schooler. I have never seen these bird patterns before and had to google them right away. They are all beautiful and make me want to stitch the other ones myself.

I also made a small progress on one of my own projects. I started stitching the forth month April, in Finnish "huhtikuu", but as you can see the progress is really tiny. I have been very busy with work lately and only been home for sleeping, showering and eating my morning porrige.

I kind of plan on finishing this square during the weekend, but I guess there will not be much stitching time left either. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am going to a Handcrafts exhibition on Saturday morning and if that wouldn't be enough excitment, my hubby is also playing a gig the same night with one of his bands. So that will be a very long day and night out.

Another finish!

2009-02-22T13:23:00.008+02:00

Juhuu! I made it. Here's my finished stitching of Cheryl's Bouquet. The original is meant to be stitched in only one color. I instead stitched it in no less than 9. At some point while stitching I thought it might get to colorful and restless, but now that it is finished I kind of like it again.
I decided to finish this one into a nice tablecloth for our living room table. Next Saturday is a hand craft exhibition in Wanha Satama in Helsinki and I am planning to go there. Maybe I'll find a nice fabric to finish it up soon.

Emma's Sampler

2009-02-20T07:10:00.006+02:00

This is a picture of my momentarily work in progress. It is a design by Carriage House Samplings called 1823 Emma Elizabeth Blackwood Sampler.
It has been published in an American Cross Stitch Magazine "Just Cross Stitch" in the issue June 2005. I bought it while I was living in the United States and I got to tell you, I was so disappointed in this magazine. Back in 2005 I was still hooked on all those European Designs, very cute with lots of Back Stitches and I thought I could never like anything of that style. Well that was back than and I am quite amazed about myself how much my taste has changed during the last 4 years. Cause right now I love this kind of Designs. Carriage House Samplings is even one of my favorite designers. And I am really hooked on this style.
I guess, I finally grew up.

Butterflies on nine-patches

2009-02-15T13:58:00.004+02:00

I finally made it! The Butterflies on Nine-Patches from Dimension Gold Collection petits is finished. Stitching the crosses and half-crosses went quite smooth and fast, but than it came down to stitching just BS, Lazy Daisies and French knots. Not my favorites at all.
I'm glad that it is all stitched up now.

Round Robin for Maja

2009-02-14T16:13:00.005+02:00

Here's what I was working on the last couple of days. This is a piece I stitched for a Round Robin, my first one ever btw. The owner requested the letter "D" with some cute attachment. As I understood the finished piece will be used for a pillow case for a little boy.
The pattern I have chosen is from Margaret Sherry and is actually a freebie available at the Cross Stitcher Magazine. They have the whole alphabet there, one letter cuter than the other.
The only change I made to the pattern is, that I changed the color of the letter form bright pink to green. I think that's more suitable for a boy.

Lily of the Valley

2009-02-11T09:55:00.002+02:00

Here's another little finish. The design is from Madame la Fée and called "Lily of the Valley of May". It is stitched with DMC floss on cream 18ct. Aida

I think I stitched this one because I like the scent of Lily's so much. There is nothing more beautiful having a walk in the nearby forest to our apartment and walking through a field of Lily's and nearly drowning in it's strong scent.

Quaker Flower

2009-02-08T17:21:00.009+02:00

Here is a picture of the finished Quaker Flower, that I have shown you already a couple of days ago. The design is a freebie from The Workbasket.
I love this design very much and I am thinking about keeping it for myself. But I have no idea how to finish it up. Honestly, I have never finished things into anything else than greeting cards. I do love all this little pincushions and fobs, but I think one doesn't need more than 1 cushion. So what to do with all the others?

Not much new

2009-02-05T06:57:00.006+02:00

I am so sorry that I don't have much progress or anything finished to show lately. I am quite busy with my work, just finished a leather rocking chair, that I was working on lately. I am also fighting of a flue and therefore there is not much time to stitch.

I do made some progress on the Butterflies on nine-patches. All crosses and half-crosses are stitch up, just the BS are missing. But I am not a big fan of BS-stitching and there are a lot of those in this design. But I will finish it over the weekend for sure.

Than I am also stitching on a little small freebie projects from The workbasket. I am stitching this one on 28ct. light antique blue linen one over one. It's a lot more work than I expected, but I like how it turns out. I was thinking to give this one away as a gift, but I like it so much, maybe I'll keep it for myself.