Happy New Year!

There's bit over 3 hours left of the old year, so I'd better hurry and show the rest of the finishes of 2008.

I finished the Damier at the end of November. Yay! It turned out so beautiful. The design was published by Les Grilles de Maryse throughout 2008. It is stitched on Silkweaver's 32ct Spanish Moss Belfast linen with DMC floss. I'm planning to finish it as a cushion, hopefully sooner than later :-)


Then I finished Chatelaine's Christmas Mystery V. I took it to framer's right away and got it back just for Christmas. I love how it turned out! The lovely fabric is 28ct English Rose Jazlyn. But it doesn't photograph too well, I'm afraid.

And here's a close-up photo to show the frame better:


After Christmas I finished part 6 of Chatelaine's Mystery XI and moved on to part 7. Hope to share a progress picture of that part soon.


And then some older finishes... I stitched this ornament for a birthday card. It's from Tantes Zolder and stitched using Needle Necessities floss.


During my summer holidays I stitched this summer bag. The bag itself is from Violarium and the model, by Margaret Sherry, from Cross Stitcher magazine, issue 201. It was a lovely project, the materials were easy to carry anywhere I went... :-)


This card was for a cousin's wedding in autumn. The letters are from The World of Cross Stitching magazine, issue 141.


With this, I'm wrapping up 2008 and wish everyone a Happy 2009!

Christmas

As Christmas Day is turning into night, it is high time to share with you the wonderful Christmas exchange I received already earlier in December. It was sent to me by Mari.

This exchange included six items: an ornament, two stitching related items, something with recipient's favourite (Christmas) colour, something to eat and a surprise. And this is what I found when I opened the envelope:


I had indicated green as my favourite colour and Mari had stitched my name in the cover of a small green box. It is just lovely! And when I opened the box, I saw all these wonderful items:


The ornament itself is a cube, with stitching on all sides (please visit Mari's blog for more photos of the ornament itself) and a jingle bell inside! What a clever idea! It is so beautiful, the colours are truly lovely! The two stitching related items were floss and fabric (both of shades of green). I already have ideas how to use them... Something to eat was the After Eight chocolate, one of my favourite goodies! As a surprise Mari sent me lovely buttons (they are hiding in the small angel box). I love the ornament, and the box, and the chocolate (which is already long gone :-), and the floss and fabric, and the buttons... And there was a lovely card and equally lovely letter enclosed in the package, too. Thank you, Mari, for such a magnificent package!

I sent an exchange to Outi. I had received the Autumn exchange from her, so it was really nice to plan an exchange for her in return! I stitched her the Snowflake from Mill Hill's Tiny Treasured Diamond series.


And this is the whole package I sent. Let's see if you can find all the items (the ornament, JCS ornament issue 2004 and some backing fabric as stitching related items, silver candles according to her favourite colour, chocolate, and as the surprise: a small blue glass angel, as Outi mentioned angels are one of her favourite themes). There are more photos in Outi's blog.



And to wrap up this long entry, here are some Christmas gifts I made this year:

I stitched another Blue Ribbon Designs' ornament for my goddaughter, this is from the Gift of Stitching magazine December 2007 issue as well:


I also stitched an ornament for a cousin, this one is from Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue 2008. I will add more info later (the magazine is at home and I'm not :-)


I stitched this two-sided ornament for my parents. The dogs are from two different designs by Frimousse. I changed the Cavalier King Charles design a bit to make it look more like the one my parents had. The Bernese Mountain Dog stayed as designed as it would have been more difficult to change (as it is over one and as the two Bernese we've had in our lives so far did not look exactly like one another, of course).


My mother received this bookmark, Le Panier de Marie-Antoinette, by Le Bonheur des Dames, in a package together with a book. It was really fun and quick to stitch and finish.


And these tiny socks were made for my little godson:


I still have other finishes to share; I will try post them before the turn of the year, so please check back!

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas!

October Goals

I have some photos of new finishes, I'll add them when I'll have enough time on hand...

But I thought I'd pop in briefly to write down my goals for this month. They are plenty, as I had to move some from last month to this month... Damier, at least, will finally progress as it will travel with me next week, as I go to France on business.

* Christmas Mystery V, part 9
* Christmas Mystery V, part 10
* Damier, part 7
* Damier, part 8
* Damier, part 9
* Mystery XI, finish beading part 4
* Mystery XI, finish part 5
* Stitch something small for Halloween
* Dig out the Guardian (TW) and put at least few stitches on him

Autumn Exchanges

I received this cute Halloween bag from Outi. And look at the beautiful card she made! She also sent me a couple of blank cards for later use. Thank you for the lovely exchange, Outi! I really like the bag, it is now hanging in my living room for everybody to see and admire!


And this is what I made for Marja-Liisa. She wished for something country styled, with soft, broken colours. I knew immediately that I wanted to stitch Passione Ricamo's Autumn Postcard for her. I decided to finish it as a wall hanging. I used the left over backing fabric to make a small bag, where I put some floss and buttons, as well.

It's done, it's done!

The never ending part, that is... Chatelaine's Mystery XI, part 3:

September Goals

I thought I'd list some goals for September:

* Christmas Mystery, part 9
* Damier, part 7
* Damier, part 8
* Stitch a card for a cousin's wedding
* Mystery XI, part 4
* Continue Egyptian Garden

Cards and swans

Seuraavassa kootut selitykset huonoon menestykseeni ristipisto-olympialaisissa... ;-)

So, here are the explanations for not reaching more goals in the Chatelaine Stitching Olympics... :-)

During the Olympics I stitched this card for my mother's birthday. It was a free kit with, um, Quick and Easy Stitch and Craft magazine, I think.


I also stitched a card for another uncle who turned 70. I had planned to stitch a small, simple design, but my plans changed as I learned what my father and another uncle were planning to give their brother as a birthday gift.

See, my uncle lives by a small lake. A swan family has nested there this summer and he has followed their lives closely all summer. Our summer cottage is by the same lake, and the swans come often to feed and wash up near there.


So, my father and uncle decided to give my another uncle a swan as a gift :-) Isn't he (she?) gorgeous:


It is so very skillfully carved out of a big chunk of wood, by a very skillful craftsman, who has made such animals quite a lot. In fact, my father has received an Eagle Owl from his brothers a few years ago, and we gave a Capercaillie to one of my cousins a couple of years back...

So I wanted the card to reflect the gift, and found this design in a Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine. I had to make changes to the beak, as the design was of a mute swan (Cygnus olor, kyhmyjoutsen), and the ones on the lake are whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus, laulujoutsen). Because of lack of time, I only stitched the swan, and left the bulrush and water lilies out. I quite like how it turned out, a cheerful chubby-cheeked bird :-)

Olympic Results

As I expected, I wasn't able to reach my goals on the Chatelaine Stitching Olympics. Actually, I only finished three... I will explain why in another post :-)

What I did finish were parts 7 and 8 of the Christmas Mystery V. I'm now ready for the 9th part, which was released today.


I also started - finally! - Chatelaine's Egyptian Garden. Yay!


I continued part 3 of Mystery XI, but as it is quite a big part, I didn't manage to finish it. There is still a few hours of stitching left to do.

CSO

I'm participating in the Chatelaine Stitching Olympics. These are my goals:

1. Mystery XI, finish part 3
2. Mystery XI, part 4
3. Christmas Mystery V, part 7
4. Christmas Mystery V, part 8
5. Start Egyptian Garden, stitch at least the center square (minus the fishes)
6. St. Petersburg, part 3
7. Sweete Bag, part 3
8. Japanese Octagon Box, part 9
9. Sweete Bag, part 4
10. Japanese Octagon Box, part 10

That is quite a lot, and I'm not going to reach all of them, but I will at least start Egyptian Garden, and catch up on Christmas Mystery V. Continuing Sweete Bag and Japanese Octagon Box would be nice, they have been waiting in the WIP pile for quite some time now.

Beautiful rain

And plenty of other stuff...


Last night there was this short downpour. As it was just the edge of the cloud, the sun was shining behind the rain. It looked so beautiful.



I don't think that I've shared the latest progress picture of Christmas Mystery V yet. Here's part 6 and a view of the whole mystery so far. Part 7 is still waiting to be started...



And here are some treasures I got hold of at the summer fairs the past two weekends. I'm really hoping to try some of the Karelian embroidery (from the book "Karjalan kirjonta") at some point, and why not some of the laces (and bedcovers and scarfs) from Mary Olki's books, or learn the basics of girls handicrafts (Tyttöjen käsityöt) from Eeva Haavisto's book :-) The books are all from 50's and 60's, though these are not 1st editions.


And lastly a photo of some pretty cute fledglings (swallows, Hirundo rustica). These babies left the safety of their nest last week, and have been learning the ways of the big, big world together with their parents. Here they are waiting to be fed.

Fabulous Forty

I had birthday last week and my co-workers surprised me with this lovely bouquet and a gift card. In the evening I had dinner with my parents and brother. They gave me this lovely basket.

Happy Midsummer!

After three dry Midsummers (when bonfires were not allowed) we finally got to light one up last night. As it was raining a lot, it proved to be a challenge :-) There was a lot of smoke, a lot of sputter and also some fire...

The photo below is from this morning, when a thunderstorm was approaching.

Rain or not, I hope you all have had a lovely Midsummer!

More exchanges and WIPs

In the scissor fob exchange, I received this really cute fob from Marja. She also sent me a lovely needle book. Thank you, Marja, these will be treasured (and put to use)!


On the WIP front, I have two new progress pictures to share. I finished part 2 of Mystery XI on Friday and part 6 of Damier yesterday:

Cards

One of my uncles turned 70 this month and I made him a card. The design is from Cross Stitcher (UK) magazine's "101 cross stitch cards" CD.

Another uncle's wife turned 60 in March. The design is from the World of Cross Stitching magazine's "101 Best Birthday charts (ever!)" booklet:

Exchange

My scissor fob exchange has made it's way to Anne, so I can now share the photos:



The design is from Tantes Zolder blog, stitched on cream 32ct Belfast with Needle Necessities floss. Inside there's an old Belgian coin (5 francs from 1993) to give more weight to the fob. The scissors (Kelmscott Seaton Scissors) in the photos are purely for prop and not included in the exchange ;-) Anne likes autumnal colours, so deciding on the floss colour was quite easy. I'm happy to hear that she really likes the fob. So do I!

I've made progress on some of my cross stitch WIPs. First photo is of the 5th part of Damier, the next one the 5th part of Christmas Mystery V and last one the 1st part of Mystery XI:

Greetings...

...from the land of the pharaohs! What an amazing place!

We cruised from Luxor to Aswan and back and saw many temples and such a beautiful scenery! The above photo is from Abu Simbel, the ones below from the Valley of the Kings (where I saw, among other things, the mummy of Tutankhamon!) and Karnak temple:


Here's couple of lovely sceneries from the Nile, the latter one is from Aswan: