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!