Another finish for 2014

Here's a kit I've had for years and made a very, very small start on at some point. I recently discovered it in my stash and decided it needed to be finished. There's a few similar designs in the series which I may buy. At some point I might even stitch them too!

• Name of the design is Sweet Greeting Gingerbread
• Chart is a beaded kit from Mill Hill. I changed the wording to "sweet treats" from "sweet greetings"
• Fabric is the included 16 count aida band, but I backed the whole thing with stiff white felt
• Thread is the included DMC cotton
• Stitch count is 42 x 79
• Started on January 11th 2014 - this time around
• Completed on January 20th 2014

Look what my hubby made!

For a while I have been wondering what the best way to store my ribbons is. I've gone back and forth on a few different ideas and hubby has made some suggestions and we finally decided on a solution. I have seen many similar designs for cotton reels so you could call this an inflated one. Here it is:

And here it is filled:

Now I'm just trying to decide if I should paint it or not. FYI it cost less than $10. If I wanted another one - I'm thinking my braid collection might need one too - we would just need to buy some more dowel, there's plenty of the other wood left over.

My first finish for 2014

This one took far less time than I was expecting as it's a large project - well, to my anyway. I started this one in late 2013 and finished in early 2014. It's not a great pic, but here it is:

• Name of the design is "Happy Snowman" although I made a few small changes and left some parts out
• Chart is a design by AAN
• Fabric is 28 count snowflake patterned opalescent evenweave from Sew-It-All in Australia
• Thread is DMC #807 for the main cross stitch and #3765 for the back stitched areas
• Stitch count is 157 x 191
• Started on December 28th 2013
• Completed on January 7th 2014

Some tiny finishes - and still seeking Kay!

I've been very slack on posting finishes lately. I have about 6 to share but I'll start with a collection of 4 minis from late December. I've had the frames for about a decade so I thought it was time to dust them off and put them to good use. From memory they were a whole 70 cents each.
Here they are:

Details of them, from left to right:

• Name of the design is Candy Cane I guess, it wasn't listed
• Chart came from a random leaflet or magazine, I didn't keep the details
• Fabric is an offcut of white opalescent evenweave
• Thread is DMC cotton
• Stitch count is 20 x 22
• Started & completed in late December 2013

• Name of the design is another unknown freebie so I've called it blackwork heart
• Chart is a freebie I saved from the internet with no details
• Fabric is a random offcut of evenweave 
• Thread is a variegated sulky thread
• Stitch count is 17 x 17
• Started & completed in late December 2013

• Name of the design is Joy I guess, it had no name
• Chart came from a random leaflet or magazine, I didn't keep the details
• Fabric is an offcut of white evenweave
• Thread is DMC cotton
• Stitch count is 21 x 20
• Started & completed in late December 2013

• Name of the design is not listed so I've called it blackwork owl
• Chart is a freebie from Kincavel Krosses  
• Fabric is an offcut of light mauve evenweave, maybe from Fabtastic fabrics ?
• Thread is a random variagated pink thread, maybe a silk?
• Stitch count is 25 x 29
• Started & completed in late December 2013

Desperately seeking Kay!

I have not heard from Kay so I'm sending out one more shout-out. This is the Kay I'm after. If this is you, can you please email me?

Christmas Joy Exchange

A while back I took part in a "Christmas Joy" exchange through the "Stitch, Create, Exchange" blog. I started a design for this back in September but realised I'd soon run out of the silk thread I was using. I ordered more from the USA late October, and it was shipped early November. I hoped I'd get it in time to finish the project but that soon became evident it wasn't going to happen as the deadline to mail was December 1st and I had to mail to Hungary.

As the guidelines indicated I had to stitch something of a fairly decent size I was worried about starting something new with not much time left. I took a look through some old finishes and came across something that would do. I finished into a large ornament and managed to mail it at the last possible minute.

Here's what I ended up sending to Barbara in Hungary - not my best finishing as I didn't have much in the way of excess fabric around the edges.

This was a secret exchange so the person who sent to me was not the person I sent to. This is what my partner Lisa in Australia sent to me.

Oh, and it was a good thing I didn't wait for the silk to arrive - it came on January 3rd, 2 months after it was sent. Here's a pic of my WIP on the original piece. I planned on adding the word "Joy" in silver inside the Christmas tree to go with the theme, and making the bow which goes at the top in silver too.

December Blogoversary contest winner

Better late than never, right? I seem to be so behind on things lately, I've taken this whole quiet relaxing time too far I think. Anyway, I have drawn the final winner of my blogoversary contest for 2013 and it is "Kay". She posted "Happy new year. The chocolate concoction at the top looks wonderful" in relation to my Christmas meal - and dessert. There seem to be a few followers/posters with a variation on the name Kay so that's why I posted the comment she made.

However, there seems to be no way of contacting you Kay, so I am just hoping that you will read this and contact me. If not, we will be back to the drawing board.