A needle and some thread

Advent calendar - Day 24: Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T06:00:00.003+02:00

My freebie advent calendar has now reached the final day. I show you this pretty Christmas tree and presents from Aliolka. I want to say thanks for all for the lovely comments I have received and all the new readers I've got now!

Merry Christmas to all!

I hope you have all your loved ones with you to share this wonderful time.

Advent calendar - Day 23: Snow!

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000+02:00

Only a little bit of wet snow here at the moment. Do we really have to wait until Christmas Eve to get some snow, if we get some at all... I hope not. So I show this freebie and it will lure the snowflakes here. :) Pattern is Snowflake from Penelopi's cross stitch freebies blog.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!

Advent calendar - Day 22: Noel

2011-12-22T06:00:00.002+02:00

It's almost Christmas Eve. Have you been naughty or nice? Today's freebie is "Noel" from Isazabelle's blog.

Advent calendar - Day 21: Boule Noel

2011-12-21T20:00:00.000+02:00

Oh my... I am so late today posting my freebie of the day. I just have tp confess I have been so busy that I just didn't have time earlier today but I hope this pattern makes up the wait. :) Pattern is from Bien le bonjour aux brodeuses blog: Boule Noel.

Advent calendar - Day 20: Bon Noel 2011

2011-12-20T13:43:00.000+02:00

Christmassy colours: red, green, white! :) This would be lovely if framed or the parts can be used for something smaller.

Santa is almost here! :)

Advent calendar - Day 19: Christmas wonders

2011-12-19T11:02:00.000+02:00

Yet another day, yet another freebie. :) This one wishes you Joy, Hope, Peace, Wonder and Believe.

Advent calendar - Day 18: Bonne annee

2011-12-18T06:01:00.000+02:00

Today's freebie wishes a happy new year but in a Christmassy style. :) Pattern is from Gazette's blog.

Advent Calendar - Day 17: Christmas tree

2011-12-17T13:24:00.000+02:00

It's the third time I show you a pattern by Aliolka. Her patterns just are so pretty. :) Click the picture to go to the pattern.

Advent calendar - Day 16: Noel 2011

2011-12-16T06:00:00.002+02:00

Not so many days left on my Advent calendar. Christmas is getting nearer. The sixteenth freebie pattern of this year comes from Bien le bonjour aux brodeuses blog and it's called Noel 2011. This is from the same blog than my very first freebie of this year. Click the picture to go to the pdf pattern.

Snowy days! :)

Advent calendar - Day 15: Spice bags

2011-12-15T06:00:00.013+02:00

These are really really cute! Spice bags, gift bags, candy bags, what ever you want to put in these cute bags is fine. :) Since the colours are so delicious I might put some Christmas candies in these. :) Patterns are from The World of Cross Stitching magazine.

My blog posts might have been a little bit sweeter lately. A certain someone I met a while ago might have something to do with it since he has brought smiles, joy and happy thoughts in my life. :) I am taking my time to see what will become of this and try not to smile ALL the time, otherwise people at work might start to think I have more screws undone than usual in my head. :D

Advent Calendar - Day 14: Holly Quilt

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000+02:00

Today's freebie requires a bit different kind of stitches. It's a beautiful ornament from The Victoria Sampler. I really like the pretty Christmassy colours.

Advent Calendar - Day 13: Cardinal Heart

2011-12-13T06:00:00.001+02:00

Today's freebie flies to my blog from Kissy-Cross blog. This simple ans stylish cardinal comes to warm our hearts.

A cup of tea and warn hugs!

Advent calendar - Day 12: Cute little Christmas trees

2011-12-12T11:53:00.000+02:00

I had some technical problems this morning but finally I got today's freebie posted. :) These cute little Christmas trees are from Aliolka blog. There are many more so click the picture and see them all.

Advent Calendar - Day 11: Ribbon Reindeer

2011-12-11T07:00:00.004+02:00

This Sunday reveals another one of Daffycat's lovely and gorgeous deer patterns. I just love these, I hope you do too! :) You can get the pattern by sending email to Daffycat (click the picture to go to the blog).

Peaceful Sunday to all!

Advent Calendar - Day 10: Jolly Christmas cards

2011-12-10T08:00:00.002+02:00

Today, the day after the Christmas party ;) , I show you these Jolly Christmas cards from The World of Cross Stitching magazine.Click the picture to download the chart.

Happy Christmas crafting!

Advent Calendar - Day 9: Dance of the gingerbread men

2011-12-09T06:00:00.000+02:00

I am going to a Christmas party tonight and to celebrate that here are these dancing gingerbread men as today's freebie. :) Click the picture to go to the Ant of Sweden site to download the pattern.

Have fun at the Christmas party! :)

Advent Calendar - Day 8: Three small patterns

2011-12-08T06:00:00.002+02:00

Today's patterns could be used example for cards or ornaments. These three small, quickly stitched, patterns are from The CrossStitcher magazine. Click the picture to go and download the patterns.

Happy stitching!

Advent Calendar - Day 7: The Christmas tree

2011-12-07T06:00:00.001+02:00

On the seventh day of my advent calendar we will start decorating the tree. The pattern is called ель (fir) and it's from Aliolka blog.

We have snow! Happy snowy days! :)

Advent Calendar - Day 6: Stocking Reindeer

2011-12-06T14:45:00.000+02:00

The sixth day and I show you one of my favourite patterns: Daffycat's "Stocking Reindeer". :) Her reindeers have made their appearance in my advent calendar in previous years and this year makes no exception. I have stitched all the reindeers and I will stitch this one too before Christmas. :) Click the picture to go to Daffycat's blog. You can get the pattern by sending her email (daffy-cat AT hotmail DOT com).

Peacefull Finland's Independence Day!

Advent Calendar - Day 5: Going to the woods

2011-12-05T05:00:00.002+02:00

Today we take a hike. :) I mean hike to the fir tree forest. There are two versions of today's pattern, they are from Bodil Broderi. Click the links under the pictures to go to the patterns.

Mini Christmas pattern

Christmas part1 and part2

Have fun decorating for Chrismas! :)

Advent Calendar - Day 4 : Winter Wondeland Stocking

2011-12-04T10:49:00.000+02:00

It's the Day four of my advent calendar and there is still time to stitch this lovely Winter Wonderland Stocking before Christmas. Ok maybe you need to be very fast but some are. :) Pattern is from Better Homes & Gardens magazine's website. It requires a registration before you can download the pattern. But if you don't want to registrate send me email or leave a comment with your email address and I'll send the pattern to you.

I didn't forget about the giveaway. :) The winner is Katri!
Congratulations! (She entered in my finnish blog).

Gingerbread house

2011-12-03T14:58:00.000+02:00

I made another gingerbread house. The Tardis I made earlier moved to my working place to meet and greet the fans so I made this pink dreamy house for home. I made a hole in the base so I can put an led candle inside the house. You can print the pattern here (the blog is in Finnish but click the linked word "täältä" and you can download the pdf-pattern). Oh, I just realised this is one more freebie. :D Don't forget to enter the giveaway that I posted about earlier today.

Gingery Christmas greetings!

Advent Calendar - Day 3: GIVEAWAY!

2011-12-03T06:30:00.003+02:00

On the day three my blog presents: a giveaway! :) The prize is the gorgeous "J'arrive" pattern from Tournicoton and Violarium will send it to the winner. You only have until the midnight (Finnish time, check it here) to enter so hurry up and comment on this post to sign in.
(This giveaway also runs in my Finnish blog, so the winner can be from here or from there but you only need to sign in on one blog to enter)

Feeling lucky? :)

Advent Calendar - Day 2: Joy

2011-12-02T09:19:00.000+02:00

On the second day of my advend calendar I show you this beautifull bauble with a lovely message: Joy! The pattern is from Kissy Cross blog. Click the picture to go to the blog to load the pattern.

Happy Christmassy days!

Gingerbread Tardis

2011-12-01T17:16:00.001+02:00

Have you ever watched the TV series "Dr Who"? If so then you'll know what the Tardis is. :) I made a gingerbread Tardis for my work since there are many who love that series (including me :)). My colleague's wife will make Dalek and Uud from marzipan and we'll add them with the Tardis.

Advent Calendar - Day 1: Sapin Aux Baies

2011-12-01T07:00:00.003+02:00

The traditional Freebie Advent Calendar is here again! It's the fourth year now. I hope you'll find wonderfull patterns that you just have to stitch this year. :) There is also some giveaways coming. Be ready since you can only enter to the giveaways on that day.

The first day and the first pattern of this Christmas is from Bien le bonjour aux brodeuses blog. It's called Sapin Aux Baies aka Berry tree.Click the picture to go to the pdf-pattern.

Warm hugs since it's rainy and cold outside!

Mailart that went missing :(

2011-11-04T12:30:00.000+02:00

I stitched an Aunt's Attic themed Mailart for Patricia. I sent it to her in the mid September and she still hasn't received it. :( I guess I have to believe it is lost and I have started to stitch a new one.

Here are pics of the missing/lost/stolen mailart. This is the first time an exchange that I have made has gone missing.

Knitting and crafts fair

2011-10-09T17:40:00.000+03:00

This autumn I found knitting again. When the weather started to cool I found myself admiring lovely knitting patterns, soft yarns and new knitting needles. :) I ordered some yarn, printed some patterns and started knitting. This far I have knitted socks and leg warmers. At the moment I am knitting mittens. It has been fun. :)

The pattern for these socks can be found here: Drops Socks with cables.

I saw many leg warmer patterns online but couldn't find the one I really liked so I made up my own pattern. I really like these chocolate brown leg warmers.

I went to Oulu this weekend. I spent time with my dear friends and cousins and also went to a crafts fair. Here you can see all the lovely bits and pieces that I bought. :)

My blog's summer holiday

2011-08-11T14:03:00.000+03:00

Like the header says I think my blog has been having a loooong summer holiday! :) I have done some stitching but I haven't got around to posting something here. But now that will change as the autumn is coming and when it rains I won't be out and about so much.

I took part in Yahoo groups Mailart exchange. Theme was monochrome, one colour. I stitched the mailart for Marja and used red thread. I stitched with one thread over one. I put some red things inside the mailart.

The front of the mailart:

The back:

I received this lovely rasberry coloured mailart from Paulie. I love it. :)

I also took part in a Bling bling exchange. :) Pirjo is not a big fan of bling bling so I wanted to stitch something practical and stylish. I stitched P as Pirjo on a sparkling fabric with sparkling thread and covered a USB drive with it. On the USB drive I saved a bunch of freebie charts that I have gathered.

I got some beautiful Bling bling from Outi! Se had made this cute box and inside was a tiniest and prettiest little broach. Thank you Outi! :)

Our cross stitch friend Kirsi has had some serious back problems and we wanted to cheer her up. We stitched owls and Ressu sewed them as a blanket. I stitched this little creature with googly eyes. :) It's a freebie but I can't remember where I got the chart from.

I just finished my summer vacation and I've been back at work since Monday. It has been a little bit hard to get up in the morning but I guess next week it will be easier. :) I wasn't at home much on my vacation. Mostly I was in Oulu and that brings us to one reason why I have had less time here and with my stitching: I met a man about three months ago. :) He lives about 260km away so I have traveled there and back and he has been here at my home too. All my friends who live in Oulu (he lives there too) have been saying that I should find a man there and move to Oulu. :D Well now I've met the man! You never know what the future brings and where you live some day. ;)

Cross stitching weekend with lovely like-minded people :)

2011-04-12T17:31:00.003+03:00

I spent the last weekend with the greatest people. I was at Ikaalinen with 20+ other stitching friends having a great stitching weekend arranged by Violarium. I knew some of them before and others I had met here in the blogging world.

I am happy with the stitching that I got done eventhough I felt like most of the time I was laughing so hard I couldn't stitch at all. :D I took some of my Crazy january Challenge projects with me and I got two stitched, one finished and one has a lot more stitches in it.

My fourth Crazy stitching was Brooke's Books' freebie Stitchie Witchie and I got all the stitching done.

My third Crazy stitching was Pelin Tezer's freebie "Zeugma - A Bookmark for Mom" and I got all the stitching done and finished this as a bookmark with lace.

Tralala's "Moutons de saisons" series, the spring, got a few more stitches in it. I had stitched only a small part of the border berfore so I am happy with how much I stitched.

On Saturday morning I heard that my friend Ritva, who was also there at the stitcher's weekend, had her birthday on Saturday! I wanted to make something for her and I stitched this minibiscornu for her using linen fabric and Atalie's thread called Cedre. The chart is a part from Jardin Privét's chart Mini Quakers. It took me a couple of hours to stitch and finish and I gave it to Ritva on Saturday afternoon. Luckily she was sitting on the other end of the table so she couldn't see what I was stitching. :)

We received surprise envelopes from Violarium. The envelopes were waiting us on our beds and of course I had to open it right a way. :) These lovely things were inside:

We also had the Violarium shop open during the weekend. The shop was open all the time that Lennu from Violarium was awake so we could buy lovely things when ever we felt like it. And we did feel like it quite a lot. :D I bought two Nimuë charts, more Atalie's threads, linen band, laced zippers and ribbons. Thank you Lennu for keeping the shop open until the late hours of the day. :)

Here is my place at the table. My projects and my snacks. :) And other picture is taken from the end of our table. There was also another long table full of stitchers and one smaller too.

Pimp my bin

2011-03-27T17:13:00.002+03:00

A second post today! :) See the stitching related one below too.

My old bin in the bathroom was purple. I have no idea why I ever bought a purple bin since I have never had anything purple in my home. Well I finally decided to do something about it, bought the spray paints, printed a nice pic from the internet, cut the stencil and started to paint. I am happy with the result. :)

I found the picture by googling and you can see it here. I left some of it of and changed her lips a little bit so she won't look so sour. :)

"E" as Eija and "Baa" as a sheep

2011-03-27T12:47:00.000+03:00

I took part in a freebie exchange at Finnish exchange blog Lennun ristipistovaihdot. The theme was to stitch and finish something with a freebie chart. I made this little sewing box for Eija. The chart for the "E" in the cover is from Filanthrope Broderies Floral Alphabet chart, I stitched using blue as it's one of Eija's favourite colours. I finished this by covering the box with fabric that has blue tones and also made a padding inside so the scissors and other stuff wouldn't rattle inside it. :) And as I always forget something, this time I forgot to take a photo of the inside, you can see it here.

I got this gorgeous and very neatly finished bag from Anni. She told me that the chart is from gigir.canalblog.com blogi and I just love those sheep! One of my favourite colours is green and this has just the perfect tones of green. Thank you Anni!

The spring should be here by now but we still have minus degrees here in Finland. But the sun is shining and the birds are singing so I think the spring is just around the corner. It really is, look! :D

Button exchange from me to Neili

2011-03-02T22:03:00.000+02:00

I got to stitch the Button exchange to Neili. As soon as I heard that there was going to be an exchange with buttons theme I remembered this chart. I have wanted to stitch this to myself since it appeared in the magazine loooong time ago... and I will some day! :D
I cut a circle of from the lid to mount the stitching to it. I attached the buttons to cardboard pieces, there are four different themes with the buttons: Nature's Creatures, Flower Power, Traditional and Fairytale.

Malli: Stylish Stash from the CrossStitcher magazine issue 214/june 2009

Fabric: 25ct Floba

Stitched with on thread over one

Pistelty yhdellä säikeellä yhden langan yli

Button exchange from Marelo

2011-03-01T21:59:00.000+02:00

In Pretty Exchanges-blogs button exchange I got a package from Marelo. She stitched me a cute little button box and inside was many cute little buttons. :) I really like those owls and mushrooms. Thanks Marelo!
I will show you pictures of the exchange that I stitched as soon as I've had confirmation that it has reached it's destination. :)

Chocolate Mailart Exchange

2011-02-24T18:45:00.000+02:00

I took part in a Mailart exchange in a Yahoo group. The theme was chocolate, yummy! I stithed a hot chocolate MA to Connie to Germany. The pictures are from the Yahoo group, taken by Connie. I took some photos but they were out of focus so luckily Connie had a better aim. :) Our post office didn't have any chocolate stamps but I found these funny creatures and it looks like they are sailing in a chocolate river. :) I put two hot chocolate bars and scissors inside the MA.

Photos by Connie

I received a beautiful MA from Paulie from Netherlands. Pastries, cupcakes, chocolate! What a delicious MA! Thank you Paulie!

Aleena

2011-02-13T16:32:00.000+02:00

My dear friend had a little girl about three weeks ago. I wanted to make something for her and I found this lovely pattern by Laura Uusitalo. The baby is so tiny and cute! I was happy to give her something cute and handmade. :)

Pattern: Aleena (free pattern in Finnish here, in English in Ravelry)

Yarn: Gjestal Maija, about 90g, colour 271

Needles: 3,5mm 60cm circular, 3,5mm double-pointed knitting needles

Sari + knitting = not a good combination?

2011-01-24T11:37:00.002+02:00

I have seen so many Crazy January Challenges ready in many blogs. I started knitting for a change and cross stitching is now on hold. But my knitting project hasn't gone as planned. I knew that because the yarns is thicker the result will maybe be a teeny tiny bit bigger and I don't need to knit the gauge swatch... Yeah right! It was supposed to be a dress for a new born but it's now a dress for about one year old toddler. So I will stash it as soon as I'll finish it and start with another pattern. There was nothing wrong with the pattern though, just the yarn, but I don't want to knit the same thing again so I'll change to another pattern. :) And this time I will use the same kind of yarn that the pattern uses and maybe I should knit the gauge swatch too... :D I'll post some pictures later of both of the dresses. And I will continue cross stitching as soon as the dresses are ready... in the near future I hope. :)

Me knitting? ;)
(In the picture: Actress Rosalind Russell, at 1940's)

Shopping some socks and a new start

2011-01-17T21:44:00.001+02:00

For a long time I have wanted to have woolly socks knitted from the Novita 7 Veljestä Raita yarn. I just haven't had the time to knit so I asked Nöpöstiina if she could help me. I bought these beautiful socks from her and she made these after my wishes, just the right size and short cuff, the way I like them. Thank you Nöpöstiina! :) Go and see her beautiful hand crafts that she is selling here on Nöpöstiinan Lipasto blog. Beautiful socks and everything! I just wish I could make so many wonderful things.

You can also see my new start in the picture. Yarn is Marks&Kattens' Eco Baby Ull Color. Later (hopefully not too much later) I'll show you what that funny looking knitting is turning into.

In the picture: Socks knitted by Nöpöstiina

Crazy January Challenge, all the new wips

2011-01-16T16:03:00.000+02:00

All the fifteen new wips are now started and it's time to move on. Before that a little report of my Crazy January Challenge 2011 projects. I started to stitch four freebies, two Little House Needleworks charts, five Tralalas, two Christmas ornaments from the JCS Christmas Ornaments 2011 magazine, one Jardin Prive and one Lizzie Kate chart. Many different styles just for the change and because I like so many different styles. :) It's the same with music, almost everything goes except for most of the Finnish folk music, the heaviest heavy music and too confusing arrangements. I got two ready and one of those also finished. It may tell you something about my compulsive stashing that I only bought four Atalie threads and one DMC thread for my sheep charts. All the fabrics, charts and the rest of the threads are from my stash and there is still loads of stuff in that very same stash... :D

1) Little House Needleworks "Pumpkins 4-Sale"
2) Mausimom's freebie "Japan Girl"

3) Pelin Tezer freebie "Zeugma - A Bookmark for Mom"

4) Brooke's Books freebie Stitchie Witchie

5) Victoria Sampler Designs "Christmas Robin" (Just Cross Stitch magazine, Christmas Ornaments)

6) Jardin Privé "Moment de Calme"

7) Lizzie Kate "Tea Crazy"

8) Little House Needleworks "Nature's Beauty"

9-12) Collection Tralala "Moutons de saisons: Automne, Hiver, Printemps & Été"

13) Cosmic Handmade freebie "SomeBunny"

14) La-D-Da " 'Tis Red" (Just Cross Stitch magazine, Christmas Ornaments)
15) Tralala Collection "Demoiselle d'Halloween"

Crazy January Challenge 15/15 "Demoiselle d'Halloween"

2011-01-15T17:15:00.000+02:00

Today I started my last start for the Crazy January Challenge 2011. It has been so much fun but I also think it will be fun to finish all these projects I've started. This challenge has given me my stitching mojo back. Last year I didn't feel like stitching, knitting or anything much and this has given me a good kick start for the year 2011. Thank you Minna for the great idea! :)

Chart: Tralala Collection "Demoiselle d'Halloween"

Fabric: 40ct Newcastle linen

Stitched with one thread over one

Crazy January Challenge 14/15 " 'Tis Red"

2011-01-14T20:56:00.003+02:00

For the second to last chart for the Crazy January Challenge 2011 I chose a small chart and one colour. The chart is from the Just Cross Stitch magazine's Christmas Ornaments 2010 issue. The size of the whole stitching is going to be just a bit over 5cm.

Chart: Just Cross Stitch, Christmas Ornaments - La-D-Da " 'Tis Red"

Fabric: Black 30ct linen

Stitched with one thread over one with Atalie's thread "Lie de vin"

Crazy January Challenge 13/15 "SomeBunny"

2011-01-13T23:10:00.001+02:00

Only two starts left but then the real "work" starts when we continue stitching our crazy starts. Luckily we have the whole year to complete them. Today I was hit by a bunny boom. I thank my blog friend from the blog Sisiliskokset since I helped her to find bunny charts and then had to start one myself. :D Also I noticed that I am stuck with stitching with one thread over one. It just makes everything so pretty. This time I started to stitch the main character right away, I've had enough of stitching borders for a while. ;)

Chart: Cosmic Handmade freebie "SomeBunny"

Fabric: 25ct white evenweave
Stitched with one thread over one

Crazy January Challenge 12/15 "Moutons de saisons: Été"

2011-01-12T21:47:00.001+02:00

Today I started the last one of the seasonal sheep patterns, the summer. I am quite pleased with how much I got done and I think I found my new favourite thread from Atalie. I liked the colour Rubis most before but the Lie de vin is now the one I love the best. The colours is soooo delicious. I also put some evidence that I did indeed start four charts and haven't just showed you the same bumpy edge for the past four days. ;)

Chart: Collection Tralala "Moutons de saisons: Été"

Fabric: 25ct Floba

Stitched with one thread over one

Crazy January Challenge 11/15 "Moutons de saisons: Printemps"

2011-01-11T22:36:00.001+02:00

This might get a bit boring to watch since it's the third bumpy edge I show you! :D But this time is part of the spring sheep chart AND these are all stitched with different colours! :) You can see the autumn at the top, I started that on Sunday. I am stitching these in to a square on the same fabric.

Chart: Collection Tralala "Moutons de saisons: Printemps"

Fabric: 25ct Floba (surprise surprise! :D)

See the chart better at Violarium.

Stitched with one thread over one

Crazy January Challenge 10/15 "Moutons de saisons: Hiver"

2011-01-10T23:11:00.000+02:00

Ten projects started, five to go. Only two are sure things, the final three will still be a mystery even to me. What in the earth will we do on Sunday when we don't have a new start ahead of us? Maybe we'll continue stitching our Crazy January Challenge charts. I might finish the bookmark I started on the day three. This has been so much fun starting all these new charts eventhough I have heard people calling us crazy. :) Well crazy or not but sure has been fun! Today I started another seasonal sheep chart, this time the winter. You can see my yesterday's start peeking from under the model picture.

Chart: Collection Tralala "Moutons de saisons: Hiver"

You can see the chart on Violarium.

Fabric: 25ct Floba

Stitched with one thread over one

Crazy January Challenge 9/15 "Moutons de saisons: Automne"

2011-01-09T22:45:00.001+02:00

Today was my lazy day. I slept late and just relaxed ant took it easy today. I got some stitching done, not a lot but start is a start even with one stitch. :) I started one of the Tralala's seasonal sheep patterns. I'll stitch them all on the same fabric and today I started the autumn.

Chart: Collection Tralala "Moutons de saisons: Automne"
See the chart here

Fabric: 25ct Floba

Stitched with one thread over one

Crazy January Challenge 8/15 "Nature's Beauty"

2011-01-08T23:18:00.001+02:00

Today I started to stitch one of my favourite charts. I've had it quite some time but I've forgotten to stitch it! :) When I was looking through my charts for the CJC I came across this one and on to the list it went. At the beginning I had some trouble stitching since I was also wathing tv, reading blogs and listening to music = I made mistakes. :D Luckily I spotted the mistakes quickly so I didn't have to frog a lot.

Chart: Little House Needleworks "Nature's Beauty"

Fabric: Zweigart 40ct Newcastle linen

Stitched with two threads over two

I love this poem on the chart:

"I am humbled

by the beauty

of a flower

in the breeze

Surrounded by an orchestra

Of softly buzzing bees"

Christmas presents to my dear family members :)

2011-01-08T15:02:00.001+02:00

I totally forgot to post about these Christmas presents that I made. My little brother and big sister are both Mercedes Benz fans so I made them scarfs from a black fleece and I painted the logo on the both ends with a silvery fabric paint. I guess they liked the presents. :) For my brother's fiancee I sewed a Weekender Travel tote that I found a free pattern for from the blog Sew Spoiled. Pattern here. Only thing that I didn't like while making it was that I used too thick interfacing fabric. It was a bit hard to sew because of that. Next time I will use that only for the bottom. But you can bet that this is a one sturdy bag now! :D

Crazy January Challenge 7/15 "Tea Crazy"

2011-01-08T01:43:00.002+02:00

I started to stitch this on Friday night and wanted to get this ready too so that's why I didn't post before midnight. After taking a three hour nap after work I have energy to stay up late so I finished this. :) Saturday's start will have to wait until the sun rises.

I have wanted to stitch a tea themed chart for my tea jar and I like this Lizzie Kate chart called "Tea Crazy". I changed the chart a bit so it fitted to the side of the jar and changed the colours to ones that I like better.

Chart: Lizzie Kate's "Tea Crazy"

Fabric: 28ct Brittney evenweave

Stitched with two threads over two with

DMC's threads 300, 3348, 3350, 3354, 3364 and bright white.

Crazy January Challenge 6/15 "Moment de Calme"

2011-01-06T21:40:00.002+02:00

I had some difficulties starting this since I couldn't decide whether to stitch it one over one or two over two threads. I chose one over one and now I am not sure it was the right decision since it has not been a joy to stitch for one reason or another. I like the chart and I like the colours so I guess if it starts to feel too bad to stitch this I'll start again two over two. Or maybe my mojo is missing today and everything will feel nicer tomorrow. :)

Chart: Jardin Privé "Moment de Calme"

Fabric: 28ct Cashel linen, colour: raw

Stitched with one thread over one

Crazy January Challenge 5/15 "Christmas Robin"

2011-01-05T17:48:00.002+02:00

My fifth start in the Crazy January Challenge 2011 is a quick start of little robin. It's from the Just Cross Stitch magazine's Christmas Ornaments 2010 issue. I want to send thanks to the lovely person who sent me the magazine. :)

Chart: Just Cross Stitch, Christmas Ormanents - Victoria Sampler Designs "Christmas Robin"

Fabric: 28ct Cashel linen, colour: raw

Stitched with two threads over two

Crazy January Challenge 4/15 "Self portrait" ;) & TUSAL

2011-01-04T21:48:00.000+02:00

As this challenge goes further I keep changing my list. And more and more of the charts are great freebies. I remembered this chart a couple of days ago and I just had to start it since it's like my "self portrait", a witch with a needle. :D Designer is Brooke's Books and you can download the chart if you are a member of a Yahoo Group "bbinteractive". But the chart says that it "may be reproduced for newsletter or handout but may not be kitted and sold" so if you want it but don't want to join the group I guess it's ok for me to email it to you.

Chart: Brooke's Books freebie "Stitchie Witchie"

Fabric: 30ct handdyed linen (from Violarium)

Stitched with two thread over two

I also took part in Totally Useless Stitch-a-long or TUSAL. Here is my ort jar in this first new moon of the year. :)

Crazy January Challenge 3/15 "Zeugma"

2011-01-03T22:32:00.002+02:00

Crazy January Challenge continues and I have to confess that for this third start I got an inspiration from Amalia from the blog Mummon kammarissa. :) She has started to stitch this and I just like this so much that I had to add it to my list too. I stitched about 60% of the chart this evening.

Chart: Pelin Tezer freebie "Zeugma - A Bookmark for Mom"

Fabric: black 30ct linen

Stitched with two threads over two with DMC Colour Variations 4030

The colour looks very blue in the picture, the real colour is this one:

Crazy January Challenge 2/15 "Japan Girl"

2011-01-02T19:14:00.000+02:00

Today I got a better start. And infact a finish too. :) I found this chart from Mausimom's Freebies and modified it a bit to make it look more like the real Kokeshi doll that I have.

Chart: Mausimom's freebies "Japan Girl"

Fabric: 32ct evenweave

Stitched with two over two threads.

Crazy January Challenge 1/15 "Pumpkins 4-Sale"

2011-01-01T23:58:00.000+02:00

This is my first new start in Crazy January Challenge 2011. Not much I know but I hope I'll pick up the speed from now on as the party season is behind us. :)

Chart: Little House Needleworks "Pumpkins 4-Sale"

Fabric: Permin of Copenhagen 28ct linen, colour: Sandstone

Reindeer guarding some spices

2010-12-27T09:57:00.000+02:00

On the 13th Day of my Advent Calendar I showed you the Mistletoa Reindeer chart, designed by Daffycat. I stitched the reindeer and finished it as small sac. I put some glögi spices inside the sac. Glögi is a Finnish Christmas drink, much like Glühwein or mulled wine. I also added a box of chocolate with the glögi spice sac and sent them to Japan to my friend Michiko. You can find the chart at Daffycat's blog here.

The Advent Calendar - Day 24: Christmas kisses

2010-12-24T07:59:00.003+02:00

This is the last day of my this years Freebie Advent Calendar and I present to you: Christmas kisses! :) Here are two charts to celebrate the Christmas. Click the pics to go to the charts.

Merry Christmas!

The Advent Calendar - Day 23: Gingerbread House

2010-12-23T08:18:00.000+02:00

In Finland Santa arrives tomorrow and so many people are happily opening their lovely gifts. :) Some people may have some time to do some crafts still if they have finished all their Christmas preparations. I am leaving after work to my mum's to celebrate Christmas so I have no time to sit down and stitch or sew.

Today's freebie is a delicious looking felt gingerbread house.Click the pic to go to the tutorial.

Happy Christmas!

The Advent Calendar - Day 22: Noel heart

2010-12-22T12:26:00.001+02:00

I was sewing a gift yesterday and suddenly the needle on my sewing machine broke. I couldn't turn the screw to change it since it was so tight. And I only had one seam to sew! Well this morning when I was leaving for work I desided to try again and it turned! So I can finish the gift today, what a relief! :)

Today's freebie is a Noel heart from Marjorie Massey. Click the picture to go to the chart.

Would you like to move to Finland, we have -20C and it's getting colder?!

Better keep your mittens on! :)

The Advent Calendar - Day 21: Fabric ornaments

2010-12-21T06:08:00.000+02:00

Only a couple of days left before Christmas and only a couple of freebies left. I found today's freebie via Lennu's blog. Lennu got one as a surprise gift from her friend and I really liked it. She also had the link to the tutorial at Katrina's Tutorials blog so I went to see how these are made and made four of them! :) They are really nice and quick to make so there's plenty of time to make a few before Christmas. Click the picture to go to the tutorial.

Santa is nearly here, let's be extra nice! :)

The Advent Calendar - Day 20: Christmas reindeers

2010-12-20T10:01:00.003+02:00

Today I show you two freebies. This Christmas reindeer pattern comes from Stickeule blog. They are so cute that maybe you'll stitch both of them? :) Click the pictures to go to the blog where you can find the patterns.

Have a great Christmas week!

The Advent Calendar - Day 19: Winter Caroler

2010-12-19T22:11:00.000+02:00

I have lived through a rough weekend and now I will end it with today's freebie. The freebie is from Gingercake blog and it's name is Winter Caroler. These cute singers are easy to sew and you might want to make a whole bunch of them. :) Click the picture to go to the blog and there you can download the pdf-pattern.

Have a great Christmas time!

The Advent Calendar - Day 18: Sapin 2010

2010-12-18T16:33:00.000+02:00

Today's freebie is a very stylish Christmas tree from Chez Elisa blog. The chart it called "Sapin d'Elisa 2010". Click the picture to go to the blog and there you can find the chart.

Yesterday I had a giveaway at my blog and I used the random generator to draw the winner and it's the comment number 6. So the winner is Vinniey! Congratulations! :) I will post the prize next week. I hope it gets there before Christmas.

The Advent Calendar - Day 17: A surprise giveaway

2010-12-17T08:01:00.000+02:00

My Finnish blog has a blogaversary today. It's three years since I first started blogging. :) So it's time to have a surprise giveaway. Leave a comment on this post before midnight, Finnish time, check the time here. And as the name says the prize is a surprise. :)

Good luck!

Christmas exchange packages

2010-12-16T23:07:00.000+02:00

I took part in a Finnish Christmas exchange.
Marja sent me this gorgeous gift! I am so over the moon with this! :) First I saw this wonderful bag that she had sewn from a cutest sheep fabric ever. Then inside the bag was a box that was stitched and finished so beautifully. I love that Tralala pattern. AND inside the box was the card and cute mouse Christmas ornament. I feel so happy, I love this exchange! :) Thank you Marja!

I sent a gift to Ulla. I know she likes American style Santas so I stitched two Santas and finished them as a Christmas card pocket that can be hanged on the wall. The buttons are from my Grandma's endless suply of buttons, real vintage. :) I also sewed Santa's sac for her. I found the fabric picture last year at the Crafts fair and sewed it on the sac.

The Advent Calendar - Day 16: Personalized Placemats

2010-12-16T13:41:00.000+02:00

I've eaten the chocolate from my advent calender so now it's time to show you today's freebie. It's a pattern for personalized placemats for your Christmas table from Chris Warnick from Frecklemama blog. Click the picture to go to the tutorial.

Oh it's cold here in Finland! I hope you have warmer weather!

The Advent Calendar - Day 15: Angel Wings

2010-12-15T21:18:00.000+02:00

Today's freebie comes a bit later at the night again. I have a Christmas flu or something, sinuses (and brain...) blocked and some fever so I've been getting some rest. Now it could be time to stitch something bigger and really cute, like Margaret Sherry's Angel Wings. This cat makes me go Squee! :)

Chart is once again from Coats Crafts' Bulgarian website so finding the link there could be a bit of a challenge. Click the picture to go to the site and there you can find the link with a small pdf icon next to it.

I hope you keep healthy!

The Advent Calendar - Day 14: Owlivia

2010-12-14T08:00:00.017+02:00

I think Santa might still have some room in is sac for yet another present. So here comes a great free pattern called Owlivia from Sandy Gervais. Easy to sew and still a hoot! :) Click the picture to go to the tutorial.

Have a very merry Tuesday!

The Advent Calendar - Day 13: A Mistletoe Reindeer

2010-12-13T08:00:00.000+02:00

The 13th day comes with much waited design. Thank you Daffycat for another adorable reindeer pattern! :)
She just published this one yesterday and I just had to add it here as soon as possible so many of you can have a change to stitch it before Christmas. So here comes A Mistletoe Reindeer by Daffycat. Click the picture to go to her blog post and there's a link to the chart.

Can you hear the jingle bells?

The Advent Calendar - Day 12: A Pea Pod Purse

2010-12-12T21:48:00.000+02:00

Today's freebie post comes a bit late at the evening since I've had so much to do today, mainly sewing. If you like to sew something nice here comes a lovely purse pattern from Ottobre Design. The Pea Pod Purse's pattern and instructions are in English, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch and German. Click the picture to download the pdf-file.

Have fun and enjoy the Christmas time!

The Advent Calendar - Day 11: Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

2010-12-11T10:01:00.015+02:00

... or maybe not just yet but we might have just enough time to get this Santa stitched and ready for the Christmas. :)

Gazette94 blog's chart "Bon Noel" can be found by clickin the picture.

While you are stitching you can listen to this Christmas carol and wonder our language since it's in Finnish. :) You can also find the lyrics if you click and watch it in Youtube and wonder even more when you see how we write our language. :D

Warm thoughts and hugs to everyone!

The Advent Calendar - Day 10: Scrappy Christmas Stockings

2010-12-10T11:33:00.000+02:00

I hope you have found something nice to stitch or sew from my Advent Calendar. Or since there are many so days left the favourite project is yet to come. :)

Today we sew some Christmas stockings. This Our Cozy Nest's pattern "His and Her Scrappy Christmas Stockings" is sewn from Christmassy fabric scpraps. Click the picture to go to the tutorial.

Happy stitching days!
(I just noticed that I had accidentally written this text yesterday in Finnish. My mind is just all over the place... Word to word it means Happy Christmas wait.)

The Advent Calendar - Day 9: The Crown of Cherries

2010-12-09T08:10:00.002+02:00

Today's freebie chart has a beautiful name: Crown of Cherries. Well, it's Couronne de Cerises really but it sounds so pretty in English too. And in Finnish it's Kirsikkakruunu, I like that one too. :) The chart is from the Grilles Anciennes site. Click the picture and you'll get to a site that has other freebies too, the Crown of Cherries is on the left side. Clicking it will open the pdf-chart.

Iloista joulunodotusta!

The Advent Calendar - Day 8: Oopsie

2010-12-08T19:50:00.000+02:00

Today's freebie is something to sew again. I could see this as Christmas gifts in all the colours of the world. :) So cute is this Oopsie the Octopus by Melly & Me. Click the picture to go to the tutorial. Have fun sewing!

Funny and whimsical December days!

The Advent Calendar - Day 7: Winter Biscornu

2010-12-07T16:50:00.000+02:00

Thank you all for your support and kind words. They are really appreciated in this hard time. *hugs to all*

Today is the seventh day of my calendar and I will show you this gorgeous biscornu pattern called "Winter Bircosrnu" by The Victoria Sampler (designer: Thea Dueck). Click the pic and you'll see a couple of different versions and you can download all three versions from the website. Have fun stitching!

Keep yourself warm on the cold winter days!

The Advent Calendar - Day 6: Little Lamb Pillows

2010-12-06T19:33:00.001+02:00

Today is Finland's Independence Day. It has also been a very hard day for me since my dear grandmother passed away last night. That is why I haven't got around to post today's Advent Calendar post until now.

Today's freebie is a Little Lamb Pillow pattern. Click the picture and you'll go to the tutorial on The Purl Bee blog.

In memory of my grandma.

The Advent Calendar - Day 5: Christmas Alphabet

2010-12-05T13:09:00.001+02:00

On this lovely Sunday, the fifth day of my Advent Calendar, I will show you a big bunch of charts! I found this from the Bulgarian site of Coats Crafts. The chart is called Коледна азбука, Christmas alphabet. Click the picture to go to the site and there click the link "Схеми за работа (zip)".
The chart is packed and it's a .zip-file. On most of the computers the Windows has it's own unpacking program but if you can't unpack it you can also download a free evaluation version of WinZip here, scroll down to see the button "Click here to download now". Email me if you have any problems.

Great stitching days to all!

The Advent Calendar - Day 4: Casserole Carrier

2010-12-04T15:17:00.001+02:00

Day four and another freebie! :) This handy carrier bag is designed by Jenny Garland and it's called Casserole Carrier. You can use it to carry food at Christmas time if needed or make something really delicious, put it in the carrier and give as a gift. And it can still be hot and you still won't burn your fingers! :) I just loved the idea when I first saw this. I hope you like it too. Click the picture to go to the instructions.

If you get inspired to sew or stitch something you've seen here I would love to see some photos. Please send me an email with the picture and detaisl and I'll blog about it. Or leave me a comment and a link to your blog if you have blogged about it yourself.

Have a very merry December! :)

The Advent Calendar - Day 3: Mr. and Mrs. C

2010-12-03T11:44:00.000+02:00

On the third day the Mr Christmas himself will make an appearance. With his Mrs of course. :) Brooke's Books chart "Mr. and Mrs. C" has lovely portraits of our Christmassy couple. Click the image to download the pdf-file.

This morning we had the draw among all the lovely comments that were left here and in my Finnish blog yesterday. The grand master of the draw was my colleague Lasse and in our nerdy way we used a smartphone box. :)

The winner is Katri. Congratulations to Katri and a big thank you for all the nice comments!

Santa's coming, let's be nice! ;)

The Advent Calendar - Day 2: Giveaway

2010-12-02T13:09:00.002+02:00

On the Day 2 of my Advent calendar I present to you the first giveaway! :)

The prize for the giveaway is Barbara Ana's new chart "Christmas pals"!
The winner will get instructions to her(/his) email how to download the pattern from Creative Poppy. I purchased this chart just for this giveaway and the email comes straight from Creative Poppy.

The only way to take part in this giveaway is to comment on this blog post today, on the 2nd of December, before midnight, the Finnish time. Check here what time it is in Finland at the moment. :) I would love it if you would also leave a finishing idea for the chart with your comment. (This giveaway is also in my Finnish blog)

Enjoy the Advent time!

The Advent Calendar - Day 1: Kokeshi doll

2010-12-01T17:05:00.003+02:00

The Freebie Advent Calendar starts again in my blog! Should I say The Traditional Advent Calendar since this is the third time already. :)

This year it's a bit different since I will also show you some lovely sewing patterns and maybe a giveaway or two in addition to the cross stitch charts. Remember to be quick when the giveaways open since you only have that day to add a comment and take part in the draw.

I have chosen the sewing patterns with Christmas in mind. They are easy to make and maybe you'll find some ideas for gifts too.

On this first day I chose to go with the new style so here is a sewing pattern from Melly & Me. It's called Kokeshi Stuffie and as we don't want to rush into new things head first there is also some traditional embroidery on it. ;) You can also use fabric markers for the details if you like. Click the image and you will go to the Melly & Me blog, there on the right column a bit further down you will find the link to the pdf-chart under Free Download (same image there).

Snowy Winter Greetings!

Some stitching and Crazy January Challenge 2011

2010-11-12T16:15:00.001+02:00

I have stitched some. Not as much as I've hoped to but at least I have started again.

Ritva sent me a picture of the fridge magnet I stitched for her as I forgot to take a picture of it. It's a part of the chart Pumpkin keeper from The Drawn Thread.

I started to stitch this Halloween chart a while ago. It's called "Un tour dans mon Sac" from C Mon Monde. Although it s a Halloween chart I think it will look good all year round on my wall. :) It's not finished yet but here is wip pic. The fabric is really not that pink, it's more purple but the sun was going down and the camera didn't catch the real tones.

Minna is organizing a Crazy January Challenge 2011 on blog. I try to wake up my stitching mojo and take part to this crazy thing. :) I have chosen some charts I want to start in January. The trick is to start one chart on every day until 15th on January and then finish these during the year 2011. I chose smaller charts so I have a change to finish them. :) I have mostly chosen Lizzie Kate and Bent Creek charts, there's also one from Little House Needlework and The Trilogy.

I only have the Lizzie Kate FlipIt charts from January to April. I would love to have the rest of the months too so if you have any of them I am more than willing to buy them. Please send me email if you can help: srinity (at) wippies dot com

I almost brushed all the snow of from my patio yesterday but then thought that the snow looks so pretty that I will let it be. That was a goog thing since I would have not noticed these paw prints if I brushed the patio. :) I have seen a young rabbit many times on my yard. He likes to sit in my car's roofed place. I guess the wind doesn't blow on that spot and it's a bit warmer there. I haven't been able to take a photo of the little bunny yet but take my word: he is really cute. :)

Crafts fair finds and my birthday last month

2010-10-15T17:03:00.000+03:00

Last weekend I drove all the way up to Oulu and Muhos (about 260km north-west from my home) to meet my dear friends and to go to a crafts fair in Oulu. I was so happy to see my friends Ritva, Marja and Lennu! :) Ritva had stitched me a surprise needlebook with sheep on it! I love it, thank you Ritva! I stitched her a pumpkin from The Drawn Threads chart Pumpkin Keeper and finished it as a fridge magnet. And as usual I forgot to take a photo of it. :D

In the picture below is my new stash that I invested my money in. See, I did not spend I invested. ;) Charts, threads, ribbons and purple hand dyed linen fabric are from Violarium. I had to buy the Moutons de saisons sheep charts autumn and winter since I got the spring and summer ones for my birthday. They will make a beautiful four season series.

I also bought some jewelry parts, knitting yarns, fabrics, a sad fox that wanted to move to my home, wooden bits and pieces for crafts, felting wool etc etc. I am quite happy with my new stash. :)

My birthday was in 9th of September. I haven't been blogging lately so these pics come here so very late. :) I took part in Finnish birthday exchange and I received these gorgeous gift last month.

Heidi stiched me a lovely sheep card. She didn't know that I actually love bag pipes too. :) She also sent me two pieces of stitching fabric, threads, beads and wooden heart. Thank you Heidi for this lovely gift!

Kirsi had wrapped her gift in the fabric and fluffy ribbon that are on the left in the pic. I love this sheep tote that she made me! There was also some sheep charts by Tralala and Atalie thread for it. Thank you Kirsi!

A modified dress

2010-08-22T18:34:00.001+03:00

Last spring I bought a demin dress that is quite short and I did intend to wear it this summer. Weather-wise it would have been ok since we had the hottest summer ever (over 30C for weeks) but as the time went by the dress seemed shorter and shorter. So as it was on it's way to becoming a no-use-item I decided I'll try to modify it to make it more decent. :)

The dress before. When I had it on and tried to put my shoes on everyone could see more of me than I would have liked... :D And the ruffle around the waist made it look like a tutu or a bit too much "little girlie"-like.

First I removed the ruffle from the waist. It immidiately looks a bit calmer and better. (See how I only have one leg! Luckily the other pics show that the left leg is still hanging in there :D).

Then I sewed the removed ruffle to the back of the dress and made the dress a bit longer.

For the final touch I added some studded ribbon to make the dress more "rock". :) the back got much longer eventhough I added just one strip of fabric.

Some might still consider this too short but this is what I'll wear next Saturday when I go out with my friends. :) I will just add a pair of tights and long boots to feel a bit less "naked" :)

A birthday exchange for Kirsi and A Wonderful Summer for Leena

2010-08-10T17:04:00.001+03:00

These have arrived at their destinations so here are some pics and stories. :)

First one I stitched for a "Wonderful Summer" exchange for Leena. The pattern is one of the two pattersn from "Floralie No1" from Taralala. I stitched it with Atalie threads, one over on on Floba. I really like this pattern and I think I'll stitch the other one for myself. :) I finished this as a pinkee. The fabric on the back is from Moda Fabrics, from a layer cake called "Blush".

Number two today is a birthday exchanged to Kirsi. I stitched her the "L'Heure du Thé - Tea Time" from Tralala and finished it also as a pinkeep. Also stitched on Floba with Atalie one over one. And the back is also from "Blush". I think it fitted this one perfectly.

And for once I rememberd to take a photo of the whole birthday package. :) I put in a Tralala pattern called "ABC poule" and Atalie threads for it and also a small cute purse (which is now used by Kirsi's daughter I heard :)).

Mailart to Aw

2010-08-04T19:51:00.000+03:00

I took part in a "Stitching accessories" mailart exchange on a Yahoo group in the beginning of July. It took me a while before showing it here. I stitched mailart for Aw who lives in Malaysia. I used a new technic to finish the mailart. I used a ribbon that has glue on both sides and it stitcks to the fabric when ironed.I guess it worked since it was still intact when it arrived in Malaysia. :) Patterns are from a book "Cross stitch and embroidery on red, white and blue". Buttons are from my grandma's button jar. She used to weave carpets and she cut the weaves herself and put the buttons in a jar. I used to play with the buttons when I was little. :)

I like the lace pattern I used on the flap. I think it looks very delicate and pretty.

Details:

Later this week I will show you two other exchanges I've made. I have been a really bad exchange partner this summer since I have mailed almost all my exchanges late. I want to apologise that from my exchange partners. This summer has been really tough and the situation ended up in me and my husband separating a couple of week ago. So now I am learning to live alone again. I want to tell you that eventhough I feel sad I am also somewhat relieved. And that I am doing fine now.

"A wonderful summer" -exchange from Leena

2010-07-18T15:18:00.000+03:00

I got this beautifiul sachet from Leena. The theme for the exchange was "A wonderful summer".Thank you Leena so much, I love it! Now I am thinking what kind of treasures will I keep on it. :) There was also a lovely card with birdhouses so the package had my favourite things. :)

A beautiful Mailart from Maleysia

2010-07-12T20:32:00.000+03:00

I took part in a mailart exchange at a Yahoo group. I got this awesome mailart / project case from Aw from Maleysia. The theme was Stitching Accessories and she had stitched scissors, needles, threads etc. with a beautiful thread. I love it, thanks Aw! :)

Mine is still on it's way, so no pics yet.

Good news and Happy Midsummer fest

2010-06-24T21:38:00.002+03:00

Once again comes a time that things happen very quickly in my life. This time I have positive news. :) On next Tuesday I will go and sign a new employment contract so from 5th of July I am no longer unemployed! I found a job! It all started yesterday when I found out about the job. Today I had the job interview in the morning (it was 1,5h long and the best job interview I have ever been in) and just before 4 p.m. I got a call that they wanted me to come and work for them. Eventhough I thought earlier about changing to a whole different line of business after this job opportunity I am happy to stay in information technology. My new titel is "information systems specialist", sounds fancy doesn't it. ;) This job is so much better for me than my old one and I trust my new bosses and the company. I started to be a bit nervous about how long I will be unemployed and also worried about the financial side of it. I am so relieved now! Tomorrow we celebrate the Midsummer here in Finland and now I also have another reason to celebrate. :)

I have been stitching but all are so hush hush that no pictures yet. That too will change in July. I have also done some gardening and as it's out there for all to see I will show you some pics too. :) My dad made me a decorative ladder from old hay poles. I found two perfect planters to put on and also some wild-like flowers to plant. On the upper ladder there are two angel geraniums, on the lower ladder there are two red verbenas. On the top ladder I put a birdhouse I bought earlier. There's also a birdhouse among the violets. :)

Happy Midsummer fest to all!

Whales Ahoy!

2010-05-15T19:11:00.000+03:00

My two friends both have little girls and their birthdays are very close to each other so on Thursday they had one party to celebrate them both. I wanted to make the gifts myself and wanted to make something bright and cute for them as they turned two and three. I found pretty fabrics and decided to sew these cute baby whales. You can find the pattern here, there are no instructions though. This was a fun little sewing project. :)

Whales on a shore (actually it'sjust our backyard :))

My husband took this so you can see the size better.

Biscornu exchange

2010-05-08T20:54:00.000+03:00

I took part in spring-summer biscornu exchange in Finnish exchange blog. My hands made it hard to finish in time and it was on its way two days late but finally arrived to Pike. I stitched a biscornu that has spring coloured flowers on other side and summer greens and browns on the other side. The chart is from Kissy Cross, you can find it here. The summer sides threads are from our local fabric store and it only says "R" on the band. The spring side is stitched with DMC's Color variations number 4060 and Atalie's "Aster". I happened to have just the right coloured flower button and bead in my stash.

I received this lovely summery biscornu from Minna. Funny thing is that it is also stitched by Kissy Cross' chart. :) Isn't it the cutest! The fabric has some glitter but it doesn't show in the photos. This chart has a fun fence that goes around from one piece to another. Thank you Minna!

My hands have gotten much better during the sick leave. My doctor decided that we wont try again and risk ruining my hands complitely and she wrote me a slip that says I am not fit for the job. I took it to my employer and he was a bit bummed out since he had hoped I would work for them for a long time. So from Tuesday on I will be unemployed again. Finding the bright side: now I have time to dig in my garden as soon as the weather gets a bit warmer. And I am sure I will find a job that fits me sooner rather than later.

Still here but hurting

2010-04-25T01:01:00.000+03:00

I just wanted to let you know that I am still here eventhough my blog has been silent for a while. I've had bad joint pains on my fingers and wrists for weeks so I haven't been able to do any stitching or anything else. I've seen a doctor twice this week and now I am on one week sick leave. I hope that it helps and my hands stop hurting. But I might have to quit my new job since it's the reason for this and the doctor said it's only going to get worse. I have one small stitching that I need to finish this week so I try to sew a bit every now and then and try not to put too much strain on my hands.

As I try to rest and get my hands in better shape I also wish the spring will come back. For a couple of days we've had sleet. I have already bought some new things for our backyard and I can't wait to see the flowers starting to grow. :)

Very late birthday gift to Kirsi

2010-03-26T23:59:00.000+02:00

I'm taking part in a Birthday exchange in Finland and now I even remember that I do... This is what happened. I got the email about my exchange partners in early October last year. Well I had just heard a few days earlier that I lost my job. I wasn't feeling very well then and I didn't put the date to my exchange calendar like I usually do. So I totally forgot the exchange and the dates. On March our exchange host emailed me asking if the package had been lost in mail since the birthday girl hadn't received it. I was so embarrased when I had to tell her that no it was not lost in mail since it doesn't even exist! So so embarrassing... I promised I will get right to it and started to stitch the present. I had a great start but then we got in the middle of selling our home and buying a new appartment (and after all the hassle someone else made an offer that the seller approved so we didn't get the new home we wanted). Finally this Monday I got the present in mail and luckily Kirsi liked it a lot. :)

I stitched a part of chart called "Flowery Heart" by Cross Stitchers Club. I sewed a sewing caddy from a brown fabric, "Blush" Layer Cake by Moda Fabrics and bias strip. I didn't find model for this so I made up my own. I had seen pictures of sewing caddys in internet and liked them a lot. I thought Kirsi might want to use it as a cross stitch project bag. It has six pockets on the outside for all the bits and pieces. The chart for the card is from Mausimom's blogi and it's called the "Vogelpaarherz". The present also included two thread winders from The Gift of Stitching shop and two needle threaders (with cutting blades). You can see a good pic of the whole present in Kirsi's blog since as usual I forgot to take a photo of the whole thing. :D

Many blogs have had spring photos. Well we can't take photos like that since it's still very wintery here in Finland but these photos show that the snow is melting here too. :) We had these beautiful icicles hanging from our gutters. Longest ones were almost one meter long. When the sun shines they sparkle like diamonds.

I felt like baking on Wednesday so I made these yummies, carrot cupcakes. I made those little marzipan carrots myself too. :) As my hubby didn't like these (he is not a big fan of cream cheese... go figure...) I took some to work with me yesterday so I didn't have to eat ALL of them alone. :) It did not take long until they were all eaten. :)

Stitched mailarts and a baby gift

2010-03-19T21:36:00.003+02:00

I took part in Finnish stitched mailart exchange and stitched an assisi styled envelope to Lumivalko from the blog Lumivalko ja Ruusunpuna (written in Finnish). The chart is called "Americano" and it's from a magazine Ricami d'Assisi, I ordered it from Casa Cenina. The magazine has many beautiful assisi charts. Inside the envelope I put two cards and two stamps. I found a perfect rose stamp to the envelope but sadly it was lost in mail and also the other one of the fairy stamps that I put inside was lost too.
I stitched this on white 28ct Brittney evenweave with DMC thread 321.

Front:

Back:

Details:

The dotted lining:

One of the cards had a saying that is perfect for us crafty people. :)

"Ihminen jolla on mielikuvitusta,
ei laske luvuissa vaan mahdollisuuksissa."
("A person who has imagination
doesn't count numbers
but possibilities instead.")

I got an mailart form Marja. She stitched me a beautiful mailart with birdhouses and sent me two matching cards too. And as I like sheep she put in a sheep stamp and one frog stamp in too.

My cousin had a baby girl in January and I stitched a present for her. It's very similar to the one I sent to my friend for her son, a pacifier pouch and a bunny. For the pouch I stitched Little 'Uns chart Baby Newton from the Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine, issue 65. I stitched it on white 28ct Brittney evenweave, with one over one. I used both Anchor and DMC threads. Charts for the bunny are from the World of Cross Stitching magazine, issue 126.

Details:

Sewed and stitched a bit

2010-02-28T15:01:00.001+02:00

Life is full of surprises and we have really seen that in this past week or two. We found out that an appartment that is perfect for us was coming on sale. After that we have been busy with cleaning and arranging our appartment so it's ready to put on sale, meeting with the realtor several times, having appointments with the bank about bigger mortgage etc. And did I mentioned cleaning? It's a big job to get the appartment in top shape for showings. And if all that wasn't enough I also had a job interview this week and on Friday I found out I got the job! :) Next week we'll go to the bank again, I'll sign the employment contract, we'll put in an offer for the appartment and I will start my new job. It's not my dream job but the main thing now is to have a job. It's not a horrible job either so I'm sure I will do ok there. :) I will keep looking for a more suitable and better paying job.

So as I mentioned we have been cleaning and we also took some of our stuff to store elsewhere to make more room. I had a few bags of fabric that I didn't want to leave on sight but didn't want to put away either so I started to sew. :) I sewed a pair of decorative pillows to our bedroom. The white fabric is embroidered with white thread and it looks really pretty. I also put the new curtains up and the matching pillow cases to our old decorative pillows.

I also sewed two new pillow cases for pillows on our couch.

And as I got on so well with my sewing machine I continued and sewed these bench covers for our sauna. Thay have already been used so they are a bit wrinkly.

I haven't had time to stitch a lot this week but I put a few stitches in to my jungle. A shy-ish hippo is taking its shape.

A new look for my blog's header

2010-02-16T23:37:00.000+02:00

As I still had my Christmassy header on I decided it was time to do some changes. WhenI did the Christmas look I made the backround so that it's not too Christmassy and can be used later too. For the new header I took a really pretty swirly circle, twisted and added my blog's name around it and added some shading. I have wanted to use this circle for some time but didn't have the idea how. This evening the inspiration hit me. :)

New parts:
Solid Gold Swirls alphabets are a freebie by Marie Stones from Free Digital Scrapbooking.
Swirly circle is from a kit called "Beautiful things" that I have bought, it's by Mel from A+ Designs.

I think this could also work as my blog's button. :)

2010 Weekly SAL - 7th week

2010-02-15T17:10:00.000+02:00

Jungle post again. I hope you don't get bored with these. :) I want to thank you all for the lovely comments that you've left to my jungle posts. I too love the vibrant colours of this project and it's a whole lot of fun to stitch this.

Last week I did the backstitching on the anteater and letter A and started to stitch the "header" part of the chart. Still some backstitching to be done on the header and then I will stitch another animal. I was thinking that in the end of March I need to have 1/4 stitched of this whole project to be in schedule and it seems that I will reach that easily. So there is a big change I will get this done by the end of 2010. :)

2010 Weekly SAL - 6th week

2010-02-09T21:03:00.002+02:00

My jungle grows a bit by bit. Last week I backstitched the leaves and stitched the letter A and the anteater that lurks behind the A.

I've had a bad case of sniffles and that has taken almost all my strenght and when I've had some energy I have been cleaning an old drawer. My guess is that as it's more than a hundred years old it hasn't been cleaned properly in at least fifty. :) I brought it home last week, until now it has been at my grandma's. My grandfather gave it to me when I was little. He passed away some years ago and the drawer has a huge motional value for me. I will now clean it properly and then sand and wax it next summer when I can do it outside.

I think that I have sneezed my brains out since I forgot to post my SAL update on the SAL blog on Sunday. :D Here's the pic how it looked like on Sunday. Not much progres after that.

It's a boy!

2010-02-03T17:13:00.004+02:00

My friend had her first child on 16th of January and she got a cutest little boy I've ever seen! I immidiately started to stitch something for the boy when I heard that he was born. I stitched him a ready-to-stitch bunny and a Somebunny to Love designs which I finished as a pacifier pouch. They live so far away that I sent these in post and I got a message today (with a photo of the baby holding the bunny, so sweet!) that they had received the gift so here are some pictures. :)

The Somebunny chart I stitched for the pacifier pouch is from The World of Cross Stitching magazine, issue 140. I stitched it on white 28ct Brittney evenweave fabric, 1 over 1. It's tiny little bunny, only about 4,1 x 3,6cm. :)

On the bunny's bib I stitched a blue elephant and a mouse from The World of Cross Stitching magazine, issue 126. I changed the colours of the elephant to DMC 341 and 3747 since the original colours were more turquoise than blue and didn't fit the colour of the bunny. This one is stitched with 2 strands on the bib's aida fabric.

Here are some pictures of the pacifier pouch. It has velcro on the strap so it can be attached to a diaper bag or to a pram. I have seen some of these in the internet but I didn't find a pattern so I made one myself.

2010 Weekly SAL - 4th and 5th week

2010-01-31T21:37:00.000+02:00

Last week I forgot to show you my SAL piece so this week I'll show you two wips so you'll see how this is progressing. I managed to get rid of the migraine with the massage so I have actually been able to stitch! :) But my SAL piece didn't get so much attention since two babies were born two weeks ago (a girl to my cousin and a boy to my friend) and I have been stitching and sewing baby gifts for them. I'll show picture when they have been received by the lovely babies. :)

My Wild Ones Alphabet looks a whole lot sunnier now that I have stitched the orange leaves on the left. They are still missing a couple of orange stitches and the backstitching and I will get on those right after I have posted this. You never know what fun things will appear on the fabric next week. :)

My SAL on 31st of January 2010:

And on 24th of January 2010: