Great stitching weekend with friends

I drove 280km on Friday to meet with other stitchers and had a great weekend! Thank you for inviting me! :) We stitched, stitched, ate, stitched, slept a little (very little...) and stitched again. And of course talked and laughed a lot! :D

I started to stitch Michael Powell's "Cottage Garden 1" and got this much done:

This is how it's going to look like when finished...

...with small differences. As I was stitching it I noticed there's a couple of spots that are different on the chart compared to the picture in the kit. I didn't have internet access at the time so I left those parts unstitched and checked them last night when I came home. They say on Michael Powell's site that they have improved the design after they got the model stitched and say you should stick with the chart. I'll do that when I continue stitching today after work. :)

I got a hint about a BIG store that was on my way home. It sells almost everything (except food) and there was a lot of nice things I just had to buy! :) I got some beads, felts, fabrics, bag handles, DMC threads, a new glass jar for my orts and so on.

Here is a rain photo from my garden. We had a big thunder storm last week. My lilies got a lot of water that day. :)

I won a beautiful skirt!

I took part in a competition on Lila Tueller's blog. She wanted ideas for a colorway for her next fabric line. Colors are for the fall collection so I sent her a link for a beautiful picture of autumn leaves. I just love those colours and I think they are the "real" colours of fall. :) Lila picked me as the winner! I am so excited! I won a beautiful skirt made from her fabrics. It's the perfect summer skirt and when I saw it I so hoped I would win it. And I did! Happy Dance!
When Lila announced the winners she had the names mixed up, my name is at the second picture and the autumn leaves has Stephanie's name on it. But she told me she'll fix it and I really did win the skirt. :)

The picture I chose for the colorway:

The skirt is on the left. Click the pic to see it better on Lila's blog.

Needle case

My friend borrowed me her serger. I broke two needles and promised to buy new ones. I also wanted to stitch her something to thank her. I saw the free chart "Black Needles" at Ravenelle's blog and knew that this is the chart I want to stitch. The "M" is because her names starts with M, it's from a free chart called "Liberty Sampler" by Passione Ricamo. I just love those freebies! :) I made a little pocket for the sewing machine needles. This is stithed one over one, on 28ct evenweave. It's tiny, smaller that a box of matches. :)

Summer biscornu

I haven't been the quickest when it comes sending the giveaway prices but I have done some progress. Last year I had a giveaway at my Finnish blog and it took me three months to send the price... I can try to explain it with Christmas and our wedding being in the middle but still quite embarrassing... :) Well now it took me just two months! :D I had a giveaway here on April and I sent the price about 1,5 weeks ago. Lisa received it this Monday so here are some pictures and facts. The chart is a freebie from KissyCross blog. I stitched it with DMC, 2 over 2, on white 28ct evenweave. With the biscornu I sent a little wooden sign that says "Home sweet home" but I forgot to take a photo of it. But here is the biscornu, click the pic to see it better. I like the bright colours and the fence going around from the back to the front and back again.

Gardening

Early this morning I and my friend/neighbour went shopping for flowers. I bought two big pots. To the other one I planted flowers; Ivy, two Dusty millers, Diana and three Flowering Tobaccos.


To the bigger pot I planted three tomatoes. These are not "normal" tomatoes, they are a bit smaller and don't need support.


This is one of my flower beds... but I haven't planted anything in it. That's because wild strawberries have decided it's the best place to grow in! :) I can't bear to dig them out so this flower bed is now for small and sweet strawberries. :D


Yesterday I had some time to stitch so here's my progress on the gift I mentioned the other night. There's not going to be any progress today since my sister and one of our friends are visiting us. We'll have a barbeque and a few ciders. :D

One colour exchange from me

I took part in One Colour exchange and I showed you earlier the lovely heart ornament and charts that I received from Nora. I sent my package to Outi on Monday and she received it yesterday. You saw a sneak-a-peak pic of this earlier. :) I stitched a chart called "Hänga Tvätt" ("Hanging the laundry" in English) with Atalies thread called Jade. The chart is free and can be found from Slöjdmagasinet's site. The link is also on my freebie list. I changed the girl's braid a little bit since I didn't like the original braid. I dyed a cotton tote myself and sewed the stitched piece on it. I hand sewed some ribbon around it to hide my hideous sewing... I must say that my new sewing machine really is a dream machine so it really paid to call it my best friend right from the start but my sewing skills need some brushing up... :) I also attached a big flower button on the corner of the stitching. Outi has some pics on her blog and she has cought the real shade of teal on her pics. Mine are a bit washed out for some reason.


Remember the "I want tea and cookies!" mug (here)I ordered for myself a while ago? At the same time I bought another BirdieSays mug for Outi. It's not exactly "one colour" but the sky is blue and green so close enough. ;) And the laundry line theme fits perfectly so I just had to get it! There's only one mug, I just took a photo of the both side and sticked them together. :)

I am so happy that Outi loved these gifts. It makes my heart warm when I can make someone happy. :)

Here is something I just started this evening. It's going to be a gift so not much details, just a wip pic. I'm stitching it on a 28 count evenweave with black DMC, 1 over 1.

Chinese stitching

Yesterday I felt I wanted to stitch something small so I started to stitch one of the charts my friend brought me from China. It's a bag fob and I finished it today. I gave it to my sister to cheer her up. :) The "fabric" was a bit different, it's plastic aida! I haven't seen that one before. I had some small problems trying to get the cord attached but after a while I made up my own way to do it and it turned out ok. Here's a pic:


I have also stitched two bigger projects but as they have not reached their recipients I'll post pics later.

Edit: I don't know what the Chinese had planned this to be for. I just noticed this is really easy to attach to bag's zipper -> a bag fob! :) The photo in the package had the cord other way around but I couldn't attach the little metal ring to the flower so I just sewed it in from the other end. I also sewed a little bell to the flower after taking this picture.

One colour exchange

I took part in an exchange a while ago and this week is the mailing week. The theme was "one colour" and you had to send one stitched and finished item and one other thing that is the same colour. Mine is not quite ready yet but I received a package yesterday from Nora. She sent me a beautiful heart shaped ornament that was stitched with Atalie's threads. She had stitched some with one thread and some with two and that is a great idea! I would have not come up with something like that, now I have one more idea in the future. :) She also sent me Alma Lynne's birdhouse chart book. Almost all the birdhouses have red in them so goes with the theme. :) I love birdhouses! Thank you Nora!



One other new thing came to our house yesterday. This one might be a reason for why I don't stitch so much in the near future... The Sims3!!! :D