Prairie Schooler exchange from Mary K.

Here is the gorgeous ornament I received from Mary Kathryn! It is done over one and it soooo lovely! I love stitching over one and getting a piece done this way was a real feast for me. The finishing is beautiful, the piece is sooooo soft :) and Mary K. added beads in the bottom. She also sent me the goodies pictured below: 3 lovely little pieces of hand-dyed fabric, a skein of Belle Soie (silk thread by Crescent Colours) which I enjoyed discovering! and two Prairie Schooler freebies, one of which I might stitch very soon because it features a house and a blackbird, and that is what I love in sampler ;-) Now, seriously, as soon as I see a sampler with a bird, trees and house(s), my fingers start itching to get it, buy it, stitch it! LOL

And here are all the goodies, lucky me! :)





I also received this cute little pillow which can also be attached to scissors :)

Thank you so much again, Mary Kathryn!!

Prairie Schooler Spring Exchange - winter ornament

Here is the ornament I stitched for Mary K., I am so glad she liked it! She makes much, much nicer photos than I, so I will refer you to her post here :) I sent her the Prairie Schooler box you've seen in a previous post (surprise!) as a PIF, a linen cloth with lavender (I knew she likes lavender :)) and some goodies: a hand-made card, a rabbit, a nest with eggs... and the ornament below for the PS Spring exchange - Winter ornament:

Prairie Schooler - adapted from leaflet #63

Fabric: Silkweaver linen

Threads: WDW/GAST

Finally back home!

First off, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who commented on my last two finishes :). Your warm comments mean a lot to me because, basically, I am no finisher at all. Or if I may say so, I am starting to make acceptable finishing. I have noone to show me and no workshops to attend here in Poland, so I look and observe, contemplate and get ideas, and finally it looks like I can produce something I like myself :) It's been a pleasure to make these projects and an immense pleasure to read that Mary Kathryn liked her goodies. As to the gorgeous (you will excuse me, hmmm? LOL) Easter rabbit - I still don't know. My partner in the French Paquoswap (Easter swap) should have received her package along with extra goodies last week but I haven't heard from her, and she hasn't updated her blog since over a month. I'd hate to think something is wrong...

I will go through your comments tomorrow to see if I should reply to something specific. Many persons asked me about the needleroll stands. I checked and here's some info:
They are actually called Finishing stands (mine are large - 6") and they are made by Flying Needles. Now, their website only shows the Tacky B.O.B. so I hope they are not discontinued. If you check on google, you will find many online stores carrying them. For instance http://yarntree.com/webcatpdf/page30.pdf - but they don't seem to have the large version. Anyway, they are basically made to "just finish your item flat with a hidden pocket to conceal the stand" but I swear I had read somewhere they were also meant for needle rolls. "The stand provides an alternative for finishing standing figures" etc. Hope that helps!!

Okay. So I am back from a super lovely Easter - if not for work. But let's start from the beginning. I haven't mentionned it, but last month I was blocked one full day more at my father's because there was something wrong with my plane's wheel and we were turned back from the gate - and the next plane was 24h later. My poor Dad drove again to the airport to fetch me, and we got to spend one more day together. If not for the accompanying stress, it would have been fine. In December, I was blocked 2 days at the airport because of fog conditions while H. waited for me in Geneva. Hmpf. Guess what happened this time (H. couldn't believe his ears when I called him). *OF COURSE* my plane was cancelled and I waited 6 hours for the next one. Lovely... not. Then when I finally arrived to the destination airport at 6pm (instead of noon), it was only to discover that the ground services did not transfer my luggage. After even more mess, it was found in Warsaw and sent back by the last plane, and a driver from the airline drove it directly to my aunt... before midnight. I was *pooped*. I really enjoy traveling and taking planes, which I did very frequently since the tender age of 4, but I feel I've had my dose now. Thankfully my flight back was on time which I almost felt like something weird :).

The stay at my aunt was fabulous. My soon 99 y.o. grandma is still fine, and it was great to be surrounded by an extensive bunch of family. My cousin and I drove to Berlin to fetch H. arriving from Oslo - and then the even better part of the stay started. We had a fantastic time together. The weather didn't allow us to bath in the sun in the garden, but we enjoyed spending time with family, celebrating a traditional Polish Easter, playing with the (many) cats and dogs, and simply enjoying life in its best version. I will post pictures at a later time because I am absolutely exhausted. I left Warsaw in a zombie mode, having worked 20h per day, and ... work kept coming in all the time while I was away - which means I worked in the kitchen preparing Easter during the day, working upstairs during the night - and constantly running up the flight of stairs leading to my bed-room, where my laptop was installed. Ah the evolution of Internet, the evolution of minds! My aunt has a new wireless Internet connection and it's a real revolution in the life of this house, including obvious benefits for me, because I could work on the terrace (weather allowing) and not connect through my expensive cell phone connection. It made a whole world of difference :) and my aunt is doing very well learning Internet and her new laptop which my cousin bought her last month.
So I worked... and worked... and worked... and I am back since Wednesday evening, but I worked... more.... and now I am facing a workless week-end which I plan to spend STITCHING! I am half way through Bluebird's Message (by Blackbird Designs) - and I got an order containing several patterns so I have tons to stitch now :)

And - I received a super lovely Prairie Schooler exchange and PIF from Mary Kathryn, but you'll have to excuse me, I'll post more tomorrow.

Okay, this was a chaotic update before I doze off over my keyboard. I only slept 1-2 hours since 2 days so it's time to get some well-deserved rest :)

Prairie Schooler - box

Design: Prairie Schooler, adapted from Book #12 "The Three Bears"

Fabric: Silkweaver Jobelan (Porcelain)

Threads: my choice of silks, GAST and WDW

Here is a box I completed recently as a giftie for someone. Sorry for the over-contrast on the picture but I hope you can get an idea of this finish :)

Easter rabbit finish

Design: Easter Parade by Blackbird Designs

Fabric: Silkweaver 28ct Jobelan (Porcelain)

Threads: WDW/GAST (some changes)

Oh please tell me you like it! :) I am sooooo proud of myself, this must be one of my nicest finishing projects ever. I am the living proof it is possible to learn by reading blogs, web pages, and all I am able to do when it comes to finishing comes from learning from Internet :)

So here is the project I sent to my partner for the French Easter swap.
Below, I have posted a photographic description of the finishing process, in case this might inspire someone :)

I started with the stitched piece:

... to which I ironed thermo-transferable fliseline:

Then I pinned the stitched piece onto a piece of styrofoam:

From behind, it looked this way:

Now I've pinned the backing fabric that covers the back of the styrofoam:

Here's what we have at this moment:

I pinned the banding along all sides:

And added a ready-made flower I bought and which suited it beautifully:

I used fabric glue to attach a needleroll stand to the behind:

When the glue dried, it was invisible:

I just loved the banding:

Now the stiched piece is ready and can stand thanks to the support given by the needleroll stand.
Thanks for visiting my blog!

An insane week...

Oh it's just been an insane week, or an insane 10-days period... And when I say insane, I mean insane! I worked 20h per day (yes, it's possible), catched 2-3 hours of sleep here and there, and I've beaten all my work records. I used my Excel sheel where I divide a text in 10-minute periods, this helps me to see if I'm in deep poo or whether I'll be able to face the deadline. I did, all the deadlines. And on Friday, I fell on my bed at 5 pm and slept till 4:30 am... I am soooo happy. This means I'm out of some problems and today, I allowed myself to 3 pairs of shoes and 2 skirts, I just needed it!! The money will come in in total within 6 weeks but I just had to pamper myself a bit today. I had to.
Finally a very long, very nasty period comes to an end. I am so filled with joy today... for many reasons!
I'm flying out to my aunt for Easter on Monday morning. I just can't wait to start baking, cooking, decorating, preparing, all a very traditional Easter at my family involves. I extended my stay a bit and this will be a 10-days period. My major client already announced more work so I'm taking laptop, external drive, pendrive, and every technical thing else I need and I'll share work at the kitchen with work on the keyboard if I have to :) More money means more stash!!
I've ordered the Lakeside Linens fabric for the 3 new CHS charts I already have and if more work comes in the next week, I've decided to treat myself to silks for one or all of them, hah!
Stitching wise I've done more finishing than stitching - when I could. I sent both exchanges to Mary Kathryn and Kim, I'm so curious to see if they like them because I've done major experimenting again on PS charts :). Well, I'm sure they're too polite to say if don't like them! LOL
Now I just need to survive a last batch of work till Monday and somehow find time for packing clever.
And the best part is that H. flies in to Berlin on Thursday and that entails a short trip to Germany in car with my cousin and his wife to pick him up from the airport.
Yay, I am sooooooooooo happy!
More tomorrow, I have plenty to show and share :)

Saturday smiles...

No offense meant to any blonde!! :)

Paquôswap received!

For the French-challenged, this is a word play on the theme of Easter and exchange (Pâques and swap).

See that beautiful cartonnage album Isabelle sent me, it includes a stitched piece on the cover and it's all been done by herself! Isabelle also sent me a super lovely notebook with my name (how did she find it? :) and a beautiful pink card with flowers. I am so appreciative of the work involved to create a photo album out of pieces of cardboard and paper!! She must have spent many hours working on it. See for yourself!

Catwalk over the Grand Canyon

Just saw this - yikes, not for the heart-fainted! ;-)

added:

Much better photos here.

What a busy week

Yes, I remember I've been tagged by Michele, yes, I have many emails to answer to... I've you're reading this - I *will* write! Just need to find a moment. So much work, so little time. And I try to use that little free time in the evening to stitch fast, fast, fast :)
I've stitched the ornie for Mary K., will attempt to do the finishing part tonight as well. It's soon 9 pm here and I need to get up at 5 am to do the text for 10 am. I don't complain though, this money will help a lot, also to pay for the March stash craziness, heh. ;-)

Last year in March we did a wonderful trip far north in Norway, to Tromso and its surroundings. We hired a small car and spent all the 4 days discovering The Wild Cold Norwegian North at its best. Now I'm thinking of a summer trip when the sun is up all day, all night... that's something to plan for May or June 2008, we'll probably go even more north, to the Nordkapp and Kirkenes. I'm already dreaming :)

Here are a few pictures from that trip:

First day of spring!

And I am a really happy bunny! Unexpectedly and despite money being tough this spring on both sides due to house and car repairs and and and and, you know the story, H. will be here for Easter! Yoooplaaa!! I can't say enough how much I'm happy. Because I didn't hope he could come. Because I didn't expect it. Because we will be spending it at my Aunt, a whole week in my life's paradise! I've written many times how much I love going there. It's a place that gives me back all lost energy and loads my internal batteries for some time. My aunt is the rare type of woman everybody loves because of the way she spreads love and care and laughter all around, to everybody. Everybody feels at easy at her house and wants to spend a long time :). This is probably a special place to me because the house, the garden have remained almost exactly the way they were when I was born, the only place I consider "mine" on Earth. Granted, houses have grown around and woods have been cut down, my uncle died over a year ago, but till there is my 99 years old grandma and my aunt, it will remain unchanged for me... I fear things will change from A to Z when grandma leaves, but till then... And H. LOVES going there too! He enjoys stays at my father as well, but somehow this is not the same. My father loves to organize everyone's day while my aunt lets you relax so completely mentally. She creates such an atmosphere that I just *love* working with her in the kitchen for hours, days in a row and preparing a traditional Polish Easter together with her is an exceptional joy for me. She's so happy that we'll both be there for Easter! There will be both my cousins with wifes and kids and my cousin's wife's mother, my aunt, my grandma, me and Hakon, I just caaaaan't wait!!!

Because plane tickets prices are extremely high to Warsaw now (sigh... why can't men react earlier...), H. will fly to Berlin which is just a 2,5 h drive from my Aunt, maybe more because of the queues at the German/Polish border just before Easter. My cousin offered himself to pick him up at Berlin Schoenefelf airport which has developped into a small family trip, me included :) Funnily, Germany is not a country I ever visited much despite it being relatively close.

The picture above is a hand made Easter beauty I picked at my fav' shop for my Aunt, too bad the photo doesn't show how lovely it is :)

Due to the changes I've had to make to partners in the PS exchanges (big hugs to you ladies reading that for the kind way you accepted them!) I need to stitch and finish two spring exchanges : a stand-up for Kim and a winter/Santa ornament for Mary Kathryn - and though I am very upset [...] about the way the person who dropped off the exchange, sorry, FOUR exchanges two less than 2 weeks from the deadling set for sending the finished pieces, I am delighted to be partnered with these both lovely ladies, so no harm done. I can just hope that there will be no more bad surprises.

I stitched quite long yesterday on the ornie for MK, but this is all I will show:

I am stitching in with WDW/GAST threads on a lovely Silkweaver Desert Sky fabric.

Work awaits...

For all feline fans....

You just have to see this - it made my day!

I am a personal fan of Yo and Screamin' Stevin :)

My Tuesday is awfully busy, just got work enough to keep me even more busy for a week, so I'll write more when I can, soon :)

Tonight I put the last stitches on LHN's Cherries. What a joy to stitch, I loved working on it! I have never bought any from this series before and I got Cherries and Berries with a recent order, just to see, because I loved the design. Lovely, lovely, lovely!! I'll get the other ones when I am rich. One day! LOL



Design: Little House Needleworks "Cherries"


Fabric: Cream 28ct Cashel


Threads: Crescent Colors

You Are 28% Girly

You are a pretty hardcore tomboy, and a very free spirit. Gender roles be dammed, you like to do things your way.

How Girly Are You?

Eyes and money....

Yikes! I finally went to see an eye doctor after several weeks of wondering what's wrong with them and a serious panick moment yesterday when I had another episod of blurry vision while I was looking at some DVDs in town. I had gradually come to the conclusion that I see much worse far away than I did, and I never had eye problems. However these episods of blurriness worried me. Also when I try to thread my needle, everything becomes mixed up. The doc says it doesn't make sense since I can see perfectly well very close. She is suspecting sugar problems, in any case an "internal" problem or simply a case of eyes being tired after much too many hours of working at the computer and stitching. I have conjunctivitis as well, so I got eye drops and I must do sugar blood tests. I have perfect sight on one eye and +0,75 on the other one, but she said the eyes compensate and that I would probably feel discomfort if I wore correction glasses for that eye. Also, she said I will need correction glasses much later than other people. Good. However, this sugar thing worries me so I'll do the tests soon, just to be on the sure side. The most important event of the visit was that she prescribed "zero" glasses, a special multi-filter type for working at the computer. Let me repeat, yikes! I didn't realize that glasses and frames are sooooo expensive! I resisted Givenchy and Dior models for 400 usd (though they suited me best) and chose a type for about 130 usd, then the glasses will cost about the same but the lady recommended them, they have a new super type. That will put me in even deeper poo financially, but what has to be done has to be done. I don't dare thinking how much such things cost in Norway.

I finished, ironed and packed several projects. First, the Easter napkin for my Aunt. It is traditional enough and I know she will love it.

I passed by my favorite handcrafts/art gallery and picked a few hand-made cards to send out for Easter. The person who makes them is sooooo talented! I commented that I wish I could buy them all and send them to myself! LOL

That one has real "tatting" inside the egg...That one is soooo lovely as well...That one even has beads...

That one is hand-painted on silk (the camera distorted the colors, what is violet is more pink-purple in real)...And that one, well I love it so much so I'll send it to...

That'll be all for today, thanks for visiting my blog! :)

I'm back....

And happy to be home :). The week at my father was both lovely and stressing, but we both did our best to cope with small conflicts ;-). When two strong personalities meet and on top of that they are both so similar (after all, I'm my father's daughter, no doubt about that LOL!)... He expects me to obey to all his request right now, on the spot, and I resist... especially when each of the things he asks me for can be done in a little while. I really don't have to walk the dog when I'm cooking lunch or bring wood for the fireplace when I fix stuff on his computer etc. etc. Sounds like I am socially difficult but really not LOL! My father is so used to giving orders and being obeyed... He knows he can be difficult and he has a fantastic sense of humor so all is fine in the end but yes, sometimes I felt I wanted to strangle the first living creature I see! ;-)

Unexpectedly he said he would like to have a serious talk with me, it was about how money/material things are to be dealt with after he leaves one day and this stuff wasn't easy for me. Not because of having to listen to his will, because I strongly believe that if someone (of whatever age) feels for saying something of that type at any moment in life, this should be listened to with respect. It's just that these are very sad, annoying, disturbing things for me related to dividing stuff once he's not there, because his wife, well, has decided to make it difficult for me and my brother. I won't say more in this public space but it is beyond me how people can be greedy, greedy, greedy. And it is somehow beyond me why despite all this greediness and [...], my father chooses not to fight for mine and my brother's rights and prefers peace... What he asks me to do is so beyond my ethical rules and what I am as a person. And how his wife can pretend to be family and be all smiles while doing so much behind our backs... Anyway, I was careful not to say anything that could hurt my father and I am very proud of the friendship and trust he puts in me, of the mature way we talk about all this stuff. It's weird but I am so happy about the way we talk about uneasy aspects of life. Oh well, I won't treat his wife differently since she doesn't know I know anything, but I told my father I won't have any more "family" emotions to her - and he said he doesn't ask me to. Phew. Anyway, the most important is that she takes good care of him and that he has a happy life, that's all I care about.
We went to the movies, had two good meals out, I cooked a couple of my favorite lunches/dinners too, such as a Chinese chicken curry wok or caramel dessert. He loved it :)

Back home, I found two envelopes waiting for me: one with older leaflets I got on ebay and one bigger order from Amy . Plenty of goodies to stitch for the next months. I am awaiting another order from Theresa with threads and then I hope I will resist the urge to buy stash till after the summer :). I certainly need fabric and threads though.

Soooooo. Cross-stitch... where am I at?

I finished my Prairie Schooler Spring exchange for Susan S.
Just need to wash it and iron and pack goodies into an envelope. This is all you'll see from it till Susan receives it :)

I need to do the needle case now. I want it to be super nice so it'll take time :). This will be the first I will make and the first I will receive. I really have only a few stitched gifts and I cherish them...

I also stitched the Easter piece for the French swap. Again, I can only show a tiny bit:

... but I am sure some of you will recognize it, or at least the designer :)
Then... I also finished the Easter yellow eggs napkin for my Aunt. Will post a photo when it's ironed.
Among the older leaflets I got, there is an old one with birds of all kinds... which I loved! See the two little cuties below. And an older sampler that won't be prioritary, but will be stitched, for sure. And an older Cricket Collection with this adorable spring pillow :)



While in a bookstore last week, I couldn't resist buying Ricamare, an Italian cross-stitch magazine, only for these charming pillows... I immediately fell in love with them, aren't they lovely?! The bad quality of the photo doesn't show how cute they are :)

I'll end here (time to work!) with a photo of the supplies I got yesterday to do the finishing part on the French Easter piece. No, I won't use all of them LOL! but I wasn't sure which ones will be the right color or even structure once I have the piece mounted on styrofoam (most probably), so I prefered to buy enough of different ones to have a choice at the right moment. All or mostly pink... my favorite color... not baby pink, pastel pink, but a nicely intense pink, raspberry pink, indian pink... :)

Easter rabbit freebie

Ursulasherz has issued the March freebie, a cute little rabit :)

The link on the page doesn't work, the correct one is click here.

I might stitch it because it is so adorable :)