I am sorry I didn't write things clearly in my previous blog post - the kidney problem is just a small one, the main issue (the surgery in March) is located somewhere else :(. Thanks so much for your support, Donna! :)
I finally found my camera, it had fallen on the floor under an open drawer, in which kittie loves to lay. As all cats she likes to rest where she just shouldn't! LOL
So I got up too late today to catch good daylight for the pictures and if I took time to iron my stitching the light would be totally gone, so I made pictures as good as they could be at that hour. My windows are from the east which means that by 11 am the sun has already moved and pictures show lousy. I know lots of people want to have their bedroom on the east but I definitely would prefer them to the west. In the summer I have direct sun and a real sauna in the room from 5 am, aaargh!
My PS exchange from Nath' hasn;t arrived yet, 8 days after it was sent. I often wonder why I get French mail sooooo awfully late most times! It's like with Skype, all voice connections are great except for France, but that might have an easy explanation like where the servers are located and how the connections go through. I just recalled this morning that the last package from Nath' took a whole two weeks to arrive, so I might just as well work on my patience and virtually ask President Sarkozy to work a bit on that too! LOL
How is everyone doing with their PS exchange? :) I am done with all 5 pieces except for the finishing. However, I didn't like the way one looked so this week-end, I am stitching another one. I will be able to send all before the end of the month. The size of all is not big except for maybe one, so I plan to do a nice finishing, but as I wrote earlier they will all be different :)
On St. Valentine's Day, I started stitching this beautiful design by Tanya Marie Anderson and finished it yesterday. It is the Litterary little #4 called My Everything (W.H. Auden). You can see and buy it here. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. Can there be a more romantic chart? I planned to finish it similarly to the way it is shown on the leafler, but eventually I will have it framed in an adequate shade of dark pink or red frame. Will see to it on Monday, one framer I like is just near the clinic I need to visit.
I chose to stitch it with one thread over one on 32 ct hand-dyed linen (possibly LL, I misplaced the label). My eyes didn't thank me for that but I just love the way it looks, what do you think? I'll show it again once framed.
Now I'll move to some older finishes. First, some I stitched during Christmas. Don't have the inspiration to do the finishing, but they'll become little pillows like the one I sent to Ela back then. This is from the Red Letter Ornaments by Blue ribbon Designs. I just love this leaflet and would like to have the Green... as well. The colors are not as muted in real as they show on this picture.
Garden Pleasures by LHN; I have already applied thermoflieseline on both the stitched piece and the backing fabric (shown in the upper part of the picture) but still need to sew it all into a pillow. I think I chose the right fabric though :)
Stitched on Lakeside Linens, in real the fabric is more green, very light celadon.
And now a big favorite of mine, Haste Ye Back by Sheepish Designs. This one is very dear to me... I so wanted to stitch it and Mary Kathryn sent it to me for my birthday last year, she saw it in my wishlist. I need one skein more for the bottom and I already ordered it. I also hope to make a much, much better picture of it because this one below just doesn't do it justice! :)
A current WIP - Wedding Topiary by Knotted Tree Needleart. Stitched with silks (one color) on LL.
Another piece by The Sampler Girl, Dash Away All. Tana offered it as a kit (DMC floss, linen, chart, the backing fabric - superbly matched, and even the tiny white star you can see on the picture and a beading needle. Tanya has an etsy shop here and regularly offers special kits and other items such as book bags, blankets etc.
I'll finish here today with a picture of Toska sleeping on my fax machine. No, I don't know why she sometimes choses the most uncomfortable spots. I just can't understand why she loves the fax - it's not on, so it's not warm, I'd say it has hard surface and all - but for several weeks she loved to go and sleep on it.
Yeahh... One more. I am sorting papers etc. and thought I'd put those I don't want to throw but which still need to go into different folders and boxes - into one big box. Of course, Toska *has to* sleep in it, chew on it, scratch it, sharpen her nails on it. I took this picture last week. By now, the box is just a big piece of garbage paper.... sigh... I need to find a different one... or sort the papers out ASAP. But how can anyone be angry at those eyes... :)
There's more stitching to show but it has chosen to hide somewhere :)
I was pretty amazed by the standard of the local backpacker's hostel... A normal hotel room if you ask me, just that the bathroom ++ was shared and H. had to hire the bed clothes. When he found out he has to stay overnight I helped him find a place to stay - I could go online while he was stranded in a big mall drinking coffee after coffee waiting for the car which eventually wasn't ready the same day. Karlstad is no big place and the hotel prices horrendous - Scandinavian horrendous. Youth hostels aren't cheap either comparing to the rest of Europe but still, about half the price. And honestly, when I saw what he got, I started to wonder why we haven't tried such places before in Norway. But maybe they're not all the same standard as this one below. They have single rooms, double rooms, 6 persons rooms etc.
Old caserns around the place with the hostel... now transformed and used as regular appartments. Though I'm sure the big square place in front of it must have been used by the military for the usual training purposes etc. judging by the way it looks.
More former caserns...
The building with the hostel.
