Hello from two girls! Happy the dog aka the Happy doggie is missing from this picture but as usual, he is, of course - happy.
We're still staying with my family for a few days more. I'm deeply immersed into preparing Christmas. So far, we've baked millions, zillions, gazillions of gingerbread cakes and decorated them (photos later), of pierogis stuffed with cabbage and mushroom, of pierogis with potatoes and cheese, of small uszka (very small dumplings with a mushroom filling, which we eat in beet soup - barszcz - for Christmas dinner) and other traditional specialties.
I so love being here.
Grandma will be celebrating her 100th anniversary next month... she's very surprised she'll be one hundred! She didn't like me taking this picture, I think, she turned her head so it's not the best one.

Toska jumped on the big table when I packed gifts to send away and guarded them for me....


I heard from Barbara that she received this very special gingerbread boy, with the names of her closest darlings... I had a lot of fun making it!

Told you my uszka were tiny! They all laugh at me here because I'm known to make VERY small dumplings... my own tradition and specialty!

Craf-TEA!

Two months ago, I and Ela decided to do a private tea exchange. And I immediately felt my crafty wings elongate and take flight... We both love tea and we both love crafts... and she definitely is among the people who inspire me all year long and due to whom my craft expenses have risen sky high in 2008 - simply because they inspired me to experiment with other forms of craft than cross-stitch. Good occasion to wink-wink to Staci about my eyelet purchases this year :)

Since I had lots of time to prepare that exchange and because I loved the theme of this exchange, here's what I came up with... you have already seen what Ela sent me a few posts below.

Oh, and a prelude note. It might seem like I'm boasting about this exchange. But I have to admit to you that this is one I loved making. And, if you think I am happy with ALL my finishes and that ALL are nice, I'll be more than glad to list at least a few horror pictures. Actually I've been glancing this week at a box with old WIPs turned to UFOs and finishes that I really don't know what to do about. Trust me, the only good answer is to keep hiding them very deep (I guess I should be sentimental about my old creations, BUT... - of course, many were okay, but some... puhlease don't force me to exhibit them here! LOL).

Here we go... First, something I combined from two freebies (I will list my sources in a free moment if anyone is interested) - one was a template for a shoe, the other a tea freebie... My brain got fried in the process, but I came up with a shoe with lace, some bits of fabric, a button, and a free-style text saying "Let's have a cup of tea" in French. Over one. Ah, that one was a challenge, I tell you, I mean the sewing and the stuffing part. But I'd have gladly kept it for myself... :)




Then there was this up of... tea masked as hot chocolate :) aka my first attempt at more ambitious felt work. Sigh... another piece I would have liked to keep but I knew I'm sending it into VERY good hands :)

Some lavender & peppermint tea...

A cupcake kit for sewing from the FatQuarterShop... Please ask Ela to make it ASAP! :)

Some tea-related charms...

A pack of exquisite Singbulli darjeeling tea..

Some yummy, yummy goodies, including some cranberries in maple syrup..

A hand-made card... with cross-stitches, of course! :)

Among the goodies, this hand-made tea bag filled with fragrant roses... definitely not for drinking :)

I was so glad to hear that Ela liked it all... I've had tons of fun preparing it!

HOE Christmas ornament

For Caroline, this is what I made for her, the recent Blue Ribbon Designs freebie, stitched with overdyes of my choice, on a piece of Silkweaver fabric.

HOE Christmas exchange received

See, oh see the *fabulous* exchange I received from Margie!
I'll tell you. There are exchanges, Exchanges and EXCHANGES and this is the third option.... and I must say that in 2008, I've been spoiled by many of these!
However, what Margie sent me is so very special.

First, look at this gorgeous ornament:

Margie tells me it's from 2007 Just Cross Stitch magazine. It is stitched on Lakeside Linen's Vintage Maple Sugar in 40 ct, with DMC and WDW floss. Isn't it beau-ti-ful? Of course, it is even more so in real!! I love the vintage look of the fabric and the way the thread colors play on it... and the pins around the ornament are so nice!! I must find the original and compare... I totally don't remember it, so something tells me it's one of the cases when the stitcher made an even greater version :) Oh I love it. I love it!

Next, see that treasure chest....All so carefully chosen to match my tastes and I can easily see that Margie looked at my wishlist :)
There are very nice ribbons with scalloped edges, a type I don't find here. They will be put to extensive use! There are THREE glove ornaments. A funny Christmas pencil. TWO packs of very interesting charms. Post-its and tags. A Mary Engelbreit magnet! TWO skeins of Needle Necessities... And openeable rings which I so wanted to have... The card with the pug got me intrigued... after a visit to Margie's blog, I now know she loves those cute faces... My father always wanted one!

What can I say? I am spoiled rotten. I know I didn't deserve such a wonderful, rich package. It's been a pleasure "meeting" a new blogging friend and I can only hope I get Margie's name for one of the future HOE exchanges. THANK YOU so much again, Margie, for bringing so much joy!

(my photos really don't show well the beauty of this ornament..)

And the winner is....

... drum roll....

.... Staci!!

Thank you *everyone* for entering, this gave me another opportunity to meet new friends, visit new blogs and it's so much fun.. I'll be organizing this again, not sure when exactly, hopefully before Easter! LOL

Staci, please contact me with your mailing address and your choice of gingerbread boy!

List Randomizer

There were 14 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Staci
2. Crazy for Primitive Quilts and Gardens
3. Cathy B
4. Kathy
5. nath1306
6. xstitch.nl
7. Lucy
8. Judy
9. Tanja
10. mainely stitching
11. Mylene
12. Annemiek
13. Beth
14. Irene

Timestamp: 2008-11-23 20:09:23 UTC

This one is for me!

Santa, please bring me...
from Homespun Elegance
2008 Ornament

The flash light was too strong, the white doesn't show under the stitches in real... This one stays home :)

Yesterday I did the last batch of my Christmas shopping. Stopped at the shop of our national chocolate maker... and indulged in this..

I carefully chose the tastes of these pralines... the best was the raspberry in the middle... and the one with Grand Marnier liquor... schluuurpf!!! With a cup of rose tea from Ela, my evening was pure delight.

But before leaving the mall, I got two of these funny reindeer stockings for me and H. and some beads/ribbon supplies... I didn't know that a famous chain of bookstores here now has a crafts section! Small but cheap and great.
Off to walk Happy and then I'll draw the winner of the gingerbread boy! :)
Last chance to enter!

Tea exchange received

Here is the lovely French exchange I received today from Maryse, who lives in the Lorraine region. Maryse sent me a pack of fantastic sweets, these are candies with bergamot flavor, a specialty from the town of Nancy. A real delicacy, it is such a pleasure to discover those! The taste is very unusual. I so love to discover local specialties from aroung the world, so I am just delighted :)
The tradition of this candy goes back to a king who was also king of Sicily, where most of bergamot trees were (are?) found, due to the climate. Ah, what a treat!
Maryse also joined a package of lemon tartelettes, which I am soooo fond of and which I can't find here in Poland. Another big smile for these :)
Also, a DMC kit and a rose and cinnamon tea.
Merci Maryse pour ce gentil échange ! J'adore toutes ces bonnes choses :) J'espère que tu visites mon blog de temps en temps parce que je n'ai pas d'autre moyen de te remercier.

Final givaway for 2008!

Here are some gingermen I created this week... You have time to enter the draw till Sunday late evening Warsaw time, and the winner can choose one of these gingerboys, the one (s)he likes most!

From left to right we have: cross-stitch gingerman, red and gold gingerman and baroque guru gingerman!

So, this givaway winner will be able to choose! The other two will be given as gifts to my family.

Good luck!

We are a playful lot!

Updaty Wednesday

Still Wednesday here for less than 10 minutes... I'll try to squeeze in an update!

First - I'll post my new ornament giveaway tomorrow, hopefully. I am working on it tonight, among others...So watch this space!

Second - I've been tagged by Tanya and Joke BUT I just did the game a few posts down... (and Joke, I had tagged you then, but you probably didn't see it, I should have told you) AND actually, one of the persons I tagged didn't like it, another promised to answer but hasn't yet (nothing wrong about that!) and the three others didn't see it, I think, or didn't like it either, and I really don't want to annoy anyone by tagging them... some persons just don't like it and also the game has been making rounds for some time now, I wouldn't know who to choose who hasn't played yet... But thank you for tagging me :) I will play and post my six random things, but I won't tag anyone else this time... hope you'll understand!

1. I really, really don't like blue. I wear blue marine clothes but that's about it. I always joke that the worse punishment would be to book a holiday somewhere and get a blue room. That would be enough to ruin the stay!

2. I have a panic attitude about cockroaches. Lived one full year in a flat infested with them during the first year of my university studies, had them in my bed, in my clothes, food, it was a crazy thing. I developed survival methods like cocooning in bed with just my nose out ;-) and shaking every little piece of everything in the morning and not eating breakfast during winter (the little bas---ds were all out in the dark kitchen), but still... I think I have post-traumatic stress disorder after that year and if I had to spend the night in a room with them, I'd return home, _in any circumstances_. I once had to stay a full three weeks in a sort of hospital filled with them, and ended up sleeping with all lights on during the whole time. I was lucky to have a very understanding person sharing my room :). Now, there's no way I can spend a night with them anywhere close.
3. I love COLD. Even at very low temperatures, I sleep with the window open. Good thing, H. is like me (also about the blue color). Well, he's less extreme than me... :) For someone who spent 11 years of childhood in North Africa, I must be a very weird model!
4. I plan to learn back Arabic language.
5. I used to spend all my free time reading. From a very young age, I was a very avid reader in two languages, Polish and French. I am not sure if it's related to my work, where I spend whole days reading and typing, but I've been gradually avoiding reading and unread books keep accumulating. Tired of letters, tired of reading? I wish I knew the why.

Third - I received today a super lovely package from Ela. We participated in a French tea exchange (I send mine, haven;t received yet) but we weren't partnered and so decided to do a private tea exchange.
Here's how nicely packed it arrived:

Ela sent me a fantastic black rose tea, certainly the best rose tea I ever drank. I had a cup today and will have another :). Next, a package of the famous coussins de Lyon - I've already written about those before. I am now addicted to them and Ela knows it well... Then, a super cute French chart and exactly the same finishing fabric as on the picture, wooohoo! Also, a skein of pink silks (Atalie), three small pieces of fabric, a roll of red and green felt of awesome quality - the one I buy in Norway and from the UK is sort of fluffy, this one is not, fabulous. Also the red color is sort of mottled with black, very interesting. That'll be used for a special project.


Then, the hand-made card... Ela is well-known for them... isn't it super cute? (zapraszam means welcome, sort of)

Last but not least, a package meant for H.! Well, he's not a DH yet, more of a DF or DBF ;-) LOL! I am so tempted to open it but I'll resist... It's from a French chocolate maker, so I have a small idea what it could be ;-) Will he share it with me? He'll have to!!!

Fourth - I am almost done with my Christmas gift preparations! I only need to add [...] to two birthday gifts for two blogging friends, but I await an order... I spent 10 (TEN) hours on Monday only on packing all gifts for friends and family... I swear I'll pack them less complicated next year! LOL
I've also sent out a good batch of them, but the European contingent will have to wait, I have them all ready to go, but sending now is too early. Will do so next week :) I think I never was ready for Christmas by Nov. 17!!
By the way, Amazon UK amazed me. An order put on Nov. 12 in the afternoon arrived on Nov. 14 in the morning! How did they do it?? It was a 10-pack of DVDs for H. for Christmas (the first then episodes of a British series we both love and I can't mention yet here, but he'll get nuts when he sees it, heh!)

Packages!! Lots of packages!! Found them!! What's inside?? Ehhh?

Open them. Now. Or!


Okay, threat worketh not. What if I look cute as an angel, behave like an angel...? Hear me?


Some ar red...

Others gold... Very interesting...


Now, what's the connection between a tea exchange and a shoe? Ela might want to know... or she'll have to wait till my package arrives! ROTFL!