April 16, 2008

Rants of the day

Okay, I have to get it off my chest. I am sooooo in love with that set. And I understand that it contains 10 designs - but let's be honest, lots of small ones also. And I understand that the basket must be nice. But one hundred and eighteen dollars just for the basket and the charts? Is that fair... isn't that overpriced.... Tell me what you think. From what I read, the design is not sold without the basket. Not that I think that finding a basket with an oval/round top like this, of the correct size, would be an easy task. BUT. Or am I being cheap... I'd really welcome your thoughts on that. Drema has a special price for the set with the silks and linen, but 199 usd... Okay, kill me, but that was my rant of the day.
Maybe it's triggered by seing recently so many lovely kits - but I mean *very small* kits containing a couple of skeins of silk, a small design, a chart, all that for 50-60 usd. Some of them are really lovely. But I'm thinking more and more often if the market is not going in a wrong direction... sort of like computer manufacturers (won't mention the name) creating equipment that requires more and more ressources.
Oh, I don't know. Bear with me today :) I've lived the weirdest compact 10 minutes in my life. Minute 1: I meet a lady whose husband I loved and knew since I moved in here in 1993, who had one doggie, then another, we often walked a bit in the park and chatted, he was somehow a famous person in his specialty and a government expert, well, I learned he died within 2 hours three weeks ago, and he was in good health, and he took care of himself... anyway. I will dearly miss his presence during my doggie walks... he was a very special person. Minute 5: a man sneaks into the building right behind me, tries to push me in the lift - I resist, he barks something, his eyes are dangerous, I go out, he takes the lift, I hear noone opens the door for him so he might be waiting at one of the floors, I wait till someone else arrives and take the lift with that person. Minute 10: I meet someone at my floor who tells me that the plumber who took care of our building, a man that helped and repaired a bit of everything in the apartments, and who did lots of works in my own apartment over the years, and whom I knew well, died of a heart attack on Monday. That was a bit too much for this afternoon ;-)
That tops three other persons of a certain age from my building that died in the past few weeks but I wasn't close to them.
I wish I could learn coping with the unexpected death of someone I knew and cared for. Life.

New Carriage House Samplings

Have you seen THEM? Frederick is a must-have no-matter-what, even if I have to sell my last shirt! LOL

April 10, 2008

Prairie Schooler fob exchange

Here is the fob I made for Milly. This is the first fob I ever made, partly because I don't own more than two pairs or small scissors and partly because I was never sure how to make one with a metal closing and beads. I am ashamed to say it was extremely easy! :)

Prairie Schooler - adapted from leaflet # 110 Santa & Friends
Stitched over one on opalescent hand-dyed fabric.







PS blog spring exchange from Cheryl

See the lovely spring ornament I received! Thank you, Cheryl!




Good news

Finally a good week :)
I got the cells result after the surgery and all is super fine, no c... word danger!
I had a CT scan this week as well and there too, all is super fine.
Which puts and end to 4 months of anxiety and visits at various docs and checks and tests and analyses and and and... I am in heaven!
I can honestly live with the underactive thyroid and PCO, I can learn tricks and ways to fight some nasty symptoms. The other two problems were much more serious.
I have some some other non-medical issues to work on but honestly, these good news put me in a state where I can't worry on anything else till at least Monday, and next Monday is also a good day to start solving problems.
Oh happy days! :)

To top it all, I finally received my biiiig order from the US, the one I put back in November 2007, that got returned to the US in March 2008, to which I added some items... yesterday I got it and I still have a huge smile looking thru it! Many small hand-dyed and R&R pieces of fabric, perfect for small samplers and ornaments, some kitted designs, some charts. Now I don't know what to start first! :) I have a small idea though, there is a biscornu and one Blackbird Designs that I might start tomorrow. Today, I still need to put the last finishing touch to one birthday giftie and the last stitches on Quaker Alphabet.

But that's not all. I also received my PS exchange from Cheryl and Milly received her PS group fob exchange from me. See next posts!

April 03, 2008

PS spring exchange from Nath

What a joy today to receive my PS spring exchange from Nath! You might remember it got returned to her because my apartment number was missing. Oh what a joy... I'll let you discover this beautiful project bag (is that the name in English?)... Nath put so much work into creating it for me!

We start with the front....

The back....
And once it's opened.... take time to see all the little details: the two skeins of threads, the small PS bunny pillow, the round pin keep, the miniature wooden pegs, the tiny buttons....

But that wasn't all... see the thread sorter.... it's Nath's husband who made it, and she told me it takes a lot of time to male!! It has so much value for me... I tend to be terribly nostalgic about such things :)


Nath, encore une fois, MERCI!! :))

April 02, 2008

Something on its way over the Atlantic...

Hopefully Milly will get her PS fob exchange very soon now. I am very ashamed for sending it at the last moment, I usually am within the first persons to send out.

March 29, 2008

Spring is in the air.... :)



PS spring exchange # 5

The final project is the one I made for Ela... Adapted from:
Prairie Schooler - leaflet # 118 - Farm fresh







PS spring exchange # 4

Next one is the piece I made for Sharon... I adapted it from:

Prairie Schooler - leaflet # 107 - Just hatched






PS spring exchange # 3

Here is the rabbit I made for Donna, same design as below both different colors. For both, I used silks and WDW/GAST threads and Moda fabric on the back, sewed to the linen with tiny colorful stitches.






PS spring exchange # 2

Here is what I stitched and sent to Cheryl:

Prairie Schooler - leaflet # 13 - A prairie year





Prairie Schooler fob exchange

Here is the lovely fob I received from Milly within the fob exchange organized by Lynne in our Prairie Schooler group!


Mine left today for the US, hope Milly likes it too.

PS spring exchange from Sharon

Sharon sent me not one, but two lovely pieces! I adore the bookmark and the biscornu is so cute :) I am unsure of the name of the leaflet for the biscornu, so Sharon, if you let me know, I'll update it. I know that Sharon updated the design a bit to make it more "spring"!
I also received threads, an absolutely cute Easter egg, a wonderfully smelling candle which also has a colour I just love and spreads its perfume in the room as I type, and some rick-rack banding which will come super handy for spring designs, all this in a lovely Easter bag!
Thank you so much Sharon, I so enjoyed this exchange with you.


Better picture of...

... Tanya's new freebie





Irish Home Blessing, for Will
by Tanya Anderson, The Sampler Girl
downloadable HERE.
Stitched over 1 on 40 ct