At Brigitte's Place

The last few weeks were a bit stressful here, a lot of work had piled up on my desk but it looks a lot better now. I have been stitching a bit here and a bit there, and I have been reading a couple of pages every now and then.

Here is what I stitched in March, my little witch #2 for the Witch'SAL. I should have posted about her on the last day of March but, of course, I missed it although she was finished much earlier. I have always been terrible with deadlines but since I'm not doing exchanges any longer it has become worse, lol. Isn't she sweet, the little lady?

Out Flying
by The Sampler Girl
stitched on a piece of raw Belfast linen with DMC

I also wanted to stitch house #3 for the Anniversaries of the Heart SAL I'm doing with Patti. But somehow it wasn't supposed to be like that. I finished house#2 and this time the colours of the recommended threads were OK for me, I didn't have to change anything. I just left out the spaces where the personalization will be because I haven't made up my mind about the who's where. I started house #3 but didn't get very far on it although I told Patti that maybe I could get it finished during the long Easter weekend. But that was a bit too optimistic. Or maybe I shouldn't watch movies with my favourite actors in them which make me really watch the movies, not only listen to them, lol.

I'm a little bit tired of all that brick stitching but I'll stick to this project in order to finish it as soon as possible so that I can start on the next AOTH house.

Nothing more to say but

I wish you all a lot of happy stitching days!

Lately I realized that I have never posted about days 7 to 11 of my personal Crazy Challenge. I call it my personal Challenge because I'm doing it my way - not 15 starts in 15 successive days but I stitch as long as I want on one piece and when I get tired of it I go on to the next. The result is that so far I have only started 11 new projects and #11 didn't want to let me go on to the next start.

Day 7: This is from a magazine, but this time a newer one, Just Cross Stitch Jan/Feb 2011. Although I don't like the winter I like to stitch wintery designs like this one.

Winter Wind by Plum Street Samplers

Day 8: Now, this is a small chart that is actually an e-pattern purchased directly from the designer, of course. E-patterns are perfect for me because they spare me the half hour drive to the customs office to pick them up when they come in paper form in an envelope. The disadvantage is that I don't have a nice colour chart as I only have a black/white printer.

Behind My Fence by The Pinkeep

Day 9: Oh my, this little chart was sitting in my stash for far too long and this year I've finally picked it for the challenge. I love everything autumn because of the lovely colours.

Autumn by Lizzie*Kate

Day 10: This project is another one from a magazine, Cross Stitch & Country Crafts Sep/Oct 92, a real oldie. And a really biiig project. It will take me years to finish this but I don't mind. I just love it.

Winter Wonderland by Polly Carbonari

Day 11: And here comes the guilty project that didn't want to let me go. And as soon as I have finished my current BBD Anniversary chart I'll get back to it.

Lanarte kit without a name by Dawna Barton

There are still 4 more Crazies left to start. When will I start them? I don't know. At least they are kitted up and just wait for the first stitch.

Thank you all for your visits on my blog and particularly for your comments. They are dearly appreciated and I try to visit you on your blogs as often as possible and leave you a comment as well.

Happy Stitching!

Hmmmm, the last day of the month and I'm ready to show my Witch'SAL piece. I had this freebie in my stash for so long and always wanted to stitch it. I just waited for the perfect opportunity. Here it is:

Best Witches by Waxing Moon

stitched with DMC and GAST on Zweigart Belfast

And for this month's WIPocalypse piece I pulled out the WIP which kept me so busy back in February and finished the bottom half. "Finished" is not the right word because there's a lot of backstitching to do. Nearly everything is backstitched and I have to wait for some backstitching mojo, lol.

Heart Full of Love by Jeremiah Junction

That's all for today . I wish you all a wonderful May 1 tomorrow.

Keep stitching!

I can hardly believe it myself but I have finishes to show. In spite of some crazy weeks at work in May I have finished some pieces. Or maybe it is because of some crazy weeks ... who knows. When it gets overwhelming at work I need things to do that carry my mind off everything that has to do with work. And it's not cleaning or housework, believe me, lol - although a good decluttering spree can also help to free my mind and to let me think of all the positive things in my life. Not that my job hasn't got its positive sides, too, it even has a lot, but it just is what it is - work.

Now my finishes. First I pulled out a freebie chart that has been in my stash for quite a while and which has been stitched by many stitchers so far, Tulip Time. I just wanted to stitch something spring-y and as I was seeing all these tulips in our neighbours' gardens during my daily walk, it was tulip time for me and my stitching. I couldn't decide on the colour range, so I stitched it in three different colour combos.

Tulip Time

freebie by Primitive Betty's

stitched on different fabrics with Anchor

Unfortunately the finishing bug hasn't bitten me yet but when it does I'll make little pillows out of these.

The second finish is one of the pieces of the Crazy Challenge 2011, which I couldn't finish last year. So I put it on my WIPocalypse list this year and here it is.

Band Sampler - Tall Oak

by The Prairie Schooler

stitched on 32ct Zweigart fabric with DMC

This was a real fun stitch - but then, which PS is not? Now I have to think of a new PS design to start and this is always the most difficult thing to do because I love most of their designs and it's always a problem to make the next choice.

Finish #3 is the May contribution to the With'SAL. It was a quick stitch and fun as well.

Witch's Kitchen

freebie by The Primitive Hare

stitched on Zweigart Belfast with DMC and Atalie Soie

Well, that's it for today. I'll now go and visit some of your blogs, which I haven't been able to do during the last ten days (no, no, not because of work but because I was travelling). And then I'll be up to some stitching for the rest of the day.

Have a great weekend and happy stitching to you all!

Somehow, lately I was always a bit late with my blog posts. And I am again with this one. But wow, better a late blog post than no post at all. Don't you agree?

Last month I joined the IHSW for the first time because that weekend was supposed to be a real free weekend without any work and I decided to stay as far away from my desk as possible. And I managed. My stitching couch was my home for two days and I just left it for my daily half hour walk and for seeing my husband during lunch and dinner. And this was the result: I finished one of my 2012 Crazies.

Lanarte kit without a name

by Dawna Barton

stitched on Vintage Belfast with DMC

This wasn't a fast stitch with all the colour changes in the twists and leaves and berries, but it was an absolute fun stitch. I had bought the kit at least ten years ago and never started stitching it, but this year I included it in my Crazy Challenge. I exchanged the fabric in the kit because it was a 28ct evenweave and I prefer stitching on higher counts. I was a bit sad when it was finished because it was so much fun. And I think next year I'll choose another Lanarte kit for the Crazy Challenge, maybe one by Marjolin Bastijn.

On the last day of June I finished my latest addition to the Witch'SAL. It's a freebie that I had had for quite a while and it fits perfectly into this SAL.

By the Light of the Moon

by The Primitive Needle

Stitched on a mystery piece of fabric with DMC

Isn't she just lovely? And have a look at all the little motives that accompany her during her search for mushrooms. After stitching the design I realized that I should have chosen a darker fabric, maybe a blue one according to the fact that it's a night scene. But I like it on the white fabric, too.

That was it for today. Here it has been raining since I got up this morning and there's also the occasional lightning and thunder at a distance. I don't mind such a weather, particularly after the last weekend when we were sweating at 30°C (86°F). And I'm sure that those of you who are sweating at even higher temperatures right now would like to cool down under some rain as well.

Have a wonderful stitching day, you all!

In my blog post in June I mentioned that I had been travelling at the beginning of June. My husband and I spent 10 wonderful days in my favourite mountain region. We were here ...

... and here ...

And the reason why we were there was this little bundle of joy ...

... our first grandson.

A Wish For You (Anniversaries #3)

by Blackbird Designs

stitched on Zweigart Belfast with the recommended threads

If you have grandchildren and live near them, hug and cuddle them as much as possible. I wish you all a nice weekend and

Happy Stitching!

Again. Again I'm late. I should have posted the results of the IHWS in July quite a while ago but somehow it didn't happen. And I haven't shown my latest contribution to the Witch'SAL yet. So I'll start this post with these two pictures.

During the July IHWS I pulled out Jeremiah Junction's Hearts Full of Love because this is the project I want to get finished this year (it's also one of my WIPocalypse pieces). I had finished the ground floor and now there was the question: Do I backstitch all I had stitched so far or do I continue with the first floor? With a lot of big sighs I decided to do all the backstitching first.

Although backstitching isn't really fun for me I loved to see all the details of the chart come to life. And afterwards I deserved a reward and started stitching the first floor. Which was fun again.

My July witch for the Witch'SAL is just a very small one. I love her big smile and the colour of her hair.

Little Witch (without a name)

freebie by Anchor

stitched on a mystery piece of linen with Anchor threads

And I have some more finishes to show. Three of them are projects that I started in this year's Crazy Challenge. They are not big, of course, but I had a lot of fun stitching them.

#1 is a chart by a new-to-me designer and I found the pattern offered on her blog. Before I finish it I'll dye the fabric a bit so that it gets a bit darker.

Behind My Fence by The Pinkeep

stitched on white Belfast with DMC

#2 is my little favourite so far. I'm so fond of the muted colours that the designer used in this piece, and I loved to do the specialty stitches, like the satin stitch in the heart, the Rice stitch with two different colours in the basket, and the Herringbone stitch underneath the alphabet.

Iris Sampler by Sheepish Designs

found in Cross Stitch & Country Crafts Sep/Oct 90

stitched on Belfast with DMC

#3 are actually two pieces, also from a magazine, and I stitched them right away from the beginning to the end without anything in between.

Emma's Samplers by Carriage House Samplings

found in Just Cross Stitch June 2005

stitched on Light Moccha Belfast with DMC

The last finish is a little chart that I just HAD to stitch and I knew that from the moment I saw it for the first time on The Sampler Girl's blog. And while stitching it I went repeatedly to my book shelves and pulled out my books by Jane Austen thinking about which one to read first. I think I'll tea-dye this one as well.

Reading with Jane (freebie) by The Sampler Girl

stitched on white Belfast with Anchor and HDF

Before I come to the end of this post I want to thank you so much for all the friendly comments you always leave on my posts. My time doesn't allow me to thank you all individually but know that I read every word of your comments and that I enjoy hearing from you. But what I always do is visit your blogs and leave you a comment myself - I do not only love receiveing comments, I also love commenting on your blogs. Sometimes it takes a little while but I try to do my best.

I wish you some great August days!

This year's Crazy Challenge has been just as enjoyable as last year's. I'm doing it on my own pace, which means that there were 15 new projects chosen and kitted up at the beginning of the year but I start stitching them whenever it pleases me. So I started the last 4 projects only back in June. One of them was finished within a couple of days, it was Emma's Samplers by CHS and I showed it to you in my last post. So here are the remaining three projects.

#13 is Marion the Librarian by LA-D-DA. The chart appealed to me the first moment I saw it because I used to work as a volunteer in our local liberary for more than 20 years.

#14 is Phebe's Forest by The City Stitcher. It's the first chart I bought by this designer and it was time to pull it out and start it.

#15 and the last start is The Red House Sampler by Ewe&Eye&Friends. And again the house motif that can be found on most of this year's choices.

And here comes a finish. It's also from this year's Crazy Challenge and it was so much fun to stitch it. I love Catherine Theron's designs very much but I don't have many of them. They are just as hard - if not impossible - to get over here as the Mary Garry designs and the Goode Huswife designs.

Starry Night Sampler by Catherine Theron

found in Cross Stitch&Country Crafts Sep/Oct 1993

stitched on 32ct Belfast with GAST

There is a similar design by Theron in another magazine which I have already kitted up for next year's Crazy Challenge.

By the way, the flowers on the picture didn't look the same the day after my husband had taken the picture. During the following night there was a heavy thunderstorm which swept all the petals to the ground.

That's all for today. Thank you very much for visiting my blog so regularly and for taking the time to leave a comment. Now I'll go and pack my suitcase and tomorrow we'll leave to see our precious grandson again.

Have a great time, you all, and enjoy the rest of the summer!

The last six weeks have passed so very fast and there are three things I want to post about this time.

1) Near the end of August we were travelling again to visit our daughter and her family. It was such a delight to see them all again, particularly our little grandson Benjamin. I couldn't believe how much he had grown since the first time we had seen him. I'd like to show a picture but this time my husband was filming. Of course, we were also travelling around a bit while we were there. As my daughter had moved in the meantime we weren't seeing any mountains but we visited this place:

We were on one of the little ships that you see on the river. The boat trip to the waterfalls was short but very wet - as it was a hot day I didn't put on the hood of the plastic coat that the passengers received before going onto the ship, so my head and the top of my t-shirt got completely wet. Very refreshing on such a hot day!

2) In September it was back to work, so I had to do something enjoyable in my spare time. I joined the IHSW and finished one of the Crazy Challenge pieces of 2011.

Balade aux fraises by Tournicoton

in The Gift of Stitching #32

stitched on 32ct Belfast with overdyed threads from my stash

There were a lot of specialty stitches: the little red flowers were Jessica stitches, the windows of the house were Rhodes stitches, and the leaves were stitched with the new to me Cashmere stitch. I really loved doing these and I also loved the effect of all these stitches. What I did not love so much ...

... was the over one stitching. Fortunately there was only the little girl in her white dress and the black cat that had to be stitched over one.

3) Now at the end of September it's time for the Witch'SAL. Here is my little witch for this month:

Halloween Witch freebie by gazette94

stitched with Anchor threads on 32ct Belfast

She was a real fun stitch. But I have no idea about the designer. Does anybody of you know who designed this little witch? If so, please, let me know so that I can give credit to the designer. (EDIT: Thanks to Cathi and Nancy for giving me the designer's name). If you want to see more witches from the other participants of this SAL, go to Bill's blog who has collected all the blogs of the SAL participants.
EDIT: And the initiator of the SAL, clob, has just opened a new blog and there you find the list of all the participants as well.

For October I have prepared some fall stitching. And as the next weekend will be a long one due to our national holiday on Wednesday and two days off between Wednesday and the weekend I'm planning to do some finishing. I hope I can stick to it, lol.

Happy Fall, you all!

... and they turned our garden into a Halloween garden. A whole lot of them are here.

Four of them arrived on their brooms. The first has a purple cloak which is blowing in the wind,

the second brought her owl,

and the third is wearing bright colourful clothes and is accompanied by her cat.

The fourth is a very elegant witch with a stylish handbag and a fashionable orange cloak.

Another witch collected mushrooms in the woods,

and now she has disappeared in the kitchen to prepare her witch's brew.

This evening they will all gather with the ghosts in the haunted house

and have a great Halloween evening.

to you all!

EDITED: The names of the designs and designers are (from the top)

Little Witch by Anchor Designs

Out Flying by The Sampler Girl

Halloween Witch by gazette94

Halloween Ravelry by The Primitive Needle

By the Light of the Moon by The Primitive Needle

Witch's Kitchen by The Primitive Hare

The Haunted House by The Drawn Thread

Best Witches by Waxing Moon

It's been quite a while since my last post. And I was stitching. And even had some finishes - a big one and some small ones. Back in November I finished one of my BAPs:

Hearts Full of Love by Jeremiah Junction

stitched with DMC on Zweigart Edinburgh

It was one of the first cross stitch charts that I bought when I started cross stitch about 15 years ago. That was before there was the Internet and there were only a few options to buy cross stitch charts. Then I discovered an ad of the only distributor of American cross stitch charts here in Germany and ordered her catalogue. My first order from her contained some Prairie Schooler books, a Paula Vaughan chart and two Jeremiah Junction charts. I still have them all, but well, it took me 15 years before I stitched Hearts Full of Love.

After that finish I started with some Christmas stitching, so my next finishes were these:

St. Nicholas II by The Prairie Schooler (book 36)

stitched with DMC on Zweigart Belfast

This chart was also among my first cross stitch charts I ever bought, and I've been hooked on The Prairie Schooler designs since then. I'm getting nostalgic these days, it seems.

And then came the IHSW and I decided to dedicate the weekend to finish-finishing - something I try to avoid as much as possible, lol. I completed three Prairie Schooler pieces that I had stitched together with the three Santas above.

O Christmas Tree by The Prairie Schooler (book 183)

stitched with DMC on Zweigart Belfast

These little ornaments were supposed to be sent as Christmas gifts but I didn't manage to send them out right after finishing them, so they will have to be after-Christmas gifts.

Now it's time to do some planning for the next stitching. I always love to do this and it's one of the highlights at the beginning of each year. I'm already very excited!

I wish you all some peaceful holidays wherever you are!

It's only the fourth day of the new year and I already have a finish. And for a change, it's even finish-finished. It seems that a new era has started, the era of finish-finish the small designs immediately after stitching them and not put them in the box of finished items. Hmmm, we'll see. Here it is.

Tea Time with Max by La Chatelaine Designs (Lycy Lyons Willis)

stitched with DMC on Zweigart Belfast

The original design is a bit bigger but I cut it on the left hand side and only stitched the main scene. I've had this little freebie for several years and when I was searching for a design to stitch a small gift I rediscovered it in one of my folders. I really love it how it turned out and will stitch it for myself again.

The planning for the new stitching year is still going on. I'd like to make it the Year of BAPs and start a couple more really, really big projects. I'd really love to do that but wouldn't it be quite simply insane? Yes, it definitely would be insane. But I can't promise not to do it ...

But there are still some more reasonable plans:

1. I joined the new WIPocalypse and will choose a couple of WIPs for it during the next days.
2. I joined Nicola's Scarlet Letter Challenge and have ordered two charts for it (here it is, the Year of BAPs, lol).
3. I will do another personal Crazy Challenge, but this year only with 8 new projects, and I will start them in February. This month I'll try and finish some of the crazy projects of 2011 and 2012 which are very near to the finish line.
4. See what else comes my way.

Thank you to all who visited my blog during the last year, and particularly to those who took the time and left a comment. It's always an enjoyable moment to see that there's a new comment from a blogging friend. I dearly appreciate each and every one.

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year full of stitchy pleasures!

It's winter. What a sentence to begin a blog post with at this time of the year, lol. But I have to tell you that I'm *NOT* a winter person. At all. So just let me vent a little bit about all the snow we've been having since the beginning of this year. And about how much I hate driving to work on slippery roads. But next week I will be off and I will look at all the snow from my windows.

I will give the birds their seeds and I will have my husband drive me to the supermarket when we need food. Other than that I will not leave the house.

Well, the winter is not the theme of this post. Stitching is. And finishing. During January I finished a couple of my Crazy Challenge pieces of the last two years.

For the first piece I have to stay with the winter theme as it's the Winter Wind Sampler. It's a bit strange - I don't love the winter but I love stitching winter themed pieces.

Winter Wind Sampler by Plum Street Samplers

found in Just Cross Stitch Jan/Feb 2011

stitched on Zweigart Belfast Smokey Pearl with threads from my stash

Then came this lovely bird piece which had been nearly completed for a couple of months - I had just run out of DMC 3865 and had to wait for my next order to place. And just ordering threads wouldn't be very efficient because the postage would be more than the cost of the threads.

Story Time by Valerie Pfeiffer

stitched on Zweigart Belfast Antique White with DMC

The third finish was also a pattern found in a magazine, and this time a rather old one.

Quaint Owl Sampler by Patricia Andrle

found in Cross Stitch & Country Crafts Nov/Dec 1994

stitched on Zweigart Belfast with DMC

Number four was one of my favourites - the librarian. I know that librarians don't look like that - and never have, lol. Carol and Lynda and all the other blogging librarians will certainly agree. But I just love Marion with a book under her arm, standing next to an apple tree and surrounded by birds. I am a bit curious about the birds - black birds with red breasts and red tail feathers. I have never seen such birds around here but maybe they exist in other regions?

Marion The Librarian by La-D-Da

stitched on Zweigart Belfast with threads from my stash

And as I was in a finishing mood - which rarely ever happens - I pulled out a piece that I had finished stitching a while ago and turned it into a little pillow.

Reading with Jane, a freebie by The Sampler Girl

I still have some more finishes but will show them in another post.

A couple of days ago the postman was at our door and delivered a package from our daughter on which she had already given up. It was sent in the middle of December and got somehow stuck somewhere in the world. I was so glad when it arrived because our daughter had announced that it contained a gift from our little grandson. And this is the gift ...

... which will take pride of place on one of the shelves in the kitchen.

That's it for today, I will soon be back with more stitching and finishing - if the finishing mood continues, that is ;)))

Have a happy rest of the winter!

I'm surprised about myself. I have some finishes to show, but they are not only stitched but also turned into something. Two of them were little gifts, so I was highly motivated to finish them, but the others are just for me. It's not that I like the process of finishing more than before - I still don't. But maybe the fact that I cleared a couple of shelves which are empty right now helps. I want to display my smalls on them now so I need to finish them first. That's also some kind of motivation, don't you think?

The first was a gift for a friend's birthday. She's into Jane Austen so I stitched the little freebie again that I had already stitched for myself, but I changed the colours and the fabric.

Reading with Jane, a freebie by The Sampler Girl

stitched on 40ct Newcastle

The second little gift was for my son and DIL who spent New Year's Eve and the next couple of days in Paris.

Souvenir de France, a freebie by Blackbird Designs

stitched on 40ct Newcastle with a Vikkie Clayton thread

The next two finishes are from last year's Crazy Challenge. Both are finished as little pillows.

The Red House Sampler by Ewe&Eye&Friends

stitched on32ct Belfast and threads from my stash

Petits Oiseaux by Tralala

stitched on 32ct Belfast with DMC

In February I started my personal Crazy Challenge 2013 but as I hadn't been able to stitch a lot last month, I only started three of the eight projects that I had chosen for this year.

#1 that I started had to be the spring piece among my choices. It hasn't been in my stash for too long, I think I bought it last year when I was in France. It shows all the things I'd like to see in nature as soon as possible.

Printemps by Tralala

#2 is a chart that I had ordered many years ago but it never arrived. So when I saw it lately in my ONS I just had to order it again. And this time it made it.

Laura's Embroideries by Marie Suarez

And now the progress picture. For February's IHSW I chose this project ...

... and stitched on it during the whole weekend. And I loved it. It was so much fun to stitch the skaters' costumes and coats with their colourful patterns that it was hard to put the piece down after the weekend. But I think that it will be my focus piece for the following IHSWs.

Winter Wonderland by Polly Carbonari

There's no more stitching to show right now. I could show you some more pictures of all the snow that is still covering everything but I won't. The weather forecast says that temperatures will slowly be going up next week. But it will take some more time before we see any kind of colour in nature. So I'll stick to my DMC colours :))).

Thank you all for visiting my blog and for all the lovely comments that you leave each time. I'm behind with my own blog reading because I was a bit under the weather these last weeks. But I feel much better by now and will get back to you and leave my comments on your blogs as well. I'm so looking forward to meeting you again.

Happy stitching and enjoy your day!

Some time ago I received the travelling pattern that Angela had once sent out on its journey around the world. Mii chose my name so I became one of the stitchers of this little beauty.

Life's a Stitch by L*K

stitched on 32ct Belfast linen with Anchor threads and pearl thread for the border

If you want to be the next recipient of the travelling pattern, please leave a comment until next Saturday.

Good Luck!

The travelling pattern, which started its trip in Canada and has been to the UK, the USA, Spain and Germany, will now travel to Portugal to

Nia!

Have fun stitching the pattern, Nia.

Those who weren't the lucky winners this time, follow Nia's blog and maybe you'll be the lucky one when Nia offers the pattern to the next stitcher.

Happy Stitching to all of you!

I didn't make it. Write a post in April, I mean. But there was not much stitching going on during the last month, so there wasn't much to write about.

I want to start this post with something that makes me sigh with frustration from time to time. Every now and then I get comments that contain questions about the designs I'm stitching or stitched. And when I want to answer the question I sometimes see that it's a no-reply comment and that the email of the commenter is blocked. Then I try to get to the commenter's blog in order to comment on their blog and leave my answer there - but I can't find a blog link either. I'm so sorry when this happens because I want to spread the word about all the designers whose designs make me so happy.

The latest question was about one of the designs in this post. I usually add all the designers' names when I show you my stitching but in that post I didn't do it. That's why I edited the post and added all the designers' names.

Now on to my little stitching. During March and April I started the rest of my personal Crazy Challenge pieces for this year. And as I wanted to start only half of the usual 15 pieces, I stopped at #7. In my previous post I already showed #1 and #2, so here we go with

#3 - It's Abigail Gould by The Scarlett Letter, which I even started stitching back in February. This will be the first that I will finish because I want to start my second Scarlett Letter piece in August.

#4 - is one of the older designs, Moonlight Stroll by The Yankee Stitcher. I had never heard of this designer before until I won this pretty little chart in one of Melissa's giveaways.

#5 - is a small kit that I have had for years. It's Coeur Volage by Isabelle Vautier and I once bought it on a needlecraft show in France. As my heart is always with the birds I thought I should finally start it.

#6 - Over the River & Through the Wood is by The Sampler Girl and I ordered this e-pattern some years ago. I love e-patterns because they get into my mailbox without causing any troubles with customs.

#7 - is the Mystery SAL by By the Bay Needlearts. I don't know if this freebie has got a name but I saw it on many of your blogs last year. I couldn't start it last year because I didn't have the WDW thread for the coloured leaves. But now I read on a blog that the stitcher there had replaced it by a variegated DMC thread. I was digging through my DMCs and there it was. So I finally could start this lovely design. I can't remember on whose blog I saw it but thank you, unknown stitcher, for the tip! EDIT: The "unknown" stitcher is Ellen. Thank you, Ellen!

I love my choices - there are spring, autumn and winter pieces, kits, charts, e-patterns and freebies, old ones and new ones and many different designers. It will be a lot of fun to finish them all, one by one, and then - hopefully - turn them into something.

Last month I received two wonderful stitched gifts from two stitching friends that I have known for years now. My husband took a couple of pictures in the garden this morning although the weather is not good, it's rainy and gray, but the pictures are so nice inspite of the weather.

This is a little ornament from friend Margaret and it's a Prairie Schooler piece. Isn't it a little beauty?

And this is from friend Angela, who finished it into a wonderful flatfold. Look at this assembly of different shades of blue, they look so beautiful together.

Thank you, dear friends, for these great gifts. They warmed my heart.

There are no more news or pictures to share, so Have a great time, you all!

Happy Stitching!

The month of May is dwindling down. This year "May" has become a synonym for the words "rain" and "cold". There was exactly one day when I could sit in my garden and read. But I don't complain - it's much better this way than having a heat wave and not being able to sit in the garden because it's too hot, lol. And as you can see in my header, the flowers and plants are blooming anyway. So I sit near the terrace door inside when I read and look out into the garden from time to time.

I thought it would be good to write another blog post in May as I have some new finishes to show. The first is the Abigail Gould sampler that I have stitched in Nicola's Scarlet Letter SAL. It's my very first Scarlet Letter sampler and I stitched it with the recommended colours, I just used DMC threads instead of silks. And it even has one of my favourite colours, DMC 356 terracotta red, you see it in the border, the fruit and one of the birds is stitched with it. And as I didn't want to stitch the background - I don't like all that filling in - I chose a fabric colour similar to the thread colour which would have been used for the filling stitches. Stitching this design was fun from the beginning to the end.

Abigail Gould Sampler by The Scarlet Letter

stitched on Zweigart Belfast creme 32ct with DMC

My second finish is a small design that I finished stitching last week during the IHSW, and this morning I made it into a little pillow. I love making these pillows, and this time I sewed the corners of the stitched plate onto the pillow and decorated it with four small buttons. My husband took the pictures early this afternoon while the sun was peaking out of the clouds.

Cottage Garden by Country Cottage Needleworks

in Just Cross Stitch August 2006

stitched with threads from my stash (Anchor, DMC, Vikki Clayton silks)

This little pillow will be a small gift for a friend but I know that I will have to stitch it again because I want to put it into my own pillow basket.

Before I finish this post I'm going to show you where I was last Sunday. Here:

My son and I are huge Springsteen fans and last year when my son discovered that there would be another concert this year he immediately bought two tickets. Would he have bought them if he had known what the weather was like last Sunday? Of course, he would have. Well, what was the weather like? It was cold, just 5°C / 41°F and it was pouring cats and dogs all the time before the concert, during the concert and after the concert on our way home. Did we mind? No. Fortunately our seats were under the stadium roof which kept the rain away, but not the cold wind.Although we had brought warm clothes we were so cold before the concert began, but when it started there was no more time for being cold - Bruce Springsteen's music is like electrifying and we were dancing and singing and screaming and applauding for three hours, three solid hours without a single break An absolutely fantastic three hours. And we were enjoying every single minute of it.

That's about it from here. Keep warm and don't forget to take your umbrella before going out of the house, lol.

Happy Stitching to all of you!

Lately I was a very lucky stitcher. I had two weeks off and so I could dedicate some more time as usual to my stitching. So I finished two of my personal Crazy Challenge pieces from 2012 and 2013. And as you can see, I also made them into something :))

When you look at both designs you might discover a similarity in style - yes, you are right, they are both from the same French designer, Corinne Rigaudeau.

The first is from my 2012 challenge and I finished it as a pinkeep although it might be a bit too large for a pinkeep. I love this design, particularly because of the cute little sheep and the two birdies.

Dans ma prairie by Tralala

stitched on 32 ct Zweigart Belfast with threads from my stash

The second is from this year's challenge and I knew from the beginning that I would finish it as a little pillow. But what I did not know then was that I had the perfect piece of lace to embellish it with. My DDIL gave me this wonderful lace when she visited last time. She knows exactly what I love and as she lives in a city she has access to stores where you can find all kinds of ribbons, buttons, lace and all the other wonderful things.

Carrée de Printemps by Tralala

stitched on 32ct Zweigart Belfast with DMC and a Caron silk (border)

No more new things for today. I have pulled out some of the projects that have gathered in my WIP box during the last years and that I want to put some stitches in before August when my year of BAPs will start. So my next post will probably be without any finished pieces but with progress pictures. We'll see.

Thank you all so much for your visits and particularly for all your lovely comments which are so dear to me. Until next time!

Happy stitching time!

It seems to unreal that more than a month has passed since my last post. It was a month full of work and with very little spare time. Nevertheless, the little stitching that I was able to do lead to two finishes.

The first finish is one of my Personal Crazy Challenge pieces from 2012. I love the design with the many different trees and stags. If you take a closer look you will see that all of them are really different, not even two of them are the same. And I even didn't mind the many greens and browns because they also were different. That made it a real fun stitch.

What I also like are the little yellow flowers in the top border and the red flowers all over the forest. They make such beautiful accents within the green and brown colours.

Phebe's Forest by The City Stitcher

stitched on 32ct Zweigart Belfats with DMC

The second finish is a small design which I saw on Danybrod's blog. When I discovered it I had to think of a friend whose birthday approaches and so I immediately started stitching the little piece. And finished it into a little pillow.

Petit ABC by Danybrod

stitched with threads from my stash on 40ct Zweigart Newcastle

The next one and a half weeks will be less busy here and then our summer holidays will start And as the weather has improved a lot I will enjoy the weekend sitting on my garden and reading. I hope that you can spend your weekend with something you enjoy doing as well. Thank you all for your visits on my blog and for all your lovely comments.

Have a great weekend and Happy stitching!

A little lady and some houses

Crazy Challenge days 7-11

Witch'SAL and WIPocalypse in April

Finishes! Really?

Late

Travelling for a reason

Procrastinator is my second name.

It's all about the Crazy Challenge

Catching up

The witches are visiting ...

Finishing and Finish-finishing and IHSW

It's only small, but a finish!

Staying inside is the best option

Finishes - new starts - progress

A travelling pattern anyone?

The next stitcher of the travelling pattern

First May Post

Last May post ...probably

Tralala-lala

A new month - a new post