Sunday, February 14, 2010

Catching Up...

** WARNING PHOTO HEAVY**
...um where to start... First a photo of my latest bird from
D - I wanted a white bird and I asked D if I could commission one from her... No sooner said than done and this turned up in my letter box a short while later... I love D's work and her use of colour and embellishments.. I discover something new every time I look at my Mirabella Peace Dove... I just love her - later on in the year I hope to commission another one to make three... You may remember I got this one last year...

Next... Last week I found this in my letter box... A sent me this beautifully stitched angel as she knows that I have a 'thing' for them... It is certainly no secret that I am very envious of A's stitching... Her work is something I aspire too...

LOL when I think of how A and I met through blog land after I discovered her blog - Feather Stitching - on an American stitcher's blog... As I read A's blog her description of where she had just shifted from and shifted to started some bells ringing - plus her profile photo looked strangely familiar... Finally I emailed her and asked - yep, she was then living in Melbourne in a suburb which I had lived quite close to before I shifted here - the suburb she HAD just shifted FROM...In fact she had lived about a 10 minute walk away from me and had shopped in the store I worked in at the time... We both thought that I had probably served her at some time or another. Talk about a small world... She and her mum J came over here for dinner and 'show and tell' quite a few times and I was happy/sad for her when she announced her move to Sydney because of work... I have promised myself a trip to Sydney to see her ever since she moved and I hope that perhaps that I might make it sooner rather than later... Thanks A heaps - this week has been an interesting one in this household so your beautiful angel kept my spirits buoyed throughout... Yes - that is Matilda's nose checking it out just as I snapped - thought you might get a giggle out of it so I left it as it was...



Thirdly I have been involved in a Valentine fabric postcard swap over on the stitchin fingers site. We had two cards to make one was a straight swap with a known recipient and the other was a secret swap...

These are what I received through the week... This one was from my direct swap from S in Scotland... It came complete with a poem from poet
Robert Burns - how perfect is that...


And this one was from my secret swapper... The way this one was done was quite clever - I suspect that I know who this is from -but only time will tell...



I love both of my Valentine swaps and I shall put them into my keepsake box with a brief explanation to why they were created...

Unfortunately due to some 'life bumps' my cards went out late so I can't show you them completely but here is a little peek of each of them... I don't think the ladies come over here so I am pretty safe. Famous last words I know :) But I won't say which card is going where...



I rarely go in RR or swaps - the couple I have been in have been disasters with lost blocks (one of which was my work to someone else) and well, let me just say some unfortunate events... But the Valentine swap seemed a good one... But LOL it happened again but this time it is me who is at fault... I only hope the ladies concerned will like their cards when they finally get them... I had never made a fabric postcard before so it was a very, very steep learning curve where of course my expectation outweighed my skill base.

I have decided for the duration of this year I am going to follow G's example and concentrate on some of my own stitching - I have enough UFOs to keep me busy for quite some time... I have decided to get on with
this one as it has been hanging around for ages...Or perhaps I might have another go at these... Unfortunately I have plenty to choose from...

Yes, G -I promise - *cross my heart*- I will finish 'hanging out the washing' before the end of the year... That one pre-dates me having a computer - so no picture... In fact I think it even pre-dates my other half's arrival in my life eight years ago... Speedy is not my middle name...
In saying that I am not natural stitcher - I find cross stitch extremely 'cross sharon making' I love the look of it I am just not good at it... And again I love fine embroidery and crazy quilting but again I am not a natural and it frustrates the heck out of me... I have some lovely cross stitch pieces in my stash to do but sometimes I think I would be better to sell them than start them and never complete them... But I am going to try and finish at least some which I have started :)


Well I am off to choose a UFO or two or perhaps three...

Sharon xxx


3 comments:

Gina E. said...

Your Valentine FPCs are gorgeous! (And the ones you received are also). Glad to hear you have decided to focus on some UFOs - I'm sure we will be spending a lot of time egging each other on this year! You go crook at me for running myself down, now you're doing it! I don't think there is any such thing as a 'natural stitcher' - just those who started young and kept it up, while taking classes to improve their skills. You and I didn't, so we are not as quick and perhaps not as skilled as those who did. But some of us are perfectionists, aren't we? Especially those born under the sign of Virgo...

sharonb said...

I love that dove - the pattern is just gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you like the angel - I've had that sitting in my finishing pile for you for years! I love to re-hear the story of how we met too ... the world is indeed a small place - just a shame we didn't realise how small much earlier! :D