Totally Useless Bowl

Well, the new moon has begun and it's time to show my bowl for the Totally Useless SAL. I have decided that it can include bits of thread, beads and off cuts of linen. So with no further ado, here is this week's efforts.

I know that I am a little slow with this, but I would like to show off the award given to me by Melissa over at Words and Blooms. Thank you Melissa I am very honoured.

Today, I finally finished the set of squares I received from Dani for Fair & Square Round #8. I looked everywhere on Sunday for black seed beads to finish this piece. I finally found some and was assured they were good quality. These have to be the worst beads I have ever used, they are all poorly shaped, very inconsistent and I have thrown quite a few away. Luckily, they look quite good on the finished piece and I used a little bit of raffia to make the hanger.

Some Stitching to Show

I heard from Cathy today that she received the Drawn Thread exchange I stitched for her for the Friends Through Thread group. I had a lot of fun stitching this piece, especially trying all the specialty stitches, although I must say that some of them took a lot longer than I would have thought. At least I learnt some new stitching techniques and I really enjoyed using all those silks.

Design: motifs taken from Toccata Number II

Designer: The Drawn Thread

Fabric: 36ct Edinburgh linen - Cream

Thread: Needlepoint Inc, Gloriana, Soie 100/3, Kreinik Japan Thread, Mill Hill beads, DMC

Finish: Scissor Fob

(Thank you Cathy for the photos)

Drawn Thread Exchange Received

Yesterday morning I received the most wonderful parcel from Joan. We had participated in a Drawn Thread exchange on the Friends Through Thread blog. She stitched for me the design Too Tiny Too from the Too Tiny Samplers by The Drawn Thread using Needlepoint Silks over one on 28ct linen. Joan then framed it in a beautiful pendent. I have never seen a pendent like this and I will definitely wear this one proudly. Joan also included in the parcel a laying tool her husband made from sterling silverware, the chart Little Spot Sampler from my wish list and the fabric, thread and needles to complete it. I am so excited to receive this, I am going to start stitching it today. Let's just hope the weather cools down soon, so that I get more stitching time in. Thank you Joan for making this a wonderful exchange.

Nuts About Nuts!

Well as the title suggests, yes we went nuts over some nuts on the weekend. Sunday was our annual chestnut picking day and picnic. It's a fun day for everyone! We picked quite a lot of chestnuts and I am going to try and freeze some whole and make some chestnut puree to freeze as well, both sweetened and unsweetened. These will be great to use through the winter and even into next summer. We had a great family picnic with both my parents and then went apple picking after lunch. Aurelia was very excited and helped pick lots of apples and now is really happy to eat the apple as it is. This is the best news, as now I don't have to peel and slice them into little pieces.

The other night we had a slight drama, which I must add was very scary. Aurelia ran into the lounge room and then tripped on the corner of the rug. She hit the side of her forehead really hard onto the corner of the coffee table. A lump appeared almost instantly and was about the size of half a golf ball. We watched her for the following few hours and I checked a few times in the night, but she was fine apart from a cracking bruise.

Amelie cut her first tooth yesterday. She is only 5 months old, but already has a tooth, but then I think Aurelia was the same. She has been testing that little tooth out occasionally when I give her a feed, just to make sure that I am still paying attention.

Finally for a little bit of stitching, it's been very humid here and I find I sweat a lot and can't stitch as much as I would like. I have been working really hard on Joan's RR for the Little House Needleworks RR. I have put it together using a few different charts and I am about halfway through (the picture is a little earlier on and more stitching has been added to it).

Yesterday a parcel arrived from Sonda containing the travelling pattern she had offered on her blog. The design is "My Needle and My Floss" by Waxing Moon. I have already ordered all the threads I need to stitch this, so I can't wait to get a start. Sonda also sent a great scissor fob that she made. It's in beautiful earthy colours which have to be my favourite colours. Thank you Sonda for this wonderful fob and for the opportunity to participate in the travelling pattern.

I have also joined a new SAL called the Totally Useless SAL. Basically you create an ort jar that you share on your blog every new moon. You can put any stitching related scrap into it and make a sort of feature out of it. This takes no extra effort as this is all part of your everyday stitching. Should be fun, so keep an eye out in the next week or so for the first official photo. Here is yesterday's effort.

Exchange Received!

Yesterday I received a parcel containing a beautiful pillow stitched by Gaby for the Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. Gaby has chosen one of the Prairie Fairies which I adore and has finished it into a long pillow. I have been wanting one of these long pillows for a while and I am very excited to have received this beautifully stitched one. Gaby also included a chart of another of the Prairie Fairies that was on my wish list. Thank you Gaby for this wonderful exchange.

Autumn Pinkeep

I am happy to say that Nic received her pinkeep I made for the Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. I really enjoyed making this one and liked it so much, I found it really hard to part with it. My DH took me to the local patchwork store and I found the perfect fabric for the backing and then plenty more fabric I just had to have for other projects. I have to say a big thank you to Dani for her suggestion to use a ladder stitch to join the two halves of the pinkeep. It was a really neat finish, the stitches were invisible and so neat I almost didn't need the ribbon to cover the join.

Design: Autumn Leaves (Autumn Foursome)

Designer: The Prairie Schooler

Fabric: 32ct Belfast linen - Ecru

Thread: DMC

Finish: Pinkeep

I also have to thank Beatrice for the award she gave me. Thank you Beatrice, but I won't be passing on this one, it's just getting too hard to pick people to receive them as so many of you deserve to receive them.

Home Again, Home Again!

I am very happy to report that my DH is safely home again. He had the job of driving the fire truck home. He and a fellow firefighter drove the truck 1200km over the last two days. They were stationed down at Wilson's Promontory, but as weather conditions have improved all NSW Rural Firefighters were stood down and have returned home. Here are a few photos.

I have managed surprisingly well this last week. My Mother and Father have been helping in the evenings giving the girls their baths. The house is spotless, all the chores have been done and I even baked some Banana Bread this morning. Amelie has slept quite well considering what the previous week had been like and Aurelia is now fully potty trained. Yeah!!!

I have been able to stitch heaps this week, but as all of it is either a gift or an exchange, I still can't show any stitching. This is very frustrating! I am also a little concerned that my partner for The Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange still hasn't received her parcel. I posted it to the UK over two weeks ago and I have not heard anything. From experience, it should take around seven days to arrive. Hope it hasn't gone missing!

My DH took me to CraftFest today. I purchased a whole lot of great items. First off, here is an overall picture of my purchases. I bought some great braid and backing fabric for pinkeeps. Some 32ct and 40ct linen, new scissors, a Q-snap, beads for the girls, a craft tote bag and a Babushka doll for Aurelia.

Scissoroo and Premax scissors. The Scissoroo scissors where two for the price of one (I found a great coupon).

32ct and 40ct linen in colours (from left to right): green cloud, parchment, antique sage, natural 40ct, lemon cloud 40ct, brown cloud.

Pandora bracelets, one for each of the girls. (Aurelia picked them)

Have a good weekend and I hope you get plenty of stitching done!