Just a quick post

I do have a lot to show, but on Friday my washing machine decided to empty a full load of water all over the floor. The carpet has been ruined and now starts some pretty major renovations to ensure it doesn't happen again. For the time being my time is filled with organising builders and tradespeople and making sure that the renovation is completed quickly and efficiently while ensuring the work is of high quality.

I will be perusing your blogs, but I may not have time to leave comments. I will try and post some more information at the weekend. Thank you for your patience.

Prairie Schooler Exchanges

First of all I have to say thank you, thank you to everyone for their wonderful comments on my stitcher's book. I have been on cloud nine all week. My husband has even mentioned widening the doorways so my head can fit through, lol.

I received this beautiful exchange from Jayne this week for the Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. Jayne has stitched a scissor fob and thread tag with my initials from Prairie Schooler Book #76 - The Farmer's Alphabet. Aren't they just adorable and I am not sure if the photo shows it, but the fabric is a lovely shade of pale pink. Thank you Jayne.

Sorry about the crappy photos, it's hard to get good help these days. The light is bad and DH used the cheap camera.

I am going to show the exchange item I sent to Laurie for the Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. I sent it the same time as I sent Jill's exchange so she should have received it by now, but I haven't heard whether she has it or not.

Design: Spring & Fall - Book #90 (May square)

Designer: The Prairie Schooler

Fabric: 32ct Belfast linen - sand

Thread: DMC

Finish: Pillow

Amelie started her swimming lessons last week, but they were not very successful. We have tried a new swim school to the one Aurelia attends. This was because the one Aurelia attends is so popular I had trouble enrolling Amelie. This new swim school believes in a very hard line of introducing babies to the water. She was forced underwater, dragged into the water and frightened until I had to say enough was enough. This morning, she was not very happy to go in the water and cried a lot, I wouldn't allow her to be dunked under the water. Thankfully, my DH spoke to Aurelia's swim instructor last week about how Amelie was treated and they have been able to fit her into Aurelia's swim school early new month.

Secret Project Revealed

I can finally reveal the secret project I have been working on the last few months. This is an exchange that I sent Jill for the Friends Through Thread Blackbird Designs exchange. I decided to give a stitcher's book a go and found that the motifs from 'Their Song' fitting in perfectly. I did the stitching and backstitching and then basted and baked the piece in coffee to give that old look. I must admit it was a pretty easy stitch, just very time consuming, especially counting all the backstitch. I used a great tutorial over at Volarium. The only change I made was to pad either side of the cardboard with a little 'Warm and Natural' on the pages. I didn't pad the cover as I wasn't sure that the book would fold and sit properly. In hindsight, I could have done this by making the cardboard slightly smaller than the backstitch line. However, I still am very pleased with how it turned out.

Design: Their Song (Loose Feathers #24 )

Designer: Blackbird Designs
Fabric: 32ct Belfast linen - white (coffee basted and baked)

Thread: DMC

Finish: Stitcher's Book

Blackbird Designs Exchange from Cathy

On Tuesday I received a beautiful exchange from Cathy. It was for the Blackbird Designs exchange for Friends Through Thread. This is the very first pinkeep I have received and it's it just gorgeous. Cathy's attention to detail is second to none. The design is Tulip & Star Pinkeep from the With Needle and Thread book and the backing fabric is a Blackbird Designs fabric as well. Don't you just love how she has twisted the ribbon around the outside?

Here is a picture of all the lovely goodies she sent as well.

After all the exchanges and stitching for everyone else, I decided that I needed to stitch something for myself. Here is my new start, it's Flax Fields by Carriage House Samplings. I am stitching it using the recommended NPS and Gloriana silks.

My sale of household items on eBay was a massive success and I have already spent a good portion of the money. I purchased a whole lot of beautiful R & R Reproductions linens from Home Sweet Home Needlecrafts. I really recommend Janet and her store, she has such an extensive inventory of fabric and she has been very helpful. Sorry, no photo to show as I forgot to take a photo before I packed them all away. I also purchased a whole lot of threads from another ONS. I have updated my sidebar of my blog and have listed all my kitted up charts. I figured that if I purchased all the fabric and thread to get all these charts done at some time or other, I could keep my stash buying under control (I'm sure it won't happen!).

Amelie recovered from her tummy troubles and started eating solids quite well and sleeping better. Then she started cutting more teeth, six at one time to be exact. Why do my children have to be so quick to get teeth? Oh, well at least they are over and done with quickly. Those teeth had just about come through and then she caught a nasty cold. Last weekend she had a fever of 40C and was very unhappy. This last week she has been sleeping really badly again both day and night. I really can't remember the last time I had a good nights sleep. I think it was in the brief time before Amelie had the stomach bug that she was only waking once a night. That must be about 3 months ago. I know that I just need to get her day routines working so that she sleeps well in the day and then the nights will follow. Easier said than done, especially when the neighbours are putting an extension on their house and there is a constant banging and crashing coming from over the fence.

Amelie starts her swimming lessons tomorrow, so hopefully I will have some photos to show later in the week. The two exchanges I stitched should be received in this next week, so I will be able to show those off as well. I am really keen to show off my Blackbird Designs exchange piece as I really put a lot of work into it and challenged myself with a very different finish.