I am still here!

Wow - I didn't mean for it to be more than two months between posts, but things have been really hectic on this side! Thank you so much for all the emails and comments throughout the past few months - I really appreciate it! Stitchers and bloggers are really nice people, so all you stitchy/crafty bloggers are super nice :)

I do have some stitching to show. I stitched an anniversary sampler for my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary in August. It is adapted from a piece in a Cross Stitch Gold Magazine and is stitched on Bone Lugana in Chameleon threads in a Mushroom colour. The details in the heart are stitched in a House of Embroidery thread called "Ajuga". (It is such a lovely shade - I'm looking for an excuse to use it again!)

This sampler has cross stitching on it and also some basic Hardanger - now all it needs is a frame!
I have also received this "one lovely blog" award from Chrizette. Baie dankie Chrizette - ek waardeer dit!
I am supposed to pass the award on to 15 people, but I don't have the time to do it now, so I would like to award it to all of you! Feel free to take it if you want to :) (The rules are on Chrizette's blog)

Well, I hope to post again soon and even hope to have some more stitching to show. I still have a lot of catching up to do on all your lovely blogs, but will do so in time!

Enjoy the week and Happy Stitching!

Giveaway Winners!

Here are the results of my one year Blogeversary Giveaway! I did the draw the old fashioned way - I printed all the names and cut them into strips of the same size, folded them twice and put them in the rose bowl of destiny!

The first name to come out...
Congratulations Edit - you are the first prize winner!

And the runner up prize.....
Congratulations Zsuzsanna - you have won one of the runner up prizes!

And the third prize....
Congratulations Cath - you have won the other runner up prize!

Could the three winners please email me with their postal details - my email address is in my profile.

Thank you to everyone who entered - I wish I could send everyone a prize :)

Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

Shores Block 10 Completed!

Can you believe it - the start of another week! I'm trying to concentrate on typing this post while the Netherlands/Slovakia Round of 16 World Cup match is on - very difficult to concentrate indeed! Hope you are all still enjoying the soccer, coming to you from SA - it has certainly produced a lot of interesting results so far - South Africa, Italy, France, America, Australia, New Zealand and England have all been eliminated already!

Wow -The Netherlands just scored another beautiful goal - they are up 2-0 in the 84th minute! Apologies for the running commentary, but soccer fever has taken over the entire country. The Netherlands is also a very popular team here, since many of us have a Dutch heritage, especially in the Western Cape.

I actually have a little bit of stitching to show - I finished block 10 of Shores of Hawk Run Hollow:

I am really enjoying this piece and can't wait to move on to the next block. I am also working on some small stitchy gifts for the winners of my Blogeversary Giveaway. You can still enter the draw by leaving a comment on my previous post. You must also be a follower of my blog and remember - I will post to any where in the world!

Another soccer update - The Netherlands have just beaten Slovakia 2-1 and are through to the quarter-finals - Yeaaahh! Prepare for some more of the Orange invasion!

OK, I'll try to focus now - entries into my draw are open until the end of the month. I will draw the names on the 1st or the 2nd of the month.

Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

Blogeversary Giveaway Announcement! (Edited)

Hi from a cold, wet and soccer world cup crazy Cape Town! As I mentioned in my previous post my one year blog anniversary is drawing near and I am doing a giveaway to celebrate.

I am going to be giving one grand prize and two runner up prizes. Here is an approximation of the grand prize:

I will be including some hand-dyed fabric, threads, beads, ribbons, lace, buttons, needles, hand lotion and a hand made scissors fob. If I have time I also hope to add a small stitched gift. The runner up prizes will contain similar stitch related goodies, but on a smaller scale.

So here are the rules - to enter in the lucky draw for the giveaway all you have to do is be a follower and leave a comment on this post only. It does not matter if it is the first time you leave a comment on my blog - everybody is welcome to enter :) Please leave an email address where you can be reached if it is not on your profile. Entries will be open until the 30th of June.

Edit: Please note that the giveaway is open to everyone in all countries - I will post to anywhere in the world!

That's it for now! Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

A Small Finish and a Big Start

Yes, I actually have a small finish to show! I stitched 'Small Token' by Blackbird Designs on self-dyed 28ct evenweave in DMC threads and finished it as a pincushion. I absolutely loved stitching this piece - the colours are so lovely and look really good on the fabric. The fabric is coffee/tea dyed and was the perfect size for the stitching and the finishing :)

On to my new start - Shores of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings - I have been admiring this piece on many blogs for quite some time and finally decided to also give it a go! This is my favourite piece from the Hawk Run Hollow range.
Here is my start - I'm stitching it on 32ct Harvest Beige Minster Linen in DMC threads. The fabric is a lovely rich colour and seems to be reasonably close to the recommended shade. You can't see the colour accurately on my pic - it has been grey skies and storming - not great for taking accurate photos. That being said, I am extremely happy about the winter weather, especially after the extremely hot weather we had this summer!
I also noticed that I have been blogging for almost one year! When did that happen? I think this calls for a celebration, so watch this space for an announcement about a giveaway!

That's it for now! Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

A huge prize received!

Hi everyone! I was lucky enough to win the first prize in Babs' wonderful giveaway. The package arrived this week, and wow, what a great prize it is! Thank you so much Babs!

Here is a pic of all the goodies:

Here are some close up pics:

Babs included a lovely edition of Cross Stitch Gold and two Dutch magazines.
A DMC chart with charms, a chart by Diane Williams and some beautiful 3D stitching books for card making.
I was so thrilled with this - hand dyed threads by Nina, as well as some DMC threads and a spool of Kreinik. I have been admiring Nina's threads for a long time and I am so happy to finally have my hands on some of them! (Babs, the colours you selected are so lovely.)
Look at all these lovely goodies, some charms, ric-rac, very luxurious hand cream and a hand made fob!
Lastly (and this could really be a prize on its own) not one, but two pieces of hand made Belgian lace. This lace is designed by Babs and made by her mother. You can have a look at her other beautiful creations on her blog: Madammeke Ongeduld.

This first piece is the Princess lace:
Here is a close up:
This piece is the Brussels lace:
Here is a close up:
Thank you so much Babs - I really appreciate this stunning gift. Thank you also to your mom for all her beautiful work!

Well, that's it for now. Hope to have pics of a small finish and my new start in the week.

Have a great week and Happy Stitching!

A few stitching and craft related pics

Another two weeks have gone by since my last post - I can hardly believe it! I haven't been doing a lot of stitching these past few weeks, but here are some stitchy, crafty pics to share.

Aren't these cupcake chocolates too cute? They were the craze around here this Mother's day - I gave some to my mom, but insisted on taking some pics before they could be eaten :) They had a soft chocolate centre.

These cuties where purchased at a different store - can you see the theme here? They had a strawberry filling! I think I should try to reproduce these in Fimo at some stage :)
A few weeks ago Annie showed an Altoid tin that she covered with some of her lovely stitching and I mentioned that we don't get Altoids over here. So, what did Annie do? She sent me two tins of these 'curiously strong mints'. Thank you so much Annie - I'll be on the lookout for something to stitch to cover them! At the moment I'm enjoying the mints, especially the Wintergreen flavour.

I coloured some fabrics a few weeks ago - pink, green, blue and some blue-green. I'm not sure what they will be used for yet :) The colours don't show up so well in the photo - the colours are actually a bit deeper that in the pic.

I also tried to 'variegate' some of the fabrics - this one is green and pink - it should be fun to stitch on. (Once again, the colours are more intense in person than on the photo)
I also coloured some of this dark natural colour - I absolutely love this shade - I am currently using a similar piece for Feather Fairy.
Lastly, a little bit of stitching! I stitched this little Celtic knot design a few weeks ago and still need to finish it into a pinkeep. I will probably use the fabric in the background to finish it - it matches very well with the yellow-golds in the stitched piece.
I am working on another small design at the moment and hope to share it soon.

As you might have noticed, all my stitching plans and goals are deteriorating, so I am contemplating an evil plan. You know the kind - when your stitching mojo/momentum is lost - there is only one thing to do. A new start! I am seriously contemplating a new (big) start of a piece that I have been admiring on a few blogs over the last couple of months. Maybe now is the time to get it started - will keep you posted:)

Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

I am still here!

Hi Everyone! I have been missing in action for a few weeks - my Grandfather has been ill in hospital. He is 84 years old, but very healthy, so it was a bit of a shock. The good news is that he is home now and doing much better. We also have family visiting at the moment.

I have hardly stitched in three weeks and have not had time to visit all your lovely blogs :( Things are slowly returning to normal, so I'll be back to checking blogs, commenting and stitching soon!

Here are some pics of the last piece I worked on. It is the Hardanger pillow kit that Lee sent me.

I have done the pulled thread work, so now it comes to the cutting and weaving. I have decided to put the piece on hold for a while - I like to do all the cutting and weaving at one time for the tension to be the same, so it will have to wait for a while.

Here is a close up of one of the corners:
That's it for now - hope to have some more stitching to show soon. Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

Mini Pincushion Finish

Hi from a somewhat cooler Cape Town! Yes, our temperatures have finally started to drop - great news for heat-hating me!

To top that, I actually have a small finish to share. This design is part of the "Stitching Treasures Needlework Set" by Deborah Thorpe in The Gift of Stitching Magazine.

It is supposed to be a scissors fob, but it is a bit to big (it is stitched on 28ct evenweave and they recommend a 32ct), so I finished it as a little pincushion instead. The set also has a needle book and a sweet bag, which I would love to make in the near future. I'll also use one of the small motifs to make a matching scissors fob.

Here is my progress on the Hardanger pillow by Lee Albrecht:

I have finished the cross stitching on it, now it is on to the pulled thread work.

I have another small lined up - the quick finishes are such fun!

Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

Ink Circles Progress and Hardanger SAL

The start of a new week...again! I stitched one of the big "fishtail" corners of Book of Ink Circles by Ink Circles this week. It is my favourite block on this piece so far and was divine to stitch. I am hoping to do another small block or part of the border this month in order to keep up with my goal of finishing this piece this year.

Here is the third part of the Hardanger SAL by Mamen:
The fourth part of the SAL is already due again by the end of the week!

I think I should try to stitch and finish a small before then, so that I can at least have a finish to show. (I often find it "depressing" when you only stitch on big pieces that are nowhere near finished. A small finish always helps to boost morale and makes you eager to get back to those big pieces!)

I have my eye on a pretty little scissors fob, but I will keep you posted!

Hope you have a great week with lots of stitching time!

A Lot of Hardanger

Oh my, I am such a bad blogger - I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last posting!

I have been (mostly) working on Hardanger the past two weeks. Here is part two of Mamen's SAL, stitched in ecru and blue-grey.

When this SAL is done it will be finished into a lovely bag like this:
I have also started on the Hardanger Pillow kit that Lee sent me. I have done all the Kloster blocks and started on the cross stitching.

Here is a closer view of the centre design:

Since I have not been doing such a lot of stitching I thought I would share some stitching that I did at school. I made this Candlewick pillow when I was twelve years old. We had to do it as a project for needlework class and it was supposed to be our project for the semester.

Of course, already loving to stitch at that age, I finished it within a week! My teacher didn't know what to do with me for the rest of the semester, so my mom had the idea of making an entire bedspread out of various blocks like these. The bedspread is packed away at the moment, so I will share some pics of that at a later stage.
Here is a close up of one of the hundreds (really something like five hundred!) Bullion roses on the project.
Here is a close up of the cotton lace and satin ribbon on the edges of the pillow. The lace and ribbon are repeated on the bedspread.
Well, it's a four day weekend here - I have a lot to do at home and hope to get some serious stitching done!

I hope you all have a good weekend and a Happy Easter!

Two Blog Awards!

What an amazing way to start a long weekend - I have received two blog awards!

The first one is this Beautiful Blogger Award, given to me by Cath (Stitching Chicken) and Vinniey (Sometimes I Stitch).
Thank you so much Cath and Vinniey!

Here are the rules of this award:

1) Thank the person who gave it to you

2) Paste the award on your blog

3) Link to the person who gave you the award

4) List 10 interesting things about yourself

5) Pass the award on to 10 blogs and link to them

Here are the 10 things about me:

1) I'm left handed

2) My boyfriend and I have been together for 10 years - we were in the same science class in high school. He is Dutch.

3) I am currently working on my third degree in Medical Science and plan to start work on my PhD next year.

4) I'm of Dutch, German and Italian descent and my home language is Afrikaans, which is derived from Dutch.

5) I am a huge Sci-fi and Fantasy fan. I'm a Star Trek nut job and I enjoy many other sci-fi series. (Stargate Universe starts again next month - yeah!)

6) I have lived in the same house all my life.

7) I did Ballet for 14 years.

8) At work I am privileged enough to work with people from many countries, including South Africa, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Australia, The Gambia and Cameroon. We also have collaborations with laboratories in the US, The Netherlands, Norway and France.

9) I enjoy a variety of music, including classical, Gregorian chants, pop, hip hop and lots more. My favourite band is the Black Eyed Peas.

10) I have visited New York twice to visit family and spent a lovely white Christmas there once. They have since moved to California.

Here are the Blogs that I nominate for this award:

1) Edit (Fuggosegeim)

2) Manka (Little Rose Cottage)

3) Lee (Flores no Jardim)

4) Karen (Karen's Handiwork)

5) Olga (Olenka's Stitches Blog)

6) Jackie (Scattered Threads)

7) Ulla (Stickzeit)

8) Margit (Margit's kleines SchokiStubchen in der Blogwelt)

9) The Shabby Stitcher

10) Lonneke (Life with Skipper)

The other award I received is the Sunshine Award and was given to me by Jackie (Scattered Threads).

Thank you so much Jackie - I really appreciate it!

Here are the rules for this award:

1) Put the logo on your blog or within your post

2) Pass the award to 12 bloggers

3) Link the nominees within your post

4) Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog

5) Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award

Here are the 12 blogs that I nominate for this award:

1) Cath (The Stitchin' Chicken)

2) Vinniey (Sometimes I Stitch)

3) Babs (Borduurmeisje)

4) Carol (Stitching Dreams)

5) Dani (Black Belt Stitching Wizard)

6) Annie (Annie Bebop's Coloring Book)

7) Barbi (Blissfully Stitching)

8) Sharon (It's DaffyCat)

9) Michelle (Michelle's StitchCraft Place)

10) MBroider

11) Blu (Therapy by Thread)

12) Tatkis (Mouse House)

That's it for now! Enjoy the rest of the weekend and Happy Stitching!

A Lot to Share!

For a change I have a lot to share! Firstly, here is one of my new starts: It is Feather Fairy by Nora Corbett. I know - it looks really weird with the leg sticking out like that, but I always start at the bottom and the foot was the best starting point for me. (Had I known she would look so dismembered and unbalanced I would have started with the skirt!)
I just love Mirabilia designs - actually I have a little, OK a big problem! I have started a few Mirabilia's before, but I have never finished one! Here is an example:

It is The Kiss and is absolutely gorgeous! I started this about 10 years ago, but never managed to make good progress on it - I hope I will do better with Feather Fairy!

Here is a close up of some of the metallic on The Kiss:

My other start is a Hardanger SAL by Mamen. The end product will be a beautiful bag.

Here is my start on it - I am making two, the Ecru one is for myself and the blue/grey one is for my mom. The pieces for the SAL only come out every second week, so there is enough time to work on other projects.

Since I have two new starts, I decided to make up for my wicked ways by also working on one of my WIPs. This is Book of Ink Circles by Tracey Horner from Ink Circles.

The plan is to finish one block/section each month. My goal is to finish the piece by the end of the year. For this month I have already completed the top, middle block - I still need to fill in the green knot design.

Last, but certainly not least - I received this lovely postcard from Edit. It is detail from the Lion Courtyard at the Alhambra - she sent it to me because I stitched Girl from Alhambra by The Solaria Gallery recently.

Thank you Edit - it is a beautiful postcard and interesting!

Well, that is enough from me for one post. Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!