Michelle meets Michelle!

Hello dear blogging friends!  A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with Michelle from the UK! Michelle and her husband and son were visiting family right here in Cape Town!  Hubby and I met up with Michelle and her hubby for coffee and we had such a great time.  We have so much in common, it is actually quite weird :)

As you can imagine, when stitchers meet, stitchy gifts are exchanged!  Here is the gift I put together for Michelle - since I know she is a huge Cath Kidston fan I gave my gift in a beautiful Cath Kidston style box and I decided to stick with a pink and blue theme.

Here is a close up of some of the items - some pretty fabric, ric-rac and beads. 

I was so lucky to find a pack of Cath Kidston tissues to include with the gift :)  I also included some ribbon, overdyed thread and a little note book.

I made these counting/marking pins and scissors fob to match the sweet floral scissors.

Here are some more handmade goodies - a lavender pillow and a cute little hanging ornament - I love this sweet little design - it is a freebie by Le Chalet des Perelles!  Also included are some 'made with love' charms.

Michelle also spoilt me with a lovely red, white and blue UK themed gift, which came in a great 'London Bus' bag.  The gift included two very useful size wooden hoops (great for needle painting, etc), a book of flower motifs by Jane Greenoff (signed by the author, I might add!), a tin full of goodies and the sweetest 'sew glad we're friends' pillow!

Here is a closeup of the pillow - I love the beaded edging and look at that beautiful lace trim!

The tin was packed with stitchy goodies, including a covered tape measure, fabric, thread, ribbon and another tin.

The sweet little tin was filled with buttons - such a great idea!  Thank you Michelle for my lovely gift!

Here is a pic of the two of us - UK Michelle in the black and white and me in the blue.

It was so great meeting a fellow blogger - I do hope they come to Cape Town for another holiday in the not too distant future!  You can click on over to Michelle's blog to see her holiday pics.

That's it for now - I have a lot of catching up to do on your lovely blogs over the weekend!  I also have a new start - a lovely design by Jardin Prive - which I will share soon.

Have a great weekend and Happy Stitching!

Michelle

Ribbon Embroidery and LOVE stitches!

Hello dear stitching friends and a warm welcome to my new followers - it is wonderful to have you here!  I don't have too much new stitching to share so I thought I would show you a piece of ribbon embroidery I did a few years ago.  This beautiful piece was featured in an Embroidery & Cross Stitch magazine and is designed by Helen Dafter (if I recall correctly!)

It is stitched on Dupion silk, which I coloured a very pale shade of green.  The broad pink silk ribbon is variegated - so beautiful!

Look at this cute little spider - I think he is my favourite part of the design :)

The colours in this piece are truly beautiful, a perfect Spring/Summer piece - and believe me - it has been hot here!  

I also love the clean lines of this design - definitely one of my favourite stitched pieces!  Here is the 'full picture':

On the cross stitching front, I have been working on a little gift for a friend, so I can't show that yet and I have also designed another chart with a 'Love' theme.  This piece is called 'Hanging LOVE' and the ePattern is available in my Etsy store.

I had a lot of fun with this one and really love the bright pink colours, it is now proudly on display for Valentine's day!

In other stitchy news - I am very excited to be meeting up with Michelle (StitchCraft Place) from the UK next week!  She is here in Cape Town visiting family and I just can't wait to meet her!  See you next week Michelle :)

That's it for now - have a wonderful weekend and Happy Stitching!

Michelle