~Strawberry Blonde~

She took me around 8 months to finish (I am a slow stitcher) but here she is ~ Carriage House Samplings Strawberry Blonde.

My stitching has been a bit erratic over recent times and I feel I am just marking time until I can become satisfied with my choice of threads for my baby sampler.
September will mean a new start on my stitch-along with Sandra and this month we are doing another part of the With My Needle ornament set. That will be our 3rd piece from this set and our 9th ornament for the year. I will be sorry when we have finished our year stitch-along but we are already planning something else for next year.

My shadow was giving a 'what do you want' kind of a look when DH was trying to take a photo of him earlier today. He has had a nice walk this afternoon along the river so he is a happy boy.

I decided I would like a slight change to the look of my blog and thanks to some help from Karen
I have been able to achieve this. Hope you like my new look and thanks so much Karen.

"We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment"
~George Eliot

A new addition to ~~~~~

my ~~flock of birds~~

I stitched this little freebie design and made it into a drawer/door hanger.

I like the monochrome look of the ecru thread on the darker linen.

This is just a little 'aside stitch' that I have finished whilst I am dithering over some colour changes I am planning to make on the baby sampler I am stitching for our new grandchild who we are going to be welcoming to our family next month. I hope I will get some inspirations for my colour soon, as sometimes I find these things just come to you and other times, it just takes time. I have also started another little quick stitch that I can hopefully show you soon.

I love wrapping gifts and try and bring a little creativity to my wrapping and tomorrow being my DD's birthday, I have really enjoyed making her a card and wrapping her gift trying to follow a theme. I hope she likes it.

Y Wishing You Everything Wonderful Dear Daughter Y

"To Have a Daughter is to Know a Special Kind of Love"

~~A Flock of Birds~~

Birds seem to have been featuring a lot in my stitching of late. This afternoon I have just finished my August SAL with Sandra. This month we stitched the La D Da Snowbird from the 2004 Just Cross Stitch Christmas book.
He makes a nice little companion piece to our Christmas Cardinal which is also a La D Da design and which we stitched earlier in the year. These little fellows are really small and only measure around 4 inches from nose to tail. I stitched mine double-sided and Sandra backed hers with black silk.

Here is Sandra's version....

Recently, I stitched another bird from the same book ~ Blackbird Designs. Sandra, had stitched this one some time ago and I always loved it so I wanted to stitch him as well.
Speaking of birds, we have been seeing some lovely birds in our garden recently. I spotted a gorgeous little tiny bright scarlet one feeding in the grevillia and think he is a red headed or red breasted honey eater. He came back for several days and I found myself looking out for him and got the binoculars out for a closer look. I had another little visitor visit the tree right outside my sewing room window on a couple of occasions. So nice of him to come to sing me a little song. We do have some beautiful coloured birds here in Australia.

I am happy to have finally finished my CHS Strawberry Blonde which also features a bird, and is now off to the framers so I look forward to showing you that soon:)

My beautiful shadow, who is never far from my sight, was grabbing a few rays this afternoon whilst I was taking these photos. It has been such a beautiful winters' day. Spring is just around the corner.

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

~Joseph Addison, The Spectator, 1712

~Spring is in the Air~

.....well it seems Ben thinks so anyway! Anyone who has had anything to do with Labradors will know that they are constantly shedding their coats. Yesterday, whilst my son and I were sitting outside and he was patting Ben, we were amazed at the amount of hair that was brushing off him. He is really 'blowing his coat'. DS, who has always been one to come up with 'great innovative ideas', (perhaps that is why his job is in advertising), suggested we could go into business making these....

Doggie Toupees

We thought we should call this version "The Comb-over"
and this.

... 'The Quiff '

We even can do a version for those dogs wanting a complete change of look....

Thank you to Ben and Indy, the two beautiful models who took part in this. They take their job very seriously, don't you think. (especially when being distracted with food :) I am really hoping though, that if Ben continues to loose his hair as he was yesterday, that he WON'T be needing one of these :))

On the stitching front, not a lot to show just yet. My Strawberry Blonde, 'long-time WIP' is slowly progressing but an end is in sight. Should be able to show you our SAL August ornament soon. I can show you this little pair though. I made these cute little primitive Chickadees a while ago.

They are from an E-pattern which I downloaded from here

Son, you outgrew my lap, but never my heart.

~Author Unknown

Sarah 1986 ~ 2001

Our Faithful Friend

You were the start of our love affair with Labrador Retrievers. Thank you 'Our Special Ginger Friend' for over 15 years of being such a special part of our family. We remember you with much love and you will always hold a special place in our hearts.

~A Wonderful Day~

Yesterday, was my birthday and I had such a beautiful day. The kind that was really perfect for me and that is one spent with my family. My dear family and friends made me feel so special and blessed and I had two wonderful gifts that I want to tell you about, sent to me from two of my dearest stitching friends. I have so much to show you. Look at these wonderful gifts....

Thank you Sandra for my beautiful bourse.

The inside is stitched with a design that Sandra has matched perfectly to the fabric she has chosen for the outside of the bourse and the buttons match so well as does the little fabric envelope she has made to hold a dear little card. So much thought has gone into it and as with all of Sandra's stitching, it is just perfect.

Along with my bourse, Sandra also sent me all these other wonderful treasures, seven beautiful GAST threads, silk ribbons, fabulous William Morris charm squares, a Whitman's Sampler tin and a little acorn waxer which she made herself and look at her perfect choice of card :)

Thank you so much Sandra.
Now as if I wasn't spoilt enough with all those beautiful things, another of my dear friends, Mary, sent me this exciting gift.
Isn't this just beautiful! It is a holder for a Clover cutter and is stitched on dupion silk with tiny bullion knots and satin stitched leaves. So tiny and delicate. It is edged with beads and hangs from a silk ribbon. The back has been stitched with my initials.And there is more......
Look at what else I received. Beautiful notecards and envelopes personalised with my name and with a photo of a person's hands stitching, and a darling little tin filled with chocolates and in the shape of a tiny suitcase. The other little thing I hope you can see in the photo is something I will find most useful. It is a handy little gadget for counting out the threads on your fabric. It is two needles attached together with a twisted cord and held by a pretty bead. You poke one needle into where you start to count use the other needle to count over the threads. What a great idea.
Remember I mentioned in a previous blog post about Mary making cards, well once again I have been the lucky recipient of one of them.

My photo doesn't do it justice but it is so pretty with the most delightful verse.
Thank you so much Sandra and Mary. Your friendship and creative gifts will be treasured always.
Speaking of handmade cards, I want to show you another card I received from my beautiful daughter.

Samantha made me this card for my birthday. She has written the most amazing words inside that brought me to tears. So very, very special and from her heart. I have always kept the cards my three children have made for me right from their kindergarten days and they are SO special to me and this one is just beautiful. 'Thank you Sam for being not only a beautiful daughter but also a wonderful friend.'

"Flutter by butterfly
Floating flower in the sky
Kiss me with your petal wings
Whisper secrets, tell of spring."

.....The words from Mary's card

I Haven't Been Idle

Although it might seem as though I have, but no, I have been quietly working away on one or two little things. Our ornament for July in my stitch-along with Sandra was from With My Needle "Christmas Swan Needlebook" and is the second one we have stitched in a series of ornaments from this designer. They match our "Needleworker's Pocket" that we did back in May.

Here is my version...

And Sandra's version...

Even although this is quite a small design, it is amazing how much time is involved in the assembly. Small is often fiddly and I found this little one quite fiddly and after a few silly mistakes on my part, I am happy with how it ended up.

The tin is starting to look quite full.

I also finished another little ornament but I will save that one to show you another time.

Yesterday, I needed to go to get some things from my local Spotlight store and found these lovely little tins which of course I couldn't resist.

Could you blame me!!

The only place where housework comes before needlework is in the dictionary.

~Mary Kurtz