A RAK, Two Finishes and Another SAL

It is rare to see me post twice in a month. I want to show a wonderful RAK gift from Andrea at The Craft Room. Andrea had a Christmas RAK Draw on her blog recently. She had 6 beautiful Christmas ornaments to give away. I am so lucky to be one of the winners. Here is the gorgeous ornament!

This gift came beautifully wrapped with a special Christmas card. Thank you so much Andrea, for this RAK. I will treasure them.


We had come to the end of Carol R's Mystery SAL. Here is the finale with my initial E. I will be mounting this beautiful sampler on the box in the picture. Carol gave a Bonus Chart to be stitched and finished into pincushion for the box. Thank you Carol, for a wonderful SAL. For those who miss the SAL, Carol has the design on sale on her blog - Sew A Mystery.


Next another finish to share - Christmas Eve. I love Prairie Schooler's designs and really enjoyed stitching this piece. Still not sure how I will finish this one, probably frame it.



I am very slow with the Christmas ornament stitching. Look at the Red Santa, he is still without a head. You can visit the Christmas Ornament Challenge 2011's blog to see the beautiful ornaments already posted there.


However, I managed to finish another ornament. This is a freebie by L 'R de rien in 2009. It was a fast stitch and I took away the year 09 in the design.

Design: Joyeux Noel by L 'R de rien
Fabric: 27ct PINK Meran
Thread: DMC blanc

With the end of Carol's Mystery SAL, I started another SAL hosted by The Thread Basket. The design for this SAL "A La Belle Etoile" is by French designer C Mon Monde. This is a 4-part SAL with one part per week. I am currently stitching on part two, here is a picture of part one. The fabric is actual light blue linen, close to DMC color 3747.

Designer: C Mon Monde
Fabric: 36ct hand-dyed linen
Thread: DMC

I took my mum to the 20th World Orchid Conference last week. We love flowers and I took lots of pictures. I will end with some pictures of the Orchid Show, enjoy!

Take care and keep stitching!
Hugs,
Ellen









The orchids are gorgeous, actually a very deep purple in color.

A rare species!

Finally .......An Update

It is almost the end of February and high time for my monthly post.

Firstly, an update on an UFO. Remember this? It was my new year start last year and became an UFO along the way. I am determined to finish it this year.

Design: Quaker & Quilts by Rosewood Manor
Fabric: 40 count cream linen
Threads: Valdani threads

Recently, I join an SAL hosted by Emmanuelle. She is offering an Reproduction Sampler "Mary Glover" as the SAL design. I love this sampler and cannot resist starting another new project. Here I am at part 2 of the SAL. Thank you, Emmanuelle, for this lovely SAL.

Design: Mary Glover by Emmanuelle
Fabric: 32ct Vintage Mocha Belfast
Threads: DMC

Here is a picture of the original Sampler. Isn't it lovely?

On the Hardanger SAL hosted by Mamen, we are now stitching the second item of the Decorative Set. Here is my progress, it is going to be a pincushion mounted on a box. For picture of this Decorative Set, please see my previous post. I am very slow with this second item, got distracted along the way. Mamen already posted the finishing of this pincushion.


This month, I also have a couple of small finishes to show. I had stitched my first Christmas ornament for the year, FA LA LA by LHN. It is stitched on 32ct sand Belfast, the picture did not show the true color of the fabric. Notice, I have not put on the beads?


Another small finish. This is the second contest design by Niky. As usual, I was late for the contest. I completed the stitching but not the finishing. I wanted to make this piece into a needlebook.

I joined the HoE Christmas Ornaments, The Reindeer Round and this was what I stitched for Joke, my partner. This design is by Tonia of Oakhaven Designs. Her designs are cute and quick to stitch.

Late last year, I won two giveaways. I was the winner of Sally's Blogoversary Giveaway. Look at this Beauty that she stitched for me!


This pinkeep is a LHN's design. Look at the trim and charm, they are so beautiful. Thank you so much, Sally, for this gift. It's gorgeous and I will treasure it.





The pinkeep is now residing together with my other beauties!



The other giveaway that I won was this JCS magazine from Gracie. She had a double copy of this issue and graciously give it away. Thank you, Gracie, for this magazine. There are two lovely samplers in the magazine that I am looking forward to stitching.


The two samplers are Winter Wind Sampler by Paulette of Plum Street Samplers and Winter at Beacon House by Pam n Susan of Praiseworthy Stitches.





Thank you for visiting my blog. I appreciate all your comments, they make my day.

Finally, I leave you with pictures of the Annual Flower Show that I visited with my mum. This year being the Year of the Rabbit (Chinese zodiac sign) , there are rabbits made of flowers on display.

Take care and Happy Stitching!

Hugs,
Ellen

Flowers Show And Some Small Finishes

I took my mum to the Flowers Show last week. Here are some pictures.











I have not been stitching much since my last post. There is not much progress on my big wips, I had been stitching for exchanges and smalls.
I was in a Swap hosted by Nina. This is what I stitched for my partner Su. Picture was taken by

Su, she is very good with photography. She also stitches beautifully.

The theme for this exchange is French designs. I stitched for her a freebie by Les petites croix de Christine and finished into a pin pillow. Design was stitched on 32ct Belfast linen using DMC threads. Using the same backing fabric for the big cushion, I made her another smaller pin cushion. I was very happy that Su likes these cushions together with the goodies I sent her.


I love this scissors case when I saw it in blogland. I stitched it on 32ct Belfast linen using Nina's thread, Cherry Coffee. The chart came with a skein of turquoise silk but I decided to try Nina's hand-dyed threads. Lovely colors, please visit Nina's blog to see her beautiful hand-dyed threads.

Stitching is done but I have yet to do the finishing, hope to get it done soon.


I stitched another small, this it is designated for my next box topping. It's a freebie by Liselotte. Again, I stitched it on 32ct Belfast linen using DMC variations 4025.

Another small was stitched and finished into a pin cushion but I cannot show yet because it is for another Exchange. Will post when my partner receives it.


Here are pictures of progress on my Spring Quaker SAL. Very slow progress, I am only on page 5.


The SAL is currently on page 14. I have a long way to go to catch up.








Thank you for your visits and comments.

Happy stitching and take care!

Hugs,
Ellen