SAL #6 - I've Started Stitching

One mouse down, and many stitches to go...

I was snowed in on Monday so I finally had some time to get started on our SAL #6 picture. Luckily I had already bought the fabric, and I was happy to find I had all but one of the colours in my stash already, making it easy to begin.

I'm not as far along as Debbie yet, but I have been able to find a bit of time to stitch each day this week. By last night you could see the little mouse's big buddy taking shape:

I'm really enjoying working on this picture and I'm glad we chose it for one of the stitch alongs this year. I can't wait to see how everyone finishes off their Sunday Snooze pictures!

My Margaret Sherry Christmas Stitchings

Now that all the presents have been given out, I can show everyone the Margaret Sherry stitchings I did for some friends (and for myself) this Christmas.

The snowman (or snowlady?), Santa Claus and polar bear tree ornaments came from Christmas Cross Stitch Favourites (Christmas, 2012). I stuck beads on the ends of dress pins and then used them to mount the designs on round pieces of foam core mounting board. The red and green beads around the Santa ornament reminded me of twinkling Christmas lights and I really liked the effect.

Santa and the snowman ornament were given away to friends as part of their Christmas gifts, but the polar bears I kept for our own tree. You can't see it in the picture, but I used a sparkly Kreinik blending filament on the falling dots of snow, so that they would sparkle a bit.

I didn't finish stitching this one until about two weeks ago - a bit late for Christmas. Luckily, I was making it for myself, so there was no real deadline. It will become part of our household Christmas decorations next year. I love knitting and crocheting when I'm not busy cross stitching, so I knew I had to make this design when I saw it. ("Knitting Cat" is available as a downloadable pattern from Margaret Sherry's website.)

Thanks for looking everyone,

Secret Santa from Canada to Dominican Republic

I received my secret Santa's package from Amber from Canada...  Just look such the beautiful things that she sent me.: Mini-stocking ornaments for my christmas tree, stocking ornment to stitch, christmas stickers, ribbon, christmas threads and a beautiful christmas card with gentle words that I will keep in my heart:

But the most beautiful was this ornament: A lovely MS  christmas cat  stitched by her... So cute, so beautiful, thanks so much Amber... I really liked everything.

Secret Santa Gift from Jules!

I was snowed in on Monday, so I was delighted when I went down to the mailbox and found that my gift from our Christmas Exchange had arrived! A big thank you to Jules who sent me a beautiful ornament and a wonderful assortment of crafting goodies.

I have to confess, I'm snacking on the yummy chocolates as I post this...

Along with the adorable Margaret Sherry kitty, Jules included two packages of Lindt chocolates (so delicious!), fabric for a cross stitched table runner, embroidery floss, Christmas yarn, and 3 beautiful swatches of blue fabric.

I'm so eager to start crocheting with the yarn or stitching a pattern onto the table runner (I'm considering Margaret Sherry's Bauble Mice, if I can make them fit!) My camera isn't doing it justice, but all these wonderful goodies came in the beautiful box that Jules teased us with in her Secret Santa on its Way post. The box is beautiful and sparkly, not to mention sturdy, so I'll be saving it to keep Christmas decorations in over the years to come.

And now a closer look at the lovely ornament Jules stitched. Isn't it cute? There is also beautiful sparkly ribbon around the edges. I couldn't coax the camera into taking a good picture of that though.

Once again, a huge thank you to Jules for brightening my day with such a wonderful gift! Thank you! And thanks to Nia for keeping our exchanges running very smoothly all year round!

Warm wishes for a happy holiday season to all my Margaret Sherry loving friends!

Sincerely,

SAL #4 - Puppy Love Complete!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and show that I have finally completed my version of the Puppy Love stitch-a-long. I had the stitching done a while ago, and managed to get the piece framed last week. It's now displayed proudly on top of our fireplace in the living room.

Thanks for looking! I can't wait to see what next year's SAL will be!

Halloween Exchange - from Judith to Amber

Those who regularly read our Margaret Sherry Lovers blog know that Judith has been going through a rough time lately, so I'm deeply thankful and touched that she found the time to send me this wonderful package for our Halloween Exchange.

(Judith, I've tried sending you thank you messages through email, but both times I've received a Delivery Failure Notice saying that there was a problem with the server. Hopefully, you're still checking in with our blog from time to time and you'll see my thanks here.)

My hubby and I moved last March and I'm still in the process of decorating our walls with artwork, cross stitches, and other crafting projects, so the autumny "Willkommen" sign Judith sent will make a welcome addition to our front entryway! Plus, this is the first Archie Bear I've received, and one that I've been trying to find time to stitch for myself, so I was delighted to see that he was the design that Judith had stitched for me.

Once again, thank you Judith! I look forward to using the crafting notions you've sent and decorating my home with the lovely ornaments. I send you big hugs from Canada to Germany!

Sincerely,

Halloween from Amber :)

So nice to see packages arriving to their destinations :)
Mine was received by Angel and I've also received Amber's gift to me!!

In fact, the package arrived last week, I've contacted Amber already but it took me a while to post here.. sorry ladies. Last week we had a sad news, a dear friend passed away, that was my reason for not posting right away.

Today, I've just posted my gift to Angele on my blog, you can see more photos here :)

And now it's my turn to say thank you Amber =) The first thing I did was to write an email but it's never too much to say thanks again ;)

A package full of fun halloween goodies and an adorable stitched pillow!! :D
Thank you Amber!!! It was fun to open your package and find each thing :) Also lovely to know how special this design is for you ♥ thank you for the sweet words =)

Blogversary Exchange - From Canada to Brazil

I’d finally received my parcel from Amber, our friend who lives in Canada!

The Brazilian Post Office – as everybody knows – is slower than a snail… I was the last girl to receive this Exchange’s parcel but it doesn’t matter anymore because Amber had made my day!

Thanks, sweetie! I've loved every detail, every word you have written to me. The little pillow is over

cute!

Thanks also to Nia! We have lots of fun when we are joining and sharing our stitches.

SAL # 4 Puppy Love - (Almost!) Complete

We're nearing the end of July so I thought I'd check in and show everyone how my Puppy Love SAL is progressing. I'm pleased to say that I've finished stitching all the puppies I'm going to use in my design:

Next step, I need to stretch the linen and mount it for framing. I found a cute 4 X 10 inch frame on sale over a year ago, and it's been waiting for my Puppy Love every since. So, don't count me as "finished" yet. I still want to get the piece in it's frame and post one more photo of the fully completed project - hopefully sometime in the next couple months!

Blogversary Exchange from Cucki - Thank You!

I was so happy to open the mailbox last Friday and see that my Blogversary Exchange parcel had arrived from Cucki in South Africa. I already thanked Cucki via email, but now that I've had some time to take a few pictures I also wanted to post and show everyone the adorable stitching she did for me, and the lovely goodies she included:

I adore ladybugs and I had never seen this design before, so it was a wonderful surprise.

Also included in the package were a note from Cucki, some butterfly stickers, a pin cushion, embroidery needles (always good to have!), a pencil, some sparkly ribbon (wish I could capture its sparkle with the camera!), some rhino buttons (to remind me of South Africa) and cloth coasters. Later I'm going to see if I can cross stitch on the coasters, possibly Margaret Sherry's Coffee Cats.

Thank you so much to Cucki, who put together this wonderful package and took the time to stitch for me. Also, thanks again to Nia for organizing these exchanges for us.

Hope everyone else is enjoying this Blogversary Exchange too, and fingers crossed that my own parcel finds its way to Simone in Brazil very soon!

SAL #4 Puppy Love - I've Started!

I've had an idea in my head for a version of Puppy Love since before Nia announced it as this year's Stitch-A-Long. Finally, on Friday I had some time to sit down and plan the layout for what I want to do.

My layout plan

I'm going to be making just three of the puppies, and I have a lovely 9 X 4 inch frame that I will put them in when I'm done stitching. I've got a fair bit of free time this week so I think the stitching will go pretty fast.

Saturday

I got a good start on my first puppy on Saturday and by Sunday he was nearly done. I'm stitching them at 16 count on a piece of mint green Belfast linen. The colour is much prettier in person, but my camera doesn't seem to be capturing it well.

Sunday

This is my first time making one of Margaret's puppy designs, (I'm more of a cat person) but I'm really loving these little guys. When the picture is finished, it will be a gift for my significant other. Though not a surprise gift, since he's seen me working on it and already asked who it was for!

Thanks for looking everyone!

Winter Exchange Gift - Thanks Rita!!

I want to send out a big thank you to Rita, who was my gift maker in our Winter Exchange. Rita's gift arrived from Portugal this week, and included an adorable penguin ornament for my tree and lots of other treats for me. So many that I had to take three pictures to capture them all. (And I realized just now, that I left out a snowman pencil that was included in the package as well. Oops!)

First up, the penguin ornament that Rita stitched for me and a Christmas card she made herself. I didn't have any Margaret Sherry penguins yet, so this one will be a welcome addition to the family of Margaret Sherry critters that decorate our tree this year. Rita also mentioned she's new to scrapbooking and this was one of her first solo attempts at making a card. It's lovely Rita! Thank you!

Here are just a few of the goodies Rita included; some stickers, festive fabric squares, her handmade card and miniature clothes pins with snowflakes and Santa.

And my third picture; some Christmas ribbons, a few more Christmas notions, a pin of the flag from her homeland, and three beautiful bookmarks showing off different parts of Portugal. Absolutely beautiful. When I saw these I immediately added Portugal to my list of places to visit someday!

Once again, I just wanted to say thank you to Rita. I really appreciate all the time and hard work you put into this gift for me. It was certainly a wonderful surprise. I'm an avid reader, so your bookmarks will be used often, and I'm already making plans for many of the crafting notions you've included. Wishing you all the best for the holiday season and a very merry Christmas!!!

Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season, full of stitching and fun!
Sincerely,

Spring Exchange Arrives - Thank You Valma!

Just wanted to send out a big thank you to my gift stitcher Valma. I didn't know where my partner was from, but when I saw mail from France in the box on Tuesday I knew it could only be my present from the Margaret Sherry exchange. What a lovely card to brighten my day!

Thank you Valma! I really appreciate the time you took to stitch this and make it for me. Valma included a beautifully written personal note in the card. I thought I'd have to recall the high school French I learned many, many years ago and, I have to admit, I was somewhat relieved to find Valma's note was in English! (French being our second language here in Canada, we all learn it for a few years of grade school and high school, but here on the West Coast it isn't used as much as in eastern Canada, so I haven't spoken or read French in quite some time!)

I love my card and the beautiful spring ribbon and other notions that were included with it. Thanks again!

Margaret Sherry's Christmas Mice

I didn't get a chance to participate in the Margaret Sherry Christmas stitch-along, but that doesn't mean I didn't get a chance to do some Margaret Sherry related stitching for the holidays. I put together two sets of these Christmas mice, (plus an extra mouse with stocking for myself). These adorable little guys come from The Best of Margaret Sherry collection.

The first set I stitched on 18 count aida cloth, which seemed like a good idea when I started (and don't get me wrong, they did turn out very cute!) But I hadn't thought ahead to all those tiny 1/4 backstitches that are used to create details on the mice, and they were quite a challenge to stitch on such a small fabric.

The frames on this set are woodgrain flexi-hoops, which I love because I was able to stitch the designs right in the frame. I made these ones as stocking stuffer to go with our Christmas gift for a friend.

This second set I made for my brother-in-law's girlfriend. She's from Japan and decorating the family tree is one of her favourite activities when she gets to spend Christmas with us in Canada. This time I stitched the designs over 2 threads on a 32 count linen, which was much easier to work with! The frames are 2.5 inch in diameter ornament frames that I found at Michael's. I was so happy to discover them since they were the perfect size for these little mice.

Wishing all my fellow Margaret Sherry stitchers all the best for 2012! Happy stitching everyone,

Waiting for Christmas

I couldn't resist taking advantage of the lovely free cross stitch chart Margaret Sherry posted on her new site. I can't wait for the new patterns coming in 2012. But for now, I'll have to satisfy myself with this adorable kitty waiting for Christmas.



Both cats were stitched over two strands on a 32 count Belfast Linen in cream. The top one that's been made into a tree ornament I'm going to be keeping for myself. The bottom one, placed in a sparkly red stand-up frame will be a stocking stuffer for my mom, who is also a major cat person.



Sorry the second one is looking a little blurry. To get the pictures I set these on my scanner and since the second kitty is recessed a bit in the frame, it comes out a little blurry. I assure you in real life he's quite clear, and adorable!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I'm So Excited..

I've been hoping for a copy of the The Best of Margaret Sherry ever since I first saw other stitchers talking about it on this blog. In fact, I didn't even know it existed until I started hanging out here. Well, a couple of weeks ago I finally saw a copy on Ebay that was within my price range (including shipping). And when I checked the mail this morning...

it had arrived! I'm so excited. I basically bought this sight unseen, with the exception of seeing the patterns on the cover and a few things posted here that people mentioned had come from the book. How wonderful to pour through it today and see all the gorgeous patterns inside. I've got so many ideas floating around in my head right now for gifts for friends and family (and for myself!)

Some new stitchings from me coming soon!!

My First Post - Spike In Charge

Hello everyone! I've been browsing around the Margaret Sherry Lovers blog quite a bit the past month, but this is my first post. The pattern is Margaret Sherry's Spike in Charge. I stitched this, and my boyfriend helped select and pay for the framing. We gave the finished piece to a close friend as her graduation present when she completed her four year nursing degree.



Thanks for looking!