Two little surprise gifts

Justine very kindly sent my Frosty Forest by LHN to use for my church tree this year so in return I stitched her a little ornament.

Brittercup Design

I also sent a Liverpool football emblem chart as I know the chaps in her family are supporters - sorry Justine if I gave you more stitching to do.

My other gift was for our lovely daughter Philly. She has a good job, great life in Cardiff but working in the field of elite athletes does come with a large amount of responsibility (playing rugby is the easy bit of their lives) At times her job gets a bit tricky so I stitched this coaster for her desk to help.

Newton's Law

Happy Mother's Day to all the mums and fondest memories of mums and grandmothers who have touched our lives in times gone by.

We've had a lovely weekend in Cardiff with my Hubby's mum and partner visiting Philly. Keep watching  my travel blog Aimetu's as I'll be posting my photos on there once we're home.

Upcycling

A few years ago I made an old watch box into a sewing box to take on holiday. I love it so much I actually use it everyday and unfortunately the lid broke: this is my box as it was, I lined the inside too and made a small jar for orts, using the lid as a pin cushion.

A free design from Blue Ribbon Designs

Inside lined with sewing themed fabric

I have another watch box so thought I'd take the old one apart and fit the pieces to my new box .... but of course it's a different size !!

I didn't want to throw away my sampler so I carefully cut it out and it just fitted into a coaster - perfect for my coffee cup when I put it on the mantle (nearest place to the left side of my sofa)

Upcycled - my new coaster 

So I needed to make my new box into a sewing box. I lined the lid and added my beautiful Angel from Gill. The orts jar fits perfectly, in fact with it being slightly bigger I can fit my Thread Heaven in too.

My new box with it's lid lined and Gill's Angel 

This time I used a Brittercup Design chart I had in my stash

I also used spare threads I've had for ages from kits.

I have lots of thread left over from kits I did a while ago so I looked through as decided on a colour theme. I just need to order the button to go between the two leaves at the bottom of the design. I didn't expect to be stitching this or making a new box but I have enjoyed it.

I've stitched another ornament for my Winter Wonderland - it's a Little House Needleworks designs but without the border; Seven Pines

Ornament 4 for my Winter Wonderland tree

 I have stitched a few other things but at the moment they are under wraps. I have a few special pieces to stitch for this year so quite often I'll have to just give hints on my blog, sorry, but with my church stitching and the happenings at Needlecraft Haven there will be plenty to share.

This morning I have planted up a few spring flowers. Our garden is north facing so gets very little sun until late February/early March - I had to move my bulb pots to the top of the garden as the flowers were not appearing. Now they have had direct sun for a few weeks they are starting to bloom. It's very satisfying to put out spring flowers, get rid of the final dead leaves and general spruce the garden up for the new season to bloom.

Canterbury Bells, Primroses and Violas 

Violas, Pansies and Primroses

 I hope your gardens are beginning to bloom and your stitching is progressing too. Thank you for calling by :)

How I made my needlecase

The needlecase exchange for Needlecraft Haven members at our autumn meet up was great fun. I have not made a needlecase for a long time and decided to make a stiffened one.

It took me a few days as I was quite nervous: I did a bit then left it a while before doing another bit. After stitching the design I mounted it on card (no wadding), glued the edges down, stitched lace around the edge and stitched the ribbon for tieing.

First stage of my needlecase 

I couldn't find any cording the right size or colour so using some crochet thread I made my own and attached it around the edge of the lace and down the centre fold.

Added cording 

For the inside I cut two pieces of cream felt - one to cover the back and one to be the inner to hold the needles and pins.

Felt pieces

To hold the felt down I used blanket stitch around the large piece of felt, stitching mainly to the lace. For the inner felt I used daisy chain stitch down the centre to hold it in place and added the pins and needles.

Felt stitched in place

I love how this turned out, it was a good idea to take my time and do it in stages. My needlecase was for Gill, she loves it too.

Finished needlecase for Gill

My Exchange parcel for Gill with card and choccies 

It's always fun to arrange the meet ups for Needlecraft Haven, although it's getting harder to think of themes and ideas for the exchange.

 I love the meet up days, our next meet up is April 22nd, again in Nuneaton - our theme is 'My Favourite Place' but as yet I have no idea what to stitch for the exchange.

Needlecase Exchange

Today is opening day for the Needlecase Exchange organised at the Needlecraft Haven autumn meet up. As your saw in my post last week my parcel has been sitting here waiting for today.

We organise the exchange at the meet up and no-one knows who is stitching for who. My partner has not yet posted about the needlecase I sent her so for now I'm just showing the needlecase I received....

.... and what a beautiful needlecase it is - thank you so much Justine

The front of my needlecase 

The gorgeous inside - I love the pins 

The back of my needlecase

Justine sent a beautiful card and included a 'large' bar of my favourite chocolate, I'm happy to share but my Hubby is not keen on dark chocolate :)

My needlecase, card and chocolate

As today is March 1st I've changed our mantle, quite plain at the moment but as the month progresses it will have a few changes. The dragon is only out for today as it is also St David's Day - the patron saint of Wales, a reason for the daffodils on our side board too. My winter tree (Jardin Prive) has been put away and spring is now in it's place and the candles are now orange.

March Mantle

March sideboard

Jardin Prive Spring

 All in all quite a day for the start of a new month. I'll share the needlecase I sent to my partner in my next post, in the meantime I'll enjoy one of the Welsh cakes I made to celebrate St David's Day.

Freshly baked welsh cakes