May's Fully Finished Objects

 Thank you Rachel for hosting another opportunity for us to share our finishes. Pop over to Rachel's blog Ten Hour Stitcher to find the links to everyone's FFO posts.

You may have seen this in my April Gifted Gorgeousness post but I stitched this bookmark for my step dad's birthday. It was a kit gifted to me so it felt good to gift the finished piece.

April 20th was Needlecraft Haven's Spring/Easter Exchange, we chose which design we would like. My partner didn't mind which but as I have been wanting to stitch this design for many years I thought I'd do spring. I have a few folders of old magazine charts that I would like to do, easier than keeping the whole magazine each time but there are certainly more filled folders than time I will have to stitch,

I'll share more details of our exchange in my GG post for May. I haven't been stitching much and what I have stitched are for gifts yet to be given but hopefully this month and next I'll be able to share. 

I'm hoping my stitching increases too as I no longer pick up a needle every night and I'm not sure why, I'm sure life will work it all out for me one way or an other. 

Gifted Gorgeousness April 2025

Yesterday was the 15th so it is Gifted Gorgeousness time hosted by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching a lovely chance to share our latest gifts. These can be gifts given or received, or any item made using fabric, threads, buttons, ribbon, chart, backing fabric that has been gifted

My stitching is certainly slower this year and I'm not sure why. I have some new glasses coming so maybe they will help.

Anyway this is a double GG as I received this lovely bookmark kit from Gill. I like a tudor rose design, this looked lovely.

And so I stitched it for my step-dad's birthday as he's an avid reader.

I do have some projects on the go and hopefully will have more to share next month.

April's Fully Finished Objects

Many years ago ... probably 10 or even 15 these were a Round Robin and they have been in the drawer ever since.

I finally had some frames made and have now fully finished them. They are hanging in the conservatory. I might have Autumn and Spring charts somewhere but I have no immediate plans to do them too.

I stitched these years ago... yep more left in a drawer. I went off them as they do not start with capital letters but as I've stitched them it seems a shame not to show them so I had a small frame made to match my other monthly piece and I will change them each month too.

I have cut them to the frame size and used interfacing to back them so they don't fray. I keep them in a drawer between being in the frame so they are kept flat.

It is 40 years ago today I met my Hubby. I was in the Hawthorn Tree pub in Coventry in my Scout Leader's uniform selling raffle tickets 😊

Why do I remember it so clearly 🤔

Because not only did Nick buy a ticket (and in my opinion win first prize 😉) but it was the start of our many adventures, the first being to Lynmouth which we revisited last week 🥰

We would never have guessed back then what a super family we'd have and how many memories we'd make ❤️ 

Here's our first kiss and recent reenactment with the hotel which is now apartments. I have put a few more photos on Facebook 

I don't know where 40 years has gone but I do know I have lots of happy memories.

Gifted Gorgeousness March 2025

 

I haven't been blogging much this year, on this blog or my wine, food and travel blog but I'd like to like to think my posts are quality not quantity hee hee.

Yesterday was the 15th so it was Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching a lovely chance to share our latest gifts. These can be gifts given or received, or any item made using fabric, threads, buttons, ribbon, chart, backing fabric that has been gifted.

Our super daughter is now in her third decade so you can imagine how many gifts I have stitched her over time which makes it harder and harder to think of ideas but I do like to stitch for her. I'm very much a re-using person and these two cosmetic jars were just too nice to be thrown out so I stitched a lid and included a tea light for her. I did light one to see how it looked and the glass shone beautifully. 

This year I am trying to focus on completing the stitches on some UFO items and/or finishing pieces that are just lying around. I still have many gifts to stitch as with every year but I'm not stitching church ornaments this year, I'm hoping to do something different but that still uses up some bits and bobs. 

One of my unfinished pieces was a gift many years ago from a friend overseas. She sent the fabric, threads and chart and although I started it it got put aside. Now it is stitched I'm planning on making a cushion for our snug room but I need to set a sewing machine day or it will not get done. 

That is the same with this piece, it was a chart I bought when a friend visited with the idea we would both stitch it, I'm not sure if she did and I found mine in the bottom of a drawer. It does have a stitched border but I'm not going to do it as I think it matches the other piece so it will too become a cushion for the snug room .... once it's stitched I will certainly have to have a sewing day.

Thank you for calling by and catching up with my gifts, I plan to sit in my chair later with a coffee and spend time in blogland reading everyone's news, happy Sunday to you all. 

March's Fully Finished Objects

 

How is it the third month of the year already? Thank you Rachel for hosting another opportunity for us to share our finishes. Pop over to Rachel's blog Ten Hour Stitcher to find the links to everyone's FFO posts.

You may have seen my first finished object as it was in my February gifts post. The design was one of this year's Seasonal Challenges on Needlecraft Haven. I made it into a jar for our son's girlfriend's birthday and filled the jar with teabags.

My other Fully Finished Objects are two jars for our daughter's birthday. They have been upcycled as they were cosmetic cream jars but so sturdy it was a shame to throw them away. She can use them for anything but I lit a candle in one which looked lovely.

I am stitching this year but not finishing much as yet. I will be doing a tree at church but not with stitched ornaments this year as it takes a lot of my time. I'm hoping to share my idea next month.

Gifted Gorgeousness February 2025

 It's Gifted Gorgeousness time...

Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted each month by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. On the 15th of each month we share our latest gifts. These can be gifts given or received, or any item made using fabric, threads, buttons, ribbon, chart, backing fabric that has been gifted.

I couldn't post any Fully Finished items this month as they were gifts but as one gift has been given I can post in Gifted Gorgeousness.

This Hygge design was a challenge piece for this year's Seasonal Challenge at Needlecraft Haven. As soon as I saw it I knew it was just right for our son's girlfriend's birthday. I filled it with tea bags, perfect with the Hygge cookbook. I baked a cake too using M&Ms to decorate it which means her cake is full of her initials.

The 14th was Opening Day for Needlecraft Haven Valentine's Exchange, this year hosted by Mary and was a non-stitchy exchange. We had a budget to shop with to buy our partners sone crafty items.

Christine sent me a lovely pair or scissors, a polka dot retractable measure, a floss ring and a needle threader with clippers, I haven't seen one before. Thank you Christine for my super exchange.

My gifts were for Mary who I know also does quilting so I included a bundle of fat quarter fabrics. Our local haberdashery always has a bargain shelf on which I spotted a ball of thread and heart embellishments. The shop is fairly new to our town, the owners used to run a market stall, and their prices are very good. They only have basic supplies (no DMC thread) but I did find some heart buttons and a pin wheel to finish Mary's exchange parcel.

Not a stitchy but I will share this lovely gift my Hubby gave me on Valentine's Day, we got engaged on 14th February in 1986! The words are so lovely...

Happy Valentine's Day 

Never Forget that 

I LOVE YOU

You are my best friend

My Soul mate

❤️ My Rock ❤️

Gifted Gorgeousness January 2025

Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted each month by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. On the 15th of each month we share our latest gifts. These can be gifts given or received, or any item made using fabric, threads, buttons, ribbon, chart, backing fabric that has been gifted. Thank you Jo for hosting GG again in 2025.

For my stitchy friends and my friends at scouts I made some gnomes. They were actually gifted gifts as they were made using felt and wool from my Mum, I still have a lot of felt so I am thinking of making more for next year's Christmas Market to raise Scout funds.

I was a gnome ... well a dwarf really. I'm my very young days, this was probably around 1970, I was in a dance show as one of Snow White's 7 dwarfs. I was so shy I took a while to go on stage. Everyone thought it was part of the show as I was playing the role of Bashful.

I saw this design by Faby Reilly and knew it would be perfect for my friends at Needlecraft Haven for Christmas. It's a lovely design that I will stitch in full but for gifts I stitched each character on plastic canvas.

To choose who had which character I used an online wheel spinner giving the characters in chart order left to right. I did take the Santa for me as I was the giver and he went on my tree at church. 

My Christmas gift parcel to the Needlecraft Haveners was a gnome, the Christmas Crew chart and a character with some Christmas colour thread, goodies and an upcycled card.

I received lovely gifts from my stitchy friends. Julie knitted a beautiful scarf and Mary gave me some lovely tea towels from France to remind us of our travels. I received a great bookmark kit from Gill, it's a Tudor rose designs and I'm looking forward to stitching it, and Christine sent a beautiful thread keeper. Candles, goodies and a lip balm keeper for my handbag were also gifted, thanks everyone I felt very spoilt.

Julie also sent me a bookmark chart ftom a kit she had stitched, along with the spare threads. I had some aida band in my stash so decided to stitch it up. I only needed a little bit of thread yo finish the blue edging and there was enough thread left to make a fringed edge. 

The final part of my first GG in 2025 is a gift to giveaway. Many years ago (probably over 20) I was a model stitcher for some designers. Millennia Designs was one and I received this gift from them but I have never stitched it. It has all the threads but they may need straightening after being stored so long.

I'm offering it as a giveaway - just say in your comment if you would like to be in the drawer. I'll use the wheel spinner at the end of February to choose the lucky winner.

January's Fully Finished Objects

The lovely Rachel, Ten Hour Stitcher, is hosting Fully Finished Objects again in 2025. It's a super chance for us to show and tell about the crafty items we have completely finished.

Thank you Rachel, your FFO prompt each month really helps me finish my projects instead of them still in my project folders. I'm hoping to get a few UFO's finished this year. I love the new SAL photo, thank you.

I stitched these lovely characters as part of the Christmas gifts for my lovely friends at Needlecraft Haven. I'll tell you more in my Gifted Gorgeousness post on the 15th... cute aren't they?

 

I had so much (and still have) felt from Mum's and wool that I decided to have a go at making gnomes. I made one each for the wine tasters (details in my other blog), one for everyone at Needlecraft Haven and two smaller ones for DD and DS's GF. I'm hoping to make quite a few for the craft fair at scouts next year.

I finished three of the Seasonal Challenge designs on Needlecraft Haven for 2024, the final one I used for my 2024 Orts Ornie, it's stuffed with all my orts saved in my bon-bon jar.

My first stitch and finish of 2025 is this lovely robin bookmark. It was a kit that my friend Julie had and after stitching she passed the chart and unused threads onto me. I had just enough apart from the blue which I managed to match as there was no colour code. The few threads left made a great fringe.

My final Fully Finished Object for January is my Pensee Positive from Jardin Prive. I stitched this in 2019 and have had the frame since 2022 but just didn't get round to mounting it. 

My 2025 plans are to get stuff made up, recycled and/or used.... no more keeping just in case either!

 

My 2024 stitching

What a lovely stitchy year I had, not so many finishes as other years but I really enjoyed working on many different projects. My absolute favourite was the dandelion I stitched for our daughter's 30th birthday in February, how time flies.

February was a busy stitching month as our son's girlfriend also turned 30. I upcycled one of my boxes and made a sewing kit for her with a padded top, I find watch and old jewellery boxes perfect for upcycling. 

My friend and her hubby celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in October , I loved stitching this beaded sampler for them. I also enjoyed stitching a wedding card for their son and fiancé who got married in May - quite a year of celebrations for them all. 

I really enjoy the exchanges with my super friends at Needlecraft Haven, our Valentine's Exchange was non-stitchy but we did have three ornament exchanges: Easter, Autumn and Christmas. They are always such fun even if we know who is sending to who as being a small group we recognise everyone's postcode on the parcels - hee hee 

I did quite a lot of upcycling this year, I have many stitched cards from over the last few years of exchanging and I managed to make them into ornaments. It was tricky at times as there wasn't always much spare fabric at the edges, I also stitched together two of my Mum's lace samples to make a coaster and changed a mini pillow into a small mat. I'm hoping to do a bit more upcycling this year as I still have bits and bobs about, especially cards. I made new Christmas cards for 2024 from the previous years and will be doing the same for Christmas 2025.

We have a Seasonal Challenge each year at Needlecraft Haven, Christine posts links to for Christmas themed and four general freebie charts and we can stitch them throughout the year. This year I managed to stitched the Hen House which now lives by my egg rack and three of the Christmas designs. The robin is my Orts Ornie for 2024 and is stuff with all my orts from last year. 

I'm trying to reduce my crafting stash, hence the upcycling and card making, I also managed to stitch up a few kits I had been given over recent years. The Wales keyring is perfect for my Scout HQ keys and I gave the butterfly to our friends' granddaughter for her new bedroom when they moved house. 

As you know much of my stitching is gifted, I rarely stitch anything that hasn't already got a designated purpose or recipient. This Christmas I stitched two humbugs, one for our daughter and hubby, the other for our son and his girlfriend. There are four in this series so I think they have guessed what may be stitched next year, although who knows as I might find other designs. 

With Mum passing away last summer I have inherited more craft items. Although I didn't do the same crafts as my Mum fabric and thread can be used in many ways. Mum had a lot of felt and this Christmas I made gnomes for my friends and family. I still have plenty of felt left so I might make a few more to be sold at our Christmas Fair at Scouts next year. 

For Christmas 2023 I gifted my Needlecraft Haven friends a biscornu chart with a different flower for each of us. My chart was a blue iris which was my Grandmother's favourite flower and her name. I'm hoping this year to stitch the other biscornus in the series, they are by Faby Reilly who also designs the humbugs and designed the chart I gave to everyone at Needlecraft Haven this year - the Christmas Crew. It is actually a design of all the characters together but I stitched them individually on plastic canvas and gifted one to each of my friends along with the chart for us to have a 2025 SAL as we did in 2024 with the biscornus. 

My biggest stitching finish of 2024 was finally completing my tablecloth. This was a Round Robin many years ago and it had been waiting for me to finish the edging. It's always tricky marking out hardanger, I worry about if it will meet up. I only did kloster blocks this time, no wrapped bars as they take too long. I'm so pleased with it, it now has pride of place on our table. 

My 2024 tree for the church festival was a Santa Tree, huge thank you to everyone who stitched and sent a Santa. My 2025 tree will be a non-stitchy tree as I want to focus on more of my own projects - there is an opportunity for you to join in if you wish, I'll be posting details in my January Gifted Gorgeousness post.

I've had a super 2024 and hope next year will be filled with many stitchy moments. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and busy needles in 2025.