Gifted Gorgeousness in March

 

The 15th of each month means it's Gifted Gorgeousness time, the time each month when 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.

This great idea is hosted each month by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching,  if you visit her blog you'll find the links to everyone's Gifted Gorgeousness posts. Thank you Jo for hosting another year of GG, it's great fun posting and reading. 

My stitching this year seems to be all gifts, I do enjoy stitching for others but it does mean there is often a delay in sharing with others .... and repetition in posts so I'm sorry if you have seen these before. 

This is the Pandora box I upcycled for our son's girlfriend's birthday. I bought her some i-clip bookmarks and the box was the perfect place to keep them in. The i-clips were owls so I stitched an owl for the lid covering. 

My other GG is a gift sent to me. It was just Mary and myself that participated in the Needlecraft Haven Valentine/Friendship Exchange. I included my gift to Mary in February's post, here's the beautiful card Mary stitched for me. 

It is additionally special as Mary used a chart sent to her in a previous exchange a few years ago by Angi, a lovely NH member who sadly passed away last year. I'll be upcycling Mary's card so it can be displayed with my other ornaments. 

Right back to gift stitching, my needle is very busy this year hee hee 

Fully Finished in March

 

Rachel, Ten Hour Stitcher, hosts Fully Finished Objects, a super chance for us to show and tell about the crafty items we have completely finished. Thanks Rachel, it's a great way to see how much stitching I have done, especially this year as most of my projects are large and it's easy to think I'm not doing much.

My FFOs go back to February, I did mention them but I couldn't share photos last month as they were gifts ... in fact I have realised that all my stitching in 2023, completed and planned will be gifts so you'll be seeing them twice hee hee. 

It was my good friend Mary's birthday at the end of January but I was a little late with her gift. I stitched a bookmark from Durene Jones' lovely designs. 

My second FFO was also for Mary as she was my partner for the Needlecraft Haven Valentine/Friendship Exchange. For this exchange we stitched a card and I stitched a heart on plastic canvas made into an ornament so it can be used again. 

I made two trinket box gifts as it was our daughter's birthday and our son's girlfriend's birthday. I did post about Philly's gift in February's GG and Mel's will be in March's but here they are for FFO.

I also stitched a P label for our daughter, it's so hard to think what to do as she has had a stitched birthday gift every year. 

My final Fully Finished Object is a long time coming ... I have finally finished my winter cake band for last year's Temperature SAL. I haven't used either the summer band or winter band on a cake yet but I hope I can soon. 

I'm not sure I will have a FFO to share in April but who knows, happy stitching everyone. 

February Round Up

Well I haven't any Smalls and I haven't stitched the Topsy Turvy SAL ornament, neither have I stitched any of the designs for the Winter Seasonal Challenge at Needlecraft Haven.

But I have finally completed my Temperature SAL. I was stitching two cake bands for this SAL, a summer band covering April - September and a January - March & October - December for the winter, recording the highest and lowest temperature each day. 

You'll find my finished summer band in my FFO post for November., and here is my winter band, whoo hoo I'm so pleased with it. 

I have been stitching but as I have said in previous posts this will be a year of gifts and I cannot share until given. Hopefully I will have a few bits to share. 

Wishing you all happy stitching and busy needles during the month of March. 

Gifted Gorgeousness in February

 

The 15th of each month means it's Gifted Gorgeousness time, the time each month when 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.

This great idea is hosted each month by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching,  if you visit her blog you'll find the links to everyone's Gifted Gorgeousness posts. Thank you Jo for hosting another year of GG, it's great fun posting and reading.

It's our lovely daughter's birthday on Friday but we visited last weekend. It's two 'lasts' - being 20 something and being 'Miss'.

I stitched her a trinket box, an upcycled Pandora charm box, and a mini ornament. I had great fun lining the box with some craft paper.

My next two gifts are the ones I mentioned in my Fully Finished Objects post but I couldn't share. My friend has received her parcel so here they are, firstly a bookmark for her birthday, a little belated as her birthday is actually the end of January.

The other gift was for the Needlecraft Haven Valentine's Exchange. This year we stitched a card and I made a removable ornament card so it can be used every year.

I included some chocolate hearts, a mini roll of Love Hearts and some matching threads.

My final two gifts are not stitching but are another craft I enjoy. I made a cake for our daughter which we took to Cardiff last weekend. 2 candles and 9 hearts - I wonder how many candles I'll need next year hee hee

Our son's girlfriend also turns 29 this year, tomorrow, the day before our daughter, they are just hours apart in age.

I made her a cake, again for last weekend as they celebrated with a group of friends.

I'm stitching a few other gifts which hopefully I can share soon. I have a feeling 2023 is going to be a year of secrets and surprises.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

 It's Valentine's Day which means it's Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop time 💕

This is hosted by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching   pop over to her blog where you will find a list of everyone taking part in this year's Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop 💕
I'll be hopping around the Valentine's blogs to find out where my photo went ❤ 
I received this beautiful Valentine's photo, are you my Secret Stitching Sweetheart 💕

As well as being Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop day it's also a special day for Hubby and me, in 1986 he asked and I said 'yes' 💍

We haven't changed a bit have we 😂 I can't believe that was 37 years ago.

Have a super Valentine's Day sharing love and friendship 💕

Fully Finished in February

 

I do have two finishes but I can't show any photos as I'm not sure if they have been received... yes they are gifts.

They are both for one of my stitchy friends at Needlecraft Haven, a birthday gift and the Valentine's Exchange. Sadly my friend's mum passed away this week, there are more important things than stitching, the world is tough at times isn't it.

The only photo I have is the cake (I'm never doing black icing letters again) I made for our son, his gaming social event celebrated its first birthday. I was very touched by his social media post.

I'm sure there are plenty of stitchy finishes this month so I'm going to pop over to Rachel's, Ten Hour Stitcher blog later to follow everyone's links.

A catch up ... long over due

I haven't been around for a few weeks, I'll try to read everyone's blogs but apologies if I miss your posts. I haven't been stitching much, I can't believe how much I did last January. My mum has been unwell for a while and was back in hospital as the new year began. Although she is home she hasn't bounced back this time which is a worry. 

This year my stitching will be bigger projects and quite a few for special occasions, this gives two blogging issues: not much to show and most a secret until given. 

Additionally we've been on a cruise, a much needed bit of sun and time to breathe. We had a lovely time but not much stitching. I've written about life on board in my Cruise Life post on my travel blog. 

Hopefully I will have some FFO posts and some GG posts in the next few months, I'm not sure about Smalls, my Temperature SAL is now officially a UFO and I've no chance of doing Topsy Turvy SAL this month. 

All I can do is what I can, my focus will be on the important stitching but I do hope I can keep up with everyone's news. I'll sign off with a photo from our cruise, our cabin steward was very creative!