Have I Been Busy or What!?!?

The last round of the Little House Needleworks Round Robin has arrived, and I've been busy, busy, busy stitching on it.  I can't wait to get mine back!  Okay, yes I can, because once I do get it I will still have quite a bit of stitching to do on it.

But, that's not all that's been happening...  I've been involved with a few more exchanges with the Needles N Crafts group, and some of the exchanges have been arriving, or getting sent out.

I sent out the Hand Embroidery exchange to Peggy...

I included some half skeins of the same silk threads that I used in the sampler.  The pattern is from the June 2003 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine, and is Part One of the three part Phyllis' Sampler.  Check out Peggy's blog to read about her receiving the sampler.

One of the lastest fads to sweep through our group, almost at an alarming rate, is the mug rug.  Mug rugs are small, only 7" by 10", at the most.  The NNC group decided to have two different mug rug exchanges, one being just a 'regular' mug rug, and the other a Chinese mug rug.  The difference between the two:  The Chinese mug rug is just a tad bit smaller, and is designed for use with a Chinese teacup. whereas the other mug rug is designed for use with a normal-sized coffee mug.

A couple of weeks ago I received the Chinese Mug Rug from Sally.

Sally used sashiko stitching on the front of this rug,

and an oriental print fabric on the back.  One of the requirements of the exchange is that tea bags have to be included - can't have a mug rug without tea, right??

The tea bags were inside the little owl case.  Isn't he just too darling???  You can also read about the mug rug exchange at Sally's blog.

Another exchange is the Patchwork Quilt Block Swap, and this is our second year of doing this.  Last year's swap was the Nine Patch block, using bright floral prints and white tone-on-tone fabrics; we ended up with a total of ten blocks each.  We decided to continue with the same type of fabrics, and the Antique Tile block was chosen.  This year we added another person to the swap, so we will have twelve blocks when completed.

So far, I've received my blocks from Astrid...

The blocks are done two different ways...

giving an opposite effect of each other.  And each person has to include a signature block...

I've yet to decide what I'm going to do with all of the signature blocks...  You can't miss Astrid's blog!

One last request that I made was asking each person to include a piece of the bright floral fabric used in their blocks.  I've got all of my templates cut out for Sunbonnet Sue blocks, and will use the fabrics for her dresses or aprons.  I should end up with a total of 36 blocks (10 blocks from the 2010 swap, 12 blocks from the 2011 swap, 12 Sunbonnet Sue blocks, and I will need to make 2 more Nine Patch blocks) for a good-sized quilt!

The last thing I have to blog about is... another tattoo!!  Yes, I got another one, this time an armband.  And of course, Hank did this one...

A closer look...

After Labor Day I plan to get two more!  Yup!, they are addicting, lol.

Well, that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Third round of the LHN Round Robin is completed!!

Whew!!  I completed the third round of the Little House Needleworks round robin just in the nick of time, and I do mean in the nick of time!!  I added my name, country, month and French knot eyes on the day it had to be mailed out, getting it to the post office a half hour before they closed.  Is that close, or what?!?

This time I stitched on Lillie's piece, doing The Sampler Lady.

And this is what her entire sampler looks like so far:

Lillie is going to have one beautiful sampler when the last round is finished up!!

I'll be getting my sampler back sometime in October, but I will have at least three more blocks to stitch up on mine since I chose to have nine squares on it altogether.  And let's not even think about all of the border that I have yet to do around it.....

Keep checking back to see the next, and last, round that I stitch up, as well as the progress on my RR once I get it back!

NNC Birthday Exchange

Well!  It has certainly been quite a while since I've posted last, and with good reason...  I have been stitching up a storm!!  There's been the Birthday Exchange for Paul, the third round of the Little House Needlework round robin, and the Hand Embroidery Exchange, all with the Needles N Craft group.  They sure do know how to keep a gal busy!!

So, this posting will be about Paul's birthday gift...

I enjoy doing blackwork, and Paul's favorite colors are pink and black, so I just knew I had to come up with a way of combining the technique with the colors.  The following is the result of all my brainstorming:

The pattern was from The Gift of Stitching, Jan/Feb 2011 issue.

I used Finca #16 perle cottons, DMC gold metallic thread, and Mill Hill petite green glass beads.

From that easy pattern I ended up with all of this:

And this is the finished accessory set:

The inside of the needlebook:

Another requirement of the exchange, besides a handmade gift, was to include some stash items.  In keeping with the pink and black theme, I added some yarn, ribbons, and perle cottons.  You can see the photos of his stash, and read his blog, here: Paul's birthday gift.

It was fun planning it all, and the finishing turned out much better than I thought it would.

Happy Birthday Paul!!