A lot of pictures...

I was so busy with Christmas holidays and Christmas gifts that I have not been posting for many days. Thanks for all your posts and mails, I really appreciated them.

I have a lot of pictures to share.

Before Christmas I sent the last envelope for my Italian mail art exchange. I used a lovely pattern by Little House Needleworks. I changed the pattern to stitch it on the envelope with the address of my friend. I used a white Aida that I hand-dyed with tea. The fabric inside is by Debbie Mumm. I really like how the envelope turned out.

Front side:

Back side:

Inside:

Finally I can share the gifts I worked on during the past weeks.
I stitched two patterns to sew on two different recipes books.

The first one is a pattern I found on an Italian magazine.

The second one is part of the pattern Madame Poule by Tralala!!!

I also prepared some biscuits and I gave them as gifts with some little ornaments.

I stitched this ornament that I saw on a new Italian magazine.

These ornaments are by Olde Ornaments I by Sisters & Best Friends. I stitched them using only DMC.

I also stitched a quick pattern. It's for my Dear Diary quilt and it's the second block I finished. The first block is the one of Elizabeth MCGuire. This is the pillow dedicated to kindness and it's in the pattern Elizabeth McGuire.

I think I finished more than the patterns I would have liked to stitch before another order so I've already put my next order.

The last Santa

During the past week-end I started preparing my Christmas tree and I went on working on my Santas. I could finish the last Santa for this year. Now I have twelve Christmas ornaments, one for month. I have already sewed six of them and they're on my tree. In the next days I'm going to sew and finish the left Santas.
I'm pretty happy because I could stitch twelve Santas as I decided at the begininnig of the year. Surely one of my goals for the next year is stitching other PS Santas to add to the stitched ones. I noticed that the yearly Santas are longer than other patterns by PS so I'm going to stitch one yearly Santa for two months.

Now I can change my rotation. I finished the ornaments and the exchanges for 2006 so my next rotation will be:

Monday - Christian's stocking

Tuesday - Flip-It by Lizzie Kate, I have to stitch two to finish all the series Blocks

Wednesday - Celtic Summer (that was an UFO few weeks ago) and Christmas gifts

Thursday - sew Christmas gifts and the charity doll for Unicef

Friday - Christmas gifts

Saturday/Sunday - Terre de France and what I like

Ornaments

First of all thanks everyone for your posts and comments about my ornaments. I really appreciated them!

Telling about my ornaments I worked hard on them in the past days too and I could start and finish another little Santa.
This one is by the new leaflet Good Saint Nick by Prairie Schooler.

I stitched him more quickly than the others because he is small.
I also started stitching my last Santa for this year and this is the progress:

This one is by the leaflet Kris Kringle by Prairie Schooler and I'm stitching him on linen.

I also finished an envelope for my Italian mail art exchange but I have to sew it and I can't show the result till my friend receive it.

It's time to come back stitching!

Have a nice week-end, ladies.

Finishes

During the past week-end I decided to sew some ornaments.

I sewed two Christmas ornaments I had already stitched and two Flip-Its by Lizzie Kate.

I could stitch the November Flip-It too and this is another finish for my list.

I also stitched some Christmas gifts but I can't share any picture. They're four little gifts and I have to sew them. I decided to count them as only one finish because they're very small and they are stitched by the same pattern.

Last Sunday I had pulled out my sewing machine so I decided to sew something else. I sewed Christmas ornaments using a lovely fabric by Debbie Mumm. The picture don't justice to the wonderful designs. I'm really happy how they turned out. Those designs are wonderful!
The fabric is Winter Whismy - Label Panel Multi on Green.

Present and future goals

Today I've not stitching pictures to share because yesterday I've not had enough time to stitch. Instead I decided to work on my kitchen curtains and I want to show a picture of them because they're the first curtains I sewed. I'm pretty happy how they turned out. They're not perfect and I could have done something better...but finally I have the curtains!

A new month arrived and it's time to review my past goals.

My November goals:

-stitch September and November Flip-It by LK

no, but I've quite finished November Flip-It

-stitch September, October and November ornaments

I stitched September and October ones

-finish a block of Terre de France

no, but I worked on it and I've quite finished the block

-finish the curtains for my kitchen

yes!!!

In addition I started and finished Elizabeth McGuire by LHN.

For the last month of the year I would like to finish some projects and exchanges.

- finish all the Flip-It Blocks by LK (September, November and December left)

- finish twelve Christmas ornaments (I've already stitched ten and I have to stitch two)

- stitch and sew the last envelope for the Italian mail art exchange

- stitch and sew some Christmas gifts

I hope to have not forgotten anything...

I'm also thinking about 2007 goals and I'm writing a list to pubblish at the end of this year. During the past months I fell in love with many patterns and to choose the ones I'll stitch in 2007 is not easy. Surely I want to stitch one of the following patterns. The first one was released last year and I immediately fell in love with it. The second one is the newest pattern by Victoria Sampler and I LOVE it! I imagine that they're long patterns to stitch and I would like to stitch one of them as a SAL. So I'm searching somebody who would like to start one of these patterns during the next year. Everyone is welcome! I have to purchase the pattern and the supplies yet so we've enough time to decide when we could start stitching it.

A good rotation!

Have I already talked about my good rotation?
Yes, I have. I'm so happy how it's working that I'm wondering why I haven't ever decided a rotation before this month.

On Monday I usually stitch Christian's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush. I started stitching it last year and it became an UFO after Christmas. Some weeks ago I pulled out it and I made a little progress.

Last year:

Last Monday:

On Wednesday I usually stitch my Christmas ornaments and yesterday I finished a Santa by Kris Kringle (Prairie Schooler). This is my tenth ornament in 2006. I'll have to stitch two ornaments before Christmas because I want to use them for my tree.

I also stitched something else, not only the patterns in my rotation and this is the result!

I finished this lovely pattern by LHN, Elizabeth McGuire (Dear Diary series).
It was not one of my favourite patterns in this series and I decided to stitch it as first of the Dear Diary patterns. While I was stitching it I fell in love with it. I like very much the cabin and the lady.

Thank you, Carol

This morning I received a beautiful gift by Carol. It's one of the most lovely gifts I've ever received. Thanks, Carol, you're so sweet.

In the package I found scissors and scissor-fob. These new scissors will be my favourite ones, they're the first ones somebody gave me as a present. The scissor-fob is a very great work and you can't appreciate it because my picture doesn't it justice. I really like it because Carol used a pattern of one of my favourite designers.






My first rotation seems to work and I'm really happy about it.
I worked on everything in the list but I can't post each progress because I'm working on some gifts and exchanges.

I'm uploading only the progress on November Flip-It.

I followed my plans but I also stitched something else.
I'm really enjoying Elizabeth McGuire by LHN. It's a relaxing and quick design.

My first rotation

I've never tried to use a rotation and yesterday I decided to prepare my first one. I'll be busy stitching some Christmas gifts and finishing some of my goals for 2006 so a rotation looks a good idea to organize my works.

This is the rotation:

Monday - Christian's stocking (that was an UFO few days ago) and gifts for Christmas
Tuesday - Flip-It by Lizzie Kate, I have to stitch three to finish all the series Blocks
Wednesday - Celtic Summer (that was an UFO few weeks ago) and Christmas ornaments
Thursday - Christmas gifts/exchanges
Friday - Christmas ornaments
Saturday/Sunday - Terre de France and what I like

Yesterday I started using my rotation and I worked on Christian's stocking. I've not taken a picture yet. I also started stitching two ornaments but I can't post the pictures before Christmas.
My most recent progress is a progress on the Santa by PS.

I also stitched an envelope for my Italian mail art exchange. It was for Chiara. She has already received it and I can post the pictures.
I used some patterns by Lizzie Kate because she's one of her favourite designers. I tried to be more creative than usual...


Front side:

Back side:

Inside:

Some pictures

I've not been writing for some days, so I have some pictures to share.

I'm trying to work on my monthly goals and I stitched November Flip-It by LK.
I love Autumn, so I'm enjoying this lovely colours.

I also decided to start stitching a new Christmas ornament. It should be the October one that I've not stitched yet.
I chose a Santa by Kris Kringle, leaflet by Prairie Schooler. He should be faster then the last one I stitched.

A little progress:

After an unlucky order that I put on Pawprint I received some fabrics I ordered more than two months ago. I'm very disappointed about this order. They didn't have the buttons I ordered and they let me wait for all the supplies. After two months they decided to send me the fabrics because they have not received the buttons yet. I think they should have sent me the fabrics at least a month ago...
At the end I received my fabrics. I needed them to start stitching a new big project. I'm going to stitch all the series Dear Diary by LHN and to sew the patterns into a quilt. As I received the fabrics some days ago I immediately started stitching the first pattern. I chose Elizabeth McGuire as first design.

I stitched it for two days and these are my progresses.

First day:

Second day:

I'm stitching it quickly because it's a lovely pattern and it's easy to stitch. I'm so happy about this new project!

You know I'm stitching a bit Celtic Summer every Wednesday.
After a month I've a progress to share. I'll post my last picture and the picture of my most recent progress. The progress is not so important, but I'm happy because this pattern became an UFO and I finally pulled out it.

May 2006:

November 2006

Finally...

Finally I finished a Christmas ornament. It took me a very long time and I can't understand why. I started this ornament at the end of August and it had to be the ornament for September. I finished it in November!!! Now I have to catch up with two ornaments, the ones for October and November. I decided to choose two Santas in the leaflet Kris Kringle #62 by Prairie Schooler. Those Santas are smaller than the yearly ones!

1996 Schooler Santa by Prairie Schooler stitched on Belfast linen 32ct, Rock Quarry (Silkweaver)

Reading Anne's blog and especially this post, I decided to organize a personal challenge. I really admire Anne because she's taking part in this project with 50 patterns but I couldn't do so and I decided to stitch 10 patterns already kitted up before purchasing new supplies and kit up other patterns.
My challenge starts today and before putting a new order I'll have to count ten finished patterns.

Happy stitching!

Reviewing goals

Finally I can post some pictures.
During the past days I didn't stitch a lot. I only finished the monthly Flip-It and I worked on the Christmas ornament. This one is taking me a long time, more than I thought. It's a Santa by Prairie Schooler and even if he's about 50wx70h he's a little busy project. My next Santas will be smaller because I want to finish twelve ornaments before the end of this year and I decided to choose other Santas by Prairie Schooler and not the yearly ones.

I received my third envelope. I'm taking part in an Italian mail art exchange and I'm really enjoying myself.
This is the lovely envelope that my partner sent me.

Front side:

Back side:

Inside:

It's time to review October goals.

- stitch August, September and October Flip-It by LK
I stitched only August and October

- stitch the monthly Christmas ornament and the September one
no! I only worked on the September one

- stitch a block of Terre de France
no!

- work on the pattern by Sisters and Best Friends started as a SAL with some Italian friends
only a bit

- work on Quaker Garden
yes, but I didn't post a picture because I found a big mistake and I had to unstitch and stitch again a part of the pattern

- finish a charity pattern I started last month
yes!!!

- work on Merry Christmas by Brightneedle (SAL with some French ladies)
no, I'm still waiting for my supplies

- finish the curtains for my kitchen
no :(

I also finished an UFO, Cookin' Up Magic by Mill Hill and I pulled out other two UFOs I'm working on. I have not pubblished pictures yet because the progresses are not so important but I'm really happy because I stitched them again. I also stitched an envelope for my third mail art exchange but I can't upload it because I have to sew and send it.

Now I'm writing my November goals. I decided to focus my work on few goals.

-stitch September and November Flip-It by LK
-stitch September, October and November ornaments
-finish a block of Terre de France
-finish the curtains for my kitchen

A finish

Finally I received my package with the DMC threads and I could finish my charity project.
Here is the result:

It was a funny and quick pattern. I really enjoyed it and I'm happy that it's for Quilt America.

I stitched a bit also Pear Tree Inn by LHN. I'm stitching it slowly because I have other deadlines during this month and I usually stitch it as a relaxing pattern.

Yesterday was Wednesday so it was the day of my Celtic Summer. I stitched her but I'm working on her big skirt and after two weeks of work we can't see any progress yet. This is why I have not a picture of her.

Again UFOs

After finishing an UFO I decided to review all my UFOs and I noticed they are too many.

Enchanted Alphabet by L&L
Celtic Summer by L&L
Once upon a time by Passione Ricamo
HOHR by Carriage House Samplings
Christian's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush
Little Kate by Margaret Sherry
Christmas Elf Fairy by Mirabilia
a towel I started stitching for a friend

I decided to dedicate a day for week to one of these UFOs and yesterday I started stitching again Christian's Stocking. I chose this one because I decided to stitch it for Lore last year. I had finished a stocking for me and I'd like to stitch one for Lore too.
I'm not posting my progress because we can't see it...I hope to post the progress next week.

Veronica and I decided to dedicate also an hour to our ladies by L&L. We stitch together every Wednesday. I added a very nice button she created for me. Again the progress is not so important and I will not post a picture.

During the past week I've quite finished my charity project. I should send it away during next days but I'm waiting for a package with DMC fibers and it has not arrived yet.

And my progress on the monthly Flip-It:

Autumn

I love autumn's colours and everything talking about this season.
Yesterday we went to a wood in the country near Florence. We wanted to search some mushrooms but we met a snake at the beginning of the walk and we decided to walk following the path. At the end of the walk my basket for mushrooms was till empty. LOL!
Fortunately one of Lore's aunts gave us some mushrooms and we had a very autumnal dinner! Mushrooms and chestnuts!!!

Me and the (empty) basket




In the wood



Mushrooms and chestnuts for dinner



Lore cooked pasta with mushrooms




and mushrooms



We also played the guitar...well, Lore played the guitar, I played just one or two songs.



During the past days I also finished a kit by Mill Hill I started stitching last year. I fell in love with this funny kit and I immediately purchased. I worked hard on it but I couldn't finish before Halloween. I pulled it out last week because I was going to finish before Halloween (2006!). I worked on beading and this is the result:

I also changed my mini poll. Please, vote!
I'm going to work on my kitted up patterns and I've 31 patterns ready to stitch. I chose five of these and I'd like you to help me to decide the one I'll stitch in the next weeks. Thanks!

The old poll was about two WIPs. I finished both of them, so I closed it.
The votes were 34 and 20 were for The bookshelf by LHN and 14 for Tea Room by CCN.