Double figures and a finish!

When I 'blogged on' today I found that over the weekend my list of followers had risen to ten! Thanks to everyone who follows and/or leaves comments. I hope that there will be plenty for you to come back and see in the future, and keep those comments coming I enjoy reading them!

This weekend I finished the Thistle Biscornu which was designed by Sharon, The Purple Thread. I am really pleased with it.

This was in every way a freebie. The silks were left over from The Drawn Thread Spring Arbour. The beads also came from that project and a Mill Hill calendar. The big pearl beads in the centres I got from my Mum's bead stash. The 28 count Cashel Linen (lilac) had been brought for a project still in the stash. The floss in my stash most matching this in colour was Anchor 103.

This week in the rotation it is the May Calendar from Mill Hill.

I have been invited to join Stitchers Showcase. So I am off to explore!

Stash expansion

Look what arrived today.

I've had a bit of a spending spree on Just Nan charts and embellishment packs; Floral Fifteen and all three parts of Barnabee's Quest, to go with When Barnabee Met Bella already in the stash. That's what the lilac linen is for and the antique white just comes in handy! The lilac linen is such a nice colour I'm also going to do The Purple Thread's biscornu on that using the left over silks from the Spring Arbor.

Here is the progress so far this week on Simply Summer.

I have made one modification replacing the American flag on the bird house with the flag of St George, still, at the moment, needing it's red cross.

Bowl of Biscornu?

So, I'm following the Basket of Biscornu SAL, a month behind everyone else, and have been looking for a suitable basket to display my growing collection. Well, my Mum came up trumps with this, an early Easter present, a hand turned, shallow wooden bowl with a pokerwork border.


As mentioned in the previous post I had decided to do the freebie design from The Solaria Gallery as a Valentine's themed biscornu for February. I reckoned that my Mum had some dark blue aida in her stash, left over from an ocean cross stitch I did years ago, and I was right. So whilst at 'The Railway' this weekend I managed to stitch the first side.


I only used the centre motif as using 14 count aida stitching the whole design would have made this biscornu much too big for my liking. Even The Other Half, has said how striking this one looks. Anyway, I only have one evening left on White Nights before going on to the next thing in the rotation so I'm off to do a bit more!

White Nights is go!

So today is THE BIG DAY.

Yesterday evening I sorted out all my silks and put them into Floss-A-Way bags. In fact, all the stuff for this project has gone into it's own special bag. Last week we went to York and guess what? There is a Cath Kidston shop there too, and the sale was still on! Mm, me thinks that book bag will do very nicely for storing the bits for White Nights, well that was my excuse.

Dispite having a date with Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends on Saturday I was able to finish the Snowmen Biscornu. The button is made of mother of pearl and it came out of the 1930s button box at Duttons for Buttons in York.

I think it is on the Basket of Biscornu where someone has photographed one of their biscornu on a mirror, to show bits of the underside, so I have given it a go. Please excuse the weired reflections on the photo.

Last week I also made some progress on 'The Red Santa'. The cross stitching is complete only the backstitching to do.

And finally, this is Thomas the Tank Engine himself, being given a well earned drink by his driver and fireman, before going to bed at the end of a very long day!