Not much for this Mum!

The girls I have to say were NOT impressed with Dorset Winter Wonderland.  

The chicks refused to come out and in the end I had to put a small tub of food just inside the house

"Daddy" Jack was so not sure

 The brave ones....

....and the not so brave...

Dorset Winter Wonderland

Just a quickie.  I know that for some snow is not a big deal, but here in Dorset, it is.  Because of our geographical location, snow rarely settles here.  We usually get sleet and slush.  So I felt  the need to share our Winter Wonderland.

I took these at about 7.30am before any foot prints ruin the dreamland.

Husband has the day off today and we were going to an Antiques Market, but I feeling a fire and stitching day coming on.

Much love to all

Michele x

A Wonderful Stitching Year

The postman has been very good to me lately.  Lots of goodies arrived, and nothing with a window in the envelope. That I count as a result.

I received the Little Cottages patterns from Beach Cottage Stitchers.  Thank you Cyndi for getting these out to me so quickly.  Honestly, I got a mail from her on the 26th, and the 2nd Jan they have arrived in the UK.  That is quicker than the post here locally.

Edgar's Country Cottage Needlework Sampler

I could really do with some advice, if anyone can help out.  I love the look that Edgar had on his Little Cottages Sampler.  I think he used Lakeside Linen Vintage Buttermilk, but the photography has given the linen a lovely mottled green effect, which I would love to replicate if possible.  So the question is, which of Lakeside Linens will give me close to this look?  Vintage Lentil?  Vintage Pear?  If anyone has either of these in their stash and would have a look and let me know, I would really appreciate it. Or an alternative suggestion would be equally welcome.

I am also going to stitch this as a 4 x 3 Landscape, just to make it different to the many Portrait samplers that I have.






My "Emma Miles" arrived from Wye Needlecraft.   This is one for my stash.  She looks so beautiful, and is a very popular choice in Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year, but I have others which are in the queue first.

Scarlet Letter Emma Miles

Also over the Christmas Period arrived from Scarlet Letter The Russian Red Rooster and Susan Singleton.  So that pretty much outlines my 2013.  Along with Ann Medd, which will be my big project of 2013, to commemorate my Scarlet Letter Year.  I do so hate numbers that finish in a zero!

Russian Red Rooster

Susan Singleton

Much love to all.

The First Post...

First of all, a Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope that 2013 turns out to be happy, healthy and full of stitches for us all.  Judging by the amount of patterns I seem to have ordered over the holiday period, I think the last one is a given!

I wanted to finished 2012 on a high note, in that I felt the need to have finished the second band on SDW.  The final stitch of that band went in at 6.30pm (yes I am that sad really!) on December 31st 2012.  It was a great sense of achievement.  I am really enjoying how this sampler is appearing with each stitch, and totally love the support that I am getting from my "stitching sisters".  SDW is a big stitch, even for people like me that tend to go for big works, and the girls are keeping me going and on track.

SDW Week 9

I am also using my new Millenium Frame for SDW.   It is taking a bit of getting used to, as I am not a frame girl, but I think in the long run we are going to be great friends.

Joanna Warren

Tidying up a little bit the other day..look what I found!   Joanna Warren, well not her, but her sampler, which I obviously bought years ago, from Scarlet Letter.  It was bought as a kit, which at some stage I have plundered for other projects, but no matter, I will replace the DMC threads with AVS.  When SDW is over, Nicola has suggested her as our next SAL.  I think you will need to do her as a SAL...mega support needed as there are a lot of stitches.  Such beautiful colours.

Victoria Sampler is also coming along.  I am loving doing the variety of stitches in this sampler, but have to confess to be wanting it to be over.  I have so many lovely things waiting their start, but am being disciplined in not starting them until VS is done.  I just know what I am like and, the UFO's would just pile up.

I have just a smidge of Letter O to finish and then I will catalogue my progress.

Much love to all.

M xxxx

A Serious Addiction...

I do have to confess to a serious addiction.  Let me say, it doesn't do any harm, (apart from to my credit card) and it doesn't make me a bad person!  I am addicted to fabric! It is quite true to say that I can sniff out a fabric shop at 50 paces.

In fact, a couple of years back, husband took me out for the day on our Wedding Anniversary, which is in May.  It was a lousy day for the time of year, so instead of a lovely day browsing antique shops in Arundel, we came back via Tangmere,  where quelle surprise there happens to be a Military Air Museum!  Well, I have to confess to enjoying that particular jaunt more than I thought I would - or was it the bacon butty with a mug of tea in The Mess?  On leaving the museum, we drove into Chichester, which is a town that I don't know very well, and I spotted this shop on the side of the road.

Now this shop was pretty unremarkable, its name is The Eternal Maker, which does imply some sort of craft activity but the window was just full of brown boxes...instinct kicked in..."stop the car, that's fabric shop" I shouted to a very bemused husband who had a "yeah right" look on his face.  Sure enough, inside was a veritable cornucopia of lovely craft items, beads, braid, buttons and a huge room at the back stuffed to the gunnels with fabric!  One happy lady!


Last Friday, we had a little impromptu trip to Bath.  No visit to Bath is complete without a stop at my favourite shop Country Threads where I bought these beauties...Fabulous French print patchwork fabric and of course, I am a girl..... if in doubt get it in all colourways!

I will make it into Lavender sachets and Lavender boots to go in to The Little Blue Barn,  a small shop that I have a retail interest in.

Edwardian Lavender Boots made by Tabbycat Interiors

Tabbycat Interiors at The Little Blue Barn

Christmas at The Little Blue Barn

I love french fabrics, and furniture, and food, and well, France.  Paris is our favourite city (along with New York) and we don't waste an opportunity to visit when we can.  From one of my Facebook links I found this article about a Paris Apartment.  Check out the link.  A Paris apartment left undisturbed for 70 years, after the owner fled at the start of WWII and didn't return...there is the makings of a good story here for anyone with the talent to write it. I  have to say, I am itching to have a good rummage around this!   

Finally, staying on the Paris theme, I want to share a photo with you all.  My favourite photo.  

Our Padlock on the Pont l'Archeveche

 It may look like an old padlock to you, but to me it represents how romantic my husband is.  A few years ago we crossed the Pont l'Archeveche, which is just behind the Notre Dame,  (on our way to a patchwork shop funnily enough).  It is known as the Bridge of Love because it is full of padlocks that couples have attached and then thrown the key into to Seine.   I am sure there are many similar bridges around the world.

The following wedding anniversary, guess what I got?  We duly planned our trip to Paris and joined the hundreds of other couples who are now attached "forever" to a narrow road bridge in France!

Everytime we go back, we have to visit our padlock and this was taken on our last visit in October of this year.

Much love to all.  Michele xx

Time spent blogging is not time wasted...

I have to confess to spending more time than I should have today, surfing various blogs and marvelling at the beautiful work out there.  As if I haven't got enough on my plate with the beautiful samplers that seem to somehow have been ordered from The Scarlet Letter,  I found a couple of others that I just simply fell in love with.


One is these beautiful cottages, which are available singly but of course, in my usual way I will do them as one big sampler.  Don't know what happened but I just pressed the "checkout button" and hey presto, they are on their way!   I think I will do one a month, along side my other projects.

County Cottages as stitched by Edgar

This beautiful work was done by Edgar at http://blacksheepsite.blogspot.co.uk.  (If you read this Edgar, hope you don't mind me publishing your work).  Edgar gives lots of tips on his blog site, as well as lots of recipes and movie information.  Well worth a visit.

The Other is this amazing Alphabet, which unfortunately seems to be discontinued, but I am sure that the patterns will appear on Ebay at some stage, so I will keep my fingers crossed.  Maybe, it's God's way of telling me - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Alphabet Sampler as stitched by I don't know who

Much love to all, and happy stitching (and surfing) 

Michele xxxx

I must do this one.

Searching through the Scarlet Letter website, I came across this little beauty and thought how appropriate!

Russian Rooster

So one of my challenges in Nicola's Scarlet Letter year, is my lovely little Scarlet Russian Rooster.

Much love from a very "below zero" Dorset  

Michele