Teacup Pincushion Exchange Part 1

Three months ago, I joined an exchange organised by NNC. It's been so long since I've joined an exchange that I've forgotten how it works. Almost :P

My assigned send-to partner is Paul Lionel and the exchange is a teacup pincushion to be exact. Here's the box that greeted Paul when it arrived at his doorstep yesterday ^^

I decided to make a rose teacup pincushion that I modified from this Rose Coin Purse. The teacup and saucer are a matching set from the Bretagne line from Provincial Living.

I had purposely picked a green teacup and saucer as I feel it would resemble the sepals and leaves of a rose, thus better showcasing the rose pincushion. I really love the scallop detailing on the edges of both teacup and saucer.

Together with the rose teacup pincushion, I had added a box of Matilda's Own Flower Head Pins. After all, I didn't want the pincushion to be lonely without pins for company XD

In the package, I had also included some fabric buttons, charms, a box of green tea and variegated yarn from Lincraft (I absolutely love this Australian crafting store... So much goodies).

Made a simple card to accompany the package too. And that's it! Exchange completed. Happy that Paul is happy with it :D

Till next time, Happy Stitching! Now, back to my uni assignment. Sigh!

Plethora of Bookmarks

23 April aka World Book Day... Yup, another long overdue post.

To commemorate this occasion, NNC had a bookmark exchange. I had previously picked up these two kits from Japan and I took this opportunity to put them to good use. 

 

I bought a selection of Japanese origami paper from Daiso in case I messed up with the materials provided. I shouldn't have worried. 

 

The instructions given in both English and Japanese were surprisingly easy to follow. I ended up making five shiori ningyo (Japanese Dolls). 

 

Here they are with front and back details. 

 

So happy I learned to create a collage in Lightroom :) 

 

I think they're so delicate and pretty. 

 

As usual, they differ a little from the samples in the kit. A flaw of mine - I can't help changing things up. 

 

Two were given to Zarina, my bookmark exchange partner. 

 

I presented them in printed origami envelopes. 

 

I think they turned out pretty well. 

 

It's my strongest belief that presentation counts. 

 

The other three were given as lucky draw gifts during NNC 7th Anniversary Meet.
The NNC 7th Anniversary Meet was held on 12 April 2014. I wanted to contribute to the door gifts. I experimented to make a butterfly bookmark as shown here and ended up with this prototype. 

 

Encouraged, I folded more using double sided origami paper. 

 

Packed them into sealable plastic bags. 

 

Tada!

   

We had tons of fun that day. Here's a group shot of all who attended. 

 

And the haul everyone brought home with them. 

 

I was also given my bookmark exchange by Sally. 

 

Which comes with a book to boot! Close up of the pretty tatted bookmark. 

 

And the book-matching peony bookmark. 

 

It had been a really great day!

A Gift of Snowmen

I'm usually not one for stitching Christmas ornaments since I don't own a tree. However, I couldn't resist when I saw this design.

Design: He's A Flake

Designer: Little House Needleworks

Fabric: 32 count Natural Italian Linen

Fibers: DMC

Instead of making him into an ornament, I decided on something else... A mailart.

It arrived yesterday so now I'm able show it to you.

For the back, I stitched part of Snow in Love by Little House Needleworks. You'd probably recognize the little snowman at the top from my recent Drawn Thread Spot of Winter finish.

I used Colorful Christmas by Minds Eye for Riley Blake Designs fabric to line the inside.

Now, what's an envelope good for without its contents, right? Here's the card I made to go with it.

I've always thought of popup cards like the surprise inside Fabergé eggs. Of course, it's nothing even as remotely grand as those surprises but hopefully you understand my comparison.
Anyway, here's my surprise for this snowman card.

I found this design here if you're interested in making one too.

This gift of snowmen is for Mikey, my longtime friend, my best friend, my boyfriend.

Dearest Mikey,
Thank you for all the times you've been there for me when I needed you and especially when I thought I didn't need you.
Thank you for refusing to leave when I pushed you away and figured you'd be better off without me.
Thank you for loving me still after all the crap I've put you through and even when I'm not the most lovable person in the world.
I love you, too.

Birthdays

I've been reading Stitch Bitch blog for a while now and her stories of her grandmother, Maggie, have always amused me. So, when she put out a call for birthday cards to be sent to Maggie on her 89th birthday, how could I say no? After all, this is a lady whom I hope to emulate when I'm her age ^.^

Two weeks before the big day, I put on my thinking cap. Once again, I went on my trusted Stitching Cards website for inspiration and made this.

I really love this design. The basket is stitched with metallic gold thread and gold beads are added to the flowers for that extra sparkle.

I think the card arrived a couple days late but at least it didn't go missing which I'm grateful for.

22nd March was once again my best friend, Adeline's birthday. As with years past, I had a kitty design stitched and framed for her.

I, for one, think it would be perfect in the baby's room but that's for her to decide, of course.

Dede, another good friend of mine's birthday is also coming up in April. Remember my Passione Ricamo piece I had stitched? It was first intended for her birthday last year and then postponed to Christmas... It is now framed too and finally ready to be presented to her.

Other than that, I've also been working on New Birth of Spring sporadically and this is where it stands at the moment.

However, it has now been put on hold while I try to catch up on Romantique Sampler. Part 2 stitched.

First month is now complete.

Working on the second month. Here is Part 3.

Onwards to Part 4... But I have a Birthday Exchange due in May...

Talk about a full plate! I have only myself to blame but I'm enjoying every single minute of it :D

Stitching... Among Other Stuff

Mikey's sister, Marjorie, celebrated her 35th birthday this year. He bought her one of my scissors fobs as a birthday present (Thank you, Mikey ^.^). I decided to make her a birthday card as well.

I was told that she likes cats and her favourite color is purple. So I came up with this. The design is from Form-A-Lines. Aren't the cats cute?

On top of that, Marjorie loves reading. With that in mind, how could I not tat her another bookmark? :)

The design is modified from Part 2 of Faizon's Foldover Bookmark.

I haven't gotten the hang of two shuttle tatting yet so I figured I'll keep it simple this time round.

Not much progress was made on the stitching front however. I'm still working on my Little House Neighbourhood and here is how it stands as of 20 January 2011.

Building of the third house is completed, the trees have sprouted leaves and people have moved in!

Two of my Birthday Giveaways have also reached their destinations. Nina took lovely pictures of her package here. If you've yet to check out her blog, please do. I promise you'll find lots of eye candies. I don't know how she takes such gorgeous pictures.

Thank you for dropping by. Happy Stitching!

A Little Christmas Gift

I just return from an incredible eleven days vacation in Phuket, Thailand with my significant other. Before I left, I had posted off a small package. A day after I return, I was informed that my package has arrived safely. Shortly after, I encountered computer problems so it wasn't until now that I can finally show you what the package contained...

This is my third mailart to date. What do you think? The Leisure arts design can be bought and downloaded here.

I used a Passione Ricamo freebie for the back. Sadly, the fabric doesn't show off the white metallic thread I used to stitch the snow :(

And here's the fabric I used for the mail art lining. I've had this Christmas themed fabric for a while now and have been waiting for the right project to use it on. I think it's perfect for it.
As usual, what is a mailart without a card, right? Since I have a thing for handmade cards, once again, I decided to let my creative juices flow...

I just love these Stitching Cards. This time, I have a Christmas Tree theme going...

I hope you enjoyed your gift, Mikey. To everyone else reading this, Merry Christmas! I hope you have had a great year.

Professional Procrastinator Posting Pie!

A pie that has been baked a week ago and which should have been displayed on Monday.

Still, better late than never, right? Lastly would be cake so stay tuned for a major happy dance soon.
I've also finished (finally!) Gingerbread Cottage. In my last post of it, I showed a lot of missing spots in my project and mentioned that I was playing around with some ideas. Here is the end product.

Design: Gingerbread Cottage
Designer: Country Cottage Needleworks
Fabric: 28 count Silkweaver's Sapphire Sky Cashel Linen
Fibers: DMC & Crescent Colours
Beads: Mill Hill Beads
Buttons: JABC Buttons

As you can see, I substituted parts of the design with buttons from JABC. I gotta give the credit to Jessie who suggested that I take a look at her finished Gingerbread Cottage. Isn't hers lovely? I sorta took her idea one step further and added more embelishments. Hope you don't mind, Jessie.
My LHN Mailart to Joanne has also been sent and arrived on Wednesday so I can show you what I stitched for her.

The design on the front of the mailart is taken from Ladybugs which is published in Leisure Arts' Joy In The Journey leaflet. For $3.99, it can be downloaded here.

As for the back, do you recognize which design it came from? I'm sure most of you can guess. If not, it's a portion of Necessities Sampler. The background fabric is what I used to line the inside of the mailart with as seen here:

Now for something a little different than cross stitch. Enclosed in the mailart is also a Butterfly Card handmade by me.

The design is a freebie from Stitching Cards It's pretty simple to make but the results rather stunning, in my opinion. The butterfly is stitched with DMC E130 metallic thread to achieve the effect I wanted - shiny and colourful. To echo the butterfly theme, the inside of the card has a pop up butterfly.

I gotta admit that my handwriting isn't the best here. The word "Hi!", written in gold, looked a little messy to me. Anyway, here's a closer view:

With the card, I had also put together a kit for Spot of Coffee.

I hope Joanne likes this exchange as much as I have enjoyed making it.
The fabric for Little House Neighbourhood has finally arrived too! Woohoo! Now I can actually start on the SAL Here's the floss toss for it... Vikki Clayton silks on Picture This Plus Legacy.

While we are on the subject of Neighbourhoods, don't forget to check out the MM&IRR and MM&IRR2. I've been thinking and thinking about my Neighbourhood but can't make up my mind on anything concrete yet. Luckily actual building doesn't start until 31st December so I still got plenty of time. Gonna go think some more...
Last but not least, here's a picture on my latest acquisition. I went crazy buying fabrics on Ebay. I think I might have developed another severe addiction. Help?