March Gifted Gorgeousness

Hi everyone,

It feels a bit strange, blogging at the moment, but I'm sure we are all trying to carry on with normal life  wherever possible, so here goes ......


It's time for Gifted Gorgeousness, and, once again, I'm a little late!

For those that are new here: 

Gifted Gorgeousness - run by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching - is our chance to show off stitched gifts (primarily cross stitch) we have given or received during the month. The sign up date is 15th, closing at the end of that month.  Visit Jo HERE to read all about it, and maybe "sign up" too?  And go here to see who else joined in this month. 

This picture is the button provided by Jo to show we are joining her.

(Yay! Those of you who visit me regularly might have noticed I don't usually add any photos from other blogs ..... (I'm not very technically minded) but, hey. today I managed it!!!! Whoop, whoop!!)

Received this month:

My dear friend Grace very kindly gave me this really pretty pouch she bought on holiday in India. Grace is very careful where she buys things in India, ensuring that the item has been ethically/fair trade produced.

It is hand embroidered and there are tiny Shisha mirrors in the centre of each flower. You were so right Grace, it’s right up my street ..... I absolutely love Shisha mirrors! 

Which led to me making the little pouch that you might have seen in the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop for Grace.

There's only one handle, intentionally, ..... I thought the pouch would be just right to hold wool for knitting or crochet ..... with only one handle making it easier to remove the ball of wool if needed while knitting. And Grace says she will use the pocket for her row counter!

just a little close up on the hand quilting

Found this cute label to add inside:

Received:

Little pewter owl needle minder from my friend Suzie

That's the needle cushion on its back. 

Received:

Bag for lace bobbins from my sister 

And these pretty bobbins were a kind gift from another lace maker, 

And, don’t faint, I have a tiny cross stitch finish.

This was a gift from CrossStitcher, issue 329.

It was stitched using 2 strands. My instinct said to use 3, and I wish I had, but then it could have been too tight getting the needle through the holes.

I must apologise for not being here recently. 

I mentioned last time that I had joined Instagram and I can only say it's actually worse than looking at Pinterest, if you know what I mean! There is just so much to see there!

I've been joining in with a couple of SAL's. I'll share some photos on my next blog post. If you are on Instagram you can visit me there as @flashinscissors. I've been making bags and stitching hexies, and I think I'm totally hooked on EPP.



Well, now I'm off to visit my blogging friends to catch up on what I've been missing here.





Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Secret Stitching Sweetheart - 2020

Hello Everyone!

Gosh, it’s been a while since I’ve been here on my blog!

Over the Christmas holidays I became addicted to lace making ..... I mean really addicted!!! I did finish my Christmas stitching, must do a "Finished" blog post soon. Thank you all for the lovely comments ..... I think I replied to everyone but if I missed you I'm sorry, it got a bit hectic!

I made a few little samples of lace, experimenting I suppose I should say. Then I saw some lace making books on Amazon and ordered them, thinking they would be ages arriving because of Christmas, but one arrived before Christmas!!

I made a little lacy bookworm bookmark from one of the books, even adding beads for eyes, it was great fun to make!

Oh, and I also became addicted to Instagram!!! Bad news for the poor old blog! You can find me on Instagram as “Flashinscissors” if you’d like to visit. There is so much inspiration on Insta I could look at my screen all day if I’m not careful!

Anyway, I digress, we are here today for Jo’s annual Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop
 and this is the photo I received ..... I wonder whose stitching it is? I can’t guess, it’s really pretty, isn’t it?!

Edited just to let you know: This is Tiff’s beautiful stitching, (from Tiffstitch a Blog).

The participants will be visiting each others blogs in turn, and in due course the owner of each beautiful stitched piece will identify themselves in the comments on the relevant blog.

I’m off to visit all the other bloggers taking part to find my stitching. I hope you will come visit Jo with me  over at her place Serendipitous Stitching.

And on my next post I’ll show you my stitching in case you haven’t found it.

Have fun visiting, and

 Happy Valentine's Day .

Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Christmas Hop 2019 - Day 20

Hello!

Today is my day on Jo's advent calendar bloghop! If you haven't already visited her, pop over to see all the fun!! 

HERE!

And, what a surprise, I haven't been able to stitch as fast as I thought I would!!!

I've been stitching this little free kit from CrossStitcher magazine every spare minute ...... and I still have more backstitching to do!! I don't know why but my photos look a little fuzzy to me, they were alright in "files", so, if you can't see them very well don't forget to double click on the photo and all should be much clearer!

The kit has a frame to make it into a Christmas Card, so I guess you could say this is my virtual Christmas Card to all my friends! (The binding you can see here is only temporary, to stop the edges fraying.)

CrossStitcher Issue 351

Despite the little tree being finished, it's still not FFO'd. I wasn't sure what to do with it really!

PM25 Christmas Tree by Anchor

But now I've decided ..... it will be an ornament. I'm going to add  ric rak, then make it up into a little cushion thingy that can hang from a tree. I am aiming to finish very soon as otherwise I shall probably lose track of it!

This year Jo asked us to talk about our favourite Christmas film. My favourite film of all time has already been mentioned and is "It's a Wonderful Life"! but there are so many I really love but I'm not sure of their names (what am I like?!?), but I do think Christmas isn't Christmas without seeing at least one version of "A Christmas Carol"!



Have fun, but remember the old saying "A moment on the lips, and a lifetime on the hips" ..... oops, tee hee, did I really just say that out loud type that out loud!?

Ha, ha!

As always, Jo, "Thank You so much for organising us!"



And here's wishing you all a "Very Happy Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"





Hugs,
Barbara xxx