Two does go into one!

Well, this is a first - I have had two finishes in one day!  Never before have I managed to do this....  don't think it will ever happen again either!

Firstly, I have finished Thomas the Tank Engine.  I stitched Thomas for the Australian Quilts 4 Kids organisation.  I started him on 27 December 2010 and put in the last bit of the backstitch today.  I even totalled up the hours I took to stitch him - 30 hours all up (give or take 1/2 an hour).  I will now wash and press him and mail him off to the Quilts 4 Kids organiser during the next few days.

This square is due on 28 February, so I am way ahead of schedule so far!  Just as well too as I have quite a bit of stitching to do in the next month....

Thomas the Tank Engine
completed 16 Jan 2011
Design from
Cross Stitcher Magazine (April 2002)

The second finish of the day is a little cat fridge magnet but as it is a birthday exchange gift for someone in the UK I can't show you a photo until it arrives there safely along with the birthday card that I now have to start stitching.  This exchange is due in the UK on 3 February.  Not much time to stitch and send but the card I have chosen shouldn't take long to stitch (I hope!)

Once I have done that exchange, I need to get onto the stitching for the Valentine's exchange that Parsley has organised.  I have my swap person's name but I'm not giving you any hints as to where this exchange is being sent or what I am doing - you will just have to wait until February 14th!

After stitching the Valentine's exchange, I then need to start on another square for Quilts 4 Kids.  This one will be the butterfly design for little Sarah I.  That square is due on 30 March.

Then it will be the Winnie the Pooh square for Alexis W which is due 15 April.

If I get a good head start on these two I might sign up for a fourth square but I suspect that really would be biting off more than I can chew or I should say stitch....

And, I have also signed up to do a Biscornu exchange for the end of February - although I am still waiting to hear if that is going ahead or not.  I have never done a Biscornu so I am quite looking forward to doing this... I hear that they are addictive though!  Oh, well what's another harmeless addiction to add to my other addictions - cross stitch, blogging, cross stitch forums, exchanges... the list goes on!

Of course, I still have to find time to finish off the "Edwardian Country Lady's Diary" that I started in November last year, and I also need to put the needle back into Bonsai and Buddha.  Buddha is feeling very neglected!

As I have mentioned before I always work better with a deadline, and it appears to apply to my stitching as well as my job!  Stitching goals are just as important as any other goals....



Oh, and before I go - have a look at Felix with his "Precious".  This is a little blue toy mouse that he plays with.  He has been walking around the house with this in his mouth over the last couple of days and meowing like he has caught a real mouse!  He then took it outside into their enclosure yesterday morning and wouldn't let Oscar anywhere near it!  My Precious!!  (and yes, he did bring it back inside so that it was safe and sound and no other pussy cats could steal it)

My Precious

Til next time,

Happy Monday 3 January 2011

So what did make me happy on Monday 3 January 2011?

Well, first starters this post is now late.... I did start this on Monday but got side tracked (as is my want to do sometimes) and didn't get it finished!!!  I did think that maybe I shouldn't post this at all and I could start my Monday posting's next week, but then I thought, hey it is still Monday somewhere in the world....

So here goes, what made me happy yesterday

Firstly, it was a Public Holiday Monday which means I had one more day at home on leave before returning to work.  Always a bonus on a Monday!

Secondly, the sun was shining but it was a very warm and sticky day, however apparently there is rain on the horizon - we do so need the rain so fingers crossed we do get some relief from the heat and that we get a decent thunderstorm to clear the air!

Thirdly, I managed to get another couple of hours stitching done this afternoon.  Although it isn't easy to stitch in this sticky weather I did manage to get the main part of Thomas finished and the little train below him stitched.  Only the train at the top, then the border and the back stitch to go.

So this post has turned into an update of Thomas as well as a "what made me happy on Monday" post....

I am now going to do my TUSAL update as it is a new moon today!  So that makes me happy today.


Thomas the Tank Engine
update 030111

Til next time,

Thomas the Tank Engine update

As I mentioned in a previous post I have signed up to stitch some quilt squares for the Quilts 4 Kids charity.  The first square is due to be completed and sent by 28 February 2011, so I thought I better get my skates on and use the week that I have off from work to get started on Anakin's square.

I have chosen to do a Thomas the Tank Engine design as his theme was Trains.  This simple design was originally published in the Cross Stitcher magazine in 2002 and I had kept the design filed away in my stash of charts.

I started stitching Thomas on 27th December.  So far I have managed to get around 2-3 hours per day on him so he is progressing quite nicely.  (Although today I haven't as yet picked up a needle and stitched a single stitch!)

Below are 2 update photos:

29th December 2010

31 December 2010

Now, I am going to show you my back side!  This is something that I have never done before, but after seeing Coni (Spinster Stitcher) be so brave and show her back side I thought I would do so too.....

Backside of Thomas the Tank Engine
31 December 2010

Now I must admit that I am reasonably particular about my back side as I always want it to look the best it can be but every now and then it doesn't hurt to be a little less particular - or is that peculiar!!!

So now that I have shown you Thomas' front side and his back side, I will post this little update and go and stitch on him some more.

Next update will probably coincide with my TUSAL post as it is almost new moon time!

Til next time,

Quilts 4 Kids

I recently discovered this very worthwhile charity that supplies stitched quilts to sick kids around Australia.  The way I found them was via a blog that I read (The Twisted Stitcher).  Vonna had mentioned on her blog that she was stitching a quilt block for the Love Quilts programme in the US.  So me, being the sticky beak that I am, had a look at the website, and while nosing around I discovered the link to the Australian version - Quilts 4 Kids. 

Basically the idea is that stitchers sign up to cross stitch a theme square (30cm x 30cm) for the child and then send it to Quilts 4 Kids for making up into quilts to be given to the registered sick children.  The designs that have been stitched are really gorgeous and the quilters do a fantastic job of finishing them and really showing off the stitched squares.  And what a great thing to do for sick kids.  There are some photos on the website of the kids with their finished quilts.  It is amazing to see the number of quilts that have been completed since the group started in 2005.

At the time of my first visit to the Quilts 4 Kids website all the quilts had closed for 2010 and the 2011 children were yet to be listed.

So I waited and checked back a couple of times and then just recently Linde uploaded the 2011 kids.  There are 7 sick kids that the group are making quilts for this year.  I have signed up to stitch for 3 of them, Anakin, Sarah and Alexis.  Each quilt has a due date, and if I can get my fingers stitching quickly enough I would like to try and sign up for a fourth one.  But I do know my stitching limitations, and I just hope that I haven't already bitten off more than I can  chew.... or rather stitch!

So what am I stitching....

Anakin G - Anakin's theme is trains.  So I searched through my old magazines and found a Thomas the Tank Engine design to stitch for Anakin.  The design comes from the UK Cross Stitcher magazine, issue April 2002.  This square is due on 28th Feb, so that gives me just under 2 months to stitch and send.  I started this one yesterday while watching the cricket!

Sarah I - Sarah's theme is butterflies.  I knew that I just had the perfect pattern for this one.  It is an old freebie DMC chart that I sent away for years ago and is called "Wings".  It is a beautiful coloured butterfly with pink flowers.  That square is due on 30th March.

Alexis W - Alexis' theme is the Winnie the Pooh characters.  Well, I do just happen to have one or two Winnie the Pooh patterns, however before I had even had the chance to sift through all my old magazines, books and my stash, the perfect pattern appeared in the latest World of Cross Stitching mag (issue 170) that I bought.  It is a design of Pooh, Eeyeore and Piglet on a Christmas sled.  Just perfect!!  This square is due on 15th April.

So as you can see I have a bit of stitching to do over the next four months!  If I can get a good head start on the first two then I might sign up for a fourth square... but let's not be too ambitious to start with - three squares are probably more than enough for me to handle!!!

So it looks like "Buddha and Bonsai" is on the back burner again.... although I think I might have to spend an hour or so every couple of weeks on it just so that I can get it finished in 2011!

I will post a WIP photo of Thomas in the next couple of days.  So far I have made quite a good start on him and fingers crossed with the next week off from work on holidays I can get him almost finished!

Choo Choo til next time,