I hope that you had an enjoyable Easter weekend and that those of you who, like me, like to stitch found some time to do so! Here are photos of this years Easter/Spring tree, using branches from the apple tree in my garden and the decorations on my little mantlepiece - I hope you emjoy them..............

BRRRRR! :-)

Today started very misty and with everything covered in frost and it hasn't warmed up one bit since! The drive to work was just so pretty though because my drive is through the countryside. The trees and fields look ethereal when they are covered in frost and the colours are pretty monochrome - very atmospheric! :-)

Thank you for all the comments about my Toy Gatherer and the tins - I really appreciate them!

Jackie x

More Toy Gatherer

Here is the latest image of Toy Gatherer. As you can see I still have to do quite a lot of dreaded-backstitching on the top of the arch... :-(

On the plus side most of the arch is done and the outline of the moon is back in. I am really enjoying stitching on this piece!

Thanks to all of you for visiting and thank you very much for your comments - I love to hear from you all!

Jackie x

Toy Gatherer

This was my SB Toy Gatherer at the beginning of the year. It has been in this sorry state (hardly started) for a very long time and I have decided that I really would like to finish it this year. I have been stitching on it for a few weeks now and also had to unpick the moon, because I discovered that I should have stitched the moon using only one thread and I had used two......... The photo on the right is TG on 3rd February this year - he is coming along, isn't he?

For some reason, Blogger has moved the photos around whilst actually posting them.... the most recent photo is now at the top (minus the moon)......

Carol and I have spent this past weekend decorating a Marks and Spencers mint tin each - we hope you like them! I have decorated these little tins before, but it was Carols first time..... I think she found it a little fiddly, but she forgot all about that once the tin was finished! :-)

We think that we will start work on an etui using designs from Wandering Vine by Shepherds Bush and then we plan to move onto Nantucket Pouch by The Drawn Thread. It may be some time but I will post photos of our progress! :-) Thanks for visiting!

Jackie xx

Look what I started this morning........ it is Marys Pin Pillow by Indigo Rose. Threads and fabric are as given on the pattern. The overdyed silk is 'Rainforest' (Caron Waterlilies). I'm off to stitch a bit more as I am hoping to finish it this evening. I may be being a little over-optimistic as there is an over-one alphabet to finish yet :-/

Here is another view of the strawberries so that you can see the wool-felt leaves. We also added some little crystals on the top for extra decoration.

Strawberries anybody? :-)

My friend, Carol, and I have spent a couple of days chatting and making these little beauties. Carols is a sort of teal blue silk (Vikki Clayton I think) and mine is stitched with NN 101 (blue) which I happened to have in my stash. I hope you like them!