For a Beautiful Baby...

Remember I went to a baby shower a few weeks ago...well the baby is here!  Little Amelia was born on Sunday, weighing 9lb exactly. 

Of course I had to make her a little something...

 

My Lizzie-Kate cross-stitch patterns come in handy once again :-) 

 

I had the honour of meeting baby Amelia last night and she is completely adorable.  She has one proud mummy, daddy and big sister. 

Welcome Amelia! x

From Rocking Horses to Sea Horses

It has been an exciting week on the craft front for several reasons. 

The first being that I was able to finish my Rocking Horse Cross Stitch commission, as the baby was born, and I was able to personalise it with the name and date of birth.

The recipient (a friend of the mother) was thrilled with it, and I am hoping the new mum will be too. 

I have also started attending a craft club at a local ladies house.  It  was a lot of fun to meet like minded people, who were making things such as a teddy bear, bracelets, photo frames, knitted booties (beautifully made by my friend Suzy - I must share a pic soon) and hand made cards (also beautifully made by my friend Emma).  It was wonderful to see such different projects progress and I really think we are going to be inspired by one another.  (Not that I need much more inspiration, my head is bursting with ideas of things I want to make, and I can't make them fast enough!!) 

Anyhow, I took the quiltop that I am making for my friend Sarah (see this post) as I am about a quarter of the way through hand quilting it. 

It was great fun and I can't wait to go next week, although progress was possibly a bit slower due to all the chatting and admiring of one another's work ;-)

My daughter has also shown lots of creative flair this week, as she made this little masterpiece with very little help:

Aren't those sea horses adorable!  I found the idea on pinterest (click here to see my 'education ideas board). 

As for the weekend, I am going to be working on some pink bunting using my Walk in the Woods fabric (do you get the impression I love this line?!) and I will also carry on with the hand quilting. 

I shall leave you with my favorite line from Toy Story 2:

You. Can't. Rush. Art.

A Little Bit of Cross Stitch

I feel like I haven't blogged for ages.  But I have certainly been busy in the sewing room.  Ahem.  Kitchen table. 

Last week I completed a little project for my Plum and June Blog Hop tutorial, and then without stopping to draw breath, I moved straight on to a little commission that saw a return to my original creative roots...a little cross stitch.

A friend of a friend wanted me to do a cross stitch for her best friend, who is due to have a baby in August.  So I pulled out all my cross stitch books, designs I had saved from magazines, and patterns and we chatted and decided upon this playroom scene.

It's adapted slightly because  we know that the baby is a boy.  I changed the flags at the top to be red and blue instead of the pinks and yellows of the pattern, and I also changed a pink stripe in the balls to a red stripe.  And when the baby is here, it's going to be personalised with the name and date of birth as well. 

In other news, we were lucky enough to see this...

Yes, the Olympic torch relay came to Jersey!  It was just for a few hours, and it was only a skeleton crew (My sister is on the torch relay working for Coca Cola, driving a 'Coke Car' and handing out coke and tamborines, but she didn't get to come which was a shame) but it's great to be able to say we saw the torch.

And on Wednesday, I was even lucky enough to see and (gasp) touch one of the torches!  The head of swimming lessons at my daughters swimming class was one of the torch bearers, and she had brought it to the leisure centre to show everyone.  My daughter had her photo taken with the torch (along with my friend's children) but being only 3, she had no idea what the torch was or why it was so special.  I will just have to explain when she's older!

In other exciting Jersey news, Prince Charles and Camilla came to visit!  I really wanted to go and see them, as Prince Charles was giving a speech in the Royal Square in town.  But with two small children in tow and large crowds, I thought it best avoided.  Many people waited hours to see them, and as luck would have it for my husband, he walked out of his office on his lunch break, and just happened to see the Royal Couple as he casually walked past.  Was he bothered?  Not particularly! 

Anyway.  Back to sewing.  So now I am working on another commission, a cot quilt for my lovely friend Sarah, who is going to give it to her friend Jane, who is having a baby.  It's been great fun deciding on fabrics, design, style etc. especially as it's all been done via email and online chat,  but more on that next time!

A Cross Stitch to Remember Brandy

Last week we had some very sad news.  I had a phone call from my sister late on the Monday night to say that our family dog, our beautiful golden retriever, Brandy, had been taken to the vets after collapsing in the garden and that he was going to be put to sleep.  It was a time that we all knew was going to come, but hoped never would, for Brandy was 16 years old. 

Bizarrely, that morning I had decided to enbark on a new Lizzie-Kate design for my mum, titled 'Love my Dog' and I had worked on it in the garden in the sunshine throughout the day.  At this point I had no idea what was going to happen.  So when I got the call it was very upsetting, but also a very strange coincidence as I had been thinking about Brandy quite a lot that day. 

Anyway, below is a picture of the cross stitch, and also a photo of Brandy with Freya. Admittedly it is not the best picture of either of them but one of the last that I have. Brandy was a wonderful dog, everyone who met him thought so, and he is going to be very much missed.

Brandy with Freya - June 2011

Add caption

My Entry for the SST Royal Wedding Competition and More

The School of Stitched Textiles has launched a competition asking learners to email photographs of any textiles work they have made with a wedding theme, to celebrate the Royal Wedding.  Naturally, I completed a cross stitch to celebrate when Pete and I got married back in 2007, and I thought that this would be perfect for my entry.  It's a 'Lizzy-Kate' design that I personalised, so wish me luck for the competition! 

I also came across some of my other work when I was looking for this piece;

I realise that there is more cross stitch on this blog than quilting!  So I really must crack on with my quilting samples and I'll put them up soon.

An aside - A Cross Stitch for May

My lovely friends Gemma and Ben greeted the arrival of little baby May last month, and so true to form, I couldn't resist creating a little cross stitch birth sampler for her...

Of course Freya wanted to join in the fun and celebrations, so we worked together to make a card from Freya as well...

(Sorry, can't work out how to rotate it.)  Needless to say, I think May was pleased with her home made gifts and we are really looking forward to seeing her again soon.