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Saturday 21 September 2013

Birthday Review

Thank you all so much for the Birthday wishes, some on here, some on the Scarlet Letter, some on Facebook and even some in the traditional method of putting pen to paper and sending a card!  Whatever method you chose I really appreciated the wishes.

I thought I'd show some prezzie photos to show the kindness and generosity of my fellow stitchers.

This little collection came from the Mouse House and includes some goodies from the Harrogate show  and some Hot Chocolate to consume while reading Tales of a Stitching Mouse.  The fabric is a Sparklies FOM limited edition.  Hard to decide which is more yummy, the chocolate or the fabric and threads!

This parcel is from Shirlee, The Easily Influenced Stitcher.  Back in August she displayed a lovely pillow finish for the January Word Play she had stitched earlier in the year.  The ever-gracious Shirlee said:
"I'd rather have my blood sucked out by leeches,
Shove an ice pick under a toenail or two.
I'd rather clean all the bathrooms
in Grand Central Station with my tongue..."
Than spend one more minute ever stitching another WTN&T Word Play design again!"
So she offered it as a giveaway to one of her masochistic followers!!  Just to prove she does actually like me she also sent a lovely Just Nan chart, hoping it was not one of the many I already had.  She chose well!
 

Another Just Nan gift, this time from Sharon Shebafudge.  She saw that I'd finished my Autumn Typography and wanted to stitch the whole set, so just to help me on the way she sent me Winter.  Plus the only GAST used in this design.  We both noticed that Nan had used many different GAST for Autumn (which I converted to DMC) but this follow-up uses only one and DMC for the rest.  Do you think she got alot of complaints about the cost?

This is stash chosen by me and bought with my Birthday money.  There is a Mirabilia lurking at the back which I won't show because it's for Rachel's Round Robin and I want you all to play "Guess the Mira" along with her as I stitch it!  The Firewing is from my son and will probably be for him too.  The JBW features the kitten I already have plus the Mummy cat.  I plan to stitch the Mummy cat as a header for my alphabet kitties then do a giveaway for the chart.  Words just cannot describe the CD.  American stitchers will probably not understand just how exciting it is to be confronted with a 250 page document containing the Contents pages of ten years worth of a magazine which is hard to obtain here! 250 pages to browse before I even opened a magazine!!  Every Christmas ornie for the last ten years!!  I was quite breathless with excitement!!

Last year I instigated the first Joan Elliott RR with a lovely group of stitchers on the Yuku Board.  It was such a success they decided to do another.  However I already had the Large Mira RR and a Band Sampler so I declined.  Karen Stitchy Woman was so upset to be only stitching with me on two RRs we decided on a Birthday card exchange on a JE theme.  Note - a Birthday card.  Apparently this is what passes as only a Birthday card for some people, an entire parcel of goodies!!

A chart, a stitched bookmark, some fabric, a hand-made card, smelly soaps.

Plus this lovely hand-made project bag:


Here is a close-up of the bookmark.  Karen wracked her brains thinking of what to stitch and remembered how much I love dragons.  This one is from the Oriental Odyssey book by Joan Elliott which I don't actually have in my collection so there's no chance I could stitch it for myself.



 And here is the chart.  I have wanted this limited edition chart ever since I first learned of its existence.  Earlier this year I learned that a shop in America had acquired a number of the chart and were selling them (like hotcakes it has to be said!).  I mentioned it to Karen and asked if she would be able to try to get one for me.










I knew it was rare and limited so I wasn't surprised to see it had a number, but just look at what is under the number (9/1000 incidentally)
Yes, it is the signature of the actual Teresa Wentzler herself!!  Stitching Royalty!!

I really hope Karen wore those silk gloves they have in museums when they are handling rare and precious artefacts...

Oh yes, there was one more present, from Nicola.  But as I'm doing the extra draw she organised for my Birthday this month I'll leave the photos of that until I post on the Scarlet Letter Blog.

Finally, there has been stitching going on.  Notably on Trick and Treat and also a Challenge piece for Anna the Stitch Bitch's bi-annual challenge.  But I'm not sure of the rules about sharing photos before the competition so I won't until I hear from Anna.


26 comments:

Erin said...

Happy, happy birthday!! And what lovely things you've received....I have the TW "You Were Hatched" pattern myself, I bought it back when it was first released, and I think mine is number 49, or something like that. I haven't stitched it yet! I keep telling myself that if I never need to sell my stash for some extra money, it should bring a respectable sum... LOL

Vickie said...

Well, once again Happy Birthday. =)
Way cool gifts and purchased stash. Love it!

Shebafudge said...

What a lot of lovely goodies you got! xxx

Kaisievic said...

Happy Birthday dear Jo, I think that I may have wished you happy birthday on the Scarlet Letter blog but not here. Love, love, love all of your goodies.
I hope that you are having the best time, my dear friend.

hugs, Kaye

Jan Gartlan said...

Happy Birthday. It looks like you were spoilt. I love your limited edition pattern.

Anna van Schurman said...

Happy belated birthday! What wonderful gifts. :)

Miss Lilly said...

What lovely gifts! The TW dragon is beautiful :)

Christine said...

Great birthday presents Jo.
Just pre-ordered this years JCS Ornie and was laughing with the lady on the phone about how we don't actually stitch anything from them, just can't bear to be without them

Anonymous said...

Happy belated birthday Jo!
You got some lovely presents!

♥ Nia said...

You've been spoiled! :p hehehe great gifts!! :D
Hugs&smiles to you

Dani - tkdchick said...

Happy Belated Birthday. It sure looks like your friends made you feel special on your birthday and I think that's more important than anything you receive is being made to feel special on your day!

Anne said...

Such lovely gifts from everyone Jo!! The TW bookmark and chart is amazing! So cool you got a signed copy of one of her designs! If I spy one around here I'll pick one up for you!! Hugs!!

Karen said...

You deserve all the spoiling, sweetie. :)

Giovanna said...

A belated Happy Birthday! What a wonderful set of gifts. So glad you managed to get hold of the TW chart (I got it when it was published, and still haven't stitched it...)

Linda said...

Wonderful gifts Jo. Nice progress on your stitching.

Linda

Karen said...

Looks like you did have a great birthday. Love all of the goodies you received too.

happy stitching...

Annette-California said...

WOW - Incredible lovely gifts you received in honoring you for your Birthday. Happy Birthday!!!
love Annette

Mii Stitch said...

Beautiful gifts!!! You've been spoilt :D You deserve it, enjoy them all :)

Bernadett said...

Happy birthday.:)
Lovely gifts and pretty stitching.:)

Chris said...

Wonderful treats from your friends and wonderful new stash! Sounds like a perfect birthday!!!
Wonderful stitching progress too!

The Inspired Stitcher said...

Happy Birthday, Jo! Looks like you were rightly spoiled. I'm glad you had a good day!

Mouse said...

oooooo nice gifties you got ... and love that dragon ... I have cotton gloves ;) ..lol
glad to hear you had a fab day :) love mouse xxxxxx

Julie said...

Such a lovely selection of birthday goodies, how wonderful to have such a rarity in your stash collection and the 'actual siggie' of TW.

Lakota [Faith Hope and Charity Shopping] said...

Wow, lucky you. Hope you had a great day x

Brigitte said...

Your birthday goodies look terrific and very special, particularly the TW chart.

The Crafty Princess said...

Happy Birthday Jo. Sorry it's late but I am so so behind on my blog followship. I hope you had an awesome birthday. What a lucky birthday it's been so far with all those brilliant pressies. Stitchery people are just so cool aren't they?!
Alicia xo