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Sunday 12 June 2016

Serendipity Strikes Again!

Remember the name of my blog and the little sub-heading at the top?  Well, serendipity has struck again!  Last post I showed you the lovely pile of DMC Susan had sent me as an early Birthday present for stitching the Chatelaine Gardens of London Mandala.  It just so happens that Martina has been running a Daily Discount on FB.  Each day she chooses a few charts which have 20% off for one day only.  And I just so happened to spot this on the one day London was included!  So now it's mine.  Isn't that perfect?

I have the long list of speciality threads needed and a quote from Crafty Kitten to kit them up (approximately £150).  It would be cheaper to get them from European Cross Stitch (who are in the US ironically!) but then I would have a huge customs bill to pay.  So it's swings and roundabouts.  I do plan to look carefully at the chart and decide if I really need all the different threads, Waterlilies in particular are very expensive for what they are.  So if anyone wants to "sponsor a skein" I promise to write your name on the bag and think of you whenever I use it LOL

Last Friday was the second Friday of the month which means Christmas stitching.  The theme on the Christmas Ornie SAL blog is Animals or Pets.  This gave me the perfect opportunity to stitch some more Daffycat Reindeer.  Here is the first one:

stitched over one on 28 count sparkly evenweave

I also did a little scrapbooking of finishes:


The Sweetheart Tree - Finger Fun I


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The Little Stitcher - Winter Woods


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And here is the most recent finish, mounted on a calendar page of one of Monet's Waterlilies paintings.


Just Nan - My Fair Ladybug


And a little close-up of the Ladybird charm I got from SewandSo:


Here's my progress on the next Just Nan piece I've been stitching:

Beehive Violets

Once I finish the pink smyrna stitches there is some gold and the beads and it's done.  I am in three minds what to stitch next in the evenings!  Either another Just Nan small, the Primitive Needle Sampler Susan sent me or an Ink Circles Spooky Mandala.  I just can't decide!  Daytime is easy, Little Snapdragon will come back once I have finished the Christmas Reindeer.

Finally, an apology if I haven't visited your blog recently.  I've got a little behind with reading and commenting.  Not sure why but I seem to have had less time to read them in the evenings than usual.  Maybe we should have our tea earlier so I get a longer evening!

25 comments:

Linda said...

Congrats on all the pretty finishes Jo.

Linda

Thoeria said...

Oh goodness Jo! That's an awful lot of £s but with customs you may not be saving all that much!
I love how you do your scrap booking with the finished pieces....I need to finish finish stuff !

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

The little reindeer is very sweet as is your Just Nan finish,love the Ladybird.Looking forward to following your Mandala when you get started.

Bea said...

Those are very effective scrapbook pages - really great choices. Ouch, that's a lot of money for threads! Either VERY careful budgeting or some judicious substituting for sure.

gominam said...

Lovely stitching and scrapbook creations! The reindeer is adorable. That ladybug charm so cute:) Hooray for discounts (but I'm done using the card for now, ouch). Oh, you just made me feel a little guilty with scrapbook duties, neglected pictures since 2014, haha.

Mini said...

In love with Sweetheart tree and Lady bug finishes.
Would love to see a picture of "London".

Heather said...

Wow that's a lot! If you want you could order the floss and send it to me. Then I'll send them on to you. I think that avoids the customs charge?

Stitching Noni said...

Love your scrapbook finishes :o)
I just calculated the cost in Aus $... that's nearly $300... ouch! Luckily we don't have to pay Customs unless the package is over $1000... then we have to do Customs and GST on top!
Your beehive violets are so pretty :o)
Hugs xx

Anonymous said...

beautiful work

Mii Stitch said...

The reindeer is lovely and great work on the scrapbooking!

rebelrosecreations@gmail.com said...

Beautiful Finishes! Looking forward to more. You have me thinking I want to start a scrap book! Oh so much to do , so little time lol

KimM said...

Love your finishes - and that lady bug charm is so SWEET! Perfect!
xxx

Vickie said...

Your scrapbook finishes are really spectacular!

Leonore Winterer said...

Lovely little reindeer and great scrapbooking finishes! And hooray on getting the chart you wanted for a bit off! I wouldn't mind sponsering a skein or two if you were serious about that ;)

Christine said...

That was a bit of luck spotting the sale.
Waterliles threads are quite dear, can you substitute variegated cottons in similar shades?

Kerryp77 said...

Fab scrapbooking, I love, love, love the just Nan pieces. I hope you can find a way round the thread costs. The water lilies are gorgeous but ridiculously expensive.

Justine said...

Serendipitous indeed! I think you should splash out on the threads and get the ones you really want. Do you need to buy them all at once or could you get them monthly?
I'm happy to sponsor a skein or two too, if you decide to get the "proper" threads.

Julie said...

Maybe you could post a list of Waterlilies you need to see if anyone has what's left from a project in their stash and could send it on to you if you only need a small amount of each. I have a couple of them, if you care to let me know I'll check for you.
Well done spotting the sale.

Barb said...

You have a clever way of showing your stitching! Great scrap booking!

Brigitte said...

Your new scrapbook pages are so beautiful. You always find the perfect paper for your stitchy finishes so that the stitched piece stands in the foreground. I really love that.
Lucky you to just discover the discount when your favorite piece is on. Yes, that's perfect.

Sarah in Stitches said...

I'm glad you managed to get the chart you wanted on sale, that is so lucky! Lovely scrapbooking too :D

Lili said...

Beautiful stitching! How sweet reindeer!

Anna van Schurman said...

Love your latest Just Nan. Very pretty colors.

Margaret said...

By golly by gosh that Mandala is going to be a lot of stitching! Good luck.

Tiffstitch said...

Beautiful finishes and I think I need to scrap book some of mine too instead of just letting them sit in "the drawer". Great buy on London!