I'm leaving on a jet plane,



My preferred airline



Madame Muriel here, reporting on my difficult decision regarding my next hostess.  I really was spoilt for choice, from Cornwall (relatively close to my current home) or back to the antipodes via Europe, America and Canada.

I've been offered music, sun, sunsets, cacti, candy, tea, scones and cocktails as well as stitching and the company of other like-minded people at stitching groups.  There even appears to be a job offer from Julie and Becky!

I was tempted by the class on sym-stitching, an unknown quantity for me but in the end I decided to emulate one of my hostess' favourite bloggers and let the Compote of Decree decide.

Here is a map indicating the area I will be travelling to:

So that narrows it down to two potential hostesses.  Here is another clue:

The final clue, a picture of my new hostess:

Who could resist an invitation from this lovely lady?  Her name is Zoe and she lodges with a charming couple called Gracie and Mr. H.  More details on Zoe's life and her pet's stitching can be found here at Needles Pins and Dragonflies.

I am very excited to be heading back to the US of A.  I thoroughly enjoyed my last visit with a canine host (read all about it on Stewey's blog here) and I can only hope that Zoe's pet is slightly more on the sane side of lunacy than Stewey's poor dear Spinster.  There is a Mr. H. so I feel all will be well in Arizona.

My hostess is currently running around sorting out my travelling accomodation muttering "English things, I must send English things".  So Zoe, if you would like some black pudding now is the chance to speak up and request it.

Finally, my hostess stitched a lovely card for a good friend of mine - Maggie.  Maggie is Anna the Stitch Bitch's grandmother of Maggie Monday fame.  This year Maggie is 90 years young.  She is actually Anna's real Grandmom not a substitute.  (in-jokes for regular Stitch Bitch followers).  Her devoted granddaughter was attempting to give Maggie 90 cards for her 90th Birthday.  She failed.    She gave her 106!  Including one from the President and Mrs O themselves.

My hostess stitched the backstitch first, then coloured the numbers in with one of her ubiquitous felt-tipped pen, a green this time.  Then she stitched the pink, blue and green flowers and leaves.  A very pleasant effect.  She did not have marguerita glasses so used with twin wine glasses stickers to decorate the cards.

"U" is for "U-Bend"?

As you are all aware I'm an avid stitcher of A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie of In the Company of Friends.  The Large Boy and I have been happily guessing each letter as it comes out (every 2 weeks or so) but we would never, ever have guessed "U" not in a month of Sundays.  We thought "Undead" was the most likely choice.

But No.  Julie excelled herself and frustrated Becky who has to do the research and write the blog post by coming up with:

Urmahlullu

Urma who loo?  Yes, Urmahlullu, the well known Mesopotamian Protector of the Toilet.  Half Lion, Half Centaur, and the colour of an Andrex Puppy.  (Do you have Andrex puppies in the States and Europe?  Go Google if not.)

Now, the Large Boy is getting a classic education - Greek Gods, Roman Gods, Viking Gods, Christian God and other comparative religions.  But Gods of Ancient Mesopotamia do not seem to be on the National Curriculum for Key Stage 2 in England.  Shame really, because it's rather interesting.  See the Note of Friendship blog for more pics and information.

And here he is in all his glory:

Talking of Dark Things, I know many of you are interested in the old Witch Trials and the poor women who were punished for being a little different to the rest of society.  You may find this website rather interesting.  It's written by a local historian I've known for many years and is absolutely fascinating.  It's all about two witches who were hanged in my town in the 17th century.  The pamphlet written was used to set a precedence in the Salem Witch Trials.  For me, the great thing about the site is that they've traced the accusers and witnesses, found where they lived and have posted pictures of the houses as they are today (or when they last existed).  One of the houses is currently the wool shop where I buy my DMC and ribbons!

The website is very wordy and I found it quite hard to read when the window was fully opened.  By moving the margin of the window so it is about 4 inches wide it becomes much easier!  I will mention this to Ivan when I see him next.  I'm sure he'd love some feedback so if you have any comments then please let me know and I'll pass them on.

Finally, Madame Muriel is currently pouring over her atlas trying to decide where to visit next.  You have until Thursday to put in your bids for her company.  Leave a comment on her last post here.

Mature Cross Stitching Lady, young-at-heart seeks Similar for Friendship, Fun and Stitching...

...GOSH and OHAC (Gift of Stitching Home and Own Hoop and Charts).

Yes, people of the cross stitch community it is I, Madame Muriel Arlene Myrtle Ethel Adeline "Flat Flossie" St. Clair aka The Travelling Granny.  I am seeking a new hostess for the Spring Season.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the family of the Serendipitous Stitcher.  I have been immersed in family life although thankfully not in the family bath!

I have met many delightful children, become a militant Library Supporter and taken part in a Day Of Support, visited the Most Easterly every-darn-thing you can imagine, spent Christmas in the company of a number of portly Gentlemen of diminishing height and seen more finishes than you can shake a needle at.

I have been in blog photos, supervised blog giveaways, inspired blog posts and even written a few myself.  There has been 'tea and cakes', 'tea and biscuits', 'tea and teacakes' and even 'tea and fabric'.

But all good things must come to an end and my feet are twitching and itching to be on the move again.  But where should I go?  The world is my lobster oyster; according to the stats for this very blog there are people from all the continents reading about my activities.  (Technically not true, there are no blog-readers in Antarctica but who wants to go there anyway?).

If you would like to be my next hostess then please make a comment to this post explaining the delights which will await me chez vous.   I am an easy woman to please, I require a warm place to sit and stitch, pleasant company and the daily tea-based sustenance.  Personal butler optional but I do prefer my own waiting maid.  My time in England has accustomed me to the finer things in life.



As ever, if you do not understand a word of this post - please click here for a short history lesson on the Life of Madame Muriel.

Madame Muriel goes to the Far East...

... of England LOL!

Just a fly-by post today, Madame Muriel will be updating you all with her latest adventures and plans for her next destination.

Do other countries celebrate their extremities in this way?  Apart from Cape Horn I couldn't actually name a single other cardinal point in another country.  Whereas I expect most people will know Land's End and John O'Groats.  Or that just my Anglo-centrinicity coming out again?!!

In which Some Old Finishes Finally get some Love.

As the title says, we all have old finishes stored away in our stash chests (or wherever) just pining away for some love.

The first piece is a very old cover kit from Cross Stitcher magazine issue 39, January 1996.  It was a lovely peacock bookmark which has lived in a box ever since.  When Calamity Jr made the 1000th comment on my blog I decided it would make the ideal gift for her.  I used a piece of the fabric samples I acquired last year to cover a bit of board, then stuck the peacock on with double sided tape.  I bought these lovely peacock cards from the local craft shop, they're for card-making and have lots of gold on them.  The piece of braid was the handle from the fabric sample book.  Waste not, want not!  I glued a piece of card on the back to finish it off,  Voila!

Do not adjust your set - this photo IS on the huh.

Close-up!

Calamity was absolutely over the moon with her gift which made me very happy too.

The second elderly lady in need of some attention (the peacock being the first, not Calamity!) is this one:

Just Nan - Winter Romance stitched on 28 count linen.

I stitched all four of these at the turn of the century (21st not 20th!) and they have languished in a box every since.  I got four frames for my birthday and fully intended to get them all up last Autumn.  One down, three to go!

This is the most beautiful piece in real life, probably my favourite of the four and the first of them that I stitched.  The colours are more vibrant now it's been backed and mounted.  I have fallen in love with it all over again.

I'm on a Just Nan roll now, I charted my part for Kathy's Band Sampler this afternoon and started a small last night - Spring Peepers.  These are both part of Fan Girl February on Theme-a-licious.

The third old lady is Madame Muriel, the Travelling Granny.  She's been a little quiet just lately I'm afraid.  I did have a couple of plans for her but real life has the annoying tendency to get in the way!  So my current plan is to try take her somewhere vaguely interesting during Half Term week and then make plans for her to be on her merry way.  Do not ask to host her yet - wait until you see her rider!

Finally, here is the current state of play on A Dark Alphabet.  It is now too big to fit on my scanner so you only get the bottom half.  There are four more blocks completed since I last showed you.  Phantom is based on the Lon Chaney phantom rather than the Andrew Lloyd-Webber one that I am more familiar with.  Maybe that's why it's not my favourite block.  The Queen of the Night is amazing, the tiny witch is so cute and the skeleton is just crazy.

You can see how close to finishing we are, only 7 more letters and the personalisation block to go.  The Large Boy and I have ideas for all the remaining letters except for X.   We are stumped.  He wants Ectoplasm to be spelled Exoplasm so we could have that.  The right hand border will have another column of stitches, I just got bored!

I did attempt some tiny Queen Stitches for Q but did 4 sided diamonds with one vertical stitch.  That is the only drawback to stitching over 1, the speciality stitches either don't work or are just too fiddly and don't show.  On the plus side it's a manageable size (A3) and I love the delicate look of over 1.  It's a 28count evenweave.

In which Madame Muriel unchains herself from the bookshelf and looks forward to Advent

Another exciting week (and a bit) here in sunny Suffolk.  I went to a protest afternoon last week.  Actually it was entitled "An Afternoon of Tea and Cakes to Support our Library" so the chains were uncalled for.  The libraries in this country are all under threats due to the cost cutting exercises going on and my hostess's local branch in particular as it is small and situated in a lovely old building which needs maintenance.  The powers-that-be would much rather sell the land and make all the old ladies and young children travel miles into town to get their books.


Unfortunately for the powers-that-be the local community are rather vocal and have raised their voices (and their tea-cups) to say "No ifs, no buts, no public service cuts".  The National organisation The Women's Institute are right behind the library service with their Love You Library campaign so my hostess and her good friend Pauline arranged this afternoon of support to spread the word - Your Library Needs You.  It's such a fun campaign to join, all you need to do is join your local library and borrow books - simples (as that annoying meerkat says!).  No chains are necessary!


Here is a picture of the rather lovely building:

Isn't it wonderful?  It was such a thrill for me to meet some national treasures in the form of the WI ladies.  They are well-known for cake baking, crafts and naked calendars.  I'm not so sure about the last one but my hostess assures me it is true.  There is a musical too apparently.


We are fast approaching December and today my hostess climbed into the loft to retrieve the advent calendar.  Here I am with it:

Each day has a little book with a different story or poems on the Christmas theme.  If you click and squint you will see there are excerpts from Little Women and Wind in the Willows plus many more classic stories.

There is also this second Advent Calendar, countdown to consumerism!  This is a Lego Star Wars calendar with a Lego figure or item each day until Christmas Eve.  The larger boy does like his Lego.

He has another calendar at his Grandparents, usually on a traditional Nativity theme.  The child is "cherished" apparently.  Not "spoiled" because he is charming and not ruined at all.  But "cherished".  This is according to his doting grandparents.  Hah!  In my day you got an orange and ha-porth of nuts in your stocking.  Which was a stocking off your legs, not a felt and embroidered extravaganza with your name on it.  Hah again.

My hostess has been busy mailing out cards and prizes this week, single handedly keeping the Postal Service going.  She was delighted to hear they have started arriving and seeing her stitched cards popping up on other people's blogs is making her squeal with excitement.  Here is the card she stitched for Rachael for winning the Doll's House 100 Followers' Giveaway:

 The motif is from World of Cross Stitching magazine and is stitched on 40 count Newcastle over 1.  The coin is a 2p piece and shows the stitched area is only an inch wide.  As the Giveaway prize was the Doll's House chart my hostess wanted something small scale to send but baulked at the 48 count silk gauze this year.  Maybe next year...

And here is the card sent to Shannon, this one was stitched on 36 count over 2:

Finally my hostess asks me to remind you all that Advent starts tomorrow and her online Advent Calendar post will be visible dated 24th December so it stays on top of the blog.  There are some places left, just send my hostess an email and she will send you a date.  All you have to do is post a stitched picture of something festive on your date and maybe a Christmas custom special to your country or your family.

The Continuing Adventures of Madame Muriel

What a busy week I've had, I've been to work!  Honestly, I haven't been to work since the days of Knitty Nora's Knitting Emporium.  (Joke for British readers!).  Anyway, this workplace is where my hostess pops off to twice a week to earn some money.  She's done so much voluntary work over the last 9 years she can't believe she actually gets paid for being there.  And it's in coins of the realm, not in books.  Although I'm sure she'd be happy to work for the latter.

Here I am, on the shelf at my age:

This is the Craft and DIY section which my hostess does her best to keep in order.  Knitting/crochet at the top, Sewing seperate to Cross Stitch and Embroidery, plus a small section of "alternative craft".  You can see them on the bottom shelf to the left if you click and squint.  "World of Geekcraft" etc.

I "met" this lady, or her merchandise at least.  She is HUGE right now (her persona, not her body!) and very popular.  You can buy just about anything in her little floral prints.  Here's a link to her website Cath Kidston.  I think some of her goodies may be coming in my travelling bag when I travel onwards.

I also "met" this lady, Kirstie Allsopp.  She is what they would descibe as a "posh gel", that's a hard "g" as in "golf" not as in "jel".  She has a TV programme where she tries her hand at craft, she's even met Emily Peacock and had a cross stitch lesson! 

This is the closest I've got to the capital city so far, it's from a book called "Stitch London", aren't those corgis cute?

Here is a poster advertising the area where I am:

This is Ed Hardy.  Cross Stitch from tattoos.  Whatever next?  Certainly Not Your Grandma's Stitching, which should please Anna no end!  If anyone is interested in finding out more about this book, my hostess owns it and is happy to send a review.

This is a footballer.  A footballer.  Not a soccer player and not an American Footballer.  But a real footballer who plays real football.  Well, it's a cardboard cutout of a real footballer.  Apparently he's written a book (or helped write a book or something) and came to the shop to sign copies.  They raffled the cutout off to raise money for his favourite charity.  What a nice footballer.

We also had a planning meeting for the "Save the Library" campaign, I'm a "silver-protester", such fun!  We're having a Tea and Cakes Afternoon of Support next week.  It won't be a sit-in.  We'd never get up again!!

Stitching photos?  Well, I can't show you the cards until they've been posted off and received.  The big thing is for someone else.  The little thing is for the Needlecraft Haven and can't be revealed until December.  Bit of a dead loss really.  We did do some tea-dyeing this afternoon, that's always fun. 

So, that's all from me today, so until next time I'll say "Cheerio".  Yes, Barbara, they really do say Cheerio when they're saying Goodbye to their friends.  It's a kind of Au Revoir sort of Goodbye when they expect to see their friend again soon.

Finally I get to use the computer... Madame Muriel reports...

Honestly, everything in this house is timetabled!  The television, the computer, the bathroom, leaving the house etc etc.  So I finally get my hands on the computer to let you all know how I'm coping so far from home.  As you can see, I'm surrounded by Englishness!   You don't even want to know what the ingredients for that pickle are.  Or the "salad cream" either.  It doesn't even go on salad half the time, she has it with chips!  Which is the proper name for french fries I've been informed.  What I call chips are either crisps or for playing poker.

I've had my myth-busting hat on and the first one is that "English people are not friendly".

I am happy to report English people are very friendly - once they know you.  "Knowing you" consists of meeting you for the first time via an introduction from a person they already know.  You can't just start chatting to people in the street without a formal introduction.  Unless you are an old person in which case you are permitted to make personal comments about babies and pregnant women only.  Dog walkers may also exchange nods and "good morning" if they have their dog with them.

Life here is very sociable, I've met so many people and drunk so much tea and nibbled so many biscuits I've lost count.  My hostess is very busy running the town it seems.  The current Government (who are only mentioned via clenched teeth) are very keen on the "community" running things, not central Government.  The community seems to consist of my hostess and several retired ladies who my hostess describes as "herself in 20 years time".  Her ambition is to join the WI.

The first week there was a most enjoyable stitching lesson with a young woman and her baby.  The young woman is keen to learn to cross stitch and has already completed a Helen Philipps heart under my hostess's tutelage.  They are designing a birth sampler for the said small baby using a number of fairy charts from an issue of Cross Stitcher magazine.  My hostess is arranging the charts in a pleasing manner and the young woman will stitch them.  Eventually.  When they stop running the school.  The young woman is chair of the PTA.  I feel very old sometimes.  She is young enough to be my host's daughter never mind my granddaughter!

This weekend has been "finishing weekend".  My hostess has the bad habit of reaching the final few stitches and putting the project away instead of getting on and finishing it.  So we had a flurry of activity today.  First up is the iStitch Mystery SAL all completed and framed in this lovely DMC wooden box which my hostess uses to keep her bead collection in.

The details have been blocked out in the top picture to protect the design's copyright.  The 2nd picture has been adjusted by Carol but the top one wasn't.  In case you were wondering.  My hostess will explain the story behind the stitching and the box next time she blogs.

These cute cards are from Cross Stitcher magazine, my hostess made a New Year's Resolution to stitch every Cover Kit in the month of receipt.  However she hadn't bargained on CS changing it's design brief so much in the course of the year.  Far too many of the cover kits have just not appealled to her so she has used other designs to make the most of the materials.   Sadly the quality of these has decreased too and my hostess had to ask for replacement cards for this project.  The originals were torn and dirty.  Shocking.  Anyway she stitched these owls from a different issue and decorated the cards using felt-tip pens.  She feels the green one needs something more and will source some sticky flowers next week.

This delightful design is by San Man Originals from the Spooky SAL board.  Hallowe'en is very under celebrated here.  We didn't even get a single trick or treater call at the house!  Something to do with being at the end of a dark country lane ...  This design has been framed with some rather nice ribbon to disguise the fact that the frame is too big.  The ribbon comes from the most easterly knitting shop in England.  Frankly everything here has the suffix "most easterly" - it seems to be their only claim to fame.  They even have the most easterly prison just up the road!

I fear my allotted time at the computer is at a close now, I have to go supervise the bathing of the small boy.  I must say it has been lovely to be around small children again, my last three hostesses did not supply surrogate grandchildren.  Although the little dog did his best with the spinster, frankly she was childlike in behaviour only!

Travelling Granny and Travelling Pattern

My Travelling Pattern arrived safely from South Africa, Cucki has been following the various TPs that are doing the rounds without winning one herself.  So she decided to start her own!  It's a lovely Lizzie*Kate design with a very appropriate motto - Love is Best when you Give it Away.  How suitable for a Travelling Pattern.  I have hand-coloured some fabric in a wild and kooky style to always remind me where the pattern came from.  I must just share the envelope:

Have you ever seen so many stamps on one small envelope?  It made me smile even before I opened it up.  Progress pics will follow.

Now, the Travelling Granny.  Here's her story:

This where we first met her :Stitch Bitch 2011/04

Then Connie had a great idea: Stitch Bitch 2011/04

So off she went to visit Connie here: Spinster Stitcher (Connie doesn't do labels but her blog is hilarious and well worth reading to find the right posts!)

Then onto New Zealand with Margaret here: Margaret's Blog - Madame Muriel Flat Flossie posts (Margaret does do labels so you can easily find all the relevant posts although her whole blog is also well worth a read).

And finally to me in the Old Country.  The idea is that I show Madame Muriel around, take her places, photograph her in those places then eventually send her on to somewhere new.  We have a few things planned and she will be spending Christmas with us too.  I have been warned she likes to take over the blog and make her own entries so watch out for those.

Here is the collection of lovely things she arrived with:

A lovely sheepie tote bag (I was rather rude about the sheep smell in my last post, I hope Margaret is the forgiving type!  It really truly doesn't smell of sheep at all.  And anyway the Butler did it, not me!!), some delicious New Zealand chocolate, a chart for a Blackbird Designs thread keep and the most exquisite needlebook with needles and pins included!  Plus a brochure for some weird place called Mishawaka, apparently it actually exists, I thought Connie had made the place name up to be humourous!

 Needlebook, outside and inside - isn't it just beautiful, I haven't counted to see what it's stitched on but it's very delicate and wonderfully made. 

Much better than I could have done, so don't expect anything this good, next Hostess!

And John James needles, size 26 which is fab as I have 24s and 28s but no 26s.  I think they will be perfect for 28 count evenweave as the 28s are a wee bit wee.

And also, this lovely chart: 

I don't have a scissor keep or a thread keep and this comes with a little antiqued split ring - perfect!

So, a big Thank You to Margaret and a Welcome to Madame Muriel.  Watch this space for more news on her adventures and travels here in the Old Country.

ps I have been stitching this week but some is for sending to people and some don't have much progress since last time.  I've done a little on several things but nothing worth posting yet.  I also went to the theatre and lost an entire evening's stitching.  We went to see Terry Pratchett's The Wyrd Sisters.  I thought my brother had the book so I phoned him and said "Do you have Wyrd Sisters?"  "Yes", he replied "Two of them"  hahahaha sibling jokes are soooooooo funny. 

She's heeeeeeeere!

I was in the Morning Room today giving Clara her instructions for the usual Monday Laundry schedule when Brackett appeared at the door.  "Excuse me, Ma'am but there is a lady of advanced years at the door, carrying a travelling bag which smells slightly of sheep.  She says she is Expected".

I ignored his personal comments (he has been with the family for three generations now and can be rather familiar at times) and jumped to my feet, Madame Muriel has arrived!  Quickly I told Clara to get one of the undermaids to see to the laundry while she was to prepare a light morning coffee for myself and Madame Muriel in the Drawing Room, using the second best china (save the best for afternoon tea).  And tell the Nanny to bring the cleanest child to meet our guest too.

Brackett escorted Madame Muriel to the Drawing Room and we settled down for a lovely chat about her voyage to the Old Country and our planned itinerary during her stay.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about and are worried that you have fallen into a parallel dimension, Never Fear, all will be revealed in due course and here is something familiar - stitching pics:

This is Linda's Drawn Thread Band Sampler from the WWRR Yuku Board.  I chose three bands from Toccata No 1 and used colours from their palette although not the exact ones for each band.  I wanted my bands to blend with the other bands on the sampler.

This is the whole thing, now stitched on by 4 people, 2 to go.  I'm glad my bands are under the tree as they are more densely stitched than the others and not as floral, maybe they represent paths in the garden or formal borders rather than the flowers in the other bands.  They were certainly fun to stitch.  I have really enjoyed this RR and I'm looking forward to the new one planned for Spring 2012.  I have a little idea already....

Have to go now, must check that Clara blackleaded the grates this afternoon, we shall be requiring a fire in the guest room this evening.

Lucky, Lucky, Lucky, I have been so lucky!

First I win Cucki's Travelling Pattern, then I get to host the Travelling Granny!

Cucki's Stitching Cove can be found here.  She loves following the various Travelling Patterns around the world and decided to start one of her own.  This is a Lizzie*Kate design, a first for me, which says "Love is Best when you give it away".  How appropriate for a Travelling Pattern!

It's a very sweet, very Cucki pattern and will look great with some variegated reds and maybe some of the hearts charms I picked up.

The next VIP is Madame Muriel Flat Flossie, the Travelling Granny.  This very special elder person started her journey with Anna the Stitch Bitch, travelled to spend time with Stewie and his pet spinster then went all the way to New Zealand to see Margaret.  And now she's coming to the Old Country to visit me!  I'm a little nervous as Margaret has shown her all the sites of New Zealand and MM seems to be expecting to visit with Royalty on her UK trip, we'll have to see what we can do...

Read all about Madame Muriel Flat Flossie, the Travelling Granny here:

• Arrived in Pennsylvania to visit with the Stitch Bitch
• Had adventures in Indiana with Stewie and the Spinster Stitcher. (Her farewell to Indiana here.)
• Arrived in New Zealand to visit Margaret. A birthday dinner. A bus trip to the city. A trip to the farm. Out to see sheep and wool. A trip to Mickey D's. A visit to Devenport and another to the exhibition. Hanging out with needleworkers. Ready to go.

I have just explained to hubby about Travelling Granny, he was initially under the impression that Anna's actual Grandma was coming a-visiting!  Mind you, it would be great to meet Maggie in person.  I explained it's like the Bear at Primary School, a different child has the bear each weekend and has to keep a diary of it's actitivities.  If you're lucky the previous person took it to MacDonalds and watched TV, if you're unlucky then the previous child took it pony-riding and to the museum and the theatre then fed the homeless on Sunday so you feel rather inadequate!

I finished this little stitch last week, another PIF from Erica this time.  Erica's Places.  It's been quite hard getting a decent picture of it as it's stitched on black aida with LOADS of beads.  Probably 50% of the design is beads but that's Mill Hill for you!

Erica sent me the chart, the leftover beads and the threads.  There was plenty of thread and almost enough beads.  I had some of the purple and magenta but not the green so I subbed a slightly different green for the "O".  There was just enough orange and plenty of ice.  I didn't have a tiny star but I did have a witch!  This is one of the charms I got from Ang's Attic (remember when I ordered 1 of each charm but actually ordered 1 packet of each!).

I'd like to PIF again, there's some thread left but not enough to stitch again so I'll add the extra in from my stash.  I could also add a piece of black aida unless you are violently opposed to aida or prefer to stitch it on perforated paper.  I will also pop in a witch charm (I had 10 after all!).  You will need to get more beads however.

If you'd like this little chart and extras then leave a comment telling me your favourite myth about English people, for example that we all personally know the Queen, the whole country has tea at 3 o'clock, Northerners keep coal in their bath tubs etc.  You know the sort of thing.  Madame Muriel will help me debunk some of the myths when she arrives!  If you don't know any myths think of English films and TV programmes that make you wonder "Do all English people do that?"

If you don't want the chart then say so but leave a myth comment anyway, the more the merrier!

And finally, for those bobbin users who said they put the unused strands on the table, by the side etc until they need them - this is why I could never do that:

This is not a Quaker sampler, this is my carpet.  It was in the house when we moved in and is in perfect condition.  It is also very large (covers the entire Lounge and all the Hall and Stairs.  We could never afford to replace it with the same quality.  As you can imagine it is very difficult to find dropped items on it.  Unless you are the small boy and have dropped food in which case you can spot a raisin at 50 paces!  Lego is NOT allowed on this carpet as the pattern eats Lego.  Luckily the large boy has a plain carpet in his room.  What you can of it under the Lego carpet.