My day at Wanha Satama....

It was really crazy at the Fair this morning. We went there quite early and got in right at that time when they opened but still it was so packed. Some stands were that crowded that we just passed them, because there was no way getting a good look at the outlet anyways. So over all we spent only one hour at the fair, but I was glad getting home after that. I'm anyways not a big fan of crowded places.
Here is a picture of the prey I made. I was a nice girl and bought only a few things: 2 skeins of turquoise felting wool for making a nice summer shoulder bag, 3 bags (I got one extra for free) of naturally dyed felting wool in indigo blue, green and yellow, 3 bags of KoolAid for dying and 2 hand painted greeting cards.

No cross stitch stash thou, cause it seems to me that cross stitching is not very popular in Finland. There people are knitting and felting like crazy. I can knit a decent scarf but I have never felted before and thought I give it a try. My friend is a big felting expert and gave me some advises and helped me picking the right wool.
If you are interested in felting or felting wool in generous you should take a look at Värtsilän Villa & Värjäämö. This is the site from the stand I bought the little packs of felting wool. It is very impressive and all in English with many pictures.

Fair & Square and a little progress

Last Monday I received the Fair& Square squares from my round #11 partner Suzanne. Are the not absolutely beautiful. She picked for me a design from the Prairie Birds from Prairie Schooler. I have never seen these bird patterns before and had to google them right away. They are all beautiful and make me want to stitch the other ones myself.


I also made a small progress on one of my own projects. I started stitching the forth month April, in Finnish "huhtikuu", but as you can see the progress is really tiny. I have been very busy with work lately and only been home for sleeping, showering and eating my morning porrige.

I kind of plan on finishing this square during the weekend, but I guess there will not be much stitching time left either. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am going to a Handcrafts exhibition on Saturday morning and if that wouldn't be enough excitment, my hubby is also playing a gig the same night with one of his bands. So that will be a very long day and night out.

Another finish!

Juhuu! I made it. Here's my finished stitching of Cheryl's Bouquet. The original is meant to be stitched in only one color. I instead stitched it in no less than 9. At some point while stitching I thought it might get to colorful and restless, but now that it is finished I kind of like it again.
I decided to finish this one into a nice tablecloth for our living room table. Next Saturday is a hand craft exhibition in Wanha Satama in Helsinki and I am planning to go there. Maybe I'll find a nice fabric to finish it up soon.

Emma's Sampler

This is a picture of my momentarily work in progress. It is a design by Carriage House Samplings called 1823 Emma Elizabeth Blackwood Sampler.
It has been published in an American Cross Stitch Magazine "Just Cross Stitch" in the issue June 2005. I bought it while I was living in the United States and I got to tell you, I was so disappointed in this magazine. Back in 2005 I was still hooked on all those European Designs, very cute with lots of Back Stitches and I thought I could never like anything of that style. Well that was back than and I am quite amazed about myself how much my taste has changed during the last 4 years. Cause right now I love this kind of Designs. Carriage House Samplings is even one of my favorite designers. And I am really hooked on this style.
I guess, I finally grew up.

Butterflies on nine-patches

I finally made it! The Butterflies on Nine-Patches from Dimension Gold Collection petits is finished. Stitching the crosses and half-crosses went quite smooth and fast, but than it came down to stitching just BS, Lazy Daisies and French knots. Not my favorites at all.
I'm glad that it is all stitched up now.

Round Robin for Maja

Here's what I was working on the last couple of days. This is a piece I stitched for a Round Robin, my first one ever btw. The owner requested the letter "D" with some cute attachment. As I understood the finished piece will be used for a pillow case for a little boy.
The pattern I have chosen is from Margaret Sherry and is actually a freebie available at the Cross Stitcher Magazine. They have the whole alphabet there, one letter cuter than the other.
The only change I made to the pattern is, that I changed the color of the letter form bright pink to green. I think that's more suitable for a boy.

Lily of the Valley

Here's another little finish. The design is from Madame la Fée and called "Lily of the Valley of May". It is stitched with DMC floss on cream 18ct. Aida

I think I stitched this one because I like the scent of Lily's so much. There is nothing more beautiful having a walk in the nearby forest to our apartment and walking through a field of Lily's and nearly drowning in it's strong scent.

Quaker Flower

Here is a picture of the finished Quaker Flower, that I have shown you already a couple of days ago. The design is a freebie from The Workbasket.
I love this design very much and I am thinking about keeping it for myself. But I have no idea how to finish it up. Honestly, I have never finished things into anything else than greeting cards. I do love all this little pincushions and fobs, but I think one doesn't need more than 1 cushion. So what to do with all the others?

Not much new

I am so sorry that I don't have much progress or anything finished to show lately. I am quite busy with my work, just finished a leather rocking chair, that I was working on lately. I am also fighting of a flue and therefore there is not much time to stitch.

I do made some progress on the Butterflies on nine-patches. All crosses and half-crosses are stitch up, just the BS are missing. But I am not a big fan of BS-stitching and there are a lot of those in this design. But I will finish it over the weekend for sure.

Than I am also stitching on a little small freebie projects from The workbasket. I am stitching this one on 28ct. light antique blue linen one over one. It's a lot more work than I expected, but I like how it turns out. I was thinking to give this one away as a gift, but I like it so much, maybe I'll keep it for myself.