Blueberry time!

I love the time around end of July because that is the time when here in Finland the blueberries are ready to get picked. And blueberry-picking is what I did today. My Mr. joined me on this quest as you can see in the picture. We picked altogether about 2 kg of berries. I portioned one kilogram into 200g bags each. We love to have berry-smoothies every once in a while and 1 bag is just the right amount for one pitcher full of smoothie. The other kilogram I cooked to jam today and I got 3 big and 1 and a half small jars out of it. I also added my secret ingredient: star anise. It doesn't give the jam much of a flavor right after cooking, but if the jars rest closed until about Christmas the anise starts to kick in.

Airplane stitching

Last week the Mr. and I have been on a short vacation trip to visit my parents in Germany. I haven't posted about this visit earlier, because it was mend to be a surprise for my mom, who's birthday was last week. My dad was celebrating his birthday as well. They gave a big Barbecue party and my sweetheart finally met the rest of my family. 7 remaining from 11 siblings of my dad and a brother and a twin sister of my mom. The party was kept to the closest family and a few friends only, because all my aunts and uncles have children that have children that are almost grownups and that kind of family party would burst every budget.

It takes only 2 hours by plane to get from Finland to Germany, but that time is long enough to get me bored out of my scull. So I always take some cross stitching stuff with me. I like to stitch very small designs on an airplane, cause they are very handy and don't need much space.

I stitched the chamomile on our way from Helsinki to Germany and almost finished it all up, but 30 min before landing we had turbulence due to bad weather and after poking the needle several times into my fingers I had to stop.
The second one I started is the bergamot flower from the same design pack, but due to I kited it up to myself I ran out of thread and had to stop. I will finish it sometime during upcoming week.

I also started this little angel during our stay at my parent's place and finished it up yesterday night. It is called "Candle Light" and a design from Hummel. My aunt (she came to the birthday party) gave me again a big bag full of cross stitch kits and this one is one of them. I like the colors very much of this one.

Fair and Square Rounds received

Both rounds of my open Fair & Square exchanges arrived during the week. The first two squares are from Malinda. The design is by Maryse and the July design of the Monthly cottages. I like how she added my name to the design in exchange for the month name.

The second ones are from Kathy. Kathy read on an earlier post that my bike got stolen (btw nothing heard from the police yet) so she decided to stitch a little bike for me. This is a wonderful idea and so thoughtful.

Thank you both so much for these wonderful squares. And watch out your mailboxes. Your squares are on their ways as well.

Mary Wigham update

Hi everybody! I am back to blogging. The time with my sister and her boyfriend was just flying by. We had a lot of fun together and we were very lucky with the weather. Besides a few hours of rain the one or the other day it was very warm and we had a lot of sunshine.

I haven't had much time for stitching during that time so I can only show you a little progress. I continued stitching on my Mary Wigham Sampler and part 2 is almost done.

I love how the squirrel turned out so here is a close up.

I also started stitching the squares for 2 rounds of the Fair & Square Exchange. I'm almost done with both of them and I am trying hard to get them out in time.