Winter in Vantaa

Today is one of the most beautiful days we had so far during this winter. Temperatures are around -15°C (about 5°F) with a mellow, but still freezing cold wind. And over all, the sun is shining. Usually winters in South of Finland are quite cloudy and dark, so when ever the sun is coming out, I have to get on my winter warms and go for a walk.

Here are a few pictures I took today. Enjoy!

Flamingo

Here is another freebie I stitched right after the little frog. I wanted to show it a lot earlier, but the batteries of my camera were empty, so I couldn't take a picture. I love this little guy, as all the Quaker inspired animals from Aury.
The flamingo is stitched with DMC color variation thread no. 4190 on 18ct. cream Aida. I think this color is suiting so well, couldn't have picked any better.

Fair & Square round # 11

Good Morning! While slurping my morning coffee and checking my emails I discovered a mail form my this time Fair & Square partner Suzanne. My squares arrived at her place. So now I no longer have to hold back the pictures of what I stitched for her.

The designs on both squares are from a northern German reproduction sampler dated from1820. They are done in classic Biedermeier style, as many samplers are, that are found from that time in Germany and Austria. Suzanne said, she likes them very much and I am so happy about that.

No Frogging!

Here is a little project I stitched and finished a couple of days ago. It used to be a freebie from Cross Eyed Cricket, I downloaded years ago. There is supposed to be a small fly button close to the frogs tongue, but I rarely read through the charts prior stitching, so I missed the little part with the aquired button. Guess I got to go and buy one.

I stitched this little fellow on 18 ct. babyblue aida with DMC thread.

My current work

I kind of feel bad, that lately I have so less cross stitching progress to show, but it is all about me spending lots of hours at school or work. So I thought instead of my non existing stitching progress, I am going to show you what I am busy with in my work.

Together with my boss we are rebuilding this EMW car. We are doing the entire interior and the seats. Last week we started to build up the basics for the ceiling fabric and today we actually started to sew the ceiling in. This is a hell of a job. Almost all the time we were sewing right above our heads. That means stiff legs, stiff neck and some really weird feeling in the arms after holding them over the head for hours. But all of this was definately worth it. The ceiling fits perfectly. Monday morning we will sew the sides tide and than the car is ready to go back to the garage to get an engine (and all the other parts I have now idea of). In summer it will come back to us, to get the rest of the interior fit in. I'm already excited about that.

Nine Butterflies

Here is a little update on my Butterfly stitching. Over the last couple of days I made a few stitches here and a few stitches there and this is how far I got today. Half of the full and half crosses are done and I am planning on finishing this one by the beginning of next month latest.
I don't think I can make it earlier, due to preparing a piece of fabric for a Round Robin starting 1st February, but you'll never know. I'll just keep on stitching.

My blog rocks!

Good evening everybody! I am so happy to show you what I received yesterday from my dear cross stitch friend Bianca.

Yes! I got an Award for my blog. Now it is up to me to pass this Award on to another 5 people. I was thinking about it half the night and it was definitely not easy, but I finally came to a conclusion. My nominees are:

The Scarlett House - because any time I look up this blog, I spend way more time reading and looking at the beautiful pictures than I intend to
Stitching under the Southern Cross - because Rowyn is not just a wonderful stitching buddy, but I am also a huge fan of New Zealand and love to read about this wonderful country
The Twisted Stitcher - because Vonna's blog is a big inspiration to me
Daffycat - because it is so much fun reading this blog
Einschies Stitching Blog - because Gaby has the longest active blog list I have seen so far. I admire you :)

Love Ewe

A little while ago I bought and downloaded a few issues from the Cross Stitching online magazine "The gift of stitching" And here is the first piece stitched from the issue 25. This is a design from Deanna Carter of Carousel Charts. It is so adorable. I like it so much that I stitched the first to the last cross without a single break.

I love this one

I love stitching samplers, mono colored designs and smalls. This one here is so perfect, because it is all in one. A mini sampler stitched in just one color and finished in a one-night-stitching-session. And over all it is a freebie.
I found this design on the home page of à mon ami Pierre. They have so many beautiful designs. This is one is the first one but definately not the last one I stitched by this designer.

I stitched on white 18ct Aida with the color variation thread no. 4040 from DMC

Maaliskuu

The 3rd month of my little house sampler is stitched up. Only 9 more to go. This is a really fun project. It shouldn't take to long to get through the other once as well.

Renne de Noel

Here is something small I stitched in between my bigger projects. The design is named Renne de Noel and I found it on a French blog called Bonheur de brodeuses. I couldn't resist to stitch this little fellow. I just love reindeer and mooses.

New Project !

One of my big goals for the year 2009 is to stitch up and finish all, or at least most of my work in progress projects. That includes not to start to many new projects, otherwise my WIP baskets gets filled up right away. And believe me, my "Want-to-do-list" is amazingly long. But after just stitching up 3 big projects in a role, I though I can tread myself with a medium sized new project.
I chose a design from Dimensions Gold Collection petites called Butterflies on nine-patches. I bought this kit more than 4 years ago in America while I was living there, but never had the time or encouragement to start stitching it. That all changed a couple of days ago and I'm glad it did. It is so much fun stitching. It has so many bright colors. It makes me literally forget about cold and dark Finnish winters.

Here are the results after day 1 and day 2 of stitching:

Another finish!

Quite some time ago, I started this SAL called Hearts & Square in one of my Yahoo stitching groups. I got along quite well but since July last year I haven't done a single stitch in this one. Even though there was only one square left to finish it up.
After finishing yesterday the Mystery SAL, I kind of got lost and didn't know what to stitch next. So I went through my huge WIP-basket and found this one in there.

I think I will use it as well for a cushion. This is one thing I can never have enough of. But I also decided that I will continue stitching this SAL on individual Squares and than finish the pieces up to small things like pincushions and ornaments. I just love the designs so much. I cannot just stop right now.

Totales Mysterie is stitched up!

Can it be better than starting the first post of the New Year with a finished project?

I just finished the last stitches of the SAL "Totales Mysterie". I stitched this SAL along with a bunch of other woman in the German Yahoo-Group Marquoir. The design is an exclusive design for this group. I still don't know the name of the designer, but will add it as soon as I know.

I thought I will finish it up as a sofa pillow by adding some bright orange or turqoise fabric, cause these are two of the colors in my livingroom furnitures. But I'm not sure yet. I guess I will go ahead with washing the piece first and than deside what to do with it.