my talented friends

Tuesday has been graced by gifts from two of my long-standing stitching pals, Annemarie and Su. We “met” via Cyberstitchers, drifted into the wonderful world of blogging, and are currently working on a neighborhood round robin together. Great friends, and exceptionally talented stitchers. So I’m honored to have finished projects by them gracing my humble home.

As usual, please click the pictures for more detail.

A little while back, Su showed a picture of a cute bird ornament on her blog and I thought, “oh – whoever gets that is a lucky duck!” Well, quack quack! Su also sent a lovely bird card that I didn’t photograph, but Max wants me to tell her that he likes that card a lot! I do, too, Su!

 Like everyone else out here, I’ve been admiring Annemarie’s floss fobs. They are so Annemarie! Unexpected, cheerful, practical, and lovely. Well, Annemarie knows how much I love the fairies from Prairie Schooler (having subjected her to a great many oohs and aahs over a PS fairie MA she made for Harmien some time ago) and just look at this!! She also included some Gloriana silk, which I have just drooled over but never quite dared to buy, and some Caron, which I also just love to stitch with. You can see that she’s very well versed in my color preferences, too! And as if all this were not already too much, she also sent me the latest issue of de fil en aiguille, a simply fabulous French stitching magazine.

 I’ve been expanding my display area of smalls, working them in among my family photos and I must say that I really like the effect. Over time, they’ll blend more naturally, but for now here are a few brave forerunners.

I plunged in and did a little bit of finishing after my birthday, too. The FAL (finish a long) weekends at Focus on Finishing are really very good motivators. By the end of the year, I may actually manage to clear out my stitched-but-unfinished projects. Then I can tackle my WIPs and UFOs! I finished a small design (Souvenier Motif) by The Sampler Girl (stitched for Niek for Valentine’s Day 2006!) as a small bag and I finished an old PS freebie as a magnetic pincushion for one of my aunts. The top side is a regular pincushion, but the underside has magnets (cleverly, IMHO!) concealed to make for quick cleanups of any pin spills.

Everything here at Chateau Chaos has been great. Nicky and Rowen have a spring cold, so that bizarre run of extreme good health has come to an end. I must admit, it was actually beginning to make me nervous to have everyone so healthy at once. As their noses and eyes stream, I find myself actually feeling a little better than I have in recent days (or weeks) – someone needs their Mummy, so my little break is over.   Here’s a picture of the little snot bunnies. Thankfully, Max remains healthy and is actively busy with collecting a limited series of marbles. (Do things like this actually run in the family?)

The weather has been unpredictable – hot and humid summer weather one day, and cool autumnish temps the next – which makes it a little hard to figure out what to do with our free time, but we’re not complaining. Really. LOL. I’ve been working on Dianne’s NRR, but my progress seems to be painfully slow. I have a freebie exchange coming up that’s trying to distract me, but I am trying to remain steadfast and get this out to Rachael before she leaves for her annual trek to California. Like everyone else, I’ve also spotted half a dozen projects in the most recent TGOSM that I want to make right now. If only sleep weren’t so darned important!

Thanks to those who’ve noticed my new layout. I really wanted something with a header that could be customized – that’s a real picture of the gorgeous Maine coast, taken by friend Liz Fowler a couple of years ago – but I don’t care for blue, so I don’t know if this layout will be around for very long. It is nice to see Maine every time I open my blog, though!