Well, I'm still here and all's quiet on the baby front. I've been struggling a little to get time online over the last 10 days as I have DS and DH at home for the Easter holiday which is quite nice. It's a bit strange having a whole 2 weeks holiday at home - usually we'd go away somewhere like to my parents, but given the circumstances, I really didn't want to risk going into labour half way up the M6 motorway or in some other equally delightful , remote location! LOL!

I had a productive week last week and finished stitching my bit on Lizzy's RR - it's now winging it's way across the Atlantic.


We've all been stitching LHN's Dear Diary designs for Lizzy and her RR looks fantastic!


I think I only have one more RR to stitch on and then I'll be done. It really has been great fun to do! I may have to find another one to join when this is finished and hopefully when things settle down with the baby. I'm not sure I fancy a Neighbourhood RR at the moment, but I do like the idea of the Seasonal Dragons RR Leslie, Jenna, Christine and Outi did last year. I have the chart for the dragons in my stash and kitted it up at one point. I've also got a bit of hand dyed fabtic I think would be fantastic for it.


A big THANK YOU now to Barbara who sent me this gorgeous little door hanger.


Isn't it beautiful? I love the purple colours of the fabric and it's such a sweet little design! This came about as I commented on Barbara's Un-birthday post and was one of the 12 to receive a gift. Barbara wanted to make me something to fit the baby theme and I think she's made a wonderful choice. Thank you very much Barbara!

Brief update

Things are fairly quiet here at the moment - the calm before the storm, I suppose. I finished work last Thursday so have had a quiet week at home this week. I've been trying to keep myself organised and do a few small tasks each day.

I've found it quite strange using the internet at home! Usually, I do most of my internet stuff from work where I'm connected to the internet as soon as I log on. At home, I've only been used to popping on for the odd few minutes here and there. So I've had to train myself to take my time!

I've also spent a lot of time working on my sister's ring pillow and am really pleased with the way things are going, but no photos yet. It would be useful to get this finished before the baby arrives as I have no idea what time I'll have for that sort of thing after! I've also done a little stitching here and there, mainly on MTM and Lizzie's RR where I'm stitching LHN's Julia Flynn.

As I don't have any stitching photos to share today, I though I'd share one of me and my bump! Following Monkee Maker's recommendation, one of the things I've done this week is to install Picasa on my pc and I've been playing around with that, resulting in this collage.


37 weeks and all's well!

Occasional project

Since January, I've had this 'occasional project' on the go that I've been working on as and when I've felt like it, or when I haven't felt like working on anything else.

It comes from this book which I bought shortly after Christmas.


There are some wonderful embroidered boxes in the book as well as folded patchwork. There are boxes stitched with plastic canvas, fabric boxes using cardboard to make them rigid and boxes that use a mix of the two. I've found it quite inspirational for thinking about finishing some of my projects. For practice and to get a feel for making boxes, I've made the following sewing box from the book.


It's stitched on a number of pieces of plastic canvas which are then joined and lined.


When the stitching is finished you end up with a number of pieces as shown above which you stitch together and line to make the following:


I'm rather pleased with it, but at the same time I'm more excited about the ways in which I can make and use boxes in finishing other items and I have big plans!

Thanks to everybody for all the wonderful comments on 'A Celebration of Love'. I've taken a lot of your suggestions on board and am looking at finishing it using a plain fabric which I hope will complement my sister's dress, but am also going to overlay it partly with lace. Unfortunately, I can't get hold of either fabric or lace from my sister's dress, I'm just hoping that the ivory fabric I've now got will roughly tone in and that I'll be able to make something which has the same kind of look. I might even get started on it later this afternoon! I'm also now tempted to make her a small matching trinket box!

A Finishing Dilemma

I'm worried. Unnecessarily (of course). How on earth am I going to finish A Celebration of Love into a ring pillow for my sister's wedding?

I finished the stitching at the weekend so I can't avoid the finishing question for much longer.


I know I'm quite capable of making a small pillow, but I want this one to be perfect! And I want it to roughly tone in with my sister's wedding dress (light champagne taffeta overlaid with white lace).

So I'm worrying about it unnecessarily while scrabbling around trying, mainly unsuccessfully, to find some nice fabric for the pillow. And what about trims or something round the edges of the pillow? I feel in need of a bit of inspiration and not being able to find a fabric I like isn't helping!

At least I'm pleased with the stitching now. I swapped the white DMC for a white NPI silk and I think it looks much better. I like the fine braid too and the hint of sparkle that it adds.


I also bought a couple of nice lengths of ribbon the other day which will be attached in the centre of the middle heart once I can find a nice button to attach them with.

I know I'll get there in the end, I'll just worry about it along the way. That's just the way I am!


Today I'm officially 35 weeks pregnant, so I've definately lasted longer than last time. I've also cut down to only working 3 days a week which is nice and I'm starting to look forward to not working at all for several months!