Two finishes
A 4 hrs trainride and a day off can make a difference in your stitching LOL. I managed to get two projects finished, the Prairie Schooler was started and finished on Saturday and Snowden today. I got all the stitching done on Friday while taking the train to Utrecht but saved the felt for tonight.
The Prairie Schooler is a small project, though since you have to fill in the background, it takes a while. I will finish this as one of the gloves, just need to cut the gloves and sew them together.

I also made good progress on my surprise project for my friend. I had to rip part of my stitching tonight though, as I misplaced a motif and of course didn't figure that out until I had done half of the other motif too.

I got tagged by Ashleigh to answer these questions. I need to pick five answer them and send to three other people. I've not decided who to send to yet ... most of the people I know will just delete as spam, so I might hold off on that bit :)

My answers are below.

If I could be a scientist . . .
If I could be a farmer . . .
If I could be a musician . . .
If I could be a doctor . . .
If I could be a painter . . .
If I could be a gardener . . .
If I could be a missionary . . .
If I could be a chef . . .
If I could be an architect . . .
If I could be a linguist . . .
If I could be a psychologist . . .
If I could be a librarian . . .
If I could be an athlete . . .
If I could be a lawyer . . .
If I could be an inn-keeper . . .
If I could be a professor . . .
If I could be a writer . . .
If I could be a llama-rider . . .
If I could be a bonnie pirate . . .
If I could be an astronaut . . .
If I could be a world famous blogger . . .
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world . . .
If I could be married to any current famous political figure ...

If I could be a librarian, I could finally read all those books that are on my To read list. I have a pile of books that I haven't read and with the shop, my job, the designing and my stitching I don't have much time to read.

If I could be a gardner, I would have a wonderful garden, filled with flowers, fruits and vegetables. As it is, I don't have a green thumb at all.

If I could be an inn-keeper, I'd have the most welcoming inn in the Netherlands. It has always been one of my carreer options, so who knows...

If I could be a world famous blogger, I'd make sure that everybody would at least try to stitch and find out if they like it.

If I could be a professor, I'd be a professor in stitching. Just imagine, doing what I love most and even getting paid for it :).

Second UFO finish
This is a workshop I did last year for the shop: stitching on silk gauze. I had about 75% done and then it got neglected. I picked it up yesterday and got it done today. I had forgotten how much fun it is to stitch something this small. The design is only 13/4 inches square. I'll have to decide about how to frame it. It certainly feels good to have another UFO finished.

I will probably finish Snowden tomorrow, he is coming along nicely. And my next two projects are already kitted up. I want to stitch my new design and I have everything ready for Prairie Schooler's Garden Gloves. These are rather small designs, though they are 100% filled with cross stitches. The gloves look so cool and I can't wait to try to sew one together. I have this nice piece of Weeks Dye Work felt and plan to use that.

Another LHN finish
I put in the final stitches on Spot of Coffee this evening. This was so much fun to stitch. I have no idea yet on how to finish it. Maybe LHN will come out with another coffee sampler and I'll just wait to frame them in the same style.

Now that this one is done I will have to think of which other project I will kit up. I would like to finish my lunch project before I start anything new. It is so easy and tempting to start something new, but in the end there are only so many hours that you can stitch. My lunch project is well on its way to being finish and I might want to wait till the new LHN Daisy Lane Cottage arrives so that I can start that one. I would like to stitch this one and finish it into a little wallhanging and put it on the door to my livingroom.

I am also working on a surprise for a friend. It's a new design and I hope it'll work out the way I have it in my head. It feels good to be back at the drawing table.

I did it!
I gathered all my courage and made a start on Mouline Rouge by Long Dog Designs. For me this design is HUGE. It's 364 x 364 stitches and must be the largest project I have ever started. I will be taking it slowly with this project, probably stitching on it every Sunday evening. The picture below is after roughly 2 hours of stitching. It is the upperright corner of the design.

I use 100/3 silk from Au ver a Soie and the colornumber is 524. It is a really deep burgundy red color and I love how it shows up on the 40 count antique white Newcastle linen. The total project will be 45,5cm x 45,5cm.

I am almost done with Spot of Coffee. I made a mistake in the outside border and of course didn't find out till I was working on the last side. I just need to add a couple more stitches and then this one is done too.

Annemiek

The Bookshelf is finished
I got some more stitching done tonight and finished The Bookshelf. I love how this design turned out on the 40 count fabric. And working with just one strand is a lot easier than working with two. Here's how The Bookshelf turned out:

And of course I needed to put in a few stitches in Spot of Coffee as well. This design is just as addictive as the coffee it praises.

I think that I'll be able to finish this before Friday when the shop is open. It'll be nice to show it to the customers.

I gave in to temptation......
And started Spot of Coffee by Little House Needleworks. This is so much fun and soooooo easy to stitch. I have made considerable progress this evening. The picture is after about 3 hours of stitching. I'm stitching it on 28 count Vintage Cashel linen which is wonderful. I converted the threads to Venus and love it. This will certainly be a quick finish. Maybe I can bring it into the shop when we're open this Friday and Saturday. I still need to finish my one exchange gift, the other is all ready to mail.

Apart from the stitching I went through my leaflets and selected the designs I would really like to stitch one day. My idea is to make a seperate file for this and then when I want to start something, I can look through this file first. Also, if I want to kit something up, I can go through the file. Apart from this hopefully helping me to get more done, it is also a lot of fun. Maybe I'll never be able to stitch all these designs, but at least I'll have fun going over them.

I still need to do a part of the metallic thread on The Bookshelf. I have half of it done, now the other half. I told myself I could stitch on Spot of Coffee tonight, but tomorrow I'll finish The Bookshelf. Not to mention my exchange gift. After these two are done I think I'll go back to BC's The Barnyard. The second installment doesn't look overly complicated and I'm all in the mood for some easy stitching.

Also a picture of Miss Murphy. This comes from not making your bed in the morning. She escaped to the bedroom and cuddled up beneath my comforter.

Almost done
I have been quitte busy today. I finished one of my exchange gifts. As this was the first time I'd finish something like this, I made a model out of regular fabric. Took me two tries but then it worked. I will send off the model to a friend of my mom's. Once the gift is received I will share a picture here.
Then I proceeded with The Bookshelf. This is on my April list of goals but I won't get it done completely. I just need to do the gold metallic. Here's how it looks now:

I wonder if you will be able to see the metallic in the picture. Guess tomorrow will show that.

I have Spot of Coffee all kitted up and will probably put in the first stitches tomorrow. It's not as if I don't have anything else to stitch on, but I love this design and think it's a quick stitch.

Tomorrow I will finish the other exchange gift. I "just" need to stitch the initials and put it together. Should be nice to do that while having my morning coffee. I wanted to finish HIHN's Harriet as a cube but my mom still has the batting so I guess that'll have to wait till a next time. But I can finish my mother's day gift so that it will be all wrapped up for next week.

A picture to share
This is my second update today, but I wanted to share my progress on The Bookshelf. It's going a little slow as the 40 count is a bit harder to see but I still very much enjoy it.

I still hope that I can finish it this month.

Weekend: a new stitcher and exchange gifts
Mood:  bright

My trip to The Hague and Delft was great. I really enjoyed spending time with my stitching friends. We had a lot of fun discussing the business, our stitching plans, new designs and everything else that came up. The weather on Saturday was beautiful, very sunny. We had a BBQ in the evening and could sit outside till 8:30pm. Quite unusual for the Netherlands at this time of the year.

In the train I didn’t get to stitch as much as I planned. A little girl came over and asked me what I was doing. So I explained cross stitch to her and she then showed me a pillow she had made at school out of a jeans. It was cute but needed some embellishments. As I didn’t have any buttons or charms with me, I offered to stitch her initial. It turned out that I didn’t have a nice alphabet with me, so I told her I’d stitch her name. Turns out her name is Anna-Marie. So, in about 20 minutes I stitched like crazy and got it all done just before she had to change trains. She really liked her name tag and who knows, she migt become a stitcher one day.

I managed to get both my exchange gifts stitched and do part of the finishing for one. All I have to do now is stitch the initials and the year. I will use next weekend to do the finishing. It’s a bit close to the deadline, but at least then I can pull out the sewing machine and leave it on the table.

Tomorrow I will cut my fabric for Mouline Rouge and I may even be tempted to put in the first stitches on Wednesday. I think this will be a lot of fun to work on, though I’m still rather impressed by it’s size (364 x 364 stitches).

Quick update
Tomorrow I'll have more news on my weekend but I wanted to share the progress on Himmel und Holle. I have been working on it Friday and today and love how it's coming along. The blocks that I'm stitching now are really soothing for the brain.