We Had A Wonderful Day!

As I wrote on the last post, I invited my online friend to my house last Monday!
It was the first met for both of us and also for our children, but we didn't feel it at all, we couldn't stop chatting!


As I also wrote on the last post, I gave her a "Darumachan" tape measure as a small gift.
I felt relief and was glad that she was happy to have it!
And she also brought a small gift to me! She stitched black rose on natural linen and made it into a drawstring bag!
This is absolutely beautiful, isn't this!

She used lace to cover strings, it's a nice idea and also very beautiful!

And she used lavender polka dot fabric for inside.
I love her taste very much, very natural and lovely!

Thank you so much S. for your kind heart!
I'm so happy that we could get along together so well!
Also our children (her daughter and my son) could get along together and they played together very much!
So we could talk and eat (lol) a lot!!

This time we didn't stitch together, but next time when we will be able to meet up, I want to stitch something small together!

Anyway, we could have wonderful time!
Thanks for visited me, S.
I really enjoyed our time, please come over here again whenever you have time!

By the way, here is my Grass Dog, a photo was taken on 11th, June.

Finally I cut his hair, I imagined Hidetoshi Nakata (ex-football player)'s hair style when he was an active player (now he has medium long hair).
But, it doesn't look like him at all!
It's like just an Onigiri (a rice ball), lol

I just started this as half-jokingly, but actually it is becoming quite fun to look after him!
Even though, wipe off his moldy face, it's fun, lol

My friend's daughter liked this dog very much, and also my son does!

Well... His hair grew enough, so I will try another turf kit (hedgehog one) sometime later!

"Darumachan" - Tape Measure Cover

As I wrote on the last post that I can't concentrate on what I have to do, at the moment, I just have made this "Darumachan" tape measure cover, just to change my mind!
And I invited my online friend to my house next Monday, so I will give this to her as a small present.
(A photos is a bit blurry, though...)


I stitched on 28ct linen to fit to the tape measure itself, so the stitched piece shows it a bit rough, though...
This is a freebie © A Word (Japanese blog), isn't it very pretty?!
I added red x green ribbon around the edge and also added strawberry charm the end of the tape!

Here is a photo of backing fabric which I used for this "Darumachan", I thought that this is perfect for this stitched piece.

I used cardboard for inside of this doll's head part, and added cotton inside.
To finish this off was a bit difficult, but it was fun!
I hope my friend will like it!

Here is my Grass Dog, a photo was taken on 7th of June.

Oh no, he is funny, I should cut his hair soon!
I'm thinking a lot how to cut his hair, uhmmm...
I also need to trim his mustache (it's his roots)!

Actually, day by day his face become moldy, and I have to wipe them off... ('~';)
Yes, he is a dirty man! lol

I found some kinds of these funny grass plants online, and am very interested in them!

But I have hedgehog one, too, so would try it first, after this Grass Dog!

Next time, I will be able to show you his (this grass dog) new hair style!
Please look forward to seeing him!

Design : "Darumachan" (freebie) © A Word
Fabric : 28ct DMC linen (white)
Threads : DMC
Finished as : Tape Measure Cover

Small Gift FOR Angela

Thank you everyone for leaving me warm comments, always.
I'd really appreciate for them, indeed!

Today I share another basket lid which I've made for my dear friend Angela.
I have made the same style of basket lid before, though I knew that Angela liked this very much and she LOVES pink (so do I), I have made the same style for her.
(The stitched piece is different from the last one...)


Actually I wanted to send this for her Birthday in Feb. (too late!!), but I wanted to add and make something special for her, but to make it, I needed to sew by sewing machine...
That is what made me lose my nerve and finally I couldn't sent it to her...
I'm so sorry Angela, next time when I pull out sewing machine, I will make one for you!

Here is the inside of the basket.
I used the same fabric as the front, and added pom-pom trim around the edge.
My mum also liked this basket lid, so when she has came here to see us, she has made the same one (but the stitching piece was different...) with me!

As I know that Angela loves pink so much, this time I made a "pink box" for her!
Everything were pink, I added pink ribbons, pink trims and braids, pink fabrics, pink buttons etc... etc...
And I wrapped the box with pink paper!

I've heard that she has received my parcel safely and she loved everything that I've sent her, so I felt very relief and was so happy to heard of it!

By the way, recently I've received lots of e-mails from my old friends and they all are now pregnant!!! OH my! What's going on!
Just 2 months ago, also my old friend (one of the member of our group) have just gave birth to a baby girl, and I promised to stitch something for a sweet baby girl!

BUT! now around me, there are totally five (besides they all are my dear friends!) friends are pregnant!!

Do I need to stitch for all of them, lol?

I should be an "Asura", I need 5 more pairs of hands, otherwise I can't manage everything!!

So I will stop to join in any exchanges for a while after June (except private exchanges or SALs)...
I hope I can present something even small for them to celebrate their new born babies!

By the way, here it is, my grass dog!
I knew that lots of people are looking forward to seeing his photo from their comments, so they might be laughing at him by now! LOL
My little son is also looking forward to seeing him every day, and he is very excited and after that laughing at him!

His hair grow so fast, don't you think?

This photo was taken on 25th, so now his hair is more longer than this photo!! lol
I think I will be able to tie his hair up with ribbon soon, lol

What kind of hair style would you like want me to do for him?

Any requests??
At the moment, I have no idea what to do next, so please give me some ideas of his hair style! :D

Basket lid design : from "De fil en aiguille no.21"
Fabric : 28ct DMC linen (white)
Thread : DMC #3779
Finished as : Basket lid

Happy Happy Yesterday!

Thank you so much for warm and nice comments to my Biscornu on the last post!
I really appreciate for them a lot!

Yesterday, I went out to TOKYO to meet up with my online friends!
Since I still have a small kid, I hadn't been able to gone out alone, but yesterday my husband looked after my son at home, so I could go out and could meet my friends in person!
I really appreciate for my husband.

Anyway, we met at Tokyo with five girls all together, one of them I have met before, but other three girls I hadn't met in person before, so I was a bit nervous at first, but once we met, we couldn't stop chatting and I didn't feel that it was the first met at all!
We went to see the small cross stitch exhibition together in Tokyo!

I'm living in the next Pref. to Tokyo, though actually I had never been there by train, so was very excited and found a funny poster at metro (photo above...).
In Japan, lots of girls do make-up in the train (lol), so this poster notices and says "Please do it at home" (lol).

After we went to the exhibition, we had Indian curry lunch, and went to famous and a long established store of handcraft "Echizenya".
I bought some Permin linens, linen bands, wire hangers, some over dyed threads, ribbons, twisted codes for finishing, etc...

After our shopping, we went out for tea, this time we had Japanese style desserts at "Tsujiri".

I had shaved ice with green tea and condensed milk syrup + three different tastes ice creams on top! It was so yum, but as I was just under the air conditioner, I became feel very chilly at the end!
My friends told me that I was (my hands were) shaking (lol)

Some of my friends brought some gifts and gave them to each one.
Oops, I didn't prepare anything for them!
So I will stitch or make something for them for the next time we meet up!
Here are the gifts that my friends gave me!

Top one is a card case which I can organize my members cards or cash cards etc...
She stitched Prairie Schooler's design for me! It's cute isn't it!
I always wanted a card case because inside of my purse was always messy with lots of cards...

Next one, is a small Biscornu and a lace knitting doiry!
She gave me a red one and this is very pretty in the small tart cup!
Compare to her pretty Biscornu, my Biscornu that I've made (last post) is very big though, about what size is average size as Biscornu??? When I told my Biscornu size to them, everyone laughed a lot! (lol)

And the last one, is a little pin cushion with hand-made pins!
It's so tiny and very pretty!
And bead head pins are so beautiful!

Thank you so much for everyone to took your time to work on them!!
I'd appreciate for them a lot!

We were like high school girls, couldn't stop chatting, though time flies so fast we had to go home...
I had so happy time with them, even though it was the first met to most of them!
We are planning to meet up next month, too.

Next month we will visit one of thems' house, and will do some stitch together!
I'm so looking forward to see them again!

By the way, here is my grass dog (oops, he has no name yet...), this was taken on 22, May.
His hair is growing and growing so fast, now he has quite long hair, lol!

He also had long nose hair (LOL), so I pull it out, because it's too funny to see his face, and I wanted him to be handsome, lol

I'm going to let him hair grow more and more!
I also have different turf growing kit in hedgehog version, so after this dog's hair grew enough, I will try hedge hock one, too!

Please look forward to see his next photo!

My First Biscornu (Atalie)

Since I've finished to stitch for Mother's day gift, I've started to stitch Biscornu for May challenge of Monthly Finishing Challenge.
And here it is, my first Biscornu which I really wanted to stitch!


This is just before I sewed two pieces together, this design is just beautiful, isn't this!
I really love this design and wanted to stitch so much since the first time I saw it.

But even after I've got this chart, I had no confidence to finish off as Biscornu...
After I've joined in Monthly Finishing Challenge, I've tried two new things so far, one is Needle Roll and another one is this Biscornu.
This time as I had this beautiful chart, I thought that it's now or never!

Anyway, here is a close up photo of Spider Web Roses.
I love Spider Web Roses very much, that reminds me - my first Needle Roll was also used Spider Web Roses, too!

This time, I didn't have recommended threads at all, so I've chosen suitable threads from my stock.
I used Atalie Silk thread which my French friend Domy (she writes blog in English, too!) has gave me before, GAST and DMC, and stitched on 28ct DMC linen.

And I just have found a big metal rose at my usual local shop, and it was just perfect for this Biscornu!
This photo doesn't show the metal rose colour justice, but it's shinning and very beautiful in the real life.

Here is the back of Biscornu.
For the back, I just added normal, big pink button on it.
And actually the square wasn't satin stitch in the chart, but I couldn't understand how to stitch by the introduction in French, so I just have done satin stitch as same as the front.

I'm so glad that I finally could stitch this design and could make Biscornu!

And also I'm so happy how this turned out, even though I didn't use recommended threads.

What will be the next month challenge?
I'm looking forward to know it, but at the same time a bit nervous, lol

I'm going to start "HoE LHN Exchange" piece from today!
And also will start "Workbasket Quaker Animal Exchange" in a few days!
Both of them, I have been thinking about how to finish off, all the time...

By the way, I bought funny thing yesterday.
Actually I had been wanting this from a long time ago!
There were human version, and actually I wanted the one from these version, but recently I can't find them at all, and all have been changed to animal version, so I bought dog one.

This is grass dog (I think I should be his godmother!), he is bald at the moment though, turf will come up from his head sometime later!
And I can change his hair style as I wish!
I'm going to report on this grass dog from now on when I update my blog!
Enjoy and please look forward his photo!

Design : Atalie Mars 2007
Fabric : 28ct DMC Linen (white)

Threads : La soie ATALIE - SHIRAZ, GAST - Dried Thyme, DMC - #815
Finished as : Biscornu