PIF from Cindy

I got a very nice gift in the mail today ~ a very sweet biscornu from Cindy (Random Stitching Ramblings) as a PIF gift. Cindy was so sweet to note my love of purples and stitched this in a lovely variegated purple floss! I love it and it is taking a place of honour as my very first biscornu. She noted that it was the first one she had made and I was in awe of her amazing work. I have been too chicken to attempt such a thing myself! I only wish my photography skills were better!!

I have been enjoying my very quiet house, but I can admit that its actually a little too quiet for me? The first 2-3 days were great but now its eerie and even the dogs have become too quiet for me! I keep thinking I must remember this when the kids have me ready to pull my hair out and when they come home bringing in 3-4 friends a piece, expecting all to eat. Hubby and I were so bored with each other last night that when our brother-in-law dropped by with a friend, we almost jumped all over them.

So I will be very much looking forwards to Ann's (Knowledge and Needles) annual retreat this Saturday. She is expecting 30 stitchers to be there. I missed the last 2 retreats because of illness so I am very anxious to get to this one! There are going to be several other bloggers there so look for lots of pictures after this weekend!

Sadly to say though I am officially on a Stash Diet, so other than perhaps a little fabric, I don't expect to be bringing home any new stash...... :-(

PIF from Rachel

Look what the mailman brought:



Rachel sent this to me for her PIF gift! And it is spectacular!!! What a fantastic gift lovingly stitching with 'Amitie' in honour of friendship. Rachel, I am so thrilled with this beautiful little pillow and I was so delighted to open up the package and marvel at your amazing one-over stitching. Purple is one of my favourite colours, something that I don't indulge in very often, so that makes it something even more cherished. Thank you, dear friend!!!

I didn't get a chance to get a picture of this on the blog earlier....it was a busy weekend as we got Carrie and J-F moved on Saturday into their new apartment. Then Saturday night, hubby and I got down to business of organizing some of the empty space (gasp!) in our house. I have an empty bedroom that I am going to use for a sewing room. I haven't moved too much into there yet, although my desk and sewing machine have taken up residence, as I think I will repaint and I'm undecided over colours of green....there are just too many. I really lucked out early Saturday morning. We went to some garage sales before the moving truck arrived and I found a a white chest of drawers from Ikea for only $30. It will hold (or ahem, hide) a ton of my stitching goodies. Now I'm shopping on Craig's list for some white bookcases that I can use for storage in the closet. I thought this would be a little easier on my non existent budget than a closet organizer. And hubby is happily unpacking his computer(s) that he has sorely missed since he packed up his office for Kristy. He has taken over the basement finished rec room which will become his den/office/cave.

Here are some moving out pics. I forgot to take the camera to the new apartment which is really cute, its a 2-bedroom in a 5-plex building, built in the 1950's, so very roomy with large bright airy windows. Its only a 10-minute walk to the hospital where Carrie works. There are 2 entrances to the apartment, a main entrance and back fire escape, chicken Mum however decided she didn't like the fire escape however and will stick to the main entrance!


Carrie directing the moving men (her friends)


Hubby organizing as usual.


Nick sitting on the job...as usual.

PIF from Su

Look at the sweet surprise that graced my mailbox yesterday. Su (Contemplating My Needle and Thread) sent me a PIF ~ a lovely pinkeep, a design from Shepherd's Bush called My Garden. Its done on a very tiny count of fabric, she didn't specify, but it looks like a 36 or 40 ct. Her stitching is immaculate and her finishing of this tiny wee thing is just superb! What a treasure!!!

Thank you so much for this wonderful gift, Su! I love it and can't wait to put it in my basket of lovelies from my stitching friends!

PIF from Vonna

Look what arrived in my mail yesterday afternoon! A fantastic Pay-it-forward gift from Vonna! She made a beautifullly beaded scissor fob from the loveliest sparkly beads and included these lovely scissors with them, and some very pretty variegated DMC threads, along with the postcard from Indiana.

WOW is all I can say. I'm sure everyone has seen the wonderful works of art Vonna (The Twisted Stitcher) has created on her blog and to be the receiver of one of her lovely pieces has made me feel very special! Vonna puts so much thought and kindness into all that she does, seeing one her packages come into the mail with my name on it, has made me feel like I have won the lottery! Thank you, Vonna, for this very special gift that you made for me! I shall cherish it!!

PIF's

At least I can show some of what I have been working on.....

My PIF gift to Su:


This is called Quaker Tree, a freebie from The Workbasket. I used one of the new DMC colour variegated threads for this, and a hand-dyed fabric, 25 ct Vintage Country Mocha, very pretty and toasty coloured.

And my PIF for Sonya:




This one is called 'Think Spring' by Calico Crossroads, done on a 28 ct pink linen, and it used a really pretty Needle Necessities floss called Finian's Rainbow. I really fell in love with this fibre and I'm dying to use it again. Its used in the specialty stitches around the edges, which unfortunately don't show up too well in the picture.

I'm so happy that my first PIF's are out and now its time to send out these next batch!

Last night was a quilting night, I worked on the next stage of my Twisted Log Cabin blocks for my next class, its next week, but I needed to get my sashing done since the intersections involve different coloured stars and if I didn't get them all just quite right, I would end up with stars with different colours points = wonky stars.

PIF from Sonya

Look what Sonya (Silver Thistle) sent to me in the mail! This is her PIF - a stunning little cushion stitched in gorgeous shades of blue, and she sent some wonderful goodies, a sweet smelling sachet, a skein of Weeks Dye Works, a chart called Wee Hearts by Heart in Hand and embroidery scissors! Ohmigosh! I'm absolutely thrilled with the wonderful piece she stitched for me and to have sent all these lovely presents along with it! Thank you, thank you, Sonya!

I'm sorry that I couldn't seem to get a better picture of the detailing on this lovely cushion -Sonya's stitching is lovely and her finishing is wonderful! And I just realized I neglected to take a picture of the back where she sewed on a lovely charm.

I feel incredibly guilty as I have yet to get one of my PIF's finished and into the mail! I do have 2 1/2 done (yes, only 1/2 because I ran out of just 2 of those threads and have yet to run down to Michael's to find them) but that's only the stitching. They are still waiting for finishing. Where does the time go?

Thank you all so much for the suggestions for dinner the other night! I'm sure to use all your ideas up over the next couple of weeks when my dinner-turn rolls around again.