One year in review : 2010

All I can say is that it's not been a great stitching year. I usually stitch more than this year with an average of 10 pieces stitched. This year I only stitched 5. Not good. Not good at all. I can mainly blame it on my mood that had more ups and downs this year than usually. I still love stitching so I hope I'll go back to more stitching this year ( because I didn't loose my mojo for byuing kits and charts ... bad bad me . )

My first finish of 2010 was a Christmas cat by Margaret Sherry ( Anchor) . I really loved that one . Isn't it cute?

Then I moved to Summer fruits by Lanarte, a Marjolein Bastin design. I wouldn't be me if I didn't stitch at least a Lanarte a year, right? I totally fell in love with that one. It does look like a painting in real. Marjolein Bastin designs are so beautiful. I can't really resist !!!

In march, I also stitched a design that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it: Stitch in time by Margaret Sherry ( Anchor kit). I chose a hand dye fabric by Silkweaver and I don't regret it at all . They both match perfectly in my humble opinion.

My next finish was Pink poppy flower by Lanarte. I'm not very fond of that one and still not sure if it was the right decision to not stitch the green ???

And it won't be a good year if I didn't stitch a Somebunny to love pattern: I stitched room for one more by DMC on a Silkweaver fabric. I always love stitching for Christmas. Usually I stitch holidays patterns on july.

The one was left behind. Yes, there is one that makes me hide in shame, one that I like but one that has too many white/creams ... I got so bored that I had to start a new one. It's a cute pattern though. I just need to get the desire to pick it up again and finish it ( a little bit like with my fuschias). I have spent already 4 months on that one.

As you can see, it's a disapointing stitching year as I stitch usually more. This is what I had stitched in 2009 if you want to compare. I'm mostly happy with my choices. My next one will certainly be a smaller one as I have a bad habits of choosing larger pieces that take forever to complete ( especially when I get bored with some colors - like right now with the greens on my Lanarte.)

I hope you all had a great stitching year. I'm hoping to go back to blogging almost daily. I missses it but got ... lazy? I'm hoing to stitching more ( maybe by choosing smaller projects? ) and I'm especially looking forward peeking at all your beautiful stitching that always inspires me ( and makes me buy more stash !!! )

Thanks for your great support. I wishing you all a great year. .

Pure love

I'm weak ! Very weak! I once again fell in love with a pattern. I can't blame myself though because the design is too beautiful to resist ! See yourself and tell me you don't like it .

Isn't it beautiful? I love the colors ! Now I have to find a way to get it because the more I look at it the more I want it .

Because stitchers are generous.

A while ago, I discovered some cute little kits through my friend Laurence who had bought some. I fell in love with the cute little girls designed by Gorjuss . Like I'm a curious one, I searched the internet to learn more about the artist and found their blog . The little girls are painted by a scottish artist named Suzanne. I love her paintings. Going through the blog, I discovered that she is very sick and can't really keep drawing at the moment. With her husband, they own a family business: she draws and he's in charge of printing and selling her artwork. Since she's been sick, they are going through tough times as she can't paint anymore new paintings. You can read more about her story here and read about their latest update here. I was very touched by her story and can really understand the emotional and financial burden we have to carry when a love one is very sick.

Not a long time ago, they decided to turn her paintings into cross stitch. They are distibuted by Bothy Threads. You can also buy their kits with Sew and so or other cross stitch stores who sell bothy Threads kits.So if you have some stitching gifts to buy for Christmas, think about those cute little kits : I'm sure the person who'll get them will be very happy and you'll help a family who is going through hard times.

Here are some of their cross stitch designs, Emma just loves them !!! I'll buy her one later on as she wants to learn how to cross stitch.

I the packaging !



Aren't they cute?


Please, feel free to spread the word about Suzanne's story and Gorjuss kits on your blogs. I have a special thought for her, her children and her husband.

You thought I didn't want to blog anymore?

No I didn't give up on blogging. Time flies and there are not enough hours in a day to do all I would like to do. One reason of my silence and my lack of blogging mojo is my sister in law Maria. If you are a regular reader, you may remember her: she had lost her strenght in her legs and nobody couldn't really tell what was happening to her ( or so we thought). Actually, her health kept deteriorating slowly and during the summer, she was also loosing the strenght in her arms. Then one day, we got the phone call that we feraed. Maria needed to be hospitalized. So she went to live with her sister in Guadalalajara and she was able to see our children with the webcam. Internet is really great for families like us who have relatives in different countries of the world. Suddendly, Maria's health got worse and sadly on august 30 th, she passed away. That was a very sad time for our family and especially for Chuy as Maria took care of him when their mom passed away. She was a beautiful lady with a strong character. She dedicated her life to her father and she only outlived him for some months. We are missing her a lot, especially on sundays when we used to call her on the phone. I'm glad Emma was able to play the violin for her especially spring by Chopin. We learned after her death that she had a form of MS but that the doctors didn't want to tell the family because they were nothing they could do to save her and that she had only one year to live. That got me very angry because we would have done everything we could for Chuy to see her again. I don't know what those doctors were thinking ...

You also may wonder if I'm still a stitcher or just a stash buyer but I'm happy to let you know that I still stitch and actually, I did finish two pieces. I got bored with my Lanarte and started a smaller one: Pink poppy flower by Lanarte. I thought it was a small one but I almost got bored with all that pink !!! I didn't stitch the green ( I know your're not surprised !!! )

And this is what it could look like with a ( virtual) frame:

Then I got in a Christmas mood and decided to stitch a Somebunny to love design called : room for one more by DMC. I stitched it on an opalescent lugana: Poltergeist by Silkweaver. It was a cute stitch and I really like it.

I didn't feel like going back to my other Lanarte so I started another one and I decided to start Nestingbox with pink flowers. I've always loved that cute Marjolein Design. I'm not going to stitch the little birdies under the main design because I feel it draws all the attention from the center of the piece.

This is my progress:

We celebrated Halloween on sunday. I didn't feel like doing anything but the kids insisted on having a little party so we invited some of their friends, decorated the house and here are the pictures:

I tried to carve a witch but as you can see, I didn't manage to really follow the template I found on the internet.

Emma was a cute witch.

Our neighbor decided to wear a mask to get in the Halloween spirit.

It's the last day of the kids fall vacations and tomorrow is back to school !!!

I hope I won't wait that long again to show you my latest progress but you can always follow me on Facebook like some of you do if you want to. Thanks for being here and still be my stitching friends.

Happy stitching !!!

Summer vacations

We started our vacations with Steb's surgery. It went well but it stressed me out a lot ... He was able to go home that same night. He recovered quickly and after four days, nobody could tell he was recovering from surgery.

He threw up in the recovering room so they kept his IV until he ate a snack.

We went to visit a small island on wednesday. It's about an hour drive from our house. Here is the view from the boat:

On the island:

Pierre resting on the shade:

How fun it is to play on the beach !!!

There was an exhibit where we could learn how to make knots:

My kids being silly:

Chuy found this cactus and asked me to take a picture ( it was huge !!! ) :

The excitement of the day was to take a boat to go to the island ( even though it was a short trip : only 5 minutes) . Steb really loved it !!!

Back on the main land, we stopped for a snack:

Then it was time to go back home and Steb didn't resist too long to a good nap in the car !!!

You may wonder if I still stitch? I do! Look: this is my Sweet dreams by Lanarte ( but I'm taking a small break : too many 1/2 and whites ... )

I decided to start a small one and I chose this Lanarte: pink poopy flower. It's a small project and it doesn't have too many color changes. I may not stitch the greens as I'd like it can look like a full flower and not like a square.

And here is my yesterday progress:

Thanks for stopping by. I'll try to update more often !!!