cover kits, cards, coasters and scrapbooking

This week the latest issue (242) of Cross Stitch Crazy is out and I`ve got several projects in this mag - technically, two, but one of them is 7 cards, so... Anyway, first up is the cover kit:

This Emma Congdon design has been turned into a funky wee hanging on green felt - I love the cute little dowel rod they put in the kit! 😃

Also in this issue, there are Fiona Baker`s 7 applique cards with the lovely butterflies... most of which you can`t see in this pic...

...but they all make sense once the wing-shaped pieces of fabric are added:

In other news, we had a great Easter. My mom came to stay with us for the school break so we did some "going to places & seeing things" again - and not only that but we actually managed to put all our postcards, tickets, etc. in the frame that`s been waiting patiently since Christmas, so now we have a permanent "scrapbook on display". 😊

A lovely reminder of our trips to York, Rogie Falls, Balmoral, Blair Castle, Kenmore, Queen`s View, Oban, Mull, Iona, Dunnotar Castle,
the Discovery in Dundee, Fort Augustus, Loch Ness, Falkirk, Stirling and Glasgow

The day my mom flew back to Hungary was my gran`s birthday, so I made a card and a coaster for her that mom took home and since gran already received them, I can share their photos here. Hope you all had a great Spring break too, happy stitching!

a couple of new(ish) publications

Just a quick update this time (I`m still busy with the cushion for Gold plus Easter plus sickness plus my Mum`s here). By the way, she loved the hedgehog and last night she asked me for a wee bag for her camera so I knitted this for her:

I`m pretty chuffed with this: first time I`ve knitted eyelets so my I-cord sits snuggly... all in all, a neat-looking little bag :)

Anyway, I`m just updating here cause I bought issue 221 of Cross Stitch Collection today and I love the tea cosy + tea towel + coaster set they made with my stitching on linen:

Also, although I posted my own pics a few days (weeks?) ago, here`s a link to the official photos of the cheery Easter cards that appeared in the previous issue of Collection. 

If I don`t "see" you before next weekend, Happy Easter everyone!

coasters

I`m a very happy bunny today - I have finished the remaining 8 coasters! Don`t get me wrong, it`s not that I didn`t like the design (it is mine, after all) but as I pointed it out last night at the Club - which, as I have since found out, DOES have a name: Stitches (a thousand apologies, Karen!) - so anyway, as I was saying last night, to me the most alluring aspect of cross stitching is the zillion different designs I see in my stitchy books and magazines, and if I`m honest, I don`t really like doing the same pattern twice. And then I find myself working on the same design for 3 days, producing coasters like a conveyor belt... Long story short, I`m glad they`re finally finished.

In fact, I was so glad that headache or no headache, I wrapped them in cellophane...

... and jumped straight in my car to go to the castle before it`s time to pick Gregory up from school. Of course, I`d have been even MORE glad if I have actually FOUND someone there!  I just got home after a nice wee drive in the country and I still don`t know what`s going on because my friend, Lynda, who works in their tearoom, is not answering her mobile... I`m thinking, she`s either in a staff meeting and that`s why the doors were closed too - or something worthy of the attention of Agents Mulder and Scully has happened. I`ll try to find out later, plus I also need to know whether I`d find somebody there tomorrow - I don`t want these coasters to sit on my shelf for too long, after all: that`s not why I`ve been rushing to finish them for the past 3 days, neglecting my chessboard and all...

I have to go in a minute to pick up the Wee Man but first I`d like to share with you some very important information:

1. the new Listerine Zero is, indeed, more friendly to my mouth than the original one: it doesn`t seem to scrape the lining off my tongue and my eyes don`t want to pop out every time I rinse my mouth, so it`s a very pleasant experience.

2. I have also learnt this week that if you boil an egg for roughly 40 minutes (due to important stitching), it tends to explode and cover every available surface in your kitchen - a very unpleasant experience!