Sunday, 6th June 2010

Now we’re in business!

Sorry - couldn't resist!  I just had to come back to this post and put in an extra photo of the little birdhouse.  It's my favourite thing for the day!

It didn’t take that long this afternoon to really see a difference in the little cottage too. I am really enjoying doing this one just as much as I did the Sea Shanty. It will end up a really pretty little house and I look forward to each step.

The first floor is now wallpapered and I am waiting for the paste to dry thoroughly before I slice out the dormer window area with a sharp craft knife. It looks a bit odd in the meanwhile but when it dries, the piece over the window will go forward to cover the front (window) wall of the dormer, and the side walls and roof of the dormer will go on. Very clever, really. By the way – for US readers, it is the second floor vbg. For Aussies, Kiwis and Brits it is the first floor, and the lower floor is the ground floor.

Halfway through papering the first floor, I realised that I hadn’t taken a photo of the front porch roof, so here it is, papered and glued in place. It will look much neater with the trim over the apex of course.

And while I have waited for glue to dry or been in the lounge room keeping Peter company rather than tucked cosily away in my lovely workroom, I have been busy too, going cross-eyed. Not mini petitpoint this time, but quarter scale flowers kits. I posted a photo previously of the clematis vine without any flowers. Well, here it is with the flowers on it:

And I’ve also finished putting the flowers around the base of the bird house. It’s really sweet, isn’t it? I’m very happy with it and it was sooooo much quicker to do than the clematis with all those fiddly leaves! The main thing that held me up was finding some paper clay for the ‘soil’ around the base. I finally had to take a bit out of one of my kits because my container of paperclay is here – somewhere – but who knows where! I did bring it around from my brother’s house but cannot find where it’s been put. The trouble is that things get moved by different people and put in strange places - I guess it will all turn up eventually but it would be great if everything could go where they should straight away. Men!!

Thesequarter scale flower kits really are ‘diminutive delights’ – here they are alongside a ruler, which gives a bit more of an idea of just how tiny they are.


And have I had enough? Well no! I actually have at least 20 more kits to make up. And call me a glutton for punishment but I haven’t given up the idea of lengthening the clematis yet either! Now that’s just insane lol! Tonight I started on some delphiniums and hollyhocks. The leaves are painted and are drying right now.

So will they go into the garden in Miss Marple’s cottage? Maybe – or they might go in ‘Story Book Cottage’ since I bought the landscaping kit for MMC. Wherever they go they are adorable.

And now I will have to wait until tomorrow when I can buy another new blade for my knife before I tackle cutting that wallpaper.  I have noticed that this 'Grandma Stover's' glue seems to take a long time to dry in this cool weather, and I've made the mistake of trying to trim the papers too early a couple of times - fortunately no catastrophe resulted, but I am nervous anyway about cutting this part and don't want to risk making a boo-boo here!  So for the rest of the night I will content myself with doing some of my neglected mini petit point.

Thursday, 3rd June 2010

Pressing on Regardless

I couldn’t wait any longer. There’s still no word from Sue Herber about the order or about the flooring paper; I think there are some shows on at the moment or soon, and perhaps she is preparing for or away at those. So while Peter was off collecting Nathan from the workshop and taking him for an appointment, I went on with constructing the cottage, having decided that I will fit the flooring paper inside later.

As I said before, piecing the paper together on the ground floor has resulted in a bit of a mess and there isn’t enough left to do the first floor at all. I do have enough to do the conservatory but the idea of doing it in black and white tiles appealed to me. I left the pieced paper on the ground floor, and went ahead with adding the walls to the floor.


And here the instructions are a little bit confusing. The diagram associated with this step shows the wall placement, but it shows all the walls attached. And the instructions do not specify that you do not attach wall E, in which the front door is located, until later. It is only when you read further that you realise that you don’t add Wall E at this stage. But the instructions are also not specific as to when you attach the two side walls for the front entry section. These are added at this stage. In this respect it would help to have slightly clearer instructions, perhaps photos like the Sea Shanty had.

I decided that because of the small area inside I would put the floor in after I had done the wallpapering. I’m not sure that was a good idea now. To try and make sure the floor went in even, I first marked the line where the ceiling/first floor would go then did the wallpapering as instructed. The wallpaper is very pretty and delicate, and I love the little border on the top one, which is cut off and put along between the two sections.


The photo was taken before the wallpaper was properly dry so it isn’t trimmed properly yet. I think I will have enough left after I do the conservatory part to trim around the front door as well, or perhaps around the archway into the front entranceway.

Finally I fitted the floor and glued it in place. But it was very tricky getting it to sit even, in spite of the line marked on the walls. It kept wanting to dip down at one corner or another and I’d even it up only to find that it had slipped down out of position when I clamped it to hold it in place to dry. Very frustrating indeed. I think I got it straight in the end though.

And I experimented with some black and white paper for the conservatory floor. I had to trim the middle down and t hen trim the border to fit of course but I think it looks okay. When I printed it out it came out with a bit of a greyish tinge but it’s not bad. I will spray it with some preservative and probably some semi gloss finish, to make it a bit more like tiles. In this photo it looks blue rather than black but it isn’t. And it isn’t glued to the floor yet either.

So I’m very happy with the progress tonight! It was a pretty tedious day – bad headache from high blood pressure, tedious time unzipping several hundred backup files that I’ve moved over to my new computer (yet another long story!), then I found that we could have visited our friends after all when we thought it was off – so I figured I deserved some indulgence tonight and sure did have some lol!

But I have been busy the last few nights too – and have come to the conclusion that the clematis vine is probably not the best 1:48 flower kit for a beginner to start with lol! Those tiny leaves are just 1/8” long and there are nine of the teeny things to every stem, each cluster being a bare ½” long. Now I like my clematis vine to be rather lush but I have to say that my idea of the size it was going to end up being has steadily reduced! It really has been a slow process and to my mind the vine still isn’t as lush as I would like it to be.

I have made all the flowers – they were quite quick to do in comparison to the leaves. But I want to add more to the vine itself before I add the flowers.

The first photo shows the vine. Here in the second photo you can see the size of the vine, being held in my hand. And in the third photo you can see a closer view of the individual leaves. At first I had thought that I would make the vine quite long, to go up the side of a door or garden arbour and over the top. It was also quite generous in order to go around behind the arbour or along part of a wall as well. I might still lengthen it, if I have the

patience to make sufficient leaves. I’ll see how it looks when I’ve made up all the leaves.

I’ve also made up a birdhouse kit from SDK Miniatures (as is the Clematis kit) and finished the ivy vine around the stand it stands on. That was not nearly as fiddly as the clematis! I still have the flowers to go around the base, so I haven’t taken photos of it yet.

It is a great feeling to have progress to report and to see things starting to take shape.

Sunday 30th May, 2010

A day of mishaps....

It was a 'mini day' today, celebrating the fact that our washing machine has broken down again for the second time in a week (may as well look on the bright side, right?) and that my back is too sore to be moving boxes and things. Besides, Peter was busy clearing out the caravan to put it in for repairs and a service tomorrow, so he couldn't finish cutting the new shelves to the right length and I couldn't sort out the workroom any more either. I thought that by tonight I would be posting photos of Miss Marple's Cottage (MMC) with the walls up and the wallpaper on, and also some quarter scale flower kits made up. 

It all went quite well to begin with, the plastic brick on the walls and the plastic roof sheeting on the roof bits adhered well and the glue dried well overnight.  I cut the bits apart this morning and put them back in their little plastic bags, after I had photographed them.  Then I papered the floors with the flooring paper.  What a disaster!  I turned the pieces over to smooth the paper and it was all bubbly!  Efforts to remedy it just made it worse.  In the end I removed the paper, destroying some of it in the process - removed the remnants of glue from the pieces and dried off the wooden flooring.  Then tried to use the paper again.  I thought that if I was careful I could manage to re-cover the floors in the two floors of the main house part, if I pieced it carefully on the ground floor.  I have some 1:48 tiling that I could use in the conservatory section.  Well, I pieced it carefully and it looked terrible and there still wasn't enough to do the 1st floor anyway!  I do have some sheets of flooring but they don't come in a size big enough for the ground floor - they will need piecing together and I can't find them at the moment, with the move from the caravan to the house.  Sigh!

So I thought I'd check the folder again where I keep my quarter scale wall and flooring papers - and knocked over a glass of water, all over the desk.  Which was very cluttered at the time, with things that should not have been there!  Fortunately I have a container with household cloths in it on the desk and I grabbed a handful of those and stemmed the flow, and cleaned it all up.  Nothing got damaged, and I dried everything off, put things away, cleaned off the working area on the desk and washed my paint brushes that I had been using earlier.

I walked in from the kitchen where I had been doing that, with a fresh glass of water and my laptop.  Put the laptop on the nice clean desk surface, put the glass of water out of the way and decided to look up some items I want to order to go in Miss Marple's Cottage, moved the laptop - and knocked the glass of water over again!

All in all, my desk has had a really good clean down today lol.  I did do some more painting of stripwood, windows and door after that, and tried to work out how the fireplace goes together, but by then Peter was home again. 

So I joined him in the lounge room after tea with my supplies for flower making.  I was trying to decide which kit to make after I had finished the clematis and the daisy kits.  What a laugh!  By 10.30 I had assembled precisely six stems only of clematis leaves and four flowers!  I'd painted them earlier or wouldn't even have done that much.  The flowers don't take long but those tiny leaves are very temperamental and they are not co-operative at all.  My idea of the  size of the vine has progressively reduced as the evening has gone on! 

But the mishaps of the day hadn't finished yet.  I had started off working on one of those little portable tables in front of my armchair earlier in the night, then moved to a laptray. Peter brought me a hot drink before bed, lovely man, and moved the little table, which upset the balance of the lap tray - and everything landed on the floor: hot milk all over me and the floor, scissors, tweezers, flower and leaf sheets, paint tray, brushes, water.....the whole kit and kaboodle!  I couldn't believe it.  Three times in one day.  Plus spoiling the flooring paper.  What a day.  I think perhaps I should stick to stitching in the evenings vbg.

Saturday 29th May, 2010

Next time read the instructions properly.....

Friday afternoon I sneaked some time to start on Miss Marple's Cottage - at last!  I haven't posted photos of the Sea Shanty because I need to touch up the water a little bit, but it is basically finished.  Tomorrow (or today, it is half pst midnight now) I hope to do just that and take photos.  However, I was able to start painting the windows for the conservatory yesterday, before we had to leave for our appointment with the doctor to have our flu jab.  These windows are so beautifully cut and delicate, and take quite a while to paint but I did one side and left them to dry.

Tonight I did the other side and then it was time to join Peter in the lounge room and keep him company while we watched Midsomer Murders, one of our favourite shows.  I thought that the rest of that part of the instructions was just painting and when I was set up in the lounge room I skipped down to the next section, which is the actual assembly, without checking.  You'd think I'd know better, wouldn't you?

The first part of assembly went really well.  I glued the supports under the flooring and let it dry.  Then I did a 'dry run' and taped the walls around the floor. It all went together quite well and I was surprised at just how tiny this little building is.  The Sea Shanty is considerably more spacious. 

So once I knew just how it all fitted together I went ahead and glued it.  Big mistake.  Then I finally read the next part and realised that I had goofed! I had neglected to read through all the first part which didn't just deal with painting the wall trims and the fireplace etc, but also says to glue the walls to the brick paper.  Oooops!  So into the microwave with it, and dismantling it.

 Mind you, there appears to be an error in the instructions as well because it tells you to glue all the walls around the floor.  Then later on it tells you to wallpaper inside the front section and to hold wall E (which has the front door in it) against the front of the house.  So I guess you don't glue that wall on at all at this stage.

After taking it all apart I finally did the right thing and read the instructions more thoroughly, glued the walls to the brick paper and have left it all to dry.  And I have also glued the roof parts to the roofing paper.  So I will leave them to dry overnight, weighed down with some books. 

The conservatory will need more coats of paint to give it a really good finish, and I will do my usual thing and paint the inside of the walls before papering them as well.  When I was first beginning to do miniatures I bought all sorts of how-to books, because I didn't have a club to belong to and wanted to learn how to do things.  In one of them it said that painting the walls white shows the colours in wallpaper to its best advantage. 

I also do the walls with presanding sealer to even out the surface somewhat.  I think that's more important than ever in this smaller scale.  

I'm always very excited to start a new project, whether it's stitching or constructing and I'm excited to be starting this one.  Hopefully it won't be as drawn-out as the Sea Shanty was.   

Thursday 27th May, 2010

More forgotten treasures.....

Peter and I were trying to reduce the mess in the house yesterday - we had so much that had been brought in from the storage container and it couldn't be put away until the curtain brackets in the workroom were up!   I spoke about it a couple of days ago: the shelving units had to be moved to put the curtain brackets up.  So nothing could go on the shelving units etc.  Well, thank goodness yesterday it all happened - the brackets are up, the shelving units are back in place.  No the wall plate is not fitted - apparently that will be quite a job, Peter is willing to pull the shelving out later on to do that.  Or so he says at this stage......So I was able to put a certain amount back on the shelves, put containers into the workroom.  It was raining steadily all day so Peter wouldn't bring the new shelves for the other side of the room out of the car, and he certainly couldn't use the router to finish off the edges so there are still lots of things that can't go on the shelves even unpainted.

I was even able to clear off my desk and have a clear work area.

That made quite a difference to the lounge room and the workroom.  So we tackled other bits that we could now get to.  And then it was time to tackle our clothes .........

But among the things I was unpacking in the workroom I came across five more Counted Cross Stitch pieces.  None of these have ever been framed, and I had forgotten all about one of them.  So I laundered all of them and took photos, including the one I found the other day.  And here they are.

This 'House Rules' is a lot of fun.  I am going to frame it and put it in the kitchen.  Normally I don't put glass over cross-stitch, I am of the school that likes to see the texture of the crosses and the linen or the cloth.  But considering that our kitchen is so small and I don't want to have it ruined by grease etc, I will make an exception for this one.  And I hope it will serve as a gentle and humourous reminder to the menfolk in my household that this family does not come with a maid!    Sorry about the appearance of it having an odd shape - unlike my petitpoint, my cross stitch does not distort at all.  It is purely a result of the angle at which I took the photograph.

I love irises, and this piece appealed to me.  I can't remember the designer but I have several of her charts.  This is a little piece, only about 8" x 6" on 32ct linen.  I am looking forward to having it framed.  It is delicate and pretty.  Flowers are my favourite things to cross stitch apart from fun teddy bears and the Lanarte (I'm sure that spelling isn't correct!) pieces I have done which are all of girls: one which I haven't finished of a girl on a bike; and  one of two girls painting on a beach; one of two girls sitting on a grassy verge.

This long one is called 'Christmas Teddies' I think.  Again, it has never been framed.  I had forgotten that I had stitched it.  There are stars here and there, done in gold thread and it hasn't tarnished or anything - hope that's not because it's been packed away.  I think this is another one of the projects I did in 1993.  And again it reflects my love of teddy bears.  I know that it's companion piece 'Teddies on the line' is still in the storage container but I can't get to it at the moment.

This one is the picture form of the Christmas stocking that I did for our youngest daughter Kirsten.  I have mentioned that I did it while staying at the hospital with our son Nathan, over the Christmas-new year of 95-96.  It was about a 6  week stay and we had lots of anxious moments during this time so this was one of the projects I did while watching at his bedside.  When I stayed with him when he was young I didn't go home (except during school terms, when Peter would stay during the day and I would go to work, then I would come back after school and stay overnight then leave for school the next day).  But this of course was over the Christmas holidays (our long summer holidays) and I realised when I walked outside to say goodbye to one of our visitors near the end of the stay that I actually hadn't left the building for over 5 weeks vbg! 

This next one is again a reflection of my love of teddy bears.  I think the date on this one is 1993 as well.  It was a big year for cross stitch!  I also collect teddies and have lots of them.  At some stage I want to have them properly displayed, along with all my cross stitch teddies.  I had hoped to have room in my workroom for it but now that everything is combined in one room it won't be - yet!  The piece is called 'Cross Stitching Teddies' I think.  Again, I  can't check because my charts haven't surfaced yet.  Yes, I keep all my charts, they are filed in a folder along with everything that came with the kit.

This last one, which I found the other day, does have a frame.  It has been hanging in our hallway but came out of the frame and was packed away separately from its frame.  Now I can't get to the frame and the mount to re-do it.  I could at first and thought it was among the things I had retrieved from the container, but when I went to get it yesterday all the boxes have of course been re-arranged after our efforts at getting the clothes boxes out the other day.  So who knows where it is now!  It's such a pretty design, done on 32 ct ecru linen, and I really enjoyed every stitch of it.  I changed the colours in the vase - don't remember why now, of course.  Maybe because at that time we had a blue colour scheme.  When I find the chart I might even consider changing the colour back to the original but I don't think so - I really like the colour that it is.

So there we are - I actually have several more that I hung straight up again in the hallway.  I am going to take them all down again and re-mount them, so photos of them will follow at a later date.  Now if daughter #1 would only send me the promised photo of her Christmas stocking and daughter #2 the promised photo of her 'Dreams' wallhanging!  Of course, I have no record of the rest that I have given away over the years.  And more will emerge as I continue to unpack and sort....

Sunday 23rd May, 2010

Progress on our bedroom and my workroom

Baby steps, baby steps. I must be more patient! We finally found our new bedside lamps which were packed away in boxes in the shipping container.  Well, Peter found his first.  They hadn't been packed together.  They didn't have globes so we were very conscientious and bought the power-saving ones for them.  Peter started to put the globe into his lamp - and the attachment broke.  I was rather cross - he must have been rather careless, I thought.  Several days later we finally found mine. I very carefully inserted my globe - and the attachment broke! Ooops.  My apologies, Peter.  Today we bought new attachments - and normal globes.  And tonight I am quite chuffed with myself because I have replaced the attachments, re-attached the wires etc, and put the shade back on.  Nothing major but I've never done it before so it is something new.  I insisted on normal globes because they seem to be smaller in the throat or whatever you call it than the power-saving ones.  Besides, they are brighter and I want to be able to read in bed.

It took a long time for us to decide on a colour scheme for our bedroom.  We couldn't decide what we wanted.  We just knew we wanted to get rid of the pink walls and the floral border around the cornice at the top of the walls.  It was very pretty when it was done, but is now very dated and badly needed replacing.  A couple of years ago I bought a gorgeous off-white damask-type quilt cover with matching pillows etc - the whole kit and caboodle.  A very expensive one, that was on sale for a greatly reduced price.  Still very expensive for me, but so lovely.  But I refused to put it on the bed until we painted the room.  I'm so glad I did too because our idea of colour schemes has completely changed in the meantime.  The walls were going to be a vibrant blue, with this off-white quilt in contrast.  Then I pieced together a patchwork quilt in quite different colours and we both fell in love with it.  It is in colours ranging from cream to a rusty-burgundy colour and a mixture of log cabin and hand applique.  As you can see, it has been pieced but isn't quilted yet.  That is one of my patchwork aims for this year. 

So then I thought that maybe we would go for a pale colour for the walls, and Peter agreed.  We weren't sure whether to use the same green we have used in the rest of the house (it would go well with the green in the quilt, and look great with the damask set) or to choose another colour.  After looking at the colour chart Peter suggested a colour called 'True Sand' which turned out a bit dark but after lightening is the perfect match for one of the colours in the quilt (quite by accident).  So we are going to take a bold step and try to match the rust colour for a feature wall behind the bed.

Today we bought a new light for the ceiling and last night I measured the new curtain for the window.  So I feel the room is coming together bit by bit.  It would be good if we could find our new bedding in the storage container though vbg!

And as for the workroom, it might seem strange to be bothering about putting up a curtain rail in there, but we need to do that  as a priority.  Or at least the brackets for the rail - simply because Peter will have to move the shelving units a bit to do so.  Which means I can't put things away on the shelving until the curtain brackets are put up.  And that means that the workroom is rapidly filling up with boxes and containers that I cannot unpack.  And the lounge room is also filling up with miniature containers that don't have shelves to put them on yet, because I need more shelves put up on the opposite side of the room too.  Grrrrrr. 

However, while we were shopping for the attachments for the lamps today we did buy a television aerial and fittings for the workroom side of the house, and lights for the bedroom and workroom.  And a television that I can use in the workroom too.  We were supposed to get the timber for the shelving that I need too, but we left the measurements at home.  Clever. 

And now we have the light for the workroom we can get an electrician and have it installed, and get rid of the downlights that won't stay working for more than half an hour.  They have been trouble ever since they were installed and now won't work at all.  I have had to depend on two standard lamps for light.  And it will be nice to have an attractive light in the bedroom too.

So - as I said.  Baby steps.  But we will get there, and it will be lovely.  Soon I hope to go looking for some sort of artwork to go on the wall behind the bed.  Oh - and for a bed!  That would be nice.  Photos soon, I hope, to show progress - hopefully there will be progress soon lol.

Friday, 21st May, 2010

Shhhh - want to know a secret?

I haven't told Peter yet but along with the Flower Pot Cottage from Petite Properties I also ordered another house kit today - the Story Book Cottage from Suzanne and Andrews!  I wasn't overly impressed with this cottage at first; in its unadorned state it looks rather severe. But then I saw it decked out with a garden and such, and fell in love with it.  After humming and ha-ing for a long time, I relented and - well, there it is!   Yet another one to add to my stash. Sorry the photo is not very clear - this is how it comes when I copy it from the site.  Shame.  But the second one, with the rose vine around the door, gives a bit better idea.

 Again, as it seems with all of these little cottages, there isn't a great deal of room inside, so it is not a major project to decorate them like it can be with a 1:12th scale house - or like the Victorian semi-detached house that I will be building from scratch along with a friend long-distance (Hi Jan in Bundy!!).  But it is sweet and has the appeal of a quaint old-fashioned cottage.

 So now I had really better get a move on with my minis and instead of telling you what I have bought and plan to do, start telling you more about what I have done lol!

Wednesday, 19th May, 2010

1:48 scale Town Square Club

Yes, I have indulged again.  I really love Debbie Young's Town Square, and actually still have the calendar from one of the miniature magazines from about 2000 hanging in my workroom, when the Town Square was issued month by month in the magazine.  Now I have joined the Town Square Club run by Judith Dowden of 'In Some Small Way' and am looking forward eagerly to the arrival of the first of the shops.  I never did make up the paper version and will be much happier doing the more durable ones.  Due to shortage of room at this stage I'm not sure I will be setting them out on a piece a metre square like the ones pictured.  Doesn't it look great though?

Friday, 21st May, 2010

Number 4 in the Petite Properties range

I have been waiting for this sweet cottage to be released at the end of March and asked to be put on the waiting list. But for some reason I wasn’t contacted so I didn’t order it until today. Isn’t it gorgeous? Can’t you just imagine the base being extended, and a garden surrounding the cottage, with lots of flowers? 

I think it has real character, and I love the fact that it isn't just straight across at the front.

I can’t make the photo very big, but this is how the front of the book is shown on the web site. Fiona Broadwood is such a talented designer and she is so generous in sharing the skills needed to produce lovely finished items such as these.

I think that this project will offer quite a few challenges, so if any of you have it as well, and are willing to offer some hints, please feel free to do so!  I would love to work along with another person who is doing the same project.

I have no clue as yet what the 'story' will be for this house.  I guess that as I get closer to doing it, ideas will start to turn over in my head.  Period or contemporary?  At the moment I tend towards contemporary - it does give one much more scope to add whatever furniture and landscaping appeals, no matter what the period it belongs to.

The inside isn’t very big, but none of these cottages had lots of rooms and that makes them easier to furnish and decorate which suits me fine. I have also ordered the first of the books that Fiona has released on making 1:48 scale furniture. So I should be able to start on furniture that is quite different from the bought kits I have for the other cottages that I have.

So my collection of property is growing, even if it is in miniature!

Thursday, 20th May 2010

It's a frame-up

Going through boxes is a bit of a voyage of discovery.  Today I found two cross stitch pictures that I did years ago, and even had frames professionally made for them.  But for some reason I never did get around to hanging them up.  So I have washed the pieces, re-blocked and ironed them and re-framed them.  They are now hanging on the short wall that is actually the end of the built-in wardrobe in my workroom, just beside the doorway as you enter the room.

The frames measure approx 30cm square outside measurement, so the stitching area itself is only about six inches, I guess.  And all those years ago I happened to choose a green that goes perfectly with the green that we have painted our walls now vbg.  It is really easy to frame the work yourself, and you can take the piece off and re-wash it when needed.

It is so long since I did these pieces that I don't remember who did the charts, but they are stitched with DMC thread on Aida cloth.  And yes, they are full-size cross stitch, not mini needlework!

My mini needlework has not been neglected, however.  In the middle of the chaos that has been our life lately, I have been continuing with items for birthday swap items for the SaHMC.  Alas, I had probably better not post photos of them because members of the club follow this blog. 

But I can say I have completed another 12 of the items.  I did five to begin with, earlier in the year and posted the first couple of them off.  Imagine my dismay when I went to post more only to find that at some time the bag in which I kept them had got wet and all sorts of damage had been done.  Mouldy items, damaged chart - you name it.  So unfortunately several people received their swap late.  However now I have done twelve, so I am ahead for a while.  And I will do quite a few more, so that I have plenty to send and also some left over.

And on top of that, the large carpet on silk gauze that I started in 2008 and got half done then (on our Queensland holiday), and nearly completed last year on our round Australia trip, is now finally finshed as well.  It has languished since we arrived back, with just a small amount to go, while I did the birthday swaps and also had periods when I did no stitching at all.  Then I finally got down to it the other night and in just a short time over two evenings it was done.  But I can't show a photo of that yet either, until a little puzzle we are posing on Petitpointers is done.  So keep watching vbg!