Today I finished the book I spent all my sparetime during the last days with. It was the german issue of Flesh and Blood (Fleisch und Blut) by Jonathan Kellerman. Though it wasn't very
thrilling I liked it very much. It was my first JK book but I hope to read more of his books soon... Most I liked the leading character, Alex Delaware, a psychologist working for the LA police.





After reading the last page I put some stitches on MTM....Will I while away my time this month and again not finishing the current part ???? :-)

Lisa and I spent a nice morning having breakfast with my parents at their house yesterday. After coming home I stitched on my spring exchange again. It has to be in the mail on the 15th....
The ink for my printer was in the mail and so I printed out the MTM chart and put some more stitches on MTM in the evening while watching CSI Las Vegas, which is one of my favorites.

My dear friend Manuela enabled me to start a new WIP. Bent Creek's Winter Snapperland. Yes, it's that Manuela who usually reminds me not to start more WIPS...and she started her own blog a few days ago. :-)



During the daytime I stitched a bit more on my spring exchange piece with the Stitching Bloggers Exchange Board. The fiber is Danish flower thread.

















Lately some German and one French fellow stitchers started their blogs:
Brigitte, Manuela, Moune andUte.

Though I didn't post and emailed the last week I found a bit time for stitching :-)

On Sunday I worked on DT's Sampler Gameboard my SAL commitment with Cathy. Having a look on Cathy's Blog I just found out that Tobie has this one in her WIP pile as well. It would be nice if she would join our SAL.



On March 1st Martina gave us the password for the 6th part of MTM. And of course I stitched a bit on this one as well. But didn't do much because my printer needs some new ink and I ordered some but haven't received it yet.


















And I put some stitches on my Quaker Sampler and finished page 4.







And finally I started my exchange piece for the Spring exchange with SBEBB.

February Goals

Finish part 5 of Chatelaines Medieval Town Mandala – no, it’s only half done
Work on another part I haven’t finished yet - no
Finish one Prairie Schooler ornament from A Prairie Christmas - no
Continue with Drawn Threads Gameboard Sampler SAL on Sundays with Cathy – yes, this SAL commitment works great
Continue with von der Wiehenburg Quaker Sampler – yes, I finished 3 pages
Continue with Ilses Christmas ABC – no
Continue with Catherine Agnes by Indigo Rose – yes, I stitched 4 and a half spots
Continue with Eventide Autumn Needleroll - no
I will not do a Lizzy Kate Block it square this month because I don’t like the March one very much ;-)
Additional to this Goals:
I finished 4 little gifts as you can see in my 2006 finishes

March Goals

Finish part 6 of Chatelaines Medieval Town Mandala
Work a bit more on part 5 ( one more corner would be great)
Finish two Prairie Schooler ornaments from A Prairie Christmas (last months and this months) (SAL with Friends Gather BB)
Continue with Drawn Threads Gameboard Sampler SAL on Sundays with Cathy
Continue with von der Wiehenburg Quaker Sampler
Continue with Ilses Christmas ABC
Continue with Catherine Agnes by Indigo Rose
Continue with Eventide Autumn Needleroll
I ‘m not sure if I like the April Lizzy Kate Block it square I will decide it later this month if I’m going to stitch this one
Start Bent Creek’s Winter Snapperland
Start and finish one little Birthday gift
Start and finish the Spring Exchange with Stitching Bloggers Exchange Board

As announced I got my Sampler Gameboard out of the WIP-pile and made a little progress. I'm so happy that Cathy is stitching the SAL with me. So I will really get it finished someday....


And today I put the last stitches in a gift for someone who for sure doesn't read my blog :-) It's a bookmark from the Told in a Garden Bookmark Collection. I love the Told in a Garden Designs and I have a lot of them in my To-Do-pile but this little bookmark is the first I really stitched....





I'm sorry for not commenting on your blogs....and there are still some emails waiting to be written but I'm a bit busy at the moment. Please don't be angry with me!!!

MTM part 5 HALF DONE!!!!

I've finished the second corner on MTM :-)))) Unfortunately the month is nearly over and I stitched only half of part 5 :-(

While Manuela and Margret were here on saturday Manuela and I stitched on Cahterine Agnes. Until Manuela left on sunday I stitched 4 and a half spots. They are very exciting to stitch :-)

















This night it started snowing again ( the last days we had around 6 to 8 degrees Celsius so it was nearly spring)
That's the view from my computer window 2 hours ago:




Again, I didn't stitch on Sunday the Sampler Gameboard SAL with Cathy, so I'm going to stitch on this one today.... Cathy, did you stitch yesterday????

I found out that AnneS received her little belate birthday gift....and I'm so happy that she likes it and as I always fear, that it didn't get lost in the mail..... Of course Anne's email got stuck in my spamfile :-( so she will receive her answer today.

It was a nice break from MTM to do page 3 of the Quaker Sampler...but I will hurry back to MTM now. I'm know that I will not finish part 5 but I still hope to get 3 corners done till the end of this month. Please, keep your fingers crossed for me. On saturday Margret and Manuela are going to visit me and Manuela want me to do a little Catherine Agnes SAL on saturday while chatting. So I will have another nice time out from MTM :-)

I made a nice progress on MTM today :-) I'm so happy about this... I hope to finish the corner this week. I want to stitch the next page of the Quakersampler now and return to MTM after that.

This weekend I signed up for the february Stitch-A-Thon with the Friends Gather BB. This is where I started:



and this is all I did :-((((

















On friday I met to stitching friends, Manuela and Margret. We had a lot of fun :-) and when I came back home at night I was too tired to stitch. On saturday I stitched nearly as much as you see now and than I realized that I made an error in the beginning. So I ripped it all off again and put it away. Then on sunday I took it out again but I was still so angry that I had to rip it all that I had no fun with this and so that's all I stitched :-(

Nathalie my adoptee from the Stitching Bloggers Exchange BB emailed me that she received the birthdaygift I sent her. This is what I stitched for her, Petite Exemplary No.2 by EEF

Today I took out my Sampler Gameboard because yesterday was SAL-day with Cathy. 2 more squares :-) Can't wait to see Cathy's progress pic....

I was busy yesterday and finished page 2 of Martina's Quaker Sampler Mystery. I really love this one. It will be awesome when finished ;-) but it's a long way to go.......

WOHOOOOOO! Got it! The first corner is completed :-)

It's time to go to bed now and there are still 8 algerian eyelets left to be stitched... :-( It took much more time to stitch them as I thought. I'll do them tomorrow morning and I'll post a pic immediately ;-)

This is a picture of how far I got my MTM yesterday. At the moment it seems as if I can get it managed to finish the first corner tonight! :-)) .....but we will see.....

And again not much stitching time for me. I don't know why there is few spare time for me the last weeks... This is my progress on Saturday.



On sunday I took out my Gameboard Sampler for the sunday SAL with Cathy.....but there was even less stitching time for me than on saturday :-((( I only stitched a few more letters on the top border.













And now I 'm back stitching on MTM - no chance to catch up to Carol :-( Hei Carol, you did a great job on yours :-))))

I'm so thrilled!!!!! I received this wonderful Valentines gift from Outi. She's my adopter at the Stitching Bloggers Exchange BB. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I love it so much. Look, there are some Lingonberry scenting beauty products like shampoo and bodylotion etc. 2 very lovely pink fabrics. 4 heartcharms, 4 red Swarowsky hearts, a box of pink beads, 1 red variegated DMC floss, 1 red of the new DMC Jewel Effects and 1 GAST Hibiscus. And look on the envelope containing a letter from Outi this sweet (selfmade?) heartstamp.... You spoilt me so much!!! You made my day :-)



Last night I stitched on the Quaker Sampler again. It's such a big fun to stitch this one. Page 2 is half done. But tonight I'm back to Medieval Town Mandala again and I'll try to catch up to Carol again ;-) But she is so much ahead...

Wooohooo! I stitched a bit on the Gameboard Sampler....can you beleive it, Cathy? :-)) Half a square and a few letters, not much but better less than nothing.

That's the way Medieval Town Mandala looked when I took it out of my WIP-box yesterday evening...
That and some stitches on little gifts were all my stitching for the past days. I was a bit demotivated because my sewing project last friday wasn't as perfect as I wanted it to be. But after a lot of mulling over I decided to send it to it's recipient....

Page 1 of the Quaker Sampler is completed. Now I'm waiting to receive page 2. This morning I stitched a bit on MTM but when DH came back from work he went for a run with some friends and took Lisa with him. So I grabbed the chance to sew one of the gifts I stitched during the last days. But, of course, I can't post a picture at the moment ;-)

As you see I got my digicam back yesterday :-) Yippppieeee

My start with part 5 of MTM isn't that much as I hoped..... It will take me a long stitchingtime to finish this part.


Still thinking about what to stitch to today. Go on with MTM or do some stitches on the Quaker Sampler....I'm not sure yet...

I made up a list with February Goals. Maybe this will help me to keep up with all my current WIP's. I hope Carol's not angry that I copied this idea from her.....

February Goals
Finish part 5 of Chatelaines Medieval Town Mandala
Work on another part I haven’t finished yet
Finish one Prairie Schooler ornament from A Prairie Christmas
Continue with Drawn Threads Gameboard Sampler SAL on Sundays with Cathy
Continue with von der Wiehenburg Quaker Sampler
Continue with Ilses Christmas ABC
Continue with Catherine Agnes by Indigo Rose
Continue with Eventide Autumn Needleroll
I will not do a Lizzy Kate Block it square this month because I don’t like the March one very much ;-)

Yesterday during daytime I worked again on the Quaker Sampler though I hadn't much sparetime. In the evenings I'm stitching little gifts for some friends having birthday in the next few weeks.
I'm a bit sad not being able to work on the QS again but I got the password for the next part of MTM and will spend todays stitching time on this one (of course except the evening...)

It happened again.... I couldn't stop myself from starting something new yesterday..... It's a wonderful Quaker Sampler by von der Wiehenburg. I stitch it on the same linen as my Prairie Schooler ornaments. It's the dark 40ct. Weddigen. The picture doesn't show the right color. I hope this will work better tonight. My choice of floss is the DMC 3750 a blue with an antique touch. I'm sure my friend Manuela will be angry with me because I started this without having finished an older WIP .... ;-(

I wish I had my camera today.... I started to snow again yesterday and everything is wonderful white again. The sun was shining and it was simply beautiful! But the forecast says that it's melting away tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. ;-(

Today I stitched a small gift for a friend. So I can't show it ;-) And......I finally completed part 4 of Chatelaines MTM!!!!!! I'm so happy. It's the first part I really completed... I would love to stitch a bit on DT's Game Board Sampler but I have to stitch another gift first. There are a lot of birthdays to come in february.....

Last weekend, from friday morning 7am to sunday evening 9.30 pm I was away from home for a wonderful time full of chatting, stitching and sewing. We had a great stitching retreat from my german SAL Yahoo Group in the South of Germany. I sew a bag to carry MTM with all the needed charts and threads. And I plan to do another bag. We talked a lot about crazy patchwork and looked at some CP squares .... I will have to do at least one of them as well.....

One of the women had birthday on sunday so there was a big party also :-)

But I forgot to take my digital camera back home so I have to wait for the postman to bring it home ;-(

I stitched only a little bit during the last two weeks but I will post some pics as soon as possible...

Hei, did you see the 2 new Drawn Thread designs at Stitching Bits and Bobs? This one I have to add to my wishlist: Three Friends the other one doesn't look like a real DT design in my opinion: Red Lace Sewing Case
What do you think about these designs?

Oh yes, Anne, come here and we're goingt to have a wonderful stitching and chatting retreat. Does anybody else want to join? :-))))

Annemiek, let me know when you are going to start My Stitching Treasures maybe we can do a SAL....

I indulged myself to stitch an CA today. It is such a big fun.....

Yesterday at 7pm there was an unexpected knocking on our door (we don't have a bell) and two very good friends of us were visiting us. I haven't seen them for nearly a year. So there was again only a little bit stitching during the day.


Look what was in the mail today. My first Vikky Clayton silk. The conversion for Jeannette Douglas' My Stitching Treasures. I'll bond my hands behind my back to make sure not to start it immediately :-)

A fellow stitcher visited me and we made a little trip to my local Quiltshop. She had a lot of WIP's with her to show and there were some I really loved..... No, no, I will not start something new ;-) I made a little progress on MTM but I will work on it tomorrow as well.

Look what was in the mail yesterday..... Carol sent me this wonderful gift: a Tacky BOB. I've never heard of a Tacky BOB befor Carol told me about it. And I love it!!! I'm so excited to use it for MTM :-) Thank you so much, Carol!




My first monthly Prairie Schooler A Prairie Christmas ornament is finished and I love it.











I stitched a few more crosses on february Lizzy Kate Flip it Block.










The last days were a little bit like a late christmas. At first I received the wonderful Tacky BOB. Then my Accessory Pack for Heirloom Homecoming Sampler by Victoria Sampler was in the mail and than I got the Just Cross Stitch October Issue containing Jeannette Douglas's Autumn Stitches..... Yummy

Today I stitched some hours on MTM and had to undo every single stitch of it.... Cathy, we're getting every 1'st of the month a new part of the chart. This will be the last time in september this year.

Now I'm off giving MTM another try.

Worked a little bit more on MTM today. I haven't finished even one part of MTM and it would be really good to catch up with the other parts so this will be my most favored WIP to work on this month.

Selina, this design is called Medieval Town Mandala by Chatelaine, a german designer. You can find her designs on www.chatelaine.net

I've nothing to tell today:-) I'm still having a cold and that's really annoying...

I started February Flip it Block and I'm sure this will be a quick stitch. But that's good my stitching schedule for this month is very tight :-(



Oh Cathy, it's wonderful that you started the DT Game Board Sampler that will keep me on track :-)

Annemiek this dark Oehlenschlaeger fabric is great but I had another one before that wasn't so good. The vertical and horizontal hadn't the same thread amount so a square wasn't a square....

Happy New Year to Everyone!!!

I was totally hooked when I saw Carols massive big Q-Snap. I fear I will have to order one for myself too ;-))))

Though my opinion about asking Martina for sending the chart and password is the same than Carols I couldn't resist to start part 4 when receiving the password yesterday. I got it at 8pm and that is what I got done while waiting for the New Year.


Today I stitched quite a lot on the first A Prairie Christmas ornament by Prairie Schooler. I'm so excited how it will look on this dark fabric when it's finished...

















Now I'm off to work on the Lizzie Kate Flip-it Block that was officially started this afternoon.... :-)

My stitching goals for 2006

But I'm sure I missed some things :-) And there will come up more during the year as well, don't you think so?

Finish:
Drawn Thread - Gameboard Sampler
Chatelaine - Medieval Town Mandala
Indigo Rose - Catherine Agnes
Eventide - Autumn Needleroll
Permin - Sampler 1852
Acufactum - Findus der Maler

Start and Finish:
some gifts for special friends :-)
12 Lizzie Kate Flip it's with my Germand SAL-Group
12 Prairie Schooler - A Prairie Christmas Ornaments with Friends Gather BB

Start:
some ornaments
at least one needleroll
Jeannette Douglas - My Treasure Box
Drawn Thread - Summer into Autumn
Drawn Thread - An Open Heart
Drawn Thread - Souvenir Sampler
Indigo Rose - Armchair Pin Keep
Hillside Samplings - Seasonal Samplings
Little House Needleworks - Daisy Lane Cottage
Blackbird Designs - Summer House
Victoria Sampler - Heirloom Homecoming Sampler

Do you think it is too much ? ;-)

I made a little progress on Ilse's Christmas ABC:

Tomorrow starts the Prairie Schooler SAL. I'm going to stitch A Prairie Christmas

















on this 37ct Oehlenschlaeger Linen with one DMC over two.

After two days of stitching this is my MTM and it is still a LOT to do left.....


I just picked out the threads for the Prairie Schooler SAL with the Friends Gather BB. I want to stitch A Prairie Christmas. But before I could choose the linen it started getting dark so I have to wait till tomorrow.... :-( But there's a good thing with it... I will not be tempted to start it right now ;-)

The last snow melted away before christmas but last night we got snow again. I took this picture very early this morning. As you can see it's just getting light outside....
I'm stitching on MTM and will post a picture tomorrow morning.

I feel like coming down with a cold, but I applied for participating in a 15km run on New Years Eve morning....please keep your fingers crossed for me being healthy on saturday. It happened twice to me that I couldn't run because of a cold in the past years....

Unfortunately there wasn't much stitching for me today. Lisa was in such a bad mood today :-( But the good thing is, it only can become better tomorrow....

CA is really exciting but I have to spend some more hours on MTM there's a lot left to do before the 1st of january. I thought about a To Do list for 2006 as many of you made. I love to read them but I don't know if I find the time to make one myself the next days. But I promise I'll try to...