It's me again ;-)

During the last 10 days I didn't stitch a lot. I was so fed up with MTM that I couldn't force myself to put more stitches in it.



I spent a lof of time reading books. One of them was "Seven Sisters" by Earlene Fowler. I really love these Benny Harper mysteries. There are a lot of funny dialogues that make me laugh out loud. Is there anybody else who likes reading them?

Yesterday when we went to friends for a easter bonfire I took DT's Sampler Gameboard with me to stitch on the way towards and back. And I realized that stitching can be such a fun :-) if you stitch what you want to..... So I decided to put my MTM aside a while and get my other WIP's out. I think this is much better than not to stitch anymore...
We had to drive only half an hour per way and so I didn't make a lot of progress. I will take a picture after my next GBS session :-)

Von remembered me that I still didn't send a pic of Lisa in her red shoes but as I want to upload one right now I realise that I still haven't got a good picture.
But I have a picture of her seeking chocolate Easter eggs yesterday at my parents house wearing her frog rubber boots ;-)





It took me 9 trys to load this picture up. Blogger didn't likes it..... ;-)








Last Thursday we were invited to my dear frind Manuela. She and her Rolf merried. We were caught up in a traffic jam and arrived too late at the civil registry office :-(((( But that was the only bad thing that happened and it was a really wonderful day.

Wohooo!!! I received my Spring Exchange gift with the SBEBB from Paula....isn't this cute pillow adorable? I fell in love with it immediatelay. The backing of the pillow is made of the fabric you can see under the other wonderful gifts. As you see she also sent 3 beautiful fabrics in spring colors a very springy card. Paula spoilt me so much ..... very lucky me :-)))) And Paula's stitching is extraordinary neat, it seems to be railroading, isn't it Paula? Exchanges are WONDERFUL!!!! :-)



A few days ago Jo mailed me that she received my spring exchange gift and I'm releived that she likes it because I stitched a linen band for her that is displayed in a way that is very common in Germany but I've never seen something similar in the US....







Yesterday my friend Margret visited me and did't stitch at all. But today I put some additional stitches in MTM. One side is nearly finished and I hope to add all of the (very much)
backstitches tonight...

I can show you an update of my MTM part 7. I think this part takes a bit more time to stitch than last months part. There are more colorchanges in the outer houses. But I like it very much
that this one looks different to the top one. :-)



On sunday I worked a little bit on DT's Sampler Gameboard but I stitched only half a square because I slept very long (till 9.30am). DH was looking Formula 1 at 6am racing in Melbourne (smile to AnneS) and when Lisa got up at 7am DH tool care for her :-) Lucky me .... And in the afternoon we went shopping to Lippstadt, there was a spring event and every shop was open (usually the shops are closed on sundays in Germany). Lisa got her first shoes and she had so much fun wearing shoes the first time. I'll show you some pics of Lisa with shoes and the Sampler Gameboard tomorrow....

There's more difference to part 6 than I thought and I like this very much. My start of MTM part 7 yesterday looks like this:



Today we were out doing some gardening...it was wonderful though the weather could have been a bit better... I'm a bit tired tonight but I will try to stitch a bit more on MTM.
I want to stitch on Drawn Thread's Sampler Gameboard tomorrow. My sunday commitment with Cathy that I neglected the last sundays badly.... :-(

Lisa still had a temperature yesterday and so we both ended up nestling on the sofa nearly the whole day.... When she was in bed I stitched quickly to rows of Eventide's Autum Roll and then I went of to a nice dinner in a restaurant with the women of our baby-group. I had grilled red snapper and grilled vegetables Yummie :-)



Today I pulled Ilse's Christmas ABC out of my WIP pile and made some stitches on this one....

Lisa still wanted to nestle very, very much though the temperature was down again. I'm not sure if she feels well again. :-(
Martina gave us the password for the 7'th part of Medieval Town Mandala one day earlier and so I'm going start to work on this one right now...
I want to finish this months part way earlier than last months!

This is how my MTM looks now. And as I said I completed only 2 of the 6 parts we got. A lot of work left to get it up to date.....

Lisa is having a temperature and sat the whole afternoon on my lap, the poor little thing.... I hope she feels better tomorrow.

YEAAAAAAHHHHH!!! I did it :-))) I'm so happy that I made it just in time before the next part comes out...
I'll post a pic of how my MTM looks at the moment later today. I have to finde some batteries for the digi-camera first. :-(

And now I have to make the Spring Exchange piece ready to mail off. Tomorrow is the mailing date for this one.

It seems as if I will reach the goal to finish part 6 in time :-))))

I'm so happy, I made a very good progress on MTM. :-) I wish I would stitch that much every day....

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments. They keep me going on with this one. Sometimes I have to take care not to put this one away and stitch all the other projects I'm working on and I would love to put more stitches on. I completed only one part of MTM and I don't want to go on with not completing parts. Otherwise this one will not be finished at the end of the year.... :-(

On Friday Margret and I visited the Creativa in Dortmund. It's a big craft tradeshow and we spent 6 hours there..... :-) + 2 hours for the way to Dortmund and 2 hours back I was completely beat coming home at 8pm. But it was worth it. I didn't buy a lot but there was much to see and so many new ideas for future projects. One thing I bougt is a new release Papierblumen from Der Feine Faden. And I bought a little piece of 55ct linen to give it a try. I've never stitched on such a fine linen before.

Today I finished reading "Body Double" by Tess Gerritsen I recommend reading this one, it's so thrilling.... After I finished reading I stitched the last cross stitches on the right side and a few of the backstitches but there are still a lot of them left to be done....

It was our 4th wedding day yesterday...I can't beleive that we are married now for such a long time.
I did stitch a bit more on MTM but today I didn't stitch at all. I was stuck to the german issue of Linda Fairstein's "Final Jeopardy". It's so thrilling :-)

Yesterday it was the first day in spring and actually it was a fantastic day. In the afternoon we had sunshine and a wonderful blue sky. And the best is, it seems to become sunny and "warm" today again. :-)

I think, I'm going to stitch more on MTM today. and hope to finish the right site soon..... ;-)

I didn't stitch at all yesterday. :-( Our sports club organized a running contest and in the morning I bake a tart for the cafeteria and midday we went to help there. Lisa was so well behaved I nearly didn't recognized her ;-) After coming home in the evening we put Lisa to bed and I left to visit a friend. We had a wonderful evening :-)))

Today after breaktfast I switched on the computer and had a look on Carol's blog.....she was as busy as a bee and that motivated me to stitch a bit more on MTM today. Thank you, Carol :-)

I was nearly two days without internet access and without telephone. With construction works the workers damaged an earth-layed pipeline and it took some time to be repaired.....oh, it was such a long time.....Thanks to Judy for replying so quickly my question concerning MTM :-)


The envelope for Melanie's Exchange with the Stitching Bloggers Exchange Board is sent out today :-) Looking forward to receive my envelope with fibres and charms to stitch for the exchange....

I made a bit more progress on MTM. But I didn't do any of the backstitches on the roof. Today I realized that the scheduled shipping dates for Melanie's exchange and the spring exchange are not on March the 15th as I thougt..... Melanie's exchange has to be mailed on the 17th and the spring exchange even later... on the 30th of March..... :-) I really have to buy a calender where I can write down all my stitching related dates.....


I got my Cider House Garden by Liz Turner Diehl from the Silver Needle. It was more than one month in the (snail)mail till it reached me.... I really thought it got lost. Is there anybody who plans to stitch this one as well??????

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...)