Part Two - Demo for the stand for the Millennium Frame

By request I have made a video about the stand for the Millennium frame.

Hope you enjoy.

If you have any questions I will try my best to answer them.

Nicola x

Promise not to laugh

I have spoken to a few of you via Face Time to show how easy the Millennium Frame is to use.

Not everyone has Face Time or Skype so I have done a short OFF THE CUFF video clip.

No laughing please.

After watching it back I realise that I could have done it better, worn some blusher and lipstick but I wanted to show "reality".

If you have any questions I am always here for you.

Hugs

Nicola xxx 

Thank You Dear Friends

Jane Atkinson - Scarlet Letter

I have been having great fun with Jane and despite not picking up a needle on Friday I am pleased with my progress. I have decided not to stitch the creepy crawly insects and will replace them with ladybirds and bees.

SDW - Scarlet Letter

My sister and her girls came for the weekend, we tired them out with lots of Cornish sea air and they retired early on Saturday night so I managed to get two hours in and a few more letters. Hopefully I will achieve more next Saturday.

Sunday afternoon was spent on Manifesto

Ray thinks this frame is hysterical as my arm span iss not wide enough to tighten it by myself.

Here is my progress after Thursday evening (in lieu of the earlier aborted Sunday session) and this Sunday. It is such a fun stitch.

Libby has always been afraid of Blue but he became her best friend on this visit and bless him he allowed her to pull him around the house and endured lots of cuddles.

Libby adored Archie and was in charge of him. As the weather was nice we ate outside on the beach front in Falmouth.

I love this photograph of Libby and Bethany and will be having it framed.

The girls enjoyed their visit to the farm, there is so much new life there at the moment.

Three lambs were born on the weekend.

We are expecting a new dexter calf any day.


We have been blessed with cold but sunny days since my last post and work has been progressing well on the cottage.

It will be worth it as the views from all living, dining and kitchen areas will be breathtaking.

I have to thank all my wonderful "pin" pals from the bottom of my heart for making my 50th birthday a truly special one. I have been touched by all your birthday wishes, emails, text messages, comments and gifts.

Elizabeth gifted me a  "Nicola" rose which has been planted today where I can see it  from my sun room. Thank you Elizabeth, you know how dear my garden is to me.

Krista sent me a delicious box of chocolates which I am ashamed to admit I have already sampled together with a chocolate delight thread sampler bag from The Gentle Art. I was so touched that Krista has put together a book of by blog posts from 2011.

Margaret sent me a wonderful wooden box of Winter Delights. It is so prettily painted and filled with a matching thread holder, scissors, needle keep and thread winder. I shall have much use from these

Jo sent me a Scarlet Parcel

filled with Scarlet Goodies. I am wearing my badge Jo. 

Barbara sent me a kit of The River, a Scarlet Letter design that is OOP. Barbara stitched this for her daughter and 

I fell in love with it but had been unable to track it down. Barbara came up trumps and found a friend who had the kit in her stash. I cannot wait to start stitching it.

Kathy sent me the kit of Give Thanks and arranged for the chart to be signed by Cynthia. The fabric and silk threads are scrumptious. I truly do give thanks Kathy for all my wonderful friends.

Betty gifted to me a gorgeous pair of scissors and beaded fob and charm, together with a corner gauge which I have not seen before but will be so useful. Betty also included the softest cuddly rabbit for Archie.

Margaret sent me an Inspirations magazine, which is one of my favourite and not always easy to track down in the UK and another magazine which has a very interesting article about Olwyn Horwood. I am looking forward to reading both.

Deanna sent an exciting box of goodies including the Louisa Earle chart which I will greatly enjoy stitching.

Katherine of Windy Ridge Designs sent me some of her own designs. How wonderful to have your own designs published.

Elaine sent me an intriguing package wrapped in the most delicious fabric.












Inside were two charts, one for a quilt from Don't Look Now. This is a must do project for Archie and the other a Heartstring sampler for me.

Faye  wowed me with one of her accessory pouches.













Faye puts so much attention to detail into her finishes. I love the little charm attached to the zipper.

My initial is absolutely charming and in Scarlet too, look at the little flowers.

Ellen has spoilt me with three of her own charts. They are beautifully designed with excellent instructions.

Angie who is a very gifted quilter made a glasses case for me and sent me Jean Baggott's book The Girl on the Wall which I having been looking forward to reading.

June sent me a sweet wooden angel "50 and nifty" I have a place already to hang her. June makes wonderful ornaments and I will have great pleasure using the pin cushion. The address book and pen will be put to use straight away. 

Dawn sent a gift voucher for The Scarlet Letter, what fun I am going to have choosing some charts. 


I have to finish today with a photo of Archie

He is thriving, we feel so blessed to have him in our family. 

Much love and hugs to each and every one of you.





Warm Wishes from Stitching By A Cornish Sea Shore Nicola xxx

Valentine Exchange

This is the Valentine I received, thank you so much I adore it. I am looking forward to finding out who stitched it. Isn't it beautifully finished?

Thank you Jo of serendipitous stitching for organising the exchange, it has been great fun again and a good way to get to know other bloggers.

Steady progress has been made on SDW and the SAL is now on week 15.

SDW German Band Sampler - Scarlet Letter

Jane's garden is in full flower and her beauty is blowing me away.

Jane Atkinson - Scarlet Letter

I was hoping to start The Scarlet Letter's new pictorial sampler "Manifesto" on Sunday. On 35ct this measures 34.5" wide by 21" high. I am planning on personalising it quite a bit so it is going to be much wider. It is going to be dedicated to my grandson who was born on the day the design of the sampler was completed and as it depicts a family scene it seemed a perfect choice.

My current plan although this may change as I stitch is to have the three verses of the poem Family Ties Are Precious Threads Woven Through The Years stitched in three blocks across the top, a dedication to Archie at the bottom and as many of the names (inc. dates of birth, place and death) of the ancestors I have traced through my family history research stitched down both sides. This will make the sampler very wide.

Manifesto - Scarlet Letter

The extra long bars that I ordered the first week of January for my Millennium Frame have not arrived. With no firm delivery date I have had to be inventive as I found that I could not stitch comfortably with a q-snap or hoop. I have been quite spoilt by my frame.

It hit me on Tuesday night that I had a carpenter working in the holiday cottage we are refurbishing on Wednesday so I sent him a text and he promised to see what he could do for me.

Now one of the reasons that the bars are taking a while to come is that they need to be laminated to stop them warping because of their length so these bars are only a temporary measure.

 Guess what I started to stitch Wednesday night ?


The news stations in the UK have been covering the blizzards in America and my heart goes out to all effected. We got quite excited when we had a dusting.

Poldhu Cove Mullion

Snow is rare in the Cove so when we woke to this I had to get the camera out to record the event. The salt in the air caused it to melt away very quickly.

Poldhu Cove Mullion

By the time I went out for a walk with Poppy and Blue it had all disappeared.

Archie continues to thrive and my calendar is becoming well booked up with baby sitting duties. He is a dear little chap. I looked after him for a few hours yesterday, I was exhausted but happy at the end. 

The painting of Millie, Poppy and Blue is back from the framers and hung in Ray's study. We are so pleased with it.

The building work on the cottage is proceeding well and yesterday the front elevation started being knocked out to be replaced with floor to ceiling glass to enjoy the stunning views. Typically we had heavy rain and winds blowing straight in from the sea. The work had to proceed as we have brought extra men in for this particular job.

This is the view from the second bedroom taken when the cottage was used as an office. This is the view I used to enjoy from my desk. It was fatal to look out when trying to work.

This is the main bedroom which enjoys the same views.

I cannot show interior shots of the work at the moment as there is so much going on it is difficult to get a clear photo.

The island for the kitchen has arrived and I am thrilled with the quality.


Wishing every one a very Happy Valentine's Day.

And the winner is .........

.......... and the winner of The Blue Ribbon Sampler book  is Elaine of  Emily' s Cupboard , congratulations Elaine. 

To mark the start of my birthday month I have a 20% discount voucher for all my followers which has been sponsored by my favourite ONS in the UK.

Sewandso are committed to providing the best online retail experience you have had backed up with the largest selection of products at great prices with super fast deliveries. Their staff have excellent product knowledge and always go the extra mile.

Sewandso  want to know what you think of their company and if there are any products or improvements that you would like to see added to their website.

Please let them have your opinions in the comment box below and I will email you a discount voucher code for 20% off AVAS threads that can be used as many times as you like during the next three months. (If you are a no-reply blogger you can email me instead).

If you live outside the EU you are entitled to tax free shopping, click the icon on their home page for the VAT free prices. At today's conversion rate a skein of S d'Alger is $4.13 US dollars or $3.95 AUS dollars and you will have 20% off these prices.

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Jane Atkinson

I have been having great fun stitching Jane Atkinson and it is a pleasure to sit and stitch her each evening. Her garden is growing and the flowers blooming. I have chosen the verse I am going to be personalising her with 

Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him, 

neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, 

but out of his side to be equal with him, 

under his arm to be protected by him, 

and near his heart to be loved by him.

I will then add our names and wedding date.

SDW

The SDW SAL is progressing well and SAL'ing is such a fun way of stitching.

Dona Dorothea

Dona is back from the framers and hung in my side hall, this may not be her permanent place.

I have such wonderful pin pals and have received some lovely gifts over the last few weeks.

June of Butterfly Wings sent some gorgeous goodies. A beautiful ornament, Archie's first one, a little cuddly rabbit and a booklet of charts that are a must for me to stitch, they are of little children on the beach, perfect for where we live, I hope that by next year I will be taking Archie down to the cove to build sandcastles and go rock pooling.

Thank you June. Kate, Chris and Archie send their thanks too.

Dearest Laurie of Corgi Cottage sent me a fantastic selection of Scarlet Letter kits, including the Christmas Sampler which is OOP. Thank you so much Laurie, I was bowled over with your generosity and kindness.

Pam of The Prairie Sampler sent me this lovely chart which she has designed.

Thank you Pam, as soon as my Scarlet Letter Year is finished I will be stitching this up. I already have a frame and place in mind to hang her.

Archie is growing very quickly and I am having lots of good quality time with him. We had a lunch date yesterday, here we are waiting for our food.

Wishing everyone a good weekend, Nicola xxx