Monday, 15 January 2007

Presents & RAKs 2007


WOW!!!!! Five blocks of Swiss chocolate {drool} cross stitch charts of Swiss cows (because that's where Swiss cloclate comes from). A gorgeous scrummy piece of hand dyed light blue linen from Heavenly Creations abd a beautiful winter scene card :) Received 15 Jan 2007

111 comments:

Claire EJ said...

That's a lovely little scene! Love how it's matted too.

Melissa Hicks said...

My nanna did this up and gave it to me shortly after I left home around 17 or 18 years ago .... I had it rattling around with me for years and years and then lost it. I found it again while packing for the move to this house, so I washed it and ironed it and took it straight to the framers. My nanna now has advanced dementia - this is reminder of who she was and what she could do .... very sentimental piece for me.

thanks for the compliments on the matting - I'm still very very unsure of selecting frames and matting :)

Claire EJ said...

What a lovely album to be able to start! Too cool.

Paula Hubert said...

Ohh - lots of lovely goodies! Enjoy them!

Hilary Syddall said...

Very nice! just out of interest though - what does RAK stand for?

Melissa Hicks said...

Random Acts of Kindness. It might be a bit presumptuous of me to start an album like is - as if I'm *expecting* these things to happen - but honestly I had no idea what else to call it - and I have too many albums now already and and and ......

Claire EJ said...

Yikes...were the plain plastic cased dvd's in there???

anne egelston said...

Too funny!

Karen R said...

And the girl in the office across from me wants to know what's so damn funny - I'm not telling! Somehow, I don't think she'd get it...

Melissa Hicks said...

I wonder if I can carefully remove the stuffing and replace it with catnip ???

Claire EJ said...

I agree with the cat opinion but that's what you get for spending days on end teasing me about the damned pink things LOL

Stephanie Flynn said...

ROFL....I think the cat is not too keen on his new friend!

Laura Landis said...

you know what's too funny? I almost bought Claire a flamingo last week!! I did resist, though, knowing her aversion to the poor pink beasties!

Claire EJ said...

It would have spent it's time winging its way back to you.....

Melissa Hicks said...

Awww you are so mean - would you *really* have sent back a present ???

Claire EJ said...

A flamingo? YES.

Claire EJ said...

hehehe, so they arrived! Cool...we are both doig so well for gifties this week and all for no reason apart from being miserable...it's just sooo nice to be treated :)

Melissa Hicks said...

Yep and I've lined up a couple of RAKs for others but some stock is on back order so they'll come through in a complete surprise sometime in the next few weeks .....

Would you send back a really cute flamingo?

Claire EJ said...

Yes

Shawn Medrano said...

You've got some great goodies here. Enjoy them all!! I love the Flamingo! :)

Karen R said...

Excellent! I love those designs - my cat Booger would be proud, as these are so him when he was a bit younger. He just turned 18 this month, so his idea of fun is moving from the chair to the bed to sleep these days. So, when you gonna start one?

Melissa Hicks said...

Ummm yeah .... when I can fit it in ..... I do love these and seeing as Hilary was so kind as to kit them up for me - well I guess I will have to make time for them sometime this year ......

Laura Landis said...

what adorable charts!! Hope you have great fun with them.

Hilary Syddall said...

I just figured you were having such a crummy time at work and no news (as yet!) on another job - and they seem as though they could be a good travel project!

Melissa Hicks said...

Ooooh now there's a thought Hilary - I wonder if I could stitch in the train - hopefully I'll be soon be doing a one hour train commute each day .....

Frishawn Rasheed said...

Looooooove all the goodies!

Debbie Lord said...

What a lovely memory & keepsake

Mariann Mäder said...

That one looks like it's nicely preparing to attack :-) you'd expect it to lift its behind just a tiny bit, start wiggling it and then pounce! very colourful and very nice of Debbie!

Mariann Mäder said...

That's a fun design! I don't think I'd stitch something like it, I prefer real looking, but it should be right up your alley, Mel!

Claire EJ said...

Ah hah....now I get it. After hearing about it in text, this made no sense to me at all LOL. It's such a cutie. I really like it.

Claire EJ said...

Eek! Funky weird one. Should be fun to stitch.

Claire EJ said...

Fun and cute! Lovely giftie!

Melissa Hicks said...

Love these designs - thanks so much Debbie for the gifties !!!!! The bright bold colours of Party Cat have helped keep me smiling in the past few days. Will post a progress pic when I get power back on !!!

Shawn Medrano said...

Very cute! Looks like it will be a fun stitch.

Donna Williams said...

Well, instead of sending it to THAT Missouri address, you could have sent it to mine!

Donna Williams said...

I'm glad you liked it. And I'm REALLY glad that we are now in the same boat. Waiting until NEXT year for the next one. At least you still have two books in the Aleria Codex to read. I'm hung waiting on that, too!

Melissa Hicks said...

I've read the first two - I'm just hanging out for Cursor's Fury at this stage .....

Donna Williams said...

You'll love it when you get it! Has it been ordered or do I need to get it for you, too? I think I could see my way to shipping you mine. He's doing another book signing, but I don't have any way to get there right now, and really, no money to buy any more books in hardback for a while. And don't ya know that's killing me cause Laurel K Hamilton's "Harlequin" is out now... ARGH!!!!

Claire EJ said...

cackles at the lab results being in.....

Claire EJ said...

Nice flosses!!! Almost a matching set, I like!

Melissa Hicks said...

Its OK Teegs, I'll get Cursor's Fury here - the library has apparently ordered it - or I'll buy it myself over the month or so ...... Good Luck with the Laurell K. Gotta admit I stopped reading Anita Blake a while ago :) :)

Melissa Hicks said...

I think like Party Cat - this one will come up much much more vibrant in real life !!!!

Melissa Hicks said...

That's why I showed both sides to the card :) :) Loved it - but I did wonder for a minute whether this should have gone to Dr Steph instead :) :)

Nancy Murdock said...

How sweet! I love the M-design trees!!!

Laura Landis said...

What a lovely RAK! I have several of the M Designs trees that I plan to make into a 'forest' of sorts.

Claire EJ said...

I have a "Claire" tree on the wall here, they really are gorgeous stitched up!
Not seen one packaged before and "M" makes them look so cute in the chartpak!

Glad Karen included the note on there :)

Donna Williams said...

I could actually see myself doing this one over Party Cat. I like the pose better, I think. I can't wait to see you get started so I can see the colours come to life.

Trish Froggatt said...

Beautiful and very appropriate! I love the Dracolair designs! Cheers, Trish

Melissa Hicks said...

I have a few of these too now - I plan to do up one for every door in the house and hang them up at Christmas time ....... I think Cherish for the Bedroom Door and Believe for the Kitchen {lol}

Mind you dinner tonight was pretty scrummy which was a wonder considering it was the first time I had attempted the recipe .....

Melissa Hicks said...

Me either {LOL} Now where did that time spinner thing go? I need to stop time for a few centuries to work on a few projects .....

P James said...

ooo....I like all three charts! What a great RAK to receive. Can't wait to see the stitching on "The Phoenix"!

kay jones said...

Lovely charts. The M designs are really very pretty.

Paula Hubert said...

Lovely pressies! Enjoy them all!

Debbie Lord said...

Gorgeous Mel, enjoy!!

Natalie Mikesell said...

Fun Fun Fun! Those color variations are great :)

Claire EJ said...

Pretty, pretty! Oh the fun of a new job and the gifties it entails...too cool!!!

Shawn Medrano said...

How pretty.....have lots of fun stitching with them!!

Laura Landis said...

some very pretty colors, Mel!

Laura Landis said...

perfect frame!!

Shawn Medrano said...

How very cute Mel!

Debbie Lord said...

Great RAK Mel, enjoy. How goes the new job?

Karen R said...

He's a pretty dragon! Very cool, Claire!! Hope you feel better today!

Shawn Medrano said...

That is a great pattern!! Enjoy!!!!!

Laura Landis said...

what a lovely piece!! Good RAK, Mel!!

kay jones said...

Great chart. Hope you are enjoying the new job

Shawn Medrano said...

I love Heather and the orphan!! They are all great colors; just those jumped out at me. :)

Karen R said...

Wow, I really like Raisin and the Orphan! I bet that Heather is nice, too! Great colors, all! I wish Silkweaver had more dark colors - so many of theirs are light and/or pastel-y.

Nancy Murdock said...

Great color choices!! Now to see what you do with them................

Melissa Hicks said...

Well that bits easy :)

The crystals are for different M Designs Word Trees
The Sterling is for Effervescent Designs Operetta
The Raison is for FireWings Amazon Dragonfly

The hard bit is finding time to actually start any of them :)

Karen R said...

Link, plz!

Melissa Hicks said...

Sorry it is really called: Amazon Velvet

http://www.picturethisplus.com/html/fire_wing_designs_2.html

Karen R said...

Oh, yeah - that's going to be cool! Yep, googling Amazon Dragonfly brought me a bazillion Amazon books about dragonflies.... :b

Melissa Hicks said...

Whoops sorry :) :) :)

Paula Hubert said...

Lovely fabrics! I have Amazon Velvet and a piece of Raisin for it, too. I was thinking of doing it for my DBIL for a Christmas/housewarming gift.. but I think it's too dark for his house with the wood he has, so I'm doing Carnelian instead.

Laura Landis said...

Gorgeous choices, Mel! Has anyone told you yet that the 'Ugly Orphan' is actually an 'oops' from when they dyed Raisin? They ended up with that glorious green instead of the brown. I LOVE when they have orphans!!

Paula Hubert said...

That is a lovely chart, and how nice to have the specialty threads right away, too!

Debbie Lord said...

Hope they're enough Mel!

Debbie Lord said...

Lovely gifties!!

Debbie Lord said...

Pretty!

Debbie Lord said...

Always handy!!

Karen R said...

That Wildflower looks very pretty! Good stuff!

Karen R said...

Pretty - and some of the much-coveted Black Lagoon. I still think Carrie ought to make that a regular....

Karen R said...

You can never have too many - my zip lock bag collection is almost on the point of getting out of hand. But I need them!!! {whine}

Karen R said...

Those are really nice beads - I assume they are Delicas, as they are way too regular to be plain old seeds. That's my main concern with the way ECC kits up the Chatelaines; if they give you just a few extra (if any at all), the way I drop stuff, well, I just know I'd be short. If the design takes 1000, you ought to have 100 extra - 10% is always a good margin for these. And I don't trust weight counts - too many years pulling kits with tiny parts that we weigh scaled thousands at a time. Though I definitely don't want to have to hand-count 1000 of these :) I had a point here, but I now have no idea what it was....

Paula Hubert said...

Star Sapphire is one of my favorite fabric colors, and that is also one of my favorite Caron colors. Lovely choices!

Melissa Hicks said...

They *are* Delicas and they *are* packed by weight. I've never had an issue with ECC under-supplying before, but then I haven't actually finished a single Chatelaine project yet :(

I might make Mystery Nine and Midi Mystery One my holiday projects and see if I can get them finished over the Xmas New Years break.

Depends on Dad. Dad's visiting this year, instead of mum - and dad is much much more demanding of my time in terms of "spend time with him doing his things and entertaining him" and cleaning up after him.

So *not* looking forward to Xmas this year.

Melissa Hicks said...

Ooooh wait until you see the whole thing kitted up - there are two more beautiful Caron threads and a coupe of Needle Necessities not to mention the rest of the Kreiniks.

Thanks Claire for starting the kitting up of this one ....

I emailed the designer about the charms and treasures and surprise surprise, no answer. Not even an acknowledgement of my email. I've sent it twice now in case the first one disappeared into the ether.

Melissa Hicks said...

Ah yes the Carrie's threads are Panic, Purple 1, Purple 8 and Black Lagoon.

I really need to find a project for the Black Lagoon :) :)

Melissa Hicks said...

Exactly! I store all my non-DMC threads in Floss Away bags - this will be a huge help to my organisational skills :)

kay jones said...

Lovely gifties. My favourite threads are Caron. So good to work with. Lucky you but well deserved.

Melissa Hicks said...

And the thread goes soo well with the fabric. I'm just itching to start this project even though I've still got to finish off some obligation stitching and this one isn't kitted up properly yet ....

Terri England said...

They are wonderful. Now that is very thoughtful.

Terri England said...

That is wonderful

Terri England said...

Very pretty

Terri England said...

What a wonderful thought/

Claire EJ said...

Honey, you are entirely welcome. You did so much for me while I was away and it kept me very much entertained. Enjoy :)

Mariann Mäder said...

They look decidedly yummy, Mel!

Mariann Mäder said...

That was a well deserved gift, Mel! And you chose very lovely stuff, too!

Mariann Mäder said...

I only sent them about 9 months after I promised them... (blush)

I had them put away to send them off to Mel and they got underneath of something else and so I totally forgot them. Some 9 months or so later I cleared the respective area and - Ooops, weren't these flossaway bags to go to Mel??? Well, they went - and subito!

The card is from a painting by Carl Spitzweg. THE German painter of what's called the "Biedermeier Era" - corresponds to the 1820 to 1860, so parallel to the early Victorian period. Wonderfully detailed, lovely paintings.

Laura Landis said...

Lovely colors. Of course, I really like the one on the far left.

Laura Landis said...

LOL, this looks like the 'little handful' I picked up myself! It was just too good a deal to pass up. Of course I'm still missing colors when I try to start a project!!

Laura Landis said...

Wonderful colors! I am such a flossaholic!!

Laura Landis said...

Pretty, pretty choices. Enjoy!!

Laura Landis said...

One can never have too many Floss Away bags!!

Melissa Hicks said...

I soooo agree !!

Mariann Mäder said...

I agree, too, but I don't like these - they open to the sides and I prefer the small ziplocks that open to the top and are about a third bigger than the floss away bags :-)

Melissa Hicks said...

Hence why *I* got them! This size and shape suits me :) :)

Melissa Hicks said...

My First EVAH Halloween Present !!!!!!

Thanks Tracy !!!!!!

Claire EJ said...

Ooh, look at the adorable Beanie Bat! What's his name?
I'd hang him on a springy string or piece of elastic so he looked like he was flying [grins]

Karen R said...

Cute! Love the bat :)

Melissa Hicks said...

I was thinking of calling the Bat Nosferatu ..... and hanging him above my desk at work ....

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