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Happy Birthday! What lovely presents. I adore that owl.

I'd say your DH did a great job with your birthday presents! Happy birthday! I especially love the barn owl!

Lovely stash and a great birthday present too. Well Done DH.

That Owl!! and those cheetahs are just so beautiful.

What lovely gifts.

Thank you all. DH saw the owl kit in a newspaper magazine & asked me if I would like it as it reminded us of a holiday we had years ago. We were gently motoring round twisting narrow country lanes when we went round a left bend & saw 2 barn owls on the left hand side, sitting on a fence looking out over the ploughed fields looking for the slightest movement. We've rarely seen one barn owl let alone 2 together. Looked on the Internet & Sewandso price was a lot cheaper. The magazine offer would have been ideal for people who are not on the Internet.

Recently I've been looking for the cheetah mother & cubs chart & before I found the Mother & baby chart book I saw these cheetah heads. The money saved on Sewandso went towards this kit. It is going to be discontinued so it was lucky I kept looking over several weeks - only 2 craft companies had it. It took a while to come but I love it - pale blue Aida so should turn out well.

Just come home from the local Red Cross charity shop (my favourite place in Uppsala ) with 11 cross stitch magazines for really cheap money. Cross Stitch Collection, Cross Stitch and Needlework, Dover Needlework Series (never heard of them), The Cross Stitcher, some French and Portuguese magazines - I am a happy bunny. Most of them from 1997-98 but the Dover one is 1980. Some serious browsing is to follow.

That's great Agi. Enjoy looking through all the magazines

Sounds like a wonderful collection of magazines. Enjoy the browsing.

That is going to be fun Agi. Finding a new pattern is always a pleasure. Congrats!

Finally Finished! It's officially a Half-Cross Stitch project because if you look at where the flesh started at the head the full-cross stitch did not look right. So I used 3-strands throughout the rest of the project on 18-count Aida.
Colors: DMC -E310, E3821, E520, P519, P310, 816, 349, 816. Anchor: 311, 1002, & 1003.

I have been terrible about remembering to post my stashing pictures on this thread. I have been putting them on my SAL thread instead while I am there since it is handy. Here is what I got in my latest delivery.





I still have another order from Stitching Bits and Bobs on the way. 2016 seems to be the Year of the Stash so far for me. I may have to start a stitch from stash thread in 2017 to ensure that some of this loveliness actually gets stitched.

Really beautiful charts for you to stitch and they are going to look truly wonderful when done I am sure - can't wait to see you start on them

Thanks Sally!

I will be starting this bird hopefully by the end of the month. I have a trio of birds by this designer but only one has been stitched so far. The finch has been kitted up next to my chair as the "next" project for 18 months. I really want these done so they can all go to the framer together in July. Not sure how long they will take to complete. I stopped in the middle of the robin one due to my husband's cancer. I think that is my mental block with finishing the other two since it reminds me of that time. But I need to get busy stitching since 2016 is the year of the stash. If only I could figure a way to stitch as fast as I stash.

All this talk of stitching Christmas related projects (on stitchhappy's thread) got me thinking (and buying). I have a copy of WOXS which has a lovely Robin design on it so have decided to do it for a friend of mine who has photographed a Robin family in her garden over several years and who absolutely adores them. Will do it for her for a Christmas present here's the finished design:



Instead of the cream aida they suggest I've bought a light blue aida instead.



And also for my little Christmas cards I plan on doing over the rest of the year I bought this book too!

@...stitch happy 18th. ...love the blue title. ..and that tulip is gorgeous That designer certainly does make wonderful charts


@....Nicola....BT early for me to be thinking of December, but I do like that Robin

Love that robin

Nicola I love the robin! It looks like he is about ready to hop off the fabric. That will be such a wonderful Christmas gift. I have a couple of Christmas projects I want to start, but I am trying to hold off on buying fabric until the PTP sale in July. I love Christmas any time of the year, but somehow in the heat of summer the idea of cooler weather makes it even more appealing than usual.

They are all pretty designs but I love the birds on the blossoms best. Robin is very pretty as these little birds are always so colourful. The Christmas stash is lovely. Look forward to seeing these designs on here once they re started to you both for good choices

I bought a military special forces crest pattern to stitch for my boyfriend. I'm trying to decide whether to use this orange/purple fabric or stick to classic white. Any opinions?

Beautiful stash Dawn. I would go with the orange/purple fabric. I think if you use black threads it would just pop. Not sure what the pattern calls for but if the white in the design is from no stitching on white fabric you could certainly add white thread on the colored fabric if you like the black and white look.

Are you going to make a SAL topic for this? I look forward to seeing you stitch it.