my mailart to Kirsi

I just heard from Kirsi that she received already today my stitched mailart. So here are the pictures of what I have stitched for this exchange.

This being my first mailart exchange it wasn't easy for me to decide on the shape and material for the envelope, but I think I did a quite good job. 

The fabric is a 30ct. linen from Weberei Wedding in the color "maize" that I then over-dyed in a brown dye bath to give it a nice aged look.

The threads are regular DMC threads except for the brown thread I used for the alphabet. That one, and the one a gave to Kirsi as a gift, I dyed myself in the same dye bath as the fabric.

Here is a better picture of the over-dyed floss that I attached to the peacock thread keeper.

The idea for the thread keeper came while I was stitching the envelope. I knew I had those big eyelets and I thought they'd be perfect for this purpose.

The fabric for the thread keeper is a small model piece of upholstery fabric.

I love to stitch on unconventional fabrics and I do quite a bit of my own projects on whatever fabric is can find around the house.

Thank you Kirsi, for this wonderful exchange. I love the envelope I received from you and I enjoyed stitching this one very much.

This being my first mailart exchange I hope I will have the chance to do many more as I really like to stitch these.

Guardians of the Sea - The little Stitcher

At the moment I am very busy finishing Kirsi's mailart and therefore I don't have anything new to show. So I was thinking to copy a few of my old blogs posts just to keep this blog going.

On "My Needleart" blog I asked how people would like it if I am doing finishing tutorials and the reaction was quite positive. So this is what I am doing as well. My first tutorial will be a special kind of thread keep. I finished the stitching last night and as soon as I get more daylight, I will start taking step by step photos.

I hope to have the tutorial ready for publishing in the second half of this month.

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But here is now a project that I finished a few month ago.

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I have been finishing a few projects during this March. My latest finish is a small project pouch. 

The design is called "The Guardians of the Sea" by The Little Stitcher.

The colors are so soft and beautiful.

The design is stitched on a laced linen band 28ct. in DMC.

I bought the lace band and the flower fabric both from Emmuli.

The outside fabric is a natural linen I had in my stash.

The ribbon is a piece of upholstery ribbon.

Mailart received

During my stitching weekend in Hauho, I asked Kirsi if she'd be interested in doing a mailart exchange with me. I have seen many of those envelopes but never tried one myself. 

We decided to do a primitive design theme and set the date to beginning of July. You might understand my surprise when Kirsi's envelope arrived already yesterday. I am completely blown away by the beauty of her stitching.

I just love how she included this felted wool heart into the design.

The package also included a few goodies.

The bird ornament and wall hanger are both from wood and the thread is a hand dyed thread from "Dragon Floss" in the colour "Antient Oak" It is such a beautiful soft colour. I think I will stitch something very special for myself with it.

My stitching weekend

Just as promised in my last post, here are now the pictures of the stitching retreat last weekend.

The retreat took place at an old country estate called Wuolteen kartano in Hauho. It was the most beautiful place. Unfortunately the weather wasn't of its finest. Sping is still far away and we had quite some rain.

This is the front view of the main building. Here we had our rooms and took our meals.

The main house seen from the lake side.

The little house on the right is the sauna building. It is right next to the lake.

The whole weekend was organised by Kirsi through her cross stitching supply shop Emmuli and needless to say Emmuli was open for business during the entire weekend.

Most tempting for me where all those beautiful fabrics and hand-dyed flosses and ribbons by Nina and I got myself quite some beautiful goodies.

Included in the weekend package was a little stitching gift.

Quite a few stitchers already finished it during the retreat. Though not I. I was far to busy working on my Biedermeier Sampler. I just couldn't lay it aside and made great progress. 

Now that this sampler is almost finished I have to start thinking about the next one. Sari brought along one very old Burda magazines that includes a gorgeous German reproduction Sampler. She was so kind to borrow it to me and I can't wait to buy some more 35ct. Floba to start it.

But I have also bought another reproduction Sampler chart from Emmuli.

This one is Miriam Chilver's Sampler from 1833 by "Samplers Remembered". The Sampler is most likely American but includes English Symbols. It is much smaller than the Biedermeier Sampler and I think I will stitch it on a lower count. Maybe one of my new 30ct's.

After all, I had a wonderful time with good friends and lots of cross stitching.