MYS 2006 Exchange final round - part 2

I received a sewing pouch for this round! Lovely stitched by Margaret. Ladybugs and Bumblebees by Country Cottage Needleworks - my favourite design.

Thank you Margaret for the pouch and the needle card. An adorable piece of lace on the pink felt caught my eyes. It is a crochet-like cotton lace.

MYS 2006 Exchange final round - part 1

For the final round, I have to stitch a sewing pouch. Ooopss! You might not knowing of what I'm talking about. Click here

I stitched a sewing pouch for Angie. It was my first time of such finishing and I struggled a bit to finish it off.


Bonnet & Tulips in Pots by Mosey 'N Me Design is stitched on pale yellow 14ct aida using DMC and Anchor variegates flosses. Sunbonnet Sue is one of my needlecraft favourites. The size of this sewing pouch is approx 7.5" X 5.5". I used black velcro for the flip-styled closure and inserted 2 pieces of matting board to give the sewing pouch a firmer 'body'.

Winter Mail Art from Zarina

It has been quite sometime, no update here. I was preoccupied with activities besides stitching. Family & relatives visits, weddings to attend and outing with friends (and stitching friends too!) etc. Personally I have to say, being back in the big city made my life busier yet enjoyable. Hubby & I did a lot of catching-ups with families and friends. And the kids enjoyed it too.

Here I would like to share some pics of Winter MA I've received earlier this month.


Snowman from Lizzie*Kate Stamp-It January 2005 stitched on 28ct lugana. I simply love the matching fabric - snowflakes print and the batik post stamps. It made this Winter MA much more adorable !

Thank you Zarina for such a lovely Mail Art as well as the silk flosses that you put in the MA.

Winter Mail Art - personal swap

Yesterday, the Winter Mail Art (MA) has safely reached Zarina, my stitching friend in Penang. I felt a great relief! Congrats to Pos Malaysia. It is a rather quick mail delivery service, I thought it wouldn't be any earlier than Wednesday.


Stitched on 28ct Lugana colonial blue using some leftover overdyeds and DMC. Pattern by Little House Needleworks (LHN) - I did some adjustments to the pattern. I love LHN charts as well as Country Cottage Needleworks charts. Stitching on darker fabrics is tricky when it comes to backstitch. Normally, mail artists will backstitch the addresses, but I had to stitch them over one thread. Trust me, stitching the addresses took me longer time than stitching the house & snowman.

If you happened to wonder why both of us (Zarina & I) decided to stitch a winter-themed MA while in the contrary, we live in the part of the world where snow never fall. The answer is simply because we have lots winter patterns from the magazines and hardly stitch any. It was fun for me actually, I enjoy stitching the snowflakes.


The MA is lined with flannel. I couldn't find a matching cotton fabric. There is no winter-themed buttons in my collection, simply stitched a snapper as the closure and embellished with heart-shaped bead. I really enjoy stitching the Winter MA and really satisfied with the outcome.

Designer Mail Art Exchange - part 2

Early this week, the Mail Art that I stitched had finally reached the recipient, Aida.


Plum Berry Sampler by Bent Creek. Stitched on 18ct aida using DMC, lined with leaf print cotton. Handsewn all the way!
I actually had to re-route the MA b'coz the lady at the Post Office branch nearby didn't want to process it. Luckily, Margaret, a stitching friend offered a lending hand. She mailed it out on behalf of me from her place. Initially, it was kind of frustrating situation for me. Then thinking of such problem is one of common problems faced by mail artists (participants), one PO branch refused to process a mail art is not a big deal anymore.

Ironically, as per explanation in TheFreeDictionary.com Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium. Click HERE to read more on Mail Arts.

MYS Exchange 2006 round 2 - part II

On Tuesday, I received a pleasant surprise from Wendy. A lovely cheery bookmark.


She stitched on 28ct lugana using vibrant colours of flosses. I love it very much and asked a framer to frame it.

This is what I love about MYS Exchange 2006; the element of surprise. For round 2, I stitched a bookmark for Angie and I'm surprised by 3 lovely items (needlebook, tuck/flanged pillow & bookmark) received from other participants.

Designer Mail Art Exchange - part 1

Again, April 1st is the mailout date for another exchange - Designer Mail Art Exchange organised in Mail Art Friends Yahoo Group (Mail Art by thread & needle). The participants were asked to stitch either Lizzie*Kate or Bent Creek pattern according to their recipients' preference. Anyway, many of us didn't want to pick a fav, we let our exchange partner decided on the patterns.

Last week, I received a lovely MailArt from Wendy. Even Mr Postman was smitten with admiration, he had a big smile on his face when he delivered the MA to me.

It is a Lizzie*Kate pattern stitched on linen. OOOhhh ! I just love the colours, so vibrant and cheery. Wendy is fondly nicknamed as the 'Queen of Mail Arts' in another Yahoo Group b'coz she had made & sent out many beautiful Mail Arts, be it for exchanges or personal swaps, even kindly sending them out to her families.

My recipient is yet to receive a MailArt from me. Will upload a pic, once it is safe in the hand of the recipient.

MYS Exchange 2006 round 2

April 1st was the mailout date for Round 2 of MYS Exchange 2006

For this round, I sent a bookmark to Angie :


It is one of Joan Elliott charts in last year World of Cross Stitching magazine. However, due to some miscalculation, inavailabilty of some flosses & a matter of preference, there are some adjustments made to the chart. I stitched on silver perforated paper using DMC & overdyed flosses.

In this round I received a pleasant surprise - a needlebook from Angie


The pic doesn't do justice to her stitching which is very neat in real life. She stitched on 18ct beige damask aida. Wow! I have to say, it is rather impressive! I had some difficulties when I tried stitching on black damask aida last time. I love the shiny effect that the fabric have though.

And today, I received a beautiful flanged pillow from Roz.


I simply love the colour combination & pattern. YES, it is very TRUE, Simple Pleasures Are Best. Thanks Roz, you really brightened up my day.

What I did in February - part I

Early February was the mailout date for 3 exchanges I participated in.

MYS Surprise Exchange 2006 is a whole-year commitment exchange. We are required to stitch 6 items (bookmark, needlecase, bookmark, biscornu, stitching pouch & tuckpillow) and each item will be mailed out every 2 months. The surprise/suspense part is everyone of us will not stitch the same item and mail it out to the same recipient for the particular mailout date. And at the end of the year, every one of us will still receive the 6 stitched items. It is something like a 'wait and see' game

For the 1st mailout, i stitched a biscornu for Wendy .

It was not really easy for me to adapt a chart for stitching a biscornu. After so much browsing and hesitation, I settled for a freebie border from a Bulgarian site (if I'm not mistaken) with some adjustment. Decided to stitch a dual tone - one on grey linen and the other on colonial blue lugana (I don't have a matching linen)

And it was a pleasant surprise to receive a biscornu from Roz for this particular mailout date. It is very lovely, you should visit her blog. BTW, I only received one of those shown in the pix: the other one is for Roz's another exchange partner

MYS Valentine Stitched Card Exchange 2006 - I happened to stitch several pieces before I settled with this :
Simply stitching 'love' using several alphabet charts. Padded the back of the stitched piece heavily with batting and embellished with ribbons and 'heart' bead mimicking a floating big heart-shaped balloon. Sent out to Bee Ee together with some beads & buttons and floss. She really like it and in return she mailed me the Women Weekly. I'm very excited as it had been a long time I didn't read/buy such magazine. I think I read/bought too many craft mags lately

And I received such an interesting card from Lillie - with dangling heart , 'open sesame' birdhouse and etc. And a lovely needlecase and beeswax candle. Visit her blog and you will know what I mean.

Needlecrafter Valentine Stitched Card 2006 - this is the 1st time I used perforated paper for stitching card (I've done a bookmark before). A simple patchwork heart pattern (I forgot the designer, will check it out later). With layers of organza, lace and craft paper, it turned out the way I wanted it to be. Sent out to Hani together with some stitching goodies.
In return, received a card from Rozie together with bead bracelets and pin. Thank you Rozie. sorry, I haven't upload the photos yet. will do it later.