Free cross sititch pattern: Legacy Empress

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Cross Stitch Chart: Kitchen Alphabet

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Kids Pillowcase

My daughter's pillow cover was a  bit dull. It is better now, isn't it?

Fabric Book Cover

I am learning German now, the second foreign language for me. Germans are good at so many things, such as cars, machines etc. I think their language make the contribution. If you can manage German, you must be smart. Germans try their bests to make the language as complicated as possible.

The Oxford German dictionary becomes my BEST friend then. I am nice to my friend, so I will be happy when I am companied.

The book cover was made by oil cloth from Cath Kidston.



Baby Booties

These booties are so irresistible. I am thinking to make a pair as decoration for my daughter's room. The free template  can be downloaded from Cross Stitcher website.

Christmas Cross Stitch Door Hanger

I just finished this door hanger to make my prepartion for the Christmas. It is double sided with three colours totally.

Wish you a merry Christmas.

Free Cross Stitch Patern: Teacups

Cross Stitcher magzine website provides free teacup charts for downloading.

Fabric Finds

I've seen so many nice sewing projects online, so I decided to give a try myself. One of the first couple of things on the shopping list is: FABRIC.

Mooooooooooo. It was found in Münster, Germany. There are two lovely fabric shops and a cross stitch shop in the city centre. All are great. It's a pity that I don't live nearby.

This is for my 2 years daughter. I worried it might be too childish soon. But I can't resist the little mousy.

Fabric from Bremen with the city symbol

French fabric in red and blue. It was found on holiday in France, thanks to the car breaking down. I've been the shop 3 times. Finally the shop opened.

A bargain. Only 50cents(euro). I got it from a fabric museum which was an old German fabric plant. It will be easily made to a tea towel.

Free Cross Stitch Chart: Angle Wings

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P.S. The threads in the chart are Anchor.

Dayout - German Village Museum

We have been out on German National Day (3 Oct) to a small village museum. It's free entry but with some good collections. I especially like the handcraft items.

Cross stitch samplers

This linen cupboard is my favorite. Have a look at the lavender bag, the pile with ribbon. It does so much for morale. I can't image how popular it would be if these things are on the vintage market.

Some details. Luckily, I have the pattern of the alphabet.

Embroidery

At last, it is the photo made at the museum entry. Is it very autumn?

Free Cross Stitch Chart: Flower of the Month - Aug to Dec

August: Gladiolus

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Septemeber: Aster

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October: Calendula

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November: Chrysanthemum

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December: Poinsettia

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Free Cross Stitch Chart - Wedding Gift - Un Si Beau Jour

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Free eBook - School Needlework

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I am so happy to find this book. This is a lovely vintage book which was written by Olive C. Hapgood in 1893 with clear pictures Illustrated. It covers nearly everthing of needlework, from the basic introduction to the daily use projects. When I read it, I can somehow see the girls sitting next to the fireplace to work like in the movie.

Thanks to the Book Depository, we can download the ebook for free.

Free Cross Stitch Chart: Flower of the Month - July - Larkspur

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How To Customize Blogger Sidebar Title

I've seen so many beautiful blogs with lovely layout, pictures and logos. The most I like is the special sidebar title. After spending some time, I figured out how to make them and would like to share it with you if you want to give a go.

You will need:

• image editing software, e.g. Photoshop, I used MS Digital Image.
• the font you like

The customized sidebar title is actually a picture that I created and saved as .jpg file.

1. According to my experience, you might take a while to find your favourite font. You can search your free font online. There are many options and they will tell you how to install them into your PC after downloading.
2. Now we have the font, it's getting easy then. In your software, 'Create' a new file and 'Insert text'. Edit it to proper size to suit your blog. You can right click my side bar title to check the 'properties' and find out the 'dimensions'. The tip here is not to make big height, or else it won't look nice with big margin between the title and the text. 
3. Once it's done, save the file as .jpg or even .gif if you want.
4. Upload the file as a picture to flickr or somewhere similar.
5. Get the HTML link. If you use flickr, open the picture, click 'all sizes' menu, the first option of 'Copy and paste this HTML into your webpage' is what you need.
6. Then you can 'add a gadget' to add the html just right above the sidebar.

Now, you can enjoy your customized blogger sidebar title and feel you are an IT expert too. I was absolutely happy when I did it.

Free Cross Stitch Chart: Kittens and Puppies Alphabet

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Free Cross Stitch Chart: Alphabet

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Free Cross Stitch Chart: Flower of the Month - June - Wild Rose

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Meaning: love, appreciation, pleasure and simplicity.

Healthy House Plants

'A study into indoor air pollution carried out by the UK fovernment's Building Research Establishment has revealed that pollution may be 10 times worse inside the home than outside it, and that the quality of the air we breathe at home poses a greater risk to health than breathing city smog.' -- I read this from a book.

Gradually, I started to be keen on organic and I never liked the air freshener. So, I will go for some house plants to improve the indoor air and decorate the house. Of course, I won't do it right now as we will move soon. But it is good to make some notes now.

Areca Palm
One of the best houseplants for chasing away chemical toxins while releasing large amounts of moisture into the air.

It is big size and grow up to 5m (15ft) high.

Boston Fern
This one scroed the highest for removing air pollutants and retaining moisture of all the plants tested.

It is good to put it in a room with new furniture or carpeting. 

English Ivy

It is effective at removing chemical toxins. It is good in a home office containing computers, fax machines, printers etc.

I like this one and will certainly go for it.

Peace Lily
Good anywhere, particularly near office equipment.

I had one a couple of years ago, but lost it after a long holiday. She was too thirsty. Sorry!

   

Spider Plant  

It can remove the potentially deadly gas and useful in the kitchens and living room with fireplaces.

This one is really common, cheap and easy to look after.

Birds Visited Our Garden

Green woodpecker: I only saw it once and was excited to make the photos. At the moment I saw it, I didn't know it was green woodpecker. Unlike many of its kind, green woodpeckers rarly drum on trees. They hunt for food mainly on the ground, using their powerful bills and long tongues to break open ants' nests or eating earthworms. I did see deep holes he left behind. From the photo above, you can see his bill was deep in the soil.

Robin: One of the best-loved garden birds, they are highly territorial but also can be very tame, hopping down alongside the fence. Once I saw it on the handle of the mower.

Song thrush: These birds can sing both powerful and musical songs. They are excellent runners, and this allows them to pursue quarry such as leatherjackets. It is very interesting and funny to watch the bird running cross the lawn.

Blackbird: One of the most familiar garden birds, blackbirds like earthworms, slugs and snails. So I love them. Male birds are wonderful and talented singers.

Other birds have been seen in our garden are pigeon, magpie and tit.

Feeding birds is very common is the UK. Last winter was the coldest here in the last 50 years and there was a lot of snows. The birds really benefit from the feedings.

Free Cross Stitch Chart: Flower of the Month - May - Lily of the Valley

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Lily of the valley means: Return of happiness, purity of heart, sweetness, humility and chastity. It is used often in bridal arrangments for the sweet perfume.

Cross Stitch: Lavender Bag

I just made myself a lavender bag filled with the dried lavender harvested last year from the garden. I let the lavender in the sunshine for a while before I filled them in. The smell got a bit stronger. After my daughter was born, I have been in rush doing everything, as I feel I only have a very little time for myself. It might be the reason caused me poor sleep. I hope the lavender bag will be sort of helpful.

The pattern is from the French cross stitch magzine De Fil En Aiguille No. 44. There are more lavender charts. All are beautiful. I did mine with the 14 count aida. I think it would let more lavender smell out.

Wish everybody a good night sleep.

Free Cross Stitch Chart: Flower of the Month - April- Sweet Pea

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Meaning of sweet pea: Delicate; Blissful pleasure; Thanks for a lovely time.

New Garden Tips

• Do check your soil. Take some soil of your garden and shake it up in a jar of water. After an hour to check how it settles. Dig a hole 1m deep in different parts of the garden. Notice the layers of soil, the stoniness, the worms, and the depth of any roots. Pour water into each hole to check how long the water takes to drain away. More than an hour means heavy, slow-draining soil, less than ten minutes and it is very fast-draining.
• Do a double digging if you are preparing a new border.
• Don't use treate timeber to make the raised bed of vegetables.
• Edge the carrots with chives. Plant basil with tomatoes. Garlics help keep aphids from roses.

The tips above are what I just learned from 'The Complete Gardener' book by Monty Don.

My Strawberries

Here are the strawberries I fought back from squirrels, slugs, snails and birds in the last year. It is pretty good, isn't it? But the taste is just so so, not really sweat.  Good to bake a cake. I am thinking to order a new variety.

Squirrel In My Garden

This picture was taken last year in my garden. The squirrels are our regular visitors and always help themselves with whatever they find, like bird foods, bread, apples and my strawberrries! The neighbour told me that she saw FIVE squirrels were eating my strawberries at 5 o'clock in the morning. Yeah, their party time. I can't do mornings.  The neighbour also caught one in the cameral another time when the squirrel was eating the strawberry out of the hanging basket which was on the fence between our garden and neighbours. She said, 'just want to show you it was not me stealing your strawberries'.

Spring Is Here

After a long cold winter, the spring is finally here!