Surprise Holiday!

Sebastien decided we're going cross-country skiing next week... and we're leaving tomorrow! I have a week off and thought I'd just stay at home and work there, but Sébastien decided we both needed a rest. I guess he's right! This may sound crazy... But we didn't take any holiday together since last March. He knows I've been exhausted by my work, both physically and morally - and that I can afford to have one week off, since I didn't stop working during the Chrismas period and I'm actually a little ahead of my working schedule.

I'm a bit nervous as I havent been on skis since I was 10! And I never did cross-country skiing. But it should be OK (according to Seb, who has already been cross-country skiing), as we're both very much used to (and fond of) hiking. I hope it will!

The other great thing in this is that I'll have time to stitch... More that 3 hours of train, and hopefully I can also stitch in the evening, provided I'm not too tired from our activities during the day.

So I plan to start stitching on my round robin... I'm taking part in a Margaret Sherry round robin, along with San and Karen and other friends from all over the world.
I bought my fabric yesterday; I ran across to the other side of Paris where are all the fabric shops, and couldn't believe how cheap it was: 7 euros for 1 metre, and the width is 1,60 metre! And it's powder pink (usually coloured aida is more expensive). It sure was worth going across the whole of Paris, even though I had very little time.

I'm off until next Sunday! Have a great week-end and a great week everyone.

Stitching Blogger's Question: Let's talk about floss

Thank you so much, Renée, for taking over from the SBQOW!
"Do you see a difference between Anchor and DMC floss? If so, what do you think the difference is? Do you have a preference between the two?"
The main difference is in the colours I guess. If you use the conversions to stitch a design you won't get the same results at all with DMC and with Anchor. Angelsan and I talked a bit about that when I was stitching Crafty Cat: I stitched it with Anchor threads, whereas she stitched it with DMC. The result looks more "natural" with Anchor threads. For other designs I'm sure the DMC colours would work better!
I used to stitch with DMC all the time, since this is all I could find in France. But last summer I got quite a deal on Ebay and bought 100 skeins of Anchor floss for $30, shipping included... so that's why I'm using Anchor at the moment! That's lucky as the designs I like best (Margaret Sherry, Newton etc.) are mostly designed with the Anchor colour chart...

Introducing Lily!

Hi everyone!

Today I managed to make my first doll for a charity in which I'm taking part. I plan to make at least two, hopefully more. The dolls will either be auctioned (and the funds will go disabled children in France), or sent to an orphanage in Asia. The responsible of the association hasn't decided yet, she's trying to organize sending dolls to Asia.
Anyway, here is Lily!

Please excuse her, I haven't made her dress yet... that's why she's only wearing a panty!

I gave her a big mass of hair because I remember I always loved my dolls to have lots of long hair, so that I could style it.

I cheated for the face... used a machine embroidery design.
Next step will be her little dress!

Piano Pillow

Hello everyone! I hope you had a nice weekend...

I got up at 7 am and worked so well this morning that I decided I deserved a break this afternoon. My brother was supposed to come for tea with his GF. I decided to make her a little gift:

She's a professional pianist so I thought she'd like that... The embroidery design is from AnntheGran. I used a scrap from my first hand-sewn skirt (from last Spring) for the back: