Home Sweet Home finish

This ended up being a quick project, I only worked on it for two days but I like the result. This one is a house warming gift for a friend but I'm planning on making one for myself and one for my mum, who really liked the photos of it when I showed her it finished. I used pink fabric on the back and had a good root through my stash and added some beads and mini flowers to the design.

Knitting and Stitching show 2010

Had a great time at the show, It was very busy and crowded again this year. With a great mixture of craft stalls. I learnt a lot of new techniques in the workshops I took and a few crafts I would like to take up like rag rug making :-}. Here are a couple of pics of the things I made,



And here are the goodies I got. Lots of fabrics and threads. And some wonderful kits and a few freebies :-) One of my favorites is the bothy threads Gorjuss kit. I also really like the mini iron I got, I might even get around to ironing some of my projects :-)

Finishes and WIP's

First I finished my owl ipod cover. I decided to use 18 count aida instead of 22 everweave. So I had to add more dots and reversed the cover flow. So here it is.......
I didnt fancy starting a big project so decided to get out some of the free gifts that come with the cross stitching magazine. I have a box full of them. Stitched up this little bird design from crossstitcher.

At the moment I'm working on two small projects The free heart gift from the new issue of crossstitcher and a home sweet home house warming gift for a friend.

A prickly customer.....

This is my latest finish from the world of cross stitching issue 168, Its a Polly Pickering design. I thought it was so cute. I used 14 count marble Aida, which I think gives it a great effect.

At the moment I'm working on an Ipod cover 'what a hoot' from issue 231 of cross stitcher. Here's a picture from the magazine of what is suppose to look like when finished.

Less then 1 week and counting till the knitting and stitching show now. I've made a long list of things I want for my stash and kits I want to look out for. :-) Very excited

The start of my christmas stitching

Here are 5 designs I've done from the world of cross stitching. They are about 2.5 by 2.5 inches and my plan is to turn them into card to give to friends. At the moment I'm working on a pollyanna pickering design from the same magazine.

Less then 3 weeks till the knitting and stitching show in London and I can't wait. 4 days, 10 workshops and lots of shopping :-)

Its been a while.....

since I said I was back.

First heres a pic of the photo cross stitch I did for a friend in March. Took me 4 weeks to finish, started really slow then was told it had to be finished in a week and a half with over half the cross stitch to go. As you can imagine a lot of late night were spent on it. Finished and framed it the night before we gave it to her for her birthday. The photo was in black and white, had it converted into a chart through someone on ebay. Used a box frame so the glass didnt touch the stitches.

Just finished stitching 2 christmas pics over the last few days, I'm planning on turning into cards. Getting a head start. Will try putting some pics up soon.

Also booked our tickets to this years knitting and stitching show in London {oct 7-10}. Going for 4 days this year and doing 10 workshops. Me and my sister went for 2 days last year and really enjoyed it and got lots of stuff. Really looking forward to it and already making a list of things to look out for :-)

I'm Back

Well it's been a very long time, and the reason..... facebook and a certain game called farmville. Which I have totally become addicted it but have made a lot of good friends from around the world playing it.

I've been well. Started going a new dentist in February and since then have had 3 teeth removed, 5 fillings and I'm in the middle of root canal...... not fun. But the good thing about recovering from teeth extraction is it helped me get back on track for losing weight. So far have lost 19 pounds yay. More to go, I'm hoping to lose a few more pounds before a weekend trip to wales at the end of June. We spead the second day horse riding round the Brecon beacons and I cant wait.

Hardly done anything crafty since before Christmas but have just started a new project, detail and piccys to follow :-)

Stitch in Time WIP

An update on stitch in time:The threads seem a lot brighter then what was shown on the picture. Not sure if its because I've got a pink hint coming through the waste canvas, but I'm liking it :-) I'm finding working with the bag easy, I tied up the handles so I wouldn't keep getting tangled, the bag is thin so there have been no problems getting the needles through and I was able to use a frame which always makes it faster.

Stitch in Time

This is my next project:The plan is to stitch the Margaret Sherry design onto the front of a small canvas bag, which I want to use for carrying my cross stitch bits around. That's why I pick the mice doing a cross stitch. I am going to use 18ct waste canvas to get the design onto the front of the bag. I wanted to use soluble canvas but could only find it in 14ct which would have been too big for the bag. I dyed the bag today using the a Dylon fabric dye power pink. So I'm ready to start stitching tomorrow.

Mini finish

Finished my little somebunny to love freebie yesterday. Haven't made it into a card yet. I decided to added beads as the eyes instead of just cross stitching them. The back stitching is in grey so I used grey beads from my stash to match. Also added little pink buttons.
I was informed by my boyfriend last night that on Tuesday it would be the last day before Christmas that he would be seeing a work friend, which I wanted to make a card for. So I picked out a Margaret Sherry penguin design to stitch. Problem I only had half the threads needed. Solution a trip to my local hobby craft this morning. I got my threads and also a heat it up tool for embossing :-) My excuse is it was needed for the card. This is the finished stitch: I already have different basic cards. Just had to measure and cut out a window:

I embossed Happy Christmas on to the front, using my new tool :-) and sliver heat it up powder, which ended up everywhere:

Double sided tape and a backing for inside and finished:
Its simple but I like it. Another Christmas card finished. And you may guess I like taking pictures :-)

The Past 2 Days

Since finishing In Harmony a couple of days ago I decided to do a few simple tiny stitches. I started and finished my first Christmas card of the season. Its an All our yesterdays card kit that came free in the world of cross stitching magazine. Thought I would make it, be nice to send it to someone.

The second start is another free kit from the world of cross stitching. A somebunny to love mini bunny. I thought it was cute. Will have to start slotting in the free kits that you always get with magazine, got a box full of them. Think I might turn this into a birthday card, its a friends little girl's birthday in January think this would be prefect in a pink or purple card for her.

In Harmony is ........

finished. Spent the last day doing the back stitch, french knots and couching, was very glad that there wasn't much. Just needs a wash, iron and going to try find a nice frame for it.

Was trying to get a photo of it showing the best colour representation think this is the best. Put my day light lamp over it as i took the photo.

A bit of an update on In harmony. Lost motivation on it this week. I've been thinking about my next projects and getting everything ready for them. Want to start them now but also want to get In harmony finished so I'm pushing on with it. So here's my update:

Also wanted to show a little Christmas design I stitched in mid October. Its a Margaret Sherry design that was in Cross Stitcher magazine. The chart called for baubles to be stitched but I added the little Christmas bulbs for a bit of difference and I thought they would be cute:

First an update on In Harmony, not spent as much time on it this week as I would have liked. Just over halfway through now. Photo does makes the sky look lighter brown then it actually is. I do like the effect of the trees in the background. My Pako thread organiser finally turned up, I organised my In Harmony threads in to it and am finding it make easier to work with then them cardboard ones that come with the kits and you end up pulling all the wrong threads out while trying to get the colour you want, well I do :-)

Put my stitching down on Wednesday for a few hours to make this little kit from buttonbag.co.uk which I got at the Ally Pally. An owl family. It was very kiddy but fun to make.

These are my finished owls. the kit was really good, I was surprised at the good quality of the fabric. I added tabs at the back of the owls so they could be hang up. I'm already thinking about the next few projects I want to start but I am determined to finish In Harmony first before starting a new cross stitch. I'll keep ya updated :-)

Got a bit more done of In Harmony, a lot of what I've done today has been in half stitch. With plenty of blending colours.

Went my local hobby craft today and picked up two popcorn knitting kits (they was going cheap.) I have already done Souffle the duck pictured in the middle. Souffle was my first knitted teddy, before him I could only do scarfs. Took me a week to make and I was very pleased with him. So I have Biscuit and Cocoa to make now :-)

In Harmony WIP

End of day 2 on In Harmony. Managed to get one of the wolves head done and a little bit of the other. Already worried I'm going to run out of thread, it keeps going all bitty and I end up wasting it, I'll see how it goes. Navy Aida been a bit hard to work with as the holes are not very clear, have had to unpick a few stitches :-(

Day Dreamer Finished

I finished Suzy's Zoo Day Dreamer today. Run out of a couple of colours from the kit but Lucky had them in my collection. It didn't have a lot of back stitching which was nice. So here it is, needs a bit of ironing :-)

On the 8th and 9th this month I went the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace in London. Spent a lot of money and added a bit to my stash. These are the goodies I got:
Decided I'm going to start In Harmony by dimensions tomorrow. I had been wanting this kit for a while so when I saw it at the knitting and stitching show there was no hesitation.

WIP update

Just a quick update on Day Dreamer

Not the most successful day!

Didn't get much stitching done today on day dreamer, added a bit more to the sky.

Went charity shop craft hunting today. Verdict ..........there are no good charity shops in my area at least for craft bargains. Did get a book Cross Stitch Silhouettes which I think has some nice charts in. And some ladybird buttons, thought I might add one to day dreamer maybe on Witzy's foot or the flower. And my Dad got me the cross stitch pattern creator from a boot sale for 10p. So a few bit added to my collection :-)

Suzy's Zoo Update

This is the first WIP picture of Suzy's Zoo day dreamer. Think I've made a good start to it, most of the blue sky is using half stitch so it's made it faster to stitch. Except when I forget I'm half stitching and cross stitch instead and have to unpick it, oops.