2 Christmas Finishes

Well I have two Christmas themed finishes that cross off one more goal on my crazy list.

First up is a Furry tales design that I stitched up and sent to Steph.

Furry tales from an issue of WOXS

This second stitch will be made into an ornament for my home. I miscounted on the width of the border but had done too much to undo so I just moved the red backstitch. I literally just finished this ornament so thought I'd get a quick post in.

Noel from WOXS 210

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

Poppies and a furry tales design

Well, I've just picked the poppies up from the framers and I'm really pleased with the result. It's my first time having something professionally framed and I can't help but stare at it!

Trio of Poppies by Maria Diaz

Sorry for the glare but it was too dark not to use flash.

I just finished this little guy this morning but excuse him, he hasn't long come out of his bath. He was a quick and delightful stitch. That's at least one more crossed of my crazy list.

Hope you all have a good weekend :)

Some stitching :)

Hi everyone!

I haven't been stitching much just a few stitches here and there so I thought I'd post some photos.

Furry Tales Teapot as of 6.12.14

I started this cute little mouse (WOXS) today as he is on my list for 2015. As he is so little, I knew I could get him done before the end of the year.

HAED TT Kitten 2 as of 6.12.14

This one wasn't been stitched on for about a month but I have recently introduced a friend to HAED and wanted to show her this little guy only to find that I hadn't taken a photo since July so here he is. The larger blocks of colour went quite fast.

Wedding Sampler as of 6.12.14

I'm still cracking on with this! There's a bit more blue in the border, I want to reach the 4th horseshoe then I'll move on to the middle for a bit so that I can move the frame along. I hope that by rewarding myself with horseshoes or parts of the middle after a decent block of blue has been done then I'll get a move on with it.

In other news, I have sent Trio of Poppies off to be framed, sadly I couldn't get hold of an oval frame for it (that or I'd have to pay over £70!) so I just went for a nice wooden frame with cream and red mounts. It's due back next Saturday so I will post a photo once it's back home. Last week at uni coming up before the Christmas holidays, hopefully I'll get more stitching in then and get those 2 bags done!

Love Thy Thread

Sadly, the fabulous shop Love Thy Thread will be closing on 1st Dec so if you really like any of Bev's charts make sure to stock up! I do apologise to your wallets in advance but thought some of you lovely readers would like to have a wander over there.

P.S. I still haven't put a single stitch in anything!

Around the World Blog Hop

Hi everyone!

This is my first blog hop. I'm involved in this blog hop because of the lovely Steph.


1. What am I working on?

I'm currently working on a wedding sampler (still) and HAED TT Kitten 2. At the moment I don't get much time to stitch so all projects are a slow go and I need to make duffle bags by December!

Wedding Sampler as of 13/11/14

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I don't feel my cross stitch projects differ much from other peoples'.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

If it's not a project for someone else then I pick things that are of interest to me such as Mumma's Boy by Paine Free Crafts. I love animals and am currently on Biology degree.

4. How does my writing/creative process work?

I tend to just work on the project that's calling me. However I spend more time organising my stash than actually stitching.

Make sure to stop over at Amo Angelus - she makes gorgeous items, especially her beautiful shawls. Also take a look at A Creative Life, there are some delicious recipes over there!

Thanks for visiting :)

Mega Mini Month Madness - post 5 - the last one

Well it's time to say good-bye to MMMM but it's been good. I wish I had more time to stitch but hey ho.

For the final post I have a finish! Please excuse him, he hasn't been ironed yet :)

Fizzy moon stocking completed 31.10.14

Mega Mini Month Madness Post 4

Well I've managed quite a bit of stitching and the end is in sight. The backstitching of the fur is a bit of a nightmare on Aida though.

Mega Mini Month Madness Post 3

Sadly I'm a post behind and delayed. I have done little stitching due to a lot of work at uni.

Even if I still have little time to stitch, I'd like to finish this little guy off before the end of October.

Mega Mini Month Madness - 2nd post

Sadly I don't have any finishes to show you this time but here's progress on fizzy moon stocking and a new start ;)

Fizzy Moon Stocking

Ornament from cover kit

I've also added a bit more to the wedding sampler but that can wait for another post when MMMM is over. Lovely stitching everyone!

Mega Mini Month Madness - 1st post

For my first Mega Mini Month Madness (MMMM) stitching post, I have a finish! Please excuse the photo, he's still wet after his bath :)

This little guy was from a Hobbycraft kit. I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else got on.

Uni classes start properly tomorrow so hopefully I can get some mini stitching done whilst adjusting to a busy time. 

I'm back!

Sorry, I haven't posted in a while. I've been on 2 trips (I didn't have much time to stitch on either of these), went to a wedding and then wrote my first essay for uni (induction week starts tomorrow). I've got to admit that although I'm a "mature" student, I am a bit nervous.

Sadly, I didn't get the sampler done in time for the wedding, I was having a hard time with the outer border so here's where it is at the moment:

Wedding Sampler as of 27.09.14

It's the mountain of blue that gets me, it feels never ending...

I have signed up to Mega Mini Month Madness, the deadline for sign ups is tomorrow. Here are some mini WIPs that I'm aiming to get finished in October. I'll have to flick through my magazines to see what other minis I can do.

2nd Bag finished.

Well I've finished my sister's bag, I'm not entirely happy with the finish (just little things) but we were on a tight deadline and I was working overtime.

What I've learned between making this bag and my version, is that you save so much hassle if you quilt it properly...even if it's just simple lines. I'll certainly do that with the next two bags in the pipeline. They won't be started until I return from my holiday though.

Here's a photo of my recent addition to the stash...zipper wallets! They are only 55p each from Asda and I've found they are very handy as they are able to hold the charts and the fabric for a project. Thus making it easier to keep everything together.

I haven't added much to the wedding sampler but here's an update:

IHSW

Sorry this post is late...

This is how far I've gotten with TT Kitten 2 but this was not all done in the IHSW weekend.

HAED TT Kitten 2 as of 20/7/14

I made the larger version of the Buttercup Bag. I made so many mistakes on this one compared to the first, I will now remember that just because I have already made one, it does not mean I can rush through the second! This one is just for me though so I don't mind and it was made using fabric that I already had.

Following the photos of the travel bag I made, I have now got another 3 on my to do list and that isn't including my sister's.

Finished already

I popped to the shop today to get the threads I needed and managed to finish both bags off today so without further ado...

This is the large bag, it can even fit a single duvet in there! Being that this is the first quilting/big bag making I've ever done, I can say although it is far from perfect it will be used and was a great learning piece. This has one good sized pocket that has a zipper and a smaller one that you could put phones, keys, etc. I am proud of the zippered pocket on this one...it turned out great!

This is my smaller bag which I intend to use as a carry on when flying. Still not perfect but I learned a lot from the first bag and this did not have missing inches ;) This one fit my big fluffy dressing gown and there was still a fair bit of space, it also has a trolley sleeve so you can safely rest it on a suitcase and and 2 good sized pockets.

Oh well back to the pinning and sewing as I need to do the small one in pink for my sister.

Just a quick update

I've mainly been sewing...well trying to. I started a duffle bag but not only is it too big to double up as a flight bag, I also ran out of thread. I miscounted along the way so it's around 6 inches short! I've found there is more detail given in the smaller version of this bag by StudioCherie. So I have a large one that is nearly finished, a small one for me that is half way finished but I'm about to run out of thread again (what am I like?) and a small one for my sister that is cut out but not started.

This is the start of the wedding sampler which has a deadline of September.

Wedding Sampler, 11/07/2014

I decided to work on HAED TT Kitten 2...I will not let the confetti defeat me!

HAED TT Kitten 2, 13/07/2014

Trio of Poppies.

Well here it is...finally! Trio of Poppies is complete after being a WIP for a couple of years.

Trio of Poppies, 17.06.2014

 Here is a close up of the beads:

Trio of Poppies, 17.06.2014

If you have time, I'd recommend you pop over to Dollydollydaydreams for some wonderful handcrafted items. This is my recent purchase and I love them.

Sarah has a post about our exchange where you can see the items I sent to her.

I'm now debating whether to work a bit on a HAED or start the wedding sampler.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week.

Update on Trio of Poppies

I've completed the last section of sky! It's just the last poppy to work on alongside the last bit of backstitch and beading to do so the end is definitely in sight.

Trio of Poppies 25.05.2014

I have enough charts in my stash but that didn't stop me signing up to Love Thy Threads stitch along which is on their facebook group. You can find the event here. Hope you have enjoyed your weekend :)

May IHSW and an exchange

For this International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, I decided to start one of my 15 from the crazy challenge and I managed to finish it this weekend as well!

It's Lizzie Kate's Teaching is a work of heart:

L*K snippet, completed 18.05.14

Sarah and I decided to do an exchange, the only requirement was that it should feature our favourite colour and here are the lovely items that I received :) My favourite colour is red.

Favourite colour exchange

Here are the stitched pieces close up:

The Front

The Back

I decided to use the scissor keep as an accessory for the inside of my front door. My package to Sarah is in the hands of the Royal Mail, I'm keeping my fingers crossed everything gets there in one piece...there's always that worry isn't there?

Bloglovin'

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5628325/?claim=bpzybumsz5y">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

IHSW

Most of my stitching time this weekend was spent stitching a piece for an exchange coming up so I can't show you that yet. I did manage to put a couple of stitches into Trio of Poppies.

The majority of the overall progress since you last saw this piece was stitched before IHSW.





Please do not use my photos without my permission. Thank you.

Minecraft pillow

I'm on a roll, 3 completed sewing projects in a month!

My younger brother has the minecraft bug which is a game where you build your environment using blocks. For his birthday I decided to make him a cushion featuring a well known character, Creeper. If you get too close they start fizzling and will eventually explode so it's best to avoid them especially if they're near any areas you are developing.

Anyway, enough of the waffle....

I did not use a pattern for the face...I'm very proud of myself. I did however use sewing instructions for an envelope cushion cover from ikea.

Please do not use my images without my permission. Thank you.

A Q-snap cover

I bought my mam a Q-snap for Christmas as she admired mine so for mother's day, I made her a cover.

I made it using a free tutorial. All tutorials for this project give the same calculations for working out the measurements but when making my own a while back, I discovered it was about 1.5-2" short for my Q-snap. For my mam's I decided to lengthen it and in the end it turned out better than my first one. I might have to make a couple more.

I've gotten further on with the poppies compared to the above photo but that will be for another post.



Please do not use my images without my permission. Thank you.

Teapot cosy

I've had this and another sewing project cut out for a couple of days but only got around to sewing them up yesterday morning. The other project can't be posted yet so here's what I can show you.

It's the teapot cosy from issue 57 of "Sew" magazine.

It says to use the same pattern piece for the outer fabric (they suggested cotton) and the lining, fleece recommended. My only issue with this was that once sewn together the fleece was a little bit on the bulky side compared to the outer fabric. If I was to make another I'd scale the pattern down by a small amount for the fleece and see how that works. It still fits well over the teapot.

Please do not use my images without my permission. Thank you.

A crazy finish

The stitch that I was doing for my friend is finished and is part of one of my crazy challenges.

I'm sorry that I didn't take any more daily progress photos. It is from The World of Cross Stitching issue 203.

I changed the sun's face from smiley to sad as my friend was leaving work.

IHSW

Well for this IHSW I continued with the project I've been working all week. It's a cupcake design from WOXS for a friend.

As people were curious on my progress after doing some of the border I decided to take a photo every day so here we go...

19/03/14

20/03/14

21/03/14

22/03/14

23/03/14

The idea of taking a photo a day (providing I stitch daily) is a good idea especially for HAED's. As looking at the progress has been great.

Blue skies

I can see the end! I've completed another section of sky. It's such a lovely day here as well, I do love to stitch in the sun. Just one more poppy head, last section of sky and the beading to do. Fingers crossed this WIP of 2 years will be finished this year.

Sadly, I won't complete the challenge of no new starts until this is finished as I have a small cross stitch to do for a friend. After those 2 are finished I think I'll make a start on the wedding sampler. 

I have more lovely fabric on the way, some for a dress and the rest for the travel duffel bag I'm itching to get started on. Just need handle fabric and the jute webbing (finding 3.5" wide jute webbing has been a bit of a pain).

Have a lovely week everyone!

IHSW

Hi everyone sorry it's a bit late but here's my progress on Trio of poppies. I've finished 2 smaller parts of the sky and have 2 large parts to finish as well as the last poppy before it's finally finished.

I look forward to seeing how everyone else got on this weekend. I hope this post turns out ok as it's my first time posting from a tablet. 

Buttercup Bag - Made by Rae

The sewing machine has been out to play!

I made the Buttercup Bag which is a free tutorial from Made by Rae. It is an adorable bag and the tutorial is easy to follow with plenty of photos including some close ups accompanied by well written instructions.

It was quite gloomy this morning so as soon as some sunshine broke free I rushed for the camera! The only thing I would change when doing this again is to make the inside pocket a bit bigger but that's just my personal preference. This was made out of 100% cotton fabric that I bought on my fabric shopping trip earlier this month. Sadly there were no labels so I can't tell you what it's called or who it is by.

This bag would make great gifts and this one has already been spoken for. I plan to make another for myself.

Please do not use images from my blog without seeking permission from myself first.