Big Ears

I started a new project this past weekend called 'Big Ears', it's an illustration from the 'Guess how much I love you' book. It's a really cute design and I couldn't resist stitching on it straight away! Here is my progress so far:

It's my first project using evenweave so it's a bit strange after stitching on aida all these years but I'm pleased with the progress so far! Problem is none of my other projects are getting stitched on, which always seems to happen as soon as I start a new project. I'm thinking of trying out some sort of rotation, as I start uni in a month so stitching time will be much more limited. I read on StitchySam's blog about her new rotation plans which seem like a pretty good idea. So hopefully I will come up with my own rotation plan, would love to know what anyone else does stitching wise for lots of projects?



Happy stitching!

Slow progress

Phew!It has been a really busy week for me!I have been doing a lot of overtime at work so didn't manage to get even one stitch in!

Although with the bank holiday today I did get some stitching time this evenings. I only worked on the poppy design while watching Beauty and the Beast one of my all time favourite movies! This is how far I have got:

I really need to give some of my other wips some attention else they are will turn into UFOs! There are so many designs I want to stitch though, and I'm itching to start a new project!

I am waiting on some threads to arrive in the post for a new project I want to start. I accidentally bought linen instead of evenweave though so I'm holding off as I'm not too sure of the difference...any stitchy thoughts out there?

I have an exciting week ahead with quite a bit of travelling on the train, so with any luck I might get this finished by the weekend.

Happy stitching!




 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Poppy Progress

This week I have made some progress on my Poppy design...

It was not quite as much as I planned to do, I thought I would do a lot more to be honest. I had some extra hours at work over the weekend and waking up with a cold Monday morning took away quite a bit of stitching time. All I felt like doing was sitting feeling sorry for myself and watching TV! I seemed to get quite a bit of stitching done last week while I was watching the Olympics too.

Luckily my Mum was coming up to stay this week so she has been looking after me, which is lovely, especially as my boyfriend is away for work.

So I am hoping to get a lot more stitching time done this week! Maybe I can finish this project. I have ordered a dark burgundy aperture card for it, hoping that it will good with the poppy seed colours. I usually just get white cards but wanted to make this one a bit different. I would like to start a new project too, and have a couple of designs in mind.

Happy stitching!

New Project!

I started a new project yesterday, just a small design again will probably be a card. It's the poppy design from the latest issue of Cross Stitch Crazy (Issue 168). I am really pleased with how it is going the colours are nice and bright! That's all to report really just been settling in after the holiday and trying to get back into my gym routine!

Thanks for visiting! Happy stitching :-)

The best days are full of little surprises!

It's been an entire month since I last blogged! Sorry for that, now it will be weekly or more from now on! The main reason I haven't blogged is because I started a new job and have just got back from holiday to Turkey for two weeks! I missed IHSW and I'm looking forward to visiting everyone's blogs to see what stitching they got up to :-) 

Although I was on holiday I did get some stitching done in the evenings while enjoying a drink before going out for dinner and the evening. I finished another Newton's Law design from the series in The World of Cross Stitching like before. I'm not sure I liked this design as much, maybe because all the colours even the background was so similar. I still want to stitch a lot more of them though! This one is called 'The best days are full of little surprises', which I am going to put into a card and send to my Nan.

Next up I am going to stitch another card but something a bit different. It'a s poppy design from the latest Cross Stitch Crazy magazine, so I am just getting my threads together for that. Apart from that my Venice design has had no stitching done on it since the last update so I will have to get some stitches done on that soon!

Here are some pictures of Turkey too, we went to Dalayan and saw loggerhead turtles, blue crabs, and had a mud bath. As well as lots of lazy days by the pool and some lovely tranquil boat trips!

Seasonal Stitching?

It's blog hop time again! Thanks again Loretta for doing these questions it's a lot of fun! So the question is:

Do you find yourself stitching seasonally or do you just stitch what moves you at the moment? What’s your favorite holiday or season to stitch for?


Well to start with my favourite holiday to stitch for Christmas by far. It's my favourite time of year and stitching something for the season is all apart of the decorations, trees and Christmas fun for me. I love to make Christmas cards for my family and try to stitch a bigger Christmas project too. I have never stitched anything for Halloween but I think that's because it is not as big a holiday in the UK. I do like to stitch Easter cards too if I have time they can be really cute.


Generally though I just stitch whatever I fancy doing at the time, I don't tend to worry about whether it's seasonal or not. I've just started a new Christmas project and it's July! But then if I want to display it at Christmas time I need to start now!


Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.

New Project, New Frame!

Happy Saturday to all you stitchers! Received a new kit in the post this week, another purchase from eBay. I have really wanted this kit for quite a while so as soon as it arrived I started working on it straight away. It's from Dimensons, The Gold Collection Petites and is called 'Christmas Morning Pets'. I have only made a small start on it but here it is, and how it will look when it's finished too!

It's on 18-count aida which I never stitched on before, the smallest I have stitched on is 16-count aida. I think it will take a while to get used to and I think I will have to use the parking technique as it's a struggle to fit a cross stitch in between two already done! The stitching is not as neat as I would like it to be but I think I will get better with practice. 

I also started using a new frame today, I bought it from Sew and So its a R & R Craft Frame. I wanted to try a different frame because hoops weren't really working for me! I saw a review for a snap frame on Erin's blog 'Less Bitching, More Stitching' and it's a great review. She also has a giveaway for the frame too so check it out. 

The frame I have is very similar and I love it! It's a bit heavier than a hoop but so much easier to hold. I bought a 6x6inch frame, and it keeps the tension really good. I also bought some needles and some thread storage which I will talk about in another post. Here's a little picture of the frame:

Hope everyone has a good stitchy weekend!

Venice Update

I haven't done as much stitching as I wanted or planned to in the last week. Only because every time I was going to get some done on this project something else came up and when I finally had time I was too tired! Nevertheless I did get some progress on my Michael Powell Mini Venice Bridge 1. Once I have completed that last little section at the bottom I only have two columns 20 stitches across!

This is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago:

I have finished all the cross stitch on Bert the Badger now and I am struggling through the back stitch. Hoping to get it done by the end of this week!

I just wanted to say welcome to new followers I am really glad you are here and reading my blog :-)

Happy stitching!

It's Saturday Stash It!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! I have some new stash to share with you, I bought two kits off eBay. eBay is great if you need to stitch on a budget or find kits that are discontinued. The first kit I got was 'Over the Moon', a DMC kit from the Bubble & Squeak range which I really like.

I have stitched two of their designs before and have a chart for another in a magazine. I love the design, but there is a lot of half stitch background and similar colours for the bear. Definitely will be a project I will have rotate with something else!

The second kit I got is another one of my favourite series, Country Companions. I've have stitched quite a lot of them in the past and have a couple that I need to get back to stitching on too. They have been taken over my Anchor, and I still like the designs but prefer how they look when DMC did them. The kits can be quite hard to come by now, but I managed to get a Tom Mouse design called 'Hide and Seek'.

I am really looking forward to stitching them both and they should keep me going for quite a while just need to decide which to start first!!! Hope you like my new stash.

Happy Stitching!

Finished!

I finished my Newton's Law - 'Friends Share' this morning and couldn't wait to share. I am really pleased with how it turned out, just need to decide whether I want to put it into a card to give away or a small frame to keep! 

The back stitch was quite challenging as it didn't all go in the designated holes, so I had to really concentrate and give it some time, but I am glad I did. 

There were a couple of french knots for the champagne bubbles and on the bow. I had to watch a YouTube tutorial to familiarize myself with them. I always find them difficult but I was quite pleased with the result! I'm going to try and finish Bert the Badger soon too! 

Project details:

The chart is from The World of Cross Stitching - Issue 178

Stitched on 14-count aida

Started: Saturday 16th June

Finished: Wednesday 20th June

Happy Stitching!