IHSW November SAL

Hi Stunners!

I'm still here, sorry for the long hiatus. I've had a busy few months with work, overseas holiday and a cargo load of family flying down under for our Nan's birthday. But I have been stitching.

IHSW is back in action - yay!! Joyse and Jo are running it through Facebook but I will post here as well.

I was on nightshift during the weekend but luckily I am allowed to stitch whilst at work when it gets quiet. So I got a bit done.

First up is Gecko Rouge Halloween SAL. I had a bit of frogging and I (gulp) made a hole in the fabric. But it's easily fixed so I'm not freaking out...yet!

Before

After

At home I worked on Snow White also a Gecko Rouge Design by Omri Koresh. It's been recently retired so I'm glad I bought it when I did. Now this is my kind of fairytale!!

This wasn't my actual start point for IHSW I had a bit more done, but this is where I started at the start of the month.

Before

After

For most of August and September I was working hard on HAED - Lost in You. I managed to get 2 full page finishes. So I'm really happy with this ones progress.

One more full page and a teeny tiny partial and it's a row finish. Which will be the first HAED BAP that I will have managed to accomplish this, you know when I do. 

Thanks for visiting stunners. I've got a lot more time for stitching now so hopefully I will have more to show for it.

Take care and may life be magical for you all.

xoxo 

Alicia

Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2017

BWAH HA HAHHH HAA HAAAAA

Welcome my spooky friends to this years Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2017.

It is once again hosted by our Coven leader Jo of the world famous Serendipitous Stitching. I love Halloween and I hope you are all enjoying this eerie night. 

Below are some of my Halloween treats for you.

My favourite artist of the macabre and his interpretation of the Addams Family

Artist - Alessandro Della Pietra

My Halloween wip from Gecko Rouge

And my letter




Happy Halloween Stunners and now please follow the blood trail and severed head to :
My bored Nerdy Self blog (www.myborednerdyself.blogspot.com - in case the link doesn't work) and collect your next letter my beautiful monsters.


Enjoy the candy stunners!!!

Love, whips and hisses

Alicia xoxo

Gifted Gorgeousness - July

Hi Stunners!

Yep I'm late again. Apologies.

I've have spent the last week mourning the death of Chester Bennington and I was so depressed that even stitching couldn't get me out of my grief. Linkin Park was my all time favourite band and I was gearing up to go and see them when they came down under for their latest album tour. I love Chester, and his brave lyrics that ring so close to my own experiences. I hope he is resting easy now and that his demons are vanquished. 

It probably didn't help that I was working on my gift wip of Prince, which just magnified my sorrow.

But I am The Crafty Princess and the show must go on! So here is where I got up to with my new start of Prince - The Legend, which I am stitching for my best friend Lori. 

I've been watching "Grimm" whilst stitching this and I always try and match my minders to the chart I'm working on and the shows I watch. The Minion was included simply cos he's Purple and sparkly, just like Prince. 

He is stitching up really quickly, this was a weeks worth of stitching.

Ready for some birthday stash? Witness the monumentous generosity of my beautiful crafty friends.

Sharine spoiled me with Steampunk Poison Ivy and Batgirl full kit by Charting Creations, Sparkly Unicorn Poo and a whole load of handmade bits from her kids. I think that drawing is a Tiara, but Sharine said Hannah's drawings are open to interpretation ha ha. 

Also from Charting Creations "Miss Poppy" a gift from the owner Nikki. 

"Colombes" from Angie P

"Peacock" from Jayne.

"Fireside Fairytales" and "Geisha" from Helvi

And Bat Tea from Cindy

And with the Gift Voucher from Kim H and Nina I bought 2 long dog samplers - Death by Cross stitch (yep I caved) and Castles in the Air.

So as you can see stunners I will be part of this SAL for the rest of my life. I hope Jo, keeps it going for that long. 

Thank you so much to all my amazing friends for these beautiful and truly generous gifts. And to everyone that wished me a happy birthday. You guys are what sparkles are made of. 

Happy stitching stunners.

xoxo Alicia

June's Journey

Hi Stunners

This is what I got up to in June for my cross stitching journey.

I finally managed to finish the first page of Afterglow. This was such a fun stitch. I'm really looking forward to getting to those beautiful blues and purples in the sky. 

Afterglow - Charting Creations

Page 1 - completed

And here is Lost In You - which I started on the 6th May 2010 (gulp). I am aiming to finish page 3 and 4 by the end of July as this is a goal for the HAED Yearly bulletin board challenge. So I'm stitching them together. I would love to get the full row done by the end of the year though. 

Page 1 & 2 completed

Working on pages 3 & 4

And as from the previous post I finished page 5 on Galaxy Girl Diamond painting. 

It was also my birthday on the 25th June and I received so many beautiful wishes from family and friends, which was so greatly appreciated. But one of my favourites was from a colleague/friend who is currently in the US on holidays. Sally used her kids to make a legendary birthday pic. Oh man can you imagine trying to get 4 kids to stand still and hold up paper signs in the middle of Disneyland??!! Very cute! 

I joined the Gecko Rouge Fox Gloves Halloween SAL. This will be the last SAL I sign up for until I finish every SAL I have ever signed up for in the past. I'm so far behind on all of them, but I'm determined to keep up with this one. We get a page on the 15th of each month. So next time you see it, I will have at least both the first 2 boxes completed. 

And finally,  I have framed Spring to Life. I actually finished this wip years ago but have been slack about framing her. I painted the matting and my dad drew in the vines and butterflies. And I stuck on the flowers. I'm so proud of our little effort together. I'm so happy to actually have a cross stitch that's hanging on my wall. All the other finishes I've framed have been baby samplers and they are with the family I stitched it for.

Next on my framing agenda is QS Lovers, Faces of Faery 88 and I found my family in a book. These are my other 2017 goals. I have the frames but they are the ones I bought from Sew it all where you have to paint and decorate them yourselves. Which is actually fun so I don't know why I keep procrastinating. 

That's all stunners! I hope you are all well and that life is magical for you

xoxo Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - June

Hi stunners!!

I'm not so so late this month - Woo Hoo! 

I worked on Galaxy Girl DP for this GG. I managed to get the page finished and made a wee start on page 4. I'm pretty excited as I have reached her hair so it's getting to the good bits. The chart was a gift from my beautiful friend Helvi. 

It doesn't show up as sparkly as it is in real life. I'm starting to love it again, but have to admit I can work on it for a day or 2 but then miss stitching.

For the next months I have to knock out 3 baby samplers and a Wedding Gift, which has become an anniversary gift ( hangs head in shame)  as it's been 3 years since the wedding. But I will post an update at the end of the month of all my non GG wips. I have managed to get quite a bit done thanks to the Ultimate Cross stitch group and their challenges.

Thanks for your visit stunners.

Hope life is being magical to you in every way

Lots of love

Alicia xox

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - May

Hi stunners

I know I'm late again but I really wanted to finish the page before posting so I can move onto another GG for June.

So here it is page 2 completed. And it is also one of my full year challenge goal for the HAED Bulletin Board. 

I got the new Samsung Galaxy 8+ phone too and look at the difference in clarity, I didn't add any effects either. Love the new phone. 

So 2 pages down - 154 to go!!!

For next GG I will be going back to Rose Zircon the gift for my sister.

Or I may start the Prince chart which I'm stitching for my BFF.

Plus I will work on my diamond paintingl. She has really been neglected.

That's it from me beautiful people. 

I'm on the long stretch of shifts at work so I'm not too hopeful of getting alot done in the next two weeks but I'm going to try.

I will able to check out all your blogs at least. I'm so behind but I'm looking forward to all your cross stitch adventures.

Hope life is being magical

xox Alicia

Very late GG for April

Hi Stunners 

I'm late again. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! 

This GG SAL I worked on 2 projects. My SS MC Masque of Love from HAED and my new Diamond Painting, Galaxy Girl. 

I hope everyone had a nice Easter break. I worked over most of it but I did manage a nice Sunday lunch with my parents and sister. After lunch we all pulled out our diamond painting. Well not dad, he had a nap.

This chart was a gift from Helvi - thank you again honey, and I bought all the materials from a shop on Ali Express. It's massive. Below is a very small partial page and almost completed full page. 

Ooh so shiny!!

And I still haven't managed to complete the 2nd page of Masque of Love. It's ironic that when I work on normal wips with 89 colours, I sometimes fudge it. If the colours are close enough and I can not be bothered threading a new colour for one stitch. But when it's for a Max Colours wip, in this case it's 239 colours, I don't fudge at all. And there are a million single stitches throughout it all. My thinking is that if I decided to pick the Max Colours version then I should put up with the confetti.

Which is why it's taking so so long. But in my defence I haven't had as much time to stitch this month. So I'm just over halfway on page 2. This chart was a gift from my beautiful sister.

Finishing point March GG SAL

That's all from me. For next GG SAL I will continue with these 2 projects until I finish the current pages.

Thanks again Jo for running this SAL.

Take care stunners, be good to yourselves and I hope that life is magical to you all!

xoxox 

Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - March

Hi Stunners!

Sorry I'm late...again! 

For this month I worked on Rose Zircon which is a gift for my sister. I didn't quite get the page finish that I wanted as I had to swap to SS Masque of Love for the HAED FB challenge wahoo which ends on April 1 - I think. 

So this is October - Rose Zircon:

Before

After

And here is Masque of Love which ironically was a gift chart from my sister. I managed to complete page 1 and I have to stitch just under half of page 2 to qualify for the challenge finish. 

Before

After

I am also starting a Diamond Painting project using this beautiful chart - Galaxy Girl - from HAED which was a gift from my beautiful friend Helvi . So next GG SAL I'm hoping to get page 2 of Rose and Masque finished and show you my new start with this diamond painting. It was a little tricky ordering the tiles and canvas as you had to work it out for 10ct chart. Needless to say it is freaking HUGE!!!! I can't wait to see how it turns out. 

Thanks for visiting my blog. 

To my friends in the UK, my thoughts are with you guys and I was sorry to hear about the recent attack in London. I hope you and all your loved ones are safe and well. 

Take care my amazing and magical stitchy friends. 

xoxo Alicia