February Finishes!

Hi Stunners! 

I had some page finishes in February that I'm so happy about. I was on leave for 3 weeks so managed to get a bit of stitching in. I didn't realise how much working for the man really interferes with stitching! 

Wip 1 - Our House from Gecko Rouge

Wip 2: David Bowie - Gecko Rouge

Wip 3: Snow White - Eclectic Blokes Design

And I managed 2200 stitches on Afterglow from Charting Creations but I will wait for the page finish before I post. The colours are incredible and I'm really loving it. I've also been working on Rose Zircon for the GG SAL so that will be in the next post.

Thanks for visiting stunners. I hope life is magical for you.

xox Alicia

The Organised Princess

Hi Stunners!!!

I have been a busy little Crafty Princess Beaver over the last 2 months. Yes with stitching but more with organising my stitching. I have updated my Wip's menu (see the tabs above) and added my Supersized Babies. So now you and I can see at a glance how I'm working through my myriad of wip's. I have made a promise to myself and the Craft Gods that I won't deviate from this rotation. So these are the only wips I'm allowed to work on. 

From the advice of my good friend Sharine I tried to whittle it down and have focus projects. So I have developed a rotation that ensures that a few of them are deemed as such and are worked on more often than the others. Plus I have engineered the rotation so that finishes are the goal. It's too long and boring to explain the plan, you're just going to have to trust me on this....please please xo

Anyway to the stitching!!!  I managed quite a few page finishes over the last couple of months.

Lady Hatter - Sandra Vargas - Gecko Rouge.  

This was one of the projects that has been culled from the current rotation. But don't worry once I finish King Tut and Frank the Frog she will be back in play. Those 2 charts are the SAL charts and Frank is only 4 partial pages and Tut is 6 even smaller partial pages. 

Pages 6 & 7 Completed

So Many Books So Little Time - Randal Spangler - HAED

This is another one that got the chop. I had 8 HAED Bap's on the go and I had to halve this number to be reasonable. It killed me to do it but he'll be back one day!!

Page 1 completed

Nancy Goodaim _ Space Ranger - Aly Fell - Eclectic Blokes Design

I finished off page 2 and managed to complete the whole of page 3. Not a great deal of confetti so that was a nice change. 

Pages 1,2 and 3 completed

Carnival Moon - Aimee Stewart - HAED

This is one of my focus pieces and I'm aiming for the row finish by the end of the year (at least anyway) I love the way this is stitching up. The next page is full of blocks of colour so should be a bit quicker than all that confetti in the flowers on the first 2 pages.

Page 1 and 2 completed

Bookshelf - Colin Thompson - Gecko Rouge

I have joined the Gecko Rouge Gold Club plus and this was my Gold Kit choice. As soon as it arrived, wild tornado's and half naked firemen could not hold me back from starting this. It's massive!! The below wip pic is Page 1 completed so you can see how much I have to go. But it's so cool, if you look closely amongst the shelves you find some quirky characters and weird little objects or ordinary objects doing strange things. It's alot of fun. 

Page 1 Completed

I have added 3 new starts to my rotation. They are all tribute charts so I can be forgiven. My world fell apart at the news of David Bowie and Alan Rickman's death. I have loved Bowie since forever and I only got a chance to see him once in concert. So I was devastated. 

This chart was on my Gecko Roughe WL and I bought it on the day of his death. (*Sob*)  It arrived today so I will be making an immediate start. R.I.P Bowie. Forever a legend and forever missed!! The artist is Sara Bowersock.

David Bowie

Another tribute chart to Bowie, it's about one of my favourite movies of all time "Labyrinth" It's another Gecko Rouge and I already had it in my stash including the hand dyed fabric I had bought for it, so what better time than to bring it out. I'm going to watch Labyrinth over and over whilst stitching this one.  It's only Forever by Medusa Dollmaker

It's Only Forever

And for the late great Alan Rickman a tribute to him by Daniel Kordek and charted by Shelley Lee of Tilton Crafts. Snape! I've ordered the fabric from the lovely boys at Sew it All and as soon as I gather the floss I will be inserting this awesome chart into my rotation. 

Snape 

Thank you for all your lovely comments and encouragement on my previous post. I will be posting at least twice a month. Once midway on the 15th for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL run by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching and once at the end with the monthly progress. 

I know this will be a good year for me stitching wise as it's the first time I'm actually organised. I've even started a journal to record hours worked on each chart, recorded goals that are achievable unlike all those previous years and most importantly - CLEANED the CRAFT ROOM!!!!! Oh man that was a week long job.

So thank you for joining me in this journey stunners. I promise there will be more to see this year.

Love you lots and thanks for making my life the rainbow filled playground that it is. 

I'm going to spend the next day reading blogs and replying to all my emails. And then it's down to some serious DVD watching and hard core
stitching!!

Take care stunners and I hope life is magical and enchanting for you all!


xoxo Alicia

P.S. Just noticed that this is my 69th post which is also the age both David Bowie and Alan Rickman were at their time of passing. 

The most amazing Gifted Gorgeousness!

Hi Stunners!

I know I am really really late with this even for me, so sorry sorry sorry! But if it's any consolation there is alot of piccies and alot of pretties, and even a few page finishes so stay tuned. I'll try to make it worth your while :D

GIFTED GORGEOUSNESS

Straight on to stitching - I FINALLY FINISHED THE FIRST PAGE OF OCTOBER -ROSE ZIRCON!!! Apologies for screaming but this page was doing my head in and now it's done and I managed to make a wee start on Page 2. This is my GG piece as it's for my sister who is an October baby.

Before

AFTER!!

MORE STITCHING!

I also whipped off (pun intended) another page on Harry with the help of the boys from Supernatural. It took me Seasons 1 -5 to finish this page. I was happy to finish in July as it's the 1 year anniversary of Eclectic Blokes Design this month. So this one's for Neil Bray, who most of you know passed away in March and never got to see his baby turn 1. 

Also managed to finish Page 1 on So Many Books SO Little Time. My first Spangler!

MY BEAUTIFUL FRIENDS

Now this is the part of the post that refers to the title - The most AMAZING Gifted Gorgeousness. It was my birthday at the end of June and my friends were just so generous it reduced me to tears! I had alot of lovely wishes on fb and to add to that I was totally spoilt. Please don't get too jealous LOL.

I was RAKd this chart by the very talented and very generous Nikki Northup from Charting Creations. The magnificent Celestial.

From the lovely lady who also loves the dark side as much as me - Jayne Walton - I was RAKd Mesmer from Eclectic Blokes Design

This one is called The Collector from HAED - and I think all crafters can relate to this, hee hee. Thank you to gorgeous generous Kim of Cross stitching with Kim fame for this intriguing chart. Love it! 

And from another amazing Kim from the famous Sense and Stitchability - Supersized Faery Tales - HAED. 

My good friend Nina of Pistot-Stitches fame went a little crazy and completely spoilt me with her kindness and RAK'd 2 Supersized HAED's. The Butterfly Ball by Aimee Stewart and Sanctuary of Knowledge by Randal Spangler!

But that's not all!!

Nina was lucky enough to travel to London recently and the lovely girl that she is, didn't forget about me and bought me a few gifts. Check out the Dr. Who torch light key ring. It's so cool from the Dr. Who shop. Wahh I wish we had a Dr.Who shop in Oz!  And I've always wanted a needle threader from HAED but the postage to Australia was too ridiculous so I never bought one. And without ever mentioning it to Nina, her sixth sense kicked in and she bought one for me. It's beautiful! 

Oh there were 2 bars of chocolates and a packet of lollies but....um they were gone by the time I took this photo - too yummy! 

Our favourite Crafty Spice girl, the amazing Nguyen from Spice up your life and the owner/operator of Fiberlicious Threads AND little sweetheart Angie from Miamina's Musings  each sent me a Gecko Rouge voucher. Ladies you were so generous that I can buy a kit with them. 

I'm either going to buy Ice Queen by Medusa Dollmaker

or 

Hatter by Omri Koresh

I also was gifted a gift certificate for Colour Cascade fabrics from the lovely Carmel Clark - Woo hoo. Which is just what I need after all those chart RAK's

And finally from the wickedly devilish but deep down softie Sharine of Charbella Stitching I received a very cute chimpanzee birthday card picked by her youngest daughter (whom I am convinced was my child in another lifetime) and was so lucky to be given a very generous voucher for Tragic Beautiful! This is an awesome shop that Sharine first introduced me to a while back. It's clothing and accessories that are generally not found in contemporary stores. It's got a bit of goth, witchey stuff, creatures of the night, steampunk and some of the darker fairytale type stuff. Here are a few things on my wish list: 

Dorothy Slippers

Nevermore dress! 

Steam punk boots

Vampiria Dress

  

Or something to wear down to the shops!!! 

As you can see I was very very pampered by my very very generous and thoughtful friends. I am so humbled by all and also all the beautiful wishes I received. You guys rock! Love you stunners!

I'm almost up to date with catching up with blogs. Got a few more to read. I've been so bad with blogging but I endeavour to be more proficient with blogs. Both posting and reading.

Take care beautiful people. I hope life is magical for you. If not just close your eyes and believe!

xoxo Alicia 

Gifted Gorgeousness #3

Hi Stunners!

 

One day I will start this blog without an apology. Today is not that day though LOL! Sorry I'm late again but you know me well enough by now (insert innocent and cheeky grin)

 

I popped back down from the coast as I got bored with the wips that I brought up with me so instead of sitting around for a week and not stitching I decided to make the 2 hour trek back home and get more craft!!! Never said I was sane.

 

At least that means I can post the GG SAL whilst I have access to a computer. I know that some of you can blog from your phone but I do not possess that talent aka patience.

 

So just a quickie for today

 

I worked on Eclectic Blokes Designs "Room with a View" by Paul Richmond. It is a very tenuous link to a gift but as Neil the designer passed away earlier this month I wanted to pay tribute to him, and to display his talent at charting. And as I said in the previous post Neil was an absolute treasure and a gift to me.

 

I've named this piece "Harry". As he looks like the kind of guy that tries to fix things but he seems a little hopeless but his heart's in the right place. Sorry did I say hopeless I meant to say "hot" :D

 

 

 

 

 

And yes stunners that is a page finish!! Woo Hoo. Only a few more to go now. Ha ha.

 

 

Also as part of the Gift post. My cousin had a baby boy (well his wife did) on the 10th March and they named him Hugo. So I started a sampler for them and it will be a Christmas Present because I know what I'm like and this will give me a bit of time. 

 

I started this last night. Apologies for the bad pic but I left my camera up the coast so had to rely on the phone. I'm changing the colours as I go as it's a little too pastel for my liking and with a name like Hugo I'm sure this kids going to be a bold one. I'm using a mix of normal DMC and also variegated thread from Fiberlicious Threads which I won from Nguyen's giveaway on Facebook and  I've used it for the flower so far. I'm working this bad boy on 14ct aida  limited edition from my lovely boys at Sew it all. The fabric was gift from them so this one fits this SAL to a tee!! 

 

 

 Here is the original kit pic.

 



That's all from me for now. I'll be heading back up the coast on Monday for another week or so. But tomorrow night I have set aside a few hours to read everyone's blogs and catch up with all your emails. You guys are so awesome at commenting and are such great support. I love reading all your comments you're all absolute comedians and you truly crack me up. It's fantastic. I do apologise for my lack of reciprocation but I endeavour to rectify this. Please please forgive me.

 

Take care my lovely stunning stunners. I wish you only magical moments.

 

xoxo Alicia

 

YOTA - March

Hi Stunners!

My first YOTA for the year as I joined in late and I'm proud to say it's only 3 days late, which is amazeballs for me! I'm getting better :D

 

In a bid to try and get the HAED SAL's that I have outstanding they will be my YOTA charts.

 

The one I worked on for March is HAED QS Theatre of the Absurd which was the 2013 BB Freebie SAL. I'm working on page 2 of 4 and it's now referred to as "The Absurdly Never-ending Page". I was hoping to get it finished....

Before

After

 

For next YOTA I may continue with this bad boy to try and get the finish or I may switch to my other YOTA project. QS Fragile Heart which is from the (gulp...and hangs head in shame) 2011 SAL.  I have the 3 partial pages on the second row to go on her. This is where I have left her:

 

 

Let me know if you have a preference of which you would like to see worked on. It will help me to decide too!

 

 

Rest in Peace - Neil Bray

 

Some of you will know that Neil Bray from Eclectic Blokes Design passed away on the 3rd March 2015, after losing his battle with cancer. I have only known him for a short time but we became instant buddies and have had loads of chats and laughs together.  I have been absolutely heartbroken and inconsolable over his death as I truly believed in my heart that he would beat it. In commemoration of this top bloke I am dedicating this month to him and will focus on his designs.

 

At the moment I'm working on "Room with a View" by Paul Richmond, as it's such a cheeky design - yep pun intended - and it reminds me so much of Neil's mischievous sense of humour. Love you mate , thank you for being an amazing friend and I hope you know how much you have touched people's hearts as well as introducing us to a myriad of brilliant artists that we would never have known if it weren't for you. R.I.P beautiful man!

 

 

 

I decided to start from the middle as I couldn't wait to stitch the tool man and I didn't want to have to wade through all that lime background to get to him. It's totally circumstantial that the middle was right on his butt!!! But not complaining either LOL!!! I bet Neil charted it this way on purpose. Told you he was cheeky. He will feature in my Gifted Gorgeousness SAL this week as Neil was a gift to me.

 

Take care my beautiful and stunning followers and guest stars.

 

Have a magical week and embrace life to the fullest. Try not to get bogged down with life's pettiness but love big, smile and laugh a lot!!

 

Big hugs xox Alicia