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

Gifted Gorgeousness February SAL

Hi Stunners

Thank you to Jo Perry and Faith for letting me know my comment email was bouncing back and doing all sorts of crazy things. I have (hopefully) fixed the problem. Thank you for all your amazing comments. I should be able to reply to you now!

I know, I know I'm really late for this one. I am currently on leave from work and just could not bring myself to sit in front of a computer. I'm good now though.

Okay just a quickie here is my small progress on Doggie Prayer.

Yep I suck.

Well at least she has 2 eyes now -ish.

For the next  GG SAL I will be working on my sisters gift, Rose Zircon. My sister came over the other day unexpectedly and we had an impromptu craft day with wine and cheese. Had such a great time and it made me realise how much I miss her. She lives almost 2 hours away so our visits are not as frequent as I would like them to be. So it was an incredibly nice surprise to see her. I will be working hard on her piece. This is where I left it:

Going for the page finish stunners!

That's it from me. A big apologies to you all as I haven't been keeping up with not just mine but all of your blogs as well. It was the computer thing. But I will be checking them out now. I can't wait to see what you  have all been up to.

Take care and stay beautiful
xo Alicia

First Gifted Gorgeousness SAL for the Year

Hi Stunners!!!

I'm actually on time for once. See it's a new me LOL! 

For this GG SAL I am showcasing this beautiful chart, which was a gift from my big sister. It's always been a favourite of mine, so my sister bought me the Supersized and Max Colours version. Bless her.  I am also using this chart for the HAED challenge on fb. This is the halfway point.

I am stitching it on 28ct pewter evenweave from Sew it All Australia, using 1 over 1 full crosses. I think I will stitch her first and then him. 

That's all from me. 

I hope 2017 is shaping up to be an exciting and magical year for all of you.

Love ya stunners 

xox Alicia

December Gifted Gorgeousness SAL

Hi Stunners!

Sorry this is soooooo late, but Christmas Chaos ensued and I got totally lost in it. 

In saying that I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and for those of you lucky enough to have some time off..ENJOY!!! 

Just a short and sweet post today. I have a FINISH!! Okay before we break open the champas it's only a tiny one. This is my Elf Wine Apron that I made for a friend in the US. And it is only my second finish of the year. Yes it's been a bad year in stitches for this so called Crafty Princess.

I also finished page 2 of Arwen by Paine Free Crafts. And the little sparkling piggy needle minder was a gift from my awesome friend, Sharine of Charbella Stitching. So technically, I know it's tenuous this one counts for the GG SAL. Giggle.

2016 has been a tragic year. We have lost so many great souls, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Prince, Anton Yelchin, George Michael, Carrie Fisher and now this morning I found out that Debbie Reynolds passed away.

I am so grateful that this year is almost over. 

And to all my icons still alive, please stay safe and no more drugs, I can't take another loss. 

I am looking very forward to 2017 and I hope to be a better blogger, person, Princess and friend. Have a fantastic time in your New Year Celebrations.  I will see you all again in 2017. Take care my beautiful and talented friends, and remember Unicorns are real! 

xoxo Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL November

Hi stunners!!!

I'm really really really late with this one, sorry about that. I have a new start (what a surprise LOL) which is a gift for my girlfriend whose doggie April went blind literally overnight. She is a Silky Terrier and looks exactly like this chart ,as her mummy Janine always has a bow in her hair. I won't be stitching the prayer as she totally doesn't have a "firm" hand. This doggie was spoilt rotten even before she became blind.  But I'll make something up to put on it, that's a tad more relevant. 

I'm stitching it on 18ct Pink Swirl sparkly fabby from Sew it All Australia. You can just make out the eye. It's weird for me to stitch like this, without gridding and parking, just following the colours in an area, but I kinda like it too. 

And an update for SS Max Colours Butterfly Ball, which was a RAK chart from my dazzling friend Nina. I finished page 18, finally. Woo Hoo. Wickedly mad crazy confetti but I loved it.

And I joined a facebook Group called "The Ultimate Cross Stitch Group" as one of my friends told me that they had lots of challenges. And I stitch so much more when involved in challenges and events. It's the stitching athlete in me ha ha. So I managed a page finish and I am two thirds of the way through my new start which I will show you next post....but the best thing is I received 4 awards and a merit badge. So cool! If you guys are on fb, it's a great group and they are super duper nice there. 

That's all stunners. Hope you are all doing really well and that life is magical.

Take care. 

xox Alicia

P.S. Jo - Serendipitous Stitching if you read this post can you add the linky thingy. I can't get it to work. That is if the linky thingy hasn't closed. Sorry I'm so late. Thanks stunner! 

October IHSW & Gifted Gorgeousness

Hi Stunners!

Firstly, thank you all for your lovely comments and congrats on clearing out the craft room. I will post pics for those of you that inquired. But an organised craft room does not necessarily mean tidy craft room LOL, well for me anyway. I'm in the process of putting up my Unicorn pics so I will post some pics of my efforts in the next post which will be my October accomplishments. 

Once again I'm going to smoosh the GG and IHSW posts together as they both finished on the 15th October.

I was supposed to have the whole weekend off with nothing planned but stitching. But of course life sees this, and then decides how can I mess this up for her. So due to an unexpected family visit,  I IHSWed on Saturday night and Sunday.

Progress on Supersized Butterfly Ball Max Colours

This is where I was at on the 15th September

This is my progress for Gifted Gorgeousness before the IHSW weekend. Page 1 completed. 

(I actually had another row completed before the weekend but I forgot to take a before photo...sorry)

And I stitched like a demon for 1 day and night to try and get 7350 stitches for the HAED FB challenge #3. I just made it with 40 mins to go. BOOM! So the IHSW was a godsend. Thanks Joysze! 

And here is the chart that we were rewarded with for completing the challenge. I won't be stitching it as I have the full chart in the Supersized and Max Colours version, of which the material pack arrived yesterday - WOO HOO - New start coming soon!!! 

All good though, I didn't stitch like a mad woman for the reward, it was just as rewarding to make it in time. I failed on Challenge #2 so I felt a little redeemed LOL!

Gifted Gorgeousness aka the unlimited kindness of my amazing friends! 

This week I was the happy recipient of 2 craft parcels that were sent by Nina and Sharine. They were totally unexpected and absolutely appreciated. I admit I squealed like a child when I opened them. But then let's face it...right stunners ha ha

This is a gorgeous needle-minder from Charting Creations that the equally if not more gorgeous Sharine sent me.  Lookie it's pink and blingy and I was born in the Year of the Pig. Perfect choice Sharine. Thank you so much!

And Sharine has an uncanny knack for finding the best cards. Isn't he wicked cool? 

Nina sent me rainbow goodies. I love the socks and the eraser for my big mistakes ha ha. You're the best Nina, thank you so much. There was a big swirl lollipop but that is on the inside of my belly now. Yummy :P

And apologies to my friend Kim, I forgot to mention in the July  GG, which was also my birthday gifts expose.. Kim RAKd me another Hatter chart. As you may or may not be aware but I collect Hatter charts. I just love this guy. So this one is "Hatter" from Colour Cascade Designs. Thank you so much Kim you lil sweetheart.

So if you're interested or love the Mad Hatter here is my current collection. 

Kaelyn asked about the cross stitching app that I use. It's called X-Stitch App and I got it from the Playstore. But it's available for apple users as well. 

Here are a few screen shots. It's awesome I love it. Now there will be no more upending the entire craft room to find something as I have marked on the app where they are being stored. 

And can keep track of all my floss stash too. There are a whole heap of floss makers on the app and she keeps adding more all the time. If you have one that's not on the app just let her know and she will add it. 

That's it for me my lovely stitch friends. I hope life is being magical to all of you. I'm off to check out all your blogs now. I have 7 hours and 45 mins left of my nightshift so I should get through them all and if I'm lucky get a bit of stitching in. I have a new start but I will show you that next post.

Love you all. Take care of yourselves

xo Alicia

Gifted and IHSW September

Hi Stunners!!!

This months Gifted Gorgesousness SAL and IHSW were so close I thought it would be more prudent to moosh them into one post.  

This months GG is Supersized Butterfly Ball Max Colours by Aimee Stewart from HAED. My months progress on this crazy confetti piece. The chart was a gift from my lovely friend Nina. 

And for the IHSW weekend I managed to finish the row. THis puts me at the halfway point for the HAED challenge #3. It's the large format chart so to qualify I have to stitch just under 1 and a half pages. It's pretty slow going with all the colour changes but well worth if for the detail. I've decided to go down the chart instead of across as I just can't face another page of confetti yellow/browns.  So the next colour coming up is a beautiful lavender shade on the tree. 

As you can see I have a ways to go yet. But I can't wait till I reach the fairies! 

I'll be continuing with this one till the next GG or at least till I finish the challenge, the deadline coincidentally is Oct 15th so just in time for GG SAL. 

Those of you lucky enough LOL to be friends with me on fb know that I have recently overhauled the craft room. Thanks to Rai Rai's group craft storage ideas, I was inspired to tackle this problem.

I have now got a clear and workable craft room. I even found the natural colour of my carpet and my lost Crafty Diamond Tiara which I used to wear when I was stitching. So win win all around. 

Now I don't have to pull everything out when I need something as I have logged and tagged everything on my X-stitch app. It took 3 full days but it's done now. Woo Hoo!!!!

Hopefully this will mean more wips progress as that's one job that I don't need to worry about.

Off to check everyone's progress now. 

Take care of yourselves and if you have a choice, choose happiness.

Love you

xoxo Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness August 2016

Hi stunners!

I have a new start that fits in with the GG SAL. This is Supersized Max Colours The Butterfly Ball by Aimee Stewart, from HAED. It took 2 days and I still didn't complete the full 20 rows on the first page, with 230 colours...hellllooo confetti.

This tiny chart :p was a gift from my lovely friend Nina of Pistot-Stitches

I try and match the needleminders to the design. 

Additionally my work colleague started stitching "Jeunes filles au piano" (Young girls by the Piano) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 4 years ago. When she was a little girl, her piano teacher had this framed print hanging on the wall by her piano and Nenie has always loved it. She managed to find it in cross stitch form from Golden Kite. But it's been abandoned for all these years and it would pain my heart walking past her locker at work knowing there was a cross stitch neglected and sad in there. Soooo after years of chastising her she allowed me to rescue this lil baby. I pulled it out and it's in a mess. The parked threads will have to be snipped away as it's too frayed and fibrous to use, the fabric is soiled as she left them in the q-snaps all this time.(**Sigh**) But I will be taking it home tonight and giving it a lovely soak in my special cross stitch fabric solution. It's going to be as good as new. And then I will start working on it for the IHSW this weekend. I will give it back to her when finished though, as it's got such a lovely sentimental attachment for her. 

Best of all I have another contender for this SAL! Woo hoo!

That's all for this post stunners. Thank you to Serendipitous Jo for organising this SAL It's my only SAL so I'm very grateful to Jo as I am managing to keep up with it. 

Take care everyone.
May life be magical

xox Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - June

Hi Stunners!!

Yes I'm still alive. Just a quick GG SAL post. Sorry there won't be any stitching pics as I haven't worked on anything gifted or to gift but I did buy a new chart which I am stitching as a gift. So at least there is another contender for this SAL.

Behold, Prince - The Legend from Tilton Crafts. The chart is no longer available as it was a limited edition. My bff loved, worshiped and adored the Purple icon and was gutted when the sad news of his death (murder!?) was announced. 

I won't be stitching the background, instead I will be using this piece from Sew it All, called Lilac Retro Designer Evenweave blingy fabric.  I think he would be pleased. My beautiful friend who this is a gift for, has not one crafty bone in her body and said she is hoping to get this by Christmas. I just laughed and laughed and laughed at her. Christmas 2017 maybe and that's pushing it. 

That's all for stitching.

I wanted to share this really cool app for those of us that have more than 1 or 2 projects on the go at once, you know us normal stitchers LOL!. It's called "Hours Tracker" and technically it's for employment purposes for wages but it can be adapted.

I have added a few screen shots for you to peruse.  The app is free for up to 3 jobs  (d'oh) but with 56 wips I had to buy the pro edition which allows for unlimited jobs/wips. It only cost 14AUD and is well worth it. 

In the past I have been logging hours worked on each wip manually to get a more accurate time it takes to complete.  With this many wips there are projects that I haven't picked up for 4 years.  So I recorded hours sttiched rather than weeks/months/years and lets face it decades :)) This involved a pretty journal, colourful gel pens and the stopwatch facility on my phone. 

However with this app it's all automatic. I haven't added all 56 wips yet, I'm adding them as I stitch on them. I've only had the app for less than a week.  

List of current jobs

Breakdown of what time was spent on each wip in a specified time period. Can check day, week or month. Not sure about yearly though. 

When you need to stop for food, beverages or changing the DVD you can hold down the Green button and it allows for breaks or just brief pauses and includes them in the calculations at the end of the stitching time. It also has a comment section so you can record how many stitches worked during that time or any other tidbits that keep it all up to date.  I think it's brilliant, though I'm still playing around with it.

For my visual journal of stash(including charts, kits, threads and fabric), kitted, started and finished wips I use the X-stitch app, which I believe a few of you already use so I won't bore you with those details. If you're interested in that someone on floss tube has a post on it that's pretty detailed.

And now for some cuteness.

My bff has adopted a new puppy and she asked me to be God-Dog-Mother to her. Here is my newest love - Lily Rose Marlow. She is 11 weeks old, Brindel Staffie Cross and a bundle of friskiness, energy and a little bit of naughtiness but just absolutely adorable.

That's all my beautiful friends. I'll post at the end of the month with all my May/June wips and I have been hard at work on some pretties. 

Happy stitching and I wish for all the magic in the galaxy to find its way into your lives. 

xoxo Alicia