IHSW - August

Hi stunners! 

To my fellow IHSWers I hope you guys got a lot more done than I did. Unfortunately this weekend I was working nightshift on Saturday and Sunday, but fortunately I work in a radio room and when the crews aren't busy I can stitch whilst on channel. However, it was a really really busy couple of shifts.

I started work on a wip I rescued from a friend. You can read my previous post about this poor wip that a work colleague had abandoned

The biggest achievement I managed was to wash it, sort out the threads and figure out where my friend left off with this project. 

This is what it looked like before

Now I can get into some serious stitching on this baby. 

Hope you guys had a good weekend in stitches.

Xox 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

New Start Mania!

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Hi stunners! 

Many apologies for the lateness of this blog and the lack of replies to comments from my previous post. I had computer catastrophes aka computer go BOOM! And even though I'm allowed to cross stitch whilst at work, I'm not allowed to update my blog....Go figure!

However, new computer has been purchased and set up so life is good again for blogging even with having to learn Windows 8 which I don't think is as user friendly as the previous versions. But I digress as usual...

A big welcome to A bit of Thread and Heather Cartwright, and thank you for your followship. I hope you enjoy my lunacy for all things cross stitch!

I have put up a link to Bloglovin as I believe Google reader will become extinct soon or something! So I have transferred all your blogs to bloglovin so I can still keep up with all your amazing work. There are many readers you can use but I just like the one that had "lovin" in it. 

As the title suggests I have spent the last month or so starting quite a few BAP's that I just didn't have the resistance to wait for a finish to get onto them soooo here goes:

Spiders Queen - Little Fairy Art (HAED)

Absolutely love love love working with all the vibrant orange in her hair. As with everything HAED theres about 10 shades of orange so far and it's only the 20th row on the first page! I'm stitching her on 18ct white Aida. So she is going to end up being quite a huge lady.

The photo really doesn't show up how bright the colours are but it's like using the sun for thread...

A Coign of Vantage - Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (HAED)

Heaven and Earth Designs

Golden Kite

This is my comparison project. I'm completing this chart as charted by Golden Kite using blended threads and also by HAED using just solid colours. Both are being stitched on 18ct white Aida. 

The arrival of Guests, Venice - George Jules Victor Clairin (Golden Kite)

This is my biggest project ever! It's 999 x 607 stitches. One row is 21 pages!! I'm working it on Antique White 20ct evenweave 2 over 1, which will make it a whopping 49" x 30". It boasts 200 total colours in which 83 are solid and 117 are blended!! Fabby is from the lovely boys at Sew it all. It's the first time using 20ct and it's quite dreamy to stitch on. 

An Evening of Romance - Robert Finale (Tilton Crafts)

This is my first Tilton Craft Chart and I'm enjoying it so far. It's being stitched on Sky Blue 20ct evenweave 2 over 1 stitches and only uses solid colours.

Vampire Red - Maxine Gadd (Mystic Stitch)

Before

After

This was my very first BAP before I discovered HAED. I bought it as a kit from an online store in Oz. The kit came with 18ct white Aida and so I just used it as I had no idea about fabrics, never even heard of hand dyed evenweave and thought fabric came in either 14 or 18ct!!! I got as far as almost completing 2 rows (8 pages) when I discovered other cross stitch sites and then the stash enhancement and multiple starts began!!! So this project was abandoned for a while and I didn't store it as carefully as I should have and some of the white thread (which was a generic brand of DMC that came with the kit) used on her face became discoloured. 

I suppose I could have cleaned it but I was always unhappy with the coverage of the darker background and in her hair. There was so much white show through. So I decided to do a restart on a higher count. She is now being worked on 22ct white Hardanger and I'm so much happier with the coverage. The detail will really come through now.

I also worked on my current wips as well and managed a page finish. Guardian Angel is now 2 pages down!

QS Theatre of the Absurd also received some attention. I couldn't wait to get to the lovely purples and pinks of the performer so instead of doing the usual organised column by column I decided to just stitch the bits I like. So I just picked a random block of 400 and stitched it. 

As most of you stunning followers are aware, HAED is currnetly having a 45% Mothers Day sale. So of course there is some stash enhancement for the Crafty Princess. Not shocked are you?

QS April Fairy - Hannah Lynn

QS Alice Series - Hannah Lynn

The Butterfly Ball - Aimee Stewart

The Illusionists - Bec Winnel

Baby Grand - Andy Russell

Blue Moon - Andy Russell

The Illusionists and the Andy Russell charts were last minute decisions. I've always loved both these artists and I finally took the plunge and bought them. I couldn't decide between Blue Moon and Baby Grand so - well you know how it goes.  My only wish is that the piano wasn't that drab brown colour but once stitched it may look alot brighter! 

Take care my stunning followers and guest stars to my blog.

I wish you all a very happy month of May!

xoxo Alicia