March YOTA

Hi stunners

Welcome to all my new followers and thank you for joining me on my cross stitch adventure.

Our third YOTA for the year! Seriously what is going on with father time? March already!

My YOTA wip is Guardian Angel and thanks to Pull the other Thread for organising this SAL, he is getting quite a lot of attention. My angel is really starting to fill out. I'm hoping to have this page finished by next YOTA or at least all of the angel. I've just got the top of his second wing to go plus a lot of background.

February YOTA



March YOTA

My latest purchase "Lady Hatter" from Gecko Rouge arrived and I had to get started on her straight away.

Check out the kit:



I love how they set this out. Normally when I buy kits I end up bobbinating the threads and store them in a organiser box. However Kimberley from Gecko Rouge sets out the kits in such a way that it would be redundant to remove them from their boards. The threads are organized on cards according to how they appear on the symbol legend (not in numerical order) and are marked by their representing symbol. It's so easy to find threads and to re-store unused bits that are left over.

I've started her from the middle point which is something I don't normally do, but I just wanted to start stitching on the lady straightaway. So I have stitched the left side of the hat band, her left eyebrow and hair. I haven't decided whether I'm going to stitch upwards, down or sideways but once I finish this page I guess I will see how I feel. Pics to come next post.

Ok kids I'm off to the Stitcher's and Craft show at Rose Hill and will get to meet up with the lovely boys from Sew it All. I have a few fabric purchases I need to make as my wips have ballooned to 52, where I'm going to stop.

52 is a nice number as it is the number of the house where I grew up and has lots and lots of brilliant memories. But that's it no more additions to the rotation. I have about 15 more kitted up and once I start those I will settle down and just work on these 52. I would love to get some finishes in and I have had some requests from a couple of my beautiful blog followers to work on Faery 2 and Fragile heart. And as I aim to please I will be trying to focus on these. And Jo (Serendipitous Stitching) I actually have a plan to complete Fragile Heart this year so never fear my dear!

Thank you stunners for visiting and have an awesome, laughter filled weekend.

Lots of love and hugs

Alicia xo



February YOTA

Hi Stunners!

 

Welcome to my new followers, thank you for joining me and all my guest stars on this stitching adventure. Thank you to everyone that left a comment on my last post. I love to reply to you personally but a lot of them were no-reply blogger ones. So thank you to all of you. You guys make me laugh and smile out loud!

 

Now for February YOTA.

I can't believe we are already in February, wasn't it New Years Eve last night????

 

 

My YOTA project is Guardian Angel and I'm hoping to finish the top row of pages by the years end. I have 3 completed and 3 to go.



 

I started stitching the background and I wanted to finish his wing, but I just couldn't wait so I just started working on the Angel. His arm looks a little bit too pink though but I'm sure it will blend in more when I have stitched his cloak around it. Thank you to Pull the Other Thread for organising YOTA, my Angel and I are very grateful as I think it will really help with this project. You're a star! For more info on YOTA just click on the Guardian Angel picture on the left hand side.

 

I also wanted to share with you this beautiful dreamcatcher that my bff gave me for Christmas. I finally got around to hanging it up and it's just gorgeous. She's the first thing I see when I wake up, so I always wake up happy.

 

 

Isn't she beautiful??? Do you recognise who the artist is? I'm pretty sure HAED fans will know.

I'm on holidays at the moment and as soon as I get off the computer and finish packing I'll be in the car and heading to Fingal Bay in Port Stephens. A week on my own on a beach, woo hoo!!!  I'm taking a few cross stitches, audio books and plan to relax and stitch on the beach between, swims and quaffing down seafood.

Take care my beautiful and amazing crafty friends. I'll be back for the Wipocalypse.

xoxo Alicia

 

 





 



Happy Halloween!

Hi Stunners!!!

Happy Halloween to you all. I hope you have a ghoully, ghostly and witchy time! I'm stuck at work tonight dressed as Morticia with a Princess twist (namely pink bling shoes, and metallic pink eyelashes - Hee hee!) I just couldn't do the full black.

Thank you to everyone that left a comment on my previous post. I wanted to reply to you all but when I sat down at the computer to send reply emails they were all gone! Not sure what happened there. I just wanted to let you all know that I appreciated all of your kind, funny and awesome comments. You guys so rock! 

Ok onward to the stitching!

Here is how I have been spending the latter half of October. I needed to complete page 3 of Guardian Angel for a HAED yearly goal. And I did it!!! Woo hoo. I'm using bling thread Petite Treasure Braid PB23 in lieu of DMC B5200 on the Angels wings to give them a little bit of heavenly sparkles... 

Before

After

I'm not sure why the pic came out so shiny but I kinda like it. I can't wait to work on page 4 as the Angel himself makes an appearance. 

And here is my SAL piece that Kim and I are completing, the beautiful Rose Cerise by Karen Middleton (HAED). Kim is starting from the top left and I'm coming from the other end. 

Before

After

The before pic was taken with my old camera that's why there is such a marked difference between the two, and what a difference 10 pixels make!  I love working on Rose! I'm stitching her using Victoria Clayton's HDF thread. Stitching with silk thread is absolutely brilliant. It just glides through, no thread heaven required and the stitches just sit so neatly on top of each other. 




This week I will be working on the freebie SAL piece from HAED. I will get that damn first never ending page finished if it's the last thing I do!!!!!

Oooh I can feel my sugar crash about to kick in. I guess I had better go and refuel on some Halloween candy...Maybe it will also help me to stitch faster! Anythings worth a try! 

Take care my beautiful, supportive and stunning followers and guest stars! Have fun in everything you do.

See you soon
Alicia xoxo 

New Start Mania!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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 

Photo montage time!

Hello stunning followers and guests!

It's been a month since my last post but I was out there doing things so I would have something to blog about!

WELCOME!

Welcome to my newest followers Erla, Erin, Lucy, Lori, Keeble and Karen. How cool they came in matching pairs of E's, L's and K's. Thank you for the interest. You guys are my inspiration and my muse - I sew for you! (for the Aussie's out there that last is sung to the tune of Johnny Farnham's "I burn for you"). LOL!

A friend in need!

I have an amazing friend Janine who has been a cross stitcher for a long time. However thanx to Mrs. Dibble and I we have helped to ignite her stitching fire. Janine bought a BAP from Golden Kite of an a Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting "Jeunes filles au piano". Which I believe means "Young girls at the piano." Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Anyhoo this picture used to be on Janine's piano teachers piano from when she was une jeune fille herself. She has always loved the pic and it obviously has sentimental value.

But I digress as usual...If anyone has ever worked on a Golden Kite chart it has blended threads as well as solid colours. Which means that you use one strand of 2 different colours at a time for at least half the chart. The symbol count can go up to 180 or more. Pheewww.

Janine was becoming a little discouraged with the lack of progress so I encouraged (also read threatened) her to start a blog to visually document the progress. It helps to step back and compare (as you all know) the difference in the before and after. So she has done just that, however she only has 2 followers and is feeling a little unloved, and as I thought you guys are awesome in your support of me I was wondering if you had a spare moment to pop over to her blog and just give her a little encouragement. Her blog which she updated this morning is http://aunty-nene.blogspot.com/. I greatly and fully appreciate it if you get a chance to pop over and visit her. She's a great girl and an avid animal lover as you'll see with her 2 babies on her blog.

OK back to me!!!!

I have put together a photo montage to show you rather than just waffle on in narrative about my cross stitch endeavours. (Since I appear to have waffled quite a bit so far!) I've decided to post before and after shots so that you, and I for that matter can actually see if I've been productive...or not!

Enjoy!

Guardian Angel - L A Williams - Heaven and Earth Designs

                       

QS Fragile Heart - Hannah Lynn - HAED SAL

Spring to Life - Hannah Lynn - HAED

New Starts!

Faces of Faery 164 - Jasmine Becket- Griffith - HAED

She is my free chart that Michele Sayetta kindly sent to me for participating in the reward program for HAED and completing FOF88.

I couldn't resist starting her and I've named the turtle BOB in honour of Thea's (Gizzimomo's) husband who calls them all BOB, which I think is so cute.

My faery is being worked on 25ct Opalescent white lugana 2 over 1.

I'm giving 2 over 1 on 25ct another go as I will not accept defeat. Somehow it's really nice to work on this time. I think my tension must have loosened or something. I thank my Guardian Angel for this. Ever since he has let himself be known to me I've become alot more relaxed in life. And this new me can't be attributed to extra doses of Chardonnay either. So it MUST be his influence LOL!

Froth and Bubble - Long Dog Sampler

Mrs. Dibble strikes again! She has been infatuated with samplers lately and of course it peaked my interest when I saw one of her finished works. So of COURSE I had to go and get one too...I'm so immature! or just easily influenced...maybe both.

The poem will read -

Question not, but live and labour,

Till yon goal be won,

Helping every feeble neighbour

Seeking help from none,

Life is mostly froth and bubble,

Two things stand like stone,

Kindness in another's trouble,

Courage in your own

Aww it's so sweet. In comes in 2 seperate charts which I thought was weird as it wouldn't make sense without the 2 verses together. Well anyway I bought them both. But you already knew that...hee hee!

A few firsts for me as it's my first sampler, first time working on 32ct linen and first time using 2 strands over 2. So a bit of new ground for this Princess.

The fabric is Summer Khaki which I bought from the lovely boys at Sewitall. He was so cute trying to describe the colour over the phone and he was asking me if I knew the colour of specific leaves on specific plants....ahhh no Pete but if you were to describe the colours of labels on South Australian wine bottles then I would have known exactly what colour you were talking about!!!

New Stash and stuff!

Went a bit crazy on the Nordic Needle catalogue so bought a bit of stuff. Please note though that the new charts are teeny tiny compared to the charts I normally buy, so it really doesn't count - much!

Sampler - Alessandro Adelaide

Needle threader

Beautiful butterfly needle and scissors holder

Fiber Hider

Awesome find - it's for when you only have that one or two stitches left to go on that colour and you're thread is stretched to the limit...so you just do the stitches then leave the tail at the back. Using this lil beauty you can then grab the tail and thread under the stitches. So no need to re thread a new strand for just one or two stitches....AWWWESOOOMMMMME!!

Fractal Bookmarks

These are only bookmarks and I only intend on doing one or two...ok maybe three at the most!

And the fav purchase is the finishing card. To record all the details of your finished project. They come in packs of 40...so only got just the one pack for now...although will eventually need to purchase 5 to record all the stash I have...you know when I finish them all. YAY!

WOW that was a long post...maybe I shouldn't leave it so long between in the future. If I still have your attention...

Take care my beautiful friends, be safe, be happy and be yourself!

For those living in the Commonwealth have a great long weekend, good time to get some extra stitchy time in.

Love you xox

Alicia