WIPocalypse and Thank you for all the awards!!!

Hi Stunners


Welcome to Dulcinella,Shebafudge, Pull the other thread and Tama my four new and stunning followers. Love the names by the way, very cool!

I won 7 Liebster Awards!

Thank you so much everyone who nominated me.  I'm so glad that you like my blog. It started out as a journal for me to keep track of my work and to keep me progressing. But it has turned into a journey where I have met so many amazing stitcher's and follower's who are always supportive in every way. I had no idea this world was out there! 

I thought I was this weird person that bought way too many charts and kits, who got excited over a beautiful chart I just had to have or I would DIE!!! We found each other through the blogging world and now we can all be lunatics together. Although I believe we are the sane ones and it's the other non crafty people who are weird. We can see beauty in colours and thread and turn them into masterpieces. Now how COOL is that!!!

Thank you to the 7 stunning ladies that gave me the awards:

Keebles from Keebles World

Julie from Julie's and Yes Dear's Ravings

Nicola from Obsessive Cross Stitcher

Johanna from Stitchstitchknit

Rachel from TimRachel's Blog

Erla from Erla Bjork - My stitching Blog

Donna from Donna's Crafty Cross Stitch Blog

Liebster is a German word meaning favourite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster Blog Award is awarded by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.

Conditions for acceptance:

1. Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog.  List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites.  Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don’t know about you.

I love the "Pay it forward" aspect of the Liebster awards. However it's near impossible to choose 5 amongst all the amazing, funny, and beautiful blogs out there. So here goes!

1. Eleanor - Mrs.Dibble - Cross stitching and other Threads
I adore Mrs.D I met her through work and we have become fast friends due to our warped sense of humour and our love of all things craft! Mrs.D is a mistress of quilting and I managed to get her slightly obsessed with cross stitching (Sorry Mrs. D)

2. Chris  - Chris' Cross Stitch Mania

A bloke with a cross stitch blog! Yay!!! Chris has a fantastic blog filled with gorgeous cross stitches. I especially love the Peacock and the Summer Fairy he is currently working on. You should pop over and give a bit of support to the menfolk of our world!

 

3. Xeihua (Sara) - My Cross Stitch Corner
Sara is a very talented stitcher and she has quite a number of projects on the go so her blog is always interesting. My favourite project is "Touch of Spring" which is a monochrome cross stitch and it's stunning! I love watching her work.

4.  10 contributors - Fairies, Dragons and Mermaids...OH MY!
The name says it all! And with 10 very gifted authors it's updated quite regularly with beautiful designs. This blog is truly a colour feast, it's always bright and the projects being worked on are really beautiful!

5. Megan - Stitchings of an Army Wife
Megan is a fan of HAED and she has some very cool Wips on her blog. My favourites would have to be "Alice and Snow White" and "Soul Mates" (mini)  , though her work on Dragon Rider is awesome.  A brilliant blog!

5 Random Facts about me. 

1) I wanted to be an actress when I grew up but settled for a Princess.

2) I'm an avid MotoGP fan and Valentino Rossi is my absolute idol!

3) My favourite Aussie actor is Richard Roxborough. Although I think his portrayal of Dracula in Van Helsing was probably the worst Drakkie ever!!! - still love him though. Guess you have to if you're a loyal fan!

4)  I love video games and own a plethera of gaming equipment (Xbox360, Xbox, PS2, PS3, PSP,Nintendo XL, Nintendo 3DS and PC) and as you can imagine I have over 300 games of which I have roughly finished 5!

5) I'm obsessed with cross stitching and have a stash of 212 - oh wait you probably knew that one...okay oh yeah I see dead people!

I won Ewa's Giveaway!!!

I was pleasantly surprised with the arrival of Ewa's prize in the mail the other day. She didn't tell me what I had won so I was really excited to receive it.

I won 2 very cute fabrics for a little cross stitch and this beautiful piece that Ewa made.

It's so gorgeous! I'm hunting for a perfect frame for it. Attached was a lovely card and she asked me to excuse her messy back. I would show you a photo of it but I think Ewa would be horrified if I did, but her back was beautiful. I would be proud if my backside looked that great!! LOL!

Also included was a big bag of chocolates, I would show you a photo of that but who wants to see a bag of empty chocolate wrappers...they were so yum!!

Thank you Ewa for such an amazing prize and for being so generous for running a giveaway for your blogoversary! Ewa's blogoversary post has to be seen to be believed. The amount of stitching that she has achieved on College of Magical Knowledge is just gorgeous!  She is now at the very exciting stage of this project. It's great to watch it grow! 

And finally for the WIPocalypse post!

Goal 1: No progress on Faery 2 (sigh)

Goal 2 : No progress on Spring to Life

Goal 3: No progress on Fragile Heart

Goal 4: Completed row on QS Lovers

Goal 5: Progress on work project

Goal 6: Stick to rotation. Worked on SK Crimson Glomour and a new start from the Gorguss range - I found my family in a book.

That's all stunners! Thank you again for the awards I am truly humbled and it has inspired me to keep at it and be more organised so I can make time to enjoy my stitching (aka get more done!!).

Have a great week everyone and I will post my progress at the end of the week for my current wip which will be Faces of Faery 164 by Jas Beck Griff.

I've dedicated the quote for the post to family. As I have been spending alot of time with them over the last week as my 91 year old Nan who I love and adore with all my heart was taken to the hospital. She's coming out today and she's healthier and fiestier than most 30 year olds I know. Bless her!

Hugs and Kisses to you all xoxoxoxo

Alicia

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts.  ~Author Unknown

~WIPocalypse and a Happy Princess~

Hey there stunners!

Welcome to my lovely new followers Shazzump, the two Christine's, Rachel, Summer and Borduur! Thanx for taking the time and I hope you enjoy the journey! Destination to be advised though hee hee!

Well it's the second coming of the WIPocalypse and I haven't achieved as much as I would have liked but I did come to a realisation. My WIPocalypse goals were a tad too adventurous. There was no way that I could stitch 680 stitches on Faery 2 plus keep up with the HAED Freebie SAL, work on the Wips in my rotation and eat, sleep, go to work, the gym, play any video games or see any of my friends! Something had to give!

So I have halved the Faery 2 stitches per day to a more manageable 340 and the Freebie SAL to 100 per day. This way I still had at least 6 hours or so in a day to work on the projects in the rotation or do other fun stuff.

I reworked the goals only a week ago so not much to see on Faery but I've made a good start on QS Lovers by Nene Thomas. I have kept up with the required 100 per day. So one goal achieved - awwesommmme!!!



Progress as of 1st February



My rotation piece for this week is Selina Fenech's "L" Sampler letter. This is where I am at the start of the week. Yeah I know it's Thursday but I start my rotation's on Friday to coincide with HAED weekly SAL. That way if the piece in my rotation fits that weeks theme I can join in on that too.  For some reason SAL's always make me stitch more. I really like the thought that we are all working away on our individual projects yet come together from all over the globe to joy ride on the same luxurious cruise liner ( hey I am a Princess, to use the word boat seems so peasant like LOL!!)

It will eventually spell LOVE! Cos that's all that matters in life.  I want to wake up to a reminder every morning (or night depending on what shift I'm on) seeing this cross stitch to remind me that nothing is as important in my life as love. Not just in the receiving but more in the giving. I see it everywhere in my life and it's so cool!

Rotation piece for this week - L



I have a work project as well which I have added to my goals. This is a project that I only stitch whilst at work. Mrs. Dibble, Aunty Nene and I have an awesome job where we do 12 hour shifts approx 3-4 shifts per week on a 24 hour rotational roster. As we work in an emergency service radio room we have down time especially between 2am and home time at 7am. So if we can manage to keep our eyes open we are allowed to work on our cross stitches.

So I will be working on the Jungle Babies Birth sampler for my work colleague Blair who had a baby recently (Well 4 months ago so I had better get some kind of firework under my bottom). I think it was a girl, good lord I had better find that out. Here is where I am up to so far with that one....hmm not good Princess not good.

Jungle babies

The reason I am a happy Princess as the title indicates is that I have been consistent in one thing which was one of my NYE resolutions. That being to go to the gym on a regular basis. With the help of my personal trainer Tim I have managed to lose 10 kilos since the start of the year. YAY!!!!

Still can't believe I pay a 19 year old boy to stand there for half an hour and tell me to climb invisible mountains, row across invisible seas and lift heavy balls above my head. But it's all worth it in the end. I feel great and when I'm sitting and cross stitching for hours I don't feel any guilt. Plus guilt is a waste of energy. I'd rather put that energy into feeling awesome and blissfully happy. So I ensure that I am always on that feeling frequency of happiness, no matter what I am doing. It's life changing!

That's all for this week. I will post again in a week with my progress.

Quote for the week

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.  ~Danny Kaye

I wish you all every happiness this week and I hope that at least one thing happens in your life that makes you awestruck. Let me know!

Go for it stunners and have fun!

Love Alicia

xoxo

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