Winter Stitching Wrap up!

Hi stunners!!

Apologies for the long hiatus. 

This post is dedicated to the lovely Amanda our stunning Cross Stitch Angel. Amanda has been scolding encouraging me to put out a post. So here it is. Thanks for pushing me Amanda I really need it as you can see. Thanks so much for the support too stunner.

We have just finished Winter down Under and this is what I got up to.

Three appears to be my lucky number lately. I have two page three finishes. Firstly I have completed 3 pages on Alisha. So happy to see the end of all that blue and lookie that's her foot, well the bottom of her shoe anyway, so she has technically made an appearance. The next page is going to be so cool as it's Alisha's head. And I am really enjoying diagonal stitching.

Next is Carnival Moon, another HAED.  

I haven't worked on this since 2016 and I remembered how much I love it, so have made it a focus piece. I completed page 3 as well on this beauty. I love the colours, such a fun stitch. 

Also still getting some love is Theatre of the Absurd and I pray to the cross stitching Goddesses to help me get a September finish.  Just a partial page to go and some ninja stitches on the second last page. I've forgotten what it's like to actually finish something. So it would be wicked cool to get one under my belt to spur me on. 

I was cleaning out the craft room and let me tell you that was no mean feat. I found my old old old wip of Vanity, which I started in 2010!!!! My beautiful friend Jayne from NZ RAK'd me the Max Colours version of this which I am working on as a diamond painting so I actually had no intention of finishing this as a cross stitch. But when I picked it up to throw out I just couldn't do it. All those lush purples and the bright blue in the circles that just pops against them. My cross stitching soul just wept at the thought of  abandoning her. So I have decided to keep going and gift it or maybe just keep it as a solo feature in my bedroom...you know when I finish it. Ha ha. This is where I left her and as you can see I'm working across the entire row. 

So that's where I am at. I'm currently doing the Mini Million Marathon on the Ultimate cross stitching FB challenge so I will be a busy Princess over the rest of September as it's a team effort to get a Million stitches in 3 weeks. So can't let the team down. 

That's all for now stunners. Thanks for visiting and I promise on all my stash to be a better blogger and blogger friend. I have set aside Thursday for blog reading so I will catch up with you all and your adventures. 

Take care stunners and may life be magical. 

xoxo Alicia

April Adventures!

Hi Stunners

As promised this is what I got up to cross stitch wise in March and April.

I will start with the successes. March was mainly taken up with Snow White by Gecko Rouge (retired). I finally completed the 2 pages on Snow White. And very excited to report that I have reached one of the dwarves. He is not my favourite one but just happy to get to him, nevertheless. That's his head near Snow's elbow. I really enjoyed working on this and looking forward to her next turn in the rotation! I have decided to always complete 2 pages on her before moving on as I really really want to finish this one.

April was taken up with 2 wips mainly. Heaven on Earth by Mystic Stitch and Alisha by HAED.

I'm very happy with my progress on Alisha, not so much on Heaven. The confetti got the better of me, though I do love the colours. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a page finish before moving onto Alisha. Oh well there's always next time. 

Heaven on Earth

ALISHA

Before

After

Once I finish the feathers, Page 1 will be complete and due to the diagonal stitching I've actually started page 3. I'm going to keep going till I finish all 3 pages.  I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this. I would love to continue but I can hear the other babies spitting their dummies and stamping their feet with impatience. So I have promised to move on soon as it's getting really noisy in the craft room! 

What's in store for May Mayhem? 

I will be working on TOTA simulateously with Alisha for this month. This is where I'm currently at with this wip.

And then it's back to Carnival Moon. This is another wip that I haven't stitched on since 2016. What the hell was I doing last year??? Both these wips are up to page 3 and I'm determined to finish them in May. 

That's all I have to report at this time stunners. And I waited until the 4th of May to post just so I could say "May the fourth be with you"  Happy Star Wars day Stunners!!!!

Take care everyone and may life be magical for you

xo Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness and IHSW - April

Hi Stunners! 

I'm a little late for GG but kinda on time for IHSW so that balances out, right? 

GIFTED GORGEOUSNESS

For the GG SAL I worked on my sister's gift project - October Rose Zircon by Maxine Gadd from Imaginarium. My deadline is October 2019 so I really need to motor on with this gift. Also I have moved it off the Q-snaps and onto a permanent Millennium frame so my stitching is much faster now as the Q-snap was awkward to work with using the Millennium stand. Fingers crossed, that also making it my focus piece will speed things up. 

Before

After

You can just see the corner of her eye. I started in the middle which is probably the most boring page of the entire chart. *Sigh*

IHSW

IHSW weekend I spent working on Alisha by Myka Jelinka. I was shocked when I checked my cross stitch app and discovered that I haven't stitched on her for 2 years!!!!! So she has been added to the rotation too. 

June 2016

After IHSW 

I was flying through it until I started on the parrot. Confetti city. I am trialing diagonal stitching since I have watched 2 floss tubes vids on it and I think it really helps with the lines when doing a massive chunk of light coloured background. Will see how this goes. I'm going to work on her until I finish the 2 pages. The second page is all just light blue background with a bit of shoe down the botton.

Here's what the chart looks like.

That's all from me stunners! 

I'll be back at the end of the month with all my other progress for March and April.

Take care and may life be magical 

xox Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness July and June Wips

Hi Stunners!

All I can say is thank goodness for this GG Sal otherwise I don't think I would remember to post.  The 15th rolls around quite quickly. Well June was a birthday month for me and as crafty friends are oh so generous I have quite a few pretties to share. 

These are HAED gifted charts, the first two are are new releases.

Saccarine by Gracjana Zielinska was a gift from my lovely friend Nina and Tea Fairy by Enys Guerro was a gift from our beloved Helvi. 

And from Jayne I was gifted QS Hatter by Hannah Lynne which completes that Alice in Wonderland series. Woo Hoo!!! Thanks Jayne, love my Hatter charts. 

Kim Howe, my beautiful friend from Queensland sent me a very generous voucher for fabric from Colour Cascades. Which is going to come in very handy as I really want to start these 2 beauties.

I was also blessed by the ever delightful Kim Nield and Angie Perrett with Gecko Rouge Vouchers. Which will be used to buy the kit - Shelf Life by Colin Thompson. It's a whopping big chart and is over a million stitches, with the width being 1200 or so stitches. Woo Hoo!! But I think it will be super fun to stitch as every 10x10 grid is going to have some insane detail. 

Shelf Life - Colin Thompson

And for some cuteness overload. I am now the lucky and very proud owner of a beautiful personalised fuschia towel from Sharine and one of her handmade hair ties from Charbella Creations. Tots famous when you're branded on a towel. Respect! 

And Hannah (my daughter from another mother in an alternative reality) sent me a beautiful handmade card. Gotta love that Unicorn tail. I hope it's a tail anyway!

And if you're sensing a theme, anyone that knows me, knows that I love love love Unicorns. My friend from work adapted a kids book to make it more personal to me. It's so cute and a great idea. 

Thank you so much ladies for your ever so generous and thoughtful gifts. I greatly appreciated it. xoxo

And of course one must always reward oneself for making it through another year of life. So from the Crafty Princess I received this Gecko kit which I managed to buy in the 35% sale. Double Whoo Hoo. 

And I bought the Material Pack for Alisha in the kit sale from HAED, which I started 2 seconds after I opened the parcel. t's my first time using 18ct magic guide though, and I love it!! 

That's it for the GG SAL.

June Achievements 

The HAED facebook Challenge #2 - fail

This challenge was to stitch a page using cross country stitching, one colour at a time. I have tried this before but usually gave up on it as it really doesn't suit me. Well I gave it a really good go for this challenge and came up short...again. I just don't like it. I wish I did though, as I loved watching it come to life as more and more colours were packed on but hunting down those ninja stitches took the fun out of it for me.  I guess I'm just a parker. Which is why I'm excited about challenge #3 which is using the parking method. I actually have a chance of completing this one. Well here's what I managed anyway. 

Faces of Faery 81 - JBG 

I worked on Farewell to Lothlorien from Paine Free Crafts. It doesn't look like much but that's 3 page finishes. Oh yeah!!!

It's not the greatest photo but trust me in reality it looks so realistic. It's the beginning of the little pond and the detail is incredible. Absolute testimony to Sarah Paine's charting talent. I was sorry to put this one away but she will come back in the rotation again. 

I also worked on Cordelia (she reminds me of Cordy from Buffy), don't you think?) aka Vanity.  I really really wanted to get to the end of the rows as it would have marked the halfway point for the first row but I just didn't quite make it. Sad face :(

Thanks for visiting stunners. I hope July has been a great month for everyone, in every way.

If you have a choice, choose happiness!


Big love
xoxo Alicia