IHSW and Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - May

Hi Stunners!

This post will be short and sweet as the wip I worked on covers both these SAL's.

I was working on my sisters gift of Rose Zircon from Imaginarium by the artist Maxine Gadd. 

As some of you may know I am trialling diagonal stitching and have decided due to the large amounts of flesh coloured tones and chunks of black that I would do this entire chart in diagonal working from one corner to the opposite one until finished. So not page by page as I am doing with Alisha.

I hope and pray that I have counted correctly otherwise I'm going to have a lot of frogging to do when I get to her face. 

If you're interested this is the Floss tube that helped me get started: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3iLVYEdaRY&t=303s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjnTfvit1do&t=13s

That's all stunners! Told you it would be short and sweet. 

Take care and may life be magical 

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 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

HELLO STUNNERS!!! 

I've said in the past that one day I would start my blog post without an apology about lateness. Definitely not going to happen today, my last post was in July and this post is 5 days late for December Gifted Gorgeousness SAL. FAIL!!! 

Sorry sorry sorry for the total AWOL from blogworld. No excuses really but I will blame facebook. Joining (well technically being added) to new groups has led me to overindulge in SABLE and be so spoilt by my amazing and too generous Crafty brothers and sisters, as it has led to way too many new starts and new start SAL's. Something had to give and blogging paid the price eeek.

So I have decreed that in 2016 I'm going to be returning to my roots and also the place I met most of my stitching friends and that is blogging. I've missed reading blogs and keeping up with everyone that way. FB is very instantaneous, yes, but it also is just a quick pow of updates and it's a little hard to keep up with everyone. 

Whereas blogging feels more like a long journey and adventure with friends. So I will be spending more time here than on fb type of social media. 

So let's get to it stunners.

Firstly is the update for my sisters gift. Mystic Stitch - October Rose Zircon by Maxine Gadd. Not much progress I'm afraid but I've changed my way of stitching this. 

If anyone has stitched a MS you will know the pain of their symbols. They are so so so hard to read and the confetti is incredible. I've decided to do it using cross country page by page. I think it's faster for this particular project, and the only way that I can do it without going insane. So unfortunately I've had to abandon my beloved parking technique. 

Notice the beautiful Tardis Qsnap cover and fabric keepers. They were a gift from my lovely friend Kim Howe. Aren't they amazeballs?  The fabric keepers are the best they just keep all that excess fabric outta the way.  

Here is the second one Kim gifted me. I love love love them both but this is my favourite one. Look how regal King Tut looks amongst all the Tardii (is that the plural of Tardis LOL). Thank you so much Kim, I'm truly grateful.

And now for more Gifted Gorgeousness - my Christmas package from the McDougall family. Head McDougall being Sharine. I'll have to post another pic with the Qsnaps in action they look amazing and the horsey one doesn't really show up. And check out the Magical Unicorn that grows in water. I'll have to post a pic when that magic happens too!!! 

And thank you to the littlest McDougall, Hannah for choosing the butt crack Santa card. That kid cracks me up...oooh pun there. Thank you so much Sharine and the McDougall clan you guys are rock stars. 

Now to a bit of stitching. I almost got to the end of page 2 of Carnival Moon. Why is it that the last 1000 stitches always seem to take the longest. Or is that just me? 

The next page is the building and the tower bit. And there are big chunks of colour so hopefully it won't take too long. But once I finish page 2 I'm going to be concentrating on my 2 gift projects.

Ewa's wedding anniversary project which was due in October (hangs head in massive massive shame) and my cousin's baby sampler which I haven't touched since I first started it. See below...head still in shame hang mode. 

So this

Has to become this

I'm determined to make 2016 a year of finishes. As I never managed ONE not even a tiny finish in 2015. It's been a year of new starts, re-starts and total abandonment. Not a good year for the Crafty Princess. I may even have to abdicate the title!!

Nah.

I have plans for a rotation that will help ensure this, but I think I've rambled on enough for one post. Check you later and now I'm off to reaquaint myself with all of your blogs. Sorry if you get comments on blogs that are months old but I want to see all that I've missed. 

To all that celebrate Christmas. I wish you a very very Merry one and may it be magical, special and full of laughter and love. I hope you all had a fantastic 2015 but I wish you an even better 2016.  See you next year stunners. Love you heaps and muchly.

Gotta go Santa is calling me! 

xoxoxo Princess Alicia

The most amazing Gifted Gorgeousness!

Hi Stunners!

I know I am really really late with this even for me, so sorry sorry sorry! But if it's any consolation there is alot of piccies and alot of pretties, and even a few page finishes so stay tuned. I'll try to make it worth your while :D

GIFTED GORGEOUSNESS

Straight on to stitching - I FINALLY FINISHED THE FIRST PAGE OF OCTOBER -ROSE ZIRCON!!! Apologies for screaming but this page was doing my head in and now it's done and I managed to make a wee start on Page 2. This is my GG piece as it's for my sister who is an October baby.

Before

AFTER!!

MORE STITCHING!

I also whipped off (pun intended) another page on Harry with the help of the boys from Supernatural. It took me Seasons 1 -5 to finish this page. I was happy to finish in July as it's the 1 year anniversary of Eclectic Blokes Design this month. So this one's for Neil Bray, who most of you know passed away in March and never got to see his baby turn 1. 

Also managed to finish Page 1 on So Many Books SO Little Time. My first Spangler!

MY BEAUTIFUL FRIENDS

Now this is the part of the post that refers to the title - The most AMAZING Gifted Gorgeousness. It was my birthday at the end of June and my friends were just so generous it reduced me to tears! I had alot of lovely wishes on fb and to add to that I was totally spoilt. Please don't get too jealous LOL.

I was RAKd this chart by the very talented and very generous Nikki Northup from Charting Creations. The magnificent Celestial.

From the lovely lady who also loves the dark side as much as me - Jayne Walton - I was RAKd Mesmer from Eclectic Blokes Design

This one is called The Collector from HAED - and I think all crafters can relate to this, hee hee. Thank you to gorgeous generous Kim of Cross stitching with Kim fame for this intriguing chart. Love it! 

And from another amazing Kim from the famous Sense and Stitchability - Supersized Faery Tales - HAED. 

My good friend Nina of Pistot-Stitches fame went a little crazy and completely spoilt me with her kindness and RAK'd 2 Supersized HAED's. The Butterfly Ball by Aimee Stewart and Sanctuary of Knowledge by Randal Spangler!

But that's not all!!

Nina was lucky enough to travel to London recently and the lovely girl that she is, didn't forget about me and bought me a few gifts. Check out the Dr. Who torch light key ring. It's so cool from the Dr. Who shop. Wahh I wish we had a Dr.Who shop in Oz!  And I've always wanted a needle threader from HAED but the postage to Australia was too ridiculous so I never bought one. And without ever mentioning it to Nina, her sixth sense kicked in and she bought one for me. It's beautiful! 

Oh there were 2 bars of chocolates and a packet of lollies but....um they were gone by the time I took this photo - too yummy! 

Our favourite Crafty Spice girl, the amazing Nguyen from Spice up your life and the owner/operator of Fiberlicious Threads AND little sweetheart Angie from Miamina's Musings  each sent me a Gecko Rouge voucher. Ladies you were so generous that I can buy a kit with them. 

I'm either going to buy Ice Queen by Medusa Dollmaker

or 

Hatter by Omri Koresh

I also was gifted a gift certificate for Colour Cascade fabrics from the lovely Carmel Clark - Woo hoo. Which is just what I need after all those chart RAK's

And finally from the wickedly devilish but deep down softie Sharine of Charbella Stitching I received a very cute chimpanzee birthday card picked by her youngest daughter (whom I am convinced was my child in another lifetime) and was so lucky to be given a very generous voucher for Tragic Beautiful! This is an awesome shop that Sharine first introduced me to a while back. It's clothing and accessories that are generally not found in contemporary stores. It's got a bit of goth, witchey stuff, creatures of the night, steampunk and some of the darker fairytale type stuff. Here are a few things on my wish list: 

Dorothy Slippers

Nevermore dress! 

Steam punk boots

Vampiria Dress

  

Or something to wear down to the shops!!! 

As you can see I was very very pampered by my very very generous and thoughtful friends. I am so humbled by all and also all the beautiful wishes I received. You guys rock! Love you stunners!

I'm almost up to date with catching up with blogs. Got a few more to read. I've been so bad with blogging but I endeavour to be more proficient with blogs. Both posting and reading.

Take care beautiful people. I hope life is magical for you. If not just close your eyes and believe!

xoxo Alicia 

TOTA YOTA GG SAL #6

How's that for a total Acronym title! 

Hi Stunners!!! I'm so sorry for the hiatus, but as I was sooo late with my May updates that it was almost June so I decided to wait for the June posting.

And now I'm late with the June one *sigh*

But I got a lot of stitching done so that's good, right? 

First up my YOTA pieces 

YOTA

TOTA - still haven't quite managed that blasted page finish...I'm determined to have it done by July as I really really want to finish this one this year. Just 2 partial pages after this. Thank the gods!

Before

 

PRINCE RUPERT of  RUPPITSWOOD

Gecko Rouge SAL 2015

 

 





Before



After

I also love how Gecko Rouge are now offering needleminders that match the kit. It's great to have that inspiration right on the fabric as you stitch. Look at that little cute Froggie Prince

GIFTED GORGEOUSNESS SAL

Rose Zircon was chosen for both May and June's GG SAL. I would dearly love to get at least the top row completed by the end of the year. I'm really not enjoying this one at all, which is why it's taking so long to get any progress.

I'm glad it's a gift for my sister because once it's finished I never want to see her again. I know that sounds harsh but there are alot of problems with it.

The Mystic chart symbols are so hard to follow on this. I've never liked the use of letters as symbols on cross stitch charts. MS use all 26 letters in capitals and then another 26 in lower case and if the chart calls for more than 52 colours, then they use symbols. I'm sure there are stitchers that don't mind or prefer this but I'm not one of them. I kept mistaking the "c" for  "e" so many times ergggh! 

Plus the fabric is an ice dye hand dye and on the 20ct it has swelled the fabric so much that it's almost like working on a 25ct using 2 threads over 1, so it's very tight and makes the confetti so much harder to handle. I was thinking of re-starting on another fabby but I just couldn't bring myself to do Page 1 again. So I will struggle through. My sister saw the chart and the fabric that was dyed specifically for this chart and loved it so I don't have the heart to scrap it. 

Before

I don't know what's going on with me and page finishes lately...just can't quite get there LOL!

And speaking of Gifted Gorgeousness...my beautiful friend Helvi, RAK'd this stunning chart to me! It's a whopping 999 x 775. It's going to look breathtaking stitched with all that detail coming through. Thank you so much Helvi, you're so generous honey. 

Supersized - Past Present Future - Aimee Stewart

That's all for now stunners. My next post I have at least 3 page finishes on my wips...possibly even 4 with any luck and no distractions! Ha ha not likely. 

I've been reading blogs for the last 2 days and I've almost caught up. I still have a few to go though. There has been some amazing stitching going on out there stunners. 

I will post again next week or so. 

Take care lovely stunners - I'll leave you with the meme that was sent to me and made me smile! 

xxoxx Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness #1

Hi Stunners!

I have signed up for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL which is being hosted by the lovely Jo. If you would like to sign up just click on the button on the left and it will take you to the sign up page on Serendipitous Stitching. Basically we post on the 15th of each month (yep I'm late as usual) a wip that has some kind of element of gifting in it. Either something you received or intend on gifting to someone else. As my beautiful Crafty friends are very generous I have alot to choose from. However, I have elected to focus on 5 for now.

For the first one of the year I have been working on a gift for my sister, Gail. It's a Mystic Stitch from Maxine Gadd's Birthstone collection. October: Rose Zircon. 

The fabric is from Colour Cascade Designs. It's an Ice Dye which is really cool. If you can't find a piece of fabric to go with your chart you can design your own. You are allowed to choose up to 4 colours and Tammy dyes it and it's a kind of lucky dip situation. This is Hot Pink, pink and silver. I think it's perfect for this chart as I intend on stitching all the black. 

Page 1

The other pieces I will be working on for this SAL are:

HAED Fallen Angel which is a new start. This chart was RAK'd to me by my very good friend the lovely Nina (Pistot-Stitches)

HAED Feel the Magic which I have finished Page 1. This chart was RAK'd by the beautiful Johanna (stitchstitchknit)

Colour Cascade Designs and Fabrics - I've been waiting for so long. The beautiful Angie (Miamina Musings), Mark and Charlie kindly gave me a birthday gift voucher and I bought the chart with it. Very small start on it so far. I started in the middle so I believe this is her sleeve.

And finally Tilton Crafts - Wishing On Stars. I was RAK'd the chart by the magnificent and one and only Nguyen (Spices up your life). This is a new start as well.

As you can see I have some very generous friends with beautiful taste. Thank you again ladies and I will be thinking of you as I stitch these beauties.

Take care everyone! Big love and hugs to you all 

xox Alicia