Hi Stunners!!!
As the end of last month was my birthday month this post is all about gratitude!
To start with I would love to thank and welcome my lastest 5 followers. Welcome Randi Martin, Marcy, Kathy Denehey, Linda and Nurdan Kanber. Thanks so much for stopping by and joining the followship of the Crafty
By the way if any of you received a scam email from my email address neon_princess33 stating that I had been robbed in the Philippines and to send me money. I truly apologise as my email account had been hacked. I'm ok and still in Australia and thank you to all that offered to send me money. And to Kim (scullys cross stitching) who knew it was a scam as she stated on my fb page that if it were really me I would be asking for fabric and thread...You're such a scream Kim and you know me so well LOL! I have changed the password and security questions and lodged a complaint with Yahoo mail so it should be safe now.
And to the following people thank you for your lovely Crafty gifts that I have received this year.
Mrs Dibble was at the Salvation Army store recently trying to acquire some old furniture to refurnish as a project and came across this old DMC thread sample chart for 50 cents!! I would have paid 50 bucks for it. Which she gave to me as a "just cos your my friend and I thought you would like this gift"!
Jo (who can't think of a clever nickname - Serendipitous stitching) designed, stitched and sent me this card for Chrissy. It just made it into January so it still counts. Isn't it too perfectly cool?? I'm working on something special for Jo at the moment but it's a surprise so please don't mention it to her.
My mum busted me gazing wistfully at the Needle Needs website at the Millennium Frame and then to my huge surprise I also received the Millennium frame with 2 lots of stretcher bars for Christmas AND a Bottle of Chardonnay. Princess parents rock! (It counts as they ordered it in December but I didn't receive it till March!)
Nina (Pistellen-Stitching) honoured me greatly by awarding my blog the AGI Award. Thank you Nina you really keep me motivated and love my stitching even more. Plus you've inspired me in other areas of my life with your thoughtful emails. Thank you again stunner xo
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| Unrelated fairy pic that I like. |
And thank you to my Bff Lori "Angel" Marlow for my lovely birthday cake. It's not cross stitch related technically but cake making is still a craft. How cute are the little icing Princesses? And the candles indicate my mental age. Bless you Angel cakes. You can't even see the bit that Zac (her beautiful doggie) licked. Somehow he managed to get a tongue under the cake cover and lick all the icing off one side. Ha ha! and Yes we didn't eat that bit...
Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You stunning stunners for my beautiful gifts and award!
And for my self gifting I bought a few new stash enhancements from the 50% off HAED sale
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| Darkness Falls - Maxine GADD |
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| Hidden - Bente Schlick |
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| Primrose - Jessica Galbreth |
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| The Dreaming Tree - Aimee Stewart |
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QS Tarot Fairy 12 - Babette Vanderberg
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I was going to buy the full size chart (as above) but I thought she looked a little weird. By the position of her left leg it kinda looked like her head was on backwards and she should have been walking forward. But the more I looked at the QS the more I liked it better anyway. Does anyone else see this in the full size or is just me??
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| Candied Apples and Candy Corn - Jane Wooster Scott |
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| Mini Steampunk iThing - Chris Down |
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| Cherry Blossom Lake - Gordon Fitchett |
and last but not least from Paine Free Crafts
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| Apocalypse Princesses - Tess Fowler |
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| Baby Dragon with Hot Sauce - John R Wohland |
OMG how cute is he??? This is exactly the same pose I strike when I receive Crafty Parcels in the mail...
and this is the expression of my postman after he hands them to me!!
Now for the stitching progress:
I've decided to abandon all stitching schedules, rules and other restrictive wahoos. I find that I spend so much time devising them and then stick to them for a whole 10 minutes and end up just stitching what I like anyway but feel guilty about it. I really do have the attention span of a tiny tiny gnat.
So I think this is the best practice for me and it means I stitch more as I don't feel compelled to, the only side effect is that I am constantly starting new charts. But hey ho. Remember my motto stunners - "To achieve a finish, one must first make a start" Sounds a bit Yoda-like I think the force is with me on this.
I have 6 new starts in the wings. So in the next 6 posts or so I will feature the progress on each. I'm hoping to get a least a page finish on all before I post but I will see how that goes!!!
After that I will have 37 charts in my rotation and I will stick to these like glue until I get some substantial finishes. This isn't a rule as such more of a Princess promise to myself.
So I think this is the best practice for me and it means I stitch more as I don't feel compelled to, the only side effect is that I am constantly starting new charts. But hey ho. Remember my motto stunners - "To achieve a finish, one must first make a start" Sounds a bit Yoda-like I think the force is with me on this.
I have 6 new starts in the wings. So in the next 6 posts or so I will feature the progress on each. I'm hoping to get a least a page finish on all before I post but I will see how that goes!!!
After that I will have 37 charts in my rotation and I will stick to these like glue until I get some substantial finishes. This isn't a rule as such more of a Princess promise to myself.
Here are the WIP Pictures!!!
Faery 2
Initially I was working this chart one row at time, then it went to 10x10 blocks across the entire chart. Now it's "bugger it I'll stitch the bits of the pic that I love first". So as I couldn't wait to reach the Castle, I just...stitched the castle. Man it was so liberating to do this!! I have no idea why I have restricted myself all these years to just do page by page in chronological order. Silly Princess!
I was a little disappointed when working on the castle as I thought it looked quite blobby and wasn't capturing the detail of the original art but then I guess it looks ok when you step back a bit. Hmmm.
I was a little disappointed when working on the castle as I thought it looked quite blobby and wasn't capturing the detail of the original art but then I guess it looks ok when you step back a bit. Hmmm.
Where is my Valentine?
Once again - how awesome is my new camera??? It makes such a difference.
Purple Orchid
Ok the fabric isn't as vibrant as all that, I've been mucking around with the settings but it's much closer than with the old camera which looks like it's just on plain grey fabric. And that my friends is a page finish for Purple Orchid..woo hoo!
That's all from me stunners. Now that I've abandoned that ridiculous schedule I will have updates more frequently and therefore my posts won't be as huge. I didn't like to post unless I had something worthwhile to show you and as the schedule was only stitching 400 or so stitches before moving on it didn't make for great progress pics. So as I'm stitching something when I like, for as long as I like in the rotation I should have quicker progress pics.
Have fun in everything you do.
xox Alicia
