The Crafty Princess

Friday, 7 March 2014

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

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Wipocalypse #2 - Unfashionably Late and IHSW kinda on time!

Hi Stunners!!!

Apologies for the lateness of this post but I was away on holidays and the internet reception was sporadic at best. I tried to keep up with all your blogs too but leaving comments proved to be too taxing for my internet reception on my phone. Boy you guys have been prolific for the last 2 weeks on the blogosphere, awesome to see. I have a lot of brilliant craft reading still to do though.

Wipocalypse #2

My wipocalypse project is HAED's Large Treasure Hunt Bookshelf and Golden Kite's The Arrival of Guests, Venice. I managed to get a page finish on the Bookshelf however, the poor guests failed to make an appearance.

IHSW

Here is my IHSW effort. Not a lot accomplished as I was on nightshift for Saturday and Sunday night. Saturday night proved to be too busy so I didn't even get a chance to throw in a few stitches until an hour before my shift ended. But on Sunday I almost got the acrobat's pants on, he's still got a few holes on his bum.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and read the instructions on my camera. I seem to be a little hit and miss with the clarity.

SURPRISE!!

Don't you love it when you go to your mail box expecting the usual hum drum mail and you find a padded parcel with your name on it. That is the best, the unexpected but always loved and welcome gift. Even better when it's craft stash with chocolate!!!!

Nina has done it again and sent me this lovely little present. I've never seen Ear buds before they are too cool! We are both fans of "The Walking Dead" and the Zombie magnet now has pride of place holding my cross stitch charts in place. Every time I look up and see it I can't help but smile out loud. Thank you Nina you are such a generous, thoughtful and stunning STAR! This Ecards for you LOL!

Thanks for ignoring me when I said you didn't have to get me a gift.

STASH STASH BABY!

HAED had a 50% of sale recently so I thought it would be the perfect time to complete my Tcherevkoff shoe collection. My friend Mrs. Dibble had already RAK'd Salvatore when this designer frist emerged on the HAED website, so I added two more. I have this beautiful fabric I purchased from Sew It All called Pebbles Design

The lovely boys kindly sparklied it for me as well and when the shoes are stitched on them it will look like discarded shoes lying on wet pebbles. I hope it turns out as good as I envision it. So now I have the charts, the fabric...just need the threads and a space on the rotation. My wip's have skyrocketed to 51!!!

Paradise Found

Shoe Fleur

Salvatore

And from Gecko Rouge's Etsy shop may I present "Lady Hatter"! The charts are only sold as kits so she will just have to be started when she arrives.

Lady Hatter

I plan on getting all my new starts started and then I can just settle down and pick one at random to work on. I love setting goals and organising schedules to stitch and markers to reach, but that is just not realistic for me. So I don't know why I set them. I love how the SAL's are helping me get some progress done on specific Wip's and I think I will just leave it at that for goals and such.

Passione Ricamo 2014 Mystery SAL

Also for some unknown reason I found myself joining in the Passione Ricamo 2014 mystery SAL....why oh why did I do this seeing as I didn't put one stitch into the 2013 one!!!! (Technically I did but made a bad error - see post back in September - New Start Fail)

The word "mystery" gets me sucked in every time. If I was a cat I would be dead in an instant due to my unwavering curiosity. But as a human it keeps me intrigued and stash enhancing. I love anything where the meaning is hidden and awaits discovery...It doesn't start until March 25th so there is time to collect all the requirements. Anyone want to join me??? The link takes you to the Mystery Sal page.

Good luck to those of you participating in YOTA looking forward to your posts next Saturday.

Take care my beautiful creative friends. Enjoy life and may it be filled with rainbows and magic.

I'm going to go back and leave comments on your blogs. Sorry for the absence but I was silently stalking you all. Bwah hah hah!

xox Alicia

Monday, 3 February 2014

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

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

#1 Wipocalypse & IHSW

Hi Stunners!

I'm loving these SAL's as it's encouraging me to blog more. Saying that I'm being a tad lazy and combining the Wipocalypse and IHSW as they were so close together.

Wipocalypse

My Wipocalypse projects for 2014 are HAED Large Treasure Hunt Bookshelf (large chart format) and Golden Kites The Arrival of the Guests, Venice. These 2 charts are my biggest babies so they will need a little more attention than my other kids. Treasure has 160 pages and Venice has a whopping 189 pages. My goal is to complete 2 pages of one chart and one page of the other during each month. But I'm implementing the Pirate code on this, so it's more of a guideline than a rule.

January Wipocalypse I focused on Treasure Hunt Bookshelf

Progress as of December 31 2013

Full Moon - January 16 2014

Almost a 2nd page finish! I will be working on Venice this week so I will be able to show some progress next Wipocalypse.

IHSW

For this SAL I will be working on QS Theatre of the Absurd which was HAED's freebie SAL from last year.

Before

After the IHSW

He's almost got his pants on now, woo hoo!

2013 ACHIEVEMENTS

As promised here is the total amount of progress from last year. I don't know if I can actually title this "achievements" per se as it's pretty dismal. I spent hours creating rotations and organising my stitching time however, I found that I'm such a rule breaker that I couldn't stick to them even though I was the one that created them. Such a rebel huh?

This year is different as I have dispensed with any rules, rotations and all that. Instead I just pick up what I feel like, when I feel like and will see how this goes! Can't be any worse than last year. See for yourself!

New Starts