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

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - June

Hi Stunners!!

Yes I'm still alive. Just a quick GG SAL post. Sorry there won't be any stitching pics as I haven't worked on anything gifted or to gift but I did buy a new chart which I am stitching as a gift. So at least there is another contender for this SAL.

Behold, Prince - The Legend from Tilton Crafts. The chart is no longer available as it was a limited edition. My bff loved, worshiped and adored the Purple icon and was gutted when the sad news of his death (murder!?) was announced. 

I won't be stitching the background, instead I will be using this piece from Sew it All, called Lilac Retro Designer Evenweave blingy fabric.  I think he would be pleased. My beautiful friend who this is a gift for, has not one crafty bone in her body and said she is hoping to get this by Christmas. I just laughed and laughed and laughed at her. Christmas 2017 maybe and that's pushing it. 

That's all for stitching.

I wanted to share this really cool app for those of us that have more than 1 or 2 projects on the go at once, you know us normal stitchers LOL!. It's called "Hours Tracker" and technically it's for employment purposes for wages but it can be adapted.

I have added a few screen shots for you to peruse.  The app is free for up to 3 jobs  (d'oh) but with 56 wips I had to buy the pro edition which allows for unlimited jobs/wips. It only cost 14AUD and is well worth it. 

In the past I have been logging hours worked on each wip manually to get a more accurate time it takes to complete.  With this many wips there are projects that I haven't picked up for 4 years.  So I recorded hours sttiched rather than weeks/months/years and lets face it decades :)) This involved a pretty journal, colourful gel pens and the stopwatch facility on my phone. 

However with this app it's all automatic. I haven't added all 56 wips yet, I'm adding them as I stitch on them. I've only had the app for less than a week.  

List of current jobs

Breakdown of what time was spent on each wip in a specified time period. Can check day, week or month. Not sure about yearly though. 

When you need to stop for food, beverages or changing the DVD you can hold down the Green button and it allows for breaks or just brief pauses and includes them in the calculations at the end of the stitching time. It also has a comment section so you can record how many stitches worked during that time or any other tidbits that keep it all up to date.  I think it's brilliant, though I'm still playing around with it.

For my visual journal of stash(including charts, kits, threads and fabric), kitted, started and finished wips I use the X-stitch app, which I believe a few of you already use so I won't bore you with those details. If you're interested in that someone on floss tube has a post on it that's pretty detailed.

And now for some cuteness.

My bff has adopted a new puppy and she asked me to be God-Dog-Mother to her. Here is my newest love - Lily Rose Marlow. She is 11 weeks old, Brindel Staffie Cross and a bundle of friskiness, energy and a little bit of naughtiness but just absolutely adorable.

That's all my beautiful friends. I'll post at the end of the month with all my May/June wips and I have been hard at work on some pretties. 

Happy stitching and I wish for all the magic in the galaxy to find its way into your lives. 

xoxo Alicia

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL April

Hi Stunners!!!

Sorry for the hiatus from the blog world. I've been on holiday for a month and as my job entails spending 12 hours a shift in front of 4 computer screens, I just had to get away from it all. Now that I've been back at work for a couple weeks I still can't handle staring at screens, man I can't win ha ha. 

To Annie and Els you are no_reply bloggers so unfortunately I couldn't reply to your emails. But thank you both for visiting and for your lovely comments.  And Els in answer to your question the final stitched size on Bookshelf by Gecko Rouge for me will be 44.33 x 28.33 inches (for the Aussies - 110.83 cm x  70.83 cm) as I'm stitching it on 18ct white Aida. Big right!?! It's going to be like a lifesize bookshelf. You guys should see the next Gecko I'm starting in May for the Gold Club, holy guacamole it's overwhelming even for my level of lunacy. 

Anyhoo my lovelies, I have a miracle to share with you! I have managed to achieve that elusive thing (for me anyway) known as a finished and framed cross stitch. Whilst it wasn't a BAP it was an F and it has given me the taste of the greatness of a finish so now I'm more inspired than ever to achieve more of these.

This is a baby sampler for my cousin Hugo who just turned 1 on the 10th of March. I stitched for a whole week until my fingers bled LOL so that it went from: 

This

to THIS!

I didn't use the kit threads, instead I changed it up and incorporated the new colours DMC have released, well in 2013 but still they are the first new colours DMC have released in 15 years. What have they been doin??? The variegated threads are hand dyed from Fiberlicoius Yummy Fibers. The balls and the flag are stitched in "Princess Alicia". You know you've made it in the cross stitch world when you have hand dyed thread named after you :)  I'm so honoured thank you Nguyen. If you're interested these are the colours I used.

Fiberlicous Yummy Fibers - cotton

Sail of the yacht                      - Vampire Raspberry

Spin thingy the bear is holding - Rio

Clown ruffles and Hat              - Clown - perfect right??

The Unicorn mane                   - Spring Blossoms

Balls, flag and flower (on the box) - Princess Alicia

DMC

Hat and top of the Bear 3890 3891 (Light Blue, Med Blue)

Rabbit's clothes - 3892 ( Bright Orange)

Fabric is called "Confetti Hearts" on 14ct Designer printed Aida from the lovely boys at Sew it All.

That's it for me.  I will be back at the end of the month with all my April Achievements. 

Take care my beautiful stunning talented friends. Enjoy the rest of April and hope your needles are smoking and may life be magical.

Off to check out the other GG SaL posts.

Lots of Love 

xo Alicia

The Organised Princess

Hi Stunners!!!

I have been a busy little Crafty Princess Beaver over the last 2 months. Yes with stitching but more with organising my stitching. I have updated my Wip's menu (see the tabs above) and added my Supersized Babies. So now you and I can see at a glance how I'm working through my myriad of wip's. I have made a promise to myself and the Craft Gods that I won't deviate from this rotation. So these are the only wips I'm allowed to work on. 

From the advice of my good friend Sharine I tried to whittle it down and have focus projects. So I have developed a rotation that ensures that a few of them are deemed as such and are worked on more often than the others. Plus I have engineered the rotation so that finishes are the goal. It's too long and boring to explain the plan, you're just going to have to trust me on this....please please xo

Anyway to the stitching!!!  I managed quite a few page finishes over the last couple of months.

Lady Hatter - Sandra Vargas - Gecko Rouge.  

This was one of the projects that has been culled from the current rotation. But don't worry once I finish King Tut and Frank the Frog she will be back in play. Those 2 charts are the SAL charts and Frank is only 4 partial pages and Tut is 6 even smaller partial pages. 

Pages 6 & 7 Completed

So Many Books So Little Time - Randal Spangler - HAED

This is another one that got the chop. I had 8 HAED Bap's on the go and I had to halve this number to be reasonable. It killed me to do it but he'll be back one day!!

Page 1 completed

Nancy Goodaim _ Space Ranger - Aly Fell - Eclectic Blokes Design

I finished off page 2 and managed to complete the whole of page 3. Not a great deal of confetti so that was a nice change. 

Pages 1,2 and 3 completed

Carnival Moon - Aimee Stewart - HAED

This is one of my focus pieces and I'm aiming for the row finish by the end of the year (at least anyway) I love the way this is stitching up. The next page is full of blocks of colour so should be a bit quicker than all that confetti in the flowers on the first 2 pages.

Page 1 and 2 completed

Bookshelf - Colin Thompson - Gecko Rouge

I have joined the Gecko Rouge Gold Club plus and this was my Gold Kit choice. As soon as it arrived, wild tornado's and half naked firemen could not hold me back from starting this. It's massive!! The below wip pic is Page 1 completed so you can see how much I have to go. But it's so cool, if you look closely amongst the shelves you find some quirky characters and weird little objects or ordinary objects doing strange things. It's alot of fun. 

Page 1 Completed

I have added 3 new starts to my rotation. They are all tribute charts so I can be forgiven. My world fell apart at the news of David Bowie and Alan Rickman's death. I have loved Bowie since forever and I only got a chance to see him once in concert. So I was devastated. 

This chart was on my Gecko Roughe WL and I bought it on the day of his death. (*Sob*)  It arrived today so I will be making an immediate start. R.I.P Bowie. Forever a legend and forever missed!! The artist is Sara Bowersock.

David Bowie

Another tribute chart to Bowie, it's about one of my favourite movies of all time "Labyrinth" It's another Gecko Rouge and I already had it in my stash including the hand dyed fabric I had bought for it, so what better time than to bring it out. I'm going to watch Labyrinth over and over whilst stitching this one.  It's only Forever by Medusa Dollmaker

It's Only Forever

And for the late great Alan Rickman a tribute to him by Daniel Kordek and charted by Shelley Lee of Tilton Crafts. Snape! I've ordered the fabric from the lovely boys at Sew it All and as soon as I gather the floss I will be inserting this awesome chart into my rotation. 

Snape 

Thank you for all your lovely comments and encouragement on my previous post. I will be posting at least twice a month. Once midway on the 15th for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL run by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching and once at the end with the monthly progress. 

I know this will be a good year for me stitching wise as it's the first time I'm actually organised. I've even started a journal to record hours worked on each chart, recorded goals that are achievable unlike all those previous years and most importantly - CLEANED the CRAFT ROOM!!!!! Oh man that was a week long job.

So thank you for joining me in this journey stunners. I promise there will be more to see this year.

Love you lots and thanks for making my life the rainbow filled playground that it is. 

I'm going to spend the next day reading blogs and replying to all my emails. And then it's down to some serious DVD watching and hard core
stitching!!

Take care stunners and I hope life is magical and enchanting for you all!


xoxo Alicia

P.S. Just noticed that this is my 69th post which is also the age both David Bowie and Alan Rickman were at their time of passing. 

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