Saturday 29 October 2011

Getting ready for Christmas

Hi everyone,

THANK YOU ALL so MUCH for Happy Dancing with me on my big finish :D It was really special for me :)

Now I can't just sit back and spend my time looking at the finished project... there is still a ton of stuff for me to stitch for X-mas, I still want to make at least 20 X-mas ornies..., have to make the Orchids for my grandma, and want to make more 10 postcards xD... I'm hoping I'll have time for all...
So you can expect several quick finishes from my side and that means lots of piccies to make up for the 2 months of non progress pics ;)
And for those of you who haven't seen my Finish Project, I promise I'll post a pic of it on the day it's given ;)

Thank you for all your kind comments, they mean the world to me :D

Thursday 27 October 2011

HAPPY DANCE :D - MP finished

Yay... yesterday night (or should I say in the early hours of today) I finally finished my MP I'm so happy with it, I think it's looking amazing and it was the first time I finished a HAED so it's even more happy for me .... so from now until mid-November there will be no more me teasing you with MP progress and no pics... but no finished pic of it until then too :p

And now I'll be able to return to all my other projects and I'll be able to share some pictures of my progress :)
Thank you so much for all the cheer you gave me it helped me keeping stitching on it even when other projects were calling :D

Tuesday 25 October 2011

More details on the Witches :) and a giveaway for you to check :)

Hi everyone I loved to read all your comments regarding my little witches... that was my first big project I had ever done, but then I was only 15 (before that the biggest was probably 40st x 60st , I think) and I really enjoyed it. And yes it was stitched on white Aida 18ct 2strands over 1 (it was the only fabric I  thought that existed for cross-stitching, such an inocent girl... I bet my wallet would appreciate if I had been kept unaware of the cross-stitching online world xD). Anyway I got it in one of the few cross-stithing magazines I had access to back in Portugal called "Los Labores de Anna" (yeps a Spanish magazine xD) it was the first cross-stitch mag I bought and I only bought it because of the witches and an alphabet it had with angels that I plan to stitch for my mum someday xD) but I did some research and for those of you interested it's the Leaflet No75 of Stoney Creek called Witches of Booville and if you searh online there are a few places where you can get it :)

Now onto my second topic there's a Halloween Giveaway going on the Hera Chronicles... what she's going to give is a total mistery but word is it's going to be gorgeous as she usually does... so if you're like me and just love a mistery pop there and check it out :) she also has soe amazing quotes for you to read ;)

Sunday 23 October 2011

MP nearly finished :)

Hi everyone :)

I'm very happy this weekend the weather is really crappy, so it's been quiet at work and therefore I'm having plenty of time to stitch and I'm now less than 10% away from finishing my MP (I have less than 2500 stitches to make :)) So I'm hoping my next post will be a very big Happy Dance post :)

And because a post isn't a proper post without some pictures, here are some of my favourite stitches that I 've done:

Tea tray for my godmother (she loves whiches) that I made nearly 10 years ago

Birth sampler for one of my cousins (I forgot to take a picture after stitching the details) 
stitched 6 years ago (I think)

Cover picture of a photo album for the first daughter of my godmother
Stitched 3 years ago....

And off I am for the last slice of my triple chocolate cake.... yummy....
Thanks for stopping by and reading :)
Happy Stitches


Wednesday 19 October 2011

Haunted Mansion Giveaway for SAL

Hi everyone, if you like Halloween motifs Linda at Stitchin with my Furbabies, is having a giveaway for two Kits of the Halloween House by Ursula Michael, she is palnning to SAL with another friend and she is giving away the two extra kits she has to have two more people SAL :) so if you want to have a chancejust go over there ;)

Monday 17 October 2011

IHSW results and more goodies post for me...

Don't you just love when you return home and you have post that aren't bills or advertisement flyers?? I do... and today I had not one but TWO big envelopes waiting for me so I knew it couldn't be any of the above, I grabbed them on the spot and just had time to put my wallet on the floor before opening them (I was still with my coat and all that, but I was too curious to wait that 2 secs more that it takes to put the coat on its place xD) and what was waiting for me?
This was:
The gorgeous giveaway I had won at Between the Stitches 

and my monthly subscription of Cross Stitcher :)

I must say the threads are even more gorgeous than in the picture (I might think it's not possible but it's true) and the PM booklet will be used for this Christmas for sure (at least I hope so) it as such a cute small designs, they will be perfect for some more ornaments for my tree. And I could go on and on about every single item of the giveaway :D.... Thank you so much I really love it :D

Now my IHSW progress, not as much stitching as I was hoping for, but I did stitch, so I can't complain I've put another 800 stitches on my MP (pictures will be shown on Joysze blog, I think) and I now have a total of 23127 stitches done so roughly more 4600 stitches to complete it :)

Thanks for coming by :)

Sunday 16 October 2011

Halfway point of IHSW and a Giveaway

Hi everyone,
I hope everyone is enjoying IHSW and stitching tons, yesterday I didn't have much time to stitch because I still had to finish some stuff for work so I plan to have my revenge today and literally do nothing else but stitch, all housework will be postponed for tomorrow xD.

Now onto the giveaway, Kathy at A Stitcher's Heirlooms is having a gorgeous giveaway so if you want to try your luck and have a new blog to stalk you should go over and read, it's really a pleasure to read her blog and I bet you'll love to see her progress on her projects :)

Well jumping to my project now and no more pc until tomorrow :)

Thursday 13 October 2011

101 followers :O I'm truly amazed

Hi everyone :)

THANK YOU ALL so much for keeping up with me and my stitching journal, for a long time I wasn't able to see my followers and I was truly amazed today when I opened it and saw that I had 101 followers, that's such a huge achievement for me, since I never thought there would be so many people interested in knowing what I'm stitching and following my big or small progresses on my projects.
I'm really happy that I started this blog, not only because now I have a place where I can go to, to see how much I've actually done since I started blogging, but also because I have the opportunity to meet many other extremely friendly stitchers with whom I can share my happy and sad moments of cross-stitching (and better than that I can share my progress and ask can you see this? without getting the common answer of shrinking shoulders and saying... ehh, it's cross stitch :S) And for that I wanted to thank you all :) and also I must thank you because that means more blogs for me to stalk eheheh :)

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Fancy a full stitchin weekend??

Hi everyone,
We reach middle of the week and there are already 60 stitchers joining on IHSW... Yeaaaahhhhh :)
So many blogs for me to read already, anyway Joysze is trying to increase the number (and to be honest me too because I want to have even more blogs to stalk read) so if you plan to stitch during weekend, a ton or just a ten stitches you should pay a visit to Joysze and join the IHSW, also you should start following her too :) also it will be a great excuse to not do any housework for the weekend right... since you can always say... "Sorry it's the IHSW so I'm supposed to just sit and stitch and nothing else!!"
Also for those of you who are curious about my MP, if you visit Joysze blog after the weekend, you'll be able to have a peak at it, since Joysze is being extremely kind and will post a picture of my progress for me :D

Happy Stithes

More post and a review :) And IHSW sign up started

Hi everyone,

Before I forget IHSW is starting so press the litte hermiter on my sidebar to heck it out :)

I don't know if you still remember my post a couple of weeks ago about being asked to do a review of a cross stitch kit... well yesterday I got this package waiting for me when I arrived home, I knew immediately what it was because of the big red note, so I ripped the envelope on the spot (as you can see) :)

Inside this was what it was waiting for me, the kit I had chosen was "Close up of a pink rose" I love this type of close up to the flowers but never come across of stitching one, and when I saw it I knew that was the kit for me. So now into the review in itself, I know you can't tell by my photo, but one thing I loved in the cover picture is that you can see exactely how it's going to look in the end because it's a stitched picture

 This is the view of the back of the package where you can see all the threads (already in bobbins and ready to use) waiting for you to start stitching. I really like the the attention they put in to the threads, the fact that they are already all sorted and more than that, that they are sent in bobbins instead of the normal paper thread holders is perfect, for me is perfect because to tell you the truth I hate those paper things, I like to be myself deciding the length of my thread and it's much easier for me to just cut the threads I'm going to use and roll the  rest of the thread again in the bobbin than to keep tying the thread around the hole on the floss organizer and if it's paper it just starts tearing up after taking and tying the floss a few times.
I really liked the way they packed the material, for me it's a bonus just for itself :)

The Threads:
 After taking everything out of the plastic bag to actually touch and play with the kit I realized that what I thought was a bobbin of each colour is actually several bobbins of the same colour, more or less depending of the amount that is used to the chart, what a great idea, instead of having one bulky bobbin they have several all with the same amount of thread, it makes it much easier to work with.
Another thing that I loved is that they send you Madeira threads, I like this brand, the thread is very soft and easy to use (the only reason why I don't use them more often is because they are more expensive and hard to find).
they are gorgeous aren't they?

 Chart:
As per the chart in itself, it's printed in A3 pages, the paper where it was printed is amazing and the size of it it's perfect, the squares are just the perfect size for me neither too big that makes it harder to see the picture and you have to have too much paper for the chart, and neither too small that makes it hard for you to read it and easily identify where you are and where you are going to stitch, better than that it's a black and white chart, and you can still see the picture perfectly well and I can mark my stitches as I usually do :).
Also in the corner where you have the colour code you not only have the code for Madeira, but also for DMC if you prefer (I believe this might be very useful if you opted to buy just the chart instead of the kit, and yes you have that option on their website)
what do you think of it?

As per the fabric:
I didn't take a picture because it's a white piece of Aida 14ct, one thing that surprised me is that the fabric doesn't have that stiff feeling that it's quite usual in Aida special in these counts, the fabric is actually quite soft for an Aida, so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy stitching it, although I wouldn't pick this count myself, I tend to go for higher counts, 18 or higher, I think my eyes will like to have a rest of my MP that is being stitched on 32ct 1x1 xD. And don't despair if you really don't like Aida or the count because Yiota told me that they are already looking at introducing other fabrics :D

So checking all this and considering the Kit prices I know I will definitely buy a few more charts that I fancy at their website, and if you see something that you like at their website I really recommend you to buy it since it's really worth it :)

Thanks for reading,

Monday 10 October 2011

A small finish and another Giveaway

Today I was going through all my mags just to organize them and mark what I really wanted to stitch from them (otherwise in a month time I'll have to go through them again to remember everything I want to do, not I don't mind reading them over and over again) and to get some more projects for the WIPocalypse and for the Crazy January Challenges (I ended up creating two more pages here really picture heavy with photos of what I want to do ehehe), anyway while I was sorting them I got that urge of stitching something quick just because, so I grabbed one of the smallest freebies that came with one of the issues of Cross Stitcher and stitched my first button cover, and this as the final result:

I think it's not that bad, considering it was my first time ever and I used the fabric that came in the pack :)

Now onto my second topic, another giveaway, Lisa is having a giveaway to celebrate her 3rd blogoversery and her 500th post that she hopes to make on the day she will anounce the 2 winners also she is trying to reach the 100 followers so go over and have a look at her lovely blog :)

Thursday 6 October 2011

I've got post :)

Today when I woke up I had a package waiting for me on my postbox, of course I opened it immediately and there was the most gorgeous ornie stitched by Kate and it smells like lavender (I LOVE that smell) and a gorgeous postcard.
Thank you so much Kate I really like the colours you choose :)
Thanks :)

Wednesday 5 October 2011

One giveaway for you to have a look at :)

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that Rahenna is having a gorgeous Christmas Giveaway as a belated celebration for opening her Etsy Store. I'm going to stay out of this one (although it's very tempting) since I've been extremely lucky with giveaways, and you know, if I try higher chances for me to win it eheheh. But you should definitely go there and have a look and start stalking her blog too she has several gorgeous stitches done :)

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Month goals and my first atempt on My Memory Suite

So another month has gone (they are really flying by), and it's time for me to check what I did for September and I must say I'm quite pleased with the month results.
1st I've stitched a total of 10192 stitches, on my Mistery Project, only this month :D
2nd I've stitched a small  freebie Lizzie Kate "Friendship Grows" to exchange with Kate, I'll probably be able to post a picture by the end of this week since it's already on it's way to her :)
3rd I've stitched a little bit on one of my Christmas ornaments, the pattern is the first pattern for biscornus from Louison 

So I think that although I didn't realize it there was a lot of stitching the past month :)

For October I'm hoping to stitch:
1 - the missing 9000 stitches on MP to finish it.
2 - 1 or 2 Halloween ornies
3 - stitch as much as possible to complete the 2nd page of SK Treasures

And for now I'll keep the list short xD

Now onto my 2nd topic, yes it's true I won another giveaway : x, this one was held by Amanda, and was to win a chance to get the Software "My Memory Suite" for free; after seeing so many bloggers talking about it and actually having a look at it I decided to try my luck on the giveaway, since I thought that on the remote possibility of me winning it would be great to make my Christmas postcards for this year, especially if I don't have time to stitch something for my entire family, and also it would give me the chance to finally make my photo album the way I wanted :)

So I was looking for a postcard to send to Kate along with our exchange (Kate I posted today, sorry for the delay :x) and I couldn't find anything I like, so I decided to give it a try and make my first ever postcard, I like simple things, so I kept this one very simple too, just printed it out on a blue paper, and this was the result:
I hope you like it Kate :)

Thanks everyone for following me and for reading
Happy Stitches :)