Gifted Gorgeousness SAL November Update

Hello Friends,

Hope you all are well and preparing for winters.

The weather here has cooled down and I'm enjoying the pleasant wind.

On to crafting, I have a FINISH!!! Yes you read it right...a finish.

I finally knit last stitch on the baby blanket I was making for my friend's baby. I washed it (in a washing machine,after lot of apprehensions) , blocked it and now its ready to be gifted to the baby. Now the question is , how will I send it to the recipient !

Here are few pics of the finished piece, which don't do justice to the beauty it turned out to be. I think I should take some class how to photograph handmade items.

Trying to gauge whether the size is enough

First attempt at blocking

Better blocking this time

Finished and ready to be gifted

The blanket took much longer than I expected,but I satisfy myself by saying , Hey its still quicker than cross stitch .😉

As this is my first big knitting project , I learnt so many new things related to this form of needle craft. I have realised that I need a lot of help from real people while learning something new  , videos and photos don't help me much. I like to talk to crafters about what to do, how to do and specially discuss my fears if I think something is not right.

I know many crafters swear by You Tube , that how they have learned new crafts entirely from you tube..Well videos aren't for me. May be that explains why I never liked flosstube , I tried watching-3 times but never developed a taste for that.

I'm back to stitching my Candamar design WIP, hopefully I finish it before my next trip to India, because that is when I will meet my friend,intended recipient.

I also wanted to share with you my new hobby: Postcard exchange. Until few years back I didn't know the concept of sending and receiving postcards, and now I have a dedicated account on Instagram for this hobby. I have also joined Postcrossing back in June and I'm thoroughly enjoying knowing people from different countries.

If you are interested you can check my account on Instagram : @minizpostcards

That's it for this month, I hope to show you some progress on my cross stitch next month.

Gifted Gorgeousness mixed with Diwali celebrations

Hello Friends,

Hope you are enjoying fall or onset of winter in your part of the world.

Sorry I have been missing in action, not much crafting happening here. I think I’m sad from the fact that the year is coming to an end and I don’t have a proper crafty finish except the small projects I stitched for swaps.

Anyways, I’m here to show you the gifts I have been showered upon since my last post.

Remember the owl card for a cross stitch card swap I showed in my last post, my partner stitched this cute Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery design for me, changing the hair color to match mine. Also this was her first attempt at linen, so well done my friend.

  

   

I framed the card using an IKEA frame I had at home. What do you think of it?

We celebrated the Festival of Lights from Oct 17-Oct 21. It’s my favourite Indian Hindu festival and this year I made some extra efforts at decoration which I will show later in this post. I invited my craft friends for evening snacks and we had a good time.

My friend Tammy made this Diwali cross stitch along with lovely crochet doilies.

  

Diwali gifts from Tammy

My friend Z is an amazing crocheter and can make anything using crochet. Look at these beautiful Diya (earthen lamp) holders she made.

  

Diwali Gifts from Z

I finished the sweets they brought before I could click a picture.

I’m so lucky to have friends who take out time to make handmade gifts for festivals they don’t celebrate and know much about. But their inquisitiveness to learn about new culture and traditions inspires me and I hope we have more such acceptive people in this world.

As I told I have been crafting much but I tried FFOing this Friday, a cross stitch I received from Shami in beginning of this year. Then I bought a basket to display all the cross stitch I have received in swaps and as gifts and made a small cross stitch corner in my house.

 

Gift from Shami, now FFOed

  

Small cross stitch corner in the house

Diwali Décor:

Apart from the traditional décor of Rangoli and decoration with flowers and earthen lamps, I set up two small corners in the living room for Diwali this time. 

 

Rangoli

 

Corner 1 by the day

 

Corner 1 by the night, pic courtesy hubby dear

I had some sequins given to me by mom years ago and some beads which are a bit too big to use for projects, they were used for the décor.

Corner 2 by the day

Corner 2 by the night

The décor in the upper pic of corner 2 shows crochet diya gifted on last Diwali by Z, a crocheted tea light and coasters by Tammy, cross stitch words by Shami and coaster by Jo.

  

Crochet Diya, gift from Preeti

We hung two Kandeel (lantern with a wooden framework and covered in coloured matte or glossy papers) in two corners of the house. It is a practice to buy new stuff during Diwali like jewellery, clothes etc. We bought new curtains for the living room in my favorite floral print.  

No pics of the food table as it was same as last year.

I hope you like the pics of Diwali celebration at my home.

Gifted Gorgeousness & September Smalls Theme-tas-stitch 2017 Check -in

Another two in one and quick post before I fly out to USA for our annual vacation tomorrow morning.

As you know, for me travelling means a chance to participate in exchanges and swaps. This time I have participated in three small easy swaps.

First is cross stitch ATC swap on Instagram . The theme for this month is Blackwork. I have been meaning to try blackwork since last year and is one of my craft goal for this year. too The rules for this exchange are quite simple and the size of cross stitch ATC should be 3.5" * 2.5",which means it can be stitched in 1-2 days.

Here is what I have stitched for my partner , hope she likes it and doesn't see this post before she gets it..ha ha

I stitched this cute owl card for a personal swap on Instagram . This card was a cover kit given to me by Kerry in our biscornu exchange in July. I don't know why it took me more than a week to stitch this but atleast I wasn't a chicken this time and stitched the french knots.

Both these finishes qualify for Gifted Gorgeousness SAL & September Smalls Theme-tas-stitch 2017 SAL.
I have few other things to share with you but I will save it for later.

Thank you for your comments on my last post, I appreciate the time you ladies take out to visit my blog.
I have been in a weird mood where I read blogs but never comment, sorry for that.

I will try and leave comments after I'm back from holiday.

Till then stay safe my friends and happy crafting.

August crafting report

Hello Friends,

Wow its been more than a month I posted on my blog , I have been feeling so lazy to write a post, comment on blogs and craft .

Today is first day of 5 day long weekend here and I thought I will gather myself together and write a post at least on the last day of the month.

This month has been busy with deadlines at work, vacation planning and festivals. But there have been days when I had time to craft but I sat on the sofa wasting my time on my phone. At least I have started reading again and managed to finish 3 books this month.

Here is what I have to show for the Gifted Gorgeousness and Theme-Tas-Stitch SAL run by Jo and Kerry respectively.

As you know my craft group meets fortnightly and it has become a tradition to receive gifts from very generous friends every meetup. This is what I have received over last 2 months:

Gifts from Tammy: A card made using chain stitch crochet, a crochet bowl and a bookmark

Gifts from Z: Solar eclipse coaster, Friendship day card and tiny embroidery hoop kit

A market bag, belated birthday gift from E

My house is full of such crochet gifts now and anytime someone visits for the first time they can't help notice all the crochet/knitted/cross stitch decorations in the house, out of which only one is made by me ..ha ha

I have been trying to finish the knitted blanket for my friend's baby. The baby arrived a bit early but I started missing cross stitching after knitting straight for two months. I started a weekly rotation to get some progress on my WIPs, which worked most of the times.

Here is the how the blanket looks like as of today

Progress on the Butterfly Project I'm making for my bestie, see if you can see any difference from last time :)

I picked up another WIP "Indian Peacock" for the Animalia August for Theme-Tas-Stitch SAL. This project grows faster than others as it has lot of half stitches. Love the colors in this one.

I sewed two bags to hold my projects with help from my husband during the month

Bag to hold Qsnap of 11*17 inch

Drawstring bag to hold knitting projects

What a feeling it was to use fabric from my stash for making these bags! My fabric or any other craft stash isn't big but I start feeling guilty/bad if I don't use the stash after more than one year I have bought it. Does that happen to you? Do you feel guilty of not using every single thing in your stash?

Next month we will be travelling for our annual holiday , which means time for some exchanges. I have already committed for two swaps, may do some more...ha ha.

That's it my friends for this month, I'm really dying to finish some of the WIPs. Its been too long I had a proper finish.

I will try and leave comments on your blog this weekend , hoping the lazy spell gets over soon. 

Biscornu exchange with the Biscornu expert!!!

Isn't that a funny title ? Well if not, at least it gives you the hint who my exchange partner was...

Kerry had commented on my last exchange post that she will be interested in a exchange if time is suitable in future. Well who thought I will get the opportunity so soon...travel to London for work.

We decided to keep the exchange a simple one with only one cross stitched item, which of course was a biscornu. E-mails were exchanged to understand each other's likes and dislikes and we were set for the exchange.

Here is what I received from Kerry. A big box of goodies all individually wrapped up in this lovely floral paper....Look at what she sent me

A postcard and magnet from where she lives, chocolate, DMC variegated threads,loads of hand made jewellery: a bracelet, ear rings, key ring and a book mark. She let me choose the cover kits you see in the pic which she was giving away, how thoughtful of her. The biscornu is amazing , a peacock themed pattern - perfect for me . The personalization with our names is lovely . I like the use of metallic thread as well.

Kerry I didn't know you are such a talented jewellry maker apart from being a biscornu expert. I have never seen such a bookmark before.

Thank you so much, the goodies will be treasured and put to good use.

A picture of the biscornu I made using some of  her favourite colors.

It was so much fun participating in an exchange with you Kerry.. I hope we do more in future.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL July Update

Hello Friends,

It's that time of the month when we show what gifts we have been working on or/and what crafty gifts we have received. If you don't know what I'm talking about , check Jo's blog for more info.

Not much to show this time , also I'm really short of time as I'm flying out for a business trip tomorrow and I have to start packing..oops

First is a Giveaway win - I won this Lizzie Kate chart  thru Tiff's blog giveaway in March. Thank you Tiffany for the chart.

While we are talking about giveaway, let me announce winners of my first blog giveaway:

Winner is Khristine from http://cross-stitching-mama.blogspot.com/ 

Winner is Sherry from https://countrycrossstitchersmusings.wordpress.com/

Please send me your address at my email address :minizinbox@yahoo.com or if you are connected to me thru facebook or Instagram, send me personal message.

I stitched a small design on this pre-sewn pouch in December for keeping some tit bits for babies. This will now be gifted to grandson of one of my colleagues. The design is from a magazine gifted by my friend Tammy. I will add details of the design later, if anyone is interested.

That's it my friends for this month, I will be back with a post on another exchange I'm participating in.

WWKIP day 2017

One month back on this day, I was running around , trying to be a good organizer..the occasion

3rd Edition of Kuwait WWKIP day

Worldwide Knit-in-Public Day (WWKIP Day) was started in 2005 by Danielle Landes as a way to bring knitters out of isolation.  What started out as a very small movement (with only 25 local events taking place that year) has grown substantially with Knit-in-Public (KIP) events now taking place all around the world.

The KIP Day slogan of “better living through stitching together” reinforces the well-documented benefits of crafting, such as alleviating stress, anxiety and depression. It is really about showing the general public that crafting can be a community activity in a very distinct way.

Each KIP event is solely organized by volunteers. I found out about this event in 2015 shortly after I joined my current craft group Kuwait Crafters . Though I didn't that time, I thought of celebrating the day to get a chance to meet new crafters. It was the first time Kuwait was registered for the event. You can read about it here. A small write up on 2016's event can be found here.

This year I wanted to have a bigger event with some fun activities. We have had new members joining the group which means more people know about a crafting group in the country where usually the information isn't available.

Preparations started well ahead in time with looking out for venues, sponsors , number of attendees. We came up with idea of giving door prizes to everybody who attends the event. Registration and publicity were the main tasks to ensure we reach out the intended audience.

This is how the invitation looked like

What came as a surprise was how the small hand crafting businesses stepped up to the occasion when big LYS refused to offer any assistance. Door prizes were made by the members of my craft group. Last two years I made small souvenirs/badges to mark the occasion, this year I thought of going big and got the badges printed . The badges were liked by all and worn during the event.

Doilies made by Z for door prizes

Door prizes for all

Contents of the door prize bag

We used social media like Instagram, Facebook and event websites to spread the word.

I still can't believe that we had turnout of 40 crafters from Kuwait, almost 70% were/are not the existing members of my group. The event was so much fun , with lucky draws for which the prizes were sponsored by Needles & Yarn, Whiskers & Yarn , Zephyr and Made by Mrs Q.,yarn swap and a freebie table at the venue.

Picture credit Nida Khan

It was a wonderful to see how crafters of different nationalities, race , religion came together to celebrate the love of craft. I feel so proud to say that this year we outdid the attendance by 5 times of last year. This success wouldn't have been possible without all the hard work put in by fellow crafters.

The cherry on the cake has been the coverage we got in the media this year, two national newspaper in English , two in Arabic published article about the event .For more pictures , check out the link below for work done by official photographer of the event,a fellow crafter :

            https://salsphotographie.com/2017/06/12/wwkip-kuwait-2017/

I'm adding a link to the articles published in local papers if anyone is interested

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/2017/jun/21/24.pdf

http://news.kuwaittimes.net/pdf/2017/jun/14/p30.pdf