Its been a year- a year of exploring, stitching and being at peace!

Hello friends, 

Can you believe its been a year I moved to Scotland ? They say time flies when one is having a good time...clearly that is the case here. 

What a year it has been ...settling into a new country, new weather , new culture and new routine . Some of my family members were curious how I was happy being at home and wasn't taking up a job after working for 20 years . I guess its easier when someone is a home body like me. I love being at home- waking up at my own time, just sitting with my cats, gazing at the rain , reconnecting with my hobbies .

Summer is has been lot kinder to us here in Scotland than rest of UK . We had maximum temp of 26deg C twice and currently we are at 15-19 deg C range . We have explored nearby places on day trips and went away to Aberdeenshire for our 19th wedding anniversary. 

Marischal Collage, Aberdeen

Fyvie Castle

Aberdeen beach front to the North Sea

Dunnottar Castle near Stonehaven, Scotland

Everything is so beautiful in the summer and I observed the transition from spring to summer thru new flowers I would see on my walks every week.

Rhododendron

Peonies

Tulips at Greenbank gardens

 

I have been stitching , though I got exhausted once and once the mojo was thrown out of the window. I will share which projects did that to me.

I had the pleasure of hosting one of my penpals at my house in May. We first connected thru Instagram and have been exchanging mails since few years. He surprised me when he said he would visit Scotland from France to meet me. I wanted to stitch  a gift for him either on the theme of letters(snailmailing) or something related to Scottish Culture .

I'n very happy to show this is what I stitched for my friend, nothing speaks more about scottish culture than Fish & Chips.

I was on a tight deadline for this project so I burnt the midnight oil few days before his arrival. At first my eyes took time to 25 ct evenweave as I have been stitching on 14ct aida in last few years. I skipped the border on the vertical sides .

Another project I have completed is for my maternal aunt , this will be finished into a small pillow for decoration.

I love daffodils , I had such a lovely time stitching this. However , I did get frustrated by the end , why would a designer use 18 colors for  a pattern of  47*47 stitches! This pattern was one of the two smaller patterns from a big design, so may be the designer didn't optimise the colors. 

I have finished another gift, which I will put in a frame today. I have few more Christmas finishes , however I'm saving them for Christmas time .

I'm travelling to India to visit my family next Sunday ...so excited to meet them after a year. I will carrying some finishes to be fully finished using my mother's sewing machine.

Hope to write more regularly on the blog in future. 

Have a relaxing Sunday my friends.

Spring is here ...some stitching and updates

Hello Friends,

Hope its getting warmer in your part of the world..

I have been meaning to write a post since long ...I wanted to share all the pics have been clicking of spring signs here in Scotland. I'm currently addicted to spotting new to me flowers that are popping up here.

First Daffodils spotted on 23rd Feb during my walk

Glory of the Snow at Kellie's castle garden

Daffodils at Kellie's castle garden

I wanted to write about Spring on Easter day , funny it snowed here in Glasgow on Easter. We have been told its not common to see snow in Glasgow even in winters ...so this was exciting. I really enjoyed the experience.

I have been stitching regularly apart from some days when we are out exploring places around Glasgow. We visited Kellie's castle and spotted many samplers there:

Dated 1791

Dated 1812

Dated 1929

The days are longer now and we have sunshine for few hours most days.

I participated in Spring Exchange at Needlecraft Haven hosted by Clare . I was a bit nervous about fully finishing the ornament , however Clare was very encouraging .This is what I stitched for her

I also included an ornament for her church tree, pattern is from Ruth 

I'll be honest I'm not very happy with the finishing of ornaments, its hand sewn. I miss using my sewing machine , I'm clearly not good at hand sewing.

I received a lovely parcel from my partner Christine, such neatly finished ornaments and goodies.Thank you Christine, the chocolates have been exclusively claimed by me.

I have finished few more small pieces, which need fully finishing.

I think I missed sharing this finish from January- a gift for my penpal's daughter who was born few days after I moved to Glasgow...I feel lucky to be able to send such gifts thru mail now that I have moved to a country with a reliable postal system.

Hope you like the spring blooms , and get to enjoy them in your region.

Valentine Stitching

Happy Valentine's Day friends!

Sending you all love from my corner of the world.

The temperatures have dipped here again with the lows of -5 deg C.We have ice on the grass and cars though no snow in vicinity.

I wanted to share my latest finish , a valentine gift for hubby.

This pattern has been all over Instagram and is a generous freebie from Primrose Cottage Stitches.

I got inspired by the seasonal displays shared by stitchers over social media and arranged a small display of all heart and love inspired handmade gifts I have received and stitched.

The crochet hearts are gifts from my friends in Kuwait , we used to exchange during our meetups often.

The two small ornaments are freebies from Hands on Design .

You may remember the "Do everything in love" piece I finished in August last year, I had multiple ideas to finish it- a heart shaped frame, stick it on a heart shaped wooden piece or an ornament. I wasn't able to find a heart shaped frame , bought a pink frame but the display space was a bit too tight for the piece to fit. Then I bought a wooden blank heart to stick the piece on it , that didn't work out it either.

Finally finished it this way, always super happy to use laces I have gathered over years.

Hope you have a nice weekend and get some time to do what you love.

Crafty Recap of 2025

I wanted to talk about my crafty finishes in my last post, however it became too long with my life updates. So lets do it now . 

2025 was year I restarted crafting and blogging and I'm quite happy with what I achieved .

First finish of the year was this cross stitch wedding sampler I stitched for an Instagram snailmailing friend whose wedding I couldn't attend due to work . 

The wedding was in Feb 2024, I was able to send her before her 1st wedding anniversary. I love the vintage look of this project and quite happy with the framing too.

Second finish of the year was this Knitted scarf , gifted to Instagram snailmailing friend. I wasn't sure about the color, I thought it was gaudy. To my surprise , everyone on IG has liked the color.

Some more knitting gifts , which I showed here 

These cards were finished in May .

40th Birthday gift for my penpal, I was late only by 1.5 years

My next finish is a freebie from Silvercreek Samplers which was a SAL with a Instagram friend. This one I'm keeping for myself.

Knitted washcloths were my next finish, gift for husband's colleague

Husband asked for gloves, I knitted mitten because they were easy :)

My last finish of the year was this ATC I stitched for ATC swap organised thru Instagram

I entered 2026 with 3 cross stitch WIPs and 1 knitted WIP . The knitted WIP was finished last night. Hoping to finish the other WIPs soon(read in 2026)

I will add details of each finish on my finish pages if anyone is interested in pattern names.

Which one do you like most?