Progress update and some goodies

Hello dearies,

Can you believe that April has come to end ? That means we are past 1/3 rd of this year.

I feel sad because this year I haven't been able to stitch as much as I would like to. Infact 54% of the time I haven't stitched at all.That's what my monthly and yearly pies tell .

Anyways, I shouldn't be too hard on myself,after all cross stitching is a hobby and we are supposed to enjoy it.

Let's do a quick monthly round up. A new start and some progress on a WIP.

HoM Mystery SAL
Started on 8th April 2016

Khristine, you wanted to know how did my planned rotation go. I would say not bad. I devoted equal time to the two projects. The reason I didn't get much progress on EMS piece is that July flower is full of confetti.18 colors for 34*34 motif..that's too much.

EMS FOTM
April Progress

However I'm happy with my progress on HoM Mystery SAL piece,the pattern has chunks of single color stitches and doesn't need much counting.I'm one week behind the SAL as I was out of town last weekend.I'm thinking that I will stitch this piece during the week days as its easy to work on with tired mind.
I was going through my old posts and realised that I never showed you the needlework pieces I got from my mom in February.
So here they are:

Crochet piece made by mom

Knitted tea cozy made by mom

Knitted doll made by mom

Crochet piece by my maternal grandmother

I feel so lucky to be able to display these heirlooms in my house now. I know , these may be not the best of heirlooms you have seen. However all these are more than 35 years old, used roughly in environment full of dust. My mom and grandmother didn't have access to any books and patterns in those days and these are things they must have made by looking at a similar piece.

Now I would like to show you the best tool for cross stitching I have acquired till date..

This is the stand/frame I use for holding my Q snaps and hoop. Its sturdy ,flexible ,easy to carry and dismantle.
One day while I was stitching using my Q snaps and was finding it difficult to hold it in my hands, I showed DH some of the frames which stitchers use. I asked him can we get one made as we have some wood work going in our house in India. He said let me look into it.
One hour later he comes home with these 2 holders and fixes it on a chair and shows me how it can hold my Qsnaps. Easy peasy and cheap (around $7). He told that these were being sold as mobile holders in one of the super markets.
Oh I love it !The stand lets me use both my hands for stitching and my stitches are neater too.

I may not have much stitching to show this month but I'm sure you will like all the other goodies in this post.

IHSW April Update

It’s time to show you what I stitched during  IHSW .

For those of who don't know about IHSW, it’s being hosted by Joysze at Random Ramblings. Here is how she describes it "International Hermit and Stitch Weekend takes place every 3rd full weekend of each month, from Friday till Sunday. In our very busy and hectic lives, IHSW is a chance for us to squirrel some time away for ourselves and "Hermit and Stitch." It is a time set aside to take care of us and our love for stitching."

I started a new project last Friday(8^th April) : House of Margaret Mystery SAL. It’s a SAL where the designer will be releasing small portions of pattern in 17 weeks and the sign-up is free.

I stitched the second part which was released on 15^th during the weekend. Here is my progress:

  

 I will pick up my Flower of the Month project today as all that is left to stitch now in HoM Mystery SAL piece is some white. I usually stitch the white at the end of project to keep it clean.

I was not able to be a true hermitter or hibernator this week. Had to step out of the house for a dentist appointment. I figured I had too much wisdom to survive in this world, so decided to get my wisdom tooth out.

However, I’m happy that I was able to stitch on the way to and back from the Dentist in the car. As the HoM design has no confetti, it was very easy to stitch in the car with absolutely no counting required.

As I stitched this piece on Friday, it also counts for Friday Frolicing .

I hope all you hermitters are having a productive IHSW. I will be visiting your blogs soon to check on you..lol

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL April update

Hello Friends,
Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post. Easter Blog hop hosted by Jo, was a great success. I got to see some beautiful stitched pieces and meet new bloggers.
I have been thinking of trying rotation for my cross stitch projects for quite some time now. Not that I have too many WIPs.. well its more than one , which is quite a lot for me..lol . So I pulled out my old WIP-Flower of the Month series by Ellen Maurer-Stroh and decided to stitch it for April Showers Bring May Flowers SAL for  Stitch Maynia group on FB.This is where I left it when I last stitched it on 4th Dec 2015.

Flower of the Month series by Ellen Maurer-Stroh

I stitched the July flower and here is how it looks now after 5 days of love.

July flower- Larkspur

When I started this piece, I wasn't sure who will be the recipient of this beauty. No more such doubts, as my aunt (maternal uncle's wife) claimed it and it will now be their 25th wedding anniversary gift.

Before picking EMS piece, I was stitching a gift for my bestie which now looks like this. 

Candamar Designs kit called "Most Beautiful Things Picture"

Its a Candamar Designs kit with fabric swapped with 25ct vinatge lugana. My friend is on vacation (hence no access to internet) and I can safely post the picture this time :)

Yesterday was a horrible day at work (HR issues), made worse by a colleague's behavior. I lost my cool and wanted to break some things or yell...grrr

Then I decided I can't let people spoil my weekend and decided to go and pick mail which a lady in my craft group carried for me from UK.

I almost cried when I opened these packets as this was all I needed after such a bad day.. Some love from my stitchy friends.

Look what I got 

Jo sent me these "delicate" blackwork charts, delicate being the word DH said after he saw them and smiled when he saw the mouse card. He calls me mouse ..ha ha. Jo kindly remembered that I wanted to try blackwork  from my blog post about crafting goals.

Kerry was giving away some magazine charts for free on her blog and I picked Oriental theme charts from that bundle.

Thank you Kerry and Jo, for cheering me up.

I have started a new project which I will show in my next post as I will be stitching that as part of IHSW this month.

Also, I have been meaning to show you  a wonderful DIY stand DH fixed to hold my hoops and q-snaps. I'm loving how I can stitch using two hands and my stitches are neater. I need to take good pics of the stand and may be show you in my next post.

I have also tried few new recipes and a cooking related post is pending too.

Let's see when I get time for these ..

I better say goodbye now, my coffee is getting cold and I have some things (read stitching) to do.