Gifted Gorgeousness SAL December 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. This is a easy SAL where you have choice to stitch any designer, color or pattern, just that it should be a gift for someone or gift from someone.

Sorry for the late post. I'm too busy at work since last month. I have been working on weekends and extended hours on weekdays. I haven't been crafting because I'm very tired after work.

Anyways , here is my tiny contribution to the GG SAL this month. I started this scarf in February, picked it up again as knitting is an easier craft to do when one is tired. The yarn was gift from my husband:

These tiny ornaments were decorations on the cake at Christmas lunch organised in my office. I couldn't see them being thrown in dustbin, so brought them home 😀

Earlier this month, Immediate media company was offering December 2017 edition of The World of Cross Stitching and Cross Stitch Crazy free for 2 days. I was quick to download them on my phone app. A free issue is a gift right? LOL

I'm sure I have mentioned before that I love exchanges/swaps. A few days before, I asked one of my snail mail friends if she wanted to do a small cross stitch exchange and she said yes!

Here is what I sent her, you have seen this before though:

Project Name: Felt kit -Pink bow
Pattern source: The World of Cross Stitching Magazine
Kit was a Gift from Kerry in July 2017

As this is the last post for this SAL, I will  show all my finishes and WIPs which I used (or could have used) in the posts for the SAL throughout this year. I'm travelling next week and will not be able to do a wrap up post for the year, so I thought it would be good to include these in this post.

Project Name : Feather
Gift for a girl who helped me with knitting
Finished on 4th Jan 2018

Project Name : Most beautiful things
Gift for my best friend
Finished on 6th Feb 2018

Birthday gift for Tammy
Finished on 8th Feb 2018

Pattern source: All-occasion charts, The World of Cross Stitching Magazine,Issue 203 which was a exchange gift from Jo in 2016

Project Name : Love
Valentine day's gift for Husband
Finished on 12th Feb 2018

Project Name : Finn
Birthday gift for Husband
Finished on 19th Mar 2018

Project Name : Gorgeous Gingham
Birthday gift for Zhraa
Finished on 30th Mar 2018
Pattern source: CrossStitcher Issue 212, Magazine was a gift from a cross stitcher I met virtually through facebook and then in person in London in April 2015 

Project Name : Beef Eater
Birthday gift for Rakhee
Finished on 13th Apr 2018

Birthday gift for Karen
Finished on 6th June 2018

Pattern was a gift from Jo in 2016

Project Name : Flower Mason Jar
Eid gift for my ex neighbours
Finished on 16th June 2018

Kit was a gift from my USA pen pal in May 2018

Project Name : Fabulous Florals
Birthday gift for my mother
Finished on 11th Sept 2018

Pattern source: The World of Cross Stitching Issue 245, was a gift from Tammy

Fabric : 18ct aida was gift from a cross stitcher I met virtually thru facebook and then in person in London in April 2015 

Birthday card for my snail mail friend in Japan
Finished on 15th Sept 2018

Pattern source: Kit was a gift from Tammy in June 2017

Project Name :Luggage tag
Birthday gift for my pen pal in India
Finished on 29th Sept 2018

Project Name : Let it Snow-Penguin
ATC exchange
Finished on 19th Nov 2018

Pattern source: CrossStitcher Issue 217, Magazine was a gift from a cross stitcher I met virtually thru facebook and then in person in London in April 2015 

I hope you like this parade of my finishes. Which one do you like most?
2018 was certainly not a very crafty year when I look at my record of how many days I stitched. Hopefully things get better next year.

Wishing my blog friends a Happy New year !

2018 Online Advent Calendar-Day 4

Hello there Blog hopper,

Welcome to day 4 of Jo's 2018 Online Advent Calendar blog hop.🎄

I hope you have enjoyed the blog hop so far.. it is one of the most fun event in the blogging community.

This year I have stitched this sweet little penguin for an exchange. The theme was Stitcher's Choice and I asked my partner what she liked. She said she would love to receive something related to Christmas , so I chose this penguin . Penguin is my favourite bird , I just adore them.

The scarf in original design was light grey ,I changed it to red to make it look more Christmasy. This was sent with some Kuwait ephemera .I hope the recipient receives it in time and likes it. 

Another Christmas design I stitched was this card in 2016, I hope you don't mind me including it again.

This poinsettia was part of the pattern- EMS Flowers of the month I stitched in 2016.

  
Every year Jo's gives us a topic to share our views on . This year's conversation topic is - Your Favorite Christmas Song.
My favorite (and the only one I know) Christmas song is Jingle Jingle bells.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CWJNqyub3o

If you are wondering why I know only one song, read ahead: My family follows a different religion than Christianity ,so we never celebrated Christmas at home religiously. However as I studied in a Christian Missionary school, I had basic knowledge of how the festival is celebrated.
Every year before the winter holiday, the small church in our school would be decorated and we would peek into it to admire the decorations. Sometimes the nuns at our school would even allow us to go into the church. I was very fascinated by the recreation of scene of Baby Jesus's birth using porcelain figurines.
In my high school year (not the high school grade of Western education system),I participated in the Nativity play.
Until few years back I used to put up a Christmas tree at my home and loved decorating it. 
I don't decorate a tree these days at home, however coming from a diverse country like India, I appreciate and enjoy all religious festivals alike. I firmly believe that festivals are all about love and bringing people together.

I hope I haven't bored you with my story.That's it for the blog hop.🎅

May this festive season sparkle and shine, may all of your wishes and dreams come true, and may you feel this happiness all year round. Merry Christmas!

2017 Crafty wrap up and 2018 plans

Happy New Year friends

I hope you had good time welcoming the new year, in whatever way you did. I had a day off and we had a relaxing time at home and I tried a new recipe which was a success.

I have been reading everyone's wrap up of crafty finishes in 2017 and plans for 2018. I love reading statistics...numbers and pictures speak to me rather than just plain text.

Let's see how I did with my 2017 goals.

Goals for 2017

1. Dedicate more time for crafting specially on holidays/vacation   ✔ Non crafting reduced from 42% in 2016 to 34% in 2017

2. Try blackwork       ✔ Made a blackwork ATC for swap

3. Learn 2 new ways of finishing cross stitch ❌ Only one new way, biscornu

4. Pick fabric painting again ❌

5. Keep trying to crochet       ✔ Made a crochet hat

Plans for 2017

1. Participate in following monthly SALs

a) New Year New Start with Stitch Maynia (FB group)- I will start Dimension kit "Indian peacock" on 1st Jan 2017. ✔

b) Tour de Designers 2017 - SODA stitch with Stitch Maynia (FB group) - I will start "The Love Rain" on 1st April. ❌

c) Tour de Designers 2017 - Lizzie Kate with Stitch Maynia (FB group)- I will start "I Cannot Count"  on 1st July. ❌

2. Blog SALs/Activities 

a. I will continue to participate in Gifted Gorgeousness SAL . ✔ Yes managed to post all months.

b. I joined Kaye's Friday Frolicking somewhere near April 2016 but shamefully posted only once in 2016. Will try to post more often. ❌ Posted only once

c. Catch up posts for The Alphabet Club. Haven't posted about this since April 2016. ❌ Posted only four times

Apart from above I joined the blog- A New Stitchy Start 2017 and posted only once. I also joined Theme-tas-stitch 2017 hosted by Kerry in February and posted 5 times for the SAL.

Wrap up for 2017 

2017 was clearly a year of exchanges, I participated in 4 cross stitch exchanges and had fun making things for my partners. I enjoy the process of getting to know my partners, making something they will like .I had a total of 6 cross stitch finishes this year. 

I added 9844 stitches to the only WIP from 2016

Progress as on 14th December 2016

Progress as on 31st December 2017

My new year start will be the second WIP I will carry into 2018.

Indian Peacock by Dimensions.Design by Suzanne Nicoll

Knitting caught my interest this year and I learnt some new stitches .I had 9 knitting finishes, achievement being finishing my first baby blanket. Shown here are 5 which have already been gifted.

I'm very proud to say that I hosted a national level knitting event -WWKIP day here in Kuwait. The event was a huge success with considerable media coverage.

I also helped my friend Tammy with a cross stitch workshop for kids in December.

I'm more confident with crochet now and made one hat for hubby.

A little about how much I spent this year on needlework:

Cross stitching supplies                                                 $51.8

Knitting supplies including badges for WWKIP              $122.4

Needlework exchanges                                                  $36.9

Apart from needlework, I took a dig at a new hobby: Postcrossing. It involves sending postcards to random people in the world and bringing a smile to their face.

I finished reading 7 books this year.

Just noticed that my last post was 100th post on my blog. I would like to thank my readers who visit and leave a comment on the posts. Your comments encourage me to blog.

Goals for 2018

I have set simple goals this year to craft every day and finish the WIP from 2016

Plans /SALs:

My choice of designs prevents me from joining any designer specific SALs. As the idea of a SAL is to stitch along with other crafters, I enjoy stitching and posting for a SAL, when the host is involved. By now I know which are the SALs host who make special efforts to leave comments.

I will be joining following SALs this year:

1. Gifted Gorgeousness

2. IHSW

3. I may join an Instagram SAL called #gardengatesal later in the year.

I'm thinking of joining Smalls SAL as usually I stitch birthday cards all thru the year. Need to check what the perquisites are for this SAL.

I will also like to blog more often and leave comments regularly on blogs I follow.

So that's it my friends for 2017 and I hope you have lots of crafting time in 2018.

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.

Year 2016 review and Crafty plans for 2017

Hello Friends,

Another year has come to an end and it is time to reflect on the year gone by.

2016 was a good year to say the least...I think I grew as a human being and have found ways to be happy(read avoid circumstances/people which/who make me unhappy).

The year has been good one with vacations, visits to meet family and some surprise meet ups with friends...something I always wish for.

As you all know, 2015 was a major breakthrough year cross stitching wise, 2016 may not have been so exciting however there are some new things I did in this year.

1. Participated in a cross stitch mystery SAL.

2. Started to write a daily and a craft journal.

3. Participated in postcard exchanges.

4. Won a cross stitch giveaway on Instagram.

5. Bought a cross stitch magazine in Kuwait.

6. Joined a book club and have managed to finish listening to one audio book.

7. Participated in a cross stitch blog hop.

8. First independent knitting finish.

9. Participated in a cross stitch ATC swap on Instagram.

10. First charity stitching.
11.Participated in monthly handwriting challenge on Instagram.

I managed to finish 15 cross stitch projects this year, 7 of which have not been gifted so can't show you yet.

I also made 1 knitted scarf, 1 crochet coaster, 1 quilling card , 1 washi tape card and a embroidery hoop this year.

Here is a pie chart showing my year round crafting,less stitching days compared to 2015

At the start of the year, I set up some crafting goals .Let’s see how well I managed to achieve them

1. Try blackwork - ❌

2. Learn 2 new ways of finishing cross stitch - ❌

3. Stitch on evenweave fabric-Yes stitched on 25 ct vintage lugana ✔

4. Stitch a medium/big size kit - Yes stitching a kit bought in 2014, however have swapped the fabric✔

5. Use stash the maximum -I only bought one cross stitch kit this year and my spending on needlework stash was half of what I spent in 2015.😅✔

6. Pick fabric painting again - ❌

7. Try embroidery other than cross stitching :) - Yes did some free hand embroidery ✔

8. Keep trying to crochet- I have now finished making a single crochet coaster 😁 ✔

9. Learn quilling. This has been pending since 2010- Yes made a birthday card for DH✔

The score is 6/9, not bad haa!!!

I enter the New Year with only one cross stitch WIP and have made some plans for year 2017.

Candamar Designs kit-My only WIP from 2016

Monthly SALs I will be participating in

1. New Year New Start with Stitch Maynia (FB group)- I will start Dimension kit "Indian peacock" on 1st Jan 2017.

New Year New Start 

2. Tour de Designers 2017 - SODA stitch with Stitch Maynia (FB group) - I will start "The Love Rain" on 1st April. This was a gift from Justine.

3. Tour de Designers 2017 - Lizzie Kate with Stitch Maynia (FB group)- I will start "I Cannot Count"  on 1st July. The Kit was bought in 2015, however the patterns calls for specialty threads which I don't have.

Blog SALs/Activities 

1. I will continue to participate in Gifted Gorgeousness SAL .I recently found out that my bestie is pregnant ,so that means I have 2 birth samplers to stitch now.
2. I joined Kaye's Friday Frolicking somewhere near April but shamefully posted only once. Will try to post more often.
3. The Alphabet Club . Haven't posted about this since April. Need to catch up

For goals, I would like to work on goals 1,2, 6, 8 of 2016 which I wasn't able to achieve. My resolution for 2017 is to dedicate more time for crafting specially on holidays/vacation.

The goals I have set are not stringent , however I'm sure I will need encouragement from time to time from you my friends.

Wishing you a healthy and a crafty 2017. 

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL September Update

Hello Friends,

I'm back from a two week vacation in Greece . I had a time of my life and left a part of my heart there. I will probably dedicate a post to my Greece vacation. Between planning,packing and travelling ,I managed to stitch some gifts.

First is a small birthday gift I made for dear Jo

I made this washi tape card on handmade paper .I used to collect handmade paper in mid 2000s and recently brought my collection to Kuwait from India.

I also added a small pouch to her gift which I stitched during my vacation at my parent's house in February. I was saving it for the right occasion .This was a kit from Vervaco ,given to me by friend Linda, which I mentioned in my earlier post here,on her last day in Kuwait.

As all of you know about the postal issues in Kuwait, I'm always looking for opportunities to send mail to my friends , participate in swaps when I travel. My Greece vacation couldn't have happened at better time as I was able to send Jo some handmade love.

I also participated in a cross stitch ATC swap on Instagram.For those of you who haven't heard of ATC, here is what Wikipedia says Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) is a conceptual art project initiated by the Swiss artist M. Vänçi Stirnemann in 1997. He called it aCollaborative Cultural Performance. Artist Trading Cards are 2¹⁄₂ by 3¹⁄₂ inches (64 mm × 89 mm) in size, the same format as modern trading cards (hockey cards or baseball cards). They are self-made unique works or small series, signed and dated on the reverse by the artist/producer, exchanged and collected by the people who participate in the collaborative performance.

This is a monthly activity with rules and themes to follow. The theme for September was Astrology and my partner's sign is Pisces..what a coincidence.

After looking for patterns all over the internet and magazines , I decided to stitch Lesley Teare's astrology freebie. All except the February month freebie were available on her blog. I wrote to her and she promptly send me the pattern.

I had to skip the borders to meet the size requirement.It was sent along with a postcard with some envelope art.

If you wish to join the ATC swap on Instagram, I will happily pass on the details to you . The group is looking for more international stitchers.

August marked the end of vacation season in Kuwait with all the expats coming back from their respective home countries. My friend Tammy brought me wonderful gifts :A dimensions kit(does she know I'm addicted to Dimensions)? and World of Cross Stitching Magazine. Look at the freebie...a thread cutter .,appropriate for taking on airplanes. It did travel with me to Greece :)

My vacation in Greece involved a lot of travelling by bus and ferries. So I packed a cover kit and my knitting in my luggage . I love cover kits bcoz of the ease of carrying them around with all that's needed for stitching already available.This cover kit was also a gift .

Most of the days I worked on my knitting as its so easy to knit when you are travelling , no counting involved.

This will be a gift for my sister in law.

That's all for GG that I have to show you this month.

I have a developed a new hobby/interest lately ..Postcard exchange. I had mentioned about my love for postcards some time this year on my blog. While searching on Ravelry for yarn shops in Greece , I stumbled upon this group where members particpate in a Geographical Postcard exchange which is open to anyone.

I participated in 4 exchanges and postcards were sent to USA and Finland.

Here is what I sent.

I decided to put the postcards in an envelope(I'm always scared of loosing the mail) and decorated them. Happy to say that these were well received.

I received two postcards :one from USA and one from Finland.The one from Finland is of Aurora lights , reminds me of the famous dimensions kits.

All these swaps,gifts and postcards were sent and received in Greece , it was one of my favourite activity during my vacation.

One of the postcards was sent well before I started my vacation , so I'm guessing that Greek post liked the postcard so much that they decided to keep it. The fourth one was posted late and couldn't make it in time.

If any of my blog friends shares this interest and would like to receive a postcard, let me know. I will happily send one your way, when I travel next time.

I'm a bit behind in reading the blogs and I will visit you soon and read what you guys have been upto.