Let the people choose-July-Finishing

Hello Friends,

Today I join Jo for another SAL which she is hosting called THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE SAL. You can read about it on her blog.

The theme for this month is Finishing-that is final finishing.

I haven't been posting on my blog as I'm still not crafting specially cross stitching since my move. So I didn't think I could post for this SAL, however Jo's post gave me some ideas.

I have read that most of the stitchers dread finishing and have a pile of completed projects waiting to be framed or turned into something.
Call me weird but I have never dreaded finishing. In fact , I'm not boasting, I don't have a single project waiting to be FFOed. Well there are two reasons for that : fully finishing makes me super happy , secondly all my stitching is done for gifts, so I try to FFO the gift before giving it to the recipient. I made a mistake of not framing two pieces and gave the stitched project as gift. The pieces  haven't been framed after 3 years(I know that because I keep asking about it) and it hurts me...Anyways
I have tried few easy methods of finishing my projects apart from framing, let me show you the first of each kind.
My first book mark, made in Aug 2014 .

Now something you can laugh at , a project pasted on cardboard and covered with clear plastic sheet. Look what I did to the logo of Volkswagon😅

My first cross stitched card , made in Feb 2015 .

First heart shaped ornament,made in July 2015

First pillow shaped ornament,made in July 2015

First fridge magnet, made in Aug 2015

First hanging :stitched piece glued to foam sheet, made in Sep 2015

First hanging :stitched piece hung on plastic hanger that came with the kit, made in Nov 2015

First cushion cover finish, made in Dec 2015

First hanging :stitched piece sewn in as insert on fabric, made in Dec 2015

First project as potpurri sachet which was pre sewn,made in Feb 2016:

First ATC ,made in Sep 2016

First luggage tag, my own design

First biscornu, made in Mar 2017

First no-sew cube,made in June 2018

First hoop finish,made in June 2018

Oh, I'm tired just including the pictures,I'm sure you are too looking at them.
Year 2015 was clearly a fantastic year with so many firsts. Actually this was the year I discovered cross stitch blogs and was inspired to try finishing other than framing.

Do you have a favourite among these?
May be looking at all these finishes will inspire me to pick up my needle.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL June 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.

I'm taking a break from finishing a gift to write this post. The gift was supposed to be given today but the amount of back stitching is just killing me . I visited the family today for whom I'm making the gift and told them their gift is late by one day 😩😀

Let me show a gift finished last week back, my first no sew cube finish.

Blackwork Elephant
Anchor Design Studio

Image Courtesy:Rene Bester, taken during WWKIP day

This is a birthday present for a lady in my craft group who loves elephants. I would like to claim extra GG points for this finish- the fabric was a gift from husband; pattern was gift from Jo, the GG SAL hostess herself ; the metallic thread was a gift from Shami. 

I didn't have the called for threads in the pattern except one. I bought a lot of Anchor variegated threads from a shop in my hometown to support the shop which was clearly not in good financial condition. I tried to use the nearest matching threads in my stash with the ones in the pattern . I am very happy with how these piece turned out, I have used metallic floss first time and didn't play chicken with the french knots 😉.

Jo, if you are reading this , may be you should start a point system for the GG SAL😀. It can take into account how a gift shown in the GG post uses gifts received.

When I started stitching the design, I thought of framing it. Failure to find a suitable frame , I turned to YouTube for no sew cube tutorial. I'm surprised how easy and quick this finishing method is . I will be surely making more cubes in future.

That's it for GG post. 

Last Saturday my craft group celebrated Fourth Edition of Kuwait WWKIP day. This time I took a back seat and requested other group members to organize the event. It was a fun event with lucky draws and door prizes. Everyone bought their projects to share and so much talent was on display.

Beautiful brooch like this was given to every attendee

If you wanna read more about it , click the link 

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/2018/jun/12/20.pdf

You can also visit my fellow Kuwaiti crafter Tammy's blog for more pictures :

http://tsdailytreasures.blogspot.com/2018/06/kip-day-2018.html

Its a 4 day weekend here and I will try to put in stitches in my WIPs whenever I can amidst packing for vacation, hosting a dinner , shopping and sleeping .