Smalls SAL November Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Smalls SAL this year hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

Can't believe we are entering into last month of this year. Where has the year gone?

I have a small finish which has killed my stitching bug (again!). This was a cover kit with two designs , but fabric provided for one. I picked up a random piece of aida from my stash and the quality of fabric was so bad that I stopped stitching it after 30 mins I started it on Sept 1. But an incomplete project bothers me so I picked it up again but couldnt get myself to complete it.
So my sweet husband , who has always motivated me to craft, picked up the project and completed the cross stitches and half of back stitching.

Ideally this post should have been titled "One where the husband completes the project".

Cover kit from The World of Cross Stitching 

I know you can't tell from the picture the quality of fabric but that's the magic of back stitching ..it makes a sad project look happy :)

I think one of the reasons why I'm not enjoying cross stitching since last few months is that my projects don't have a intended receiver when they are started.

You see, as I have mentioned before, I mostly stitch gifts. I draw motivation by imagining how would the receiver like the piece I'm making , and deadlines of gifting help me keep a schedule.  I'm sad that I don't have more people in my life for whom I want to stitch , ones who appreciate the hard work behind this craft. May be I should not bother whether the gifts I give are appreciated or not, that way I can have more intended recipients ..ha ha. Pls let me if you have ever lost motivation to stitch.

Ok, time to stop the rant and wrap up the post. 

Wishing you all a Happy December.

Smalls SAL October Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Smalls SAL this year hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

Thank you all for the lovely comments on the last Smalls SAL post. I wasn't able to sell stuff at the bazaar except a card and two gift tags. We, as a group, were disappointed by the sales but I guess it takes time to build a repertoire with customers.

Anyways, I haven't been stitching this month, no reason for that. The one day I did stitch I made these smalls , so I thought to post it to keep the blog alive.

These designs were just made on MS excel to fit the frames available.

I hope to pick up a needle tomorrow, if all goes well.

That's it for today, gotta rush now.

Smalls SAL September Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Smalls SAL this year hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

My craft group will be participating and selling stuff to raise money for charity in a monthly bazaar organized by a local art studio.
I stitched these simple cards , quick and easy to make , to be sold in the bazaar tomorrow.

It was a set of 6 ready to stitch cards , one of which I changed to a birthday card and sent to my snail mail friend in Japan.

I'm hoping the bazaar attracts good audience , please check Kuwait Crafters on Instagram to see the beautiful creations which will be showcased in the bazaar .

I can't believe that we are in the last quarter of the year. Its time to check the wishlist which was made in the start of the year and see where I stand.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last blog post , I appreciate them. Also I see have a new follower, though I can't tell who. If you are reading this,thanks for following .

Smalls SAL August Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Smalls SAL this year hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

I have two smalls to show you this month :both are cover kits from magazine.

These were stitched during my stitching slump with the idea that quick finishes will cheer me up and motivate to stitch more..well that's not what happened! What can I say..I'm the slowest stitcher in the universe and each of these took me 5-6 days to complete.

Flower garland Felt stitch kit
from The World of Cross Stitching magazine

My first pincushion

Floral Pincushion
Designer :Jennifer Ellory
CrossStitch Crazy magazine. Aug 2014

To be honest ,the pin cushion wasn't easy to stitch..most of the stitches are fractionals with lots of backstitching. I think magazine editors need to understand that not all illustrations can be converted into 2 inch cross stitch designs.

Both of these cover kits were gifts from Kerry, they can very well count as GG entry.

I stitched these with a goal in mind which will be revealed when I achieve it 😉.

Well that's all for Smalls SAL today, I'm very close to finishing Fabulous florals WIP . In fact if I wouldn't have been on movie watching spree last week, I would have completed by now.

Have a good September everyone.

IHSW June Check-in

Hello dear friends,

It's time to show what I stitched for International Hermit & Stitch weekend . If you don't know what  IHSW is, its a SAL which was started 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."

Weekend in my part of the world is on Friday & Saturday, so I will be stitching from Thursday to Saturday and post on Sundays whenever I participate in IHSW.

We had a extra long weekend due to Eid holidays from Friday to Monday  . I was a true hermit this time , stepping out of the house only once in 4 days to visit family friends who live 500 m away from our house 😁.
If you think this would have given me a lot of stitching time , oh well this isn't the case. 
Thursday : I sat down on Thursday evening to finish  Eid gift  called "Eidee" to be given next day. After few hours I could clearly see that I wouldn't be able to finish it during the night. 
Friday: It is weekly cleaning day which meant very less stitching time in the day. I decided to visit our family members for Eid on Friday evening without the gift and told them I'm late and will finish it soon. Friday night I sat till midnight to finish the stitching . 
Saturday : Morning I FFOed it with help from Dana's tutorial .  The gift was delivered and appreciated by the recipient.The rest of the day was spent cooking for a pot luck dinner at my place. 
So what is this gift which took me so long... ha ha another small project  .

Dimensions kit : Flower Mason Jar

This is my first cross stitch finish in a hoop and I quite like the result.This Dimension kit was a recent gift from my penpal in USA . I really liked stitching it , the floss was nice and in excess of required quantity .  However, I made many mistakes while stitching it. I had to frog thrice and decided to continue with the two mistakes I made as I was short of time. I guess stitching when you are going thru emotional problems is not such a good idea.

Now about the pot luck dinner ..the dinner was a success , everyone liked the food and there were leftovers which were shared and eaten next day. We played UNO and Tambola with kids which was lot of fun.

You see my cat, Twitch is not used to having kids in the house and associated sounds . She was hiding under the bed the whole time while we had guests. After the guests left, we went to bed at midnight and Twitch came to our bed after a while. She was scared and disturbed and didn't wanted to sleep alone. We have trained her in a way that she never sleeps in our bed. But this time she didn't wanted to leave the bed and wanted to sleep with mommy. It took us two more hours to put her to sleep and sleep ourselves. 
Sunday was a hangover of sleep deprivation .. ha ha which meant no crafting. 
Yesterday we were busy packing for vacation , so I put 10 stitches in my WIP. 😄 

Well I have no regrets of lesser stitching time as I enjoyed spending time for my other hobbies :cooking and travelling.

That my friends is an account of my long IHSW . I fly tomorrow for our vacation in Georgia. There will be no Smalls SAL post this month, I'm shoe horning the finish as my Small SALs entry too.

If you have any tips on how to calm down an elderly cat for a new cat momma, pls leave a comment.

Smalls SAL May Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Smalls SAL this year hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

I didn't stitch any new Smalls this month however I have smalls that were made in past and not shown here on the blog. These tiny gifts were given to my new friend who is an avid traveller . 

Luggage Tag
Stitched in 2016

A luggage tag made from my own imagination.I tried getting fancy pictures with props and maps 😀

Tea Toter
Knitted -Dec 2017
Pattern by Julie Tarsha

This tiny purse can be used to keep tea bags or a coin purse and takes an hour or so to make.

I kitted up a new small yesterday but couldn't start it because of severe headache . Will try and show it for next Smalls post.

That's it for today ,have a good weekend friends.

Smalls SAL April Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Smalls SAL this year hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

I have two small finishes for this month.

I made this birthday card for my friend Z. I chose this card in hope to use the gingham ribbon I had in my stash, had to use a polka dot one as the one I had was wider.

Gorgeous Gingham
Designer : Joanne Sanderson
CrossStitcher Issue 212

I also tried something new this time, made a beaded coaster. My mom gave me lots of these beads this time and I didn't know what to do with them as I hardly stitch projects that call for beads. So i tried making this coaster with blank cork coasters bought from IKEA. The beads are glued on . I think I have an idea what I can do to get better results next time.

Another small finished is this office project. I have recently started keeping small kits or cover kits in my office drawer as they are easy-to-use and make quick projects. When I selected this design I didn't know what I can do with this but then I thought it will be a good birthday card for one of my UK pen pals.
You see her birthday is in June but as it takes 2-3 months for mail to reach UK from Kuwait , I made it well in advance.My friend doesn't visit my blog so its safe to post here.

Beefeater
Heritage Crafts kit

Well if you are ogling over how neat the finishing is, its all thanks to my friend Jo. She sent me these blank aperture cards for our swap back in 2015. Thank you Jo, they came in so handy.

I hope you like these Smalls. Looking forward to see what other Small Stitchers have to show.

Smalls SAL March Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Smalls SAL this year hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

I have two small finishes, first is the one I wasn't able to show you in February.

I made this very simple birthday card for Tammy. Added some other small knitted items made in December to her birthday package.

The birthday card pattern is by Diane Machin, published in All-Occasion Charts, TWOCS, Issue 203. I have noticed that some designers are regular in magazines but its hard to find their designs otherwise. Diane Machin is one ...

Love Heart by Amanda Berry

The Almost Lost Washcloth by Julie Tarsha

Another small I made was Finn Owlet from Mill Hill for my owl loving husband's birthday.

Quite happy with my first mill hill kit finish, I think I might buy some more .

That's it my friends, I hope you have a Happy Easter if you are celebrating and enjoy your long weekend.

Smalls SAL February Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Smalls SAL this year hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

I stitched two Smalls this month, but can't show one as it has still not been gifted to the recipient. After finishing  my big project and first Small, I wasn't feeling inspired to pick my WIP-Indian peacock. Stitchers on Instagram were showing some cute Valentine finishes and one particular design caught my eye. You see, hubby and I are not very particular about celebrating Valentine's day but if we find something good for each other for the occasion , we make or buy it.

I stitched this freebie from Hands on Design , though I must confess that the reason I chose this design from all of Cathy's freebies was to use one particular fabric in my stash. You see I bought half yard of 32ct Misty blue linen in 2015 but never got around to use this. Unlike many of you talented stitchers, its difficult for me to deviate from called for floss and fabric in patterns as I like or shall we say my mind works best when I follow instructions to T.

As this was a surprise, I had to stitch this in hiding. Pretty easy for most people, but not me. Hubby and I work in same office, so we are practically together 24 hours of the day. I'm not complaining, I won't have it any other way. But the situation makes it difficult to arrange surprises. I stitched this piece in office while husband was sitting in the same cubicle, with his back towards me. 😉

I made a counting mistake in the border and I'm not happy with the finishing. However, hubby liked the tiny gift and we talked about how I stitched it in office while eating the yummy cake.

I'm writing this post in advance and will schedule it to be posted on Friday as I'm travelling to India for a short vacation.Will visit your blogs when I'm back.

Smalls SAL January Check-in

Hello Friends,

Its last friday of the month , time to show what smalls we stitched during the month. I'm participating first time in Small SALs hosted by Heather. I decided to join this SAL as I usually stitch birthday cards or exchange pieces throughout the year and this gives me an additional chance to blog.

I stitched a thank you card for my Knitting Adviser or should I say Knitting guru. We "met" on Instagram when she found my account thru a hashtag. She has been very helping about my beginner questions about knitting techniques , where to find supplies etc.

Feather 

      Design by Maria Diaz

               From CrossStitcher Magazine , Issue 320

The stitched piece was pasted on the handmade paper using double sided tape which I specially bought from trip to USA. The tape didn't work well and I had to use glue .

The card was appreciated by my guru , so shall we say job well done?