Gifted Gorgeousness SAL February 2019 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.

The gifts I worked on this month are these wedding cards for a snail mail friend and husband's cousin , both got married in December. The plan was to stitch these before the weddings but you know how some plans never get executed . Better late than never ..ha !

Both designs are from Cross stitch Crazy Magazine,Issue 202, patterns by Durene Jones.
Last month I forgot to show you what I got in my Instagram cross stitch swap with my one of snail mail buddy.She stitched a wee little penguin for me ..she knows me well.

A tiny crochet heart , a gift from my craft group friend Z for Valentine's day.

Thank you for the comments on the "Let People Choose SAL-Hearts" post. I asked you which one of my heart finishes is your favorite. Here are the results :

Roses in Heart -4

Gazette94 -5

Floral Sachet -2

Heart Biscornu -1

Knitted one -2

Now to a part which may interest you..a giveaway.As its my birthday month and month of love, I would like to thank you all my blog friends for their love by offering this pattern.This pattern is up for grabs ...the pattern was bought second hand but has never been used by me.

Here are the rules:

1. Be a follower. I'm pretty confused how the following things works but I can only see people who follow me thru Dashboard or google accounts.

2. Don't become a follower just to win this pattern and disappear on me (I have had this happened to me in past)

3. Let me know in comments if you are interested.

4.Winner will be randomly picked on my birthday,27th February.

5. I would appreciate if you would share this on your blog.

6. The pattern will be sent to you thru registered mail but still it can take minimum of 40-50 days to reach depending on where you are.

7. Send me your address thru email by clicking info in side bar, I will not follow up with you to ask for your address.

This weekend is IHSW and I will try to get some stitching done. Join me and other stitchers virtually for hermitting and stitching .

Have a good weekend everyone.

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?

First blog giveaway

Hello Friends,

Its time for a giveaway..first one on my blog.

Apparently 30th June was my my 6th blogaversary ...hard to believe. Only 3 posts in first 3 years though.What started as a diary to write my travel experiences , then as a cooking journal is now mainly a cross stitch/ crafting blog.

22780 page views, 38 followers , 870 comments(including some replies by me) later, I think its time for a give away..First of all thank you to all my blogging friends who follow,comment and visit , like my work and encourage to blog .

I have 1 chart and 1 booklet to offer

Item 1 :St. Paul's Cathedral chart by The Heritage Collection Designer Susan Ryder

Item 2 : A Stoney Creek Sampler Collection, Book No. 105 Contains 9 sampler patterns . This is front view of booklet

Item 2 : A Stoney Creek Sampler Collection, Book No. 105 Contains 9 sampler patterns . This is back view of booklet

Both these items have been bought from a charity shop in Scotland so I'm guessing they are pre -loved. However both are in good condition.

Here is what you need to do:
1. Be a follower.
2. Comment below which item would you like to win: Item 1 or 2.
3. If you are a no reply blogger, leave your email address so that I can contact you. If you win, send me your address within 3 working days.

Giveaway closes on 14th July and results will be announced thru next Gifted Gorgeousness post.I will be mailing the item(s) in a simple A4 envelope.

I would appreciate if you could spread the word.

Happy stitching.

Meet "Mini me"

Isn't that an interesting title, probably brings a lot of diff thoughts in the reader's mind.

Well I'm talking about a doll which my friend Z made for my birthday.

Let me explain why its Mini Me. The doll is wearing the same kurta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurta) ,leggings, peep toe footwear which I was wearing the last I met Z before my birthday. The hair is similar to mine. Talking about attention to details: she is holding a hoop and needle, wearing earrings like me and the cherry on the cake is the mole on the cheek ,similar to one on my face.
The moment I saw her , I couldn't believe the resemblance, not to forget the talent my friend has to replicate me in a crochet doll. This is the best handcrafted gift I have received till now.

                    

Here she is trying to finish my UFO

Thank you Z for the love..I'm falling short of words to thank you.
Z will be celebrating her birthday on Sunday  and I made few things for her, nothing as beautiful as the doll. Z is a coffee lover and I hope she likes the gifts.

Coffee Lover: Freebie from Kincavel Krosses
Stitched on 32 count Cognac Linen (gifted by Diya )
Using Anchor Variegated Floss

I have been trying to make some knitted items and in the process learning new stitches. This cup cozy uses seed stitch which gives a good texture to the finished piece.

Handmade tag using old calendar bookmark , which was a gift from a fellow cross stitcher

If you haven't guessed it until now, this post is my entry for Gifted Gorgeousness SAL for the month of April,run by our fav blog host Jo. For this SAL, we show what hand crafted gifts we made or received every month.

I have some more gifts to show , however I would save it for next month as I don't want to take attention away from my beautiful doll.

I hope everyone is having a good stitchy weekend in their corner of the world.

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.

Let's talk about birthday gifts..shall we!!

Hello friends,

Thank you for your wonderful comments on my last GG post and welcome to new followers.Highest number of comments on any of my blog post !!

As the title of the post tells , I have been getting and making birthday gifts since my last GG post.

Yesterday was DH's birthday and this is what I made for him(apart from all his favourite food).

My first quilling attempt

I baked a chocolate brownie for him instead of a cake for the occasion.When I gifted him the card , he didn't open the card for a while thinking that it is a store bought card and focused on eating the brownie..lol .

Tammy of T's Daily Treasures celebrated a big 0 birthday last week of February.Both of us are a part of the craft group which often meets on weekends.This is what I stitched for her

Trust me it was not easy to decide to what to gift to her. She is multi talented,dabbles in so many crafts, does charity work and is involved in many community projects here in Kuwait. I had to consult a few friends before I zeroed down on this project.

An example of Tammy's talent is this picture...my lovely birthday gifts from her.

Let's talk about my birthday gift from DH now...digital subscription to The World of Cross Stitching Magazine. I posted about my dilemma of whether to keep the subscription or not in my last post here. 10 people commented and 6 said that it would be a better idea to buy an individual issue once I find out what chart I like in that .So I have decided not to keep the yearly subscription. However,before I could take a decision ,the amount for yearly subscription has been deducted and I will try to get the money back and pay for a single one.Don't know if I will get any success in that looking at all the digital subscription woes I read on facebook.

I started a new project on 3rd march...a gift of course . This piece has a story (how can there be not a story!!!) which I will share in my next post.

Progress as of 12th March

Another gift (shoe horn) which I can show is a square I stitched "Stitch for Syria" project which Jo talked about on her blog few weeks back.This is a free pattern from Mr. XStitch and concern world wide . The square is now on its way to London . Thank you Jo for spreading the word for such a good cause.
The aida was a gift and I have used one of the floss my mom gave me a few years back.

I'm participating in a daily challenge on Instagram called RockYourHandwriting. I'm loving it so far, I actually started logging in a craft journal which I have been thinking to do since long.The craft journal is up-cycled from a planner from a dental clinic,wrapping paper,clothes tags :)

Its lovely to scroll thru feeds of various participants and look at their beautiful handwriting and journals.
Do you like participating in any such challenges?

It's starting to get hot in the day time here,summer is knocking on the door. I hope you are enjoying time stitching in your corner of the world.

P.S. I just realized that I have completed goal number 7 & 9 on my list ...Yahoo!!!

FOTM SAL November Check in

Hello Friends,

Hope you all are doing good in your corner of the world and have started preparing for Christmas(if you celebrate it).

I continue to be uninspired to stitch and an attack by Sinusitis last week has left me feeling lost and home sick.

So many things have been occupying my thoughts and I haven't stitched much since my last update.

However, the good news is I'm giving stitching using a q snap a second try. I bought a q snap sometime in 2014 but didn't like using it with the sewing method.It has been lying in the drawers for a year along with guilt of wasting money on a tool I would never use.

Sometime back a friend posted a picture of a q snap she bought to inspire her to cross stitch again and I thought I should try it again. The fabric for this project is big enough and would be ideal for using a qsnap.

Here's is my progress as of 30th Nov 2015.

I think I'm developing a new hobby of clicking pictures of the sky as DH drives around.

Here are the two captures I love.

I'm also cherishing handmade beauties my craft group ladies gave me(which I forgot to show you) for World Yarn day and Halloween.

Aren't the palm trees made by Tammy and the Cath Kidston by Z coaster adorable?

My stitchy pie for the month of November.

See you soon in the last month of the year.

FOTM September Update and other ramblings

Hello Friends,
Another month has come to an end ,which makes me look back and realize how little I have achieved in terms of goals I made when I first posted for GG SAL. Three medium sized stitched gifts for my college buddies.. ha what was I thinking.
September by far has been one of the most productive stitchy month. I finished stitching January and February flowers ,they were missing two colors. Made some progress on the March flower...

I'm now targeting to finish my biggest piece ever and that has been the focus since 23rd.I hope I will be able to post a finish picture soon.

I won Rosey's blog giveaway in July and this is what I received ...You must be wondering what took it long to reach me ..well the same postal woes. I didn't wanted to lost my prize in post ,so I asked Rosey to post it to Tammy ,who was in USA then.

Gifts from Tammy

Thank you Rosey and Tammy !!

The best thing that happened with my rediscovery of love of cross stitch (which happened in June last year, see my post here) was introduction to so many cross stitch blogs and bloggers. I have learnt so much thru these blogs- various stitching techniques, fabrics, storage, shopping places ,giveaways and exchanges.
The cherry on the cake are the letters / postcards/greeting cards I receive from my stitchy friends . I had almost forgotten the happiness one gets when you open a letter and read somebody's handwriting ..as if the person is talking to you in real.

As I am writing this post I ponder how the few letters, which my dad and mom wrote me when I was in college, are my life long treasures. My mother in law used to write us letters occasionally whenever she used to send us her home made spices and sweets .
My favourite activity of childhood was to write postcards to my grandmother. This is how a blank postcard issued by Indian postal offices looked like..I wonder is it still available.

Until I shifted to Kuwait , I wrote letters to my brothers for Raksha bandhan and they used to make fun of me.

I think art of letter writing is dying a slow death with the emergence of all this fast communication methods of phone and internet.
May be I am old school who enjoys the warmth of a hand written letter.

Do you like writing and receiving letters?

Here's my monthly stitch pie chart

Stitch a Little ,Stash a Lot

This is what I have been doing last month...
I lost my mojo towards end of July, then we were on vacation and as soon as I came back to Kuwait , I was in bed for two days because of severe cold.
I actually managed to stitch 4 days on my 15 days vacation which I think is decent.
So here is my August Check-in for Flower of the Month SAL hosted by Alyssa
Very little progress ,just some border and start of March flower

Its time for some show off some stash

Me and Diya were casually chatting on facebook and then she says "Hey, do you know Rainbow gallery is having a clearance sale?"
"No" said me "but I will have a look"...She is such a enabler..Look what I got:

 Lizzie Kate,Mill hill Kits,Bohin Needles and fat quarter of 28 ct misty blue linen.
God knows when I will start stitching on something other than Aida...I just keep buying different fabrics.

















Of course you must buy some supplies whenever you go to a new country. So off we went to Nifty Needles in Linlithgow ,dragging our big bags from the train station ,bought the stuff and caught another train to Stirling. OH is such a darling he didn't fuss even once though being sleep deprived .


I bought two DMC skeins to complete my floss collection at the outrageous price of 95p with some free Anchor designs.

Charity shops were the next destination:

Great finds form Charity shop in Bridge of Allan

Some magazines from Charity Shop in Tarbert

Justine was selling some stash of hers on her blog and I wished to buy this cute Soda Stitch pattern . She generously sent me this pattern, refusing to take any payment. Thank you Justine

 I'm ashamed to show my monthly pie chart

 Hoping to do some recovery during upcoming public holidays.

Edited: Question for all you experienced bloggers:
If I reply to comments on my blog post to a person who has a email associated with their blog thru the reply option, does that go into their mail box?

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL August Update

Hello Friends...
Here is my late post for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL ...late for good reasons.
I'm on vacation these days..right now as i write this post sitting in bed, i can see a lighthouse from my window. .pure bliss.
I am so delighted to show you what Jo , the hostess of Gifted gorgeousness sal herself , has sent me as part of our exchange.Jo carefully selected so many things which match my taste , however my favorite is the coaster.She has stitched flowers for my birth month and my intial ..i love it.

The picture above doesn't do justice to the beautifully stitched coaster..hop onto Jo's blog to get a better look.  The packet includes a mystery novel, charms, madeira threads, iron on transfer patterns, design booklet, cards and tin to keep needles and threads, perfect to carry on a vacation.
Here's what i stitched for Jo..Autumn is her favourite season.

As i wasn't able to get an appropriate magnet i tried making one..

Both the patterns above are freebies , link to which i will add in my finishes page.

I also want to show you my latest stash acquisition but may be in my next post.

Till then happy stitching.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL June Update and Lovely WWKIP Day

I was so excited to write this post that I prepared a draft on Saturday evening hoping to post first thing on Sunday, only to realize that it isn't 15 on Sunday ...

This time for the GG SAL, I have two finishes to show

I finally put last stitch on the Sunflower bouquet on Friday evening and it turned out more beautiful than I expected. This is a retirement gift for a very generous colleague.

After the initial hick ups of bad chart quality and not having required floss, the second innings went smooth. I  skipped backstitching the flowers (You all know my fear of backstitching, don't you !) .This may be my best attempt at backstitching ...lol
Here is a close up of the stitches.

Notice how in the second pic , stitches are in all directions. This is my first project where I tried having all my \\\\ and //// in same direction. It took me 36 days to finish this piece. Other details can be found here

The second partial finish is the EMS April flower of the month, except the inner borders. I have decided that I will stitch the borders during my crafty meet ups as it requires less counting. The fabric was a gift from a friend ,hence I can include this in GG SAL.

13th June was World Wide Knit in Public day and I decide to take the initiative for organizing it here in Kuwait. This was first time for Kuwait and we had an attendance of 8 wonderful ladies.

Image courtesy :Tammy



The café where we met was situated by the Sea

We had such a gala time chatting and crafting that I'm sure everyone made new friends.
I even tried my hands at crochet and failed terribly. Tammy was patient enough to teach me the basics. Look what wonderful gifts Tammy gave me :

My knitty friend L from ravelry group will be leaving Kuwait soon and this is what she gifted me.

                                           

Thank you Ladies for such a great time and gifts.

I will now have more stitching time from Thursday because of lesser working hours in the month of Ramadan. I hope to finish my pending projects and start a new one.

I'm off to see what other stitchers have to show in their GG posts.