How did I do for "Stitch every 'Day' in 'May' "

Hello Friends,
May month has come to an end, I hope 'Maynia' in the cross stitch world has settled down. I have enjoyed looking at the various versions of Maynia . I hope you enjoyed whatever version you followed, after all its about enjoyment right?
My personal goal was to Stitch every 'Day' in 'May'. I'm very happy to report that I was able to stitch/craft on 29 days out of 31 days of the month. I'm realising that setting this personal goal helps me come out of my comfort zone(read laziness) .
My main focus was to make some progress on my oldest WIP, Indian Peacock by Dimensions.I added 3711 stitches, full and half, to the project and the progress is clearly visible.

Before and After

I started and finished a small project for our anniversary which I showed in my last post.

I also knitted these bookmarks from left over yarn , such a quick project.

A new craft learnt and key ring made.

I think I will try to stitch every day in June as well as the lock down has extended my part of the country. My city is the worst hit in the world and numbers are rising by thousands every day. Its a scary situation, thank God for our crafts to keep us sane.
Hope you are safe and staying home wherever you are.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL May 2020 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 an easy SAL where you have a choice to stitch any designer, color or pattern, just that it should be a gift for someone or gift from someone.

Last Saturday, Hubby and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary and I made a little gift for him.

This is a free pattern from Cathy at Hands on Design. Here is the finish from designer look like

Picture courtesy :Hands on design

As you can see, I changed everything in this pattern:fabric,floss color and finished look.
I downloaded this pattern in 2018 , wanting to stitch it for anniversary in 2018. Well, better late than never.
The buttons you see in this design are my maternal grandmother's . Last year, I visited my maternal uncle's house with my mom. During the visit,my aunt , mom and I went up to the store room on the terrace to see what can be used from stuff left behind by my grandparents. I got my hands on these buttons, some zippers and some crocheted pieces. My maternal grandmother was a master crocheter, knitter and embroiderer in addition to be a wonderful cook.
I also wanted to share this macrame key ring I made after attending a free workshop on Instagram this Tuesday. The workshop was designed to use materials we had at home , yarn scraps, threads etc.

I don't know about other countries ,however a lot of Indian artists, crafters and organisations have been conducting free or minimal cost online workshops to help people cope with the pandemic. My snail mailing friend encouraged me to check these workshops as she herself benefited from one she attended. 
I think it's a great idea to learn a skill or two and/or share your skills with others.
Please share if you have picked up any new hobby or a hobby you stopped pursuing years ago during this pandemic .
That's it for today, will try to put some extra stitches this weekend as it is IHSW .

Let the People Choose-May Update

Hello Friends,
First Saturday of the month I join Jo for The People's Choice SAL . Jo takes a poll for people to choose a topic for the month and the participants then post about stitchy projects related to that topic.

This month's topic is Fire. Now this is a tricky one- I don't think I have stitched a piece with fire in it. No problem about that, we can interpret the topic of this SAL in our own way. I waited for few people to post about this topic and see what their interpretation is.

Fire is considered holy in Hinduism, religion I follow. Agni, and thus fire, is a symbol used in many Hindu ceremonies that form a rite of passage; births, marriages and funerals.Fire is a source of light and I can't imagine celebrating my favourite festival Diwali without light. Diwali is a festival of lights and we light earthen lamps, candles and these day electric lights to celebrate the festival.I stitched this piece in 2018 :

Free Pattern from Daily Cross Stitch

I have received many hand made Diwali gifts showing Diyas(earthen lamps) over the years.

Gift from Preeti

Gift from Zhraa

Gift from Zhraa

Gift from Tammy

Here are patterns on my wish list showing earthen lamps:

Now,I'm going to check what other have posted for this SAL.

Stitch Every 'Day' in 'May'

Hi dear Friends,
                          Happy May!
How are you ? We are still under lockdown and with the given circumstances , I won't be surprised if it extends till June.Well, I have never had any problem being at home, so the lockdown doesn't bother me much.
However to make most of being home , I thought I would do a personal challenge called "Stitch Every 'Day' in 'May' ". I was going thru my old posts and realised I do this challenge every two years. You can see my post for 2018 and 2016 here.
I know for many of you stitching every day is a way of life , however I tend to get distracted easily by social media and watching online series that's why I took this challenge.The idea is to stitch atleast for 15 mins everyday.
My focus piece will be my oldest WIP-Indian Peacock by Dimensions.
This piece was started on new year day in 2017 and has been neglected since due to priority of gift stitching. With the lockdown, I'm not making any gifts as there is no way to send them.So I thought I would put some stitches in this project. I stitched for 10 days in April on this project and added 1261 stitches.
Before and after pic:

I was finding it difficult to stitch this in the Q snap I had so I'm now stitching this in hand.
The last two times when I did this challenge some of you joined me, join me this year too if this is something you would like to do .
I'm not going to make it a SAL or any compulsion to post on blog. Just use #stitcheverydayinmay if you post pictures on Instagram.I will post an update on the challenge at the end of month.
Are you finding more time for stitching during the lockdown or rather the opposite?

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL April 2020 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 an easy SAL where you have a choice to stitch any designer, color or pattern, just that it should be a gift for someone or gift from someone.

I have finished two projects that come under gift category.
First is a late birthday gift for my husband.

This is a design by Jan Eaton published by Tom Pudding Designs, a freebie which can be found here.
The empty space is where a cat charm will be added once the lockdown is over and I order it .
Second finish is a ornament I stitched to join the hashtag #bewellandstitch . As the design is a freebie from designer Autumn Lane Stitchery, I'm considering it as a gift.

I forgot to share in my last GG post that Immediate Media Co offered many of their magazines free last month.
I was able to download The World Of Cross Stitching Feb 2020, Cross Stitch Crazy Mar 2020 and Cross Stitch Gold Jan 2020 for free on my i-phone.
Do you keep any eye for such offers or don't care about magazines?

Also, I forgot to share that I was able to locate my missing Lizzie Kate pattern which I declared missing in my Feb post here. What a relief !

In life update, the virus is spreading like a fire here in India and we are doing everything to be safe. We have local laws where we can't get out of our building more than once a week.It is stressful but thank god for house chores, hobbies and Netflix , which help in keeping mind off.

I hope you are safe and healthy.

Let the People Choose-April Update

Hello Friends,
First Saturday of the month I join Jo for The People's Choice SAL . Jo takes a poll for people to choose a topic for the month and the participants then post about stitchy projects related to that topic.

This month's topic is Modern Samplers. Now this is a tricky one-I had never seen a Sampler before 2014 as I don't think they existed historically in Indian Subcontinent as they did in the USA or UK.
This partially explains my disinterest in traditional samplers, however I have stitched a few modern samplers or lets say my take on modern samplers:

Birth Sampler from Anchor Design Studio

The birth sampler I stitched for my nephew in 2014 has few elements of a traditional sampler-numbers,alphabets,border,name and date .
I made this birthday card and I think it looks like a portion of band sampler. It has specialty stitches in it.

Gorgeous Gingham by Joanne Sanderson

Another birth sampler which I stitched for my niece in 2015.

Pretty in Pink by Helen Phillips

I did get a chance to see two historic samplers at Skaill House, Orkney, Scotland. Here are pictures:

As I write this post, I'm reminded that I need to make two birth samplers for my friends' babies. I better start looking in my stash for patterns !

Be Well and Stitch

Hello Friends,
I hope you are safe and keeping busy in this worrisome time. It is indeed scary whats happening in the world. My country is under lock down till 14th April , husband and I are following the instructions given by the Govt. to keep safe unlike many stupid people in my country who just don't care.
Anyways , I wanted to cheer you (and myself) up by sharing my latest finish.

Bee Well By Autumn Lane Stitchery

I'm sure you are all aware of the freebies designers in cross stitch community have been offering under the hashtag #bewellandstitch. It is so generous of them to take time out to design something for helping the community in this tough time.

I have always wanted to join and stitch something for such wonderful causes like the stitches for Australia , unfortunately I wasn't able to do it either due to bad postal system(when living in Kuwait), laziness and/or finding out about the the cause a little too late.
However, I'm happy this time I could join. I have saved all the designs being offered under the hashtag on Instagram.
Sharing links for few I like in the caption:

Picture credit :Silver Creek Samplers

Picture Credit: JBW designs 

Picture credit : SewMuch2Luv

Bee Well by The Blackberry Rabbit

You can follow the hashtag  #bewellandstitch on Instagram and Facebook to find more designs.

I hope these links help you a bit to take your mind off .

Take care friends.