Gifts galore

Hello Friends,

Its time for Gifted Gorgeousness, a SAL hosted by Jo,where we show what gifts we have been working on or gifts received.

Let me treat you with some eye candy ...

Hubby flew to India to help his mother move to a new house and ever since the tickets were booked, he kept on asking me what gifts he should get me. Well, I helped him by letting him know what I didn't want...lol

Look what he bought me 

Some beautiful yarn for my knitting/crochet adventures, books of my favourite authors,a diary to write my journal, beautiful ribbons and rings to hold my floss a way bags.
Aren't our partners blessed to have us,females with hobbies? Giving gifts becomes so much easier when people have hobbies don't you think...

Next is a gift ,partially bought using my birthday money from my brother .

I have been inspired by my craft group and blog friends to crochet and knit since long and I thought its about time I got some supplies.

Talking of craft group, some gifts from ladies in my craft group.

A crochet jar topper and perforated paper. My friend E has been cross stitching since few months now and wanted to try perforated paper. So when she bought some online ,she gave me this sheet to try. Isn't that  kind and thoughtful?

I have been working on making some gifts too..
First of is the Candamar design project I'm making for my bestie. Here is a pic of how it looked when I took it off my rotation.

Second is my EMS Flower of the month piece which I'm making for my Aunt.I have started stitching the October flower- Calendula.

I clicked a picture of how the whole piece looks when I moved the q snaps.It may not seem much, but I have been working on the borders for the flowers I completed before.

I'm targeting to finish this piece in July as part of Just one July SAL. However, if I don't , I will continue to stitch this in August until I complete it.

I started a new gift yesterday, this time a knitting project. This is a scarf with the simplest of knitting stitches. It will be a gift for my husband's cousin who lives in cold climates of Scotland and I guess she will put it to good use.

That's all I have to show you for GG SAL.I have will some goodies to show you in my next post:some giveaway wins and some stash.

Blogging Woes:
I have observed that number of comments on my blog have gone down.I know, I don't have many followers but the number of comments is no where close to half of my followers. So I wanted to know how do you follow my blog and do you see my posts in your blog reader?As much as I appreciate your comments, I would love to hear more from you.
Another blog issue I'm facing is delay in seeing blog posts from one particular blogger I follow. The updates are more than 24 hours late and I miss participating in various activities on her blog. Any idea how can I solve this problem?

I'm off to see what beautiful gifts you have been working on ...

Just one July progress

Hello Friends,
Just a quick update to show you first week progress on Just one July SAL hosted by Justine.I have selected to stitch my flower of the month project for this SAL.This series is a freebie from Ellen Maurer-Stroh and each flower block is of size 63*63.
Its a long weekend here in Kuwait and yesterday I was able to stitch for almost 4 hours.Here is a picture of the September flower -Aster,before I started stitching it this month.

And here is a picture of what it looks like today

I have decided to stitch the border around the flowers as I go rather than doing it all in the end.I'm now working on June flower "Wild Rose" border.I forgot to print the pattern for next flower in the series ,so I would have to stick with border anyway 😄
Today we had guests for dinner and I ended up cooking too much food.With two more days to the weekend and food cooked for next 2 meals ,I should be able to make some significant stitching progress .

KTAA Exhibition/Tassel workshop/WWKIP day

Hello Friends,

Another month has come to end and it’s hard to believe that half of the year has passed.

Things are quite in my corner of the world and my plans to stitch more with reduced working hours this month went down the drain. You ask what happened…well nothing ..I have been just myself …lazy bum.

I have been wanting to write this post since a few days and then delaying it for so many reasons which my mind keeps coming up with.

So here it is…I would like to share with you pictures of a few craft events I participated and/or attended.

First is the Annual Kuwait Textile Art Association Exhibition I visited on 24th May. This was my first time attending the event and it was until my friend sent below picture of a cross stitched piece in the exhibition that I decided to attend.

 It was such an amazing experience to look at these beautiful pieces of craft in person. Though Quilting dominated the show, there were display of crochet, embroidery and cross stitch too. Once I found out that there is category for cross stitch, I inquired about the details for participation. 

Embroidery piece which stood 3rd in the exhibition

1st Prize-Cross stitch category

The quilt in the centre with the face won 1st prize in Quilting Category

Next is a workshop I attended called “Decorative Tassles” on 28th May. This was organized by Sadu House. A small description of Sadu House “Al Sadu Society is dedicated to preserving, documenting and promoting the rich and diverse textile heritage of the Kuwaiti Bedouin, from the nomadic weaving of the desert through to the urban weaving of the town.”

The idea of the workshop was to involve common people for development of Al Shaheed Park which is a community park project undertaken by government and various organizations. The workshop was conducted by Leslie Robertson, US Fulbright Specialist and a local crochet designer.

We were taught how to make tassels with normal yarn first and then with locally hand woven yarn. The ones made with hand woven yarn will be displayed in the park.  

Learning to make tassel stem

Two tassels I made which will be displayed in the park

  

As you know I was involved in organizing World Wide Knit in Public day here in Kuwait. The event was a success and we had a humble attendance of 8. A mix of crocheters, cross stitcher and knitters. Few pictures:

I made badges for the attendees and everyone liked it.  

My friend ZoZo gifted these goodie bags to all participants.

I don’t have any stitching progress to show you this time, however I’m very excited to be participating in Just one July SAL organized by Justine starting tomorrow. I will be stitching Flower of the Month piece for this SAL.

That's it for today...Hope you have a blessed July.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL June update

Hello Friends,

Thank you for your kind comments on my last post.

It's that time of the month when we show what gifts we have been working on or gifts received.
Gifted Gorgeousness is Jo's baby and the idea is to show what we are stitching as gifts . Also to show our appreciation for the gifts (charts,fabric,floss etc.) we have received

I will start with my focus piece for this month which will be a gift for my bestie.

Candamar design called "Most beautiful thing"

Second is a gift for my aunt . The fabric was given to me by a generous lady Mrs. G whom I met in London thru facebook.

Progress on September Flower. 

Pattern Source EMS FOTM series

Lastly , as I have now decided to gift the HoM Mystery SAL piece to one of my college friends, I will show it once more.

I received this beautiful crochet bookmark from ZoZo ,one of the members of my craft group. She is such a talented crocheter and doesn't need patterns to make stuff. One glance at finished piece and she can stitch it.

I have been making other crafty things ,not cross stitch related, which I will show in my next post.

18th June is World Wide Knit in Public day and I'm looking forward to meeting my friends and new people for the event.

I know some of you knit too. Are you participating in the KIP in your area?If you need information about locations of the event,visit the website http://www.wwkipday.com/


That's the news from my corner of the world.I'm off to see what beauties you have been making.

Happy Dance!!!

Hello Friends,

Come and happy dance with me! I have finished stitching the House of Margaret Mystery SAL piece. I put the last stitch on this piece last night and I’m elated that my goal to ‘Stitch every day in May’ brought me this success.

I’m happy with the way the design turned out. It was my first time participating in a mystery SAL and I was skeptical what theme this pattern would follow. Glad that it’s a neutral theme and I even have somebody in mind who I can gift this to. 

                                                                 Details: 

Started on : 8-Apr-2016

Finished on: 30-May-2016

Actual number of stitch days: 25

Stitched on:16 count white Aida

Floss used :Anchor, DMC

Designer: Viktoria Horvath

Pattern source: House of Margaret

Number of colors: 7

Stitch count: 167H*164W

Type of stitches: Full cross stitch,  fractionals,back stitch

Progress Pics

The pattern was easy to follow and the designer Viktoria did a good job considering she is quite new at designing. As there were very few colors in the design, not much counting was required. It’s my first pattern where I worked from a digital copy and saved a few trees…lol.

However I think the designer could have done better with instructions. You see, the designer didn’t specify the fractional stitches in the pattern key, the count size was given as 164*167, not clear which one of this is width/height. The top of the pattern started from row 9 and/ or 20 which resulted my piece to be a bit off centered. The lettering and color selection for back stitch could have been better. I’m writing this as a review/feedback for the designer and this is no way a criticism.

I’m thinking of getting the piece framed with a black matt .What do you think?

Now on to future crafting plans- Continuing on with the goal of stitching every day I will be joining stitchers on Instagram for #TheStitchingHourSummer2016. It will be easier for me achieve this in the month of June as we will have reduced working hours in the month.

I’m working on organizing World Wide Knit in Public day in Kuwait on 18^th June. Last year, Kuwait participated first time in this event and I met wonderful people whom I now call my friends. This time organizing it in day time is a bit difficult as Ramadan starts on 6^th June and all the cafes etc. are closed during this month of fasting. Wish me luck ….

I know people in the UK and USA are enjoying the sunshine and venturing out. However, summer here means sitting at home as temperature reach 50+°C (122+°F) and expatriates leave the country to visit their friends and family in home countries. Things are slow and there are hardly any activities. Not that I’m complaining about sitting at home, I love being a hermit. I will miss my craft meet ups and the fun we have as a group. Saturday will be our last meet up before the vacation starts.

So keep those beautiful pictures of gardens and outdoors coming and I will enjoy them while stitching sitting on my sofa.

Let me end my post with a monthly stitch pie which looks so cheery …

IHSW May Part 2 report

Hello friends,

Hope you all are enjoying Sunday in your corner of the world.

I had a great weekend – we went grocery shopping, had family over for dinner and I cooked so many new recipes. I know its Hermit weekend and I was supposed to stitch as much as I can. However, I love cooking and hosting guests so doesn’t feel bad if cooking cuts my stitching time once in a while ..lol

I stitched my House of Margaret Mystery SAL piece during IHSW. We are on week 7 and the last part will be released next Friday. In my introduction post to this project, I wrongly mentioned that the SAL will last 17 weeks.

Here is a before pic

Here is an after pic.

As you can see, the SAL is not a mystery anymore..haha. We see Alex, Marty, Melman (from the movie Madagascar) in the picture above. However I’m still guessing who the grey animal is, at first I thought it’s an elephant, because of the big ears in the pattern. DH says it’s a donkey. I don’t remember a popular elephant or a donkey from the movie. So, it looks like it’s going to be Gloria with long ears.

I’m hoping to finish this project next Friday when the last part is released. A happy dance is long overdue.

  

I will leave you with a picture of Black bean quesadillas I made for lunch yesterday. They turned out delicious. If you are interested the recipe, it is from http://thekitchensinkblog.com/.

Instead of using canned beans and store bought chipotle sauce, I cooked the beans myself and made chipotle sauce with Indian chilly.

Stitch every 'Day' in 'May'

Hello Friends,

The title of my post is what my target for the month is. You see I was quite surprised to see  that I haven't been stitching much this year, when I made the Pies for my last post.
I know some of you stitch everyday and that's inspirational. I sat thinking why can't I do that: I have a normal 10 hr job (no overtime), don't have to cook for a big family or neither do I have pets who need much care (I have budgies ,but they hardly take any time). So I realized I'm being a lazy bum ...
I have set up a target to stitch every day this month even if it's a single length of thread. It's been a success so far, Thursday being an exception.

Enough of my rant about my time organization .So here is my check-in for Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness SAL, IHSW hosted by Joysze and Friday Frolicking.
I have been working on EMS Flower of the month series which will be a gift for my aunt. I have completed July and August Flowers . Except the back stitching and some stitches with white. I prefer to stitch white at the end to keep the stitches clean.

Yesterday morning was my craft meetup and it was so good to see my friends after 2 months. We had a wonderful time discussing crafts, current affairs and stash addictions.
I got wonderful gifts from Tammy, which she bought all the way from Jerusalem.

I tried my hands at sewing again to make a laptop sleeve. It's not pretty or neat however it sure is very useful with the season of dust soon approaching.

That's it my friends for today. I will be stitching the EMS piece today and then pick my HOM Mystery SAL piece tomorrow for rotation.