When I wrote my previous post I realized how much I have missed my cross stitch blog and how much I enjoy reading your lovely comments and catching up on all your stitching projects and general news..! So, now that a wonderful Christmas has come and gone I hope to be a much more active cross stitch blogger again:) Wohoo! I have so much to show you all; crafty Xmas gifts I've been given, crafty Xmas gifts I have made and the progress on my own joyful cross stitch projects I'm working on now:)
Speaking of Christmas, I really love my new blog design I used for the Christmas season so I'm not quite sure what I will do now that the season for reds and santas are almost over...:(
Please bear with me if I keep my jolly blog theme for a while into 2016, whilst I ponder what next to do with the blog design...I have a general tendency to hold on to Christmas a bit too long into the new year so I guess it is only right that my blogs should be affected too lol.
So, I am really enjoying stitching just for myself again! First I picked up the Gingerbread House Sampler and this is...
...where I finished before Christmas:) After a few hours stitching the last couple of days it now looks like this:
A bit more purple, and border, and pinks; basically just a bit more of everything!
I still really enjoy stitching this one - maybe the design would pop more if I had stitched it on white aida but I really LOVE the gold-sparkling aida so no regrets! I love it so much that I have also bought a piece of silver-sparkling aida, and now I just have to find the appropriate design that will do the sparkly silver justice...:)
Even though I love my GBH sampler, I have had a couple of charts that I have been loooonging to start stitching, so yesterday I stiched gridlines onto a piece of blue aida and started stiching one of those charts:)
It is designed by my new favorite cross stitch designer Emma Congdon. Her designs have bright happy colours and often graphic patterns and words. This particular design is called Festive Flurry and can be found in Cross Stitcher issue 298. I really had to force myself to put this down last night; it was soo much fun to finally make a start on it! Any guesses what it is?
The first of my stitched Christmas gifts that I will show you is this ornament that I gave to my sister:
If I am not mistaken I think this design is also by Emma Congdon. I have stitched it a couple of times in different colour combinations since it is such a nice little crafty-themed chart. This time around I decided to add some beads for extra bling since I was going to give it to my bling-loving sister. From what I could tell my sister really loved it and immediately put it up on display in her own crafty corner:) That warms a sister's heart, I'll say!
That is it for now; my new project is calling for me!
Happy stitching everyone!
Annie
Sounds like you are truly enjoying your stitching time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great gift for your sister. I see why she likes it a lot.
Beautiful stitching your sister's gift is gorgeous. Enjoy your new stitching I Have the cross stitcheR magazine so know the design.
ReplyDeleteI love the non-traditional colors on your Christmas WIP! It's really cute.
ReplyDeleteI've never stitched gridlines before. Can I ask, how do you decide when to use them?
I have found that even though I spend a couple of hours stitching the gridlines before I can start 'for real', it really saves me time further down the line. But I only use sewing thread which is much thinner and doesn't get caught in my stiches as easily as other threads might. Once I started gridding my projects this way, I have to do it as whenever the design has many colours, is not so easy to count and is slightly larger.
DeleteThe GBH sampler has many small motives placed closed to each other so it is easy to count, whilst my other project is a bit more complex. Even though I COULD perhaps stitch it without gridlines it is soooo much easier to count and to place all your stitches right with the extra lines:))
Such a great gift that you stitched for your sister.
ReplyDeleteSo wonderful for you that you can enjoy your own projects now. I would also have celebrated it with a new project, lol. And it looks so promising. Nice progress on the Gingerbread House.
What a pretty gift for your sis! Great progress and start. Wouldn't blame you if you hold on to your blog design, it's so festive, but I'm sure you'll come up with something just as nice:)
ReplyDeleteLovely stitching :). I'm guessing it is one of the satsuma cities
ReplyDelete