Swedish summer, Mother's Day and a few more finishes!

Hello Stitching Friends!

Hope you all are ok? Over here in Sweden summer has arrived, and me and my furbabies can go for long leisurely walks in the beautiful Swedish countryside. 

On my balcony I'm growing chives and basil for all those lovely summer salads. I have also had my first covid shot, and have my second one booked for the middle of July. Thankfully my parents are fully vaccinated now which is a relief, and my family are actually gathering next week to celebrate my wonderful niece who's graduating and leaving her school years behind her and who already has a job as a security guard lined up🙌.

But apart from all that, I'm mostly spending my days cross stitching whilst watching sports on the telly😁. And my dogs use my balcony more than I do because I prefer to stitch curled up on my sofa😂. As well as being a crafting addict, I'm also a very crazy sports fan and I've been known to plan my life around World Championships etc. So with all the icehockey going on right now (Stanley Cup playoffs and the World Championships), and then the UEFA EURO 2021 and after that the Olympics, I plan for endless hours of stitching fun in front of the telly this summer.

I have already had time to stitch a few smalls. It was Mother's Day here in Sweden last weekend so I stitched a card...

Original design from The World of Cross Stitching, issue 198.
Designer: Lucie Heaton

...and a bookmark...

Petal Markers featured in Cross Stitch Collection, issue 206.
Designer: Lesley Teare

...for my lovely mum.

In fact, I owe the bookmark finish to the amazing TIFF who kindly offered to send me DMC threads (and aida fabrics) from the US so I could finish this project and few other unfinished projects💝. Her wonderful kindness still warms my heart💝🙏. Thank you again Tiff !!!

I have also managed to finish my snowglobe designed by Emma Congdon and I'm very pleased with it!

Festive Flurry from Cross Stitcher, issue 298.
Designer: Emma Congdon

My original plan was to display it in a hoop (like the original design) but hoops that size are just too expensive for me right now so I'll probably use a regular frame from IKEA in the end.

I love all the rich colours!

Finishing an old project felt soo good and really made me feel inspired to finish more projects so now I'm spending a little bit of time on this cute doggy picture every other day so I can get it finished too. I've already finished the top right corner and bit by bit I'm getting there. Lots and lots of white stitches left to do though...

It's a dog's life from Cross Stitch Collection, issue 224
Designer: Jayne Netley Mayhew

I have also finished the spring tree from the seasonal trees design by Cheryl McKinnon...

...and now I'm working on the brightly coloured autumn tree.

I haven't decided how I'm going to finish these yet...  Any ideas?

Seasonal Trees from Cross Stitch Crazy issue 260.
Designer: Cheryl McKinnon

I haven't quite finished cataloguing my WIP's/UFO's yet but I have taken some more pictures of them. Hopefully I'll finish that task next week before the EURO starts on Friday 11th. 

Now I'm going to leave you to go for a walk with the dogs before I get stuck into some more stitching. I saw these cute little dreamcatcher letters that I'd like to have a go at😁😉...

Hope you have a lovely stitchy weekend wherever you are💝🌞🌸!

Annie

All My WIPs - part 1

 Hello Stitching Friends!

I'm constantly amazed and impressed with how organized some of you are when it comes to your WIPs and your stash🙌! That is far from the way things are over here in My Little X-stitch Nook 😂🙈. I have a couple of boxes overbrimming with stitching projects in varying stages of completion in no kind of order whatsoever. I have another box with mixed fabrics and yet another box with threads. Sometimes I try to organize the WIPs by removing (ie stuffing in a box or bag) those that I don't feel like working on, but it doesn't take long before various WIPs get dragged out again and the WIP piles on the sofa and on the livingroom table grows out of control and they all get shoved into the boxes again😂. Just pure wonderful and chaotic crafting chaos🙈😉.

One of those overflowing WIP-boxes...and a furbaby!

However, my family recently helped me to replace my old brokendown and scruffy sofa with a new one and now I'm feeling quite inspired to try to organize my stitching chaos which at the moment surrounds my new sofa. And I'm thinking that the first thing I want to do is to count all my WIPs; who knows, it might not be as bad as I'm thinking, haha. And of course that includes listing and recording them all here on the blog under the page named MY WIPs. At the same time I have also removed a couple of other pages that I don't use anymore. 

I tend to keep most of my WIPs in these extremly handy and large plastic zip bags...

...which I buy quite cheaply at our local IKEA store.

So today I have started this organizing process - I'm so pumped😁!!! - and I thought it might be fun to show you a few of those old and new and big and small and just started or almost finished WIPs in the next few posts, at the same time as I add them to my WIP page. You will probably recognize a few if you have followed me for a while, but who cares, right?! All the details of the charts/designers are available in the WIP page.

* * *

This one I started a long time ago, before I got my beagle 9 years ago. The original pattern is from Cross Stitch Crazy issue 137 and designed by Gail Bussi. I wanted to do the words in Swedish which made it a lot harder and I also added the names of my (then) two furbabies. Then I decided to add a couple of flowers (using threads from my stash) but the flower on the right looks awful 🙈😂😩and needs to be frogged...and that's where I ran out of steam... It could be cute though...some day...

* * *

This is an old one too, and from the period in my life where I loved to stitch animals. Of course this one is impossible for me to finish before I get new glasses (because of the black fabric), but I've made quite good progress and one day it'll hopefully be finished and look stunning on my wall.

* * *

This snow globe design by Emma Congdon only needs a day or two more of stitching and I'm hoping to get around to it before next Christmas.

* * *

And the same goes for this beautiful Swedish Christmas scene. The one little issue with this project is that I have to use three threads with the 11-count fabric, which sadly rules out the loop start😒

* * *

So I'm pretty sure you can understand why I chose to start this project😁😍.

It reminded me of my precious furbabies, especially before they got old and their faces turned all white😍💝. I would like to get around to finishing this one too; maybe I'll sew one thread every day like some of you do...🤔?

* * *

This one is probably my oldest WIP which I started when I still lived in London 15 years ago, and it is far away from being finished... All those fractionals and backstitches in the bouquet are really putting me off. However, it does make me smile when I see the LARGE piece of aida I chose to stitch it on😉. I earned a lot of money back then and could afford more fabrics and threads and cross stitching magazines etc. These days I'm always quite stingy with the fabric...😞.

* * *

This Lavender Fairy by Joan Elliott still needs a lot of bling! I've started with the Kreinik braid but there are are also a lot of beads to add and other details missing. Maybe when I get new glasses I can get around to it. It's very pretty though, isn't it? 

* * *

So these projects (and more) have been added to the WIP page for now. There isn't even a dent in my stash though, so I'll be back with many more WIPs soon. Anyone want to guess how many there are in total??? For your information I have no idea myself so I'm enjoying this process with mixed dread and delight😲😂😂😂.

Hope you have a lovely weekend with lots of relaxing stitching!

Annie

Speaking of dogs . . . and a little XS : )

Hi all !

 

I have finished a project ! Yay !

Sadly I cannot show it here yet until I have given it to its recipient , but I am very pleased with it and all I have left to do is to frame it and give it away : ) Pictures coming soon , I promise ! !

 

I have also been stitching on my little dog : )

This project looked like this a few days ago . . .

 

 

. . . and then I stitched a bit on the top right corner . . .

 

. . . and on the bottom of the armchair . . .

 

. . . and on the cushion . . .

 

...so this is what it looks like right now :

 

I'm not sure I have ever enjoyed a cross stitch project as much as I am this one - it feels as if every cross stitch is stitched with love <3

 

Speaking of love , my oldest furbaby , my dearest friend , celebrated his tenth birthday yesterday !

 

He is my very first dog that I have owned myself . . .

 

. . . and I just cannot imagine my life without him !

 

Happy birthday , my very dearest , dearest friend !

May you run like this for a very very long time ! !

 

Happy Stitching Everyone ! ! !

 

Annie 

Supersweet four-legged cutie!

Hi all!

 

I've been waiting around for my thread order - which is taking its time - and meanwhile I suddenly found myself looking for a change of project . . . So I dug through my pile of WIPs and came up with this adorable dog . . .

 

 

. . . from Cross Stitch Collection issue 224 . The designer is Jayne Netley Mayhew and it feels as if she has designed this gorgeous dog based on my own furbabies . . . ! 

So the last couple of days I have added some more cross stitches especially around the eyes . . .

 

. . . so that he now has a simply adorable gaze ! ! ! 

This is where I stopped tonight .
I had to stop working on this one whilst I stitched Joan Elliott's Unicorn for my sister and somehow it ended up amongst my WIPs , but it feels great to be stitching it again ! I have always loved this design : = )

Happy Stitching Everyone !

Annie

Some recent projects and my favorite WIP!

Hi !

Firstly I just want to say that I am truly humbled by the lovely comments I have received on this blog :) It means SO much to me that you take the time to read about me and my cross stitch projects!

Secondly , at the moment my head is full of ideas of how I want this blog to be but it'll take some time to organize it all so I hope you can be patient with me ...:)

Right now I'm mostly working on a couple of secret cross stitch projects that I can't blogg about yet, but I thought I'd show you a few other things I have been cross stitching lately. I've recently been a bit more brave when it comes to cross stitching even though it is a very scary process for me to venture past 14-count aida  haha ! One of the things I did was to decorate an iphone case with cross stitch . I found a perfect chart in Cross Stitcher and after a few adjustments of the colours my finished case looked like this :

 

It was much easier to stitch than I though. The pre-made holes were easy to pierce and it was very easy to fasten the threads too. In fact I loved the whole process so much that I wouldn't mind doing another one if I had the chance one day!

I also stitched this wooden keyring which was a freebie from an old Cross Stitcher magazine.

 

                  

 

This was also a very fun and rewarding project and I have the perfect bag to attach it too as well! Luckily I also have a similar heartshaped wooden keyring to do! I actually feel like I'm beginning to gain some confidence in my stitching skills and beginning to test myself when it comes to different cross stitch project . Reading all the wonderful blogs out there and seing what other people stitch really helps too!

 

Except for my secret projects I do have a favorite WIP which have had to take a backseat the last couple of weeks . It is this gorgeous dog designed by Jayne Netley Mayhew and it is published in Cross Stitch Collection issue 224!

 

 

 If you take a quick peek at at the header of my Swedish blog http://varanlillavra.blogspot.se/ , you can see why I love this project sooo much . You see , this little chap looks very much like two of my own dogs ! Which obviously meant I HAD to stitch him eventually . . . I can't wait to get back to him at the end of April !

Now I have to get back to documenting all my stitching on this blog . I'm really looking forward to having all my current cross stitch projects and my must-dos photographed and recorded so I can see them all with only a couple of clicks on the keyboard!!

Happy Stitching !

Annie