My WIPs, part 3

 Hello Stitching Friends!

Finally we had some sunny and warm weather for a couple of days, and me and the furbabies enjoyed a wonderful long walk in the countryside.

Sadly the rainy and cold spring weather is back now but at least it's perfect weather for stitching😉.

But first it's time for some more of my WIPs. 

This first one I started last summer for The Spring into Summer New Start Binge 2020. I'd had this chart by Ursula Michael in my stash for a good while, since I fell in love with her various backstitch motifs. 

I wanted to have some fun with this design, so I'm stitching it on a lime green aida fabric which meant I hade to change some of the thread colours too. Even though I'm a bit tired of backstitch at the moment, I stitch a little bit on this one every now and then when I feel like it. 

* * *

This next one is from the period in my life - quite a while back - when I thought I could stitch ANYTHING... As soon as I saw this gorgeous design by Sheila Hudson in Cross Stitch Collection magazine I fell in love! I've always wanted to stitch a fairytale castle...but maybe I shouldn't have gone for one of the larger charts around😂🙈😂.

I don't think I even have to show you my 'progress'...since it's basically non-existant😂. Just stitching the guidelines took forever and I haven't even finished that😳...oh boy.

However, now that I actually pulled this project out of my neglected WIP box and had a fresh look at it, the 'only' problem is the size. Most of the stitches in the background are actually half cross stitches and should be fairly easy to do, and there isn't much backstitching going on either. Handling the project might be a problem though since I always stitch in hand and there's A LOT of fabric to handle😂😱. Like I said...what was I thinking?!!

* * *

This stunning Santa project by CeWeC has a sweet little story attached to it. I was looking for an old fashioned Santa to stitch, and when I saw this project I fell in love, again. But it was a table runner where you stitched the Santa twice, and that would never happen in my nook, no sir😉😂. However, I knew that my mum liked to stitch these kind of Christmas motifs too, so I thought: why not buy it for Christmas and divide all the material into two and give my mum half of it as a Christmas gift?? Then we could stitch a Santa each, and the motif would definitely work as a picture instead of a table runner. So I did, and my sister helped me to photocopy the chart and the front picture so I could turn it into a proper kit for my mum. And I think she was very happy with her Christmas gift.

I made a little start on it after Christmas, but instead of using the 11-count aida fabric that was included in the kit, I decided to stitch it on 14-count aida so I could use the loop start. I'm sure I'll get back to this gorgeous project when Christmas draws nearer.

* * *

When I got back from England 15 years ago and picked up cross stitching again, I wanted to stitch cross stitched gifts for everyone that I cared about. It took me a few years to realize that not everyone appreciated the time and love I put into every cross stitched item I gave away😌. In fact, these days I know that there are only a few people in my family and circle of acquaintances who truly treasures my cross stitched items. 

And this motorbike is one of those items I planned to give away...but then realized that it probably wasn't a good idea.

Maybe there will be a time where I can give away a stitched motorcycle to someone special and know that it'll be appreciated🙏. And whilst I wait for that person this project will remain a UFO...

* * *

Those of you who read my blog last year might remember me working on these lighthouses designed by Cheryl McKinnon. I stitched one of them and gave to my dad (who grow up with boats and the sea in his life just like I did) for his birthday, and my plan was to stitch another one for him for last Christmas.

Sadly I had to change my plans. My wonderful dad has alzheimer's disease 😢 and is slowly getting worse, and when I gave the lighthouse picture to him on his birthday last autumn he couldn't immediately tell which way was up on the lighthouse😨😢. Obviously I realized that there was no longer any point in stitching another picture for him... 

My plan has been to stitch these gorgeous lighthouses for myself too, but at the moment it's all just a bit too sad...

At present my total count of WIPs on my WIP page are up to 35...and there are quite a few left. Bet you cannot wait for the next installment😉😁! All I'm going to say about it for now is that the situation is actually not as bad as I thought😂🙈😂. And if you need more details on any of my WIPs, you can find it on my WIP page.

Hope you have a lovely stitching weekend!

Annie

PS Santas and Swedish crochet vibes:)

 Hello dear friends!

Thank you very, very much for your kind and supportive comments on my last post! It really warmed my heart, especially since I've felt so bad about not getting around to reading all your wonderful blogs. But I have begun to feel better - for the time being at least - so I hope I can catch up with you all properly in the next week or so.

One afternoon this week I made an effort to stitch on my PS Santas. So this is where I picked it up...

...and in an afternoon I managed to get this far:

 I'm afraid I have seriously fallen behind on this project, and my hope to catch up with my lovely stitching buddy Gominam is completely lost. And even more so now, since I also ran out of my red Santa colour DMC 221...:( My birthday is in June so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some birthday cash so I can order some more threads, as well as a chart for a forth PS Santa:)

----------------

With all the sporting events this summer, including the Olympics and the UEFA EURO 2016 (football), I'm feeling very patriotic at the moment and have decided to make some Swedish crochet decorations for my home. In case you didn't know, this is the Swedish flag...

...and in my local craft store I was lucky enough to find the perfectly coloured yarn. I'm working on a crochet bunting for my balcony, using these Maybelle flowers. Since one of my furbabies like to destroy my plants I don't really have any flowers on my balcony, so I thought a Swedish-style bunting would cheer the space up:))

 I have also made this little crochet heart as a decoration for my summer bag:

I have made hearts in other colours too...

 ...since they are kind of addictive lol.

I'm doing other crochet projects too, but they are going to be Xmas gifts so I can't show them here. Last Xmas I made a promise to myself to make sure I started VERY early with my gifts so I could take some time to relax in December, and now I'm making good on my promise to myself!

---------------

Sometimes I get a feeling that my furbabies think I spend too much time crafting lol. Especially my smallest furbaby. He's VERY devoted to me and likes to be very close so sometimes he can get quite frustrated when he has to compete with piles of aida and balls of yarn. Last night at my sister's place, he was desperate to lie next to me whilst I was crocheting, which meant that he had to lie on top of the armchair's armrest...

...and hang his head down next to it in order to lie as close to my legs as he could!

I tell you, we all laughed at him and were amazed that he could lie like that and sleep for over an hour LOL! Such devotion really makes your heart swell:))

I guess that's all for now. Hope you all have a lovely week and lots of time for some happy stitching and crafting!

Annie

Christmas gifts made and received...and snow!

Hello Everyone!

I'm very sad to say that this week I have not had time to stitch anything yet, since I have had to sort out my place after Christmas... Packing up all the Christmas stuff, bringing the boxes down to the cellar, removing all the left-over pine tree needles from my beautiful Xmas tree that now resides on my balcony, washing all my Xmas cushion covers etc etc...

Not much fun but VERY necessary! I'm just about finished now though, so I can't wait to pick up a needle again:) I have continued to go through cross stitching magazines though and looking for gift ideas, and I've done some sorting out of my projects to make sure I only have the very up-to-date projects close at hand and the others tucked away for now. I also plan go to through all my stitching freebies to see which ones I KNOW I'll never stitch, and therefore can use the fabric pieces etc for other things.

Since I don't have any stitching progress to show you this time, I thought I take this opportunity to show you some more homemade gifts from this past Xmas.

My sister made this wonderful picture for me:)

I also received this beautiful decoration from my sister...

...and this picture too:) Ring any bells???



My mum stitched this bookmark for me on 16-count aida...

...as well as this little cute needlebook:)

I made decorated jars for every female in my family with their stitched initial
on the lid.

For my aunts I decorated towels...

...with their first name.



I made this little cushion for my sister...

...and decorated this teatowel with a band of strawberries. 14 strawberries to
be exact...!

I made these little key fobs for my sister and BIL. The dog looks just like
one furbaby they have:)

Now, that just about wraps up a wonderful Christmas 2015. Now we're in the middle of a lot of snow and very cold temperatures over here in Sweden (minus 16 degrees Celcius), so I'll leave you all with some snowy pics...

 

 

 

 

 Happy Stitching Everyone!

Annie

Festive Flurry, a cottage and realizations...

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for your comments on my previous post!
As you might have guessed, the topic of that post meant a lot to me and I'm glad you enjoyed reading it:) As my dear sister pointed out, Grandma Mary would have turned 100 years old today if she'd been alive, so I hope she has a lovely birthday up in heaven and that she has access to internet and a cross stitch project in her lap LOL!

WE MISS YOU FARMOR (grandma) MARY!

Now on to present topics:)

I have done some more stitching on Festive Flurry, and I'm enjoying the process again. This is where I'm at now:

I'm really happy with my progress! Unfortunately I got sidetracked during the week, or I would have gotten even further...
Why is it that even though I have a pile of projects to stitch and to finish, a glimpse in an old cross stitch magazine had me diving through my threads and my fabric and before I knew it I just had to start stitching a small snowy cottage?! It just doesn't make sense, does it?! I've started to realise that it is quite often that we stitchers just don't make sense, do we?! And as if that wasn't enough, the 'small' design I picked had soooo much backstitch it felt like I was backstitching every single square... The magazine stated the stitching time to be 'a few hours'; it turned into a few DAYS for me.

From Cross Stitch Crazy issue 79
Designer: Debra Page

I thought I had finally finished it tonight, but when I took the picture I realised that I still hadn't backstitched the door...! Like I said, A FEW DAYS! Still, the cottage is very cute and I am tempted to stitch another one in the series. However, I'm going to wait a few days - at least - and I'll try to pick another cottage with less backstitching!

I've been thinking a lot about how to plan my stitching this year. I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions, but last year's stitching taught me a few things, especially about Xmas gift stitching! I started stitching the Christmas gifts way too late - obviously, since I only started in July LOL! That clearly wasn't early enough if I want to stitch gifts for all my family, so this year I am going to start just about NOW. Also, I realised that for me - slow stitcher, only aida, limited finishing knowledge/courage, limited resources - only certain kinds of charts are suitable for gift-making. Too elaborate charts tend to take WAAAY too long and put me off somewhere along the way. They also cost more to make as I have to buy more threads. And don't make me start on the backstitch!! I don't have a problem in general when it comes to backstitch, but it can take a LOONG time to do and therefore charts for gifts (with a set finishing date) shouldn't have too much backstitch - soo, no cottages as gifts LOL:) And I want to stitch charts with a limited amount of colours; saving both time on starts and stops as well as saving money on threads.

Of course, all these things do NOT apply to my own cross stitching projects; just so you know lol.

So, since it was so frustrating to not have time to finish all my stitched gifts for last Christmas, and having come to some realizations about my own limitations, I am now plowing through all my cross stitch magazines - maybe about a 100-150 magazines - for suitable charts for this upcoming Christmas. I'm also looking for ways to turn them into usable gifts - I don't want to bombard my family with only cushions and pictures...! I then plan to make a start and  do some sort of VERY loose form of rotation all througout the year between my own projects and my gift projects.

What do you think?? Does that sound like a sensible plan?
Time will tell, I guess.

Happy Stitching Everyone,

Annie

Memories of Grandma Mary's stitching!

Hello Everyone!

 

I come from a family of crafters. My maternal grandmother made fur coats and in her spare time she used to knit and cross stitch. As she is now near to her 90s, she can 'only' manage long stitch these days. My late grandpa painted pictures and enjoyed making things. My dad has always been very handy with wood and amongst other things basically built a whole large family boat! As you may already know, my mum also enjoys lots of crafts. She's very good at lace-making, and have throughout the years crocheted numerous granny square blankets and knitted lots of different things. Both my great grandma and grandpa on my mother's side used to cross stitch and made big tapestries:) So, when I think about it, lots of creative talants and inspiration!

 

However, being a cross stitcher myself (as well as a knitter, sewer and crocheter of course) I must say that my paternal grandma Mary's accomplishements are extra-special to me.

 

Grandma Mary and Grandpa Axel

Sadly she is no longer with us, but the memories of her are still vivid in my mind, as is all her crafty accomplishments! Amongst other things, she made the most beautifully knitted jumpers with amazing motives in multiple colours; things I could only dream of knitting. And she cooked yummy sunday dinners with meat from elk/moose:)) But what I mostly remember about her is all her cross stitch projects, and how she used to sit on her old sofa with huge charts on the table in front of her, and a large piece of fabric in her lap:) Looking back it really grieves me that I really never took opportunity to sit with her and learn from her. At the time I was only a teenager who found cross stitch quite boring - it took sooo much time to stitch something! - and I preferred to sew clothes and knit jumpers and crochet doilies.

 

I do remember some things she did when she stitched though. I remember that she used to stitch gridlines so it is thanks to her that I save lots of time using gridlines when I stitch. She also used to mark off her charts as she stitched, but to me it looked messy and I don't do that. Having gridlines always helps me to keep my place on the charts anyway, so I have never felt the need to mark my charts.

 

I actually has one small black and white chart that she used once, and I can see how she has marked off all the squares as she stitched...

 

 

It feels amazing that she has used this chart herself maybe 40 years ago..! I quite like motive too so maybe I'll stitch it myself one day, although grandma has made it a bit difficult for me to see the symbols lol. On the front of the chart are lots and lots of small holes which I assume is from her doing her marking with a very sharp pencil...lol.

 

 

This is a very small chart for being my grandma though! She really liked to stitch huge designs, and the most impressive picture she cross stitched MUST be this HUGE picture of old-time Stockholm...

 

Yes I know the picture is huge, and it deserves to be!

...that now hangs on the wall at my dad's place. Can you imagine the amount of hours she must have spent on it?! Even though she was a fast stitcher, it still must have taken her at least 1000 hours!
Now that I really have gotten into cross stitch myself, and know how much time it takes and how much work goes into it, this project just baffles and amazes me no end! And HOW I wish I now could have had the chance to sit down with her and learn the 'tricks of the trade' from a Master! Just watching her stitch would have been amazing...!

Anyhow, the REAL reason I'm writing this post is because I want to show you a VERY special Christmas gift I received this past Xmas from my sister:)
My sister is another amazing crafter in our family! She does just about anything - except for cross stitch - and in the last couple of years she has learnt how to quilt, and she has made amazing quilts for everyone:) So when I remembered that I had a bag in the cellar filled with 24 cross stitched pictures of national flowers/greenery that grandma Mary stitched over 30 years ago, I asked my sister if she thought she could combine her quilting skills with grandma's cross stitching and create new stunning things like cushions that we could use in our everyday life, instead of the precious cross stitched pictures just being in my cellar year after year.

Luckily my sister though that was an excellent idea and she spent the autumn creating gorgeous cushions out of grandma Mary's cross stitches, and on Christmas Eve I received my very own beautiful cushion! I had the advantage at one stage to choose my favorite flowers out of the many grandma stitched and they looked amazing all together:

Some close-ups...

 

My dad also got a beautiful cushion from my sister (and his mum), and my mum got a small cushion too... 

 

 

 ...from her daughter (and former mother-in-law). My sister also sent cushions to my aunt and my cousin and I am sure we will all treasure our beautiful cushions, and the best of all is that grandma Mary's work is displayed beautifully and enjoyed by us all in our everyday lives!

Lastly I just have to share with you a funny - and a bit sad - story from grandma Mary's last years. She developed Alzheimer as she got older but that didn't stop her from enjoying her crafts to the best of her ability. And that became even more obvious when my mum received all of grandma Mary's craft things after she passed away. You see, amongst Mary's things my mum found about six cross stitched starts of the same picture!!! She must have started on the project, then forgotten that she has started on it, so then she would make a new start on the same project again ... over and over again...! I just don't know whether to laugh or cry about it! Talk about the project that never ends:)) I guess what really matters was that she could enjoy doing what she had always done!

 

Unfortunately it is quite a big project, and not at all my style...otherwise I'd be tempted to finish it just to enjoy the feeling of working on the same project that my grandma started. Maybe in some years' time I'll feel like finishing one of them; we certainly have enough versions to go around LOL.

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Annie

Happy New Year, and Thank YOU!!!

Hello Everyone!

One of the best things for me this year has been starting this cross stitch blog! It has given me sooo much joy and inspiration. I have enjoyed 'meeting' lots of like-minded cross stitch fanatics; I have enjoyed sharing my various cross stitch projects with you and I have been very, very grateful for every wonderful comment I have received! And I have found a very enjoyable way to keep my English language skills resonably alive! Simply a win-win all around! So THANK YOU SOO MUCH for being part of this wonderful experience!

I'm really looking forward to sharing many more projects with you in the new year, and to see what projects you all will choose to stitch in 2016.

So, on to real stitchy matters:) Today I was not able to work on Festive Flurry as much as I would have liked. I had to make rasberry ice-cream for New Year's Eve at my sister's, and I had another project to work on as well. This is as far as I have come now:

I have started to add faint outlines so maybe you can start to see what it is...? I realised that I had to start stitching the background too, since it is much more boring than the colourful buildings in the middle, and I don't want to risk being left with only the boring background and then loose my stitching mojo in the process...! Let's hope my plan works lol:)

Time to show you another Christmas gift I stitched this year. I stitched this picture for my dad, since he loves the sea and boats.

He actually built a large boat that we spend every holiday on when my sister and I were children and he still has the boat that is now over 30 (!) years old. The picture looked like a simple design, and it was, considering the limited amount of colours, but it was much more time-consuming to stitch the big blocks of colours than I imagined! I worked on it up until the evening before he received it and I must have spent around 150-200 hours on it. (I'm not the fastest stitcher around...) The design is from Cross Stitcher issue 292 and the designer is Lucie Heaton. I did change the words into the Swedish version of 'Every day is a gift' instead of the original 'Every day is a new adventure'.

At last I want to wish you all a

 

VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR,

 

and I look forward to catching up with you all in the new year!

 

Annie

Happily back to working on my own projects...!

Hello Everyone!

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