Spring Into Summer New Start Binge and thread organizers

Hello Stitching Friends❣

I'm SO happy to see that a few of you found my previous post, and even took the time to leave a comment. Thank you so much; that really made my day😘❤❣ And it also made me even more happy and pleased with being back in the land of cross stitching!

For the first time in a long time I also caught up with some of my favorite cross stitching blogs around the world and it felt really good to read your posts and be reminded of the warmth and encouragement that exists amongst stitchers💝. 

And to my delight I also found a perfectly good reason to start another cross stitching project...or two... I mean, who doesn't want a reason to start another project??? RACHEL and TIFF started and planned the SPRING INTO SUMMER NEW START BINGE with a new start every weekend during April, May, June and July to replace the sad absence of the Tokyo Olympics. I desperately miss all sports around the world that have been cancelled and anything that takes my mind off it is a good thing.   

Hence I started a design by Ursula Michael yesterday! It's one of her many gorgeous 'Let's…..' word designs made up of just words and backstitch. I love them all but only have a couple of charts. This one, Let's Cross Stitch, I bought back in 2016 so it's about time I started it, don't you think?!

I had some lovely lime-coloured aida in my stash and I originally planned to use it for another design, but I changed my mind and decided to use it for this one instead. And I'm so happy I did! It works perfectly with the bright colour threads and the simple backstitch design. I also replaced a couple of the original tread colours since I'm trying to use ONLY my old stash (the last couple of years have been a huge financial struggle for me...). That means that I have to make a couple of adjustments to the original chart. For example, the scissors should be stitched in DMC 333 but I used 915 instead as you can see. I actually don't think you can tell that I changed the numbers 333 to 915😊. Overall it feels great to finally start this project, and I only wish I had more of these lovely charts by Ursula Michael...

I was on such a stitching roll yesterday. After I finished working on my new start, I picked up this lovely Swedish project again.

I added some more greenery, and started to stich the cottages and lighthouse and some more water. My needle was flying and I didn't feel like stopping until well after midnight. Which I'm paying for today...😁. But I enjoyed myself immensely and I was so happy to be cross stitching again!

Lastly, I have to show you the thread organizers my clever sister made for me! When I stitch freebies from cross stitching magazines I always need some kind of organizers for the loose threads and mostly I make something really ugly and haphazardly such as this one:

 So I thought I'd ask my super creative sister instead if perhaps she could help me to make some nicer ones?!

So she kindly cut some new ones from her cardstock in lovely colours and then I decorated them with some old stickers that my sister also made. Aren't they pretty?! I almost want to grab a freebie card and start stitching just so I can use them😂.

Now it's time for me to stop blogging and start stitching.

Happy Stitching,

Annie

The Mojo is back in town!

Hello Stitching friends❣❣❣

I knew it would happen at some point. I just didn't know when… And I certainly couldn't predict that something as awful as the Covid-19 pandemic would be the main reason for it😲!

But regardless of the reason….I have found my cross stitching mojo again🙌🙏👏❣

And I couldn't be happier about it😀. And I'm Back in the land of Cross Stitching👏!

I stopped stitching towards the end of 2016 because I was struggling badly with my mental health and I just couldn't find the joy in stitching any more. Instead I picked up my crochet hook and later on I also did some knitting and that's what I've been doing for crafts for the last three years. 

However, I knew that eventually I would bring out the aida fabric and the threads and I actually gave it a try last autumn. Sadly that experience did not work since I got an anxiety attack as I tried to stich. So I put the stuff away again. 

But then this awful year happened… And Covid-19 made all the amazing sporting events I looked forward to this year, such as the Olympics, disappear - as well as a lot of other things - and lots of time suddenly needed to be filled with something. Strangely enough I also started to get bored with crochet and knitting - I mean, I had ONLY been doing it for three years😂😂😂!

So when I spotted this cross stitch project by Permin...

...I knew it would be a perfect gift for my sister when she turned 45 this spring. She's amazing and she is always creating all sorts of stuff or she is busy thinking of creating stuff. 

I must say it was a perfect project to get me stitching again; an easy pattern and just a few colours. And since I had a deadline I couldn't stop even if I wanted to. Which I didn't😊.

Being on a cross stitch roll I also decided to stitch this cute freebie birthday card for her:

The card is from Cross Stitch Crazy issue 213 and designed by Margaret Sherry. Very cute, but I had completely forgotten how much backstitch her designs include😳! I remember now why I didn't really go for her designs that much before. Just doing the backstitch took me as much time as the rest of the design...or at least it felt like it...

Still, I'm very glad that I kept ALL my freebies from ALL of my old cross stitching magazines. It's such a stitching treasure to have now.

With Easter coming up, I also stitched a few Easter cards to send to my online friends...

The patchwork flowers are designed by Lesley Teare from

The World of Cross Stitching issue 230

 ...as well as a little cute hanging.

From Enjoy Cross Stitch Birds & Butterflies Spring 2016

When I started to stitch again, I also decided to go through my enormous cross stitching stash to see what I had and to try to create some kind of order out of all the boxes of stuff I had saved since 2016.
Of course I had not gotten rid of ANYTHING since I knew I would get back to it when the time was right. Out of all the projects I found, these two are the ones I've started to work on this week.

They're from a Swedish cross stitching brand (Svarta Fåret) and the theme is Swedish summer and archipelago, and it's something I long for now. We used to have a large boat in our family, but my father had to sell it for health reasons and the way things are now in the world I really miss the whole soothing boating experience.

So instead I try to create it in stitches. As you do.

I have absolutely no idea if anyone is ever going to read this post since it is over 3 years since I last posted something here. I know I had some followers back in the day but that was a long time ago. But now when the cross stitching mojo came back, I also got the urge back to blog about my stitching. Even if no one else reads this except for me, it is still a very nice way to keep track of my projects and enjoy the progress I make. And for now, I'll keep writing my posts in English. That way hopefully more people can understand me (if they ever find me😉)...and I get to practice my English skills!

Happy Stitching,

Annie 

Halloween and Christmas stitching coming along:)

Hello Friends!

My plan was to post at the beginning of the week, but before I knew it what I thought would be a quiet week turned into quite a busy week with dental issues for one of my dogs, a movie visit with a friend, dog-sitting 2 dogs for a friend - yes, I currently have FIVE dogs at home to look after - and various other things. Today I have to do laundry, household chores and some baking as well as look after all the dogs, but I wanted to share my stitching with you  before I start with all that boring housework...!

My PS Halloween chart Cats, Bats & Witches is coming along very nicely:)

I just love working on this one and as long as I don't run out of any more threads, I hope I can finish this well in time for Halloween.

I have stitched a little on the PS chart And to All a Good Night...

...but I find it extremely boring to stitch with only blacks and browns, so I don't think I'll get much more progress done before I can send for some more threads (ie reds and greens!) which hopefully can happen next week. Fingers crossed!

Since I got one more PS Santa (the knitting Santa) over the summer, I have now started to stitch him alongside the other Santas:

I would really like to get these Santas finished before Christmas, but I'm not sure there will be enough time. I have soo many crafty projects on the go right now. Many are Christmas gifts and some are just for me. We'll see how I go...

I'm also stitching this little freebie snowman from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine issue 220.

This snowman is a special project since I'm doing it together with my sister. Once I'm finished with the stitching part, she is going to take over and incorporate it on a beautiful Christmas tag using her scrapbooking techniques. I can't wait to see the result!

Lastly I have made a tiny start on Country Cottage Needleworks 'Cookies for Santa'.

 

It took me quite some time to stitch the gridlines, since I decided to use sparkling aida and it was difficult to make out the correct holes in the fabric. I hope this project will look OK together with the extra sparkle that the fabrics provide; I just really wanted to have some fun with it and I loved working on the sparkling aida last time I used it! I have a feeling this might be a slow-going project though, since it's just for fun and will therefore be far down on the list of crafty things that I REALLY want to get done before Christmas!

 

Hope you're all well and having fun with your stitching and other crafty projects! 

 

Annie

This week's stitching:)

Hello friends:)

Here's a quick update on what I've been stitching on this week.

I have been working on The Prairie Schooler's Cats, Bats & Witches and I must say that I'm really enjoying this one:)

Even though I'm not really a Halloween person, I'm having soo much fun stitching all these little quirky motifs:) And the best part is that if I can finish this one soon - which feels quite doable - I have an even bigger design like it to tackle after that, lol!

I have also started Cross Stitcher magazine's SAL that they have been running all year. I feel in love with it straight away - since the first piece featured a cute Christmas dog! - and now that I'm stitching again I had to make a start!

Designer: Susan Penny

I have already had some issues with it though; the measurements the magazine has mentioned didn't seem to work - at least not to me! - so I have had to do quite a lot of frogging :((( And of course I don't have all the right threads, and I have still not decided if I'm going to use my stash or order the correct DMC ones. And the grey aida I'm using is not perfect for the white snowy details - they tend to blend into the fabric - but I'm perservering! And loving it as I go, since the little Christmas motifs are so cute:) 

Hope you are all well!

Annie

Glad to be back...and with some stitching too:)

Hello Everyone!

Hope you're all well? I can't believe I haven't posted for almost two months... Oh well, time flies when one crochets, lol!

But guess what??!! My stitching mojo is back! Happy Days! I think it happened sometime during the 17 days and nights when I watched the Olympics and crocheted around the clock...suddenly I found myself longing for a change...And thinking of all my cross stitch projects...and thinking even more of my Prairie Schooler chart stash that I am dying to dive into!
So now I am dividing my crafting time between crocheting and stitching; I still have Xmas gifts to crochet so I can't put away my crochet hook. But in my head and soul the little cross stitches have taken over and make me long for cross stitching all day long:)

So of course you wonder what projects have I picked up now that I'm back to the lovely aida, cross stitch needles and DMC floss?

Well, the first one out is The Prairie Schooler's Cats, Bats & Witches:

I have really surprised myself with picking this Halloween chart. Sweden isn't too big on Halloween itself and only celebrates it because we've been influenced by the Americans:) Personally I don't celebrate it at all, but I have seen some really cool Halloween charts on your blogs and on the online stitching stores and began fancy stitching my own witches:) And this PS chart is perfect for me as it only uses 4 DMC colours! So there we are. I decided to pick the smaller chart to stitch first and I hope I can get it done in time for Halloween THIS year, haha.

The next chart is Christmas Tree Farm by PS, and this I started before my stitching mojo disappeared, but now I'm really keen to carry on stitching some more reindeers and Xmas trees:)

And of course we mustn't forget the forlorn PS Santas that are way overdue for a finish:

 I stiched this alongside Gominam at http://stitchniche.blogspot.se/ and since she's such a speedy stitcher she has of course finished it a long time ago. But now I have purchased a fourth Santa and some more thread so I should be able to finish this too - hopefully - before Xmas. Unless I have to make Xmas gifts etc... Oh well, we'll see... But at least I am going to carry on putting in a few crosses on my Santas every now and then, and then we'll see what happens:)

The good thing is that despite me being such an unreliable stitching companion, Gominam have decided to join me for another SAL as we stitch The Prairie Schooler's Xmas design And to All a Good Night . I'm really looking forward to this, and yesterday I decided to start and hopefully get a headstart on my super-speedy stitching companion, lol:)

However, my start didn't exactly go smoothly...:(. First of all I realised that yet again I didn't have all the threads I needed, like the reds and greens...Pretty important colours for a Xmas design I'd say!  However, I did have dark grey -yay! - so I decided to stitch the sleigh and counted and counted to make sure it ended up in the right spot.
And of course it didn't!! I was so pleased with my little sleigh until I realised that I would have to frog it... The whole sleigh... But I perservered and stitched another sleigh and added some more gray and brown and I will order the festive colours later on when I can afford it. It already feels as if I'm falling behind on this project too, lol.

Lastly I have made a start on this cute little Snowman freebie from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine.

 

Thankfully the kit included all the threads I need and thankfully I got to stitch with another colour than greyish black lol:)

 

Happy Stitching everyone!

 

Annie 

Exciting new chart stash!!!

Dear friends!

 

Guess what has happened!

I received my new chart stash from Stitching Bits and Bobs in the US!  

I can't believe how fast I received my order; it didn't take them much more than a week to get it to me! That is faster than some companies here in Sweden!

 

I love all my new charts, and of course I want to share them with you; my stitching buddies:)

 

Above all I wanted to get my hands on some Prairie Schooler charts that I didn't have and I'm happy to say that I now have them:) First up is the charts Reindeer Roundup and And to All a Good Night:

Then I wanted Christmas Eve that I saw Gominam at Stitch Niche stitch earlier this year, and of course I had to get Happy Christmas with all those cute Santa lodgings!

Being a bit concerned about all the Christmas stitching I picked (and how will I find place to display it all??? LOL), I decided to pick a Halloween chart...

...Cats, Bats & Witches! I just love all those black witches and the bats etc:) I don't really celebrate Halloween, but I guess I have been affected by all the fun Halloween stitching I've seen on other stitching blogs. So it's your fault that I got this one, lol!!!

But of course I couldn't stay away from a Prairie Schooler Christmas for long, and I had to get a forth PS Santa for my long and overdue collection piece that I'm supposed to stitch alongside Gominam. Of course she has finished her (see HERE) whilst I lost my stitching mojo, but at least now I can make a start on my forth Santa since I have bought the knitting Santa:

Then I came across some PS charts I hadn't seen before! They were from a limited addition and of course I fell in love with Santa's house...

...Santa's reindeers and christmas trees...

 

...and Santa's chimney!

Can't wait to stitch them!

Then I picked a chart that I have seen on other websites and that I just love. I love the colours and the words and the decorations...!

Cookies for Santa
by
Country Cottage Needleworks

It is just so precious and I HAD to get it just because! I just had to have it, lol. I've never stitched their designs before, but I am really looking forward to stitching this one! (I won't bore you with all the charts I wanted to get but couldn't afford...)

Now I'm waiting for a batch of threads I have ordered from http://www.sewalong.co.uk/ and then I can hopefully make a start soon. Meanwhile I have to ponder what on earth I'm going to do with all the Christmas stitching I'm planning to do...lol!

Happy Stitching and stashing everyone!

Annie

Find me on Instagram...and on the couch crocheting:)

Hello Friends!

I'm still crocheting... as well as waiting for my stitching mojo to reappear:)

 I had a lovely birthday celebration with lots of lovely gifts and kind thoughts sent my way, and made me feel very grateful to have such lovely friends and family <3 <3. AND, I was lucky enough to receive some birthday cash, which meant that I could order some more PS charts online from the US!!! I'm sooo excited for them to arrive, and I can feel my mojo starting to come alive when I think of those gorgeous charts in my hands! Of course I still have to buy some more threads, but I'm hoping that after the sad news of the Brexit, I might be able to order some threads from England and benefit from the exchange rate. A sad state of affairs, but there it is. Since stitching stash is so expensive in Sweden you have to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way...!

You may have noticed something new on my blog...???
YES, I have joined the land of #hashtags and emojis and I now have my own Instagram account:
@handarbetsgumman (Swedish for 'the little woman who enjoy crafts'). So if you think I'm bad at updating the blog you're welcome to join me at Instagram at any time. I mostly show my crafty WIPs, which are all crochet-inspired at the moment, but when I'm back in the land of cross stitching I'm sure there will be plenty of pics of cross stitching to enjoy too.

Enough of my news. Here's some pics from the last couple of weeks:

My oldest furbaby looking for shade and escape from the heat.

My sunny seaside mandala (inspired by a crochet pattern from www.bautawitch.se.

My talented sister had wrapped my birthday gifts soo beautifully!

One of my gorgeous - if I may say so myself lol - crochet WIPs.

Homebaked birthday Pavlova and a lovely afternoon at my friend's place:)

My darling old boy is turning 11 years old in a few days time...Where did the years go?!

Celebrating Mid-summer in Sweden at my mum's allotment and my youngest
furbaby enjoyed resting under the wooden bench:) Cutie pie!

Another one of my crochet WIPs! Tulip Mandala pattern found HERE .

From my sister I got a hand-crafted notebook which I have turned
into a crafty-notes/planner book.

Annie

Moments from a very busy period...

My furbabies have kept an eye on me and all my crafty projects:)

My only (pathetic) cross stitch finish lately. It's a freebie from a recent issue of
Cross Stitch Crazy.

I have crocheted lots and lots of coasters...

...in various colour combinations!

 

My furbabies have played outside in the sunshine.

I went away visiting my 89-year-old grandma one weekend and she fell in love
with the mandala I was working on...so I gave it to her of course!

We talked a lot about my lovely grandpa who passed away in 2004.

I have crocheted lots and lots of little flowers...

...and attached some of them to my crochet hearts!

A good friend's son graduated and had a lovely celebration with some lovely food.
Especially this Eton mess with summer berries was to die for!!!

I have an order for a crochet wrap which is coming along nicely.

Last Sunday my sister and I sold some stuff at mum's allotment.
It was a nice day and we made quite a lot of money:)))

 

I'm happy to say that my homemade cookies sold very well indeed. Here's
a few 'Cakes-in-a-jar' that were for sale too:)

I'm cheering on Sweden in the EURO fotball championship in France and looking
forward to the Olympics in August, so of course I had to decorate my balcony in
the Swedish colours to show my support for all our competitors! 

And my oldest furbaby takes every opportunity he can to eat doggy treats and to
get some attention. And of course I try to oblige; after all,
he's turning a very distinguished 11 years old in a couple of weeks!  

Hope you are all enjoying your summer!

 

Annie