A visit to Christmas Town

Hello Everyone!

Hope you're all well:)

Over here in Sweden the snow is melting away and the temperatures are creeping above zero degrees. I have yet to see any spring flowers though, and it seems way too early for Easter in a couple of weeks.

My life has continued to be filled with far too many little things like laundry days, baking (to save money) and precious time with my friends and family. Although some of it have been nice things, I have still felt frustrated that I haven't had time to do other things I enjoy such as following my favorite blogs or stitching on my favorite projects. Therefore I am determined that this week will be devoted to my stitching and blogging, thus also giving me time to relax and de-stress.

This means that I sadly haven't got much stitching progress to show you. I've only worked on Christmas Town (by Emma Congdon). This is where I was when I picked it up last week:

After a few hours stitching here and there over the last seven days I now find myself here:

Some more outlined buildings and the top border of the sky, as well as some more green on the Xmas tree... I did another colour swap though. The beige colour used in the magazine just seemed too dull to me, so I decided to use a more creamy offwhite (see the clock tower). Luckily I didn't have to do too much frogging, and I'm much happier with the new shade. Overall it doesn't feel like much progress, but I really hope to stitch much more on this project in the upcoming weeks:))

Since I haven't got more stitching to show you today, I'll leave you with pics of my precious grey-haired ten-year-old furbaby...

 ....and my other two four-legged troublemakers!

To the right side of my furbabies you can - just about - see some of my (unorganized) crafty stash pile which hopefully will find its way onto a new craft shelf soon - about time I'd say too lol.

Happy Stitching!

Annie

A stitchy round-up of the week

Hello Everyone!

First I want to apologize for not having had the time to catch up with all your lovely blogs this week. I've been busy with baking sweet goodies, seeing friends and watching LOTS of sports on the telly. I'm a huge sports fan and with a cross country skiing tour in Canada and World Championship in Biathlon and many other sports on the telly right now there just haven't been time for blog reading. Especially since I also have a Swedish BLOG about my everyday life with my dogs, and I post every day on that blog... So, all in all there just hasn't been enough hours in the day lately, but I hope to catch up with you all very soon since I miss spending time with my blogging friends!!

Anyway, moving on to stichy matters...
During the week I only stitched a few SMALLs. There was this little sewing machine...

From Cross Stitch Crazy issue 150
Designer: Diane Machin

 And I stitched this wolf...

From Cross Stitch Crazy issue 214
Designer: Durene Jones

 ...which I also posted on Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics SAL .  This is a SAL where we show the projects we work on on Fridays.

Since I hadn't found much time for stitching during the week, I wanted to get some stiching done during the weekend. Thus I dug out my Leap Year start which is going to look like this...

 

...one day far, far away in the distant future lol. Luckily my sister managed to enlarge the black and white chart for me, so now I can actually read the chart without getting an headache. I still have to add the gridlines so I'm slowly getting around to that. It takes a long time to do though since it is a large piece of aida. I have made a start in the middle though, and I chose to focus on the black windows. Mainly because they stand out on the chart lol.

With them in place it feels easier to imagine the rest of the piece. But I can tell that this is going to be a very slooow process for me. The most difficult part is holding the large piece of aida since I stitch in hand. I know - I should use a hoop but I just don't like them. So I'm going to do my best and enjoy the process of flapping around with the aida, and trying to keep my place on the black and white chart. If I can do an hour here and an hour there maybe I'll have a happy dance in about...five years time?? Oh well, at least I have started lol.

Having spent some time on my Fairytale Castle, it was a HUGE relief to pick up my recent start Christmas Town by Emma Congdon! Such a small piece of aida, and a colour chart LOL! This is where I was when I picked it up this weekend:

When I was going to stitch some orange buildings I didn't enjoy the colour the chart stated. To me it just seemed too dark and not vibrant enough for the design. So I dug through my stash and found another orange shade that I was happier with.

Above you can see the darker, original orange Anchor thread above the new orange DMC shade. It doesn't look to be much difference on the picture above, but I think it made a big differerence to the design and to my enjoyment of stitching with a brighter colour:)

This is where I stopped today:

 I'm really enjoying stitching all the bright buildings:) Yet again I don't have all the thread shades yet, but hopefully by the time I have to have them I've been able to order them:) By the way, can you spot the little street light?! It's soo cute I just had to stitch it today - I just love those little quirky details in this design!

That's it from me for now!
Hope you've all had a nice weekend with lots of time for stiching:)

Annie

Leap Year start and a snowy guy

Hello Everyone!

When I read Tama's post on her blog Stitching Daze this morning, I got inspired to celebrate Leap Year Day with a crazy new unexpected start. A start I hadn't planned for but a start that I'd love to make at some point. So I dug through my kits that I have gathered for some rainy days way off in the future, and then I suprisingly quickly made up my mind of which one I should start. Totally unexpected. In fact the decision was a no-brainer!

I fell in love with the Fairytale Castle by the late Sheila Hudson (I think?!), but when I received the kit a few years back, I realised that the chart was in black and white... I find black and white charts so difficult to read since I'm used to the colour charts in cross stitch magazines, so that really put me off starting this beautiful piece. On the other hand, there are a lot of blocks of colours and a lot of half cross stitches so it really shouldn't be soo difficult.
Well, today I made a small start...!

´

I also asked my sister if she could help me to enlarge the chart a bit. Hopefully that will help me a lot in a future when it comes to this project:) I have a feeling that the finishing date for this beautiful project lies many years ahead, but today I made a start! Wow! And if you don't start, you can't finish! My motto when it comes to cross stitching lol!

 

When I took the picture of my start I angled my phone to the left where my two smaller furbabies often lie buried in blankets when I stitch. Notice how he's already taking possession of my leftover-yarn blanket lol!

If you wondered, I have also managed to finish my snowman for the Christmas Ornie SAL. I'm not completely happy with the backstitch, but it looks ok if you look at him from a distance. Which is why I'm not giving you a close-up LOL.



From the magazine Enjoy cross stitch at Christmas 2011.
Designer: Adam Prescott

At least he's done in the nick of time! Now I have to look for a suitable ornament chart with the theme of Santa and/or his helpers for March... Should be interesting!

Hope you're having a nice week with some time for stitching:))

Annie

A week of crafts...

Hello Everyone!

Thank you sooo much for your kind and supportive comments on my last post, and for your personal advice on how to get hold of cross stitch stash if you're on a very tight budget. It means so much to me that you took the time to comment, and it's comforting to know that I'm not alone in my crafty frustrations and limitations...! <3

So on to stitchy matters:)
My Cosy cushion is growing nicely...

...but as I mentioned last time I've now run out of the pink thread so unfortunately I'm not going to be able to finish it right now:( For once I've actually made quite a few changes to the original charts both when it comes to colour choices and to the patterns as you can see...

From Cross Stitcher issue 301
Designer: Felicity Hall

And I have to say that I'm very happy with my changes; I'm definitely more of a pink and purple kind of girl, rather than a blue and orange, if you know what I mean lol:)

This month I was very late starting my Christmas Ornament for Christmas Ornie SAL so I've had to work hard on my snowy small in the last couple of days.

Still, I had to take a break from this snowman today since I got really sick of those small fiddly backstitches around the hat. Especially when they are so small that you can hardly see them...so annoying! Of course that means I have to get the needle out tomorrow and make sure I finish him; fiddly backstitch or not...

Overall I have to say that my most enjoyable crafty project this week has been my leftover-yarn crochet blanket:) It is growing quite nicely and I took a picture of it today to show you how it looks...

 

 

At the moment it measures about 150 x 80 cm, but I plan to make it at least 150 x 150 cm. I hate blankets that are too small, don't you?! I'm very pleased with my progress; I didn't think I'd get this far this quickly! I must say that it is very nice not havíng to follow a pattern, and to just crochet with any colour I feel like for as long as I feel like... which is probably the reason why this project has grown so quickly:)

 

Now it's time for me to take my furbabies for a walk before I hit the sack:) I have to get a good night's sleep so I can tackle the backstitch with a clear head tomorrow:)

 

Hope you've all had a nice stitchy weekend!

 

Annie

 

Backstitch, Cosy and other issues...

Hello Everyone!

So, a couple of you guessed correctly that it was a dreamcatcher I was working on yesterday. Let's remind ourselves where I was...

...and now I've added the backstitch:

Normally I'm not too keen on backstitch but this time around I couldn't wait to stitch it, and it was well worth it, I'd say! It's amazing, isn't it, what a bit of backstitching can do to a stitched piece! This dream catcher designed by Durene Jones can be found in the latest Cross Stitch Crazy magazine (issue 214)...

...and I fell in love with it the minute I saw it in the magazine. I love dreamcatchers, especially since I struggle a lot with my sleeping habits, so I just had to stitch it straight away. As usual I didn't have all the right threads, so yet again I had to go through my stash to try to find and match replacement colours... But I'm happy with the threads I put together and I plan to do more small designs like this one. I've already started a design with a wolf, and there's another dreamcatcher I have my eyes on...:))

This leads me on to anther subject I've been struggling with lately. I don't think I've told you too much about myself - except for that I love dogs lol. I struggle with depression, severe anxiety, social phobia and other health issues so these days I'm unable to work. I live on my own in a small little 'nook' (40 square meters) and sadly I don't have a partner or any children. I live for my three dogs who gets me out of bed during the bad days and who make my life worth living. I don't have a car and I generally don't go anywhere (except for walks with the dogs). I spend my days with my furbabies, my telly, my crafts, my three blogs and sometimes I hang out with my family or one or two very good friens. My only luxury are a few digital tv-chanels. And I'm happy with that. I've had so much stress in my life and so many difficulties in the past that now I just want to live my simple life in peace.

The one big cloud on my own horizon - and here's the whining part of this post lol - is my finances. The last few years, since I got really sick, I've had no money to spare after the bills are paid. If I didn't get housing benefit I wouldn't survive financially at all. Thus, as you can imagine, there are not much money to spare on crafty stash these days. And we love our stash, don't we?! Buying cross stitch supplies in Sweden is quite expensive and also difficult to get hold of, so I've found it cheaper to order online from England or the US. But it is still expensive by my standards. And the postage charge to Sweden can be quite steep - no free postage for me I'm afraid... And the last few months I've been desperate to order a couple of Prarie Schooler charts and some new threads for Christmas gifts - I said I'd start early this year LOL! But I just haven't had the money. First it was Christmas and Christmas bills and then it was the furbabies' booster shots etc... I'm hoping for a couple of slightly better months moneywise in the spring, but sometimes being so limited really puts me down. And that is how I've felt lately. So much so that my stitching mojo has also been affected.

But now I've decided that enough is enough! I HAVE to find the money to buy some more stash and other cross stitchy things. So yesterday I ordered a six-month-subscription of Cross Stitcher magazine which was on offer to overseas reader (£29). I know that I won't have any money left at the end of the month and I'll have to live on pasta and potatos some weeks - again - but my soul craves cross stitch! Not much can compare to the excitement I feel when I have a brand new cross stitching magazine in my hands - how sad am I lol. And next time I have ANY money to spare, I'm going to buy some PS charts before they run out. I just HAVE to...! Hm, I can see a lot of bread and pasta coming up in my near future lol! Speaking of which, you have no idea how jealous I am of those of you who live in England or the US where you can get your hands on reasonably priced cross stitch stuff...:)

Ok, so enough of the whining and my own small frustrations and back to stitchy matters!
I did manage to stitch a bit more on the Cosy cushion during the week:

Sadly (due to the above issues) I'm going to run out of threads for this one so I have no idea when I'll be able to finish it completely. Still, my plan is to complete what I can for the time being.

Oh boy, this turned into a loooong post, but I guess that can happen when a woman starts to whine...Thanks for letting me unload my frustrations!

Hope you've all had a nice weekend filled with stitches!

Annie

Waiting for backstitch...

Hello Everyone!

Today I've been working on this little piece...

Now all I have to add is the backstitch:) And for once I am looking forward to that particular stitching process since it's really going to make a difference to this project!

I'll be back with the result of that and other updates tomorrow.

Hope you're all having a nice crafty weekend!

Annie

Cosy progress

Hello Everyone!

 

Here's my progress on my Cosy cushion:)

 

I've struggled to hold on to my crafty mojo in the last few days, but I have carried on stitching regardless. Thinking of all your lovely comments on my reccent posts has helped me to find the energy to keep going with my projects so I can show you all some stitching progress at the end of the week:) Today I spent quite a few hours on Cosy and it feels as if my mojo grew a little stronger in the process. Now I'm looking forward to carrying on with this cushion tomorrow:))

In the spirit of Valentine's Day I want to send you all some LOVE for taking the time to read and comment on my blog:) Rest assured it is VERY MUCH appreciated! <3

Annie

Time for a Cosy Cushion!

Hello Everyone!

A couple of days ago I was very excited to receive this issue (301) of Cross Stitcher...

 

 ...that I had ordered online. It had a delightful freebie gift of some cute thread bobbins as well as threads in gorgeous colours which I am going to enjoy stitching with:) When I started to look through the magazine, I also fell instantly in love with this lovely cushion...

 

...designed by Felicity Hall. The main reason why I like it so much is because of the message... Cosy is my favourite place to be...I just love that! Having struggled with various health issues for many years, I nowadays aim for a cosy, comfortable life where I can live with peace and harmony in my heart and in my soul. And this cushion just spoke to me! And I really wanted to make a start straight away!

I knew I wanted to use 11-count aida to make the cushion a bit bigger (something I often do when I stitch cushions). Then I had to check if I had the right thread colours in my stash... I had three colours out of nine... Which led me to look for other colours in my stash that would look good together with the three 'right' ones, as well as look good to me! I finally decided upon using these nine colours together:

They are a bit different to the original colours; more purples than reds for example, which actually suit my tastes anyway. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll all look as good as the original cushion in the end:)

So yesterday I stitched the guidelines on my 11-count aida fabric, and today I made a start on the top of the cushion:

The original chart had a row of striped jumpers, but I decided to stitch them plain but in alternating colours. That way I didn't have to make as many starts and stops, but they still had some variety. I'm really enjoying this project:) It's a nice 'break' to sometimes stitch on 11-count aida; easier to count and quick to stitch. Perfect for periods in life when you don't feel your brightest or sharpest lol!

Don't worry though, I have also stitched some more on my Christmas Town:

I'm focusing on stitching the brown outlines of the buildings for the time being - that means I'll have lots of fun stitching the colourful bits later on:))

 

Now I'm off to bed to try to get a good night's sleep so I have lots of energy for stitching tomorrow!

 

Hope you have a nice weekend with lots of time for stitching:))

 

Annie

A new start:)

Hello Everyone!

Even though I haven't finished Festive Flurry yet, this weekend I was in the mood for a new start. The week has been so-so for me and I just wanted to feel the excitement of starting something afresh. In a way I think I enjoy starting a project more than I enjoy a finish. Don't get me wrong, it's a great accomplishment to have a finish and it feels really satisfying to put the last cross stitch or back stitch in a project. However, the excitement of stitching the first stitches in a large piece of fabric and imagining how great it'll look once it's finished is really thrilling and quite addictive lol.

So my new start is a project I fell in love with the first time I saw it in Cross Stitcher (issue 285). It's called Welcome to Christmas Town and is designed by Emma Congdon who also designed Festive Flurry. She has become one of my favorite designers in the last year and I have stitched several of her colourful and bold designs.
So this is my start so far:

The dark green area to the right is going to be a large Christmas tree that is surrounded by lots of colourful buildings etc. Sadly I don't have all the threads I need yet so I'll be stitching this design a bit haphazardly for the time being lol. But it feels really good to at last have made a start, and I know I'll enjoy stitching this design since it has lots of solid blocks of happy colours and no backstitch:)

I have also been working on my crochet blanket and I have amazed myself with my progress! It's such a easy, happy project and I really enjoy working on it.

The light isn't too good in this picture and the colours look much better in real life...as they so often do. It measures about 150 x 50 cm (60x20 inches) right now and is big enough to keep me warm as I'm working on it:) I've dug out some more suitable leftover yarn that fits in the colour profile so I should have enough yarn to finish it...whenever that will be.

So, that's all for today:)
Hope you've all had a crafty weekend!

Annie

Another snowy step in the right direction!

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to share my latest progress on Festive Flurry with you all. I'm very pleased to show you that I have finished stitching all the white snow at the bottom of the globe, yay!

It feels like a big step closer to havíng another wonderful finish!

This design is designed by Emma Congdon and from Cross Stitcher magazine issue 298.

I bought it from THIS WEBSITE if you want to buy the magazine and stitch it for yourself:)

Happy Stitching everyone!

Annie