I did it!

YAY.....I managed to get my Blue Moon SK completed before the end of the year!  Finally put the last stitches in yesterday, she has been washed and pressed.

 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me whilst I was stitching this as the first page gave me a lot of trouble and I very nearly gave up.

She was part of the Heaven and Earth Designs SAL for 2012 and is stitched on 25ct Magic Guide fabric 1 thread over 1.

Merry Christmas!

Just want to take this opportunity to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas!  Hope you have a lovely day with lots of love ones nearby.  For those of you on your own this Christmas, enjoy the day and know that you are never truly alone as you have your virtual friends close at hand!

Surprise!

I know....2 posts in 2 days, that is so not like me, but I have to share the lovely surprise that I woke to today.

My lovely friend Alicia sent me 2 HAED charts as RAK's (Random Acts of Kindness), along with lovely messages.  It was a complete surprise and I could not believe her generosity.

These are what she sent:

Mia - Myka Jelina

Connected ZN - Zindy Nielsen

Thank you so much, your friendship means a lot!

For those that haven't checked out her blog, The Crafty Princess, please go visit!

Can I do it?

Well, I managed to finish Page 2 of my HAED SAL Blue Moon WIP and I'm thrilled, I'm starting to believe that it may be possible to have it done by the end of the year!

Not too much left to do, but I've found myself becoming very distracted by Christmas preparations, such as sending cards, buying/wrapping/posting Christmas presents, replying to e-mails and putting up the house decorations.  Hopefully I've got most things out of the way now so I can try and actually spend some quality time and make some headway into that final page.

My threads arrived today for the HAED 2013 SAL piece, I've chosen to do Mystic Garden:

I love Tigers and I was thinking of doing the full sized version of this, so when I saw the crop I was really happy as it was perfect for me!  I've decided to stitch it on some 18ct Pewter (ok...yes...it's grey but Pewter sounds nicer) Aida which I happen to have in my stash.  I was even happier once I realised that I only needed to order 9 skeins of thread as I had the rest already! It was a tough choice though as all the charts this year were lovely.

Hope you are all set for Christmas...not long to go now!

I've been a little bad at blogging, sorry for that!  I was still having issues getting back into stitching so I decided that removing all the self imposed rules of rotations might help....it did!

I've stitched a Christmas card for a friend's little boy, I'll not post it just in case she pops by and sees it.

I've neglected the HAED Bulletin Board SAL piece, Blue Moon Story Keep (SK) by Linda Ravenscroft.  I decided to pick that up and I was determined to get through that first page of confetti hell.

August

 

October

 

 

 

November

I was so pleased with myself, I got through that first page and I've made quite a lot of progress with it now.  I think I'm around 1/2 way through.  I'm unlikely to have it done by the end of the year, but I think if I keep at it I might finish the second page.

Typically, a 50% sale at HAED, I tried so hard to resist as Christmas is just around the corner, but I failed at the last moment!

Ice Palace - Marchetti

Mini Eldar's Secret - Spangler

Lily Fenech - Fenech

Ravenhair

I'm very happy to have a small finish to share with you!  As you may remember, a friend of mine has produced a few cross stitch designs and this was a freebie that she offered on her blog.

This design is called "Ravenhair" and is stitched on Polstitches - Fairy Dreams fabric that I got in one of their grab bags.  I recommend having a look at Tapestry Moon, which is Jennidee's blog and see some of her other work.

Since the wedding I've been finding it hard to get back into stitching so decided that some stash shopping was needed!  I've found that even just shopping helps motivate me to pick up a needle!

So I got some Sunset Sky Jazlyn from Crafty Kitten for an upcoming project as well as an Ink Circles chart and Evening Sky linen fabric to stitch it on.  I also got the Lizzie Kate chart "A Good Marriage" from Sew & So, which comes with the thread to stitch it with and picked up some Floba linen to stitch it on.  As usual, the camera never picks up how lovely the fabric is in person!

Wedding!

DISCLAIMER: Non-stitchy related, please feel free to skip this post and check back soon for stitchy pictures and updates!

We finally did it!  We are now happily married!  For those that aren't aware, we've lived together since early 2006 and we decided in April 2011 that we would get married this year.  It seemed to always be ages away, then before you know it, the day arrives!

We got married on Friday 21st September.  It was a very simple registry office wedding with a few close friends and family, followed by a lovely meal and drinks in a private room at a nearby restaurant.

We've been away for a few days so it's taken me a while to sort out some pictures to show you all.  It's going to be a picture filled post so I apologise for that in advance:

Mum, Kizzy (my cousin) and myself before the ceremony

Mark and I exchanging vows

Exchanging rings

Kiss the bride

The happy couple!

 

 

Making it official

Both families united

The wedding cake

Cutting the cake

Myself and Mark!

We had a truly wonderful day and I must thank Jennidee Mills, who made the beautiful headdress that I wore.  All the guests asked about it and said it was very unique!

Thank you to all of you who left such lovely messages and although it was a bit of a whirlwind and has only just settled down, they were read and very much appreciated.  

It's so kind of you to take the time to look through the pictures and share a little of the day with us!

IHSW - Fail!

Well, sorry everyone that's come looking hoping for a ton of photo's of the mass of stitching I got done this weekend.  I fully intended to Hermit and Stitch but sadly life often gets in the way.

I spent so much time trying to decide what to stitch, putting a couple of stitches in then putting it back down again that in the end I didn't really do anything.  I can only put it down to pre-wedding nerves then being distracted by things that still needed sorting out.

The wedding is this coming Friday 21st September and I'm already a bag of nerves.  I don't usually talk too much about myself, but I hope you excuse a little bit!  It's not actually being married that's causing the nerves, it's everything else about the day and all the things that can go wrong!

I'm sorry this post has no photo's but I felt I should explain why there was no IHSW post, the next post will have a few wedding pictures in though to make up for it!

WIPocalypse - August Part 2

Well, I really feel like I haven't achieved much in the way of progress since the last post, maybe I'll change my mind after I've posted some pictures!

Lets make a start with SK Blue Moon:

August P2

August P1

Pretty happy with the progress on this, although it doesn't look like much, it's definitely all coming together and I think I've finally gotten over my fear of this project.  Page 3 was released today and I'm only just halfway through page 1....I'm such a slacker!

Next up, Lickle Ted birth sampler:

August P1

August P2

They found out this week that the baby is going to be a boy.  They haven't got any names in mind as yet, but they still have plenty of time.  I have no idea if this will be finished for the birth, but hopefully shouldn't be too late!

In case you missed my last post, I had a new start, just because I felt like it!

This is a kit I've had for a while that I bought from Colray Crafts (don't worry, they are authorised HAED vendors) that came with the proper chart and full skeins of each colour used.

Last up is another new start, but this is one that was designed by a friend of mine and I'm hoping that stitching it up and posting it on various boards might help bring her a little publicity:

This is a small free chart called Ravenhair, it's designed by Jennidee and I'm stitching it up on a piece of Polstitches Fairy Dreams from one of their grab bags.  The photo was taken on my phone so really doesn't do justice to the colours.  If you would like a copy of this chart, head over to her blog, Tapestry Moon and drop her a message.

As a last thing, I just wanted to share with you a a picture of something I stitch last month, but as it was for an exchange I didn't want to post anything until it had been received:

This is a design by Joan Elliott from her book "Bewitching Cross Stitch".  It's 1 of a set of 4 inspirational words.  It's stitched on Opalescent Lilac Ice fabric from Sparklies and I changed to beads to white Ceylon pearl seed beads.

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend - August

Well I was naughty.....not exactly a surprise if you know me!  At least this time it didn't involve spending money.

I started a new BAP (Big A$$ Picture)!  It's actually one that I've had around for a long while - at least a year or so!  I bought the kit from Colray Crafts of Zindy Nielsen's A Rose For My Love:

As my threads hadn't arrived for the charts I got for my birthday and this one was ready and waiting with gridded fabric, working copy of the chart and the complete set of threads, I decided to make a start.  I know I shouldn't really as I've got others I really should be working on and I plan to start The 3 Fates as soon as my stash arrives, but I'm blaming the pre-wedding nerves (only 1 month to go) and needed something to distract me (yeah I know.....any excuse!).

I haven't got too far but this is my small amount of progress:

Please excuse the 2 colour gridding, my pen ran out so I did the top bit in red fabric marking washable pencil!

I definitely think that next year, I'm ditching the rotation, not joining up to any SAL's and just doing my own thing, stitching on what I want, when I want....well that's the plan for now, whether I stick to that who knows! :)

Artwork

Since discovering Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED), I developed a real love of art.  Now don't get me wrong, I've always been a admirer of artwork, but HAED have really opened my eyes to artists that I never would have known about and styles that I would never have ever considered previously. 

I've largely always been a fan of pencil sketches and have a couple of framed pencil sketches on the walls of my house.  When I saw Nikki Burnette post an original pencil sketch for sale on Facebook, I took the leap and snapped it up.  This is the artwork I bought:

It's now framed and sits on my bedside cabinet so I see it every morning when I wake.  Since then, I've also bought a print of her new work, Rayne:

As well as these, with some money I that I received for my birthday, I bought some signed Jasmine Becket-Griffith prints:

Faces of Faery 117 - Steampunk Witch

Angel of Starlight

The strange thing is that previously, I've really only ever liked life-like pictures, mainly of females!  Thankfully by other half loves art and even though these pictures wouldn't be his first choice, he appreciates them and encourages me to display them.

WIPocalypse (slightly late) August #1

It's a few days late but I hope I can be forgiven!  Anyhow, the first of the August WIPocalypse posts.


No finishes this time, but a new start and progress for you.  First up we'll go with QS Clara:

July

August

As I've mentioned before, I thought I'd do the black outline then colour it in.  It's coming on well so far.

Next up, SK Blue Moon (HAED SAL).  Still having issues making progress, but at least this time you can see it a bit!  I seem to spend hours on this without anything to show for it, but determined to finish it and keep ploughing on through.....it will not defeat me!

June

August

As I've not worked on this for a while, I decided that Endless Dream (HAED) should have an outing.  Didn't get a lot done, but a small bit of progress is still progress.

April

August

Last up, my new start, Lickle Ted Patchwork Sampler:

August

This has had to take precedence over my Celtic Fairy for now as it's a baby sampler for my cousin's baby which is due in January.  I really wanted to be able to have it finished for when the baby is born, although it's not a huge problem if it works out to be slightly after.

That's all for now, look forward to seeing all of your lovely pictures. Thanks for reading, any comments are always greatly appreciated!

Birthday

It was my birthday last Saturday and I was overwhelmed by the kindness shown to me my my online stitchy friends!  I got a ton of cards from friends on one of the online forums that I am a member of, which left me speechless.

I got 2 RAK's (Random Acts of Kindness) from friends on the HAED stitchy forums:

This one is Dream Catcher by Nene Thomas, which was gifted by the extremely kind Nikki:

This one was from Liz, who is so sweet, generous and helpful!  It's The 3 Fates by Jasmine Becket Griffith:

I also got some lovely presents from my OH, I have him well trained and he bought me 2 HAED charts also. 

Panda Heart by Kayomi Harai:

and Mini Pink Lightning by Jasmine Becket-Griffth:

As well as a beautiful Jasmine Becket Griffith ornament:

In case you hadn't guessed, I'm a bit of a fan of Jasmine's!  Now my dilemma is what chart to start first?