Liebster Award!

I've seen a lot of blogs recently who have been given the Liebster Award and I'm proud to say it has also been given to me.  A big thank you to Thea at Gizzimomo's Stitchy Place.

Liebster is a German word meaning favourite, dearest or beloved.  The Liebster Blog Award is awarded by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.

The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each receipient must satisfy when accepting.

1. Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog.  List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites.  Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

Here are the five people and blogs that I award the Liebster Blog Award to:

1. My first award goes to Clare at Cross Stitching Crazy Lady I love watching her progress on Train of Dreams as I currrently have this as a UFO so am vicariously stitching through her!
2. My second award goes to Caroline at My HUUUGE Haed Project as I am always astounded by the size of the project she has taken on and look forward to seeing her progress.
3. Thirdly I am award to Dawn at Epidotes Blog - she also runs Crafty Kitten Fabrics and I love seeing her hand made cards and stitching and also hearing about the progress of her baby boy.
4. Next is Alicia at The Crafty Princess I am so jealous as Alicia gets to stitch at work - now that sounds like a dream job to me!!
5. My last award is going to my sister Louise at Stitch One, Knit One - she hasn't blogged for a while so I am trying to encourage her to start again.  She does amazing stitching but also makes the most wonderful knitted toys which I often have to fight with my son for!

So here are five things you may not know about me (apart from my sister of course who knows everything about me!!)

1. I didn't leave home until I was 30 and my husband is the only person I have had a long term relationship with.
2. Although all I have ever wanted was to  be a mum when I finally had my little boy I had horrible postnatal depression and still struggle with being a mum sometimes.
3. I have hundreds upon hundreds of books and they are all shelved alphabetically by author and I've probably not read more than 50% of them.
4. I have always wanted a cat but never had one as I am allergic to them.
5. I don't want any more children but cannot imagine never being pregnant again.

Oh my goodness

Just noticed I've reached 100 followers.

Thank you so much to everyone for following my blog.

It means a lot that other people are interested in my hobby (probably more of a passion than a hobby actually!)

I've decided I'm going to have some sort of giveaway - don't know what it will be yet but just to thank my 100 followers!

Leave a comment on this post if you're interested!

A week of stitchy surprises (well only 2!)

This week I have been surprised twice in a stitchy way.

My first surprise was an e-mail from Yiota asking if I would review one of her kits.  I was surprised and honored to be asked and of course spent the next few hours browsing her website http://www.yiotas-xstitch.com/ trying to decide which one of her lovely kits to choose.  I finally decided on this one.

Then when I got in from work tonight I had received my copy of Cross Stitcher Magazine in the post and I have had a letter printed with a photo of the poppy brooch which I stitched for my sister.

To top it all off it was the letter of the month and I've won a bunch of flowers!

Baby Patchwork as of 14.03.12

I'm trying out this new way of rotating where you work on a project for 10 hours at a time.  My focus project at the moment is Baby Patchwork so I will work on this every alternate 10 hours.  This is my progress after this rotation.

Top half completed without backstitch.

And with backstitch.

I love how cheeky this little giraffe looks.

Here's how far I've got with the bottom half.

I have completed 1,388 stitches since my last update which brings it to 6,499 of 11,068 which is 58.72% complete!

FOR SALE - Lizzie Kate - Living with Charm

So now I have completed my Living with Charm I am looking to sell the Lizzie Kate charts I have.  They are all still in excellent condition as I work from copies.  I am looking to sell the whole set for £15 (I think they retail for about £6 each which would be £36 for the set) which will include postage in the UK but international postage will be an additional cost.  If you are interested in buying these charts please contact me at obsessivecrossstitcher@gmail.com.

WIPocalypse - 08.03.12

So here's my next WIPocalypse update with two finishes!

Secret Project 2 - Baby - Finished 22nd February 2012 - first finish for 2012!!!  Pictures to follow as soon as I can.


Living with Charm - Lizzie Kate - COMPLETED 06.03.12

Nativity - third part started - 2 parts fully complete - 9 to start.

Six Fat Men - Lizzie Kate - 3 out of 6 complete - part 4 started.

Cinnamon Cat Birth Sampler - started 21.12.11 - 5,111 of 11,068 stitches - 46.18% complete

Gerbera Daisy Cushion - Just Cross Stitch Magazine - 23,726 of 28,224 stitches - 84.06% complete - no progress since last update

Hickory Dickory Dock QS - HAED - 20,344 of 26,775 stitches - 75.98% complete as of 02.01.12 - no progress since last update

Secret Project 1 - Ink Circles - I won't be able to publish any pictures of this project but will update my stats - 11.49% complete - no progress since last update

Forbidden Doorway SK SAL - HAED - started 08.01.12 - completed 567 of 21,258 stitches which is 2.67% complete - no progress since last update.

Hanging Loose Christmas Ornaments - Cross Stitcher Magazine (November 2011) - as of 18.01.12 12.5% complete - no progress since last update.

A new project to add to the WIPocalypse is String of Hearts - not yet started but here's a picture of the finished design.

Living with Charm - HAPPY DANCE as of 6th March 2012

Today I put the last stitch in on Living with Charm by Lizzie Kate.  I started stitching this on 17th September 2011 and finished today 6th March 2012.  It is stitched on Dawn Blush 20 count hand dyed aida from Crafty Kitten.  I've really enjoyed stitching this with the different fonts for the words and the colours, at first glance I really didn't think they went together that well but having completed it I am really pleased with how it turned out.  So here are all my progress pictures for this piece ending with the finished piece of course.  I intend to get this framed soon so will hopefully be able to put those pictures up in the not too distant future.

Baby Patchwork as of 5th March 2012

I've been concentrating on Baby Patchwork as my friend's baby is due to be born in the next couple of weeks. I've done another 922 stitches since my last post which makes it 46% complete.  I'm really enjoying stitching this and planning in my mind how I will set out the baby's name and birth details.

I don't know if you've noticed but I've set up a new page which is my "Stitching Journal".  I'd seen a lot on other forums about people keeping track of their progress with a stitching journal and I thought I'd utilise my blog to start one of my own.  Basically it's just a small entry (nearly) every day detailing what I've stitched that day and anything else I want to keep a note of.  Mainly it's for me but of course you're all welcome to read along with me.  I've also spent some time going through my "must do" projects and these are now listed on my "Current & Future Projects" page.  I've grouped them by size (stitch count) and my intention is that when I finish a small project I can add a new small one and if I finish a large project and can add a new large one etc.

Anyway I'm rambling now because it's the middle of the night and I am up with my little boy who unfortunately has chicken pox.  Very tempted to do some stitching but don't know if my sleep deprived brain and tired eyes could really make much progress!

Here's a couple of pics of my poorly (yet still cheeky) little boy.

Piece finish Happy Dance for Nativity as of 29.02.12

I'm really pleased with the progress that I've made on the Nativity.  I'm  keeping up with stitching one piece a month and have now completed the largest piece.  So doing a small happy dance for a piece finish.  I have now completed 16.7% of this project.

I've mainly be concentrating on the Baby Patchwork Birth Sampler as the baby I am stitching it for is due to be born mid-March and I want to get it finished as soon as I can after he is born.  I've completed 1,232 stitches since my last update which now makes it 37.9% complete.