Stitching week ending 07.08.16

I worked on five projects this week as part of various stitch alongs.  One was the KLT Frog Mystery SAL.

The first project I worked on was August from the Cricket Collection.  I worked on this as part of the August Monthly Month SAL and also part of Stitch Maynia's Olympic Challenge to stitch on a piece with Blue in it.

Here is what it will look like finished

Before

After

I also worked on Needleworker from Little House Needleworks.

Here is what it will look like finished

Before

After

I am working on Celtic Autumn for the All That Glitters month long SAL .  I also used the piece for the Stitch Maynia Olympic Challenge to stitch on a piece with yellow.

Here is what it will look like finished

Before

After

For the Stitch Maynia Olympic Challenge to stitch on an International piece I chose Pumpkin Passport

Before

After

Keep stitching and smiling

Needleworker - Little House Needleworks - 03.07.16

I started working on my Needleworker project on 1st July and managed to get a little over half way done.

Here's how it looked before:-

And here's where it's up to now:-

Keep stitching and smiling

Needleworker - Little House Needleworks - 02.06.16

I have always liked the chart Needleworker from Little House Needleworks so when I saw that one of the shops I buy cross stitch supplies from was having a stitch a long for this pattern for their one year anniversary I decided I would finally buy it.

The SAL started on 1st June and this was my progress on day 1

and day 2 progress

I am going to be adding this to my rotation and will stitch on it on the 1st and 2nd of each month.

Keep stitching and smiling

Happy Mail - May 2016

I've had quite a few bits of happy mail over the past couple of weeks and thought I would share them with you.

Jodyri Birthday Club

The first one was the Birthday Club from Jodyri Designs.  You sign up for it and pay £10 and then on your birthday (or as near to it as the post will allow) Michelle from Jodyri Designs will send you a surprise package with a retail value of approximately £15.  Here's what I got for my birthday:-

I received three pieces of fabric, one in a bookmark size, one in a card size and the other piece was a piece 14x17 of 25 count Silvered Lugana in Jade Dragon.  I also received five silks in some of my favourite colours and two perle threads in Tropical Bay.

It was a lovely "gift" and although I know I paid for it, the contents were a surprise and this made it feel very special.

If you are interested in signing up either for yourself or for a stitchy friend you can do so here - you need to let Michelle know your date of birth and any colour, fabric preferences you have so she can tailor the package to you.

Peakside Needleworks - Needleworker SAL

I recently found a new online store for purchasing patterns and speciality threads - Peakside Needleworks.  They sell DMC, Classic Colorworks, Gentle Arts and Weeks Dye Works all at a very reasonable price.  They also have a variety of charts for sale.  Something I haven't seen before from any UK supplier is a finishing service for stitched pieces into ornaments - pillow, flat fold, tag style and other finishes.  This is a service I hope to use in the future as although I love to cross stitch I have no finishing skills at all.

Upon receiving my first package from them I was delighted to discover they were in Glossop which is very close to where I live - I hoped beyond hope that they had a brick and mortar store that I could visit and could become my local needlework store but unfotunately at the time being they are only an online store but hope to expand to a brick and mortar store in the future.

I had a lovely "chat" with Sue on Facebook and after signing up to there Facebook page discovered they were about to have a SAL for there 1 year anniversary.  The chart for the SAL was Needleworker from Little House Needleworks.  As this is a chart I have contemplated buying for a long time I felt it was serendipitous that I had found them just as they were about to have their SAL.  I therefore signed up and received everything for the project literally the day after I paid for it.  The service they provide is excellent and I am sure that if they don't have a chart available that you are interested in they will do everything they can to get it for you.

This is the materials for the Needleworker from Little House Needleworks.

Riolis

The third piece of happy mail I received was very exciting.  I recently received an e-mail from Riolis asking if I had heard of their cross stitching kits and whether I would be happy to receive one gratis from them.  I of course was delighted to be offered such an opportunity and spent a long time browsing through their catalogue which you can see here.  

There were so many beautiful kits I couldn't decide on one so I sent them a shortlist of four kits and asked them to choose one and send it to me so it would be a nice surprise!

I was delighted to receive Watercolour Gerberas in the mail within 3 days of them telling me it had been sent out.  Here's a picture of the kit.  I will do a more in depth review in due course.

Disclaimer - I received the Watercolour Gerberas chart from Riolis free of charge on the basis that I will do a review of their kit and post update pictures to my blog and share them with the company so they may use the information.  I paid in full for the materials from Jodyri Designs and Peakside Needlecrafts and was under no obligation to post about their products.  All opinions are honest and my own.

Keep stitching and smiling

See Ya Later Alligator - Jodyri Designs

For any of you who saw the Jodyri Designs Mystery SAL that I took part in this year I am happy to say it is now on sale for everyone and you can find it here.

Here's the picture of my finish to remind you:-

See Ya Later Alligator - Jodyri Designs

Also I still haven't heard from the person who won the travelling pattern Summer Garden by Little House Needleworks the person who was drawn was StitchinPeanut - so if you can e-mail me with your postal address I can get the chart sent on to you.  If I don't hear from them by 15th November I will pick one of the other people who entered the draw.

I've got no stitching pictures to show you at the moment as the project I am stitching on is a secret one.  I will be able to show you pictures of it in the New Year.

Keep stitching and smiling

Summer Garden - Little House Needleworks - Travelling Pattern - WINNER

Using random.org to select a winner from the comments on the blog post regarding the above giveaway the winner is - Stitchinpeanut.

If you can e-mail me at obsessivecrossstitcher@gmail.com with your contact details I will get the chart sent on to you.

Keep stitching and smiling

Summer Garden - Little House Needleworks - FINISH - 30th August 2015 - TRAVELLING PATTERN - MOVING ON

Well today I have finished Summer Garden from Little House Needleworks which was a travelling pattern I received a LONG time ago!  I am so sorry that I didn't get round to stitching this pattern sooner but all I can say is life got in the way and this poor little pattern got put at the bottom of the pile.

However it is now stitched up and ready to move on to it's next stitcher.

I stitched it on a hand dyed fabric from KLT Charting called January's Boy a lovely mix of blue and white giving the impression of a cloudy summer sky.  I stitched it with the recommended Crescent Colours hand dyed flosses.  I would say however that Magnolia Blossom, Roasted Chestnut and Queen Bee had no visible variegation that I could see and any future projects that call for these threads I will be substituting the DMC.  The Clay Pot and Weeping Willow threads had a subtle variegation which I was happy with.

There was a group of flowers that was charted to have petals stitched in Magnolia Blossom (the white thread) with long stitch and french knots.  I tried to stitch them as charted but they weren't working out for me so I just made up my own little flowers with a combination of Magnolia Blossom and Clay Pot and was pleased with the outcome.

Here's my finish:

So if you would like to be the next recipient of the travelling pattern please leave a comment on this blog.  I will leave entries open for a month to allow people time to enter so will choose a winner on 30th September 2015.

The random number generator has selected Plum Pudding by Glendon Place to be my next project to stitch on.

Keep stitching and smiling

Seaside Mystery - Chatelaine - 16th August 2015

I've been stitching on my Chatelaine - Seaside Mystery this week.  My aim was to finish part 1 but I haven't quite got there yet.

Here is my before picture

and this is after stitching on it this week

I've been working on filling in the swirly sections which are outlined in the bright green.

I've nearly finished the one I was working on and I only have one more left after that one.  So hopefully next time I stitch on this I will finish filling those sections in.  The spaces you can see will be filled with beads.

I love the colours on this design and can't wait to get further on with it.  However I have decided to go back to trying to stitch it part by part.  Last time I wanted to see what all the colours looked like so did a bit of all the sections.

I've been using my Lowery frame adapator while stitching on this as it is a long frame and it's taking quite a bit of getting used to.  I honestly think I would have got more done on it if I hadn't used the frame but then I would have ended up with a sore shoulder again.  I'm sure with more practice the adaptor will become easier to use.

I currently have a list of 29 projects that are either WIPs or new starts that I have kitted up.  So I am using a random number generator to pick which project I will work on for the next week.  So this next week I will be stitching on Summer Garden from Little House Needleworks.  I am ashamed to say I have had this travelling pattern with me for nearly 12 months now but various things have happened over the year which have meant I haven't got round to starting it but now I finally have the fabric and threads and will stitch on it next week.

Keep stitching and smiling

Baby Patchwork as of 26.12.11

A good friend of mine is pregnant and I asked her to choose a birth sampler for me to stitch for her little boy.  She chose Baby Patchwork by Cinnamon Cat which I started on 21.12.11.  I have done 1,600 stitches and it is now 14.5% complete.  It's stitched on 14 count cream aida, 2 over 1 full crosses.

I was a bit unsure of the colours when I first started stitching it but I think they come together really well.

I've also finally got round to framing my Home of a Needleworker which I finished earlier this year.

I'm really pleased with how it looks and I'm hoping it will be hanging on the wall before the end of the year.

I had a lovely Christmas.  My little boy is 2 in January and he was so excited with all his presents.  He was even more excited when he got up the next day and they were all still here, I think he thought he only had them for one day!

Giveaway Winner

There were only two people who commented on my giveaway post who expressed an interest in winning the Home of a Needleworker pattern so I used a random number generator to pick either 1 or 2 and the winner was number 1 - Jo!  As it was also her birthday yesterday I think it's quite fitting that she should win.  So Jo if you can e-mail me your postal address to obsessivecrossstitcher@gmail.com I'll get your prize sent out asap.

Happy Dance and a Giveaway

Today I've finished Home of a Needleworker and here it is.

It's taken me less than a month to complete this and it is so nice to actual finish a project.  This also completes one of my September goals.

I've decided to giveaway the pattern for this design so if you would like to be entered in the draw please see the instructions below.

1. You must be a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post to show you are interested in the giveaway.
2. If you would like to have a second chance then please mention my giveaway on your blog and add another comment to this post with a link to your blog.

The giveaway will close at midnight Greenwich Meantime on Saturday 17th September.

September Goals

These are the goals I set myself for August:

1. Complete second page of Hickory Dickory Dock - Done
2. Spend half an hour a day on chart inventory - Didn't do half an hour a day but I'm still making progress
3. Knit at least 20 rows on jumper for Hannah - Did not do
4. Do at least 200 stitches on QS Blue Rose Fairy - Did 200 stitches and made it a UFO
5. Pick a small chart to work on next, grid it and make a start - Done

I'm pleased with the progress I made with these goals, I didn't even start Hannah's jumper, did a tension square but just haven't had the knitting urge recently.

I'm going through my chart inventory and splitting them into categories - some I don't like anymore, some I like the picture but don't think I'll stitch, some I would like to stitch and some I would love to stitch.  The only ones I am going to be listing on my stash page are the ones I would love to stitch so that when I want to start a new project I will have a shorter list to look through.

I'm really happy with my progress on Home of a Needleworker and have been surprised at how a seemingly simple design has caused me so much trouble.  I don't normally frog if I have put a stitch or two in the wrong place but just kind of work round it but with this design even one stitch wrong shows up and needs to be redone.  Having said that I am really enjoying it and it is nice to be doing a project where I can see the end in sight.

So my September goals:

1. Complete fourth page of Hickory Dickory Dock
2. Spend some time each day on chart inventory
3. Start jumper for Hannah
4. Do at least 2000 stitches on SK Treasures
5. Complete Home of a Needleworker

Hickory Dickory Dock as of 20.08.11 - PAGE 3 COMPLETED

So I decided to carry on working on Hickory Dickory Dock and think I will carry on until I finish this piece.  In the last week I've done 733 stitches which means I have now done 17,181 stitches which is 64.17% complete and I have now finished page 3.  There are only 3 partial pages to do now and I'm really hoping to have this piece finished before the end of the year.

I've also made some more progress on Home of a Needleworker.

It's really relaxing to stitch something where I can glance at a pattern once and then stitch away for ages without needing to look at the pattern again.

I don't know if I mentioned on here but I've am now the proud owner of a millennium frame.  They were mentioned on the HAED bulletin board and I watched the video showing how to use one and it looked amazing.  I placed my order last Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to receive my order on Wednesday morning.  It took me a while to get into the packaging as it was so well packaged but when I did I was amazed by the quality.  All I can say is that they are well worth every penny.  I have to say it wasn't quite as easy as it looked to get the fabric on the frame but it was the first time I'd done it and I am sure it will get easier.  If you're interested here's a link to the site that sells them.

Hickory Dickory Dock as of 13.08.11 - PAGE 2 COMPLETE

So here's the progress I've made since my last post on those August goals

Complete second page of Hickory Dickory Dock

I've done 2,106 stitches on Hickory Dickory Dock since my last post and have completed page 2.  I have now done 16,448 of 26,775 stitches which means I am 61.43% complete.  There are only four partial pages left to do on this design now and I must have done over 50% of page 3 already so I'm well on my way with this.

Spend half an hour a day on chart inventory


I've spent over 4 hours going through all the charts I have.  A lot of them are stored electronically and they are all over the place so I am going through making sure they have names so that I will know what they are at a glance, making a list of them and my intention is then to split them into small, medium and large projects and try and make some sort of priority list otherwise I just know I will have lots of charts I would love to do that I never get round to.

Knit at least 20 rows on jumper for Hannah

I didn't manage to get much knitting done this week but I did complete the tension square so should be able to start on the actual jumper next week.  I think I am going to do it in a bigger size than I originally planned to and then if it takes me a long while to complete it will hopefully still fit.

Do at least 200 stitches on QS Blue Rose Fairy

No stitching done this week on Blue Rose Fairy but she will be the next one on my frame to work on.

Pick a small chart to work on next, grid it and make a start

So I chose to start stitching Home of a Needleworker by Little House Needleworks as my small chart.  It's a great project on as I can outline areas and just pick it up and fill in a few stitches whenever I get chance.  I am stitching it on 18 count cream aida 2 over 1 full crosses.  Here's how it should look when it's finished.

This is the picture of my progress so far.

Lastly I have had a major splurge this week.  Someone mentioned earlier in the week on the HAED BB that they had purchased a Millennium Frame and how great it was.  So of course I had to have a look!  The website that sell them have a great video explaining how easy they are to use and I was immediately hooked.  Granted they are expensive but a number of other people who use the frames have told me that they don't think they would ever need to buy another frame again.  So I've bought two sizes of the top and bottom bars and one set of the side bars.  I'll let you know when they arrive and how I get on with them.

Monthly Goals - August

So I decided I would set myself some small goals each month and this is what I've decided for August:

1. Complete second page of Hickory Dickory Dock
2. Spend half an hour a day on chart inventory
3. Knit at least 20 rows on jumper for Hannah
4. Do at least 200 stitches on QS Blue Rose Fairy
5. Pick a small chart to work on next, grid it and make a start

I'm not sure how realistic these goals are as I haven't set monthly goals before so I'll just have to see how I go.

When I say a small chart I'm thinking of maybe doing one of the Lizzie Kate's I have or maybe a Little House Needlework design.  Anyway we'll see how I go I don't really need a new project right now but I would like something I can stitch on during the day when I can't give my stitching 100% attention.