Bucket List Scrap Booking

The My Memories Blog are having a Bucket List Challenge - create a page to show something you have on your bucket list.  Thought this would be a fun challenge to take part in so here's what I created.

Don't forget about my giveaway - it ends tomorrow at midnight GMT

Baby Patchwork as of 27.05.12 - Happy Dance

Well I am delighted to say that yesterday I stitched the final stitch on Baby Patchwork.  I still have to stitch the baby's birth details but I won't be sharing the pictures here once I've done that.

So here are all the pictures of my progress ending up with the finished piece.

I started stitching this on 21.12.11 and finished on 27.05.12 - just over 5 months stitching on and off with other pieces.  It is stitched on 14 count cream aida 2 over 1 full crosses.

I've really enjoyed stitching this piece.  The simplicity of the design makes a change from what I normally stitch as do the vibrant colours.

Trip to Chester Zoo

My husband and I share the same birthday so we always try and take the day off work together and do something special.  This year it was also Russell's 40th birthday so it was a little bit more special.  We decided to go to the zoo for the day and as it was Samuel's first visit to the zoo it was very exciting (for me anyway!).

I decided to have a play with the My Memories digital scrap booking to see what I could make with the photos we took on the day.  It was so easy - I selected a layout and chose for the program to automatically insert the photos so all I had to do was say which photos I wanted to be included.

I then exported the finished scrap book to a DVD and uploaded it to You Tube.  Here's the link if you want to take a look at my little project.

Chester Zoo Movie

I haven't worked out how to add music or anything yet but for a first attempt I'm really happy with it.

Don't forget I'm hosting a giveaway for another copy of this software - you can see all the details here.

I'd love to hear what you think of my movie and any tips from experienced scrap bookers would be most welcome.

A Review and a Giveaway - My Memories Digital Scrap Booking

I was very interested and excited to receive an e-mail recently from My Memories which is a digital scrap booking site.  They offered me a copy of their software My Memories Suite Scrapbook which is a digital scrapbooking software to download and try out and an additional copy to give away to one of my blog readers.  I've never done any scrap booking digital or otherwise so I was really interested to see what this involved.

I went to the site and followed the instructions given to me and easily downloaded the software.  When you download the software you also get a $10 voucher to spend on anything else on the site.  I chose to download a designer pack called Zoo Time as we are taking my son to the zoo for the first time later in the week and I thought this would be a good project to use for a digital scrap booking project.  I also downloaded the Sweet Tooth - Combo designer pack as you have to use all your $10 in one transaction otherwise you will lose the balance.

There are also lots of free kits to download and I spent ages just browsing through these and downloading more content.

Then I started to play around with the software.  There are lots of templates set up where all you have to do is add your photos.  There's even a feature where you just select the photos you want and the software adds all your photos to the templates for you.

Now bearing in mind I have never done any scrap booking before digital or otherwise, this is my first attempt and I have to say I am really pleased with it.

The great thing about this software is once you've finished your design you can decide what format you want it to be in for example I could chose to print this as a greeting card, as the start of an album or even as an interactive slide show.  I'm thinking that at Christmas time I can make our own personalised cards or make invitations to a birthday party - the possibilities are just endless.

I am very impressed with how easy this software is to use and my only criticism of it is that I think I will want to spend more time using it which will eat into my stitching time!  I would encourage anyone to give it a try as I never thought I would be able to make something like this.  When it comes to creativity I am happy to follow someone else's instructions, for example with cross stitching you are following a chart, but when it comes to putting things together myself I've always struggled.

Now comes the exciting part.  I have another copy of this software to give away to one of my blog readers.

So the way to enter this give away is as follows:

1. You must be a follower of this blog - it doesn't matter if you are a new follower or have been reading my blog for a while.
2. You need to go to the my memories website - click here - and choose your favourite digital paper pack or layout and then leave a comment on this blog post telling me which is your favourite.
3. For additional entries follow My Memories on their blog, on facebook or on twitter (or all three for three extra entries) and leave me another comment telling me where you have followed them.
4. The giveaway will end on 31st May at midnight GMT and the winner will be announced here on my blog soon after.

My Memories are also offering all my readers a $10 discount off the scrapbooking software if you chose to buy it yourself and a $10 coupon for the My Memories store.  Just enter the code STMMMS38740 when you check out.

I think I've remembered everything you need to enter but please let me know if you need any more information.  Good luck!  

Sleeping Beauty's Castle as of 12.05.12

I've spent my last 10 stitching hours working on Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  I'm still working on the cross stitching on part 1 but have started using some of the recommended silks.  I've never sewn with silks before so didn't really know what to expect but I absolutely love them - they glide through the fabric so easily and I love love love them.  I keep telling myself not to get too used to sewing with them as I can't afford to switch all my projects to silk - plus I've got hundreds of skeins of DMC and Anchor that need using up!

So here's the most recent picture of my chatelaine and if you want to see all the progress pictures up to this point please see my chatelaine page.

Secret Project Revealed

You may remember earlier in the year I had a secret project I was working on which I finished.  Well I can now reveal what that secret project was.  Jo from Serendipitous Stitching approached myself and another friend, Hannah, to see if we would be interested in stitching on an Afghan for Dawn's (from Crafty Kitten Fabrics) baby.  We both jumped at the chance and agreed we would both stitch two squares on a six square afghan.  I'm happy to say that Dawn has now received the afghan so I can now show the pictures.  Here's the pictures of the two squares I stitched.

This is the first square I stitched and was done over 1 square.  I have a cross stitch design programme and picked a font I liked on word and translated it into cross stitch for the name and stitched it with a variegated thread.  I have to say working on the afghan was quite tricky as unless you completed one cross at a time the thread slipped under the weave.

I then chose this cute little snail from one of the cross stitching magazines.  I think it was an issue of Cross Stitcher but when I find the magazine I will put the correct details here.  As I had struggled a bit doing over one on the previous square I decided to do this one over two which in itself was a first for me as I've only done over one before.  I like to think it was a practice for the chatelaine I'm currently doing over 2.

And here is the whole afghan in all it's glory with it's gorgeous recipient Sam modelling it.

I just love his expression in this picture it's like he's saying "Ta da".  

I'd like to say here as well that my reason for stitching this for Dawn was simply because I see her as a friend.  I've only "known" her through Facebook, a joint love of HAED, and her business Crafty Kitten where she makes the most gorgeous hand dyed fabrics.  Her customer service is amazing and I'd recommend everyone to give her hand dyed fabrics a try.

So there's the reveal of my secret project finish.  Hope it was worth waiting for!

WIPocalypse - 05.05.12

Baby Sampler - Cinnamon Cat - progress as of 05.05.12 - 80% complete.

Before:

After:

Rules for Life - Kincavel Crosses.  New start this month so no before picture.  Currently at 13.84% complete.

May Goals

Just a short post today, thought I would give setting myself some goals another try so here are my goals for May:

1. Stitch 10 hours on Baby Patchwork
2. Stitch 10 hours on Chatelaine
3. Stitch 10 hours on Hickory Dickory Dock

Hopefully setting myself goals I will be able to achieve this month.

Rules for Life as at 22.04.12

I started my new project Rules for Life by Kincavel Crosses on 20th April 2012 and I've done 10 hours stitching on it.  I've completed 3,172 stitches which means it is 13.84% complete.  I am stitching on 22 count cream hardanger - 2 over 1 full crosses.  I'm going to keep a record here of the colours I use for this project as I am making it up as I go along.

All colours are DMC.  The outline and all the symbols are done in 4215 which is a variegated thread.  Rules for Life is done in 157.  Trust is 153, Hope is 157, Keep your Promises is 333 and Dream is 553.

I'm really enjoying stitching on this and already thinking about how I might get it framed.

I'm rotating back on to my Baby Sampler project next as this is my focus piece.  I should hopefully have it finished in the next month.

This week I finally received the flowers I won for the Letter of the Month in Cross Stitcher Magazine.  I had to chase it up a couple of times which I was a bit disappointed about but at least I got them in the end.  I don't mean to sound ungrateful but if I spent £25 on these flowers I would be very disappointed.  I am enjoying having them in the house though and they are a gorgeous colour - especially the gerbera which is my favourite flower.

I also had a lovely surprise when I came home from work today.  My husband had taken the day off work to look after our little boy and he found time to hang my latest framed piece for me.

The nicest thing was I hadn't had to ask him to do it he just did it off his own back!

Yiota's Cross Stitch - Review

I was recently asked to review a kit from Yiota's cross stitch.  I was thrilled to be asked and spent a long time browsing through all the lovely cross stitch kits on her site.  I finally settled on Praying Hands as I really liked the picture and it is quite different from a lot of the other things I stitch.

When I received the kit it was very well packaged in an envelope which would fit through the letter box.  This is important to me because I find it frustrating when things are packaged so that they won't fit through the letter box and you then have to take time out to go to the post office to pick them up.

On opening the envelope I was very pleased with what I saw.  The kit contains a picture of the finished design, two A3 sheets of pattern which are very clearly printed, a piece of 14 count aida on which to stitch the design, a needle and all the threads required for the project.  For me the best thing about these kits is that the thread comes prewound on bobbins.  I hate it when you get a kit and all the threads are lumped together and you then have to spend ages trying to work out which colour is which.  This is even more important for this kit as it is a black and white design and it would have been a nightmare trying to sort out which shade of grey was which.

I'm looking forward to starting stitching on this project and am going to try and fit it in to my rotation somewhere.  I'll definitely be going back to Yiota's site for any future purchases.

Disclosure: I was provided with a free kit to provide a review but all the words and opinions are my own.

Baby Sampler as of 20.04.12

I've been working on the Baby Sampler by Cinnamon Cat and am pleased with my progress so far.  I've now stitched 7,665 of 11,068 stitches which means this project is now 69.25% complete.

I also picked up my Lizzie Kate Living with Charm from the framers and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.  I'd definitely recommend anybody in the UK to try Maxim Picture Framing in Cleveleys.  I found them extremely friendly and professional to deal with and they turned my project around very quickly for me.  I'll definitely be going back there to get future projects framed.

I've made a new start as well - I know the last thing I need is a new project but hey ho I am a serial starter after all.  My latest project is Rules for Life by Kincavel Crosses.  I'm going to do the border and symbol stitching in DMC 4215 and then do the words in solid colours complementing the variegated thread.

Giveaway

The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe are having a giveaway and you can win 5 of there lovely hand dyed threads.  To enter the give away click below and if you mention I sent you I get an extra entry!

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe: Floss winners and a new floss give-away!

The drawing for the winner will be done on 15th May 2012.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle as of 09.04.12

I've spent another couple of nights stitching on Sleeping Beauty's Castle but I'm not able to stitch any more until I get some of the silks I've ordered.  I am loving stitching this design up to now and can see that I am going to want to stitch more Chatelaine's in the future.  The think that draws me to them is the repetitiveness and the symmetry.  I think I have a touch of OCD as I like things to be lined up and organised and I think that's why I am loving stitching this so much.  So here's the photo of where I'm up to now.  If you want to see the pictures in between my last update and this one please see my Chatelaine page.

 I'm rotating now onto Baby Patchwork by Cinnamon Cat.  I saw the baby again today who I'm stitching it for and it's spurred me on to get some more stitching done on it.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle as of 07.04.12

I took the plunge last night and started my first Chatelaine.  I want to take a lot of pictures of my progress for my own benefit but don't want to bore you all with each stage.  So I've decided to set up a page on this blog for all my update photos and then I will just post here the photo showing the most progress.  If you want to see all the updates please look at this page.

So I am stitching on 28 count Jazlyn in the March 2012 Ltd Ed from Crafty Kitten Fabrics.  I am using all the recommended threads and beads.

I also wanted to share with you the chart Grace chose for her giveaway prize.  One thing that always amazes me about all the designs on Heaven and Earth is that even though I have spent hours and hours browsing through the patterns on their website I still find ones that I am sure I've never seen before.  I let Grace choose any chart she wanted but as this will be her first HAED I did suggest she chose a Quick Stitch, Story Keep or Mini to start with so she wasn't too overwhelmed.  The chart she chose was QS Iris by Josephine Wall.

I think it's a gorgeous design and I'm looking forward to watching her progress when she gets round to starting it.

A strange thing happened when I went to get the chart for her as another chart mysteriously lept into my cart and insisted on being bought.  So I got Mini Bookworm Fairy by Hannah Lynn.

It's a chart I've wanted for a long time and even more so when it was made into a Mini.  Goodness knows when she'll be started but for now I'm happy to have her living in my computer.

WIPocalypse - 06.04.12

So here's my next WIPocalypse update.  I've changed my format so I only publish pictures/information for the projects I've actually made some progress on.

Cinnamon Cat Birth Sampler - started 21.12.11 - 6,499 of 11,068 stitches - 58.72% complete.

Nativity - 3 parts fully complete - 8 to start.

Secret Project 1 - Ink Circles - I won't be able to publish any pictures of this project but will update my stats - 18.64% complete - 8.148 stitches done since last update

Hanging Loose Christmas Ornaments - Cross Stitcher Magazine (November 2011) - as of 05.04.12 25% complete.

Giveaway Winner

I've decided the prize for my giveaway would be a HAED chart of the winners choice.  If the winner doesn't want a HAED chart then I'll try and think of something else.

There were 12 entries for the giveaway and the random number generator said entry number 2 was the winner which is Grace.

I've e-mailed Grace to tell her she's the winner and ask which chart she would like as a prize.

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter weekend!

Nic

Update 01.04.11

Since my last update I completed my 10 hours on my Ink Circles secret project.  I've now done 21,248 of 114,000 stitches which is 18.6% complete.

I've also completed another of my Christmas Ornaments so I've now completed 4 of the 24.  My goal was to stitch two of these a month so I would have them completed by Christmas but I'm a bit behind.  I've two nearly completed but not quite.  Here's the photo of the one I did finish.

I was supposed to be rotating back to stitching on Baby Patchwork as that is my focus piece at the moment but I've been naughty and started a new project and it's a BAP.  It's Celtic Grace by Brigid Ashwood and I got it from HAED as part of their reward program - for every $200 you spend on the site you get a free chart.  Here's the picture of what it will look like when I finish it (probably in about 20 years time!)

I'm trying parking for the first time with this project as well so it should be interesting.  Only did just over 200 stitches on this last night so no picture for the time being.

Today was also the day of the release of part 1 of the Chatelaine Anniversary Mandala - Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  I am so excited to start it but also a little overwhelmed with the speciality stitches etc.  Would you believe it that my printer has run out of ink so I can't print it off - typical.  Oh well I'll just have to stitch on one of my many existing WIPs tonight instead of starting another new design.

Don't forget as well that if you want to be entered in my giveaway - for an as yet undecided prize you need to leave a comment on this post.

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!