Sunday 30 September 2018

Zodiac SAL - Virgo

And here we go for the very last installement of the Zodiac SAL - as per tradition on the very last day of the month! This week, I stitched up a back side for September Sapphire, and even finish-finished this weekend.






For twelve month I've been working on finish- finishing these. As per my latest count, 9 are fully finished, four are all stitched up waiting to be finished, and five still need to be stitched front and back. I hope to get at least the four finish-finishes done before the year is over, but it would be great to have all of them together.

For now, this SAL is over, and Jo is starting a new one with changing themes each month. I bet that will be fun!

Saturday 29 September 2018

September IHSW

Last weekend hat all the makings of a real, true hermit stitching weekend - Felix was away at his bachelor party, the weather had a storm brewing outside, and I had very little plans apart from stitching...sadly, those little plans involved some more wedding preperations, so that ate quite some time, but in the end, I still managed some decent stitching. I probably got in a bit over 1.000 stitches, and just so finished the next page on Fire and Ember:






Sorry my updates are a little short recently...I'm sure I'll be back to my usual chatty self very soon!

Swinging the hook

Lately, I've been really into crochet (once again...you know how this stuff comes and goes in waves) and of course, I had a few new starts...three, to be exact. But I had good reasons for each of them and now I only need to finish them before the wave if over!

The first one was because Frog and Toad, one of my favourite amigurumi designers, was looking for German proof readers, and even though I have a lot on my plate recently, I just couldn't resist. I offered my help and I got to proof read the German version of their super cute Reindeer pattern. And since I also got permission to use the pattern myself, I couldn't resist, bought some brown cotton and started. I really hope to get this one done before Christmas :)

Next up was two weeks ago when we were visiting Felix' parents. I needed a good project to travel with and also a bit of cheering up after a very stressfull week, so I picked a very cheery yarn from my stash and started a free pattern I've had on my todo list for a while, the Halata shawl by MorbenDesign. It's a pretty simple pattern - six rows repeat over and over, so I can work it without checking the chart, and I really like it so far! The yarn was a monthly thing by Garnstube last year.


And then, after some looking around on ravelry, I finally had an idea what to do with this yarn that has been in my stash for ages! It took a bit of playing around with the needle strength and tension, but I think this will work out. I'm not yet telling what it is, but here is a little bit over one ball done (of nine...although I can only fine eight right now, I know there's one more hiding somewhere!)


Monday 24 September 2018

September Gifted Gorgeousness

Late again for my favourite SAL! Shame on me, but here I am.

Last month was about average for gift making I guess? I'm still working through my list of stuff I either promised to people, or promised myself I'd make for people, and I'm also still working on the mermaid.

For the first part, I already showed you the little fobcornu I made, but I managed to snap a better picture before sending it off:


I also finished the second pair of blue dragon scale wristwarmers (a slightly smaller version for my grandma) and as I had enough yarn leftover, I gave both pairs a nice edge.






On The Mermaid, I finished all the Anchor Marlitt for the shells (a little more than one full skein) and stitched that little rock on the left. Now I'm working a little more on the border and hope to start the sea before the end of the month.


Sunday 23 September 2018

Painting with Diamonds


Diamond Painting has been really 'in' for some time now - long enough to convince me it's not just another very short-lived fad - and I had been tempted to try it for for quite a while, only I was torn between not wanting to buy one of the cheap Chinese copy-right-ignoring kits and not wanting to spent tons on one of the legit kits before knowing if I like the craft (or ending up with one of the very, very basic ones you can get for less money). So a while back, I had a look around and found some middleground - a kit that wasn't too small (about 60x60 'stitches') and not too expensive (about 12€) - so I decided to finally give it a try.





I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. At times it felt a little like 'cheating' as it's so quick compared to cross stitch, but it's nice and mindless and I think I just enjoy anything that works off of a pattern (or a painted canvas in this case!). The result is pretty, too - all sparkly and not as coarse as I was afraid it would be (it's about 10ct. It's funny how the stones look so small but then when I stitch on 14ct I feel like the stitches are huge!) I'm pretty sure I'll do more of these, maybe kit some up myself. The only problem is how to decide which patterns to stitch and which to DP, but I have a few plans...well, maybe next year.

Friday 21 September 2018

The weekend of getting stuff done

After a very busy August, I finally got to spend a few weekends at home again, and tried making good use of them! The very first weekend (so...that's like three weeks ago. You see how far my blog posts are backed up here?!) I was determined to finally finish (and finish-finish) a few things that had been in almost-finished limbo for far too long. I think I did quite well!

First on the agenda was finishing my tiny fobcornu (made from an older NFSAL pattern by my friend Magical). It's a gift for a friend I need to send out soon-ish. This is by far the smallest biscornu I've ever made, but I think it turned out quite nicely! I had one side done before, so I stitched up the back, added a long braided loop made from perle floss so it can easily by attached to a pair of scissors and finished with some beads from my stash.




Next, I picked up Sophie Sheep. I had actually worked on her for quite a bit since I last showed her, but she was so close to being finished that I wanted to hold of sharing her until she was done, and then life happened. I only had to add about half of the pink beads, do the backstitching, add the button and pop her into this cute white frame I got for her, et voilá! I'm super in love with her and really looking forward to starting one of the other two in her series.

Then I decided to finally give the Magical Mystery SAL from Easter a finish-finish. As I had already done all the stitching, this went fairly quickly; I decided on a biscornu without the center depression (I didn't want to obscure the center of the front design or the writing on the back) and since I wasn't 100% satisfied with any of my bead options, I went with a two coloured beaded edge. Feels good to get stuff done :)


Last and certainly least, as it really wasn't a lot of work left to do, I fully finished my Floral Watering can by sewing an additional bit of the perforated paper to the back and having Felix glue the magnet to it. Sadly, the glue seeped through to the front a little, but it is hardly visible. I'll try looking into different glue options for the next one, though!


Friday 14 September 2018

A very special pattern!

Well hello there...again I've been quite...quiet. I actually have three (more like three and a half!) posts lined up to write right now, I just. Don't. Have. The. Time! Why did noone tell me organizing a wedding is that much work?! Not to mention all the other stuff that just won't stop going on, some of it quite exciting!

One thing that is VERY exciting is that when back in April I asked for little hand made goodies to be send for our wedding decoration, my dear friend Magical decided to one-up the bet, and she has been hard at work to create a very special pattern for the occasion!

I am thrilled to bits with how pretty it is and I am sure I'll stich one or two of these up to supplement the decoration, but I also needed to share with you in case you want to join in - just three more weeks until the wedding though, so I understand it might be cutting it close. Eek! Just three more weeks, can you believe it?

Here is Magical's blog, which is full of awesome free patterns - including the Weaver's Tapestry Band SAL, the Ornaments of the month and her fabulous Friday Freebies. And here is the special link to the very special wedding pattern.

Tuesday 4 September 2018

Summer Postcard Blog Hop

Our lovely blog hop goddess Jo had another awesome event going that's been on all summer - the Summer Postcard Blog Hop! Each participant sent a digital postcard and message to Jo, and she sent them on to another participant, who then posts it on their blog.

Here's the postcard I received from Jocodine:


Best wishes from the seaside, we keep hoping for the wind to watch a good kite show.
Love Jocondine

Isn't that a lovely beach scene? Look at all the detail, there are even little sewn fish in that sardine tin!

You can find link to the other participant at Jo's blog.


I also found the postcard I had sent out, it made it all the way to Astrid in Maryland, USA.

I stitched the little Durene Jones freebie 'Hello Summer' especially for this Blog Hop, so hop on over if you haven't seen it yet :)