New finishes :D

I think it's time for a new update :)

Can't believe it's over 9 months since my last craft related update and already over 5 months since my London/Dublin update. Time flies.

But even tho I don't update often, I did finish a few things this year. *happy dance*

First there's "Individuality" by Tammara Markegard. It was started 28/08/2014 and finished 25/04/2015.

And the second finish is "Lucifer" by Linda Ravenscroft. Started 03/10/2013 and finished 22/07/2015.
Stitched on 28ct white Lugana, 2 over 1, basketweave stitch.

I've also discovered crochet again this year.
The last time I've done some crochet, I was about 10 years old. I've tried it a few times after that but I've never worked on a pattern and I got bored after 2 or 3 rows. So you could say I haven't done any serious crochet in over 20 years.
Then earlier this year I've seen a cute little amigurumi dragon I just HAD to try.
I didn't know if I was still capable of doing that but it was quite easy... sewing the parts together was more of a challenge then the crocheting itself.
I knew I wouldn't keep the dragon. Crochet is just another hobby, something to pass time when I need a break from stitchting. I just can't keep them all - not enough space and already too many memory-laden stuffed toys in the flat that I can't part with - so I decided my first crochet toy will be an x-mas gift for my cousin's baby girl (33 months by then).
But this little girl has a little cousin herself... she'll be 27 months by x-mas. I can't bring only one toy if there are two little girls so of course I decided on making a second dragon.
And I've thrown some cute little snails in aswell cos I think they're great little gimmicks in gift baskets etc.

So here they are... the little gang that I put the last finishing touches in today:

At the risk of sounding smug... I'm a little proud of my self *blush* Didn't expect it to work out this well. Not after 20 years.
Still I won't crochet anything else this year anymore (except for 2 little catnip toys for my Lily right before I'll see her again) as I really despise the sewing part.
And I got quite some cross stitching withdrawals these past days. Will focus only on cross stitch for the rest of the year. :D

For anyone wondering - I got the patterns for the dragon and snails here:
(Note: they're only in German)
http://de.dawanda.com/product/25194801-hausdrache-xxl-amigurumi-haekelvorlage-pdf-dateihttp://de.dawanda.com/product/16826490-haekelanleitungjasper-josephine-schneckenliebe



 

So now I'll be off to work some more on Garnet... but SuSi's World travel bookshelf and No smoking are waiting as well :D

Cross stitch updates

Oh boy, I seem to get worse and worse when it comes to blogging. *blush*

But I'm still stitching and I'd like to show my updates.

In the last post I've mentioned my yearly goals of finishing 15 pages on "Lucifer" and 12 pages on "Garnet". I've completed these two goals about 2 months ago.

So I set a half year goal too: to start Individuality by Tammara Markegard and to finish 10% (10480 stitches).
As of yesterday I have 5 out of 47 colours finished and 34197/104800 stitches... so all my 2014 goals are done :D
This is stitched on 28ct light blue Lugana, 2 over 1, basketweave stitch.

And I've already kitted up my next project: World travel bookshelf by Aimee Stewart on 28ct white Lugana.

Will have to finish Individuality first tho.

Again it's almost 5 months since my last update. *shame on me*
I spend all my days stitching and always forget to update my blog.

But I've been busy again.

My HAED yearly goals for 2014 are to finish the first 15 pages of Linda Ravenscroft's "Lucifer" and finally get Rachel Anderson's "Garnet" back out to finish the first 12 pages.

This is my progress on Lucifer between October and beginning of February:

 

That's 5 pages (first row) finished and lots of the 2nd row done.
I just love the look on his face.

But after getting this far on Lucifer, Garnet suddenly felt neglected and started to scream. :D
So now I'm working on her.
I've started her back in May 2011 but put her away when "Rose" got in the way.
This is how far I had gotten back then:

 

She's stitched on 28ct white Lugana, 2 over 1. When I started her, I was using continental stitch but I've now switched over to basketweave stitch as that doesn't distort the fabric.

And this is my progress as of today:

 

I had to take a little break from Lucifer in November 2013 though.
A friend and I decided, very spontaneously, to go and watch Sunrise Avenue live in Berlin.
Even though I have family in Berlin, I had nowhere to stay, so the friend offered me to stay at hers.
She's a huuuge bookworm, so as a thank you for letting me stay, I made this little guy for her:

 

Like it says on the pic, it's SK History of chocolate by Randal Spangler. He's stitched on 28ct white Lugana, 2 over 1 and I've used basketweave and continental stitch. 
I started him Nov. 4th, 2013 and finished him Dec. 15th, 2013. He was really fun to stitch. Have to make one of the guys for me someday soon... if only my to-do-list was shorter. *lol*


On Feb, 16th I started on my first train-trip on my own. To see the finnish guys from Sunrise Avenue and have a great time with my friend.
The last time I went somewhere by train was about 15 years ago and it was a very bad experience for me. They just weren't used to people with wheelchairs back then.
But I decided I had to try again. Otherwise I'd be stuck in my little town. And this time it was a great experience. Everything went very smoothly and they were really friendly.
Guess it wasn't my last trip. :D

Sadly it didn't work that well with the tram and S-Bahn in Berlin. Really, Berlin, you are the capital city of Germany... you should work on your service.
The journey to Berlin was nice. The S-Bahn's driver was friendly and helpful and with the tram we only had to go one stop too far to get out with the wheelchair. That was okay.
But getting back out of Berlin after the concert was a real pain in the a**. First we couldn't find a tram station where you could get in with a wheelchair. The one we got out at only worked for that direction and all the other stations were in the middle of the street. Oooh it's a nice feeling to wait in the middle of a busy street for the tram driver to get the ramp out... NOT. And then the ramp was stuck so they had to heave me into the tram. Thanks to the friendly car driver who helped... but I guess he just wanted us to clear the street *lol*
It was already 11:30pm and we hoped this would have been the hardest part of getting back home.
But no, there was more to come.
When our S-Bahn arrived and we asked the driver for help he actually refused and went off without us. :O
It was about 12am now, it was freezing, we were 2 women alone in this not exactly friendly looking station and he said no. I was furious.
We had to wait another 20min for the next train to arrive.
It would have taken him ONE minute to get the ramps and help me in. And to be honest, the ramps wouldn't have been necessary. Helping me in backwards, making sure the small wheels don't get stuck in the gap between train and platform would have been enough.
It was 1am when we finally arrived at home... it took us 2 hours.

But apart from that, it was an amazing time.
We spend most of the time watching old videos of our favorite band (Westlife). It's still hard for me to watch the videos when I'm on my own. But watching them with friends, re-living all these beautiful and funny memories is just one of the best things in the world.
And these three days were topped off by Sunrise Avenue's concert. I've never been a fan of rock music but these guys are absolutely amazing. They played all the songs from their latest album plus a few older songs.
That was a good thing for me, as that's the only album I have. *lol*
We had a really good view but I have to admit, I've missed the big sreens left and right to the stage. I was so used to them from my Westlife concerts that it felt a bit weird. *lol* But still, it was a great experience.
I didn't take any pictures... I think that's a first. But due to our seats the pictures would have turned out to dark, so I decided I would just enjoy the show.
But a few other peeps have taken videos so here are a few youtube links:
Girl like you
Keyboard solo & Hollywood hills
Hurtsville
Lifesaver
Don't cry
Unholy ground & I can break your heart
Big thanks to everyone for sharing their videos.
Yeah, I admit, I still prefer the slower songs/ballads. :D


So, now let's see how long it'll take for my next post *lol*
Bye for now. *waves*

Almost half a year since my last post *blush*

But I was quite busy during these past months. :D

First a picture of my finally framed lighthouse:

I also finished the HAED Freebe SAL 2013 piece QS Mystic garden:

And another finish.
After more than two years I've finally finished "Rose" in August:

She already found her new home in my grandparents' living room. Never saw grandma so happy about a present. <3

Then I had to make a little present for my mum and her new husband. They got married about 2 weeks ago.
I haven't seen them yet as the wedding was very private but they'll get this as soon as possible.
It's QS Lady bug from Ching-Chou Kuik but without the flowers. I replaced parts of the 310 with 747 & 321 and it's stitched on 28ct opalecent Lugana:

And the last finish for this year... the two hares from "Guess how much I love you".
It's from the book "Classic storybook cross stitch" by Gillian Souter.
They're stitched on 28ct light blue Lugana, 2 over 2, full crosses and the pillow is a present for my cousins baby girl who was born 3 weeks ago:

That's all my plans for this year finished and I can now concentrate on a project just for me :D

I've started Linda Ravenscrofts "Lucifer" on 03/10/2013. He's stitched on 28ct Lugana, 2 over 1 in basketweave stitch. He was started in continental stitch but as that distorts the fabric I switched to baskedweave hoping this will prevent distortion.

Not much to see yet as it's only background for now.

Rose and a little lighthouse

Hello everyone,

I'm really not one for regular updates. Shame on me. *blush*

Over the last 3-4 weeks I worked a lot on Rose and so I've finished row 4 and about 2/3 of row 5.
Somehow she looks like she's almost finshed but there are still 2 full rows, 1 partial row and the rest of row 5 to go. I still hope to have her finished by christmas.
Lets see if that's a realistic goal. *lol*

 

Before I picked up Rose again, I stitched this little SK:

  

It's a crop from Melissa Dawn's "Sailor boy". I just needed something small, that I could finish fast for a change. I think it took me about 3 weeks. Now I just need the right frame.

That's it from me for this time... I'll go back to Rose now, let's see how long it'll take to finish the next row. :)

Winnie the Pooh cube

Hello everyone *waves*

Sorry for the lack of updates lately.

As I mentioned in the last post, I'm working on a secret project and that's why I haven't posted in a while.

I will reveal it when it's finished and has found it's new home... I plan to finish it in about 2 months... hope I can make it *lol*

But I needed a little break from my big projects, so I worked on a design I've started around 2 years ago.

I took six letters from Vervaco's "Pooh & friends abc", stitched them on six square pieces of 18ct aida and then sewed all of them together.

Here's the result :D

I also had to try the Winnie Pooh letters I bought a few weeks back. I wanted to make a scissors minder but the first try turned out too big (2 over 2 on 28ct Lugana). So it just became a pin cushion :D The second try turned out smaller (2 over 1 on 18ct Aida) and was the perfect size for the scissors minder.

And now I'm off to work on my secret project again. :D

xx

Steffi