My Gorjuss girl is fnished!

Hello to all my blogging friends,

I couldn't believe my eyes when one morning I woke up and noticed I now have 101 followers! I was really blown away because at times I wonder if my blog is really all that interesting, and I am not even sure people read my blog much anymore. I am not the sort of stitcher who has many projects on the go at once so I seem to always be showing you my updates from my current project all the time, and I often think that probably gets a bit boring for some. That's why I don't post all that often until there are some major developments that can be seen. Maybe one day I will have more time when I can start a few projects at once and really make good progress on them. It really makes my day when I see that people have left comments on my blog, it makes me smile when I know someone has taken the time to read my post and feel like leaving a comment for me. So to those that do, thank you! I also know that life can get busy ( I have a very busy toddler and another on the way) so believe me I do know, and it's not always time efficient to leave comments on every single person's blog even though you may enjoy reading it. That has been me many times! When I can I do try and leave a comment though. It has also been lovely building up blogging friendships with you all and seeing what else is going on in your lives. Your stitching and creativity inspires me every day! It also makes me want so many more patterns than I normally would if I wasn't introduced to the blogging world, since cross stitching shops are few and far between where I live, not sure if that's a good or bad thing, haha! I vote for good. You can never have too many kits or patterns!

I find so much joy and inspiration in reading my friends blogs. Stitching brings me happiness and a calmness to my life. Sitting down to stitch with a cup of tea and just me being in my own little world is a time in my day when I know I am truly relaxing and out to other worries or thoughts that would normally enter my head. It has also helped me get through some tough times in my life, and I can't imagine a life without stitching in it. I know I will always cross stitch, and I often see myself as a Grandmother myself stitching for my children and grandchildren one day. Even though it can be days until I get to do some sometimes, I do know that it is just sitting there waiting for me, and that I will do some eventually.

So to my 101 followers I will be having a giveaway! I promised that I would when I reached 100 followers and I do keep to my promises. I will just have to get organised and post it up on my blog when I can. How exciting! My first giveaway.

Now onto the stitching, I finished my gorjuss girl last night, yay! Don't you think she is just gorjuss? I do. Aside from enjoying the stitching part of her I also enjoyed the little extras the kit came with, the white beads on her dress, the ribbons in her hair, the cute little heart button that sits on the top of the J in gorjuss  and even though I struggled a bit with the ropes on the swing at the start (sometimes instructions can be confusing until you read them over a few times) I thought they came together at the end.
So without further ado, here she is happily enjoying a swing with her precious cat.

The kit is by Bothy threads, stitched on blue 14 count Zweigart aida, Madeira standed cotton and DMC light effects threads.

 

 

 

 

Happy Stitching xo

Spring!

Spring is here!

But you wouldn't really know it at the moment. Today is very grey and cold outside, I have the heater on like it's Winter time. The only giveaway is the lovely flowers and blooms you see outside. Oh and the hayfever I have been getting! It likes to attack me at this time of year.

Spring always brings out happiness in people. The days are getting warmer and longer and everything outside just looks fresh, colourful and inviting. I feel like people hibernate during Winter and then come out from their houses when they see some sun.

 

In the evenings I have been busy stitching away on gorjuss and I have nearly finished cross stitching her, which will then bring me to backstitching. I've really enjoyed stitching this little girl and her cat, she's been such an easy stitch and I love the colours. I haven't worked on aida for quite some time too so that's also been a nice change. I am looking forward to stitching her face, I need her personality to come to life.

I've decided gorjuss is going to go into my daughter's room once finished and framed. I think she will really enjoy looking at another little girl on her wall.

 

I've stopped looking for a birth sampler. I've decided to wait to see the sex of the baby this time around and then choose for myself. We are expecting our second baby in December which is very exciting! And even though I am generally an organised person, I've decided to wait and see what takes my attention when the baby is here. It might take me longer to stitch his/her sampler but that's ok, no hurry.

 

Just a few weeks ago, I inherited my Nana's old embroidery she had been working on before she died. This is my Nana on my Dad's side. She died when I was young, only in primary school. I think I was about eight or nine. She was a beautiful lady, a very tall (apparently that's where I got my height from) slim lady who took pride in looking beautifully dressed all the time and wore bright lipstick. I have fond memories of her before she unfortunately became sick. She was very talented too. She loved to knit and do embroidery. I think knitting was her favourite though as she knitted my sisters and I lots of beautiful toys, and I remember her knitting more than doing embroidery.

Before she died she was working on embroidering a tablecloth that has a stamped image of flowers in the four corners on it. Although it isn't cross stitch as such, it is a different style that I've never done before, but Mum and Dad thought because I am the stitcher in our family (along with my sister) that they would give one to me. I said to my parents that hopefully one day I might get to finish it and use the tablecloth myself. That would be very special and dear to me.

This is the table cloth.

 

  

And what makes it so sentimental, is the needle she had sitting in the side after she had finished off her last stitches. Just like me!

 

 

 

Hopefully one day I can make her proud by finishing it for her and for my family to enjoy in years to come. I hope the cross stitch I do will get passed down and loved by family also one day.

 

Happy Stitching xo

 



 

Craft fair

 

What a fun day it was at the craft show yesterday! I went along with my friend Gayle who is an avid stitcher and her friend Fiona who also likes scrapbooking like me. Gayle drove in, and we arrived at the fair about 10:40am, it was pretty packed when we got there, but we bustled our way though the crowds. We went to all the stitching stalls, the first one we came across was stitch about which is wonderful every year. I always remember the same lady who is there every year, she is so helpful and doesn't miss a beat. What a great sales lady she is. I was initially looking for a baby sampler but unfortunately I didn't really come across one I loved. I did "like one" but I was unsure whether to make the purchase because it wasn't a baby sampler itself, it was more of a babies alphabet sampler, which didn't have much room for the stitching of babies name, birth details etc...I did think about getting it (drove the girls a bit crazy with me being indecisive, haha) but then I decided against it in the end, for two reasons. One was it didn't jump out at me, and secondly I did LOVE a baby girls sampler that I saw, but of course the stitching will have to wait until the sex of the baby is revealed. :-)

Other than looking for a baby sampler I just kept my eye out for any kits or charts that I liked. And I did find one by bothy threads from the 'Gorjuss' range. I've always loved the character drawings of the gorjuss range and my favourite especially was the little girl on the swing with a cat on her lap. And luckily I came across it and bought it straight away. I think it's the vibrant colours on the backdrop of blue aida that I like. I couldn't help myself last night, since I had finished my wedding sampler, my hands were itching to start something new and this came just in good time. So I sat down to watch a movie last night and started my new kit. I am loving the simplicity of stitching on aida again, it's been years since I've stitched on aida. It is so easy and I find I don't have to be as mindful with my counting. I will probably make a mistake now that I've said that! I probably stayed up too late stitching the night away, but I was enjoying myself. This is what I've done so far.. 

 

After we looked up and down a few aisles we stopped for a coffee break and a chat. We then looked around some more and found a few more stitchy stalls, and I had a look in a few of the scrapbooking stalls also where I purchased some great alphabet stickers on sale and a pretty pack of flowers. We then stopped for lunch and kept going after that. At the end of the day after we looked through the quilt show, we sat down again and Gayle after making a list of kits/charts she wanted along the way, worked out what she did and didn't want. Or more like, what she could and couldn't afford in her budget. :-) We went back to the stalls Gayle wanted to makes purchases from and then we headed off home again. I think we spent about 6 hours there all up.
It was such a fun day, and even though the show was a bit chaotic it was also very relaxing to have the day to ourselves, chatting about our hobbies and spending time with each other which is something we don't do too often. I will keep looking for a baby sampler, but in the mean time I have a cute little girl to stitch for my daughters room.

Happy Stitching xx

Finished!!

I finally finished my wedding sampler last night! I am very happy with how it's turned out and I am loving the soft pastels on the natural coloured linen. And even though I don't mind doing backstitch, with this pattern there was no backstitch at all! Made my completing the pattern a little easier. :-) Stitched on 32 count natural linen with DMC threads. The pattern is called 'Les Maries' and the designer is La Sylphide Toquee. As you might gather it is a French pattern as the whole pattern is written in French. (thank goodness for Language translators) This pattern holds many special memories for me as I purchased in Paris when my husband and I were on our European honeymoon. Once it is framed, it will always bring back lovely memories when I look at it.
I did make a few minor changes to the brides hair and eyes, and the grooms eyes. As I've mentioned before originally the brides hair and eyes were brown, and the grooms eyes were brown. I decided to stitch the brides hair in light yellow to make it look like my blonde hair, and I gave her blue eyes like mine. I also stitched the eyes on the groom green to match my husbands. :-)

I've not yet ironed my piece so ignore the crease marks from my q-snaps.

This weekend my girlfriend Gayle and I are going to the craft and quilt fair together, I am so excited!!!! I can't wait. It will be so nice to have a day together, chatting over coffee about stitching and looking at all the stalls. I am hoping there I will come across my next project which will be a baby sampler. If not, it doesn't matter, it will be nice just having a day out with Gayle.

Happy Stitching xx

Time flies..

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I have been cross stitching. Sometimes I just forget to blog about it and then when I do remember I don't have the time to do it etc..I have been keeping up with my blog reading though.
It is perfect cross stitching weather at the moment, we are now in Winter and the nights are cold. The days are too but I am normally out and about rugged up. I celebrated my birthday last week, the 6th of June. I was spoilt and was given lots of hobby goodies by my family. June is a nice time to have a birthday and sit inside creating things.  I've been swapping between cross stitch and scrapbooking, my hobbies that make me happy.
I have stitched quite a bit on my wedding sampler. For some reason I always thought the writing I would be stitching one day would be daunting and take lots of time, but surprisingly I have enjoyed stitching the writing and it's moving along fairly fast. Here is where I am up to.

If I keep up with the speed I am going with this one I think I could have it finished in no time.

I also wanted to share with you another creation. My nephew turned two last week and he is madly obsessed with cars (cars, and the character from the cars movie) so since I am the baker in the family, I decided on baking this cake. I was really happy with how it turned out, he thought it was pretty great too.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend,

happy stitching xx

Groom

With being sick the last couple of weeks I've been house bound and made quite a bit of progress lately with my groom, he is looking good. He now has a nice pair of shiny shoes. All I have to do on him now is finish stitching his waistcoat. His leg looks a little funny at the moment but it will look better when I've finished his waistcoat.

The other day I made a beautiful orange cake, it was delicious! I was quite proud of it. And with a cup of tea, it was so nice and light. I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Happy Stitching xx

92 followers!

I can't believe I have 92 followers! I feel so honoured that people are interested in my blog and my cross stitch. Thank you so much for sticking with me and taking the time to read my entries and commenting. It makes my day. If you know anyone who might be interested in my blog it would be wonderful if you could let them know about it, because when I reach 100 followers I'll be having my very first giveaway!!