Pile of Piggies WIP! :0)...

1st WIP pic as of 23rd September!!!

2nd WIP pic as of 27th September!!!

3rd WIP pic as of 8th October!!!

I started this stitch in mid September - as you can see it is progressing quite well :0) I am happy with the colours and the way it looks. The cover of the kit looks like this: 

It is quite an easy stitch ~ no blending, no fractionals and no half stitches :0) I am very glad that the colours in the threads in the kit are more natural than they show on the picture above...I think that the final piece will be stunning and I hope that Cookie's Mum will like it. It is her CHRISTMAS pressie so I think I am on track to get it completed in time. I have almost completed the 4th piglet on the left hand side of the design (the only one with a curly tail) so will show another picture when I have completed that piglet (should be within the next few days!)

I hope that you like my latest project and my WIP photographs ~ thanks for looking if you have done so!

xXx

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year...

Hellooo!!! Long time no post...

Just wanted to share a few photos of Christmas 2O13 & hope to post more in the New Year! I haven't really been stitching much this year at all...I really need to pick up a HAED and get cracking again...

This picture is of me & my boyfriend Cookie :0) I forced him to wear a Santa hat for a photo...;0)

He wasn't too happy about the Santa hat!!! Hehe...

My Pandora bracelet is full now thanks to 4 charms for Christmas! 3 from my Cookie and 1 from my Mum :0)

I was also VERY lucky & got some Ugg boots from my Cookie too...

I hope all my blog readers had a fabulous Christmas. I had a very chilled one spent at home with my parents & boyfriend...New Year is going to be more eventful as we are off to Southampton for a dance event :0)...

I hope that everyone has a lovely New Year & is looking forward to 2O14...we have a LOAD of plans for next year so I am über excited...:0)

I'll post more next year ~ I promise...

xXx

COMPETITION!!!

It's Competition Time!!!

Right here is a photo of all the Christmas Decorations that went on my Christmas tree, what I want you to do is GUESS how many decorations there are in total in this pile ~

I will give you a clue, there's more than 100 but less than 400 ;0) ~ I sat and counted them all as I took them off the tree...I want to beat my total amount on the tree next Christmas hehe...

I have 3 prizes and I will give them to the person closest (or who guesses exactly), and the two people after that who are next closest...in the case of a tie (where two people guess exactly the right amount or closest to the right amount) I will give the first prize away to the first person to comment and so on :0)

Here are the prizes (they are all Christmas themed and things I have either collected or got for free but wont use ~ hence the giveaway!):

1) Christmas card embellishment pack, 3D stickers and Christmas scrapbooking sheets (which could be used for card making)...

2)

5 metallic cards and envelopes, x3 Christmas shaped frames and 1 AOY chart...

3) 

x2 Anchor threads (one white colour number 2, one grey colour number 400), Christmas Nelson Kit and chart and Thread Sorter & Needle Station...

SOOO get GUESSING!!! 

Please guess by commenting below...

Good luck!!!

EDIT ~ this competition is open to anyone, so get guessing!!! It will also end next weekend (on Sunday evening at midnight) and I will get prizes to the winners over the course of the following week :0)...

xXx

Calories Don't Count At Christmas WIP Progress ~ 2nd January 2O13

As predicted this design is stitching up quickly!!!

No Kreinik delivery as yet but I'm hoping it comes in time for the weekend :0)

I hope that you like my progress this evening...as I am posting from my phone, if you are interested to see yesterday's progress to compare with today's then please look at the post below this one!!! :0)

I hope everybody has had a good day, I was back to work today for the first time this year!!! It went quicker than I thought it would...all I really wanted to do was get home & stitch though!!! The stitchy bug has well & truly bitten me (for the moment!!!)...

Thanks for reading my blog ~ keep on reading as I think I'm going to do a giveaway over the weekend ;0)
xXx

Calories Don't Count At Christmas WIP as of 1st Jan 2O13...

^^^

This project is so cute!!! My Mum bought it for me for Christmas from the Works, it came with everything you needed to get on with it straight away ~ chart, aida fabric and threads. However I looked at the chart and there are a lot of stitches and back stitch that would pierce and split the aida blocks (stitching on aida is NOT for me) so I swapped out the fabric and am stitching on some evenweave  

However I am well impressed with:

1) the quality of the threads included 

&& 2) the aida (if you were to use it) is hemmed around the edges to stop fraying...some more expensive kits don't even do that to the fabric they include!!!

&&& 3) the chart includes DMC conversion at the bottom for all the thread colours!!! FAB!!!

So I started stitching on the 3Oth of December and here's where I got to:

I have used some Kreinik fine braid in an iridescent pearl colour along with the white in the candy canes to give a bit of sparkle (it doesn't show in the photo though!) *insert sad face here*

You all know me, I've already been missing out some stitches and changing bits to suit me. Some of the writing (especially the O of "count" ~ look at the top picture, looks like two U's right???) it didn't look right on the chart so I amended it slightly to make it look better. Sometimes I think you do have to have been stitching quite a while if you want to tackle one of these kits, as sometimes the charts aren't the best and you do have to change some things about! I think if you're a new stitcher then the instructions aren't the clearest and sometimes the oddities of the chart may put you off ~ but if you're like me and have been stitching forever (well on and off since I was 8) then you'll tackle anything and modify it to suit you 

I hope you like my new project ~ it's stitching up quite quickly (although I have had to order some more Kreinik) so hopefully it'll be a quick finish and I can frame/finish it off in a cute way for it to be displayed next Christmas...and I totally agree with the caption "Calories Don't Count at Christmas" 

Here is my progress today (the 1st of January)...

Note the lack of icing on the right hand cupcake ~ I'm awaiting my Kreinik delivery!!! Should be here soon I reckon...I ordered it yesterday from Donna - website is here: http://www.cross-stitch-heaven.co.uk/ and have had an email to say my order is processing ~ Donna's usually dead quick but I'm not in a hurry anyway!!!

If you've read today's blog then thank you so much & Merry New Year...

xXx

Christmas 2O12 & a Happy New Year...

Well Christmas 2O12 for me was marvellous ~ here I am going to show you a few of my favourite decorations, my Christmas pressies and a few things I bought myself in the sales...

Tree & Decorations!!!

~ our lovely Christmas tree...

Christmas Pressies!!!

(I was such a spoilt girly!!!)

(the best wrapping paper in the world!!!)

(Penguin themed presents too!!!

Sale Bargains!!!

...snuggly jumper from Quiz (not the best picture sorry!!!)

...tartan slipper booties from Edinburgh Woollen Mill :0)

...beautiful lacy sparkly shoes from Quiz

...spiral bracelet from Edinburgh Woollen Mill

...500GB external hard drive from Argos (in red!)

...The Borgias Season 2 from Sainsbury's

I just got some of the bits that I asked my Mum & Dad to get me for Christmas and didn't get in the end! However I was so lucky for Christmas and got far more than I ever thought I would!!! :0) I enjoyed treating myself a bit in the sales, but there wasn't anything I particularly "needed" this year...was there anything that you bought in the sales and thought you got a proper bargain??? (feel free to comment below and let me know!) 

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year if I don't post again before the New Year :0)

Thanks for reading my blog this year (if you have done so!) I shall hopefully be blogging more about different things in 2O13!!! Please stick with me and continue to read my blog posts...

Best wishes to you all and I hope 2O13 is everything you want it to be...

xXx