Long Time NO Post...

I feel like I spend a lot of my time making posts that have the above title lol...

I must try harder!

The reason for my absence? Life! We have just bought a house and moved in a month ago (or slightly less than that, 3 weeks 4 days!) so have been INCREDIBLY busy decorating and doing DIY...

I haven't stitched much recently either, I have started a new Koi Fish project for my other half but that is stitched in the style of a HAED so may take some months to complete...

I am going to try my best to update and make a blog post every month - whether I just update with a few pictures about what I have been doing, review something I have used, or just waffle on about my life in general...I WILL POST SOMETHING!!! (promise!)

I hope all the readers of my blog are well & enjoying the lovely June weather we have been having! (sense the sarcasm in that sentence...) today alone it has thundered, poured down and now is glorious sunshine...glad I did not put the washing out! The weekend is meant to be brighter so hopefully that is true and I can throw all the windows open at my house, give it a good air and a summer clean...;0)

I plan to sit and stitch tonight, for the FIRST time in my new house. I'm really looking forward to it :0) goodness knows how much I will get done because I am sure my other half will be under my feet ;0) however yesterday we moved the Fiesta he is restoring/building up to its FOREVER home (from a garage about 45minutes away!) so hopefully he'll disappear out there and sort some of his stuff out...

Loving you all and leaving you all now...until next time...;0)

SandZ xXx

Best Easter Egg Ever...

Firstly Happy Easter everyone :0) I've been a little down in the dumps recently but today I've made a decision to be happy and smiley from now on...I promise (until the next time something gets me down haha!)

Anyway, I got this egg for Easter:

Isn't he just the coolest??? I'd like to say the Easter Bunny knows me well ;0) I just don't think I'll be able to eat him...he looks far too cute and penguins are my favourite animals! 

Here's a silly picture of me with my bunny ears on (it's Easter, why not???)

xXx

Jade's Knitted Bag :0)

Here's what I have been busy doing I knitted a bag for my stitchy friend Jade!!! :0) I knitted the patchwork squares in all sorts of different textures...just used up all the little bits of wool we had left around my house :0)

I had great fun creating it and I think that Jade loves it...my knitting bug is well and truly here, all I want to do is knit and create things! 

I hope that you like it too...thanks for looking!

x

Knitted Frog Bag...

I knitted this bag for my good friend Cheryl who I thought needed cheering up...

It has a frog on the front ~ can you see it???

I then knitted the back and a thin(ish) band (& handle) to go right round the bag to give it a bit of strength! The whole bag is knitted in knit stitch and purl stitch only. I love how the combination of the two stitches can make so many textures!!! I do like knitting...

I hope that you like my newest knitted finish...I know that my good friend Cheryl did!!! That makes me happy...

I got the pattern from here:

http://frogiezplace.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/tree-frog-pattern.html ~ if you wanted to try it out for yourself...it was easy and knitted up quickly!!!

Thanks for looking at my blog today!!! Enjoy your week if I don't post another blog post before the weekend...

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

...and it continues...

...the penguin obsession that is!!!
Look at this little fella!!!
<3 xXx

Chickens!!!

I am stitching some chickens for my friends with 6 German Shorthair Pointers as they also have chickens (& cats, a bearded dragon, hamster and 2 gerbils) which I animal-sit for occasionally...I am stitching 4 chickens for them (as they have 4 chickens) and I have done 3 so far...

I should really finish one project before I start another shouldn't I??? Lol, I'm the same with books...I've got about 3 on the go at the moment that I have partially started :0/...oops!

Here are some photos of the chickens so far (excuse the crumpled fabric):

I hope that you like my progress so far...just got the chicken at the top and a border left to do. These chickens were from Cross Stitch Crazy (although I can't remember what issue)...

Thanks for looking and Happy Sunday!!!

xXx

QS Coral Addiction WIP as of 4th May 2012

Here is my most recent picture of my progress on Coral, this is a picture from the end of March but I forgot to post a picture on here ~ oopsie! So here it is: 

Here was where I was at the last time I posted a progress picture (this picture was taken in mid Feb):

I hope that you like my progress on Coral...I am now working on the page below her chin :0) thanks for looking...

Baby Hat For Abby...

I wanted to knit a hat for baby Abby(my cousins new little one) to use up some of the wool I had left over from the blanket I made...

I wanted an easy but effective pattern and I found one here: Baby Hat on Two Needles - I kept looking for patterns and finding them knitted up on circular needles, I wanted something simple using just 2 needles and the pattern I've linked was perfect.

Here is my attempt (I even added two crochet flowers which I did myself...): 

I'd do another, I started this last night (probably just after tea at about 7pm) and finished it this afternoon :0) 

I hope you like my little project...

xXx

*sulks*

I've got a virus and I'm a poorly girl at the moment :0( it sucks because I don't have the energy to do anything. NOT even stitch :0( that is really nasty because I could've got loads acheived on Friday, today and over the weekend. All I want to do is sleep though :0(  this is exactly how I feel right now!!! >>>

BEFORE I got poorly I have been working on this - John Clayton's American Smooth.                                                                                  >>>

This is for my Mum's Christmas present :0) I'm quite proud of my progress so far...

<<< this is how much I have done in just a few days. I might see what I feel like tomorrow and attempt some more. BUT I don't want to try and do some and go wrong and then spend my next session at it frogging the mistakes I did when I was poorly. That would definitely NOT be fun!!! It is a nice design because each symbol for stitches is either a plain colour or two different colours combined called 'tweeding'. This means every section that I am looking at has a different 'feel' to it and some of the depth and detail in the colours is created by stitching with one strand of one colour and one strand of another at the same time (hope that makes sense!) I am really enjoying the work that I am putting into it. The reason why I chose this design to do is that the dancer looks a bit like my Mum when she was younger and she used to do ballroom dancing so I think it'll remind her a bit of those days which will be nice. Whether she'll have any place to hang this design is another matter but hey it's the thought that counts!!! I need to do something for me next - HOWEVER my HAED is for meee but I haven't worked on that in a while...maybe I need to get that out and see if I can put a few more stitches in that or it'll end up a UFO!!!

CURRENTLY my HAED stands at this:

With no stitches placed in it since May time. Perhaps I should make an effort with this project tomorrow if I feel up to it - we'll see! 

Thanks for reading this (if you did) and I hope you like my current project for my Mum, I will really try to put some more stitches into it this week and post another update!!!

:0) xXx

Long long time no post...

It has been ages since I have posted. Lots has gone on since then. I have stitched quite a bit more on my HAED Moon Glow, completed a free kit, made a few decoupage cards and stitched Winnie the Pooh for a baby sampler!

I am out of work at the moment due to my previous area manager not treating me as well as I think I could've been treated. She preferred my supervisor in my eyes and my supervisor got extra training days and went to stock takes etc that I did not even get invited to or consulted about. Things would be organised without me being considered and I would not find out about things until the day - for example I would expect to be working the day with my supervisor and I'd get in to find another one of my staff members there to work etc...ALSO I was put through meetings up to a disciplinary hearing about cash handling and banking (of which I did nothing wrong) I appealed against this and got the outcome (which was a verbal warning) overturned. So I left there on June the 5th and have been applying to various jobs since then with NO luck.I am hoping that this situation changes asap!!! Although in the mean time I have been doing odd bits of craft work (as detailed above...) please see pictures below - I hope you like them...

HAED progress 2/08/09:



Winnie the Pooh Birth Sampler: (the coloured pen lines are washable ink!)

Crazy Flowers Free Kit:


Decoupage Cards:

That's all...
xXx

Baby W's Sampler WIP Progress #3

More progress on my baby sampler for Baby W! Can't do much more because am waiting for Baby W to be born so I can put name, date, time & weight onto it.





I hope that you like my progress on it so far & it should be finished soon (I hope) then I can start on my HAED - Moon Glow...I'm very excited about that !!!
xXx