Gifted Gorgeousness SAL 2015 - Update #2

It is now the middle of February which means it is time for an update on my "Gifted Gorgeousness SAL 2015" (GG SAL) stitching.

I think that by now you probably know that I participated in a couple of Crazy January challenges last month, and that for some of my new starts I chose a number of designs which have now gone on to be my stitching for this particular SAL.

Due to the challenges I haven't really managed to stitch on all the choices since the last update... but I have stitched on three of them...

The first two of these is:

Moutons de Saisons Printemps et été - Collection Tralala
Gift from Kaye from Kitten Stitching.  The original post of when Kaye gave me these charts is here.

Below are pics of where I was with "printemps" and "été" when I posted my last GG update:

"Moutons de Saisons - printemps" - Collection Tralala

"Moutons de saisons - été" - Tralala Collection

And this is where they both are now are some love and attention this weekend:

"Moutons de Saisons - printemps" - Collection Tralala

"Moutons de saisons - été" - Tralala Collection

As you can see "été" got a lot more love than any of the other ones this rotation.... yesterday was a very productive afternoon in front of the ICC World Cup Cricket.... (Australia vs England).

The next chart that I managed to stitch on between updates is one of the Lizzie Kate charts.

Halloween Limited Edition Charts - Lizzie Kate
Giveaway win from Carolyn (Taking One Stitch at a Time) - link to my post about the giveaway win is here

Halloween Limited Edition Charts - Lizzie Kate

This is where I was with "Eek!" when I posted my last GG update:

Lizzie Kate's "Eek!"
January 2015

And this is what "Eek!" looks like now:

Lizzie Kate's "Eek!"
February 2015

A little of purple has been added... not a lot of action but as we often say "one stitch is better than no stitches" :o)

So that's it for this "Gifted Gorgeousness SAL (GG SAL)" update.  I will be back on or near the 15th March 2015 with another update.



Til next time, Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx

If you're not sure what this particular SAL is all about.... Jo from Serendipitous Stitching hosts this SAL - the link to my post late last year about the SAL is here.... but essentially this SAL is about stitching charts/kits or using fabrics & threads that we have received as gifts, won in giveaways or anything that is intended be a gift or giveaway prize... or anything else that you can loosely use the word "gift" for!!  If you wish to sign up for this SAL, click on the button below or the button on my sidebar and you will be re-directed to Jo's blog.

Secret Stitching Sweethearts Blog Hop Update

Just thought I'd drop in and give you a quick update on the Secret Stitching Sweethearts Blog Hop that Jo from Serendipitous Stitching organised for Valentine's Day.

Jo's post of the blog hop list is here if you want to have a look at who participated in all the fun over the last 24 hours.

As you will remember from yesterday's post, I received this pic....

This morning I received a comment/email with the reveal of my Secret Sweetheart Stitcher - Elfie from Elfin Stitches.   She stitched this lovely scissor fob for her sister many years ago.

The next pic is the one that I sent to Jo for her to pass onto my Secret Stitching Sweetheart... and this morning when I went on the Blog Hop I found it on Vickie's (A Stitcher's Story) - here is a link to her post

This is "Purrfect Partners" - a Margaret Sherry design that I stitched back in 2011.  Link to the finish post is here....

I will be back later today or tomorrow to give you an update on my "Gifted Gorgeousness SAL 2015" stitching for the last month and then later this week it will be time for an ORT report... and then I think we are also heading into IHSW next weekend...  so you will hopefully be in for a couple of posts over the next week or so!

Time for me to sign off and go and get some camera action happening for my next post!

♥ Til then, happy stitching! ♥

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

Happy Valentine's Day

web image

Today is Valentine's Day... and for those that go all out and celebrate - have a wonderful day!  Hubby and I don't make a big deal about Valentine's Day as much as we used to when we first met... for us everyday is Valentine's Day - we both know that we love and support each other every day of the year regardless of what day it is... but I guess an extra hug on this special day never goes astray! ♥ xxxx ♥

Do you love a mystery?  I know I do... and I have a 2 good ones for you today!

Jo from Serendipitous Stitching is hosting her annual Secret Sweetheart Blog Hop today, and this year I managed to sign up in time!

The idea behind the blog hop is that we all send a photo of our Valentine's or love inspired stitching to Jo and then a couple of days before Valentine's Day Jo sends random photos to everyone on the list.  We post that photo on our blog on Valentine's Day and then we wait for the Secret Sweetheart Stitcher to reveal herself.  That is mystery number 1....

Mystery number 2 is that I now have to go and follow the blog hop to find out who received my photo so that I can reveal myself as the Secret Sweetheart Stitcher to that blogger.

At the moment I am not sure who is participating in the blog hop... so I will have to wait for a few more hours yet... the curse of being one of the first countries in the world to start the day!

But anyway I digress again - it is very easy for me to get sidetracked!

Below is the photo that I received from my Secret Sweetheart Stitcher

♥ Mystery Secret Sweetheart Stitcher photo ♥
all will be revealed soon....

So, if you are like me and you want to see who stitched this lovely hanger/fob pop, and who received my Secret Sweetheart Stitcher photo, pop over to Jo's blog and have a look at the Secret Sweetheart Stitcher blog hop list and go on the Valentine's Day Mystery Hunt - Link is here and also on my side bar where you see Jo's heart icon.

Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not.... enjoy your Saturday... and feel the love! ♥

Happy Stitching...

Hugs xx

How about a February stitching update!

Hello!  Did you miss me?  After all my prolific posting in January, I seem to have come to a bit of halt all of a sudden!

But I am back again now with a very quick update on some of my WIP's from the Crazy January challenges as well as some updates on my older but much loved WIP's.

Since the end of the January's crazy challenges I have focused my stitching efforts on three WIP's - Lizzie Kate's "Jingles", Joan Elliott's "Faces of JE SAL" and my little Winter Witch.  Below are the latest pics of where they are all at now.

Faces of JE SAL - designed by Joan Elliott
Last update on this SAL was on 16th January 2015 and she looked like this:

Progress as at 16 January 2015

After a bit of a stitching session (SAL within in a SAL) last weekend, she now looks like this:

Progress as at 9 February 2015

I am still way behind in this SAL but eventually I will catch up!  Part of the slowness of stitching on this design is that I decided to stitch the face and skin "over 1".... I am regretting that decision a little bit now as it takes so long..... but I think overall it will be worth it.  As you can probably see I keep taking a break from the "over 1" stitching other parts of the design to give my eyes a rest!

Lizzie Kate's "Jingles" - designed by Lizzie Kate
As you know "Jingles" has been around for awhile now.... and every now and then I do a bit more on them.  I picked it up again the other night and did some stitches, but as I don't officially need to do a "Jingles" update til the end of the month, this will just be a quick sneak peek!

When you last saw "Jingles" on 17th January 2015, it looked like this:

Progress as at 17 January 2015

And now "Jingles" looks like this:

Progress as at 10 February 2015

Slowly but surely this one is inching it's way to the end!  I will try and get a bit more stitched on this section before the end of the month.

and last but not least, there is:

Winter Witch - designed by The Snowflower Diaries
The last time I showed you my lovely little witch she looked like this:

Progress as at 28 January 2015

And after some intensive love and attention Winter Witch and her snowman companion are finished!

Winter Witch - designer: Snowflower Diaries
stitched on "Hocus Pocus" 32ct Belfast from Stitches & Spice
Finished 6 February 2015

So there you go my first finish for 2015!  I decided not to do some confetti white stitches around her wand and instead stitched on some pretty gold beads and blinged her up a bit!

I now have to post her on the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog and I can then tick "Witches" off my stitching list!

I am not sure yet what I will do with her as a final finish yet.... so for the time being she will go in the finished file til inspiration strikes!

That's it for this very quick stitching update.  I will be back over the next few days as TUSAL is coming up soon, as are a couple of other posting deadlines. so til then....

Happy Stitching and no froggin!
hugs xx

Day 28, 29, 30, 31 - and that's all folks!

Yep, that's right we have reached the end of January... which means we have now reached the end of my January challenges of 15 new starts in 15 days, and 31 days of stitching either new starts or old WIP's - and I did it!!!  Well, really it wasn't that hard, was it?  I just had to stitch every day and be a bit organised and do some pre-planning.

The last couple of starts were all smalls and free gifts that I had in my stash as my stitching time in the evenings wasn't a lot this last week and I had to make the most of it!

So what did I start for the last 4 days?

Day 28 - The third mouse in the Margaret Sherry Christmas mouse trio.  More purple!!

Christmas Mouse #3 - designed by Margaret Sherry

I managed to get a good start on this one on Thursday night as Hubby was out so I had a quick early tea when I got home from work and then started stitching!  I am looking forward to getting back to these three meeces in the next couple of weeks and hopefully getting them finished before the end of the year!

Day 29 - Free Gift from The World of Cross Stitching magazine (WOCS) - unfortunately I can't remember what issue it is as the chart was separated from the mag when I first decided to stitch it!

This is a Helz Cuppleditch design and it is just so cute!  I really like her designs and have collected a few now that have been in the UK magazines.

Flowerpot Kitten - designed by Helz Cuppleditch

As this is a free kit I am using the included aida and threads.  Although I am sort of thinking I should have changed the fabric to a nice coloured one.... but I will stick with what I have started now!

Day 30 - Free Gift from The World of Cross Stitching magazine (WOCS) - unfortunately again the chart was separated from the mag and I had forgotten to write the issue number on it!

This one is the adorable Fizzy Moon!

Fizzy Moon

Not many stitches on this one on Friday night.  I was a bit side tracked when I got home from work on Friday night and I didn't really get going til late and then it was time for bed!  But a start is a start even if its only about 20 stitches!

Day 31 - another Margaret Sherry design, and another freebie! This one is from Cross Stitch Crazy issue 171 and is a Christmas kitty.  Do you think I like kitties??

Merry Christmas Kitten - designed by Margaret Sherry

I know yesterday was a Saturday and normally I would get a few more stitches in than this... but we went to see Les Misérables at the Crown Theatre and by the time we got home last night I didn't have a lot of hours left for stitching!  But we loved the show... first time seeing Les Misérables for Hubby but I had seen it many years ago (like about 20 or more!) when it came to Perth for the first time. This would have to be my all time favourite theatre/musical... just love the show and the music. Always brings a tear or two to my eyes when I hear songs like "Bring him home" and "On my Own". This new touring cast was amazing!

So that's it for the January challenges.... I am toying with the idea of continuing into February and making it 59 days of stitching on something new or an old WIP, but actually I think that I now need to concentrate on finishing some of these lovely new starts.... that doesn't mean to say that I won't have some new starts in February as I actually have one lined up to start once I get off the computer!! And I have couple of others that I meant to start in January but didn't so with a bit of luck they will get a showing in February!

Overall I have really loved doing the January challenges, and while I know that I have a lot of WIP's now... the challenge has got me right back into stitching and blogging again, and that is a good thing!   Now I just have to keep up the momentum and continue for the year as I started the first month!  Thank you to everyone that has read my posts and commented on them - all your comments are greatly appreciated and I have tried to respond to every comment except for those that were a "no-reply" blogger (with those ones I have tried to find your blog on your google profile and where I can I have tried to repay your comment with a comment).  I am still getting around to catching up on my blog reading so that it is next challenge to conquer!

Til my next post, happy stitching!

If you want to have a look at any of my previous updates for the FB CrosstitchCrazy Event and Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2015 (DUCJC2015) the links are below:

Day 1 - Winter Witch    Day 2 - "Eek!"    Day 3 - "Prancer"  Day 4 - "Autumn Fab Fob"    Day 5 - "Comet"    Day 6 - "Koala"  Day 7 - "Sneak Peek - Halloween"    Day 8 - "Printemps"    Day 9 - "été"
Day 10 - "Joyeux Noel"    Day 11 - "Feeling Festive"    Day 12 - "New Year's Magic"  Day 13 - "Grumpy Kitty"    Day 14 - "Happy Howloween"   Day 15 - "Happy Owl O Ween"    Day 16 - WIP "Faces of JE Mystery SAL"   Day 17 - WIP "Lizzie Kate's Jingles"    Day 18 - "Witch & Friends"
Day 19 - "Mini Mandala II - C"     Day 20 - WIP "Spring Bouquet"  Day 21 - WIP "Bonsai & Buddha"    Day 22 - Katie Kitty  Day 23 - Peter Polar Bear     Day 24 - MS Christmas Mouse #1  Day 25 - Mary Mouse  Day 26 - You are so Loved  Day 27 - MS Christmas Mouse # 2  Day 28 - MS Christmas Mouse #3  Day 29 - Flowerpot Kitten   Day 30 - Fizzy Moon   Day 31 - MS Christmas Kitten

Til next time, Happy Stitching