Small Finishes From The Past

While arranging my stash box, I came upon these two small finishes that I've completely forgotten about.  I think I did these two or three years ago.

Backdoor Friends

Strawberry Basket

With the included matting

The kit it came from.  Designed by Joan Elliott

I also saw these two kits that I haven't started yet. 

Bee and Rose.  Also designed by Joan Elliott

These were all gifts from my sister.

I have done some backstitching on the Morning Lake, but I will show the picture when it's really finished.  I also started the Tropical Fruits and when there's more to show, will post a photo of it.

This is all for now.  Take care everyone!

Some Flowers In Bloom, More Threads and Morning Lake Update

Almost finally, all the crosses in Morning Lake are now finished.  Now, have to do the backstitching.  Oops, I did again!!!  I know, I know, you must be saying "there you go again Toni, leaving the backstitching til the end".

Some time ago, I posted in some of the forums asking fellow cross stitchers for tips and techniques on how to make backstitching easier on my life.  And almost everyone said that I should do it as I go along.  But I really dreaded that stitch, so here I am again, leaving it til the end.

Crochet-wise, here are some more flowers.  I'm thinking of making it into a shawl instead of scarf.

On white background (sorry for the wrinkled towel)

On black background

Now, I have to stop adding more flowers on it for the meantime because I have to do these, also into a shawl, as a gift for my sister:

They are the same flower pattern except I change the color motif and used the threads above.

After I finished my multicolored shawl and my sister's, I will also make one for my mother with this color combination/threads:

And then when I finished all the shawls, I don't know what my next project will be, but I already bought these threads (all the threads I posted here are Canon made by Coats).  I'm crazy I know, but I'm happy so it's okay :D

By the way, while browsing for more threads, I saw and bought these Boye hooks at a steal...all 7 pieces at P100 (US$2.25), and if you will look around the net, one Boye steel crochet hook costs $1.99.  These are the old Boye hooks and I've read somewhere that it's better than the new ones.  I just can't remember the difference.  I am not sure how old these hooks are but they are in good condition.  You can also see in the box that they were made by Boye Needle Company, whereas today, their new hooks are now being made by Wrights.

It's really very dangerous to my wallet having the needlecraft stores so near our place.  They are just a five-minute, or less, drive from our home.  Good or bad?  You decide...  But for me, it's good, good, good!  Indeed, very good!!!  :D :D :D

Yay! I Won An Award

I can't believe I won an award!  It's my first!

Now, to the rules of the award:

1. Thank the person that awarded you:

            A big thank you to Linda Williams of  Stitches by Kryss and to Kim of Wired To My World.

 2. List 7 things about myself:
 
            1.  I'm married with two grown up sons age 22 and 20.

2.  I'm a makeup artist.

3.  I collect embroidery scissors.

4.  I love buying threads, lots and lots of it!

5.  Rob Thomas is my favorite singer.

6.  I love the character Mac Taylor of CSI New York.

7.  "Fringe" is my favorite tv series and the only show that can take my eyes away from cross stitch.

3. Pass the award to 15 other stylish bloggers -

1.  Midge's Crafty Corner
2.  A Stitcher's Nook
3.  Donna's Crafty Crosstitch Blog
4.  Bec's Cross Stitch Creations

5.  Pistellen-Stitching

6.  Ana Stitch

7.  Home Is Where My Heart Is

8.  It's Daffycat

9.  K1nS.com

10.  All I Want Is Everything

11.  7  Oficios 
12.  Stitching Basket
13.  Crochet Attic 
14.  My World
15.  Nicole's Needlework

  

4. Let those bloggers know             

Rules done!   Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH to Stitches by Kryss and Wired To My World.  And big congratulations to the winners!

Morning Lake Progress

There's not much progress but I will show it anyway:

And this is the reason why I'm so slow on my Morning Lake.  I am going to make this into a scarf.

I went crazy again and bought these crochet threads.  Some of these are very similar in shades that it's hard to see the difference in the photos.

Last Saturday, I've met with a friend-cross stitcher, Nina, and here are her gifts to me:

A Lizzie Kate design

Another Lizzie Kate design

Card she stitched for me

Isn't it awesome meeting fellow cross stitchers...  Although it was the first time we've met, it feels like we've known each other for so long.

Happy stitching everyone!

Crazy Me

I'm sorry if I update my blog just once a week.  I know, I know, I'm the laziest blogger on earth :D :D  Now, you will think I am the craziest of all the crazies out there :D  Why? . . . Because despite having not enough time, or should I say lifetime, to finish all my cross stitch patterns in my stash, I enrolled in the Crochet class in Dreams Yarnshoppe.  It's not only crochet lessons that the store owner, Ate Lilli, is offering.  She teaches hardanger, knitting, tatting, cross stitch, totsuka, specialty stitches and many more.  She's one very talented and very nice lady.  If I remember correctly, she was once been a consultant for DMC Philippines.  

Okay, back to my crochet thing.  To tell you the truth, I enjoyed it tremendously.  What's more, it's really fun when you're around with other needlecrafters.  By the way, in my vaguest memory, I know that I did crochet when I was in grade school, but for the life of me, I cannot remember what my project was.  Maybe after submitting it to the teacher, she didn't return it anymore because I've asked my mother about it and she also cannot remember what I did.    Anyway, here are what I did in the two sessions that I had:

The rectangle was the first that I did.  It contains some of the basic stitches like the chain, single crochet, half-double crochet and double crochet.  You can see how very tight my work is.  The coaster was next.  It's still tight.  Then I practiced some more:

This is the second coaster.  Same pattern, different thread color.  I think my chains are a bit relaxed compared to the first coaster.

This is the third ( I love, love, love the color of this one, by the way) and I think the best out of the three, or is it the second that is the best?  We'll, please judge here:

 

And since I am ambitious and wanted to do this someday:

which is from this book:

I asked Ate Lilli to teach me how to do the squares and here is one square that we did:

Now, I've got so much squares to practice doing!  It's just sad that we cannot get the exact colors shown on the afghan photo as those yarns, I think, are not available here, so we just opted for the nearest colors that we can get from the available threads in her store.

Don't worry friends, cross stitch is my first and true love and will always be :D

Thanks for dropping by and have a nice week everyone! 

For Philippine residents:  I've been receiving emails and private messages inquiring about the needlecraft lessons that Dreams Yarnshoppe offer.  For better assistance, please call them at 856-0741 or visit their store at the 3rd floor of Glorietta 5, Ayala Center, Makati City.  

Morning Lake Update & Tropical Fruits

I am sad because I wasn't able to beat my goal of finishing the Morning Lake end of February.  Maybe it will take me another week or two to finish the piece, and it has some backstitching that will take me forever to do.  Here's my progress on it:

After this one, I will start a new chart, a request from my mother because she said that our kitchen wall is so bare it needs some decoration.  Here's my next project which I will do along my Homebound.

It's a pattern published by DMC Philippines.  And here are the materials for it:

The fabric is 18 count off-white Aida.  The chart calls for 51 colors and the finished size will be 15.25 inches width by 11.55 inches height if done on 18 count.

That's all for now.  Happy stitching!  :-)