It's Raining Threads and Yarns!!!

Yes, it is!  Please, read on...

When I enrolled in Dreams for crochet lessons, I met there Arlene, who came to know about Dreams through this blog.  She enrolled in Hardanger lessons and we became stitching buddies.  She told me about a store where they sell yarns and threads by the kilo.  One kilo of cotton thread costs P170 (around US $4.00) and one kilo of yarn is P270 (more or less US $6.00) So, addicted as we are, we went there.  Let the photos do the talking:

Yarn and Thread Store in Rosario, Pasig

Outside the store, you'll never know how much yarns and threads inside

 

I ended up buying 6 kilos of threads, but I will show the photos in another entry soon.

Now, onto my crochet lessons in Dreams.  Do you know that it's very hard for me to concentrate on my lessons there as these are all around me:

Yarns and threads in Dreams Yarnshoppe

Because of these, I am always telling my teacher that I need to rest my eyes for awhile, but in truth, I will stand up and stretch and then . . . touch these beauties and think what I will buy before I leave the store.  Sick?  Yes, I am.  And I need my thread medicine!!!

Have a nice week everyone!  And to all of you, thank you very much for reading my blog.  And big, big thank you to those of you who leave comments as well as to my followers.  They mean so much to me and you're my inspiration in my updates here.

Hugs to you all :-)

Confession, Obsession

Confession time... I did so little backstitching on the Morning Lake, so there's still no picture to show you.  But I did start on Tropical Fruits.  Here's my little (so little) progress on it:

I did finish a crochet doily which was my project for my crochet lesson.  Here it is, unwashed and unblocked.  I used Canon cotton crochet thread no. 10 color SC021 here with Susan Bates crochet hook size B1.

This is the Japanese crochet book where I've gotten the pattern of the above doily:

Lately, I am obsessing over these Japanese crochet flowers that they are all I wanted to make.  Last time, I've shown you the multicolored ones and also the green/gold-green combination.  Last Friday, I bought from Dreams some yarns:

And these are the flowers I made from the yarns:

They are huge!  Please see the difference:

Have a nice week 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.  

Stitching Goals

I don't do new year's resolutions, but I will be setting some stitching goals this year.  There are some UFOs that I would really like to finish, and hopefully I can complete one or two of the following:

Memory Lane

Here's what it will look like if finished (this photo courtesy of abullrun):

And here's my progress (I started this maybe some time 1999, tho I am not so sure):

Memory Lane is what really hooked me on cross stitching.  I saw a finished project of this in Dreams Yarnshoppe and the rest is history.  Now, I have more than enough charts and kits that I know will need a lifetime or two to finish them all.  But sadly, I still haven't finished my Memory Lane.

Floral Splendor

My progress (I started this some time early 2000):

Hometown Memories by Thomas Kincaide

Close-up photo:

My progress (I also started this some time in 2000):

I am not sure if I can finish them all specially that I have three WIPs on-going, but I will do my best to complete even one.

Thanks for reading and take care everyone!

DREAMS

Since I love cross stitching so much, I think it is worth featuring here the one that started it all. So for today, I will be posting about my favorite needlecraft store: DREAMS Yarnshoppe. Please don't get me wrong, I was not being paid by the owner/store to feature them, I am just a happy customer who appreciate their very good service.

Way back in 1998 or 1999, I didn't know anything about cross stitch. Although an officemate of mine was raving about her favorite hobby at that time, I just shrugged it off. Then one day as I was walking around Glorietta Mall, I saw a display of a very beautiful finished cross stitch, Memory Lane (which I will post about hopefully soon), in Dreams Yarnshoppe (their location before is being occupied now by Havaianas store). So off I went inside the store to inquire about Memory Lane, but when I saw the pattern, I thought that it's very hard to do, so I just purchased the kit of this, which thankfully I was able to finish:


Although I didn't buy the pattern of Memory Lane, I kept going back to the store just to look at it and eventually bought the chart. But aside from that, I started buying from them other patterns, cross stitch books and materials that it finally became an addiction.

But busy work schedules got in the way so I stopped doing the hobby, until this year when I rediscovered it again. Anyway, so much for the blabbing. Here are some photos of the store that the very nice owner, Ate Lilli, allowed me to take:


Inside the store:


Some imported items:


Finished cross stitches that are for sale:

Baldemor's Good Harvest


Secret Garden I, II & III stitched together

Baldemor's Fruits of Labor - upon seeing this, I wanted to stop doing my current project and start this one. The colors are so alive and pretty!


Waterfalls


Projects done by Ate Lilli and/or some of her students:

Hardanger


Totsuka - if I remember correctly, this was done by one of her Japanese students


I'm sorry I cannot remember what they call this

Bargello


Whenever I visit the store, all I want to do is just stay there and look at all the needlecraft materials that they are selling, it's heavenly! By the way, Ate Lilli is offering needlecraft lessons such as: cross stitch, hardanger, tatting, knitting, crochet, specialty stitches, totsuka and more for a one time fee of P800. They also accept finishing and stitching services as well as framing. If you want further information, you can call them at 856-0741 or you can visit their store at the 3rd floor of Glorietta 5 Ayala Center, Makati City, Philippines.

That's all for now. Will try to write more soon! Thanks for reading :-)