A Rave And A Rant

I've been in a cross stitch samplers kick lately and below sampler pattern has been in my list for so long I cannot remember.  Then I recently got it, thanks to my sister's brother-in-law who brought it from the States.  What I rave about is how Tanya, the designer of The Scarlett House, provided in the pattern the DMC conversion to the specialty threads being called for.  I thanked her in my Instagram account and she replied by saying that she "always try to offer a conversion to DMC, as she feels it is a good starting point for stitchers to pick their threads of choice" (her words).  Such a very considerate designer.  

This is Rachel Howells sampler by The Scarlett House:

Tanya is so professional and kind, very different from the designer (Brenda Gervais) of With Thy Needle and Thread patterns, and this is where my rant comes in, who didn't even bother to answer my messages about thread conversion in one of her patterns.  First, when I received the pattern, I emailed the listed website in the pattern twice and they just ignored my email.  Second, I looked for the designer's Facebook Page to where I sent her two messages and I didn't receive even a single reply of "Sorry I cannot help you".  Before writing this rant, I was contemplating so hard whether I should mention here the pattern company and designer,  but since she/they are not considerate why I should I bother considering them.  And also, this may serve as a warning to others who wanted to buy this company's patterns but don't have access to specialty threads.  I have so many of their patterns in my list of "To Buy", but I just deleted everything from them.  They should remember that there are so many designers in the industry that they should know how to take care of customers.  Oh well... lesson learned:  not to buy anything from them.

This is all for now.  Sorry, I know that it's been long since my last post and here I am ranting...

Post note (10/23/14)

I received some emails from fellow stitchers (and wanted to thank them)  suggesting that I search the web for DMC conversions to specialty threads.  I did that when I received the pattern and before writing the company/designer.  I would not write them if I have found a conversion.  Actually, I have so many conversion lists on my computer which I have saved years ago.  

Madli - Finished

Hello there!  It's been awhile again since my last post.  Though I am always thinking of posting, there's always something that gets in the way.  Then more than a month ago, my Mother-In-Law passed away.  She's one of the kindest person I ever met and we were heartbroken that I didn't feel like doing anything.

Although I rarely blog, I discovered Instagram and enjoyed it so much because I am seeing so many pictures of needleworks there.

Kim was asking about my Madli Shawl.  Actually, I have finished it more than two or three months ago.  But I wasn't able to take photos.  Here it is finished:

The finished size is: 73 inches x 22 inches unblocked.

Materials used:  Generic yarn, 750 meters with a few meters left.

Needles used:  Wooden knitting needles size 4mm

This is all for now my friends.  Thank you for dropping by.  Hugs to all!

Sheeps - Virtues and In The Meadow

Remember these from my last post?  I know that I promised you I will tell what these materials are for ...

I was introduced to the Little House Needleworks' Little Sheep Virtues patterns by my stitcher-friend Rose of Christmas City Stitcher blog and I know that I wanted to do these.  But life gets in the way and forgotten all about it.  Then I joined the Little House Needleworks Facebook group and I saw again pictures of the finished pieces of the Virtues.

Lynda posted this and I fell in love.  It was done by Julie.  So lovely isn't it.

This was done by Cecile:

And this by  Jodena:

They are all so lovely and so pretty!!!  By the way, I wanted to thank all the ladies I mentioned above for letting me use their photos here.  Really appreciate their permissions.

Now onto my own sheep (singular for the meantime because I just finished one), LOL!  Here's my progress so far.  I started it last June 26:

I intend to follow Julie and Cecile's lay-out except the pattern in the middle, Sheep In the Meadow, is yet to come, maybe around October when my brother-in-law will be here from the States.  I think 123stitch doesn't ship to the Philippines so I really need to wait.

Thank you for dropping by and have a great day!

Hugs to you all.

Small Update

I realized I have not posted anything this month, so before June ends, I will show you my small progress on Tropical Fruits.  This was my update as of last year, July 21. It's been a year...how time flies so fast and my stitching has been left behind, LOL!

 This is now how it looks like (sorry the date in the camera is not correct):

Lately, my stitching mojo is missing, so to make it return I have started a new cross stitch project, but I will show you first the materials, then on my next post, I will tell you all about it:

I know that I still have lots of UFOs but I am really lazy stitching-wise so I badly need something that will bring back my enthusiasm.  Will update you soon.

This is all for now.  Have a great week ahead!

Hugs :-)

A Place . . . - Framed

Just a short one to show that my finished piece "A Place We Call Home" has been framed.  I just can't decide where to hang it.

I've tried to have the same frame like the one on the "Journey" but it's out of stock cause I love the frame used on it, although my husband said he prefers the one on "A Place":

This is all for now.  Sorry this is so short.  I just want to let you know that I am still alive, LOL!

Thank you for dropping by and take care always!

For Framing

As I have promised in this post, I know that I owe you an update on my "A Place We Call Home".  I took photos of it before bringing to the framer last Saturday, but since it was Holy Week here, they are closed.  So maybe I will bring it again this weekend.

I really love stitching this one.  I made some tweaking as some of the threads called for are not available here. 

 I added metallic threads to the border design as it is so close to the leaves color if I won't make the addition.  Also I enjoy using metallics.  Am developing an addiction right now, LOL!  I hope you can see them in the following photos:

I also learned something here, the hard way :-(  I've used a metallic pen (sorry I forgot to take a photo of what I've used) for marking the places I am going to stitch but made errors in counting.  When I've tried to erase the markings, it won't go away no matter what I do.  So after that mistake, I will only, only use pencils for marking.  Please see the marks beside the letters c, a, and l.

 Thank you friends for dropping by.  Take care always :-)

Madli Update

I intend to write this post tomorrow but I don't want to start the month with a rant so I'd rather do it now.  I feel so stressed out in the office that I was thinking is the salary I am getting really worth it?  Is my thinking of "I don't wanna get bored and still want to use my head (don't wanna get it rusty)  with office work" really justify it all?  So many things to attend to...things that don't even concern my life....

I miss those times when I am a full-time housewife with weekend makeup work.  I only get stressed when a client is difficult but it rarely happens.  Right now, I don't want to think about anything anymore.  How I wish I will just stitch/knit/crochet the day away while listening to the tv.

Anyway, I've got some line up of posts but I just don't have the time.  So for the meantime, I will just give you an update on my Madli Shawl.  This was how the shawl looked like on my August 6, 2013 post:

 And this is the progress as of January 14, 2014 :

 It is so much longer now but i don't have the photos yet to show you.  Promise, anytime soon.  This shawl has so many errors good thing the yarn is not light-colored so I am the only one who knows about it, LOL!

This is all for now friends, already feel so sleepy.  Have a great week ahead and take care always :-)

Another Granny

I know I'm supposed to post about my finished "A Place We Call Home" because that is what I promised before.  But I feel so lazy last Saturday, procrastinating on some things that needed to be done that I just sat and crocheted another granny square.  That's one thing I like about crochet, specially grannies.  I will just get the hook and thread and sit and crochet :D

This is what I finished.  Another coaster.  I tweaked the corners from three single crochet to four because I noticed from my previous granny that the three seems a little to tight.  I bobble stitch the center but I prefer the previous one with the bobble stitch on the second round.

These are the threads that I've used, Anchor No. 10 with Boye crochet hook size 2.75mm.  By the way, I made a mistake on my last post about the size of the hook that I have used on the previous granny, it was 2.25mm.

Vikki of By HOOKS 4U asked about the type of thread that I have used in the granny in my previous post since she haven't heard about them before.  I guess it's because Canon Thread and Anchor (shown above) are available only here in the Philippines and both are being produced by Coats Manila Bay and if I am not mistaken, they are the Philippine branch (?) of Coats since they do have the same logo.  Anchor and Canon are softer than DMC Cebelia but stiff than DMC Petra.

This is all for now my friends.  Chat with you again soon!  Take care everyone :-)

Hooky Evening

I usually do blog posts during weekends so it might be a surprise to you seeing something from me today.  I just wanted to show you a photo of what I did last night.  For a change, I crocheted a granny square which I will use as a coaster in the office.  I used Cannon crochet thread no. 8 and Boye hook size 2.5mm.  Here are the photos:

Have a nice day/evening friends. Take care always :-)

Signing In...

It's more than five months since I last posted here.  As usual, life, or should I say, work, always gets in the way.  Although I am always absent here, stitching-wise, I am happy to tell you that I do stitch every night and if time permits, during lunch breaks at the office.  I have really miss blogging, taking photos, reading your comments...nevertheless, I always do my best to visit stitching-friends' blogs.  And also, I would like to thank everyone for always visiting my blog despite my absence.

I have two WIPs as of current.  But for now, I will just show what I have been stitching every day.  This has been in my wish list since 2010 that when my sister came here for a vacation more than a month ago, it's what I requested her to buy for me.

It's a Country Cottage Needleworks pattern titled "A Place We Call Home".  It's such a fun and easy-to-stitch project.  I just hope this won't start my samplers addiction, LOL!

I started this January 29 and this was my progress as of last February 9:

I have finished it yesterday and washed this morning that is why I cannot show you a photo of the finished piece, it's still hanging in the clothesline.  I promise you will see it in my next post.

How about you, what have you been up to?  I will be very glad to know :-)

Have a great week ahead my friends.  Take care always.

Cross Stitch Session

Finally, I was able to log in to blogger.com.  For some time, for reason I don't know, I cannot log in to my blog.  IT personnel here in the office said that blogger.com is not blocked by our firewall.  So I just tried  and tried everyday, until this morning, to my surprise, I came through.

And as usual, even though I am absent here always, I still do cross stitch everyday even at the office.  And speaking about it, here's a photo of us having our cross stitch session during lunch break:

Everyday, we waited for 12 o'clock, then when it's nearing 1pm, we all wish time will stop so we can continue stitching.  It used to be only the two of us, me (in black) and Phines (the one on my right) doing cross stitch.  Then we were able to convince Claire (the one in checkered) to go back to cross stitching as well as Edith (the one on the upper left corner of the photo) and Shiela (not in the photo).  We also have two new recruits, LOL, Alodia (wearing red) and Razzel (not in the photo, she's having a headache, maybe from too much stitching).  And I almost forget, Claire also influenced her sister into cross stitching.  So from two, we have grown to eight cross stitchers.

Have a great week friends and as usual, take care always!

Hugs :-)