Springwater

I am absent again for two weeks here, and as usual, most of you knows the reason - work.  Well, I am not complaining because I know that there plenty who are jobless and applying endlessly for work.  Though there are some difficult and egotistical people at the office, I am still thankful to God that I have a job.  Anyway, onto cross stitching...

I have been looking for this pattern for so long that I suddenly thought of posting this on Facebook asking the help of fellow cross stitchers to look for it.  And to my amazement, a friend, Lorinda, found this in their hometown:

Springwater Pattern by DMC Philippines

I am so excited that I immediately bought the threads for it:

Thanks again for stopping by and reading, happy week ahead to all of us.  Take care always :-)

Parrots

I will start this post by showing you my progress on Tropical Fruits.  Not much but I am slowly getting by:

Then last week when I am having a chat about my finished cross stitches with Veron, my high school classmate, she mentioned that if she will do cross stitch, she wanted birds.  So I showed her this pattern from DMC Philippines called Parrots:

When she saw it, she said that it's so pretty.  So I told her why not we do it as our SAL (stitch-a-long) to which she said YES!  But as of the moment she is very busy with seminars and school work, she is a college professor, so we scheduled it by end of this month or June.  I was so excited that I immediately went to the market to buy the threads, total of 44 skeins:

I did not buy fabric as I have some stocks of 18 count.  The pattern called for 14 count Aida, but I always wanted using 18 count.  For 14 count, design size will be 15.1 x 16.6 inches, while for 18 count, it will be 11.7 x 12.8 inches.

By the way, DMC Philippines has a promo:

So I got this by adding 4 more threads (threads I will use for a pattern that I intend to do in a distant future, LOL!) to my purchase:

Thank you for stopping by, hugs to all of you and have a great week everyone!

Missing You

I am sorry I am absent for so long.  And I really do miss you all my friends.  I miss your stopping by, your comments and I miss reading the blogs that I frequently visit.  I miss the times when I was not working full-time, I miss waking up late and I miss writing posts on a regular basis.  Oh sorry for ranting....

Anyway, last October 1, DMC Philippines held an exhibit in our local mall and they invited stitchers, including me, to showcase their works.  Without much ado, here are some of the photos that I took.

And here's my piece (which I have featured here before in one of my posts) that has been shown in the exhibit:

Since it's more than a month since I took the pictures, I cannot recall anymore the details of each of the photos featured. Some of the pieces were done by some of my online friends.

Thanks for dropping by and take care everyone!

I'm Still Alive

Yeah, I've been absent for a long time and wondering whether you are still there my online friends and fellow crafters.  Life's been so busy (with work)...nothing's new... I'm tired...tired...tired... LOL!  And no new updates to show you except what happened with the shawl I was knitting and the green doily that I started and have shown you in my last post.  And add to that, my laptop that contains all my photos for the blog has bitten the dust.  Anyway, remember this shawl from my previous post?

Here's what happened:

My teacher said that I unknowingly added a stitch in every row.  So the answer to my previous post whether this will become a shawl or something else is... it became SOMETHING ELSE, LOL!  So I just unraveled the whole thing.

Now for the doily.  This is the photo from my previous post:

And here's what happened:

It ruffled big time!  Based on the look of it, there's no way it will flatten no matter how I will block it.  So, another one that I unraveled.

By the way, I just wanted to share with you that I was chosen by DMC Philippines to be their Stitcher of the Month for August.  Here is me in their Stitcher's Gallery :-D

This is all for now my friends.  Take care all of you!

Daylight

In my previous post dated September 6, 2010, I mentioned that I was hesitant on buying the DMC Philippines' Daylight pattern since I've already owned so many landscape and nature-themed patterns. But one of my friends said to me that she wants a cross stitch gift and by that she means that I wouldn't give her the pattern but instead the finished material. In short, I will do the cross stitching. Isn't she demanding :-D But I am not complaining as I enjoy doing cross stitch so much. The only question is, when am I going to start and finish the gift...

Back to the topic. So after talking to her, I thought that Daylight would be the perfect gift for her or... is it only a justification to buy the pattern? So off I go to purchase Daylight. Here it is:



Pattern specifications:

Design size: 20 inches x 15 inches if done in the recommended 14-count Aida Ecru
Number of stitches: 280 x 210
Colors: 39 colors
Total amount of threads to be used: 59 skeins
Stiches: full cross and some backstitching (the birds' beak and feet)

Until next time and thank you for reading!

DMC Patterns, Aida Fabric and of Courtship

I love buying cross stitch materials, specially patterns and fabrics. So when I was at the DMC Store, I bought the last 2 rolls of 18 count Aida fabric and some patterns. I was sad because the 5-meters roll is out of stock and the salesperson said that she cannot promise if they will have 18 count soon, since there are very few who buys it. The two that I bought were 2-meters and 3/4 meter. Oh, if only people will realize the beauty of the design if they will do their cross stitch in 18 count. Because with it, you will hardly see any fabric showing through behind the stitches.

Maybe some will ask, what's with these counts? Aren't all cross stitch fabrics the same? For those who are not familiar yet with these cross stitch fabrics, here is a simple explanation:

The number of count represents all the squares per inch in the fabric, so if it is a 14 count fabric, it simply means that there are 14 squares in an inch . Here is a photo of a 14 count Aida. I marked with pencil all the squares in an inch for clarity:

And here's a photo of a 16 count Aida with all the squares marked in blue:

And what difference will it make if I use a 14, 16 or 18 count Aida?

The lower the count of squares, the bigger the cross stitch design will come out. And the higher the count, the less fabric you will see behind the stitches. There are even stitchers who use 22 count or even higher. But I don't want to strain my eyes too much so I will just stay with my beloved 18 count.

Here's the two rolls of fabric that I bought:

And now for the patterns. DMC Philippines recently released some new patterns and I bought two of them, Harana ("Serenade") and Jazz Music. I didn't get the Daylight since I have so many landscape/nature patterns already, but who knows, when I go back to their store, I might buy it. I am an addict, remember :-D

Here is Harana:

Here's DMC's explanation of Harana at the back of the pattern (and why there is Courtship in my title):

"Harana is an old Filipino tradition of courtship. The man, usually accompanied by a guitar, goes to the house of the woman he is courting as a sign of respect to the woman and her parents. He tries to woo her by playing music with his instrument while singing romantic songs to her. In a variation called 'tapat' (answer?), practiced in small towns of Ilocos, the lady answers with a song that might hint that the man has to court her for a long time. The man counters with an even more passionate song, and the exchange continues until the pair come to an understanding. . ."

The finished design size of Harana if done in 14 count is 17 inches by 13.5 inches. Recommended fabric to use is black Aida.

And here is Jazz Music:


The finished design size of Jazz Music if done in 14 count is 12 inches by 15 inches. Recommended fabric to use is Ecru Aida.

Here is a photo of Daylight that I might eventually buy:




Until next time and thank you for reading!