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 :-)

My First Cross Stitch

I was compiling and organizing my cross stitch patterns last week when I came upon the pattern of my first cross stitch:

This confirms that my addiction started way back 1999 :-D

It's funny because after discovering this, somebody from a local Facebook cross stitch group asked the members to show the photo of their first piece and also to tell when did we start the hobby.

This is my finished project from the pattern, actually it was a kit from Anchor:

Have a great week ahead my friends.  Take care always and thank you for stopping by.

Madli Shawl

Sometime last month, I was feeling stressed out with work and people (what's new, LOL!), so I did what I always do to relax... I went to my favorite yarnshop, Dreams.  The owner/teacher, Ms. Lilli, taught me to do the Madli Shawl, which I always dream of doing.  I am always amazed and in love with lace knitting that I wanted to do all the lace shawls I see everywhere in the web...if only I have all the time in the world.  Anyway, I need her tutorial on this shawl since it's the first time that I will do a shawl with separate parts and also the cast-on of this is not the usual long-tail cast on that I know.  Here's the photo of the shawl taken from my book:

Close-up:

The book where it was taken, Knitted Lace of Estonia, which I like so much.  I love all the shawls in this book.  Again, if I have the time in the future, I will post here photos of all the shawls shown in the book.

My progress so far:

This was taken by another camera (was comparing photos from Sony and Casio cameras).  I think you can see here clearly the design of the shawl.

The yarn I am using.

I still do cross stitch everyday as I wanted to finish the Tropical Fruits soon, but I knit this when I wanted to take a break from cross stitch.

Have a nice week ahead friends and take care always!

Hugs :-)

Tropical Fruits Update, Clips

I think there's some progress enough to show you in my Tropical Fruits piece, so here it is:

Excuse it for being dirty and all those fold marks.  I got sweaty hands so no matter what I do, all my WIPs got dirty one way or another.  Anyway, as soon as I finish it, I will immediately wash it.

Those of you who have been with me since I started blogging know that I don't use hoops or scroll frames, I just stitched in hand.  That's why clips are very important to me in stitching.  In my post here, I've shown you how I use the clips and also have shown you my clips.

Then sometime two weeks ago, I happen to see these clips from our local bookstore and bought:

Ice Cream

Rabbits

Penguins

Piggies

Snails.  I hope my progress won't be very slow when I will use these clips, LOL!

Doggies

Frogs. I hope Mr. Frog won't visit these friends of his when I use these.

My favorite among all the clips:  BEES

Here's how I use them on my Tropical Fruits:

Front view

Back view

That's all for now folks.  Have a great week ahead.  Take care always!

Hugs!

Journey - Framed

Finally, my Journey is now framed and on the wall.  I finished it around May and it was only mid June that I have it framed.  One of the greatest happiness of a stitcher is seeing her finished piece framed and hanging and that is what I am feeling right now.

Am stitching my Tropical Fruits everyday and that's one of the reason why I can't blog weekly.  Most weekends, all I wanna do is stitch, stitch and stitch.  Then on weekdays, after a long day at the office, am too tired to bother opening the computer and composing a post, but I still manage to do some 200 to 300 stitches every evening.

I also am stitching a small piece at the office during lunch breaks.  Will post some photos soon.  Sorry, so many promises of posting photos LOL!

Hugs to all!  Take care always friends :-)

Heavenly Stitchin' Moment Revisited

More than two years ago, I posted about Heavenly Stitchin Moment here.  Then after awhile, my interest shifted to crochet then knitting.  Eventually, I got a full time job that I completely neglected my cross stitch, hence, haven't frequented the LNS (local needlecraft stores) where I buy my cross stitch materials.  Then, as most of you knew, I am so stressed at work that I came back to cross stitching.  Hobby-wise, it's my first love, so I always come back to it.  And going back to cross stitching means going back and revisting my favorite stores, one of them Heavenly Stitchin' Moment. 

I visited the store some weeks ago to buy my favorite blue erasable marker and also to look into what's new in their patterns and kits.  The feeling is still the same - whenever I am there, I go crazy, I feel like a child in a toy store that I don't wanna leave... I can stay there forever... I wanted to buy all the patterns, threads, notions, etc etc.  Here are some photos of the store:

Frames

Threads

Cross stitch kits

Cross stitch (and other crafts) magazines on Sale!

In this rack, there used to be puzzles, but they are now replaced with Diamond Stitch, I think that's what they call those black boxes.  From what I understand, Diamond Stitch is just like cross stitch, it comes with pattern but instead of thread, you will use beads.  Just don't know what happened with my camera but I am sure I took a photo of a finished piece.  When I go back to the store, I will see to it to take pictures again and will post here.

Then there's this new Great Wall of China cross stitch, which is a bit different from a previous one, (again, I will post a photo soon of the old one to compare) that I, up to this time, am contemplating on getting:

The white circle is not a moon :D, it's the reflection of the light bulb of the store :D

As usual, thanks for visiting and reading my blog.  Take care always and have a nice week ahead.


For those residing in the Philippines, the store featured above is located at the SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City.  For inquiries, you can call them at: 556-0133.