Back again!

First I am so sorry I haven't said a word for ages! That doesn't mean I haven't been stitching though. So this time I do hav few pictures to show you :)

First my "wild animals" round robin. You have already seen it, but without my own part. It is done now. It was actually my first finish of 2013! I chose to stitch a bear. For some reason I love bears now. When I waas younger I was scraed of them! I was always afraid they would attack and kill us all. Why? Well.. my favourite cartoons as a kid were about wild dogs who fought against bears which were real killing machines. I know, sounds stupid, but hey, I was a kid :) And those were good! Maybe not anymore.. but I loved them.

So here's my bear :)

Here's also the whole round robin with my bear.

I was a bit afraid it would be too dark for it as the other animals are not that dark coloured. But I think it is fine. Me likes :)

Next is a birthday gift that I stitcher for another stitcher. On this picture the band is not attached to the towel yet. Forgot to take a picture when it was finished..

I also stitched Pollyanna Pickering's Zebra a bit. I added some more black on it. What bothers me is the fabric, 14ct white aida. Not really huge fan of it..

Here's before and after pics.

I do wanna finish this one day ofcourse, even though I don't like the fabric.

I also managed to put few stitches on the "Joy-ornament" by Dimensions. I didn't find the picture of it though. Maybe I didn't take one. I am still not sure what's wrong with it. As earlier I said it looks a bit messy cause the cross stitches and half stitches are going different directions. I mean the top stitches. On my cross stitches the top stitch goes like this \\\\\ and on my half stitches it goes /////. However, on "Southwest Mesa" I have the half stitches exactly the same way as on the ornament, but there it doesn't look bad at all. So, the problem may be on the fabric/floss. The fabric is 18ct aida and I stitch with two threads as was told in the chart. It looks a bit.. bulky to me. Not sure what I will do, if I just keep stitching or what.. Time will tell :)

Then.. ta daa! More finishes!! Whoooo!!!!

Here's my Joan Elliott's Witch that I started on January 2012 during the CrazyJanuaryChallenge. It's finished, finally, lol! The fabric is actually orange. The picture just doesn't look right and I didn't manage to capture the real colour. It's 28ct linen by Silkweaver, called "Inferno".

I left out some backstitches (swirls and border) that I didn't really like. Eyes are all french knots but I tried to do french knots on the dress too. Oh, what a disaster! They were all different sizes and it just looked really bad.. After I was whining about it on a Facebook group, I was told to try a colonial knot. I tried and I fell in love :) Those are so, so much easier than french knots and I managed to make them all same size too, whooo!! :)

There's another finish coming! It's Lizzie Kate's "Snowman '10" which was also started during the CJC. I think.. It was my laptop project but I noticed it wasn't really getting any stitching time, I decided to stitch it and finish it, asap.

I stitched it using DMC. The fabric is.. not quite sure, I once bought it from a real shop. Its 14ct aida by Zweigarth, that I do know. It is marbled, brown. Buttons (which are soooo cute!!) are by Papermania :)

Ofcourse now that I have finished sooo much ;) I had to make new starts, too!

First start of the year was a Quaker. I bought the pattern from a stitchy friend. I LOVE it. The fabric is Silkweaver's 28ct Lugana "Goldspinner". Here's a pic of the patterna and the fabric and how far (not far) I am at the moment.

The first picture of the fabric is quite accurate. I LOVE the colour. And this is fun to stitch too, but sadly, not getting that much stitching time at the moment :(

Here's another start! I started this yesterday as I got the fabric (Silkweaver's 28ct Jazlyn "Seaside melody") earlier this week and it was calling for a mermaid! I was first planning to stitch a Mirabilia mermaid on it, but I did some research and lots of them have tons of bling bling which makes them pretty expensive. So I skipped them.. Maybe later :) But I realised I do have another mermaid pattern and it's perfect! Here's my "Mermaids" by Country Cottage Needleworks :)

Oh how I love it! And the fabric too. It's Jazlyn and even though it is not my first Jazlyn-piece it is my first time stitching on it. Ohhh, soo sooo soft! I seriously love stitching on it. Might be my new favourite. Plus the colour is nice too. I stitched one of the mermaids yesterday and I plan to stitch another one today. I am not using the colours given on the charts as I don't have them. For the mermaid's tails, the ones that change colours. Instead I am using my DMC variegated thread that I bought years ago and never used them. Found some pretty nice colours :) Here's also a pic how the final result will look.

Isn't that lovely??? :)

Lots of stitching and I do love it. I didn't stitch as much as I wanted last year because of my backproblems. I hope they are gone now and I can really enjoy stitching again :)

Have a lovely Sunday everyone, all the mums in UK: Happy Mother's Day! :)

*hugs*

Turtle trot 2013

I joined a Turtle trot 2013 and you can read more about it here or on my Turtle trot page which you can find on the right.

So, for this I need thirteen (13) UFOs. That's not a problem at all! Sadly lol. I have lots of UFOs although not as many as some people have. I have heard rumours of over 60 UFOs! Most of my chosen UFOs are from last year's Crazy January Challenge. I started 15 new ones and I think I finished maybe three of them? Anyways, not enough! This is a good way, I hope, to continue stitching those projects. Although I am sure I will start new ones too every now and then.

Here are my thirteen UFOs, names and pics. Most have only the stitches on them that I managed to stitch lat January, lol.

1. Autumn in my Garden (Mirabilia)
I would love to finish this soon and my goal is to finish this before December!

2. Loved you yesterday (Gold-magazine, can't remember the designer atm)
Again something I would like to finish soon. The pattern is beautiful with two blue love birds and a lovely text (Loved you yesterday, Love you still, always have, always will). 

3. Always Welcome (Kit and Bixby)
A beautiful house! I love houses.I love this pattern. I wanna finish this one soon too, lol. Surprise :P

4. Oriental cranes (Joan Elliott)
Yes, I love this pattern too but I also LOVE the fabric. It's by Polstitches and it is amazingly soft and nice to stitch on. Plus the colours are pretty amazing for the pattern too. Yes, I do wanna continue stitching this soon too. *sigh*

5. Victorian Charm (Sunset)
This is a kit by Sunset. I got this years ago. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and I still love it very much. However, I find it a bit tricky to stitch on dark blue aida, especially now that it's winter! So I think I will be stitching this one during the summer. Wish me luck!

6. Daisy Lane Cottage (LHN)
Lousy start :D I do like LHN patterns, but this is not my favourite one. I am not in a hurry to stitch this although, ofcourse, I do plan to stitch it this year too. Or at least put few stitches on it :P

7. Nefertiti (Lanarte)
Even though this is stitched on linen, I do like it. I even bought a frame for her already (last year) and for her pal, Tutankhamon. 

8. Joy ornament (Dimensions)
This is a new one that I started on November. Or December.. Not sure. It's a small ornament kit by Dimensions. Not that big, so I think as soon as I start stitching it, it will be fast finished. I hope ;)

9. Southwest Mesa (Sunset)
This is something that I might not finish for a loooong, long time. A kit by Sunset or maybe Dimensions. Well it's a same company anyways. Lots of tricky colour combinations and stitching with 4 strands, doing half stitches etc. I started this years ago when I wasn't that experienced stitcher yet. Bad choice back then. But I do like the kit.

10. Butterfly and clematis (Sunset)
I bought this kit years ago as well. Planned to stitch it for my mother but got this far.. lol

11. Zebra (DMC by Pollyanna Pickering)
I am not quite sure why this is an UFO. I stitched it this far pretty quickly!

12. Winter watch (Dimensions)
Old kit as well. It's a pretty tiger and it has some specialty ribbon too! For the snow around him.

13. Witch (Joan Elliott)
I guess this will be the first one to be finished as it is already this far! The biggest reason I haven't finished it yet is the round robin I joined last year. As I only seemed to stitch those (as I didn't stitch that much).

So, lots to do! But can't wait :) Enjoy Turtle trot 2013!