Crazy January Challenge 2015 - and a Happy Dance!

I have learned something about CJC: better to have smaller designs on your list *grin*, therefore next year's list is mix of WIPs(/ UFOs) and new projects.

1. WIP: Neil Degrasse Tyson (worked from pixel art I found from his FB fan group).
2. WIP: Mirabilia's "Madonna of the Garden".
3. WIP: Brightneedle's "Ezmeralda's House".
4. WIP: PINN's "Loy Krathong".
5. WIP: Brown House Studio's "Internet in Heaven".
6. WIP: Blue Ribbon Designs' "With All Your Heart".
7. WIP: The Prairie Schooler's "Must Be Santa".
8. WIP: San- Man Originals' "Snow Ice Cream".
9. WIP: Vervaco's "Lightning McQueen".
10. WIP: My Big Toe Designs' "For This Child".
11. WIP: My Big Toe Designs' "This Too Shall Pass".
12. NEW: Anchor Maia "Usiku", using 28 count navy linen.
13. NEW: Plum Street Sampler's "Coffin Buzz".
14. NEW: La Comtesse "Dreaming is Free".
15. NEW: Ink Circles' "Holiday Magick".

 

And There I Was, Dancing...

• Design: Holiday Magick
• Designer: Tracy Horner of Ink Circles.
• Fabric: random 28 count "raw" linen
• Floss: "School House Red" from GAST.
• Other notions: Stitched over one.

Beautiful, furry stand is our Vilma. (She looks eerily like Seiichi, I know.)

It is a.... Happy Dance!

OhMiGerd, my second (2nd) finish for this year! I am on the roll!

• Design: Christmas Wishlist
• Designer: La Comtesse
• Fabric: 32 count "Tobacco" Belfast linen
• Floss: "Bush Christmas" from Dinky Dyes
• Other notions: complimentary design. Stitched over one.

I am rather pleased with my somewhat forced choice of colours.
And, despite the lack of absolute symmetry in alphabets (which seemed to be the most difficult thing for me in this), there are few other La Comtesse's designs on my 2-do list.

Crazy Finish!

As shocking as it is I actually have a FINISH!
Yes, you read it right.

I. Have. Stitched.

Despite Tiny's best efforts to keep me entertained during the night (he has slept badly last two nights - or rather has not slept, but woken up at night and then stayed up for hours).

I am participating 9 Days Christmas Challenge at Facebook and decided to pick San-Man Original's "Kisses From Heaven" as my challenge piece (started from this)... and three days later it was finished!

• Design by: San-Man Originals
• Design: Kisses From Heaven (OOP)
• Fabric: Silkweaver's "Midnight Fantasy", opalescent 28 count Cashel linen.
• Floss: misc. DMC and Anchor.
• Notes: colours are not as charted. This was first Crazy January 2013 piece I finished.

Yes, I am proud of myself.

Signs of crafting

As shocking as it is I have been crafting.

Even more shocking is that I have actually finished something!

I wanted to do a Yule calendar for Tiny and when I noticed that Ikea had this spruce wall hanging (it glows in the dark! *grin*) it was obvious that I will use one as the base and use plastic rings for the gifts - and for the decorations. That way the calendar would be versatile, functional and decorative.

Thanks to clarithromycin I failed the deadline (it makes me awfully tired. That and waking up every night because of this nasty cough that sinusitis also gave me), but luckily Tiny's too young to understand that.

And first gift is waiting for tomorrow morning...

Second hand toy cars etc. is what his calendar is made of. But he wont mind, he loves his toy cars (and the movie!).

In other news

I have two additional kids nowadays. Furry, smelly and meowy kids. Cats, that is. *grin*

Vikke and Vilma are siblings, age approximately 7 months. (Which means that Vikke is going to get neutered VERY soon...)

Happy Dance! \o/

As unbelievable as it is we have a finish! Yes, a F-I-N-I-S-H!

• Designer: Lizzie* Kate
• Design: 1st Christmas
• Fabric: one of my own hand-dyeds, apparently32 count opalescent Jobelan(?).
• Floss: White Madeira silk, two HDF's silks.

I am not yet sure which its shape will be so I skipped confetti stitches and will stitch them when I have decided upon the shape, taking that there is room for any.

But, I think this is my FIRST cross stitch finish this year.

Yeah, that is how pathetic it has been.

Things, they are a-changing... SECRETS!

The reason for my absence from online world is small, but still great.

The reason has made my thyroid values to drop, drop, drop, regardless that I take higher doses than ever before.

But it is all worth it. Thousand times worth it.

Only few people can see this post. You are the ones who I trust to keep your mouths shut everywhere else as this is still a secret in FB or in the forums I frequent(ed). And probably will remain one few months.

So this is how it feels...

Honestly I can't remember when I had a day like this one last time, but it has been around 2006 or beginning of 2007 (I started to loose "it" completely around that time): I have felt creative and, not energetic, but not tired either and what is most important is that I have had ability to concentrate on something and enough interest to do it.

In addition of designing I have stitched, chatted with an old friend over the phone for a long time, chatted with another one online, finished two biscorni etc. - and all this after a very poorly slept night!

This must be how normal people with functioning thyroids feel like.

I am jealous of you people.

I really am and I can only hope that my glass jar thyroid can keep get me where you are and keep me there. I like this feeling. A lot. (And G-d bless The Doc, he has given me back that person I never have really been before.)

1997: A Happy Dance

Yes, you DID read right! A HD! Ohmigosh etc.!

Tidbits:

• Design: Poinsettia Star
• Designer: Lady Periphaeria of Periphaeria Designs
• Fabric: 32 count charcoal grey linen.

There hasn't been too many of these lately...

Cross posting: This the Season to Be Jolly

The Gift of Stitching's ornament number was published earlier than normal this year and I can't say anything else, but WOW!
It is filled with beautiful designs from several designers one of them being Frosty Pinecones from Periphaeria Designs!

I have loved the design since I designed it ages ago and when I was looking for ornament design for TGOS' ornament issue it was an obvious choice.
The design style is generally very traditionally Slavic (the name comes from the "pinecone" motif within the whole design), but I wanted to give it a special twist and make it suitable also for those stitchers who don't live in Northern Hemisphere and decided to go with shades of raspberry and rose to make an example of how varying the design is.

It was originally planned to be stitched with only one colour, but my household gnomes hid not one, but two skeins while I was model stitching the design and it ended to have three colours - very succesfully, if you ask my opinion. :)
The design can, of course, be stitched with just one colour or three colours of your own preference.

Feel free to play with the colours and I hope you enjoy stitching the design! I did.

(Originally posted to Tales from Periphaeria.)

Happy dance!

I am surprised to be on time with my Pumpkin Patch exchange item despite of being sick for the last week.

But that is about the only thing to do happy dance for: I have had fever for six days now. I went to ER yesterday where they did a quick check of my CPR and fever: CPR normal, fever 37,4° C which is a lot for me.
"Go home and see your doctor in Monday if you still have fever."

I feel worse than I have felt during last week and my symptoms are getting more interesting and much more taxing. I am also quite sure that I will get coming week off too in form of sick leave...
There are reasons why I am a bit worried: my asthma, I have genetic tendency to have feverless pneumonia, my menses are almost week late when being sick has never affected to my cycle (no, I am not pregnant (I've tested) ) and I have never had fever this long... And I kind of miss work already.

So, I will probably spend good part of my day off tomorrow by being examined and waiting... and I am prepared to demand a course of antibiotics, no matter what the doctor says. I just want to get better.

A Happy Dance! O.o

I am shocked.

This is yet another part of the complimentary design series of stitcher's addictions and I will publish it in some of these days, when I am inspired enough to prepare the file it is now available for download at Periphaeria Designs.

Tidbits:

• Design: Stitch-A-Long Addicts Anonymous
• Designer: Lady Periphaeria of Periphaeria Designs
• Fabric: 32 count unknown Belfast linen from Silkweaver.
• Floss: Anchor 1206

Even though Addicts and Anonymous are slightly misplaced (I didn't spot the misplaced Addicts before I was half done with Anonymous and with Anonymous I had already frogged the A once and when I noticed the other error I just decided to leave it) I am very happy with the outcome even though I wasn't completely sure about my colour choices when I started stitching this earlied today (well, if the design is amazing you can't ruin with bad colour choices, can you? ).

Life in general

I haven't been feeling very good lately, for various reasons like being very short of cash and therefore not eating very well, getting used to lower dose of sertraline (I am on 100mg now) and missing Mr.Wonderful.

Money: I have been unemployed from the beginning of August and I am still waiting for the first allowance payment from SII - I should get the money in next week if all goes well and then I can apply for the rest of the money SII owes me, after that I hope to actually have enough money to buy some new clothes and stock some food items for November (so we can hide in bed whole time *evil grin*).

Mr.Wonderful: is slaving his (gorgeous) a** off, working 7 days a week to get the assignment done in time (if they don't get everything done on time they have to stay there longer until everything is done) and living in a hotel without internet connection so he has no opportunity to send me emails in our regular pace (which is daily). In addition to that the phone lines in $country suck so even he does call to me we can't talk too much because of the lousy line - but at least I can hear his voice, that is what makes me go on - and the hope of getting him here when he returns from Africa (if he works seven weeks seven days a week he should be able to get two weeks off as he plans).

So, everything is basically fine, but I am just suffering from withdrawals of money and Mr. Wonderful.

A Sparkly Happy Dance!

This is an exchange item, sparkly, small... like a little jewel, and I am very, very pleased with it. But, as it is an exchange item, you will only get a teaser.

And yes, this is yet another design of mine. First design which has used this amount of sparkle and I am really surprised it turned out this well.

A Happy Dance! O.o

Yes, unbelievable, I know. o.O

It's a model for... well, I won't tell, but still, it is a model of a wintery ornament.

I know that the colour scheme is quite far from traditional, but I kind of like how it turned out. ^^

Now I just need to finish it.

The Craft Room - still a bit WIP

My latest happy dance: the craft room! (Admittedly it is a bit in progress still. )

...and some floor decorations...

If you ask from me my former bedroom has found its real self now.

There is also an interesting tidbit: I realised that I haven't bought any of the furniture in my craft room. They are all either saved from trash or got from family or acquintances (when they haven't needed them anymore).

A happy dance!

Finally, after ages and ages and some shaking issues of few days (I upped the dosage and suffered few days of various symptoms, one of them being uncontrollable shaking in my limbs (hands mostly)) it's done!

The darker greens ARE of different shade, it just doesn't show too well on the stitched piece.

*gasp* A happy dance

Noticing how small the piece is it's amazing how many days I stitched it, but it's finally stitched, now I only need to finish it, which will be rather quick (and remember to add the ribbon to it as one of the definitions of the piece was that it has to be "hangable").
As you know I am not huge fan of pink, but these dusky rose shades looked quite lovely together so I went with the colour scheme.

Teaser, of course, as you never know who reads your blog, right?

SAT epilogue

The goal is met!

The colours remind me of Mexico, for some odd reason.
At first I wasn't quite sure do I like the floss choice, but now that the first part is stitched I am very pleased with my choice. It's good in many ways, one of them being having two completely different colour schemes of the same design.

And... I managed to add some stitches to Loy Krathong after several months!
This is how it looked when I started, this is how it looks now:

The Magical Mojo Rejuvenator™

My stitching mojo has also suffered from my neurotransmitter dysfunction, and I had been thinking few days that I should stitch something small from someone else to get my mojo going... I started this shortly before going to sleep yesterday and had a happy dance about half an hour ago and I can feel my mojo waking up!

Info:

• Design: Biscornu Chatelin
• Fabric: 32 count Mushroom Lugana
• Floss: Vixen Red by Needle Necessities

While finishing this little cutie I realised that I haven't done the goal check for last month yet! Well, it is not only thing I have forgot so...
I happened to claim when these were published that I don't have a stitched model of either one. Guess what I found from my hard drive today?

I model stitched it for Leena and took a picture of it before I sent it... and happily forgot the whole thing!

The Spanish Happy Dance! Part I

First part of the Spanish Sampler is now done!

(Once again an upside down picture... but it looked better that way as it didn't lay flat in the scanner...)

Even it is my own design I dare to say that this is beautiful. ^^

Only the monochromatic version left to stitch (luckily it will be faster to stitch).

1780

You know how it goes... there is a finishing method you have wanted to try for a while and then someone decides to organize an exchange for that spesific finish...
This means that I have now stitched one humbug on light fabric (I love how it came out) and am still to stitch another one, with the same design and same floss, on dark fabric.
And of course, being me, I have designed the design I use (actually I have also dyed one of the fabrics I use), and, just to make it fun, I have designed additional pieces while stitching the first one and it is becoming a series...

I see the series stitched with certain Crescent Colours' silk on flax Newcastle - just when I had swore to myself to stay away from flax linen for a while.
It's good to have my creativity back, but I'd rather transfer some of the energy to be used in the tasks of life, at least for a while as I am seriously lacking mental energy...

Though, I have surprised myself by doing some serious spring cleaning (it doesn't look like it yet as I have also reorganized my living room, again) and not suffering from it too badly - I still can't stand long time physical activities without straining myself somewhat, but I am doing way better than I was last year about this time (last year this time I couldn't lift one 20 kg pellet sack (hardware stores sell wooden pellet used for heating and grocery stores sell the same wooden pellet as kitty litter... guess which one is WAY cheaper? *grin*) and nowadays I have no problems to lift them up while cleaning the litter box).
Admittedly my lungs sound worse under physical stress than they did last year this time, but I think it may be because my lungs are better now. (As odd as it sounds one of the symptoms of severe asthma can be that you can't wheeze because your airways are so obstructed.)

If I just have enough energy tomorrow I may actually be able to clean the place up. Then there's only left reorganizing the bedroom, washing windows and pile of carpets - maybe I can finally use my carpets now that Masa is castrated.

And... as I can't show you my happy dance piece I will leave you with a picture from last summer: