Sonntag, 24. März 2019

1-Stitch-a-day update and some new stash

I am taking part in the one-stitch-a-day challenge this month. As the name suggests, it's about doing a stitch per day or stitching daily in general or on one project on which you want to get something done. I decided to pick one project and instead of doing one stitch, I am stitching a whole square on the pattern. The project I chose is QS Paddys Luck by Joana Bromley, I started this in 2015 and so far I only did 2 pages. My goal is to finish the first row of pages this year and since it is a nice and colorful spring design, it was perfect for this month. Here is where I started:
And this is where I currently am:
I nearly managed to stitch on this daily - I didn't get anything done (on any project) on the 15th. I went to a crafts fair on that day and by the time I got home I was completely done from running around all day. We had some friends visiting in the evening, so I really didn't have energy or time to stitch. But I made up for it by stitching two squares the next day. Also I stitched an additional square, so by the end of the month I will have done 4 complete columns. 
After that I will be only 2 000 stitches short of my row finish, now that sounds like something I can do in June! I can't say if I will just continue with the one square per day or push through - but I will definitely keep this "method" in my mind, it is so motivating to see this grow over the weeks =)

As I mentioned, I went to a crafts fair last week and I also bought some stitchy stuff there. I planned on not buying to much, on the one hand I am not getting much done with my injured hand (so I went for some smaller designs, I didn't feel like buying something big and you gotta buy what makes you feel good - right?), on the other hand I wanted to spent less money with the wedding drawing near. The first thing went great, I only bought 4 smaller kits, but I still spent a lot of money on various stuff (I really needed to buy a bonsai, it sparked joy!) Anyway, here is what I got:
First is a small bird kit from Alisa, it was so cute and soooo cheap, I could not walk by:

The second kit I got was also on sale, a friend of mine actually debated if he should buy it or not (he had a bunch of other kits on display) and I told him that if he didn't buy it, I would because it's to adorable to stay at the shop:
I was eyeing some more kits at that seller, but I really wanted to buy some kits from Liebevolle Kreuzstichentwürfe, I got two of their kits last year and already stitched one and I was/am so enchanted by their designs and then we agreed on something like "let's take a look at the Liebevolle Kreuzstitchentwürfe stuff and if they don't have stuff we want, we can always go back to the first seller" and well, none of us went back because we spent all our (remaining) money. I decided to go for a small design with a seagull (I love seagulls) :
I definitely plan on stitching this one this summer, I'm getting summer vacation vibes by looking at it =)
The second kit is a bigger design that consists of 9 smaller designs. I bought the matching frame (they had this stitched and framed on display and it looked so good), the frame was actually more expensive than the kit, otherwise I would have gotten another kit ;-)
The seller told me to place the mat on the fabric before stitching and mark off the squares, so it really fits. I have some of those fabric markers that disappear when in contact with water and I think that should work. This is my first kit of this "framing type" and I am really excited =) I will keep you up to date!

Last bot not least, here is my most adorable bonsai! I hope I can keep it alive ;-)
It's a Fukien tea tree (due to Google translate) and the guy who sold it told me this would actually flower, even more than once a year. I forgot to ask him when, but I guess/hope I will find out ;-) I had to get that little panda to go with the tree as well. So far the tree seems still healthy, but then I only have it for a week ;-) 

Apart from that I bought a bunch of smaller thing - soap, honey, some gifts for friends, some earrings (as every year) and so on, all in all it was a wonderful day and there is always so much wonderful stuff to see, I am already looking forward to next years fair ;-)

I hope to be back next Sunday with an update for WIPocalypse, so until then,
Happy stitching =)

Dienstag, 19. März 2019

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - March

It's already the middle of March and here I am with my belated update for the GG SAL. 
I am currently having a few days off from work, but I am super busy preparing things for wedding and catching up with my social contacts, unfortunately due to my medication I can't do to much (but I still try) and on many evenings I am way to exhausted to do anything. Therefore I am also not really happy with my progress, I just worked on my Map of Middle Earth and I only managed to get 1 000 stitches in, so I didn't make my goal of getting the map to 60 000 stitches, but any way I went from here:
To here:
The writing "Erebor, the Lonely Mountain" is taking ages to stitch, I was a bit unsure because it looked really blurry while I worked on it. That's always funny, you put in the dark colors and the writing seems clear, then you in the lighter colors and things go blurry and then you step back and see that the writing is clear again. Above the latest writing, there is a small dark spot - this is the beginning of the Iron Hills, the last part of writing and mountains for this row, I can't believe we are drawing near that! It's still 16 000 stitches to that point and I am not sure if I can manage that this year (would be awesome), but due to "Haed standards" we are getting close :D

 Well, I fear this is all I have to show for this month. You can find all other updates at this months link-up page, so be sure to drop by and check out all the lovely projects =)

I hope to be back in a few days with a small update on my 1-stitch-a-day challenge and I also have a few new things I got from a crafts fair last week =) (and i really hope I will get my butt up to check out some other blog posts, I am so much behind with commenting)

Happy stitching =)