Oh dear there is me again ... with exchanges and Valentines

This seems an extreme luxury, I haven't had this many frequent update since ... well ever.

Life is slowly trying to settle into a pattern again, although a few deadlines and tasks are still on the horizon (but that is just a case of life).

So I am going to post few things. 1st up is a Margaret Sherry exchange I have participated in last summer ...


Check out Summer Exchange Flashback for all involved.

You have seen what I received from Marcinha in my earlier post click here:

I am now using it to store all the threads from the QS Literate Dragon SAL. Very useful and pretty.

But I haven't posted what I sent to the next person in the list...

It is a box with Margaret Sherry's design 'June cat & mouse' from Margaret Sherry 2012 Stitcher's Diary, a free gift with the World of Cross Stitching magazine issue 185.

And now back onto recent issues. I have recently for Valentine's had an exchange of stitched cards with McKenna of Chic Crafting. And this is the lovely card I have received in the post from her:

The colour is very close to purple ... which is great as it is my favourite colour. The card I sent to America for this exchange is:

The stitched cup is from the set designed by Rhona Norrie 'Coffee Cards'. She frequently appears in the stitchy magazines, and I especially like her quick and quirky designs. Check out Rhona's blog Tangled Threads by clicking here. I changed the colours a little (to be a little creative and use leftovers): Anchor: 370, 360, 304, 302; DMC: blanc, 818. The 370 and 360 was also used for backstitching.

And for consistentcy I'll also post the one other Valentine's card I stitched this year:

 Also from the same set designed by Rhona. This time I used the following threads... Anchor: 233, 360, 370, 316, 850, 158, 77, 304, 851; and DMC: blanc, 3688. The backstitching used 233, 360, 370 (already listed).

Till another successful update lets hope,

                                                              
P.S. Promise to be better at responding.

Thank yous ..

As I have mentioned earlier I won 2 giveways. So wanted to share how lucky I am and say thank you for these gifts again.

1st giveaway was from Sarah of Sarah in Stitches. So a few images ...

where the biscornu and needle jar will live

another closeup of the biscornu

I have wanted to make a biscornu for some time now, but could not find a design that I liked. This one I really love.

And my second display of luck happened thanks to Lesli of the Fabulous Frogger ...

She has some exciting projects on the go. I can't wait to stock up on Alice and begin stitching.

So thank you to the generous and wonderful ladies, hope you enjoy their blogs too.

Till soon when I have some Valentines card finishes to show you,

                                                                                                            

TUSAL - post 2

Sorry for a late post, was a little busy and wanted to put up a bigger update with thank yous for 2 lovely gifts I won and an exchange (but that for the next post since attempting to get all the pictures together took longer than I thought).

The 2013 jar so far with the February jar on the right to it ...

2013 jar + February contribution

And the entire 2 months of orts in one:

2013 jar 

So lots of stitching despite the lack of progress updates ... till soon,

Between us girls talking ... I heard there is a giveaway

It has been for a while that I wanted some LHN designs (ever since I discovered the sheep on one of blogs that I follow). So needless to say I am very excited for Heather's giveaway ...

Click Here!

The charts she is kindly giving away are:

Pirates Life - Country Cottage Needleworks
Thread Gathering - Little House Needleworks
Snow In Love - Little House Needleworks
Pie Menu - Country Cottage Needleworks
Sheep In Meadow - Country Cottage Needleworks
M'Ladys Strawberries - Little House Needleworks

And now can I share with you a finish from last year that I have mounted into a card:

It made a very good Christmas card. Do you also like the key ring? It is from one of the Craftseller issues.

Till soon when hopefully I'll share some more exciting finishes,

                                                                                                        

2 finishes already or Wipocalypse post #1

First of all I would like to say thank you for all the lovely comments, I will set aside some time next week for browsing all the blogs that were in the party. Unfortunately at the moment my poor old macbook is struggling and I have finally decided to give it in. I'll take it to see the computer doctor tomorrow and hopefully it will let me load up the blogs without having to restart it every 20 minutes. This post has caused me a restart already!

But onto less sad to my purse news ...

For the first check in I am well on track of my goals. Two finishes!


Goal #11: John Clayton: Big Ben. Stitched on 14 count using DMC threads. This piece almost drove me insane. Since of that silly error last year I had to unpick and eventually ran out of one of the colours ... right before the finish. Nonetheless it is done now:

December 2012

done!!!

This is the first in the Internationals series ... hope more are to follow.

Next up is a completion of goal #21 one of the set-aside for the cards. This is the free kit that came with the World of Cross Stitch issue 199. Stitched on 14 count aida and is The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady design of the sweet dog roses:

Done!!!

Done!!!

Then after all that I had a little spare time to work on the HAED SAL:

January 2013

This is goal #9 QS Literate Dragon. Even though the light is good the colours aren't very clear. I worked in black, 2 greens, 1 purple, quite a few shades of blue and now onto cocoa shade. 

And I had another card start (oh dear it is Christmas already!). This is Margaret Sherry's design ... and a free Xmas card kit that came with the Cross Stitch Crazy December 2012 issue 171:

January 2013

I better stop here before my computer starts complaining yet again. Though there is still so much to post ... there is there a few better photos of a finish I, a finish from last year I haven't uploaded yet, some other photos I wanted to share. So all this is yet to come. 

Till soon,

                   

Welcome to Stitching in Crosses and More ...

Hello and welcome. It was suggested to us to share a little about ourselves... so here it goes ...

I am Lija and I am an addict. I have been hooked up on cross for some time now. I have learnt to stitch at the age of 6 or 7 and one of my first finishes I remember to be was some snowdrops - the flowers. I have then over the years picked up knitting, and other crafts. Most get picked up and put away for spells of time over the years, but when I picked up cross stitch up again about 2 years ago I couldn't stop ... so here I am, blogging about this small part of my life.

that's me

I have graduated as a Master of Mathematics last year and am now studying towards being a Chartered Accountant. In my spare time I stitch, blog, collect stamps, knit, paint, draw, read books ...

Me pretending to read War and Peace
for the picture - I will finish it one day! 

My favourite authors are Paulo Coelho, Dostoyevsky, and Margaret Atwood. I was a World Book Night giver last year, which was a lot of fun, and I got to pass on Coelho's book to unsuspecting victims. I am part of a reading group, ran by the library (aren't they wonderful - all the books you can borrow for free, mine even does e-magazines so I get Crossstitcher for free now). Of course I also happen to be a part-time librarian so maybe a little prejudiced, an artist (participated in about 13 exhibition over the past 5 years), and recently I have started an online business, selling handmade bags and accessories - a sort of a family run online store.

me modelling the scarf ...

From our website:

ILiNi designs is a creative enterprise based in the North East of England. The handmade bags and accessories that we design and make are unique, each one individually thought out. The products available for purchase range from everyday use to special occasions. You will find exclusive leather handbags, hand painted silk scarves, jewellery, and many more treasures waiting to be picked. 

And if you would like to check us out, Click here! for our website and here if you would like to find us on facebook. I would appreciate any likes we get.

Another one of ILiNi designs bags

And a progress picture of a scarf with my oil painting hiding in the background:

So where are all the cross stitch pictures you ask, after all this is a blog mainly about cross stitch. There is a tab on the top of this page for all the finishes I had in the last 2 years which feel free to browse. And here are some highlights:

the first of eight
John Clayton

Fizzy Moon

Where would I be without Margaret Sherry?

Aren't they beautiful ...
I am stitching another one by the same designer at the moment

 And finally my progress on the HAED 'Christmas Candle':

This is the biggest project I have ever attempted and so far has taken half a year to do ... maybe a finish in a few years time. After all I can't say I am a heavy cross stitcher without having attempted one of these.

I should probably stop now, I have most likely disclosed too much about my life (personal information which we are told not to broadcast over the internet). 

I am looking forward to browsing all the blogs out there, and seeing what everyone else stitches/knits.

Bye for now and thanks for looking,

                                                             

P.S. Don't forget to check out all the other wonderful blogs that are here for the party at 2 Bags Full. I am very grateful to Vicki for organising this.

TUSAL - post 1

Just a quick post ... and back to revision. I now realise that the trick to good collection of ORTs are the kits (including the free card kits that come with magazines) and the source of frustration. When I stitch I cut the thread a lot longer than in the pre-packed stash, so hence when I work on those projects less ORTs and less frustration with constant needle threading.

Thought to show off my plant before it completely dies, along with a month's product of ORTs. With my empty easel behind it ... [sigh] ... will pick up painting again soon [I keep telling myself].