Festive Houses

Hi all and welcome back here again :) Last week was pretty busy for me. Work, gym, home, crafts, work, gym, home, crafts... and so on :) I've been trying to do as much crafting after hours as I could as Christmas is coming soon and I still haven't done my regular Christmas cards! As always I've got a few projects going on at the same time, typical! :) Last Friday I spent hours at my sewing machine making these little festive houses :)

Some pics taken in the garden :)

They came out quite well, what do you think? I tried my best to get my machine stitching as straight and neat as possible :) My mum loved these and she ordered some for herself and my nan so it seems like I'll be making some more in the near future!!! For those who want to know more, this project comes from Cross Stitcher magazine, issue 244, Christmas 2011. The houses were a freebie kit, which provided materials for the first 3 of them, there was also a choice of 6 cross stitch patterns. I made one extra using my imagination :)

Needles to say, I've been also working on my big cross stitch project for the cushion:

There's been some visible progress since I showed it last time, yet plenty remains to be finished. Getting there!!! 

Apart from my big project I've been trying to keep up with my festive linen bunting :) (Doesn't look like bunting at the moment but hopefully it will soon! :P ) So far I've stitched L O V E  C H R I S T M A S

You prolly think the polka dots letters are cute but they are quite fiddly to stitch due to numerous fractional stitches and frequent changing of the thread colour :) Can't wait to see it finished and hanging on the mantlepiece!!!

Today I've made this simple, quick card:

...for a colleague who has recently had her baby, Jay. I didn't want anything excessively fussy or fanciful, rather a simple card, something that is above all...blue and white :) Hope she likes it.... I'm desperate to sit down, lay out my card making toys around and make some proper decent cards but as we are going through a temporary house fix at the moment, some of the bedroom stuff is piled up in our lounge and blocking my card making space for days. Argh!!!

Tonight I'm joining Hand-made Monday at Wendy's. Get clicking chucks to see some lovely crafty creations. I'll be catching up with your blogs tomorrow evening as I am off to my bed in a moment :) (big yaaaaawn!) Back to work tomorrow!

Work in progress.Big projects and Hand Made Monday.

Hello All. Nothing new finished this week. I just kept on stitching and stitching and stitching... till I got some eye strain, which ended up in a headache but never mind ;) Been working intensively on my big cushion cross stitch project and this is what it looks like now: Some new sampler elements can be recognized now.

Quite a progress since last Sunday, huh? :)

Saturday felt like Stitching Heaven to me, it's what I call when I'm happy stitching away :) Telly, cider with ice, some sweet goodies shared with my bf , sofa and a whole evening ahead, minutes and hours were passing by while I was working hard with my needle :) How good is that! I bet you all have a crafting heaven of your own, don't you?

This year I decided (mostly on the spur of the moment, as I tend to) for the first time to join 2 stitch-a-longs on some blogs. I fell for this project: Madame - 4 seasons

Those are the big projects and I mean BIG with capital "B". I'm gonna start with Winter Madame right after Christmas while winter lasts :) and hopefully go along with the seasons and keep up :) Wish me luck!I wanna all four Madames on my walls! :)

I've already made some preparations. Yesterday I went to a shop to get a fresh supply of embroidery floss. My Winter Madame will be stitched on a cream-coloured Zweigart quaker :) Now all printed and in waiting :)

Second stitch-a-long is all about Christmas. My chosen project is a cross stitch project  Val D'Abondance Blanc by Lili Soleil. The moment I saw those reindeer, heart, swirls and a chalet, all in Noel style, I knew I had to have this stitch this year.

My preparations for the oncoming project: Blanc DMC floss, red aida and a chart.

I've stitched quite a few projects with a red floss on white canvas, now I'm doing the reverse - it's going to be a white stitch on a red background. Still maintaining the Scandinavian style though :)   

So here I am now, rushing with my stitches, trying to spend all my free time either finishing something off or moving onto another item. On top of that I've also joined the local Christmas Craft Fair in a month's time, which means lots of crafting, crafting, crafting even at the end of the day, after work... Madness! 

Crikey! I really need to get a grip and get down to my crafts! Expect to see a lot here soon! 

Sunday evening is a perfect time to join the blog linking party at 1st Unique Gifts. Get clicking guys to see some lovely crafty places online.