Crafting away...

Would it be a cliche if I said I love my holidays and I'm the lucky one to have proper school holidays. It's the only time when I can craft freely without worrying that I have to go to bed early enough or will run out of time to finish the project or simply be disturbed by anything. Precious enjoyable time! So... For the past week I'd been doing all sorts of crafting - knitting, cross stitching and cardmaking - in other words, whatever takes my fancy :) Here is what I have been up to...

Featuring for the first time on my blog is my Scandinavian-style cross stitched sampler with reindeer :) Yes, yes, I simply couldn't resist not stitching something Nordic this year. I feel this is beginning to set up as a tradition now - a Scandinavia inspired hand-made creation made each year! I'm so in love with this Scandi style that I'd probably feel guilty if I didn't make any! The inspiration for my sampler comes from one of my last year cross stitched cards from this post. You can guess easily which one from :) On this colour of aida the white "chalky" cross stitch against the dark inky blue background  feels... very wintery and cold as if it was at deep dark midnight, don't you think so? :)

I must admit I love stitching sampler elements - hearts, snowflakes and above all those great folky reindeer :) They are such fun to stitch and you don't have to worry about changing the threads. This is a great thing about monochromatic samplers. It feels great to see how by adding an element each time you see your sampler building up. 

This is as much as I have stitched so far - the middle part has been finished and currently I'm working on the upper decorative band. As the last thing I'll be stitching the bottom part. For the photo I took the sampler off the frame to show you what it looks like in its full size :)

For my cross stitched cards - well, I've finished stitching the three festive motifs and started the 4th one. Added some backstitch for the finish too. Then on Saturday a disaster struck - a standing nearby table unexpectedly folded in under the weight of stuff lying on it and the whole mug of hot (!!!) tea went down pouring all over me and some drops of tea also stained my stitches. Argh! I immediately ran with the stitches to soak them in Vanish and the stains, thank God, disappeared. This is what they look like after drying up - all the helpful grid marks disappeared. Never mind, I can put up with that as long as the stains are gone! It was a blessing in disguise, I'd say, 'cause the tea stained mostly the edges of the aida, which will be cut off anyway when I put the stitches in the aperture cards. This is a good lesson for the future. No drinks anywhere near my stitching! 

Overall, happy ending! Phew!

Recently I've subscribed to a Cross Stitch Gold magazine. As a gift the publishing company sent me this lovely cross stitch kit with clifftop poppies. I thought I'd show it to you. Poppies are so trendy to stitch these days! However this kit will have to wait for a more convenient moment in the future as currently I'm busy with my Christmas stuff! 

More on the cross stitch kit theme - my recent purchase from Stitch Direct- Yuletide Reindeer Stocking :) - the cross stitch kit I've been wanting for months and finally is mine! Simple, folky, Scandinavian and with reindeer - just as I like it! I'll be stitching it as soon as I've finished my white-on-blue sampler.

The sampler details are great - Scandinavian poinsettias, geometric floral designs, snowflakes, Christmas trees and forest animals :) This is what makes a Nordic look!

On the knitting front, I've knitted 10 more "skins" and they are waiting in my knitting bag to be steamed and stuffed :) I take such relaxing pleasure in knitting them that I delay finishing them off. I promise myself I'll sort them out by the end of this week :)

Well, I think I'll stop here. There is more stuff to show but I don't want to make this post too long to read through :P Keep dropping by!