DALD sampler finished!

*sigh* (That was a huge sigh of relief). Even though I loved every minute of stitching this sampler, I`m also glad in a way that after 4 long months of looking at it, it`s finally on its way to the (hopefully!) happy owner - a lovely 84-year-old lady who commissioned this for her granddaughter`s wedding. /I also hope that the granddaughter will like it too, lol!/

Since this was my pet project in between magazine works, I revelled in the luxury of not having to keep track of any detail, therefore I don`t know how many hours it took, only that I spent a total of about 2 weeks out of 4 months stitching this. And here is the end result:

 Apologies for the worse-than-usual photo but I finished it last night and couldn`t wait to take a pic - it would`ve been pointless to wait for the bright daylight anyway, it`s been so doom and gloom here lately. So the colours are not as vibrant as they should be... maybe a couple of close-ups will help:

Well, these don`t really do justice to the colours either, but at least I can illustrate what I enjoyed most about working with 2 strands on 18 HPI aida (tbh, this was the ONLY thing I enjoyed about stitching on such a high count fabric): the fact that every single cross sits there like a tiny little pearl. I think they`re awesome!

DALD update

An uncharacteristically short post as I`m crazy-busy stitching the Dream a Little Dream sampler which I fully intend to finish this week (I kinda have to since I have other things in the pipeline). So here`s a wee recap where I left it off after Go #3:

And this is where things stand just now, at Go #4:

ingenious husband turns wife into happy stitcher

And this is not the only headline for this week! After 86 hours of work, of which I spent the last 20-odd backstitching (and literally working my middle finger to the bone, so I had to use plasters to be able to finish the job on time), I finally managed to send the latest magazine commission back yesterday - hurrah!

So, today I`m a lady of leisure - which means I took the Dream A Little Dream sampler out again and let me tell you, words cannot describe how relaxed I feel while stitching it: the fabric`s light, the cross stitches are full, not a single backstitch in sight and I can pick it up/put it down whenever I feel like it, without having to make a note of the exact time.

Not that this is such a big deal, mind you, but it started to bug me a bit, especially at the weekends, when (sod`s law) as soon as I took a note of the time and picked up my stitching, I was dragged away and had no idea how long I`d been away looking for a toy or a spanner. Anyway, long story short, my lovely Hubby devised me a gadget to make my life easier: it`s an old wall clock that we never used, to which he added a switch and now all I have to do is flick the switch every time I start stitching and turn it off when I stop (a bit like a chess clock, just bigger, lol!).

Looks like I`ve been stitching for 4 hours - time for a cuppa!

Then last night I started to whinge again because I found the sorting cards that came with the DALD kit too clumsy for frequent colour changes - so my knight in shining work clothes rushed to my aid again and made this sorter for me out of some scrap wood and a (sadly, empty) chocolate box:

I just cut up the sorting cards and put the corresponding strips into the wee boxes

Now whenever I need a new colour, I just pick up the right one and off I go. I`m so much faster and, therefore, more productive this way - well, you have to trust me on this because I only started to use the new method this morning so you`ll not see too much progress yet:

I`ve done a bit above the black cat and some flowers in the bottom middle

And, as I`m writing this, postie`s just turned up with the next commission project so I`m afraid my joy over this clever thread sorting was short-lived - or, to be precise, my enjoyment of it. The poor sampler has hardly resurfaced from the cupboard but thanks to DH`s ingenuity, now at least I know that I`m going to fly with it the next time I pick it up! ;)

a weekend of Kindle covers

This, again, has been a busy week - maybe even more so than usual. Hubby and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Thursday and two days later it was my birthday - and yes, both strengthened my belief that one cannot have too much chocolate. I also happened to finish all my magazine work for the now so this weekend I finally got round to sewing jobs I`d been putting of for ages. Hubby got some new tee shirts at work that doubled as miniskirts and I`ve been meaning to shorten them for weeks. Yesterday I finally got my sewing machine out and sorted them, then swiftly moved on to my Kindle Fire Cover Project. But first, the inspiration: my Mommy-in-law asked me a couple of weeks ago to make a cover for her Kindle  and the other day I started to knit one (I had this lovely lilac cotton yarn and I thought the colour would be perfect for her). I measured her Kindle the last time we visited her - I hope I got the size right!

I`m glad she mentioned the Kindle cover, by the way, because it got me thinking: we`re going on holiday soon - to Hungary, as usual, but this time in instalments. My Mum`s coming here this Thursday and in ten days` time she`s flying back with Gregory, thus giving us, run-down parents a little breather, plus spending some quality one-on-one time with her grandson. Then, to save her sanity, and because by that time I`ll be having withdrawal symptoms too, a week later I`m flying after my wee boy. Finally, after a few days, work-committed DH is arriving with the car, and in August we`re driving back to Scotland, just before school starts again.

Anyway, back to the Kindle cover. So I realised that if Son wants to take the Kindle Fire on the plane, he`ll need a cover for that, so I got my scrap fabrics out and he chose these two (a brownish flowery one and a red linen one with some embroidered flowers). I made the actual cover padded, in case he bumps or drops the thing, and I made an extra pocket for the charger. I finished both sides with wooden buttons I got as a free gift with a knitting magazine and hand-made button holes, which I tried for the first time and considering that, they turned out quite OK. All in all, I`m pretty chuffed with the result:

I almost forgot: I`m so used to not being able to share photos of my stitching any more, as they tend to be super-secret magazine projects, that I`ve just realised that the commission piece I`m working on just now is for a private person, so I can add WIP photos! Yay! It`s a funky little sampler by Riverdrift House, called Dream a Little Dream. I`m stitching it for an 83-year-old lady whose eyesight is not what it used to be but she`d like to give this as a wedding present to her granddaughter. I`ve only just started it but I know I`m going to have lots of fun with this jazzy sampler! :)