Indian elephant and Van Gogh

I almost did something else again! But if I don`t post now, I never will. *puts on determined face*

I`m so busy having fun with my own stitching these days that I keep forgetting about other stuff I`m supposed to be doing. Not to mention the wee man`s school programs - and crocheting: have I mentioned I`ve learnt to crochet sunburst granny squares? I enjoy them so much I`ve started mass-producing them:

I`ve decided it goes faster if I do the same round on all of them - but when that gets too boring, I switch back to completing each square individually, it makes a change to swap between colours and stitch types. Hopefully, one day I`ll have enough squares to make a blanket.

So. There are some publications out there this week (last week?) that have my pieces in them, including this gorgeous Indian elephant in Gold 139, designed by Carol Thornton.

I love the vibrant colours and the straight lines that were especially soothing to stitch, as was all the filling in with that gorgeous pale yellow. Elephants are my favourite among favourite animals, so I was really pleased when this project came my way.

5,5 hours

11,5 hours

20 hours

32 hours

50 hours

67 hours - finished! 😊

I don`t always take pics of the back but I love how tidy those straight lines make this look

There`s also issue 257 of The World of Cross Stitching in the shops, and this month`s free gift is the beautiful butterflies card... that I think I`ve posted about already but here it is then, as a recap:

This week I was also excited to be able to pick up my parents` "Christmas" present from the framer - it looks just the way I pictured it in my head so I`m over the moon with it and I hope they`ll like it too. I`ll find out in about a fortnight - and when I come back from holiday, I can finally put some photos of it up here too.

What else? Finally, after 5 long years of owning the HAED chart of Van Gogh`s Starry Night, I managed to get round to having it re-printed in the library - I thought, why struggle when I can have the chart on A3 pages? So I had them done and last week I was ready to go:

I started from the bottom right corner and after 7 days I had my first page finish:

But then as I was showing it to folks on Facebook, I began to realise that I wasn`t happy with the colour scheme. 😩 I chose Starry Night not only because I love Van Gogh but also because blue is my favourite colour - as opposed to purple, the only colour I don`t like. I put my chart and a picture of the original painting side by side...

...and decided to abandon this project for the now. I think I`m going to chart it for myself, using blues instead of purples, and I`ll try to make it the right size so that I can still use this nice big piece of aida, which is still going to be quite large, even after I cut this stitched bit off (as there is no way I can unpick it). But so as not to be without Van Gogh in the meantime, last night I started his Sunflowers (I`ve had this Maria Diaz design for ages, it`s in the July 2009 issue (172) of Collection).

And while I was working on the bottom right corner of the purple Starry Night, I also realised that if I`m going to spend months and months stitching such a confetti-heavy piece, I`m going to need something (crafting-wise, I mean. At the same time, I`m also translating but that`s a different kind of challenge and satisfaction), so I`m going to need something that gives me instant gratification, i.e. a project that`s made up of blocks that can be finished in a day. So I had a look on the internet and found this amazing blackwork sampler (called `Save The Stitches`, free to download from Elizabeth Almond`s website), and I already have the fabric and threads - I`m going to use stranded cotton 301, 415 and 3821 instead of the metallics and no beads, either, I want to keep it simple and non-blingy. So in a few months/years/decades, I should end up with something like this:

How gorgeous is this?? 😍 I think I`m going to start this today 😉 Happy stitching!

a crafty evening

Last Friday, my friend Jo took me to a craft event, organised by some of her friends from the East Neuk of Fife (we used to live in St Monans for a while too, hence the connection). It was a lovely evening, based on the idea of trying out various crafts "kids style" - you know the feeling, when you take your children to an event like this, and you stand there and drool while they`re colouring in, etc., wishing that you could join them because you love colouring, can even do it within the lines, but you`re not going to embarrass yourself (and your children!) by elbowing your way in at the kiddie table...? Well, Friday night was for us, frustrated big kids.

I had so much fun! Apart from meeting `old faces from St Monans` and having a good chinwag with them - and also with some lovely ladies I only just met but we had an instant connection, thanks to cross stitch -, I tried all kinds of crafts, old and new... not to mention the scrumptious selection of soups and cakes at two tables, where you could also grab a card and copy the recipes displayed. At the cakes table (first stop, needless to say), I managed to get my hands on the recipe of a most delicious Dundee cake - yay, my Mum will be so pleased, we`re both big fans since last summer, when we got a heavenly cake from the House of Bruar, near Pitlochry, the likes of which I haven`t managed to find anywhere ever since... until last Friday night, thanks to Lesley.

To my great regret, in the end I didn`t have time to colour in a single one of the beautiful mandala designs provided, nor did I have the chance to visit the knitting or card making tables, there were so many things to try and only a couple of hours - maybe next time! ;)

However, I did manage to give ceramic painting a go. There were these teapot `blanks` provided and glass painting pens in various colours - I drew a sunflower (what else?) and even got a gift bag to transport it in (which later I can also decorate, yay!). I think I`ll `cook` my artwork first, though, before I put the first soggy teabag on it, I just haven`t used the oven yet since Friday... but maybe, one of these days, I`ll bake a Dundee cake...? ;)

I know it looks like a gerbera, but believe me, it`s a sunflower :)

I took along some stitchy magazines as well, plus some of my stitched pieces that have been returned to me, and people were very interested in how and why I got into model stitching, and they also loved seeing the `real life` models of some of the magazine photos. It was a pleasure to see - the way I imagine it used to be - women sitting around a table, chatting, while their hands busy with the needle; some haven`t done any cross stitch for over a decade and were now happy to be reacquainted with the hobby... and of course, the real joy of seeing someone trying it for the first time.

Oh, and let`s not forget my personal Aha! moment for the night: after watching dozens of  YouTube videos and getting more and more frustrated because I simply cannot see the holes in crochet (I don`t always know what/where the chain is, so I stab my hook willy-nilly and end up with some shapeless thing, instead of e.g. the oval I had in mind). So anyway, thanks to the lovely Sue, I have FINALLY mastered the granny square!! Woo hoo! Last night I started a blanket with this sock yarn I`d bought ages ago from Lidl, when I wanted to try out knitting socks (conveniently forgetting that I don`t like the feel of knitted stuff against my feet, I barely put up with cotton socks), so anyway, I have 100g pale blue and 100g variegated, we`ll see how far I can go with these. At the moment, my blanket is about 10 cm square but now that I know the basics, the sky`s the limit! Happy crafting, peeps!