'Flowers for a Friend'

A freebie from World of Cross Stitching magazine July 2005 issue. I am one of Forever Friends fans, who always bought the greeting cards (by Hallmark) during my school years. I'm really happy to get this XS kit as a freebie. Regardless the amount of backstitch that I had to do, I really enjoyed stitching this lovely bear - so adorable and irresistable ;)

Flowers for a Friend

I think I need to buy a pastel or wood colour square frame. It will be look nicer compare to the current navy blue frame.

closer view

My next-to-do Forever Friends chart is 'A Perfect Summer' from Quick & Easy magazine June2005 issue.

'Days of the Week' - WIP

Last week, I was thinking of some ideas for the quillow project. Sunbonnet Sue & Sam pattern is what I like most. Suddenly, I remembered seeing XS pattern of Sunbonnet Sue in one of the magazines.

Decided to stitch the pattern and this is my 2nd time stitching on lengthy fabric (minus the 2 RR pieces). The 1st time was when I stitched for MYS Bellpull Exchange 2005."Days of the Week" designed by Lynda Orme & Wendy Peatross of Forever In My Heart Designs.

Days of the Week

Still have '5 days' to stitch. Knowing that I am a slow stitcher, this project will take 2 more weeks to finish.

I have another WIPs as well - 4 cards & 3 bookmarks. I've stitched 3 cards & 1 bookmark so far. I usually stitch these small projects in the evening - challenging myself to finish stitching one small project in an evening. Hopefully by next week, I could be able to finish these small projects. Then, will be concerntrating on 'Days of the Week' :)

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

Have you ever done a color conversion? If so, what did you think about your results and would you do it again? If not, would you like to try someday?

Yes, I have. Most of the time the results are satisfying and suit the colour scheme of my choice. At times, the results are not as good as what I expected but this never stop me from doing the colour conversion for the next projects.

Chicken Scratch Heart

This morning after browsing the internet, I felt the urge to do a chicken scratch embroidery.

Actually when I first saw chicken scratch on the web last year, it had reminded me of my tweenie years. I learned how to embroider when I was in a boarding school and my 1st project was done on a gingham fabric. I was tempted to try chicken scratch after seeing the website but unfortunately at that time I was pretty busy with cross sttich exchanges. And today, I re-visited the website and immediately took out my sewing kit & checkered cloth and started the chicken scratch heart project.

Chicken Scratch Heart

It didn't take much time to embroider small pattern likes this. Simple yet attractive.

closer view

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

What do you do when you have some sort of obligation stitching to do, but don’t want to do it?

When I joined a Round Robin (RR) early this year, I sensed kind of obligation stitching after receiving the 1st piece of RR to stitch. There were reasons to such feeling since it was my 1st time joining a RR. I didn't really know what to expect and I am kind of stitcher who stitches small patterns on small pieces of fabrics. When I first got to stitch on a bigger/lengthy fabby, I said to myself "OMG! i never stitch on such a lenghty fabric" (other members wanted to make a bellpull/banner out of RR). I started to worry but I was OK then, since my friend provided an easy to stitch pattern. When another friend's RR piece came to me, it was another lenghty fabby. I was OK with the fabric size but it was the pattern she provided that worries me. Frankily speaking, the pattern is so lovely, it just that I never stitch such a big pattern *LOL*

With datelines coming ahead, made me worry not to finish stitching on time. What I did was, I spent most of my stitching time with these RR pieces, eventhough my feeling at that very moment was close to 'I don't want to do it'. I guess I simply wanted to finish it quickly and didn't want to bother with it anymore. I even cut my browsing/blogging hours to ensure I had enough time to finish stitching. My WIPs were totally been ignored *LOL* The only thing that stopped me from stitching was when the required floss was misplaced. I seldom have the opporturnity to go stash shopping, missing floss means I have to wait for the right time to go to the LNS. Grrrr !

Anyway, I managed to deal with these kind of obligation stitching. It is not as bad as what I think initially.

UFO Story

I was still not in the stitching mood on Sunday but somehow I managed to do the finishing-off for one of the UFOs ~ a simple pincushion.

I had actually stitched this freebie pattern of Elizabeth's Designs for quite sometime. It was me who always procastinating with the finishing *LOL*. Sometimes when I feel like stitching, I will stitch small patterns without knowing what to do with it. This pattern was one of such cases : )

I stitched the XS piece onto the floral-print cotton. It is very simple and easy to do pincushion.

simple pincushion

I am still indecisive with the stitched piece below:

pattern by Claire Crompton

I simply love this pattern and have to admit that this is the 2nd time I stitched the pattern. I've made the 1st piece into a birthday card for a friend. Any suggestions for the 2nd piece? Maybe a needlebook or another pincushion or mini wall-hanging? Another stitched card?

Thoughts for Londoners

I first to know about the horrifying incident in London from a local TV news last night. Then I switched to BBC and CNN for more coverage. I was aghasted. Immediately, several names came to my mind - friends, stitchers and bloggers. Huge relief to know that they are all safe and sound. Feel really sad for the victims and families. Ironically, this tragic bomb attack took place not long after London was announced to be the host for 2012 Olympic Games. It was such a great shock.....

the blues....

This week, I don't really feel like stitching or sewing. Just browsing the internet and watching tv.

It has been almost a year now, I haven't meet my parents, brothers, SILs and nephews & nieces. Kind of missing them. We did go back to Peninsular last November for Hari Raya to celebrate with my PIL and families, but didn't have the opportunity to pay a visit to my parents' place.

I also missing shoppings *wink*, meeting friends, dining-outs and etc, in Kuala Lumpur. OOOh! not to forget my favourite hangouts! Been living in small far-away cities since I got married. I could say, eventhough these 2 cities are less modern than Kuala Lumpur but we lead a better life in terms of quality time we spend together, less traffic jams and etc. Surpirsingly,(at times) I do miss part of the hectic life in metropolitan. ha ha ha !

Kuala Lumpur, see you in September (hopefully....)

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

Do you think that you stitch neater on Evenweave than you do on Aida cloth? If so, why?

Yes, I think I stitch slightly neater on evenweave compare to my stitching on aida. The reason is I become more careful with the counting and the tension of the floss when stitching on evenweave. And it is a lot more easier to do fractional stitches on evenweave.

A 'Facelift'

I've been browsing for several days last week. I saw many new blogs and existing blogs have changed their basic features/colours to more vibrant colours and nicer features. Made me feel that my basic green-coloured blog looked pretty dull.

I was thinking to make some changes to my blog, weeks ago. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do it until recently. Moreover, I'm no computer expert. It takes me some time if I wanted to do the changes : )

Finally, I managed to do some changes to my blog over the weekend. Now the theme is Bees & Sunflowers - my favourite when it comes to needlework designs. If you cannot see this new theme, you may click your 'refresh' button. Feel free to comment on this new theme. Would love to know what you like/dislike about it. Thank you very much!