Q-Snap Love

I'm pretty happy with my 6 Fat Man progress this week. Finished building my snow house and growing a wonky tree.

A few weeks ago, I won Tricia's Q-Snap Huggies Giveaway made by Christine. Earlier this week, they arrived along with a pretty card. Don't you just love the beads on it?

I love the fabrics used to make the Q-Snap huggies. I'm both a coffee and tea drinker so they suit me nicely.

As you can see, I've put the 8"x8" one to immediate use for my Magic Garden Sampler WiP which has not seen daylight for some time now. My 8"x8" Q-Snap is the one I use most frequently, even for larger projects like Mirabilias. Now I can tuck the access fabric into the Q-Snap huggies.

Thank you so much, Tricia. I love them.

After seeing Lynn's WiP and her influencing inviting me to join her, I'm off to put some stitches into Magic Garden Sampler now. Gillie, you joining us? ^.^^

Happy Stitching!

SALs Galore

I need to stop doing this, lumping all SALs into a single post. So how successful was your IHSW? Mine went pretty well.

As mentioned, Stella had all my attention. Here she is now with nearly all the stitching done.

Only one blue is left then it's beading time :)

As for my 6 Fat Man SAL, I didn't get too much done.

I actually stitched on Tuesday instead of Monday and was kinda too busy watching House MD's final episode for much progress. So sad that there will be no more House MD after this week :( I think it's one of the best television series ever! I love his wit, sarcasm and  humour.

I was reminded from my blog hopping that it's TUSAL time again. My ort jar this month is placed on my first and fairly new (bought in January 2012) laptop with the login screen of Diablo III in the background ^.^

What? I can't help it! Yes, I know, I'm such a geek :P

Happy Stitching!

Happy Week

I haven't stitched much this past week. It wasn't until Friday that I picked up 6 Fat Man for my weekly SAL. Granted, I'm a few days late but at least I could say I put some stitches in.

Snowed In is done. I figured each block deserves an individual happy dance.

Design: Snowed In

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 32 count Picture This Plus Tarnish Belfast linen

Fibers: Hand Dyed Fibers silk

So what have I been up to besides stitching? This is what happens when I'm bored.

Mirabilia's Lady of the Mist. Can you spot the difference?

Yes, despite loving her to bits the moment I laid eyes on her, I've never cared for the uncomfortable-looking bunch of roses at her neckline. So I've taken the liberty of recharting it. She now wears only a single rose brooch. I also gave her a necklace. What do you think?

With a fair amount of apprehension, I posted it on Facebook's Mirabilia Group. apologizing to Nora for making the changes. What did ya know, I received positive responses and even Nora Corbett herself replied and I quote "No sorry! I love it! We are all individuals it makes the world more beautiful".

I was ecstatic. Nora Corbett is practically an A-List celebrity in my book and you gotta love a designer who encourages creative changes to her patterns.

Lady of the Mist has now jumped to the top of my to-stitch list. In fact, I'll be starting her the moment Stella is done, if I can wait that long ^.^ I've already ordered the beads. The hunt is now on for the perfect fabric which unfortunately is not in my stash. Oh well, retail therapy is always good, right? :P

I received a package from Anne on Thursday. Inside was this lovely fabric and card.

She had sent me a quarter yard cut of it all because I admired it when she showed it on her blog and had expressed my desire to buy some. Thank you so much, Anne. Words can't express how much I treasure our friendship too.

On other non-stitchy related matter but is too cool not to share, a pair of birds have built their nest right outside our living room window.

The nest is actually built at eye level on rather thin branches. It bobs up and down pretty violently when it's windy. I wonder if birds get motion sickness. LOL!

Mama bird is in her nest right now. Can you spot her? Take a closer look.

Don't worry, I didn't get too close. Both photos have been cropped.

I have no idea what species they are. Sure look like humming birds but they could be the Olive-Backed Sunbird too. I'm not an expert in identifying birds like Beth is.

It's IHSW again. What do you have planned? I'll be concentrating on Stella if I manage to tear myself away from Diablo III.

Happy Stitching!

Hand-Dyed Obsession

What does one do when she has been deserted by her stitching mojo? In my case, stash acquisition and stash fondling always help.

Last time, I showed you my HDF silks in a chocolate box. As yummy as that was, alas, my collection has totally outgrown it. So here's my new storage system.

This is actually a plastic file folder that can be found in most bookstores.

Colours make me happy. Yet, that wasn't enough to lure my mojo back. So I moved on to my fabric collection.

Here are my Lakeside Linens.

That is what happens when you join a year's worth of Fabric of the Month Club.

These are neutral linens from various hand-dyed fabric companies.

Picture This Plus

Polstitches

A couple of Sugar Maple Fabrics and the rest Silkweaver.

Hi, my name is Veronica and I am a stashoholic...
Anyway, I need to clarify that all except two of Silkweaver fabrics were bought before the change of hands to Needleworker's Delights. This is because after they took over, many stitchers, including me have experienced a drop in the quality of their products and customer service.

I've only ordered from them once since the changeover during a free shipping promotion. Never again! (I won't go into how ridiculous their normal overseas shipping charges are.) This was what I got:

Bright solid turquoise with no colour variations. I can't imagine stitching anything on it. This was what I was expecting to get.

I wasn't the only one who encountered this problem either. See TJ's complaint here. With this same order, I had also included a piece of Scattered Leaves. The result?

You gotta be kidding me, right? Both were supposed to be fat quarters - 18" x 27". This piece of Scattered Leaves measures only 15 inches wide. Note how small it is compared to Aegan Aqua.

If you were wondering, no, I didn't report my grievances to Silkweaver. Many before me has done so without any result. What's the point? Well, I'm done with my gripe. Thanks for bearing with me.

*Edited to add: Please see update on Silkweaver here.*

Moving on, here's my May's WiPocalpyse report. I know, I'm so late! A single, lonely stitchy pic of Lilliput Village. Hopefully, I'll be forgiven after the number of stash photos I've shown above ^.^

This is the first time a project from my original WiPocalypse list has made an appearance. Poor Lilliput Village hasn't seen daylight for over a year. Wish me luck that I'll be able to complete a significant amount of it this year.

Last but not least, to all mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!

First Fat Man

I've only one photo to show today and it pretty much says it all.

I've been stitching but it sure doesn't feel like any progress has been made. Ever had those days?

Hopefully I'll be back with more next time.

Happy Stitching!

Jigsaw & Borders

For the first time in ages, zero stitching was done this past weekend. I was completely engrossed with this:

Thomas Kinkade's Emerald Valley. Did I mention I have a thing for Ireland? Totally Nora Roberts' influence there.

It's my first 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and I finished it in less than three days. Pretty proud of that fact if I do say so myself ^.^ Now I have to find a way to frame it without glue. Any ideas?

Monday's 6 Fat Man SAL needs no more introduction. The boring borders are done! That by itself warrants a mini celebration.

The fun stuff starts next Monday :D

Happy Stitching!