Drage Feuer Stitch

I managed to put in the last few stitches to complete my 5th full page. I thought I could had finished it by yesterday but too many things going on at the same time.

I've been playing with new blog templates for the past 2 days. I am NOT going to change to a new template as long as I still have my blog. I've lost quite a few things, even though I've saved the original template, still I lost all my blog lists. Well, I am still trying to put some colours to the Header as I think it is too plain.

I finally received my ebay items won on ebay.uk. The seller sent it out on the 9th Feb and I only got it yesterday. When I received it, the whole package was opened up by Postdanmark. I still have 3 more packages which I have no idea where they are now. The sellers had sent them like a week ago. It is a Eva Rosenstand used chart, a DMC colour card and a magazine. Only 2 were won from ebay.uk and the magazine Cross Stitch Favourite Christmas 2008 was bought from someone on the forum. Oh! I won a Permin used chart too on ebay.de a week ago and it is now at my inlaws' house. Save me from spending €50 buying the whole kit.

We are supposed to visit my inlaws this weekend but my inlaws and my brother in law are all down with lung infection. My mother in law is a bit worried that it might be contagious, so she told us not to visit them until they are up and running again.

So, what should we do tomorrow? I thought of going to Kreative Hobbymesse which is held in the town where we used to stay. After reading and looking at what they have there, I changed my mind. They are mostly oil paintings, patchwork and doll houses making, which I am not good at. Nothing on cross stitch at this exhibition.

I just got enabled recently. Since I only know how to stitch, doing xxx or///, so anything that involves sewing is out for me. However, these Glorious Cupcakes are so sweet. I would love to do some of them but I would rather stitch other patterns for these cupcakes instead of those shown on the book. Any idea where I can find some blogs with cupcakes tutorial, like how to join the ends together to form the finished stitched work into a 'muffin'?

I am almost done with page 3 for my Sleeping Beauty. I would love to start on something else beside this one. The problem is that I am too lazy to gather all the floss together for another project. I am still not done with putting the floss together for my Permin Christmas Town SAL.

Silkweaver is accepting entries for Showcase 2009 till 30 June 2009. Have you entered your finished works? I sent in 5 entries, all are in except for Isabella's Garden and I've tried to enter her twice but it is still not up on the gallery yet. I did had some problems at first as it won't go through when I typed 's. So, I changed to Isabellas Garden instead of Isabella's Garden.

Sorry about the dark video. The main light in the room wasn't working at that time. Hope you can see something.

These are all the stuff prepared for tomorrow's Fastelavn party. We are using the Fastelavnsris made by DD in the kindergarten today. DH and her went to prepare the goodies barrel while I cleaned the living area up a bit. I had to remind them constantly not to throw all the sweets into the barrel. Last year, I could see our friends' eyes nearly popping out when they saw the amount of sweets and chocolates inside after the barrel was smashed. Well, we gave the task to DD last year and went off to do other preparations for the party. So, she was happily opening all the huge packages of sweets and chocolates and threw everything into the barrel.

DH gave me a report this morning after he came home from sending DD to the kindergarten. He said EVERY girls there were princesses, except her who was Minnie Mouse. My heart sank and thought of the worst. I thought she might feel like an outsider or weird as she didn't dress up as a princess. Well, he said she wasn't even a bit sad and she was beaming with joy and smiling when she saw that she was the only Minnie Mouse there! All the other princesses kids went up to her and asked whether they could look and touch her dress :0)))

One of the families we invited, will put their twin girls at our house 5 hours before the party starts. They need to drive over to Germany to get some materials for their house building. So, DD's good friends - The Twins will be here at 9.30am onwards while the rest will arrive at 2.30pm. Some people might think it will be stressful for me to have 3 kids running around in the house. Actually, it is not at all. I've had the twins over rather often and I could actually wash the windows while they play together. They always tell me not to worry about them and I may go and do my own stuff. The only time they come to me is when they need help in the toilet or to open up some stuff.

So, it will be a long long day tomorrow as all guests are staying for dinner too. French Hotdogs is tomorrow's menu.

I received 2 more packages this morning. Cross Stitch Gold won on Ebay and HF 2009 book + Danish Flower Thread Colour card. I won the magazines at a very good price and they don't look as if they've been used before. I even think they smell new :0)))

I was rather surprised when I received my HF 2009 book so fast. I paid yesterday morning and I got it this morning. The lady from Ingridmarie is such a sweet and helpful lady. She was very fast at finding out the price for DMC colour card too and she hasn't had them in her shop for a long while. It cost approx. dkk 100 and I would say that is reasonable as I've seen some shops here selling for dkk200. I think I would buy it from 123stitch as I remember I have 2 GCs :0)))

Tove just gave me another brain racking suggestion. She suggested that I leave about 5cm between the motifs from this HF book and also to keep the original colours for all the motifs. She would backstitch the month and the name of the berry for each one according to the book. I thought stitching these 2 would be a bit too much but I love the idea of stitching the name of each month's berry underneath each motif. It is a bit difficult as one of the month's berries has a very very long name. Anyway, I reserved a book from the library called 500 Danish Alphabets by Eva Rosenstand. Hopefully I can work something out from there.

I asked my friend, Tove as to how to arrange these 12 motifs. My initial concern was whether I should put accordingly as shown on the book. There is a different motif for each month from this Haandarbejdets Fremme The Year in Cross Stitch 2009. Should I rearrange them? On these 2 pictures, I've arranged them accordingly to the month. She said it will look much better if I put them 3 by 4 rows (which she would do) or 4 by 3 rows and use 2 standard colours for the motif. I like her 3 by 4 rows. So, what do you think? Should I just stitch them as how I arranged. What 2 colours should I used for the whole border? I noticed that green is rather standard for most of the motifs, just that they are in different greens. I ordered the book and HF colour card from Ingridmarie. Her prices are cheaper than any other Danish ONS. I only have to get the DMC colour card. All these conversion works will take me a long time as I have to convert them to HDF silk after that. Wonder when I can start stitching this. Well, I am going to start on 1 first using DMC for the Help Aussie Bushfire Victims.

It wasn't a real surprise as Jackie had already told me that she is sending a Cross Stitch Gold magazine to me. What really surprised me was all the extra goodies she enclosed - English books for children! As I've mentioned, it is not easy to get English books in Denmark and they cost quite a lot if I have to order them online. My first Cross Stitch Gold magazine and after going through it, it is my kind of magazine, beside Cross Stitch Collection. Thank you so much, Jackie!

Won these 4 Cross Stitch Collection Magazines 1 1/2 week ago on ebay. Flipped them through and I like them, nicer pictures to look at and also my kind of taste. I won more Cross Stitch Collection Magazines from another seller just 1 day before I won these but haven't got anything from her yet.

I also won some more magazines on ebay few days ago. Really nice ebayer. It was the husband who was sitting behind her items and really great communications from him, just that he wasn't sure how to change the shipping fee to Denmark. Really sweet of his wife to run to the post office to get the exact shipping which is not necessary at all. I think they were not sure of the shipping as they usually only ship within UK. In my first email to them, they said they don't ship out of UK. Just hours before the bidding ended, I told them I would like to put in my bid if they agree to ship to Denmark (no one was bidding) and they said YES.

Nothing much happening during the weekend. I gave the last Mandarin lesson to this Dane who will be flying to China tomorrow for 10 days. I also gave him the contact number to a China woman living around his area. I just think it is pointless for him to drive 20 minutes each way to me just for an hour of lesson.

DD will stay at home this whole week as she is down with a flu. We really want her to attend the Fastelavn party in the kindergarten on Friday and also our Fastelavn party at home on Saturday. So, we hope she will recovers by Friday.

I was too anxious to try out using the DMC colours converted from Danish Flower Thread. I followed the conversion chart I found online and I think I better do the conversion myself. I attempted the right part of this pattern. The leaves and the berries turned out to be like nothing as shown on the stitched model in the book. It will take me a long time to find the closest DMC colours and then convert them to HDF silk.

Valentine's Day is not a popular thing in Denmark. Today, I received this bouquet of flowers just before lunch. It was a pleasant surprise from my DH. Now, that is why he told me to watch out for the delivery man as he ordered a new laptop again for his office. He thought I won't suspect it, since Valentine's Day is not a big thing here in Denmark and I would never expect flowers from him. He didn't give me flowers on our wedding anniversary - 01 Feb as he knew I was expecting flowers on that day. Men are weird, aren't they?

I wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

New start as in starting to convert the Danish Flower Thread (DFT) to HDF silk. I just finished converting them all to DMC and what I only need the the DFT colour card to match up to the DMC colours. From there, I will convert them to HDF silk.

Just borrowed this book from the library. It is The Year in Cross Stitch 2009 by Håndarbejdets Fremme. The designer is Conni Schimmell. This book contains 12 stunning models with motifs - plants with berries or berry-like fruits. I really love this book a lot and will purchase it from the local ONS here in Denmark (someone please STOP ME from buying!). Distributors can be found here. I intend to stitch a couple of the motifs to contribute to the Aussie Bushfire Victims.

Here is a video I took yesterday of DD when she was dancing to the cartoon series Pucca. She could go on and on watching this video on Youtube. I have no idea where she learnt how to dance like that as the video doesn't really show the 2 Puccas dancing like that! She loves to dance and she attends this sports lesson once a week. It is a mixture of dancing and doing gym at the same time. She loves it and we wanted to send her to AB Dance but we think 10 lessons for more than DKK1000 is a bit too much. Her grandmum had been searching for a ballet school for her in Germany but the min. age for ballet dancing is about 5 or 6 years old. Well, she just told us that she will pay for her lessons at AB dance school :0))))))))

After I finished 4 full pages of Sleeping Beauty, I lost the urge to stitch almost immediately. Confided to Jackie and she said she can understand as it is like the most important bits were done. That is true as the most important parts for me was her face. So, after I posted my latest Sleeping Beauty progress, I was wandering around the house, feeling restless. Luckily it only lasted for a day and now I am back to stitching her again. It is not something like biting my tongue and getting through with it but I am really enjoying every moment of it. No update as I am on the right part of her hair currently.

I finished the book Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter last week. I only read it once a week while waiting for Frejdis to finish her gym. I am certainly not happy with the ending (don't read further if you are about to read this book). I sent an email to her, asking her whether that is the end of this Grant County Series? I am a great fan of her books but I really hope she will continue with this series. I am looking foward to buy Fractured in March. I started to read Ken Follett World Without End and already the starting is so captivating.

I received a package this morning. I had been ambushing the 'Postman Per' since yesterday. I know I have some packages on the way to me. I was very disappointed when I saw the postman coming with letters. Taxes again! After half a minute, he rang on my doorbell and apologised for forgetting the package addressed to me. The mailer address is in USA and I was trying to recall winning items from an American ebay seller. I realised it was from Beth when I ripped the package opened. It is really sweet of her to enclose an English book for Frejdis. It is not easy to find children's English books here in Denmark. So, any English books for my 4 year DD is always welcomed.

Here she is! Total 4 full pages completed!! I am so happy. I set my target to finish the 2 pages by 18 Feb and I finished it before the date. I still have 4 full pages and some partial pages and then I am finished with her.

Want to know what had been happening while working on Sleeping Beauty? I could see strands of hair on my work from time to time. I have no idea whether they come from her or from me who is so buried into this project.

I am not setting any dates for myself on when I should finish the next full page. I am going to start on some stitching for the Aussie Bushfire Victims. Will try to stitch 2 to 3 each month, depending how simple those ornaments are. However I am lucky as Terry will turn them into beautiful ornaments for me. I've seen her works and she is really good at making ornaments. Besides that I am going to start on my Permin Christmas Street with 2 other friends and it is a SAL. Still Sleeping Beauty will have most of my attention as she is a real addiction!!!

Thank you to Chiloe for the reminder :0)) I did send him a reminder for Cherished Moments by Sandra Kuck. He said it will take a few days to do it and say maybe on Wednesday? He also added that it will be very pretty. I am really excited to see how it will turn out. Well, I bought Santa & Mouse QS by Gustafson. I've always wanted this one but life is too short to stitch a huge HAED. The background removal I wanted for Cherished Moments is the same as Santa & Mouse QS. I like the charts by Sandra Kuck but her backgrounds are too much for me. So, I told HAED to make it like a circle around the mother and the girl. At the same time, I asked whether he can make Katerina Koukiotis Over the Rainbow into the QS too. This artwork hasn't been charted yet but I think I posted on the Request section asking for this to be charted and into a QS. I really love the colours on Over the Rainbow, especially the face of the girl and her hair too. The problem is that, I don't think it will be easy to be made into a QS. What I want is the upper part of the girl and the rainbow as well. When this sale started, I told myself that I will only buy 1 chart and that's it but I am sure Santa & Mouse won't be the last chart I am buying for this sale!

In one of my posts, I mentioned that it is Wild Week for the kindergarten this whole week. It is starting to snow here in Denmark and even worse today. Guess what? The kindergarten said yes, they are still going to the forest but they wont' stay too long due to the snow... till 12pm. I thought an hour in such a horrible weather like today is more than enough.

Chiloe, I hope that ebay seller is not me. I don't think Ive banned anyone so far and definitely not you.

Peace love and mung beans has a great idea as to how stitchers around the world can help the victims. I am a stitcher but I don't know anything about sewing. Yes, I can sew a button as it is just like cross stitching - making xxx through the visible holes. That is why I've never participated in any ornaments exchanges with other stitchers. Terry from Australia offers to help me to sew my finished works into ornaments and that is really great and thoughtful of her.

I have no idea where to start but I want to stitch something Danish. I will go to the library next week to borrow some Danish Cross Stitching books.

Honestly, nothing much interesting had been happening to me for the past few days. Last Friday was Spielzeugtag (Toy Day) in the kindergarten. The kindergarten usually doesn't allow the kids to bring their own play stuff but they made last Friday a Toy Day whereby the kids can bring 1 of their toys to the kindergarten. We let DD brought her music microphone.

HAED is having a Valentines Day sale. I've written to Bob and Michele that I want Cherished Moments with a background removal. Bob replied to remind him on Monday again. Hmmmm..... maybe someone should remind me to remind him on Monday as I am extremely forgetful too!

We were searching for Wii Mario Kart before and after Christmas but they were all sold out in most of the stores and Wii fit seemed to be everywhere in the stores. Yesterday, we went to 3 stores in Germany hunting for Wii fit and they were all sold out but they have Mario Kart in stock. So, we came home with a Mario Kart instead. It is such a fun game where the whole family can compete in a race all together.

Internet connection is still up and down and it is really frustrating. Our provider had been here twice within 2 days and they have no idea what the problem is. They will be here again tomorrow to check it out again.

No update on Sleeping Beauty today. I've stitched a bit on her but I am pretty sure that I can finished the rest of the page (completing her face) within the next 10 days. I got to thank everyone, including the original artist, Katerina Koukiotis of Sleeping Beauty for the encouraging words and comments. Chiloe, I can understand what you mean by 'enjoy looking at it but couldn't do it'. I do have such thinkings for other patterns too like Crossed Wing Flower Power and Sistine Chapel. Still I hope the day will come when you will start on a HAED and me on Sistine Chapel :0))))

I've been bidding on ebay again. This time I've bid on magazines. I got my first The World of Crossing Stitching magazine, flipped through and that one is not my kind of magazine. Now I am waiting for 7 Cross Stitch Collection magazines to come to my mailbox. I think CSC is more my kind of taste (I hope so!). I only have to order Cross Stitch Gold and Cross Stitch Favourites Christmas 2008 from Origin Publishing next week.

I am amazed that I survived through all the confetti stitches for this page. It took me nearly 3 days just to complete about 2000 of confetti stitches. 3 full pages all finished and I am onto the next page which I've done about half of it. Thank god, most of the colours are in blocks. I hope I can meet my target - 2 full pages done on 18 Feb. If I can fullfill that, it means 4 full pages in 2 months' time!

Weather forecast said the snow storm will come to Denmark soon. I heard that there's so much snow in UK that schools have to be closed. Next week is Wild Week in the kindergarten and from Monday to Thursday, they will be out in the forest. I really think it is a bit too much to put the kids out the whole day for 4 days under such a horrible weather. I am thinking of putting DD at home for a few days next week. Let's hope the kindergarten cancel some days next week. A few activities had been cancelled this week as a lot of kids are sick and even the Educationalists are not feeling well too.

My internet connection had been up and down all the time for the past few days. I hope this post will get through before I lost connection again.

That was the date we got married. Yes, we've been married for 6 years now. The weather today was like 6 years ago, extremely strong wind and snow flying around like crazy. DH wanted to go back to the spa hotel which we had our wedding but I told him I am not going out in such a weather. Before we had DD, we will go back to the hotel and say overnight for 2 days to celebrate our anniversary. After the birth of our DD, we still go back to the hotel but just for coffee and cakes.

It is still a great anniversary with Wii playing and I made hamburgers for dinner :0))