Drage Feuer Stitch

Stitched on 28ct Wichelt Jobelan Lavender Sunset
using HDF Silk
Started 18 December 2008
Completed 06 July 2009
Artwork by Katerina Koukiotis
Charted by HAED

It is a mixed feeling when I completed. Happy and ..... sad? I mean I've been working on her since 18 December 2008, of course I have a lot of feelings for her. She is the first thing I pick up almost every morning after my coffee and newspapers reading. I have to thank the original artist Katerina Koukiotis, my friends Chiloe, Jackie and the stitchers from Our Friends' HAED SAL for their lovely comments and encouragement while I was working on Sleeping Beauty. A picture of the completed work will be sent to the artist herself right after I post this and hope she will put it on her Fan Gallery.

Which HAED to start next? I am still hoping so much for Kat's Mermaid's Touch to be charted by HAED as that is the only one which I would really love to start on immediately. OR should I continue with Koukiotis Angel of Spring while waiting patiently for Mermaid's Touch to be chart? I have so many non-HAED which I really want to stitch but I am too lazy to kit them up. Well, I can start on my Lanarte Ballerina but I still can't decide which hand dyed fabric to use. I think I need to go to my stitching room and try to listen which project is yelling for me.

We had really great weather here in Denmark for the whole of last week. Luckily for the new family-size pool we bought, we could take a dip inside whenever we feel too hot. DD had been inside the pool almost everyday and she loves it. We had my brother-in-law and his family over to our house twice. They travelled from Stuggart and are on 3 weeks holidays at my in-laws. DD starts her 1 week holiday this week and I will bring her to her grandmum's house by taking the bus + train somewhere this week.

I had been clearing lots of rubbish at the background last week and the whole area looks really neat and clean now. I think summer is over.... or not? Weather forecast says it will rain the whole week and temperature is going down.

Have a great summer!

Her hair is growing :0)) She is an addict as I simply couldn't put her down. I only have to put in a few more stitches to finish off the last block but I simply don't have the time the whole day.

Marie asked me whether I've started on Sandra K's Cherished Moments. It will take a while before I start on that one. I have the sudden urge to start on a new non-haed project. The Permin Christmas in Town is starting to bore me out. I am stitching whites to fill in the blues. I can't really start on a new project right now as I don't have the right fabric and floss. That is why I am taking such a long time to order all the necessary materials to start on something new. Like this, I have no choice but to continue with what I am stitching.

I spent 1 1/2 hr in the garden getting rid of weeds and digging out all the roses at the back of the house. While pulling weeds, some of the flowers are really getting into my way and I digged them all out too. The birds are so happy and they were crowding around me as I threw the worms to them each time I find them.

I was in the post office to buy a postcard. A lady in USA requested for postcards to be sent to her 10-year old daughter. I am going to get a postcard tomorrow in Germany. I sent out the Danish postcard today and tomorrow will be a postcard from Germany. Guess which one will reach her first?

DD will have to go for a test tomorrow at the doctor to see what type of pollen she is allergic to (if she is allergic to pollen). For a couple of days, her face was flushed, nose running and watery eyes. At first I thought she is getting the flu again but DH said she could be allergic to some pollen and he is allergic to grass.

7 full pages completed!!! I put in the last stitch for the 7th page yesterday morning. I didn't post it as I want to post it today on ourfriendshaedsal today. That means it is time to post our HAED wips. I am going to start on page 8 very soon which is the last full page. After that, there are 4 partial pages. I am excited and a bit sad?...at the same time, knowing that she will soon be done. I really enjoy stitching her so much.

My cross stitch leaflet arrived from Korea last Saturday but the postman was too impatient to wait for me to open the door and threw the registered mail card in my letterbox. I ran out to chase after him. I think he is either David Copperfield or he has wings as he was gone so fast! I collected the registered package from the local post office on Tuesday. I am very happy with the leaflet, though I am not so excited that 91 colours are used for this pattern.

I stitched a bit on my Permin Christmas In Town. For a moment, I thought maybe I should just use a white opal evenweave fabric instead. I realised that I have to stitch in whites to cover the blue hand dyed fabric, so that it looks like snow. I emailed Permin in Denmark regarding a symbol which I simply couldn't figure out. We had mails bouncing forth and back as she confused me with a wrong dmc colour. Well, seems like everything is settled regarding that weird symbol on the chart. I still don't agree with her clarifications but I will go with what she told me.

The whole area here didn't had water yesterday morning. All of us received a note saying that water will be shut down from 10am till works are completed. They turned off the water at 8am!! My neighbours were walking around and complaining, saying aren't they shutting down the water a bit too early and giving the note a bit too late (we only received the note while we were all snoring). I felt so miserable yesterday till 12pm as I simply couldn't do anything without having my morning shower first. I didn't even dare to do any gardening at the back of the house, no way am I going to step out of the house without a shower.

DD is involved in the kindergarten's flea market next Saturday. I am in the middle of packing all her old toys, so she can do her selling business. After a week of packing her old toys, I only managed to find 3 jigsaw puzzles which I am willing to part with. Honestly, I simply can't bare to part with her old stuff. DH often says I am a bit over to the top as I am keeping all her stuff, even all her milk bottles. I am going to try finding more stuff again later, let's hope I won't clutch onto her old toys and not wanting them to go :0)))

I've been spending the last 1 week working on her. I didn't have much time to stitch since last Friday as DD started her Easter Holidays till next Monday. I still have approx. 1500 stitches left and then I am done with 1 more full page. Going to post her on the HAED SAL Blog as it is our Thursday SAL!!!

Since it is a public holiday in Denmark today, we spent half a day in Germany doing some shopping. DH hates crowds, so we had to leave as early as possible as we know there will be a lot of Danes in Germany today. We bought 3 full sacks of sand to refill DD's sandcastle. I just wish she can stop throwing the sand out onto the grass. Then again, kids love to do what they are told not to. We have warm weather till Easter, so it is time to work in the garden. We have a big garden and it is really frustration to work in such a huge garden. It took me few days to pull out the weeds at the front area and then continue with another area at the back of the house. When it was done, weeds start to grow at the front area. Seems like my duty for every summer is running around to get rid of the weeds. You can call me the Weed Buster ;0)

I wish everyone a great Easter!

Postman is sure early today, especially on a Monday. I received 2 packages in my mailbox. It is a set of Hi-5 DVDs Dance Hits with 3 volumes. DD loves the Australian Hi-5 a lot and she loves to dance to their songs too. So, I got the help of a very nice Australian lady to get them for me as I want the DVDs to be part of her 'egg hunting' during Easter at her grandparents' house. She also enclosed some chocolates in the package. That is so sweet of her. I can't wait to see DD's reaction when she find them during her 'egg hunting' . The last time when she received the Hi-5 CD, she was so excited and was showing her aunt, uncles and grandparents the CD.

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.

These are my 2009 HAED projects. Katerina K is my all time favourite artist. Not only is she a very talented lady but also a very humble lady. I love most of her artworks and how she could make expressions come alive and so real with her pencils.

Sleeping Beauty and Remembrance will be stitched with HDF silks. I bought quite a few during the sales and I really hope I have enough of her silk floss to complete these 2 projects.