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Thursday, November 26, 2009
Approaching the challenging part very soon - Her Eye! It took me approx. 4 hours to stitch her eye last year and I am looking very much forward to see how much time will be needed this time with tenting. I am only stitching on her during the early hours in the morning while the whole family is still sleeping. I am rather pleased with the progress.
Another felt cake done. I only used an hour to complete this. I made the Strawberry Felt Cake yesterday and it took me hours. The designer Felt Cuisine is such a talented lady. For someone who doesn't know how to sew, like me, finds it really easy. The instructions and pictures are so easy to follow from her ebooks. I don't even have to buy tons of different felt colours as the colours used are not that many and still I can so many lovely felt goodies. I made them for myself but yesterday, our 5-year-old daughter wanted me to make more after she saw the pink one I did.
So, all my craftwork have to be packed away for the time being as it is DD's birthday tomorrow and I have to start baking the Fairytale Cottage cake tonight. She will celebrate her birthday in the kindergarten tomorrow and her grandfather will come by for coffee. We are throwing a birthday party for her on Saturday, inviting some friends and their kids over for coffee and dinner. Another birthday celebration for her again when her grandparents return from their holidays in France, lucky girl!! I am really excited to see whether all our guests come with the same brand of toys. I think by now, the whole world knows that she is a huge Go Go Pets fan. She will be getting Go Go stuff from us and her aunt and uncles.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who is celebrating this special holiday.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
It took me a lot of courage to get these started. I can stitch but I am not good at sewing. I decided to start on these 2 new things which I've never done in my entire life. I finished this stitching beginning of this year but couldn't find the courage to turn it into an ornament. It wasn't that difficult actually but it is not perfect and I am quite determined to keep on trying until I perfect a padded ornament. By the way, I had the ends of the braid wrongly around the ornament, it should be on top instead of bottom.
It is like a dream come true to make one of these. I bought the CD ROM from the designer few weeks ago. I managed to buy the materials here and there and only when I happen to pass by certain stores that are selling felt. I couldn't even find the sponge and luckily my mother in law had some. Not easy to live at the countryside, eh? It took me a long time to make this felt cake as I have to sew so slowly to get the right spacing. This felt cake is just the beginning, I will definitely make more of them and some felt tarts too.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
We still managed to do a lot of stuff!! Remember this? I finished it a week ago and was waiting for my Bulgarian friend to come over to help me to sew this into a wall hanger. We managed to complete it yesterday evening. I am still not very confident with the sewing machine and I need a lot of practice. She is a great teacher! The Bulgarian couple left early this morning. They had been staying over at house for since last Thursday. We introduced to them both German and the Danish culture which they really enjoyed.
Not only did Silva helped me with the wall hanger but she managed to find them to do a felt strawberry too! She is really good at sewing. She is quite hooked onto these felt goodies that she wants to try out more when she is back home in Bulgaria. I have to say, she uses her own imagination a lot when it comes to sewing, a very creative lady.
We had this Feuerzangen (the German one). I didn't like it as I find the drink a bit too strong compared to the Danish one. Well, DH loves it. After a cup of this, I lost my voice for a few days. Last evening, I made the Danish Glögg and æbleskiver for them as evening coffee and they love it.
We took them to a few places in Germany and Denmark. We went to Tønder in Denmark as the Christmas market started last Sunday. I love this Christmas market, especially Det Gamle Apotek as the Christmas ornaments are so lovely and I could buy everything inside! Silvia and I bought quite a lot of Christmas ornaments inside here. I think we spent more than an hour inside. We had to leave as our husbands were getting rather impatient.
I hope our guests had fun and we invited them over again during summer. It was an experience having them with us as we learnt each other's culture and food. They made dinner for us yesterday, using the pot given to us by the man's mother. This is one of the best gifts they gave us. It is a very special pot which can cook meat in the oven. I'm already thinking of using this very soon with some meat and vegetables. Before they left, we gave them some gifts too. DH gave him a wireless earpiece + loader for his car. I gave Silva a huge Hama container that contains 19,000 beads and the mum 2 boxes of the German Lebkuchen. During their stay here, Silva enjoyed doing these Hama beads with our DD and she had never seen them in her country.
I cleaned up the basement after our guests left for the airport this morning. They are very neat people, so it didn't take me to long to clean up the basement. At noon, I made this 3D foam Gingerbread house with DD. I bought 5 different kits from an Ebay seller. The kit is missing some red dots for the house, so I had to use the other colours to replace the red dots. 
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
I didn't want to post this until I finished the whole page - about 1500 stitches to go but to mark the 1 month anniversary, I simply have to. I started her on the 10th Oct and this is how she looks like as from this morning.
DH's 40th birthday is over and next one is our daughter who is turning 5 years old soon. She is looking forward to it a lot and we've already bought a gift for her which she doesn't know what it is yet. We are bringing her to choose another toy for herself just a few days before her birthday. As for what we bought for her.... it is something which needs lots of pumping and DH will have to do that during the night before her big day in her room.
My first try making Marmor Kuchen from scratch yesterday. It turned out well but the taste is a bit different. I am supposed to use Sunflower oil but I only have Olive oil in my cabinet. I am going to try out this weekend again as I really want to buy this Nordic Ware Fairy Tale Cottage baking pan to bake this cake since the size and height is the same as a normal Marmor Kuchen baking form. Well, I don't know any other cakes recipes which can raise that high while baking, except for this one.
As I mentioned in my last post, lots of cleaning to be done every now and then. Not only that, I have quite a few bakings to do too and I am in need of more recipes!!!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
I started this on Monday evening and completed it early this morning. I am sure I could had got it finished by yesterday if I hadn't been struggling with those stubborn kreinik. I've substitute the DMC white to HDF white. So, now I have this ready, I only have to wait for my friend to arrive in Denmark next Thursday and hopefully she can teach me how to make this into a bellpull. She is still searching for a nice red fabric for the backing but if she can't find some, we will shop for one in Germany.
I even managed to clean up the house today. DH is turning 40 next Monday and we will have some friends and family members dropping by for coffee. He is a bit disappointed that he can't get that castle to throw a big party since the owner had been declared bankrupt, so he rather not have a big party at all. He will be going out for dinner with his father in the evening. Cleaning again next Wednesday before our Bulgarian guests arrive next Thursday for 5 days. More cleaning up again after that to prepare for DD's 5th birthday party on the 28th Nov and then cleaning again!!! I hope that is all the cleaning for the rest of the year.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
I got her done quite a bit just within 3 weeks. Lots of confetti stitches for the flowers in her hair but that didn't slow me down a bit :0)) I haven't been sleeping well lately, waking up like 3.30am to 4.30am in the morning. So, I really worked a lot on her during the early hours. I was debating whether I should start on her face after finish 2 partial pages (top of her head) and decided to start on the left hand side, at least it will keep me moving faster and looking forward to see her face.
I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that my finished HAED Sleeping Beauty was published in one of the Cross Stitch Collection magazines. Well, I finally received the prizes last week. Since I am not a metallic person, so I held a Giveaway on one of the stitching forums. Looking at the replies posted on that Giveaway thread, I didn't know Madeira floss are not easily available in USA. Congratulations to the winner - Leah from USA! For those who are interested, you can see my picture on Katerina's Fan Gallery.
Beauties arrived in my letterbox yesterday! I was so excited when I saw who it was from - Katerina Koukiotis, one of my favourite artists! This is one of her 2010 Calendars and there are so many beautiful artworks inside this calendar which I simply adore. Eternity is also in this calender. Kat drew this for her HAED fans and we love it. I had been thinking hard about this pattern when HAED charted it. I don't like to stitch men and had been wondering how and where to crop this pattern. I think the problem is solved now as I saw a smaller version of this artwork in the calender and will get HAED to do it in that size :0)) The card attached is really sweet with a personal and extremely touching message from Kat. It is actually from one of her ACEO Prints called Home for the Holidays. I've always love this little girl, though I often wonder why she has such a sad face. I hope she will be charted by HAED during Christmas time. Thank you so much for everything, Kat and for appreciating your fans so much.
I bought a sewing machine finally! I had been wanting to learn how to sew on a machine for a while but was too scared to do it. The last time I touched an old Singer machine was like 22 years ago and I was so bad at it. I stared at it for a long time when I took it home, no clue what and where to start with. Of course, the manual but everything is in German which I am not good at! I brought it with me to my in-laws yesterday and my mother-in-law showed me the very basic, putting the thread. OMG! It was like going through a maze putting the thread. In the end, I told her to leave her spool of thread intact on the machine as no way am I going to remove it and run the thread all over the machine again. I had my first try test-sewing and it is quite fun actually :0)) My husband has invited one of his programmers in Bulgaria to come to Denmark. He and his wife will be staying with us from the 14th Nov for 5 days. His wife is very good with the machine and I had been communicating with her over emails regarding sewing. She will look for some fabrics and wool mix felt for me as well as to teach me how to work on the sewing machine. Bulgaria has a huge fabric industry, so I am pretty sure they have almost everything there.
Antenna???
See what arrives at my 2nd mailbox? These are the stuff which had been sent to my in-laws in Germany during the week. I am still missing a Rico Design book though and I hope to get it soon.
My box of books arrived from Amazon.de. I was really excited as I couldn't wait to read this book and take a look at Kat's artwork in They Bite.
Finally, my bellpull hangers arrived. Yes, I took 2 of the same, just in different sizes. What I like about them is that they have candle holders. I want to use one of them for the birds bellpull which I want to stitch very soon, so that when my Bulgarian friend is here, she can teach me how to sew it into a bellpull.
A friend of mine Chiloe is giving away the last issue published by De Fil En Aiguille. Today is the last day for this Giveway and I hope you still can make it. If you are interested, please enter your name and email on that post. You don't have to know French to stitch the patterns in this magazine. I have this magazine and I don't understand French either but the patterns are not difficult to understand at all.
The kindergarten had a Laterne Laufe (Lantern Walking) on Thursday. The evening started with a horrible weather with lots of rain and wind. However, during the 20 mins walk with the lanterns, there wasn't any rain or wind but started again when all the kids and the parents reached the kindergarten to have some warm drinks and snacks. I couldn't take any pictures as my camera's flashlight is not good enough to be used in the dark :0(
I hope everyone had a great Halloween. It is not a tradition here in Denmark as we have our own which is in February. Still our daughter got lots of treats from her grandmum yesterday, Halloween or not.
I am going to visit my friend's newly-opened shop today. She just opened an Asian shop which is very near to our house. Can't wait to see what she has in her store. After visiting her, we might drop by at the small carnival which is in the next town.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
I am very happy with the progress. I've completed 1 1/2 page, not full page though as I've got the background removed. It really feels great to be back on Ourfriendshaedsal every Thursday, posting wips along with other members.
This magazine arrived in my mailbox this morning. There are 3 patterns inside this magazine which I really like a lot. My favourite magazine ONS in Germany doesn't have this in stock and I managed to find this De Fil En Aiguille No. 52 from Violarium . Like I mentioned in my earlier post that I really want to learn how to sew on a sewing machine. I would really love to make these patterns into a bellpull and a cushion cover. Been searching on the net over the last few days looking for tutorials. I found a few but those tutorials are really not easy for someone like me who doesn't know how to sew. That means I need really baby steps to show me.
Monday, October 19, 2009
She's finally restarted :0)) I restarted her on the 10 Oct 09. She is tent on Silkweaver Iris Garden. I love to time myself each time I stitch a block of 10x10. When I was on the old Angel of Spring (see picture below), it took me 45 mins to stitch a 10x10 block without many confetti stitches (1x1) but this new start, it only took me 1 hour to tent nearly 20x20 block (2x1 tent) - where the blue flower is. I am looking very much forward to stitch her eye which took me 4 hours the last time! Tenting is so much faster.
The old Angel of Spring - 14 May 2008 till 03 Sep 2008
I thought I told myself I am not going to be a turbo stitcher or at least only 1 HAED at the moment but still it is so hard to resist nice cross-stitching patterns. After seeing this on Chiloe's blog on this De fil en aiguille, I wrote to my favourite German magazine shop, Kreative-buecher, asking whether Martina whether she still has this in stock. I called her in Germany 2 days later when I didn't get a reply from her. Luckily she still had 1 copy left and I bought it immediately. I have to say, for that amount I paid for, this magazine is really good with lots of lovely flowers to choose from.
The schools had a week of Autumn holiday last week but the kindergartens were not closed. Still I took DD out from the kindergarten last Wednesday to visit her grandmum in Germany. My mother-in-law has a few of these hydrangea plants in her garden and I love how she maintains them. I wish I have 1 in my garden too but I know I can never get such large and beautiful hydrangeas like hers as I am so bad with flowers and plants. I was sure that those hydrangeas were in such rich purple colours just few months ago.
For a long while, I've been wanting to learn how to operate a sewing machine. The last time I touched one was when I was 14 years old. During those days, what we had were those with pedal and a wheel on the right hand side. I was so bad with those sewing machines. I am on the lookout for some sewing machines which are very very friendly to people who doesn't know how to use one. It is so amazing to see computerised ones and also those 1-touch button and it will do the rest for you? I want to learn how to make simple cushion covers, bellpulls and table runners, ornaments, aprons, etc. I had been searching for tutorials but my simple mind still finds those tutorials are so difficult to follow. If anyone of you knows of any very very simple tutorials for simple sewing, please leave me a message. Thank you so much in advance.
Christmas is just round the corner. DD and I have been busying doing some paper Christmas ornaments - Paperklip. Love Gitte Schou Hansen's books as the ornaments are really very lovely and easy to make. I bought some of these magazines from Germany too but they are not as good as the Danish ones. I find the templates in those German magazines too confusing - templates' drawings overlaping on one another.
Friday, October 9, 2009
He is SO finished!! I am so happy. What a relieve!! I really wanted to finish this by today. Well, I did nothing yesterday morning but just stitching on him. I actually finished it this morning but wasn't happy with the God Jul (Merry Christmas) fonts I did and changed to the current one.
What is my next project? Lots of bakings!! I still haven't find a good cookie recipe yet. I've been trying out tons of cookies recipes for the past few weeks but I just find them OKAY, nothing that made me faint over. My mother-in-law bakes really great cookies every Christmas. We are trying to find a day in December as she wants to do some cookies-baking with her grand daughter.
I will still stitch since I get up really early in the morning. So, Angel of Spring will be my next project for that 1 hour-stitching in the morning. It is a restart on a different fabric. Maybe I should make her as my 1/2 year goal on the HAED BB? I hope I can finish her by June next year, or what? It can't be that difficult as I had the background removed, including her wings. 
Thursday, October 1, 2009
I am quite good with those confetti stitches now. In fact, so used to them that I am going at a great speed with this Santa.
I had a great week. Got lots of things done. Tidied up the whole of the basement, the garage and lastly my stitching room. Ever asked yourself why are you stitching? I woke up one day, 2 weeks ago, asking myself this. I put away so many stuff which I wonder why I bought them in the first place and also my taste had changed a lot. I even have duplicate copies of magazines. After sorting them out, I am selling and giving some stitching stuff away. Not that I am never going to stitch anymore but I just want to stitch another HAED and taking it as my own pace. I've been experimenting with baking and cooking a lot these days too and simply don't have the time to stitch. I am also reading during the evenings. The only time left for me to stitch is during that 1 hour or slightly more before the whole family wakes up in the morning.
DD started in the new sports center last week and she loves it there. The trainers are a bit strict but I think that is fine. I also love the fact that they are doing a lot of sommersaults during their sports hours. I just weighed her yesterday and she lost a bit of weight. I guess she had a bit of her parents. DH puts on weight easily and it is not easy for me to put on weight. For her, her weight goes up and down rather easily.
DH is supposed to celebrate his 4oth birthday in a villa but yesterday we heard from one of our friends that the owner had declared himself bankruptcy last month. We ran through the papers and true enough, there was a news on that in the local papers. That means, we won't be able to get the villa for his birthday celebrations. We are now thinking hard what we can do on his birthday. Of course close friends and family members will be invited over for coffee. We thought of staying over in Legoland but it is soon winter and everywhere is closed. Now I can understand why he is always complaining about being born during winter.
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