HAED

I have been a member of cross stitching groups on facebook for awhile now. At first, it was really confusing when I read the conversation about people doing HAED. I mean, I can see that they are doing a very complicated big project, but what is HAED?

After a quick research, I found out that HAED is actually an abbreviation for Heaven and Earth Design. They have a lot of wonderful patterns — big, complicated, and extremely beautiful patterns. Most of the time, I could not afford the patterns, because I don’t have a steady income that I can rely on. But, HAED has this free pattern give away, that they change every now and then. Few months ago, I found this pattern was free to download.

However, I knew it right there and then, that for a novice stitcher like myself, such project is near impossible. Big project like this one is not cheap — fabric, and thread will cost me a fortune.

But I really want to try to do them. So, when I was at the craft store in Indonesia, I bought a very cheap aida — 18ct, around £2 for 3 metres of the fabric. It would save so much money if I want to do a big project as so far the cheapest aida I could find online was this one from Amazon.
I also tried to find the best way to reduce the cost of the embroidery floss. I mean, for 89 colours, even with 50p a skein floss, it is still going to hurt my bank account. So I have to be slightly crafty and do my research. And I found this on Amazon (what a lovely place to shop).

This is, I think, made in China, and was very cheap replacement for DMC. The code number for this thread (it is not branded, so I am not sure what to call this), corresponds with DMC so you can use it interchangeably. Although I agree that they have different quality if you compare them side by side, I have to say that I can’t really see the difference when it is in a project.

But then again, I am a novice stitcher.

I was quite dubious when the first time I looked at this product, but after I read the review, I though I could give it a try. I mean, even if it doesn’t work for this pattern, I might use it for other projects. And… I did. I used it for that other project — wedding gift for my sister, and the last project — flowers in the vase. So, I know that the threads are fine.

Now it is just about determination. Would I be able to make my first HAED? Well well… let’s see…

Have anyone of you do any HAED projects?

x ❤ x

Is It Just Me?

Or has anyone experienced this creepy moment, realising that time has gone without realising it?

All I did was stitching…

Started with this in the morning…

You know, those time when you pick up your WIP, sit, and stitch while having the telly on in the background. Some moment later I realised that my husband is no longer sitting in front of his computer, playing computer game like usual, and look at the time.

WHAT TIME!?!

How did it happen?

And suddenly you have this… at midnight…

Creepy isn’t it? And that happens to me so often, I think I need to see a doctor to talk about this time lapsing incidents 😮

x ❤ x

Cross Stitch WIP <3

My sister in law came for a visit few days ago. Always love her visit because she will update me with everything, including her WIPs. I kind of miss having a Monday natter with her. Maybe I have to ask her if she is still up to do some craftmaking over a cuppa — or hundreds of cuppa in our case.

I showed her what I have done with the blanket, just to see if she is okay with how I do it — using the leftover green yarn from the frayed bit.

And, she said it is good enough. Now, all i need to do is to get the yarn so I can finish this. Hopefully tomorrow would be sunny and slightly warmer than today, so my headache would go — so I could go out and yarn hunting. Excited!

My SIL said something that I thought as a brilliant idea.

Remember when I injured my wrists and I had to stop doing what I was doing for a while? SIL mentioned about rotating WIPs every week, so we can reduce the repetitiveness of the movement. For example, having crochet project in this week, and cross stitch project or knitting project the next week.

I think it is brilliant! I mean, I usually stick to one WIP at a time, but stopped when I get bored with the WIP — then the WIP would end up as a UFO. But the idea of rotating the WIP is great. I could do a bit of crochet, and a bit of cross stitch.

In fact… I have done a bit.

Let’s see if this works 😀

I Am Back!

Not many people knows that I was away for a couple of weeks — as I haven’t told anybody. My husband thought it wouldn’t be wise to advertise our holiday to general public — at the same time telling them that we’re not going to be at home for a while. Safety first, the self proclaimed captain paranoid always told me. I wonder if I could convince him to install some security system in our house…?

Anyway… My sister got engaged and married — I think it is cultural thing where the engagement ceremony is just a part of traditional thingy. Naturally, I want to be at home to celebrate it with my family. We’re lucky that the even coincide with my husband’s holiday from work, so we could visit Indonesia together. It’s been awhile since he had visited Indonesia.

For the wedding gift, I cross stitched a wedding sampler for my sister few weeks ago. I decided to frame it in Indonesia because it was cheaper to professionally do, and much easier to transport. And since my mum chose the frame, it looked so much better than I had expected.

But hey, I am home now. I am really tired, but I somehow I just wanted to make sure this entry is posted today. I miss this blog when I was away 🙂

Will be back soon.

x ❤ x

Last Spurt WIP

It is true that I haven’t been posting my WIP for a very long time. Not that I am delaying anything — not like that, of course. Not that I’ve been out of focus, or spending most time outside in the city under the warm spring sun… No. Not me. Truth is that I had to buy that DMC cotton floss number 552 before I could continue on this particular project.

So, since I have got them now, no more excuse. Here it is:

It is getting easier by the day though — using evenweave. I know I still make a bit of miscounting but I hope it is not too visible. I am loving the design and the colour though… I think I made a good decision changing the red and pink to purple gradation. However, the white embroidery and the fabric doesn’t have enough contrast. I worry that it won’t pop out nicely.

Should I backstitch them? There is no backstitch in the original pattern though… but should I?

Completely random “voodoo doll pin cushion” photo — my stitching companion.

Now what I need to do is to find out the exact date so that I could finish it. One thing done 🙂

*patting myself in the back*

x ❤ x

No Kit, What!??

There is always a first for everything. I mean, everything. Especially if you are a noob, you will have so many firsts, and they are good. Firsts means you are pushing the limit, and sailing the uncharted territories (am I using the correct expression here?). Anyway…

This time, I am going to start a new cross stitch project. The catch is: “it is not from a kit”.

Some people might react with “so what?”. For me it is something new. And “new” is terrifying. With kits you have your thread organised, you don’t go looking for different colour, and most of all you don’t need to provide your own materials. Basically when you do kits, you don’t need to worry about the supplies — they do it for you.

The pattern is from a magazine I bought from charity shop. I love charity shop hopping, as not only the money will go for a good cause, and it is one of the most wonderful way to recycle unwanted stuff, it is also a great source for bargain stuff.

It was lovely pattern, and I thought if I could finish it before the end of the month, I might be able to make it as the wedding gift for my sister. It looks more suitable than the previous FO I made. 

I got the floss from Amazon here. It is a bargain really.

And the even weave. EVENWEAVE! Never used that before in my life… another first for me. I got it also from charity shop hopping. Actually, I was going to use Aida my mum bought me from Indonesia not so long time ago. But I think the quality of the fabric is extremely poor, and it almost unworkable, especially with my noob skill.

I was thinking of making it as something else, but… Oh well. I will talk about that fabric later.

This project should be done in red, but since my sister loves purple, I modify the colour a little, and it does look alright.

Doesn’t it?

x ❤ x

French Knot, and… Finished!

Like I said before, back stitching is not my favourite activity. I know, as a part of finishing, back stitching would make a lot of different in the work itself. Some ladies from my cross stitching group would say that it would make my stitching look… alive. I take their word for it, because they’re the experts, and I am the noob.

So, back stitch I did. And complain I did not. A stitcher has to do what a stitcher has to do.

Including the dot symbol in the pattern that says: French Knot.

It is not a coincidence that just few days ago, I answered in my Liebster Award that I would like to learn how to make French Knot. I’ve seen it coming. I have done it in the past, and failed — the frogged it and used little beads instead of making knots. This time. I am not going to cheat.

A bit of research from google, and I am good to go. I have to say it is a bit scary, and it ends up not as smooth as I expected it to be. I know it is supposed to be knotted — hence the name, but sometimes I just made a big ball of tangled thread instead.

Maybe I just don’t like French Knot more than I don’t like back stitching, so I told my husband. Of course, my husband being an English gentleman looked at me, puzzled, and then said: “Maybe you would like it better if it is an ENGLISH Knot?”

Mind boggling!

Anyway I made it, and finished it. And considering it to gift it for my sister’s wedding. Although, I am still unsure. Well. I have a month to think about it.

Anyway, just a curious question. When you messed up your French Knot, how did you frog them? When I did, I just cut the bugger and started again because the more I tried to frog them, the bigger the mess 😦

Finally It is Finished…. Sort Of…

One thing I like about cross stitching is… the cross stitching bit. Using colourful floss like drawing in pixels in an aida canvas. It is really satisfying when I pull the thread and not having to frog.

When finally every bit of squares that need to be stitched has been done, there is a sense of achievement. Like something has been done. Or finished. Like this:

But not really.

With every cross stitching done, there’s back stitching waiting. And I hate back stitching. Unlike cross stitching it is stressful.

I had to look up at the pattern back and forth. The holes are now invisible, and I would accidentally jabbed the stitches instead of the holes.

This particular pattern demands lots of back stitching. I really hope that would be worth all this misery…

x ❤ x

What’s Next?

After finishing the last project, I think I got stuck a bit. One of my sister is getting married, and another is already four months pregnant. Or five? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am going to go to visit Indonesia again this summer. And that will be my only chance to give them stuff — wedding stuff and baby stuff. And I don’t think I would have got enough time to make a grand project for each of them.

I blame my sister’s wedding though. It was too sudden and I didn’t have time to even prepare. I mean, what kind of normal people prepare a wedding in 2 months? Seriously? I could understand if it is a shotgun wedding — then I could just skip it to the baby stuff. But we don’t even do guns in Indonesia — maybe a bit of sword thingy. So, what’s the bloody rush?

Maybe I should just give her this:

After all it is already on its way, and it looks quite cute, although it is not quite wedding-y. I suppose I could fit a “Happy Wedding”‘ thing underneath? Yeah? Nay? I don’t know. I have two months to think about this.

While looking at some cute baby booties for my other sister. I think the baby is going to be a girl… It’s always a girl, isn’t it?

x ❤ x

WIP Weekend

I know that lately I have been posting about knitting more often than my other project, but don’t worry… I am not going to make my cross stitch project goes UFO. This is what I did this weekend:

Not too bad for a progress.

I also finished sewing up the lacy cardigan, and it seems that it wasn’t too small for me. It was definitely a nice surprised… I don’t know whether it was because I have lost weight or because my measurement for the cardigan was correct.

I didn’t take step by step sewing any more because it is the same mattress stitch I have done for previous project. And… I forgot to take photo when I am stitching the buttons 😦 But anyway…

There you go. Please forgive the not so professional looking photo, and you can just ignore the husband in the background. He couldn’t move from his chair as he was glued to his computer game.

Right… what’s next?

x ❤ x