End of year

I want to pull out of all the reading challenges because I don't want to be in them anymore but I can't figure out how to delete myself off the links.

I also have a very late TT post update.

I had so many piece changes this year and because I still can't find most of my pieces. I had to finished this year. Pokemon and the Marigold Fairy Card. I can't find the Marigold Fairy Card though as I stuck it somewhere 'safe' and lost it. But here is Pokemon!

Here is it from the beginning of the year:

And here it is now! 

I haven't ironed it or framed it though because I do not actually own an iron :/ I am so happy I've finished this and it was so fun :D

I am looking forward to next year. I am not going to sign up for anything unless the Turtle Trot is going to run again. I got carried away with signing up for book challenges and I can't take the pressure. I think I should just relax again this year and stick to my own book challenge which is a 50 book challenge I run with my friends on Facebook. 

I hope everyone had a great year and Happy New Year!

Update on Christmas Village Ornaments

I haven't stitched as much as I would have liked to today as took the opportunity to go into town and buy The World of Cross Stitching issue 234 while my local book shop is still stocking it and then my sister gave me an early Christmas present (Quidditch Through the Ages but J.K.Rowling) which I HAD to read XD

I have made some progress though ^_^ (Sorry for the bad quality)

I should have probably waited for another day of progress before posting but I have an exam tomorrow and another the next so I'm not sure if I'd be able to post for a few days. 

Thank you for all your lovely comments ^_^ They really make me happy XD

Another New Start!

I know I shouldn't start something new because of the amount of WIPs I have but I couldn't resist XD

I have been working on my TT pieces, I have finished another Pokemon, I have finished another 2 of the card set of 10, and I've also worked on Indian Dresses and the Fairy card. No pictures of them yet, you'll have to wait until the 10th of December ;)

Anyway, here is the beginning of the first of six Christmas Village Ornaments by Dimensions, I started it last night and this is as far as I've gotten.

Until next time :D (Which may even be tomorrow depending on my progress XD)

I STITCHED!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I did! :D
After I got home from my English exam I decided to take a break from studying and pulled out the freebie from The World of Cross Stitching Issue 233. I made it for my parents for Christmas ^_^

So here it is :D

November Turtle Trot

This is a disappointing post. I have stitched on NOTHING for an entire month. There is a good reason for this though so it's not just me being lazy :P
I have been studying for my exams, this is my first year of proper exams ^_^ Unfortunately yesterday was my first exam (math) and I somehow managed to get sick on the day of my exam meaning I couldn't concentrate and had to leave early without finishing it. I am still sick and I had science today I think I did okay with that. I have until next Monday until my next exam though so hopefully I can get in some stitching ^_^

Hope everyone else had a better cross stitching month than I did XD

October Turtle Trot

Not very much progress this month, I have stitched on 5 of the 10, one of those 5 is a replacement for the clown thing.

So progress photos

1. Shells Duo- only filled in a few gaps here and there.

Before

After

2. Flower Fan- No progress

3. The Ballet (replacement for clown thing)- A few stitches added. 

Before

After

4. Cat Series/Cat with Fish Bowl- No progress

5. Pokemon- No progress

6. Indian Dresses- No progress

7. Try to the be the person your dog thinks you are- Completed the "dog thinks you are" part. 

Before

After

8. Card set + Flower fairy- I have now finished 3 out of 10 of the cards and almost finished the 4th, also made progress on the flower fairy but didn't get a picture of that.

Before (Finished number one)

Before (Started number two)

After (Finished number two and got photobombed)

After (Started and finished number 3)

After (Started number 4, somehow it's sideways sorry)

9. Mill Hill Garden Shed- Some progress, I lost motivation on this because I ran out of grey floss.

Before

After

10. Giant Landscape- No progress, I'm going to replace with something else, probably something from my first TT list XD 

Thanks for reading ;)

A few finished

Hey :)
I finished a few small things since my last update and decided to make a post :)

 

This cat is from a kit that some nice ladies in the NZ Cross Stitcher group sent me. The pattern was difficult to follow, it was a hand drawn one and the person who made it must of been bored of drawing out the symbol for the black and I had to fill it in according to the picture. Then there were random symbols that weren't in the key. I think I did okay fixing it though. 

 

This is for my nana for Christmas, it came with a little porcelain box and I just have to finish finish it now ^_^

 

I'm not actually sure if I have shown you this before. I finished it before the last update, I think, and I thought I updated but I checked the last couple of posts and it wasn't there, so here. The thing around it came with it, it is a free kit from The World of Cross Stitching. I'm not sure whether I want to keep the cardboard thing or not (It isn't attached) 

This is also a free kit from a The World of Cross Stitching magazine, it is also not attached. I am definitely going to keep the card that came with it because it's so cute XD

My Mum bought this from a local store. It is one of the few New Zealand cross stitch kits that I know of. I like this book mark a lot though because it's from New Zealand. 

Anyway, I'm going to try to post Turtle Trot on time this month ^_^ 

  

  

Very Late Post

I've had a very busy month, I had mock exams and I've been studying a lot for it.

I have managed to do a little bit of stitching, not much, but some.

1, This is a new start. I haven't done very many stitches on it though. I plan to make this for my Nana who has always wanted to be a ballerina but never got to be one.

2. This is one of my Turtle Trot pieces "Be the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are"

3. This is another one of my Turtle Trot pieces "Garden Shed" (I thought it was called Flower Stall but it isn't) I have had to stop because I lost my beading needle again :(

 

4. This one is upside down for some reason, but this is my progress on Shell Duo

Thanks for reading, I am going to do more stitching and will try to update again ^_^ 

June Update :)

Hello :)

I decided that I wasn't getting anywhere with my current Turtle Trot list so I made a new one. Warning, these are not official names, I just can't be bothered pulling out the name sheets again.

1. Shells Duo (This was still on previous list)
2. Flower Fan (This is my first thing on Linen)
3. Clown thing (This is on printed canvas)
4. Cat series (Currently working on Cat with Fishbowl)
5. Pokemon (4/6 done)
6. Indian Dresses (This is my Mums)
7. Be the Person your Dog thinks you are. (Cream on black, pretty boring, my sister wants it though)
8. Card set + Flower fairy (I got a kit for 10 cards and also I wanted to finish the flower fairy)
9. Mill Hill Flower Stall (Started but I lost my beading needle for a bit and haven't touched it since)
10. Giant Landscape (On printed canvas it's really big)

Now progress for this month

Flower Fan thing

I started this one this morning and but didn't do much. This is the first thing I've done on linen. This is on my new turtle trot list.

How it will look

Start

Indian Dresses

This was started by my Mum and I haven't put very many stitches on it, only a few black stitches on the beginning of that dress. The wrong dress was started though so I'm going to have to switch the two in the center. This is on my Turtle Trot list because my Mum asked me to finish it for her.

How it will look

As of now

Pokemon

I'm stitching these for my sister, there are 6 of them all up. I finished Vespiquen (The giant bee) this month. I still have Lopunny and Lucario to stitch. This is also on my Turtle Trot List, I hope to finish it before Christmas.

From left: Gardevoir, Gothitelle, Lilligant, Vespiquen

 

Shell Duo

I'm not sure if this was from this month, but I made some good progress on Shell Duo! I really like this one and that is why this is ALSO on my Turtle Trot List.

Kiwi Book mark

This isn't on my Turtle Trot list but I like it :) It is one of the few NZ made cross stitches. For some reason it is sideways.

Stitched stuff

How it will look

Card Set + Flower Fairy

When I finish all 11 I will count it as one project. There are 10 in the set + a flower fairy that I started years ago. I have finished 1 of them, 'Always Friends' and I have made a start on another. The Flower Fairy has been a WIP for ages because 7 year old me thought I made an unfixable mistake. This mistake was 6 stitches hanging on the edge of the design that were one stitch off....Any way this is on the Turtle Trot List.

Always Friend- Finished (Why did it turn?)

2nd Card, I think this is 'Thinking of you' 

Flower Fairy 'Marigold'

Cat Series

This is 1 out of 3. I haven't started the other two, this one still requires a lot of backstitch, the border, and the fishbowl. I really enjoyed stitching this until I got to the backstitch which is HORRIFYING. These are on my Turtle Trot List because I'm not allowed to buy any more until I finish something and I've nearly finished the one below but I think it is too nearly finished to include it in the TT by itself. 

Cat with Fishbowl

Clown Thing

I can't remember how to spell the actual name haha. This is on printed canvas and I think it is cute, I want to make it for my Mum who loves them so it is also on the TT list.

How it will look

How it is now

I also completed a couple of cards:

Mothers Day Card - freebie from Cross Stitch Collection Issue 37

Another Mothers Day Card- Freebie from World of Cross Stitching issue 227

 If you made it here, thank you for reading :) Until next month (or sooner) ^_^

I'm still here! (Long Post)

Hey, I haven't updated for a while! I usually post for the Turtle Trot but I forgot, I think. 

Anyway a lot has happened since last post, or at least for me!

First, I have removed Princess Aurora off my Turtle Trot list because the dirt and untidy stitching and mistakes from my childhood frankly scares me and I don't want to go near it. I am replacing it with the Pokemon that the lovely lady from Dork Stitch designed by my request. I have two and a half left before it's finished. 

Next, I decided to start buying cross stitch magazines which is new to me because apart from the mentioned Pokemon I usually stick to kits so I probably won't stitch anything from them. I have two so far ^_^

Anyway, here is some pictures of this weeks stitching (Sorry for the bad photos):

This cute little guy was designed by Margaret Sherry and I stitched it with all the stuff that came with the free kit that came with an issue of The World of Cross Stitching. 

This was another free kit from a The World of Cross Stitching issue. I finished all the stitching, just need to make it into an ornament now, which I don't know how to do I might add. 

This is a card from this kit my Mum bought me, the kit has all the materials and patterns for 10 cards. I started with this one which will say 'Always Friends' under the two butterflies. 

This one I got bored of because of all the greens, I dug this out of my Mums stash. It will be a rose and some rosebuds at the end.

I've also stitched on 'Shell Duo' by Bucilla and I think it's called 'Garden Shed' by Mill Hill but I didn't manage to get pictures of them.

The rest of this post isn't stitching related so you don't need to read on if you aren't interested.

*Rant*
I've had a really bad month to be honest. I've been ill twice which is extremely unfortunate for me and my schooling. My best friend of two and a half years decided she didn't want to be friends with me anymore because she felt like I was making her choose between me and her other friends, which is really weird considering the fact I was friends with most of her friends. This triggered my depression again which I was managing really well until that point and it resulted in a breakdown at school and I unfortunately trusted this in the wrong person. I said to someone that "I hate how she triggered my depression, I hate how she makes me want to kill myself" and she started telling people that I wanted to kill my ex-friend and she got this other person who over heard the conversation to side with her by telling that person that she misheard. So now heaps of people think I'm a psychopath. 

*Rant over*

I've also been reading heaps :D I read 'Whale Rider' for school, I reread the first three and a half Harry Potter books, I've reread one and a half 'Fallen' books, and I've read half of 'The Goblin Wood'

All are great books in my opinion ^_^ 

I have my first proper drama performance next week as well ^_^ It's around 30-40 minutes, we're performing 'Basette' by James Graham, I'm playing this girl named Aimee. 

It's about a Year 11 class that get locked inside a classroom after upsetting their relief teacher and start arguing with each other until this one guy has a breakdown and threatens us with a baseball bat, makes us kneel with our hands behind our back and pretty much makes us re-enact when some Americans torture other people with bags over their heads and stuff like that. It's extremely intense and scary but I'm excited ^_^

Any way, I should probably go before I bore you all XD

Turtle Trot #4

Hi :) I actually have progress to show this Turtle Trot! I'm sorry about the poor quality of the photos, the only camera I own is attached to my phone (Excluding the web cam on my laptop) and the flattest surface I have is my bed. 

Anyway photos XD

1. Anime Girl

Before

After

 

I promise there are some stitches put in there, not very much, but they are there. I worked on more of the flower at the top. 

2. Cottage

Before

After

I stitched some of that tree and some confetti here and there.

3. Geisha

Before

After

I did some more of that never ending black hair of hers. This is on printed canvas so I don't trust myself to skip down to some colour, there is a starting mark which is the top black stitch and I plan to follow it.

4. Orchid

Before

After

I did all that white. This is really hard to get pictures of, the white actually has some pale purple in it and the colours are so beautiful in real life but unfortunately that dark fabric makes taking pictures terrible.

5. Rabbit Letter Holder

Before

After

I started the butterfly, did some of the backstitch, and put a few stitches into that block of green down the bottom. That green is boring, I don't really like colour blocks.

6. Thanksgiving Bow

Before

After

Did some more of her red and white stripes.

7. Treasured Friend 

Before

After

This one is also rather hard to capture, there is a lot of beige which is the colour of the fabric. I got bored and stuck some pink and grey in though so there is something to see. 

8. Shell Duo - No progress

9. Princess Aurora - No progress because I made a mistake and have to frog a lot of it

10. Handbags - No progress because it isn't as symmetrical as I originally thought it had been and need to frog some stitches.

Thank you for reading this long post :)
Have a great stitching week!