Start of Lent

My husband just celebrated his birthday as well. So many reasons why we both love February. Celebrating life with food, laughter and love is invaluable and the best gifts ever. Cheers to Mr. D!!! 

Well, after all the celebrations we are now offering our time and energy to our faith in Lord Jesus. Lent has already begun. Just like last year, I started a list of sacrifices that I can offer or share to others everyday for 40 days. Last Wednesday, a very dear person came to Church with me. She offered to drive me to Church so I invited her to join me. She is not a Catholic but she was deeply honoured to be seated there beside me... listening and acknowledging. Thank you Lord. 

This morning I received a very beautiful handmade "temari" from a very good friend. 

Shani made this herself. Mind you she is a newbie on this kind of craft... but look at how lovely her 1st piece is. I'm greatly honoured of being given a good luck charm for my birthday. Thank you sweetie! 

Do you remember the Worldwide Round Robin I joined last year? It was a success right? So then I joined another one this year. We started 1st of February and I have new group members of 4. We have a group page solely for our RR. 

These are the borders I stitched for my RR piece. The stitch count I'm in is 75x75. My green hand-dyed fabric is from Kelly aka Stitchnmomma from Etsy on-line shop. Her fabrics are awesome and affordable. She has good customer service and her products are all handmade. Go and check her shop now and you won't regret it. 

My theme is "letter A". I have always wanted to stitch the first letter of my name. I want the piece to look so girly so I used some flowery borders. There are a lot of French knots used. I love stitching these knots. 

I received an RR piece from South Africa. This was my 2011 RR group. And it will be the last square that I'm going to stitch. I just need to kit up my design then I'm ready for it. I'm sure I can finish it this week. 

I would like to show you the #2 order I finished for one client. 

I'm on to #3 order... then I can sew the pieces to make into lovely decorative pillows. 

Have a nice weekend everyone.... And in  your spirit. 

The Time of the Year

I have been listening to Kenny G's Christmas songs since yesterday inside my craft room. I need more than that to feel the joy of this festive season. I miss my families and friends back home.... it hurts me to know that some people around me don't believe on this Christlike season. A pity on them... I'm glad though that Mr. D believes on my stories of Christmas... from childhood to adulthood. It warmed my heart to see the sparkle on his eyes when he is happy because I am happy. We both decided to celebrate Christmas in Church then lunch out. I thank my parents for showing me the spirit of Christmas as I grew up. I still believe in Santa. I know he is now a very, very busy jolly old fellow. 

Oh, yes I was busy too with my handmade presents. I am happy to announce that I am almost done with all the presents. Some of them were already shipped a couple of weeks ago. No answers yet from the recipients and I hope they appreciate the efforts and love my husband and me poured on them. 

These are the Christmas towels I stitched as presents for Mr. D's relatives. I love his family in Illinois and Missouri. They are sweet and thoughtful. I added one baby bib for a newborn cousin. He is the youngest cousin. So adorable too! 

I used this book of Lesley Teare, 101 Weekend Cross Stitch Gifts. The designs are cute and quick to stitch. Just what I needed. 

This is the big project I stitched for Mr. D's maternal grandparents. They are Christians and we both believe that they will love this work hanging on their dining room wall. I hope we are right. This is called "Be Present at our Table" designed by Sandy Orton. On close-up photo, I used some specialty stitches like lazy daisy and French knots. I love stitching specialty stitches because they make your works look better and detailed. Took me 2 weeks to finish this. I enjoyed it! 


I also want to share 2 finished RR pieces I have stitched.

This is an adorable "Snowman" designed by Linda Bird from Treasured Memories book of Craftways. The RR piece is owned by Nikki from South Africa. She likes it. 

Finally, this is the finished "Rose" that I have showed to you before. Designed by Joan Elliott from Floral Minis leaflet. The RR piece goes to Janet from Arizona. She likes it too. 


Right now, I'm working on some Christmas cards... not the usual ones that you see. I know I can finish this before Christmas. The recipients would receive them late but I'm sure they will love it. 


It's the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!! Merry Christmas everyone! God loves us and He gave us His only Son. Let's celebrate and be merry! 

Fruitful Week

I kept on asking myself, "Can I sell?". It was on and on and on. Finally, yesterday I scored big. I can sell. I sold two expensive and recent items at my Etsy shop. Patience paid off. Promotion and marketing are big saviors. I tried a marketing strategy and it worked. 

 

These are the homemade gel candles that were a hit yesterday. Mr. D couldn't believe it himself because one of the item was only in the market for 8 hours. Then an avid collector bought both straight away. She is such an angel too... no questions asked. For that I am giving away a free gift... something that we know she would love. 

Lesson learned is that you have to know your target. You have to know your customers because you will learn from them and you will be able to sell for sure. It's not about "what you want; what you like; what you prefer". It's about "what they need , want, collect, and love". Focus, focus, focus. 

Another beautiful thing that happened last week was the finished product I made for a little girl who just turned one weeks ago.

Finally, Bella's pillow is ready! Not yet ready to be shipped though because I still have one more project left to finish which is for her big sister. I can finish it this week. 

I used this lovely pillow as a sample for my MADE TO ORDER Personalized Fairy pillows. I posted it on the web and I got a lot of positive feedback. Crossing fingers for an order soon. I would love to see little girls cuddling this cutie. Sigh! If you could only see how Mr. D looks when he asked me if it can be squeezed. Hahaha! I love my husband so much. He is my battered pillow. 

I have a lot of orders lined-up for a consignment. They can be done easily because all I need is my sewing machine. 

Now I have to stay away from my notebook so that I can continue my laundry and ironing. 

Have a nice week days ahead of you!

Fairy Alphabet

I didn't realize that my July calendar is as busy as February and May. Come August if our plans run smoothly it will be December in August for me. That's why travel will need to be sacrificed for now. I so love what I am doing at the present. Best part is Travis is such a big help!

Last week, I noticed that a relative of Travis has been appreciating my cross stitch works. She is so sweet and though I haven't met her yet, I know I'll like her. So I decided to make something for her daughters. The youngest one is having her first birthday soon so now is just the right time. 

 

Letter A is one of my favorite letters in the alphabet. I'm glad that I got to stitch it for the design. Isn't the fairy so cute?

 

After reading Cross Stitch Fairies by David & Charles, I promised to myself that I am going to stitch all the designs in this book. And I already started! All the designs are precious and enchanting and so quick to stitch. Good for presents for little girls. I got the design for little Bella on this book. It's called Fairy Alphabet. 

Here comes Bella! This is just a small cross stitch work. Per letter the design size is only 3 3/4 x 3 1/2 in. I am not yet done with my project. I have to stitch another design for the eldest sister too. You don't want sibling rivalry when it comes to presents. So when hers is done, I can start finishing off both projects before the birthday. 

I learned to master french knots on this project. Lookie! I am so proud and happy that the worst stitching method I've known is finally a history. I learned some tricks too! Oh yeah, I used a gold needle on this. It was kinda rough on the fingers but when you get used to it, it makes stitching more comfortable because it doesn't slip from your fingers easily. The needle and threads used are all DMC. Aida (antique white) is from Charles Craft. 

Currently, I picked up my "First Snow" again. 

Happy Stitching everyone! 

Bib-Bib

Giving away presents is a big thing for me; cheap or expensive it doesn't matter as long as it reaches the celebrant and be remembered. So I make it a point that I make the right choices on wrappers, cards, boxes, ribbons, stamps, baskets, and "the gift". 

Let it be known that I have no close friends here in our new home. I am surrounded by Travis' friends and families. So the pressure adds on... "it needs to be accepted and liked". Though my husband loves everything I do and create, it is not the same as "the others". On March, we are expecting two babies from Travis' friends. I am so excited for them because I love babies so much so I want to get them something.

I decided to cross stitch bibs. I know they will like it (though the baby won't understand). I got so excited that I bought books for it. Funny thing is I am using an old book right now that I got from Grandma Linda and not my new ones. It's called "The Ultimate Flower Alphabet Book", published on 1994 by Terrece Beesley. I have already started last Monday and here is my progress. 

 

The bibs are from Charles Craft and I am using the Peonies design chart and DMC threads. I can't wait till it's done and wrapped. Almost there! 

Happy weekend everyone!