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. 

My Fairy and My Dragon

I know it has been a long time since I came on-line. We are still in despair and put everything in God's healing hands. This is the time when our family is asking for a miracle. I can not dwell more on it in my blog because I promised myself not to publish sad stories of my life. All I ask from you dear readers are prayers for my family back in the Philippines. Thank you. God is forgiving. 

Cross stitching is my refuge but I haven't reach my deadlines. It helped me a lot though. I focused my attention back on my Fairy. 

Finally, I'm done with the wild flowers around her. It was fun stitching with the specialty threads of DMC especially the silk. Thanks to thread heaven. Last night, I started working on her wings. So lovely! I can't wait to show you my progress. 


I remembered telling you about the other RR I joined and this time facilitated. Well, luckily we got another stitcher on board so we can complete 4 squares now on each. It's getting fun.

Above, is the borders for my recent RR. My theme is dragons. I'm getting ready for the water dragon of 2012. Hopefully, I can get this back on January. The pattern for the borders came from Joan Elliott's Crescent Moon Dragon. The book is Bewitching (one of her best books). It just looks perfect for me. The other photo is the progress on my first square. The design is called Chinese Dragon by Lesley Teare from her book, Fantasy Cross Stitch. This book is also worth the keep. Oh, yes, I'm almost done with him. He will be ready for mailing on Monday to another stitcher in Arizona. 


I feel bad for the delay of items being posted on my Etsy shop. Thankfully, Mr. D cooked a new festive candle. 

This new item is called Snowmen. Another gel candle made wonderfully unique and happy. We are accepting orders for customized designs. These snowmen are so adorable! 


I'm all set for a new item which is a unique holiday decoration for any home this season. Stay tuned... 


Have a blessed weekend everyone. 

Ups and Down!

Fruitful and emotional weeks are behind me now. Thank goodness! I learned a lot from other people and how they treat other people too. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Anyway, no more sulking. On the brighter side, I have accomplished a lot and made some clients happy. 

I want to start with the charity stitching I have joined in Facebook. The name of the charity group is SFPSFC & Rachels Place Orphanage. Thanks to a good friend and she introduced me to Jane Jibb, the moderator. 

I stitched this cute Letter T for turtle in 2 days only. It reminds me of Mr. D. He is my big tortoise. I got this chart from The Best of Margaret Sherry bookazine. We were asked which letter we can stitch from Margaret's Animal ABC. I chose letter T. I was happy working on it because I know it will be made into a quilt for a special kid. Now, I need to start on a Disney character for another square. Haven't decided yet which one. 

My RR group is doing well also. I'm done with the design. Just need to finish with the lettering. Then it will be off to Michigan for another stitcher. 

 

The design is called A Host of Angels. It came from Sue Cook's Christmas Collection. But for my lettering I got the chart from Enjoy Cross Stitch  Christmas 2011 magazine. I love how the round robins held the letters. So cute! I'm getting excited on receiving a fabric or project from another stitcher. Her theme is White Christmas and I got a chart for that ready. 

The excitement and the challenge on Worldwide Round Robin has just been added. Oh, yes! This time I'm facilitating my own group per request of a friend. It will only be the three of us. I call it RR for 3. It's starting to be fun. I'm getting ready for that too. 

Another good news will come from my Etsy shop of course. 

Do you remember when I told you about a recent MADE TO ORDER? Tadah! All done! My client is so understanding to allow me to use this photo as a sample item for my new listing Outdoor ABC. And she loves it to bits. I'm so happy because I made another Mom happy. 

I don't wanna flood this post tonight so I'll try to post again this week to show you more photos of my items. 

Oh, I'm saddened because I left 2 cross stitching groups. Anyway, there's still 4 groups I'm in. And I love these groups. A variety of people and cross stitch works. I fell in love with Nora Corbett's designs on one group. I just started collecting her designs too. Not to brag, but I only need one more book and my book collection of Joan Elliott's designs are complete. Then I'm ready for my very first cross stitch work of her. Funny thing is the first design I'll stitch will not be coming from a book. It will be a chart pack. I'm still waiting for it in the mail. You will know soon enough. 

Happy weekend everyone!!! 

Be a blessing to others.  

Almost 3 Months!

Because of my craft business which keeps me busy, I consider myself as a working woman. It was affirmed by my hubby. Yes, my shop and/or office is at home but still I earn $$$. I'm so proud of myself. 

My family and friends kept on asking if I'm going back to my second love which is my career in nursing. I said YES! Certainly, I won't give up the 10 years experience of being an RN. I'm just taking it slow right now. Review. Volunteer. Then NCLEX-RN. Thanks to an old friend and Mr. D and they gave me the moral support that I badly need. They are helping me on my decisions and choices. 

You can not always get what you want just by dreaming. You have to be a part of that dream in order for that dream to become a reality. Work it out! 

... And so my craft business is almost 3 months old now. This keeps me busy and focused. Also, I gain more friends and skills. 

You wouldn't believe this but I joined 9 active Facebook cross stitch groups. I noticed it just now. Yay! Anyway, those stitchers make me feel normal and involved. I learned a lot from them too.... about life, family, friends, and other hobbies. They are my community. 

We officially started our Worldwide Round Robin last Oct 1st. 

I'm using Sue Cook's Christmas Cross Stitch Collection book. I got the chart of my borders and project from here. My theme is Spirit of Christmas. I love Sue's designs because they are so colorful, happy and Christmasy. I'm using a hoop because my fabric is huge. It will enable me to stitch only that one big square. My floss are DMC.

This is the first progress of my RR as of October 4th. Aren't they charming? I can finish this next week. I have to so that I can go back to my Fairy. 

Good news! I got a new client for my needlework service. She is nice and knows what she wants. I'm already working on her order. It will be a name plaque for her son. I'm sorry I can't show pictures because I respect my client's privacy. All I can say is that she made better design choices than me. I'm glad we agreed on the current design. It was another challenge for me but I love every bit of it. 

I wanted to show you the latest listing in my Etsy shop. 

Item is called Christmas Teddy gift tags. This trio makes me laugh. They look like little children who wanted their gifts opened ASAP. 

I'm hoping to finish a Halloween item this weekend. I have the lay-out and materials but I need TIME. Maybe I'll get lucky. I'm a night owl who works hard at night after all. 

Have a fruitful weekdays everyone!!! Smile!!!

Goodbye Ordinay Months!

Did I scare you? Nah! It is just a big mouthed pumpkin candle that Mr. D. cooked last night. In fact, I have woken up this morning with that thing lighted on top of my night table staring at me while Mr. D laughed at my reaction. He loves to surprise his wife with mischievous stuff. 

I named it Monster Pumpkin. I love the bright orange color because it brings out the strangeness of the design when lighted. Another high quality gel candle added in our shop for the Halloween season. Just cool!

Oh, yes! I have to remind myself all the time that it's the last day of ordinary months. Yahoo!!! BER months finally started. I so love them because they are the seasons of joy, family, friends, gifts, food, and love. Don't forget traveling and shopping too! Many reasons to swipe your husband's cards and write on your check books. No guilt feeling! 

These are the new collection of Mr. D on "Everything Alice" candles. He told me that he just can't stop making some because he has an abundance of designs in store for the Alice fanatics. I don't blame him because these new ones are incredible! I wish  I could take better shots. The first one is called The Garden. This one looks really creepy. Didn't you notice that there seem to be a man standing in there? Just weird because there is none in the candle. It's only Alice inside the candle. The other candle is called The Fool. This is my favorite because it was intricately made. You can see there are some gold glittery stuff and shining inside the tree trunk. And look at Cheshire's eyes. Creepy and cool! 

So much for my husband's cool and creative gel candles. On to my needlecraft! I'm happy to tell everyone that I have already shipped the custom orders of my very first client. She will be receiving two (2) Fairy Alphabet name plaques. She kept on telling me that she loves them after I sent the pictures of the product. It feels good to make someone happy and excited. I enclosed a freebie for her too. It's a Christmas card, a cross stitched one. I hope she likes it. 

This is a new name plaque I made for Made to Orders. It's called Spaceman and Alien alphabet. It's the boys turn now. I found out that the most common name this year for boys is Jacob. So I made one. Coincidentally, my eldest nephew's name is Jacob. I love the designs and colors. So adorable! 

I'll be prepping to stitch two new orders for Fairy Alphabet now. I hope this sweet grandma will love the outcome of them too. 

I hope to see you in my shop.

Happy Fingers!

This week was a blast! I have never been this busy.... never been this fruitful. I am so happy that my fingers can't stop itching. 

I got six (6) custom orders on  cross stitch. Four (4) orders are from one item in my shop, the Fairy Alphabet. While the other two (2) are from another item, mini pillow tag. All orders were fully-paid! Woot! Woot! 

Thanks to my well used time-management and I was able to finish my latest item on time. 

This item is called Cute as a Bug Kid's Journal. It's my last item for the back-to-school season. It can be personalized also by taping a picture of the schooling child. It is pure handmade. I stitched the binding with a wool thread then wrapped the covers with a purple cotton fabric. The cross stitch design was stitched on the fabric. I enjoyed making this because it's really adorable. I love the beads on the bug! This can be used as a journal or a diary by the kiddo. I hope somebody would want to keep it soon. 

Right now, I'm outlining items for boys. I noticed that all my cross stitched items are so girlie. Yay! So now I'm getting ready for new themes. By next week, I'll surprise you with cool, boyish ones. 

I' m going to show  you an order that I have finished for one client. I showed this to her and she love it. I'm glad because it means I don't need to make changes. 

She specifically chose the colors for the fairies' clothes and wings. It was really a challenge for me because I edited the chart. I only have one more name to finish for her. 

Mr. D. is getting busy on the new designs for his newly branded candles. He is so happy because a customer sent two positive feedback on the purchased candles. He said and I quote, " It is gratifying!" 

This would be the last item on his previous theme, Everything Alice. Awhile ago, he was burning a sample candle that he just designed and cooked. Later, I'm sure he would be calling my name to check out the result. I so love my husband! With this, I get to keep my man every night. 

I guessed right! Mr. D wants his wife now. 

Juggling Balls

I guess I can consider myself an intermediate now on needlecraft especially on cross stitching. Salute! Such an accomplishment. Been three years now since I taught myself to create a design from a cross stitch chart to a needle artwork. Thank you Lord! 

Now I'm juggling four balls. Whew! First ball is being a homemaker; second ball is pursuing my nursing career; third ball is my new local craft business; and fourth ball is finishing my Christmas gift projects. Being unemployed is not boring after all. Ugh! But I do enjoy every bit of it. To make it more fun and memorable Mr. D tags along.

I have mentioned a project on my June blog, One Down, about a gift I am working on. 

First Snow is coming out regally. I am so proud of my hard work. It will take more time because it's 18ct and the colors are scattered. Difficult to keep it neat and clean. I posted this on Cross Stitch Club on Facebook. Thanks to a great mentor and I am now a part of that club. It was fun and inspiring to read their comments and see their works too. I hope I can finish this before the end of August because I still have a lot of projects listed. Aw! 

Promotion and marketing are trying to pull me down. What with an inexperienced trying hard entrepreneur. I'm still learning the ropes. I think I'm tying it too tight! I need a breather. This month I'll find out if I get to have the booths in FW  and OK. Crossing fingers! If not, I always have a plan B... and C. 

I'm concentrating on "back-to-school" seasonal items. My latest item is a fridge magnet.

I chose this design because the colors are lovely and eye-catching. It is a must for every Moms to know the schedule of their kiddos. What with PTA meetings, soccer games.... and after holidays back-to-school days. Making it as a fridge magnet is useful, fab and personal.

It can be personalized using a picture of your apple-of-the-eye. Look at Mr. D. Isn't he  cute?! This is an old picture of my hubby. Don't ask me how old he was here. You can just use a scotch tape to secure the photo. This way it won't ruin the fabric and the cross stitch work itself. I hope you like it! There's two more back-to-school items I'm outlining right now. Next week one item will be ready. 

Last Wednesday, I launched a Facebook page for my biz. It's called ACG Dobbs Craft Plus. It's linked to my Etsy. Just click the name of my page or Etsy so you can check it out. My Etsy shop, Purple Needle Flies, is ready to welcome new customers and friends. 

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

 

July Progress

Yesterday it rained. I call that nature's progress. The coming of the next season is already knocking. I'm glad. Everything went up because of the overbearing heat around us... and I meant the electric bills. Sigh! Thanks to rain! 

Last week, I launched my on-line shop at Etsy. I call that personal progress.

Shop is called Purple Needle Flies. And this is the banner. It was  designed by my husband. It means my needle can fly and progress anytime and anywhere because I love to try new things using my needle and thread. 

This is my shop's signature. Specially made needlecraft or handmade items are attached with this signature. I love uniqueness so that it will be remembered. Yes, Travis designed this too.

This tiny image is the shop's avatar. I can't upload a large pixel size so Travis made it so small. Ugh! I still love it though. 

It took me two months with the planning and implementation for this new business I jumped into. I never thought that promoting and marketing are more time-consuming. The only teacher I have is my mother. Problem is hers is pure retail, shops, and import and export. So I'm practically learning this by myself. 

My local business is not running mainly on-line. By fall I will be venturing on craft shows and fairs. I already applied for two out-of-town craft shows for November. Crossing-fingers. I am still looking forward for the local craft fairs. If all is well as planned, I will be needing stitchers for the mass production because my hands are tied for my state board review and I planned to work part-time for hospital exposure. Talk about superwoman! Ha! In God's will I will not stop. I already begun. 

I want to show you some of the items I am selling at  the present.

I am so proud of my items. I know it will take time before I will see profit but I'm not in dire need at the moment. I just want to enjoy every bit of the new experience and learn... share. To my readers you can check my shop at this link.... Purple Needle Flies. Just click that link! I will love to hear comments or suggestions. You will be teaching a newbie! 

Before I go back on outlining my 4th project, I would love to show you the flowery progress of my beautiful Purslane.

Even my tropical hibiscus got tired of blooming but this tiny purslane kept on cheering me up outside the kitchen window.... as I go about complaining about the heat and chores. Same goes to the family I have in three different countries. All is well!