A Squiggly Wiggly Fun !!!!!!! :)

Hi !!!!! Hope you had a good night’s sleep or wish you a one depending on what part of the world you are :) Just for a  change wrote this line, got bored writing ......”Hope you had a nice weekend or doing well” :)

I am happy to share another lovely project with you . A wiggles cushion !!! It was on my todo list items when Anshita said she wanted one . There are many ways of crocheting wiggles , covering full or partial area of work . I assessed many patterns and finally chose the beautiful yet easy one designed by none other than my dear friend , Debi ! :) She designed wiggles square for SIBOL . It is a lovely square and fun to make . She wrote the instructions here which are very clear and easy to follow . Thank you for this cute pattern, Debi !! :)

 

I repeated the steps in the basic design and extended it to make a small cushion size square measuring 12 x 12 inches .

This is the square before adding a fabric on the back side .  I have used purse thread which is silky and shiny and has a bit of firmness so that the wiggles can stand upright . I crocheted the base square with 3.5 mm hook and the wiggles with 4.5 mm hook .  For the border it is a line of HDCs with multicolored thread .

I took pictures yesterday night in Anshita’s room . Her room is old fashioned now ; I designed it 10 years back from a toddler’s perspective .

Anshita , shooing me away from her bedroom :) She found this hand puppet when I took some small soft toys from her stock as props for pictures . Kids never know how many toys they have and it is a big surprise to them when they find an old forgotten one !!

On mother ’s day , Anshita made this beautiful card with origami flowers and an origami ring box :) When the flower blooms (of course, it has to be manually opened :) , there pops out a tiny origami candle in the centre !! 

The ring box can be opened and there is an origami heart shaped ring for me :) Raj helped her fix a foam piece inside the box . In all, it was a happy mother ’s day !:) I wasn't expected to cook either :)

Few more photos of my cute cushion .

 

Isn’t it cute and lovely? Do write me .  I feel happy to read your sweet comments :)

Have a wonderful crafty week !!

Preeti  :)

Turtle Trot 2013 May update

It is time for Turtle Trot 2013 SAL update . Every 13th of the month we share the progress on our chosen 13 projects for this SAL . See here to know about my 13 projects. To read about and sign up for this SAL , visit BAP Attack blog .

This month I could not work much on the pieces . Partly due to lack of time and also I started one more new cross stitch project . Still , I am happy that I did made some progress :)

1. Humming Bird Quartet by Frankie Buckley, Leisure arts.

Chart

Before



After

Made some progress  on the floral petals .

2. Cross stitch blooms by Barbara Baatz Hillman, Leisure arts .

Chart

Before

After

 Started new block with couple of branches

6. ‘Drama Queen’ by Kyla May from the book, ‘Smirk attitudes A to Z’, Leisure arts .

Chart

Before

After

Completed hairs ; Lots of them and lots of quarter stitches !! It was a bit difficult to work with black color since the stitches were not easily visible . It will look better once the outline is done .  I love her shoes , they are cute and of different colors :)

I try to devote 1st to 15th of every month to cross stitch and remainng days for crochet , although it doesn’t relate to my posts which are more often on crochet finishes :)

Have a nice day !
Preeti :)


 

Splashed with colorful blooms!!!!!

Hello!!! Hope you all are having a great crafty time! :)

I am ready and eager to show one of my finished pieces . I thought of a quick project and started making a flower. I liked it very much, so I made some more :)

Aren't they colorful?

Then, with the help of some crochet blocks and some tutorials on Internet, I made a square at the base of the flowers . I scoured my stash for bright colors to make the square but they always dominate the piece . So this time I decided no oranges, yellows or greens; let me experiment with different shades. I chose grey and burnt purple colors and I loved it. They don't look that dull....right?

I started joining the squares and added a border. I like brightening up everything ; so what, if not with colors, beads will do! :) I needed small pearls which I did not have . I decided not to rush to the store and instead shop from my own stock at home :) The ones I had were medium sized, but I guess they look good on the border . I love to see the beaded string while crocheting although sometimes it is irritating to continuously push them down. I also added some buttons at the joins .
The border pattern is a cluster edging (page no. 261) from the book ‘Crochet stitches visual encyclopedia’ by Robyn Chachula . I crocheted the beads at the edge of the cluster. I have used Anchor knitting cotton and hook size 2.75mm.

At last, the blocking part. It was a bit difficult because I crocheted slightly loose. After 1 hr of slogging to shape it, I decided that it can't get any better even if I sit for another one hour. This is perfect for me! :)

Finally, lands on my table!! Ta- daa !!!!!!

Calm and peaceful, yet colorful !! I loved it !! Did you ?

Have a nice day !
Preeti  :)

Just Something on Wednesday! Plans, plans, and plans!!!!

Hi ya !! I planned to post something this Monday but it did not work . After all…....

Source : Cross Stitch free pattern @ Posy Collection

I am now working on ummm..….plan K !!  ; )

Thanks to all my friends for patiently reading my last post and thank you for reading my article too !! : )

Things that made me happy :

1. I did not feel sad even if I was not able to complete my project this Monday . Not feeling sad made me happy  : )

2. Controlled my urge for buying new yarn . I assessed that I have enough right now ! Although that didn ’ t deter me from surfing for good deals : )

I hope to give you a good news very soon !  Naa , no new babies here and there is a long wait to become a grandma  : ) It ’ s about the same...…posting my finished project .

Enjoy !!
Preeti  : )

JSOW : I am very busy !!

Warning : heavily loaded with text and images (at the end).

First of all , I would like to extend a very big Thank You ! to all of you for posting sweet comments on my little projects :)

I know , I know , you all are busy bees :) Forget about crochet , it has become difficult to even find time for my JSOW - it is a women's club for happy activities . Just kidding ;) JSOW is my very own Just Something On Wednesday :)




This is my current status !! ;)

Anyways , if not crochet or cross stitch, I have something to share . But let me first share two things that made me happy. 


1. Covering new school books for Anshita 's new session :)

2. My router got fixed ; my Wi-Fi is working fast now and after months , since I created my Pinterest account , I was able to open and enjoy pinning :)

I have kept Pinterest for my personal use and don't bother about statistics there . If you are interested to visit and repin anything, just click on this link . I will in turn visit yours and repin . I don't expect you to follow me there and I may not do that either.....I just cannot manage multiple social networks  :)

Hmm.....about being busy , well , all hell=work broke loose on me since March . Here are few glimpses :

• My maid left job. Although I use dishwasher and washing machine and she did had a little work only but Indian terrain requires a daily brooming/sweeping of house unless and until, it is fully air conditioned. So I am missing that extra time :(

• Anshita’s school was running half days since March and from this week her summer vacation has started; that means, I am supposed to cook fresh food in morning daily. Otherwise, both Raj and Anshita ate in their canteens and I cooked extra at night for my next day lunch. So that extra time has also gone :( Am I a bad momma for saying that?

• I am compiling and publishing a book of published articles which were written by my father as part of his hobby. They are highly literature based written in Marathi language with lot of Sanskrit terms. We have hired a publishing person who is retyping and I have to proof read them. It takes one hour for one article to check word by word with the original copy as I am not so good with the language.

• I have to be ready with my final interior design for my new flat by May...I am terribly falling behind the schedule :((

• I started writing as part of my hobby, but so far only one got published out of 5 odd articles that I had sent in last one year. I am very lazy in sending submissions. I have written a novel of 65000 words but it is just lying in some folder. Raj is very upset about my degrading reading and writing activities. If you are interested, you can read my published article in 'Child' magazine. Click here to know about the magazine and click here to read the PDF sent by the editor to me. Pls do tell me if you read it.

I was on the verge of getting my children story book published by a leading publisher when after seven months of mail exchange they said that they love to publish but they have many right now. Strangely, I did not feel bad because I am not taking writing as seriously as my needlework.

• On Sunday, I washed all the toys for Anshita including 50+ dolls and their 150+ odd dresses. I must say I have pampered her a lot as far as toys are concerned. Her favourites are dinosaurs. She wants to become a palaeontologist. Someday, I will tell about  her dino books.

Well that cleaning stuff left me with lot of body pain for 2 days. And above all, Raj is having heavy workload and is sleeping by 2am daily so I cannot scream for help although I don't stop nagging either.

I can hear you say, how the hell she got time to write this big post ? :)
Wait, it is just half the post :)))

I am working on some of my WIPs and wish to share when I complete them; hopefully, at least one by Monday.

Don't worry, the remaining post will have some glittering images which will cool down your temper after reading the first half of my post ( I can see your wicked smile and the cruel scroll button which you just used to jump right here :))))) he-he-he .

These images are of handcrafted lacquer bangles which are one of the specialties of Hyderabad. There is a 400 year old bangle market in the old city here known as 'Laad bazar' which has shops lined up in a long street. Mostly they are worn for festivals and marriages especially by Indian brides. It is quite far away from my place. It has been years I visited the market. Aren't those beautiful?

Next time, I will tell you about this special museum in the city.

Sorry for the long post, but I would love to hear some words from you.

Tired of reading? I can help you write comments too …here are some of the samples which you can copy paste ;)

1. Nice post, thanks for sharing!
2. Great pictures! best wishes for your WIPs!
3. Had fun reading your post! Fully sympathise with your situation .   ( I guess no one will write this)
4.What a post! Thanks for sharing   (That leaves me thinking what kind of post was it ;)

There goes one realistic one….
5. Lovely pictures! Long post….hats off to my (reader’s) patience:)))

I hope you will not block me after this post :)

Happy blogging!
Preeti :)

Tag It !!!! :))

Hello and a warm welcome to my new and old friends !! :)

While I was waiting endlessly to finish my big crochet projects ( big , as for me ) , I quickly whipped up few crochet cuties .

Couple of months back , Raj asked me to create a tag for him . He finds it a bit difficult and an irritating task to identify his baggage while travelling . He generally uses some scrap of wool from my stash and ties it up on his baggage . When he asked me to create one , I rejected it outrightly considering it as a small and boring project . Yeah,  I could hear some of you say , ‘ How mean ? ’ Anyways , last week when I was thinking of some quick crochet recipe , since I was in no mood to work on big projects , I decided to make one . It is a simple band made of SCs , with a border of 2 DCs in each stitch .

I embroidered the letter ‘ R ’ on it and stitched few buttons . It turned out to be a decorative tag and he was very happy with it !! :)  I guess this will be of some use to him . Thank God , he can identify me in a crowd without any tag ! ;)

How can I escape just making one ? There was another request from Anshita , all with embroidery , beads and a stuffed one .

 I took this heart pattern from here designed by Kara from Petals to Picots . I made two hearts of maximum size given in the pattern ; embroidered , stitched buttons , joined both pieces and stuffed it .  I made the border with HDCs : 3HDCs in each stitch and 2HDC in the top-middle of the heart . I added some beads at the bottom and the lovely heart was ready !!

Looks better while hanging !

If you turn it around , Ta-dah !! I worked both the sides !! :) I have used the buttons sent by Debi for both of these little things :)  Thanks Kara and Debi !

I also made this flower last month for my daughter’s purse . The tutorial for this can be found  here. I love its vibrant colors !!

Pls ignore the places where I haven’t done proper weaving-in . I haven’t blocked or washed any of these items . For all the projects , I have used 2 strands of Anchor knitting cotton and the border with single strand .  I have found a better way now to get the required thickness as that of Laura cotton. Anchor has luster and is colorfast too , so I find this more cost effective . Your project grows faster and the amount of yarn used for a project remains same even if you use double strands .

Hope you liked my mini projects!! :)

Happy blogging!!
Preeti :)

Turtle Trot 2013 April Update !

It is time for Turtle Trot 2013 SAL update . Every 13th of the month we share the progress on our chosen 13 projects for this SAL . Ok , I know , today is not 13th but since I will be travelling out Friday evening, therefore, I thought of updating it upfront.

See here to know about my 13 projects . To read about and sign up for this SAL , visit BAP Attack blog .

This time I managed to work on 6 pieces ; a great progress for me!!:)

1. Nature's charm by Dimensions 


Chart



Before

After

Some more progress on the bunch of leaves.

2. Floral border from the book 'Variegated floral borders', Leisure arts. 

Chart

Started and did 2 flowers. This is a colour variation (shaded colors) chart. I could not find the Anchor equivalent color variations so I chose as per my choice and availability. I let go the colors play their own magic;)

3. Humming Bird Quartet by Frankie Buckley, Leisure arts.

Chart

Started. I loved working on this colorful project very much :)

4. A floral border from the book "Embroideries and patterns from 19th Century Vienna"

Chart

Just started . I found that the chart given in the book is actually a mirror image of the picture . So my finished piece will look different :)


5.  Couple of pets from the book ‘ 100 more Lovable pets’ by Linda Gillum, Leisure arts.
I have chosen these two charts for this SAL. 
  

Chart 1





Chart 2

Started on Chart 2 . Completed the mommy dog . I did the quarter stitches for the first time and I just didn 't like making those . But I can very well see the effect on the finished piece . Do you see a small brown stitch in the eyes of the mommy? I have never done so much detailing earlier .

6.   ‘Drama Queen’ from the book, ‘Smirk attitudes A to Z’ by Kyla May,  Leisure arts.
I had earlier mentioned my 13th project as a secret project, but now I have added this chart to the list.



Chart



I changed the color of dress :)

Since I picked up my needlework few months back so all my projects are new! Out of 13, four are still in the queue for the first stitch. I guess I am doing well and hope will start the remaining four charts too by next month.

I am ready with my needles and threads for next month but before that I will complete some of my crochet projects too :) I am happy that both Crochet and Cross Stitch work patiently with me without any clashes!  I will be back on Sunday to catch up with your stitching :)

Have a happy weekend !
Preeti