Hawaiian Mandala

Finally - part 10 finished. Whew. That was a LOT of stitching this month. And I'm glad it's over and done now. Right now I'm looking forward to stitch something small. I won't be able to show it on my blog yet though. It's a floss tag for an exchange and I have to wait until my partner received it before I can show it. Isn't it funny, but for me is finding a pattern half of the fun. And finding some cute goodies to go with that. While stitching away the corners of the Hawaiian Mandala I kept myself amused by finding a pattern. And changing my mind...lol....repeatedly. But I settled down now for one, have it also already here, and looking forward to start it.

Here is a picture of the Hawaiian Mandala with part 10 finished.

Melanie, my youngest daughter got a bit interested in cross stitch. Last year she stitched a Mill Hill kit. And this week she asked if I had another one for her. And so she started that. Isn't that a cute picture. Just out of bed but with a gorgeous smile. Of course a real teenager doesn't agree with that. A real teenager needs first an ounce of makeup, hairspray and the such AND a most cool face. But...lol...I got her. And I love her just as she is.

Ohhh....and I bought some nice stash. The yearly Just Crossstitch Christmas Ornament issue is now available. And of course I had to order that one. Since I have to order that online anyway, I took the opportunity to order some nice charts as well. And some goodies.

Thanks to the bad bad influence that Meari had on me (I plead here complete innocence and stick with that!!!) I bought myself a Crop-A-Dile on Ebay. Which is an instrument for setting eyelets and making holes. Mike laughed himself silly about me - telling me that I will set my very first eyelet in LOOOOOONG years soon (for that floss tag). Now tell me please: what has that to do with that??? It's a cool "must have". Besides we have a garage full with "must haves" for the man...and if I'm not mistaken there is a huge circular saw still unpacked somewhere. Probably next to his hot glue gun that I would love use...if I only could put my hands on it...lol. I forget everytime to ask him for it. And need it then while he is at work or busy with something himself. That hot glue gun is never used either, and we bought it wayyyy back when we were still living in the Netherlands. So there. I got my Crop a Dile!!! It has still to arrive from Canada, but that doesn't matter. You can make holes with it in all sort of materials and I BET Mike will be attracted to that like a bee to honey. And I have to be careful that it doesn't land in the earlier mentioned garage. I better hot glue it to my sewing box. But wait...lol....poor me doesn't have a hot gun (yet).

This is a picture of my Crop a Dile. If you want to know more about this tool you might check out Maeri's blog. She wrote a great review about it. But if you like me and are a "little bit" a stash-a-holic you might better skip that part.

A new niece

A weekend without any stitching news. I'm still busy with part 10 of the Hawaiian Mandala. Meanwhile I started the 3rd corner.

However - there is some nice news. Oliver and Michelle - my brother in law and sister in law, welcomed their fourth daughter to the world. Here is a picture of little Sofia Miley in the arms of her admiring Auntie Gabi. Isn't Sofia a sweetie? She is a very quiet baby that doesn't cry much - to the delight of her parents.



And Oliver and Michelle are SO glad she didn't come on Zoey's birthday, which happens to be just 2 days later. Here a picture of the little birthday girl with Opa in the background.

Update on Hawaiian Mandala

The last week I'm only stitching on part 10 of the Hawaiian Mandala. This month it's quite a lot of stitching. Right now I'm busy with the second corner...and when that is finished there will be 2 more corners to go. I will be glad when part 10 is finished.

I did change the orange flowers and their stems. Originally it is meant to be in Thread Gatherer Silk n Colors 175 (Straw into Gold). But that blended right into the fabric and became quite invisible. The stems are now a blend of SnC 175 and SnC 172 (Gingersnap) and the flowers are done with DMC 722.

After finishing part 10...or in between...there is a floss tag hanger to stitch for an exchange and I subscribed for another Christmas ornament exchange as well and I'm looking forward to stitching these smalls pretty much. :)