sorry for the delay - desolee du retard

Hi everyone,

So sorry for the lack of update last weeks. But here I come with lots of photos.

First, we should start with the star project  'Past, Present, Future'. I am very happy to announce that two more pages are done and that we are left with only two more pages!! I was very lucky with those pages because there were composed mostly of block of colours. I enjoyed taking photos after finishing one big block of colour. So here you go.

Before picture

Step by step

Final before holiday

Some bad/good news, 'Past, present, future' is going to be on halt for the next months as I am going back home spend some time with my mother. I will leave it behind.  But, that will give me time to do some holiday stitching depending on whatever I find waiting for my attention at home. And I plan to bring back some of my stash, like fabrics. I feel I will start a new big project before the end of the year... ;) (I must be crazy)

I had the time to finish a small on the side project. I was inspired by one of my fellow blogger, the wonderful Joanna who stitched this pattern: you can find here her related post where you can see how she wonderfully alters the pattern. Thank you so much Joanna for inspiring me! The pattern itself can be bought from Dorkstitch on Etsy. I made few changes as it was made for friends who love donuts: so instead of cookies I put donuts! And I tried to add my signature in a 'Star wars' fashion. So here is the beast:

Thanks to all of you who will be passing by.

Je promets de mettre la traduction francaise tres bientot. Un mechant rhume me rend la vie difficile aujourd'hui.

See you soon,
Anojaa

Rush of the end (or almost end)/ La fievre de la fin (ou presque fin)

Hi everyone!

Hope you are all well. I have been stitching so intensely these days. I almost feel feverish. I don't know if you sometimes felt alike when you know that you are nearing the end, you feel like working even more to get to it. So here I am, totally intense in achieving this 'end'. I think I need to slow down. First, it is a bad habit as I won't be unemployed forever as I am now (let's hope for it anyway). Second, I need to enjoy the journey a bit more. Third, I will just start a new project as soon I have finished this one, so here we go again! ;) Sorry for this.

So, the pictures:
A picture of a crucial moment: stitching the corner bottom left stitch.

Before:

After:

Needless to say, I can thank enough Aimée Stewart for such an amazing artwork and HAED to make us possible to stitch it. Thank you.
Besides, I have been a bit disloyal to my main credo: one at a time. So I have started a small piece, intended as a gift. I will tell you more about it in my next post.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

See you again soon.


coucou tout le monde,

J’espère que vous allez bien. Je brode si intensément ces derniers jours. Je me sens presque fiévreuse. Je ne sais pas si vous aussi parfois avez ressenti la même chose: quand vous sentez approcher le bout du tunnel, vous courrez encore plus vite pour l'atteindre. Me voici donc complètement acharnée a atteindre ce 'bout'.  Je pense qu'il faut que je me calme. En premier lieu, c'est une mauvaise habitude car je ne serais pas éternellement sans emploi (au moins on l’espère). En second lieu, je devrais apprécier les étapes un peu plus. Enfin, a peine celui-ci fini, j'en commencerai un autre et nous voila repartis! ;) Désolée pour cette complainte.
Alors, les photos. D'abord vous pouvez voir un moment crucial: le point de croix qui représente le coin du bas gauche. Ensuite, mes photos avant et après.
Je ne saurais dire a quel point je suis reconnaissante a Aimée Stewart d'avoir réalisé un tel chef d'oeuvre et a HAED de l'avoir transformer en grille pour broderie. Merci.
Par ailleurs, j'ai été quelque peu déloyale a mon credo: un a la fois. J'ai commence un petit ouvrage, destine a des amis. Je vous en dis plus dans mon prochain post.

Merci infiniment de m'avoir rendu visite.

A très bientôt,
Anojaa

Can I trust my eyes? / Dois je en croire mes yeux?

Hi everyone,

Yes, I did it (or almost, I will tell you later about that part): I finished the middle column! So to explain what I mean by that, I divided the chart which was composed of 6 columns into three parts, therefore simplifying the process of going from bottom to top (my usual way of stitching).
With my vacation gap, I was late on finishing this column. but here it is;
Before:

After:

Now you see why 'almost': those white dots are not meant to be, but for the lack of one colour I was missing. I will complete it when I receive it.
But, that is not all. I was so much keen on compensating for my lack of stitching last month, I went to 'over'-stitch or almost, because you can never 'over' in this case. So, here is the bottom of the last column. Tada:

Thank you all for stopping by. I am off to be inspired by my fellow blog-stitchers and to stitch of course!

See you soon


Coucou tout le monde,
Oui, je l'ai fait (ou plutôt presque, je vous explique ça plus tard): j'ai termine ma colonne du milieu! Alors pour expliquer ce que j'entends par colonne du milieu, j'ai divise ma grille composée de six colonnes en trois pour simplifier mon habitude de broder de bas en haut.
Avec ma pause vacances, je me suis mise en retard dans l’achèvement de cette colonne, mais elle est la comme vous pouvez le voir sur les photos ci-dessus.
Bon, vous voyez maintenant la raison du 'presque'; ces petits points blancs ne sont pas censés être la, ils sont dus a une couleur en rupture de stock. Promis, je finis des que je la reçois.
Mais, ce n'est pas fini. Je voulais tellement compenser mon manque de broderie du mois dernier que je me suis mise a 'trop'-broder, quoique il n'y a jamais de 'trop' en broderie. Alors vous pouvez voir le bas de la dernière colonne dans la troisième photo.
Merci a tous de m'avoir rendu visite. Je file trouver de l'inspiration chez mes compagnons blogueurs-brodeurs et broder bien entendu!

A bientôt,
Anojaa

Back from holidays - Retour de vacances

Hello everyone,

I hope you are well. Sorry for the lack of updates for February, I was on holidays! And this time, I took the very difficult decision to leave my stitching at home. It was not easily done. However, I truly enjoyed every moment spent in Sri Lanka. I ate (a lot of) good food. My favourite place is the luxuriously green Kandy. Set in the center of Sri Lanka, this hill side town, ancient capital of the island, is a treasure. I was lucky to see sceneries like these:

Now let's talk about stitching or rather not stitching. The progress was very slow this month. I wanted to finish these two pages, but not nearly there.
Before:

After:

So let's go back to work!
Thank you for stopping by and see you soon!

Bonjour tout le monde,

Comment allez-vous? Je suis désolée du manque de nouvelles en Février. J’étais en vacances! Et ce coup-ci, j'ai pris la décision, o combien difficile, de laisser ma broderie a la maison. Ce n’était évidemment pas facile. Mais j'ai passe un moment fantastique au Sri Lanka. J'ai mange (beaucoup de) bonnes choses. Mon endroit préféré est la verdoyante Kandy. Place au centre du Sri Lanka, cette ville située en altitude, ancienne capitale de l’île, est un trésor. J'ai eu la chance de contempler des paysages tels ceux des photos ci dessus.
Maintenant, parlons un peu de broderie ou plutôt de son absence. Le progrès est très limite. Je voulais finir ces deux pages, mais en suis encore loin, comme vous pouvez le vois sur les photos avant/après ci-dessus.
Alors, maintenant, au travail!
Merci de vous être arrêtés ici et a bientôt.

Anojaa

Welcome on board / Bienvenue a bord

Hi everybody.

First of all, I want to welcome my new followers and thank all those who have been visiting my blog through 'Grow your blog' event, wonderfully organised by Vicki, or otherwise. I most certainly did enjoy discovering fantastic bloggers whom I will be following from now on. Thank you for your nice comments. It is always a boost to one's confidence reading those.

Second, I am happy to announce that the January goal was met! Hurray for me! So here you go.

Before

After

Actually there was not much to be done, but every stitch being of one colour or almost, it was time consuming.
And as usual, I could not wait to get started with the remaining pages on this column. I am at the top and feeling great. I am doing my second colour on this part. The reds are just a pleasure to stitch.

I will be away from stitching some part of this month due to other plans, so I am running back stitching.

See you all soon.

Coucou tout le monde.

Tout d'abord, bienvenue a ceux qui m'ont joint sur ce blog et merci a tous ceux qui m'ont rendu visite pendant la fête organisée par Vicki 'Fais pousser ton blog' ou par d'autres voies. Je me suis, en tout cas, bien amusée a découvrir de nouveaux blogs, dont je vais suivre les progrès désormais. Merci pour vos commentaires, qui ont toujours un effet magique sur le moral.

Ensuite, je suis heureuse de vous apprendre que l'objectif pour Janvier est atteint, comme vous pouvez le voir sur les photos ci-dessus. Il est clair qu'il ne me restait pas tant que cela pour finir ces pages mais beaucoup de changement de couleurs ont ralenti ma progression. Je me suis bien entendue mise a travailler les pages suivantes. J'arrive en haut de colonne: je vois le bout (au moins pour ce tiers de l'ouvrage). J'en suis a ma deuxième couleur sur cette partie. Ces rouges sont magiques!

Je vais devoir m’éloigner de ma broderie pendant un temps ce mois-ci alors je m'empresse d'y retourner.

A très bientôt.
Anojaa

Celebrations are over but still confettis around!/ Les fêtes sont passées mais pas les confettis!

Hello everyone!

Thanks for stopping by. I am just realizing that January is almost over. I intended to finish the pages I was working on (9 and 10) but now, I am not so sure I can do it. And the culprit for that are.... confettis! Of course, really brilliant (and lazy) me had decided to work first on the big chunks of colour to keep the stitching mojo going, but here we go: I am now left with a change of colour every 10 minutes (if not less).

Without further ado, the pictures!

Before:

After:

Ok I did not realize I have done this much. Not so bad and not too far from my personal aim for this month. I can't say enough how 23=-this design ('past, present, future' from Aimee Stewart, charted by HAED) is gorgeous. Sometimes, I will go doing my things in the house and then coming accross my stitching frame, I will just stand by, lost in thoughts, looking at the beauty of the displayed colours.

You must have seen the logo on the left. It is in preparation for the 'grow up your blog' day, organised by the amazing Vicki. It is a wonderful occasion to meet other bloggers on different interests. I am very much looking forward to it. If you want to join, just click on the link: http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.co.nz/2014/11/grow-your-blog-2015-party-this-is.html.

Thanks for all the blogging stitchers for their wonderful work. It is a great inspiraton for me and also an encouragement when you are feeling stitching mojo wants to take a trip away.

See you soon

Bonjour tout le monde!

Merci de passer par ici, et en espérant que vous repasserez par la!   Je viens juste de réaliser que Janvier arrive a terme. Je comptais finir les deux pages sur lesquelles je travaille en ce moment (pages 9 et 10), mais je ne suis pas sure a l'heure ou je vous écris de pouvoir le faire. Et le coupable (car il en faut un, forcement! Ça ne peut en aucun cas être moi), ou plutôt les coupables sont ... ces messieurs les confettis. Je pensais avoir eu une très brillante idée (sans parler de la paresse qui aurait pu l'inspirer) en travaillant d'abord les gros morceaux de couleur, mais voila, je me retrouve a présent devoir changer de couleur de fil toutes les dix minutes (quand ce n'est pas moins) car pour ceux qui ne savent pas c est ça les confettis. pff...

Ci-dessus, les photos avant et après.

Alors, d'accord, je ne m’étais pas rendue compte que j'avais accomplis autant. Pas trop mal et pas trop loin de mon objectif pour ce mois. Bravo madame!
Je ne peux dire assez combien ce modèle est fabuleux ('past, present, future' d'Aimee Stewart, mis en grille par Heaven and Earth Designs). Parfois, je m'occupe a mes petites besognes et arrivant a hauteur de mon ouvrage, je m’arrête et me mets a rêver envoûtée par la magie des couleurs brodées.

Vous devez avoir remarque le logo sur la gauche; c'est en préparation de la journée 'grow your blog' ou 'fais pousser ton blog' organisée par la fantastique Vicki. Ca sera une belle occasion pour rencontrer d'autres blogueurs aux intérêts divers et varies. Si vous voulez vous y joindre, suivez le lien: http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.co.nz/2014/11/grow-your-blog-2015-party-this-is.html.

Merci a tous les brodeurs/brodeuses qui bloguent pour leur merveilleux travail. C'est une inspiration de tous les jours et aussi un encouragement les jours ou l'envie de broder part en escapade.

A très bientôt.

Happy new year! - Bonne année!

Hello all!

I hope you had all pleasant celebrations for christmas and new year. I had a wonderful time with a lot of resting and some travelling. So, cross stitching has been on and off.

Here is the progress though for 'past, present, future'.

Before:

After:

As I have told you before the holidays, I was feeling less excited by working on the project but now the mojo is back. I suppose as I do not care much for yellows, it might have reduced my interest. Now, everything is perfect with all those purples and pinks. Besides, I have decided to work colour by colour for the big chunks. It is much more interesting that way, I think.

I have thought of taking photos of my Christmas gifts, so here you go:

Both are bridges as you can see and i would love to see them hang side by side, east and west, spring and fall.

As the new year begins, resolutions are needed and seems a lot of fun, looking at the fellow bloggers. I did not set anything for myself for last year. But I thought of few things for this coming year.

Resolutions/goals of 2015:
- finish 'past, present, future' (yes you heard me, I am an ambitious girl)
- start and finish one kit (maybe one of the above)
- translate/rewrite each and every time in french my blog (because I am french at the end of the day and google translate is handy but limited)
I have tried to keep myself reasonable and not to think too much about the next project, for fear of losing interest in the present one.

I wish you all a wonderful 2015!

As promised the part in french.

Bonjour tout le monde

J’espère que vous avez tous passe de plaisantes fêtes de fin d’année. Pour moi, ma foi, j' ai passe un moment fantastique avec beaucoup de repos et un peu de voyage. Du coup, je n'ai pu faire du point de croix que par a coup.

Ci-dessus, vous pouvez néanmoins voir mon progrès sur 'Passe, présent, futur'. Photos avant et après.

Dans mon précédent post, j'avais fait part d'une soudaine baisse d’intérêt concernant ce projet, mais tout va bien a présent. Je suppose que cette baisse était du a mon manque d'affection pour la couleur jaune. Maintenant que je suis lancée dans les rouges et violets, je suis ravie. De plus, j'ai décidé de travailleur couleur par couleur pour les couleurs les plus présentes. C'est, a mon avis, plus intéressant ainsi.

J'ai pense a prendre des photos de mes cadeaux de Noel. Deux beaux kits dont les photos sont ci-dessus. tous deux représentent des ponts et j'imagine bien les placer cote a cote, l'orient et l'occident, le printemps et l'automne.

Comme la nouvelle année commence, les résolutions semblent de rigueur, et bien amusantes, quand je lis les blogs de mes camarades brodeuses. Je n'en avais pas l’année dernière, mais j'ai pense a quelques pour cette année.

Résolutions/buts pour 2015:
- finir 'passe, présent, futur' (eh oui, vous avez bien lu, je suis une demoiselle ambitieuse)
- commencer et finir un kit (peut être l'un des deux en photo)
- traduire/ré-écrire mes articles en français a chaque fois (car je suis française, après tout, et google traduction c'est sympa mais un peu limite tout de même)
Je tente d’être raisonnable et de ne pas trop pense aux prochain projet, de peur de perdre intérêt dans le projet actuel.

Je vous souhaite a tous une merveilleuse année 2015!

Cheers/ A bientôt,
Anojaa

December update before the holidays

Hi all!

Hope you are all busy preparing for the holidays.

The stitching has gone steadily. But I do feel a bit of exhaustion of my interest on my current project. I suppose it is due to the fact that the parts that I am now stitching are really abstract, splashes of colour which look great but do not reveal anything concrete (well, that is the meaning of abstract, right?!).

It might also be due to the fact that I have bought as early Christmas gifts to myself two beautiful kits, which just want to get started. I will resist as long as I can. Too bad (or is it really) that I don't have two frames!

I am trying to keep the progress steady though. So here you go:

Before

After

I wish you all very pleasant holidays.

Take care,
Anojaa

December first update

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for stopping by and the kind words your are leaving behind. It is true that this piece of stitching is extremely fun. I think one of the reason I love cross stitch so much is the play with colours. And this chart is exactly a dream come true.
Without further ado, progress pictures, tadam!

Before:

After:

I am very happy as the stitching is progressing steadily. At the end of this row, I will have done half of the pattern (to tell you the truth, this half is composed of lot of partial pages, but we won't be stopped by these tiny details, will we? ;))

The only regret is that stitching is so compulsive these days, it takes time out of reading. But can't help it!

Before leaving you, I owe a huge thank to one blogger; the sad thing is I can't remember where I read it and what blog it is. But thanks to the wonderful advice I found there, my stitching has become more efficient. The kind blogger was explaining how you can use your tablet to highlight one symbol after another. And that's what I do now, it saves me the time (huge amount of time) spent on searching for the same symbol. So, thank you, thank you so much dear blogger.

I wish you all a pleasant week and thank you for sharing your work on the blog world, I always enjoy looking at them. Thanks!

Take care,
Anojaa

One column finish!

Hi all!

Everything is said in the title. As I hoped, I manage to finish my first column on Past, Present, Future. In fact, it consists of two columns, because I work on two adjacent pages at a time. so here you go:

 The colors are so beautiful in this pattern. I can also give you a photo of the full column (or almost, as it was not easy to take a photo of the whole).

Sorry for the poor photo. But in real, it really looks great.
And now, a pic of my progress on the new column.

This is super easy as it is composed almost only of large patches of colors.

Thank for stopping by and wishing you all a great week.

Take care,
Anojaa

Progress and framing

Hi all!

Thank you so much for stopping by to read and look at my cross stitch adventures.

I had the great pleasure to get back from the framer my latest finish. It was an amazing moment. My framer is an amazing lady (actually her whole family is in the business) who always advice you the right color and right frame. I felt that I met a kindred soul, so keen she is on her work. So here is the photo:

It is already hanging on the wall. Is is a kit from Maia (I really like their collection) called 'Full Bloom I'. It is my first monochrome. I am not sure I enjoyed it that much. But it was quite easy to stitch, expect for the black fabric (not easy for evening stitching). I missed the multiple colors which make cross stitching such a beautiful experience. 'Past, Present, Future' seems to meet all my needs on that matter.
without further ado, the pictures from last time and the progress after 2 weeks.

I have reached the right top!
By the way, it is stitched on 22 jobelan, 2 over 1.

Hopefully, the next time, I will have completed the part on the left.

See you soon and take care,
Anojaa

Long time no see...

Hi!

Is there still someone out here? Not much hope as I have stopped blogging for such a long time. Life has taken its toll: changing countries, finding new job, working, starting to study again, etc.
Now that I am a bit settled and that the studies are coming to an end, I thought why not?
The thing is that I have, despite my prolonged silence, continued stitching with passion.
Here after, some of my finishes.

This one is called 'Flashes of gold', I am really fond of it and gave it to one amazing family friend. It is an Anchor design, published in Cross Stitch Collection (august 2006). It was tricky with all the gold braid.

This one is a Maia kit, 'Hien', artist : Haruyo Morita. I loved particularly the red flowers in the background, pretty tough on my eyes but what a delight now. I have kept this one and it hangs proudly on one of my wall.
I have few more finishes and I will post the photos whenever I have the time.

Now, for the present, I have come back to be 'one-timer' again. I realized I am too impatient to see a finish to work on several projects at a time. hence, the Wip column has been reduced to one. This chart ' Past Present Future' is so beautiful (kudos to Aimee Stewart for her amazing work) and so perfectly designed by  HAED. I had started it a while ago, finishing two pages at the bottom. I have been working for almost two months on it. So here are the pictures for the past three weeks (sorry for the quality, I stitch in the morning and sometimes, morning light is not good enough for good pictures).

So, this is where I am.
Hopefully I will be able to give you a weekly update or at least every two weeks.

I love reading all the blogs around. Not sure I will have have the time to comment but fantastic job everyone.

Wishing all a great week.
Anojaa

Beware! the witches are there

   Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a nice time, stitching, reading or doing anything you like. I haven't been a good girl, haven't stitched as much as I wanted. But, then I had a wonderful time with my friends eating and walking, enjoying the beautiful weather we had.

But the wizard of oz has a story to tell and can't wait to do so. I've finished the half page at the bottom right :

 

One wicked witch is dead but the other is waiting just behind the tree to curse our little friends!

The progress on the Blue bird has been slow, so there she is

the colours are great, though. She is really a pleasure to stitch. It seems that since I've finished my first page of her, I'm not overcome with frustration because of the progress being so slow.

Finally, great news, I have fallen in love. Completely and desperately. The first time I have set my eyes on it, I know that I want to stitch it. My fingers couldn't wait to get some stitching done on it. Oh HAED what are you doing to me!

It's Past Present Future, artwork of Foxfires. I love the colours. But I won't start it until I've done some more on my current projects! we'll see how much time I can resist it :)

Happy stitching