Tuesday 31 May 2016

Happy Dance!!!

Hello Friends,

Come and happy dance with me! I have finished stitching the House of Margaret Mystery SAL piece. I put the last stitch on this piece last night and I’m elated that my goal to ‘Stitch every day in May’ brought me this success.

I’m happy with the way the design turned out. It was my first time participating in a mystery SAL and I was skeptical what theme this pattern would follow. Glad that it’s a neutral theme and I even have somebody in mind who I can gift this to. 

                                                                 Details: 
Started on : 8-Apr-2016
Finished on: 30-May-2016
Actual number of stitch days: 25

Stitched on:16 count white Aida

Floss used :Anchor, DMC
Designer: Viktoria Horvath
Pattern source: House of Margaret
Number of colors: 7
Stitch count: 167H*164W
Type of stitches: Full cross stitch,  fractionals,back stitch

Progress Pics



The pattern was easy to follow and the designer Viktoria did a good job considering she is quite new at designing. As there were very few colors in the design, not much counting was required. It’s my first pattern where I worked from a digital copy and saved a few trees…lol.

However I think the designer could have done better with instructions. You see, the designer didn’t specify the fractional stitches in the pattern key, the count size was given as 164*167, not clear which one of this is width/height. The top of the pattern started from row 9 and/ or 20 which resulted my piece to be a bit off centered. The lettering and color selection for back stitch could have been better. I’m writing this as a review/feedback for the designer and this is no way a criticism.

I’m thinking of getting the piece framed with a black matt .What do you think?

Now on to future crafting plans- Continuing on with the goal of stitching every day I will be joining stitchers on Instagram for #TheStitchingHourSummer2016. It will be easier for me achieve this in the month of June as we will have reduced working hours in the month.


I’m working on organizing World Wide Knit in Public day in Kuwait on 18th June. Last year, Kuwait participated first time in this event and I met wonderful people whom I now call my friends. This time organizing it in day time is a bit difficult as Ramadan starts on 6th June and all the cafes etc. are closed during this month of fasting. Wish me luck ….

I know people in the UK and USA are enjoying the sunshine and venturing out. However, summer here means sitting at home as temperature reach 50+°C (122+°F) and expatriates leave the country to visit their friends and family in home countries. Things are slow and there are hardly any activities. Not that I’m complaining about sitting at home, I love being a hermit. I will miss my craft meet ups and the fun we have as a group. Saturday will be our last meet up before the vacation starts.

So keep those beautiful pictures of gardens and outdoors coming and I will enjoy them while stitching sitting on my sofa.
Let me end my post with a monthly stitch pie which looks so cheery …

16 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your finish!!! It looks great.

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  2. Congrats on the cute finish !!:) Framing is a good idea but since you said you know whom you want to gift and if that is someone young then may be you can try finishing into a sling bag kind of thing. 50+ is unimaginable, we start complaining when it touched 40 here. Good luck with your knitting event! But wouldn't it be hot while working with yarns ? Your group can plan Calender as per local festivals and weather conditions.

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  3. What a great finish, Mini!! Congratulations :)

    122°!!! Oh, my--I can't imagine!! Luckily you can stay inside and stitch in the air-conditioning!

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  4. Congrats on the finish!! It is so cute! I think a black mat would look great. And your pie chart looks great this month! You sure were busy :) I couldn't even imagine what +50 would feel like! The warmest we ever get here is +30 and I am indoors for that. But I do have to deal with the June Bugs so maybe +50 would be ok :)

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  5. wow...thats cute...lovely finish Mini

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  6. A superb finish, well done

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  7. Great pie this month, it's amazing what a focus piece can do. I really like the font around the characters.
    Hope your public knitting day goes well, sounds like a lovely social event, even if you have to bring your own bottled water this year.

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  8. That is a terrific finish and I think your matt idea will work well. 50+!!!! I'd melt.

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  9. Congratulations on your finish, Bharti! It is beautiful! I think the black mat will look unusual, but it will make the stitching even brighter :)

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  10. Such a sweet finish. Good for you that the motif is something you like, which is not guaranteed when stitching a mystery. Looking forward to seeing it framed.
    I can't imagine these temperatures, at all. I already call 30°C + a heat wave and avoid leaving the house.

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  11. Congrats on finishing! Hopefully some of us will be able to meet on the 18th, even if it's not really in public.

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  12. A lovely finish! Well done for keeping up with it.
    I live in the UK and if we get to 30° I'm melting- but we don't have air conditioning either. I like the sound of hermitting and stitching though!

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  13. Well done on your lovely finish! I am so jealous of you being warm right now - we are cold and wet as winter has well and truly hit Australia! I am not a cold person... I love the heat - I grew up in the Pilbara where temps regularly went up to the high 40's or low 50's in some areas!
    Stay cool and enjoy your stitching! I might have to check out instagram and see all the stitching hours!
    Hugs xx

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  14. Welll done with your stitched piece ..here in Finland it is a bit chilly even it is summer and everything is very green and the Lilacs are in flower everywhere.I have two bushes of lilacs the violet and white one. And there is roses in my potted garden..They are my favorite flowers.And I love to stitch them too

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  15. I love that piece! Not unusual for the charts and instructions to be less than perfect. I guess designers are more focused on the artwork.

    Try to keep cool!

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