Birthday Gifts

Earlier this year, I've made several birthday gifts for my daughters' classmates. Last year I was succeeded in making those cats from Margaret Sherry's "Coffee and Cuddles". This year I was thinking of making a similar theme. Since I haven't found another Margaret Sherry's designs back then, I made these Wordsworth designs.

The first was for Riri's birthday at January 25. I made "If You Need A Friend" cross stitch.



The second was for Bila's birthday at February 27. I made "You Mean so Much to Me" cross stitch.

Downloading Cross-Stitch Charts

I've been downloading online magazine-files on the internet these past few days.. Well, there isn't many cross-stitch magazines I can find there, but there's a few with cute and colorful designs at "magazinesdownload.com". So, I'm satisfied with that so far..

I wasn't really intended to search for these cross-stitch charts at first. I just needed to enrich my preliminary research with a few facts and figures. And that led me to several file-sharing sites on the internet. Then I figured out that there were few people who (maybe) have the same hobby with me and shared their source of cross-stitch... Bless them, LOL...

There's a set of designs that catch my attention, it's the Margaret Sherry's "Culinary Cats" from February 2010 Edition of CrossStitcher Magazine. They are adorable and goes with my "Coffee and Cuddles" I have made some time ago. So I'm thinking of making them when I have spare time...

Here's previews of the charts..





























And here's the magazines I've downloaded so far, the February (#222), March (#223), and April (#224) edition of CrossStitcher.






















































Hmmmmm... is uploading or downloading this kind of files against the copyrights?
Hmmmmmmmmmm..........?!@#$%?

Oriental Cross Stitch

Di pertengahan tahun 2007, tak sengaja menemukan buku ini saat 'browsing' buku di Toko Buku Gunung Agung. Karena desainnya cantik-cantik, akhirnya dengan berat hati dibelilah buku ini, karena harganya lumayan mahal untuk ukuran dompetku. Kebetulan waktu itu belum terlalu 'literate' dengan internet. Jadi belum tahu bahwa di dunia maya sana, cukup banyak pola-pola cross stitch yang bisa didownload....



Pola pertama yang dikerjakan adalah pola 'Peacock and Peonies' karena polanya cukup menarik dan menggunakan beberapa benang metalik.. Bukan hanya warna emas metalik, tapi juga biru dan hijau metalik. Sebetulnya direkomendasi benang metalik keluaran Kreinik, tapi susah juga nyarinya di Bandung ya... Akhirnya dicari benang DMC yang hampir mirip, jarang juga tersedia, kebetulan dapet di Hobby Craft Jln. Gandapura.


Sebetulnya pola ini desain aslinya untuk bagian atas kotak perhiasan, tapi berhubung gak punya kotak seperti itu, akhirnya dibingkai sajalah. Bingkainya pun yang sudah jadi, sehingga kurang pas ukurannya.. Pola ini mulai dibuat bulan Desember 2007 dan selesai bulan Februari 2008.

Pola berikutnya yang dibuat adalah geisha, ada 3 pola dengan warna yang berbeda, tapi lebih tertarik dengan 2 pola warna biru dan hijau.

Pola Peony Geisha dengan kimono warna biru, baru dibuat akhir tahun 2009. Kemudian dibingkai dengan bingkai yang sudah jadi yang dibeli di Jonas Photo Jln. Banda.



Pola Chrysanthemum Geisha dengan kimono warna hijau mulai dibuat minggu ke-2 Januari 2010 dan selesai minggu ke-3 Maret 2010. Lumayan lama, kira-kira 9 minggu untuk menyelesaikannya.



Masih ada beberapa pola lain yang menarik... tapi kayaknya selingan dulu pola lain, biar nggak bosen...

Spices Cross Stitch

Untuk kado ulang tahun adikku, Anne, 17 Agustus kemaren aku berjuang keras bikin kristik ini. Gambarnya merupakan seri bumbu-bumbu gitu deh, ada pala, cengkeh, kayu manis. Seri ini sengaja dibuat untuk nambah-nambah hiasan dinding rumah baru Anne yang masih agak-agak polos....



Pola ini dibikin mengulang kesuksesan pola "bumbu" yang sudah pernah dibuat sekitar November 2008, yang akhirnya mejeng di ruang makan rumahku.

Another Favorite Pattern

The common thing for someone who used to travel for work or vacation is hunting for souvenirs to take home for friends and relatives. Well, at least it's for me. Some say men don't do the same, they are less interested in buying souvenirs.

I began collecting souvenirs after I travelled to Bali in 1995. I was interested in several mugs with funny words at Joger.



And then, my husband's US bosses (they're husband and wife) gave me these Starbuck's City Mugs... Well, that's another homework for me since I don't have a display shelf or cupboard at our home. The mugs are adorable... Most of them are from US and Canada; Calgary, Jacksonville, St. Louis, Orlando, Miami, Chicago and so on. Others are from Nagoya, Kuala Lumpur,Singapore etc.






So I was excited when I found this pattern on the internet. Originally from Cross Stitcher Magazine designed by Margaret Sherry. I thought the designs match my mugs collection...



The cats are adorable.... So I began to stitch them...

Strawberries Cross Stitch

Another cross stitch chart I've found from the internet is this strawberries chart. Originally it designed for serving tray and pillow.



The chart doesn't mention who the designer is.

Since I didn't have that kind of serving tray, I decided to frame it instead.

Colorful Patterns

I used to stop by at Hobby Craft booth at Terracotta (Jl. Gandapura, Bdg) to buy some cross stitch supplies. I tried very hard not to buy pre-packed cross stitch kits since I thought that it will cost me a fortune. Beside, I have already had so many patterns from internet, luckily.. (I'm not able to share the link now, since it requires a password. It used to be a free source back then).

Then I saw this kit, and I can't help but to buy it. Well, it's very colorful and I was curious how it'll turned up.



I think it's originally from Jeremiah Junction Inc., that used to design country patterns. It cost me Rp. 55.000,-.

And this is how it ended up, I finished it in early April 2008. I used ready-to-use frame I could find and fortunately it fitted the design nicely.