Stitching Mom in Iceland

I am moving my blog

2007-03-07T15:37:00.000Z

THAT´S IT I´M FED UP.

Usually I´m a quite relaxed and easy going gal with a lot of patience but that can surely wear off and has done exactly that in the last week or so.

I´ve moved my blog from Blogger - please update your links if you link to my blog. Hope you´ll continue popping in for a visit as I love to hear from you all.

This is my new home.

Stitching Mom in Iceland

Blogger driving me mad

2007-03-07T10:50:00.000Z

I wanted to post pictures of what I was doing last weekend but after many tries I gave up finally. No matter what time of the day I could never post pictures. So I am trying again, see how it goes.

UFO tuesday - my progress

2007-02-28T21:49:00.000Z

I decided to divide todays blog into two posts because Blogger has been giving me nothing but headache today when I was trying to publish my pictures.

I didn´t spend as much time as I would have liked to do on my UFO as I had an unexpected visit last night. But I did stitch some blue flowers and you can make out another person as well as white picket fence.

Here is the picture from last week:

And this is the one from last night:

Part 2 Polstitches SAL finished

2007-02-28T21:44:00.000Z

Part 2 of the Polstitches SAL was published on tuesday. As it was UFO day yesterday I did resist and started it this morning. It was so lovely to stitch this part that I finished before lunch. The directions that Jo gives are great, I thought it would be difficult when I saw it but it wasn´t too hard. Here is a picture of part 2.

Success with Hardanger

2007-02-27T16:16:00.000Z

I find it very hard to resist a SAL and when it is challenging too I couldn´t say no. The girls at the Attic are doing a SAL. The designs that were chosen come from Loopylou Designs and are Hardanger Projects. We stitch a part of the design every month. We just started this in February. I chose to stitch the Holly Berry Design. I know this is a big project for me and a huge challenge but I know I can get a lot of support and motivation from the girls at the Attic. Here you can see a picture of my Part 1 finished. This picture doesn´t do the project any justice.

Blogger has been teasing me.

2007-02-27T14:47:00.000Z

I´ve tried for number of times to post into Blogger pictures of what I´ve been doing last week. But it always fails before the pictures get there so I give up. Here I go again.

This is a SAL (stitch-a-long) that I am taking part in on the Polstitches Forum. This is called "Sweet Dreams" and is a hardanger for beginners. This is the first part and we receive a new part every week. I really enjoyed stitching this and am looking forward to part 2.

Again a UFO update

2007-02-21T00:17:00.000Z

UFO updates seem to be the only posts that make it here. I´m busy with my studies and do not have enough time to stitch. But I did manage to stitch some more flowers.

Here is the before pic.

Here is the after pic.

UFO night last night

2007-02-14T11:10:00.000Z

Well, tuesday night last night so that meant some stitching on my UFO. It is coming along nicely and actually I am really enjoying stitching it and am looking forward to tuesdays. Here is the before picture.

And this is the after picture.

Mystery X - Happy dance

2007-02-10T01:24:00.000Z

Finally I am here with an update on Chatelaine Mystery X. I did finished Part 2 tonight with beads and all and it looks absolutely stunning. I did take a picture but I don´t think it shows the project correctly. But this will have to do you will have to imagine the beauty of this.

Chatelaine Mystery X growing

2007-02-04T00:56:00.000Z

I´m still working on Mystery X and it is going very well. I just love stitching with the silk threads, they are so soft against the linen fabric. This has become a favorite project of mine and I love to see it grow before my eyes. I have finished about half of part 2 and I think it looks more and more beautiful with every stitch I complete. The variegated threads make this piece spectacular. Here is a picture of what I have finished as of tonight.

IcelandMom

I can´t do anything but stitch this

2007-02-02T18:19:00.001Z

Part 2 of Mystery X by Chatelaine was published yesterday. I started yesterday and have worked on it today as well and I can´t put it down. I guess I´ll be working on it over the weekend until I finish. Here is a picture of what I have done so far.

UFO tuesday again yesterday

2007-01-31T21:17:00.000Z

Here I am again with an update on my UFO piece. Worked a little on it yesterday but not as much as I really wanted to because I had to attend a meeting in the evening which lasted from 6-9 o´clock. But here is my progress this time, it is moving along slowly.

Here is where I was before:

And this is the picture taken after:

Tuesday was UFO day

2007-01-24T00:03:00.000Z

Today was a UFO day so I dug into my stitching box and found a project that has been lying there since September 5th, 2006. I´ve been stitching on this piece today and I think I´m made quite some progress. I plan to work on it every tuesday until it is done. I enjoy stitching on it, that is not the problem, I think the problem is that it is stitched on aida. I enjoy more stitching on linen or evenweave. This is called "The Postman" and is a kit from Dimension. I started this in April 2005 so it is about time to finish this off.

Here is a picture of it before today.

And this is the picture after finishing tonight.

Now I´ll keep it until next tuesday when I plan to work some more on this.

I´m going on a stitching weekend abroad

2007-01-20T22:40:00.000Z

I´m sooooo excited about this event. I´ve been hanging out on the chat board at Jaynes Attic for quite a while and met a lot of wonderful ladies there. Jayne runs a wonderful stitching shop in England and she has a lot of great items in her shop. She is also wonderful to her customers. She teams up with Carol Tinson designer at Heirloom Embroideries every year for a stitchers meeting. This years event is taking place in Hull in England on May 12th and 13th and guess who is going............ :-) Carol is designing something exciting for this event and we all get to stay at a lovely hotel and stitch the weekend away, eating good food, making friends, and chatting away and just enjoying ourselves without being interrupted by husbands, boyfriends, children...........

I´ve spent some time last week getting my flight sorted out. I am flying to London on May 10th and coming back home on May 14th. I´ll arrive in London around lunchtime on thursday and stay the following night there. I´m planning to do a little (yeah right) shopping before leaving with the train to Hull on friday. I´ll be staying in Hull until sunday afternoon when I return to London with the train and stay there again for 1 night as I might have a little more shopping to do to fill up empty space in my suitcase. LOL And I´m coming back home late on monday evening. I´m getting so excited about this as I´m typing this. I´ve already booked the hotel in London so I´m almost all set to go.

This will be a sort of a graduation trip as I´ll just have finished my last course for finishing my degree at the University. And what better trip than this doing what I love to do. Do you know how to stop the butterflies fluttering around in my stomach..... LOL :-)

My Christmas present has arrived

2007-01-20T22:29:00.000Z

I don´t think I´ve told you about my Christmas present from my husband. Over the last couple of years I´ve been wanting to do a pattern designed by Martina Weber in Germany also referred to as Chatelaine. I really love her projects and finally gave into the temptation and signed up for Mystery X just before Christmas. Her designs call for silks and metallics, Swarowsky crystals and Delica beads but she always gives out convertion for DMC threads too. I wanted to do this in silks and just the way she designs it. I knew my husband is always in trouble when it comes to getting an idea on my Christmas present so this time I went to him and asked him if he´d like me to take care of it and order what I really wanted. He was quite happy with that so I ordered the kit for Mystery X from Cindy at ECC. You can see the material list and picture of the materials here. The kit finally arrived a little more than week ago. I got started right away as the first part of the Mystery arrived on January 1st. This is a mystery in 12 parts and we get one part each month on the 1st. Stitching with the silks and the metallics was sooooo wonderful that I didn´t really want to stop for other things (but unfortunately I had to). However I managed to finish the first part last night and here is a picture of my work. I did put the beads on but I decided to leave the crystals until the end but you can imagine the crystals being put in the backstitched squares. Now I can´t wait for part 2 to be published.

Blogger is giving me a hard time

2007-01-20T22:20:00.000Z

I´ve tried twice to send an update into my blog. And after writing all the exciting news blogger has thrown my posts away. So I´m going to put this into 3 posts this time and see what happens.

Last monday I met up with the girls from the Icelandic stitching group Allt i kross. It was great meeting up with everyone again especially as it had been a long time since I met them. I finished a little RR piece for Preeti in India while I was there. Here is a picture of the cute little angel.

Well, this wasn´t all I did on monday. I started a Lizzie Kate Blessing. This is a SAL that we are doing in the club Allt i kross. We are stitching one Blessing a month for the year 2007. Linda (the list mom) has translated the words into Icelandic so most of you won´t understand it. LOL Anyway, here is a picture of the first Blessing which I finished on tuesday.

I´m on a roll now

2007-01-11T12:05:00.000Z

I´m here again with a new finish. I loved stitching this piece it went so quickly. The theme of this RR is Calendar of Pant. The patterns are designed by Sue Cook and can be found here. I decided to stitch this one because it is so cold and winter like over here and I long for some sunshine and warmth. This RR is stitched for Samantha in UK. Here is a picture.

Another finish

2007-01-10T23:17:00.000Z

It´s been a few days but now I have another finish. Well not a complete finish as this is a SAL that I am working on. This is a Mystery SAL designed and published by Mary at Ozark Sampler. I´ve taken part in her two previous SAL´s and loved it but sadly I haven´t finished those two completely. :-( But this time I´m definately going to try to keep up with it. Here is the January part, looking great. The thread is hand dyed from Ozark Sampler and the fabric is hand dyed from Jayne at Jaynes Attic. This looks so pretty close up.

Today is a very special day because my daughter Jóhanna Brynja turned 1 year old today. I´ve been reminising about this day a year ago and am so grateful and happy that everything went well back then. Happy Birthday my sweet little girl. We are going to have a small birthday party for her on saturday with our family and friends coming over for cakes and coffee. It will be lovely.

I started my course at the Open University last monday so it is time to hit the books again but now I´m only doing one course instead of two last semester. This is my last course and if everything goes as planned I´ll graduate in the summer.

My next project will be a piece for a RR which will be a very quick stitch and then I´ll do a Lizzie Kate Blessing piece for a SAL with a group that I am a part of. More on that later.

Had to post this picture.

2007-01-03T23:04:00.000Z

My husband was going through the Christmas pictures and found this one of our youngest daughter Jóhanna Brynja. She turns 1 year old on January 10th. She had her first encounter with the Santa Claus just before Christmas and this picture was taken then. I just love the look on their faces.

2nd finish of the year

2007-01-03T21:19:00.000Z

Today I had a small HD stitching wise. I finished a RR piece for myself. This is intended to be a picture for my youngest daughter. I chose to stitch the pig and then I have patterns of a sheep, a hen and a cow. I am sure it will look very cute when it is finished. The designer is Joanne Sanderson and the pattern was published in Cross Stitcher Magazine Issue 181. I thought it looked so sweet. Here you can judge by yourself.

I don´t think I´ll be stitching more tonight but I´ll be back with pictures when I have more.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2007-01-01T17:41:00.000Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007

I want to start this post off by wishing you all and your families a Happy New Year and hope this year will be filled up with everything good. Hope your wishes and dreams come true and that you´ll see good health and happiness.

I´ve had a very good year so far. Spent last night with my family, no stitching last night but did catch up a little bit today with one finish. I finished off a RR piece that I was working on for Jeanne in UK. It was an Egyptian pattern and will make my first finish of 2007.

Here is a picture.

I plan on stitching some more tonight. I´m going to start another RR - this time it is a starter piece for myself that is due to be sent out on January 15th. It is a quick stitch and will be finished quickly. Will post a pic when it is done. Hope you´ll have a great day!

Happy New Year to you all

2006-12-29T11:43:00.000Z

This might be the last post for this year, I´m not sure. I am working on a small project which I hope to finish off tonight. If I do I will post a picture of it before the end of the year.

But I wanted to send you a belated wishes for Christmas. I hope you´ve spent wonderful Christmas time with your family and friends. And I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope you´ll get lots of time to stitch on your projects.

I´ll end this post with a Christmas picture of my little girls. I haven´t posted a picture of them for a long time. Hjalmfridur Briet is the oldest she is 9 years old, Fridbjorg Lilja is next in the age line, she is 6 and half years old and the youngest one is Johanna Brynja who will turn 1 year old on January 10th.

More photos from December

2006-12-29T11:21:00.000Z

Well, I did manage to stitch some more in December, mostly RR´s that got finished.

Here is one stitched for Melissa

And another one stitched for Teresa

Here is one for Margaret

And the last photo is an ornament from the JCS Ornament magazine 2006. I just have to finish this into an ornament, not sure how yet, any ideas would be appreciated.

Some photos

2006-12-29T11:01:00.000Z

Hello everybody.

Thought I´d keep the last entry short in case it would get lost. :-)

I wanted to post photos of the needle cushion and scissor fob that I stitched for Donni as gifts in the Advent Calendar Exchange. This was the first time that I stitch and make up a needle cushion and a scissor fob and I am very proud of the outcome.

This is a design from Carol Tinson which can be found online here:

Pin cushion and Scissor Fob

I just love her designs. I´ve signed up for her mystery sampler 2007 which I am going to make into a huswife. You might be wondering what a huswife is - well it is a fancy needlecase - as Carol puts it herself in the description. It will be stitched with Vikki Clayton hand dyed silk threads on Polstitches Hand Dyed 28ct Linen. I can´t wait to start this project. This will contain lots of new skills to learn as Carol uses quite a few speciality stithes for her designs but her instructions are so easy to follow and extra support in her message forum if needed.

Well here are the photos.

Here is the front

And this is the back.

I notice now when I look at the photos that I made a mistake when taking the photo of the back. I must have forgot to turn the scissor fob over because it is the same. Well, you´ll just have to use your imagination. :-) LOL

Here we go again

2006-12-29T10:48:00.000Z

I got so frustrated the other night when I was trying to post an update and my post blew away somehow. You´ve got to love Blogger when that happens. Anyway, here I am again hoping it will be better this time.

I´ve got to be the worst blogger ever but December just passed away so quickly.

I wanted to update you all on the advent calendar exchange. This is the biggest exchange I´ve ever taken part in but also the most interesting and fun of them all. I loved it and would do it again.

Day 3 - I received stickers with beautiful blue skies
Day 4 - A yellow highlight marker
Day 5 - A skein of black DMC
Day 6 - Number for DMC threads
Day 7 - A piece of Snickers (yummy bite with my coffee)
Day 8 - An ornament for my tree, made of glass like a tassel and it glistens when the light hits it
Day 9 - A pen - much needed as I always loose mine around the house
Day 10 - A needle threader
Day 11 - A pink highlight marker
Days 12 - 16 DMC threads in different colours - love those
Day 17 - Another skein of DMC floss
Day 18 - A small notebook
Day 19 - A stamped ornament for my Christmas Tree
Day 20 - A skein of DMC floss
Day 21 - A bookmark fabric to stitch on
Day 22 and 23 - More DMC
Day 24 - A piece of Snickers (again a yummy treat with my morning coffee)
Day 25 brought me the biggest gift which was a pattern from Heaven and Earth. I love it, it is called Fire in the Soul Storykeep and is a design by Michele Sayetta. This one goes straight to my ever growing to do pile. I´ll have to get my stitching moving in order to get to finish everything I´d like to do.

Thanks a lot for all the wonderful gifts Donni that you´ve sent me for the advent calendar exchange. I feel really spoilt and it was fun to receive gifts every morning for almost a month.

Christmas cleaning and first decorations up

2006-12-02T22:22:00.000Z

Well, I´ve spent today cleaning the house and it was high time too. I´ve been dusting, cleaning windows and putting up lights. Tomorrow is my oldest daughters birthday, she already turned 9 years old on November 28th but we are having family over tomorrow for coffee and cakes.

No stitching done today at all - hopefully I´ll be able to sit down with something to stitch tomorrow evening after the party.

Advent Calendar: Today I received a skein of White DMC floss. I´m very happy about this because it is a colour I always run out of, thanks a lot Donni.

Have a nice day today.

Christmas Holiday finally

2006-12-01T18:22:00.000Z

I wonder if anyone reads this blog, well, there hasn´t been much action lately in here.

I´m going to try to write a little every day in December. I handed in my paper for my course at the Uni today so I am officially on a Christmas Holiday until next course starts on January 8th, 2007. I´m so happy to have some time off, I´ve been working like crazy during the last weeks.

I wanted to tell you about an exchange that I took part in on one of the stitching groups I am a member of. It is an advent calendar and I got assigned a wonderful partner for this exchange who lives in USA. The idea was to send 24 small presents all wrapped up and one a little bigger present to be opened on December 25th. Well, today was the first day and this is what I received. This is a nifty gadget for stitching. It is a Magnetic Needle Case which will be very handy when I´m stitching away from home. Thanks Donni. Keep checking in with me to see what other little gifts I receive.

Until tomorrow have a nice day and take care. I´m going out to dinner with my husband getting a much needed night out to relax. :-)

Time really flies

2006-11-09T14:42:00.000Z

Hello everybody.

A time for an update, don´t you agree. I´ve been so busy reading school books and articles and writing assignments the last month that time has just passed away. It will be like this until the end of the month. I´ve got 2 papers due, first one on November 28th and the second one on November 30th. But then I´ve got the whole of December and the first week of January off and I am sure going to enjoy it.

I´ve tried to make time for a little stitching as well just to keep myself from turning crazy. I´ve managed to work on three RR pieces. Here are some pictures enclosed.

This is a Santa stitched for Charlene´s RR.

This one is for Sharee´s RR.

And the last one is for Sandra´s RR.

I also did two small pieces but I can´t show them here as they have been sent off as a gift for a friend who might be looking at this blog.

Well, I guess I´ll end this now, sorry about the difficult lighting in some of the pictures, this was the best I could do.

See you later.

Finally an update and a stitching photo

2006-10-17T22:14:00.000Z

Hello.

Long time since I wrote something but here I am. Handed in an assignment today for the University course so have a little time for breathing tonight (not long though as next assignment is due on tuesday next week).

I´ve managed to stitch a little which always feels great. I´m using every spare moment for stitching right now but unfortunately they are few and far between.

Here is a picture of my latest finish. This is a RR which I did for Veronica. I just loved stitching this little bird - it was fun watching it come to live.

I´ve started working on another small project which hopefully won´t take long time. Unfortunately I can´t show it to you just yet as it is meant to be a gift for a friend.

Well, I guess this is enough from me for now. Will try to update sooner.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

I haven´t disapeared

2006-09-24T22:41:00.000Z

Hello everybody.

I´m still here but now with limited time to stitch. I´m currently working on a model that I have almost finished so there will be no pictures of it - not yet. I´ve also been doing a little for a RR I´m a part of. I can´t wait to finish this model and send it off to the designer. Then I´ll have a lot more time for my own stuff. Am planning to get into some sort of a routine again.

My courses at the University have started again. This semester I have enrolled in two courses which will keep me very busy but will at the same time enable me to have next summer completely free (I love that idea). There is a lot of reading to do and an assignment due tomorrow but that is all taken care of. :-)

The girls are doing great, the older two are working hard at school and enjoying it at the same time. The little one is growing a lot. She has got quite a temper and wants to decide what is to be done - she amuses me a lot - it is so much fun to watch her and see how quickly she is learning new things. She is crawling all over the place now and stands up everywhere so she has to be watched completely when she is awake. :-)

This weekend was lovely - we went to a show yesterday - it was a famous Icelandic singer called Björgvin Halldórsson that we went to see and we enjoyed it a lot. :-)

I´m off for now, I´ll try to post more often from now on, it doesn´t take that long.

Take care and have a lovely week.

UFO - The postman

2006-09-06T11:45:00.000Z

I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours last night to work on my UFO. It is going slowly but surely is all I can say. I´m adding a picture after last night but I´m afraid it doesn´t show a lot of progress.

Healthwise, everybody are on their feet again but a lot of caughing and sneezing around the house.

Till later, bye.

Sick family

2006-09-02T14:28:00.000Z

Well, it is official - the autumn has arrived (at least it has in our house). Everybody in the family is sick. It started with me on wednesday and then the rest of the family got sick as the days passed and today we are all under the weather. I´m almost back to normal which leaves me running around trying to keep everybody else comfortable. I´ll be happy once this is over - I hardly slept a wink last night because my little one was miserable with stuffy nose and running a fever.

So, not much happening with my stitching, well, I managed to complete part one of a little projects which has to remain a secret for now so no picture of it just yet. It comes in 3 parts and I have part 2 almost completely stitched, only backstitch left to do.

Happy news, I received my grades for 3 small assignments and am over the moon with the results.

Well, off to take care of my youngest one as she is awake from her nap.

Talk to you all later.

UFO night last night

2006-08-30T02:18:00.000Z

Can´t believe how long it´s been since I stitched on The Postman by Dimensions. It has been my UFO project for a year now (didn´t realize it was that long) and I´ve had tuesday to stitch on it. I haven´t touched it since January due to something coming up on tuesday. It was lovely to stitch on it again last night and I made some progress, nothing much but I´m slowly getting there. A pic will follow in the end.

Other than that things are quiet over here, my little one has just learnt how to crawl and she is all over the flat now and has started to move really fast especially when she thinks I´m not looking.

Have a wonderful day!

2006-08-28T22:44:00.000Z

Jæja, loksins ákvað ég að láta verða af því - bara byrja að blogga. Veit ekki hversu mikið vit verður í því sem birtist hérna en mig langar til að halda til haga því sem ég er að dunda mér við að sauma út. Ég veit ekki hvað ég er að gera en ég hlýt að læra á þetta fljótlega. Hérna er nýjasta "klárið" í saumaskapnum, RR-inn hennar Hafrúnar sem ætti að vera kominn í hennar hendur núna.

I´ve often wondered if I should try to keep some kind of a diary of my stitching by creating a blog. I´ve been visiting number of blogs and think this is a neat idea so why not give it a try.
I must warn you I know absolutely nothing about what I´m doing. I´m enclosing a pic of the latest finish stitchwise - a RR piece for Hafrún.