Hello !

Hello! How are you ? 

I have been away for a long time and yes, I did miss you all :(

Life was on the move for the past two years, shifted to new home, DD got into a good college and she is now in a hostel. I am recovering from empty nest syndrome and adjusting to a new and different phase of life. Thanks to the technology I can keep in touch with her frequently:)

I have been fulfilling my crafting needs as that is a part of my survival kit :) And I have been sharing few things on Instagram too. Sharing here a recent finish 'Spring fairy' from Soda stitch. 

Everyday, I think I will write a blogpost but sometimes you have to do things impromptu and that's how you are seeing me here :) I have been in touch with afew of you on Instagram that helped me keep connected. I have lost the habit of  writing blogpost and I do see some changes in the application as well.

Can't wait to see what you all are creating ! Incase you are on Instagram, my handle is @createwittyunleashed

Nice to come back here :))

Preeti

I know you are missing my posts :D

Hello all, Thanks for your comments on my previous post :)

It has been more than a month I did not post. Life was/is busy, but I wasn't away from my crafting and could also manage to read your blogs, albeit not regular.

Here is my colorful crochet table runner that I made last month. I posted it on my Ravelry account. I am a member of a group that was having a two month event to make something colorful for the home. A table runner was due and I was inspired to not only join but also complete in time:)

The free pattern is from Frida's flowers. I chose three types of hexagons and joined them. I used Anchor knitting cotton and 2.75mm hook. For border, I made rounds of single crochets in three shades.

Block 3

Block 6

Block 7

Hope you liked my table runner. I also started some sewing project last month and another crochet table cloth which are progressing at a snail's pace. It has been a month I haven't cross-stitched. I did some needlepoint stitching using a kit that required working with yarn. I missed the delicateness of threads so I kept it aside for some time(read few months)

I have another good news, we bought a new house and this time it is not a flat/apartment but an independent house in a gated community. We are having some tile work, lift work(we have a lift in the house:) It is G+2 floors. I am into designing and researching again for interiors. I thought of taking a break from blogging but then I don't think I can be away for a long time, and reading blogs doesn't take that long as to plan and write blog-posts. So mostly, I will be here to enjoy with you:)

Have a great day!
Preeti

The gift revealed!

Thank you for your comments and suggestions in my last post.
I guess few of you thought that I was asking about the swirls in the background of flowers which I was anyways going to stitch. It were the single crosses within the flower bunch that I was not sure about and I am still not, even now. I will stitch everything and then will sample one bunch with the crosses and see the difference. There are total three bunches.

I have another finish to share which is again from the twelve new starts this year.

This is my first ever card for my mother :)

I call my mother 'Aai' as in my mother tongue Marathi (a regional language from the state of Maharashtra). I don't remember making any card for my mother when I was a kid or even when I was a grownup. I however did cook for her when I was in college.

The design is by Angela Poole from the magazine Cross Stitch Collection, March 2012. I changed the original word 'Mum' to 'Aai' with my own font design to fit in.

I had mentioned about it as a secret stitching gift in this post. I thought I would send her before my visit in April this year but I could not complete it. While at her home, I couldn't secretly stitch and then, back home, I got busy preparing for family vacation so it got dragged again. I completed the stitching last month and instead of turning into just a card, I framed it. I finished just in time, a night before when Raj was about to fly next day to the same city to attend a family event. She was very happy and surprised to receive it:)

It is better I do not speak about vacation photos. I just hope I won't give up posting those after dragging so long.

I am also working on a crochet table runner which is almost done and could make an appearance in my next post.

Have a nice weekend !
Preeti

Stitching update and call for a suggestion...

Thank you for your comments on my last post ! I won't say I could not reply due to blogger issues because I haven't been prompt in replying in last few months, maybe an year, ok, few years but not never :D

I have been working mostly on two projects, one I cannot show as it is meant for gifting and it is already delayed:(

Here is my progress on another one of my twelve new starts this year, Bellle & Boo Gardening.

After

Before

I used a plain white aida fabric, so I changed the dress color to cream which was white in the main design and also the print on the dress was nice but annoying to stitch, so I changed that as well to a simple print. Only backstitching is remaining. I hope it will be done by next week.

I need a suggestion on my Allium flowers project. There are some single stitches/confetti stitches in variegated shade in between flowers. Do you think the design looks more beautiful with that or if I leave those stitches, will my flowers look less pretty? I think both questions are same, anyways, but do let me know your opinion. I need to change the thread as I am using different fabric color. I also ran out of one shade so this project is on hold for sometime. Here is the close-up of original design.

Original design

 My progress so far

About my trip photos, well, there are thousands and I selected few hundreds. Don't worry I won't show all here :D For a trip of two weeks, one camera, three smartphones and a teenager with Instagram account, this is bound to happen. I feel old days life of limited camera rolls was easier to manage. I will definitely share in next post.

Happy creative week ahead!
Preeti

I am back :)

Hope you all are doing great ! I was travelling in April and May and was not having proper internet access and time to check on your blogs.

In April, I went to my hometown with family. My mother wasn't feeling well to make an yearly visit here so we visited her. I had a nice time relaxing for a week and did some cross stitch as well there.

Then we came back and we went off to a family vacation to England and France for fifteen days. In between, a lot of time was spent in shopping and packing. And again, back home, I am spending lot of time unpacking and rearranging things. I would share pics but that is going to take lot of time to shortlist. Meanwhile, I can show my cross stitch progress on one of my twelve new starts this year.

Stylised allium flowers - designed by Lesley Teare from the magazine Cross stitch collection, May 2011

After 

Before

I will be soon visiting your blogs.
Have a great week ahead!
Preeti

Making....

...some progress on my projects and some mundane everyday stuff.

We went on a weekend trip to complete our yearly visit to a pilgrim place. Anshita's exams were over last week but there was some glitch in one of the subjects and students were supposed to take a re-exam for that subject. That was going to be a huge spoiler but since around 2 million students were going to be affected, the examination board decided not to have re-exam for the entire nation but only in the affected areas. That was a big relief for us. This was an important checkpoint exam for her which is conducted at national level. So now she is having fun doing movie marathon and doesn't bother how much her mom shouts at her :) I have given up too :(

Here is my progress on cross stitch card, one of the twelve new projects started this year. I am making for someone who reads my blog, but not that regularly and may not have an idea that I am making it for her :)

After

Before

Few food items I made last week

Chilli Paneer 

I am getting good at making this - that's my daughter's verdict, and she is a big foodie:)

Mixed lentils cutlets

Tried it for the first time. It has 5 different types of lentils and spices.

Bread Margherita pizza 

To make eating store bought bread more appealing :)

Some random craft shopping I did in February. 

laces & trims

frames, tags etc.

Jewelry making materials

I have family travel plans in April and May. Anshita is having summer vacation of two months in April and May so have to make most of it including having her organize her own things and possibly teach her some household work other than just fetching a glass of water and keeping her snacks plate in the sink instead of just on the dining table. Ok, enough of cursing my bad mothering. I hope I can get blogging and crafting time in these two months.

Have a great week!

Preeti

Some progress and a gift from a blogger friend:)

Life is just as busy as always and there shouldn't be a reason for not squeezing in few hours a week to write a blogpost:)

I made a good progress on two of my new starts this year-

Stylised allium flowers - designed by Lesley Teare from the magazine Cross stitch collection, May 2011

After

Before

This is how it will look when done

Smiles all round - designed by Margaret Sherry from the magazine The WOCS, issue 240

After : stitched lots of browns

Before : believe me, both stitching are in the same direction:)

This is how it will look when done

My blogger friend, Catherine, from the blog - I Love to Stitch - enjoys cross stitch and jewellery making. Her beading work is very neat and lovely! It is so nice of her that she made a beautiful beaded crystal ball for me:) Thank you Catherine, your gift is so pretty! It took a long time to reach me. She posted in January and I received it last week. I am glad it did not get lost in the transit.

Isn't it delicate and beautiful ? Few months back, I had purchased lots of jewellery making stuff. Seeing beading tutorials on pinterest, I used to think it looks quite easy to make but, when I started making it, I realized that it is not as easy as it looks. I couldn't make it firm at all and the beading needles are too delicate to handle.

Anshita took pictures of some flowers at home but she was too busy to shortlist them. I will share few images in each of subsequent posts. There are no more flowers now but it is good to see that there were some pretty ones in my small balcony garden.

Button roses

Thanks for seeing!
Have a crafty week ahead!
Preeti:)