40.... and still a good girl !! :)

Thank you so much for your wishes on my Birthday !!:) I have replied through email to whoever I had access to and the rest I did on my post . Thanks for being there for me always and making my Birthday special !!!:)

Although I was pampered but I still maintained to be a good girl and did my crafty homework too . I will share my goodies but here is my cross stitch progress on ladybird fairy.

Completed hair

My Bday was on 13th but since Anshita was having a competitive exam on 14th so we went for the party on 14th after her exam. But I got the gifts on 13th :) 

This is an elegant watch which my mother gave me when she was here in January, we all went to shopping for this . It is a Titan Raga collection watch, a famous Indian brand for its artistic designs.

Every year Anshita makes a card for me, this year she made two different things . A bling pouch, I wanted one. She got a blue plain pouch and then decorated it with bling stickers. It is very cute :)) The one in the background is store bought jewelry box (also a bday gift).

Another innovative thing was this coupon booklet, where she and Raj both added their services which I can make use of on any particular day of my choice . The day I use a service coupon, they will work without any excuses :) The one with peace sign is Anshita's company and the one with moustache sign is Raj's company . Here are few coupons !!

Some more goodies........

Jewelry, I love earrings. No diamonds and gold but I like stones and crystals. There is a sewing machine pendant too.

Crafty things : Buttons, cards, fancy sticky notes, a fence, and the pencil crayon colors. These colors are expensive and I have no idea how to use them.

Lots of books and a diary which says, 'I am going to make the rest of my life the best of my life '

and two letter pads with printed pages inside similar to cover images

These are the needlework books I asked for

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Some more gifts: the smiley one is a magnetic whiteboard duster . The one in candy shape box has soap paper bits . The owl ones are magnetic clips . Seeing me move with my iPad cable from one room to another , he got one more extra pair for me . But as a good wife , I saved it for later :)

Ever since I saw blackwork on Mii's blog , I developed interest in blackwork and asked Raj to get this lovely design 'Julia' from Ajisai Press . I also purchased the cross stitch magazine having the ladybug design as on Mii's blog.

Other than these, Raj gave me one more cross stitch software, 'Cross Stitch professional platinum plus' from DPsoftware . I am waiting for two more books and a fitbit that he has ordered .

So that was definitely a mega 40 for me !!! :) We also had our anniversary on 17th and we completed 14 years together . Looking forward to my next milestone, turning 50. Hopefully, I will make it there healthy and wise :) 

Have a crafty week ahead!

Preeti :)

Happy Birthday to me :))

Today is my Birthday and I have turned 40 !!!:)

It is a job free day today and I am enjoying . 

Nothing crafty to share today, I will share some pictures as I wasted spent a carefree time on Pinterest yesterday evening .

Just for fun . 

Want to see more? Click here and here .

Sewing box cake 

Buttons muffins. 

Want to see more? Click  here .

Miniature crochet granny square

Miniature sewing box . 

Want to see more? Click here 

My basket is still filling up . I will share my gifts next week :)

Thank you for reading the long post and being there for me . Makes my Bday more special:)

Have a nice weekend!!

Preeti :)

Just to say hi, a bit long one !! :)

Thanks for your lovely comments on my doily in the last post !! I enjoyed making it :)
This is a loooooooooong post . Make sure you have enough time and not going to bed . Don't worry, you aren't going to get anything out of it, so if you want to miss, just miss it :) I forgot to write about my Birthday plans and last post was a bit of quick one so I will share it in the end of this post . Nothing much, just random chat:)

I did not make much progress on stitching but I am done with my secret crochet gift and it has been posted too ! I hope the recipient will be happy :)  I cannot show you until she receives .

This is where I have reached as far as stitching is concerned, did some more coloring in the flower . It is big (around 4 inches) so it is taking time .

I was bored with only animal stitching so I took my Lady Bird fairy yesterday and could manage only few stitches - the yellow ones in the bottom .

I have also opened a new Ravelry account for my new crochet pattern website . So those who are on Ravelry can reach me here .  And one facebook page too . I am a very lazy facebook user, I don't use even the personal one for weeks . I just call my best school friends on their Bdays . And most of my cousins call me on my Bday if they are in India. Those in the US, depends on their mood and time else I am as happy to receive a personal email too. So those who have a facebook page for their crafty things, reach me here and I will be glad to reach you :)


Now about the Bday plan. Well, it started with what I want or what I want Raj & my mom to give me  :) . My mom doesn't take the risk of trying on her own for the fact that I wanted a big gift for my 40th and given the fact that I don't like Gold and Diamonds, it was difficult to find gifts . Anyways, I have told them that I will be happy to receive more number of small gifts than one huge gift .
So a budget was fixed because there were some known gifts I wanted to buy, nothing special, they could have been classified against my normal expenses/splurges as well. But when you say a Bday gift, you do it without guilt, isn't it ? :D

Hmmm....have you reached until here? I haven't even started :D
My planned gifts were definitely some books and crafty things, so I searched for lot of patterns and charts and spent many hours on the internet and then gave up :( I was surprised but each time I felt I wasn't convinced to buy anything . And at the end of each surfing session, it was like I have lots, I don't need anything . Then I decided that I will splurge half the amount and remaining half I will donate . But few days after I could not come up with even for half the budget. No, no, don't think the budget is huge . It is decent for a 40th B'day and is in Indian currency so no need to get jealous ;)

And since the budget was supposed to be inclusive of what Raj and Anshita want to give, I could not have been mean to spend all and go over budget to accommodate their gifts . But still being a little selfish, I wanted to have what I want and not just what I was being gifted. So I again turned greedy :) Finally, I decided to have what I want within the limit and leaving them some part of budget to use . Do you think why I am talking about budget for Bday gifts? That's because few years back we used to spend a lot on Bday gifts and then we thought it is not needed so just keep it simple every year unless it is a milestone Bday.

I have kept a basket and I am adding the known gifts as and when I am receiving those . When Anshita and Raj saw that, they started to put their gifts, one per day in the basket .  The next day, that gift is replaced with another :) Those are the teasers and I am not suppose to open until my Birthday. They didn't had any plans to put in basket though, basket was my girly way of enjoying but I guess he is doing that because Anshita is still not capable of keeping secrets smartly :)

You made it until here? You are the real friend ;) A friend who reads is a friend indeed :D

But do you think I forgot about the donating part I mentioned ? Nope, after all these tantrums, I decided that I will donate the equivalent amount of total gifts from my account . I know my expenses and it is upto Raj to tell me how much he want to add his. If he wants me to donate more, he have the option of inflating his budget :) In this way, I will keep track of not spending too much. Gift or donation, whatever, we will end up with double expense on family . My Birthday is on 13th, so we usually don't have any gifts left until Valentine day .

Yes, I am done now, tired, I need food :)

Have a nice day!
Preeti

Playing with colors:)

Hello, here is another color-burst crochet doily which I mentioned few weeks back .

Known as Affinity doily, you can find the free pattern here . 

I used silky rayon like threads with pearly shine that we get in cones here and 1.5mm hook . These threads aren't meant for doilies, but I love the glaze and shade range . It is not easy to block either and may not be durable . That's the reason I can't give this as gift . So I am making another secret gift which I am almost done with :)

Have a crafty day/night :D

Preeti 

Reporting my progress

Thank you so much for your support on my new venture !! :) I am feeling motivated !!

Here is my progress on cross stitch, crochet and one more new thing :)

Jungle Japes, Height Chart by Durene Jones. I did the tree trunk on the bottom left and few animals on the top.

Here is the close up of the top - monkey, frog and a wild flower. I ran out of threads for these and have ordered yesterday . 

Some colorful crochet in the making .

Harvested spinach from my balcony garden

My mom was here in the month of January. I framed this Humming Bird cross stitch I did last year and gave it to her . This was among the beginning cross stitch projects and I did not quite get the right fabric size . So I was left with more on the top side . I think that is fine .

I made this first printable on Adobe Illustrator. Most of the tags, including button images , are done from the scratch . Now that I need to maintain two websites and other hobbies too, I need to ensure I have time for all . If I just do what I am feeling, then I will be frustrated for not doing the other things I love .

  

I could not get any simple crafty timetable online. This one will contain higher level activities and not specific projects I want to work on. For eg. Planned will have Crochet on Monday, Cross stitch on Tuesday etc. Indulgences is like for me - minimum 15min. of book reading, maximum 15min. of Pinterest. I spend 45 min. on newspaper reading daily :(

This will not conatin any household activities. I maintain that on a free simple iPad app - Jamie's To Do. You can see that app here . There is a lovely story behind it. A developer husband made it as a gift for his wife .

If anyone of you have multiple hobbies and interested in this timetable, I will email you this image file.

My Birthday is falling this month and is a milestone Birthday - 40th :) I am busy energizing the two people at home to do something and they have started obliging :) I already got a lovely gift from my Mom when she was here . Have you seen what crafty things I made on Raj's 40th B'day? If not, then take a look here .

I will tell you more about my B'day plans for myself in next post :D . Right now, I am done with enough words for you to read:)

Thanks for reading and seeing!!
Preeti