A birthday beetle

No-sew cubes are my go-to finish technique at the moment because they are so easy, yet look so impressive. I decided to make one for my niece, who is turning 22 next week. We got together for her birthday and Easter yesterday so I was able to give it to her then. She likes red and black so I decided the best thing I could do would be to make her a ladybird one. I got a hold of some small ladybird print fabric through a facebook de-stash group, added some red and black ribbon, a little bit of bling and a red bow. Here is the completed cube, although it's much more vibrant and red in real life:

• Name of the design is, well it didn't have one
• Chart is a freebie from here
• Fabric is an opalescent white evenweave
• Thread is DMC cotton
• Stitch count is 36 x 37
• Started in March 2014
• Completed in March 2014

Ladylike Exchange

A few months back I participated in a "ladylike" exchange - we were to stitch something pertaining to the theme and send it along with 6 other "ladylike" items to our partner. Everybody has received their items so I can now show you what I chose to stitch. My partner didn't have a blog so I had to guess what she may have been interested in. Here's a pic of all the items I sent:

Included was a black and silver sparkly scarf, lipgloss, a butterfly notepad & envelopes, sweet treat magnets, butterfly notebook, nail art, a handmade card and the stitched piece. Here's a close up pic of the stitched piece I chose:

• Name of the design is an adaption of "Ooh la la"
• Chart is designed by Sue Hillis
• Fabric is 28 count lightly mottle pink and white evenweave. I think this might be "strawberry milkshake" 
• Thread is DMC - cotton and rayon
• Stitch count is 98 x 115 on the original design, but I omitted the wording around the border
• Started in February 2014
• Completed in March 2014. I finished it with a string of beads around the edge of both the black fabric backing piece and the pink stitched piece, buttons in the corners, assorted beads, the included bag charm and made some ties for the dress out of black thread. 

Here's what my partner sent me:

There's the stitched piece, blue printed fabric, tea bags, thread, fabric, chart and magazine.

Crazy Karate Weekend

Whew! DS & I traveled interstate over the weekend for both the Australian Open Karate Championships & the Schools & Universities Championships and what a whirlwind trip it was! We had to leave home at 3.20am Thursday and somehow I managed to sleep through the alarm for the first time ever. I woke up at 3.15am - you do the maths! Needless to say the trip started with that crazy, jittery, panicked feeling and it only slightly improved from there due to early starts, late nights, waking almost hourly, a constant headache and stress.

Friday saw DS compete in 3 events - both kata and kumite in the school's event, and kata in the Aus Open. He performed really well in his first round kata but lost 2-3 in a decision that was surprising to many, not just me. Let's leave it at that. ;-) . Had the decision gone his way there was a good chance he could have gotten a bronze medal in that event. Next up was kumite and he only needed to win one fight to make the final. He was up 1-0 with about 20 seconds left on the clock but managed to get 4 penalties and be disqualified. He has only even been disqualified twice in his life, the other time being at the same event last year. This tournament just doesn't seem to be a good one for him. However, this still allowed him to win a bronze medal in this event.

Next up was kata again and he did really well, losing in the 3rd round to the finalist. This meant he had a chance to try for 3rd place but lost one round short of it, but he was very happy to have gotten that far. The next day was kumite and again he had to win his first fight to make the final, but unfortunately he was against the multiple state/national champ but went down fighting and lost 0-4 with the other boy scoring just twice on him. This is a vast improvement on past fights against him as he is from the same state and regularly fights DS in local tournaments. DS seems to have improved and was definitely in the fight, being more aggressive. He then had to fight for 3rd place and at time scores were tied 1-1. The 5 judges then vote on who they feel was the better fighter and scores were 2-3 against him, so one vote between him and another bronze medal.

All up it was a positive experience and it shows he is in the mix as all the best kids in the country were competing and he held his own. Next up - Kobe Osaka in May.

Another day, another finish

This one took far less time than I expected, but it is mainly small stitched areas, blackwork and a lot of "air". I can't even remember how I came across this, but I did discover the designer (Kirsten Schmidt) is the owner of a blog that I've visited before and I've even stitched a few of her freebies that she posts there. She also has a website where this pattern came from. I'm not sure what drew me to this as I'm not a huge fan of Autumnal colours, or birds. I do however like blackwork and things that are a little "out there" and different.

• Name of the design is "Blatterflug" or "Leaves Flight"
• Chart is from Kirsten Schmidt, available on her website
• Fabric is 28 count opalescent fabric called "Frangipani Opal" from Sew-It-All. It is a lightly mottled peachy/tan kind of colour. 
• Thread is the called for DMC cotton
• Stitch count is 180 x 170
• Started on March 7th 2014
• Completed on April 1st 2014. I think I'll frame this is a brown wooden frame, and give it to my dad for Father's Day.