Nayu's Project Progress #45 Hachette Partworks Beatrix Potter Sampler (Spring)

 

Been a few months since I've done one of these. I will get back to my Hachette Partworks Disney Crochet project, been working on others I can't show online yet (or for a long time). However, most Fridays see me working on my cute Beatrix Potter Spring sampler. There will be 4 in total, one for each season, all from Hachette Partworks. I don't like all the characters so some I will skip out, but you can see in the photo above what all four samplers will look like from the front of the folder cover (that's wear I put each issue's pages, there are other patterns plus information about the famous author and illustrator.

 I'm currently working on finishing Timmy Tiptoes a squirrel plus his friend. My favourite so far is the mouse, Hunca Munca, but I adore bunnies and squirrels too. Hopefully the next time I do one of these posts I will have started the next character!

Nayu's Project Progress #43 Coming soon!

 

I have done much more of this Attic24 Cupcake blanket! Will share updated pic soon

I'm sorry for not posting for so long! Life keeps happening, and it's irritating to me, trust me! But I've been busy working on various projects including a babIy blanket. 

Felt 2 towels for £12 was a bargain in this kit

Yesterday two fun new kits arrived. I found some sweet Hello Kitty cross stitch hand towels, and as I need more than one guest towel (I have Winx Club hand towel and thankfully don't have guests often so can easily wash it but I've wanted to have more cute ones) I took the offer which was 40% off. I think you can agree they are adorable! Unfortunately the adorable matching toilet roll holder is unavailable except for a hideously high price but I reckon I can figure out the design from the picture with graph paper so can still have that cuteness in my life as it's so adorable. 

 

Anyway....the other kit I got was what I call embroidery. I know cross stitch is embroidery too, but I mean all the other embroidery stitches. I wanted something nice, and saw this beautiful cushion. I adore African Violet flowers, and the colours really spoke to me. Felt so overwhelmed when I opened the kit as I've never done a large scale project, it looked quite complex and has stitches I've never done (long and short) and another I can't recall. The long and short is simple and effective way to create realistic looking petals, I hate not being uniform so I will copy the long and short from the picture so that I'm still working to something as I can see where they do the long and short stitches (If you do embroidery you'll understand what I'm talking about, if you don't, well, it's hard to explain). The other new stitch is absolutely gorgeous and makes up the white scroll effect. So this is a daunting project and it will take take me absolutely ages to finish but will be totally worth it and is exactly what I've wanted. 

 I will keep you updated on these and other projects very soon! 

Nayu's Project Progress #42 Gorjuss Winter Friend

 

Previous progress

It's been a long week and a bit of me still recovering from the cold that started 2 weekends ago. I haven't fully got rid of it, i cough throughout the day and I can tell the germs haven't left yet. So I am resting lots, mostly gaming but I have done some cross stitch and the polar bear now has an outline! 

 

It's coming along nicely and is going to look so cute when it's finished.

 

The weather is sunnier than it has been for a long time which is a mood lifter. Lately my rose bush has begun to bloom and i love opening my back door as I instantly smell the traditional rose scent which is just lovely and makes me smile. It's the little things which can make quite a difference. 

Nayu's Craft Time #234 October 2022 Update

 

It's been how long????? (Madoka surprised in the anime Aikatsu!)

Massive apologies as I thought I had posted sooner than April this year. Life is happening, albeit it slowly. I mostly chat on my Twitter feed. I will be back here with craft posts hopefully soon. There's life stuff ongong that I can't talk about which does affect my daily life a lot. I hope one day I can talk about it, and it's why I'm sporadic with blog posts. While technically I am anonymous here I could say what's going on but I feel until the issue is resolved (no clue when that will be) I don't mention it online.

However, I do have some upcoming posts I hope to share soon. I have started a new weekly (if the next issues turn up soon) crochet project, it's a Disney Crochet magazine with weekly magazines providing yarn and pattern for squares in a crochet blanket. I also finished a cross stitch project of an old fashioned looking girl (think sepia tones) and started a cute hamster which reminds me of a guinea pigs.

My girls Tulip and Snow are doing wonderfully. We survived the heatwaves this summer much better than I expected. My flat stays relatively cool, I only used my fan twice to keep the temp down. I did wrap ice blocks in fleece and pop them in the cage but they mostly ignored them. Snow kept having haircuts since she is long-fur, she looked rather funny at times! My two zebra finch males, Tomoya and Hibiki are both doing great too.

I am gaming as much as ever, trying to read more, and relaxing as much as possible.

Unfortunately due to the Queen dying, my intended ketamine infusion on 19th September couldn't happen. My next one is in a few weeks, it is much needed now and dealing with extra pain is not fun but I'm managing.

Hopefully the next update will be really soon! Take care until then. 

Nayu's Craft Time #318 Necessary flu jab & lots of gaming

Not got wellies but my boots will keep my feet dry today

I am around! You can find me on Twitter most days. I had the flu jab which affected me sooner and stronger than it usually does, that was last week. I have been a bit busy, I am about to head out to town and a car service but here is a gaming post over on Nayu's Reading Corner to find out what I'm enjoying at the moment, if you miss my tweets/aren't on social media. Craft is happening slowly too, no update photos yet but hope to do some today. Have a super day! 

This is hilarious!

Nayu's Craft Time #291 Hot weather + craft = ?

The heatwave continues!

If you follow me on Twitter (link in the side bar -> ) you'll know I've been having a quiet week resting as I wasn't well last week. I've mostly been gaming on Dragon Quest Builders, not only because I'm obsessed with it but certain crafts don't mix well in hot weather. I've a load of cute cross stitch projects but for some reason I absolutely hate how metal needs feel when it's hot. It makes me feel like a lot of people feel when fingernails are scratched on a chalk board: 

This was a common sight when I was little.

In case not everyone knows what a chalk board is, since these days schools use whiteboards, when I was at school whiteboards didn't exist. Chalkboards were used, they were usually black or a weird green colour, and chalk was used to write on them, not whiteboard markers There's a hideous sound that can be made by dragging fingernails or other material on a chalk board which irritates everyone. 

None of this for me at the moment

So (or should it be sew?!!) no sewing for me. Equally no crochet because while I use crochet hooks with rubber grippy material on the base the top part is metal. 

I love Clover crochet hooks and Clover butter!

That leaves me with 1 knitting project which I will do in a few days, once I'm over the worst of my mega strong meds that I'm having later today. I'm scheduling a couple of posts up during that time. 

Is there any craft/other activity you can't do when the weather is rather hot? 

You can insert your favourite colour with this saying!

Project Progress #37 Girl Picking Pears part 1

Want to guess what this could be?

I've had various people visiting, had my birthday recently (no date being revealed for privacy reasons) which meant I did take a few days to just relax and work on my own project for once. Started a new one, even though I've another unfinished I just wanted to start one I'd got recently. I think you'll agree this is a cute one! 

I had to unpick and redo the first part I sewed in the middle, the start the girl's right sleeve (the one on the left, just to confuse you) (white/cream) because I'd made a monumental mistake. It wasn't putting one stitch the wrong colour, it was missing an entire row! I was more frustrated at the fabric being made weaker than any time 'wasted' (maybe that's just my style of unpicking with a stitch unpicker). Anyway, I got past that, started a brown and am just doing whatever colour I feel like once I finish a section. 

I will shortly be back to crochet and sewing for others, with occasional sewing projects for me (maybe 1 week a month, I'll see). See you next time!

Nayu's Craft Time #285 Update on technology issues

Not my picture!

I couldn't think of a better title, sorry! Been wading through emails, including what seems like a zillion GDPR or whatever the initals to the newest data protection thingy is, and I simply couldn't come up with a good title. It's accurate, just not very exciting. 

Twitter woes & shameless plug to follow me @Nayuleska

I prefer to do not so good news first so here is an update on a current issue: I'm still having problems getting my blog posts to auto-update on Twitter. It is looking possible I will have to do Tweet all posts manually, but I'm awaiting confirmation on that from the amazing Hootsuite team. 

I'm  not sponsered by them, I use their services & they are awesome at customer care! Especially if you don't have a clue what you are doing.

 I still have a backlog of tweets up to March to post up, I hope to do this over the next few weeks. I will not being doing it all in one day in case I get into trouble with Twitter - I'm not sure on how many tweets I can put up in a day without annoying everyone. I'm aiming for 3-5. Please bear with me on this. 

Yet another shameless plug - come check out my shop on Etsy!

The good news about technology is that I may be getting my specially designed NCD logo back as a background! Some of you may have noticed there has been something down the sides of this blog. I noticed this myself last week - yes I'm really unobservant. I played around for a few minutes with the Blogger template, and for whatever reason my picture, which isn't even in my account but my designer's has been reinstated. The margins are completely wrong at the moment which is why I've still got the white background, but at some point over the next few weeks I will fiddle some more and see what I can come up with. As far as I know this shouldn't be happening because Photobucket made it very clear they would charge for users to keep using what had been a free service (at least I think that's what happened). I mentioned it briefly on this blog here, and in more depth on my other blog, Nayu's Reading corner. I'll be very happy if it is back for good! 

Most played game at the moment!

Other news - been busy resting and doing lots of cross stitch - will give a project progress post very soon. Family had a cold, I didn't get one exactly but I was unwell, hence the lack of blog posts. Then there was the thunderstorm which almost always gives me a headache, but I managed to prevent a migraine which is a miracle. I've happily been gaming which is always fun - I had forgotten both how funny and how grim Final Fantasy IX can be. Find out more on Nayu's Reading Corner 

It's another one!

Nayu's Project Progress #37 Girl Power!

I've been chillin'!

Morning all! Apologies for the slightly long lapse in posts - life got busy, plus family got a cold and my body threw a wobbly, then I simply had a few days R&R to myself. All recharaged (minus stupid cold weather spell that body is hating) and back blogging! Here's what I've started this week, a cute mobile phone case using cross stitch embroidery. 

The title is because girls are cool and I love being a girl! Plus this is a cute girl ^u^

 I got it from a friend ages ago, and it's actually the perfect size for my non-smart non-touchscreen phone. I didn't tweet about it because I'm not 100% sure how well I can replicate the backstitch which will make the girl look like a cute anime girl, but I'll do my best! What do you think? I'd love to hear if you're working on a sewing project at the moment! It's very engrossing, great to do when catching up with TV. 

Creativity has endless possibilities, it's not just sewing!

Nayu's Craft Time #340 Cushion sewing!

Finally finished my latest sewing experiment!

So, I'd hoped to post sooner but due to needing my mega meds last week I've been out of action. I had fun doing some cross stitch which I didn't take a photo of while over at my crafty friend's house last Monday (a week and a bit ago). Using my mega meds was a last minute thing so I hadn't planned any posts prior to taking it, which I do generally try to do so you have some content up. 

I used a single bit of fabric for the cushion backing.

Anyway, while going through various stages of weird I did some craft. I wasn't up for following a pattern which ruled my counted cross stitch out. I definitely wasn't up for machine sewing, so I hand sewed a few squares together then added a backing. If you follow me on Twitter I think I posted a few pictures as the sewing progressed.

Close up of the cushion seams - nice and neat!

I wasn't entirely sure what it was going to turn into. I tried doing patchwork, but while my hand sewing is okay, my quilting stitches have a lot to be desired so I ditched that idea and turned it into a cushion. I used toy stuffing to make it puffy. 

There's no getting around that up close the final seam isn't the best, but that's because I haven't practiced neater closing stitches for edges.

I need to work on my seams for hand stitching as the final edge isn't brilliant, but I'm happy with how this first one has turned out! Definitely going to be making more soon. I'd love to know what you think of my small cushion, and if you've ever made one!

Belle has looked cute on my bed all day! Normally she goes elsewhere until the evening.

Nayu's Craft Time #236 Holiday time!

It's that time again! (Sadly not my suitcase...)

Today I'm leaving to stay with my friend in Devon for a few days! We are planning on watching a lot of DVDs so I'll be finishing this cute sewing while I'm over at hers, 

Not much left to do...

and working on some other sewing which I'll show you when I get back. I'll put a cute picture up while I'm away for you to see (not the one below) ^o^ 

The buttons add a craft theme to Pooh Bear!

Nayu's Craft Time #234 Hospital visit

Most of these are happy!

I love how today's post is in numerical order ^o^ It's the small things that make me/us smile!

Anyway...thank you for being patient in waiting for a new post. Over the weekend & really until Thursday I was recovering from my mega meds which send me to Lala Land & then some, and Thursday was another annual trip to the hospital. 

I go here! Not for homeopathic treatment, the rooms get rented out to other hospital clinics (I think)

It wasn't until the afternoon, but I like being there in plenty of time, and my family like to go shopping (I like company for travelling as I can get a little confused when tired). My original plan was to wait in the cafe for a few hours then head up to where I needed to be and start waiting for my 3.30pm appointment. However the cafe chairs were rock hard, discouraging any prolonged stay (I need quite soft chairs). So I got busy with an audiobook and did all this while I waited for lunch time! 

It's a cute cross stitch kit, nice and colourful with, as you can see, lots of pink. Sewing is calming - I find these days I can never settle with a book while waiting for medical appointments. Gaming happened later. 

Anyway, so I went up 1.15. Got called in at 2pm which was super early (yay!)...but wasn't able to think about going home from London until 4pm. I was in with the doctor for about an hour, going through various stuff. I don't see the same doctor every time, but I don't mind because in the more specialised clinics I know for certain the doctors all speak to each other, so I feel safe and confident whoever I am with. 

 There's almost always someone else sitting in on the appointment - I do always get asked permission and I never mind. UCL is a teaching hospital, and my specialist clinic is one of a kind, the more people can learn the better. Thursday's extra body was the specialist physiotherapist. We did boring neurological tests (once you do them once you know what's coming at every appointment. Then my balance got tested. 

I couldn't stand on point in ballet - standing on 1 leg is tricky let alone on the tips of my toes!

I'm not that coordinated, and my balance is a bit to be desired (it's not like I need to be able to walk in a straight line heel to toe in my everyday life...) so the physio asked if I'd like a few exercises to help with that. I said yes, so after I finished with the consultant I went with the physio. She gave me the exercises which are fun on the early level, and a bit tricky on the harder level. Yes I'm not being sarcastic when I use the word fun - they are fun! Again, it's the small things that amuse me. 

I only had a few pieces of paper to fill in, thankfully!

After the physio, I was with a researcher who wanted to do a few tests too. These were predominantly mental rather than physical. It was late afternoon, I was tired, but I still believe in helping out where I can so I said yes to them. I aced the word test of saying 2 long lists of words out loud within 2 minutes! Not sure about all the rest, but it's not a pass/fail test, more a benchmark of where my abilities are. 

After that I had to go to a different hospital for the blood test (my clinic uses the Homeopathic Hospital as their base for appointments). My family thought I'd fainted because I took so long for it to be done: I'm not an easy person to get blood from, and the first person couldn't do it so handed over to a more senior colleague. They advised eating & drinking before I have blood taken - I hadn't known beforehand that I was going to have any taken, so maybe next time I'll remember. Once that was done I was free! However...

None of this!!!!

...Costa annoying sold out of ice at Waterloo station. That made me grumpy as I rely on their chocolate milkshake to keep me going on the train home, but I had a brainwave and managed to get chocolate milk from M&S. Then home & lots of rest until today. 

It's still really cold so I've slow body, taking it easy where I can. I did a bit of crochet which I don't have a picture of, ditto a pic of a present I'm getting closer to finishing! The recipients know which is why I can show you in another post - I couldn't finish in time for the deadline. No more London appointments until May which makes me happy as 2 in under 2 weeks isn't fun, as it takes several days to recover from them. But it's over, I did it & that's it until next year (when they will probably be close together again).

I genuinely somehow thought it was Monday, so this is for tomorrow!

Nayu's Thought of the Day #9

Hope you have a super weekend! As it's a Saturday I'm not online at all ^o^ Today I'm hopefully seeing a friend, as well as getting some cross-stitch done! I'm much further ahead than this picture shows, but it saves me taking a photo of the kit cover ^o^

Nayu's Project Progress #22 Cute Baby sampler update!

I'd love a sewing basket like this one, full of spring colours and a lot of pink!

I'm actually popping in to my local craft club today as I haven't been for months and want to catch up with everyone. Don't know if I'll go regularly yet, but will try and pop in more than once a year. Soar today's post is a short catch up on my sewing progress! The previous update was this picture. 

I'm still finishing off the multiple shades of white in the animals, but hopefully you can see the difference here. 

That was about 6 hours of sewing - yes, apparently 6 hours of anything isn't a good idea for me. Worth it though! My body doesn't want to repeat it so I won't. I will sew in much smaller time segments. Have you done a marathon of anything crafty/non-crafty recently?

Spotted this cute, girly, dainty clock online!