Stitchy update

Here is my latest mini finish, the last freebie kit I got from Keresztszemes Magazin. Unfortunately, my subscription has expired and I cannot afford to renew it. Even more unfortunately, it seems that the magazine will disappear altogether. It seems the present state of economy is not good enough to make Hungarian stitchers able to make a cross stitch related monthly publication profitable. December's will be the last issue. I has a sad.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

 The good news is, I made some progress on the ballerina. I spent a couple of days at my parents' and I took this kit with me. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack the original chart and only had the working copies with me. Which means I didn't have the key, so I could only stitch with the colours that I have already used, as those were the only ones I could pair up with the symbols. Doesn't really matter though, I still think I made nice progress.

Flood update

The flood is supposed to peak in our town tonight, but most places affected are not going to be safe for a while. So once again I am asking all of those who pray, please include Hungary and its people in your prayers this week! Loads of people have lost everything they have worked for all their life. It's a tragedy and my heart goes out for all of them.

My hometown, Esztergom, is not yet doomed, a lot of it is under water, but those are the parts that get flooded almost every year, either with the spring flood or the early summer, when the snow on the mountain tops of Austria melts and the water flows into the Danube. So the people who build/live there, pretty much know what to expect and are prepared. 

For example, my old elementary school:

Is on an island in the Danube that is at least half flooded every year. And it is a modern building, the engineers were aware of the situation, so, as you can see on the close up, it was built on a bunch of huge, massive concrete columns. See?

Another part of the town that usually get flooded: this lovely stone bench on the riverbank and is loved and visited by locals and tourists alike:

Looks like this by now:

If you are interested, you can see a lot more photos of Esztergom fighting the flood HERE.
Pictures about the situation by locals are collected HERE and by professional photographers HERE.
Photos of Budapest, where the water is still rising are HERE.
The language of the sites is Hungarian, but the pictures really speak for themselves.
As far as my family's situation is concerned, these pictures were taken from a bridge that is just a block from where they live:

I really hope the water won't rise any higher, and that those age-old trees will not fall, as the soil is soaked and no one knows if their roots can hold them for long. Should one of them fall, the dam will definitely not hold.
I will visit them today so I won't be able to write an update in the next few days.
To lighten the mood, here is a photo of one of many flood watchers:

Giveaways galore!

Maybe there is something in the way the stars and planets align, maybe it's just generosity in the air or the blogosphere, but I found another giveaway that I just have to enter and this is the post for it.

People who know me can tell that only two things make me more fanatic than cross stitch (not counting my daughter who is so important, she's off the chart), and those two things are boxes and beautiful papers. I'm in love with paper. I still write lots of letters on paper, and a diary, and a calendar, and whatnot.

But that's beside the point now. What matters is that Unikat has made this absolutely stunning little box and decided to give it away to a lucky person entering the draw. To see more photos of the box and read the rules in detail, please click right HERE.

To get an extra chance in winning I also have to post my favourite finished project for this year. It would be the DMC kit by Betty Davis of the little girl washing up, not only because my daughter loves it and tells everyone that the picture shows her doing chores, but also because it's the first piece of cross stitch my mother appreciates.

I'm a cover girl!

I have made it! Well, not me as a person, but as a model stitcher! I have been working on this wonderful design for the past two months and now I am able to share it with you. It's done on 14 ct black aida with Madeira floss and I am more than delighted with the way it turned out.

Right now I am putting the finishing backstitches on my next assignment. I can't share that with you yet, but I can tell you that it will be featured in the upcoming cross stich yearbook. Every year there is a special theme the majority of charts will represent and this year it's seasons. I will do my happy dance later tonight for a pretty spring design and then start, or should I say continue working on the next ones. I have to do all four seasons in nice, secession style squares. That one is done on rustic aida that I love so much!

No news on anything else yet. Tamara is vacationing at my parents' place. She has her own backyard playground there, so she is having the time of her life. My little angel. She's got her set of swings and a slide. Plus an inflatable mini pool. And my mom plans to buy a lockable plastic sandbox so Tami can build castles all day long. :) Nothing's too good for granma's little girl!

Stitchers' meeting

Last Saturday saw another meeting of the Hungarian online cross stitchers club. There is a message board on a ladies' site, where all these stitchers met. Together they have hammered out the idea of a Hungarian magazine, and by now they have their own home page, with picture galleries, message boards, conversion tables, and so on.

I have joined them about 18 ms ago. They didn't welcome me as I thought they would, and I felt offended, so I didn't go there for a while. I felt more at home with my American friends. They have greeted me as if they had known me all my life and I never felt left out of anything at all.

I learned so much from my overseas stitching friends! I wanted to share everything with my natives, I wanted to organize round robins, exchanges, stitch-alongs... but all my attempts have failed. I was "greeted" with suspect, as if I wanted to cheat out their money and stash. I was, once again, deeply hurt. I visited their monthly meetings, but usually just looked at their projects and rarely spoke with anyone.


As I wrote in an earlier post, few months later someone threw in the idea of round robins again, and this time it was accepted with enthusiasm. Maybe because one of their "older" members made the suggestion, I don't know. Anyway, I decided to swallow my pride and put aside my hurt feelings and joined a few RRs. Here on the side you can see one with herbs - I'm not taking part in this one though, I just love the way it looks. :)

These things with cute animals - mainly Margaret Sherry's cats - are gifts done by the whole community for the newborn baby of one of the members. This is but half of all the stuff they stitched!

Anyway, by now my nick is getting more and more familiar in that community, and I have a few friend-like relationships too. I am saying this because for me "friend" stands for someone I have known for years and learned to trust.