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Saturday 23 July 2016

Summer's Here!

The boys broke up for the Summer Holidays on Thursday and are off for six whole weeks!  I spent Wednesday and Thursday afternoons stitching on the grounds that they were my last two days on my own at home.  And then Friday and Saturday afternoons stitching on the grounds that the holidays have started!  Great excuses.

What was I stitching?  Mostly Gathering Honey.  I completed all the flowers in the central garden areas, except the French Knots which I will leave until the end so they don't get squashed.  There is quite a lot of backstitch in these sections to do and the instructions are not clear at all.  They suggest there are different lines for the different colours.  There are not.  They also suggest Dark Chocolate Brown for most of the bs but I'm thinking of a very dark green instead.





I've been making great progress on Ghostly Mandala by Ink Circles too.

Here it is on Tuesday 19th:


And on Saturday 23rd:

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland by Crafty Kitten

That design was in Just Cross Stitch's Hallowe'en Special in 2014 and by chance the 2016 issue arrived yesterday.  The small designs didn't really grab me this year but I just love this sampler:


It's by Louise Henderson of Cherished Stitches and is charted for 36 count linen.  There's some over one stitching and some speciality stitches too so I think I'd stick with the 36 rather than go for 40 which was my first thought.  This could be my evening stitch when I finish the Ghostly Mandala.

If you haven't seen Louise's work before, check out her website.  As well as a great Hallowe'en Quaker she has done two lovely monthly series of birds and flowers.  The birds in particular is quite unique.  September is a peacock, I rather like that one for my Birth month.

As it was the fourth Friday this week I picked up The Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books and stitched almost all the M motif!  I'm saving it for the Alphabet Club so here's a sneak peek at the little Mouse:


Apart from stitching I have been working my way throught this folder, it's The Small Boy's Learning Journal.  This is the folder of assessment which has followed him throughout his first four years at school.  Now he's going into Key Stage 2 we get to keep it!


It's an incredible record of how much he's achieved, full of "wow" moments; where he's done something which makes the staff say "wow"!  Every milestone is noted, every activity documented.  Examples of his work and staff observations pack the folder.  Here's a recent piece of work which shows how you test a non-verbal person's reading skills.  The sheet has the pictures printed on it and he has to match the word with the picture.  The adult does NOT read the word out loud or identify the picture.  He only got two muddled round.  Pretty impressive!


As usual, there's lots going on in the online world of stitching; as well as Measi's Olympic WIPocalypse Challenge, I've joined in with Stitch Maynia's Olympic Challenge where they have a theme a day.  My son has a daily Art Challenge which I'm going to try do with my stitching.  I've also launched a Linky Party of my own - The Tenuous Shoe-Horn!   The theme is Summer Holidays and basically all you do is make a post on or near 8th August and then link-up on my blog.  The post must show some stitching, past or present with a link, however tenuous, to the theme Summer Holiday.

Here's a picture of a shoe-horn to advertise the Party!


Finally, I still have a few spaces on my Big Birthday Blog Hop so if you want to join in, leave a comment asking for more details.

33 comments:

Kerryp77 said...

Hello Jo, blogger is having a fit, it's showing a post from April as just posted. Odd. Anyway I found all this lovely progress on gathering honey, such a pretty piece. I'm so glad that you're working on it again. Great progress on the ghostly mandala too. It's growing really quickly. I like the Halloween band sampler. It's nice to see one that's not in orange and black.
Wow to small boy, he's been very busy!

Beth in IL said...

Love the progress on Gathering Honey. Will have to go post my honey related piece!

CalamityJr said...

Re: Kerryp's comment - and I commented on the April post! I did think it a bit odd, but didn't look at the date. Now it makes sense, silly me. Love your stitching and especially your justification of why all recent days were meant for lots of time in your stitchy chair. Great thinking!

Beth in IL said...

Love the Gathering Honey piece. Posted my progress of Busy Bee by Shepherds Bush. Maybe I should try to get it done by August 8 for your party!

Thoeria said...

Gathering honey looks so fine and dainty! You're making great progress :)
I had to chuckle at myself....I misread Ghostly Mandala as Ghastly Mandala :D I thought...why would anyone call it that...then reread the text!
What a fantastic record of your small boy's achievements!

Bea said...

The flowers in Gathering Honey are lovely and you've made excellent progress - all that lovely stitching time. Love the Halloween Sampler - my magazine should be here soon so I will have to take a closer look.

rebelrosecreations@gmail.com said...

Wonderful progress! Small boy has been busy as well, Kudos to him on the wonderful work. Looking forward to seeing more post. Happy Stitching!
~ C's Cross Stitch Creations ~ https://christiescrossstitchcreations.blogspot.com/

Barb said...

AS usual, you have lots of wonderful projects going on. I saw the same Halloween sampler in Just Cross Stitch Halloween magazine. I am tempted by it! Love the ghost medallion.

Linda said...

Wonderful progress and stitching Jo. I love the test they gave your son. I wish they would have done something like that when my grandson was young.

Linda

Mini said...

Loving the tiny flowers in the Bee garden.Good progress on ghost mandalas.
Its great to see that you record every small achievement of your boys. These journal will make great memoirs.
Good luck with the Olympic challenge.

FlashinScissors said...

Great progress on Gathering Honey, Jo! The journal is a great idea ... you can really keep track of his learning! Wish they had done that in my day! Love the Ghostly Mandala, and the cute mouse! I do have some stitching ideal for the Summer holiday party, but it's behind glass! Will try to see if I can photograph it.
Barbara xx

Christine said...

You can tell the holidays have started, it's raining!
The Bee Garden is looking gorgeous. I love the sampler from the JCS magazine. Maybe you could do the top medallion as an ornament?

gracie said...

Gathering Honey is lovely.

Mary said...

Bee Garden is very beautiful. I love Ink Circles and I love your WIP. I love the fabric you chose.

Desiree Ehleiter said...

Love all your stitching but I especially think Gathering Honey is wonderful! Congratulations to your son. Seems like he is doing quite well!

gominam said...

Great progress on Honey and I'm falling in love with the ghost mandala everytime I see you update. Nice Halloween choice from your new magazine. Congrats to your son👍

Preeti said...

Gathering honey project is looking great!! My French knots tend to disappear into nearby hole so it doesn't matter whether I make it in the last or during stitching but due to the challenge I keep putting off till the end.

Sarah in Stitches said...

Gathering Honey looks gorgeous! Lovely progress on Ghostly Mandala too. Your Small Boy has been so busy! It's so lovely that you can see everything he's been doing and learning.

Justine said...

Gathering Honey is so pretty! I love all the little details.
What a treat to see all Small Boy's achievements over the last 4 years. He must be the same age as my eldest who is going into y4. They grow up so fast. Enjoy the wow moments!

Heather said...

Wow Jo fabulous progress!

Sheryl said...

What pretty projects Jo. The Gathering Honey is lovely and I like the Ghostly Mandala too, great progress,

Lili said...

Pretty stitching, and so beautiful progress on Mandala!
That halloween sampler is very pretty!

Unknown said...

what a wonderful keepsake from your Son's School. You must be having the best time going through it. I have to agree with you - the Sampler in the new Halloween Issue of Just Cross Stitch is beautiful. And I think it could be great fun to stitch

Irene said...

che meraviglia i tuoi ricami!

Susan said...

WOW Busy, busy, busy!! I do like the Halloween sampler - may just have to find the magazine. The learning journal is very impressive. Small Boy did really well on the reading skills - especially as they put a slug and snail side by side (very tricky!).

Tiffstitch said...

Nice updates on everything and thanks for telling me about the Olympic SAL. I might have to join for the distance challenge and finish off my Letters from Nora.

Suz said...

Gathering Honey looks fantastic!

I love your Ghostly Mandala - that fabric is fantastic! I ordered some fabric from PTP for the Halloween mandalas, and I can't wait to see what yours looks like all finished up.

Leonore Winterer said...

Every excuse to stitch is a good excuse, and you made some marvelous progress! I hate it when designs are unclear in their instructions, but thankfully, backstitching can usually be worked out.
I think I need to get that Halloween edition, last years had some great patterns and that sampler just shows that this years must be just as great.
Your little one's learning folder sounds like a great memento to have of these years in his life. Sounds like he's doing great and I wish him all the best for the next stage of his education :)

Barb said...

I am off now to search for the Halloween special of 2014 as I love that mandala you are stitching, are you another Halloween lover.Thanks for leaving me a comment on my blog ,could you tell me more of the blog hop please. You are so busy with your stitching , all just lovely. Well done to the little one.

Katie said...

Oh beautiful progress on both pieces!! Since my son is homeschooled I have so many of his WOW papers that I've kept. Congrats to your son for doing so well.

beadgirl said...

You must be so proud of your son! I've been saving bits an pieces of Beadboy1's work, too -- it shows how much is going on in his head, even if he's not able to communicate as much.

The Crafty Princess said...

Ooohh I love Gathering Honey. It looks fiddly so ambiguous instructions would make it all that more difficult. But as usual you are nailing it anyway. Good on your little man. Glad to hear that he is doing well.
xo Alicia

Stitching Noni said...

Oh... your little man is so clever! One proud mum I think you be!! :o)
Hugs xx