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Friday 23 August 2019

A Couple of Little Finishes

This year I have been focusing on getting some good progress on my WIPs rather than new starts, but sometimes you see something and want to stitch it straightaway so you squeeze it into the rotation.

I've been a subscriber to Cross Stitcher magazine off and on for many years.  This issue they have a new series of small designs from Jessica Savage based on Mindfulness words.  I just really liked the first one and as it was only 40 x 40 I knew it wouldn't take long to stitch up.

I have no idea what the rest of the series will be like or whether I will like them so I stitched it in the corner of a piece of blue 25 count evenweave.  Stitched over one to keep it cute!


If I like the rest I will stitch them on the same piece of fabric and decide what to do at the end of the series. 

The next finish is my monthly Christmas Ornament.  This month it is another design by The Sweetheart Tree, called Holly 'n' Hardanger:


stitched on 32 count linen


I decided to go for the "No Cut" Hardanger for speed.  Some of the blocks were already charted with eyelets in the centre rather than cutwork so I simply did that for all the blocks.

I do love those little Rhodes Hearts.  The red beads are a shade lighter than charted because I'm stitching from stash.

I took a break from stitching expanses of land on the Discworld Mappe and completed the Tentacled Woman in the Sea:


The consensus of opinion in the Discworld FB group is that she is the Sea Queen:

The Sea Queen (or Queen of the Sea) is a capricious deity.  After Vorbis orders the killing of a porpoise in Small Gods, in order to demonstrate to the crew that they have strayed from the true Omnian path and that their belief is baseless superstition worthy of the attentions of the Quisition, she gets somewhat testy.
For, as any good sailor knows, porpoises are Her beloved children and to slay one brings about divine retribution. A passenger like Vorbis would not know this.
When the expected retribution happens, Om in his tortoise-form bargains with her to spare him and Brutha. She grudgingly concedes that a fellow-god,however insignificant, has the right to save his believer, and spares their lives when the ship sinks.
It is possible that she ensures Vorbis is the only other survivor of the shipwreck either out of sheer spite or an intuitive understanding of Coleridge: A thousand thousand slimy things lived on, and so did I.
Source: L-Space




Finally, I will be sending out the remaining Summer Postcards for the Blog Hop this weekend.  It's been a bit of a quiet Hop this time but if you want to join in at the last moment, please leave a comment!

16 comments:

Vickie said...

Holly 'n' Hardanger is just wonderful Jo! The Sea Queen... well, just wow!

Pamela said...

Sweet finishes! I love the ornament.

gracie said...

What a eat word..."Breathe".... Oh I do love the Holly Hardanger piece!

Linda said...

Cute finishes Jo. The Mappe looks great. Love the queen.

Linda

butterfly said...

Great stitching Jo , love the Christmas one it looks fab
Have a lovely weekend.

LCP said...

Love the mindfulness stitch. Which issue?

Heritage Hall said...

After seeing it here, I have spent far too much time trying to locate
the pattern....not even listed with Sweetheart Tree....Just love it.

Beth in IL said...

Nice finishes. Love how Discworld is moving forward.

Rachel said...

Both of your finishes are lovely.
I hope the remainder of the Mindfulness words are as sweet as Breathe. So many SALs or series start off with one or two good pieces and then full by the wayside (personal opinion only).
Holly 'n' Hardanger is really effective too. Is this one of a set? It would look lovely with some siblings! :)

Rhona said...

The holly Christmas ornament is just gorgeous!

Christine said...

I love the Hardanger ornament!
The sea queen reminds me of Ursula from The little Mermaid

RJ said...

Pretty stitching Jo. I especially love the one with the hardanger. RJ

Katie said...

Great new start and finish. I look forward to seeing the next ones too. Love the Christmas ornament. Very delicate. I did a Hardanger class once and just didn't enjoy it. Anything with hard and anger in the word just can't be normal haha. The Sea Queen is awesome.

Leonore Winterer said...

Having a small start and finish here and there certainly helps with the focusing on bigger WIPs! The Sea Queen looks pretty cool as well. Kind of Ursula, but kind of not?

Bethan said...

I can see why you choose to stitch 'Breath'- it's rather lovely. And it is always nice to have a quick finish when working through a lot of WIPs! x

Astrids dragon said...

Sweet finishes, I love the Holly. But that Sea Queen - OMGoodness, she's great!
Sorry I missed joining in on the hop, I started an email but didn't finish it.