December WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi of Measi's Musings.

The main focus of my WIPocalypse this year is my "13 in '13" a list of 13 projects I want to complete in 2013, click on top tab for the list.  Once again I haven't actually worked on any of them since the last WIPocalypse post!  Moving swiftly onwards....

The second part of the WIPocalypse is the Monthly Challenges.  The only one stitched so far is the Twelfth Dragonlet of Christmas:

There were two options for the Twelfth, this Rock Drummer or a Bongo Drummer with a Bazinga quote.  I went for the Rock option and added the Double D on his drum kit too.  I have now completed all 12 of the series.  If you want to see all of my twelve, you can either click on the 12 Dragonlets label on the right hand side bar or wait until Twelfth Night when I will show a picture of them all together.

In my previous Theme-a-licious post I referred to a giveaway prize I couldn't show yet.  Well, Christine has now received her parcel so I am free to Show-and-Tell.  Christine was the lucky Picture Poster whose name was chosen at random to recieve a little prize.  Here is what I sent her:

Isn't this the most amazing fabric?  I found it in an online fabric shop called Plush Addict and couldn't resist buying a FQ for Christine to do something imaginative with!

This is the bag with it's backing fabric (also from Plush Addict) 

And here is the finishd bag with its contents (chocolate spider) and some flower button sewn on.  I bought a bag of these during the summer from my local craft shop and thought they were perfect for this design. 

The design is from the 2010 Hallowe'en preview issue of JCS I have on CD.  It is by Monsterbubbles.

While I was looking for the perfect skull fabric online and buying these two pieces, two more pieces fell into my basket.  That seems to be a recurring problem with online shops, things you love just randomly fall into the basket then you have to buy them.

 More Skulls (this design was too big for the bag)

And some Christmas Flower Fairies.  I have no idea what I am going to do with this piece but I can fondle it and drool on it while I decide.

Finally, here is a picture of my ongoing Little Stitcher Advent Tree:

Ornament SAL November Update

This is the Ornament SAL hosted by Stitching Lotus

I have three different ornament challenges running this year, the JBW Alphabet Cat stitched in a different colour scheme each month, the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas, a FB exclusive and the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog.

I stitched the 11th Dragonlet of Christmas right at the beginning of the month, so here he is:

He's a Piper Piping!  Bonus points for anyone who can identify the tune he is piping.

The JBW cat got left to the end of the month and I haven't quite finished him yet, so I don't spoil the surprise here is a "top of the head" scan:

That fabric is actually black jobelan.  Bonus points for anyone who can guess the theme this month.

I haven't stitched a Hallowe'en ornie (yet) because I've been concentrating on my Little Stitcher's Advent Calendar.  So here is the second part of that:

Cutesville!  Gingerbread men and little bunnies (or maybe hares given the length of their ears?).  The fabric is 32count Belfast in Vintage Grain as Shirlee asked me about it.  The colours do show up nicely.  The chart calls for a Vintage 32 count but not one that I had and I did have Grain.

I have bought the supplies for my finishing idea for this Advent Calendar while in town today, all I need is some velcro tape, some double sided tape and I'm ready for making up just in time for the weekend.  I promise to Show and Tell as soon as I get started.

Finally, as soon as I finish this post I will be sending out the dates for the Advent Calendar Blog Hop so watch your inboxes if you signed up.  There is still one place left if anyone wants to be in, just drop me an email.

November WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi of Measi's Musings.

The main focus of my WIPocalypse this year is my "13 in '13" a list of 13 projects I want to complete in 2013, click on top tab for the list.  I haven't actually worked on any of them since the last WIPocalypse post but I did make a start on next year's list!  At the moment it looks like this but it may change (several times) between now and the start of the New Year:

  1. Joan Elliott - Green Goddess

  2. Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

  3. Maria’s Wedding

  4. Kat’s Baby

  5. Dragon Dreams Monthly

  6. Joan Elliott Diary

  7. Just Nan SAL

  8. Earthquake Charity

  9. Unicef Charity

10. Firewing Dragon

11. Stitcheranon chart

12. Ink Circles Little Alien

13. Shepherd’s Bush

14. Lisa Steele Dragon

The second part of the WIPocalypse is the Monthly Challenges.  The only one stitched so far is the Eleventh Dragonlet of Christmas:

These dragons are a Facebook exclusive from Dragon Dreams.  One or two people have stitched all twelve onto one piece of fabric and are displaying them on the FB page.

I have continued to stitch one design per day on The Little Stitcher Advent Calendar, now up to Day 8:

Just for scale, that is a size 28 petite needle.  The designs are stitched over 1 on 32 count Belfast Vintage Grain.

Now, Jan from Thread Garden started this, then Shebafudge carried it on, so in the same tradition, here is MY Top Five of designs from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornie Special 2013.  In the order they appear in the mag:

Blue Ribbon Designs (page 15)

Blackberry Lane (page 29)

(for some friends who are church-going Christians)

Shepherd's Bush (page 38)

(I would change the fabric to a blue)

Ink Circles (page 86)

Dragon Dreams (page 102)

Alot of people have said "oh, the mag isn't as good this year" but I have also read comments from UK stitchers seeing the mag for the first time (it's not readily available in newsagents here) and going mad over the lovely varied  designs in much the same way I did the first time I saw an issue.  I honestly believe it is Christmas Fatigue, so many of the designs follow a similar look or feel to previous years.  Of course, if you haven't seen a previous year then they are New and Exciting but if you've got every issue going back to the Year Dot it's easy to think Same Old, Same Old.  Whatever, it's still a million times better than the standard UK mag :-)

So do you have a different Top Five?  I have noticed the Snowbirds are very popular.  Living in a seaside town they look like Seagulls to me!  Maybe I should stitch them sitting on top of the Grain Silo near the Railway Line!

Click on the picture for the story.

The one we tell the children is that Santa stores the presents in that silo and when the tree goes on top it is a signal that they are ready to be collected by the sleigh to be delivered to all the local children.

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  As in previous years there will be 24 doors posted on my blog.  Each person who signs up will be allocated a date, on that date they must post a photo of something Festive they have stitched, either in the past or this year.  I will then copy the photo across to my post and by Christmas Eve we will have 24 Open Doors each linked to a different blog.  Last year I had more than 24 people so we had some Double Days which was great.  To take part please email me letting me know if there is a date you prefer or wish to avoid.  

Ornament SAL October Update

This is the Ornament SAL hosted by Stitching Lotus

I have three different ornament challenges running this year, the JBW Alphabet Cat stitched in a different colour scheme each month, the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas, a FB exclusive and the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog.

I spent nearly all of this month working away on Drac-in-a-Box (see previous post) but thank to the Half Term Holiday here I have managed to finish not one, but four ornies in as many days!!

The first is my Alphabet Kitty for October, stitched in the classic black on orange for a Hallowe'en feel:

I'll make him into an actual ornie this weekend I think, along with a spooky charm.

The second piece is the Dragon Dreams Tenth Dragonlet of Christmas, a cute Dragonlet a'leaping:

These dragons are a Facebook exclusive from Dragon Dreams.  One or two people have stitched all twelve onto one piece of fabric and are displaying them on the FB page.

The third and fourth pieces I am saving for tomorrow for the Hallowe'en Blog Hop and Theme-a-lious updates respectively.  I did stitch a Hallowe'en ornie this month but it's not actually relating to the chosen theme of owls.  I do have an owl one for next month instead of candy corn because we don't really have that in this country.  We do have Cadbury's Screme Eggs though and I had one yesterday.  Yummy!

Finally, thank you all so much for your comments on the Drac-in-a-Box post.  I do like to follow my stats and usually about 10% of the page views lead to a comment.  In this case it was nearly 50%!!!  I do find myself that I am most likely to comment on a Happy Dance blog post and it's obviously true for other people too.  Thank you all again, it means alot to me.

Ornament SAL September Update

This is the Ornament SAL hosted by Stitching Lotus

I have three different ornament challenges running this year, the JBW Alphabet Cat stitched in a different colour scheme each month, the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas, a FB exclusive and the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog.

Here is my little Autumn Leaves Alphabet Kitty for September, complete with acorn pin courtesy of Shirlee:

And here is a Little Dragonlet Dancing for Number 9:

I have realised that I haven't stitched the red 9 yet but I was rushing to go out this afternoon and thought I'd finished!

I haven't yet stitched a Hallowe'en ornie although I did chose one which is a start!!  I have also just started the Needlework Haven Challenge piece today too.  Most of this month has been taken up with a lovely Autumn Typography.

Talking of which, I had a little fun competition when I showed my finish.   What was the change I made? (apart from the squirrels I told you about).  Not the easiest thing to spot but four of you did notice it.  It wasn't the charm (that was included) or the beads (they were included too).  Look closely at this photo and see if you can tell now:

Do you see it now?  The vertical word in the middle of the photo says "Awesome" instead of "Autumn".

I allocated playing cards to each of the four eagle-eyed spotters and the Large Boy picked a card.  Congratulations to

SouthpawStitcher 

If you send me your address there will be a little something in the post sometime.  I am hideously behind with my mailing which I do intend to catch up with very soon.  Or you will all get caught up in the Christmas post!! 

Finally I'm starting to think about the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop so you should be too.  For newbies, here is the link to last year's Hop so you can see how it all works.  I'll do a sign up post very soon.  I just wanted everyone to be on the look out for suitable designs.

Theme-a-licious Looking Backward and Forward VIII

Theme-a-licious is hosted by Heather of It's Geek to Me

Each month Heather thinks up a theme for us to stitch to, or in my case, a theme to somehow shoe-horn my existing stitching into, no matter how tenuous the link!

This was the theme for August:

Airborne August

What's that soaring through the air with the greatest of ease? It's the things with wings on your WIPs!

So I worked on my Wings of Love sampler for my cousin's wedding.  It's not called that, it's called Couers en Boites but it is how I got it into this month's theme.

I also stitched a little dragon for the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas:

Lilly of the Woods is also a fairy with wings, but Andie requested I did not stitch the wings so she went with the other Dreamers on her piece.  So Lilly is my Anti-Theme piece for this month and here is the space where the wings would have gone if I was going to stitch them which I'm not:

That seems to be about it.  Apart from this little butterfly:

Next month is:

Sampler September

Whether you're stitching the alphabet over and over (and over), starting your own band (sampler), or marking some spots, this is your month!

That should be a cinch for me!!  Samplers are one of my favourite things.  I could even start planning my 2014 Band Sampler RR...

 I also shared this photo of how I like to stitch the RRs.  Because I'm only using a length or two of each colour it doesn't seem worth pulling out all the colours so I just get my full set and select the colour I need for the piece I'm stitching that evening.  It makes a nice spread on the table!!

You can see my lovely coloured-in copy of the chart in front of me.

And my small ORTS tin ready to be added to the ORTS jar for TUSAL day.

Finally, I sent the latest postcard in the Summer Blog Hop to Evalina but it's not up yet so watch her blog!!  I am expecting one more picture in then I will email the final ones out in one big end of summer flurry!

Ornament SAL August Update

This is the Ornament SAL hosted by Stitching Lotus

I have three different ornament challenges running this year, the JBW Alphabet Cat stitched in a different colour scheme each month, the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas, a FB exclusive and the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog.

Here is August's little Sunflower Kitty:

And here is Dragonlet number 8, crying over his spilt milk.  Doesn't he know it's no use crying over it?

Here are the eight I've stitched so far, the plan is to cover 12 little boxes with them and make a post-Christmas 12 Days calendar with a little gift in each box starting 26th December and finishing on Epiphany.  I just need to find 12 small gifts, I have 2 so far plus the idea of a chocolate!

Here is the cute little skeleton pair from Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en Special.  They are nearly all beads and great fun to stitch.  I have decided to make my ornies into little open topped bags and put chocolates in each one on our Hallowe'en tree.  We are having a Hallowe'en tree for the first time this year.  I'll try find something suitable or I might just go into the field and chop a branch off a tree!!

Julia Lucas Designs - Trick or Treat, 28 count evenweave.

While I was googling Julia's name (because I'd not heard of her before, I found this cool feature on Cyberstitchers website.  They list many designers and the places you can find their designs.  It seems Julia has designed alot for various different magazines.  Now I can look through and see which ones I already have.  Great!

And now, a little stash enhancement!  I was lucky enough to win another Willow Fabric voucher from having a FB tip printed in Cross Stitch Collection magazine.  I think it's the third or fourth one?  Anyway, they have a sale on and I got these two half metres of 32 count for a mere £6 each.

One is tobacco and one is cognac.

I also needed some beads for the Mirabilia RR design which I bought from Sewandso.  I think there is an issue with their website because while I was adding some #8 perle to my basket this Just Nan chart appeared in my basket.  Weird.

Finally, if you are a fan of Fairy Tales, the Little Stitcher or Advent Calendars then this is the SAL for you! 

Stitch-a-Long Community Blog

Organised by Angi of My Happy Memories  we will be SAL the Little Stitcher's Fairy Tale Advent Calendar.  I first saw these 24 small designs on Carin's blog last year.  You really need to check out her beautiful photography.  Start here and work through each day by clicking on the "newer post" after all the comments.

Theme-a-licious August Update

Theme-a-licious is hosted by Heather of It's Geek to Me

Each month Heather thinks up a theme for us to stitch to, or in my case, a theme to somehow shoe-horn my existing stitching into, no matter how tenuous the link!

This is the theme for August:

Airborne August

What's that soaring through the air with the greatest of ease? It's the things with wings on your WIPs!

So what have I been singing all week?  On the Wings of Love by Jeffrey Osbourne.  Well, actually I haven't, but it is the only way I could think to include this piece as part of the theme:

I finished the whole Couers en Boites design but didn't photograph it before I took it to the framers.  This is just one of the hearts stitched over 2 to make a card for the couple.  That's their initials, they're not getting married in LA.

Also with wings we have dragons and fairies.  First up is my progress on this month's Dragon Dreams design:

And my Lilly of the Woods for the large Mira RR:

That pillow is so bitty and boring.  I can't wait to finish it and get on to the drapes.  Nora's drapes are one of my favourite things to stitch!  Have you seen the new Mirabilia released today?  Simply called "Red" she seems to be inspired by Little Red Riding Hood and is amazing!!

The Viewer is already working overtime as the Mira Minions try out every combination of fabric with her!

For those of you not familiar with the Minions and the Viewer, here is a link:

The Marvellous Mechanical Mirabilia Magic Machine

A stitcher known as Thutmosis set up the Viewer to help people decide which fabrics to stitch their favourite Mirabilia designs on.  She has now expanded it to include Chatelaines, Joan Elliott, Passione Ricamo and Teresa Wentzler all with the designers' approval and blessing.  She has fabric from all the major hand-dyers plus plain Zweigart too.  The HTML programming necessary must be immense but she does it all for free!  All it will cost you is several hours days of your life as you lose yourself in the different combinations.

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop is hopping onwards to Penny.  Here is the full list so far:

My card goes to Debbie at Debbie's Cross Stitch

Debbie's card goes to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study

Christine's card goes to Lynn at Kearnel's Korner

Lynn's card goes to Clare at Aimetu's Stitching

Clare's card goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Vickie's card goes to Julie at Julie's Stitchyknitty Journal

Julie's card goes to Penny at Larkspur Lane

There is still time to send a card if you haven't already done so, just click on the green "There's No Place Like Home" for more details.

Ornament SAL July Update

This is the Ornament SAL hosted by Stitching Lotus

I have three different ornament challenges running this year, the JBW Alphabet Cat stitched in a different colour scheme each month, the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas, a FB exclusive and the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog.

July's kitty is a beach themed kitty, sandy yellow on a blue sea.  I have some seashells to add to it and some nice sea themed fabric to back it.

Here is the July Dragonlet, also ready for a day at the beach:

 

I haven't stitched a Hallowe'en ornie this month because I've been busy with my cousin's wedding sampler.  Maybe I'll do two next month.  And two for the Needlecraft Haven challenge too!

I did get a nice present today.  I went to visit a former colleague of mine who is about to move house.  In her loft was a rather a large box containing her cross stitch supplies:

I say "was" because it is currently residing in my kitchen!  She is no longer able to stitch so has gifted me her entire box of supplies including what appears to be the whole range of Anchor threads.  The unbagged ones are here, the rest are in Flossaway bags already.

I'm a DMC gal myself but I intend to use these for smalls and ornies, saving my DMC for larger projects where I am more likely to use up a skein.  Given the price of thread in the UK this will be a huge saving for me.  There is also alot of aida and some evenweave including some lovely Permin lilacs and purple.  Plus some kits and charts including a range designed by my friend herself as part of a fledgling career as a designer.

Finally, the latest postcard in the Summer Blog Hop went out to Clare.  Here is the full list:

My card goes to Debbie at Debbie's Cross Stitch

Debbie's card goes to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study
Christine's card goes to Lynn at Kearnel's Korner
Lynn's card goes to Clare at Aimetu's Stitching

Stay tuned to see where Clare's card goes to.  Don't forget to leave a comment on each blog so they know you've been a'visiting!

ps this is my 250th post!!