This week I have mainly been stitching...

So what have I been stitching this week?  Karen's Sweetheart Tree Round Robin and LHN's Home of a Needleworker.  There was some confusion over the mailing dates for the RR and luckily for me Karen gave us all another week if we needed it.  I could have barged on and mailed on the date but I decided to take my time and do it nicely.  And stitch both floral rows that I liked rather than choose just one!

Photo to follow when bands complete

I'm stitching the Home on Home of a Needleworker which is no where near as much fun as the lettering!  Rows and rows of "typewriter" stitching, just back and forth.   Anyway it's looking good and I have the lovely alphabet saved for the end.  Here it is so far:

The prize I awarded to Anne my 2000th commenter arrived in Canada this week!  Yay!  The design was chosen by Christine as the August Challenge piece on the Needlecraft Haven and I thought it would be perfect for Anne.  I stitched it on 18count rose evenweave over 1 using a Stef Francis mercerised cotton in variegated purple.  Lovely isn't it?  I finished it into a pillow using some of the fabric samples as backing.  Anne asked if I'd stitched all the french knots on it myself - is she craaaazzzzzzyyyyyy!  No, at £75 a metre I expect someone else to programme a machine to do them LOL.  No, I didn't pay £75 a metre either, I was given a bunch of old sample books last year.  Each piece is 12 x 12 and makes great ornie backing.

The design came from the Samplers and Santas blog, I just removed the crown and fitted Anne's name in the space.  Good thing she's not called Anastasia or I'd have had troubles!  The link includes nice instructions on how to make a needle keep if you'd like one.

Has anyone else used Stef Francis' threads?  I think I bought them from my old LNS or maybe the Olympia craft show.  They come in a variety of weights, this one is NE 20/3 (I have no idea what that means!!) and some gorgeous colours.  The website is well worth looking at as they do a wide range of items for embroidery as well as cross stitch and other crafts.

I have been treating myself a little bit just lately (it is my Birthday month!) and today I bought two magazines.  The first was Cross Stitch Crazy for the Joan Elliott Christmas booklet.  The second was Cross Stitch Gold for the lovely Blackwork Angel by Lesley Teare and the I Saw Three Ships designs.

As usual I have added the contents pages of these magazines to the special page on my blog.  You'll find it at the top of the blog under one of the tabs labelled "Magazine Contents Page".  The idea is that I post a picture of the contents of any UK magazines I buy.  This will enable you to decide if you want to try find the magazine in your own country.  It's very hard if the mags are sold sealed up to decide if you want to spend the money.  Hopefully this will help you.  Please note the Big Red Disclaimer at the top of the page - I will not scan and email charts.

Finally, I'm trying to comment as much as possible on your blogs but Blogger still won't accept what I type into the word verifier no matter how many attempts I make.  If you have a word verifier because you're afraid of getting Spam then try removing it and the option to post "Anonymous" or have an email address available so I can comment that way.  At the very least warn me there's a word verifier before I type out a long comment and then it pops up after I hit "publish"!

Theme-a-licious July Update, Yet another set of 11 things and a Secret SurpriseGiveaway!

July's theme is Jolly July - It's a jolly holiday with your WIPs...you can concentrate on Christmas designs, ornaments, or even pick a different holiday to render in stitchy goodness.


Yana asked me recently how Jolly July was going, up until that point - not at all!!  I'd been focusing on my Baby Birth Samplers.  So I grabbed the Just Cross Stitch ornie preview issue and chose the Blue Ribbon Woodsy Winter for my Theme-a-licous project.  Here's the progress so far:

This is a nice quick and easy stitch, only a few fractionals in the cardinals.  I've nearly stitched the border then it's just some snow to do.  I'm planning to stitch the matching ornie from last year's Christmas Special and frame them together.  It's stitched on 32count linen in twilight blue rather than the tan colour.  I bought a FQ of this linen for various small projects, it's very stiff but that makes it easier to stitch a small.  I think it would be annoying for anything bigger than I'd have to roll up and crease it (I always stitch in hand).

The 11 Questions are still rolling around Blogland and here's my latest tagging by Evalina from This and That

1. What projects do you like to stitch - big or small?  A real mixture, I always have one of each on the go.  Small for daytime, big for evening.
2. What is your favourite fabric? - 32count Murano for most projects.  I do prefer evenweave to linen as a rule.
3. How many cross stitching books do you have? - Lots!  More than 20 anyway.  I keep them in the kitchen as I can browse them while I'm "cooking"
4. What is your favourite cross stitching magazine?  The now no-longer with us Gift of Stitching.  I haven't read all the back issues I treated myself too, I save one per month so I can pretend it's still going!!
5. What time of the day do you do most of the stitching?  Weekends and evenings.
6. Does your significant other supports your stitching hobby?  Financially or emotionally? LOL.  Now I working I can buy my own supplies again.  Hubby can't understand why I can't make money out of selling the finished pieces as he sees them as works of art.  The Large Boy is always interested in what I'm stitching too.
7. Do you collect stash or just buying supplies for the current project?  Collect stash!
8. What is your favourite drink after five?  I'm teetotal (does that surprise you?) so it'll have to be a nice cup of coffee!
9. Do you listen to music, audio books or TV while stitching or just to the sounds of nature?  At the moment I prefer silence, partly because the Small Boy still isn't sleeping perfectly so I like to be able to hear him if he wakes.  Otherwise it's either an audiobook or Kerrang Music Channel.
10. Do you have any live plants in your home?  Love this question as I have at least three dead ones!!  I have some very leggy cyclamen on my kitchen windowstill, they're still alive.
11. What do you like to read? (Adventure, romance, mystery, non-fiction etc.) Books or magazines?  Fantasy and Sci-fi.  I'm reading alot of YA (Young Adult) at the moment for work.  As I mentioned in a previous post I get some advance copies of forthcoming releases which is a huge bonus!  I've just read John Boyne's new one "The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket" a nice story about a floating boy.  I've also started reading Eragon out loud to the Large Boy at bedtime, 2 chapters a night, it's going to last us most of the year as there are four books in the series.

And the Secret Surprise Giveaway?  I've been keeping an eye on my comments as they crept towards the 2000 mark.  This weekend Anne from Doll's Musings left 2 comments, they were numbers 2000 and 2001 so she is my Secret Surprise Winner!  Not sure what she's won yet but I'll let you know when she gets it.  Don't hold your breath anyone, Christine is still awaiting her Easter Prize!

Finally - the finished Noah's Ark by JBW.  A lovely gift from the lovely (and generous) Kaye of Kitten Stitching, totally unsolicited she sent me the chart when I admired it on her blog, along with the fabric and thread.  As baby was already here I had no excuse not to start immediately!

I love this design with all the cute little animals.  I think the little elephants are my favourites.  It is stitched on 28count flaxseed linen 1 over 1.