February IHSW

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page.  Links at the bottom of this post.

Friday is usually my day to go to the Crafty Coffee Morning but the shop which hosts it is relocating this month so the last two Fridays have been Coffee & Cakes at my house instead.

I'm using this time to work on my Just Nan Smalls.  Since the last IHSW I finished Thanks a Bunch and started Fairy Roses.

Thanks A Bunch

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

The little Floral Bunch charm is discontinued so I'm using a butterfly instead.

Straight on to the next one in turn:

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

This one is quite unusual as it is not symmetrical.  The green stitches are quite random so I've made a working copy of the chart and colour each symbol in as I go.

The next project is one I've been working on for just over a year, stitching a little bit each day while my son is in the bath.  Linda was SAL with me and she finished recently so it was time to ramp it up and get it done!

Alice & the Flamingo by Mrs Peggotty Arts

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

I really enjoyed this piece, the blocks of colour meant you didn't have to change thread too often.  I usually prefer stitching a monochrome at bathtime for this reason but with this project I could use the same colour all session most evenings.

The plan now is to stitch the Satsuma Street Nest Egg design and then start on Mrs Peggotty's Queen of Hearts.  I don't think I'll catch Linda up as she's already started her.

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Marie's Daffodil by Chromatic Alchemy

My main focus piece for IHSW was the Discworld Mappe.  Thank you to everyone who said how much they enjoy seeing this piece.  You're going to be seeing a LOT of it this year!

Here's where it was on Friday:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

and here is where I am now:

I didn't quite finish the banner pink because it was so boring after a while, so I started alternating with some grey for the heraldic hippo instead.


A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is! Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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The next IHSW will be 15th - 17th March so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here.

Finally, the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop was a great success.  Everyone posted on the actual day and now all the links go direct to the SSS post on each blog so you can still hop round quite easily.

Here's a collage of all the photos sent in:

(can you tell I have a new collage maker?

January IHSW

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page.  Links at the bottom of this post.

Unfortunately I had to work on Saturday and Monday, which is usually my catch-up day if I work one of the weekend days.  Never mind, I did manage a couple of daisies on my lunchbreak project on those two days.  This is Just Nan's Thanks a Bunch:

stitched on 32 count white linen

I cleared Sunday afternoon to focus on my Discworld Mappe with the goal of completing the darker pink in the banner.  This is where I was at the start of Friday:

This is where I was at the end of Friday:

And this is where I am now:

Goal achieved!  To give you some idea of the size and scope of this piece, here is the cover photo with the page numbers for the pages I have stitched on already:

This is a good chance to show the progress on my two daily projects.  The first is my Ten-a-Day project which is Just Nan's Summer Typography, the fourth and final one in the series:

Day 76 - 760 stitches

stitched on 32 count Pink Linen

The second daily piece is Mrs Peggotty's Alice & the Flamingo.  Here is where I was last IHSW:

And here is where I am now:

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

I stitched all the border to the right and bottom, frogged and restitched the pale green in her skirt, filled in the grass and made a start on the final tree.

A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is! Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.  

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The next IHSW will be 15th - 17th February so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook.  If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here.

Finally, I will be running the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop on Valentine's Day.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

 

It's really very simple, all you have to do is email me a picture of something you have stitched which is suitable for a stitching friend on Valentine's Day.  It could be a heart, or a pair of cute creatures, or the word "love" or anything which warms your heart. Really anything you think a fellow stitcher would like to receive in her email Inbox.   It can be something you've stitched in the past or something you've made especially for this year.  It could also be quilted or sewn this year as I know some of my followers do other crafts too.

Send me the email by 10th February.

When I have all the emails I will randomise them and send one to each participant on 13th February.  Then on 14th February you must post the picture you receive onto your blog under the heading

 Secret Stitching Sweetheart. 

There will be a list on my blog of everyone joining in, so check out all the blogs and find out who got your picture and identify yourself  in their comments as their

Secret Stitching Sweetheart. 

Does that make sense to everyone?  I hope so!

If you'd like to be involved then leave a comment on this post or send me an email if you are "no-reply".   I'll be putting little reminders up from time to time and will email on 9th February to make sure you send the pic in time.  

December IHSW

This weekend is the final IHSW of 2018 and it's a late one as the month started on a Saturday which means the third Friday is the latest it can be - the 21st.

Obviously we're all going to be very busy this weekend, I'm working both days and I'm not blogging on Christmas Eve other than to update the Advent Calendar so I thought I'd do the IHSW link-up post at the start of the weekend and post my progress in one of my round-up posts after Christmas.

I finished the Lizzie*Kate design I started for Gifted Gorgeousness and will show that in the Smalls round-up next Friday.  The original featured two tiny buttons but as I am stitching over one it was impossible to get buttons that tiny.  Then I received a parcel from Ariadne from Greece with a collection of tiny buttons inside!  They were still too big to fit but I have decided to make a border trim from them.  The serendipity of receiving gifted buttons while I was stitching a gifted piece for the Gifted Gorgeousness 2019 logo was too much to resist!

So what to stitch on next?  I have four days free before the 12 Days of Stitchmas starts on 25th December.  Of course, most of my larger projects are in the chest which is behind the Christmas Tree and inaccessible until Epiphany.  So that left a choice of two and I chose the unseasonable Gathering Eggs by Nora Corbett with added frogs.

Here's where I am now:

But here's where I was before:

Not only was the brown hair in the wrong place, but the skin next to it was wrong too!  So both came out and the skin has been put back correctly.  I will make slow progress on this for the next three days between work and present-wrapping.

I usually show Mrs Peggotty's Alice and the Flamingo for these posts.  Here's where she was last month:

And here is where she is now:

Finished her hair and the background up to the tree.  Now working on the border so it doesn't get left until last.

A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is! Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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The next IHSW will be 18th - 20th January so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here.

Finally, I thought you might like to see a little video of my tree, along with "cross stitch corner" for all my crafted decorations, some made by me and some gifted to me:

Newest addition from Wee Stitchy Steph

Cross Stitch Corner

Excuse the noises in the background, this is what happens when you film with children in the house!

November IHSW

We've just finished the penultimate International Hermit & Stitch Weekend of the year, the next one will be right before Christmas and I'll be working both days so I doubt much will get done then.

I was actually working this Saturday (Fantastic Beasts Crimes of Grindelwald launch) so only had Sunday for stitching.

I did do some framing and finished an old UFO too.  The two framed pieces are belated Hallowe'en designs.  The first one is Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night finished in October.  I used a plain black frame from Wilkinsons:

The second framed piece is an older finish from 2016.  This is Hallowe'en Town by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  It was a mystery release and I really like the first house but as the design grew I wasn't so keen on the rest of it.  So it rested for a little while and then I decided to stitch this piece and call it done.  This is why I don't do mystery SALs anymore.

The frame is actually plastic but has really nice detailing.  It came from QD (another bargain shop in the UK)

The old UFO is this Autumn Tree which was a freebie on one of the old Yahoo groups (who remembers them?).  I saw it on someone else's blog and loved the design.  I used DMC 51 to stitch all the speciality stitches.  It's a lovely mixture of yellow, orange and red.  The fabric is a plain pale green evenweave.  Prettier than the photo suggests!

I only had the beads and the french knots to do.  The original had an owl in the centre space but I decided to add a witchy touch and used a crow charm instead.

  I also added a pumpkin and a tombstone RIP.  Which is what this project can do now!

When I finished my framing session I got back to my current Focus on a Finish project.  Another one of my "18 in '18" started last July and only worked on once this year for the Longest Day SAL.  This is Joan Elliott's Reading Fairy from her 2013 Diary (now available as a chartpack called A Year of Magical Stitching).

stitched on 28 count Jazlyn in Aurora from Crafty Kitten

My evening project is Mrs Peggotty's Alice & the Flamingo.  Here is where she was last month:

Here is where I am now:

stitched over 1 on 25 count evenweave

I like these monthly updates on Alice, it makes it look like progress is taking place much faster than it seems as I stitch!

A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is! Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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The next IHSW will be 21st - 23rd December so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎅🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Advent Calendar  Blog Hop!  For this hop, each participant is allocated a day in December to make their post on.  They will show something they have stitched on a Christmas theme and answer the topic question I set.  I then copy their photo onto my blog post in the style of an Advent Calendar.

So if you'd like to join in, please leave a comment or send me an email.  Let me know if there is a date you would particularly like or one you'd like to avoid.  I will be in touch towards the end of the month!

Here is a link to last year's so you can see how it works:

2017-online-advent-calendar

October IHSW

This weekend was the October International Hermit & Stitch Weekend where we all try to get as much stitching time in as we possibly can.  Just like every other weekend of the year but this is Official!

Unfortunately, I didn't get as much stitching as I'd hoped.  I didn't actually sit down to stitch until 3pm on either day and then there were other interruptions too.  But there was some progress and every stitch counts.

The Tiny Decisions app choose the same project for both days which was helpful.  Just Nan's Autumn Mouse House,  I completed most of one of the panels.  There are a couple of stitches of white and yellow as well as the black but I intend to do all four panels and then add the odd stitches at the end to save changing threads too often.

stitched on 32 count Antique Ivory linen

I stitched the grass on this panel:

My evening project this year is Mrs Peggotty's Alice and the Flamingo.  Here's where she was last IHSW:

And here's where she is now, slow progress again:

stitched over 1 on 25 count evenweave

Unfortunately there is some frogging due.  I started a new length of the light green and it's a totally different colour.  I can only assume the original length came from a different skein, maybe a leftover from a kit?  Anyway, it is too obvious to leave so it has to come out.

A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is! Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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The next IHSW will be 16th - 18th November so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here.

Finally the Harry Potter Quiz Night at work went very well.  A shop full of witches, wizards and Potterhead Muggles all enjoying having their brains tested to the limit.

September IHSW

I don't know where this last week has gone but I meant to blog mid-week with a post-Birthday update and then suddenly it's IHSW and it's over and time to blog about what I did then!

Came down with a stinking cold mostly.

But there was some FFO'ing and some stitching too so it wasn't a totally lost weekend.

I have spent a lot of time stitching the Donna Kooler Tinies for a project a friend is organising.  Here's what one of the finished ones looks like:

Once she has decided what she is doing with them and reveals her plan, I will be able to show the fronts to you!

Once they were all completed I was able to return to my 12 Days of Christmas by Just Nan.  I'm hoping to complete Blocks 9 and 10 this month so I don't have to do one in October and can focus fully on Dark October stitching!

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

I've also been pottering along on Alice & the Flamingo by Mrs Peggotty, a little bit each evening.  Here's where she was last IHSW:

And here's where she is now:

stitched on over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is!  Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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Finally, the next IHSW will be 19th - 22nd October so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook.  If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here.