Theme-a-licious April 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!

April's theme is:

Amazon April

Dip your needle into the vast swath of fabric dedicated to your BIGGEST projects!

The first BAP is the Large Mirabilia Round Robin.   We decided to make the boxes twice as large as usual (5,000 stitches rather than 2,500) as we could fit more of the design in.  There are three groups of four stitchers and we get 12 weeks to stitch rather than the usual 6 weeks.  Even so, of course, I was still stitching almost up to the limit!

This the Archangel Michael:

This is his Bling:

And this is the whole of the design so far:

Julie chose Angels as her theme and designed this incredible layout herself.  The fabric is PTP Heather Lugana and is really soft and lovely to stitch on.  Archangel Michael is one of the less stitched Mirabilia designs which is one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to stitch him.  I don't think I'd ever do the full piece for myself but it is nice to stitch something different.

There is a ton of metallics, beads and treasures even in this small piece of the design, 12 of those little topaz diamonds for a start.

That's it for this theme so far!  I still have Sophia's Band Sampler RR glaring reproachfully at me from the corner of the room so I must crack on and finish that next.  Then the choice is between Joan Elliott's Green Goddess and the Scarlet Letter Sampler.  Difficult decisions indeed!

Thank you all very much for your Congratulations on my recent Blogaversary.  I'm glad you liked the cute photo, I have cute photos of me up until the age of 7 or so, then I'll just post a picture of a cake or something LOL.  It was great to read about all your progress (or lack thereof) since last Easter.  I remember alot of the projects so I must have been paying attention throughout the year.

I allocated everyone a playing card and got the Large Boy to pick a card, any card and not put it back.  Then do it again because it's my 2nd Blogaversary so we'll have two winners.  The winners of a small something are........

Giovanna

 and 

 Emma/Itzy

Finally, I just noticed a few more followers have joined me, heading towards 400 now, so there's another excuse for a little giveaway.  I'll wander off and try think of something interesting to ask you all.  You don't get anything for free on this blog, you have to work for it!

Some Works in Progress and another 5 minutes of Fame

This week I've been stitching alot of smaller projects, I seem to get more daytime stitching time rather than evening thanks to the Small Boy's schedule and sleep patterns.

This is my progress on March's piece for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL.  It's a freebie from La Contesse, from last October.

Once again I'm using my favourite burnt orange 28 count and stitching over 1 with Anchor black.  There isn't anything to choose between Anchor and DMC Blacks are far as I can see so once this skein is used up I'll stick to DMC.

This is my main man Michael!

I'm stitching the Archangel Michael for Julie's Mirabilia Round Robin.  I'm really pleased with this photo, it looks better than in real life, maybe I'm too close to it when I'm stitching?  I did have a slight moment late last night.  As you can see I've done all the darker skin shades.  The key shows the next symbol as being 946.  This is a very bright orange!  Now unless he's from Essex, that's clearly not right!  So I popped onto FB and the Mira Minions page to ask for help.  In less than 10 minutes I had my answer, 948 not 6.  Isn't t'internet great?!

And the five minutes of Fame?  I'm featured in World of Cross Stitching again, the Letters page this time with my Flower of the Year cards.  You may remember I stitched this last year for various Birthdays using my patented method of backstitching on aida then colouring in the design using felt tip pens.  Someone always asks about the pens, they are just standard children's felt tips nothing special or expensive!

Here's a better picture of all twelve designs in month order.

ps I haven't patented that method of stitching, it just sounds good!

Finally, my Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop will be taking place on Good Friday.  Come over and follow the list of blogs, find the letters and spell out the Mystery Phrase.  There will be two prizes, one for a Picture Poster and one for a Treasure Hunter, nothing very exciting, some seasonal stitching and a few bits, maybe something edible!