November TUSAL

It's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog.

Here is my TUSAL jar with two projects:

Jar filling up nicely as we approach the end of the year

 On the left, I have my focus for a finish piece; Just Nan's Autumn House:

stitched on 32 count Antique Ivory linen

I have nearly done all four walls for the house now.  I need to get some iron-on interfacing and set about putting the dwelling together.

The piece on the right is my new Ten-a-Day choice; another Just Nan - Summer Typography:

stitched on 32 count Pink linen

Regular followers will know that I have been stitching the Seasons in the Square series over the past two years and have just completed Autumn in the Square.  Logically I should have started Winter in the Square BUT Summer Typography is on my "18 in '18" list so I started this one instead.  It's a little bigger than the Squares but I am sure I can finish it within 12 months and start Winter in the Square after that.  Summer Typography is the final Typography design I have to stitch so that will be another series completed.

Here is Autumn in the Square (minus the button for the centre which I need to find!)

Now, the news you have all been waiting for - the answer to the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Mystery Phrase Blog Hop.  Thanks to all the participants; the picture posters and the commenters who hopped around, collected the letters and left nice comments.

I thought the phrase was a little easier this year but apparently some of you need to Brush up your Shakespeare - the quote comes from The Scottish Play AKA Macbeth and is spoken by the witches as part of the ingredients for their Double Double Toil and Trouble spell.

Fillet of a fenny snake

The word "fenny" meaning "of the Fens, swamplike, marshy or boggy".  Anyway, everyone managed to find all the letters and Google the meaning if they didn't already know it.

I used the random number generator to pick a winner.  Each picture poster got one entry and each commenter got one entry, so if you did both, then you got two entries.  The winner is:

Sheryl from Sewing After Seven

Please send me an email with your address and I will put a little parcel together along with the chart for Smiling Jack-O-Lanterns from JBW.

Finally, I am so pleased that everyone is enjoying the new Saturday SAL - The People's Choice.  Don't forget to leave suggestions for the next Poll in the comments on that post.

August IHSW

It was a great progress-filled IHSW this month so I am very happy.

Saturday morning started off with my three daily projects being worked on:

Just Nan - Autumn in the Square

Just Nan - Happy Bluebird

Hetti - Temperature SAL

Then I continued with my Hallowe'en project which is Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night.  Stitching one motif per month to tie in with the Hallowe'en Ornie Blog SAL.  This month was Haunted Houses and it was a big one!

Here is the whole piece and a better colour match for the fabric too:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

On Sunday I switched to my Donna Kooler Tinies:

stitched on 22 count Hardanger

That might look like a pumpkin, but it's actually a Christmas Teapot!

Next project to share is Alice and the Flamingo by Mrs Peggotty.  Here is what she looked like last IHSW:

And here is where she is now, lots of Flamingo head and neck and beak:

stitched 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 21st - 23rd September 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.

July WIPocalypse Recap So Far This Year

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  For me, this will be my "18 in '18".  Many of them are part of SALs so I will be working on them each month.

This month I worked on 6 of my 18 projects:

1. Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet Spooky Conversion:

stitched on 32 count Tiger Lily Murano from Sparklies

I stitched a Y, only 1 letter to go!

2. Donna Kooler - Zodiac

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

3. Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

4. Just Nan - 12 Days of Christmas

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

5. Mrs Peggotty - Alice & Flamingo

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

And my focus piece for the month:

6. Lyndisfarne Designs - Discworld Mappe

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

Close-up of this month's portion:

Measi always sets us a discussion topic:

July – Half-year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year? 

We're actually 7/12th of the way through the year and I'm doing great for my goals.  Here's the current status of the "18 in '18":

1. Dessins DHC - Bande des Dragons - Finish
2. Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet  - WIP
3. Chatelaine Designs - Gardens of London  - WIP
4. Nora Corbett - Gathering Eggs - Longest Day Only
5. Lyndisfarne - Discworld Map  - WIP
6. Just Nan - Summer in the Square - Finish
7. Joan Elliott - Reading Fairy - Longest Day Only
8. Donna Kooler - Zodiac - WIP
9. Just Nan - Autumn Mouse in a House - Longest Day Only
10. Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night - WIP
11. Dam Good Crafts - Dracula Book Cover - Finish
12. Just Nan - 12 Days of Christmas - WIP
13. Satsuma Street - Libra - Finish
14. Satsuma Street - Aquarius - Unstarted
15. Mrs Peggotty - Alice and Flamingo  - WIP
16. Bothy Threads - Alice in Wonderland - Unstarted
17. Just Nan - Summer Typography - Unstarted
18. Just Nan - Diamond Bouquet - Finish

Five finishes so far, seven projects getting regular progress on them, three which have only been stitched for The Longest Day Marathon and three unstarted.

My other SALs are

Zodiac Club - first Saturday of each month - posted 7 out of 7

Gifted Gorgeousness - post anything gifted on the 15th - posted 7 out of 7

Hallowe'en Ornie Blog - a different spooky theme each month - posted 5 out of 7

Christmas Ornie Blog - a different festive theme each month  - posted 7 out of 7

Smalls SAL - last Friday of each month  - posted 7 out of 7

I am also on target with my 10-a-Day project which is currently Just Nan's Autumn in the Square and my Temperature SAL.

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha linen

stitched over 1 on 22 count hardanger

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has started!  Two cards have gone out, been received and shown on the recipient's blogs:

Ariadne from Greece

Butterfly Wings

If you want to take part, just email me a photo of something you have stitched which is suitable as a postcard to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything Summer themed, beach themed, holiday themed, you get the idea!   It can be a new piece or something from your archives.

Maynia Round-up and Pie

It's the final day of May and the final day of Maynia.  Started in 2015 this SAL suggests you start 15 new projects in May.  Or 18 for 2018.  Or 31 for each day.  Or maybe go Monoga-Maynia and just stitch one project.

I decided to do the full 31 with 31 Just Nan smalls - a Just Nan-a-thon.  Here is the result:

The mathematically minded will have instantly spotted there are actually 32 designs there.  Day 28 was the Tiny Bunny Biscornu and there are two designs in that chart (one for each side of the biscornu) so I decided to start both.  Plus it gave me a better number for the collage.

The plan now is to return to stitching one at a time, a minimum of 30 stitches per day.  Then next year for Maynia I will stitch on each one of the remaining designs rather than have another 31 new starts!

The rest of the month I did my usual rotation with the Discworld Mappe being my main focus piece.  I completed the giant turtle head:

I also made great progress on my 10-a-Day project which is another Just Nan - Autumn in the Square:

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha linen

My Temperature SAL grew another side; it has felt warmer here but the thermometer is still reading lower than it feels so plenty of green and yellow but no more orange:

stitched on 22 count white hardanger

You can find the chart here - Stitches in Blue by Hetti

So here is how the Pie chart looks:

A 3 day course and some extra work shifts meant I had less time on Discworld than I wanted and more days where Mrs Peggotty's Alice and the Flamingo was pretty much the only measurable stitching I got done.

Stitch from Stash looks great again.

May
nothing	£0.00
Total	£0.00

A big fat zero.  I did buy some boxes to fully finish the Bande des Dragons from last month so that order (I included some scrapbook stuff) took care of my spare money for the month.

Finally, the ongoing saga of the comment notification emails:

Blogger eventually deigned to tell us that they are aware of the problem and are working to fix it.  In the meantime the work-around is to click "notify me" in the comment section of your posts and then the emails will come through.  They will be from "no-reply" commenters but if you know the person's email address you can just over type it when you reply.  Hope they get this fixed soon.

Blogger Forum Post

Marching on with the TUSAL

It's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog.

Here is my TUSAL jar with three current projects:

On the right we have Mrs Peggotty's Alice and Flamingo, mostly tree so far!  The goal to finish it in a year is 2 pages per month.  There are 7 pages in each column and I have stitched all of pages 7, 6 and 5 and most of page 4, some of page 3 and 2 and tiny bit of page 1.  I am not doing a hard page finish because I don't want lines to show.  Instead I continue a few stitches into the next page and reach a natural stopping place.

stitched over one on 25 count blue evenweave

On the left we have a new start for the 10-a-Day SAL, this is Autumn in the Square, the third in the Just Nan series.

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha linen

The final project at the back is the Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs, this month's focus piece:

stitched on 32 count evenweave custom-dyed by Sparklies

Close-up of the section I am working on:

I stitched the pointing hand with the Turn-wise banner and started the turtle head.

My final project to show today is the Temperature SAL, some warmer days before we plunge back to purple this weekend!

Finally, I am still really far behind with email replies but I have gone through them all and noted down everyone who wants to take part in the Easter Blog Hop.  If you haven't had a confirmation that you are on the list, please let me know.  There is still plenty of space for anyone else to join in.  I don't choose the Mystery Phrase until the last minute so I can always make it longer if more people join.  Just leave a comment and let me know if you want to be in this year.