Theme-a-licous January Update and Just Nan SAL

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!  

Jardin January

The holidays were a little stressful...let's relax in a nice garden. Work on any piece with flowers or gardens.

By lucky chance all three of my pieces for the Just Nan SAL fitted the bill perfectly (which was just as well, because my evening pieces didn't at all!)

Just Nan SAL is hosted by Zeb of Keep Calm and Cross Stitch

This month I stitched and finished three different small projects.  The first was Lady Scarlet's Christmas:

Not actually IN a garden but plenty of greenery and a little ladybird too.

The second piece was Batty Jacks, again pumpkins are found in gardens (as are bats and spiders):

And thirdly, M is for Mouse.  Now maybe this is a House Mouse rather than a Field Mouse but there are plenty of little flowers on this design:

This is the backing fabric I used, it has little cakes and teacups on it.

Perfect to make into a little bag to go (where else) to the Mouse House to celebrate Mouse's Birthday.

I wanted some fruit tea for fabric dyeing but they only had camomile or drinking chocolate.  I figured that would keep Mouse warm this winter.  Check out those lovely flavours - Turkish Delight and Jazzy Ginger!

Finally, another mention for my Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop.  Click on the heart photo to the right and scroll down to the bottom of the post for details of the Hop!

Smalls SAL January Update

(Previously trading as The Ornament SAL in 2013)

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

I chose four different monthly themes to follow this year:

Dragon Dreams - 12 different Dragon designs
Hallowe'en Ornie SAL - 12 different themes
Little Stitcher Fairy Tale 12 Days of Christmas - one per month
Primitive Hare Spooky Countdown - one per week starting 31st January

Now based on the first month's stitching I am wondering whether to remove the dragons from the list and just stitch them as-and-when.

I did stitch a lovely ornie for the Hallowe'en Blog, Just Nan's Batty Jacks from JCS mag 2008:

Stitched on 28 count lilac Belfast linen using DMC.  I added the spider charm and made into a little bag as part of the Hallowe'en Blog Hop prize.  Backing fabric shown below:

Lany Bleu was the lucky winner of this one and she was most pleased with her little bag, she is going to use it as an ORTs bag this year.  I used a slightly different technique to make this little bag.  In the past I have stitched the design on a piece slightly bigger than the design and made a little hem at the open end.  However this leaves the back of the stitching exposed on the inside of the bag where it could catch on things.  Also my hemming isn't very neat.

So this is how I stitched this time:

A piece of linen much longer than needed.

Then I carefully removed one horizontal thread, this made a nice sharp edge when I folded the fabric in half.

I cut a piece of backing fabric the same size as the linen and folded that in half too.  Making sure I had the "right" sides facing each other I stitched through two thicknesses of fabric and two thicknesses of the linen to make a lined bag.  I stitched round three sides, leaving the top open, then I turned it right-side-out and added the cord handle.  Voila!!  Pop a chocolate spider inside and all done.

I have stitched The Little Stitcher design but I'm saving that for tomorrow's TUSAL post and the final small will be started on the 31st.

Finally, don't forget my Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop.  Click on the heart on the top right of the blog and scroll down to the bottom of that post for details.  I have received some lovely photos already, there will be some great Valentines arriving for some lucky people next month.