A blog trying to focus on all the nice things in life, those moments when everything turns out right. Finding the perfect fabric for that chart you love, the ideal sampler quote, just the right picture in all the 1000s of magazines you own. Meeting people who share your interests and obsessions and totally understand why you NEED that chart when you already have enough to last until you're 104
It was a busy weekend and I had two finishes plus some great progress on my Nora Corbett letter C.
The first finish was the Mini Mona Lisa you glimpsed with the Mona Lisa tea towel in a previous post. This was part of Mr. X-Stitch's 52 Projects in 2015 and I fell in love with it when I first saw it.
I stitched her over one on 28 count black evenweave using a DMC conversion (the chart was in Anchor). She looks better from a distance, so if you're reading this on a tablet or phone - hold it at arm's length!
Now I need a really tiny frame to mount her. The finished piece is 1.75 inches by 2.25 inches.
The next finish is a little larger but still counts as a small. CCN's Poinsettia Place is part of the Santa's Village series and was a giveaway prize from Gaynor of Stitchers Anon. I started it as part of DUCJC 2015 and continued it in December.
stitched on 32 count Twilight Blue linen
and mounted for my scrapbook:
I used the recommended DMC for this one with a couple of minor changes. I used B5200 instead of Blanc for the snow. I changed the side wall to a darker green and used a brighter yellow for the windows.
I haven't got a photo of C to show you so that will have to wait until next time! I will also be recommencing Book of Spells tonight for avid fans of that design. It took a little break while I stitched the 12 Days of Christmas and then Mona Lisa (that 3799 fill-in was rather dull!). But now I can return to my spooky love.
Finally, speaking of love - it's sign-up time for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop which takes place on Valentine's Day. Full details can be found on this post but basically you email a photo of something suitable for a lovely friend and I send you a photo from a mystery friend which you post on your blog to wait for your Secret Stitching Sweetheart to find you from the list of participants on my blog. Have a look at last year's Hop to see how it all worked:
Welcome to the first Gifted Gorgeousness link-up of the year! The link-up date will continue to be the 15th of each month but I will keep the linky open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time to join in.
The format remains EXACTLY the same as last year, if it ain't broke then don't fix it! The "rules" are on the Sign Up Page but basically anything you have which was a gift from someone or is going to be a gift for someone is eligible. Some shoehorners also included free charts which are a gift from the designer!
Most of the participants are cross stitchers but we did have quilters, knitters and crocheters joining in last year so other crafts are quite welcome to link up too.
In 2015 we had 66 people sign-up but unfortunately 11 of them didn't actually manage a single post!
The remaining 55 people made 350 posts between them, an average of 6 posts each.
The year started off with over 40 posts a month but slowed down to 20 by December, an average of 29 posts per month.
There were 7 people who linked up every single month.
Some people were usually among the first to link-up and Gillie was usually tail-end Charlie!
I used the random number generator to pick a number between 1 and 350 then worked out who that was from the spreadsheet. The names were listed in the order people signed up on the original sign-up page and you got one entry for every post you linked-up in 2015.
Then I used the random number generator to pick a number between 1 and 7 so everyone with a full house got the chance to win the second prize.
Congratulations to your both. Gwen donated a Big Box of Charts last year so I will be sorting them into two piles and posting them out very soon.
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So what have I been stitching this last month for GG?
The focus for this week has been the letter C from Nora Corbett for my Godmother's Grand-daughter (my God-Niece?) who is also my Second Cousin Once Removed because my Godmother is my Mum's First Cousin. Is that clear or would you like a family tree drawn? Let's just say a 5 year old girl!
stitched on 32 count Oceanic Fantasia from Crafty Kitten
I bought the chart and the fabric with the voucher Alicia the Crafty Princess sent me for my Birthday so that's double GG points for this one.
Prior to that was Just Nan Counting Bats, a gift from the lovely Mel along with the threads:
Before that was CCN's Poinsettia Place, a giveaway prize from Gaynor:
(the dark line is because the fabric was folded under when I scanned it, it's not a mark)
And right at the beginning of the GG month, I completed this gift from Linda - Sunflowers and Acorns by Beehive Needleworks:
stitched on 35 count linen
And now over to you - Here is the place for you to link up so we can see what Gifted Gorgeousness you have been stitching so far this year. Please use your name or your blog name in the field NOT the words "January Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month.
And link to the actual post, not just your blog. It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.
Thank you. I can amend links if you make a boo-boo though.
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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, 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.
And also the first post since November which isn't for a SAL or other event!
Actually this was for a SAL but not a "regular posting on your blog" type of SAL. This is Plum Street Samplers 12 Days of Christmas:
I made a collage!
I first saw these designs in Just Cross Stitch magazine which published First Day and Second Day in 2011 and 2012. I liked them but the series never continued. Until now! Following numerous requests for the series Paulette decided to make them the Mystery SAL for 2015.
She charted them for four colours; red, green, black and gold. But I thought it would be fun to use just red and one accent colour for each day. I started with pear for First Day and continued to choose a suitable colour for each day. I also continued with the quirk of having one motif a different colour to the rest of them where possible,
I stitched them over one on some 25 count creamish linen I had. The plan is to scrapbook them across two matching pages I have already bought. I quite like them as circles now I've done the collage so maybe I'll figure out an easy way to make them into circles!
Christine and I had a very interesting discussion about the song because we both learned the version where there were 9 Pipers, 10 Drummers, 11 Ladies and 12 Lords rather than this version. Some internet research revealed that we were taught the original version from at least 1780 (and no, we are not that old!). They remained that way until 1906 when the modern version was sent to music by Frederic Austen.
If you look at this Wiki entry you will see some rather strange versions have been used - Wiki - 12 Days of Christmas. I'm not sure I want to stitch Bears a Baiting or Asses Racing!
The origin of the rhyme seems to be a "forfeit" song where you had to remember all the verses or pay a forfeit. There is an old wives tale that it was invented as a catchism for persecuted practioners of the Christian faith with the various items representing various Christian themes. But as the symbols use the 1906 version this seems rather unlikely!
There is however a song called A New Dial which does teach numbered religious themes which is reproduced on this website - Snopes - 12 Days of Christmas so it would seem that the two have become confused over the years.
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As is traditional for New Year's Day I had a new start and a partial finish on the same day. My project for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog will be Just Nan's Counting Bats. As luck would have it the bands fit perfectly with our themes this year. Well, considering I chose the themes, it's not really much of a surprise!
Here is the first band made into a collage with some of the bats cropped and rotated to look different:
stitched on 28 count lilac linen.
I've also been working away on a little Christmas Cottage called Poinsettia Place by CCN:
stitched on 32 count Twilight Blue Permin linen
I started this last year on Day 3 of the DUCJC and didn't pick it up again until December! There's quite a bit of white snow, red in the top border, a pine branch bottom border and the two flower pots to go. I do like the way the white pops against the blue fabric.
Finally, I've been sent something unusual to review. It's a product in daily use but not one you might think of when it comes to artwork. I shall let you ponder and wonder until I do my next post!
The idea of this Blog Hop was to choose a different designer each month and do a post focusing on a piece of their work you have stitched on during the month. The hosts of D.E.S.I.G.N asked us to answer a few questions on our chosen designer. I featured a number of my favourite designers and some new to me, a nice mixture. To read those posts, click on D.E.S.I.G.N. in the labels.
This month I thought I'd look at some of the designers I didn't feature. I have a stitching diary where I jot down which projects I worked on that day. At the end of the month I tranfer the data to a spreadsheet and produce a pie chart to show how I spent my time. I don't bother counting hours because I tend to pick up pieces through the day and grab ten minutes here and there.
I stitched a total of 38 different designers in 2015! The Top Ten were as follows:
Primitive Hare
35
Satsuma Street
31
Brooke's Books
30
Blue Ribbon Designs
26
Scarlet Letter - Elizabeth
22
Joan Elliott
21
Plum St 12 Days
20
Just Nan
19
Goode Huswif Spell Book
17
Mme Chantilly On the Beach
13
Three new designers in the top spots there - Goode Huswif who designed the Book of Spells which has been taking a break to make way for Plum Street Sampler's 12 Days of Christmas (another new-to-me designer). The third spot goes to Madame Chantilly for Albert's Birth Sampler.
I will definitely be stitching another Madame Chantilly design in the future, I have Hallowe'en Town in my stash. Plum Street Samplers have some nice ornies in the JCS Christmas magazines so another yes there. The Goode Huswif charts don't seem to be readily available so a "probably not" there.
I've also been stitching a CCN design, only my second from this designer. Another one of my DUCJC pieces, this is Poinsettia Place which was a prize from Gaynor of Stitcher Anon:
stitched on 32 count Permin Twilight Blue linen
I substituted the dark green for the side wall but I think I've gone a shade too dark. I should have used 937 not 936 with hindsight. I also subbed a brighter yellow for the windows.
Here is the December Pie chart, I spent a lot of time on the Brooke's Book's Alphabet because I actually stitched two blocks in December. The E for December's Alphabet Club post and the F for January's post. The idea is to stitch the block in advance of the post so you get to see a finished block on the first Saturday in each month.
Here is E which you haven't seen completed yet:
stitched on 28 count afghan
I also spent a lot of time on the Plum Street Sampler's 12 Days of Christmas. I actually stitched on them every day at bathtime but only logged it if I didn't stitch anything else that day. So mostly work days when I don't get a chance to stitch during the daytime. Here are Tenth and Eleventh Days:
Stitched over 1 on 25 count linen.
The purple is still looking very blue and the orange is very bright!
And for lovers of Pie, here are two more charts:
This is the entire year by design!
And this one is by theme:
I only chose one category for each piece with Hallowe'en or Xmas taking preference over GG if an item fitted into both categories. The numbers refer to the number of days spent stitching on each category.
The DUCJC is a very special challenge in memory of a very special lady. SoCal Debbie was a prolific stitcher, blogger and commenter. Sadly she passed away very suddenly last year. One of her favourie challenges was the CJC:
CJC = Crazy January Challenge, one new start for the first 15 days of January
UCJC = Ultimate Crazy January Challenge, one new start for all 31 days of January
DUCJC = Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge, stitch 31 projects one per day for January
Linda Stitchin' with my Furbabies is organising this all via a FB group. Thankfully Linda is not making us all attempt the SDUCJC (Super Duper Ultimate Crazy January Challenge) or 60 starts throughout January and February which she did with Debbie in 2012.
I have listed out my choices on my Challenge page. Here are the first three days of stitching. All three days have been "at home" days so I have got plenty done. I decided to have three new starts for these whole days and save the WIPs for work days when I have less time to stitch.
Day 1 - Dyan Allaire for Kustom Krafts - Little Snap Dragon
Stitched on 32 count Morning Sky by Crafty Kitten
Day 2 - JBW - Hobby Horse
Stitched on 32 count Antique White linen using DMC 115
This will have my cousin's baby's name added under the rocking horse.
Actually, that raises a good question - why is this called a hobby horse when it clearly is a rocking horse? A hobby horse is a stick with a horse's head and maybe some little wheels that you ride around whereas a rocking horse you sit on and rock back and forth. French speakers - are there two different words in French for these toys?
A hobby-horse.
Day 3 - Country Cottage Needleworks - Poinsettia Place
Stitched on 32 count Permin Twilight Blue linen
I don't have the subtle variegated green so I am using a blend of the converted DMC and the next shade to it (3364 and 3363). I have found this is a great way of substituting varigated threads especially when you don't want the stripy effect, just a less blocky look to a solid area of stitching. I will get some more stitches in this one tonight.
What are my thoughts of the challenge so far? Don't pick your favourite projects at the beginning of the month! I am already itching to carry on with the first two choices!
I've also spent some time today tidying up the blog, making sure all the links have been updated to this year's SALs and removing the old ones. I am miles behind on adding projects to my Happy Dance blog so that will be next. I have a couple of finishes which were gifts so I couldn't show them before so that will be for another post too.
Finally, these three new starts all count for my Gifted Gorgeousness SAL. Two were gifts from generous stitchers and one will be a gift for someone. Credit will be given on the 15th January when we share our first GG Update. Don't forget, you can join in any time, this year, no obligation to post every month.
Last weekend was the third in the month and International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. For more details in how to join in, just click on Hermie the Crab on the right hand side of this blog.
I decided to spend all of IHSW on My Lovely Sewing Tools from Gift of Stitching magazine and made some good progress as you can see:
I also finished the CCN design Cherry Hill Cottage which I will scrapbook. I need to visit the craft shop and maybe buy some cherry themed trimmings. I used the variegated DMC 107 for both the red and the pink but forced the colours by cutting the skein into red and pink sections.
The background is the scrapbook paper which I will be using. Obviously the fabric will be trimmed to size and backed with plain white paper so the pattern doesn't show through. But you get the idea.
I also made good progress on the Needlecraft Haven monthly challenge piece which I can't show here yet. The progress was due to it being my handbag project this week. The Small Boy has started Preschool this term, two days a week just for two hours a time. I have decided to stay for the first two weeks but in a separate room while he settles in and his Key Worker gets to know him. So far, so good. Which means I have nearly 2 hours of uninterrupted stitching twice a week! Although I did help with the washing-up today LOL.
(for overseas followers - in England children attend Preschool anytime from 2.5 to rising 4, then Nursery from the year in which they are 4, then proper school in the Reception class from the year in which they are 5. Unless you work fulltime then they can attend a creche style setting confusingly also called a Nursery but it's from babyhood. Preschool is mainly just playing with a little bit of structure at the beginning and end of each session.)
My followers are slowly increasing in number, the Easter Treasure Hunt was great for helping me and all the participants make new friends. I was thinking of a 250 Giveaway when I received an email for Yiota, remember Yiota who sent me a lovely Cross Stitch Kit to review? She was offering to sponsor my next giveaway! Three winners will receive an email chart of one of Yiota's lovely designs. So while you're waiting for my followers to reach the magic number, why not pop over to Yiota's Cross Stitch Kits site and have a look at all the gorgeous designs there and try to decide which you would like to win. Don't tell me yet!
Anyway, "talking" with Yiota inspired me to make a start on the Coffee Fairy. As my kit was supplied with aida I decided to use some evenweave I had. I bought this piece from Sparklies with Nora Corbett's Trick or Treat Fairy in mind. It's called Monarch - should be Mad Monarch! I have never seen such an outrageously mad fabric before. But it is perfect for Coffee Fairy. I'm planning on just stitching the fairy, her cup and biccies not the background. But here is the beauty of my plan - if the fabric is too overpowering then I can stitch as much of the background as I need, maybe just an oval around her. Here is one evening's progress, it's the rim and handle of the cup:
This is a completely accurate colour match for the fabric, it really is that mad!
So now we have a rotation of sorts -
Coffee Fairy 1 day a week,
Baby ABC - 3 days a week alternate with
My Lovely Sewing Tools weekends and
2 different Round Robins weekdays as and when.
And Green Goddess must be fitted in too, and Papillon ATW, and I got the fabric for Snapdragon today...
That's just the evening stitching. There are all the smalls for daytime too.
Finally, I got my copy of Just Cross Stitch (the American mag) through yesterday. Gorgeous projects, there are several I want to stitch, so much better than the English mags! I'm definitely going to cancel at least one of them later this year (when a certain series of charts finishes!) and spend the money on fabric instead.
Okay, it hasn't actually ended yet, but Y is the penultimate block on A Dark Alphabet
This is my favourite block of all (I know I've said that before!). I love the design and the stitching technique, a nice geometric pattern. The trunk and roots are as charted but the leaves are stitched in DMC 4045 a lovely variegated green. Yggdrasil is the Celtic Tree of Life and as usual Becky has found out lots of information about it and posted on the Note of Friendship blog. Apparently Julie is the designer for this alphabet who comes up with the pictures then sends Becky off to research and write the blog. I think Becky deserves a huge round of applause for finding out so much about so many diverse subjects!
(edit - Yggdrasil is, of course, the Norse Tree of Life not the Celtic - thanks to everyone who reminded me of this fact!)
If you go read the post for Yggdrasil you will also find out which inspired person thought of using it - Me! The Large Boy and I play "Guess the Next Letter" each time and we sent our suggestions for W,X,Y and Z to Julie who chose our "Y". Fame!
I have signed up for the new Papillon SAL - Around the World in 80 Stitches. I'm doing the speciality stitch version although I've heard the plain cross stitch one is nice too. I'm going for a plain white fabric and I'll be choosing my colours this IHSW, probably pinks and purples. I noticed bloggers all over showing their floss tosses and started a little list. Then I thought it'd be nice to share this list with everyone. So I asked Yvonne's permission and she said "of course you can". So there is now a nice new page tab at the top of this blog which will take you to a list of Stitchers Around the World and a link to their latest SAL blog post. There won't be photos, that's what Yvonne's Gallery is for, but it'll be a great way of finding other SALers and stalking following them.
So if you'd like to be included and I haven't asked you yet, step up and leave a comment.
Cherry Hill is steaming along. I love this design and the Newcastle it's stitched on. I made a slight error with one sheep, it's a line lower than charted so I had to fiddle with the word "Hill".
There are two different variegated greens in this, 92 and 4045.
Finally, while browsing T'internet (as they say in Yorkshire) I found this fascinating chart on Sprite Stitch:
Anyone a fan of the books/TV show? I love the opening titles. Most programmes get them fast-forwarded but we always watch these ones in full! I do love a book with a map in it. When I was a child I used to spend hours copying the maps from my favourite books!
I'd gotten a little behind with The Dark Alphabet, partly because of stitching on the Joan Elliott Round Robin and partly because Julie is banging out the letters this year!!
So I'll be putting the hours into it this month to try catch up. V was for Voodoo and as usual The Note of Friendship blog is full of information about the letter and plenty of useful links if you want to know more.
This wasn't the most exciting block to stitch, the lettering was great but the little figure got a bit tedious! When I stitch over 1 in rows I get a ridge between every other line, which is great for some of the pieces but for this one I stitched diagonal rows which made it a little more interesting. I dangled the carrot of "Wyvern" to get me through it. I'm using a variegated for Wyvern and it's so much more fun!
The green scarf is stitched in the Van Dyke Stitch, quite fiddly over 1 but a nice little effect.
The next piece is my current daytime project, Cherry Hill by CCN. This was a giveaway from Crafty Rahenna and I'm loving it. I'm using DMC on 40 count Newcastle linen, over 2, a mixture of 2 strands or 1 strand depending on the effect needed. I'm using two different variegateds for the green and there'll be a variegated red coming soon.
Not a brilliant pic because I'm using my scanner. It's quicker and easier than using the camera for WIPS.
The third project is my alphabet sampler for my friend's new baby boy. I shifted the letters around to include his name...
I'm so pleased with the wobbly lower case letters! I charted them myself on a piece of graph paper and they looked a little upright and straight so I kind of free-styled them on the fabric. I'll be adding Big Sis's name further down. This chart was published in Cross Stitcher magazine this year.
There's also a charting project called "I Blame Karen" after Stitchy Woman. She makes these throwaway comments on stitching forums which set my mind ticking and before I know where I am, I'm surrounded by pieces of sketch paper, graph paper, charts and being accused of being a "Manus-o-phile". Non-Latin speakers will have to wait to see if this ever comes to anything other than an in-joke and a moment of madness on paper.
Finally, the Easter Treasure Hunt was a HUGE success, it was so much fun blog-hopping to see the letters. There was only one Picture Poster who couldn't make it, she was away for the weekend but everyone managed to guess the missing letter!! I'll keep the entries secret until the Friday deadline just in case anyone is behind in their blog-reading. I used the Easter weekend to catch up on mine, I only have today's posts outstanding and have been commenting all over the place which I love to do.
