August 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.

Here's where I was on Friday morning:

Here's the part I worked on this weekend:

And here's the piece right now:

I'm also making steady progress on my evening piece.  This is the project I stitch while The Small Boy is in the bath.  The current project is The Queen of Hearts by Mrs Peggotty.  Here's where she was last IHSW:

And here is where she is now:

stitched on 22 count white hardanger

I haven't really done a great deal as I have been using that time slot to stitch something else which I will show you next post.

I have made nice progress on my Summer Holiday Daily Stitch project - Just Nan's Summer Night:

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

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.

*

*


Finally, the next IHSW will be 20th - 22nd 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.

August Gifted Gorgeousness Link-up Post

Welcome to the August Gifted Gorgeousness link-up.  The link-up date continues to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.

The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.

My main project for Gifted Gorgeousness has been my Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs, which will be a gift for my son.  This is where I left off last GG post:

This is where it was at the end of July:

Here is the portion I have been working on this week:

Here's where I am today:

I finally finished filling in the swathes of cream which make up the Hubland Steppes then stitched a tiny boat to celebrate before moving on to more coastline.  The writing says "NoThingfjord":

Mentioned in The Last Continent, this is Mad's home city. From contextual evidence in The Last Hero, this is a Duchy. The local patron God is called Noddi. A previous ruler who lacked a sense of humour was called Lord Picric. He took this out, somewhat terminally, on his Fool, Gilbert the Stupid, whose many graves around the area, some even in relatively accessible places, are now something of a tourist attraction.

Members of the Silver Horde once, apparently, fought as mercenaries for the Duke of Nothingfjord. The battle took four weeks to complete as the Duchess was working on the tapestry of the battle, and insisted on episodes being replayed until her needlework caught up with the action. This led to Mad Hamish declaring that letting the bloody media anywhere near a decent battlefield is a mistake, and they should be kept well away from the fight.

According to the booklet on exploration supplied with The Discworld Mapp, Nothingfjord was home to a race of sea-rovers who were too polite for their own good, they made appointments to rape and pillage along the coast, then wondered why their victims were never in when they called. Members of this race became great explorers under the inspiration of the Skald Lars Larsnephew, whose huge repertoire of very long sagas would inspire anyone to seek out new lands far away.

Source: L-Space

Good job no-one is holding up a battle waiting for me to finish the Mappe!


The other gifted project I worked on is my Summer Project - Just Nan's Summer Night.  I have divided this into 42 pieces to be stitched over the six week Summer Holiday.  We are currently on day 21.  This is stitched on gifted fabric:

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the month.  Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "August 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.

*

*




Finally:

Three postcards have been sent out in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop to:

Aimetu's Stitching

Needle, Pen and Sword

Miniz Diary

so make sure you follow their blogs and see who the cards come from.

It's not too late to send your postcard to me if you want to join in!

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for August

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This new SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed.  We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).

I managed two different FFOs this month - one ornie and one scrapbook page.  The ornie was a recent finish and the scrapbook piece rescued from the "Chuck it in a Bag for 20 Years" finishing bag.

The recent finish was a Just Nan design called A Little Joy from the 2002 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Special.  I made it into a padded square ornament with a beaded trim and a ribbon hanger:

Stitched on 28 count Platinum linen

The main design over two and the centre sampler over one

Beaded trim

Backing Fabric

With two Sweetheart Tree recent finishes

The older piece was probably a magazine cover kit from the 1990s.  I have no idea.  I can't think of any other reason for stitching it!

stitched on 14 count aida

I was pleased with the choice of paper and mount.  I wanted the look of an old fashioned living room with the cat asleep on the settee.

I would have FFO'd Summer Typography but Wilkos have discontinued their 6 x 6 inch raw wood box frames.  I was hoping to have a spare one at home but sadly not.  So I will have to buy a white one and paint it.  I want it to co-ordinate with the other three.  Here are some more photos of Summer Typography for those who missed it.

stitched on 32 count Pink linen

Did you spot the word I changed?  Answer at the end of the blog post!

Finally:

Three postcards have been sent out in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop to:

Aimetu's Stitching
Needle, Pen and Sword
Miniz Diary

so make sure you follow their blogs and see who the cards come from.

It's not too late to send your postcard to me if you want to join in!






















(The word is Super!  Hope you are having a Super Summer too)

July Pie, Stitch From Stash and TUSAL

A Three-For-The-Price-Of-One today!

Let's start with Pie:

As you can see I got another two full weeks on the Discworld Mappe which went from here:

to here:

I made some great progress on Marie Suarez's My Lovely Sewing Tools.  From here:

to here:

stitched on 40 count white linen

I finished all the centre block and stitched most of the right hand block, the final one.  Next month I have to complete that and the border then add the embellishments.  Should be on course for a finish next month!

Now on to the TUSAL.  July is a Two-TUSAL month, the Totally Useless SAL created by Daffycat where we all show our ORTS.  Here are mine with three current projects:

You've seen My Lovely Sewing Tools above.  The one on the top left is my current Just Nan small; Butterfly Welcome and the one on the bottom left is the replacement for my 10-a-Day project which I finished last week.

Butterfly Welcome stitched on 28 count Colonial Blue evenweave

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

When I completed Summer Typography, the next project should have been Winter in the Square.  I even got the chart and linen out and put it in the project bag.  But then I looked at my WIPocalypse projects and thought it might be better to start one of those instead.  This is a Just Nan sampler called Summer Night.  At approximately 90 x 50 I thought I could average one row of 500 stitches every 5 days.  So I wrote a schedule out and this is the first six day's work, almost all the top 15 rows.  The plan is to complete it in the 42 days of the Summer Holiday.

Finally, let's finish with Stitch from Stash.  We start a new accounting period in the Facebook Group so everything resets to zero again.

July
JCS Hallowe'en mag	£9.50
Total	£9.50

Probably due to the fact I had to pay for my new glasses so very little spare money this month!

July WIPocalypse Stitching Drought - What's One of Those?

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.  

Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "19 in '19" for this year.  You can find the full list here.

This month I stitched on five of my list:

1. Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace

 stitched on 32 count Murano in Tiger Lily from Sparklies

2. Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

3. Summer Typography by Just Nan - Day 260

stitched on 32 count Pink Linen

4. My Lovely Sewing Tools by Marie Suarez

stitched on 40 count White linen

5. Summer Night by Just Nan 

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

Did you spot the Finish?  More details on that in my end of month Pie post!  See if you can spot the subtle personalistion too.

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

July – How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

Apparently some people have periods of time when they don't stitch.  I don't mean a few hours when they are asleep or at work, but sometimes days or even months on end.  My younger son is 10 years and 5 months old.  When he was a newborn was the last time I didn't stitch every day.  I joined some stitching forums when he was a baby and started this blog just over 8 years ago.  Since I started blogging I have definitely stitched every day and probably for several months prior to that.  No-one starts a blog in a drought!

What would I do if the worst happened and my stitching bug was captured by aliens?  I think in the short term I would reorganise my stash and have a good look at my WIPs and unstarted projects.  If that didn't work then I would go for the 10-a-Day project.  For some time now I have had a Just Nan project on which my goal was to stitch just 10 stitches per day.  I have completed four designs in this way.  Even someone who has zero desire to stitch would be able to manage 10 small stitches a day.  And that might be enough to kick-start the bug again.

I just did a Google and it's 3,033 days since I started my blog.  So just for fun, let's say I have been stitching every day since 12th June, 2010 which makes three thousand, three hundred and thirty-three days of an unbroken run!

Finally:

The first postcard in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has been sent out to:

Aimetu's Stitching

so make sure you follow her blog and see who the card came from.

July Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

For this SAL I am showing the monthly project for the Christmas Ornie Blog. I am choosing from the back issues of the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Specials.  This month the issue was from 2006 and I chose The Sweetheart Tree Christmas Joy Bellpull which is the companion to the 2007 design I stitched for March's choice.

stitched on 32 count linen

It was a quick stitch so I fully finished it straight away:

The next item for my "smalls" SAL is always my spooky conversion of Lavendar & Lace's Enchanted Alphabet.  This month I added a trio of froggies taken from a Just Nan design.

stitched on 32 count Murano Tiger Lily from Sparklies

Staying with Just Nan I had a number of successes this month.  First I finished the second side of the Butterfly Needlebook:

Then I added the beads and my initials to the first side:

And now I have them both finished.  Question is - do I make a needlebook which won't get used or do I scrapbook?

stitched on hand-dyed 28 count evenweave

Having finished those two I moved on to the next one in line, Spring Fantasy.  Very small and quickly finished!

stitched on 28 count pink evenweave

This one will be scrapbooked with some more of the butterfly stickers I used last time.

I did start another one (Butterfly Welcome) but haven't photographed it yet!

Finally, haven't shown any rocks for a while so here are two I made as End-of-Year gifts for the Small Boy's teachers: