TUSAL of Folly

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This week I have stitched The Day of Folly.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

I haven't quite finished it so no close-up yet!

This is what Laura has to say about this design-
"On this day be daring, doing some little folly that you wouldn't usually permit yourself to do"

I have been pondering this while I stitch.  Sometimes it is good to step outside our comfort zone, either in our stitching or in our real life.  Over the past three years of blogging I have attempted various stitching things I had not tried before thanks to the encouragement of others.  Pillow finishes, 3D sculptures, mystery SALs where the finish is unknown.

My first ever ornie!

My 3D Dracula

My current Mystery SAL by Joan Elliott

While I was pondering all this and thinking about new challenges for next year I had a bright idea (which I may come to regret!).  Why not ask you all for some ideas of follies I could attempt?  Leave a comment and while I won't promise to do them all (or indeed any, no bungee-jumps here!) I will give every one of them due consideration LOL. 

Finally the Summer Postcard Blog Hop is nearing the final stages, the plan is to email all the photos out by the end of August.  Here is the latest list:

First postcard from Marcy goes to Gracie at Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Second postcard from Krista goes to Jocondine at Jocondine

Third postcard from Michelle goes to Sharon at Shebafudge

Fourth postcard from Mouse goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Fifth postcard from Christine goes to Marcy at Stitching Plus

Sixth postcard from Astrid goes to Krista at Just Stitching Along

Seventh postcard from Vickie goes to Michelle at Michelle's StitchCraft Place

Eighth postcard from Jocondine goes to Deborah at A Patchwork of Crafts

Ninth postcard from Gracie goes to Maggee at Stitching Devotee

Tenth postcard from Sharon goes to Kaye at Kitten Stitching

TUSAL of Stories

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This week I have stitched The Day of Stories.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

And on its own:

I wonder what story the sitting up squirrel is telling its little friend?  Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin maybe? Or how about "The Little Squirrel Who Sneaked into a Round Robin for Bunnies" by Karen McEwan?

How many of you are reading to your children/grandchildren in the evenings?  It's one of my favourite times of the day and always has been.  We started with simple board books and picture books, limited to three stories and one poem book each night.  As my son grew older we moved onto "chapter books" working our way through the classics  from my childhood via anything with a dragon in it and a selection of proof copies from work.  I am a great believer in reading the book before the film so we often read books which are due to come to the cinema soon.  I also quote alot from books so that's another reason for choosing to read a book, so he recognises the quotes.  In the last year or so we have moved on from children's books to my great love, fantasy, especially comic fantasy in the shape of Sir Terry Pratchett.

We still read a poem each evening, we have two different books of A Poem A Day and alternate each year.

Thanks for the advice on the stitching over 1 for the Joan Elliott SAL, I also asked on the Mirabilia FB page because those stitchers do some beautiful conversions and the general consensus was to rechart and smooth the steps.  It is so amazing to have such a pool of stitchers to ask advice from, I really appreciate the knowledge we share.

Here is today's progress:

Stitched on 28count Snapdragon evenweave from Crafty Kitten.

Talking of advice, I noticed recently that my blogoversary countdown was stuck on 67 days, as was everyone else's!  I reloaded it and the same thing happened; changed the date, still 67 days.  So I have replaced it with a ticker which isn't quite as good (it's a bit wide!) but at least it's accurate.  If you have this gadget on your blogs you might want to check it out.  If you find a smaller one then please let me know!

Those of you on Facebook may have become aware of a new event - World Cross Stitch Day.  I don't know if there is a website or a blog or if this is just a FB thing but the date is Friday 8th August.  No time zone given, so if you start at 00.01 New Zealand Time and finish at 23.59 Baker Island (Pacific Ocean) Time then you actually get 48 hours of stitching time in total!

Finally, another card went out for the Summer Postcard Blog and this one came with a bonus picture from me.  Hop over to Krista's blog to see what that is all about.

First postcard from Marcy goes to Gracie at Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Second postcard from Krista goes to Jocondine at Jocondine

Third postcard from Michelle goes to Sharon at Shebafudge

Fourth postcard from Mouse goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Fifth postcard from Christine goes to Marcy at Stitching Plus

Sixth postcard from Astrid goes to Krista at Just Stitching Along

TUSAL of Feasts

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This week I have stitched The Day of Feasts.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

Can you see the big blob of white from the Noel Blanc frogs?

Day of Feasts.

Now I would usually post something on the Theme of the Day but I'm not a great cook or a fan of recipes and so on.  I thought instead we would have a Feast for your Eyes, much more suitable for a stitching blog.

A Feast of Stitching Prizes

I mailed three giveaway prizes this month, two for the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop and one for my 5000th commenter.  I had two designs I wanted to stitch for Easter, both of which I received from fellow bloggers.  The first to be finished was Twisted Threads Itty Bitty Easter Bunny.  I stitched this over 1 on 25 count yellow fabric and made it into a little bag into which I popped a chocolate bunny and a skein of the Jodyri thread I used in the design.  This went to Michelle of Michelle's StitchCraft Place

The second design was Sheepish Designs Easter Wabbit which I stitched on 18count pink evenweave and made into another bag with another chocolate bunny and another skein of Jodyri thread, again the one I used in the design.  In each parcel I sent the actual chart that I stitched for the other person.  This one went to Jan of Thread Garden:

Back in February Gwen of Guava Gems left the 5000th comment on my blog.  I wanted to send something suitable so I read through her blog and saw she was taking part in the Snooty Parrots SAL.  I had this little parrot bookmark in my stash, a cover kit from Cross Stitcher magazine.  I used their colours but changed the parrots around a little to make them more colourful.  In the parcel I included a piece of this fabric, I couldn't find any with parrots on but this is very colourful.  I also included a skein of Jodyri's Over The Rainbow thread which includes the same colours as the parrots and a Lucie Heaton booklet of Summer Stitching.

Close up of the bookmark, I used the leftover threads to make the tassel:

And my karmic reward for sending out three giveaways?  One in return!  I've been following Annette the California Stitcher for a while and through her blog I found Lee from Notes from Under the Mountain.  I became a follower and left some comments.  The next thing I know, Lee has chosen me to receive a gift in her Fifth Anniversary Giveaway!!

A lovely band sampler chart by Eileen Bennett, some postcards and information about Hobbiton, Lee lives in New Zealand where the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films were filmed.  The Large Boy was very interested in these.  And a giant sweetie:

Inside the giant sweetie was this:

A tiny strawberry!

Look at the detail in this strawberry, all those beads, the coin is a 1p for scale (about the same size as a cent)

Lee gives some great instructions on how to make one of these for yourself on her other blog Other Side of the Mountain. 

As I mentioned Lee lives in New Zealand so when she asked for my address I was quite apologetic and said I am in England (postage being what it is) and gave the village and nearest town.  To both our surprise, Lee knows the area because her Great Grandfather grew up around here!  Just a few miles down the road.  She asked me about a place she'd had problems finding and I was able to send her some links and some information.  How much of a co-incidence is that?

Finally, if you have already signed up for the Summer Postcard Blog Hop don't forget to send your photos in as soon as possible.  And if you haven't signed up then please do so!

June WIPocalypse Stitching Get-Togethers

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi of Measi's Musings.

The main focus of my WIPocalypse this year is my "14 in '14" a list of 14 projects I wanted to complete in 2014.  In the last month I have worked on four of the list.  Here is the current stitching status of each one:

6. Primitive Hare - Spooky Countdown

7. The Little Stitcher - 12 Days of Christmas

9. Just Nan - Winter Typography

12. A Mon Ami Pierre - Noel Blanc

Measi also gives us a topic to discuss:

June 13      
Have you ever been to a stitch gathering such as a retreat or a festival? If so, tell us about it!

I have been on two quite different gatherings.  The first was a Re-Treat with the emphasis on the treat.  Two sisters owned a converted barn where they held the retreats for only 6 other ladies at a time.  One sister taught the stitching and the other sister did the cooking and also the pampering in the evenings.  I had a wonderful time!  We spent three days just stitching, chatting, eating, having our nails done and shopping in the pop-up shop they had there.

The second gathering was more formal, based in London at the Imperial College in Kensington I signed up for a goldwork course.  This was fascinating but sadly I never finished the project...

Since having children it has been impossible to get away for such luxuries as stitching weekends.  However I did manage a day out in London to meet up with Nicola and some of the Scarlet Letter Ladies earlier this year.  Full report here and group photo here:

 

There are a number of get-togethers I would like to attend, the Mira Minions have one organised for next year already and Dawn from Crafty Kitten is also organising one for her 5th birthday (the company's, not her's!).  The ladies from Needlecraft Haven also get together regularly and it would be great to get to either Ally Pally or Harrogate for the shows there one day.  I used to love going to the big show in Olympia too.

Maybe I should organise my own retreat so you could all come to me!!

Finally, since the demise of the Google Reader I have been using Feedly which I really like.  Until this week when it has been cyber-attacked!  It's called a Denial of Service attack and the baddies flood a website so it crashes and then demand a ransom to leave.  Each time Feedly fixes it they get attacked again and off it goes.  I could read blogs via my Dashboard but when Feedly comes back they will show as unread and I'll have to mark them all off again!  Oh, the problems of the First World.  So if you miss my comments now you know why.

TUSAL of Birds and Little Animals and Smalls SAL May Update

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This weekend I have stitched The Day of Birds and Little Animals.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

I realise that cows and sheep are not really "little" animals but my son made them at school last week so I thought they should be in the picture.  NB the Small Boy made them, not the 11 year old!

Here is the design close-up:

And to keep in the theme, here are some birds and little animals that come and visit our garden:

Muntjac Deer

Pleasant Pheasant

Owl (of some description!)

We also have the usual range of pigeons, blackbirds, magpies, robins, sparrows etc but they are not so unusual so don't get their photos taken.  Neither do the moles who are the bane of my husband's existence!

Today is also the day to post my Smalls SAL update:

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

I chose three different monthly themes to follow this year:

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

The theme for Hallowe'en was Monsters so I stitched Frankenstein's Kitty from Carand88:

Carand88

The Little Stitcher Day 5 you can see above and here is the latest on the Spooky Countdown again:

Finally, I will be running the Summer Postcard Blog Hop again this year.  The theme will be Gardens.  Click on the picture of the stitching in the garden on the right for more details.  This Blog Hop lasts for the whole of the Summer so it doesn't matter if you are away on holiday for a week or two, you won't miss it!

TUSAL of Trees

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This weekend I have stitched The Day of Trees.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

The bag had the present from Martha in it and was too nice to put away!

And here is the close-up:

I made a few minor counting mistakes in this one, one tree-trunk is a stitch longer than the other and one tree is a stitch closer to the centre than the other.  But you wouldn't know it was wrong unless I told you!

The themes are working out nicely considering they are based on 12 Days in Winter (hence all the snow!).  This month is the Day of Trees and Laura recommends bringing evergreens into the house and decorating with a red ribbon.  Instead I went out into the garden and took a couple of photos:

The lilac hedge is mine but the blossom tree is my neighbour's.  I can see this from the dining table near my kitchen window and it is beautiful.

This next one is one of those conifers that the label says "reaches 5 foot within 10 years".  They don't mention what happens in the next ten years!!  This one must be over 10 feet tall.

Here are the first four Days of Christmas designs:

I have a new online collage-maker - http://pixlr.com/express/  Apparently there is a collage-maker already installed within Picasa but I couldn't get it to work (the option was greyed out).  So I found this one. It's free and really easy to use.  So I experimented with a nice border for this one!

Finally, I have been stitching my owl for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL and I'm not happy with it.  I used the DMC conversion and the colour for the alphabet is all wrong for the fabric.  I stitched the tree and it still looks wrong so I feel a frogging session coming on!

I'm thinking dark navy?

Blogaversary Number Three!

Happy 3rd Blogaversary to me!

I'm about 3 and half in this picture, but my parents were really bad at writing on the backs of the photos so there are quite a few where I'm not sure if I'm three or four.  This tree was my "treehouse" when I was three, my sister and I used to have tea parties underneath it.  The pinafore I am wearing had the story of Little Red Riding Hood told in pictures, each panel had a different picture.  I don't know if you bought them like that or if they came as a kit that you made up. 

Also, Happy Birthday to Calamity Jr and Susan Yellow Flower Meadow too.

Some Blogaversary stats:

*
3 years,

325 posts,

465 followers

5,342 comments

151,967 page views

WOW

Last year I was mainly stitching on Round Robins and monthly challenges.  The same is true for this year!  I have had a lot less finishes this year though.  This is deliberate because I am trying to focus on some of my bigger pieces rather than so many smalls as in the previous two years.

So what did I do on Sunday?  That's right, I stitched a totally random small project which doesn't fit in with any challenges, themes or targets at all.  So the only way to justify stitching it is to make it the prize for the blogaversary!  Sneaky, huh?

Here is the finished stitching:

Stitched on 19 count Ariosa Antique Rose

using Jodyri Threads ChaChaCha and DMC B5200

This is a freebie available on The Little Stitcher's FB page to promote her new Alice in Wonderland chart which is now on my wishlist!!  

I can't decide how to finish this small piece, it's only 70 stitches by 35 stitches.  So this is where the competition comes in - 

What weird and wonderful way should I finish my stitching?

The winner will get the weird and wonderful finished piece!!  The winner will be chosen by me based on how much I love the idea and how feasible it is.  I will also show the suggestions to the Large Boy first and see which ones he likes (he will unbiased as he doesn't know who anyone is!).  In fact I will probably write them down as they come in without anyone's name on so I forget who said what.

Back on track on Monday I stitched Block 10 of the Primitive Hare Spooky Countdown:

Finally, the School Easter Holidays started this week so we must be approaching Easter!  Which means, not long left to sign up for the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop.  Click on the bunny to the right for more details.

TUSAL of Warmth

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This weekend I have stitched The Day of Warmth.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

You can just spot the ORTS jar nestled amidst the Spring flowers in the warmth of our garden.

And here it is in close-up, a shepherdess and her sheep:

This is what Laura says about The Day of Warmth:

"On this day, take some time for you.  Let the world go on without you, take care of yourself, relax wrapped in a soft wool blanket and make yourself a nice gift, one of those which warms the heart."

This seems most appropriate today, as it is Mothering Sunday here in England so most of us Mothers will have been at least attempting to take it easy or be a little more relaxed than usual.

Finally, I am still taking sign-ups for the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop.  Click on the bunny on the right-hand side for more information.  He's a Just Nan design, Dewdrop Bunny.  Please feel free to borrow him and use as a link to promote the Blog Hop.

WIPocalypse March Stitching Places

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi of Measi's Musings.

The main focus of my WIPocalypse this year is my "14 in '14" a list of 14 projects I wanted to complete in 2014.  In the last month I have worked on four of the list.  Here is the current stitching status of each one:

Primitive Hare - Spooky Countdown

The Little Stitcher - 12 Days of Christmas

A Mon Ami Pierre - Noel Blanc

Just Nan - Winter Typography

Measi is also setting us a topic to discuss each month.

March 16 – Topic:  Show us your favourite places to stitch.

Here is a photo of my usual stitching spot:

OK, so it's not the tidiest stitching spot I've ever seen!  I tend to use the "strata" system where the older stuff sinks to the bottom and the newest stuff is on top.  That large bag on the floor contains all my DMC in their Floss-away bags, there is the latest Cross Stitch Collection magazine in view, some project bags and a carrier bag with Noel Blanc in so I can grab it at bath-time.  You can also see my blankets to the right which are either for sitting on or wrapping round my legs when it gets cold.  The Union Jack tray was for bringing coffee and snacks through, nothing to do with my stitching at all!

I also stitched on one of these this month:

I believe it is a Class 90 Electric Locomotive.

Anyway, this took me down to London and back for the Scarlet Letter Meet-up and six hours of train stitching produced this piece:

Spring Witch by The Snowflower Diaries 

I used to stitch alot on trains, commuting to Norwich six days a week gave me 90 minutes per day stitching time.  This was when I decided the "secured needle" method of stitching was definitely the one for me.  You don't need to drop many needles on the dirty floor of a train carriage (and losing them too) to decide that using the method most people use for sewing buttons on is a very wise move!

Finally, I am taking sign-ups for the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop, click on the Bunny on the right hand side bar for more details.