DUCJC 2015 - completed!

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 favourite 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 organised 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 did it!  I stitched 31 different designs on the 31 days of January!  Here is a little collage of them all:

And details of the final four days you haven't seen before:

Day 28 - Anchor - Kingfisher (designer not credited - how rude of them!):

Stitched on 28 count blue evenweave.

I am only stitching the bird from this design and giving it to the Small Boy's teacher and TAs at the end of the year.  All the classes in his mainstream school are named after water birds and the Reception Class are Kingfishers so this will look good on their wall.

Day 29 - The Sweetheart Tree - Tudor Rose:

Stitched on 32 count Light Mocha Belfast Linen

I used DMC 223 for the border instead of the Caron Waterlilies which I don't have.

Day 30 - Nora Corbett - J is for Joanne:

Stitched on 32 count Love-in-the-Mist Murano evenweave by Crafty Kitten

Day 31 - Madame Chantilly - On the Beach:

Stitched on 32 count Kynance evenweave by Sparklies

This was a WIP I started last year to be a Birth Sampler for my cousin's baby.  Thankfully I noted the thread changes on my blog because I could not remember what they were when I picked it up again!  The colours listed are nothing like the cover picture.  Much more dull and muted so I am changing quite a bit.

A few stats -

8 WIPS

23 New Starts

5 Gifts for other people

22 Gifts from other people

Fabrics Used

25 count eveweave - 1

28 count evenweave - 10

28 count linen - 2

30 count linen - 1

32 count evenweave - 5

32 count linen - 9

35 count linen - 1

40 count linen - 2

stitched over 1 - 6

So right now I am stitching away On The Beach because it's nice to OAAT again!  I did enjoy the challenge more than I thought I would once I got over the first few days on wanting to continue with each project.  Moral - save your favourites until last.  It was a good idea to spend the time in December getting everything together in one place.  It was also a good idea to keep a list of the fabrics too.

My plan now is to stitch on the 15 which are in my WIPocalypse "15 in '15" and then fit the others in around them as we go through the year.  I also want to Giveaway a few charts as part of my Gifted Gorgeousness SAL so watch out for those posts throughout the year.

Would I do this challenge again?  I will have to see how many I manage to complete this year.  If I have several left I won't want alot more new starts in 2016 so I may just rotate the unfinished projects.  On the other hand it is a good way to actually start some much-wanted designs which have sat in my stash for too long.  We shall see....

Finally, I will be hosting the annual Valentine's Day Blog Hop this year.  See this post for more details.  Just send me a photo of your lovely stitching to be sent to another blogger on Valentine's Day,  I've added the Heart to my sidebar, please feel free to copy it onto your blog to link back here.

   

October Just Nan SAL and Theme-a-licious Update

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

Unfortunately Zeb is no longer updating the SAL on her blog but that's no reason to stop stitching and posting!  So here is my monthly update.

I had a last minute Nan start this month, Haunted Pumpkins Tree which was a Birthday gift from Mouse and the fabric came from Shebafudge.  Here is my latest progress photo:

Stitched on Chocolate Orange from Crafty Kitten

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!

Oft-Overlooked October

Find a new-to-you designer and start a new project this month! Or maybe two...or three...

This was actually an adaptation of my idea of Newbie November (I won a prize for it!!) but changed to alliterate with October!  In some ways it was quite difficult to find an actual new designer to me because I do stitch designs from alot of different people.  But luckily enough I had purchased a chart by Madame Chantilly to stitch for my cousin's new baby boy.  They have a nautical themed nursery so this perfect:

 

Stitched on Kynance by Sparklies

I started this one in August.  This was a Mystery SAL in four parts which are all released now from Frosted Pumpkins:

Stitched on Moondust by Crafty Kitten

My final piece for this month's Theme-a-licious isn't an actual new-to-me designer but she does fit into the "Oft-Overlooked" category.  Val's Stuff features regularly in the JCS magazine ornie specials but she does not seem to be a well-known or much talked about designer.  Anyway, I stitched her Tricks or Treats from JCS Sep/Oct 2010 Hallowe'en Ornie feature:

Stitched on 32 count twilight blue linen

The chart calls for three candycorn buttons which I didn't have and which are almost impossible to find in England, we just don't have them.  So I just did some little over one stitched versions.  To my eyes they look like traffic cones!  But maybe Americans don't have them?

Next month we have No Xs November so I shall have to see how I manage with that.  I didn't do very well last year!

Finally, the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop started yesterday.  One blogger has been in touch to apologise for not being able to post due to real life getting in the way of blogging!  But you should be able to guess the phrase without the one letter.  Unless you are the person who guessed 

AVOCADOS AND PURPLE DEER 

Because that is not correct!!  You have until 7th November to join in.

ps there is an amazing firework display going on outside my window as I type.  Not sure why because it is still 4 days until the 5th November!  I really don't hold with early fireworks.  Save them for the big day, we will be.

Oooooo, massive Chrysanthemum just gone off!!

Round Robin Wrapped Up

As you know, I am a big fan of Round Robin stitching, especially the band sampler we do each year.  I joined all my RRs on the Yuku Board The Worldwide Round Robins.

We have just finished our sampler for this year.  I chose a traditional "Band and Spot" Sampler using the bands and motifs from my Brenda Keyes sampler book.  Some people did add bands from other designers if they thought they fitted in with the general feel of the piece.  Following on from a jokey comment by Karen I also asked each person to add a bunny!

Here is the full piece:

Close up of the bands: 

From top to bottom:

Measi

Rachel

Karen

Rahenna

Linda

Kathy

Me

Close up of the spot motifs: 

As I said, everyone added a little bunny.  Except for one person, Karen added this little cutie as well!

Squirrel!

And here are the six pieces I stitched for everyone else this year:

Measi

Rachel

Karen

Rahenna

Linda

Kathy

I have just noticed that I signed my name in a different way almost every time!

This weekend I have been concentrating on my cousin's baby's birth sampler.  The design is called On the Beach by Madame Chantilly and as they have a nautical themed nursery it is very suitable.  Here is the current photo:

Fabric is Kynance by Sparklies.

It is a difficult piece to photograph, the white does show up more in real life.

Finally, I should be showing you a Happy Dance for Noel Blanc, but after finishing the final snowflake two evenings ago I decided that the greens in the top wreath did not show up well enough on the blue fabric.  The original was stitched on a natural fabric.  I was unsure from the time I finished the wreath and having changed the mistletoe to lighter shades I decided to do the same with the wreath.  So each evening I am now frogging. which is a slow task because there are three shades of green all tucked under the red ribbon which is staying.  But as I discovered before, it will be worth in the end!

TUSAL of Tea

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 Tea.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

And on its own:

It's a lovely little tableau featuring a woman with an oversized cup about to have a nice gallon of tea!  I suspect there are many of my friends who would drink that much tea but probably spaced over the course of a whole day.  Despite being English I am not a tea drinker.  I drink instant coffee or cappucino if I am out.  But not the little biscuits that come with a cappucino because one of the children usually want it!

My Dad is not a tea drinker either, he likes a cup of sugar with a spoonful of coffee!  My Mum and my Brother however are avid tea drinkers.  They only have a small kitchen but one entire cupboard is devoted to teas of all types for different times of the day and the year.

So how about you?  Tea, coffee or something else?

For fans of The Little Stitcher there is a lovely Christmas design in this month's Just Cross Stitch magazine:

Here is the other project I have been stitching this week, Madame Chantilly On the Beach.  This will be a birth sampler for my cousin's baby.

Stitched on 32 count Kynance from Sparklies

In the last post I said I wasn't happy with the blue stripes charted in DMC 926 so I switched them for 799 which looks much better.  I exchanged the light blue for 800 and will also change the darkest blue for 798 when I get to it.  I think this is going to be a nice quick design and I promise to take some better photos!  This was taken in artificial light on a dull evening and doesn't show the fabric to its best but the scanned version just whites it all out!

The Spooky Countdown is continuing, here are the collages for days 9-16 and 17-23:

Days Nine to Sixteen

Days Seventeen to Twenty-Three

   

Finally, one last call for the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop sign-up.  Just leave a comment (making sure I can contact you via email - Hazel D please contact me) and then a few days before the 31st October I will contact you with a letter to display on your blog on the 31st along with some Hallowe'en stitching of your own.  I will list all the blogs in order and people will hop around collecting the letters to SPELL out the Mystery Phrase.

To see how it all works, check out last year's Blog Hop here 

Stitch from Stash October Update

Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel from Epic Stitching

Essentially the idea behind Stitch from Stash is that we are limited to spending US$25 (or £15) per month. There are various exemptions (Birthday money, existing mag subs, clubs etc) but the idea is not to try and pervert the rules and to stitch some of that stash!  I will be posting on or around the 20th of each month because that is when I get paid!

Money from Christmas 2013	£ 40.00
January Budget	£ 15.00
January Spend	£ 25.84-
February Budget	£ 15.00
February Spend	£ 18.99-
March Budget	£ 15.00
March Spend	£   8.42-
April Budget	£ 15.00
April Spend	£ 16.19-
May Budget	£ 15.00
May Spend	£   0.00
June Budget	£ 15.00
June Spend	£ 51.00-
June Bonus	£ 30.00
July Budget	£ 15.00
July Spend	£ 17.00-
August Budget	£ 15.00
August Spend	£ 29.72-
September Budget	£ 15.00
September Spend	£ 29.08-
Birthday Money	£ 80.00
Balance	£ 88.76

Crafty Kitten 4 x fabrics	£ 37.89
JBW Rocking Horse chart	£   4.28
Glendon Place Fall chart	£   4.63

Balance	£ 41.96
October Budget	£ 15.00
Birthday Voucher for CK	£ 25.00
Available to carry forward to October	£ 81.96

Allowed purchases:

Jodyri Threads of Month Club : £ 5.54

As you can see from the above list, my Birthday continued for the rest of September!  The very stunning Alicia the Crafty Princess sent me a voucher to spend at Crafty Kitten which has in theory left me quite alot of Birthday money still to spend.  I say "in theory" because it doesn't actually exist any more!  I seem to have spent it on the Large Boy's Birthday.  Hmmm, perils of being a parent!

Anyway, here are my Crafty Kitten fabrics:

Top left - Moondust 32 Murano (Dragon Dreams Dragon of Winter Sun
Top right - Love in the Mist 32 Murano (Nora Corbett J and E letters)
Bottom left - Blue Hydrangea 32 Murano Opal (Nora Corbett Little Snowy Cottages)
Bottom right - Moonlit Water 32 Murano (Madame Chantilly Hallowe'en Town)

New Starts from Stash: No new starts from stash

WIPs and UFOs worked on: A Mon Ami Pierre Noel Blanc, Primitive Hare Spooky Countdown (finished!), The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas

A Mon Ami Pierre - Noel Blanc

I am so excited about this one!  You can see how close I am to the end.  I have to finish that C and then there is one snowflake which fills the corner and I am done!

Primitive Hare - Spooky Countdown Day Twenty on my tree.

I spent today making a coffin to keep all the tombstones in.

Photos to follow.

This one is not listed under New Starts from Stash because it is a new chart which I bought last month.  I have been waiting patiently for the special fabric from Sparklies to make a start on it.

The chart is Madame Chantilly On the Beach and the fabric is called Kynance and is half blue/half yellow.  If you contact Kate she will let you choose whether to have the split portrait or landscape and if you want the dividing line to be higher or lower than the halfway point which makes it a very versatile choice.  I went for landscape and about an inch below the centre.  Only a small part is visible in this photo.

I have only stitched one stripe of the centre hut and I am unsure about the colour.  It is DMC 926 which is a grey blue but the picture shows a nice baby blue.  Since this is for my cousin's new baby I am thinking of changing it before I do too much more!

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.  Just leave a comment (making sure I can contact you via email - Hazel D that means you!!!) and then a few days before the 31st October I will contact you with a letter to display on your blog on the 31st along with some Hallowe'en stitching of your own.  I will list all the blogs in order and people will hop around collecting the letters to SPELL out the Mystery Phrase.

To see how it all works, check out last year's Blog Hop here