Turning a Corner, or Three

Here's the corner I showed you on Friday:

And here's another one:

And here's a third:

And when I stitch the fourth one you'll be allowed to see the whole piece!

Those corners are stitched in DMC metallic and outlined in the DMC metallic which is why they are taking some time.  They are full of fractionals too.

I can show you this piece and name it now a few people have identified it as Ink Circle's Ghostly Mandala:

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland from Crafty Kitten

This design was in Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en Special for 2014 and is now available as a chart direct from Ink Circles website - Ghostly Mandala.  Here is how it looked in the magazine:

I've switched the colours round and am stitching with B5200 on dark fabric.  I am still wondering whether I should have stitched the actual ghosts in white rather than stitching the background.  Maybe I can do it again that way round!  I have lots of this fabric as the lovely Rachel gifted me a large piece she could not get on with.  I have the magazines for 2012 and 2013 which have two of the other Spooky Mandala in so I could be stitching these for some time to come!

I have done seven evenings of stitching so far and have stitched 7.5 ghosts  You can count and calculate how long it will take at this rate!

I also finished another letter for the Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare as my contribution to the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha from Willow Fabrics

And here is the whole piece so far:

I'm stitching them out of order to fit in with Kaye's themes on the blog.

I also found time to do some very old framing!  This is Max's Moon by Bucilla, a kit I stitched in 2008 and rediscovered in February this year.  The white is not glow-in-the-dark threads, it just really pops against the black aida.

Beaded Moon

Lots of white backstitch fur

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Finally, I know many of you already know and follow the antics of The Little Dog with the Grand Ideas, Stewey and his Spinster Mo-ther, Coni.  You may not know they are having a very difficult time at the moment and could do with some kind thoughts and prayers.  If you can spare some, pop over to Chez Spinster and leave a kind word.

Friday Frolicking

Happy Friday, the first day of the weekend!

The Frolicking in the title refers to Kaye's group blog Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics where we each post what we stitch on during Friday.  The idea is to pull out an older WIP or project we are trying to complete.  My rotation changes each Friday so that's quite often what I blog about there.

This week I have been celebrating JOJ or Just One July with Justine and numerous others.  Following on from her success during Monogamous May Justine has decided to trying being a OAAT stitcher (One At A Time) and this month she is focusing on a Bothy Threads Cut Thru Pirate Ship.

I'm going to JOJ-lite, ie I chose one Focus For a Finish project but also stick with my weekly rotation to keep up with the various SALs.  This week the FFF project has been Teresa Wentzler's You Were Hatched.  In fact I am so close to a Finish, I'm not going to show you the whole piece, just extracts!

Here is one corner:

The chart uses a Dinky Dyes variegated blue for the Celtic border but I've used a DMC Metallic Blue backstitched in a DMC Gold.  One done, three to go!

The next two photos show a little trick I use when I'm backstitching pointy things like dragon wing tips.  Instead of stitching the diagonal backstitch line in the same holes as the 3/4 stitch, I move it across one thread as you can see.  Then I stitch the straight backstitch over the three threads instead of the usual two. 

(you can really see the blended blues in this photo too)

In this photo you can see the difference it makes.  In the top circle I followed the line of the stitching and the wing tip is blunt.  But in the bottom circle I made the diagonal one thread longer and you get a nice pointy wingtip:

It's not just wingtips this is useful for.  I do the same with anything with a 3/4 stitch point, leaves or petals on flowers for example.  Hair tendrils too.

Here's my bathtime project.  You might have more idea what it is now, any guesses as to the designer of the piece?

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland from Crafty Kitten

And here's my rotation piece for the weekend.  The Second Friday of each month is Christmas Friday and this is from The Primitive Hare Christmas Cubes for the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha linen

I started this letter for my Longest Day Marathon and stitched the snowflake minus one stitch.

I got a lovely little prize in the post this week.  Remember the May Monster Madness Blog Party?  I won a prize!  Here it is on my fridge, next to my Rocky Horror magnet and the "Save the Date" for our niece's wedding (venue deleted so you can't gatecrash!)

Thank you, Little Gothic Horrors!

Finally, I went to an award ceremony at the local college for a video game design competition the Large Boy had entered.  He didn't win but did get a very favourable comment from the judges.  Many of the critiques picked out areas of weakness compared to other parts of the design but his was all positive.  If you accept that this quote is a compliment - "He has seamlessly woven in a narrative which is simultaneously touching and disturbed".  His world was "quixotic" too.  Must be all that Terry Pratchett we read!

July TUSAL

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.

Here is my ORTS jar posing with the current stitching projects:

On the left we have You Were Hatched by Teresa Wentzler.  Here is what it looked like last week with just the green and blue stitched:

Here is the addition of yellow:

And now the pinks:

The fabric colour is a much better likeness in the middle photo.  It is a very pale lilac 28 count evenweave.  I have lots of backstitch to do and then a celtic knot border.

Here is the other project in the photo, a new start!  Bonus points for anyone who can identify the design or even guess what it might be.

stitched on 32 count linen

I finished my Just Nan Big Bee, Little Bee and intended to put it on a scrapbook page along with Beehive Violets but I got sidetracked by re-mounting an older piece which had gone "saggy" in the frame.

Remember this one from 2013?  It was a FB SAL from Threadpickerz:

 

stitched on 32count white evenweave with De Havilland rainbow silks

Finally, we all like a bit of beading on our projects and I know some of my followers actually make things from beads so I thought you might like to see these I found on Mr X-Stitch's blog:

They were made for an event called Battle of the Beadsmith and there's a FB group and an older website if you want to see more beautiful beading.

Battle of the Beadsmith FB Group

Battle of the Beadsmith Website

June Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus

This year I have two Small Challenges:

1. The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog

2. The Christmas Ornie SAL Blog

For the Hallowe'en Blog I have done something a little different this year, I've chosen a band sampler by Just Nan called Counting Bats and each band corresponds to the monthly themes on the blog.  June was a Free Choice and I stitched this band which has a variety of spooky motifs:

Here is the whole piece so far:

The theme on the Christmas Ornie SAL blog was Animals and Pets and I decided to stitch three more of Daffycat's cute little reindeer freebies.

Stocking Reindeer

Ribbon Reindeer

Star Reindeer

Here are all six together:

And here's what I made them into:

I mounted each square on some thin card and then whipstitched them into a cube.  I threaded some beads onto a piece of cotton thread to make a hanger and then the other ends of the thread to make some beaded tassels at the bottom of the cube.

Regular readers will know there has been a lot of Just Nan recently.  In fact, since the last Smalls post I have started three of her freebies and complete two of them:

My Fair Ladybug

Beehive Violets

Big Bee, Little Bee

not quite finished yet!

You Were Hatched by Teresa Wenztler is a little bit big for a true "small" but it's not too big.  I have stitched all the blue and all the green now:

stitched on 28 count lilac evenweave.

which never looks lilac in any photo!

I also did do more spending in June!  Where has my willpower gone?  I don't know but it's a good thing I'm not doing Stitch from Stash this year.

Crafty Kitten Fabric	£19.20
JN October's Eve	£6.98
JN 2 Mice	£21.52
Beads	£1.27
JN Charms	£1.52
Chatelaine	£22.75
CSC Subs	£8.72
Monthly Spend	£81.96

The fabric was an impulse buy, she was having one of her One-Off Pieces Auctions and I bid on a few but said "only let me win one, draw again if I get more than one".  I got a nice piece of 32 count Belfast called Nebula:

Here are the three Just Nan charts I bought:

And here is the image of the Chatelaine Gardens of London:

Which I got for 20% off

Time for some pie:

June was dedicated to Dragons and Just Nan!

Finally and unbelievably we are half way through the year already so here's how the Pie looks so far:

It is the year of Nora Corbett so far with Just Nan and Brooke's Books some way behind her.

Not Much to Show for a Busy Weekend

Mostly because I've been concentrating on my Brooke's Book's letter for next Saturday's Alphabet Club post.  Here's a sneak peek:

You can really see the weave of the afghan in that photo.  The natural blocks are actually over three threads but I'm stitching over two.  Which makes counting fun!

I did some more of my Teresa Wentzler dragons, You Were Hatched:

stitched on 28 count lilac evenweave.

I've completed all the blue now and the green is next, four shades of pistachio.

I've also been buzzing on my Just Nan for the evenings, Big Bee, Little Bee:

stitched on 28 count evenwweave

One beehive done, three to go!  You may remember that Kim sent me a bee-themed parcel as part of her Big Birthday RAKs.  Well, since then I have noticed so many bee charts and designs!  Including this new one from La Comtesse, based on a poem by Emily Dickinson:

Murmur of a Bee

Talking of freebies, Passione Ricamo always releases a Fairy Silhouette for Fairy Day on 24th June.  This year Laura has put together a celebratory e-book with all the previous designs and the new one for this year.  I've only stitched one of them but I'm itching to stitch another!

I also discovered that Rainbow Gallery have reorganised their freebies into a single document for each year.  You can find them all here.  They do needlepoint freebies too.  Alot of the cross stitch designs are a monthly series.  Christine had another of her brilliant ideas inspired by my Reindeer Cube.  She suggested I do a monthly series and make a dodecahendron out of them.  She truly is an evil genius!  She's even started on her desert lair.

I do need a recommendation from you all.  I want to stitch an alphabet in black and heard someone talk about Weeks Dye Works' Peacoat being a nice variegated black.  It looks more blue in the photo but I know it's hard to take good pictures of colours.  Can anyone recommend a subtle variegated black or confirm that the WDW is a good one?  Thank you!

Pea Coat

Finally, the Small Boy is proving his worth and providing for his family already.  These are potatoes grown at school.  Planted, watered and dug up with his own fair hands.  And his t-shirt from the looks of it!  We had them for tea with some chicken (not provided by the school, they don't do animal husbandry until college!) and they were delicious.