Final Summer Fling and Autumn Progress

The Summer Postcard Blog Hop was a great success and I included the full list of participants in the previous post to this one.  A few kind people sent me two pictures to choose from so I thought I'd so a Final Fling and show them here.    Click on each photo for a link to the sender's blog.

First is Christine's Welcome Home Banner:

I love the variegated blues and whites in this piece.

Next up is Debbie's Cottage, she says Hi, Stitcher!  I wish my home was surrounded by beautiful flowers like this, but since I don't have a green thumb, I can stitch French knots instead!

 And thirdly, and finally until next year, we have Joyce's Beacon of Hope by Thomas Kinkade:

Which cottage would you prefer, the country cottage with all the flowers or the lighthouse cottage by the sea?

I have two finishes this week but can't show either as they are both for other people.  But I can show my Autumnal progress:

This is a Just Nan design which I'm stitching using DMC alternatives to the charted GAST.  I'm trying to get all the letters in place first although I have stitched some of the leaves and acorns for placement.

Finally, I'd like to share a lovely blog.  As well as following my fellow bloggers I also follow a few "professional" blogs including the Plum Street Samplers blog.  Paulette had just made a great post with some amazing photos taken during her recent trip to the St. Charles Market.  I love the idea of taking over a hotel with all our favourite designers, with each one having a room to "set" with their beautiful works of art.  How many times have we heard "This looks so much better in real life"?  The market is the perfect time to see the pieces in person.

September 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 September's ORTS jar getting very full now, pictured with Joan Elliott's Wizard from the 2013 Diary and a new start.

I finished Andie's gorgeous Mirabilia Round Robin and as I don't have the chart for the next RR yet I decided needed to make a start on some of my ever-increasing stash pile.  I acquired quite a few Just Nan patterns during this year so thought I would stitch one of those.  It was a tie between September Song and the one; Autumn Typography.  This won because I figured I could then justify buying the other three seasons once I finish it!

Here is a picture of my progress so far:

I'm stitching on a 32 count linen from Willow Fabrics called Tobacco.  Now I am cross because I just went to their website to check the colour (I also bought Cognac at the same time) and found they have reduced the prices even more than when I bought the fabric!!  £4.50 for a half metre is the most incredible price for linen in the UK.  It's over £20 full price.  I paid £6 and was well pleased two weeks ago.  Actually I paid £2 plus postage because I had a £10 voucher from Cross Stitch Collection so I really can't complain too much.

I'm using a conversion from the charted GAST to DMC I found Stitches 'n' Things website.  It will be quite different but I can't justify buying all those GAST just to use half a length on one word.  I love the little over 1 crow and have recharted the squirrels to be over 1 too.  I'm going to make them proper Red Squirrels not the grey tree-rats charted.  What colour are squirrels where you live?

I was having a look through the box of stash my friend gave me at the beginning of the Summer and found this great catalogue from 1996:

It's the first catalogue from a company called Hanging by a Thread.  I wonder if they are still going LOL.  Seems like they still are here.

I also found this sweet little ribbon embroidery kit.  Does anyone do ribbon embroidery and would you like it? It includes the vase button and all the ribbons too.

Finally the Summer Postcard Blog Hop is at an end.  The penulitimate card was sent from Joyce to Lili then Lili's card was "sent" to me.  Here is the card Lili sent:

Lili says "This design is a freebie from The Little Stitcher (There's no place like Home).  It is the first piece I have stitched with the theme "home" ;)  I have returned home from my vacation time and is always nice to come back to my "place".

And here is the full list of participants this year:

Summer 2013

My card goes to Debbie at Debbie's Cross Stitch

Debbie's card goes to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study

Christine's card goes to Lynn at Kearnel's Korner

Lynn's card goes to Clare at Aimetu's Stitching

Clare's card goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Vickie's card goes to Julie at Julie's Stitchyknitty Journal

Julie's card goes to Penny at Larkspur Lane

Penny's card goes to Astrid at Dragon Stitches and Stuff

Astrid's card goes to Cheryl at Today I Found...

Cheryl's card goes to Laura at For the Love of the Needle

Laura's card goes to Evalina at This and That

Evalina's card goes to Joyce at Joyce's Love of Life

Joyce's card goes to Lili at Stitching Basket

Lili's card comes to me here

Thanks to everyone who took part and everyone who left comments on the various blogs throughout the summer.  I hope you discovered some "new-to-you" blogs while you hopped.  

The next Blog Hop is the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat secret word so be ready to dust off your spooky stitches for the sign up later this month.  Which, incidentally, is my Birthday month.  Just saying.  Not hinting for cards or anything.  But email cards would be gratefully received in this time of austerity and high postage costs!!

  

Theme-a-licious Looking Backward and Forward VIII

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!

This was the theme for August:

Airborne August

What's that soaring through the air with the greatest of ease? It's the things with wings on your WIPs!

So I worked on my Wings of Love sampler for my cousin's wedding.  It's not called that, it's called Couers en Boites but it is how I got it into this month's theme.

I also stitched a little dragon for the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas:

Lilly of the Woods is also a fairy with wings, but Andie requested I did not stitch the wings so she went with the other Dreamers on her piece.  So Lilly is my Anti-Theme piece for this month and here is the space where the wings would have gone if I was going to stitch them which I'm not:

That seems to be about it.  Apart from this little butterfly:

Next month is:

Sampler September

Whether you're stitching the alphabet over and over (and over), starting your own band (sampler), or marking some spots, this is your month!

That should be a cinch for me!!  Samplers are one of my favourite things.  I could even start planning my 2014 Band Sampler RR...

 I also shared this photo of how I like to stitch the RRs.  Because I'm only using a length or two of each colour it doesn't seem worth pulling out all the colours so I just get my full set and select the colour I need for the piece I'm stitching that evening.  It makes a nice spread on the table!!

You can see my lovely coloured-in copy of the chart in front of me.

And my small ORTS tin ready to be added to the ORTS jar for TUSAL day.

Finally, I sent the latest postcard in the Summer Blog Hop to Evalina but it's not up yet so watch her blog!!  I am expecting one more picture in then I will email the final ones out in one big end of summer flurry!

Ornament SAL August Update

This is the Ornament SAL hosted by Stitching Lotus

I have three different ornament challenges running this year, the JBW Alphabet Cat stitched in a different colour scheme each month, the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas, a FB exclusive and the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog.

Here is August's little Sunflower Kitty:

And here is Dragonlet number 8, crying over his spilt milk.  Doesn't he know it's no use crying over it?

Here are the eight I've stitched so far, the plan is to cover 12 little boxes with them and make a post-Christmas 12 Days calendar with a little gift in each box starting 26th December and finishing on Epiphany.  I just need to find 12 small gifts, I have 2 so far plus the idea of a chocolate!

Here is the cute little skeleton pair from Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en Special.  They are nearly all beads and great fun to stitch.  I have decided to make my ornies into little open topped bags and put chocolates in each one on our Hallowe'en tree.  We are having a Hallowe'en tree for the first time this year.  I'll try find something suitable or I might just go into the field and chop a branch off a tree!!

Julia Lucas Designs - Trick or Treat, 28 count evenweave.

While I was googling Julia's name (because I'd not heard of her before, I found this cool feature on Cyberstitchers website.  They list many designers and the places you can find their designs.  It seems Julia has designed alot for various different magazines.  Now I can look through and see which ones I already have.  Great!

And now, a little stash enhancement!  I was lucky enough to win another Willow Fabric voucher from having a FB tip printed in Cross Stitch Collection magazine.  I think it's the third or fourth one?  Anyway, they have a sale on and I got these two half metres of 32 count for a mere £6 each.

One is tobacco and one is cognac.

I also needed some beads for the Mirabilia RR design which I bought from Sewandso.  I think there is an issue with their website because while I was adding some #8 perle to my basket this Just Nan chart appeared in my basket.  Weird.

Finally, if you are a fan of Fairy Tales, the Little Stitcher or Advent Calendars then this is the SAL for you! 

Stitch-a-Long Community Blog

Organised by Angi of My Happy Memories  we will be SAL the Little Stitcher's Fairy Tale Advent Calendar.  I first saw these 24 small designs on Carin's blog last year.  You really need to check out her beautiful photography.  Start here and work through each day by clicking on the "newer post" after all the comments.

Working to a Deadline

Every month Christine sets up a Stitching Challenge on the Needlecraft Haven Yuku Board.  She chooses a different freebie for us to stitch and finish then the Big Reveal Day is the last Sunday of the month.

Over the Summer she combined July and August with two charts chosen.  I just managed to finish July's design from Martine at Broderies Passion but only just, I was still stitching it this lunchtime!

I used some 18count evenweave I bought from Willow Fabric and one of the hand-dyed cottons from Jodyri Designs Threads of the Month Club.  This one is called Purplinky:

I decided to scrapbook this one:

The other design is by Vavi, now I need a small square to fill the gap and I can embellishment the page with some ribbons and roses.

If you'd like to see more of my scrapbook pages, then here is a link to the dedicated page on my Happy Dance Blog - Scrapbook pages 

I have been really enjoying stitching the Mirabilia Round Robin design, Lilly of the Woods.  Here is my latest progress:

The pillow is my least favourite part so I am alternating between a length of pillow and a length of drape as my reward!  I probably won't post anymore photos of this until Andie receives it back.  I think it's nice for the original stitcher to be the first person to see their completed piece.

As promised, here are some photos of my cousin's AMAZING wedding cake.  Apparently it surpassed even her imagination!!

It is all sugar paste, not real biscuits and teacups!!

One of my blogging friends Aurelia has a monthly issue of Stitchy News on her blog Eglantine Stitchery and she mentions several things of interest this month, including a link to this amazing project, Pardalote Solar System Embroidery.  It is a stunning piece of work, blackwork in yellow and blue to represent our solar system and all the planets.

Finally, the latest delivery in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop:

My card goes to Debbie at Debbie's Cross Stitch
Debbie's card goes to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study
Christine's card goes to Lynn at Kearnel's Korner
Lynn's card goes to Clare at Aimetu's Stitching
Clare's card goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story
Vickie's card goes to Julie at Julie's Stitchyknitty Journal
Julie's card goes to Penny at Larkspur Lane
Penny's card goes to Astrid at Dragon Stitches and Stuff
Astrid's card goes to Cheryl at Today I Found...
Cheryl's card goes to Laura at For the Love of the Needle

You have until Saturday 31st August to send a photo of something you have stitched on a Home theme along with a short message about what Home means to you.  The final postcards will be sent out by 6th September then we can all start planning the Hallowe'en Blog Hop!!

August WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi of Measi's Musings.

The main focus of my WIPocalypse this year is supposed to be my "13 in '13" a list of 13 projects I want to complete in 2013, click on top tab for the list.  But as I haven't stitched on any of them this month I'll show something else from the other sections instead.  (Again!)

You've seen the Wedding Sampler which has been my main stitching this month, and also my Mira RR.  The only other thing I have stitched is one of the Needlecraft Haven Challenge pieces so I can't show that until "Show 'n' Tell Sunday".  I did manage to finish finish the July and August JBW Alphabet Kitties.  So here they are:

July Beach Kitty with seashell brads

August Sunflower Kitty with sunflower button.

Here are all eight together:

I thought I'd used 28 count on all of them, but the August Kitty seemed alot bigger.  When I measured and counted it turned out that the yellow fabric is actually 25 count evenweave.  The July fabric is a hand-dyed 28 so is closer to 29 which made it more obvious.  They look ok on the board though.

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop latest list:

My card goes to Debbie at Debbie's Cross Stitch
Debbie's card goes to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study
Christine's card goes to Lynn at Kearnel's Korner
Lynn's card goes to Clare at Aimetu's Stitching
Clare's card goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story
Vickie's card goes to Julie at Julie's Stitchyknitty Journal
Julie's card goes to Penny at Larkspur Lane
Penny's card goes to Astrid at Dragon Stitches and Stuff
Astrid's card goes to Cheryl at Today I Found...

Love is All Around Us

Because we have just returned from my cousin's wedding!!  It was a lovely wedding, she looked stunning and her groom was very handsome. The cake was OUT OF THIS WORLD and I will add some photos to the next blog post once I've downloaded them.

Here is the finished Couers en Boites I stitched for the Happy Couple:

Here is is framed next to the card I made:

And here is a close up of the card:

I started stitching the card first to see what the design looked like over 2 on 28 count but red really doesn't cover well so I stitched the sampler over 1 on the same fabric.  The chart is a freebie from Carton-Marie, a French Blog.  Here is Mii's totally different verson on her blog Mii Stitch.

I thought this was a good opportunity to share some other Wedding Samplers I have stitched over the years.  Unfortunately, most were pre-digital camera and there are alot of missing pieces.

This is Lavender & Lace Celtic Noel stitched as a bride using my own colour conversion which I did not keep.  Sorry!  The roses came from Mirabilia's Sleeping Beauty.  I just free-styled the placement.

This sampler came from a magazine called Celebrations and I have stitched it twice, this version is for my cousin and the other was for friends of my brother.  I carefully labelled the back with my name and wrapped it up.  Unfortunately I had forgotten my surname was different to my brother's (I was married) so the poor couple were unable to work out who had stitched it for them!!  The mystery was solved when they had their first child and I sent a card.  I received a lovely Thank You note only a couple of years late LOL.

This one comes from Cross Stitcher magazine August 1998.

And this is a tiny version of the same sampler.

They are both stitched on the same blue evenweave, just the light was different on the day I took the photos.

This one is a very special Anniversary Sampler. I stitched it for my grandparent's Diamond Wedding Anniversary, changing the ribbon border to match their living room.  There are all sorts of nice details in there, from a mini skein for Cotton to the Ivory lace-making bobbins.

I inherited it back when they passed away.  I also inherited my Nana's engagement ring which always comes out special occasions so I wore it for the wedding.

This is a freebie from Passione Ricamo I stitched on red aida for my friends' engagement.  I'm still waiting for the wedding!!

So that's the round up so far!

Finally, the latest Summer Postcard went out to Astrid before the weekend.  Here is the full list so far:

My card goes to Debbie at Debbie's Cross Stitch

Debbie's card goes to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study

Christine's card goes to Lynn at Kearnel's Korner

Lynn's card goes to Clare at Aimetu's Stitching

Clare's card goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Vickie's card goes to Julie at Julie's Stitchyknitty Journal

Julie's card goes to Penny at Larkspur Lane

Penny's card goes to Astrid at Dragon Stitches and Stuff

Theme-a-licious August Update

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!

This is the theme for August:

Airborne August

What's that soaring through the air with the greatest of ease? It's the things with wings on your WIPs!

So what have I been singing all week?  On the Wings of Love by Jeffrey Osbourne.  Well, actually I haven't, but it is the only way I could think to include this piece as part of the theme:

I finished the whole Couers en Boites design but didn't photograph it before I took it to the framers.  This is just one of the hearts stitched over 2 to make a card for the couple.  That's their initials, they're not getting married in LA.

Also with wings we have dragons and fairies.  First up is my progress on this month's Dragon Dreams design:

And my Lilly of the Woods for the large Mira RR:

That pillow is so bitty and boring.  I can't wait to finish it and get on to the drapes.  Nora's drapes are one of my favourite things to stitch!  Have you seen the new Mirabilia released today?  Simply called "Red" she seems to be inspired by Little Red Riding Hood and is amazing!!

The Viewer is already working overtime as the Mira Minions try out every combination of fabric with her!

For those of you not familiar with the Minions and the Viewer, here is a link:

The Marvellous Mechanical Mirabilia Magic Machine

A stitcher known as Thutmosis set up the Viewer to help people decide which fabrics to stitch their favourite Mirabilia designs on.  She has now expanded it to include Chatelaines, Joan Elliott, Passione Ricamo and Teresa Wentzler all with the designers' approval and blessing.  She has fabric from all the major hand-dyers plus plain Zweigart too.  The HTML programming necessary must be immense but she does it all for free!  All it will cost you is several hours days of your life as you lose yourself in the different combinations.

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop is hopping onwards to Penny.  Here is the full list so far:

My card goes to Debbie at Debbie's Cross Stitch

Debbie's card goes to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study

Christine's card goes to Lynn at Kearnel's Korner

Lynn's card goes to Clare at Aimetu's Stitching

Clare's card goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Vickie's card goes to Julie at Julie's Stitchyknitty Journal

Julie's card goes to Penny at Larkspur Lane

There is still time to send a card if you haven't already done so, just click on the green "There's No Place Like Home" for more details.

Swan Swam over the Sea

Remember the box of stash my friend gave me?  This design is one she did herself and stitched most of it.  All that was left was some green and the backstitch.  So I finished it off and framed it using one the charity shops frames I collected last year.

I'm not including this on my list of completed pieces as I didn't really do all that much, but it is nice to show it.  If anyone would like the chart then please leave a comment.  My friend said I can pass the charts on to anyone who wants them.

Sunday is often a finishing day, today I decided to crack on with the JBW cats.  I accumulated the backings, the charms and the hanging ribbons but just needed to do the sewing up.

Here are all three together:

And here is Jubilee June all finished up ready to hang on the board.

I also completed my cousin's wedding sampler and took it to the framer's ready for the wedding next week.  In the evenings I've been stitching away on Andie's piece for the Mirabilia RR.  Her theme is The Dreamers and I'm stitching Lilly of the Woods.  I'm loving this piece, it's great to be reminded what a talented designer Nora Corbett is, her work is just a joy to stitch.

Finally, I found a new blog via Annie Bebop's Colouring Book.  The blog belongs to a Hungarian designer who is hosting an unusual competition.  Stitch her freebie design and be the cover picture for the pattern.  Click on this little icon to read all about it: