Longest Day Marathon 2017

This time last year I had the fun idea of stitching ALL my WIPs and UFOs on one day.  I chose the Summer Solstice as the Longest Day for the most stitching hours.  You can read all about last year here.

This year I decided to invite FB friends to join me live as I posted and several people did so.  Quite a few are stitching today as it is the actual Solstice today.  I was out of town so I had to do it a day early.  Kaye in the Southern Hemisphere stitched on just one project as it is their Shortest Day.

So where did I start?  By getting all the projects out and putting them on the bed:

You can see that I like to keep my fabric rolled in tubes, the long ones are wrapping paper tubes.

The first project was my 10-a-Day, Just Nan's Spring in the Square:

Followed by my 30-a-Day, Just Nan's Royal Blossoms:

Then I moved onto my 30 minute rotation.  Each 30 minute slot included getting the project out, photographing the before picture, stitching, photographing the after picture and loading onto Facebook.  So there's less than 30 minutes of actual stitching on each one.

Here we go with Project 3 at 9.00am:

Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating

Stitched the L

Project 4 at 9.30am:

Witches by Oberlin Samplers

Started the W

Project 5 at 10.00am

The Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books

Stitched the border for X

Project 6 at 10.30am

The Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace

Started the M

Elevenses!

Project 7 at 11.00am

Gardens of London by Chatelaine

Stitched some background

Project 8 at 11.30am

The Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs

Stitched some land!

Project 9 at 12.00 noon

Little Snapdragon by Kustom Krafts

Stitched some wing

Project 10 at 12.30pm

Dragon of the Winter Moon by Dragon Dreams

Stitched some Kreinik spines

Lunch

Project 11 at 1.30pm

Mermaid by Joan Elliott

Stitched an arm

Project 12 at 2.00pm

Gathering Eggs by Nora Corbett

Stitched more sleeve

Project 13 at 2.30pm

Memories by Just Nan

Stitched some pink flowers

Project 14 at 3.00pm

Faces Mystery SAL by Joan Elliott 

Stitched more ribbon and some leaf

Project 15 at 3.30pm

My Lovely Sewing Tools by Marie Suarez

Stitched some cream border

Project 16 at 4.00pm

Coffee Fairy by Yiota

Filled in some coffee

Project 17 at 4.30pm

Art Nouveau Head by the Craft Collective

Stitched some brown 

Project 18 at 5.00pm

Bande des Dragons by Dessins DHC

 Stitched some red scroll

Teatime, forgot to take a photo!

Project 19 at 7.00pm

Spring Sampler with motifs from The Samplermakers

Stitched some green leaves

Project 20 at 7.30pm

English Transitional Sampler by The Scarlet Letter

Some Holbein Stitch 

Project 21 at 8.00pm

Around the World in 80 Stitches by Papillon Creations 

Stitched some green border 

Project 22 at 8.30pm

NOEL by Ernie Bishop

 Stitched some more of the O

9.00pm - Storytime with The Large Boy, reading Science of the Discworld III

Project 23 at 9.45pm

Autumn Tree from an old Yahoo Group 

Stitched five eyelets just to say I worked on this one!

Project 24 at 10.00pm during the Small Boy's bath

12 Days of Christmas by Joan Elliott 

Stitched some green leaves in the border 

Apologies for the poor quality of some of the photos.  Some were from my iPad and some were just "point and click, move on to the next one".

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Today is the posting day for Kerry's Theme-tas-Stitch too, which is:

Jardin June - Venture outdoors and put some stitches in a piece which has a garden or floral theme.

Several of my projects fit this theme.  Project 1, 2, 7, 9, 13, 19 and 21 to be precise!  I have also completed and framed a beautiful garden design since the last Theme-tas-Stitch post and gave it to my friend today.

Gathering Honey by Jannlynn Designs!

My friend loved it and said she hadn't forgotten she'd asked me to stitch it for her but thought I had!  So she was really pleased to see that I hadn't.

Finally, I really enjoyed the Stitching Marathon and it was lovely to have people stitching and commenting along with me.  It was so nice to get some of the older projects out again.  Some are mammoth pieces and will take years to finish while others could be done in a week or two.  But then there are my active WIPs already in the rotation!  So much to think about and plan.  I will definitely be doing this again next year anyway.   So make your plans now to join me!

The Colour of Magic

"In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part...
See..."

Those are two clues as to what I have been stitching this week, and here's another:

That's the whole piece along with a little bag I'm using to keep the thread in.  The bag was a Birthday present from Preeti last year.

Here's what it will look like one day:

And here's a close-up of what I have stitched so far, along with my elephant thread holders.  These were a cover gift from Cross Stitcher magazine but they came without holes so I simply used my hole punch and voila!  They came with some cheap threads and the little ear stickers, some of which I can use.

This is roughly the area I have stitched so far:

In case you haven't guessed, this is The Discworld Mappe I bought from Lyndisfarne Cross Stitch Designs last year.  The fabric is a custom dyed 32 count Murano from Sparklies and the threads are DMC.

It's a nice easy stitch as it's basically straight rows of one colour for the most part.  The pale blue is the frozen sea and that was a little bit fiddly.  The plan is to not stitch the sea or the space but use the fabric as the background.  I'm going to stitch up and make sure the edge is more-or-less in the right place!

This is definitely a long-term project at 30 pages and I may have to change my plans for next year so I can stitch it every month.  Along with my Chatelaine!

I did manage another small finish, my 30-a-day project which has been Just Nan's Victorian Rose:

really bad photo taken with the iPad

I also framed Gathering Honey:

Finally, I'm making plans for The Longest Day SAL next week.  I'll actually be stitching on Tuesday 20th and blogging about it on the 21st as I'm away from the house on Wednesday.  I've decided to have an Event on Facebook for the real time updates so if you want to follow along there, here's the link.

Longest Day SAL

(It's a private event so leave a comment if you want to see it)

(Arlene, you left a comment but you are a no-reply person so I still can't add you!)

Gifted Gorgeousness June Link-Up Post

Welcome to the June link-up for Gifted Gorgeousness.  The linky will stay open until the end of the month so you have plenty of time to link up and join in.

First priority for this month is my Big Happy Dance for Gathering Honey by Jannlynn Designs:

Memories by Just Nan, a gift from Vickie:

A tiny bit on Gathering Eggs by Nora Corbett, a gift from Carol:

Itches by Oberlin Samplers, soon to be Witches, a gift from Barb:

Joan Elliott's 12 Days of Christmas was a gift from my MIL:

My final gifted piece is for a friend's wedding later this month.  This is Emma Congdon's design from this month's Cross Stitch Crazy magazine:

And now it's over to you.  This is where you link up your post for this month.  Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "June 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.

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Finally, I'm making plans for The Longest Day SAL next week.  I'll actually be stitching on Tuesday 20th and blogging about it on the 21st as I'm away from the house on Wednesday.  I've decided to have an Event on Facebook for the real time updates so if you want to follow along there, here's the link.

Longest Day SAL

(It's a private event so leave a comment if you want to see it!)

Happy Dance on the Table!

I recently got a special offer to get 3 issues of Cross Stitch Crazy for just £3, you'd have to be crazy to turn that down!  This month's issue arrived last week with a lovely cover gift of a booklet of designs by Emma Congdon of Stitchrovia.  All in her familiar typography and fonts style.  Not only did I start one straight away, I finished it too!  In just three days.

Bubbly!

Petite beads for bubbles in the bubbly.

Photos taken in three different lights!  Just to show how hard it is to get the right colour

This one is probably closest.  I had to change some of the thread colours so they would show up on the pink fabric (32 count linen) and I also filled in the word Champagne with Blanc.

This is going to be a wedding card for a friend whose daughter goes to the same school as the Small Boy.  It's perfect for her and her new hubby.

I've been continuing with the SAL that keeps on entertaining Christine, the Ten-a-Day and have just passed 160 days and 1,600 stitches.  I am indeed a Woman in Control of my Life.  This is a collage of photos of Just Nan's Spring in the Square taken every 10 days.  I started on 1st January so I love how the flowers bloom as we go through Spring and into Summer:

I've also been stitching a second daily project - 30-a-day and for this one I have a series of Just Nan freebies I'm finishing as ornies.  This is the fourth one, Victorian Rose, now on Day 14:

Handy hint - the little tag of orange at the top is an ORT knotted through so I always know which way up is.  Useful when stitching a symmetrical design on square fabric.

Finally, I'm making plans for The Longest Day SAL next week.  I'll actually be stitching on Tuesday 20th and blogging about it on the 21st as I'm away from the house on Wednesday.  I've decided to have an Event on Facebook for the real time updates so if you want to follow along there, here's the link.

Longest Day SAL

(It's a private event so send me a pm on FB if you want to see it!)

Dear Edward

Whatever I expected to find when I opened the front door this morning, it certainly wasn't six socking great geese laying eggs all over the doorstep.  Frankly, I rather hoped you had stopped sending me birds - we have no room for them and they have already ruined the croquet lawn.  I know you meant well, but - let's call a halt, shall we?
Love, Emily

12 Days of Christmas (Correspondence) - John Julius Norwich

And we are back to birds!  Luckily for me, there was only one goose-a-laying to stitch this month:

I got all the goose and her nest completed and started on the lettering before I realised the entire picture was one row too low!  So I just stitched the lettering one row higher and it touches the nest but looks fine.  I have also noticed that I haven't stitched the bottom right hand corner bits.

Here is the whole piece last month:

And here it is now:

You can see I have finished all the metallic in the border and stitched some green vine, I've also added some stitches to the left hand Herald Angel.

I've also stitched my two Hallowe'en samplers this month for the theme Something Green on the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog.

Here is a green lizard and some green froggies on  Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating:

On Witches by Oberlin Samplers I stitched an olive green letter with some green leaves and pumpkin stalks/vines:

And here is the full Itches designs!  Need that first W very soon.

Finally, I fully-finished the latest Just Nan freebie into an ornie:

Christmas Hearts

The Wonderfully Wordy Alphabet World

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

Our first W from A Dark Alphabet is a Wyvern.  I loved the effect of the variegated thread I used for him.  A Note of Friendship explains that a Wyvern is a dragon with only two front legs and a barbed tail.

The next W is for Wool from The Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books:

I have completed another page in my Alphabet Book, here are the four most recent blocks:

stitched on 28 count afghan fabric

W is for one of my favourite themes - Witches!  Trixie Witch from Brooke's Books is in the centre but if you want to know any more about any of the others, please ask.

W is also for Wizard:

Joan Elliott - Wizard from A Year of Magical Stitching

W is for Weddings, one of the perfect occasions to stitch a sampler for.  This is one of my favourites:

W is for Winter - a wonderful time to stitch when it's cold outside and a wonderful theme to stitch with icy blues and snowy whites.

Which designers begin with W?  With Thy Needle is one and they have a series called Wordplay:

Who is in my Blog Roll to represent W?

Wicked Stitcher

Wisdom with Needle and Thread

A Work in Progress

The WIPocalypse

That last link is to Measi's Musings, the hostess of one of the longest running SALs that I take part in.  Originally set up in 2012 to ensure the End of The World saw us all with zero outstanding projects, we have successfully stopped the Apocalypse by refusing to complete all our WIPs!  The world cannot end while there is still stitching to be done.

Finally, I realised that I missed a very important link in my last Alphabet Club post for V -

The Viewer!

If you have never heard of Dana and her Viewer, do check out this link but be prepared to lose many hours.  Dana set up the Viewer primarily for Mirabilia designs, as far as I know.  You can choose a design and choose different fabrics to see which ones look best.  Since the early days she has expanded to include a wide range of fabric dyers and other designers too.  There are currently 13 different designers (plus 4 incarnations of Nora Corbett!) and 18 different fabric suppliers.

What is most incredible about the site is that Dana does this for free, voluntarily.  Although I do believe she is looking into monetising the website in some way in the future.  She's doing market research on the FB page.