November Gifted Gorgeousness Link-up Post

Welcome to the October Gifted Gorgeousness link-up.  The link-up date continues to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.

The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.

My main project for Gifted Gorgeousness has been my Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs, which will be a gift for my son.  This is where it was at the end of September:

And here is where I am now:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

I took a couple of photos to show how I stitch the landmasses.  Rather than just stitch row-by-row and then discover a counting error, I stitch all around the edge of each colour.  Then if I have made an error it's only one line of stitching to take out.

Once I have stitched all around the edge it's very easy to just fill in the middle - no counting or looking at the chart needed:

As I complete each area I then add the backstitch details.

I have had two Gifted Finishes since the October GG post.  The first was Mystic Sampler from The Primitive Needle.   The chart and the fabric were gifts from two different people.

stitched on 40 count Jewel Butterbeer linen from Under the Sea Fabrics

The next was Nora Corbett's Raven.  The chart was a gift.

stitched on 32 count Nebula Belfast from Crafty Kitten

I have made a lot of progress on the 25th Anniversary Cameo from Mirabilia, considering she is my travelling project for work days and coffee mornings.  The fabric was a gift.

stitched on random 28 count hand-dyed evenweave

This is part of my "19 in '19" so it would be good to get this finished by the end of the year.

Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the month.  Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "November 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, it's time to sign up for the Advent Calendar Blog Hop!  For this hop, each participant is allocated a day in December to make their post on.   They will show something they have stitched on a Christmas theme and answer the topic question I set.  I then copy their photo onto my blog post in the style of an Advent Calendar.

So if you'd like to join in, please leave a comment or send me an email.  Let me know if there is a date you would particularly like or one you'd like to avoid.  I will be in touch towards the end of the month!

Here is a link to last year's so you can see how it works:

Advent Calendar Blog Hop 2018

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for November

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed.  We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).

I did some spooky scrapbooking in October.  First a couple of little Trick or Treaters:

Fang by Dragon Dreams

My conversion of a Lucie Heaton Fairy

Then some ghostly goings-on:

Scream Girls by Just Nan

Little Hallowe'en House by Knotted Tree NeedleArt

The scrapbook page had the black silhouette along the bottom and I wanted it to overlap the stitching.  Rather than cut out the shapes on the actual page, I drew them onto a piece of black paper and stuck that on top, you can see where the two versions are not identical and it adds depth to the finish.

The next piece to get the Fully Finished treatment was my October Christmas Ornament.  I chose the Victorian Christmas Tree by Sue Hillis Designs and showed the pre- and after- bling photos in my last post.  Here's the finished piece:

I used the same beads to make a hanger and to add swags along the bottom of the design to match those on the tree.

In my last post I also promised to show you the finishing technique I intend to use for my Jessica Savage Words.  I was in The Works looking at their crafting supplies when I saw this box frame:

It's some kind of thick card like they make their decoupage base items from.  There's a series of little hooks on the internal sides and you attach the string provided from hook to hook, making a zigzag line to which you pin photos.  Or small cross stitched pieces attached to stiff paper!

This is the illustration they give you for inspiration, they even include the little pegs:

What I like about this is that it doesn't matter how many Words there are in the series, I can simply adjust the placement.  This was a great find and only £8 too.  It will need painting but it's the perfect size for a 12 x 12 scrapbook page for the background.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎅🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Advent Calendar Blog Hop!  For this hop, each participant is allocated a day in December to make their post on.  They will show something they have stitched on a Christmas theme and answer the topic question I set.   I then copy their photo onto my blog post in the style of an Advent Calendar.


So if you'd like to join in, please leave a comment or send me an email.   Let me know if there is a date you would particularly like or one you'd like to avoid. I will be in touch towards the end of the month!

Here is a link to last year's so you can see how it works:

Advent Calendar Blog Hop 2018

A Haunting We Will Go

was the Mystery Phrase for this year's Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.

A big Thank You to everyone who posted a letter and well done to all who followed the Hop around and discovered the Mystery Phrase.  I like to think it was a little bit easier this year!

Christine even came up with a little song for us:

A Haunting we will go,

A Haunting we will go,

We'll catch (a ghost and tie him to a post?) 

A Haunting we will go

As you know I completed Nora Corbett's Raven on the final day of October which then left me with that "Post-Finish Indecision" which you get when you've been focused on one piece for a little while.

I wasn't really sure what to stitch next.  So I started my Christmas Ornament for this month, another Dragon Dreams and then spent a day beading last month's Ornament.

Victorian Christmas Tree by Sue Hillis Designs from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Special 2003.

Before beading:

 

After beading:

stitched on 28 count green evenweave

I used the bugle beads I bought to make little candles with a gold bead flame and then strung some random Mill Hill beads left over from a kit to make the garlands.  There is a mixture of white, green and gold beads.

I also FFO'd it that same day but will save that photo for Rachel's FFO Gallery on the 10th.

I completed the Jessica Savage Word of the Month:

stitched over one on 25 count blue evenweave

The three words so far:

I have started the fourth word now.  I also discovered the perfect way to finish these.  I don't know how many will be in the series which makes it hard to plan a layout.  I decided to stitch them in a 3 x 3 block and see how that went.  If there were 10 in the series I'd make them into smalls instead.  But with my inspired finishing idea I don't need to worry about how many there are.  I'll save that for Rachel's FFO Gallery too!

Thanks to work (paid and vountary) I have actually had three days of stitching my "travel" project which is Mirabilia's 25th Anniversary Cameo design.

stitched on 28 count random hand-dyed evenweave

Finally I did some tea-dyeing today.  We had a packet of teabags in the staff room at work which were well out of date so I brought some home to dye fabric.  Two pieces here, both 28 count evenweave, which took the colour in totally different ways.  One was a pale blue to start with and came out a gingerbread colour.  The other was more grey and came out a more classic neutral shade.

 

The People Chose Autumnal Colours

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  Each month I ask for suggestions for themes and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  This is what they have chosen:

November - Autumnal Colours
December - Winter
January - TBA

Autumnal colours for the Northern Hemisphere means oranges, reds, burnt yellows, maybe browns?

So here's an Orange Collage:

A close-up of two of the designs.  The first one is by Sue Donelly of Stitcher's Hideaway and is called O Glorious Fall:

The second is Just Nan's Autumn Typography:

Both were stitched on the same 32 count Belfast linen in Tobacco.

This is another Just Nan design which has yet to be framed.  I have stitched three of the "In the Square" series and want to wait until I have stitched the fourth to make sure I get matching frames.

Just Nan - Autumn in the Square

Another Just Nan sampler - Autumn Haze:

This is an experiment to stitch a Joan Elliott design over one, I used the head of Autumn Fairy to make this lovely small.

Two more scrapbooked smalls by Lizzie*Kate and Knotted Tree NeedleArt:

An older sampler from Cross Stitcher in 1998:

Another older sampler which I framed more recently:

In my stash, the main project is the new Just Nan Autumn Mouse Scissor Roll:

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Autumnal Colours, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog. Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

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Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Any thing, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Blue, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.  Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

Looking forward to reading them all!

October Stitch from Stash and Pie

A rather different Pie this month, it's a Pumpkin Pie!

Yes, I worked on only three designs in October!  Apart from my Bath Time Stitching which doesn't usually feature in the pie.

I stitched on the Mystic Sampler every day for 27 days but it only appears on the Pie for the days when I didn't stitch anything else.  Days when I did a full day at work usually.

I started on 1st October and aimed to stitch approx one 20 x 20 area per day.  I finished on the 27th October.

stitched on 40 count Newcastle linen in Jewel Butterbeer by Under The Sea Fabrics

The next piece was my spooky conversion of Lavender & Lace's Enchanted Alphabet.  Unfortunately I had to make a choice as to whether to finish this one or Raven and Raven won!  I still have a few more motifs to add so I won't show the whole piece.

stitched on 32 count Murano in Tiger Lily by Sparklies

But the good news is that I did finish Raven by Nora Corbett!  I started her in October 2017 and finished her on 31st October, 2019.

I stitched her skin over one

I changed two of the bead colours.  I knew there was an issue with the charted 02056 Sable which are now very red so I used 00081 Jet instead. As you can see there is a nice shine to them as opposed to the 02014 which are more of a matt black.

The other bead I changed is 10019 the Claret Magnifica which are used in the strings of beads around her shoulders.  I used 03004 Eggplant because their DMC colour is 550 which is used in her dress.

When I am substituting beads I always look at the colour thread Mill Hill recommend to attach the bead and then look for a bead which uses the same colour or a colour within the stitching. 

I also substituted 155 for 156 in her dress, one is more blue than the other which did not look right.  I also used 3 yellows for the moon - 743, 744 and 745 instead of 743, 3078 and a blend of the two.

Other than that, she is all as charted.

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Nebula by Crafty Kitten

The fabric is darker in person and the light patches and blue patches don't stand out so much.

I still have the other half of the fabric so I can stitch another Bewitching Pixie to face her!

I didn't start either of the other Hallowe'en projects on my list because I really wanted this finish after two years.  I had planned to stitch a Just Nan mouse but I bought another one instead!  This necessitated a visit to a needlework shop not too far from me.  Of course you can't just buy one chart so this is what else I got:

The Just Nan is the Autumn Mouse Scissor Roll.  It's a good thing I pre-ordered this as she sold out before they even came in.  I picked up two bargains from the Half Price box.  One is a nice band sampler by Elizabeth Designs called Autumn Leaves and the other is by MarNic Designs and is a beautiful Russian Mother & Child stitched on blue fabric using a mixture of cross stitch and satin stitches as well as beads and metallics.  It looks like needlepoint but it isn't.  I just love the colours.

I also bought a packet of bugle beads to make candles for this month's Christmas ornament and the lovely owl thread holder.  So here is the total spend:

October
JN Autumn Scissor Roll	£24.99
Elizabeth Designs chart	£2.50
MarNic Designs chart	£4.99
Bugle Beads	£2.50
Owl Thread Holder	£2.49
Total	£37.47

Luckily for Stitch from Stash, the Just Nan was my final Birthday present so I am well within budget again.

Finally, the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop went up this morning.  Don't forget to hop around and visit everyone, leave a comment and try guess the mystery phrase. 

Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2019

Welcome to the spooky hallowe’en mystery phrase blog hop!

All you need to do is visit each of the following blogs in order, jot down the letter displayed with their Hallowe'en stitched picture then return here and leave a comment telling me the Mystery Phrase.

It'd be nice if you left a comment on their blog too, especially if it's new to you.

I have "moderate comments before publishing" enabled so no-one can copy anyone else!

So without further ado,

start the blog hop – enter if you dare…

Aimetu's Stitching

Wicked Stitcher

Books, Crafts and Other Procrastinations

A Patchwork of Crafts

The Alchymyst's Study

An Arizona Stitcher

Jocondine

Dragon Stitches and Stuff

Jeremiah's Mom

Needle, Pen and Sword

Purple Pixie Dust

Beth's Needlework Stash

Ishkabibble

Tiffstitches a Blog

The Crafty Princess

Today I Found

and back to me!

Here is my letter, the final one in the mystery phrase:

Hallowe'en Cubes by the Primitive Hare

This month I have been working away on three different Hallowe'en designs and have managed to complete two of them.  Here is the first one, the other will be shown on my monthly Pie Post.  This is Mystic Sampler by The Primitive Needle which was my daily stitch, my target was to work on approximately one 20 x 20 area per day.  I finished it in 27 days.   

stitched on 40 count Newcastle Linen in Jewel Butterbeer by Under The Sea Fabrics

Now I just have to frame it and display through November.  My Hallowe'en displays stay up until 1st December when I start to switch over to Christmas.

Some more photos of the Hallowe'en stitching around my house:

Don't forget, some of us are on different time zones so if you visit a blog and can't find a letter or picture yet, pop back later in the day.  

The competition is open for one week closing 00.01 hours 7th November GMT.

happy hunting!

        

all from Hyraea