June Gifted Gorgeousness Link-up Post

Welcome to the June 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 I left off last GG post:

This is where it was at the end of May:

Here is the portion I have been working on this week:

Turnwise Ocean
Like other worlds, even nearly spherical ones, the Discworld has only one ocean.  Like ours, however, it is divided into arbitrary bits for easy reference.  Also like ours, these arbitrary bits are defined according to the viewpoint of those drawing the maps.  The three contiguous continents (arbitrarily defined themselves) divide the ocean into two main areas, and that attached to the Circle Sea (the people drawing the maps) is further divided into the Rim Ocean, the area nearest them, and the Turnwise Ocean. The far side of the Disc is known as the Widdershins Ocean.

The Turnwise Ocean extends from about Hergen and the Brown Islands to the Counterweight Continent. It includes the island of Mithos and the be Trobi Islands, with Gonim, Whale Bay and Ecalpon hubwards.

Trob is an island mentioned in The Colour of Magic whose sailors sometimes visit the Counterweight Continent. The beTrobi people are fairly simple and speak in metaphors. With words like Awayawa, Orohai and Raruaruaha, beTrobi seems to be linguistically very similar to the South Sea Islands of Roundworld, also known as Polynesia.

Brown Islands - The natives speak a complex language and once worshipped an inn-sewer-ants polly-sea that fell from a high thermal into a bush from the smoking remains of Ankh-Morpork in The Colour of Magic. The strange (is anything strange when dealing with gods?) thing is that they have received surplus rainfall and a rich crop. The research team sent from Unseen University reported that "it only goes to show".

Source:L-Space

Here's where I am today:

Other gifted projects include my Butterfly Needlebook by Just Nan which is stitched on gifted fabric:

stitched on hand-dyed 28 count pink evenweave

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 "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, there will be a Summer Blog Hop this year.  We will have an International Theme for the Postcards this year.  Each person emails me a photo of something they have stitched on an International theme which is suitable to send to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything which fits the International theme, let's see which countries we visit this Summer.  If you'd like to take part then leave a comment or send me an email.

A couple of people have asked "what do you mean by "International"?"

To which I replied "Use your imagination!  If you don't have something which represents a country or an area of the world, how about a mode of transport?  Or something designed by an international designer?  Or gifted by an international friend?  Or stitched on French Navy fabric? LOL!!"

The Hop will run over the whole of the Summer with a few cards going out each week.  Final deadline will be the end of August, just in time for Back to School!

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for June

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This new 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).

Over the last month I have been very unseasonal!  I have continued with my progress on some older pieces which were all finished in the same way - Put It In A Bag For Twenty Years.

First up is a jolly little Santa from Mill Hill:

It took a massive amount of work to FFO him, two pieces of double-sided tape:

He looks a bit lonely so at some point I will stitch his friends:

I only have the charts and some leftover threads as these came from my friend who was destashing a few years back.

The next piece was also a Santa, look how well he matches the paper I had in my stash: 

You can see how old this one is, issue 8 of Cross Stitch Collection from December/January 1993!  The card mount came with it.

Now for something a little bit more recent, although still an older magazine:

Not a Creature Was Stirring by Dragon Dreams

from Just Cross Stitch Ornament Special 2001

The little card frame came from an old Christmas card

Finally, there will be a Summer Blog Hop this year.  We will have an International Theme for the Postcards this year.  Each person emails me a photo of something they have stitched on an International theme which is suitable to send to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything which fits the International theme, let's see which countries we visit this Summer.  If you'd like to take part then leave a comment or send me an email.

A couple of people have asked "what do you mean by "International"?"

To which I replied "Use your imagination!  If you don't have something which represents a country or an area of the world, how about a mode of transport?  Or something designed by an international designer?  Or gifted by an international friend?  Or stitched on French Navy fabric? LOL!!"

The Hop will run over the whole of the Summer with a few cards going out each week.  Final deadline will be the end of August, just in time for Back to School!

June TUSAL

And now it's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog (if she makes a post, she's gone very quiet again).

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current projects:

On the left we have Just Nan's Butterfly Needlebook:

stitched on 28 count pink evenweave

This is a lovely thick hand-dyed fabric which was a gift from Mouse.  However, it's not quite an evenweave.  It's actually 29 count in one direction and 31 in the other, so the "squares" are not quite square.  But the way I have oriented the central motif means it will still look square.  That was lucky!

The other project is also a Just Nan.  This is A Little Joy from Just Cross Stitch 2002 for the Christmas Ornament Blog:

stitched on 28 count Platinum linen.

This fabric is a total contrast as it is very loosely woven.  The original design called for the central motif to be stitched over one on a separate piece of fabric and inserted into a tiny frame charm then attached to the main piece.  Which would have looked lovely if the tiny frame charm was still available.  So I'm just stitching it over one right onto the main design.

Finally, there will be a Summer Blog Hop this year.  We will have an International Theme for the Postcards this year.  Each person emails me a photo of something they have stitched on an International theme which is suitable to send to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything which fits the International theme, let's see which countries we visit this Summer.  If you'd like to take part then leave a comment or send me an email.

The Hop will run over the whole of the Summer with a few cards going out each week.  Final deadline will be the end of August, just in time for Back to School!

The People Chose Mermaids

Regular followers will be aware that for over 3 years now I have run a themed SAL on the first Saturday of each month.  First we spent 26 months doing The Alphabet Club and then 12 months of the Zodiac.  Now I have decided to listen to the People and post about your choice of theme.  Each month I ask for suggestions on the blog and then make a poll in the IHSW Facebook Group from those suggestions.

June - Mermaids

July - Finishing

August - Monochrome

I think when stitchers say "Mermaid" there really is only one designer who comes to mind - Nora Corbett for Mirabilia.  Nora has designed some of the most stunning mermaids in existence.  My first was Bluebeard's Mermaid, stitched back in 2011:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Waterfall from Crafty Kitten

She is pretty much a permanent feature on my wall from January to September.  October to December are for Hallowe'en and Christmas designs.

To date, she is my only full Nora Mermaid although I have stitched a portion of Shimmering Mermaid for a Round Robin in 2013:

Here's the full piece:

Joan Elliott has also designed a few mermaids too.  Let's be honest - is there any subject Joan has not turned her design pen too, very successfully.   Whatever she does is very recognisable as a Joan Elliott. 

Here's the July Mermaid from The Year of Magical Stitching:

stitched on 28 count Jazlyn in Peacock from Crafty Kitten

I scrapbooked her very simply.  I need some wave embellishments, I think.

My final Mermaid finish is this cute freebie from The Little Stitcher.  I made this into a Birthday card for a friend:

I don't currently have a mermaid in my WIPs, as you can see it's not a theme I am really obsessed with, unlike Hallowe'en and Witches!  But I do like the designs so I'm looking forward to seeing your's.  If I was to stitch another mermaid it would be one of these two:

Gypsy Mermaid - companion to Bluebeard's Mermaid

or Mermaid Letter J

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Mermaids, 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!

May Stitch From Stash and Pie

The end of May means the end of Maynia and I successfully stitched on one of my Just Nan Smalls every single day in May.  I started 32 last year (I had one double-day) and stitched each one on the anniversary of the day it was started in 2018.

Here are all 32 from this year:

Of course, the first one is finished now and I have done much more on Days 2 and 3.  They will be my focus smalls for June and July.

My Maynia plans for next year are to stitch on each of the designs which don't get finished over the course of the next 12 months and then find some more smalls to start, maybe Just Nan, maybe Christmas Ornaments.  We shall see.

Here's how my Pie looked for May:

I managed my full 2 weeks on the Discworld Mappe.  Here's where it was at the start of the month:

And here's where I am now:



We have a turtle flipper and a small island!

Once I had completed my 2 weeks on Discworld I turned to an old WIP - My Lovely Sewing Tools by Marie Suarez.  This was originally released in 6 parts in the digital magazine The Gift of Stitching.  Here's where I abandoned it in 2012:

And here's where I am now:

stitched on 40 count white linen

Close-up of the portion I stitched this month.

The lace is so pretty.  Based on the amount stitched in 8 days I estimate I have another 3 weeks worth of stitching for this one.  So, the question is - do I continue to work on it for a week each in June, July and August or do I work on some of my other "19 in '19" projects for this year?

Finally, Stitch From Stash:

Nothing	£0.00
Total	£0.00

Yes, a big fat nothing!  Not so much as one skein of DMC.

May Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

For this SAL I am showing the monthly project for the Christmas Ornie Blog. I am choosing from the back issues of the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Specials. This month we could chose any ornament from the 2001 issue.  Owing to a slight mishap with the years last month, I stitched the 2001 Dragon Dreams design in April, so I'm stitched the 2002 in May instead.  No-one will notice if you don't tell them!

stitched on 32 count green linen

The words originally read "Peace on Earth" but when I was stitching I kept singing "Peace and Harmony" which all parents of young children will know is a song sung by Madame Gazelle in Peppa Pig!

My Hallowe'en "small" is to add some small details to my spooky conversion of Lavender & Lace's Enchanted Alphabet.  This month I added pumpkins:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Tiger Lily by Sparklies

I had one finish for my Just Nan-a-thon, this one took a lot longer than most of them but it is done now, ready to be scrapbooked:

Just Nan -Butterfly Lace

stitched on 32 count Lavender Evenweave

Once this one was finished I moved on to the next one in line; Butterfly Needlebook.  I decided to stitch the whole turquoise border on both parts of the design first:

stitched on 28 count hand-dyed pink linen

And each day I stitched one length on one of the 32 designs started for Stitch Maynia last year.  Here are the last 7 designs:

Finally, I'll be back later with my Pie and Stitch from Stash post!!

May WIPocalypse Shopping for Stash

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  

Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "19 in '19" for this year.  You can find the full list here.

This month I stitched on five of my list:

1. Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace

 stitched on 32 count Murano in Tiger Lily from Sparklies

2. Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

3. Gathering Eggs by Nora Corbett

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

4. Summer Typography by Just Nan - Day 200 = 2,000 stitches!

stitched on 32 count Pink Linen

5. My Lovely Sewing Tools by Marie Suarez

stitched on 40 count White linen

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

May – Where do you love to shop for stash?

What I'd like to say is - a little shop run by a woman and her mother, who stock a wide range of charts, fabrics and threads.  Who offer advice and have models on the walls and an exhibition space upstairs.  Unfortunately Hobbycraft opened up less than a mile away and stole all her trade.

Now I use a mixture of online stores trying to use places run by enthusiasts.  Lakeside Needlecraft is one of the first places I look, Kate is very helpful.  If she hasn't got what I need then SewandSo is the next port of call.  For hand-dyed fabrics, it's Crafty Kitten or Sparklies.  There is a small needlework shop about 10 miles away who supplies me with the latest Just Nan designs.

Two places I will never shop - Hobbycraft and Amazon.

At the moment I'm not really doing a lot of shopping anyway, thanks to Stitch From Stash and my lack of personal budget!  But when my Birthday rolls around I will be looking to buy a couple of charts.

 

Finally, here's a couple more photos from the Art Exhibition I went to.  Hope you like them.