The People Chose Rainbow

    

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

June - Rainbow

July - Abstract

August - Fairies

I've always liked rainbow colours in order and used to use them in my colouring when I was younger,  There's something very soothing to the eye to see the colours run in the correct order and something very jarring when they are switched over or something random added like brown or beige!

We will start with a design with a rainbow in the name, this Just Nan - Noah's Rainbow:

Then two designs that used rainbow colours.  I stitched the yellow and orange band for Sophia:

This one is called Bubbles of Happiness from Lin Pulsion:

Now for one stitched with rainbow threads.  This was a SAL from Threadpickerz and I used a gorgeous but slippery rainbow silk to stitch it:

Now let's see if I can find something for every colour of the rainbow, starting with red:

Bandes des Dragons by Dessins DHC

Orange

Various Halloween designs

Yellow

Nest Egg by Satsuma Street

Green

Green Goddess by Joan Elliott

Blue

Blue Sampler which I adopted half-stitched from my Mum

Indigo/Violet

Blackwork in Purple, my own composition from motifs in a sample book

Star SAL by Periphaeria

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Rainbows, 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.  Anything, 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 Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.   Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

May Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's time for Pie:

I stitched my full fortnight on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow again.  Here's where I started the month:

Here's the progress on Block 11:

And here's the whole piece:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose from Chromatic Alchemy

So far the number of days is:

Block 7 - 13 days

Block 6 - 16 days

Block 2 - 19 days

Block 3 - 20 days

Block 4 - 15 days

Block 1 - 19 days

Block 5 - 25 days

Block 8 - 15 days

Block 9 - 27 days

Block 10 - 31 days

Block 11 - 29 days and counting

I moved on to the next shop in my Spooky Conversion of CCN's Main Street and finished the Flower Shop which now sells Herbs:

stitched on 32 count Charcoal Slate Murano from Sparklies

My Evening Stitching was all for the Just Nan-athon and once again I stitched on 32 Just Nan smalls, one per day.  Except the Bunny Biscornu where I stitched a bit on each side to get the round number of 32 smalls.

Here they all are:

There are some that are pretty close to a finish so next year I am thinking of stitching each one during the day and try to finish a few.  So I can start more the next year!  Yes, there are more smalls I have not started yet.

According to my list, I have 91 Small Charts of which I have stitched 49, started another 31 and have 11 left unstarted.  

Finally, Stitch from Stash and another lovely Zero spend!  All my money is still going on papercraft at the moment...

May WIPGO

  

I thought I'd do a little recap of my WIPGO progress so far this year.  WIPGO is basically Bingo for WIPs.  Each person makes their own board of 25 squares with various WIPs and goals for each number.
Two numbers are called each month and we work on those projects.
The centre square is a bonus, if 13 is called then another number is called in addition so you could have three projects that month.  I use 13 for my Longest Day marathon.

Here's my board at the end of May:

I'm doing well at ticking off the boxes each month so far.  My goals are quite simple,  Work for at least one week on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow each time it is called and work on the other projects for at least one day!  I do try get a full week on those too but it doesn't matter if I don't quite manage it as long as they get some love in the month.

This month the "other" project was my Spooky Conversion of CCN's Main Street.

I've been gradually converting all the shops to a witchy equivalent and this month was the turn of the Flower Shop.  Which became Herbs, what every witch needs for her spells and potions.

I changed the shop from pastel blue to a darker turquoise

The plant baskets became more leafy but then I added French Knots to represent the smaller flowers you see on herbs

I added some bunches of herbs drying from the ceiling 

and lots of French Knots to the basket outside

I was really pleased with the sign which I charted from a photo I found online.
It's a hand sickle with a mortar and pestle.

The whole piece so far:

stitched on 32 count Charcoal Slate Murano from Sparklies

Finally, here's what the original looked like:

May WIPocalypse Most Joyful Project

        

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 "23 in '23" for this year.  This month I stitched on 4 of them and had 1 part finish.

5. Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

8. CCN Halloween Village Flower Shop

13. Mani di Donna Halloween Stitching Basket

18. Circle Cross Blackwork Tarot

The full list can be seen here - WIPocalypse and "23 in '23"

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too:

May – What project brings you the most joy and why?

Answer - All of them!  A number of people have commented how much they enjoy the variety of projects I share and I think that is the key to enjoying your stitching.

I start each month with the over one solid stitching of Hawk Run Hollow and before that can get boring I have completed my two weeks.  Then I get a chance to either stitch one of my part works or an older WIP so I feel I am getting progress on those.

In the evenings I have my Smalls, this month has been the Just Nan-athon but in previous months I have been stitching the Amanda Butler houses.  

In between I have my Blackwork Tarot, I tend to pick that up at the weekend just for an hour or two but it's quite quick to progress compared to cross stitching,

If I had to pick one, it would probably be the Blackwork Tarot because I always want to keep going with that one!

May Smalls

    

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.

The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I have finished Air:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

and made a start on Water:

My next collection of tiny items is the Potion Bottle Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso.  

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

Finally, it's time for my annual Just Nan-athon! I used this to take part in Maynia in previous years. I stitch on a different JN Small each day.

Here are the first 25 projects, I'll be stitching number 26 this evening:

May IHSW

  

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.

As usual, I worked on Friday so the only thing that got stitched that day was my Just Nan-athon piece which I will show with the others in a collage:

On Saturday I continued with my spooky conversion of CCN's Main Street.  This was the Flower Shop:

stitched on 32 count Charcoal Slate Murano from Sparklies

Unfortunately I had to work on Sunday too but I did manage a bit of time on Water from the Circle Cross Tarot:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweaver

Finally the next IHSW will be 16th - 18th June so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.

May TUSAL and Stitching Library

            

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project, CCN Main Street Spooky Conversion:

stitched on 32 count Charcoal Slate Murano from Sparklies

This was the Flower Shop, can you guess what it is going to become?

What's on my Shelf?

This is a feature I'm going to include on my TUSAL post until I run out of books! I started a Page on my Happy Dance blog for my Stitching Library and realised what a huge task it was so decided to break it down to one book per month. For the next four years...

Title: Sampler en Rouge et Blanc

Author: Isabelle Vautier

Publisher: Mango Pratique
ISBN: 9782842705046

The text in this book is all in French, but that's OK because it's mostly self-evident what they are saying!

For example: Manoir aux Chats - Cat Mansion

That design is the reason I bought the book, and it's stitched in my favourite DMC 115

This one is Traditions en Rouge - Traditions in Red

Here we have Abecedaire Champetre aux Lapins - A Country Alphabet with Rabbits

Bienvenue sous la Neige (Welcome to the Snow) is shown in two colourways.
Red and White or DMC 115.  They also show a Blue and White version.

Just for a change Etude Ethnique - Ethnic Study - is shown in Brown and Ivory

The final one in the book is Marquoir Plantations - Plantation Sampler and could easily be stitched as small ornaments.

There are a lot more designs in the book, these are just a few of my favourites.

Finally, it's IHSW so I hope you are finding some time to Hermit and Stitch.  Come back and share a post with us on Monday on your blog or in the FB group.