Theme-a-licious Looking Backward and Forward IX

September Smalls

"We all love gadgets, and none better than the teensy tools and holders we make ourselves. Let's stitch some smalls--needlebooks, fobs, biscornus, scissors keeps, pincushions--or knit some teensy things--amigurumi, jewelry, sachets...."

Not a lot of small stitching went on, and certainly no cute finishes like Heather listed!

LHN Home of a Needleworker was the main "small", see previous posts and my Finishes blog for pictures.

I also stitched two cards, one of which was for Kell:

and the other is for someone whose Birthday is today, I wonder if she got it on time?

The final small is the Hallowe'en design by Puntini Puntini and I've made great progress on that one:

It's stitched on 28 count over 1 using the black Sullivans thread I got free with JCS.  Has anyone else used Sullivans?  Their big claim is that their "reversed rolled" thread doesn't knot.  Well I'm sorry to report it does knot and much worse than DMC!  My DMC knots are those little loop things where you just pull the threads and they come undone.  This stuff knots and has to be cut out. The end also unravels as you stitch so you have to cut it short by about an inch for every length you use.  This won't be a problem when I stitch using 2 threads and the secured needle method but I imagine it would be annoying if you use the loop start or two loose threads methods.

I also felt the thread was "harder" than DMC while in the skein and much more difficult to remove a length.  With 99% of DMC skeins there is a clearly visible "end" which you pull to remove the thread.  With the Sullivan I had to rummage to find an end, then when I pulled it I realised I'd found the "beginning" of the skein so it was coming out tangled.  The real "end" was found between the two paper loops in the middle of the skein.  Not a good beginning!

I don't think Sullivans are readily available here but I won't be searching them out!  I also think it's a bit cheeky copying DMC's colours so blatently with the lables using the DMC references!  I do like the DMC counter-adverts in the magazine though, especially the copycat one with the kittens.

So thank you to JCS for giving me a chance to try this thread for myself and saving me the disappointment of spending money on it. LOL.  The coverage is okay though so at least I don't have to frog it.

One thing which was worth every penny and more was the chart pack I got from the Italian Needlework show at Formigine.  No, I didn't go to Italy myself, worse luck, but the lovely Giovanna did and bought a copy of my behalf, bless her.  Here's the post where I first read about the fundraiser Niky's Creations.  When Gio mailed the envelope to me she did warn me that it wasn't an actual bound booklet, just some loose charts so I wasn't expecting too much but it was nice to help a worthy cause and I was sure the charts would be good ones.

What I wasn't expecting was 37 new and unique charts by well-known designers clearly printed on high quality paper!  I "drooled" quite happily for some time rearranging them into alphabetical order as per the contents sheet!  My favourites are by Alessandra Adelaide and Renato Parolin but there are many others I want to stitch too.

Looking forward to October's theme - 

Obligation October

"Wow, the holidays are only a couple months away! Avoid that last-minute crunch and work on some gifts now" 

So, there'll be another Birthday card to stitch for an October lady.  I also need a November Birthday as there isn't one in the Needlecraft Haven exchange.  Anyone got a November Birthday or just fancy a nice floral card from me?

Mainly I'm planning to stitch Hallowe'en themes and my two RRs, so they're obligation pieces.  It'd be nice to catch up with Papillon ATW80 so that's an obligation to myself!

Finally, I've helping Blu out with the SAL Directory blog I mentioned a while back.  I've added a couple of new SALs but would love more (and some more followers too!).  So if you hear of any freebie part work SALs going on, let me know.