February D.E.S.I.G.N. SAL

The idea of this Blog Hop is to choose a different designer each month and do a post focusing on a piece of their work you have stitched on during the month.  Last month I focused on three very well-known designers;  Nora Corbett (AKA Mirabilia), Joan Elliott and Teresa Wentzler.  For the rest of the year I am going to concentrate on less well-known designers in the hope of spreading their fame across the Blogosphere.

The hosts of D.E.S.I.G.N ask us to answer a few questions on our chosen designer.

1. What designer are you talking about this month?

The month is the turn of Madame Chantilly, I am not sure where I discovered her but it was probably on someone's blog.  She has a blog here and an Etsy shop here.  Her patterns are available as paper charts and as PDFs.  I don't think all designs are available in both formats yet but it's worth asking.

2. Have you stitched a project by this designer before?

"On the Beach" is my first Mme.C design.

I am stitching this on a fabric by Sparklies called Kynance after Kynance Cove in Cornwell.  It is dyed to order so you can specify landscape or portrait and also where the division between blue and yellow is placed.  I have changed a few of the colours so they are a little bit brighter than the charted ones.

3. Would you buy/stitch a design by this designer again?  Why/Why not?

There are a set of landscape designs which co-ordinate with On the Beach.  I have already bought Hallowe'en Town and would like the Roses and Reindeer designs too.

There is also this rather nice Advent Calendar, I am very partial to Advent Calendars!

4. What made you choose this particular design/designer?

My cousin had her first baby last year and they decorated the Nursery with a nautical theme because Daddy is in the Royal Navy.  So of course this little design was perfect for the baby.  I am hoping to finish and frame it by Easter as I would love to travel to see them and present it in person.

5. Did you notice anything that distinguished this designer from others?

Madame Chantilly only uses whole stitches in her work, no beads or metallics or other embellishments.  They are charted for DMC and the occasional hand-dyed.  However you could easily use more hand-dyed threads and add charms, buttons or beads.  On the Beach has little crabs and shells along the bottom which you could substitute buttons for the stitches.  The designs have a definite European feel to them, which they should because Madame Chantilly is an Italian designer!


Finally, I saw this idea on someone else's blog and as a lover of statistics I couldn't resist!  This little pie chart shows the proportion of time I have worked on each project this month:

(I am assuming I will stitch On the Beach tomorrow.)

(I am also not including the one length per evening on Trick and Treat, only if I work on it during the day)

February Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus

This year I am going to have two monthly challenges:

1. The Primitive Hare Hallowe'en Cubes SAL with Giovanna

2. The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL themed blog.

Last month I started the letter H for the cubes which I finished this month and then added the A cube too:

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

The theme for the Ornie SAL was skeletons.  I found it rather tricky to find a good skeleton pattern and had quite a hunt for a freebie I knew existed somewhere on the internet.

I could find the picture on Pinterest via Google Images but no-one ever bothers to credit and link the designers there.  So frustrating!  Eventually I found the chart on the Casa Cenina website.  Hooray!

Here is the Dancing Skeleton on his own, this would make a great ornie by itself:

And here is the completed piece:

Cuore di Hallowe'en by Savoir faire Vailly

Stitched over one on 32count Cognac evenweave

DMC B5200, 310 and 740

When I had finished stitching I showed it to my son and said "It's a skeleton, some ghosts and some long legged beasties, I think".  He was the one who realised that the black shape is actually a skeleton cat.  Sometimes you can be too close to a piece to see it!

I also stitched a Birthday card for my friend Nicola.  Together we run the Scarlet Letter Years Blogs and more recently, the Scarlet Letter FB page along with Krista.  Each year I stitch a different red letter N for Nicola's Birthday.  Here is this year's:

N by Broderie

Stitched over 1 on 32 count Antique White linen

The Broderie website is a French site which offers two freebie charts per week.  After that you can usually buy them for 1euro.  I try to visit once a week to download the free ones!

Finally, I made a small start on a new SAL.  Linda from Stitching with my Furbabies has several of the Satsuma Street Cities among her many WIPs and she suggested we SAL with one.  I chose London as it is my capital city (I also have Paris and Italy, which is not actually a city but came as a set of three).  Here is my Tuesday start:

Stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

February Stitch from Stash

Month: February
Spent: £ 5.50
Earned: £ 0.00



Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel from Epic Stitching

Essentially the idea behind Stitch from Stash is that we are limited to spending US$25 (or £15) per month. There are various exemptions (Birthday money, existing mag subs, clubs etc) but the idea is not to try and pervert the rules and to stitch some of that stash!  I will be posting on or around the 20th of each month because that is when I get paid!

January Budget	£ 15.00
January Spend	£   0.00
February Budget	£ 15.00
Crafty Kitten Voucher	£ 20.00
Crafty Kitten Spend	£ 22.50-
Willow Fabrics Voucher	£ 10.00
Willow Fabrics Spend	£ 13.00-
Current Balance	£ 24.50

So what did I buy?  From Crafty Kitten I bought a cone of DMC 310 for all the black stitching I do plus some Crescent Colours for J is for Joanne.  I was gifted three of the colours and figured I only need three more, the rest would be fine in DMC.  From Willow Fabric's sale I got two great fabrics, both 32 count green linen for £ 6.50 a fat quarter of each.

Willow Fabrics really do have some great sales and some interesting fabrics too, I do recommend them.

So, that is the Stash part of the post.  Now for the Stitch part.

Since my last SFS post I complete the DUCJC but I won't show those again, I will just show the projects I have worked on since the beginning of February.

Primitive Hare - Hallowe'en Cubes:

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

Scarlet Letter - Elizabeth Shephard



I noticed something really interesting about these two designs - the border around the centre motif for each one is exactly the same!

 Finally, I am using hubby's laptop and the mouse keypad is stupidly over sensitive and keeps jumping the cursor around all the time.  It is virtually impossible to do anything so I am going to call this post done and try make it look a little better when I can get on the PC.

February TUSAL of Time Travel

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

Here is my ORTS jar posing with the current stitching project:

And here is a close-up of the first completed block:

The project is Primitive Hare's Hallowe'en Cubes.  The plan is to stitch one per month until Hallowe'en.  There is a lot of black as you can see so it's a good thing I bought that cone of 310.

Becca from Finding Flapjack has come up with a great idea for blogging prompts.  Here is the current one:

If you could travel back to any time in the past, what date would you choose and why? Would you attempt to influence past events while you were there? Why or why not?

I had a good think about this and strangely enough my thoughts were on the same lines as Becca.  Not of returning to an historical event but of going back to a point in my own life and making a change there.  She even referenced a favourite film - The Butterfly Effect.

Hubby and I watched this film on DVD.  The plot is a man going back in time to try put things right in his life and in his friends' lives.  However he makes things worse instead of better.  We enjoyed the film and when it came on TV we sat down to watch it again.  As it neared the end we became more puzzled.  This was NOT how we remembered it.  The film had a totally different ending!  This made us wonder "what if this film is different every time you watch it?"  How freaky would that be?

I also thought about those "Sliding Doors" moments when one little action or event changes your entire life.  I had one of those in 2001 actually involving a late running train.  My train being late set a chain of events in motion which led to the birth of the Large Boy in 2002.  If only Anglia Railways knew their power!

When I first got together with my husband we knew a lot of the same people (it's a small town!).  I was going through my photo album from my teenage years and showed him a photo of a group of us who had been fundraising.  And there, right at the back, barely visible was my husband!  If only we had known!  Our lives would certainly have been very different.  We would probably have about eight children rather than the current two LOL.

We met again about ten years later at an event my ex-husband was hosting, I was helping and hubby-to-be was the sound and light engineer.  Apparently he was very impressed by my organisational skills, my hostessing, my professionalism and my elegant red dress!  I wonder what would have happened if we had run off together that night?  Apart from getting a very different review in The Stage newspaper!

In reality it took a further ten years for us to meet again as single people and get together once and for all.

Returning to the historical point of view, I would love to go back and find out the truth behind the King Arthur legends.  I have been fascinated by these stories for so long and have read many different versions. Was he a Roman or a Celt?  Was Guenivere good or bad?  Christian or Pagan?  Did Lancelot actually exist or was he a later invention?  Merlin and the Lady of the Lake also fascinate me.  It would be amazing to sit with the people who first wrote down the legends and find out the truth.

And to tie in with my stitching, here is one project I would go back and change - stitch it on evenweave and not aida!   How great would this look on a hand-dyed evenweave?

How about you?  Would you change something in your past?  Or would you rather visit an historical event?

Finally, thanks to everyone who took part in the recent Valentine Blog Hop and also linked up for Gifted Gorgeousness.  I believe all the Secret Sweethearts have now been revealed.  If not, then the links are up so you can still find out where your stitching went.  The next Blog Hop will be the Easter Treasure Hunt.  So prepare your bunnies for that one.

Gifted Gorgeousness February Link Up Post

The first link up was an enormous success with 40 people linking up to share their Gorgeousness.
I thought there were alot of generous bloggers out there and this confirms it all.

  

For newbies, this is my first year long SAL.  Click on the picture above for the full details.

We will be posting and linking up on the 15th of each month, because it is 2015.  Should be easy to remember.

In January I was also taking part in the DUCJC in memory of SoCal Debbie so I have many projects to show you!

Day 15 - Gifted Chart and Fabric

Just Nan - Haunted Pumpkins Tree

Day 16 - Gift for someone.

Joan Elliott - Believe

Day 17 - Not GG project!

Day 18 - Gifted Chart

Teresa Wenztler - You Were Hatched

Day 19 - Gifted Chart and threads

Nora Corbett - Little Snowy Gray Cottage

Day 20 - Gifted kit for someone

Jannlynn - Gathering Honey

Day 21 - Gifted Fabric

Joan Elliott - Faces SAL

Day 22 - Gifted chart

Just Nan - Winter Typography

Day 23 - Giveaway prize chart

Stitcher Anon - Marley was Dead

Day 24 - Gifted Chart

Shepherd's Bush - She Tends

Day 25 - Gifted Chart

Shepherd's Bush - Mulberry

Day 26 - Gifted Chart and Threads

Dragon Dream - Dragon of the Winter Moon

Day 27 - Gifted Chart and Fabric

Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

Day 28 - Gift for someone

Anchor - Kingfisher

Day 29 - Gifted Chart

The Sweetheart Tree - Tudor Rose

Day 30 - Gifted Chart

 

Nora Corbett - J is for Joanne

Day 31 - Gift for someone

Madame Chantilly - On the Beach

Of the above designs, two have been stitched on in February - Prairie Moon and Madame Chantilly.

And now over to you - Here is the place for you to link up so we can see what Gifted Gorgeousness you have been stitching so far this year.  Please use your name or your blog name in the field NOT the words "January Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month.  And link to the actual post, not just your blog.  Thank you.  I can amend links if you make a boo-boo though.

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Finally, we have a little Gifted Gorgeousness Giveaway this month thanks to the Gorgeous Gillie!  When I announced the GG project she sent DMC threads to me and to Jacquie, she also did a draw and sent threads to Sheila.  This time she is donating a wonderful chart just for the GG link-ups.

Earth Sampler by Primitive Needle

All you have to do is link up your GG post above AND leave a comment here clearly indicating that you wish to be in this GGG (Gifted Gorgeous Giveaway).  The words "Yes please, include me in the draw" are recommended as clear and non-ambiguous LOL.  One name will be drawn at random on the 1st March when the link-ups are closed and announced on next month's post.   Good Luck!

Secret Stitching Sweethearts Blog Hop

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!  I hope that those of you in relationships got well treated today.

Over the last few weeks my email inbox had been receiving Hearts and Love in preparation for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart activity.  I have a lovely spreadsheet and each person has now been emailed a picture from a random participant.

At some point today they will post the picture they receive on their blog and wait for their Secret Stitching Sweetheart to reveal her identity by leaving a comment.

Here is the full list of participants (in no particular order):

Pretty Little Things in a Box

Finding Simple Treasures

Jocondine

Stitch Witch Hazel's Stitchy Musings

Sceal Teach

A Patchwork of Crafts

Stitching in the Country

Needle. Pen & Sword

A Stitcher's Story

Elfin Stitches

Fireflies & Cats in the Garden

Kitten Stitching

Jeremiah's Mom

So please hop over to the blogs and leave a nice comment.  Each participant will be trying to locate the photo they sent in and trying to find out who sent their's.

There are new faces in the blog hop again this year.  I have seen a few comments recently on FB that people don't seem to be blogging as much.  But this is definitely not my experience.  I have found there are the longtime bloggers who have been blogging since the early days, then there a group of us who started about four years ago when blogging was really huge and finally the newbies of a year or less.  People do come and go but there always seem to be new people coming in to take their place.  Which is nice, I always try to return the following and meet new people.  And it is also why my Reader is always so full!

This Blog Hop is just for fun but watch out for the Easter one coming soon!

I don't usually get a photo for this hop (because it wouldn't be much of a secret!) but this year one person sent in two photos and I chose this one for my Valentine.  Can you guess who sent it to me?

I made the border for the collage!

Here are a couple of little seasonal stitches I have on display this time of year:

Drawn Thread - All You Need Is Love

The Stitcherhood - Love

(She has an Etsy shop too)

Finally, I will be back tomorrow with the Gifted Gorgeousness Link Up for February, never too late to join in with that one.

Back to Normality

or what passes for normality round here!

Now the DUCJC is over I have been enjoying concentrating on just one or two pieces.  This past week I have been stitching On The Beach by Madame Chantilly.  Not literally "on" the beach as it is far too cold for that.  But a design entitled On The Beach.  My cousin (who is actually my second cousin and my godmother's daugher so my godsister (possibly?)) had a baby last year and decorated the nursery with a nautical theme.  I thought this design would be perfect for them.

The fabric is by Sparklies and is called Kynance after Kynance Cove in Cornwell.  It is dyed to order so you can specify landscape or portrait and also where the division between blue and yellow is placed.

The other main project this week is Prairie Moon's Thine is the Trick and the Treat:

This seems like a good time to show a few things I have not blogged about before.  First up are a couple of gifts which couldn't be shown until the recipient had them.

The lovely Ewa got married to Thomas last year.  Formerly known as HHB (Handsome, Helpful Boyfriend) he was promoted to HHF (Handsome, Helpful Fiance) and is now HHH or H3 ((Handsome, Helpful Husband).  I bought a lovely little teabag holder when we were on holiday last year because I knew I had the cross stitch chart for the same design.

Stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

I stitched the words freehand

Backing fabric

Made into a little bag to hold a teabag.

The next item is a Birthday card for a dear friend, can you guess who?

Margaret Sherry

Mice for Mouse of course!

This was a cover gift from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine.  It was a set of eight Christmas designs but without the green wreath this is perfect for a Mouse Birthday.

I also received two gifts I haven't shown before:

Gift from Anne of Doll's Musings

Gift from Riona of Oubliette.

She also sent me the Dragon of the Winter Moon chart and special threads too.

Finally, this is the final call for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Bloh Hop.  Due to take place on Valentine's Day.  I have quite a few photos already but would love more.  All you have to do is send me a photo of something suitable to send to a fellow blogger to celebrate love and friendship.  I email the photos out randomly to the participants who post one on their blog.  Then we all hop around to discover who got our photo.  I need photos by 10th February please.