Another DUCJC 2015 Happy Dance

I took part in the DUCJC last year for the first and only time (probably) because I wanted to honour Debbie's memory that first year.  I worked on 31 different projects in January 2015, many of them new starts and this year I am focusing on finishing as many as possible.

And here is the latest!

Yes, Book of Spells by The Goode Huswif is a finish!  I started this piece on the 10th January, 2015 and then put it to one side until the end of April when I had finished Prairie Moon Thine is the Trick and the Treat.  Book of Spells took its place as my bath time stitching!  The Small Boy's bath, not mine.  I stitch while I supervise him playing with the bubbles.

I took another break just before Christmas to focus on the Plum Street Sampler 12 Days of Christmas then picked it up again in January.

The fabric is a 40 count linen called Jewel Butterbeer by Under the Sea Fabrics.  It was a gift from my friend Karen (who doesn't blog anymore but you might remember her as Stitchy Woman?).  I used the DMC conversion with a few personal changes.  The moon is 4145 (greys) and 4130 (oranges).  It took a long time but is one of my favourite parts now.

This photo includes a ruler so you can see the final size of the piece.  A little over 9 inches or 23cm.  The plan I have is to get it colour photocopied and use that as a cover for a notebook and frame the original.

Since I finished this piece I decided to pick up another DUCJC start, a small this time:

This was my Day 7 start, a prize from Lee Under the Mountain, an older hand-drawn chart from The Sampler House called Strawberry Sampler.  I'm stitching this on 32 count Antique White linen.  I do love these delicate band samplers.  This one reminds me of the Shepherd's Bush series I also started, so maybe I'll move on to one of those next.

I've just checked back on the page for the DUCJC.  At the end of 2015 I had completed 17 out of the 31.  And now I've added another 2 finishes to that total.  Still leaves 12 WIPS to be slain!

I've also been making great progress on Nora Corbett's C Fairy, thanks to the Fifth Friday in January I had a free weekend which I dedicated to my Fairy:

Stitched on 32 count Oceanic Fantasia by Crafty Kitten

I have now stitched all the colours and just have white (or Cloud) to add.  That will be highlights on the waves and the rest of the wing.  Then it's backstitching in DMC and Kreinik and finally the beads. 

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Finally,  the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop will be taking place on Valentine's Day.  Full details can be found on this post but basically you email me a photo of something suitable for a lovely friend and I send you a photo from a mystery friend which you post on your blog to wait for your Secret Stitching Sweetheart to find you from the list of participants on my blog.  Have a look at last year's Hop to see how it all worked:

Secret Stitching Sweetheart 2015