Official IHSW

Many years ago (2011!)  Joysze of Random Ramblings coined the phrase Hermit and Stitch Weekend where you spend as much of the weekend as possible stitching.  This became very popular and also International.  Hence IHSW.  It always commences the Third Friday of every month and there is a sign-up post on Joysze's blog.  Or there was for the first few years!  Recently she has been a tad busy with one of those job things people insist on getting.  Presumably to pay for her Chatelaine habit?

Anyway, Kaye and I kicked her out of hibernation and got her to hermit instead!  So now we can see who else is hermitting each month and not feel alone, even though hermits usually are alone, it's nice to have company while you're being alone.

Here are the guidelines for IHSW and here is March's sign-up page.  You can also copy Hermie the crab onto your blog to show everyone you have joined in.

Enough (Random) Ramblings, what did I stitch this weekend?  The focus of all my IHSWs this year has been Elizabeth Shephard by The Scarlet Letter.  This is a long term project started back on Day 14 of the DUCJC 2015 and worked on each month since then.  She is a Quaker so you get a mini Happy Dance with each complete motif.

This is the motif I focused on this weekend:

I also added quite a few of the red parts elsewhere in the sampler:

stitched on 30count linen using AVAS silks.

There is one more large motif and then five half motifs.  At the current rate of stitching she could be completed by the Autumn.

I squeezed in a little more progress on Nora Corbett's J is for Me:

Stitched on 32 count Love-in-the-Mist by Crafty Kitten

And I did some scrapbooking!  That side of the craft has been neglected while I have been working on the first three Alphabet Fairies to meet the deadline.  I finally got this piece mounted on a suitable page:

January Wordplay by With Thy Needle & Thread

Here is the post where I talked about the designer and the project

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

I also took some inspiration from Anna the Stitch Bitch and attempted an Exploding Book.  This is a kind of origami "book" rather than an gunpowder plot.  I made a little dummy version first and was pleased I did because there are two ways of doing the folded-in parts and one works better than the other.  Then I made a proper version using black card.  Then I realised I did not have any scrapbook papers suitable to decorate it so I had to spend an hour on the internet searching for some!  Luckily my favourite online scrapbook company had an entire book for half price!

Scrapping the Magic

And I stitched some more of the L*K Sampling Easter and The Primitive Hare Christmas Cube which you can see over on the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog or wait until the Smalls SAL post at the end of the month!

Finally, the Easter Blog Hop is almost upon us.  I have collected a lovely long list of names this year but there is still a day or two left if you want to be a picture poster.  Drop me a line before Wednesday which is when I will be emailing further instructions to those already signed up.