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Tuesday 21 March 2017

Theme-tas-stitch March Madness

Theme-tas-stitch
Theme-tas-stitch is hosted by Kerry

Each month Kerry is giving us a theme to stitch to (or shoe-horn our existing stitching into).  We link up on the 21st of each month.  The theme this month is:

March Madness - Work on as many different projects as you can - you could do one a day or have a day when you see how many you can stitch on.

I have my set rotation which means I knew I would stitch on 7 projects in March already.  I also knew I wanted (and needed) to focus on M is for Mary this month so I needed a plan!  Here are the main 7:

1. Just Nan Spring in the Square for the 10-a-day challenge:

Day 80 - 800 stitches

2. Joan Elliott 12 Days of Christmas for the Christmas Ornie SAL:

and regular evening stitching on the thin red line to the right

3. Brooke's Books' Stitchers Alphabet for The Alphabet Club:


4. Imaginating Happy Hallowe'en for the Hallowe'en SAL:


5. Oberlin Witches, also for the Hallowe'en SAL:


6. Nora Corbett M is for Mary which is my focus piece for the month:

Wings and Bling to be added

7. Lavender & Lace Enchanted Alphabet Spooky Conversion:


To reach 31 projects for the 31 days in March I needed another 24 projects.  I didn't want to start pulling out other WIPs for just a length or two so I needed something small or a part-work.  I considered an Advent Calendar (24 days) or another Alphabet (the Erica Michael's one has 24 blocks) but in the end I went for something totally different - a Just-Nan-athon.  Over the years I have collected a lot of her small free charts and have stitched a few.

Here are a few more:

Most days I did one length of thread immediately after my 10-a-Day project before I started anything else.  The one in the middle got more done because I went to work that day and stitched during my lunchbreak.

They are, in clockwise order starting top left:

Christmas Rose
Christmas Star Ornament
Christmas Hearts
Victorian Rose
Royal Blossoms
Snow Forest
Lacy Diamond
Holly Knot
Have a Heart (centre)
Holiday in Ice
Butterfly Rose
Noah's Rainbow
Painted Lady

I am just picking fabrics as I go, all 32 count to keep the sizes the same but sometimes the charted colour and sometimes my own choice.  I have 11 more to start for the rest of the month, one for each day and 2 on Saturday.  When I started these I wasn't sure how I would continue with them but Linda had a great idea in her recent post called "So Many Stitches a Week" so now my plan is to pick one and work out how many stitches I need to make each day to finish it in a month.  They average 40x40 but are not full coverage so there are probably only 800-1000 stitches in each one.  Which is roughly 30 a day.

So once March is done I am going to add one of these to the daily rotation and see how many I get done by the end of the year.


🌟🌟  Blogger of the Week   🌟🌟

Finally I wanted to say a Big Thank You to everyone who has visited and commented on the new Blogger of the Week Blog.  We have featured three bloggers so far and have more lined up.  I send a few questionnaires out at the beginning of each month to keep the answers fresh and current.  If you would like to be featured in the blog please do email me.  Also, could you talk about it on your blog to reach people I don't know!  I would love to expand my circle of blogs and I am sure that you all have followers that I don't know yet.

31 comments:

Kaisievic said...

Wow! Jo, you are really on a roll this week - lots oflovely, lovely stitching, my dear.

Katie said...

Lots of beautiful work being done. Great job! Love them all.

Kerryp77 said...

Great work Jo, knew you'd have a great twist on MM. Love the idea of the just Nan's. I didn't realise she did free charts too. 30 stitches a day sounds a nice amount to do each day to work through them. M has progressed well too

deb said...

Always fun to see what you're working on, but this is incredible! Can;t imagine myself working on so many different things! Perhaps I could cope with one for each *week* of a month.... You're amazing.

The M fairy letter looks fantastic - now that I've searched them out, I think that's one of the prettiest letters.

Stitching Noni said...

Great March challenge stitching Jo :o) I love your Just Nan Athon idea! Brilliant plan for getting them finished as well. I am thinking of using Linda's idea for a couple of my WIPs that are crying out for some love :o)
Hugs x

Mini said...

That's a perfect post for March Madness. Are you doing 31 starts for Stitch Maynia in May?

jocondine said...

Glad to visit some crazy friend for this March madness, your M is becoming very pretty. xxx

Justine said...

I think you're the maddest March Madness stitcher I've seen so far! Great stitching and I like your So Many Stitches plan too.

Mary - Lecoeurceltique said...

A great selection of stitching but as for your Just Nan-athon... What a great idea. If I got myself organised and adopted the 'So many stitches a week' idea, it would help me make some inroads to my JN chart collection. Like you, I am a big fan.

Preeti said...

Lovely stitching :) So many stitches and so many calculations! Now that's called madness, lol.
These days, I am being as unorganised as I can be in my stitching.

blue star stitcher said...

Wow that is a lot of stitching projects to add into your rotation. Have to say I love your conversion on Spooky Alphabet, I would have never imagined that one as a Halloween project.

Mii Stitch said...

Definitely a lot of stitching for you :) Have fun for the remaining of the month!

Christine said...

Yes, think that qualifies as madness. I'd get all those different Nan's hopelessly muddled

Vickie said...

March Madness indeed! I did not know about Just Nan freebies.

The Crafty Princess said...

Stunner you are way too organised!! I could barely keep up with your plan but I think I got it after reading it a few times. Wow just WOW! I envy you stitching in hand so that it's easier to rotate wips. To load and unload and pack away projects to start another one is such a PITA for me, that I tend to work on one wip for at least a week. Great idea doing a Nan-a-thon to make up the 31 projects. Looking forward to the end of March results.
xo Alicia

Melinda Forbes said...

You always have the best ideas. Love those Halloween Stitches!

Tiffstitch said...

Excellent ideas and stitching! I like the Just Nan-a-thon instead of the Advent calendar too. I must remember to blog about Blogger of the Week! I keep forgetting.

diamondc said...

Hi Jo: Wow what a great post, so much to enjoy, I do wish I was more organize, I am jealous.

Blessings
Catherine

OhSewCrafty said...

M for Mary looks fantastic and it was very clever of you to choose the 24 mini stitches. Good luck!

Julie said...

What a list of JN's, definitely madness happening at your home stitchingwise... looking forward to seeing more on those.

Beth in IL said...

I am so glad I am NOT doing March Madness, although I am a little on the crazy side.Love all your work.

Lili said...

Oh!!So many projects! Lovely stitching! Your "M" is so beautiful, I really like the colours!!

geeky Heather said...

Amazingly mad job this month!! I should do that "stitches per week" thing but I'm afraid the numbers would frighten me. =) Did she do it based on the size of the piece or the actual number of stitched squares? I don't relish that kind of counting! =D

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

My head is spinning with all this stitching,so many great projects for us to keep up with,My favourite is still 12 Days of Christmas followed closely by your Hallowe'en stitching.

Brigitte said...

Wow, what an idea with the 24 new projects, Jo. A Just-Nan-athon for a Just Nan fan - perfect. Good luck with continuing and finally finishing them with Linda's method. No doubt that you will do it!
I love the weekly blogger of the week post and after the shout-out on my blog I have seen some of my followers join the blog. I hope that many others will follow, too, as it's so interesting to learn more about fellow bloggers - and to get to know new bloggers.

Marie said...

Good luck Jo,for this challenge,wonderful project!
Nice week end

Linda said...

Love all of your beautiful projects Jo. Your making great progress on all of them. Awesome new starts. Glad you like my so many stitches a week idea. I think you should join me next year. 11 more starts this month. Are you trying to catch up to me? lol Have fun with your monthly Just Nan finishes. I am really enjoying my weekly stitching and will have Mad Hatter caught up this week and an going to try and start Jane.

Linda

Sheryl said...

Goodness, what a lot of stitching done and pretty projects, I think the Nora Corbett design is very pretty and will be even better when finished, and the Stitchers Alphabet is gorgeous.

Leonore Winterer said...

I love watching this kind of 'Crazy' challenge, but I just know doing that would drive me insane! Looking forward to seeing you finish a few of those lovely ornaments in the months to come :)

Sarah in Stitches said...

Great stitching this month, and I think your Just-Nan-athon is crazy but awesome! Loving the colors in Spring in the Square especially :D

Vickie said...

Love your plan!!!! but..what is the 10 - stitches a day thing??? I am way behind on blog reading o I was just wondering!!