July Pie

It's always nice to get the "extra" day at the end of a 31 day month, it feels like a stitching bonus.  It's not been long since I posted (yesterday) but I have finished another piece on one of my monthly SALs so I have something to show you.

Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating

And the whole thing:

This could actually be a finish but there are various words and phrases around the edge which I will be stitching for the September theme.

As you saw yesterday, my Ten-a-Day project is almost finished and a number of people asked if I will do another project in the same way.  The answer is Yes, I started one on the 1st July!  It was obvious that Spring in the Square was not going to take a year so I thought the halfway point of the year was the perfect time to start Summer in the Square.  Here is my progress after 31 days:

Summer in the Square

Just for comparison, here is Spring at 31 days:

I don't know if this is going to work, but remember my Book of Spells?  Before I had it framed I got the finished piece colour-photocopied with the idea of making a book cover.  I found a "fake book" box in a homeware store which was roughly the right size and finally got round to covering it at the weekend.  I trimmed the paper to size and glued it to the box.  It's not a perfect fit as the box spine is bigger than the Book of Spells spine but it's good enough.

(edit - that worked, if you are listening with the sound turned up you'll hear the Small Boy whooping with joy in the background!)

Onto pie for the month.  Not surprisingly Joan Elliott dominated this month with 22 days dedicated to 3 of her projects.  Truly a Joan July!

Spendingwise we have started a new Stitch from Stash. same rules as the first six months.  My budget stays the same and I won't be taking credit for finishing.  Unless someone is going to give me real money for finishing a project!

This month I treated myself to two Jardin Prive charts,  the Needlework ABC which has been a mystery SAL this year:

And this Hallowe'en design which might be my choice for the Hallowe'en Ornie Blog when I complete Happy Hallowe'en:

I also succumbed to a subscription for the Australian magazine Inspirations thanks to Janet Granger showing the most wonderful etui on her blog - Janet Granger.  It's absolutely stunning, it's not cross stitch so I'm highly unlikely to make it but the magazine is a thing of beauty and I have a little bit of extra spending money this month so I spent it!  Luckily magazine subscriptions don't count for SFS.

July
2 Jardin Prive Charts	£13.77
Inspiration	£30.00
Total	£43.77

Finally, there will be a Tenuous Shoehorn Linky Party on Tuesday 8th August and the theme will be "Loved Ones".   8th August was my Nana's Birthday which is why I chose that day for the Linky Party and I'll be showing a couple of projects that relate to her.  Some of us have lost loved ones this year; people and furbabies; some people have been celebrating special wedding anniversaries, some have new babies or grandbabies and some have children growing up (too) fast.  So there's plenty of scope for stitching there!  Get your thinking caps on and be ready to link up on the 8th August.

July's Oldest and Newest WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings
Also linking up with 17 in '17

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  I have chosen my "17 in '17" which are the 17 projects I want to focus on this year.  You can see the full list on this page here.

This month I managed a WIPocalypse finish!  Thanks to Just One July and Joan Elliott July I was able to focus on Joan Elliott's July Mermaid and get her finished:

28 count Jazlyn in Peacock by Crafty Kitten

Here are the other WIPocalypse projects I've been stitching on:

1. Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books:

2. 12 Days of Christmas by Joan Elliott:

3. Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating:

4. Spring in the Square by Just Nan:

So close to a finish now!

5. Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace: 

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss and this month we have

July - What are your oldest and your newest WIPs?

I can't 100% say this is my oldest WIP as I didn't keep records back then.  But I think the Ernie Bishop NOEL letters are older than Bande des Dragons.  I've put them in my X-Stitch app as a 1998 start which may be a year or two out but it's definitely that era.  Which makes them nearly 20 years old.  I have no idea what I would do with them if I ever finished them as unframed whitework does not mix with a house with a wood burner!

For some reason I started with L and then worked backwards:

Newest WIP is much easier, the latest Just Nan ornie Snow Forest was restarted last Sunday, 23rd July, 2017 and I have stitched 30 a day for 9 days:

Finally, I have noticed a new "person" commenting on my blog and a couple of others too.  I say "person" because all they are doing is copying the previous comment and when you go to their profile all you see is gambling websites.  I don't think there is any harm they can do just by commenting but I would advise deleting their comments and not clicking on any of the links on their profile.

July Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

This year I will be showing my Hallowe'en and Christmas SAL partworks and any other Smalls I may stitch.

Happy Hallowe'en gained a little Ghostie:

And the 12 Days reached 7 Swans-a-Swimming:

I spent almost the entire month on my 30-a-Day Just Nan ornie:

Royal Blossoms

And started another one which is progressing much more quickly already:

Snow Forest - 7 Days

As part of Joan Elliott July I stitched some of the Summer Fairy from the Faces SAL; her over one hands/arms took two whole days:

********************************

Finally, there will be a Tenuous Shoehorn Linky Party on Tuesday 8th August and the theme will be "Loved Ones".   8th August was my Nana's Birthday which is why I chose that day for the Linky Party and I'll be showing a couple of projects that relate to her.  Some of us have lost loved ones this year; people and furbabies; some people have been celebrating special wedding anniversaries, some have new babies or grandbabies and some have children growing up (too) fast.  So there's plenty of scope for stitching there!  Get your thinking caps on and be ready to link up on the 8th August.

TUSAL and a Synchronised Happy Dance

It's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog.

Here is my TUSAL with the current project:

What a great weekend, two happy dances in two days!

The first one is the latest Just Nan ornament, Royal Blossoms, which has taken much longer than any of the previous four.  A total of 35 days altogether doing 30 stitches per day.

stitched on 32 count white evenweave

It's not really very Christmassy so I am going to scrapbook this one rather than make an ornie.  I would have done it this afternoon but I couldn't find my Monet papers I used for the previous designs.

The second Happy Dance is for the July Mermaid from The Year of Magical Stitching by Joan Elliott.  I started her last August for a water themed SAL and finished her for the Just One and Joan Elliott SALs this July.

Stitched on 28 count Jazlyn in Peacock by Crafty Kitten 

I added beads to her necklace

and for the bubbles:

 The plan is to scrapbook her on this paper:

I am slowly working my way through my blogs adding the photos that Photobucket was withholding.  I decided to reorganise my pre-blog finishes and add the year to each one to make it easier to find them in the folder.  I did this as I worked through my Happy Dance blog and found 14 finishes I hadn't added there!!  All pre-2011 so now I have to guesstimate when I stitched them and insert them into the relevant year.

Finally, there will be a Tenuous Shoe-Horn Linky Party on the 8th August again this year.  I am still debating what the theme will be, so save the date and watch this space.  All you'll have to do is link up on the day, no need to send me anything or sign-up beforehand.

Theme-tas-Stitch Just One July

Theme-tas-stitch is hosted by Kerry

Each month Kerry gives us a theme to stitch to and we show our progress on the 21st of every month.

Just One July - Pick a focus piece for the month and see how much progress you can make - show us before and after pictures if you can.

This was perfect timing to work with the FB Joan Elliott July too as I planned to make her July Mermaid my focus piece for July.

I started the Mermaid on the 8th August last year for the Stitch Maynia Water Olympics and did another 30 minutes of her for the Longest Day SAL this June.  Here is where she was then:

August 2016

June 2017

21st July 2017

These designs are only 66 x 66 stitches but there is a lot of detail and each one takes longer than I think.  Especially with quite a few work days thrown in and very little stitching done on those days.

My other Joan Elliott project is the 12 Days of Christmas which I am stitching a little bit each evening during bathtime.

6th July 2017

21st July 2017

I have still got four days of the Focus Piece section of my rotation left this month so when I finish the Mermaid I might pick up my Joan Elliot Faces SAL which currently looks like this:

Finally, there's a new post up today for the Blogger of the Week.  Pop over and see who is featured this week.  Your clue is "hardanger".

Gifted Gorgeousness July Link-Up Post

Welcome to the July link-up for Gifted Gorgeousness.  The linky will stay open until the end of the month so you have plenty of time to link up and join in.

It's pretty much the usual suspects this month for me, trying to get some solid progress on my 17 in '17 projects.

I stitched for a day on Gathering Eggs by Nora Corbett - a gift from Carol:

And a day on Memories by Just Nan - a gift from Vickie:

And daily stitching on 12 Days of Christmas by Joan Elliott - a gift from my MIL:

And that's it for the month!  So now I hand over to you.   This is where you link up your post for this month.  Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "July Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month.  And link to the actual post, not just your blog.  It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.

*

*

That was a short and sweet post from me for a change.  Hopefully it will give you all more time to hop around and visit the GG participants this month.

Finally, talking of hopping brings me to the subject of a Summer Blog Hop.  Would anyone be interested in having a themed Linky Party sometime in August?  I give you a theme and you can link up here if you want to post that day?  Easier to organise than a full blog hop with people going off on their holidays in the summer.  If you are interested, mention it in the comments below.

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

My rotation for the year goes as follows:

26th of the month - Lavender & Lace Enchanted Alphabet
Then Brooke's Books' Stitcher's Alphabet
Then Happy Hallowe'en with an option on Witches
Then a block of 12 Days of Christmas and one day of the header
Then one day of Gathering Eggs and one day of Memories
Rest of the month - Focus Piece for the month.

In my last post I had completed the 7 Swans-a-Swimming block for 12 Days so it was followed by a few days of daily swapping.

First I stitched quite a lot on the Herald Angel from 12 Days:

I am currently filling in the pale blue and then I'll backstitch her.

I worked all day Saturday so I took 12 Days in to stitch on my lunchbreak and then spent all of Sunday on Nora Corbett's Gathering Eggs:

The shawl turned out beautifully. 

On Monday I went to a coffee morning at a local craft shop which has just opened in town.  The owner makes various things herself and also rents shelves out in the shop to local crafters.  I did buy myself an early birthday present but that's gone away until September so no peeking!

I took Just Nan's Memories with me as it's a nice easy one to stitch and chat at the same time:

Today saw the start of my focus piece for the rest of this month.  Kerry is doing Just One July and there's a new Joan Elliott July group too so it made sense to stitch Joan's Mermaid from July in the Magical Year of Stitching.   I started her last Summer for the Olympic challenges and very unusually did not note down the fabric.  It's either Sparklies or Crafty Kitten, most probably the latter and it's beautiful!

Finally, the Blogger of the Week blog is going really well.  I am so pleased with all the comments everyone is leaving and being able to introduce people to new-to-them bloggers.  I'd love to have more people I didn't previously know featured so please mention the blog on your blog!  I've also decided we should have a little competition when we reach six months so pay careful attention and watch the blog for more information!