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Sunday 13 August 2017

Frankly, I think I prefer birds.

What am I supposed to do with eight milkmaids - AND their cows?  Is this some kind of joke?  If so, I'm afraid I don't find it very amusing.
Emily

12 Days of Christmas (Correspondence) - John Julius Norwich



Emily obviously feels the same way about cows as my Nana did!  This block took quite a long time to stitch compared to the previous blocks.   I think it's the amout of colour changes and small details.  Once again I did the background with just one thread.

In the evenings I have continued with the header.  I have completed both angels and the two Christmas Roses now:


Here's where I finished last month:


And here is where I am now:


I have also stitched on both my Hallowe'en pieces this month, the theme on the blog was Creepy Trees which fit perfectly for Happy Hallowe'en (see this post) but not for Witches by Oberlin Samplers.  However I wanted to get both pieces ready for September's theme which is Spooky Woods.  So here is another Witch:


And the whole piece so far.  Like Happy Hallowe'en it could be complete but has words above and below the figures:


One of the SALs for Cross Stitch Finish Line this month was called Guess What? and each day we had to post first our fabric, then our thread, then 25 stitches per day until Reveal Day on Day 7.  Here are my 7 photos, see if you can guess before the Reveal:

Day 1 - 28 count Jazlyn in Aurora by Crafty Kitten

Day 2 - Threads, mostly purple and yellow

Day 3 - 25 stitches

Day 4 - 50 stitches

Day 5 - 75 stitches

Day 6 - 100 stitches

Any ideas yet?  Two people had got very close guessing the designer straightaway and narrowing it down to one of her Fairy designs.  Shame there are so many to choose from!

Here's a close-up of the part I was stitching:


And here's the Reveal - Joan Elliott's Fairy Dreams AKA Little Reading Fairy AKA September Fairy from the 2013 Diary AKA Year of Magical Stitching:


I've carried on stitching a little bit each day and here's where she is now:




Finally, we had a Tenuous Shoehorn Linky Party on 8th August, the linky is still live if you'd like to join in any time this month.  I love reading the different posts and it would be nice to see more!





19 comments:

Christine said...

I was completely wrong, I was sure it was going to be a dragon as I scrolled down.
Well done on the milkmaid block

Kerryp77 said...

I guessed Joan Elliot but had no idea about which one! 12 days looks amazing, I love the Christmas Roses, remind me again what the finished size is as it looks big!

CJ said...

I was thinking it was a dragon as well. Your 12 Days is looking really good. I need to get started on mine.


CJ

Vickie said...

Hmmm....lots and lots of milkshakes and cheese to be made?

deb said...

Whoa, there's a lot of detail (and background) in that little milkmaid rectangle! You're making such good progress on the 12 Days and it's beautiful.

Unknown said...

What an amazing amount of stitching you have done. I especially love the Christmas design.

Barb said...

Your 12 Days is truly a masterpiece!! Witches is looking great!

Anthea said...

Wow, so much detail in the 12 days of Christmas design, Jo... so wonder it's slow going, but it will be spectacular when it's done!

Stitching Noni said...

12 Days is coming along brilliantly! Well done on your milkmaid :o) I tried to google JE's fairies when I was trying to guess but missed out on guessing that little cutie :o)
Hugs x

Mini said...

My Husband would say the same-he is scared of cows and buffaloes.Lovely stitching on all projects. You are quite loyal to Joan Elliott.:)

gracie said...

Love the 12 days of Christmas piece.

Brigitte said...

12 Days seems to rush forward very fast with every new picture you show. It' s easily visible that the 8 Maids are full of colour changes and detail. And it looks so good.
I love the little witches very much, thy are so cute.
That's a fun SAL called Guess What?. It must have been interesting to see what the others had showed and if someone could really guess something.

D1-D2 said...

That fabric is too die for <3

The Crafty Princess said...

Wow you got so much stitched on 12 days. And I absolutely love Withches, it looks incredible. Beautiful fabric from Crafty Kitten, she is going to look divine when finished.
xo Alicia

Astrids dragon said...

I love Maids a Milking, so adorable! Keep the witches coming, they are cute!
I've never seen the Reading Fairy before, it's going to look great on that fabric.

Lili said...

The Christmas block is amazing!! The witch is to cute!
How nice fabric! Nice start on the September fairy!

Leonore Winterer said...

Poor Emily...her house and garden must be getting awfully full by now! This block really has a lot of detail, and the Christmas Roses are lovely! I like your new start too, especially on this fabric, but I never would have guessed correctly. For some reason my mind kept going 'It's a fox!'.

Lady Stitch-a-Lot said...

I just love your Twelve days of Christmas! All the little motifs are so cute and lovely . But what I love even more is the fabric for the Little Reading Fairy! =) Great start on her ! =)

Julie said...

Pretty milkmaid block ... so way behind on blog reading :-(