Give Me a Blog Until it is 7

And I will show you the stitching!

Apologies to Aristotle.

Happy 7th Blogaversary to me!

I have no idea why I only have one of a pair of bunches, I assume the other one was hidden behind my head.  Love the 1970s wallpaper though.

By the time I had my 7th Birthday I had acquired a little brother (you can just see him at the edge of the photo) and moved house, yet again!  We did stay in that house for 8 years though to make up for the numerous moves before then.  I was at the same Primary School and in Mrs Blake's class.  It was this year that I experienced my first loss - Jeremy the Gerbil passed away while I was at school one day.  I was devastated and Grandad promised to make a headstone for him.  Mum expected a little wooden cross made in his shed.  Not a foot high piece of marble with his name carved in it!   Grandad was a stonemason by trade, she should have realised.

Here are my blog stats:

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7 years

757 posts

625 followers

16,012 comments

831,532 pageviews

WOW

I'd also like to wish my Blog-Twins Susan and Calamity Jr a very Happy Birthday too!

Last year I was working on my Christmas and Hallowe'en pieces and the same goes for this year although they are different designs.  I have also done some fully finishing this afternoon, trying to get back into that habit, and got some progress on both Diamond Bouquet and my Alice SAL which I took with me to visit my Godmother.  It's amazing how much stitching you can get done on two 3 hour train journeys.

Here is Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

And this is my Christmas progress on Just Nan's 12 Days of Christmas:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

Amazing progress on Alice by Mrs Peggotty.  I need to complete two pages per month to finish this by the end of the year.  The piece is 7 pages tall by 3.5 pages wide.  I have stitched nearly all of the right 7 pages:

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

It's so nice to reach the flamingo.  Stitching the neck is really easy and very quick too.

This afternoon I did some narrow bands on my Diamond Bouquet by Just Nan:

stitched on 28 count lilac evenweave

Because they were speciality stitches they were very quick and that left me time to do some FFO'ing.  Yay!  Sunday afternoon used to be the time for that and it's a good habit to get back into.

Here is Just Nan's Painted Lady which I completed back in February.  I have mounted it on patterned card and then on a page from an old Monet calendar.  Monet's paintings make great backdrops for floral designs.  I would recommend going into a certain chain of bookshops at the end of January and buying up their calendars for 75% off.

Close-up of the finished piece:

It's been a good year on the blog again.  The Blog Hops continue to be popular and attract new participants.  The Gifted Gorgeousness SAL posts are the most viewed on the blog.  I guess people come back to link up and see who else has joined in.  The Blogger of the Week was new last year and continues to grow with 55 different bloggers featured so far.  I'm taking part in all the old blogging favourites such as WIPocalyse, the TUSAL, the Smalls SAL and the invigorated IHSW as well as the newer FB based Stitch Maynia.  I will be starting 31 Just Nan smalls one per day throughout May if anyone wants to join the Just Nan-a-thon do let me know.  Any Just Nan project you like.  If I have it I will start that one too.

Finally, no competition this year but just for fun - what has been your best blogging or stitching moment of the last 12 months?  Leave a comment below!