July Pie and Stitch from Stash

It was a very strange month for stitching with a lot of extra work shifts taking their toll.  Even though the children have now broken up for the school holidays I am spending time on catching up with the things I didn't do when I was at work!

Anyway, the focus piece for the month was The Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs.  I wanted to complete the Heraldic Hippo this month.  Here is where I started:

And here is where I finished on 25th July:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

I think we will count that as a successful month.

The early part of the month I focused on my SALs (Zodiac, Happy Hallowe'en and 12 Days of Christmas) and then I worked on the Mappe as often as I could.  On the days when I had to work, I took my Just Nan Smalls in with me and completed Floral Sunshine.  Some other days I only worked on my bath-time project; Alice and the Flamingo by Mrs Peggotty.  So both those designers have a bigger slice of pie that usual.

Floral Sunshine stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

So here is that pie:

The second part of Stitch from Stash has started and I am continuing with my £20 a month budget for that.  I'm not counting credit for finishing unless someone is going to actually pay me in real money for finishes LOL.

July
JN Chart	£4.99
Beads	£2.73
Linen pack of 3	£15.00
Cross Stitcher sub	£8.72
Total	£31.44

So I'm way over this month already.  I can take out the magazine subscription though because they don't count.  The Just Nan chart was an eBay special, Catnip Tea.  Just Nan is slowly letting all the sampler charts go OOP so I grab them when I see them.  The linen was a bargain from SewandSo, three large cuts for £5 each instead of £11.25.  The beads I need for my JN Smalls.

Finally, I know you all enjoyed the last little video clip I added to the Longest Day Marathon so I did another one.  This is a little tour of the corner of our Living Room where some of my stitching stuff lives.  If it doesn't play first time try refreshing and reloading the page.

That is not a Just Nan Angel - that is a Lavender & Lace freebie Angel!

July WIPocalypse Recap So Far This Year

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  For me, this will be my "18 in '18".  Many of them are part of SALs so I will be working on them each month.

This month I worked on 6 of my 18 projects:

1. Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet Spooky Conversion:

stitched on 32 count Tiger Lily Murano from Sparklies

I stitched a Y, only 1 letter to go!

2. Donna Kooler - Zodiac

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

3. Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

4. Just Nan - 12 Days of Christmas

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

5. Mrs Peggotty - Alice & Flamingo

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

And my focus piece for the month:

6. Lyndisfarne Designs - Discworld Mappe

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

Close-up of this month's portion:

Measi always sets us a discussion topic:

July – Half-year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year? 

We're actually 7/12th of the way through the year and I'm doing great for my goals.  Here's the current status of the "18 in '18":

1. Dessins DHC - Bande des Dragons - Finish
2. Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet  - WIP
3. Chatelaine Designs - Gardens of London  - WIP
4. Nora Corbett - Gathering Eggs - Longest Day Only
5. Lyndisfarne - Discworld Map  - WIP
6. Just Nan - Summer in the Square - Finish
7. Joan Elliott - Reading Fairy - Longest Day Only
8. Donna Kooler - Zodiac - WIP
9. Just Nan - Autumn Mouse in a House - Longest Day Only
10. Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night - WIP
11. Dam Good Crafts - Dracula Book Cover - Finish
12. Just Nan - 12 Days of Christmas - WIP
13. Satsuma Street - Libra - Finish
14. Satsuma Street - Aquarius - Unstarted
15. Mrs Peggotty - Alice and Flamingo  - WIP
16. Bothy Threads - Alice in Wonderland - Unstarted
17. Just Nan - Summer Typography - Unstarted
18. Just Nan - Diamond Bouquet - Finish

Five finishes so far, seven projects getting regular progress on them, three which have only been stitched for The Longest Day Marathon and three unstarted.

My other SALs are

Zodiac Club - first Saturday of each month - posted 7 out of 7

Gifted Gorgeousness - post anything gifted on the 15th - posted 7 out of 7

Hallowe'en Ornie Blog - a different spooky theme each month - posted 5 out of 7

Christmas Ornie Blog - a different festive theme each month  - posted 7 out of 7

Smalls SAL - last Friday of each month  - posted 7 out of 7

I am also on target with my 10-a-Day project which is currently Just Nan's Autumn in the Square and my Temperature SAL.

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha linen

stitched over 1 on 22 count hardanger

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has started!  Two cards have gone out, been received and shown on the recipient's blogs:

Ariadne from Greece

Butterfly Wings

If you want to take part, just email me a photo of something you have stitched which is suitable as a postcard to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything Summer themed, beach themed, holiday themed, you get the idea!   It can be a new piece or something from your archives.

July Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

This year I am showing my Just Nan 12 Days of Christmas blocks for the Smalls SAL and also my 30-a-day projects.  All smalls also by Just Nan.  It's a Nan-a-thon year!

Here is Block 7 on the 12 Days of Christmas:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

Last month I showed you the start for Floral Sunshine and here's the finish:

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

I even attached the butterfly charm straight away:

Next task is to scrapbook this one and some previous finishes.  I had a little bit of a finishing splurge last month and here are the results:

Of course, finishing a small means I start the next one.  This is Butterfly Bouquet stitched on 32 count pink linen:

Very pretty so far.  I'll be needing another butterfly charm for this so it's a good thing I bought a bag full!

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has started!  The second card went out this evening to June of Butterfly Wings, so follow the link below and find out who sent the card to her.

Butterfly Wings

If you want to take part, just email me a photo of something you have stitched which is suitable as a postcard to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything Summer themed, beach themed, holiday themed, you get the idea!   It can be a new piece or something from your archives.

July IHSW

Despite it being International Hermit & Stitch Weekend I didn't make much progress as I was at work Friday, Sunday and Monday!

I focused on the Discworld Mappe and did enough to make the heraldic hippo recognisable.  Here's where the project was at the beginning of the weekend:

And here's where it is today:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom dyed by Sparklies

The other project I stitched on was Alice & the Flamingo by Mrs Peggotty.  Here's what Alice looked like last IHSW:

And here is how she looks now:

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

Face, dress and a lot more flamingo.  Where the thread is going off the right is the start of the final column of pages.  I have to print them off so I can continue sideways.  I don't work in full pages as I don't want lines and ridges in the stitching.

A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is!  Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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Finally, the next IHSW will be 17th - 19th August so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook.  If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here or on Joysze's Blog - Random Ramblings.

The Start of IHSW

Bit of a short post, I've been at work every day this week and the stitching has suffered!  Last night I didn't even read any blogs which is my usual evening pastime and spent the time stitching instead.

It's the third full weekend of the year, so here's the start of the Discworld Mappe that I will be stitching this weekend:

I put up a "Guess what it is" post in the IHSW Facebook group and the answers have been very amusing.  From a snake to a mermaid to a bird who smokes too much.  No-one has guessed the correct answer which regular followers will know is - a flying heraldic hippo.  Obviously.

Maybe backstitch will make it clearer...

I haven't shown this next piece for a little while.  It's my Temperature SAL based on Hetti's design:

This takes us up to 16th July and we finally got some red in there, a high of 27 degrees Centigrade.  It has become obvious to me that temperatures in this neck of the woods are much lower than those inland.  It's the cooling sea breeze I guess.

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has started!  The first card went out to Ariadne from Greece, so follow the link below and find out who sent the card to her. 

Ariadne from Greece

If you want to take part, just email me a photo of something you have stitched which is suitable as a postcard to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything Summer themed, beach themed, holiday themed, you get the idea!   It can be a new piece or something from your archives.

Gifted Gorgeousness July Link-up Post

Welcome to the July Gifted Gorgeousness link-up.  The link-up date will continue to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.

The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.

In the past month I have stitched a few gifted pieces:-

Just Nan's 12 Days of Christmas - chart was a Christmas present:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

Chatelaine's Gardens of London - Birthday gift

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast from Crafty Kitten

I had my Longest Day Marathon and some of those pieces were gifts:

Two favourites were both Nora Corbett; Gathering Eggs and Raven:

The final piece is my focus for this month; Lyndifarne's Discworld Mappe which will be a gift for my son:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

I actually managed to get a good bit stitched on Saturday afternoon, all the wings and around the hippo's bottomus!  What a thing to stitch!  I'm hoping to get quite a bit of that hippo done later today as next week is a busy week.

I also received some gorgeousness too - chocolate gorgeousness all the way from New Zealand!  The lovely Margaret wanted to thank me for helping her out and sent a box of goodies.  Unfortunately the Large Boy picked the parcel up from the doormat and read the customs label so he knew it wasn't stitchy goodies and wanted to share LOL.

Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the 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.

Please could you remember to link up as well as make your post.  There have been a few people making GG posts but not linking.  Which means they don't get entered into the draw.  If you have technical or memory issues, just leave a comment and let me know!

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Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has started!  The first card went out to Ariadne from Greece, so follow the link below and find out who sent the card to her.  Hopefully her post will appear sometime this week.

Ariadne from Greece

If you want to take part, just email me a photo of something you have stitched which is suitable as a postcard to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything Summer themed, beach themed, holiday themed, you get the idea!   It can be a new piece or something from your archives.

July TUSAL

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 jar with two projects:

I've been stitching part of Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night each month for the Hallowe'en Ornie Blog.  This month the theme is Pumpkins but as I had already stitched the pumpkins last year, I did the little graveyard this time:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

 Here is the whole piece:

There's a lovely big Haunted House for next month.  I'll have to allocate a few more days to stitch that!

The other piece in the photo is my Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs.  This is my focus piece for the month and I've stitched a turtle flipper and a hippo wing.  Yes, hippos have wings when they are heraldic beasts.

stitched on 32 count Murano custom dyed by Sparklies

It's been another busy week and next week will be even busier with work every day.  But last weekend I did manage to get some scrapbooking done!  Hurrah!

Just Nan - Have a Heart

Just Nan - Royal Blossoms

Just Nan - Honeysuckle Rose and Painted Lady

Joan Elliott - July Mermaid from The Year of Magical Stitching

I'll post more photos of these on my Happy Dance blog so you can see the close-ups of the stitching.

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop will be starting soon.  I have a few photos sent in already and will be sending the first one out this weekend.  If you want to take part, just email me a photo of something you have stitched which is suitable as a postcard to a fellow stitcher along with a short message of the kind you write on a postcard.  I will forward the photo to another participant who shows it on their blog.  The photo can be anything Summer themed, beach themed, holiday themed, you get the idea!   It can be a new piece or something from your archives.