Full Moon in March

The full moon in March was on the 20th of the month so it was very appropriate that I put the final stitches in my moon on that day.  I couldn't find a good chart for a moon so I took a photo from Google and ran it through Pic2Pat to produce a chart with just 4 colours.  Here's how it turned out:

This is my spooky conversion of Lavender & Lace's Enchanted Alphabet stitched on 32 count Murano in Tiger Lily by Sparklies.  Each month I am adding various additions to the design.  I think I will add some bats around the moon next month.

On Friday I went along to my crafty coffee morning and completed Fairy Roses, at last.  The little yellow stitches are all smyrnas which adds a nice texture to the flowers.  There are a lot of different shades of rose pink in this design as well as three greens.  The lack of symmetry and the density of the coverage made this quite a time-consuming piece.  A charm for the centre is on order.

stitched on 32 count Antique White evenweave.

This was the final Just Nan small I started for March Madness 2017 so the next one I pick up will the 1st Stitch Maynia start from 2018.  My plan for Stitch Maynia this year is to stitch the same design on each day that I did last year.  Except for the first day as hopefully I will have completed that one in April.  I can have a new start that day!

Most of this week has been spent focused on The Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

I have completed the land of XXXX which is loosely based on Australia and continued with the lettering on the crest.  Which is very time-consuming and fiddly.  All the stitches split blocks and stitches, the words are mispelled and wonky so you have to count every stitch.  It's not like normal lettering where you learn the letter format and it becomes like writing.  Every version of each letter is slightly different.

I did measure the fabric and it's actually 17 stitches to the inch rather than 16 because of the hand-dying process.  A 28 count would have been easier but it would have been even bigger!  The coverage is excellent though.  To have a break from the lettering I stitched some of the red and white border.

XXXX

Pronounced "EcksEcksEcksEcks", or "Fourecks", if and when people on the main continent bother about this mysterious continent of XXXX. It is so named because rumours have long held that a landmass exists in such-and-such a position in the oceans, but no explorers ever made it there to learn its proper name and then come back to tell of it. Old records in the Unseen University Library tell of two separate expeditions of wizards that attempted to reach the last continent centuries ago, one of which was reputed to have been led by a Sourcerer.

The continent indeed exists. Its people are characterized by an easy-going attitude and an absolute refusal and incomprehension of the phenomenon of rain, until the events chronicled in The Last Continent. The Ecksians have a very colourful language with many complicated colloquialisms. They have learnt to live with the almost exclusively poisonous nature of their flora and fauna.

Source:- L-Space

Finally, I will be hosting my Annual Easter Treasure Hunt on Good Friday the 19th April.  If you would like to take part this year, just leave a comment here.  The week before Easter I will send you a letter of the alphabet which will form part of the mystery phrase.  On Good Friday you will post that letter along with a photo of something seasonal that you have stitched (could be Easter or Spring or just something cheerful and sunny or floral).  We all hop around like little bunnies to find the Mystery Phrase!