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Tuesday 2 July 2019

July TUSAL

Tusal


And now it's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog (if she makes a post, she's gone very quiet again).

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current projects:


On the left we have the two sides of the Just Nan Butterfly Needlebook:

stitched on 28 count pink evenweave

The side on the left is all finished except for the beads and my initials.  The side on the right needs the pink shades adding.

 The other design is my Christmas Ornament for the month.  For July we can choose any design from the 2006 issue of Just Cross Stitch Ornament Special.  I went for this one from The Sweetheart Tree to co-ordinate with their Noel Christmas Noel Bellpull.  This is Christmas Joy Bellpull: 

stitched on 32 count linen


What I did not realise is that it is simply a smaller version of the Noel ornament!  Or rather, Noel is a larger version of Joy, as Joy was published first.  The designer clearly ran out of time for a new design and thought "I can duplicate the leaves, add an eyelet and have a new ornament"!

I stitched both of them using a DMC conversion and the same beads from my stash.  I will finish Joy in the same way as Noel.


Rachel, the Ten Hour Stitcher made a blog post recently about the DUCJC 2016 which sparked my interest.  Debbie the SoCal Stitcher was a blogger who started the whole Crazy January Challenge with 15/31 starts every January.  Sadly she passed away and was sorely missed by her blogging friends.  I took part in the DUCJC in 2015 (Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge) which I decided meant working on 31 projects in January, some WIPs, some new starts.

Rachel got me wondering how many were ever finished.  As luck would have (or serendipity?) 13th July is Debbie's Birthday.  So I thought it would be good to make a post about my own 2015 challenge and find out how many got completed.  Here's a chance for you to join in - either show your own DUCJC pieces or take a guess how many out of my 31 projects got finished!  Here's the collage of the projects I worked on that year:




Finally, there will be a Summer Blog Hop this year.  We will have an International Theme for the Postcards this year.  Each person emails me a photo of something they have stitched on an International theme which is suitable to send 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 which fits the International theme, let's see which countries we visit this Summer.  If you'd like to take part then leave a comment or send me an email.

The Hop will run over the whole of the Summer with a few cards going out each week.  Final deadline will be the end of August, just in time for Back to School!





11 comments:

Cathy said...

Both Joy and Noel are very pretty and I love the way you finished them. The Just Nan needle book is looking good, too.

I didn't participate in the DUCJC at all, but I enjoyed following those who did and I am curious to know how many you finished.

Rachel said...

The little Christmas ornies are both lovely and work beautifully together as a 'matching' pair and, of course, Needlebook is gorgeous!
I'm glad you're revisiting DUCJC; as I said in my post I think most new starts and WIPs slowly merged into a general pile although, to be fair, the challenge was more about the starts than the progress and finishing.
Without cheating and looking through your finished pages, I think you've been very successful with finishing most of the 31 projects, so my guess is that only 4 are still WIPs. :)

diamondc said...

Jo: The ornaments are lovely, I do love Just Nan Designs.
I see by your collage you have been busy.
Have a great week.

Catherine

Mary said...

I just love your 2 bellpulls!!!

Clare-Aimetu said...

Joy and Noel are beautiful, nice to see your DUCJC

Julie said...

I hadn't realised they were the same either, but have admired both in the mags.
I didn't participate in the DUCJC, I have no idea how many you have completed, maybe half of them?

Bethan said...

Both Joy and Noel look great - how funny that they were basically the same design! x

Katie said...

Great progress on your WIPs. Just love the Joy even though it looks a lot like the Noel. I think they make a beautiful pair. Oh I love your idea. I'll make a note and try to join in with you on the 13th. I'll make a guess with 11 finishes from those.

RJ said...

Love your Just Nan stitches. Great job as always. RJ@stitchingfriendsforever

Leonore Winterer said...

Lovely stitching - that needlebook will be really cute, and I hope you don't mind too much about stitching the bellpull 'twice'. I never joined in any of those crazy challenges - I don't think my mind could quite cope with so many new starts - but it'll be interesting to read about yours!

Astrids dragon said...

The Butterfly Needlebook is coming along beautifully and I like how the bellpulls are similar. Noel looks great finished.
Well, I know you finished Gathering Honey!