March Pie and Stitch from Stash

 It's the final day of March and time for a round-up of the month.  We'll start with Pie:

The original plan was to stitch on Fairy Idyll for 7 days but I got on a roll and just kept going!  She was a new start this month, thanks to the Tiny Decisions App and went from nothing to here:

stitched on 32 count Vineyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

That is a LOT of skirt!  Here's the cover photo so you can see how far I have to go and how much better this fabric is for her!

The plan for next time is to finish the palest yellow and then stitch that pink flouncy frill at the end of the skirt, with a view to working up the left hand side of the arch.

The Witchy Mice were stitched each weekend as part of my March of the Mischievious Mice.  Leonore said "How cute these mice are! I am all for making a whole...what do you call a group of mice?"   So I googled it and discovered the collective noun for mice is - a mischief!   How serendipitous!

A Mischief of Mice

Hawk Run Hollow, Main Street and Stoney Creek were all shown on my WIPocalypse post so that just leaves Just Nan Winter Blues.  This has been our Band Sampler SAL in the Just Nan FB group since 1st January.  Leonore gave me a shortlist and everyone voted for their favourite.  I finished it this week and it's just stunning.  I went for a 28 count white Jobelan because the lettering is over one and I wanted the details to really show.  

Our next Sampler SAL is for the design Nan's Garden.  I stitched a portion of this for a Round Robin back in 2014 so I'm looking forward to stitching the whole piece this time.  We're doing Follow the Needle in the Summer if anyone wants to join in.

Stitch from Stash has a Just Nan feel to it too.  I snagged two charts on eBay this month for every reasonable prices.  I set an upper limit of £5 for charts without embellishment packs.

The ALS is Autumn Lane Stitchery and here's my progress on Mrs Claus:

stitched on 28 count tea-dyed evenweave

Finally, my Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop starts on Good Friday 2nd April and I'll make sure my post goes up at breakfast time in the UK so you can start hopping bright and early!

March WIPocalypse Working on WIPs

    

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.  Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "21 in '21" for this year.  This month I stitched on 5 of them and had 1 finish.  

10. Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas

stitched on 32 count Lime Green Linen

11. Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

12. Mirabilia Fairy Idyll

stitched on 32 count Vineyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

18. Just Nan Witchy Mice

19. Country Cottage Needleworks Main Street

stitched on 32 count Murano in Charcoal Slate from Sparklies

The full list can be seen here - WIPocalypse and 21 in 21

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

March – What is your process for working on WIPs? Are you a one-at-a-time stitcher, a rotation stitcher, or something else?

I think we all know the answer to this one!  Definitely a rotation stitcher.  At the start of each year I lay out my WIPocalypse projects, I have usually been thinking about these since the previous June but the list doesn't get finalised until Christmas in case I get something awesome as a gift.

Then I decide what my monthly projects are going to be and stitch them first in the month.  After that I use my WIPGO Bingo choices to decide what comes next.  If there is any month left then I use the Tiny Decision app to choose from my WIPocalypse projects which haven't already come up that month.

Then I have my daily projects.  We are just coming to the end of one Just Nan Sampler (Winter Blues) and are about to start Nan's Garden for our Spring project.  We have a goal of one band per week.  The evening bath-time stitching is given over to ornaments.

Finally, this month has seen a fun SAL organised by Rachel and Tiff.  A new start for each weekend in March.  I called mine The March of the Mischievious Mice and stitched a Just Nan mouse each weekend.  They are not quite fully finished as I need to sort their hats and whiskers out.  That will be done for the FFO Gallery.

Here is the final mouse - Pumpkin Mouse:

stitched on 28 count Burnt Orange evenweave

Made up into a mouse:

Six mice so far:

The two smaller mice at the front were stitched in previous years.  The three grey mice were from the first three weekends and Pumpkin Mouse is on the end.  The Pumpkin Mouse chart is the same size as the two smaller mice but because I used 28 count instead of 32 count has come out much bigger.  This was deliberate as the hook and bottom were larger than the other mice.  I sourced them from Etsy as I only had the chart for this mouse, not the kit.  Any future mice will also be stitched on 28 count.

March Smalls

 

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be the Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas 2019 Ornament series which I started on Boxing Day 2020 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.

March was the Three French Hens:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

I added March to my Tiny Modernist calendar: 

stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers

Last month I completed an Autumn Lane Stitchery design for the Just Cross Stitch Ornament group and this month I've been stitching Mrs Claus to go with Santa Claus:

stitched on 28 count tea-dyed evenweave

My second Christmas Ornament for the month comes from the Gift of Stitching magazine, the November 2010 Christmas Ornament Special.  Another 12 Days design, this time from Nancy Pederson, called First Day of Christmas:

stitched on 28 count black evenweave using DMC 742

I completed the design from last month too.   Rosewood Manor design called Quaker Diamond Noel:

stitched on 32 count Reed Green linen

I also stitched a trio of mice from Just Nan:

One more to go for the final weekend in The March of the Mischievious Mice!

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 2nd April 🐇

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Easter Treasure Hunt.    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!

Here's a link to last year's hop so you can see how it all works - Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2020

March IHSW and F.N.S.I

 

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.

The third Friday is also the Friday Night Sew In or F.N.S.I. which Kaye introduced me to.  You can find out more about it here - Sugarlane Designs

I had started Fairy Idyll, my new Mirabilia, on Thursday so continued with that on Friday and on Sunday afternoon.  Here's where I am now:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Vineyard from Crafty Kitten

It might not seem a lot but the hand is over one, I am adjusting the arm as I go but will probably have to rechart her face to make sure it looks just right over one.  Basically I try to smooth the transitions between two colours.  This little sample shows it best:

A - two over two as charted

B - one over one using 4x for each X
C - one over one smoothing the colours

Over the weekend I joined in with Tiff and Rachel for their start-a-thon which I am calling March of the Mischievious Mice.  This weekend I stitched Just Nan's Hazel Fun Witch Mouse:

stitched on 32 count grey linen

Then I constructed her and Witchy Mouse from last weekend.  They are not fully finished as I need some pins to fix their hats and to make their little broomsticks.

As I was stitching them I realised that the basic patterns for these mice could be interchangeable with each other.

Have a look at the previous two mice out flat:

The edges, the nose, eyes and ears are all in the same place.  The "hem" border is the same shape.  So if I took border 1 and stitched it with body 2 and then body 3, I could have 2 more mice.  Do the same with borders 2 and 3 and that would give me a total of 9 mice from these three charts.  All slightly different.

If Just Nan bring out one more Witchy mouse I could then have a total of 16 mice!

I looked at the charts for the other spooky mice I have stitched and they are slightly smaller  than these three but I could do the same with them and have 9 smaller mice.

Apart from making mice, I stitched on my latest Autumn Lane Stitchery design.  This is Mrs "Large Hat" Claus!  So far, just a Large Hat:

stitched on 28 count tea-dyed evenweave

Finally, the next IHSW will be 16th - 19th April 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 by leaving a comment on my post.

March WIPGO UPdate

 

Q: What is WIPGO?

A: It's like Bingo for your WIPs.

The idea is to make a board with 25 squares, add a goal to each square, each month the Admin call 2 numbers and you try reach those two goals.

When you complete a row or column, you can reward yourself with something nice.  A new start?  A new chart?  An uninterrupted afternoon of stitching?  Your choice.

This was my board at the start of the month:

You can see that I am starting to get some blocks coloured in as I complete the projects.  For March the numbers called were 10 and 24.  24 is my Just Nan Summer Sampler which won't happen until the Summer (funny that) so I can't do anything there.  It has made me rethink about putting seasonal goals such as Maynia and the Longest Day Marathon.  Next year I will just include one and make it the Free Space.

The other number was Hallowe'en at Hawk Run Hollow and I was so pleased to get a block finish.  I started in the centre for this one which is a double block. Rather than have a line down the centre I have stitched over to block 6 in some places.  

Here's where I was at the start of WIPGO Weekend last week:

Halfway through:

End of the Weekend:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

Although it is a large project, the colours tend to come in quite large chunks so you can make fairly quick progress.  Stitching with one stand over one also means you don't have to start a new thread so often.

I continued after the week and we are here now:

This will go away until the Tiny Decision app chooses it again.  I used the app to decide what to stitch for the rest of the month.  I gave it the choice between my three largest pieces and it came up with this one:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Vineyard by Crafty Kitten.

The eagle-eyed Mira Minions of Facebook correctly identified the project from just this single bird!  I am continuing with her this weekend, alternating between the skin of her arm when I am on my own and the rather easier fabric of her skirt when I sit with my son.  One downside to lockdown is that I can't get a working copy of the chart made, so I've been taking a photo with my iPad and stitching from that.  It's not ideal as I like to colour as I go.  I might try printing it out and see what that looks like.

Here is what she will look like when she's finished.  One day.  No hurry.

Mirabilia - Fairy Idyll

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 2nd April 🐇

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Easter Treasure Hunt.    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!

Here's a link to last year's hop so you can see how it all works - Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2020

Gifted Gorgeousness March Link-up Post

 

Welcome to the March Gifted Gorgeousness link-up.  The link-up date continues 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.

Deb sent me the charts for the Stoney Creek 2019 Ornaments which were my Stitchmas project this year.  I started all 12, one per day and will be completing one per month.  March was the Three French Hens:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

You may have noticed something different about that one.  I bought some charms for the 12 Days and will be adding them instead of stitching the numbers.  I frogged out 1 and 2 and took the photos again with the charms:

This little design was the Cover gift from Cross Stitcher magazine, a calendar from Tiny Modernist:

stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers

In February the WIPGO Board chose Joan Elliott's Faces SAL, the fabric for this was a gift from Dawn of Crafty Kitten.  I finished the little dragon and went on to stitch the owl too!

Here is the whole piece so far:

stitched on 28 count Jazlyn in Snapdragon by Crafty Kitten

From the Gift of Stitching magazine we have another Rosewood Manor design - Quaker Diamond Noel:

stitched on 32 count Reed Green linen

The chart for Nora Corbett's Gathering Eggs was a gift:

stitched on 35 count Vintage Country Mocha Linen

This next project is stitched from charts which were Birthday gifts and on fabric which was a giveaway gift.  It is my spooky conversion of the CCN Main Street designs.  I started my second shop:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Charcoal Slate from Sparklies

Anyone want to guess what it is going to be selling?

Here is the whole piece so far:

I had to double check but this one counts too!  Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow was a Christmas present.  I continued with this block for the WIPGO Weekend just finished:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

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 "March 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.

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I now have a little Miss Witchy Mouse to share which isn't part of GG but was the second project for Rachel's SAL which I am calling March of the Mischievious Mice:

stitched on 32 count Grey Linen

I didn't fully finish this one as there is just enough linen to stitch the third one but if I cut this bit off it will make it harder to hold and stitch next weekend.  So I'll finish two at once next week.

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 2nd April 🐇

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Easter Treasure Hunt.    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!

Here's a link to last year's hop so you can see how it all works - Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2020