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.