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Monday 22 March 2021

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.



11 comments:

Sheryl said...

Lovely colour fabric for the new Mirabilia and I love those mice what pretty patterns which, as you say, look interchangeable - lots more mice to come.

Beth in IL said...

Oh my! All those mice! What a clever idea to interchange the patterns.

butterfly said...

I also love the color fabric on your new Mirabilia .
You have started some wonderful new designs , and I love the nice.
Enjoy your day .

Susie H said...

I love the mice! Very interesting tails. I fink X-stitch so relaxing too. Nice job!

Vicki said...

So much stitching over the weekend. Love the witchy mice.

diamondc said...

JO: Your mice are positively adorable, March Of The Mischeivous Mice is a perfect name.
Have a wonderful day


Catherine

Kaisievic said...

Thanks for the shout out, Jo and I'm so glad that for a change I was able to introduce you to something stitchy and fun!. Love the progress on all your pieces, those mice are very cute and thanks for the smoothing out example - made it very clear to follow.

Linda said...

Congrats on the adorable finishes Jo.

Linda

Leonore Winterer said...

How cute these mice are! I am all for making a whole...what do you call a group of mice?

Ann C. said...

Your witch mice turned out great! I still have these two on my To Do List.

Katie said...

Great work on everything.