May Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's the end of the month and time to look back at my Pie:

It's been a very even month with 6 days to each of my focus projects and 5 on the Just Nan sampler we have been SAL-ing in the Just Nan Junkies group on FB.

You've seen the first three projects for my WIPocalypse post already so I won't show them again.  When I picked up the NOEL letters at the beginning of the week they looked like this:

All the stitching was done and I had started cutting out the threads for the hardanger.

Now, three of them look like this with all the bars wrapped:

This is the best one out of the three!

I have one more to do and then just have to fully finish them.  I have an idea if I can remember where I put the dowels to make the hangers!  They are in a safe place somewhere.

Stitch from Stash was good this month:

I did buy some scrapbook stuff though.

Finally, I completed my Just Nan-a-thon for Stitch Maynia.  I started this for March Madness a few years back with a different Just Nan Small for each day.  Throughout the year I work on them OAAT until I finish them.  Then the following May I get a new start if I finished the design from the previous year.  The list currently stands at 16 started in 2018 and 7 started in 2020 which left 8 new starts for this year.  

Here are the 32 pictures.  There are 32 because Day 28 has two parts to it and I stitch them on the same day.

May WIPocalypse First Stitches

     
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 met 1 WIPGO Goal.  

1. Ernie Bishop NOEL Letters

stitched on 28 count linen

4. Chatelaine Gardens of London

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast from Crafty Kitten

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

20. 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.

May – What was the first project you ever stitched? (whether you finished or not)

Way back in 1993 I saw a friend doing some cross stitch, a Country Companions design.  The subject matter didn't appeal but the process did.  So I went down to Bonds department store (part of the John Lewis group) and visited their stitching and haberdashery department.  I bought two mini sampler kits from Anchor and stitched both of them.  I am fairly certain this blue one was the first:

It was swiftly followed by this pink sampler:

Then something on black fabric:

And then a slightly more complex design:

By one of those strange coincidences, the designer for the Chinese Dragon is Serendipity Designs!  I did not remember this until I started my Happy Dance blog a few years after I chose my blog name.

Finally, the WIPGO numbers are out.  1 and 17 which are both Halloween designs.  I am also trying to finish my block on Halloween on Hawk Run Hollow so it's going to be a Dark June, for my stitching but hopefully not the weather!

May 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.

May was Five Gooooooooooooooooooooooooold Rings:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

I also added the beads to Four Calling Birds from last month:

I added May to my Tiny Modernist Calendar

stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers

Finally, I worked on my Just Nan-a-thon for Stitch Maynia every evening.  Here are the first 27 days:

May 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

It looks like Friday is going to be my regular day for work so I take my current Just Nan Band Sampler in to stitch at lunchtime.  This is Nan's Garden:

stitched on 28 count green linen

(green still not showing up!)

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to Carriage House Sampling's Hallowe'en at Hawk Run Hollow:

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

This week I used the Tiny Decisions app to chose my final focus piece for the month.  It decided on my NOEL Letters from Ernie Bishop.  This is my oldest WIP and the only one from pre-2000 so it would be good to get this finished.  Basically I have the hardanger and fully finishing to do now.

In the evenings I continued with my Just Nan-a-thon for Stitch Maynia.  Here are Days 15 - 23:

Finally the next IHSW will be 18th - 20th June 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.

May 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:

May's numbers were 19 and 22.  Which was great for me because I actually completed both those goals in April!  Plus I can mark off number 18 at the end of May too.

I did stitch on both CCN and my Chatelaine this month, to get a head start on the next time those projects get called.  Typically each number on my board takes two weeks to stitch.

I stitched half a shop for my CCN Halloween Village:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Charcoal Slate by Sparklies

And another telephone box for Gardens of London:

Then we had WIPGO Weekend so my goal was to stitch for four hours over the two days.
Friday was a work day so I wasn't dragging this project into work!

I managed to stitch some of that pretty rambling rose border over the weekend.

Here's where the project is now:

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast from Crafty Kitten

Next time I will stitch the second guardsman and some more of those rose borders.

The next project in the rotation is Carriage House Samplings' Hallowe'en at Hawk Run Hollow.  This has come up twice this year and I completed one block over those two months so I need to get a second block to mark the number off.

Here's three days progress:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose from Chromatic Alchemy

The double centre block counts as two blocks.  The centre line is where the brown stops at the top of the cauldron.  So this month I completed the cauldron, most of the flames and those lovely smoke swirls.

I plan to stitch for another three days and then use my Tiny Decision app to choose a fourth project for the month.

Finally, it's IHSW this weekend.  I am working again on Friday so this will be my focus piece for the weekend.  You can join in with the fun on your blog or in our Facebook group - IHSW on Facebook

Gifted Gorgeousness May Link-up Post

  

Welcome to the May 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.  May was Five Gooooooooooooooold Rings.  I posted this in the 12 Days of Christmas FB group and the consensus of opinion is that it needs backstitch which wasn't charted.

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

I also added the beads to Four Calling Birds from last month.

CCN's Main Street, this is my spooky conversion.  The charts were gifts and the fabric was a giveaway prize:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Charcoal Slate by Sparklies

In April I completed the Broom Store and in May I started the next shop.

My Chatelaine got 15 days in April, this was a gift for my Big Birthday in 2016 and many of the threads were gifts from stitchy friends.  It's a great way to kit up a Chatelaine with the silks, ask people to donate one skein as a Birthday gift,

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast by Crafty Kitten

And another 5 so far in May:

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 "May 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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Finally, Stitch Maynia continues.  Here are Days 10 - 14:

May TUSAL and my Stitching Library

  

It's TUSAL time!

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

You can see that I have started on the second telephone box on Gardens of London.  The plan is to work on this for six days and then switch to Hallowe'en at Hawk Run Hollow for a week.

Earlier in the month I completed the Fifth Day of Christmas from Stoney Creek and added the beads to the Fourth Day, so here they both are:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

There is no backstitch charted for the Fifth Day but I am not so sure about that.  Maybe a dark brown for the rings?

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

I also started another Shop for my spooky conversion of CCN's Main Street:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Charcoal Slate from Sparklies

Anyone want to guess what this one is going to be selling?

What's on my Shelf?

This is a new feature I'm going to include on my TUSAL post until I run out of books! I started a Page on my Happy Dance blog for my Stitching Library and realised what a huge task it was so decided to break it down to one book per month. For the next four years...

I chose this month's book to go with The People's Choice post on the theme Traditional Samplers.

Title: Traditional Samplers
Author: Brenda Keyes
Publisher: David and Charles
ISBN: 9780715305706

This is a wonderful book for anyone who loves traditional samplers.  The first section features three reproductions of samplers which Brenda Keyes owned.  They are Margaret Simcock, Mary Elizabeth Nicholson and Hannah Richards.  Then there is this Band Sampler worked in the style of the 17th Century:

This is a particular favourite of mine.

Brenda includes lovely clear diagrams of all the stitches and historical information about samplers too.  The second chapter is Schoolroom Samplers, these are original samplers in a traditional style.

Next up is Celebration Samplers, again original designs to celebrate engagements, marriages and anniversaries.  I really like these two and the gorgeous frames:

The next chapter is Flora and Fauna and features this wonderful Bird Sampler with the border based on a Dutch sampler from 1843.

I stitched this in 1999 as a Birth Sampler for my friend's new baby:

I stitched another baby sampler at the same time from the final chapter - A Celebration of Childhood.

Here is my version, and yes - both those babies were born on the same day in the same hospital!  My friends worked with each other and were in the same bay on the baby ward.  Which made visiting them very easy for me!  We had a third colleague whose baby was born 4 days earlier.

As well as the main pieces for each chapter, Brenda shows us how to adapt motifs from each design to make smaller projects.  At the end of the book there is information about stretching, mounting and framing your work too.  I thoroughly recommend this book to any sampler lover, there is great information and beautiful photos even if you never get around to stitching any of the works!

Finally, the Just Nan-a-thon is continuing with one more new start for Day 10: