March Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's time for Pie!

I spent my usual fortnight working on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow. Here's where I started the month:

Here's where I finished Block 10:

And one day on Block 11:

The whole piece:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose from Chromatic Alchemy

So far the number of days is:

Block 7 - 13 days

Block 6 - 16 days

Block 2 - 19 days

Block 3 - 20 days

Block 4 - 15 days

Block 1 - 19 days

Block 5 - 25 days

Block 8 - 15 days

Block 9 - 27 days

Block 10 - 31 days

Block 11 - 1 day and counting

The blocks are taking longer because of the full coverage sections, but also because I had a bad flu-bug in February and a few days where I probably only stitched for 30 minutes.

The other pieces you have seen in previous posts so it's over to the evening pie:

The Amanda Butler's Houses were both completed before the end of the month.  

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

So I continued with the Temperature SAL which is a little bit behind.  March ended with a peek into the yellow zone with 17 degrees on the 30th!

Finally, Stitch from Stash:

I needed some DMC from Lakeside as I was running low on a couple of colours.  I tend to have one master set that I pull from unless a project has a lot of one colour.  In that case I keep a skein with the project to make sure I don't change dyelots half way through.

 

March WIPGO

 

I thought I'd do a little recap of my WIPGO progress so far this year.  WIPGO is basically Bingo for WIPs.  Each person makes their own board of 25 squares with various WIPs and goals for each number.
Two numbers are called each month and we work on those projects.
The centre square is a bonus, if 13 is called then another number is called in addition so you could have three projects that month.  I use 13 for my Longest Day marathon.

Here's my board at the start of the year:

And here it is now:

My focus piece for 2023 is Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow so that features 10 times.  I have paired it with Fairy Idyll because I am hoping to complete it before the end of the year and move on to Fairy Idyll.

Each of my other projects appear once, twice or thrice depending on how much time I want to spend on them,

It would be nice if H@HRH came out once a month with one other project but of course it doesn't work like that!  It either comes out twice or not at all.

There are three possible combinations:

A. H@HRH x 2 - stitch H@HRH for 2 weeks then stitch whatever I want for 2 weeks
B. H@HRH x 1 plus 1 other project - stitch H@HRH for 2 weeks and the other project for 2 weeks
C. Other projects x 2 - stitch H@HRH for 2 weeks then the other projects for one week each.

So far it seems to be working,

In January I worked on my Faces SAL and Little Snapdragon, both older WIPs I would like to see finished soon.

In February H@HRH was called twice so I used the rest of the month to finish the block on the Faces SAL.

For March, I got a new start I'd been really looking forward to - Taurus by Nora Corbett and then my Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas.

I absolutely love Taurus!   I have all 12 of the Zodiac Girls and want to stitch them all on the corresponding fabrics from Sparklies.  So Taurus is being stitched on Taurus fabric!  My long-term plan is one per year but I may escalate that time frame!

At the rate I am stitching the Bothy Threads, that's also going to take 12 years!  The linen is so floppy but the colours are gorgeous.  Especially this red in the Five Gold Rings block.

Next month, the numbers called are for 2 weeks on H@HRH so once I have done those, I will return to Little Snapdragon and see how much progress I can make on him.

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 7th 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 2022

March Smalls

  

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.

The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I am still working on Fire:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

My next collection of tiny items is the Potion Bottle Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso.  

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

I popped it into the evening slot for a couple of days to try catch up a bit.

The next series is from Amanda Butler in Cross Stitcher magazine.  I completed the London Houses at the start of the month:

And moved straight onto the Belfast Houses and got them done in 27 days:

stitched on 28 pale grey evenweave

Finally, following on from Noteworthy Needle's exciting release from last month, here's another moveable seasonal design, released for the Jingle Ball last year:

On her Facebook page she has a video showing how this works and the reason I am excited is because I have made one of these before.  They are not difficult at all so I just need to find some nice seasonal designs and I can make one.

Facebook Noteworthy Needle

Here's the one I made.  The big difference is the I cut the corners off which makes it easier to turn.  You can see the wear on the corners in the above video already because they are square.

March WIPocalypse Stitching Supplies

      

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 "23 in '23" for this year.  This month I stitched on 7 of them and had 1 finish.

5. Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

11. Nora Corbett Taurus

13. Mani di Donna Halloween Stitching Basket

17. Stitch it Picasso Temperature SAL

18. Circle Cross Blackwork Tarot

20. Amanda Butler London Houses - Finish

21. Amanda Butler Belfast Houses 

The full list can be seen here - WIPocalypse and "23 in '23"

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

March - Tell us about your favourite places to buy stitching supplies

I use a mixture of online stores trying to use places run by enthusiasts.  Lakeside Needlecraft is one of the first places I look, Kate is very helpful.   If she hasn't got what I need then Peakside or Patchwork Rabbit are the next ports of call.  For hand-dyed fabrics, it's Sparklies or Chromatic Alchemy.  There is a small needlework shop about 10 miles away who supplies me with the latest Just Nan designs.

Two places I will never shop - Hobbycraft and Amazon.

Of course Etsy is fabulous for PDFs from international designers too.

March TUSAL and Stitching Library

          

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

And here's her beautiful face:

This is the lovely Taurus from Nora Corbett stitched on 32 count Taurus Murano from Sparklies.  I plan to get 7 days stitching on her this month.

What's on my Shelf?

This is a 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...

Title: Needlework Animals

Author: Elizabeth Bradley

Publisher: Ebury Press
ISBN: 9780091807641

This is a big book, nearly 11 x 12 inches

Tucked inside was the original receipt from 1999 showing I paid a mere £4.99 for a book whose RRP was £25.  Bargain!

The projects are all full cross worked on 10 count canvas using Elizabeth Bradley's wools.

This map is huge - 52 x 35 inches!

But look at the details, she shows it with some toy animals and I can imagine a child using this as a playmat

The book is divided into chapters:

and

There are some great quirky designs such as a 36inch carpet python:

As well as more traditional animal portraits:

Wild and domestic:

This is my favourite project, an entire Alphabet in a gorgeous Victorian Picture Book style

She shows a lovely Birthday greeting using the letters:

And includes a set of fun numbers:

The designs are all charted for Elizabeth's own wool brand and there is a conversion to DMC wools at the back.  You'd have to make your own colour choices if you wanted to stitch these using DMC cotton and a standard fabric rather than canvas.

No, I haven't done any of the designs, I bought this book in my "collecting phase" with grand plans pre-children!

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 7th 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 2021

March IHSW

 

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.

As usual, I worked on Friday so the only thing that got stitched that day was my Amanda Butler Belfast Houses project, with evening stitching it now looks like this:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

On Saturday morning I put some more stitches into the Fire Element from Circle Cross:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweaver

And then did my final day on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow for March:

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

On Sunday morning, I added some more bottles to my Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso:

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

In the afternoon I had a new start!  The WIPGO Board chose this one for me.  Nora Corbett's Taurus, stitched on Taurus from Sparklies!

stitched on 32 count Taurus Murano from Sparklies

Finally the next IHSW will be 21st - 23rd 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.