June Stitch from Stash and Pie

  It's time for Pie:

I stitched my full fortnight on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow again.  Here's where I started the month:

Here's the finish for Block 11 

and the progress on Block 12:

I actually stitched another 30 minutes on that block for the Longest Day Marathon, so here's 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 - 32 days

Block 12 - 11 days and counting

After that fortnight I intended to start work on Little Snapdragon but unfortunately the storage tube was empty and Snapdragon was AWOL!  Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas was present so that got four days stitching on Day 5, plus another 30 minutes on The Longest Day:

stitched on 32 count grey linen

Little Snapdragon was discovered in time for the Marathon and then I continued with it for another 7 days until the end of the month:

stitched on 32 count Evening Sky Murano from Crafty Kitten

I've got the two lightest shades of green in the stems and then the blues and purples in the flowers and this will be a finish!

My evening stitching was all the Stitch It Picasso Temperature SAL:

Finally, Stitch from Stash and I did actually spend some money this month.  It was unavoidable if I wanted to keep my Mr Linky subscription for all the Blog Hops.  Plus my Cross Stitcher magazine subscription.

June 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 have finished Water:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

and made a start on the first Zodiac sign - Gemini:

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 completed all of April and made a start on May.  Apart from those four Green days, the rest alternated between Lime and Yellow so it should be quicker now.

June was more varied between Lime, Yellow, Orange, Red and Dark Red (for just one very hot day).

Finally, a very small Small.  This is one of the motifs for the Discworld Objectiva I started last year.  My friend Nicole thought it would be fun to choose one motif to represent each of the Discworld Books.  I helped by model stitching them so she could see how each one turned out before committing to the final design.

Sourcery is the fifth book but one that caused her a lot of issues getting the right look to the carpet.  She moved on to some of the easy books and then came back to it later.  Which is why I hadn't stitched it before.  Here's the final design she was happy with:

stitched on 28 count white evenweave

June WIPocalypse Half Year Goals

         

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 all the started WIPs for my Longest Day Marathon and had 1 finish and 1 part finish.

Here are the ones I stitched on outside the Marathon which has it's own post:

2. Kustom Krafts Little Snapdragon

4. Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas

5. Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

8. CCN Halloween Village Flower Shop

13. Mani di Donna Halloween Stitching Basket

15. Nicole B Hicks Discworld Objectiva

17. Stitch It Picasso Temperature SAL

18. Circle Cross Blackwork Tarot

Gemini

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

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

June - Half-year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year?

Pretty good so far, the secret is achievable goals!  

My two ways to track goals are my 23 in '23 list and my WIPGO Board. Out of my 23 in '23 I have 5 finishes so far, 1 goal met, 1 very close to a finish and 6 projects which haven't been started mostly because they are either time sensitive or dependent on other projects being finished first.

My WIPGO Board is looking good. The only time-sensitive piece is the Marathon itself which went in 13, the "free" square.

Longest Day Marathon 2023

 

This was my eighth annual Marathon for The Longest Day.  I always attempt this as close as possible to the Summer Solstice which was Wednesday 21st June this year.  

The day started with breakfast, see the boys off to work/school, put a load of washing in and then down to stitching.  Apologies for the quality of the photos, most of these were taken in daylight which puts a blue cast on everything.  But most of these have decent photos elsewhere in the blog!

First up was Joan Elliott's Face SAL:

9.00 am - Before

I started the Peacock in the lower centre block

9.45 am - Kustom Krafts Little Snapdragon

Added some green to the stalks

10.25 am - Chatelaine Gardens of London

Continued the hedge border on the right

11.00 am - Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas

Continued with the red background for Day 5

11.50 am - Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

Stitched the earth around the skeleton on Block 12

12.30 - Mirabilia Fairy Idyll

Added some brown to the left hand side

Break for lunch

14.00 - Mani di Donna Halloween Sewing Basket

Two pumpkins and some yellow windows

14.35 - Nicole B Hicks Discworld Objectiva

stitched most of the carpet

15.30 Circle Cross Blackwork Tarot

Working my way down Gemini

16.25 Nora Corbett Taurus

stitched the brown in her dress

17.00 Craft Collection Art Nouveau Head

filled in some more brown at the top

Tea time!

18.15 - Yiotas Coffee Fairy

Added some cream to the cup

19.00 - Papillon Around the World in 80 Stitches

More green outline

19.30 - Scarlett Letter English Transitional Sampler

continued with the blue outline:

20.00 - Mrs Peggotty Queen of Hearts

Another line of border

21.00 Country Cottage Needlework Halloween Village

Added some grey path

21.45 Stitch It Picasso Temperature SAL

Brown shelves

and so to bed!

Over the course of the day, I stitched on all 17 of my WIPs in half hour blocks.  At the start of the marathon I was setting a 30 minute time for the actual stitching but as the day went on I had to include photo time and setting up/putting away in the time.

I really enjoyed my Marathon again and as usual there are several projects I'd love to keep going on.

Finally, here's how many projects I worked on for the previous marathons:

2023 - 17 WIPs

2022 - 18 WIPs

2021 - 22 WIPs

2020 - 17 WIPs

2019 - 19 WIPs

2018 - 26 WIPs

2017 - 24 WIPs

2016 - 21 WIPs