A blog trying to focus on all the nice things in life, those moments when everything turns out right. Finding the perfect fabric for that chart you love, the ideal sampler quote, just the right picture in all the 1000s of magazines you own. Meeting people who share your interests and obsessions and totally understand why you NEED that chart when you already have enough to last until you're 104
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.
This year I am trying something different for IHSW - an A-Z Challenge! These usually take place in April and people stitch one letter every day except Sunday. I don't want to swap projects daily so thought I could do 2 or 3 letters per IHSW instead.
July is N and O. I didn't have an active project for O but I did have two for N.
I have been trying to fit in my Art Nouveau Head from Craft Collection as much as possible for this challenge as it is my oldest WIP now. I stitched some more of the pink background.
stitched on 28 count White Aida
The other N was this month's focus piece from Nora Corbett, this is Capricorn, the third Zodiac Girl I have chosen to stitch.
stitched on 32 count Capricorn Murano from Sparklies
I made some nice progress on the flowers above and below her. They are more red in real life.
In the evenings I continued with this beautiful lady - The Hare Moon for Taurus from Circle Cross.
stitched on 28 count Robin's Egg evenweave from Silkweavers
Next month will be P and Q. I've got 2 P projects and one that covers both P and Q, so that's good.
Finally the next IHSW will be 16th - 18th August 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.
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.
This year I am trying something different for IHSW - an A-Z Challenge! These usually take place in April and people stitch one letter every day except Sunday. I don't want to swap projects daily so thought I could do 2 or 3 letters per IHSW instead.
July is the turn for N and O. I don't have an O project but I do have 2 N's so I'll be working on both of those this weekend.
The first one will be my Focus piece for the month - Nora Corbett's Capricorn, part of the Zodiac Girls series.
Here's my starting photo:
stitched on 32 count Capricorn Murano from Sparklies
The original calls for 3 skeins of Caron Waterlilies which are lovely but cost £7 each. So I've substituted them for two of the DMC 4000 series and one Classic Colorworks which look great so far.
I also managed to get a substitute for the Magnifica beads. Create Nostalgia recommend a Delica which is a close match and send those instead.
My second N project will be the Art Nouveau Head from Craft Collection. Here's the start photo:
stitched on 14 count white Aida
I've been trying to get a day in on this one whenever I can.
Finally, my evening project is not an N but I am loving it! It's part of the Lunar Calendar from Circle Cross. This is The Hare Moon for Taurus:
stitched on 28 count Robin's Egg evenweave from Silkweavers
Welcome to the July 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.
My evening project was a gift from Vickie and is a finish already!
Lizzie*Kate - Sampling Christmas
stitched on 32 count Desert Sand evenweave
I just need to find a nice charm to fit inbetween P, Q, R and S
My replacement evening piece is being stitched on gifted fabric and will be a gift for a friend too:
Circle Cross - Hare Moon for Taurus
stitched on 28 count opalescent Robin's Egg evenweave from Silkweaver
Steady Thread - Tree of Life Temperature SAL
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stitched on 28 count Meadow Mist linen from Silkweavers
I record the temperature each day and then stitch the leaves on the Sunday morning.
My Dark 13 design is stitched on gifted fabric, a beautiful 40 count linen called Witch's Brew from Zweigart. My plan is to stitch one letter per month until we reach October and then complete it during Dark October.
stitched on 40 count linen called Witch's Brew from Zweigart
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 "July 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, this post was missing a couple of photos because I was already late and just want to get it posted so you could add your links! All photos have been added now.
This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed. We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).
Unfortunately, nothing got FFO'd this last month!
So here's a photo of my current progress on Nora Corbett's Capricorn:
stitched on 32 count Capricorn Murano from Sparklies
Finally, I need to make a resolution to do some FFO'ing earlier in the month and not leaving it to the end and running out of time!!
These are the two projects called for WIPGO this month.
On the left is Nora Corbett's Zodiac Girl Capricorn, my third in this series.
Here's my progress so far:
stitched on 32 count Capricorn Murano from Sparklies
On the right is my evening project which is Lizzie*Kate's Sampling Christmas. This should be a quick stitch and give me time to stitch another project I have my eye on.
stitched on 32 count Desert Sand evenweave
Finally, here is the project I am thinking of starting:
This is the Hare Moon for Taurus from the Circle Cross Lunar Calendar. I am glad I waited until the entire set have been released as she is doing a special price on all 12 designs!
My main Focus piece for the month was Stitchy Princess' Alice in Wonderland. I started her on the 2nd and completed her after 13.5 days of stitching. The half day was part of the Longest Week Marathon.
stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue fabric
I used a darker fabric than the charted so had to change the blues. The charted light blue just looked white on this fabric so I swapped it for a darker shade.
This was a nice quick stitch and all I need now is a square frame and it will be on display.
After stitching on Alice for 13 days, I switched to my Marathon. This usually takes place as close as possible to the Longest Day in June. But I couldn't clear a single whole day so this year I decided to spread it over a week and stitched two projects per day. You can follow the fun on this post - Longest Day/Week Marathon
Alice wasn't the only project finished during the Marathon. I also completed the beading on Circle Cross' Art Nouveau Tarot Zodiac Signs:
stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers
More photos:
Each of signs align with the elements shown above
The final project of the Marathon was Mirabilia's Fairy Idyll which I enjoyed so much I decided to finish IHSW on the Monday and give her another day.
stitched on 32 count Vinyard Murano from Crafty Kitten
I spent the last 6 days of the month working on my evening project - Living on the Rainbow's 3D Haunted House which is nearly finished!
stitched on 32 count purple linen
I stitched on it every evening too, so here's the evening pie:
Finally, Stitch from Stash. I did spend some money this month. I want to own all the fabrics for the Zodiac Girls from Nora Corbett so ordered the next three colours for the Fire signs - Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Now I am nagging Kate to dye the Air signs so I can get them too.
I also had my Cross Stitcher magazine sub come out this month but that doesn't count for SFS.
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 "24 in '24" for this year. This month I stitched on 5 of them and had one finish.
12. Living on the Rainbow 3D Haunted House
13. Joan Elliott Faces SAL
14. Stitchy Princess Alice in Wonderland - Finish!
21. Cottage Garden Sampling Year in the Woods The Swans
24. Cottage Garden Samplings Halloween Sampler
Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:
June – Half-year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year?
My goals are doing very nicely, thank you! Out of the 24 on the list, I have 8 finishes so far plus 2 partial finishes where the pieces are part of a set. Every project has been started in the month it was called for except the Spot of Autumn which was called in May and will be rolled over to another month.
I didn't quite finish the 3D Haunted House in June but it's very close.
Here's how my WIPGO Board looks at the end of June:
For my Smalls stitching this year, I have chosen 12 smaller designs and numbered them for my WIPGO Board. Each month one Small will be stitched in the evening timeslot and hopefully finished within the month.
After the excitement of my Just Nan-athon in May, I have returned to a focus piece for June. The WIPGO Board chose the 3D Haunted House from Living on the Rainbow and I've been working steadily on that each evening.
Here is the front and back, blurry but completed:
Here is my progress on the sides and the roof:
I've got the purple fill-in and backstitch to do on the sides. For the roof, I have made the decision not to fill it all in as charted but leave the purple fabric showing. So I'll stitch all the way round the edge and mount it on some dark card before sewing it to the building.
Finally, you can see it's not going to be finished by the end of June so this will be a roll-over to next month!
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.
This year I am trying something different for IHSW - an A-Z Challenge! These usually take place in April and people stitch one letter every day except Sunday. I don't want to swap projects daily so thought I could do 2 or 3 letters per IHSW instead.
June is L and M. I didn't have an active project for K so I'm skipping that one!
IHSW also coincided with my Longest Day/Week Marathon so I contrived it that the weekend projects all fitted the L and M letters.
Chatelaine - Gardens of LONDON - before:
After:
MRS Peggotty - Queen of Hearts - before:
After:
Steady Thread - Tree of LIFE - before:
After:
LIVING on the Rainbow - 3D Haunted House - after
MIRABILIA - Fairy Idyll - before:
I continued stitching Fairy Idyll into Monday so here's the final photo of her:
And the whole piece so far:
Next month will be N and O. I don't have an O, so I might skip that and go straight to P. We shall see!
Finally the next IHSW will be 19th - 21st July 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.
