March Stitch From Stash and Pie

Here's my monthly Pie for March:

Very varied thanks to the A-Z Challenge.

The WIPGO board chose The Primitive Hare Hocus Pocus Cabinet as my focus piece and I was doing really well until I realised that I had miscounted the top border and now have a floating head!

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

That will be coming out next time I stitch on this piece.

Instead I decided to spend the Easter weekend on something more colourful and pulled out Spring from Cricket Collection.

stitched on 32 count Marie's Daffodil linen from Chromatic Alchemy

One more day and I should be able to finish this one off.  The rest of the pieces can be seen on the GG and IHSW posts earlier in the month.

In the evenings I started with the Cheshire Cat from Rainbow Hunter, then my WIPGO piece from The Sweetheart Tree and finished the month on the Circle Cross Zodiac Tarot on Etsy. 

I finished Aquarius:

And Pisces!

Only 2 more signs to go!

stitched on 28 count Sky Blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Finally, the only things I spent money on this month were two magazine subscriptions and they are both exempt from Stitch from Stash so I'm doing well.  I do want to buy some fabric for three more Nora Corbett Zodiac Signs and also the lovely Alice blackwork I purchased last month.

March WIPocalypse Thread Colours

      

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 "24 in '24" for this year. This month I stitched on 6 of them and had 2 finishes.

1. Sweetheart Tree - September Strawflowers

Finish

3. Rainbow Hunter - Alice Bottles

Finished Cheshire Cat

13. Joan Elliott - Faces SAL

22. Primitive Hare - Hocus Pocus Cabinet

23. Cricket Collection - Spring

24. Cottage Garden Samplings Halloween Sampler

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

March 31 – What colours – and brands – of thread do you love using? Do you have a particular colour that you absolutely love?

I am a big fan of DMC thread, it's easy to get hold of, it's nice to stitch with, it comes in a wide range of colours and it's pretty consistent over the years colourwise.  I do have skeins that are different shades so I keep them in separate bags and don't mix them in the same project.  815 is one example, I have a dark skein and a bright skein.

My all time favourite DMC is 115, a wonderful dark variegated red.  I think this is a favourite for quite a few people having seen this question in various groups.

I do use GAST and WDW especially if someone else buys them for me, same with silks.  I'm not a massive fan of stitching with silks to be honest.

I use Krienik and DMC Metallics depending on what is called for and what I have.  

I do have quite a collection of Jodyri Threads as I belonged to their Threads of the Month club for a while.  I stopped because their Post Office kept on losing my parcel and I'd have to rerequest it.  I am trying to use the threads where I can and Hocus Pocus Cabinet had two different skeins in there.
I prefer the skeins which have different shades of the same colour such as Cafe au Lait which is brown/cream.  Some of their threads have 3 totally different colours which I would find difficult to stitch with.  The one I used for the middle bottle was green, white, pink.  I cut the skein in the middle of the green to minimise that colour and it turned out rather well. 

Finally, a Mary has been leaving lovely comments here.  But Mary is "no reply" and does not have a blog listed on her profile so I can't respond to her direct.  It's not Mary from Le Couer Celtique, or Mary from Mary's Thread or Mary from Mary's Stitching Spot!  So if you are Mary, please drop me an email and I will save it so I can reply to your comments.

March Smalls

  

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Rachel

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.

In February, the WIPGO number was for the Alice in Wonderland Bottles Collection from Rainbow Hunter on Etsy.

I finished Alice and showed her last month and completed the Cheshire Cat at the start of March.

stitched on 32 count Antique Blue linen

Once the Cat was done, I moved on to the March choice; September Strawflowers by The Sweetheart Tree:

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

The chart came with the little charm for the centre but not the beads.  The variegated purple is a Six Strand Sweets hand-dyed called Witches Brew.  This was a gift from a fellow blogger a long time ago so it was nice to use some!

After I finished that one, I moved on to the Circle Cross Zodiac signs and completed Aquarius:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Finally, WIPGO for April is a very old chart from 1995 which I have had in my stash for about that length of time so it's great to be making a start on it at last!

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2024

 

Welcome to the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop for 2024.  I am sure you all know how it works now - hop around the list of blogs and collect the letter each one has for you.  They spell out a message which you can leave in a comment here for me.  I have moderated comments so no-one will see them until 5th April.  Just to give everyone a chance to play along.

Tickled Pink in Stitches

Aimetu's Stitching

Guava Gems

Dragon Stitches and Stuff by Astrid

Elfin Stitches

An Arizona Stitcher

Le Coeur Celtique

Jocondine

Needle, Pen & Sword

Mary's Thread

A Patchwork of Crafts

Bits of My Own

Life Outside the Washing Basket

Stitching Grandma

and back to me to leave the answer in a comment.

My current focus piece is a Halloween themed design with lots of black so I thought it would be nice to switch to Spring by Cricket Collection which was February's Focus and see how much I can get done.

Here's where it was at the start of the weekend:

stitched on 32 count Marie's Daffodil from Chromatic Alchemy

Here is the seasonal display in the corner of our living room with some previous finishes:

And here is my trio of framed pieces

 

Finally, don't forget to leave an encouraging comment on each blog you visit.  There wouldn't be a Hop without all the lovely participants.

Extra Weekend!

There are five full weekends in March this year.  Last weekend was IHSW and next weekend is "End of the Month" and time to post WIPocalypse, Pie and Stitch From Stash so this weekend feels like a bonus weekend.

So what did I stitch for my bonus weekend?

My focus piece has been Hocus Pocus Cabinet - Focus Pocus? but progress has been a little slow due to being so busy in the week.

I managed to finish all the colour and now just have the black surround and the lettering to do.  I changed the colours to a mixture of Anchor and Jodyri.  The original used GAST and WDW.

Here's where I am now:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha

On Sunday I caught up with two weeks of leaves on my Temperature Tree from The Steady Thread:

stitched on 28 count Meadow Mist linen from Silkweavers

stitched on 28 count Meadow Mist linen from Silkweaver

As I had finished my Small for the WIPGO Board I switched to the Circle Cross Zodiac Tarot for the evenings.

I completed Aquarius and have made a good start on Pisces:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 29th March 🐇

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 2023

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.

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.  

March is E and F.  I wasn't working Friday again so I started there with E for English Transitional Sampler from Scarlet Letter.

I went from here:

to here:

Close-up of the part I was stitching:

stitched on 32 count cream linen

This is a huge piece started back in 2012 when I started things with no plan for how they would fit into my rotation or be finished.  It shows.  All that Holbein stitching has to be filled in with satin stitch.  There's another big row to do above it, then some Bargello under the big red outline and some other stuff at the bottom!

Next up on Saturday was E for Elliott - Joan Elliott's Faces SAL, another oldie which I do plan to finish this year.  It's ten years old so it's about time.  It's on my WIPGO Board.

It went from here:

to here:

Close-up of the part I worked on:

stitched on 28 count Snapdragon Jazlyn from Crafty Kitten

I could have continued with that one on Sunday for F but decided to stitch Fairy - Coffee Cup Fairy from Yiotas X-Stitch.  Here's where that one started:

I added a good chunk of cream to the cup:

stitched on 28 count Monarch evenweave from Sparklies

On Monday I decided to do one more F for Fairy Idyll by Mirabilia.  Here's where she started:

and finished:

This is the section I worked on, adding the yellow to the drapes:

stitched on 32 count Vinyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

Another very successful IHSW.  It's fun to get a chance to work on some of my older pieces for more than just 30 minutes for the Longest Day Marathon.

Next month I have a choice of 2 projects for G and 3 for H.  Although that might change when my WIPGO numbers are called.  There are a couple of Hs on the list.

As a general rule, I want to choose the oldest project for each letter.

Finally the next IHSW will be 19th - 21st 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.

Gifted Gorgeousness March Link-up Post

  

Welcome to the March 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 focus piece last month was stitched on gifted fabric.

Cricket Collection - Spring

stitched on 32 count Marie's Daffodil linen from Chromatic Alchemy

This one was a gift from the designer and the fabric was a gift too.  

Steady Thread - Tree of Life Temperature SAL

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

IHSW starts today and as part of my A-Z Challenge I have reached E and F.  So today I will be working on English Transitional Sampler by Scarlet Letter.  The kit was a gift.  This is where I am starting:

stitched on 35 count linen

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 "March 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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🐇 Good Friday - Friday 29th March 🐇

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 2023

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for March and TUSAL

  

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

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).

I decided to do something different with my latest Christmas Ornament finish.  Rather than make a 3D ornament, I mounted it over some wadding on a piece of card.  We display greetings cards from strings hung from our beams on the ceiling.  They are out of the way and make a lovely colourful display.

Just Nan - Snowberries

Fewer people send physical cards now so we usually have at least one string empty at Christmas.  I thought it would be nice to fill it with ornaments.  When Christmas is over, the card folds the other way to protect the stitching and beads in the storage box.

    

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current projects:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

On the left we have The Primitive Hare Hocus Pocus Cabinet and on the right is my evening stitch - September Strawflowers from The Sweetheart Tree.

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 29th March 🐇

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 2023