April Stitch from Stash and Pie

 Here's my monthly Pie for April:

My April "focus" piece was A Partridge in a Pear Tree from Cottage Garden Samplings and that only took 12 days for a finish!

stitched on 35 count cream linen

After that I went back to March's choice determined to finish it.  The Primitive Hare Hocus Pocus Cabinet fell victim to the frog and looked like this at the start of the month:

And now it looks like this:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

I spent a lot of days on this because the black was so tedious!  I really didn't want to stitch on it at all some days but made myself add at least 2 lengths of black.  The lettering was much more fun.

I used a mixture of DMC, Anchor and Jodyri threads for this one.  Some half stitches using one strand for the bottles, Smyrna for the Spider Eggs in the jar and some whipped backstitch for the threads the little spiders are hanging from.

Now I need to find a new black frame for it in time for Halloween!

In the evenings I started with The Quiet Hour Sampler from La Broderie and finished the month on the Circle Cross Zodiac Tarot. 

I finished Aries:

Only 1 more sign to go!

stitched on 28 count Sky Blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Finally, another zero spend for Stitch from Stash.

April WIPocalypse New Designers

       

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 5 of them and had 3 finishes.

8. La Broderie - Quiet Hour Sampler - Finish

17. Cottage Garden Samplings - First Day of Christmas - Finish

22. Primitive Hare - Hocus Pocus Cabinet

23. Cricket Collection - Spring - Finish

24. Cottage Garden Samplings Halloween Sampler

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

April – Which designers have you discovered lately?

Because I've been working on my older designs and those in my stash, I haven't really been looking for new designers too much this year.  Circle Cross who does the blackwork is the most recent designer I got really excited about and wanted to buy all the things from her.

I also have a few designers in my list that I haven't stitched before this year - Rainbow Hunter who does the Alice bottles being one.   I also have Stitchy Princess, Life in Stitches and Maria Bravko still to come this year when the WIPGO Board chooses their names.

I did see quite interesting designers on the Lindy Stitches Nashville Shopping List videos.  She's made a playlist of those one so you can easily find all the lovely enabling in one place!

Lindy Stitches Nashville Shopping List 2024

April 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 April, the WIPGO number was for a very old chart from 1995 which I have had in my stash for about that length of time so was great to get that one stitched at last!

Quiet Hour Sampler by La Broderie

stitched on 28 count White linen

I used a Jodyri Thread called Aurora Borealis instead of the charted Waterlilies

I love the sentiment on this one.  
I did a Google Search and the full poem is:

“Oh! For a book, and a cosy nook
And oh! for a quiet hour,
When care and strife and worry of life,
Have lost their dreaded power,
When you read with zest the very best
That mind to mind can give,
And quaff your joy without alloy,
And feel it is good to live.”
–Anonymous

The beads are more visible in real life.

In the centre I added four smaller beads rather than the charted charm.

This will make it easier to frame too.

I also swapped the placement of the initials and the year.  If I sign a project I use all three of my initials not just JP.  I've had three sets of initials in my life - JMC, JMM and JMP - so I like to include my Middle Name in my signature.

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

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Finally, WIPGO for May is Drawn Thread Spot of Autumn.  I stitched Spot of Winter and Spring ages ago but still have Summer and Autumn to go.  So they are both on my board for this year.  HOWEVER, May is also the month for my Just Nan-athon so I'm not sure how I will fit this one into the rotation.  

April 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.  

April is G and H.  Once again I wasn't working Friday so I started there with H for Hocus Pocus Cabinet from Primitive Hare.  

Here's where I finished:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha  linen

Next up on Saturday was H for Head - Art Nouveau Head from Craft Collection and now my oldest WIP.

It went from here:

to here:

stitched on 14 count white aida

I got loads done as it was quite easy and repetitive.  I had originally swapped G and H over as I thought my big stitching day was going to be Sunday and I wanted to focus on Gardens of London for the day.  However, it turned out that I got more hours in on Saturday.  The problem with Gardens is that I need to have the computer open and sit in front of it to stitch which wasn't possible on Saturday.  Whereas the Art Nouveau Head is just one piece of A4 paper and a smaller piece of fabric.

I did get the gold backstitch finished on one Guard's Box and started on the final one:

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast from Crafty Kitten

I'm thinking of adding in another day on this one before the end of the month to make up for it.  At least to finish the gold on the boxes.

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 only one project for each of I and J.  Then we come to my first blank which is K.  I do have a Lizzie*Kate design on my 24 list so I may have to start that one.  To fit in all the letters in 12 months I have to have two months where I stitch 3 letters or skip a letter.  It makes sense for May to be that month.

Finally the next IHSW will be 17th - 19th May 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 April Link-up Post

   

Welcome to the April 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 for February was stitched on gifted fabric and I picked it up again over the Easter Weekend and got a finish!

Cricket Collection - Spring

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

Close-ups of the letters

So many little details, I added beads for the raindrops

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

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 "April 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, I will do my best to pop round and visit everyone this month, I'm a little behind in my blog reading again!

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for April

   

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 was quite organised this month and have two framed pieces to share with you.  One was finished this year and the other is a little bit older (2021),

I went through my frame box looking for a frame for the first piece and found two, a gold rectangle and a blue square.  Then I went through my finished pieces folder to see if there was anything that fitted into the square frame better,  There was, so I framed both pieces.

Here is the first one, the intended FFO for this month - September Strawflowers from The Sweetheart Tree:

Here's the second bonus FFO - Peacock Tapestry from Just Nan:

I didn't have the peacock charm for the centre but I did have this lovely sparkly rainbow star so I used that instead.

While I was doing the framing, I took some photos to show how I frame my pieces and get them centred and straight in the frame.

The first thing I do is measure the aperture of the frame and measure the width of the stitching.  Take one from the other and divide by two.

So the frame was 9cm and the stitching was 7cm which leaves 2cm to be divided by 2 so 1cm margin.

Do the same for the height. In this case, it's a square but always doublecheck!

Then I take the stitching and remove one thread 1cm from the edge of the stitching, as below:

Fold along those lines and fold the corners diagonally.  Take a piece of card ever so slightly smaller than the aperture of the frame, eg 8.9cm for this frame.  Lay the stitching face-down and centre the card onto it.

Put a small piece of double sided tape in each corner and fold the corners over diagonally.  You can use the removed thread lines to make sure they are straight.

Repeat for all four corners, then add double sided tape to the middle of each side:

Although I'm using tape, it never touches the back of the stitching so won't affect my threads over time.

Fold the edges over, looking at the front side to make sure the fold is exactly down the removed thread line.

Here's the back when all four sides are done.  You could stitch across the corners if the linen is very loose or springy but I don't usually bother.  If I was going to stick metal washers to the back and mount it with magnets then I probably would because it will keep the corners secure for longer.

Pop it in the frame and take a photo!  

Hope you found this useful for framing your small pieces.

Finally, thanks to everyone who took part in the Easter Treasure Hunt this year.  The Mystery Phrase was :

Hippity Hoppity

Just like this bunny that was sent to me by Beth in IL a few years ago.  I get him out every Easter for my display.