September Pie

  It's time for pie!

Steady Thread Halloween Blackwork

stitched on 30 count tea-dyed linen

And here's my evening pie:

September Stitch from Stash

 Here's my monthly spend:

I couldn't resist the Halloween Blackwork chart from The Steady Thread and started it immediately on a piece of 30 count linen I tea-dyed.

One of the pieces of fabric was from Chromatic Alchemy's closing down sale and the other two were from a new-to-me dyer on Facebook.

September WIPocalypse Learning to Stitch

            

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 four finishes.

2. Shepherd's Bush Halloween Trifles

11. Hands on Designs [never.more]

12. Living on the Rainbow Haunted House

16. Tra La La Couer de Sorciere

24. Cottage Garden Samplings Halloween Sampler

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

September – How did you learn to stitch?

I actually stitched my very first piece in Year 2 in Primary School.

After that, there was a long break until I saw a friend cross stitching a design for her baby son in 1993.  I was intrigued and thought it looked easier than sewing or embroidery because of the squares on the fabric.

I bought a small kit and started immediately, following the instructions in the kit:

After I'd got the basics I moved on to stitching with metallics, stitching on black, stitching on linen etc.  In the pre-internet days there was no-one telling you that something was supposed to be difficult!  You just tried it out to see how you got on.

Some of my techniques remain from the original kits - I'm a centre starter and much prefer to start that way.  Some developed from my own habits, I stitch using "secured needle" because it's practical when travelling and with cats or small children around.

The main change I have made is from stitching ////// then \\\\\\\ for rows to stitching each X individually.  I realised I prefer the tension and the look of the stitches when I do them individually.

September 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.  

August's choice was Shepherd's Bush Halloween Trifles and I had finished two of them for last month's post.  Here's the 3rd:

stitched on 32 count Tigerlily Murano from Sparklies

For September, the draw called for [never.more] by Hands On Design and here's where I am with this one:

stitched on 32 count Khaki linen

Finally, I'm a long way behind in posting again!  This post has totally missed the deadline to link up.  Sorry Rachel!

 

September 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.  

August was P and Q but I totally forgot to swap out my projects so I decided to roll them over to September.

I had a few choices for P but decided to focus on just one rather unloved project which covered both P and Q.  Mrs Peggotty's Queen of Hearts.

I started this one back in 2019 after loving her Alice design.  Unfortunately I got bogged down in the endless stripes on this one and haven't really enjoyed stitching her.  

So this month I decided to fill in the roses and then move across and try complete all of Page 2 which included some of her face.

This is where I stopped on The Longest Day:

Here's where I am now!

stitched over 1 on 25 count white evenweave

I'm really pleased with that progress so while it's never going to be my favourite project I can see I will finish it one day.  I also noticed that Mrs Peggotty has tweaked the design since I bought the chart.  Look at how different the frame is and how there are a lot less long straight lines of stitching to do.  Clearly I am not the only one who wasn't enjoying that aspect.

Here's what else I worked on over the weekend, two projects from Steady Thread.

The first is the Halloween SAL which I am doing in a Victorian Motto Sampler Shop thread called Violet Grey and some dark toned Anchor threads for the accents.

stitched on 30 count tea-dyed linen

We're approaching the end of summer but we still have some lovely oranges and yellows for the Temperature Tree

stitched on 28 count Cashel Linen in Meadow Mist from Silkweavers

 

Next month will be R and S.  I don't have an R project at the moment but S is covered by a number of projects so I will be spoiled for choice!

Finally the next IHSW will be 18th - 20th October 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.

September Gifted Gorgeousness Link-up Post

        

Welcome to the September 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.

Last month, my evening piece was a chart I gave to a friend as a Birthday present and then she gave it back to me to stitch for myself!  I'm using the offcut of Sparklies' Tigerlily Murano for these.

Shepherd's Bush - Halloween Trifles

stitched on 32 count Tigerlily Murano from Sparklies

My focus piece for last month was Joan Elliott's Faces SAL, stitched on gifted fabric:

stitched on 28 count Snapdragon Jazlyn from Crafty Kitten

This month, both my focus pieces are also gifts!  The charts were sent to me by a lovely friend who was clearing some of her older stash.  During the day I am stitching on Couer de Sorciere by TraLaLa:

stitched on 32 count Taupe evenweave

In the evening it's this little repeating design from Hands on Design, [never.more]

stitched on 32 count Khaki linen

Continuing progress on this one as we cool down to Lime again:

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.

I've caught up at last!

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

Finally, 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 "September 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 Fully Finishing Fun for September

  

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).

Guess what - I finished something!!  Two somethings in fact.

First something is a ten year old project, the Faces SAL from Joan Elliott started in 2014 and finished in August 2024.  I went for a simple box frame that I painted with emulsion test pots, a mix of pink and lilac to match the lovely fabric.

Nice and simple with a good amount of the fabric showing round the edge.

Close up of one corner:
  

The second FFO is very exciting and took quite a bit longer than just framing a picture.

Living on the Rainbow 3D Haunted House

I changed the finishing method a bit.
Instead of using iron-on interfacing, I mounted each piece on thin card.

I whipstitched the four sides together.

Then I stitched the roof on three sides from the back, turned it right way out, inserted some thin card and whipstitched the fourth side shut.

I backstitched along the top to make a ridge in the roof then stitched the roof to the four walls.

(that was the hardest part in the process)

I stuffed the house with pillow stuffing.

Finally, I covered a piece of thin card in linen and stitched it to the bottom of the house.

September Plans

At the start of the year I made a list of 24 projects I want to stitch this year for my "24 in '24".  The order I stitch them in is going to be determined by the WIPGO Board.  Jessie-Marie calls two numbers each month and those will be the two projects I stitch that month.  One small and one medium.

In August, the numbers were 12 and 15.  These related to Joan Elliott's Faces SAL and Shepherd's Bush Halloween Trifles.

A very successful month saw both of these finished, including all three of the Trifles.

stitched on 28 count Snapdragon Jazlyn from Crafty Kitten

Boo

Eek

Halloween

all stitched on 32 count Tigerlily Murano from Sparklies

In September, the numbers are 4 and 11.  These relate to TraLaLa Couer de Sorciere and Hands on Design [never.more].

stitched on 32 count Taupe evenweave

I'm making really good progress on this one as I started early!  Once I finished the Faces SAL I thought I would start this one immediately rather than wait until 1st September.  I have quite a bit of FFO'ing to do and some larger projects it would be nice to work on.  Plus people keep releasing gorgeous Halloween designs I want to squeeze in!

stitched on 32 count Khaki linen

This one is my evening stitch.  I don't have the button but I will probably add a spider charm to the middle instead.

Finally, I am way behind in my blogging so you may see older posts suddenly appear out of date order.  I have made a start on four posts from August that need finishing and publishing.  So far, I'm up to date with September though!

September TUSAL

  

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current projects:

On the left we have Couer de Sorciere from TraLaLa:

stitched on 32 count Taupe evenweave

On the right is my evening project - [never.more] from Hands On Design:

stitched on 32 count Khaki linen

Finally, you'll see more of these on my Plans post coming up soon.