February Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's time for Pie!

I spent the first half of the month working on Cottage Garden Samplings Year in the Woods and have now completed The Swans next to The Fox:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

After that I moved on to the Art Nouveau Head, which is my oldest WIP.

I went from here:

to here:

stitched on 14 count white Aida

Here's my evening pie:

The second stocking took a lot longer that the first one.  Partly because it was the Christmas holidays when I started the first one so I had more time to do things in the day which gave me more stitching time in the evening.

You can see the two main projects in my Smalls post earlier today.

Finally, Stitch from Stash, a lovely no-spend month.

February Smalls

 

         

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Rachel

For my Smalls stitching this year, I will be stitching the 12 Days of Christmas from Annie Beez.  They don't take long which then gives me time to stitch some blackwork or another small from my list.

Here's Day 2:

stitched on 28 count black Jobelan evenweave

Finally, once I finished Day 2, I moved back to Winter's View by Susan Penny from Cross Stitcher magazine.

Here's where I am now:

stitched on 14 count White Aida

February TUSAL

      

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

And here's how the Art Nouveau Head looks at the end of the month:

stitched on 14 count white Aida

Finally, her number has been called again for March's WIPGO so hopefully I can finish the bottom half of the design and make a start on her ornate headpiece.

February 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 attempting International Hermit and Blackwork.  I do love blackwork and have a couple of projects I want to try fit in to my rotation without being on the WIPGO Board.

My main blackwork piece is the Halloween Blackwork from The Steady Thread.  I didn't get huge amounts done on this but went from here:

to here:

 

stitched on 32 count tea-dyed linen

I added some more of the blue to the crystal ball, started the shelf and vases to the right of it.  Then a few bits of border.  The border is fiddly but I can stitch it without the chart in front of me.

On Sunday morning I continued with this year's Temperatue SAL.  Just a very simple column of colour for each day.  Charting the lows for the night time and the highs for the day time.

Finally the next IHSW will be 21st - 23rd March 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.

February WIPocalypse SALs

       

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 last year.  For 2025 I have decided not to attempt this.  I want to focus on 2 larger pieces and then spend the rest of my stitching time on the series I have started.  This month I stitched on 2 of them and had 1 finish.

2. Craft Collection Art Nouveau Head

6. Cottage Garden Samplings Year in the Woods - 

The Swans is a finish

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

February – What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

Obviously, WIPocalypse!  My other SALs are

Fully Finished Gallery - show anything you have FFO'd on the 10th
Gifted Gorgeousness - post anything gifted on the 15th
Smalls SAL - last Friday of each month
The TUSAL - post on the New Moon each month

I don't tend to SAL actual designs as I have my rotation planned and it rarely fits in with other people's plans.  But if you are stitching anything that I am stitching do let me know and we can call it a SAL!

I also tend to avoid Mystery SALs having been bitten once or twice.  I wait until most of the piece has been released and then see if I still have FOMO and want to start it!

A WIPGO Finish

I'm doing WIPGO again this year because it's fun to have the element of surprise in your planned stitching.

I started The Year in the Woods series from Cottage Garden Samplings in December 2023 and finished The Fox in January 2024.  I straight away moved on to The Swans on the same piece of fabric.  

Here's where I left off stitching them:

That was my start point for 2025 and I stitched on them every day this February except for the 13th.  Here are my finished photos:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

I substituted B5200 for the white snowflakes and added a strand of blending filament for extra sparkle as I did for The Fox.

I also changed the water to DMC 927 and the gold wings to DMC 832.

I again used 522 for the trees so they show up better.

Other than that I stuck to the charted DMC conversion.

Finally, here are the pair together:

Gifted Gorgeousness February Link-Up Post

 

Welcome to the February 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 the month is not a gift but my evening piece has been.  I was given the chart for Annie Beez's 12 Days of Christmas for Christmas and plan to stitch one per month.  So I'll always have at least one thing to show for GG!

stitched on 28 count black Jobelan evenweave

This one isn't a gifted piece but I'll be stitching it on the 13th of every month for Dark Thirteen so you'll see this every GG post too.

This is Halloween Tiny Town from Heart in Hand Designs:

stitched on 32 count Tobacco Belfast linen

I'm using the DMC conversion but the house is very different to the cover which is more of a tomato shade.  I did change the pumpkin as that was supposed to be 761 which is pink.

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 "Febuary 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 February

 

 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 just want to make it clear that this IS me, Jo the Serendipitous Stitcher AKA Jo who can't think of a clever nickname, posting.  This blog has not been taken over by someone else.  I was merely visited by a Finishing Fairy in the last month!  If you've heard the tale of The Elves and the Shoemaker, this is very similar.  I left my finishes out and some spirit came along and FFO'd them!

First up was my 2024 Temperature Tree from The Steady Thread.  All the Finishing Fairy had to do for this one was iron it, stretch it and mount on card to be slipped into a pocket in my scrapbook.

It's almost exactly 12 x 12 inches.  Those leaves look so pretty!


Next up was Evening in the Shire by Maria Brovko.  Again, iron, stretch and mount on card then popped in a simple black frame:

In the same style frame is Aslan from Life in Stitch:

Both of those have glass in front of them but I always take the photos without glass then put it back afterwards.  That way I get a nice clear photo without reflections.

Last up was Nevermore from Quaternion Creations.  This frame was from a charity shop and originally had a mirror in it.  The frame is brass so I painted it with a black paint wash so you can still see the details of the frame.

The moon on this does show up better in real life.

Finally, while getting out my February stitched decor to add to the Winter pieces already on display, I decided to sort out my frame collection.  They were stored in two different places and now they are all in one cupboard.  I have measured and catalogued them all onto a spreadsheet too.   I have 56 frames of an assortment of sizes, shapes and styles.   The largest 3 are 10.5 x 13.5 inches.

Some came from charity shops, some from home department stores, some from my Mum and a couple were gifts.  Now I have all the sizes down in one place it should make it easier to match stitching to frame!

February Plans

This year I want to focus on 2 larger pieces and then spend the rest of my stitching time on the series I have started.  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 projects I stitch that month. 

In January, the numbers 11 and 20 were called.  These both related to my oldest WIP, the Art Nouveau Head so I made some great progress on that project, finishing here:

stitched on 14 count White Aida

For February, the numbers 7 and 8 were called.  These relate to Cottage Garden Samplings Year in the Woods series and the Art Nouveau Head (again).

I'm currently stitching The Swans for the Year in the Woods and here's where I left off last year:

Here's where I am now, I've got quite a lot done in just five days!

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

Finally, my evening project will be the Annie Beez 12 Days of Christmas Stockings.  Here is Day 2 so far:

stitched on 28 count Black Jobelan