April 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 4:

stitched on 28 count black Jobelan evenweave

I want to stitch all my Just Nan smalls next month for my annual Just Nan-athon so I started Day 5 this month and I'll finish it in June with Day 6.

Here's the progress so far: 

Finally, here are Days 1-3:

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 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.  It went from here:

to here:

stitched on 32 count tea-dyed linen

This is the part I worked on over the weekend:

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.

stitched on 14 count Aida banding

Finally the next IHSW will be 16th - 18th 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.

None of my daytime pieces have a gifted component so I can't share them today, but fortunately my evening piece does.  This is, as ever, Annie Beez's 12 Days of Christmas:

stitched on 28 count black Jobelan evenweave

Here are the two I FFO'd already, along with Day 3 from last month:

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

(excuse the washed-out colours, this is what natural light does!)

I'm using the DMC conversion for this one.

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 "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 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).

Last month I finished the first one of my Annie Beez 12 Days of Christmas stockings.  Pleased with my success I finished a second one this month!

Here are Days 1 and 2 together with the Day 3 stitching:

Finally, here are the backs.  I'm going to alternate between the two fabrics.

Finally, I am undecided whether to attach some trim along the top or not.  It does need a little hanger but I'll wait until I've finished a few more.  I hope to do at least one per month...

Fourteenth Blogaversary Post

 

Today is my 14th Blogaversary, another year of blogging fun with our community.

So, here are the stats:

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14 years

1513 posts

711 followers

24,129 comments

2,309,094 pageviews

WOW

This time last year I was working on a selection of small to medium sized pieces and as predicted, they are all finishes!

Circle Cross - Art Nouveau Zodiac Tarot Cards - Finish

The Steady Thread - Tree of Life Temperature SAL - Finish
Cottage Garden Samplings - The Swans - Finish
Cottage Garden Samplings - Halloween Sampler - Finish

Cricket Collection  -Spring - Finish
The Primitive Hare - Hocus Pocus Cabinet - Finish

La Broderie - Quiet Hour Sampler - Finish

Cottage Garden Samplings - Partridge in a Pear Tree - Finish

This did slow down progress on my larger WIPs.

Chatelaine Gardens of London went from here last April:

and this is all that was added!

Mirabilia's Fairy Idyll grew from here:

to here:

Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas went from here:

to here:

I'm making good progress on my oldest WIP - Art Nouveau Head by Craft Collection.  From here last April:

to here:

On the list of current projects this year I have:

The Steady Thread - Halloween Bookshelf

My own design Temperature Chart

Heart in Hand - Tiny Halloween Town

Susan Penny - Winter's View

Nora Corbett - Evanora

Annie Beez Folkart - 12 Days of Christmas Stockings

How about you?  What's been your greatest achievement over the last year?

Finally, a Happy Birthday to my Blog's twin - Susan from Yellow Flower Meadow!

April 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 March, the numbers 9 and 24  were called.  These relate to Mirabilia's Fairy Idyll and the Art Nouveau Head (again).

Here's how Fairy Idyll looks after adding some bed flounces and rabbit to the right hand side:

stitched on 32 count Vinyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

This is where I finished the Head for the month:

stitched on 14 count White Aida

For April, the numbers 4 and 10 were called.  These relate to Nora Corbett's Evanora and Cricket Collection's Summer - two new starts!

I decided to start Evanora first as I had the fabric for her ready:

stitched on 28 count evenweave from an unknown dyer

She will coordinate with Claire who I stitched last year:

This is the cover photo for Summer:

Finally, my evening project will be the Annie Beez 12 Days of Christmas Stockings.  Here is Day 4 so far:

stitched on 28 count Black Jobelan

(Is it me, or does that bird look like a sloth at the moment?)

March Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's time for Pie!

I spent the first half of the month working on Fairy Idyll from Mirabilia.  She went from here:

to here:

stitched on 32 count Vinyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

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:

You can see the two main projects in my Smalls post from Friday.

Finally, Stitch from Stash, just my two magazine subscriptions, which are exempt from the budget.

March WIPocalypse Favourite 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 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.

First up was Fairy Idyll from Mirabilia, her first outing for this year.  I worked on this portion:

stitched on 32 count Vinyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

The purple bedfrills are a conversion to co-ordinate better with my fabric.  The charted colours are shades of pink.  You can see the large rabbit appearing too.

After her I moved back to my oldest WIP, the Art Nouveau Head by Custom Crafts which has been called four times so far this year:

stitched on 14 count white Aida

I'm working away on the golden colours in her headpiece at the moment.

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

March  – Which are your favourite three designers?

According to my Happy Dance blog, Just Nan is by far and away the top designer for finishes, over 110 to date.  Joan Elliott has 31 entries and Mirabilia/Nora Corbett 27 combined.

I think I would agree they are my Top Three.  When I first started this blog I listed those three plus Lavender & Lace and Teresa Wenztler as my favourites as well as my ambition to stitch a Chatelaine one day!

I would possibly add Circle Cross for her blackwork, maybe to replace Joan Elliott as I haven't stitched so much of her newer designs.

Here are my favourite finishes from my Top Three:

Mirabilia - Sleeping Beauty

Joan Elliott - 12 Days of Christmas

Just Nan - Scream House

March TUSAL

       

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

I've made quite good progress on her this month, you'll see how much is hidden under the TUSAL jar when I make my final post of the month.

Finally, next month's New Moon is Sunday 27th April.