Finally Fully Finished Fun for July

      

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've got a big one this month - a large framed piece that was finished last year.

Just a nice standard frame from B&M the homeware shop

Here's the individual blocks again, starting with the one that convinced me to stitch this mystery SAL:

followed by the only one that isn't by Tenniel:

The Tweedles, who aren't in Alice in Wonderland at all.  
The Caterpillar should have been here:

Painting the Roses Red, I love the Disney song

The Duchess, another great character you don't see so often

I'm very proud of this block, it was designed as the two footmen so I charted the Queen of Hearts in her iconic pose myself

This final block was also charted by me.  The original was the King and Queen in court but I have always liked this illustration better.

"You're nothing but a pack of cards!"

I also had a part finish at the weekend, the first of the Zodiac Signs from Circle Cross

I added beads to create the constellation of Gemini instead of cross stitches

Here's the whole design so far:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Finally, I had a new start but as it's only a double line of brown x stitches, we'll save that for Gifted Gorgeousness as it was a gift from a blogging friend.

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.

As usual, I worked on Friday so the only thing that got stitched that day was my Amanda Butler Cardiff House project, with evening stitching it now looks like this:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

Yes, that's a finish!  Much quicker than the previous two designs.

On Saturday I decided to focus all day on the Fire Element from Circle Cross:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweaver

Yes, another finish!  This one took a lot longer than Earth as it is much more densely filled and less logical than the Earth design.  Here are both of them together:

Air is next and should be much quicker to stitch.

I'd already done my days on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow so I decided to focus on Little Snapdragon for the rest of the month.  The green is quite tedious with all the different but very similar shades but this is where I am now:

stitched on 32 count Evening Sky Murano from Crafty Kitten

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

March Smalls

  

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.

The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I am still working on Fire:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

My next collection of tiny items is the Potion Bottle Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso.  

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

I popped it into the evening slot for a couple of days to try catch up a bit.

The next series is from Amanda Butler in Cross Stitcher magazine.  I completed the London Houses at the start of the month:

And moved straight onto the Belfast Houses and got them done in 27 days:

stitched on 28 pale grey evenweave

Finally, following on from Noteworthy Needle's exciting release from last month, here's another moveable seasonal design, released for the Jingle Ball last year:

On her Facebook page she has a video showing how this works and the reason I am excited is because I have made one of these before.  They are not difficult at all so I just need to find some nice seasonal designs and I can make one.

Facebook Noteworthy Needle

Here's the one I made.  The big difference is the I cut the corners off which makes it easier to turn.  You can see the wear on the corners in the above video already because they are square.

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.

As usual, I worked on Friday so the only thing that got stitched that day was my Amanda Butler Belfast Houses project, with evening stitching it now looks like this:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

On Saturday morning I put some more stitches into the Fire Element from Circle Cross:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweaver

And then did my final day on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow for March:

stitched over one on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

On Sunday morning, I added some more bottles to my Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso:

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

In the afternoon I had a new start!  The WIPGO Board chose this one for me.  Nora Corbett's Taurus, stitched on Taurus from Sparklies!

stitched on 32 count Taurus Murano from Sparklies

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

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for March

  

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 got one fully finished object this month, a little ornament from December 2017!

Just Nan - Holiday in Ice

Stitched on 32 count Ocean's Kiss Permin Linen

I whip stitched round the edges and added beads and pre-made tassel to the bottom of the design.

Ready for this Christmas now!

I also has one finish right at the start of the month.  The third in Amanda Butler's Houses series in Cross Stitcher magazine.  This one is London Houses:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

The backstitch really does make these designs.  My original plan was to finish all thirteen as one very long concertina row but now I am wondering if shorter rows would work.  Because then I could FFO the first four at the end of this month rather than save them all until the end of the year!

Finally, here's my new start to replace the finished House.  This one is Belfast House, another row of tall terraced houses.

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

February Smalls

 

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.

The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I completed Earth last month and am currently working on Fire:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

My next collection of tiny items is the Potion Bottle Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso.  

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

After a green start to the month, we went into blue for a week, then got warmer so some lime days appeared.  Heading blue at the end of this week though.

The next series is from Amanda Butler in Cross Stitcher magazine.  I completed Harrogate House at the end of January

And moved straight onto the London Houses:

stitched on 28 pale grey evenweave

Finally, very exciting news out of the Nashville Market.  Noteworthy Needle is releasing a design which was a class exclusive.  It's an incredible 3D design called Turn, Turn, Turn that you can manipulate to show a tree in four different seasons.

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.

I worked on Friday so the only thing that got stitched that day was my Amanda Butler London Houses project, with evening stitching it now looks like this:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

On Saturday morning I put some more stitches into the Fire Element from Circle Cross:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweaver

And then did my final day on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow for February:

On Sunday morning, I added some more bottles to my Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso, including added some of the warmest colour so far - lime:

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

In the afternoon I continued to work on the Faces SAL by Joan Elliott.  My goal is to finish this larger block this year.

stitched over 28 count Snapdragon Jazlyn from Crafty Kitten.

Finally the next IHSW will be 17th - 19th 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.