June Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's time for Pie!

My main Focus piece for the month was Stitchy Princess' Alice in Wonderland.  I started her on the 2nd and completed her after 13.5 days of stitching.  The half day was part of the Longest Week Marathon.

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue fabric

I used a darker fabric than the charted so had to change the blues.  The charted light blue just looked white on this fabric so I swapped it for a darker shade.

This was a nice quick stitch and all I need now is a square frame and it will be on display.

After stitching on Alice for 13 days, I switched to my Marathon.  This usually takes place as close as possible to the Longest Day in June.  But I couldn't clear a single whole day so this year I decided to spread it over a week and stitched two projects per day.  You can follow the fun on this post - Longest Day/Week Marathon

Alice wasn't the only project finished during the Marathon.  I also completed the beading on Circle Cross' Art Nouveau Tarot Zodiac Signs:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

More photos:

Each of signs align with the elements shown above

The final project of the Marathon was Mirabilia's Fairy Idyll which I enjoyed so much I decided to finish IHSW on the Monday and give her another day.

stitched on 32 count Vinyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

I spent the last 6 days of the month working on my evening project - Living on the Rainbow's 3D Haunted House which is nearly finished!

stitched on 32 count purple linen

I stitched on it every evening too, so here's the evening pie:

Finally, Stitch from Stash.  I did spend some money this month.  I want to own all the fabrics for the Zodiac Girls from Nora Corbett so ordered the next three colours for the Fire signs - Aries, Leo and Sagittarius.  Now I am nagging Kate to dye the Air signs so I can get them too.

I also had my Cross Stitcher magazine sub come out this month but that doesn't count for SFS.

May Stitch from Stash and Pie

 Here's my May pie:

Claire was my focus piece and she has her own post dedicated to the finish - Happy Dance For Claire

I had 6 days where all I stitched was my daily Just Nan due to being away from the house all day.  I managed to get the borders completed on all four of the seasons, which was a nice achievement.

     

     

One other achievement was completing the final Zodiac sign on my Art Nouveau Tarot series from Circle Cross:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Now all I need to do is add the beaded constellations for each of the signs and find a large frame!

I also keep a pie for my evening stitching:

Nice and simple for this month!  All the different Just Nan Smalls can be seen on my Smalls post this month.

Finally, Stitch from Stash was another zero spend, doing well here!

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 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.  

March Stitch From Stash and Pie

Here's my monthly Pie for March:

Very varied thanks to the A-Z Challenge.

The WIPGO board chose The Primitive Hare Hocus Pocus Cabinet as my focus piece and I was doing really well until I realised that I had miscounted the top border and now have a floating head!

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

That will be coming out next time I stitch on this piece.

Instead I decided to spend the Easter weekend on something more colourful and pulled out Spring from Cricket Collection.

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

One more day and I should be able to finish this one off.  The rest of the pieces can be seen on the GG and IHSW posts earlier in the month.

In the evenings I started with the Cheshire Cat from Rainbow Hunter, then my WIPGO piece from The Sweetheart Tree and finished the month on the Circle Cross Zodiac Tarot on Etsy. 

I finished Aquarius:

And Pisces!

Only 2 more signs to go!

stitched on 28 count Sky Blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Finally, the only things I spent money on this month were two magazine subscriptions and they are both exempt from Stitch from Stash so I'm doing well.  I do want to buy some fabric for three more Nora Corbett Zodiac Signs and also the lovely Alice blackwork I purchased last month.