Theme-a-licious December Update

Theme-a-licious is hosted by Heather of It's Geek to Me

Each month Heather thinks up a theme for us to stitch to, or in my case, a theme to somehow shoe-horn my existing stitching into, no matter how tenuous the link!

This was the theme for December:

Detritus December

It's the end of the year...are there some projects you thought you'd have done by now? Let's take a walk down memory lane and start the new year with a clean plate.

Thankfully this is an easy one to stitch to theme!!

So far this month I have completed a Giveaway which I can't show yet, a Dragon Dreams Birthday card which I can, a Dragonlet a Drumming which I'm saving for WIPocalypse, Gandalf for the Hobbit Challenge and the final part of The Little Stitcher Advent.  Not bad for a fortnight!  I also stitched the words Happy Birthday on some aida but I am not counting that as a Finish!

Pictures:

Dragon Dreams freebie available on their FB page only.

 

Gandalf from Pixel Power

This was stitched on a piece of 28 count evenweave from a Crafty Kitten grab bag.

For those of you who wondered, the runes spell out Gandalf's speech while facing the Balrog on the bridge in the Mines of Moria - "You cannot pass.  I am a servant of the Secret Fire, Wielder of the Flame of Anor.  The Dark Fire will not avail you Flame of Udun.  Go back to the shadow. L.O.T.R."

Final four days of The Little Stitcher Fairy Tale Advent.

I stitched this over 1 on 32 count Vintage Grain linen.  I have enough left to stitch two of the Winter Wood ornies I have and also this lovely design:

The plan is to stitch one a month starting in January 2014.  Anyone care to join us?

You can buy the charts either as PDFs or as a paper booklet from The Little Stitcher's Etsy shop.  Click picture for link.

Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop is ticking away nicely, don't forget to pop in every day and leave a comment on the blogs you visit.  I'm tending to update it in the evening when I get home as I'm working alot and hubby is monopolising the computer muttering about "end of year accounts".

In a Hole in the Ground there lived a Hobbit...

who had many adventures, some of which are told in the new film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug released today.  To celebrate the film's release the blog Crochettes has decided to host a LOTR Challenge.

I actually chose a piece from The Lord of the Rings simply because I liked it and it was a freebie!  Here is a very forbidding Gandalf:

The chart can be found on Pixel Power's website here.  There is a long list of titles but no pictures, you have to click on each link to see the charts.  If you do, you may notice that their Gandalf does not a lovely Runic border like mine.  I charted the border myself.  You get triple Geek points if you can tell me what it says!!

Interestingly, Gandalf does not say "You shall not pass" in the book, he says "you cannot pass".  This link goes some way to explain why the film is different to the book Sci-Fi and Fantasy Stack Exchange.  I quite agree that the film version is more powerful.

I have been posting my Little Stitcher Advent Calendar on my FB page as my daily profile picture and here are some photos of the tree so far:

This are the first 6 designs

Here are the next 6 designs upto number 12

And here is today's panel with just number 13 changed.  Each of the square panels has the number on, they are fixed to the tree with velcro so I just peel off the square and replace it with the relevant stitched panel.

Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop is proceeding nicely, there are lovely stitched piece on there and some great shared memories too.  So don't forget to pop back each day and catch up with the latest blogger.

December TUSAL

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

Just for a change, the TUSAL jar is posing with my Advent Calendar tree and the current new start, a Dragon Dreams Birthday Card.  There's really not much to see on it so far!

Here's a closer picture of the tree:

The tree came from Wilkinsons and as it black and gold it can double up as a Hallowe'en tree too!  I bought two sheets of scrapbooking paper, one with 25 numbered panels and the other with an assortment of Christmas "patches".  I cut them all out, stuck numbers on the patches and mounted them on the tree with velcro tape.  Then I cut out and stuck each motif on a number panel using double-sided tape.  Each day I remove the numbered block and replace it with the relevant panel.

Because everything is velcroed I can just get some Hallowe'en patches and use them instead of the Christmas themed ones.

Here is the latest progress picture on the higher numbered motifs:

The Little Stitcher Fairy Tale Advent Calendar

I love everyone single one of these but especially the two little girls in red and green.  Only two motifs to go!

You may have noted my reference to using the tree as a Hallowe'en tree too.  The Large Boy and I had got as far as jotting down some notes as to which motifs we would include when this plopped through my letterbox:

It's Spooky Countdown by Primitive Hare!  The lovely Chiara of The Grey Tail was visiting the needlework show in Albimente and had a giveaway to win two different signed charts.  The charts were both won by some people who weren't me but never mind I thought I could always treat myself later.

Anyway Chiara had promised to send me some DVDs a while ago so as a "sorry they took longer to reach you than they should have" she sent me the Spooky Countdown chart!  And not just a chart, but a signed chart.  How amazing is that?  And before you ask, it wasn't signed by Chiara (which would have been exciting enough) but by Isabella the designer her very self!  So now I have two charts signed by the designers.  (I got a signed Teresa Wentzler from Karen for my Birthday).

Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop has started, we have three people posted so far - Vickie, Kevin and Shirlee.  I hope you've been over to their blogs to read what they had to say about their foodie traditions  You can find the Calendar post by clicking on that door to the top right of my sidebar.  BTW apologies to anyone who thought they'd slept through December because I put the door for the 24th at the top of the post!  Blogger arranges posts so the most recent things are at the top so I have done the same for the Calendar.  ooops!

Ornament SAL November Update

This is the Ornament SAL hosted by Stitching Lotus

I have three different ornament challenges running this year, the JBW Alphabet Cat stitched in a different colour scheme each month, the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas, a FB exclusive and the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog.

I stitched the 11th Dragonlet of Christmas right at the beginning of the month, so here he is:

He's a Piper Piping!  Bonus points for anyone who can identify the tune he is piping.

The JBW cat got left to the end of the month and I haven't quite finished him yet, so I don't spoil the surprise here is a "top of the head" scan:

That fabric is actually black jobelan.  Bonus points for anyone who can guess the theme this month.

I haven't stitched a Hallowe'en ornie (yet) because I've been concentrating on my Little Stitcher's Advent Calendar.  So here is the second part of that:

Cutesville!  Gingerbread men and little bunnies (or maybe hares given the length of their ears?).  The fabric is 32count Belfast in Vintage Grain as Shirlee asked me about it.  The colours do show up nicely.  The chart calls for a Vintage 32 count but not one that I had and I did have Grain.

I have bought the supplies for my finishing idea for this Advent Calendar while in town today, all I need is some velcro tape, some double sided tape and I'm ready for making up just in time for the weekend.  I promise to Show and Tell as soon as I get started.

Finally, as soon as I finish this post I will be sending out the dates for the Advent Calendar Blog Hop so watch your inboxes if you signed up.  There is still one place left if anyone wants to be in, just drop me an email.

More Tiny Stitching

I have been pretty much a OAAT this month (One At A Time) working on The Little Stitcher's Fairy Tale Advent Calendar.  Apart from one day when I misplaced the thread ring and had to wait for replacement threads!  Thank heavens for SewandSo's fast delivery.

Here are the first sixteen designs in rows of four:

The consensus seems to be number four is a dog.

Love the blue snowflake in this row.

Look, Karen, squirrels!

And another dog, a dachshund?

The lady on the left is Saint Lucy. whose Feast Day is celebrated on 13th December mainly in Italy and the Scandinavian countries.

I'm really enjoying this little series, managing to keep to one a day on average.  This week I'm going into town to see if I can get the supplies I need for my display idea.

I did make a couple of new starts, one for the Hobbit/ LOTR Challenge found on the Crochettes blog.  Reveal Day for that is St. Lucy's Day by co-incidence.  The other is going to be sent out as a prize recently awarded on this blog so I shan't name the design but here's my start:

OAAT is satisfying but does not provide alot of photos!  Around the Blogisphere I have noticed that not so many people are participating in NaBloPoMo this year, in previous years my Reader has been jammed full!  Astrid has found many reasons to be grateful this month.  Nia has her baby-brain well and truly in gear.  Lili seems to be single-handedly keeping the Hallowe'en SAL Blog going with some lovely designs.  And Daffycat has released her annual reindeer ornie which I had to have this year because I'm sure she has modelled it on our visitors:

Pop over to Daffycat's to see what I mean!

In other blogs, people are deciding what to do about the various activities many of us take part in each year.  The WIPocalypse, Theme-a-licious, IHSW etc.  There's a new one for next year, the Just Nan SAL hosted by Zeb of Keep Calm and Stitch, so if you're a fan pop over there and sign up.  I'll be hosting my usual blog hops (click on the tab at the top of this page for more details).  The next one will be the Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  We have a mere two spaces left for this now.  So if you would like to join in this year, send me an email quick!  Click on the door to the right for more details.

Finally I'd like to share two blogs I really enjoy - Needleprint and Mr X-Stitch.  Two very different blogs but with the same mission - to share crafty goodness with us all.  Needleprint is the more traditional of the two, lots of information about books, museums and tantalising antique sampler auctions.  Mr X-Stitch is more modern and edgy, especially their X-rated Saturday entries!

Click on the relevant image to learn more about the two blogs.

November WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi of Measi's Musings.

The main focus of my WIPocalypse this year is my "13 in '13" a list of 13 projects I want to complete in 2013, click on top tab for the list.  I haven't actually worked on any of them since the last WIPocalypse post but I did make a start on next year's list!  At the moment it looks like this but it may change (several times) between now and the start of the New Year:

  1. Joan Elliott - Green Goddess

  2. Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

  3. Maria’s Wedding

  4. Kat’s Baby

  5. Dragon Dreams Monthly

  6. Joan Elliott Diary

  7. Just Nan SAL

  8. Earthquake Charity

  9. Unicef Charity

10. Firewing Dragon

11. Stitcheranon chart

12. Ink Circles Little Alien

13. Shepherd’s Bush

14. Lisa Steele Dragon

The second part of the WIPocalypse is the Monthly Challenges.  The only one stitched so far is the Eleventh Dragonlet of Christmas:

These dragons are a Facebook exclusive from Dragon Dreams.  One or two people have stitched all twelve onto one piece of fabric and are displaying them on the FB page.

I have continued to stitch one design per day on The Little Stitcher Advent Calendar, now up to Day 8:

Just for scale, that is a size 28 petite needle.  The designs are stitched over 1 on 32 count Belfast Vintage Grain.

Now, Jan from Thread Garden started this, then Shebafudge carried it on, so in the same tradition, here is MY Top Five of designs from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornie Special 2013.  In the order they appear in the mag:

Blue Ribbon Designs (page 15)

Blackberry Lane (page 29)

(for some friends who are church-going Christians)

Shepherd's Bush (page 38)

(I would change the fabric to a blue)

Ink Circles (page 86)

Dragon Dreams (page 102)

Alot of people have said "oh, the mag isn't as good this year" but I have also read comments from UK stitchers seeing the mag for the first time (it's not readily available in newsagents here) and going mad over the lovely varied  designs in much the same way I did the first time I saw an issue.  I honestly believe it is Christmas Fatigue, so many of the designs follow a similar look or feel to previous years.  Of course, if you haven't seen a previous year then they are New and Exciting but if you've got every issue going back to the Year Dot it's easy to think Same Old, Same Old.  Whatever, it's still a million times better than the standard UK mag :-)

So do you have a different Top Five?  I have noticed the Snowbirds are very popular.  Living in a seaside town they look like Seagulls to me!  Maybe I should stitch them sitting on top of the Grain Silo near the Railway Line!

Click on the picture for the story.

The one we tell the children is that Santa stores the presents in that silo and when the tree goes on top it is a signal that they are ready to be collected by the sleigh to be delivered to all the local children.

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  As in previous years there will be 24 doors posted on my blog.  Each person who signs up will be allocated a date, on that date they must post a photo of something Festive they have stitched, either in the past or this year.  I will then copy the photo across to my post and by Christmas Eve we will have 24 Open Doors each linked to a different blog.  Last year I had more than 24 people so we had some Double Days which was great.  To take part please email me letting me know if there is a date you prefer or wish to avoid.  

Theme-a-licious November Update

Theme-a-licious is hosted by Heather of It's Geek to Me

Each month Heather thinks up a theme for us to stitch to, or in my case, a theme to somehow shoe-horn my existing stitching into, no matter how tenuous the link!

This is the theme for November:

No-Xs November

What can you make without making an X?? Blackwork, hardanger, embroidery, needlelace, and the list goes on! Don't panic...you can even backstitch for the month!

I have actually been stitching alot of little Xs, very little, tiny Xs over 1 on 28 and 32 count.  I did add all the beads and Kreinik to Titania, Queen of the Fairies so here is a little sneak peek of the top part of her:

So that's it for No Xs!

Here are some of the little Xs.  First is the Owl from Blackberry Lane Designs:

Stitched over 1 on 28count Black Jobelan.  I'm using the DMC conversion and 92 for the background.  Because I'm using 1 strand over 1 it's not changing colour very much but it should be ok once I've finished.

And here is Fairytale Advent Calendar from The Little Stitcher:

This is stitched over 1 on 32count Belfast Vintage Grain using the DMC conversion.

By the way, what do you think the animal in number 4 is?  A hare or a dog maybe?

I am trusting the colour choices in this one, on the ring they are all shades of brown/sludge but once on the fabric they take on coloured hues, the little woman in 6 is a great example.  She is stitched in 3021, 433 and 3782 but they look more like red and blue together.

It seems from the comments left that I am getting alot of kudos from stitching over 1.  I have a secret!  I am so shortsighted I have to stitch looking over the top of my varifocals and hold the fabric approximately 6 inches from my eyes.  Whatever the count.  So stitching over 1 is no harder than stitching on aida.  The biggest danger is stabbing my nose with the needle it's that close!

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  As in previous years there will be 24 doors posted on my blog.  Each person who signs up will be allocated a date, on that date they must post a photo of something Festive they have stitched, either in the past or this year.  I will then copy the photo across to my post and by Christmas Eve we will have 24 Open Doors each linked to a different blog.  Last year I had more than 24 people so we had some Double Days which was great.  To take part please email me letting me know if there is a date you prefer or wish to avoid.  

To Thine Own Self be True

or Stitch Whatever Makes You Happy!

That has been the theme of my stitching since I finished Rachel's Large Mira RR piece.  I should really have picked up another large project with a view to finishing one before Christmas (ie Green Goddess!) but instead I have been stitching smalls.

Here is my progress on the Little Brown Splodge from last post:

It's the Owl from JCS Hallowe'en issue, stitched on black over 1.

And to continue the "over 1" theme here is another new start, this is the Fairy Tale Advent Calendar from The Little Stitcher.  I wasn't intending to stitch it over 1, I got out my stash of neutral 32 counts and found I had 32 count in Vintage Grain which was close enough.  The main thing I wanted to check was that Winter White would show up enough.  Then I looked at the little designs and thought "these would look cute over 1" forgetting it's 32 not 28!  Anyway, they have come out about the size of a postage stamp.  So I'm thinking of brown luggage tags and a small tree to display them on.  Here's 1, 2 and 3:

That's a one pence coin for scale.

The title of this post is also an allusion to a Challenge piece I stitched earlier this year.  Anna the Stitch Bitch launched a Challenge into the ether then promptly forgot all about it!  So she was nicely surprised when someone sent her a photo of their piece.  I decided to go one better and send her the actual thing.  The design Anna chose was a Plum Street Sampler freebie found here.  Now regular followers of Anna will know she has a "thing" about stitching being referred to in the same sentence as the words "Granny" and "craft" so I thought alot about the idea of being true to yourself.  I am a stitcher, I love traditional samplers but I am also a geek, a rock chick, a feminist, I have old fashioned ideas about books and education but love technology.  So what could I stitch to show the multi-faceted me?  Answer - a tattoo.

I looked through several magazines and books and found two tattoo designs from an old issue of Cross Stitcher which worked well with the original design - a dagger in the same proportions as the plant and a bird the same height as the original bird.  Here is the finished result:

I used the same colours throughout to link the two designs.

I chose the fabric because back in May I couldn't decide which fabric to use for my Alphabet Kitty.  One option was the pink version of this.  Anna commented that she liked it, but for her stash not the ornie!  Unfortunately I couldn't get anymore of the pink but I found the blue so used that.

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  As in previous years there will be 24 doors posted on my blog.  Each person who signs up will be allocated a date, on that date they must post a photo of something Festive they have stitched, either in the past or this year.  I will then copy the photo across to my post and by Christmas Eve we will have 24 Open Doors each linked to a different blog.  Last year I had more than 24 people so we had some Double Days which was great.  To take part please email me letting me know if there is a date you prefer or wish to avoid.