November WIPocalypse Favourite Designer

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The focus of my WIPocalypse will be my "15 in '15"which are 15 charts I want to stitch in 2015 (following on from my "11 in '11", "12 in '12", "13 in '13" and "14 in '14" - imaginative, eh?)

Over the last month I haven't actually stitched any of my 15!  Bit of an epic fail there then.  Just looked through the diary to what I did stitch and it's mostly the Blue Ribbon design and the Plum Street 12 Days charts.   I have finished 10 out of the 15 so I suppose the other 5 will form the basis of next year's WIPocalypse.

I have now stitched 7 of the Blue Ribbon blocks and have made a very small start on Part 2 of this project, a teeny tiny over 1 ghostie:

stitched over 1 on 32 count blue linen

Fortunately Measi always set us a topic to discuss or this would be a very short post indeed!

November - Which designer has inspired you to stitch the greatest number of designs and why do you think that is?  

Now this is where my Happy Dance blog comes in useful!  I simply looked down the sidebar and saw that I'd stitched 27 projects by Joan Elliott and 29 by Just Nan!

Quite a few of the designs were for Round Robins so that partially answers the question.  If you take part in a Joan Elliott RR you will be stitching a few of her designs!

Here is a collage of the pieces I stitched for that RR with the larger picture being the one that was stitched for me:

I think that collage illustrates why I like Joan Elliott so much, there is such variety in her work.  From the lovely fairies to the oriental designs and the fantasy creautures.  If you add in her cute animals then there is something for almost every taste.

Just Nan is another favourite because of the variety of her designs.  Regular followers will know I stitch a lot of her Hallowe'en designs and her band samplers too.  But this was the very first JN I completed:

Gabriella 

stitched on raspberry evenweave in 1999

Just Nan does a lot of little spooky stitches in sets which I love.  She tends to use the same colour scheme for her spookies which means they look great as a set too.

If you want to see all of my JE and JN finishes click on these links:

Joan Elliott Finishes

Just Nan Finishes

Finally, still time to sign up for the Advent Calendar Blog Hop, just a couple of spaces left.  It doesn't have to be a new design, it could be a Golden Oldie.  We all love to see the older designs refeatured.  Leave a comment if you'd like to be in the Hop.

November Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus

This year I am going to have two monthly challenges:

1. The Primitive Hare Hallowe'en Cubes SAL

2. The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL themed blog.
and a third one added from August:
3. The Christmas Ornie SAL themed blog

Obviously the Hallowe'en Cubes are all done now.  The theme for November on the Hallowe'en Blog was Creepy Trees and I stitched this little tiny from Blue Ribbon Designs in this year's JCS Hallowe'en Special:

Then I carried on with the rest of the series:

stitched on 32 count blue linen

the fabric colour is somewhere between these two photos!

Because I've been stitching all of these I haven't started an ornie for the Christmas blog but I have been making progress on Plum Street Sampler's 12 Days of Christmas:

Fifth and Sixth Days

Seventh Day

I am stitching these over on on 25 count linen.  I am using a red Splendor silk and a different accent colour for each day.  Fifth was gold, Sixth was goose grey and Seventh will be light blue (for the water). 

Finally, we are getting closer to the start of Advent and the launch of the Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  If you would like to take part this year, just leave a comment here.  I will allocate you a day and on that day you post a photo of something seasonal you have stitched which I copy onto the main blog post.

November Stitch From Stash

Month: November
Spent:   £ 10.17

Earned: £ 0.00

Stitch from Stash was hosted by Mel from Epic Stitching

Essentially the idea behind Stitch from Stash was that we were limited to spending US$25 (or £15) per month. There were various exemptions (Birthday money, existing mag subs, clubs etc) but the idea was not to try and pervert the rules and to stitch some of that stash!

I'm using the past tense because sadly Mel has decided not to continue with Stitch from Stash.  However, I'm not one to let a little thing like the organiser dropping out of a SAL to stop me completing the year!  Especially with only 2 posts to go.

So, here is my spend this month, all Thanks to Trixie The Hallowe'en Witch.

July Budget	£ 15.00
July spend	£   7.75
August Budget	£ 15.00
August spend	£ 14.57
September Budget	£ 15.00
September spend	£   0.00
October Budget	£ 15.00
October spend	£   0.00
November Budget	£ 15.00
November spend	£ 10.17
Current Balance	£ 42.51

What did I spend that on?  

Petite Treasure Braid Black - £ 3.56

Kreinik #4 Black - £ 3.25

Perforated Paper Brown - £ 3.36

And here they are being used for Trixie:

from Brooke's Books

I wanted to try the PTB but it was too thin for her hair.  Two strands were perfect for the broom though and I will use it again.  It costs a little bit more than Kreinik and you get twice as much but if you have to stitch with two strands then Kreinik is more cost-effective.

What else have I been stitching?  I've been alternating between two projects; one Hallowe'en and one Christmas.  The Hallowe'en is by Blue Ribbon Designs from the recent JCS Ornie Special:

The block with the tree, moon and bats was for the Hallowe'en Ornie Blog's theme of the month - Creepy Trees.  I decided to continue with the rest of the blocks and make something out of them.  I'm using a random 32 count blue linen which came from my old LNS which makes it at least 7 years old because that's when it shut down!

We have now chosen the themes for next year for the Hallowe'en Blog so why not pop over and see if you like the look of any of them.  We also welcome new stitchers.

The other project is Plum Street Samplers' 12 Days of Christmas.  I knew Sixth Day would slow me down.  That's a big fat goose to stitch!

stitched over one on 25 count linen

I'm using a different accent colour for each block and changing the accent parts from the charted design too.  For Fifth Day I had to use Gold.  Because there wouldn't have been much gold with just the rings I decided to have a whole gold tree.  Seventh Day has been released so I am still only one day behind.  Not too bad!

Finally, it's time to sign up for the final blog hop of the year - The Advent Calendar.  Same format as last year - sign up and be allocated a date.  Post a stitched Christmas picture on your date plus a comment about the festive season.  You can email me now if you like stating if you have a preference for an early date or later in the month or any dates you can't do.