Theme-a-licious Looking Backward and Forward VI

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!

Jumanji June 

Is it a jungle out there in your stash? Give some love to the projects with animals or birds.

This theme was a piece of cake!  Absolutely no shoe-horning required this month.

I started with the JB Alphabet Kitty for June in patriotic red, white and blue for our Queen's Official Birthday and Coronation Diamond Anniversary.  I also finished the May Kitty using the gingham the majority of people liked.  Here they both are:

I used a vintage cotton thread to sew up the little ornie.  I understand those wooden reels are quite sought after now.

Next animals are the Dragon and the Goose, not a lesser-known Fairy Tale but the sixth in the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas series.

The third living creature is the fishies on my Hear the Sea Call sampler.  I sourced some little mother-of-pearl fishes from an Ebay shop, the shells came from some old trim in the craft box and the abalone type stones came from the local craft shop.  I framed it in a simple raw wood box frame. 

I decided to use this for my FB profile photo and to my surprise I got a comment from the designer Sue Donnelly of the Stitcher's Hideaway.  She was very interested to see my finish and told me she is putting the kit together very soon so you can all buy it for yourselves.  She also showed us a lovely Autumn design on orange fabric which would make a great companion piece.

In the evenings I've also been stitching a type of fish, a mermaid is a half-fish isn't she?  There was a very interesting chat on FB about mermaids and how they have little mer-babies.  Obviously they can breastfeed so presumably they have live young rather than lay fisheggs!!  Maybe they find them under sea-cabbages. Nora Corbett also told us she's had complaints in some States of America about the lack of clothing on her mermaids.  whatever next!

Anyway, my mermaid is Shimmering Mermaid for Karen's Round Robin.   She is beautiful with her lovely free-flowing hair.  Karen stitched the shells and seaweed first then specified which parts of the mermaids to stitch so they are not confined to boxes but float on the sea of her fabric.

And here is the full piece, only one block to go.  This is a Large Mirabilia RR, each block is 5,000 stitches rather than the usual 2,500 so we have been given longer to stitch each round and there are three groups of four stitchers.  Imagine if all of us were stitching on one piece each with 12 blocks!!  It would be massive and take about 3 years to come back to you!

In the past months I have also stitched an "anti-theme" piece and this month was no exception.  So what's the opposite of animals, living creatures?  Easy, undead creatures!  So here is Mummy Kitty once again:

Jubilee July

It's time to celebrate! What are you celebrating this year? Stitch on your holiday-related projects, OR find some WIPs you know you'll never finish and set them free . 

Not sure what format this will take.  I have some end-of-term present stitching to do, that's a holiday and a celebration.  Also a couple of birthday cards/presents to stitch.  And a wedding sampler.  I think that takes care of the theme for now.

Finally, it's July tomorrow so I'll be starting the Summer Blog Hop very soon.  One lucky participant will be receiving the first emailed postcard to show on their blog.  There's still plenty of time to join in, just click on the link to the top right to find out how.

June WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi of Measi's Musings.

The main focus of my WIPocalypse this year will be my "13 in '13" a list of 13 projects I want to complete in 2013, click on top tab for the list.

The only one of the 13 I stitched this month was this design Hear the Sea Call from Stitcher's Hideaway:

The chart was a prize from Riona of Oubliette, the fabric is Summer Sky by Crafty Kitten and the hand-dyed thread is from Jodyri Designs, a new company I found through FB.  They have a monthly thread subscription.  You can pay for either 5 or 10 skeins a months and after 120 skeins you will own the whole collection.  Unless she keeps dyeing more colours in which case it's a lifetime subscription!

I would have finished it but I ordered some little mother-of-pearl fishes from an Ebay shop and they took a week to get here.  I am too used to SewandSo's next day delivery!

I could have finished it yesterday but instead I made a wedding dress and a top hat and tails for a very lucky couple.  Here they are:

My cousin is getting married in August and she posted a photo on FB recently of a chocolate Gruffalo and said how much she loved him.  The toys are sold in our bookshop so I bought them and made up the little outfits on Saturday after I discovered the girls would be popping in today to see us.  The bride's outfit is made from curtain fabric samples and the groom's is some nice black felt.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Gruffalo, he is a character from a children's book by Julia Donaldson and extremely popular with young children (and soon-to-be wed women too).  Here is the Gruffalo website.

For those of you who are familiar with the Gruffalo please ignore the fact that the Bride is actually The Gruffalo's Child.  There is no mention of a Mrs Gruffalo in the books, maybe she was eaten by the Big Bad Mouse?  No-one knows but Mr. Gruffalo does his best as a Lone Parent to bring up his little girl with a healthy respect for the danger of the Deep Dark Woods, which of course she ignores as in all the best stories.

Finally, don't forget the Summer Blog Hop on the theme of "There's No Place Like Home".  Just click on the picture on the top right of the blog for more details of how to join in.