Swamp Troll TUSAL

It's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog.

Here is my TUSAL with a recent finish:

The lovely lady sitting next to the TUSAL jar is Heather the Swamp Troll.   Remember I mentioned that I'd bought myself an early Birthday present a couple of months back?  Swamp Trolls are made by a local crafter, each one has their own name on a label and each is unique.  I assumed she bought the faces, hands and feet and just made the soft bodies, but no, they are all made using some kind of modelling resin.  Doesn't she have a lovely face?  She has green finger and toe nails and a little spider tattoo on her foot as well as a tiny broomstick.  I don't think she's going to fly far on that! 

Here is Hallowe'en Happiness all framed and ready for Hallowe'en:

 I decided to continue to work on Dragon of the Winter Moon by Dragon Dreams, I really want to finish this one.  I have stitched lots of backstitch and Kreinik this week, as well as finishing those gorgeous wings:

stitched on 32 count Moondust Murano by Crafty Kitten

Close-up of the Kreinik ice the dragon is lying on:

There's more backstitch, more Kreinik, a crescent moon and a small castle to stitch, plus some beads so it might not be finished this month either.

Finally, thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday last weekend, it was a lot quieter than last year's celebrations!  No Big Blog Hop this year.  But there was cake, cards and presents.  I have another present coming in the mail from Just Nan and a Birthday Discount from Crafty Kitten once I decide which fabric I need.

Happy Dance for Hallowe'en Happiness

This year for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog I have been stitching Hallowe'en Happiness by Sandra Cozzolino for Imaginating.  By luck, each part of the design fit perfectly into the theme for the month.  Not really surprising when you consider who chose those themes!

The collage shows the piece I stitched for each month and here are some more photos for September's theme of Spooky Words:

Here is the whole piece, ready to be framed:

Our local Wilkinsons do a frame for three photos which is the perfect size if I remove the triple mount.  And only costs £6!  So this one will be up and ready for Hallowe'en.  Now I just have to finish the Oberlin Sampler's Witches as a companion.

I stitched this on 32 count Lime Green Murano using the recommended DMC.  The chart will be a prize in the Hallowe'en Blog Hop this year, so make a note in your diary if you'd like to win it.  People who post pictures in the Blog Hop get an extra chance in the draw too.

Speaking of prizes, you have less than 5 hours to enter the competition on the Blogger of the Week blog.  That ends at midnight tonight, so hurry over and have a go if you haven't done so already.  And while you are there, check out this week's featured Blogger:

Blogger of the Week

Finally, I am pleased that people are excited about the replacement for The Alphabet Club - the Zodiac SAL.  Satsuma Street have now released MY star sign so I will be buying and downloading that very soon:

Virgo - Satsuma Street

July Pie

It's always nice to get the "extra" day at the end of a 31 day month, it feels like a stitching bonus.  It's not been long since I posted (yesterday) but I have finished another piece on one of my monthly SALs so I have something to show you.

Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating

And the whole thing:

This could actually be a finish but there are various words and phrases around the edge which I will be stitching for the September theme.

As you saw yesterday, my Ten-a-Day project is almost finished and a number of people asked if I will do another project in the same way.  The answer is Yes, I started one on the 1st July!  It was obvious that Spring in the Square was not going to take a year so I thought the halfway point of the year was the perfect time to start Summer in the Square.  Here is my progress after 31 days:

Summer in the Square

Just for comparison, here is Spring at 31 days:

I don't know if this is going to work, but remember my Book of Spells?  Before I had it framed I got the finished piece colour-photocopied with the idea of making a book cover.  I found a "fake book" box in a homeware store which was roughly the right size and finally got round to covering it at the weekend.  I trimmed the paper to size and glued it to the box.  It's not a perfect fit as the box spine is bigger than the Book of Spells spine but it's good enough.

(edit - that worked, if you are listening with the sound turned up you'll hear the Small Boy whooping with joy in the background!)

Onto pie for the month.  Not surprisingly Joan Elliott dominated this month with 22 days dedicated to 3 of her projects.  Truly a Joan July!

Spendingwise we have started a new Stitch from Stash. same rules as the first six months.  My budget stays the same and I won't be taking credit for finishing.  Unless someone is going to give me real money for finishing a project!

This month I treated myself to two Jardin Prive charts,  the Needlework ABC which has been a mystery SAL this year:

And this Hallowe'en design which might be my choice for the Hallowe'en Ornie Blog when I complete Happy Hallowe'en:

I also succumbed to a subscription for the Australian magazine Inspirations thanks to Janet Granger showing the most wonderful etui on her blog - Janet Granger.  It's absolutely stunning, it's not cross stitch so I'm highly unlikely to make it but the magazine is a thing of beauty and I have a little bit of extra spending money this month so I spent it!  Luckily magazine subscriptions don't count for SFS.

July
2 Jardin Prive Charts	£13.77
Inspiration	£30.00
Total	£43.77

Finally, there will be a Tenuous Shoehorn Linky Party on Tuesday 8th August and the theme will be "Loved Ones".   8th August was my Nana's Birthday which is why I chose that day for the Linky Party and I'll be showing a couple of projects that relate to her.  Some of us have lost loved ones this year; people and furbabies; some people have been celebrating special wedding anniversaries, some have new babies or grandbabies and some have children growing up (too) fast.  So there's plenty of scope for stitching there!  Get your thinking caps on and be ready to link up on the 8th August.

Edward -

I thought I said no more birds; but this morning I woke up to find no less than seven swans all trying to get into our tiny goldfish pond.  I'd rather not think about what happened to the goldfish.  The whole house seems to be full of birds - to say nothing of what they leave behind them.
Please, please STOP.
Your Emily

12 Days of Christmas (Correspondence) - John Julius Norwich

Swans are beautiful to look at but can be very vicious.  Plus, they mate for life so where does the odd number come from?  Poor left out swan.

I stitched the swan using two strands and the background using one.  I really like this effect as the swan stands out much more.

Here's where I was last month:

And here's where I am now:

I've done a lot more of the left hand angel and almost completed the left-hand border too.  Just a few more green leaves and the tiny holly berries.

I stitched one of my Hallowe'en pieces this month, Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating:

We have a little Ghostie and a leafy L too.

I'm in such complete control with my Ten-a-Day project that I decided to start another one!  Reaching the half-way point of the year on Spring in the Square I could see that I should finish it well before the end of the year.  So what better time to start Summer in the Square?

Here is Spring in the Square at 187 days:

Summer in the Square at 6 days:

And the current 30-a-day Royal Blossoms at 19 days:

Finally, thanks for the sympathy over Photobucket!  I am even having problems downloading my own photos from the site.  I had to resort to photographing the screen for one or two photos!

I am slowly working my way though 2012 at the moment.  All my finishes are on my desktop but some of my WIPs are not, usually ones where I used the scanner instead of the camera.

Dear Edward

Whatever I expected to find when I opened the front door this morning, it certainly wasn't six socking great geese laying eggs all over the doorstep.  Frankly, I rather hoped you had stopped sending me birds - we have no room for them and they have already ruined the croquet lawn.  I know you meant well, but - let's call a halt, shall we?
Love, Emily

12 Days of Christmas (Correspondence) - John Julius Norwich

And we are back to birds!  Luckily for me, there was only one goose-a-laying to stitch this month:

I got all the goose and her nest completed and started on the lettering before I realised the entire picture was one row too low!  So I just stitched the lettering one row higher and it touches the nest but looks fine.  I have also noticed that I haven't stitched the bottom right hand corner bits.

Here is the whole piece last month:

And here it is now:

You can see I have finished all the metallic in the border and stitched some green vine, I've also added some stitches to the left hand Herald Angel.

I've also stitched my two Hallowe'en samplers this month for the theme Something Green on the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog.

Here is a green lizard and some green froggies on  Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating:

On Witches by Oberlin Samplers I stitched an olive green letter with some green leaves and pumpkin stalks/vines:

And here is the full Itches designs!  Need that first W very soon.

Finally, I fully-finished the latest Just Nan freebie into an ornie:

Christmas Hearts

Dearest Edward

The postman has just delivered five most beautiful gold rings, one for each finger, and all fitting perfectly.  A really lovely present - lovelier in a way than birds, which do take rather a lot of looking after.  The four that arrived yesterday are still making a terrible row, and I'm afraid none of us got much sleep last night.  Mummy says she wants to use the rings to "wring" their necks - she's only joking, I think; though I know what she means.  But I love the rings.  Bless you.
Love Emily

12 Days of Christmas (Correspondence) - John Julius Norwich

Emily seems a little happier with her gift this month, even if Mummy has a bird-induced migraine.

Who remembers singing this part of the song with great gusto and not a lot of tune?

There will be gold beads in the little gaps when I finish this design.  I am saving all the beads until the end so the metallic thread doesn't catch on them.

Here is the full piece so far.  I will be stitching for another day on the top Herald Angel.  The plan is do a little bit on her each month to complete the design this year.

Those crumples do come out when I stretch the fabric out, don't worry!

I also stitched both my Hallowe'en pieces this month.  First up is Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating:

Black cats are our theme this month

I also started some of the "Happy" as the cat was such a quick stitch

The second piece is Witches by Oberlin Samplers:

Not a black cat!

When I stitched the french knot eyes in the first cat I realised that DMC 3345 is the perfect match for the fabric which is so hard to photograph.  Here's a skein of 3345 on the fabric and they look different!  So go and get your skein and just imagine that the fabric is the same colour as that skein.

Remember my Blogaversary this year, back in April?  I had a little giveaway competition where you had to tell me your favourite quote and you could win the new Stitchrovia Quotes to Live By partwork.  There were a lot of entries and I loved all the quotes.  I used the Random Number Generator to pick a winner.  You got one entry for commenting on that post and then additional entries for taking part in the Easter Blog Hop and Gifted Gorgeousness too.   The RNG chose:

Deborah

who said "at the moment I still like "be kind to dragons, for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup" perhaps not inspiring words to live by but it makes me smile and that is a start."

Not the most deep and meaningful quote but it made me smile too.  It comes from the book Dragonswan by Sherrilyn Kenyon, which I have never read but maybe I should.  Find out more here-

Sherrilyn Kenyon

also here- 

Fantastic Fiction - Sherrilyn Kenyon/Dragonswan

Fantastic Fiction is one of my favourite websites.  The Bookseller's best friend, it is basically a catalogue of almost every fiction author, their books, a synopsis and links to where to get them.  It lists every book written by the author, in series order and in publication date with a thumbnail of the cover.  So when your customer says "have you got the new M.C. Beaton book, it's got Death in the title?" you can look up M.C. Beaton, discover that almost every book she has written has Death in the title, you can print off the list, show the customer and work out which one they want.

It also has recommendations under "Visitors to this page also looked at these authors" which can be useful but remember that every bookseller in the country is skewing the results by looking up both Sherrilyn Kenyon and M.C. Beaton within ten minutes of each other.

Finally, Kaye is hosting a Christmas in July Exchange, so if you want to exchange some Christmas Goodies, hop over and visit her blog.  Click the photo for the link:

Now I am Six

I'm as clever as clever

So I think I'll be six

now and forever

It's my Sixth Blogaversary today!  I remember being six quite well, I was in Miss Pearce's class and I got a Timex watch with a red face and a blue strap for my Birthday.  I got the watch because I could already tell the time and Miss Pearce often used to ask me what the time was because her watch didn't keep time well!  We had been living with my grandparents and were moving into a house of our own.

Here are my blog stats:

*

6 years

650 posts

597 followers

13,540 comments

682,174 pageviews

WOW

A little check of my Happy Dance blog tells me that I have completed 372 pieces since the start of my blog.  That makes my couple of dozen WIPs pale into insignificance!

I'd also like to wish my Blog-Twins Susan and Calamity Jr a very Happy Birthday too!

This week I've been stitching on my Hallowe'en and Christmas pieces:

Winged creatures from Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating

Four Calling Birds from Joan Elliott's 12 Days of Christmas

I also did a little finish-finishing and framed a piece from last year:

Mulberry by Shepherd's Bush

I drew a little mulberry sprig in the corner to decorate the mount:

Now for the fun part - a giveaway to celebrate!  I haven't got anything in particular in my stash I want to part with at the moment and postage is so high right now so I thought a PDF would be the best idea.  The one I have chosen is quite versatile, it comes in 9 parts and can be stitched as a large sampler or several smaller ornies.  Best of all, proceeds from the sale go to charity.  Four parts have been released already so I would send them to the winner straightaway and then send each piece as it is released throughout the year.  The giveaway that keeps on giving!  Have you guessed what it is yet?

Stitchrovia - Quotes to Live By

The nice thing about this prize is that if you already have the first four parts then I can still send you the next five, you don't have to miss out just because you've already started it.

So how do you enter this draw?

The usual, be a Follower via the button on the right, leave a comment here saying you'd like to be in the draw AND telling me what your favourite quote is.  It doesn't have to be one from the Stitchrovia SAL, it can be anything you like - serious, inspirational, funny, subversive etc.

You will get one entry for commenting here and an additional entry for each of the following:

Being a participant in the Easter Treasure Hunt on Good Friday

Entering the Easter Treasure Hunt and guessing the Mystery Phrase

Linking up for Gifted Gorgeousness this month.

So the Giveaway is open until the 30th April when the GG link-up closes.  If you do not comment here with a quote, you will not be entered into the draw, even if you do the other stuff, they are for bonus entries!  If you don't want to stitch any of the Quotes, you may nominate a person from the other comments to be gifted the chart on your behalf.  You can do this publicly by commenting or anonymously by emailing me.

Finally, we have another Blogger on the Blogger of the Week blog, don't forget to go over and say Hi!

Who is it this week?