Is It Still Hallowe'en?

ARACHNOPHOBIA WARNING - 

THIS POST CONTAINS A SPIDER!!!!

Oh well, Hallowe'en stitching is for life not just for October!  I finished Jack-A-Rachnid today.  I could have finished him a week ago but I didn't have the beads and while I got 15% off in SewandSo's sale I did have to wait a little longer than usual for them to be dispatched.  Think 2-3 days instead of next day!

I stitched him one colour at a time starting with the black so the photos show the addition of each new colour:

Black only

918 added

3776 added

720 added

3825 added

Beads added.

The Jack part!

Wow, you can really tell the difference between the first scanned pictures and the final photographs.  The fabric looks totally different.  In real life it is not as bright as the scanned pictures and more vibrant than the photos!  It is a random piece of 32 count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab bag.  The design is by Tempting Tangles and comes from JCS Sep/Oct 2013.

I hope you are enjoying the daily updates on the Advent Calendar and remembering to visit each new blog every day.  Update time depends upon whether I am working or not but it will always be done by early evening.  Assuming the poster has remembered to post!  I am loving the stories about Best Present Ever this year, it's been a lovely heart-warming topic so far.  

Although I don't have a door myself this year I thought I'd share my story today.  A couple of years ago we had a pretty tough year, it was one of those years when you look forward to Christmas because you know it will all be over soon and you get a nice shiny New Year!  Hubby and I had set a budget for presents which we stuck to.  I can't remember what I got but it was probably something stitching related I had chosen myself!

After all the presents were opened hubby gave me and the Large Boy an envelope with a clue in it.  We solved the clue and found another and so on around the house.  Finally at the end we found an enormous wrapped box addressed to us both with love from Hubby and the Small Boy.  Very curious.  We unwrapped it and were bowled over by the most awesome present you could ever imagine.

I will interrupt myself at this point to say when I told this story to my colleage at work and said "Guess what I got for Christmas" he guessed correctly first time because he "said the most awesome thing he could think of".  Shows how much we have in common LOL.

Anyway, here is a photo of the most awesome thing ever!

Yes, hubby bought us the Lego Death Star!!

How utterly cool is that?

Finally, we now have 25 people joining me for Gifted Gorgeousness so far!  More are welcome.  Don't worry if you don't think you can join in much, just post and link up whichever month you have stitched on something suitable.

November Smalls SAL

ARACHNOPHOBIA WARNING - 
THIS POST CONTAINS A SPIDER!!!!



The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

I chose three different monthly themes to follow this year:

Hallowe'en Ornie SAL - 12 different themes

Little Stitcher Fairy Tale 12 Days of Christmas - one per month

Primitive Hare Spooky Countdown - one per week starting 31st January - finished!

The theme for the Hallowe'en SAL is Bugs, Insects or Spiders which gave me the perfect opportunity to start stitching this spider from JCS Sep/Oct 2014:

Jack-A-Rachnid by Tempting Tangles

stitched on 32 count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab bag

The Little Stitcher is now up to number 11, the Day of Finishing which I showed for the TUSAL post.  Here it is again:

I have made a decision about finishing this series.  I bought a small scrapbook which has exactly the right number of pages to mount these designs.  I bought some great scrapbook papers yesterday and will spend some happy hours cutting and sticking over the next few weeks.  The cover will be the design found in JCS this month of Miss Santa.

Speaking of JCS, they are a little bit cheeky about their renewals.  My subscription expires with the Mar/Apr issue.  So far I have received one written request to renew and one email.  Excuse me, it's still four months until I need to renew!  I wish they would let me pay by Direct Debit like the UK magazines do instead of a year in advance in one go.

I have had a great response to the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.  Twenty stitchers including me have signed up already.  It's a very easy-going SAL.  Just sign in every 15th with Mr Linky if you have stitched anything you consider to be a piece of Gifted Gorgeousness.  Kaye asked if WIP photos are OK for the linky.  Of course, WIP photos are an important part of the SAL!  I don't know about anyone else but I feel more invested in someone's blog if they show regular progress pictures of their work.  It feels like you are stitching alongside them rather than just admiring the finished piece.  When it's been a big project I sometimes feel a little sad it is finished and we won't see another update!

Finally, the dates for the Advent Calendar have been sent out.  Watch out for the first post next week.

TUSAL of Finishing

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.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This week I have stitched The Day of Finishing.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

And here is the close-up: 

As most stitchers know there are two types of Finishing.  The first is the finished stitched piece, like the Eleventh Day shown above.  All the stitching is done and it can be added to my list of finished pieces, currently at 51 pieces for the year.  But what of the second type of finish?  Actually "finished- off", whether that be framed, mounted or ornamentified?  Sadly that number is much lower.  How many of us put our stitched pieces into a nice neat pile of "To Be Finished Properly Later"?

I have to be in the right mood to do actual sewing so the pile of things I want to make into ornies is growing tall!!

The new start you can see in the main TUSAL photo is Jack-A-Rachnid by Tempting Tangles from JCS Sep/Oct 2013.  This has been on my list since I got the magazine and I am so pleased to be able to make a start on it.  The fabric is a random 32 count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab-bag.  It's a pinky-orange colour.

I spent some time this week going through my JCS magazines especially the Christmas Ornie editions.  I make a list every year of which designs I like and then stitch about one of them!  Here is my Top Nine from this year's magazine:

Top row - Summer House Stitches; The Workbasket; Ink Circles

Middle Row: Victoria Sampler; Blue Ribbon Designs; Dragon Dreams

Bottom Row: SamSarah; Little House Needleworks; Dames of the Needle

These two tied for tenth place!

Tempting Tangles; New York Dreamer

The categories were interesting this year.  I either liked none or several in a category!  The red selection was interesting because I liked the whole page but when I came to choose I realised that there wasn't one which stood alone.  It was the effect of all the red I liked rather than the ornies themselves!

I also don't usually choose snowmen designs, but here they are - three of them!!  I love the snowbaby putting the star on the tree, it would make a lovely Baby's First Christmas ornie.

Finally, don't forget to read all about the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL and I now have enough people for the Advent Calendar Blog Hop!  Yay!