December Smalls

           

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

My Small series for the year was Jardin Prive's 12 Days of Christmas.  After stalling on them, I finished the lot in November but have yet to FFO them all.

I didn't really stitch a lot of smalls in 2022, it was the year of the Large Project.  Looking back I included these projects throughout the year:

May - Just Nan-athon

October - Just Nan Miss Stitchy Witchy Mouse

November - Mani di Donna Halloween Sewing Basket

As well as some others which will feature in my End of Year Round-Up tomorrow.

For this month I have my finished Edinburgh House by Amanda Butler from Cross Stitcher magazine:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

I'm also stitching the Stitchonomy Christmas Banner to be super-small.   The piece of fabric I had in my stash wasn't cut straight so the margins would have been too tight.  I thought I'd try stitching over one so it will be a quarter of the size of the original design!

stitched over 1 on 32 count grey linen

Finally, here are some photos of my Ornament garland this year:

November Smalls

          

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls have been the Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas which I started on Boxing Day 2021 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.  I started well, completing one per month but ran out of steam in September and sort of lost interest in the project when I got into the 3D Haunted Mansion and then the Stitchonomy SAL.

So in November I was determined to knock the last four out and get this project finished.  Not FFO'd though!

Here's the final four:

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

And here's a collage of the first eight:

Isn't it funny how different the fabric looks in the different lights when each photo was taken?

These are the two I have FFO'd so far:

I managed another day on my Mani di Donna Halloween Sewing Basket for Dark 13 Stitching:

stitched on 32 count grey linen

Finally, it's time to sign up for the biggest Blog Hop of the year.  I am sure you all know how it works but for those who need a reminder - here's a link to last year's:

2021 Advent Calendar

If you want to take part, just leave a comment here or email me if you are a "no reply" person.  I need an email address for you to take part in this hop.

July Smalls

      

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be the Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas which I started on Boxing Day 2021 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

And for once, the fabric colour is spot on perfect!  I do love that shade of blue.  The  main change I made with this one was the water.  It was charted as yellow with red highlights...  I know we are using a limited palette here but red and yellow water?  The next blocks have a flesh colour added for the people so I decided to add a nice blue to this one.  The fabric provides the highlights.  I always like the swan blocks of a 12 Days design so I am pleased with this one.

My Just Nan Mermaid Heart is considered a Small by the No New Starts Group so here it is again:

stitched on 32 count grey-green linen

Finally, last call for the Summer Stitching Friends Blog Hop.  Names will go out on Monday 1st August, so please contact me before then to be included.

June Smalls

     

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be the Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas which I started on Boxing Day 2021 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.

Halfway through the year and the days with 6 Geese a Laying

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue Linen

Because this year is going to be a Year of Focus, I won't really have a lot of Smalls to share so some are a little bigger, such as Just Nan's Tea with Honey.  When constructed it makes a little tea table and you can purchase a miniature teaset to make into pins to stick on top.   

stitched on 28 count Dusky Pink linen

I've also gone back to my 3D Bookshop from Living on the Rainbow:

stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

Finally, I'm going to be taking sign-ups for my Summer Blog Hop on the same theme as last year - Stitching Friends are Friends Who Count. Have a look at this post for last year and let me know if you'd like to take part this year.

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop

May Smalls

    

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be the Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas which I started on Boxing Day 2021 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.

Altogether now - Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooold Rings!

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue Linen

Because this year is going to be a Year of Focus, I won't really have a lot of Smalls to share so some are a little bigger, such as Just Nan's Tea with Honey.  When constructed it makes a little tea table and you can purchase a miniature teaset to make into pins to stick on top.   

stitched on 28 count Dusky Pink linen

Finally, it's time for my annual Just Nan-athon!  I used this to take part in Maynia in previous years.  I stitch on a different JN Small each evening.  Here are the first 16:

  

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for May

    

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed.  We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).

After last month's amazing finish I'm back to being a bit basic!

This is Just Nan Spring in the Square which I finished in a plain wood box frame.  I didn't have the charm to go in the centre so that's a nice button instead.   I have the other three seasons stitched so that could be three more FFO's this year!

Here's my 5th Day of Christmas from Jardin Prive:

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

The white and yellow don't contrast much in real life so I backstitched round the butterflies.

Finally I am making good progress with my Just Nan Super Summer SAL.  This is Tea with Honey.  I have stitched all the greens and the purples on the top:

April Smalls

   

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be the Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas which I started on Boxing Day 2021 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue Linen

Because this year is going to be a Year of Focus, I won't really have a lot of Smalls to share so I'm including some slightly larger pieces.  This is my Tiny Modernist Greenhouse:

stitched on 28 count grey-blue evenweave

Which became an FFO this month:

I now have a need for more 3D buildings and immediately started another.  This will be a Book Shop from Living on the Rainbow on Etsy:

stitched on 28 count Tan evenweave

The original is designed to be a drum shaped ornament stitched as one long piece but I am stitching four walls to make a rectangular building instead.

My final 3D piece is a Just Nan Travelling Pattern called Tea with Honey.  When constructed it makes a little tea table and you can purchase a miniature teaset to make into pins to stick on top.  Again, I am stitching it as six separate pieces to be stitched together.  I didn't have a piece of fabric big enough to stitch as one piece. 

stitched on 28 count Dusky Pink linen

I was able to start this because I completed my previous Just Nan project, the Spring SAL Sampler:

Just Nan - Lily Pond

stitched on 32 count Pale Green linen

Finally, it's nearly time for my annual Just Nan-athon!  I used this to take part in Maynia in previous years.  I stitch on a different JN Small each day.  

Here are last year's projects:

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for March

  

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed.  We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).

Once again this month I FFO'd on the 8th!

This is a little Just Nan freebie I completed back in 2015!  I intended to scrapbook it on this page

But never got round to it.  It's a very small piece so I thought it might get lost without a fancy border.  So then I decided to make a Halloween Ornament:

I backstitched an octagon around the design, did the same on a spare piece of the fabric, then whipstitched the two together.  When I got to the final side, I stuffed it with last year's ORTs.  I don't produce many ORTs as I am very parsimonious with my thread, using it to the final cm.  But there were enough to make a nice padded spider.  Then I made some dangles using black beads at four corners and an extra long one at the bottom.  This one I ended with a spider web charm:

After that I made a super long string of beads, added a pumpkin charm and a loop at the top:

So here we have my Poor Jack Halloween Dangler:

Worth waiting 7 years for!

Earlier in the week I completed Day 3 of the 12 Days of Stitchmas.  My project this year is by Jardin Prive and I'm using this rather wonderful Millenium Blue linen.  

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 15th April 🐇

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Easter Treasure Hunt.    If you would like to take part this year, just leave a comment here.  The week before Easter I will send you a letter of the alphabet which will form part of the mystery phrase.  On Good Friday you will post that letter along with a photo of something seasonal that you have stitched (could be Easter or Spring or just something cheerful and sunny or floral).  We all hop around like little bunnies to find the Mystery Phrase!

Here's a link to last year's hop so you can see how it all works - Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2021

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for February

 

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed.  We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).

I did slightly better than last month when I was FFO'ing on the 9th.  This month I FFO'd on the 8th!

Last year I stitched a Just Nan sampler called Follow the Needle which included a chart for a smaller ornament design.  My plan was to make the ornament and pop it into the corner of the box frame the sampler is in.

Just a simple pillow finish with a few beads at each corner to disguise them!

That's it for this month!  Maybe I'll have more to show next month.

I did complete Day 2 of the 12 Days of Stitchmas.  My project this year is by Jardin Prive and I'm using this rather wonderful Millenium Blue linen.  

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

I used a different green to Day 1 to see if it would show up better and it does.  So the green will be frogged from Day 1 and replaced with this one. It's just a shade lighter and brighter.

My WIPGO Board chose Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow twice this month so I thought I'd carry on with Block 2 and start Block 3 from the beginning of the month.  Get my 14 days stitching in and then see what time I have left for another project.

I completed Block 2 after 5 days of stitching:

I changed the date on the tombstone from 1710 to 1709 because that is my Birthday!

And here's where I am on Block 3:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose from Chromatic Alchemy

The black got a little tedious so it was nice to move on to some letters today.

Finally, the stitching photos for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop have been filling my Inbox with love.  If you're joining in and haven't sent your photo yet, please can you do so ASAP.  I'll be emailing everyone on the morning of 13th February.