April TUSAL and Dancing Daffodils

This is April's TUSAL, posing with the two uncompleted Spring/Easter designs I started as part of March Madness.  The picture in the frame is a Travelling Pattern started by Cucki.  I'm not sure where it has reached now!

I also completed and mounted the Hallowe'en Ornie for March:

This is a freebie from La Contesse's blog.  I changed it slightly to make it square and added a little witch charm instead of the charted stitched bats.  It is stitched over 1 on 28count burnt orange Jazlyn.  Several people are taking part in the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL and post regularly but there aren't many Followers yet.  If you're a fan of Hallowe'en I do recommend following the blog just to see all the lovely designs there, even if you don't need another SAL challenge!

And now  for the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop:

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high oer blogs and hills

When all at once I worked it out

The answer's "Dancing Daffodils"

Thank you Christine, the answer was indeed "Dancing Daffodils", a sight usually seen at this time of year but not under the snow so many of us have had.  The only reason we've not had snow here is the wind has come straight from Siberia and blown it all inland!

I did the draw this afternoon, aided and abetted by the Large Boy.  There were 15 picture posters and 37 correct answers (zero incorrect ones!) so we simply assigned everyone a playing card and picked 2 at random, one from each category.  The winners were 2 of Clubs and 9 of Spades, aka Lynda and Linda!

The first Lynda blogs from her Cozy Little Place for Stitching and the second Linda says SUch is Life.  I'll be in touch soon to discover your addresses if I don't already have them.

Thank you to everyone who entered this year and to all those who became new followers for the participating blogs.  It's a great way to discover new friends.

Finally, my Blogaversary Giveaway is still open.  See the previous post for the competition question.  Another big Thank You to everyone that has shared their answers already.  It's so much fun to find out more about you all.

Some Works in Progress and another 5 minutes of Fame

This week I've been stitching alot of smaller projects, I seem to get more daytime stitching time rather than evening thanks to the Small Boy's schedule and sleep patterns.

This is my progress on March's piece for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL.  It's a freebie from La Contesse, from last October.

Once again I'm using my favourite burnt orange 28 count and stitching over 1 with Anchor black.  There isn't anything to choose between Anchor and DMC Blacks are far as I can see so once this skein is used up I'll stick to DMC.

This is my main man Michael!

I'm stitching the Archangel Michael for Julie's Mirabilia Round Robin.  I'm really pleased with this photo, it looks better than in real life, maybe I'm too close to it when I'm stitching?  I did have a slight moment late last night.  As you can see I've done all the darker skin shades.  The key shows the next symbol as being 946.  This is a very bright orange!  Now unless he's from Essex, that's clearly not right!  So I popped onto FB and the Mira Minions page to ask for help.  In less than 10 minutes I had my answer, 948 not 6.  Isn't t'internet great?!

And the five minutes of Fame?  I'm featured in World of Cross Stitching again, the Letters page this time with my Flower of the Year cards.  You may remember I stitched this last year for various Birthdays using my patented method of backstitching on aida then colouring in the design using felt tip pens.  Someone always asks about the pens, they are just standard children's felt tips nothing special or expensive!

Here's a better picture of all twelve designs in month order.

ps I haven't patented that method of stitching, it just sounds good!

Finally, my Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop will be taking place on Good Friday.  Come over and follow the list of blogs, find the letters and spell out the Mystery Phrase.  There will be two prizes, one for a Picture Poster and one for a Treasure Hunter, nothing very exciting, some seasonal stitching and a few bits, maybe something edible!

Stash plus some New Things (People, Events and Places)

This week I've been stitching Birthday cards (daytime) and Angi's Round Robin (evenings).  I'll show the cards once the recipients have got them.

I did get some nice new fabric though.  I had a stitching tip printed in Cross Stitch Collection (No 209) and got a £10 voucher from Willow Fabric.  This is the second time I've won a voucher for my handy tips!  Who said Facebook is a complete waste of time?   This is my tip:

"If you're stitching on a budget try stitching over 1 on evenweave.  You need a quarter of the fabric and an eighth of the thread.  Huge savings there.  If you can't manage 28 over 1 then try 25 or 22 count evenweave".

I decided I needed fabric more than anything else.  I'm trying to build up my stock of basic colours in evenweave so I don't have to wait to start new projects!  I choose two new-to-me fabrics, 19count Ariosa in Antique Rose (right) and 18count Davosa in Evening Rose (left).  Both were in the sale and cost £10 together (one FQ and one HalfMetre).

The top photo shows the true colour of the fabrics, the bottom photo shows the true colour of the free threads they sent me as a Thank You for being a customer!  How nice is that?  I don't know what make they are, they seem a little thicker than DMC but not coarse at all.

The fabrics are interesting, quite thick (obviously with the low count!), one is evenweave and the other linen.  I'm planning on stitching over 1 on them but I don't know what yet!

I have a new follower - Sandie aka TigerMum.  You must see the amazing quilt she's made for her grand-daughter here.  At first I thought all the squares were stitched but actually the final block is stitched the rest are fabric.  It's a beautiful piece of craft and I'm sure her grand-daughter loves it.

I also found a new website, Calico Crafts.  One of their picture frames was featured in World of Cross Stitching recently.  They have loads of charms, embellishments, frames and all sorts of knick-knacks to add to your stitching, scrapbooking, random craftmaking.  Check them out!  Their prices are very reasonable too.

The new event is the Passione Ricamo Mistery (sic) SAL.  Do I know what it is?  No, it's a Mystery.  Do I need another BAP SAL?  No, I have no time!  Do I want to sign up?  Damn right I do.  LOL.  It appears to be pinks and purples and features 9 Treasure Braids and 2,500 beads!!  The link has a clue or two for the design, a dark haired lady with flowers and a lovely scrolling border.

Finally, I sent out some cards to 4 random people who entered my Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop, they should all be received by now, so for the sake of having a complete stitching record on my blog here are all four:

The charts came from La Contesse blog and the cards were a cover gift from Cross Stitching magazine.  As is usual these days I didn't like the designs they recommended but used the threads and cards to make these dinky Thank You cards.  I didn't use their scratchy old aida either, but used some 22count aida from my stash.