May WIPocalypse and Manka's Hungarian SAL

Here's the round-up for the progress since the last Full Moon.

Part 1 - My 12 in '12

1. Completed all the letters on the Dark Alphabet, charted the title and signoff block, stitching an "A" for Alphabet.

I'll do a complete blog post dedicated to this design very soon.

2. No progress on Green Goddess.  Oh dear, poor old GG.

3. Stitched a couple of days on My Lovely Sewing Tools.

4. Home of a Needleworker - not started

5. Blackbird Designs - I tea-dyed a piece of fabric for this!

6. Ed Hardy Skull and Roses - not started

7. I chose the design for my friend's wedding.  This chart was a prize from Minnie of All XXs.

Isn't this lovely (and hopefully quite quick to stitch!).  I plan to put the Bride and Groom's initials and date in the centre rather than the verse.

8. Baby Sampler.  Have stitched A - N on this one.

9. Baby design for my cousin - baby due this month, gender currently unknown.  Not started

10. Yiotas Coffee Fairy - have made a start on this one (only 2 evenings but it's a start!)

11. Papillon Around the World in 80 Stitches (this "bounced" Castles in the Air off the 12, one of my "rules" is that I'm only allowed to bounce a design in favour of another design by the same designer).  Have started (see separate page for progress pic).  If you're stitching this too then let me know and I'll add you to my list.

12. Nora Corbett Trick or Treat Fairy - I did look at the fabric for this when I was sorting my stash out!

Part 2 - Just Nan-a-thon

Nothing at all for Nan this month.

Part 3 - Theme-a-licious: Amazon April

I worked on my BAPs - Big Alphabet Projects.  My Lovely Sewing Tools, Dark Alphabet and Baby Alphabet.  All of which featured in the Theme-a-licious update here.

I did sign up for a Mini Mystery SAL with Manka and a few others.  This is Part 1, stitched on 28count green evenweave using the current favourite DMC 4045.  I used this on Life's a Stitch, CCN Cherry Hill and the Needlecraft Haven monthly challenge (not pictured yet).  Here it is used again:

Now I can email this to Manka and get Part 2!

Be sure to look at her album on Pinterest for all the versions of this.

 

Finally, Yiota who makes the Coffee Fairy (see above) and all these lovely cross stitch kits has offered to sponsor my 250 followers giveaway.  Only problem is - I've stalled at 243!  Hopefully I'll pick up a few people through the WIPocalypse post on Measi's blog.  So if you're just drifting past looking at the projects, consider clicking on the "follow" button!

Theme-a-licious Looking Backward and Forward IV

You do know that Theme-a-licious is a "It's Geek to Me" activity, don't you? 
Click the above pic to find out more.

April's Theme was Amazon April or your biggest projects.  I decided that BAP stands for Big Alphabet Project and worked on both Dark Alphabet and my Turquoise Baby Alphabet.  I also worked on My Lovely Sewing Tools (which actually has an alphabet in it, scattered around the piece) and had a completely unexpected start in Papillon's Around the World in 80 Stitches.

ATW80S is certainly an enormous piece of fabric for me and it's a full two years project so that will definitely count as a BAP.

Pictures:

Papillon Around the World

My Lovely Sewing Tools (includes an alphabet!)

Turquoise Baby Alphabet

Please come and follow The Stitching Gift blog.  There are a group of us who love the Gift of Stitching magazine and are going to be showcasing our WIPS and finishes from the magazine.  The final issue came out this weekend and it's a great finale.  Kirsten will still be involved in designing and sending out her newsletter.  She will also continue to offer the old issues to buy as bundles or individually.  There is currently a sale on, where everything is half-price!  You can get a whole year's bundle for only US$12.  Amazing.

May Memories -

Remember when you took that class? Or decided to commemorate that event? And then abandoned your poor WIP? Take a stroll down memory lane by working on it again.

Green Goddess is becoming a distant memory!  So maybe I should give her some love.  I also have an old Autumn sampler in my stash chest I could dig out.  Or I could decide to make some new memories - stitching things which relate to my blogging friends, charts they have sent me or recommended the designer.

I have signed up for a couple of small partwork SALs.  No, ATW80S is not counted as one of them.  First was a Hungarian Mini Mystery SAL from Manka's Blog which I found via Blu's SAL Directory Blog.  Manka blogs in Hungarian, English, and other languages too.  I do love multi-lingual bloggers, as Google Translate should be renamed Giggle Translate due to the weird translations it comes up with.

(edit to add - when you go to Manka's blog, the cursor turns into a little rose!  Even cuter than falling things!)

The 2nd small SAL I found via Dulcinella's blog.  It's from a French blog Voyage sur Toile.  You need to sign up for the newsletter and you will get Parts 1-3 with Part 4 due soon (Dimanche is Sunday, right?).  There is a Translate button at the top but for some reason my brain thinks it can read French although it can't.  Saying the words with a fake French accent is not the same as understanding what they say!

Finally, I have switched to Photobucket for my photo storage, my Picasa album was nearly full due to the fact I don't make my photos smaller before loading them on!  I could not be bothered to resize every photo in my blog so I've switched.  Sheila said she has trouble seeing the photos last post, so here is a link to the album.  If anyone else has difficulty seeing them on the blog, please let me know and I'll think again.

edit July2017 - switching to Photobucket was a huge mistake!  They decided to start charging for storage at no notice whatsoever and are holding our photos to ransom.  I can't even download my own photos from my folder there, so I'm having to photograph my screen to get them!