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).

I managed to get quite a lot done this last month, possibly connected to the Small Boy's return to school!

I started with some picture framing from my stash.  The first one was Joan Elliott's September Reading Fairy from the Year of Magical Stitches.  I have the diary from 2013 and finished this in 2018.  So less than 10 years to fully finish!  One delay was caused by Wilkos discontinuing their raw wood box frames which could be coloured with a marker pen.  This one came from The Works but was treated so I had to use three coats of actual paint to cover the white.  

stitched on 28 count Jazlyn in Aurora by Crafty Kitten

Next up was a 2019 finish, my 12 Days of Christmas from Just Nan.  The long thinness of this design caused the delay as I couldn't find a frame to fit.  Instead I stretched the stitching around a piece of mount board and used a scrapbook page for the background so it fitted a standard sized frame.

Now a much more recent finish - Mrs Claus by Autumn Lane Stitchery.  Stitched and framed in the same month!

Displayed alongside Santa Claus, they make a fine couple and can stay out until Halloween now!

This was a case where I had the frame and wanted a series of projects to fit in it.  The frame is an 8 aperture multi-frame.  Some are landscape and some are portrait so it's quite tricky finding the right series to fit.  I also wanted to stitch The Primitive Hare Celebrations series of which there are 8.  I worked out that using 35 count linen meant they would fit either portrait or landscape.  I stretched the stitching around a piece of mount board and used a scrapbook card for the background.  One down, seven to go!

Then on to my Mischief of Mice from March!  These were all started and finished in March as part of Rachel and Tiff's March Madness.  They just needed whiskers and hats.  Which meant sourcing some pins and painting the tops so they can secure the hats to the mice.

I only had the chart for the Pumpkin Mouse, so no hat.  He got a little ghosty friend instead.

The first three mice were designed to have broomsticks but they need to be hung up to ride them.  Until I get a display house I am not able to do that.  So here are all six of my spooky mice:

Not a bad month at all!  No scrapbooking for a change.  I obviously need to focus on that this month!

Finally, Stitch Maynia is underway again.  I am joining in with my Just Nan-a-thon again.  I stitch on each piece at bathtime so have 9 days to show so far:

The first four were started for Rachel and Tiff's Spring into Summer last year so I have three days of stitching on each one.  The next three were started during Maynia last year so have two days stitching.  The last two were new starts for this year so only have one day.

April IHSW and F.N.S.I

 

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.

The third Friday is also the Friday Night Sew In or F.N.S.I. which Kaye introduced me to.  You can find out more about it here - Sugarlane Designs

Friday was my first day back at work since Christmas Eve so that curtailed the stitching time dramatically!  I did put a few stitches in on my current Just Nan Band Sampler.  This is Nan's Garden:

stitched on 28 count green linen

(I must try get a better photo of the fabric!)

At bath-time I managed to complete my second Autumn Lane Stitchery design.  This is Mrs "Large Hat" Claus!  

stitched on 28 count tea-dyed evenweave

The rest of the weekend was a little bit more productive.  I focused on my Chatelaine Gardens of London and completed a phone box.  One down, three to go!  In true Martina style, there are four different shades of red, and three different colours to make the windows.

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds from Crafty Kitten

The next IHSW will be 21st - 23rd May so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.

Finally, it's time to reveal the Mystery Phrase from my Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop.  I wanted a phrase which would include the word in the project I was stitching which was this one:

stitched with one strand on 35 count cream linen

This is Ostara by The Primitive Hare, one of a series of 8 Celtic Celebrations, all found here - Primitive Hare Freebies

Now, "celebration" was too long a word so I used "solstice" instead.  I sent out all the emails with the letter and laying in bed that evening suddenly thought "it's not a Spring solstice, it's a Spring Equinox".  Whoops, too late to change now. 

Everyone did indeed find the phrase

"Spring Solstice of Ostara"

You can learn more about Ostara here.

I plan to stitch all eight of these and frame them together which is why I chose 35 count linen, so they will fit in a frame I already have.  Frugal framing!

March Pie and Stitch from Stash

 It's the final day of March and time for a round-up of the month.  We'll start with Pie:

The original plan was to stitch on Fairy Idyll for 7 days but I got on a roll and just kept going!  She was a new start this month, thanks to the Tiny Decisions App and went from nothing to here:

stitched on 32 count Vineyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

That is a LOT of skirt!  Here's the cover photo so you can see how far I have to go and how much better this fabric is for her!

The plan for next time is to finish the palest yellow and then stitch that pink flouncy frill at the end of the skirt, with a view to working up the left hand side of the arch.

The Witchy Mice were stitched each weekend as part of my March of the Mischievious Mice.  Leonore said "How cute these mice are! I am all for making a whole...what do you call a group of mice?"   So I googled it and discovered the collective noun for mice is - a mischief!   How serendipitous!

A Mischief of Mice

Hawk Run Hollow, Main Street and Stoney Creek were all shown on my WIPocalypse post so that just leaves Just Nan Winter Blues.  This has been our Band Sampler SAL in the Just Nan FB group since 1st January.  Leonore gave me a shortlist and everyone voted for their favourite.  I finished it this week and it's just stunning.  I went for a 28 count white Jobelan because the lettering is over one and I wanted the details to really show.  

Our next Sampler SAL is for the design Nan's Garden.  I stitched a portion of this for a Round Robin back in 2014 so I'm looking forward to stitching the whole piece this time.  We're doing Follow the Needle in the Summer if anyone wants to join in.

Stitch from Stash has a Just Nan feel to it too.  I snagged two charts on eBay this month for every reasonable prices.  I set an upper limit of £5 for charts without embellishment packs.

The ALS is Autumn Lane Stitchery and here's my progress on Mrs Claus:

stitched on 28 count tea-dyed evenweave

Finally, my Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop starts on Good Friday 2nd April and I'll make sure my post goes up at breakfast time in the UK so you can start hopping bright and early!

March Smalls

 

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be the Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas 2019 Ornament series which I started on Boxing Day 2020 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.

March was the Three French Hens:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

I added March to my Tiny Modernist calendar: 

stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers

Last month I completed an Autumn Lane Stitchery design for the Just Cross Stitch Ornament group and this month I've been stitching Mrs Claus to go with Santa Claus:

stitched on 28 count tea-dyed evenweave

My second Christmas Ornament for the month comes from the Gift of Stitching magazine, the November 2010 Christmas Ornament Special.  Another 12 Days design, this time from Nancy Pederson, called First Day of Christmas:

stitched on 28 count black evenweave using DMC 742

I completed the design from last month too.   Rosewood Manor design called Quaker Diamond Noel:

stitched on 32 count Reed Green linen

I also stitched a trio of mice from Just Nan:

One more to go for the final weekend in The March of the Mischievious Mice!

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 2nd 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 2020

March IHSW and F.N.S.I

 

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.

The third Friday is also the Friday Night Sew In or F.N.S.I. which Kaye introduced me to.  You can find out more about it here - Sugarlane Designs

I had started Fairy Idyll, my new Mirabilia, on Thursday so continued with that on Friday and on Sunday afternoon.  Here's where I am now:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Vineyard from Crafty Kitten

It might not seem a lot but the hand is over one, I am adjusting the arm as I go but will probably have to rechart her face to make sure it looks just right over one.  Basically I try to smooth the transitions between two colours.  This little sample shows it best:

A - two over two as charted

B - one over one using 4x for each X
C - one over one smoothing the colours

Over the weekend I joined in with Tiff and Rachel for their start-a-thon which I am calling March of the Mischievious Mice.  This weekend I stitched Just Nan's Hazel Fun Witch Mouse:

stitched on 32 count grey linen

Then I constructed her and Witchy Mouse from last weekend.  They are not fully finished as I need some pins to fix their hats and to make their little broomsticks.

As I was stitching them I realised that the basic patterns for these mice could be interchangeable with each other.

Have a look at the previous two mice out flat:

The edges, the nose, eyes and ears are all in the same place.  The "hem" border is the same shape.  So if I took border 1 and stitched it with body 2 and then body 3, I could have 2 more mice.  Do the same with borders 2 and 3 and that would give me a total of 9 mice from these three charts.  All slightly different.

If Just Nan bring out one more Witchy mouse I could then have a total of 16 mice!

I looked at the charts for the other spooky mice I have stitched and they are slightly smaller  than these three but I could do the same with them and have 9 smaller mice.

Apart from making mice, I stitched on my latest Autumn Lane Stitchery design.  This is Mrs "Large Hat" Claus!  So far, just a Large Hat:

stitched on 28 count tea-dyed evenweave

Finally, the next IHSW will be 16th - 19th April so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.