Serendipity Strikes Again!

Remember the name of my blog and the little sub-heading at the top?  Well, serendipity has struck again!  Last post I showed you the lovely pile of DMC Susan had sent me as an early Birthday present for stitching the Chatelaine Gardens of London Mandala.  It just so happens that Martina has been running a Daily Discount on FB.  Each day she chooses a few charts which have 20% off for one day only.  And I just so happened to spot this on the one day London was included!  So now it's mine.  Isn't that perfect?

I have the long list of speciality threads needed and a quote from Crafty Kitten to kit them up (approximately £150).  It would be cheaper to get them from European Cross Stitch (who are in the US ironically!) but then I would have a huge customs bill to pay.  So it's swings and roundabouts.  I do plan to look carefully at the chart and decide if I really need all the different threads, Waterlilies in particular are very expensive for what they are.  So if anyone wants to "sponsor a skein" I promise to write your name on the bag and think of you whenever I use it LOL

Last Friday was the second Friday of the month which means Christmas stitching.  The theme on the Christmas Ornie SAL blog is Animals or Pets.  This gave me the perfect opportunity to stitch some more Daffycat Reindeer.  Here is the first one:

stitched over one on 28 count sparkly evenweave

I also did a little scrapbooking of finishes:

The Sweetheart Tree - Finger Fun I

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The Little Stitcher - Winter Woods

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And here is the most recent finish, mounted on a calendar page of one of Monet's Waterlilies paintings.

Just Nan - My Fair Ladybug

And a little close-up of the Ladybird charm I got from SewandSo:

Here's my progress on the next Just Nan piece I've been stitching:

Beehive Violets

Once I finish the pink smyrna stitches there is some gold and the beads and it's done.  I am in three minds what to stitch next in the evenings!  Either another Just Nan small, the Primitive Needle Sampler Susan sent me or an Ink Circles Spooky Mandala.  I just can't decide!  Daytime is easy, Little Snapdragon will come back once I have finished the Christmas Reindeer.

Finally, an apology if I haven't visited your blog recently.  I've got a little behind with reading and commenting.  Not sure why but I seem to have had less time to read them in the evenings than usual.  Maybe we should have our tea earlier so I get a longer evening!

June TUSAL

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.

Here is my ORTS jar posing with the current stitching projects:

The project on the left is Just Nan's Counting Bats which is the design I am stitching each month for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL.  Here is this month's band:

stitched on 32 count lilac linen

And here is the whole piece so far:

There's a skeleton charm to be added in the gap under the bat

The other design is my nearly-finish of My Fair Ladybug, also by Just Nan.  It would have been finished today but I discovered I don't have the little ladybird charm for the centre!

stitched on 28 count evenweave

So I popped over the SewandSo's website, ordered the charm, some beads I need and a couple more JNs fell into my basket!  oops.  Here's a close-up of the beaded part:

I spent some time cataloguing my Just Nans this morning.  I have 49 of the small designs, not including the Hallowe'en ones!  The majority were the annual freebies but some are "bought and paid for" designs.  I have stitched a grand total of 6 of them!  Time to get cracking on another one I think.  I chose Beehive Violets to go with my bee-themed RAK from Kim.

Finally, I completed my exploding book!  As seen in the Stitch Bitch's blog.  More photos to follow in the next post.

Bank Holiday Pie

The festival of Whit Sunday was originally a combination of Pentecost (the 7th Sunday after Easter) and Beltane (the Pagan start of Summer) and is now commemorated with a long Bank Holiday weekend the last weekend in May.  The schools combine it with the Half Term Holiday so the children get the entire week off and not just Monday.

As is traditional to start the English Summer, it will be cold and rainy.  We had a thunderstorm last night.  The Small Boy and I did manage to visit The Plant Man and buy some fuchsias and bedding plants though.

And I did some stitching while watching Floss Tube (or Flaaaaaas Tube as the Large Boy calls it.  When he's not saying "Nifty Needle Nannies" a la Katie the Stash Queen!).  I am continuing with Little Snap Dragon, right down to the bottom of his tail.  Thankfully this area has much less confetti so progress is quicker.  All of the tail stitched is just one colour so far:

stitched on 32 count Evening Sky Murano by Crafty Kitten

And here is the whole piece with a tape measure for size.  I am not sure if you can see those numbers but that is roughly 12 inches or 30 cm from the metal tip to the red number near the tail.

Lots of progress on Just Nan's My Fair Ladybird too:

stitched on 28 count evenweave

And now the special Whitsun pie:

You can see that Snapdragon is way out in front this month but Snowy Cottage had 14 days from last month.  Once again, there are more than 31 days because some days I stitched on two designs.

Finally, after last month's blow out I wasn't intending to buy anything this month.  Until Brooke Nolan announced a special May Day Sale, everything in her Etsy store half price.  These two fell into my cart!  Hubby's niece is getting married later this year and loves sugar skulls so these two will be perfect for her.

Brooke's Books Sugar Skulls

A Little More Dragon Progress OR More Little Dragon Progress

Whichever way you look at it, Little Snap Dragon is progressing!

stitched on 32 count Evening Sky Murano from Crafty Kitten

Having commented on all the different greens in this design I haven't actually used any of them this week - it's been blue all the way.  When I got him out of the bag earlier this month I wondered why I had chosen such a big bit of fabric for what appeared to be quite a small design.  As I'm stitching him, it turns out he's not so tiny after all!  The finished design will be 11.5 inches by 16.5 inches.  So he needs that larger fabric.

Last weekend for IHSW I worked on Elizabeth Shephard for two days.  I was in a "border mood" so I I stitched the entire borders for two motifs and then made a start on the swan.

stitched on 30 count linen

You can see how close I am getting now.  Definite finish by the end of the Summer.

Many of you know about my "bathtime stitching", this is a piece I work on in the bathroom each evening while my son has his bath!  He needs adult supervision but doesn't want me playing with him - I might splash him LOL.  So I stitch.  Sometimes I chose a large monchrome piece so I don't have to worry about colour changes but recently it has been Smalls.  In an effort to fit them into the rotation somehow.

Here is a little freebie from Just Nan:

stitched on 28 count evenweave

Remember back in the pre-internet days when your LNS gave out freebies from your favourite designers?  Just Nan used to print them on a stiff pink paper and I have a small collection.  I have stitched a few and have fabric for a few more.  This one is called My Fair Ladybug and you attach a little ladybird charm in the centre of the design.  Won't take long to stitch up.

Finally, you all know I'm a big fan of Hallowe'en and general spookiness!  I signed the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog up for this event:

There were short stories, top tens of monster and monster films, a bit of crafting and a wonderful monster make-up montage, plus the best of our cross stitched monsters.  

You can find the party here - Little Gothic Horrors

and our group blog post here - Hallowe'en Ornie SAL