Happy Dance for My Lovely Sewing Tools

Warning  - Photo Heavy!

This is what I wrote back in October 2011:

The new SAL is from the fantastic Gift of Stitching online magazine.  I found this magazine a while back via various blogs.  They were offering 3 issues for $3 which was too good to resist so I signed up.  The magazine pops into your email box at the beginning of each month full of tempting designs.  They are very keen on part works (encourages people to keep buying each issue!) which is great because it makes the larger designs easier to stitch.

I saw a post on Kathy's Blog A Stitcher's Heirlooms about her indecision regarding which project to start next.  I said I wanted to start My Lovely Sewing Tools myself and we went from there.  If you'd like to join us pop over to Kathy's Blog and let her know.  We're also posting our progress on FB if you're a member.  Just search for Gift of Stitching and their page comes up.

I decided to use the DMC conversion as I don't have any Valdani threads.  They are £2.29 each from SewandSo which isn't the most expensive thread but I am supposed to be on a stash diet until Christmas!  I used my Willow Fabrics' voucher to treat myself to some 40count Newcastle linen.  The service was great, I had a glitch on the computer so phoned up the old-fashioned way, had a nice chat with the lady about the project and my fabric duly arrived, nicely packaged and labelled.  It was £13something for a FQ plus P&P so not the cheapest but not bad, and the service was good.

Here is my progress after one evening.  I've started in the middle as I always do.  This is actually Part 3c of the chart.  The charts start at the top left of the piece but I like to start in the middle.  I've used an anonymous variegated thread for the darkest red.  The label is long gone but it came from my now closed LNS.  One strand is about the same as 2 strands of DMC so where the chart calls for one strand I will use the DMC 315 they recommend.

Badly scanned image

So many changes since then, I no longer scan my work for one thing.

19th October, 2011 I wrote - I have also discovered something new to me - size 28 needles.  I kept seeing reference to size 28s so got a pack - aren't they amazing!!   I love them.  And you can use the thread down to the last mm as they're so short.

28th October, 2011:

11th November, 2011 with Madame Muriel the Travelling Granny:

15th March, 2012 (slight break there):

21st April, 2012 as my monthly TUSAL post:

25th April, 2012:

And that was it!  The last of the regular posts.  I did stitch on the border for my Longest Days SALs but other than that it languished rolled up in a tube along with my other UFOs.  Until this year when I decided to make it one of my "19 in '19".  I'd thought I didn't have much more to do but as ever, it took longer than I thought!

May 2019:

June 2019:

July 2019:

End of August 2019:

And now:

Close-ups of the main sections:

One of the things that took the longest was going back to the beginning after I had finished the border and checking I had included everything.  Some things were intentionally left until the end (the beads in the centre of every flower) and some things were not (there is an extra spool in the model that wasn't on the chart so I added it).

I made a few changes apart from using the DMC conversion.  I used a mixture of one strand and two to create texture.  I added the beads in the border, the flower centres and the heads of all the little pins.  Those pin heads are on of my favourite things.  I added charms and buttons according to what I had which would fit.  This is 40 count so I needed tiny things.

Details:

This part was charted for a brass heart charm, a key, a flower charm and a button:

This part was charted for a crown but I really wanted these scissors to be near the S:

This part was charted for the scissors but I had the yarn charm so I wanted that to be near the Y.  It was a little bit big so I frogged the row of stitched under the herringbone and put it there.  Then added a button where the original charm had been:

This is another favourite part.  My original idea was to add the needle I had been using but as I mentioned above, I use 28 petites and it looked too tiny.  So I added a 24 needle I used on a different project.  The chart showed a stitched needle not a real one.

Cute buttons from the local haberdashery, chosen by my friend's daughter with the instructions "they must be under 8mm"

All the spools were satin stitched:

Adorable tiny over one stitches on 40 count and a sweet little tassel:

Finally, the whole piece once again!

  What is your favourite part of the design?

August Stitch from Stash and Pie

Let's start with Pie:

As you can see I got another two full weeks on the Discworld Mappe which went from here:

to here:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

I made some great progress on Marie Suarez's My Lovely Sewing Tools.  From here:

to here:

and here:

stitched on 40 count white linen

I am so close to a finish I am not going to put it away today but keep working until it is done.  I need to add the rest of the bottom border, and some beads and charms.  You can see from the Pie that I only got 5 days on this but spent 9 days with very little stitching except my daily project or one of my smalls.

When I completed Summer Typography, the next project should have been Winter in the Square.  I even got the chart and linen out and put it in the project bag.  But then I looked at my WIPocalypse projects and thought it might be better to start one of those instead.  This is a Just Nan sampler called Summer Night.  At approximately 90 x 50 I thought I could average one row of 500 stitches every 5 days.  So I wrote a schedule out and this is the first six day's work, almost all the top 15 rows.  The plan is to complete it in the 42 days of the Summer Holiday.

Last time it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

Again, very close to a finish.  I have the bottom row which is all Satin Stitch and some Smyrna Stitches in the flowers.  Then it's just beads and ribbon to complete the project.

Finally, let's finish with Stitch from Stash:

August
Charms	£7.86
Total	£7.86

Another low-spend month because it's been the holidays so no money for stitchy stuff.  I only bought the charms as I need them for My Lovely Sewing Tools.

August WIPocalypse Bucket List

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  

Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "19 in '19" for this year.  You can find the full list here.

This month I stitched on three of my list:

1. Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

2. . My Lovely Sewing Tools by Marie Suarez

stitched on 40 count White linen

3. Summer Night by Just Nan 

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

August - What do you have on your stitching bucket list? (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc)

I think the key word here is "more".  I want to stitch more of everything!  All my Just Nan samplers, more 3D designs, a Hallowe'en Village, a load of Mirabilia and Nora Corbetts, more Brooke's Books witches and cakes, finish every series I have started.  You get the idea?

This is one of the cute 3D designs on my Bucket List:

The Bookshop - Living on the Rainbow

Isn't it cute?  There is a whole Christmas Village.

Ellie Jenks also has a whole village called Brightsea Village, complete with Haunted House:

Haunted House by Ellie Jenks

Or maybe I want to furnish a Doll's House?

Janet Granger

I would like to go on another retreat but unless someone organises one in my home town, that's unlikely!

Finally:

All the postcards except one have been sent out in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop.  I am saving that one in case I get a last minute entry!

Aimetu's Stitching

Needle, Pen and Sword

Miniz Diary

Ariadne from Greece

Jocondine

July Pie, Stitch From Stash and TUSAL

A Three-For-The-Price-Of-One today!

Let's start with Pie:

As you can see I got another two full weeks on the Discworld Mappe which went from here:

to here:

I made some great progress on Marie Suarez's My Lovely Sewing Tools.  From here:

to here:

stitched on 40 count white linen

I finished all the centre block and stitched most of the right hand block, the final one.  Next month I have to complete that and the border then add the embellishments.  Should be on course for a finish next month!

Now on to the TUSAL.  July is a Two-TUSAL month, the Totally Useless SAL created by Daffycat where we all show our ORTS.  Here are mine with three current projects:

You've seen My Lovely Sewing Tools above.  The one on the top left is my current Just Nan small; Butterfly Welcome and the one on the bottom left is the replacement for my 10-a-Day project which I finished last week.

Butterfly Welcome stitched on 28 count Colonial Blue evenweave

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

When I completed Summer Typography, the next project should have been Winter in the Square.  I even got the chart and linen out and put it in the project bag.  But then I looked at my WIPocalypse projects and thought it might be better to start one of those instead.  This is a Just Nan sampler called Summer Night.  At approximately 90 x 50 I thought I could average one row of 500 stitches every 5 days.  So I wrote a schedule out and this is the first six day's work, almost all the top 15 rows.  The plan is to complete it in the 42 days of the Summer Holiday.

Finally, let's finish with Stitch from Stash.  We start a new accounting period in the Facebook Group so everything resets to zero again.

July
JCS Hallowe'en mag	£9.50
Total	£9.50

Probably due to the fact I had to pay for my new glasses so very little spare money this month!