Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2019

Welcome to this year's Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop; the bounciest, springiest Hop of them all!

First new finish - Mill Hill Daffodil Egg

The original kit was fully beaded on perforated paper but as the chart for this was passed on to me without the supplies I used a piece of 16 count yellow aida and the DMC equivalents to stitch this.  I needed a small project for my train journey last week and this was perfect.

Now on to the Hop.

As usual, I have a list of bloggers, each one was allocated a letter which will spell out the mystery phrase when you hop round in the order below.  A little clue this year - you may be confused to start with as the letters may not seem to spell out anything you can understand but persevere and all will become clear!

The first little bunny is:

Ariadne from Greece

then

Jeremiah's Mom

Tiffstitches a Blog

Sewing After Seven

Needle, Pen & Sword

A Patchwork of Crafts

Jocondine

Beth's Needlework Stash

Oh Sew Crafty

Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Ishkabibble

The Alchymyst's Study

Aimetu's Stitching

Elfin Stitches

Mary's Thread

A Stitcher's Story

Wicked Stitcher

Dragon Stitches & Stuff by Astrid

Books, Crafts and Other Procrastinations

Little Stitches Art

Le Coeur Celtique

Alaska Wolf Pack

and finally back to me for this letter:

Hopefully you have a phrase now!  Don't forget that some people will post later than others because of time zones.  Leave a comment telling me what you think the mystery phrase is.  I have enabled comment moderation so the answers will not appear for two weeks.  Closing date is Friday 3rd May, 2019.

My second finish was a new start last Easter so it is very fitting that it was finished for this Easter.  A lovely bright Springy design from Satsuma Street officially called Nest Egg but also referred to as "Goose in a Bonnet" as a nod to the 80s when I did not stitch those sorts of designs!

stitched on 32 count Marie's Daffodil by Chromatic Alchemy

Because the fabric was paler than the recommended fabric, I decided to backstitch the goose, the basket and the eggs to make them stand out a little but more.  For a lovely version on the recommended fabric - have a look at June's blog here - Butterfly Wings

This is how I have finished the piece for my Easter display:

I bought a felt basket from The Works and cut it apart to get a nice long line of "grass" which I stuck to the edge of the frame.  Then I "planted" the Mill Hill Egg in the grass!  Because the frame is a box frame, the trim doesn't obscure the stitching.

Finally, it is IHSW - International Hop & Stitch Weekend - or Hermit, whichever you prefer!  Enjoy the Blog Hop and make time for stitching inbetween the egg hunting!  Have a wonderful weekend.  Except for Alicia, the Crafty Princess who is working all weekend.  Hope it's a quiet and peaceful weekend instead!

March WIPocalypse New to Me

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 five of my list:

1. Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace

 
stitched on 32 count Murano in Tiger Lily from Sparklies

2. Gardens of London by Chatelaine

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Cotton Clouds by Crafty Kitten

3. Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

4. Summer Typography by Just Nan

stitched on 32 count Pink Linen

6. Nest Egg by Satsuma Street

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Marie's Daffodil by Chromatic Alchemy

nearly finished!

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

March – What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?

Unfortunately, because I've been stitching from stash I haven't really been in a position to discover many new designers or products.  I checked my 19 list and the only two new-to-me designers are Cottage Garden Samplings and Sue Hillis.  Neither of whom are particularly new to anyone else!  Last year my new find was Mrs Peggotty and her Alice in Wonderland designs.  I completed Alice last year and will be starting the Queen of Hearts in April:

Mrs Peggotty Arts

I suppose I could include my new hobby of rock painting in here!  I found a painted rock near the bus stop last Summer and joined the Facebook group to let the person know it had been found.  Of course, this started a whole new hobby for me.  One which I am thoroughly enjoying.  Painting rocks is considerably quicker than cross stitch for one thing.  Here is my latest, a little Easter Monster by Chris Ryniak, my new favourite artist:

Chris Ryniak on Instagram

Finally, I will be hosting my Annual Easter Treasure Hunt on Good Friday the 19th April. 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!

March Gifted Gorgeousness Link-up Post

Welcome to the March Gifted Gorgeousness link-up.  The link-up date continues to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.

The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.

The first design is stitched on gifted fabric.  The lovely Tiff Stitches sent me this gorgeous piece of acid yellow from Chromatic Alchemy and I decided to stitch this Satsuma Street design titled Nest Egg which I call "Goose in a Bonnet" just for fun.

Here is where the piece was left last month:

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Marie's Daffodil by Chromatic Alchemy

And here is where I am now:

look how much nicer that wing looks in the lighter shade of peach

I worked on my Chatelaine for one week this month.  This was a Birthday present and a number of bloggers donated threads for it.  Here is where I left the second Garden last month:

And here is where I am now:

Not a lot of progress this time.  I did stitch a lot of Queen's Stitches in the border.  Unfortunately the pink in the right garden looks different to the pink in the left which I prefer.  So I see another frog in my future.  Then I stitched the rice stitches in both gardens.  Next month will be speciality stitches in the right garden and in both outer borders.

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast by Crafty Kitten

My Discworld Mappe will be a gift for my son, hopefully for his 18th Birthday in 2020.  Here is where is was at last GG post:

And here is where I will pick it up for this month:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the month. Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "March Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month. And link to the actual post, not just your blog. It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.

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Finally, it is IHSW this weekend.  The weekend where we hide away from the rest of the world and stitch to our heart's content.  Unfortunately I have to work Sunday but I will be picking up Discworld on Saturday and starting on the lettering.  Hopefully I can add Monday to my weekend as I'm not working that day.

March TUSAL

It's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog.

Here is my TUSAL jar with two projects:

I left all the orange floof in the tin so you can see how much there is.  That's my evening ORTs tin and there's usually very little in there.  But this month I decided to frog a large piece of the goose.

Have a look at the previous photo of goosie:

and now:

Satsuma Street - Nest Egg

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Marie's Daffodil by Chromatic Alchemy

The orange in her back was one shade too dark and the more I looked at it the less I liked it.  So I frogged it and will restitch it.  I do love those eggs but I feel this will benefit from some backstitch, just to outline the eggs and the goose.  Not black but a dark grey.

The other project in the TUSAL photo is my spooky conversion of the Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace.  I am adding a large full moon charted from a photo of the actual moon using Pic2Pat.  I am happy with how it's turning out but progress is a little slow thanks to extra work shifts due to World Book Day this week.  Today I did shop visits for 93 Primary School children aged between 5 and 9.  Luckily not all at the same time!

Finally, here's some rocks I painted for World Book Day, these will be hidden in our shop over the weekend for children to find:

February WIPocalypse Listening and Watching

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 seven of my list, with 2 finishes:

1. Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace

 
stitched on 32 count Murano in Tiger Lily from Sparklies

2. Gardens of London by Chatelaine

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Cotton Clouds by Crafty Kitten

3. Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

4. Alice & the Flamingo by Mrs Peggotty

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

5. Summer Typography by Just Nan

stitched on 32 count Pink Linen

6. Nest Egg by Satsuma Street

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Marie's Daffodil by Chromatic Alchemy

7. Poinsettia by Ink Circles

stitched over 1 on 28 count green evenweave

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

February – What do you listen to while stitching?
It will one of a number of things:

1. Other people chatting if I'm at coffee morning

2. Planet Rock on the radio

3. FlossTube (if I'm alone) or Good Mythical Morning (if the Large Boy is at home)
4. Telltales sounds of the Small Boy getting up to mischief!

Let's talk about FlossTube though as it's the most stitchy related.  I follow a number of FlossTubers now and have several favourites.  Is it fair to pick out a couple?  Probably not!  Let's just say that three of my favourites are bloggers as well as YouTubers.  I think there's something about knowing the person blogs as well as makes videos which makes me feel we have more in common.

This afternoon I was listening to Stitching Noni, so here's a link to her latest video.

Finally, I'm slowly updating the Happy Dance blog.  When Photobucket wanted to charge us all to use their service they removed access to all our photos but then realised they weren't allowed to do that and put them back but with a nasty Photobucket watermark on.  So I am gradually working through older blog entries and my Happy Dance blog to replace them all.  It's not a fun task but it is nice to look at some older finishes!

February IHSW

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.  Links at the bottom of this post.

Friday is usually my day to go to the Crafty Coffee Morning but the shop which hosts it is relocating this month so the last two Fridays have been Coffee & Cakes at my house instead.

I'm using this time to work on my Just Nan Smalls.  Since the last IHSW I finished Thanks a Bunch and started Fairy Roses.

Thanks A Bunch

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

The little Floral Bunch charm is discontinued so I'm using a butterfly instead.

Straight on to the next one in turn:

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

This one is quite unusual as it is not symmetrical.  The green stitches are quite random so I've made a working copy of the chart and colour each symbol in as I go.

The next project is one I've been working on for just over a year, stitching a little bit each day while my son is in the bath.  Linda was SAL with me and she finished recently so it was time to ramp it up and get it done!

Alice & the Flamingo by Mrs Peggotty Arts

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

I really enjoyed this piece, the blocks of colour meant you didn't have to change thread too often.  I usually prefer stitching a monochrome at bathtime for this reason but with this project I could use the same colour all session most evenings.

The plan now is to stitch the Satsuma Street Nest Egg design and then start on Mrs Peggotty's Queen of Hearts.  I don't think I'll catch Linda up as she's already started her.

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Marie's Daffodil by Chromatic Alchemy

My main focus piece for IHSW was the Discworld Mappe.  Thank you to everyone who said how much they enjoy seeing this piece.  You're going to be seeing a LOT of it this year!

Here's where it was on Friday:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

and here is where I am now:

I didn't quite finish the banner pink because it was so boring after a while, so I started alternating with some grey for the heraldic hippo instead.


A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is! Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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The next IHSW will be 15th - 17th March 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.

Finally, the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop was a great success.  Everyone posted on the actual day and now all the links go direct to the SSS post on each blog so you can still hop round quite easily.

Here's a collage of all the photos sent in:

(can you tell I have a new collage maker?

February Gifted Gorgeousness Link-up Post

Welcome to the February Gifted Gorgeousness link-up.  The link-up date continues to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.

The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.

The first design is stitched on gifted fabric.  The lovely Tiff Stitches sent me this gorgeous piece of acid yellow from Chromatic Alchemy when I moaned about how difficult it was to find a good yellow.  I decided to stitch this Satsuma Street design titled Nest Egg which I call "Goose in a Bonnet" just for fun.

Here is where the piece was left last year:

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Marie's Daffodil by Chromatic Alchemy

And here is where I am now:

I'd love to have this one finished by Easter so I am doing a bit each day.

I worked on my Chatelaine for one week this month.  This was a Birthday present and a number of bloggers donated threads for it.  Here is where I left the second Garden last month:

And here is where I am now:

Noni sent me the lovely yellow I have been using.  

My Discworld Mappe will be a gift for my son, hopefully for his 18th Birthday in 2020.  Here is where is was at the end of last year:

I stitched on it for 2 weeks in January and I am now about to start another two weeks this month.  This is my starting point for today:

Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the month. Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "February Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month. And link to the actual post, not just your blog. It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.

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Finally, while I was hopping around last month I noticed that a few people are still using the 2018 logo and linking to the 2018 sign up page which is no longer a valid link.  Please have a little look and make sure you're linking to the 2019 page.