August WIPocalypse Number 1

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


Part 1 - My 12 in '12


Stonkin' progress this month!


I completed not one but THREE of the projects on my list of 12 which actually quadruples the number of finishes!  I have started five more and only have three which haven't got any further than buying fabric.


Here are this month's three finishes:

This is a Blackbird Designs chart called Bluebirds which Margaret sent to me along with Madame Muriel.  I tea-dyed a piece of 28 count evenweave and used the DMC conversion provided.  Mostly.  I blended the hill then used one green for the leaves and the other green for between the flowers.  I also used 931 for the birds rather than 930 which was a little dark.  They look quite bright in this photo because it was taken in the conservatory rather than our lounge.  The colours are a little more muted in real life.

And here are the two baby samplers you've already seen:

Cross Stitcher Mag Elissa Hudson

JBW Designs Noah's Ark

The chart for the Noah's Ark is off to Cucki as she admired it so much and said her son loved it too.  It's Cucki's Birthday this month so it'll go off to the Stitching Cove with a card.


Part 2 - Just Nan-a-thon


Not so good, in fact nothing again!


Part 3 - Theme-a-licious Jolly July


See yesterday's post for my single holiday themed finish, BRD Woodsy Winter.


Finally, back on this post I asked if you ever send pictures of your work to the designers.  This is something I've started doing this year and I'm so pleased I did.  I got a lovely email from Belinda the Blue Ribbon Girl who is now a follower.  She's even posted my Woodsy Winter on her FB page she liked it so much.  So if you've loved stitching a design, let the designer know, they love feedback and photos.  And guess what, they love stitching and blogging too LOL.

Theme-a-licious July Update, Yet another set of 11 things and a Secret SurpriseGiveaway!

July's theme is Jolly July - It's a jolly holiday with your WIPs...you can concentrate on Christmas designs, ornaments, or even pick a different holiday to render in stitchy goodness.


Yana asked me recently how Jolly July was going, up until that point - not at all!!  I'd been focusing on my Baby Birth Samplers.  So I grabbed the Just Cross Stitch ornie preview issue and chose the Blue Ribbon Woodsy Winter for my Theme-a-licous project.  Here's the progress so far:

This is a nice quick and easy stitch, only a few fractionals in the cardinals.  I've nearly stitched the border then it's just some snow to do.  I'm planning to stitch the matching ornie from last year's Christmas Special and frame them together.  It's stitched on 32count linen in twilight blue rather than the tan colour.  I bought a FQ of this linen for various small projects, it's very stiff but that makes it easier to stitch a small.  I think it would be annoying for anything bigger than I'd have to roll up and crease it (I always stitch in hand).

The 11 Questions are still rolling around Blogland and here's my latest tagging by Evalina from This and That

1. What projects do you like to stitch - big or small?  A real mixture, I always have one of each on the go.  Small for daytime, big for evening.
2. What is your favourite fabric? - 32count Murano for most projects.  I do prefer evenweave to linen as a rule.
3. How many cross stitching books do you have? - Lots!  More than 20 anyway.  I keep them in the kitchen as I can browse them while I'm "cooking"
4. What is your favourite cross stitching magazine?  The now no-longer with us Gift of Stitching.  I haven't read all the back issues I treated myself too, I save one per month so I can pretend it's still going!!
5. What time of the day do you do most of the stitching?  Weekends and evenings.
6. Does your significant other supports your stitching hobby?  Financially or emotionally? LOL.  Now I working I can buy my own supplies again.  Hubby can't understand why I can't make money out of selling the finished pieces as he sees them as works of art.  The Large Boy is always interested in what I'm stitching too.
7. Do you collect stash or just buying supplies for the current project?  Collect stash!
8. What is your favourite drink after five?  I'm teetotal (does that surprise you?) so it'll have to be a nice cup of coffee!
9. Do you listen to music, audio books or TV while stitching or just to the sounds of nature?  At the moment I prefer silence, partly because the Small Boy still isn't sleeping perfectly so I like to be able to hear him if he wakes.  Otherwise it's either an audiobook or Kerrang Music Channel.
10. Do you have any live plants in your home?  Love this question as I have at least three dead ones!!  I have some very leggy cyclamen on my kitchen windowstill, they're still alive.
11. What do you like to read? (Adventure, romance, mystery, non-fiction etc.) Books or magazines?  Fantasy and Sci-fi.  I'm reading alot of YA (Young Adult) at the moment for work.  As I mentioned in a previous post I get some advance copies of forthcoming releases which is a huge bonus!  I've just read John Boyne's new one "The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket" a nice story about a floating boy.  I've also started reading Eragon out loud to the Large Boy at bedtime, 2 chapters a night, it's going to last us most of the year as there are four books in the series.

And the Secret Surprise Giveaway?  I've been keeping an eye on my comments as they crept towards the 2000 mark.  This weekend Anne from Doll's Musings left 2 comments, they were numbers 2000 and 2001 so she is my Secret Surprise Winner!  Not sure what she's won yet but I'll let you know when she gets it.  Don't hold your breath anyone, Christine is still awaiting her Easter Prize!

Finally - the finished Noah's Ark by JBW.  A lovely gift from the lovely (and generous) Kaye of Kitten Stitching, totally unsolicited she sent me the chart when I admired it on her blog, along with the fabric and thread.  As baby was already here I had no excuse not to start immediately!

I love this design with all the cute little animals.  I think the little elephants are my favourites.  It is stitched on 28count flaxseed linen 1 over 1.

End of Term Finish

At the end of the School Year it is traditional to give the teacher a little gift, certainly at Primary School anyway.  I often stitch a little sampler of their favourite thing and the details.  This year the Large Boy's teacher is one he had for some lessons in Year 2 so she has already had a cross stitched gift.  As she is expecting a baby in 10 weeks I've decided to wait and stitch baby something.

The cover gift with Cross Stitcher magazine was a lovely Emily Peacock design and I thought it would be perfect for the class' Teaching Assistant.  I don't usually make a gift for the TA as they tend to help the lower ability children so the Large Boy is doing well to know their name by the end of the year!  But this year I've got on well with her thanks to the Small Boy who likes to run round the classroom at the end of the day.  She's also a book fan and her daughter wants to work where I do so I'm keeping my eyes open for vacancies.

Here's the bookmark:

It's stitched on 16 count aida, in usual Cross Stitcher incompetence they included 14count which meant the stitching would be too long for the bookmark provided!  Luckily I looked on Facebook and saw the comments about it so I was able to use some 16 from my stash instead.  There are lots of peeved stitchers who didn't realise!  The magazine are currently running a satisfaction survey, I'd LOVE to be one of the analysts reading the replies!

The books behind the bookmark are some of my "Reading List" from work.  The red ones with crescent moons are from World Book Night and the others are proof copies I get sent to read, review and recommend to customers.  They are mostly Young Adult or age 9-12 which is great for me and the Large Boy.  I'm currently reading Witchstruck which describes itself as "Twilight meets The Other Boleyn Girl", a fairly accurate description!  I'm enjoying it.

And here is something else I'm enjoying - Noah's Ark by JBW:

This is a superfast stitch!  I love all the cute animals.  I charted the baby's name and DOB this evening so it'll be finished by the weekend.  Another of my "12 in '12" finished, YAY!

Finally the latest postcard in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop was sent to Julie of Julie's Stitchyknitter Journal. Keep an eye open for when she posts it.

If you want to join in and send/receive a postcard then just click on the Wish You Were Here link on my righthand sidebar.  You have until the end of August. 

A most appropriate chart for the weather!

It's been raining buckets off and on all week.  Thursday was our town's day for the Olympic torch and fortunately was gloriously sunny.  The next day was torrential rain, the next sunny and today rain all day again!

So here I am stitching on an Ark to save us all!

My cousin's new baby sampler has been on my "12 in '12" list this year and I'd planned to do the two nut brown hares from "Guess How Much I Love You" but with my reduced stitching time it was going to be too ambitious. Then I saw Kaye's post on her Kitten Stitching blog.  She was stitched a cute little JBW Noah's Ark and said how quickly it was stitching up.  I commented that it was perfect for my new little cousin intending to buy a copy, lo and behold Kaye gifted me her chart when she finished it!

She also sent some linen, 28 count Wichelt Flaxseed and two skeins of DMC 815 to stitch it in.  I couldn't wait to start and here's three session's progress:

I'm stitching over 1 because I like it!  What is nice about the design is that once you've stitched one little animal and placed the next you don't have to look at the chart, just copy the first one.  I also love that the animals are totally recognisable even though they are such simple silhouettes.

Remember the Warhol-inspired design in my previous post?  Well, I emailed Marie-Therese with my finished photo to say "hope you like it".  She did, and posted on her blog about it!  She called me "délicieuse" which I love!  She also pointed out that I'd called it a rose when in actual fact it is a pansy!  The trouble is I saw the title "La pensée rose de la nuit de la broderie" and confused rose meaning pink with the flower.  I didn't know the word "pensee" at all and Google Translate was no use.  It said it meant "pink thought of the night".

The latest postcard in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has been mailed out to the Southpaw Stitcher.  Keep an eye on her blog for when it arrives.  I'll be sending the next postcard soon so watch out in your in-boxes.  If possible post the picture on your blog as soon as you can so I can link to the actual blog post.

Finally, not much actual stitching this post, I've been mainly stitching a bookmark for the TA at school (teaching assistant) but it's so close to finish I'll show it then.  So I'll ask a question instead.  When you stitch a freebie design, especially one from a blog, do you email the designer to show them your finished work?  I try to do so and people seem to be really pleased when I do, a little Thank You for the freebies.