May D.E.S.I.G.N. SAL

The idea of this Blog Hop is to choose a different designer each month and do a post focusing on a piece of their work you have stitched on during the month.  The hosts of D.E.S.I.G.N ask us to answer a few questions on our chosen designer.

1. What designer are you talking about this month?

Belinda from Blue Ribbon Designs.  This month I completed Owls by Moonlight from JCS magazine:

I stitched it on 32 count Twilight Blue linen and changed some of the thread colours.  I made the trees dark brown rather than black, I tweeded the owls and used a variegated DMC for the moon.

Here it is mounted ready to go into my scrapbook:

2. Have you stitched a project by this designer before?

Yes, back in 2012 I stitched Woodsy Winter from the JCS Christmas Preview issue:

Stitched on 32 count Twilight Blue linen.

3. Would you buy/stitch a design by this designer again?  Why/Why not?

Definitely yes.  There are three co-ordinating designs to go with Woodsy Winter and also some Hallowe'en pieces all available in JCS magazines which I own already.  Then there are the designs for sale on her website.  I really like several of the Hallowe'en designs.  Does that surprise anyone?

This is Mischief at Midnight, a particular favourite:

4. What made you choose this particular design/designer?

I want to stitch all the series of ornies that she has done and this seemed like a good excuse to do one!

5. Did you notice anything that distinguished this designer from others?

Belinda's designs are very simple with only full stitches, no fractionals or backstitch.  She does use variegated or hand-dyed threads but always provides a DMC conversion.  She has some lovely ornie sets on her website and also a number of samplers made up from several smaller motifs which could be restitched separately to make scissor fobs or ornies too.

One of the things I like about her website is that she includes details of all the magazines her designs have appeared in.  This is a great time-saver when you want to stitch a series like I do or you need to remember which magazine the design you loved was actually in.

As well as cross stitch, Belinda does a lot of quilting so my followers who are also quilters may be interested in that side of things too.

Oh yes, and there's a range of lace snowflakes too!  And some Hallowe'en themed lace bits as well.

And here is the Pie Chart for May:

Finally, I have launched the annual Summer Postcard Blog Hop.  The theme this year is Pets.  All you need to do is email me a photo of something you have stitched on this theme plus a little message about what pets mean to you.  Once I have a few I will start emailing them to the participants who will display them on their blogs.  The Blog Hop lasts all Summer so don't worry if you don't have anything suitable stitched yet.  I'm going to be finding some freebies online to inspire you.  Today I have been on a Bunny Hunt!  There are already links to Easter themed Bunnies on my freebie page but I found this Rabbit on Gazette 94's blog, more of a gardening rabbit than a pet.

Gazette94 - Lapin au Jardin

May Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus

This year I am going to have two monthly challenges:

1. The Primitive Hare Hallowe'en Cubes SAL

2. The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL themed blog.

Here is my L block:

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

Everyone commented on what a jolly ghost he is when I first posted him.  Not at all spooky!

The theme for the Hallowe'en Ornie Blog for May is Pumpkins and here is my little Just Nan finish:

Poor Jack stitched on 32 count Lavender

I started another design with a pumpkin this week, this is a Blue Ribbon Design called Owls in Moonlight:

Stitched on 32 count Twilight Blue linen.

I don't have much left to do, the border and the big yellow moon.  Typically for a small, simple design I made two counting errors!  This involved some fudging of the right hand tree and the moon may have to be adjusted too.  Why can we do the most complex designs but make counting errors in the simple ones?  Anyway, no-one would know if we didn't mention it!

So that's it for Smalls this month.  Yesterday was Tuesday which is my Satsuma Street SAL with Linda and Kate.  Now, Linda has been complaining I am stitching too fast and concentrating on the one design instead of the 246 WIPs she has LOL.  So, in the interests of letting her catch up I have decided to continue with London - Pretty Mini London!  This was one of three Cityscapes in Cross Stitch Crazy Issue 202 designed to be stitched on black rather than white.  The black really makes the colours pop.  To be kind to myself, I am using 28 count rather than 32 count like the larger City.

So Linda and Kate - you have until I complete this Mini to catch up, haha.

Finally, I have launched the annual Summer Postcard Blog Hop.  The theme this year is Pets.  All you need to do is email me a photo of something you have stitched on this theme plus a little message about what pets mean to you.  Once I have a few I will start emailing them to the participants who will display them on their blogs.  The Blog Hop lasts all Summer so don't worry if you don't have anything suitable stitched yet.  I'm going to be finding some freebies online to inspire you.  Today I have been searching for dogs and puppies.  I found this great website of freebies.  She has five pages of dogs and lots of other animals too! 

Jessica Tromp - Dogs

Bank Holiday Weekend Stitching

Super Mom No Cape Monday Stitchery Link Party #7

(Follow the link to find out more!)

It's been a three day weekend here in England and I've been at home with the boys while Hubby has been working hard in a field somewhere.  We've been watching films, doing quizzes on the internet and I've been stitching too.

The main focus for the weekend was the next block in the Primitive Hare Hallowe'en Cubes.  This is the second L:

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

I'm stitching one of these per month, but jumped to the end of the word for last month because it fitted in with the theme on the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL (tombstones).

Here's another Hallowe'en piece:

Stitched on 32 count Twilight Blue Linen

This is a Blue Ribbon Design called Owls in Moonlight from the October 2014 issue of Just Cross Stitch,  I am using the same blue linen I used for the Christmas design Woodsy Winter I stitched back in 2012.  There are four Christmas Woods designs and this Hallowe'en one.  I have enough blue linen to stitch them all on the same fabric.

Here is my progress on The Book of Spells by The Goode Huswife:

Stitched on 40 count Jewel Butterbeer linen.

I've been working on the cat in the moon this week.  I have a great variegated DMC to fill the moon in too.  I'm using my own conversion for the DMC because the ones given don't always look like the cover photo.

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email this weekend and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) starting with the letter A and we will all link up with A themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

Finally, I have launched the annual Summer Postcard Blog Hop.  The theme this year is Pets.  All you need to do is email me a photo of something you have stitched on this theme plus a little message about what pets mean to you.  Once I have a few I will start emailing them to the participants who will display them on their blogs.  The Blog Hop lasts all Summer so don't worry if you don't have anything suitable stitched yet.  I'm going to be finding some freebies online to inspire you.  Starting with these monthly cats from Happiness is Cross Stitching:

Mini cat cross stitch freebies

Super Mom No Cape Monday Stitchery Link Party #7