Finally Fully Finishing Fun for September

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed.  We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).

Grab a coffee, it's going to be a busy post!

I started off scrapbooking some Just Nan smalls:

Jump for Joy and Floral Sunshine:

Thanks a Bunch and Happy Bluebird:

Potpourri and Fairy Roses:

Then I did some papercraft.  At the beginning of the year I stitched a series of inspirational words by Jessica Savage.  There were only 6 in the series and I was a little unsure how to finish them.  Then I saw a nice folding book idea.

I got some stickers from Etsy to fill in the blank spaces.  On the reverse, I used the snarky sayings from our work calendar from a few years back!  I saved the back page that had small versions of each month because they were too funny to throw out!  Here they all are:

The book folds up like a concertina and I added ribbons so I can tie it up and stop it unfolding:

Here's a video clip of the book being unfolded:

This was an easy finish and one I will definitely do again.

I scrapbooked my lovely Alice freebie:

Love the sparkly ribbon, I bought a lot of it so can use it some more.  It is perfect Disney Cheshire Cat colours!

And this very old finish which was also a freebie, this time from The Little Stitcher:

I plan to stitch some more small Alice themed designs and add them to that page.

Finally, I finished my Judith Stanley for Needlepoise sampler - Bramble Harvest and framed that!

stitched on 28 count Annabelle evenweave

There are so many pretty details in this sampler

Satin stitch used to great effect

different weights of thread to create texture

A simple frame from a charity shop.  By luck, the mount was the perfect size!

August Stitch from Stash and Pie

Well, August turned out to be a very productive month, with no fewer than 5 finishes!

Here is the Pie:

Yes, those couched lines on the Discworld Mappe took nearly 2 weeks to stitch.  To be fair, some of those days were very short because it was sometimes difficult to get the enthusiasm to start on them.  I also stitched the lovely silver stars around the edge of the Mappe.  I intend to do a full post this week dedicated to the Mappe, so I will show lots of photos then.  In the meantime, here's another full picture of it:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

Holly Noel by Just Nan was the first finish at the start of the month and then it took 20 days to get another finish.  This is the Alice freebie from Passion Creative:

stitched on 28 count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab bag

The original is charted in two shades of grey but I knew I wanted blue for Alice.  Originally I planned to use the dark blue for all the darker stitching but having done her eyes I realised it was just too dark.  So I used the intended lighter blue for the rest of the dark stitching and chose a new light blue.  I love the way this turned out and hope to scrapbook it very soon.

The next finish up was my Summer Sampler SAL with Leonore.  We have both been stitching Just Nan's Morning Meadow over the last eight weeks.  Here's my finish:

stitched on 32 count pale green linen (matches DMC 772)

I didn't have all the charted threads or beads so I substituted blended DMC for the Caron Waterlilies, standard DMC for the Perle and beads which I did have in my stash.

I also made those bunnies darker so they would show up better

This is a very early Just Nan - JN013 copyright 1993, the year I started stitching.  She uses some absolutely wonderful speciality stitches in this sampler.  Some I was familiar with and some that were new to me.  The butterfly stitches are fantastic and I like the satin stitch flowers too.  She uses Mosiac Stitch to great effect, there's so much texture in this piece.  I do wish she would do more band samplers but I have several in my collection so I can't complain too much!

Another Just Nan was the final finish for the month.  This is Jasmine Mix, 49 x 49 stitches but 17 colours and 1 kind of bead:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

I absolutely love this one.  The way the B5200 just pops off the fabric and those gorgeous dark pinks, the splashes of yellow.  Great little design.

I did purchase a little treat this month.  I saw a former shopowner selling off some Just Nan exclusive kits from when she owned a shop, for a bargain price and had to snatch one up!  Then the Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en Special came out so that's an essential purchase.  It is very good this year, now I just have to figure out how to fit a couple of the designs into the rotation!

August
Just Nan Regency Roses	£8.50
JCS Halloween mag	£7.50
Total	£16.00

Finally, with only 2 days left in the month after completing Discworld I decided to pick up a very old project.  So old, it's not even on my WIP list as I didn't discover it until I was stash-diving for old finished pieces to FFO.  This is Bramble Harvest from Needlepoise charted by Judith Stanley in the days of hand-written charts.  This is just the cover, I literally have some blackberries and a row of Fly Stitches and it's a finish!

look at that price tag - £7.50 for an entire kit!

August 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 - IHSW on Facebook.

I have been focusing on my Discworld Mappe this weekend, adding the Longitude and Latitude line which is extremely tedious and leads to much procraftination - doing anything to avoid stitching those lines!

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

So what was I procraftinating with?  I did some FFO'ing which I will show on the 10th for Rachel's FFO Gallery.  I also did some tidying-up on my Happy Dance blog, added a few photos there.  And started writing my "21 in '21" list too!

This one is my current Just Nan small, Jasmine Mix.  There are 17 different colours in this piece just 49 x 49 stitches!  I still have to add two shades of yellow, some pink and quite a lot of white.  And beads!

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha

I reached the final row of Just Nan's Morning Meadow, my Summer Sampler SAL with Leonore.  This is a pretty motif and once it is done I only have to add beads.

stitched on 32 count pale green linen

I'm doing very well with my bath-time stitching so I will only show this portion of her face.  It's amazing how a few stitches in just three colours can be so effective.

stitched on 28 count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab bag.

Finally, the next IHSW will be 18th-20th September 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 by leaving a comment on my post.

August TUSAL

It's TUSAL time!

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

You would not believe how long those lines take!  Rather than stitch them in backstitch I decided to do one long stitch and then couch it down with the same colour.

I started off using the same length of thread for both laying down the line and then couching it but that was so difficult to get the tension right and the lines were wobbly.

So then I threaded two needles, one for laying down the line and the other for couching it down.  That works much better but is time consuming.  Added to the fact that this area of the chart covers about 10 pages so you are constantly flipping from one to the other.

But we are getting there!

In the evenings I have been working on the Alice freebie as my bath-time stitching:

stitched on 28 count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab bag

I have completed all the medium blue and have started on the lighter blue.  This is a fun stitch and grows quite quickly.  

Another Alice design - the Amanda Butler SAL from Cross Stitcher magazine.

This month's block is the Duchess:

She didn't take long at all so I spent the third day working on the vines:

stitched on 32 count yellow linen

I backstitched the watch in gold too:

Finally, it's going to be International Hermit & Stitch this weekend.  We have an influx of new members thanks to a shoutout from a FlossTuber so I am going to return the favour.  Check out Tranquil Stitches.  She had over 100 videos so I won't be watching all of them to catch-up but she does Dark October Hallowe'en stitching so that is a must-watch at least.

July Smalls, Stitch From Stash and Pie

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be my JBW 12 Days of Christmas ornaments which I started on Boxing Day 2019 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.  I completed the Seventh Day in July:

stitched on 40 count White linen, 1 over 2

(Beads will be added at the end of the set of three)

I haven't beaded my Holly Noel yet but I did make good progress on the next Just Nan. This is Jasmine Mix:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha

On to Pie:

The July Pie looks rather different to previous months as the Discworld Mappe does not take up half the pie.  I reached a great place to stop and move on to Joan Elliott July.  Here's where I finished Discworld:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

I should be able to complete it in August now.

My Joan Elliott project got ten days but they were very short days in many cases and over-one skin is incredibly time-consuming.  So I went from here:

to here:

stitched on 28 count Snapdragon evenweave from Crafty Kitten

I am going to carry on with her in August to get her finished.

The freebie Alice in the Pie was an impulse start.  I was looking through my freebie folders and thinking "I really should stitch some of these".  I used the random number generator to choose one and up popped Alice from this blog - Passion Creative - French Blog

stitched on 28 count random linen from a Crafty Kitten grab bag

I am using an Anchor thread in medium blue.  The original intention was that this would be the lighter shade but the darker one I choose was too dark, so I have just left that as her eye and will choose a different blue for the lighter parts of the design.  She has been coming to work with me for lunchbreak stitching and she also comes out at bath-time.

Leonore and I are halfway through our Summer Sampler SAL now.  We are both stitching Morning Meadow by Just Nan:

stitched on 32 count pale green Belfast linen

Stitch from Stash started a new reporting period at 1st July.  Stephanie's rules state that you can treat any profit from the first period as a gift and spend it penalty-free.  But I don't do that, in the same way I don't credit myself for finishes.  I follow the original rules set on the blog back in 2014.

July
Crafty Kitten Fabric	£8.00
Total	£8.00

Every so often, Dawn from Crafty Kitten has a Sale Album on Facebook.  She includes mis-dyed pieces, pieces with dye spots or faults in the fabric and some left-over pieces.  Each person bids with "me please" for the ones they want to buy and she randomly picks names to get them.  I "won" the perfect fabric for the Hallowe'en design from Autumn Lane Stitchery that I showed you in my WIPocalypse post - how's that for Serendipity?  I'll show you when it arrives!

Finally, the lovely Clare from Aimetu's Stitching is asking for some help with her smalls.  Each year Clare decorates a tree for her church's Tree Festival with stitched ornaments.  I have donated ornaments in the past and this year she is asking us to join in again.  The theme is A Bouquet of Flowers.  All she needs is the stitched piece, she will fully-finish it for you.  Just leave a comment on Clare's blog to get involved.   (I include this each month as a reminder for myself!)