Solo September - Sort Of

Justine has hosted a series of OAAT months this year and we are currently in Solo September.  Because of my rotation I can't truly OAAT but I can do Focus on a Finish instead.  This month's focus is the Sugar Skulls by Brooke's Books.  I am stitching these on the recommended perforated paper as a wedding gift for my niece.

I've started on the Senorita Skull and have hit a snag.  I'm using 3 strands of B5200 which I'm also using for Ghostly Mandala and the Christmas Cubes.  And I have about three lengths left.  I ordered some during the week from a mega-cheap eBay shop and it duly arrived.  Except they sent 6 skeins of Blanc instead of 1 Blanc and 5 of B5200.  I rarely use Blanc and need the B5200!   The nice lady apologised and will send the replacements tomorrow.  So by Tuesday I can crack on with my white.

In the meantime I've started the flowers for her hair.  I would have stitched the black Kreinik too but it's playing Hide and Seek with my black PTB somewhere!  My list said I had some but it wasn't in the Kreinik box.  It wasn't in the bag with the DMC metallics and I couldn't remember when I had last used it.  Blog to the rescue!  A quick search for Black Kreinik and I discovered I had bought it for Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch.  Which means it may be with the charts and once I have time I can search for them.

I think this pink Kreinik may be glow-in-the dark?  055F

In the evenings I have been focusing hard on Ghostly Mandala by Ink Circles and now have only this corner to complete:

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland by Crafty Kitten

This is the next Christmas Cube by Primitive Hare, excuse the blur, I didn't have the macro on.  I'll take a proper one when it's finished:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha from Willow Fabrics

I did a little FFo'ing this afternoon and made another cube.  Four done, five to go and we've got seven weekends until Hallowe'en.

I'm using the same fabric in three different colourways for the backs and sides of the cubes.  Each one is 4 x 4 x 2 inches.

Matt LeB5200 as Dr. Drake Ramoray

Days of Jo's Life Blog Hop

AKA The Big Birthday Blog Hop

Finally, I spent this morning typing out my life story in segments and emailing it to the participants of my Big Birthday Blog Hop.  So if you signed up to take part and haven't had an email, please contact me ASAP so I can double check.  For the rest of you, the Blog Hop will take place on my Birthday which is next Saturday 17th September.  I will have a list of blogs and which year they have been allocated.  You just hop around and enjoy my life story!  Provide your own cake and balloons.

August Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus

This year I have two Small Challenges:

1. The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog

2. The Christmas Ornie SAL Blog

For the Hallowe'en Blog I have done something a little different this year, I've chosen a band sampler by Just Nan called Counting Bats and each band corresponds to the monthly themes on the blog.  For August we had Spooky Words and this band completes the Counting Bats rhyme:

The whole piece, nearly finished now:

For the Christmas Ornie SAL we had Christmas Clothing as the theme:

The only change I made was to stitch the pompom with satin stitch rather than cross stitches.

Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare

All six so far:

 

We had a Fifth Friday at the end of July so I started the second Byzantine Ornament by Teresa Wentzler and finished it for the Gold Day of the Olympic Challenge:

I used the same fabric, threads and bead as Byzantine Ornament I

I completed the Mill Hill Trumpet I started for the Olympic Challenge:

I substituted green Magnificas for the petite green beads and some red for the charted cranberry which I didn't have.  I stitched this on 14 count Christmas Green aida rather than the perforated paper provided so I could use two strands instead of three,

One for the scrapbook

I continued with the 1862 Snowflake from JCS 2010 and started adding the beads.  I am not sure I like the centre fully covered with beads and may just do the crystal ones and remove the petite white.

stitched on 28 Colonial Blue evenweave

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I've continued with the Daily Art Challenge on FB.

Day 23 - Abstract

Day 24 - Bed

Day 25 - Door

Finally, several people have commented on how organised I am and wonder how I ever keep up with all the SALs.  I have a simple diary, one double page per week and I write down all the SALs in the notebook section at the end and then each day I jot down which projects I worked on.  I do have the X-Stitch app on my iPad and I keep that up-to-date with all my charts and WIPs but it is easier to use pen and paper.

Why am I so organised though?  I worked for an international insurance brokers for 17 years in the North European Documentation team.  I had six major clients, each of whom had several fleets they were responsible for.  Each fleet had 20-50 vessels with an typical value of US$ 20,000,000 each vessel.  As well as the renewals for each fleet, things were constantly happening throughout the year - new additions, sales, values increased, values decreased, voyages into dodgy areas etc.  I had to keep track of all of this and make sure the documentation was accurate and up-to-date, also making sure the client paid on time and we paid the underwriters on time too!  If you are not organised you don't last long!  

Of course when you stop doing a job like that, all that brain power has to go somewhere.  When I gave up work I felt like my brain could suddenly do what it wanted to do, rather than spend all it's time working for someone else.  It's so liberating  not having to work for someone else and be free to think about anything you want.  Now I work part-time so I still have the freedom to use my brain energy how I want to.  Although, like most people I do find myself thinking about work-related things on my days off!  Fortunately it's all about books now rather than Marine Insurance.

Just to prove it - here's some book art:

Please note - this was a proof copy not a real book. The pages are only folded, not cut or glued. No books were harmed in the making of this project.

Instructions can be found here - Instructables.com

Turning a Corner, or Three

Here's the corner I showed you on Friday:

And here's another one:

And here's a third:

And when I stitch the fourth one you'll be allowed to see the whole piece!

Those corners are stitched in DMC metallic and outlined in the DMC metallic which is why they are taking some time.  They are full of fractionals too.

I can show you this piece and name it now a few people have identified it as Ink Circle's Ghostly Mandala:

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland from Crafty Kitten

This design was in Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en Special for 2014 and is now available as a chart direct from Ink Circles website - Ghostly Mandala.  Here is how it looked in the magazine:

I've switched the colours round and am stitching with B5200 on dark fabric.  I am still wondering whether I should have stitched the actual ghosts in white rather than stitching the background.  Maybe I can do it again that way round!  I have lots of this fabric as the lovely Rachel gifted me a large piece she could not get on with.  I have the magazines for 2012 and 2013 which have two of the other Spooky Mandala in so I could be stitching these for some time to come!

I have done seven evenings of stitching so far and have stitched 7.5 ghosts  You can count and calculate how long it will take at this rate!

I also finished another letter for the Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare as my contribution to the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha from Willow Fabrics

And here is the whole piece so far:

I'm stitching them out of order to fit in with Kaye's themes on the blog.

I also found time to do some very old framing!  This is Max's Moon by Bucilla, a kit I stitched in 2008 and rediscovered in February this year.  The white is not glow-in-the-dark threads, it just really pops against the black aida.

Beaded Moon

Lots of white backstitch fur

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Finally, I know many of you already know and follow the antics of The Little Dog with the Grand Ideas, Stewey and his Spinster Mo-ther, Coni.  You may not know they are having a very difficult time at the moment and could do with some kind thoughts and prayers.  If you can spare some, pop over to Chez Spinster and leave a kind word.

Friday Frolicking

Happy Friday, the first day of the weekend!

The Frolicking in the title refers to Kaye's group blog Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics where we each post what we stitch on during Friday.  The idea is to pull out an older WIP or project we are trying to complete.  My rotation changes each Friday so that's quite often what I blog about there.

This week I have been celebrating JOJ or Just One July with Justine and numerous others.  Following on from her success during Monogamous May Justine has decided to trying being a OAAT stitcher (One At A Time) and this month she is focusing on a Bothy Threads Cut Thru Pirate Ship.

I'm going to JOJ-lite, ie I chose one Focus For a Finish project but also stick with my weekly rotation to keep up with the various SALs.  This week the FFF project has been Teresa Wentzler's You Were Hatched.  In fact I am so close to a Finish, I'm not going to show you the whole piece, just extracts!

Here is one corner:

The chart uses a Dinky Dyes variegated blue for the Celtic border but I've used a DMC Metallic Blue backstitched in a DMC Gold.  One done, three to go!

The next two photos show a little trick I use when I'm backstitching pointy things like dragon wing tips.  Instead of stitching the diagonal backstitch line in the same holes as the 3/4 stitch, I move it across one thread as you can see.  Then I stitch the straight backstitch over the three threads instead of the usual two. 

(you can really see the blended blues in this photo too)

In this photo you can see the difference it makes.  In the top circle I followed the line of the stitching and the wing tip is blunt.  But in the bottom circle I made the diagonal one thread longer and you get a nice pointy wingtip:

It's not just wingtips this is useful for.  I do the same with anything with a 3/4 stitch point, leaves or petals on flowers for example.  Hair tendrils too.

Here's my bathtime project.  You might have more idea what it is now, any guesses as to the designer of the piece?

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland from Crafty Kitten

And here's my rotation piece for the weekend.  The Second Friday of each month is Christmas Friday and this is from The Primitive Hare Christmas Cubes for the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha linen

I started this letter for my Longest Day Marathon and stitched the snowflake minus one stitch.

I got a lovely little prize in the post this week.  Remember the May Monster Madness Blog Party?  I won a prize!  Here it is on my fridge, next to my Rocky Horror magnet and the "Save the Date" for our niece's wedding (venue deleted so you can't gatecrash!)

Thank you, Little Gothic Horrors!

Finally, I went to an award ceremony at the local college for a video game design competition the Large Boy had entered.  He didn't win but did get a very favourable comment from the judges.  Many of the critiques picked out areas of weakness compared to other parts of the design but his was all positive.  If you accept that this quote is a compliment - "He has seamlessly woven in a narrative which is simultaneously touching and disturbed".  His world was "quixotic" too.  Must be all that Terry Pratchett we read!

Blingely Blingely Bleep

Q: What's this?

A: a tin full of Bling ORTS!

From this:

I've been working away on Nora Corbett's Little Snowy Gray Cottage although to be honest, it should be Little Snowy Silver Cottage there's so much metallic sparkle in there.  Even the fabric is sparkly, Blue Hydrangea from Crafty Kitten.  I've been trying to alternate the Kreinik with the plain thread but the Kreinik is actually playing quite nicely and I'm enjoying the stitching.

In the evenings I am working on Just Nan's Spring Typography, approximately 30 minutes per evening while the Small Boy is splashing in the bath.  NB do not sit too close to the tub!

Here we are today:

stitched on 32 count Dark Reed linen from Willow Fabrics.

Last weekend was the second weekend of the month so my rotation piece was The Christmas Cubes by Primitive Hare which I am stitching for the Christmas Ornie SAL.  The theme this month is Ornaments and Decorations so I stitched the T cube:

I'm stitching them on a lovely 35 count linen called Country Mocha by Willow Fabrics using the recommended DMC.  I have changed the white to B5200 rather than Blanc because it will pop more against the neutral fabric.   I made a few changes to this one.  One was a forced change because I made a booboo with the placement of the central ornie which meant the snowman was also too low down.  Luckily there was enough room for the T to fit in.  The other change was adding a Santa charm instead of the rusty bells shown on the cover photo of the chart.

The snowman is not stitched with any features but I asked the Christmas Ornie SALers and the consensus of opinion is "add eyes" so, the ayes have it and I will be adding eyes next time I stitch on this design.

(It's also responsible for the one tiny strand of red you can see in my ORTS tin.  Yes, all the red in this ornie and I only "wasted" one tiny piece.  That's how parsimonious I am with my threads!)

Finally, the Big Birthday Blog Hop which I'm thinking of calling The Days of Jo's Life as a nod to the soap opera made famous* by Joey Tribbiani in Friends:

Dr Drake Ramoray

Anyway, to take part all you have to do is leave a comment or email me.  Nearer the date I will allocate you a Year of My Life and on the 17th September you do a blog post about that year or that life event in your life or what you were doing at that age (assuming you are that old!).  Also, post something you have stitched which you think I will like.

* ps Dear American friends, yes, I know, I'm joking ;-)

March Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus

This year I have two Small Challenges:

1. The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog

2. The Christmas Ornie SAL Blog

For the Hallowe'en Blog I have done something a little different this year, I've chosen a band sampler by Just Nan called Counting Bats and each band corresponds to the monthly themes on the blog.  March's theme was Pumpkins and I stitched this band:

And here is the whole thing so far:

I have chosen another series for the Christmas Ornie Blog; The Primitive Hare's Christmas Cubes.   This month the theme was Santa and his Helpers.  I am having to stitch the letters out of order to fit the themes so here is S and a pair of jolly Elf shoes and stripy socks:

And the three finished letters so far:

They are all stitched on the same 35 count Country Mocha fabric, it's just the photography that makes them look different!

I stitched another Small For Syria:

This is for the Concern Stitching for Syria project.  The charity is running a Women's Centre in Lebanon and wants to make a hanging for the walls to show the women that the international stitching community is aware of their difficulties.

And I also completed a Lizzie*Kate small, Sampling Easter.  I will be giving the chart away as the prize in my Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop, so don't forget to state clearly if you are interested in winning.  I'd like it to go to someone who will stitch it sooner rather than stashing it for later!

stitched on 14 count yellow aida

Finally, the March Pie Chart.  Once again the largest proportion of the month went to Nora Corbett's Alphabet Fairies.  If you take the time to add up the days, they actually come to 36!  Because some days I stitched more than one project I counted both projects on those days.