Gifted Gorgeousness April Link Up Post

  

For newbies, this is my first year long SAL.  Click on the picture above for the full details.

We will be posting and linking up on the 15th of each month, because it is 2015.  Should be easy to remember.

There has been plenty of Gifted Gorgeousness going on this month, both giving and receiving.  I visited my Aunt and was able to present Baby Albert with his very own sampler.  I also completed the square for the Stitching Out Stigma project and sent that off to the organisers.  You can see the squares they have already received in their Gallery.

But mostly I have been stitching on pieces which were gifts to me:

Scarlet Letter - Elizabeth Shephard

Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

 

Sweetheart Tree - Tudor Rose

(very close to finishing this so only showing a small part!)

 

Lizzie*Kate - Autumn Sampler Snippet

I also received a lovely stitching related gift from Jocondine.  She has been hosting a great quiz each week based on French towns all of which relate to needlework in some way.  So far we have visited Alencon, Bayeaux, Pont l'Abbe and Richelieu.  My name and Jacquie's name were the first two drawn to receive a little something and here it is:

 

A close-up of the cup-purse

 

Thanks you, Jocondine!

I also received a total surprise gift.  I've always enjoyed taking part in Round Robins where a group of stitchers take turns to stitch on a piece for each other.  Apart from the odd late mailer I've never had a problem until the Large Mirabilia RR in 2013.  Basically, mine vanished in the postal system.  I waited and waited hoping that it had been mistakenly sent by surface mail instead of airmail but nothing arrived.  The other participants were just as upset as I was and offered to restitch the piece.  And then it went quiet.  I tried to forget about it as I know that real life often gets in the way of our stitching. And then, out of the blue a parcel arrived from New Zealand.  I couldn't think of anything I was expecting so it was a complete shock to see a re-stitched Mirabilia Round Robin!

I'd chosen the Birth Month Fairies and asked everyone to stitch June, July and August leaving September for me as it is my birth month.  So here is my piece with the first three fairies complete and only the centre and September to be stitched by me:

Thank you Karen, Julie and Andie, you guys are the Best!

And now over to you - Here is the place for you to link up so we can see what Gifted Gorgeousness you have been stitching so far this year.  Please use your name or your blog name in the field NOT the words "April Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month.  

And link to the actual post, not just your blog.  

Thank you.  I can amend links if you make a boo-boo though.

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Finally, I'm having a giveaway this month.  There are seven charts up for grabs, pictured on my Blogaversary post.  All you have to do is pop over there and leave a comment telling me which are your favourite three charts.  Everyone who links up for the GG gets an extra chance in the draw.  Draw closes 30th April which is when the link-ups close too.

Round Robin Wrapped Up

As you know, I am a big fan of Round Robin stitching, especially the band sampler we do each year.  I joined all my RRs on the Yuku Board The Worldwide Round Robins.

We have just finished our sampler for this year.  I chose a traditional "Band and Spot" Sampler using the bands and motifs from my Brenda Keyes sampler book.  Some people did add bands from other designers if they thought they fitted in with the general feel of the piece.  Following on from a jokey comment by Karen I also asked each person to add a bunny!

Here is the full piece:

Close up of the bands: 

From top to bottom:

Measi

Rachel

Karen

Rahenna

Linda

Kathy

Me

Close up of the spot motifs: 

As I said, everyone added a little bunny.  Except for one person, Karen added this little cutie as well!

Squirrel!

And here are the six pieces I stitched for everyone else this year:

Measi

Rachel

Karen

Rahenna

Linda

Kathy

I have just noticed that I signed my name in a different way almost every time!

This weekend I have been concentrating on my cousin's baby's birth sampler.  The design is called On the Beach by Madame Chantilly and as they have a nautical themed nursery it is very suitable.  Here is the current photo:

Fabric is Kynance by Sparklies.

It is a difficult piece to photograph, the white does show up more in real life.

Finally, I should be showing you a Happy Dance for Noel Blanc, but after finishing the final snowflake two evenings ago I decided that the greens in the top wreath did not show up well enough on the blue fabric.  The original was stitched on a natural fabric.  I was unsure from the time I finished the wreath and having changed the mistletoe to lighter shades I decided to do the same with the wreath.  So each evening I am now frogging. which is a slow task because there are three shades of green all tucked under the red ribbon which is staying.  But as I discovered before, it will be worth in the end!

TUSAL of Playing

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This week I have stitched The Day of Playing.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:

The Moon Riders I shall save for my Just Nan SAL post.

There are a few more white stitches to go under the straight line across the bottom.  This one has slightly different proportions to the others so far, being wider but not so tall.

So what shall we say on the subject of playing?

Play - (verb) engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.

That seems to sum up cross stitching perfectly to me!  Most of us started this hobby as a form of relaxation and an outlet for our creativity.  It is difficult to earn a living through the hobby (unless your name is Nora Corbett, Joan Elliott or one of the big names in the hobby) because of the hours you have to put in to create a stitched piece.  I know a few people who model stitch and some of them say it does burn you out after a while, always stitching for commissions.

I even feel that way about too much obligation stitching.  I love my Round Robins but there has been the odd band that just hasn't been fun to stitch!  This next piece was emphatically NOT one of those.  I did the bulk of this in just two days it was so much fun.

San-Man Designs Blackwork February

Bead shot!

The whole thing so far.

Not technically a sampler with bands but very lovely nonetheless!  Each one of us chose a different month to stitch.  My birth month was already stitched so I chose February which is the Small Boy's birth month and charted with a lovely shade of deep red.  Kathy's square has lighthouses which are one of her favourite designs to stitch along with nutcrackers.

Finally, I took a little look at my followers, over the 500 mark!!  Interestingly, 3 out of the last 7 new people are called Cathy!  If you are a new follower and haven't left a comment yet, please do so, along with a link to your own blog if you have one.  I do like to return the following.  I promised a giveaway when we reached this landmark so I will have to have a little think about this one.

Winners All Around

There were several entries for my giveaway to win a signed copy of the Cross Stitch Collection magazine which featured the interview with Yours Truly.  It was very intesting to see which designs you chose as your favourites from the magazine.  There were six different designs which people liked with the birds being the leader with five votes.

NB if you want to win one of my giveaways it does help to read the instructions!  I always make people earn their prize by asking a question of some sort LOL.

Anyway, I allocated each entrant a playing card and then picked one at random.  Ewa was the Ace of Diamonds and has won the magazine.  That's great because she is getting married soon so now I don't have to buy her a present.  Joking!

The second winner is me.  Yay!  I have been nominated by Margaret to win this award:

Here are the rules for accepting the award:

* Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.
* Share 7 things about yourself.
* Nominate bloggers you admire.
* Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know.

So, number one has been done; Thanks Margaret!

7 Things - I have been pondering The Seven Ages of Women recently as my Birthday is approaching and I have a special one in two years.

The Seven Ages I decided upon are:
Baby
Child
Teenager
Working Woman
Mother
Prime of Life
Grandmother

Baby - I was an adorable baby, first child, first grandchild, much loved, chubby and happy.  This is my First Birthday Photo:

Child - I continued to be an adorable happy child although I did lose the chubbiness!  My first experience of stitching came in Year 2 at school when I made a binca mat for my mother.

Choir outfit for school!

Teenager - I was an adorable typical teenager who did alot of fundraising for charity:

Our rock club had saved all their half-pennies to raise money.  

That is my pint on the table next to me!!

Working Woman - this was when I rediscovered cross stitch and started the hobby which has been part of my life for 21 years now.  I commuted to work by train every day for 17 years and either read or cross stitched every one of them.  We had a great group of friends on the train, several weddings and a few babies (not on the actual train thankfully!).  I am still in contact with several of them too.

Mother - That landmark occured nearly 12 years ago now.  In fact exactly 12 years ago I was having alot of fun going into shops to buy baby clothes and telling them I was overdue by a week. hahaha.  You get served very quickly.  My stitching has fallen and risen with each child.  Now they are both older I am able to squeeze more stitching in especially when they are both at school.

Prime of Life - I am looking forward to this one!  This will be once my boys are both more independent and I am able to dedicate more time to myself and my hobbies.  At the moment I cannot leave the younger one overnight so retreats are out of the question.  But one day!

Grandmother - I am going to be an awesome Grandma!  I have been reading lots of blogs written by Grandma stitchers and it all sounds like so much fun.  I just hope my son does not make me wait for grandchildren for as long as I made my parents wait.  Or I will be 72!  I am definitely going to be like the Old Woman Who Will Wear Purple and I'm going to join societies, lots of them so I have can coffee and biscuits out every day!  I will probably start de-stashing about this time too, so make sure you are still following me to score some bargains!

So that's seven facts about me.  Now to the next bit which is to nominate somone.  I have done a few of these in the past so I will nominate some different this time.  Someone who is a new but very regular blogger, who is always cheerful and has lots of crafting going on, someone who does have her personal struggles with her own health and her husband's but somehow always has lots of fun whatever she does with her gorgeous daughter in tow.  Whether it's a day out in the city or a trip to Ikea you can be sure there will be photos galore (including some selfies) and plenty of happiness.

Have you guessed yet?

Here's a button from her blog.  Click on it to visit her and say Hi from me!

There ought to be some stitching pictures by now.  I have been stitching two things which are presents so I can't show those.  However I have also been slogging away on the over one portion of Noel Blanc so there is progress there:

And on Sunday I started Kathy's RR piece.  She has chosen some San Man blackwork months for her sampler.  September (my birth month) was already stitched so I went for February (the Small Boy's birth month).  This is a rather quick stitch, it's so addictive!

This is a really poor quality scanned picture, white never comes out well on the scanner but it gives you the idea of how much I did in just one day!

Finally, I am going to keep posting this to make sure everyone sees it!  My Followers are increasing in numbers as a result.  A request to all the people who Follow my blog via Feedly or Bloglovin' -

Please could you also click on the Google Join This Site button just above all the smiling faces to the right of my blog?  This button is how I count my Followers and return the following if they have a blog.

Margie brought this to my attention, she follows me via Feedly and said she hoped I had a way of verifying that.  Unfortunately Feedly doesn't have any way of finding out who your lovely followers are.

So please show yourselves by using the button!  It means I can find your blog and also, another 7 followers will trigger a 500 Followers Giveaway.  Only people listed under my Followers will be eligible for the Giveaway.

This Week's Stitching

Slightly unimaginative title there!  But it is what it is.

At the beginning of the week I continued with the Frosted Pumpkin Hallowe'en Town Mystery SAL.  I have been stitching the house.  I decided to tweed the main colour which was charted as DMC 503, so I used one strand of 503 and one strand of 501.  The effect is really nice.  Some people have used a variegated thread for the house but I didn't want a stripy effect for mine.

The fabric is Moondust by Crafty Kitten

The more I stitch the more I wonder why I didn't order the 32 count?  Maybe if I type that sentence enough it will remind me next time I put an order in!

The other project has been the Band Sampler Round Robin.  We are approaching the end of this RR.  The next piece I get will be Kathy's and as I mail to Kathy it means that it is the last round! But this is Linda's.  Linda has a free choice sampler so I used a chart from my Just Nan stash.  The great thing about these RRs is that I can get my JN fix at the same time as joining in the RR fun.

My bands

Bead shot

The whole long thing so far!

My bands came from Nan's Garden.  I stitched almost exactly as charted, the colours fitted perfectly.  I did change the satin stitched fence to ecru because the white didn't show up too well.

It's been rather nice to OAAT for a change.  This week I return to my Challenge pieces; the Spooky Countdown, the Hallowe'en SAL and the Little Stitcher 12 Days all have to be completed over the next week.

I mentioned a couple of posts back that I had received the JCS magazine CD for the years 1991 to 2000.  I am working through the decade and am pleased to say the designs are improving.  Sadly the same cannot be said for the hairstyles or dress sense LOL.  In 1995 there is a lovely monthly series of mini band samplers with a flower and a gemstone for each month, only about 4 x 2 inches each.  I love them!

The December 1995 issue also has a very useful guide to a new aid to stitchers - Cyberspace.  For those of you unaware of this futuristic phrase here is what JCS tell us:

"The Internet is a loosely-organized group of roughly four million people all over the world who communicate through their computers"

Four million?  There are now four million internet users in Singapore ALONE!  A tiny little island just south of Malaysia could have held the entire internet just 20 years ago.  Makes you think...

JCS also have this useful tip which I think should be pinged up on your screen everytime you log on:

"Be careful of others' feelings.  Choose words thoughtfully. Rephrase anything that might be misunderstood.  Since body language and facial clues are absent from the conversation, use emoticons or acronyms to point out humor or sarcasm.  Reread your posts and e-mails before you send them.  With most software, once you've pushed "enter," your words are sent; you cannot cancel or edit them."

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop is ongoing throughout August.  We have seen some lovely Garden themed stitching and some beautiful garden photos too.  Why not check out any you may have missed so far?

First postcard from Marcy goes to Gracie at Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Second postcard from Krista goes to Jocondine at Jocondine

Third postcard from Michelle goes to Sharon at Shebafudge

Fourth postcard from Mouse goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Fifth postcard from Christine goes to Marcy at Stitching Plus

Sixth postcard from Astrid goes to Krista at Just Stitching Along

Seventh postcard from Vickie goes to Michelle at Michelle's StitchCraft Place

Eighth postcard from Jocondine goes to Deborah at A Patchwork of Crafts

Ninth postcard from Gracie goes to Maggee at Stitching Devotee

A Brace of Round Robins

I've been working on Rahenna's Band Sampler for the Round Robin and was taking some photos when I realised that I never posted about the previous instalment of this RR.  So here's a double dose of Band Sampler glory.

Rahenna had terrible problems making decisions about her Band Sampler until inspiration struck in the form of this little Pokemon:

Snivy is Rahenna's favourite Pokemon so she used the colours as inspiration!  She also sent us a lovely collection of Lesa Steele and Patricia Ann samplers to choose our bands from with strict instructions not to use any other colours other than those provided under threat of being attacked by an angry Pokemon!

(quick joke - how do you get four Pikachus on a bus?  You poke 'em on)

My bands chosen from Lesa Steele's Sweet Harmony

Side shot to show beads

The whole piece as it goes on to Kathy.

The previous RR was Karen's Sweetheart Tree Autumn themed sampler.  Here are my bands:

I chose my bands from Heirloom Roses but changed the flowers into acorns and added the squirrel.

The whole piece as it left to go to Kathy.

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop is underway.  It's not too late to send me a photo, in fact you've got until the middle of August to do so.  For more details click on the garden photo to the right.

First postcard from Marcy goes to Gracie at Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Second postcard from Krista goes to Jocondine at Jocondine

Third postcard from Michelle goes to Sharon at Shebafudge

There's a Rat in ma Stitchin', What am I Gonna Do?

There's a title for the UB40 fans!

And the rat features in block 17 of The Spooky Countdown by Primitive Hare:

I am stitching-a-long with Giovanna on the one, she started in the middle and worked upwards.  Here's her latest progress - Giovanna's Stitches

I am working each block individually and the plan is to mount them on tombstone templates to fix to my Advent Calendar Tree as a countdown to Hallowe'en this year.  When Isabella of Primitive Hare saw me mention this on FB she kindly sent me a link to some free downloadable templates.  How cool is that?

The other piece I have been working on is the Band Sampler Round Robin for Karen:

I have this row to finish, a couple more to add and then the beading.  Karen chose Spring and Summer as the subjects for her first two round robins with us in 2011 and 2012 so this one is Autumn.

Here are the previous two:

Spring 2011

Summer 2012

Finally, I will be running the Summer Postcard Blog Hop again this year.  The theme will be Gardens.  Click on the picture of the stitching in the garden on the right for more details.  This Blog Hop lasts for the whole of the Summer so it doesn't matter if you are away on holiday for a week or two, you won't miss it!

April Just Nan SAL

Just Nan SAL is hosted by Zeb of Keep Calm and Cross Stitch

This  month I stitched my Nan quota on another band sampler!!  This one belongs to Rachel and she said we could stitch anything we liked which went with the existing bands.  I chose the broader bands from Sweet Rememberance and the narrow bands from Cynthia's Sampler.  The charted colours from Sweet Rememberance worked well with a couple of tweaks.

These are my bands

And a diagonal shot: 

And this is the whole piece, taken in a different light.  It is very hard to get the colours quite accurate.

The fabric is Garden Princess by Sugar Maple Fabrics (in case you were wondering!)

I haven't managed any stitches on Winter Typography this month as I've been stitching a Wedding Sampler instead.  So that's it for Nan News.

However, there is more general news!  The results of the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop.

Image from Katie Daisy

(and here's a link to her Etsy Shop - The Wheatfield)

The trick to the Mystery Phrase is to think of something that can be adjusted to fit the number of participants.  So I could have had Showers Bring Flowers if two more people had joined in, for example.  The actual phrase was 

Showers and Flowers

a very suitable phrase for this Spring so far!  As usual, there are two winners; one from the Picture Posters and one from the Hoppers.  With no further ado they are:

Michelle from Michelle's Stitch Craft Place

and

Jan from Thread Garden

Congratulations to them both.  There will be an Easter themed prize crawling it's way to you some time not very soon!!  I intend to get them in the mail before the chocolate expires and I'm forced to eat it myself.

Finally, the Large Boy and I had a bit of a bonding session last week, we built our first flat-pack together!  I am the Master of the Flat Pack in this house, I built the desk in the office all by myself, including the cupboards underneath it.  So here is our finished bookcase:

Those are all the books that were just lying around on the floor or piled on top of the existing book shelves!

And for AFLs here is a close-up of the top display

(AFL = Adult Fans of Lego)

What do you do to bond with your children?