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.

March Challenge Reveal and the Easter Bunny Comes a Hopping

This is the Needlecraft Haven March Challenge, a Blackbird Designs piece called Souvenir de France:

When I was deciding how to finish the piece I remembered that Giovanna had recently spent some time in Paris.  She is a great stitcher and blogger who always leaves nice comments and very kindly sent me the charity charts from last year's earthquake fundraiser.  So I thought I should send her a special "Just because we're friends" card.

I stitched this on pale blue 28 count evenweave using a DMC variegated blue.  Seems like blue was a popular choice if you look on the forum!  I mounted it on some nice Eiffel Tower card (the back has sepia schematics on it) and made a simple card, popped it in an envelope and off it went.  Then I returned home, plugged my camera into the computer and realised... no photos!  So this is one that Giovanna kindly sent me.

Look what I won!  Many of you know that we've been having internet problems and last week I plugged the mobile phone dongle into the laptop to find it was all used up.  So off I trudged to the corner shop to buy a top-up.  The assistant persuaded me to buy a raffle ticket, and the very next day I got a call to say I'd won!

The small piece in front of the basket is one of my March Madness starts, a San Man Originals design called Easter (how do they think up these names?).

I stitched it on yellow 28 count evenweave, over 2 using the recommended DMC but changing the words and border to variegated DMC.  Aren't the little buttons cute?  This will be mounted along with the other Easter / Spring pieces in my scrapbook once they're all finished.

The Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop is still open, competition closes 8th April 2013.  See post dated 29th March for all the links.

Finally the lovely picture was shown on Needleprint's blog recently.  I'm not sure if I can copy the picture, so here's a link, I guarantee it will make you smile.

Theme-a-licious Looking Backward and Forward III

March's theme was March Madness, stitch a different project each day.  Not going to happen.  LOL.

I did manage to stitch several different designer's pieces and not duplicate a single person.  I also had a Moment of Madness mid-month and did a few stitches on My Lovely Sewing Tools.  Then to round the month off I decided to start a few new projects instead of working on my WIPS.

So here's what I stitched on this month:

1. Julie from In the Company of Friends (Dark Alphabet) T and U, part of V

2. Chez Elisa for the Needlecraft Haven Freebie Challenge

3. Debra Page for the WOCS Daffodil Flower of the Month card

4. Sandy from San Man Originals for her Little Quilt Shop

5. Marie Suarez for My Lovely Sewing Tools from GoS online magazine

6. Joan Elliott for the JE RR on the Yuku Board.

7. A secret project I can't show yet.

8. Elissa Hudson - Alphabet Sampler from Cross Stitcher mag 249

9. Spring Sampler based on motifs from Samplemakers Forum

10. Just Nan Dewdrop the Rabbit

11. Country Cottage Needleworks - Cherry Hill

12. Gazette 94 - Spring Heart

The last 5 projects I started in the last 5 days, I thought I'd have a flourish of starting madness to finish the month!!

And here are the pictures:

Dark Alphabet - T

Dark Alphabet - U

Chez Elisa - Needlecraft Haven March Challenge

WOCS Daffodil card

San Man Original Quilt Shop.
Sent to Lany Bleu as her Epiphany Giveaway prize.

Inside of Lany's card.

My Lovely Sewing Tools - Gift of Stitching

Joan Elliott Round Robin for Jacqui.
I've actually done loads more than this but don't want to show her until I've finished now! 
This is all the black I worked on during IHSW.

Mystery Project!  This is the back of one part.  If you guess what it is then I'm calling you a geek. LOL.

Elissa Hudson for Cross Stitcher mag.
stitched on 32 count white evenweave.  4 letters down, 22 to go!

Samplermakers Forum Spring Challenge.
stitched on Slighly Lilac from Sparklies

Bunny Bum!
A Thank You gift from Jan of the Thread Garden

Country Cottage Needlework - Cherry Hill.
Giveaway prize from Crafty Rahenna.
stitched on 40 count over 2.

Gazette 94 - Spring Heart
stitched on 36 count over 2.
Really bad scanned picture!

Looking forward, April is:

Amazon April

Dip your needle into the vast swath of fabric dedicated to your BIGGEST projects!

I guess I'll be going back to Green Goddess for this one!  I have a JE RR to finish off but that's not an Amazon piece.  The ABC isn't really Amazon either.  My Lovely Sewing Tools?  Could be, it's a 6 parter so that's quite big.

I have just catalogued my fabrics as I was losing sight of how much I had in which counts and colours.  I need more rustic fabrics!  I also need some gold cloth to stitch the Toilet God again for our bathroom.  Something opulent shot through with gold threads.

Finally, a quick reminder you have until Maundy Thursday to sign up to be a Picture Poster for my Easter Treasure Hunt.  We have enough people already to make a short phrase for the hunt.  Incidentally, do you know the origin of "Maundy"?

This is a quote from Wiki:

Most scholars agree that the English word Maundy in that name for the day is derived through Middle English and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you")

Others theorize that the English name "Maundy Thursday" arose from "maundsor baskets" or "maundy purses" of alms which the king of England distributed to certain poor at Whitehall before attending Mass on that day. Thus, "maund" is connected to the Latin mendicare, and French mendier, to beg.

So there you go, now you know!

Finally I get to use the computer... Madame Muriel reports...

Honestly, everything in this house is timetabled!  The television, the computer, the bathroom, leaving the house etc etc.  So I finally get my hands on the computer to let you all know how I'm coping so far from home.  As you can see, I'm surrounded by Englishness!   You don't even want to know what the ingredients for that pickle are.  Or the "salad cream" either.  It doesn't even go on salad half the time, she has it with chips!  Which is the proper name for french fries I've been informed.  What I call chips are either crisps or for playing poker.

I've had my myth-busting hat on and the first one is that "English people are not friendly".

I am happy to report English people are very friendly - once they know you.  "Knowing you" consists of meeting you for the first time via an introduction from a person they already know.  You can't just start chatting to people in the street without a formal introduction.  Unless you are an old person in which case you are permitted to make personal comments about babies and pregnant women only.  Dog walkers may also exchange nods and "good morning" if they have their dog with them.

Life here is very sociable, I've met so many people and drunk so much tea and nibbled so many biscuits I've lost count.  My hostess is very busy running the town it seems.  The current Government (who are only mentioned via clenched teeth) are very keen on the "community" running things, not central Government.  The community seems to consist of my hostess and several retired ladies who my hostess describes as "herself in 20 years time".  Her ambition is to join the WI.

The first week there was a most enjoyable stitching lesson with a young woman and her baby.  The young woman is keen to learn to cross stitch and has already completed a Helen Philipps heart under my hostess's tutelage.  They are designing a birth sampler for the said small baby using a number of fairy charts from an issue of Cross Stitcher magazine.  My hostess is arranging the charts in a pleasing manner and the young woman will stitch them.  Eventually.  When they stop running the school.  The young woman is chair of the PTA.  I feel very old sometimes.  She is young enough to be my host's daughter never mind my granddaughter!

This weekend has been "finishing weekend".  My hostess has the bad habit of reaching the final few stitches and putting the project away instead of getting on and finishing it.  So we had a flurry of activity today.  First up is the iStitch Mystery SAL all completed and framed in this lovely DMC wooden box which my hostess uses to keep her bead collection in.

The details have been blocked out in the top picture to protect the design's copyright.  The 2nd picture has been adjusted by Carol but the top one wasn't.  In case you were wondering.  My hostess will explain the story behind the stitching and the box next time she blogs.

These cute cards are from Cross Stitcher magazine, my hostess made a New Year's Resolution to stitch every Cover Kit in the month of receipt.  However she hadn't bargained on CS changing it's design brief so much in the course of the year.  Far too many of the cover kits have just not appealled to her so she has used other designs to make the most of the materials.   Sadly the quality of these has decreased too and my hostess had to ask for replacement cards for this project.  The originals were torn and dirty.  Shocking.  Anyway she stitched these owls from a different issue and decorated the cards using felt-tip pens.  She feels the green one needs something more and will source some sticky flowers next week.

This delightful design is by San Man Originals from the Spooky SAL board.  Hallowe'en is very under celebrated here.  We didn't even get a single trick or treater call at the house!  Something to do with being at the end of a dark country lane ...  This design has been framed with some rather nice ribbon to disguise the fact that the frame is too big.  The ribbon comes from the most easterly knitting shop in England.  Frankly everything here has the suffix "most easterly" - it seems to be their only claim to fame.  They even have the most easterly prison just up the road!

I fear my allotted time at the computer is at a close now, I have to go supervise the bathing of the small boy.  I must say it has been lovely to be around small children again, my last three hostesses did not supply surrogate grandchildren.  Although the little dog did his best with the spinster, frankly she was childlike in behaviour only!

This week's stitching

Just a quick picture update of what I've been stitching:

That's the Gift of Stitching design My Lovely Sewing Tools which I'm SAL with Kathy, Cucki and Claire (see side bar for blog links, under the GOS picture).  This is a delight to stitch so I ought to credit the designer, she's called Marie Suarez.  She has a lovely blog but it's in French and there doesn't seem to be a translate button so I have to copy and paste into Google Translate all the time!  She has a very distinctive style, very delicate and pretty.

This is completely different, it's a San Man Original Spooky SAL freebie.  They have released a part every Sunday and we're just waiting on the final part this weekend. 

The board is very friendly and I seem to have picked up a few new followers from there and from the Brooke's Books Board too.  Hello new followers!  As usual I try to return the following but some people's following profile doesn't show their blog.  So if you're a new follower, please comment so I can find you and stalk you back!  I also have 3 anonymous followers who don't show up at all except in the number total.  I know they're there because I keep a list of my follower's blogs so I can find everyone if Google has another hissy fit like in May!

I've also finished my share of the RR but the photos are in the camera which isn't by the computer so I'll save them for another day.  We're taking names for the next Band Sampler RR (to start next Spring) and also for a Joan Elliott RR which will start in the New Year.  Hopefully.  http://twbbroundrobins.yuku.com/directory  That's where to find all the info on RRs.

Giveaways Galore

Firstly, the Crafty Lil Witch is having a Brooke's Books giveaway this week.

Next, the winner of my mini-competition was drawn at random by the large boy from a pile of scraps of paper.  The person who will receive a Christmas card stitched with the skyline of her choice is.......

Kaisievic aka Kaye

Kaye's comment on Coventry was very long!  She gave a complete history lesson on Lady Godiva (from memory).  I googled the story to check her facts and apart from being one century out she was spot on!  If you are interested in learning more about Coventry, here is a very interesting website: Historic Coventry.  HAED do a gorgeous Lady Godiva design too.

I seem to be on a winning streak myself, as well as Cucki's TP and Madame Muriel the Travelling Granny I have also won Sarah's PIF (aka The Crafty Moo).  I love all these mini-giveaways.  Someone somewhere was complaining about "Competitive Giveawaying" where people try to have huge expensive giveaways to outgive other people's.  I'd much rather have a small pattern or a little stitched something with a fun competition than all the razzamatazz.

This weekend I've been stitching the Sewing Tools Sampler from Gift of Stitching magazine and also this cute little Spooky SAL from San Man Originals Message Board:

I've actually stitched the central ghostie now and am waiting for Part 3.  The fabric is the same 28count Jazlyn I stitched Lisa Roswell's By the Light of the Moon on earlier this year.  I have loads of it left so all my Hallowe'en designs will be stitched on it!

Finally, in response to my carpet pic, Kathy has posted a pic of her similarly patterned carpet.  Could this be a new trend?  Forget cute cats and delicious cookery, show us your carpet!