April 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.

As usual, I worked on Friday so the only thing that got stitched that day was my Amanda Butler Cardiff House project, with evening stitching it now looks like this:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

Yes, that's a finish!  Much quicker than the previous two designs.

On Saturday I decided to focus all day on the Fire Element from Circle Cross:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweaver

Yes, another finish!  This one took a lot longer than Earth as it is much more densely filled and less logical than the Earth design.  Here are both of them together:

Air is next and should be much quicker to stitch.

I'd already done my days on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow so I decided to focus on Little Snapdragon for the rest of the month.  The green is quite tedious with all the different but very similar shades but this is where I am now:

stitched on 32 count Evening Sky Murano from Crafty Kitten

Finally the next IHSW will be 19th - 21st May 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.

March Smalls

  

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.

The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I am still working on Fire:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

My next collection of tiny items is the Potion Bottle Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso.  

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

I popped it into the evening slot for a couple of days to try catch up a bit.

The next series is from Amanda Butler in Cross Stitcher magazine.  I completed the London Houses at the start of the month:

And moved straight onto the Belfast Houses and got them done in 27 days:

stitched on 28 pale grey evenweave

Finally, following on from Noteworthy Needle's exciting release from last month, here's another moveable seasonal design, released for the Jingle Ball last year:

On her Facebook page she has a video showing how this works and the reason I am excited is because I have made one of these before.  They are not difficult at all so I just need to find some nice seasonal designs and I can make one.

Facebook Noteworthy Needle

Here's the one I made.  The big difference is the I cut the corners off which makes it easier to turn.  You can see the wear on the corners in the above video already because they are square.

March 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.

As usual, I worked on Friday so the only thing that got stitched that day was my Amanda Butler Belfast Houses project, with evening stitching it now looks like this:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

On Saturday morning I put some more stitches into the Fire Element from Circle Cross:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweaver

And then did my final day on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow for March:

stitched over one on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

On Sunday morning, I added some more bottles to my Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso:

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

In the afternoon I had a new start!  The WIPGO Board chose this one for me.  Nora Corbett's Taurus, stitched on Taurus from Sparklies!

stitched on 32 count Taurus Murano from Sparklies

Finally the next IHSW will be 21st - 23rd April 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.

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for March

  

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).

I got one fully finished object this month, a little ornament from December 2017!

Just Nan - Holiday in Ice

Stitched on 32 count Ocean's Kiss Permin Linen

I whip stitched round the edges and added beads and pre-made tassel to the bottom of the design.

Ready for this Christmas now!

I also has one finish right at the start of the month.  The third in Amanda Butler's Houses series in Cross Stitcher magazine.  This one is London Houses:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

The backstitch really does make these designs.  My original plan was to finish all thirteen as one very long concertina row but now I am wondering if shorter rows would work.  Because then I could FFO the first four at the end of this month rather than save them all until the end of the year!

Finally, here's my new start to replace the finished House.  This one is Belfast House, another row of tall terraced houses.

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

February Smalls

 

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.

The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I completed Earth last month and am currently working on Fire:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

My next collection of tiny items is the Potion Bottle Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso.  

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

After a green start to the month, we went into blue for a week, then got warmer so some lime days appeared.  Heading blue at the end of this week though.

The next series is from Amanda Butler in Cross Stitcher magazine.  I completed Harrogate House at the end of January

And moved straight onto the London Houses:

stitched on 28 pale grey evenweave

Finally, very exciting news out of the Nashville Market.  Noteworthy Needle is releasing a design which was a class exclusive.  It's an incredible 3D design called Turn, Turn, Turn that you can manipulate to show a tree in four different seasons.

February 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 worked on Friday so the only thing that got stitched that day was my Amanda Butler London Houses project, with evening stitching it now looks like this:

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

On Saturday morning I put some more stitches into the Fire Element from Circle Cross:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweaver

And then did my final day on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow for February:

On Sunday morning, I added some more bottles to my Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso, including added some of the warmest colour so far - lime:

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

In the afternoon I continued to work on the Faces SAL by Joan Elliott.  My goal is to finish this larger block this year.

stitched over 28 count Snapdragon Jazlyn from Crafty Kitten.

Finally the next IHSW will be 17th - 19th March 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.

January Stitch from Stash and Pie

Regular followers will know I produce a delicious home-made pie to illustrate my focus projects for the month.  I don't record minutes or stitches so this gives an approximate idea of how much time each WIP got.

I think you can tell that this is going to be a Focus Year already, with 14 days on one project - Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow.  Here's where I started the year:

Working on Block 9

Which I finished:

and then started Block 10:

Here's where I finished the month:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose from Chromatic Alchemy

So far the number of days is:

Block 7 - 13 days

Block 6 - 16 days

Block 2 - 19 days

Block 3 - 20 days

Block 4 - 15 days

Block 1 - 19 days

Block 5 - 25 days

Block 8 - 15 days

Block 9 - 27 days

Block 10 - 4 days and counting

Next up was Joan Elliott's Faces SAL and then Kustom Kraft's Little Snapdragon.  I'd really like to finish this one this year,  I completed the dragon itself last year and now just have the actual snapdragon flowers to do.

stitched on 32 count Evening Sky Murano from Crafty Kitten

I do love this design but it reminds me why I dislike CGI charts so much.  There must be 5 shades of green in those stems.  Is that really necessary?  It's not like they are used to add definition.

Here's my evening pie:

I'm saving the Stitchonomy project for Rachel's FFO Gallery, as it was my first Finish of the Year.  The Amanda Butler's Harrogate House is my second!

stitched on 28 count grey evenweave

This is a series of houses from different parts of the country that I am stitching individually and will make into a long concertina to be displayed like a whole street.  These are fun but there is a lot of backstitch as you can see!

I have the magazine with the next one already so I will start that tonight.

I also signed up for Stitch from Stash again.  This is my 9th year, I skipped 2016 as it was my Big Birthday and I didn't want to restrict myself.

The fabric was bought in the Chromatic Alchemy sale at the start of the month, I need a piece for my Year in the Woods but couldn't decide on what count to do, so bought two pieces!  One 25 count and the other 32 count.  I'll make my decision when the number comes up on WIPGO.

The mag sub is annoying, I started my subscription last April.  So why take the renewal payment in January, 3 months early?  Greedy.

Finally, I will be running the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop on Valentine's Day.  Just email me if you want to be involved.

January Smalls

 

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

The Ornament/Smalls SAL is celebrating it's 10th Anniversary this year!  Started by Stitching Lotus back in 2013 and continued by our current hostess Mary's Thread in 2019 this is the SAL for the last Friday in each month where we show our ornaments or smaller stitches.

Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.

The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I loved her Art Nouveau style Tarot cards when I first saw them so when I saw she would be releasing the Zodiac Signs later this year AND there was a sale on, I jumped at the chance.  My plan is to stitch the four Elements across the top of the fabric with the appropriate Zodiac Signs under each one.  Earth is first, so Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn will go under her in due course:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

The fabric is much prettier in real life, it comes out grey in photos.  I love the stitching style of these cards, it's like drawing with thread.  I usually do the Holbein Stitch for blackwork but experimented with backstitch for the outer border and discovered it does make a smoother line, so I'll be doing that for all the long straight lines in the rest of the cards. 

My next collection of tiny items is the Potion Bottle Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso.  Another one I fell in love with when I first saw it.  I was up-to-date but then decided I didn't like the limited range of colours I was using.  I had allocated one colour per every 6 degrees C and it simply didn't change enough.  Plus days which were really cold were coming out the same colour as days which felt warmer.  Blue covered days which "hovered at 2 degrees and peaked at 4 midday" and days which "were 7/8 degrees all day".  However the extended colour range added more green and blue tones which meant the overall design would be skewed to those colours.

In the end, I decided to add one red for the very hottest days and a lime yellow/green in the middle.  That way I can have a colour change every 4 degrees.  And those cold days went lilac instead of blue.  I felt this more accurately represented the weather we actually had last week.

stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave

The three test-tube bottles on the right will stay blue but the two bottles in the gap will be lilac.  

The next series is from Amanda Butler in Cross Stitcher magazine.  She is designing a different house each month and here is Harrogate House in a style often seen in that town.

stitched on 28 pale grey evenweave

There's a lot of backstitch in these designs, there is a row of railings along the bottom!  I decided not to stitch the names of the houses.

Finally, I will be running the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop on Valentine's Day.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

It's really very simple, all you have to do is email me a picture of something you have stitched which is suitable for a stitching friend on Valentine's Day. It could be a heart, or a pair of cute creatures, or the word "love" or anything which warms your heart. Really anything you think a fellow stitcher would like to receive in her email Inbox. It can be something you've stitched in the past or something you've made especially for this year. It could also be quilted or sewn this year as I know some of my followers do other crafts too.

Send me the email by 10th February.

When I have all the emails I will randomise them and send one to each participant on 13th February. Then on 14th February you must post the picture you receive onto your blog under the heading

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

There will be a list on my blog of everyone joining in, so check out all the blogs and find out who got your picture and identify yourself in their comments as their

Secret Stitching Sweetheart

Does that make sense to everyone? I hope so!

If you'd like to be involved then leave a comment on this post or send me an email if you are "no-reply". I'll be putting little reminders up from time to time and will email on 9th February to make sure you send the pic in time.