December Smalls

         

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

(Just realised I am a whole week early!)

This year my Smalls have been the Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas 2019 Ornament series.  I finished the final three earlier this month and here they all are:

I also made a little slideshow so you can see each one:

The plan is to make a concertina book ready for next Christmas.  I'll also be starting another 12 Days series on Boxing Day.  Starting one Day per day and then finishing them one per month next year.

At the start of the month I completed another year long small project, the calendar designed by Tiny Modernist which was a cover gift from Cross Stitcher magazine.  

I stitched one month per month and here they all are:

stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers

The plan for this one is to frame it and get a little calendar tag so I can use it as a calendar each year.

That's it for stitching this month but I do have photos of my stitched smalls on my Christmas garland.  Some were made by me and others by stitchy friends:

The large angel is Angelica by Lavender & Lace

The red sampler is Snowfire Christmas by Just Nan

There will be more photos of my Christmas displays in later posts.


Finally, it's the last day of the Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  I do hope you've been able to visit everyone or can find time over the next week.  This year's question about Christmas Trees was so inspiring and we learned a lot about our fellow bloggers and their Christmas pasts and presents!

Gifted Gorgeousness December Link-up Post

        

Welcome to the December Gifted Gorgeousness link-up.  The link-up date continues to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.

The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.

Deb sent me the charts for the Stoney Creek 2019 Ornaments which were my Stitchmas project this year. I started all 12, one per day with the goal of completing one per month.  I didn't stitch one in Dark October so that left three for the last two months.  And here they are!

Happy Dance for Lords a'Leaping, Pipers Piping and Drummers Drumming.

Here's the whole series stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave before I cut them into individual pieces:

I plan to finish these into a concertina book in the New Year which will be easy to store and simple to fold out and display next year.

I've also been focusing on another 12 Days of Christmas project, this one is from Bothy Threads and was a Christmas present last year:

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

After November's link-up I continued to work on Fairy Idyll which was a gift from a friend.  I started stitching the purple frills on the bedding.  I chose my own shades for this rather than the charted pinks.

stitched on 32 count Murano in Vineyard from Crafty Kitten

And here's a little bit of Gorgeousness I received in the post.  Followers of the Advent Calendar may recognise this little dragon from Day 2!  

He came with some other goodies including these (not very) Ugly Jumpers, some walnut mice who will live in my Mouse House and a wonderful exploding card.

Thanks Jocondine!

Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the month. Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "December Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month. And link to the actual post, not just your blog. It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.

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Finally, the SAL will be running again next year.   I'll get the Sign-up page up very soon, and a new Badge.  Same rules, same date, same gorgeousness!

December TUSAL and my Stitching Library

     

It's TUSAL time!

Here is my TUSAL jar with two of my current projects:

On the right is my Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas.  I am stitching Day 11 and 12 together.

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

This is where I will pick up and restart the Bothy Threads Day 3:

stitched on 32 count blue-grey linen

What's on my Shelf?

This is a new feature I'm going to include on my TUSAL post until I run out of books! I started a Page on my Happy Dance blog for my Stitching Library and realised what a huge task it was so decided to break it down to one book per month. For the next four years...

What else could I have for this month but a Christmas book!

Title: Christmas Cross Stitch Collection
Author: Sue Cook
Publisher: David & Charles 
ISBN: 9780715325766

I am not sure if Sue Cook is still designing but this book is still available if you like her style.  She uses bright colours and a lot of backstitch.  In some of the designs every element is backstitched although not always in black, she favours DMC 838 as a nice alternative.

The book has a larger design for each chapter which is shown stitched and then numerous smaller motifs you could use for cards, ornaments or make a larger sampler yourself.  They tend to the cute side of the the festival and the modern secular side although there is a section with some religious designs.

Angel with a material skirt

Nativity design, this section includes various religious charts and other characters from the Bible story

The bottom of the Advent Calendar makes a nice design on it's own.

At the back there is a selection of alphabets including a rather fun one with fairy lights wound around the letters.  A lot of the designs don't have stitched models so I can't show them.

This little house is on the front cover and there are several more inside which I would like to stitch as a street scene.

Most of the designs are full stitches only so along with the blocks of colour would be ideal for a beginner stitcher.  A child would find the colour charts easy to follow too.

Finally, the Advent Calendar Blog Hop is off to a fine start, it's so much fun learning about everyone's Tree Traditions and I'm busy compiling a collage of mine from over the years.

November Smalls

        

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be the Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas 2019 Ornament series.  I have nearly finished Day 10, just the beads to add and stitched about half of Day 12.  I have decided to stitch the final 2 days together, colour by colour and add beads to all three at once.  This will save a little time!

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

I added November to my Tiny Modernist Calendar:

stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers

A slightly larger "small" was the third in the C part of the Scary Apothecary series from Hands on Design.  This is Coffin Paint:

stitched on 28 count Radioactive Linen from Chromatic Alchemy

I used all the recommended DMC for this one except for the paintbrushes where I used a lovely DMC Satin thread, the equivalent of 321.  Much easier to do satin stitch in satin thread than in metallics.  I am rather tempted to redo the bottles in Bitter Brew with this thread as the metallic warped the fabric.

Finally, this is the last call for participants for my annual Advent Calendar.  I have a couple of doors left which is very unusual.  Let me know if you would like to take part this year.

November TUSAL and my Stitching Library

    

It's TUSAL time!

Here is my TUSAL jar with two of my current projects:

On the right is my Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas.  I am catching up with Day 10 from last month and then moving on to Day 11.

On the left is our current Just Nan SAL Sampler.  We chose Christmas Elegance and have three months to stitch this one as it's a big one.  Only 12 bands but some are very large, like this first one:

stitched on 28 count off white evenweave

I'm stitching with White Perle #8 on off-white fabric so it's quite difficult to see in a photo.  But once I have added the colours and beads it should be OK.  It will certainly catch the light across the texture which is why I opted to use the charted Perle and not 2 strands of DMC cotton as I sometimes substitute.

What's on my Shelf?

This is a new feature I'm going to include on my TUSAL post until I run out of books! I started a Page on my Happy Dance blog for my Stitching Library and realised what a huge task it was so decided to break it down to one book per month. For the next four years...

This month's The People's Choice will be "Funny" so I looked for my funniest book.  I think this one comes under "Funny-peculiar" rather than "Funny haha"!

Title: The Art of Hairwork.  Hair Braiding and Jewelry (sic) of Sentiment with Catalog (sic) of Hair Jewelry (sic)
Author: Mark Campbell edited by Jules and Kaethe Kliot
Publisher: Lacis Publications
ISBN: 9780916896317

As you can tell from the imaginative spelling, this is a reproduction of an antique book from 1875.  Apparently, Mark Campbell was "frequently urged" to produce this book, such was the popularity of hair braiding at the time.

Basically, you acquire some nice, long, straight hair.  Set it up on your "braiding table" use lace bobbins around the edge and a weight in the centre:

Then you follow these simple instructions, to produce a braid which feeds down the hole in the centre of the table:

It's a combination of lace-making and French Knitting I suppose.  There are 112 different ways to braid the hair illustrated!

Once you have your braid, you can make these beautiful brooches or hair clips:

Or even beads to make necklaces!

They suggest combining different hair colours to make pleasing combinations, so make sure you have friends with a variety of hair colours happy to donate to a good crafty cause.

Finally, the Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop will be revealed on 7th November, so you have until then to keep guessing,

Gifted Gorgeousness September Link-up Post

      

Welcome to the September Gifted Gorgeousness link-up.  The link-up date continues to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.

The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.

Deb sent me the charts for the Stoney Creek 2019 Ornaments which were my Stitchmas project this year. I started all 12, one per day and will be completing one per month.  September is for Ladies Dancing:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

The WIPGO Board chose Fairy Idyll for August.  The chart (and extras) was a gift from a friend.  By the end of the month I had reached this point:

stitched on 32 count Vineyard Murano from Crafty Kitten

Gathering Eggs by Nora Corbett, the chart was a gift from a friend.  This was a triumphant finish at the start of this month:

stitched on 35 count Vintage Country Mocha Linen

This next project is stitched from charts which were Birthday gifts and on fabric which was a giveaway gift.  It is my spooky conversion of the CCN Main Street designs.  I completed my third shop this weekend.  The Cafe became Cauldrons:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Charcoal Slate from Sparklies

I'll do a full post about the changes I made later this month.

The Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas kit was a Christmas present:

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the month. Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "September Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month. And link to the actual post, not just your blog. It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.

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Finally, I received a lovely gift myself from Kerry in Stitches.  I won a giveaway on her Flosstube channel and she sent me a box of loveliness which I have not had time to photograph yet so I will add the pictures in when I do!