February Small SAL and Other Things Beginning with S

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.  So February was Mummies and Monsters for which I stitched this Mummy:

I have chosen another series for the Christmas Ornie Blog; The Primitive Hare's Christmas Cubes.  Here is R for the theme Snow:

Here's another Small I stitched for another S - 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.  You sign up on the website and they send you a little chart to stitch and send the square to their London office.  Plenty of time to join in, the project has only just started.

This one is quite small and begins with S - Strawberry Sampler by The Sampler House.  I started this as part of the DUCJC2015 and picked it up again this February.

Stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

Close-up of some of the speciality stitches.

I really like those tiny pink eyelets near the top.

The word is stitched over one.

I drew a strawberry plant in the corner of the mount so it co-ordinates with Bilberry

I chose a lighter wood for the frame.  The design just fits into a standard mount too.

Yet another S finish is the one you've all been waiting for - Nora Corbett's Alphabet Fairy S:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Oceanic Fantasia by Crafty Kitten

close-up of the fairy with her lovely Kreinik veined wings

Bead shot!

The two sisters together: 

S is only 4 inches wide compared to C's 6 inches.  I think they need framing with lots of the fabric showing because it's so beautiful!

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Finally, it's nearly time for the Easter Blog Hoppity Hop!  Taking place over the Easter weekend each participant will be allocated a letter of the alphabet which they must post along with a nice Easter or Spring themed stitched photo.  In recognition of the varied talents of my followers I think you can also show any sewn, quilted or otherwise crafted Easter or Spring themed items.

Everyone will then hoppity hop around like a little fluffy bunny and collect the letters which will spell out something seasonal.  If you would like to be a picture poster then please drop me an email.

Gifted Gorgeousness February Link-Up Post

Welcome to the Gifted Gorgeousness link-up post!  The link-up date will continue to be the 15th of each month but I will keep the linky open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time to join in.

The format remains EXACTLY the same as last year so I'm sure you are all aware of what can be included - gifts to and from you; charts, fabric or threads; shoe-horns welcome!

I have been such a busy bee (or Gizzy Gee if we really want to keep the GG theme!) this month.

First of all I completed CCN's Poinsettia Cottage (a giveaway prize from Gaynor):

 

I stitched a little bit of Scarlet Letter's Elizabeth Shephard (a gift from Nicola):

I finish-finished an older piece (the clay poinsettia was a gift from the designer - ooo, get her and her contacts in the business!):

Poinsettia Christmas by Acorn House Designs

A Happy Dance for The Goode Huswif's Book of Spells (gifted fabric):

Continuing progress on The Sampler House's Strawberry Sampler (a giveaway prize from Lee):

And a new start too - Nora Corbett's Alphabet Fairy S (a gift for my cousin stitched with gifted chart, fabric and threads from Alicia Crafty Princess):

32 count Oceanic Fantasia from Crafty Kitten

Oh yes, one more little thing, I nearly forgot!

Nora Corbett Alphabet Fairy C

Stitched on 32 count Oceanic Fantasia by Crafty Kitten

Using the Crescent Colours recommended

I made one or two minor changes.  I used DMC 356 to backstitch the skin (it's my preferred colour for the job).  I used DMC 208 for the swirls on the thing in her hand and stitched it over 1 using the chart CC.  I used DMC 500 for all the other backstitch just because it looked better than brown!  Brown bs for waves and a green dress?  I don't think so!

And of course, one major change!  I didn't stitch the square border or the filled in background.  None of the other fairies have a square border and by using a beautiful hand-dyed fabric like this you don't need to stitch the background either.  I extended the waves on the right and the top so they are more curved.  On the original they were cut flat by the border.

I love her and I'm sure my cousin's daughter will too.

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 "February 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.

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

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Finally, we have a special Giveaway this month, sponsored by the lovely Gillie from Random Thoughts from Abroad (see, no sarky nicknames when she's giving us stuff!).  Last month she completed a gorgeous design by Jardin Prive:

Photo copied with Gillie's permission

All you have to do to be in with a chance to win this lovely chart is link-up for GG before the 29th of February and leave a comment saying "yes, please enter me in the draw" so it's nice and clear.  You could add who you would dedicate the design to, if you have a special S in your life too.  But not complusory!

If anyone feels the urge to sponsor a giveaway this year, please drop me an email.  Always happy to oblige even if I can't enter myself LOL.

February TUSAL

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.

Here is my ORTS jar posing with the current stitching projects:

The one on the left is Nora Corbett's C, shown here with all the plain cross stitching done and the backstitch about to be commenced.  I ordered all the beads and Kreinik for all four today, so this one should be done by the end of the week.  Roughly 24 days spent on her in total, which means I should just about be able to complete all three by the middle of the Easter holidays!

Stitched on 32 count Oceanic Fantasia by Crafty Kitten

Here is the piece on the left, Strawberry Sampler by The Sampler House.  I am focusing on the DMC colours and will add the Perle at the end.  Some of those are pulled threads so I like to have the plain stitching all complete.

stitched on 32 Antique White linen

Short post today, I have lots of blogs to read and emails to answer!

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Finally, the last call for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop which will be taking place on Valentine's Day.  Full details can be found on this post but basically you email me a photo of something suitable for a lovely friend and I send you a photo from a mystery friend which you post on your blog to wait for your Secret Stitching Sweetheart to find you from the list of participants on my blog.  Have a look at last year's Hop to see how it all worked:

Secret Stitching Sweetheart 2015

The Gorgeous and Generous Alphabet Group

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

G is for Gargoyle from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

G is also for Granny Squares as shown in the Brooke's Book's Stitcher's Alphabet piece I am stitching for the Alphabet Club SAL:

stitched on 28 count afghan fabric

G completes the second page of my little book:

And here is the whole thing so far.  The blank area is going to have the words The Alphabet Club and the dates, once I have designed it.

G is for Ghoulies and Ghosties, more of which on the Hallowe'en Blog.  I have stitched a few designs with ghosts in:

My biggest and best G finish is arguably Green Goddess by Joan Elliott:

I have one G WIP - Gathering Honey by Jannlynn:

If you want to see real progress on this, pop over to Jacqui's blog because she's stitching it and will probably overtake me this weekend!

Blog I follow beginning with G:

Giovanna's Stitching

The Grey Tail

Guava Gems

Green Chair Handiworks

Garden Grumbles and Cross Stitch Fumbles

(great for wildlife photos too)

And the home of the freebie:

Gazette 94

The other Big G is, of course, Gifted Gorgeousness; my year long SAL now in its second year.  The SAL came about because of the Generosity of my fellow stitching bloggers who had gifted or organised so many Giveaways I wanted to stitch everything I had!

This week I have continued with a piece which was a prize giveaway from Lee Under The Mountain.  A little band sampler called Strawberry Sampler:

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

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Finally,  the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop will be taking place on Valentine's Day.  Full details can be found on this post but basically you email me a photo of something suitable for a lovely friend and I send you a photo from a mystery friend which you post on your blog to wait for your Secret Stitching Sweetheart to find you from the list of participants on my blog.  Have a look at last year's Hop to see how it all worked:

Secret Stitching Sweetheart 2015

Another DUCJC 2015 Happy Dance

I took part in the DUCJC last year for the first and only time (probably) because I wanted to honour Debbie's memory that first year.  I worked on 31 different projects in January 2015, many of them new starts and this year I am focusing on finishing as many as possible.

And here is the latest!

Yes, Book of Spells by The Goode Huswif is a finish!  I started this piece on the 10th January, 2015 and then put it to one side until the end of April when I had finished Prairie Moon Thine is the Trick and the Treat.  Book of Spells took its place as my bath time stitching!  The Small Boy's bath, not mine.  I stitch while I supervise him playing with the bubbles.

I took another break just before Christmas to focus on the Plum Street Sampler 12 Days of Christmas then picked it up again in January.

The fabric is a 40 count linen called Jewel Butterbeer by Under the Sea Fabrics.  It was a gift from my friend Karen (who doesn't blog anymore but you might remember her as Stitchy Woman?).  I used the DMC conversion with a few personal changes.  The moon is 4145 (greys) and 4130 (oranges).  It took a long time but is one of my favourite parts now.

This photo includes a ruler so you can see the final size of the piece.  A little over 9 inches or 23cm.  The plan I have is to get it colour photocopied and use that as a cover for a notebook and frame the original.

Since I finished this piece I decided to pick up another DUCJC start, a small this time:

This was my Day 7 start, a prize from Lee Under the Mountain, an older hand-drawn chart from The Sampler House called Strawberry Sampler.  I'm stitching this on 32 count Antique White linen.  I do love these delicate band samplers.  This one reminds me of the Shepherd's Bush series I also started, so maybe I'll move on to one of those next.

I've just checked back on the page for the DUCJC.  At the end of 2015 I had completed 17 out of the 31.  And now I've added another 2 finishes to that total.  Still leaves 12 WIPS to be slain!

I've also been making great progress on Nora Corbett's C Fairy, thanks to the Fifth Friday in January I had a free weekend which I dedicated to my Fairy:

Stitched on 32 count Oceanic Fantasia by Crafty Kitten

I have now stitched all the colours and just have white (or Cloud) to add.  That will be highlights on the waves and the rest of the wing.  Then it's backstitching in DMC and Kreinik and finally the beads. 

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Finally,  the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop will be taking place on Valentine's Day.  Full details can be found on this post but basically you email me a photo of something suitable for a lovely friend and I send you a photo from a mystery friend which you post on your blog to wait for your Secret Stitching Sweetheart to find you from the list of participants on my blog.  Have a look at last year's Hop to see how it all worked:

Secret Stitching Sweetheart 2015

Days 6 to 9 of the DUCJC 2015

The DUCJC is being held this year in memory of SoCal Debbie and I am attempting to stitch on 31 different projects throughout January.  A mixture of WIPs and new starts.

Day 6 - Joan Elliott - February Cherub

Stitched on 28 count evenweave dyed with fruit tea

I stitched the cherub's hair.

Day 7 - The Sampler House - Strawberry Sampler

Stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

This chart was part of a giveaway from Lee Under the Mountain.  It is a very old hand-drawn chart from 1990 and I love it.  There is a certain charm to hand-drawn charts.

Day 8 - Frosted Pumpkins Stitchery - Hallowe'en Town

Stitched on 28count Moondust evenweave by Crafty Kitten

I filled in some windows and a little bit of fence.

Day 9 - The Nutmeg Company - Sugared Almond Cottage

Roof stitched on 28 count Honeysuckle Pink evenweave.

This was a gift from Susan Yellow Flower Meadow.  She has sent me three of these cute cottages charts and leftover threads.  I hope mine will look as good as her's!

I'm actually getting into the swing of this challenge now.  It was hard the first two days because I just wanted to carry on with the same project and not put it away knowing it would be a month until I could see it again.  But now I am back at work and stitching on WIPs those days it is easier because I have an exciting new start to look forward to the next day!

Finally, three of these count for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL I am running this year.  And all of them count towards Stitch from Stash which I am also taking part in.  So goals are being met!