Finally Fully Finishing Fun for September

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This new 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).

This is what I was supposed to be showing as my FFO this month; The Sweetheart Tree Holly 'n' Hardanger:

I had a circular polystyrene shape which was the perfect size.  I cut the original fabric into a circle and drew a circle a bit bigger than the polystyrene shape.  Then I used sewing cotton to make a running stitch all the way around the pencil circle.  Place the fabric over the shape, pull the cotton drawstring, adjust it a little bit, smooth out wrinkles, pull a little bit tighter, adjust again, pull tighter, get the Large Boy to hold it while I knotted the cotton thread and call it done.

Whip stitch a piece of circular felt to the back and cover the edge with a ribbon.  That's where the problem started.  All my ribbons were too wide or too narrow.  The only piece that was the right size was the wrong colour.  So it's off to the Haberdashery to find the perfect width of ribbon.

At least I will have an FFO'd Ornament for next month!

But I still needed something for this post.  Luckily I have had a bit of a finishing flurry over the last few days so I had another project ready and waiting to be framed.  I just had to hope I had the right frame in my stash.  My luck held!

Back at the start of the Summer Holiday I completed my 10-a-Day project which was a Just Nan design called Summer Typography.  I decided that rather than start the next 10-a-Day design I would have a slightly more challenging Summer Stitch.  A sampler in six weeks.  The Random Number Generator chose Summer Night by Just Nan and I divided it up into 42 segments with a row of speciality stitches or colour per day. 

Here's the daily progress pictures:

You can really see the difference in lighting conditions each day with the change in the fabric!

The first 36 days were spent doing the DMC stitching and the final few days adding beads and ribbon.  I couldn't get the Soie Tressage recommended but did get some narrow sparkly silver ribbon which was perfect.

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

Trying to capture the beads and the ribbon sparkle

You wanted lots of photos?

The Final Fully Finished Framed piece:

Finally:

All the postcards have been sent out in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop. Thanks to everyone who sent a card in and who posted their card on their blog.  The links go direct to the posts so you can catch up with any you missed!

Aimetu's Stitching

Needle, Pen and Sword

Miniz Diary

Ariadne from Greece

Jocondine

Jeremiah's Mom

August Stitch from Stash and Pie

Let's start with Pie:

As you can see I got another two full weeks on the Discworld Mappe which went from here:

to here:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

I made some great progress on Marie Suarez's My Lovely Sewing Tools.  From here:

to here:

and here:

stitched on 40 count white linen

I am so close to a finish I am not going to put it away today but keep working until it is done.  I need to add the rest of the bottom border, and some beads and charms.  You can see from the Pie that I only got 5 days on this but spent 9 days with very little stitching except my daily project or one of my smalls.

When I completed Summer Typography, the next project should have been Winter in the Square.  I even got the chart and linen out and put it in the project bag.  But then I looked at my WIPocalypse projects and thought it might be better to start one of those instead.  This is a Just Nan sampler called Summer Night.  At approximately 90 x 50 I thought I could average one row of 500 stitches every 5 days.  So I wrote a schedule out and this is the first six day's work, almost all the top 15 rows.  The plan is to complete it in the 42 days of the Summer Holiday.

Last time it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

Again, very close to a finish.  I have the bottom row which is all Satin Stitch and some Smyrna Stitches in the flowers.  Then it's just beads and ribbon to complete the project.

Finally, let's finish with Stitch from Stash:

August
Charms	£7.86
Total	£7.86

Another low-spend month because it's been the holidays so no money for stitchy stuff.  I only bought the charms as I need them for My Lovely Sewing Tools.

August TUSAL

This is going to be a very quick post as I forgot to include the TUSAL with my Smalls post!  The TUSAL is the Totally Useless SAL created by Daffycat where we all show our ORTS.

The design is my Summer Holiday Project - Just Nan's Summer Night which is going to be a finish very soon.  One boy goes back on Tuesday and one on Wednesday so with a bit of luck Wednesday will be finish day.

Finally, this is a photo of a statue in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge which we visited this holiday.  I know how this mother feels after 6 weeks of school holiday!

Maternal Affection by Edward Hodges Baily

Description:- The child rests on the left side of her back, snuggling against her, and kissing her left cheek, while touching her right with his left hand. She holds her left arm out behind her to support the child's right foot, and turns the upper part of her body to the front, leaning her right elbow on her left thigh, and raising her hand towards the child.

While thinking "hold still, stop wriggling or you'll fall off"!

August WIPocalypse Bucket List

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  

Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "19 in '19" for this year.  You can find the full list here.

This month I stitched on three of my list:

1. Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

2. . My Lovely Sewing Tools by Marie Suarez

stitched on 40 count White linen

3. Summer Night by Just Nan 

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

August - What do you have on your stitching bucket list? (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc)

I think the key word here is "more".  I want to stitch more of everything!  All my Just Nan samplers, more 3D designs, a Hallowe'en Village, a load of Mirabilia and Nora Corbetts, more Brooke's Books witches and cakes, finish every series I have started.  You get the idea?

This is one of the cute 3D designs on my Bucket List:

The Bookshop - Living on the Rainbow

Isn't it cute?  There is a whole Christmas Village.

Ellie Jenks also has a whole village called Brightsea Village, complete with Haunted House:

Haunted House by Ellie Jenks

Or maybe I want to furnish a Doll's House?

Janet Granger

I would like to go on another retreat but unless someone organises one in my home town, that's unlikely!

Finally:

All the postcards except one have been sent out in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop.  I am saving that one in case I get a last minute entry!

Aimetu's Stitching

Needle, Pen and Sword

Miniz Diary

Ariadne from Greece

Jocondine

August 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.  Links at the bottom of this post.

Here's where I was on Friday morning:

Here's the part I worked on this weekend:

And here's the piece right now:

I'm also making steady progress on my evening piece.  This is the project I stitch while The Small Boy is in the bath.  The current project is The Queen of Hearts by Mrs Peggotty.  Here's where she was last IHSW:

And here is where she is now:

stitched on 22 count white hardanger

I haven't really done a great deal as I have been using that time slot to stitch something else which I will show you next post.

I have made nice progress on my Summer Holiday Daily Stitch project - Just Nan's Summer Night:

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is! Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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Finally, the next IHSW will be 20th - 22nd September 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.

August Gifted Gorgeousness Link-up Post

Welcome to the August 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.

My main project for Gifted Gorgeousness has been my Discworld Mappe by Lyndisfarne Designs, which will be a gift for my son.  This is where I left off last GG post:

This is where it was at the end of July:

Here is the portion I have been working on this week:

Here's where I am today:

I finally finished filling in the swathes of cream which make up the Hubland Steppes then stitched a tiny boat to celebrate before moving on to more coastline.  The writing says "NoThingfjord":

Mentioned in The Last Continent, this is Mad's home city. From contextual evidence in The Last Hero, this is a Duchy. The local patron God is called Noddi. A previous ruler who lacked a sense of humour was called Lord Picric. He took this out, somewhat terminally, on his Fool, Gilbert the Stupid, whose many graves around the area, some even in relatively accessible places, are now something of a tourist attraction.

Members of the Silver Horde once, apparently, fought as mercenaries for the Duke of Nothingfjord. The battle took four weeks to complete as the Duchess was working on the tapestry of the battle, and insisted on episodes being replayed until her needlework caught up with the action. This led to Mad Hamish declaring that letting the bloody media anywhere near a decent battlefield is a mistake, and they should be kept well away from the fight.

According to the booklet on exploration supplied with The Discworld Mapp, Nothingfjord was home to a race of sea-rovers who were too polite for their own good, they made appointments to rape and pillage along the coast, then wondered why their victims were never in when they called. Members of this race became great explorers under the inspiration of the Skald Lars Larsnephew, whose huge repertoire of very long sagas would inspire anyone to seek out new lands far away.

Source: L-Space

Good job no-one is holding up a battle waiting for me to finish the Mappe!


The other gifted project I worked on is my Summer Project - Just Nan's Summer Night.  I have divided this into 42 pieces to be stitched over the six week Summer Holiday.  We are currently on day 21.  This is stitched on gifted fabric:

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

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 "August 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:

Three postcards have been sent out in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop to:

Aimetu's Stitching

Needle, Pen and Sword

Miniz Diary

so make sure you follow their blogs and see who the cards come from.

It's not too late to send your postcard to me if you want to join in!

July Pie, Stitch From Stash and TUSAL

A Three-For-The-Price-Of-One today!

Let's start with Pie:

As you can see I got another two full weeks on the Discworld Mappe which went from here:

to here:

I made some great progress on Marie Suarez's My Lovely Sewing Tools.  From here:

to here:

stitched on 40 count white linen

I finished all the centre block and stitched most of the right hand block, the final one.  Next month I have to complete that and the border then add the embellishments.  Should be on course for a finish next month!

Now on to the TUSAL.  July is a Two-TUSAL month, the Totally Useless SAL created by Daffycat where we all show our ORTS.  Here are mine with three current projects:

You've seen My Lovely Sewing Tools above.  The one on the top left is my current Just Nan small; Butterfly Welcome and the one on the bottom left is the replacement for my 10-a-Day project which I finished last week.

Butterfly Welcome stitched on 28 count Colonial Blue evenweave

stitched on 28 count Jobelan in Dragon Shades from Polstitches

When I completed Summer Typography, the next project should have been Winter in the Square.  I even got the chart and linen out and put it in the project bag.  But then I looked at my WIPocalypse projects and thought it might be better to start one of those instead.  This is a Just Nan sampler called Summer Night.  At approximately 90 x 50 I thought I could average one row of 500 stitches every 5 days.  So I wrote a schedule out and this is the first six day's work, almost all the top 15 rows.  The plan is to complete it in the 42 days of the Summer Holiday.

Finally, let's finish with Stitch from Stash.  We start a new accounting period in the Facebook Group so everything resets to zero again.

July
JCS Hallowe'en mag	£9.50
Total	£9.50

Probably due to the fact I had to pay for my new glasses so very little spare money this month!