Finally Fully Finishing for August

    

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 had an early finish for this link-up and just couldn't resist showing everyone!  Here it is again, my 3D Bookshop from Living on the Rainbow on Etsy:

You can read more about it here - Spoiler Alert for FFP Gallery

I felt it would be a shame to not have anything else to show so that encouraged me to make a start on my 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments while I waited for the next 3D design to be released (more on that in a later post).

These are by Jardin Prive and are stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen.  The backing is some tartan leatherette my friend used to make hairbows.  It is sparkly!

I mounted the stitching on some thick card, cut a piece of the backing to size and then whip stitched them together, remembering to sew the tartan ribbon tag in place.

Each one took one bath-time session to fully finish!

Then I was in The Works who still had no stock of the raw wood box frames I like in the right size.  I asked the assistant if they were likely to get any more in.  She popped upstairs to their stockroom and found there were four up there.  Reduced price and they probably won't have them again.  So I bought all four to be on the safe side!

Then framed Just Nan Summer in the Square:

Displayed with Spring in the Square

I'll keep them both up until Autumn in the Square is framed and I have my Autumnal stitching on display

The wrought iron holders are for displaying ornamental plates and just screw into the wall making it easy to change displays.

Finally, the Summer Stitching Friends Blog Hop took place on Monday, we had a lovely time hopping around meeting old friends and new.  The links now go direct to the relevant post to make it easier for late-comers to the hop.  Do leave a nice comment or two and try guess who each blogger is before the reveal at the end of each post!

March WIPocalypse New To You

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.  For me, this will be my "18 in '18".  Many of them are part of SALs so I will be working on them each month.

This month I have stitched on 8 of the 18 projects!

1. Just Nan - Summer in the Square - a Finish:

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha Linen

2. Donna Kooler - Zodiac:

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

3. Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

4. Just Nan - 12 Days of Christmas:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

5. Satsuma Street - Libra:

stitched on 28 count Black Jobelan

6. Mrs Peggotty - Alice and Flamingo:

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

7. Just Nan - Diamond Bouquet:

stitched on 28 count lilac evenweave

8. Lyndisfarne Designs - Discworld Mappe.  This was my focus piece for the month and went from here:

to here:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom-dyed by Sparklies

That really is a particularly large head!

You can see the pages I have worked on so far:

The next time I pick it up in May, the plan is to finish the giant head, work down to page 2 (another pointing finger and some flipper.  Then move across to page 7.  Then after that I will work across the top of the design to the banner in the top right which will be backstitch hell!

Measi always sets us a discussion topic:

March – What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?

My newest designers all come from Etsy, that seems to be the place for newbies to launch themselves. It's cheap and easy to set up and Etsy shop and if you offer PDFs there are few overheads and no postage.

My list of 18 includes a couple of new designers for me but the main one is Mrs Peggotty. Her shop is sub-titled "Where art meets literature" and she has some wonderful colouring pages as well as her gorgeous cross stitch designs. Linda talked me into doing a SAL with her this year, having seen her Mad Hatter I couldn't resist. She is already asking which one we are doing next year!

This is what Alice will look like completed, you can see what I have stitched further up this post:

Finally, this is your final call for the Easter Blog Hop sign up. If you want to have a letter for the Mystery Phrase then you need to email me by Tuesday 27th March as I will be deciding on that phrase on Wednesday. If you just plan to hop around then you have plenty of time, the Hop post will go up on my blog the morning of Good Friday - 30th March and the competition will stay open until my boys go back to school! (17th April)

February WIPocalypse Gadgetry

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.  For me, this will be my "18 in '18".  Many of them are part of SALs so I will be working on them each month.

This month I have stitched on 10 of the 18 projects!

1. Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet Spooky Conversion:

stitched on 32 count Tiger Lily Murano by Sparklies

2. Chatelaine Designs - Gardens of London:

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast by Crafty Kitten

3. Just Nan - Summer in the Square:

stitched on 32 Light Mocha linen

4. Donna Kooler - Zodiac:

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

5. Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

6. Dam Good Crafts - Dracula:

stitched on 32 count Amortentia by Chromatic Alchemy

7. Just Nan - 12 Days of Christmas:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

8. Satsuma Street - Libra:

stitched on 28 count Black Jobelan

9. Mrs Peggotty - Alice and Flamingo:

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

10. Just Nan - Diamond Bouquet:

stitched on 28 count lilac evenweave

Measi always sets us a discussion topic:

February – Gadgets! Show us your favorite stitching gadgets!

Strangely enough, I am not really a stitching gadget person.  I have my scissors (of course), my ORTs tin with a needleminder on top to hold the needle when I change thread.  I have a few projects bags made by friends and that's about it.  I stitch in hand so no frames or hoops.  I don't use a fancy light, natural daylight or the house lights are good enough for me.

I wonder if a spreadsheet is considered a gadget?  I do use a lot of them!  

One tracks my spending for Stitch from Stash:

February
5 Satsuma St charts	£20.16
Mr Linky	£3.69
Cross Stitcher sub	£8.72
Total	£32.57

Satsuma Street were having a sale so I decided to get the next four Astrology signs and the new Easter Goose chart.

Mr. Linky is another gadget, purely for the benefit of you lot so I can run more than one link-up at a time.  It's free if you only need one at a time or £3.69 for 13 months silver membership.

Pie is not a gadget, although I do use my spreadsheets to make it.

A focus on my Chatelaine and then a couple of days for all the other SAL projects.  Exactly as per the plan at the start of the month.

🐇 🐇 🐇 🐇 🐇 🐇 🐇 🐇

Finally, I will be hosting an Easter Blog Hop with a Treasure Hunt for the Mystery Phrase.  Provide your own eggs!  If you would like to take part this year, just leave a comment here.  The week before Easter I will send you a letter of the alphabet which will form part of the mystery phrase.  On Good Friday you will post that letter along with a photo of something seasonal that you have stitched (could be Easter or Spring or just something cheerful and sunny or floral). We all hop around like little bunnies to find the Mystery Phrase!

Here's a link to last year's hop so you can see how it all works - Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2017

The Easter Hop is the second peak of our Five Hops Challenge.  Everyone who joins in with all five hops this year (either as a participant or as a commenter) will be entered into the Five Hops draw at the end of the year.

January WIPocalypse SALs

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.  For me, this will be my "18 in '18".  I started this idea back in 2011 with my "11 in '11" which was not a success.  Since then I have gradually made my targets more realistic!

Just for fun, here is my old 11 in '11 list:

I completed three of them in 2011 - Frosty Morning, Heart from Stitch Graffitti and Bluebeard's Mermaid.  How funny to see Joan Elliott's 12 Days of Christmas on there which finally got stitched last year.  The Art Nouveau Head is a UFO and the rest never even got started!

Anyway, I've done better than that this year already, having stitched on 9 of my list in January.  You can see the full list here.

1. Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet Spooky Conversion:

I stitched the S

stitched on 32 count Tiger Lily Murano by Sparklies

2. Lyndisfarne Designs - Discworld Mappe:

From here:

To here:

stitched on 32 count Murano custom dyed by Sparklies

3. Just Nan - Summer in the Square (10-a-Day)

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha linen

4. Donna Kooler - Zodiac:

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

5. Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night:

stitched on 32 Cognac linen

6. Dam Good Crafts - Dracula:

stitched on 32 count Amortentia Belfast from Chromatic Alchemy

7. Just Nan - 12 Days of Christmas:

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

8. Mrs Peggotty - Alice & Flamingo:

stitched on 25 count blue evenweave

so close to the bottom left corner now!

9. Just Nan - Diamond Bouquet:

stitched on 28 count lilac evenweave

Pretty impressive!  Apart from the JN Ornaments for my 30-a-Day everything I have stitched this month is on my WIPocalypse list.   Anyone would think I liked 32 count fabrics...

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

January 28 – What SAL’s are you participating in this year?

Obviously the WIPocalypse!  And these ones too:

Zodiac Club - post the first Saturday each month

Gifted Gorgeousness - post anything gifted on the 15th
TUSAL or Totally Useless SAL - post your ORTs on the New Moon each month

Hallowe'en Ornie Blog - a different spooky theme each month

Christmas Ornie Blog - a different festive theme each month
IHSW - 3rd full weekend of each month

Smalls SAL - last Friday of each month

As well as SALs I also host 5 blog hops a year.  You can read all about them here and I have listed them on this post too:

In February we will have the Secret Stitching Sweetheart for Valentine's Day - send me a suitable picture and I will forward it to another participant, hop around the blogs to see who got your picture.

At Easter it's the Easter Treasure Hunt - sign up and be allocated a letter, post a picture and your letter at Easter, hop round the blogs (like an Easter Bunny) and find the Mystery Phrase.

During the whole of the Summer we usually have the Summer Postcard Hop - send me a picture for a postcard plus a holiday message, I will forward it to another participant, hop around the blogs to see who got your postcard.

At Hallowe'en it's the Trick or Treat Mystery Phrase - same as Easter but spookier!

During Advent I will host our Calendar - sign up and be allocated a dated door, post a picture on your day and add some information about your Christmas traditions. I copy the pictures onto my blog so we have the full calendar for everyone to see.

Finally you can see from the list of Hops that the next one will be the Secret Stitching Sweetheart in February.  You still have time to sign up for that one.  Just leave a comment or send me an email saying you would like to take part.  I will need a photo of your stitching item by 10th February.

Boxing Day Renamed "Stitching Day"

As the Advent Calendar revealed that some countries do not celebrate Boxing Day and others simply have Second Christmas (like festive hobbits) I have decided that 26th December will  henceforth be International Stitching Day.  Just sit in your stitching spot nibbling on leftover turkey and chocolates while stitching to your heart's content.

We will start with a piece that I actually stitched just before Christmas.  I finished Joan Elliott's 12 Days of Christmas on 15th December so technically I had 9 stitching days before Christmas Day but I knew I was working on 4 of them and would be pretty busy on the other 5 so I decided to stitch a very small design.  Kerry the Biscornu Addict showed what she would be stitching on in the run-up to Christmas which inspired me to stitch one of the same designs:

Merry Christmas by Stitchrovia

Stitched on 28 count Colonial Blue evenweave

This was the cover kit with Cross Stitch Crazy issue 237 and came with this red hoop but I will probably scrapbook it instead.

My Christmas Day start is another 12 Days of Christmas design (No, Stephanie, I cannot get enough of these designs!).  I'm doing 12 Days of Stitchmas as I did last year.  So on Day 1, I stitched Block 1:

On Day 2, I stitched on Block 2 and Block 1:

On Day 3 I will stitch a little of each of the first 3 blocks and so on.  The plan is to stitch the black border on the new day so I can get the placement right for the next day.  Then one length on each of the preceding blocks.  Chosen to avoid changing colour too much!

At the end of the Twelfth Day of Christmas I should have Block 1 completed and then I will stitch one block a month for the rest of the year.

Today being the 26th I should have stitched my spooky conversion of the Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace.  But guess where that it?  In the chest hidden behind the Christmas tree!  So that will have to wait until Epiphany when the tree comes down.

Instead I picked up the next project in the rotation; my Zodiac SAL by Donna Kooler:

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

I'd already done my 10-a-day and 30-a-day projects in the morning:

Just Nan - Summer in the Square

Just Nan Butterfly Rose

There's still one more project to come today, the bathtime stitching which is Dracula's Book Cover by Dam Good Crafts.  Here's where I finished last night having just started the moon:

stitched on 32 count Amortentia Belfast by Chromatic Alchemy

So that's five pieces in one day!  Same again tomorrow and the rest of the month until I go back to work on 1st January.  For one day.  Then another week off.  I do love part-time working, especially when you do lieu hours in December and get to take them in January.

I do hope you all had a lovely Christmas and got everything you wanted.  My favourite presents were stitching and book related, of course.  I also got these really cute earrings:

Just 1 More Chapter

She does quite a range of books and will do custom designs too!  I wonder if I ordered our Book of the Month each month if I could put them through petty cash?

I NEED the Alice in Wonderland ones next, then some Discworld covers, the Dragonriders of Pern, The Power (Naomi Alderman) and then every book Chris Riddell has ever done a cover for...

Finally, we are approaching the end of the year so I will be putting up the Sign-Up page for Gifted Gorgeousness soon and preparing my special recipe End of Year Pie for all you Statistic lovers.  But before that we have the final Smalls post on Friday!