April Stitch from Stash and a Happy Dance

Month: April

Spent: £ 4.99

Earned: £ 0.00

Sneaky Peaky of Happy Dance!

Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel from Epic Stitching

Essentially the idea behind Stitch from Stash is that we are limited to spending US$25 (or £15) per month. There are various exemptions (Birthday money, existing mag subs, clubs etc) but the idea is not to try and pervert the rules and to stitch some of that stash!  I will be posting on or around the 20th of each month because that is when I get paid!

January Budget	£ 15.00
January Spend	£   0.00
February Budget	£ 15.00
February Spend	£   5.50-
March Budget	£ 15.00
March Spend	£ 32.46-
April Budget	£ 15.00
Cross Stitch Crazy magazine	£   4.99-
Current Balance	£ 17.05

A good month.  I just bought one magazine which contained three charts I will definitely be stitching, the Satsuma Street Cities on black fabric,

On now for the main part of the blog, the part you've all been waiting for!  My Happy Dance on Prairie Moon's Thine is the Trick and the Treat.  I started this way back in October 2012:

and got this far in 2012:

I picked it up again in September 2013 and got this far by October:

And then nothing until December 2014 when I decided to focus on this project, stitching a minimum of one length of thread per evening.  This method works so well for monochrome samplers.

Here it is at the end of December 2014:

End of January 2015:

End of February 2015:

Mid March 2015:

Beginning of April 2015:

And now!

With my witch thread holder (from Primitive Hare)

With my cone of DMC! 

The fabric is a 40count hand dyed linen which was a gift from my friend Karen so I don't know who the dyer is.  The colour in the progress photos is more true to life than the finished photos.

I stitched using two strand of DMC 310 over 2 threads so the coverage is lovely and thick.  It made the fractional stitches a little lumpy so on some motifs I missed them out and on others I stitched them with one strand.

My favourite motifs were the cat and the witch.  I intend to stitch them again and make them into ornies for Hallowe'en.

Finally, this completion leaves a gap in my rotation!  I am going to be very disciplined and NOT make a new start.  I am going to continue on the black Hallowe'en theme and stitch this piece from my DUCJC challenge Day 10, Book of Spells by The Goode Huswif:

40 count Jewel Butterbeer from Under the Sea Fabrics

Gifted Gorgeousness April Link Up Post

  

For newbies, this is my first year long SAL.  Click on the picture above for the full details.

We will be posting and linking up on the 15th of each month, because it is 2015.  Should be easy to remember.

There has been plenty of Gifted Gorgeousness going on this month, both giving and receiving.  I visited my Aunt and was able to present Baby Albert with his very own sampler.  I also completed the square for the Stitching Out Stigma project and sent that off to the organisers.  You can see the squares they have already received in their Gallery.

But mostly I have been stitching on pieces which were gifts to me:

Scarlet Letter - Elizabeth Shephard

Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

 

Sweetheart Tree - Tudor Rose

(very close to finishing this so only showing a small part!)

 

Lizzie*Kate - Autumn Sampler Snippet

I also received a lovely stitching related gift from Jocondine.  She has been hosting a great quiz each week based on French towns all of which relate to needlework in some way.  So far we have visited Alencon, Bayeaux, Pont l'Abbe and Richelieu.  My name and Jacquie's name were the first two drawn to receive a little something and here it is:

 

A close-up of the cup-purse

 

Thanks you, Jocondine!

I also received a total surprise gift.  I've always enjoyed taking part in Round Robins where a group of stitchers take turns to stitch on a piece for each other.  Apart from the odd late mailer I've never had a problem until the Large Mirabilia RR in 2013.  Basically, mine vanished in the postal system.  I waited and waited hoping that it had been mistakenly sent by surface mail instead of airmail but nothing arrived.  The other participants were just as upset as I was and offered to restitch the piece.  And then it went quiet.  I tried to forget about it as I know that real life often gets in the way of our stitching. And then, out of the blue a parcel arrived from New Zealand.  I couldn't think of anything I was expecting so it was a complete shock to see a re-stitched Mirabilia Round Robin!

I'd chosen the Birth Month Fairies and asked everyone to stitch June, July and August leaving September for me as it is my birth month.  So here is my piece with the first three fairies complete and only the centre and September to be stitched by me:

Thank you Karen, Julie and Andie, you guys are the Best!

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 "April Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month.  

And link to the actual post, not just your blog.  

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

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Finally, I'm having a giveaway this month.  There are seven charts up for grabs, pictured on my Blogaversary post.  All you have to do is pop over there and leave a comment telling me which are your favourite three charts.  Everyone who links up for the GG gets an extra chance in the draw.  Draw closes 30th April which is when the link-ups close too.

April WIPocalypse Speciality Stitches

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The focus of my WIPocalypse will be my "15 in '15"which are 15 charts I want to stitch in 2015 (following on from my "11 in '11", "12 in '12", "13 in '13" and "14 in '14" - imaginative, eh?)

This month I got side-tracked by the design for the Stitching Out Stigma project so I only managed to stitch on two of my 15.

Here is the final corner of Prairie Moon's Thine is the Trick and the Treat, you can see how close to a finish I am now:

Stitched on 40 count hand-dyed fabric

 

The other piece I stitched is Primitive Hare's Hallowe'en Cubes, the letter L:

 

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

 

I also got baby Albert's sampler framed and presented to him:

 

A nice simple frame from Wilkinsons, the perfect dimensions for this piece and therefore the other three in the series which is good to know! 

 

This is the mast in his room!  Daddy is in the Navy so the nursery has a nautical theme.

 

 

 

Measi also sets us a conversation topic:

 

April - Which speciality stitches do you love doing on projects?  Which do you dread?

 

I do enjoy a variety of speciality stitches, the fact that I love Just Nan and band samplers is evidence enough of that!  I don't really have a particular favourite although I do love Bargello or flame stitch:

A Note of Friendship - Dark Alphabet 

 

There are quite a few samplers in my 31 DUCJC starts which include speciality stitches so I am getting lots of practise.  I don't even mind French Knots which so many people hate.  But the one stitch I cannot get the hang of is the Lazy Daisy.  No matter how much I try the "loop" always becomes two straight lines when I put the tying stitch in.  Or if I leave the thread a little loose it becomes a lop-sided loop.

 

Finally, the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop went online yesterday and by now everyone should have posted their letter.  You have until the 11th to post the answer to the Mystery Phrase in the comment section of that post.  Good Luck!



 

 

March TUSAL and Stitch from Stash

Month: March

Spent: £ 32.46

Earned: £ 0.00

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 project:

This is for the Stitching Out Stigma project.  My piece is doesn't have a title yet but it's on the theme of the Parents' Point of View, specifically the maze of acronyms which surround mental health problems. I am stitching this on 28count white Jobelan using Anchor threads.  I have very nearly finished and will show the whole piece then

Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel from Epic Stitching

Essentially the idea behind Stitch from Stash is that we are limited to spending US$25 (or £15) per month. There are various exemptions (Birthday money, existing mag subs, clubs etc) but the idea is not to try and pervert the rules and to stitch some of that stash!  I will be posting on or around the 20th of each month because that is when I get paid!

January Budget	£ 15.00
January Spend	£   0.00
February Budget	£ 15.00
February Spend	£   5.50-
March Budget	£ 15.00
Needleprint 3 x books	£ 24.20-
28 count white Jobelan	£   5.50-
Needleprint charts x 3	£   2.76-
Current Balance	£   7.04

So what did I buy?  The white Jobelan was for the SOS project above.  The Needleprint books and charts were very naughty purchases which I should have resisted.  Jacqui is selling off her entire collection of books and charts it seems and I just couldn't stop myself!

I bought these three books for £27 less £2.80 postage:

3-for-price-of-1-lovely-cross-stitch-books

and these 10 charts for £12 less £2.80 postage BUT I am only keeping 3 of them for me and the rest will be giveaway prizes so I'm only counting the price of 3 of them in my SFS total.

10-sampler-charts

I am left with a mere £7 and some pence so I will have to be good this next month.

And what have I been stitching from my stash?

Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

I finished the tombstone motif.  You may notice my date is stitched the correct way ie 31st day of the 10th month and not the charted American back-to-front way!  I also added EEK and a spider.  The end is in sight for this piece.  The bottom motif is going to be a pair of witch's boots.

This next piece is my Tuesday SAL with Linda and Kate for the Satsuma Street Pretty Little Cities designs.

Pretty Little London

This week I stitched the blue on either side of Tower Bridge, filled in the blue windows and frogged the tan windows from last week because they didn't look right with the pink.

Satsum Street will be featuring in this month's Cross Stitch Crazy magazine too, so watch out for that, 3 different cityscapes on black fabric.

If you enjoy a puzzle or an enigma you really should visit Jocondine's blog.  She is taking us on a mystery tour around France with various clues relating to towns with a needlework connection!  There will be clues posted each Wednesday and Friday with the answer being revealed on the Sunday.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has linked up so far for March's Gifted Gorgeousness.  The link up post will stay open until the end of each month and the sign-up page will be open until the 15th December.  So don't worry if you are late to the party, there is still plenty of time to join in.

WIPocalypse March Unlimited Money and Time

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The focus of my WIPocalypse will be my "15 in '15"which are 15 charts I want to stitch in 2015 (following on from my "11 in '11", "12 in '12", "13 in '13" and "14 in '14" - imaginative, eh?)

This month I have stitched on three of my projects and completed one.  The completed piece is Madame Chantilly On The Beach which I posted about last post.  Here is a reminder of what it looks like:

Stitched on Kynance evenweave from Sparklies

I completed two block on Primitive Hare Hallowe'en Cubes (one for January and one for February):

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain

I have also being stitching a length a day on Prairie Moon Thine is the Trick and the Treat:

Stitched on 40 count hand-dyed linen

Measi also sets discussion topics for each month:

March  – If money – and time – were not limiters, what projects would be on your stitching bucket list?

For me, the time question is the major factor!  I don't have a lot of money to spend on my stitching habits (which is why I am so good at Stitch from Stash!) but I have so many magazines and downloaded freebies plus the lovely generousness which features in Gifted Gorgeousness I really don't feel too deprived that way!

So, if time was unlimited, I would stitch almost every Mirabilia chart, all the Just Nans and Teresa Wenztlers in my stash, all the monthly series I see around the internet, all the different SALs and group projects.  I would do more Round Robins and stitch a gift for everyone who enters my Blog Hops, stitched Birthday cards for all my followers and so on.

Money-wise there are few projects I would actually spend a lot on, I am too cautious for that!  But I saw this Cabinet of Curiousities and thought it was amazing.  Until I saw the price!  So that is one I would definitely go for.  

I would also love to attend more (any?) shows and retreats.  This one is coming up soon and I would so love to be able to go - Fili Senza Tempo Formigine.  I've also read about stitching cruises which sound amazing too.

Another long-term goal is my Grand Tour of the World visiting all the my blogging friends!  I'd buy one those Around The World Air Fares and stop off at various places, stay for a couple of days then move on to the next stitcher.  I'd take a big piece of fabric and be my own personal Round Robin!

But for now finances and children prevent those sorts of dreams so I can only visit you virtually.  On Tuesday I was stitching in spirit with Linda on the Satsuma Street Pretty Little London.  Here is my progress:

Stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

Regular commenters may have noticed that I have switched to Comment Moderation.  Don't worry, it's not a spam or stalker problem, it's a Yahoo issue.  I noticed that people with Yahoo accounts can leave comments but I don't get the email to let me know and to reply to.  I do like to reply to commenters so by moderating comments I get to see all the comments first and can respond to them all.

Finally, we are approaching Easter, the weekend 3rd - 6th April.  I will be hosting my Annual Easter Treasure Hunt again.  Each participant posts a picture of something stitched on an Easter or Spring theme along with a letter I allocate to them.  Over the Easter Weekend everyone hops around like a bunny, finds the Mystery Phrase the letters spell out and reports back here with it.  Prizes for the lucky winners chosen at random.  If you'd like to be a Picture Poster please drop me an email.

Here is the link to last year's Treasure Hunt if you are wondering how it all works - Easter-treasure-hunt-blog-hop 2014.  There are also lots of Easter and Spring themed freebies on my linked page at the top of the blog.  I have checked the links but if any don't work, please let me know.

February Stitch from Stash

Month: February
Spent: £ 5.50
Earned: £ 0.00



Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel from Epic Stitching

Essentially the idea behind Stitch from Stash is that we are limited to spending US$25 (or £15) per month. There are various exemptions (Birthday money, existing mag subs, clubs etc) but the idea is not to try and pervert the rules and to stitch some of that stash!  I will be posting on or around the 20th of each month because that is when I get paid!

January Budget	£ 15.00
January Spend	£   0.00
February Budget	£ 15.00
Crafty Kitten Voucher	£ 20.00
Crafty Kitten Spend	£ 22.50-
Willow Fabrics Voucher	£ 10.00
Willow Fabrics Spend	£ 13.00-
Current Balance	£ 24.50

So what did I buy?  From Crafty Kitten I bought a cone of DMC 310 for all the black stitching I do plus some Crescent Colours for J is for Joanne.  I was gifted three of the colours and figured I only need three more, the rest would be fine in DMC.  From Willow Fabric's sale I got two great fabrics, both 32 count green linen for £ 6.50 a fat quarter of each.

Willow Fabrics really do have some great sales and some interesting fabrics too, I do recommend them.

So, that is the Stash part of the post.  Now for the Stitch part.

Since my last SFS post I complete the DUCJC but I won't show those again, I will just show the projects I have worked on since the beginning of February.

Primitive Hare - Hallowe'en Cubes:

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

Scarlet Letter - Elizabeth Shephard



I noticed something really interesting about these two designs - the border around the centre motif for each one is exactly the same!

 Finally, I am using hubby's laptop and the mouse keypad is stupidly over sensitive and keeps jumping the cursor around all the time.  It is virtually impossible to do anything so I am going to call this post done and try make it look a little better when I can get on the PC.

Gifted Gorgeousness February Link Up Post

The first link up was an enormous success with 40 people linking up to share their Gorgeousness.
I thought there were alot of generous bloggers out there and this confirms it all.

  

For newbies, this is my first year long SAL.  Click on the picture above for the full details.

We will be posting and linking up on the 15th of each month, because it is 2015.  Should be easy to remember.

In January I was also taking part in the DUCJC in memory of SoCal Debbie so I have many projects to show you!

Day 15 - Gifted Chart and Fabric

Just Nan - Haunted Pumpkins Tree

Day 16 - Gift for someone.

Joan Elliott - Believe

Day 17 - Not GG project!

Day 18 - Gifted Chart

Teresa Wenztler - You Were Hatched

Day 19 - Gifted Chart and threads

Nora Corbett - Little Snowy Gray Cottage

Day 20 - Gifted kit for someone

Jannlynn - Gathering Honey

Day 21 - Gifted Fabric

Joan Elliott - Faces SAL

Day 22 - Gifted chart

Just Nan - Winter Typography

Day 23 - Giveaway prize chart

Stitcher Anon - Marley was Dead

Day 24 - Gifted Chart

Shepherd's Bush - She Tends

Day 25 - Gifted Chart

Shepherd's Bush - Mulberry

Day 26 - Gifted Chart and Threads

Dragon Dream - Dragon of the Winter Moon

Day 27 - Gifted Chart and Fabric

Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

Day 28 - Gift for someone

Anchor - Kingfisher

Day 29 - Gifted Chart

The Sweetheart Tree - Tudor Rose

Day 30 - Gifted Chart

 

Nora Corbett - J is for Joanne

Day 31 - Gift for someone

Madame Chantilly - On the Beach

Of the above designs, two have been stitched on in February - Prairie Moon and Madame Chantilly.

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 "January Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month.  And link to the actual post, not just your blog.  Thank you.  I can amend links if you make a boo-boo though.

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Finally, we have a little Gifted Gorgeousness Giveaway this month thanks to the Gorgeous Gillie!  When I announced the GG project she sent DMC threads to me and to Jacquie, she also did a draw and sent threads to Sheila.  This time she is donating a wonderful chart just for the GG link-ups.

Earth Sampler by Primitive Needle

All you have to do is link up your GG post above AND leave a comment here clearly indicating that you wish to be in this GGG (Gifted Gorgeous Giveaway).  The words "Yes please, include me in the draw" are recommended as clear and non-ambiguous LOL.  One name will be drawn at random on the 1st March when the link-ups are closed and announced on next month's post.   Good Luck!