November 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:

On the left we have Brooke's Book's Stitcher's Alphabet and on the right we have Plum Street Sampler's 12 Days of Christmas.

Here's a close-up of the Stitcher's Alphabet, D is for Darning.  Something I never do!

stitched on 28 count afghan

Next up is a Happy Witchy Dance for another Brooke's Book's project - Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch:

stitched on 28 count tan evenweave, accessories on perforated paper.

Don't you love the tasselled broom?  I was very pleased with the way that turned out.  Less so with the little bows I was supposed to attach to her hat and skirt, so I left them off.

I've mounted her for my scrapbook in a wonderful spooky paper, from Scrapping The Magic's Twilight collection.

If I'd have planned it from the beginning I'd have stitched Trixie on grey fabric rather than tan.  But I didn't!

Still in a spooky frame of mind, it's time to announce the solution to the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.  Thanks to everyone who took part and correctly guessed the answer

GHOULIES' NIGHT OUT

(Inspired by my latest Just Nan finish Ghoulies and Ghosties)

the winner, drawn by the Large Boy from a deck of cards is

JUSTINE

She wins the chart for Witchy Brew you can see here which will be winging its way to her once I can get to the Post Office.

I did manage to get to the framer's this week and collect a very patient Noel Blanc by A Mon Ami Pierre.  I finished this one last year (looking back to check and discovering it was exactly a year ago!) and got vouchers for Christmas but just hadn't got as far as the shop to spend them!  We chose a simple wide white wooden frame which is a little bit more rustic than it appears in this photo.  If you click the photo you can see it a bit more clearly.  This will stay up on the wall until at least 6th January, or longer if I forget to take it down!

Finally, that's got me in the mood for thinking about the festive season and the final blog hop of the year, the Big One - The Advent Calendar.  Same format as last year - sign up and be allocated a date.  Post a stitched Christmas picture on your date plus a comment about the festive season.  You can email me now if you like stating if you have a preference for an early date or later in the month or any dates you can't do. 

Hallowe'en Trick Or Treat Blog Hop 2015

Knotted Tree NeedleArt

Welcome to the spooky hallowe’en mystery phrase blog hop!

All you need to do is visit each of the following blogs in order, jot down the letter displayed with their Hallowe'en stitched picture then return here and leave a comment telling me the Mystery Phrase.

It'd be nice if you left a comment on their blog too, especially if it's new to you.

I've enabled "moderate comments before publishing" so no-one can copy anyone else!

There will be a small prize for one person picked at random from the guessers.  People who posted a picture  will get one chance for that and another chance if they make a guess too.

So without further ado,

start the blog hop – enter if you dare…

Justine's Cross Stitch
Jeremiah's Mom
My Little Corner of Cyberspace
Fantasy Cross Stitch
Fireflies & Cats in the Garden
Needle, Pen & Sword
Needleworker's Samplings
Sewing After Seven
Mii Stitch
A Patchwork of Crafts
Kitten Stitching
Needles, Pins and Dragonflies
Today I Found...
Jocondine
Guava Gems

and then finally back here for this letter:

T

and this design:

Just Nan Ghoulies and Ghosties

and an unfinished Witch!

Brooke's Books Trixie The Hallowe'en Witch

I've completed all the cross stitch, metallics and beading.  There are a lot of fiddly details like bows and brooms to do.  None of which work well with a Small Boy who wants you to read Peppa Pig every five minutes.  So I'll leave the finishing until he's back at school.

Don't forget, some of us are on different time zones so if you visit a blog and can't find a letter or picture yet, pop back later in the day.  

The competition is open for one week closing 00.01 hours 7th November GMT.

happy hunting!

        

all from Hyraea

Finally, the D.E.S.I.G.N. post will appear tomorrow.

Friday Frolics and Other Days Too

Friday Frolics is a reference to one of Kaye's new blogs; Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics, where we each pull out a WIP or UFO and have a little frolic with it on a Friday, or into the weekend if you so desire.

My current Friday Frolic is Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch from Brooke's Books.  I had an issue with the metallic black DMC last week.  It just didn't cover well at all.  Then I saw the same design on FB where the stitcher had used Kreinik and the coverage looked great.  So this week I used the other two DMC metallics I had planned to discover how they covered.  They both look fine so I only need to buy one spool of Kreinik and some perforated paper for the accessories.  I frogged the black metallic in preparation for next week and here she is:

Stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

Don't her metallic purple boots look great?

I've been continuing with the current "Must Stitch" SAL which has grabbed the stitching world by the needles and demanded they drop everything to stitch this - Plum Street Sampler's 12 Days of Christmas.  Paulette is releasing one chart per week from tomorrow to follow on from the three she released last week.

I have decided to stitch them individually and scrapbook them in two pages of six.  But how to distinguish them from everyone else's versions?  I had decided to use a lovely red Splendor silk which was gifted to me from Ruth a while back.  The other charted colour was a yellowy green colour.  But I wanted a real pear colour for Day One and found it in DMC 3045.  However this wouldn't work for the other designs so well.  Then inspiration struck - use a different accent colour for each design!  Some will be obvious choices, others may need a little shoe horn but I have worked them all out now.  Second Day was easy, Turtle Doves are traditionally blue.  This is another Splendor silk from Ruth.  I've changed the parts which are stitched in the accent so the birds and the flowers will be blue and the rest will be red:

stitched over 1 on 25 count linen

The next project is also a Jumping on the Bandwagon SAL!  Funny how the best laid plans are often led astray by seeing what other people are stitching.  This one was a FB freebie called Friendship Compass released by Glendon Place to celebrate the large number of "likes" they had.  I'm using purples as you can see:

stitched on 28 count white evenweave

I am a subscriber to Cross Stitch Collection magazine and one of the enjoyable features is the Blogger of the Month column where they interview one of my friends each month and showcase her stitching.  I don't actually think being my friend is the reason they choose the person but it does seem that way!  It is rare I don't know the person LOL.  Recently it was the turn of Lisa The Inspired Stitcher.

As soon as I saw the article, I emailed her to let her know it was printed.  Unfortunately CSC is hard to get in the States so I offered to send her a copy.  In exchange she said she'd send me some threads as they are so expensive here!  And look what arrived!  A lovely frog covered project bag hand made by Lisa's own fair hands.  Hopefully all the frogs will stay firmly attached to the material and not infest my stitching!  She also included not one, but two packs of the DMC 4000 series of variegated threads, my very favourites.  They come in a card pack with a free chart too which is nice.

I am already using the bag to keep my Plum Street project in!

Finally, Hallowe'en is fast approaching which means it's nearly time for the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.  Regular followers will know the format.  Leave a comment here saying you would like to take part in the hop as a Picture Poster.  When I have everyone signed up I will choose a Mystery Phrase and allocate each Picture Poster a letter of the alphabet.  On 31st October they must make a blog post showing their letter and a photo of something they have stitched on a Hallowe'en theme.  On my blog there will be a list of all the contributors so people can hop around and collect the letters to work out the Mystery Phrase.  You don't have to be a Picture Poster to collect the letters and join in with the competition but all Picture Posters do get an extra entry in the competition.

October Stitch From Stash

Month: October
Spent:   £ 0.00

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!

July Budget	£ 15.00
July spend	£   7.75
August Budget	£ 15.00
August spend	£ 14.57
September Budget	£ 15.00
September spend	£   0.00
October Budget	£ 15.00
October spend	£   0.00
Current Balance	£ 37.68

Once again, a zero spend.  This being broke business is great for Stitch From Stash.

So that's the financial side of things, how about the stitching?  Poor, good and good!  I picked up Brooke's Book's Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch for my Friday Frolic and didn't do too well.  I've done all the DMC and now have the Kreinik.  I didn't have any of the charted Kreinik so I took the time to convert them to DMC metallics which I have quite a collection.  The Fuchsia looks great in her eye mask but then I started on the black in her hair.  It just doesn't cover well or look sparkly at all.  So I guess I have to bite the bullet and buy the Kreinik.  I will probably try the other colours first in case I need to order those too.

stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

I was much more successful with Elizabeth Shephard from Scarlet Letter for the IHSW:

The top photo shows the two motifs I worked on this weekend and the bottom one shows the whole piece so far.  I've got three complete motifs and six half-motifs to complete on this one.

stitched on 30 count linen

I was making such good progress by Sunday lunchtime I decided I deserved a new start!  Paulette from Plum Street Samplers recently posted about two ornies she designed for JCS back in 2011 and 2012 based on the First Two Days of Christmas.  People regularly ask about the other ten so she has decided they will be her SAL this year!  I have the two magazines with the originals in but even if you don't, you can still join in because she is giving them away for free on her blog. 

I've using a 25 count linen and stitching over 1 to keep them small.  The thread is a lovely silk from Splendor which Ruth was kind enough to send me.  She sent a selection of reds and blues and this was my favourite.  It's S826 if that means anything to anyone!  I'm planning on stitching these individually and scrap booking them unless a better idea comes to me.

Finally, Hallowe'en is fast approaching which means it's nearly time for the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.  Regular followers will know the format.  Leave a comment here saying you would like to take part in the hop as a Picture Poster.  When I have everyone signed up I will choose a Mystery Phrase and allocate each Picture Poster a letter of the alphabet.  On 31st October they must make a blog post showing their letter and a photo of something they have stitched on a Hallowe'en theme.  On my blog there will be a list of all the contributors so people can hop around and collect the letters to work out the Mystery Phrase.  You don't have to be a Picture Poster to collect the letters and join in with the competition but all Picture Posters do get an extra entry in the competition.

The Things I Do For You Lot!

I usually think about my blog posts in advance, planning what to say and show photos of, posting around the various SAL dates which I write in my stitching diary.  I try to always have a nice progress picture to show you as well as something interesting to read.

Then you have those weeks where you haven't got anything you can show because you've been working on an exchange piece which hasn't been mailed yet.  So yesterday I had no choice but to find something else to stitch just so I had something to show you all!

Brooke's Books - Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch

The top photo was how Trixie looked after one day in January for the DUCJC.

And how she looks now:

There are a lot of gaps because there is so much metallic thread used.  Possibly a little too much for me, so I may substitute some of it for DMC.

I finished the front page (or left hand side) of the Book of Spells:

There is a little tiny bit of colour to be added to the ring of circles but I will do that when I use the colours on the back page.  For now there is some long boring border and then some interesting border!

I also started planning for next year's WIPocalypse!  I am thinking of having the theme "16 Series in '16" so have been writing done all the series of designs I have started/own.  Nothing like planning early!

As you all know, I am a cross stitcher.  If you didn't know that then I have to ask - how did you get here and why are you here? LOL.  But I also appreciate many other crafts.  I have a nice little group of quilters following me and I enjoy their blogs, also quite a few free-form embroiderers and some knit-wits and crochet-queens!  So you may enjoy this blog which was brought to my attention recently.  Hawthorne and Heaney are an embroidery company based in London who specialise in commercial embroidery for customers as varied as the fashion industry to the military.  There is some beautiful work on their website and they are keen to link up with crafty bloggers too.

Their most recent post was all about adding some quite heavy goldwork to men's clothing for a fashion show - Application of traditional goldwork.  They've also done recent projects with H&M and New Look (both affordable High Street shops in the UK).  And some nice ideas for those special times in your life - Hawthorne and Heaney does Anniversaries.

So why not pop over and see for yourself the beautiful work they are doing.

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop:

First postcard from Cheryl goes to Noni at Fireflies and Cats in the Garden

Second postcard from Vickie goes to Katie at Jeremiah's Mom

Third postcard from Noni goes to Julie at Julie's Stitchyknitter Journal

Fourth postcard from Katie goes to Anna at Stitch Bitch

Fifth postcard from Julie goes to Bea at Thoughts and Musings
Sixth card from Bea goes to Narita at The Twilight Thread (not up yet)
Seventh card from Narita goes to Kaye at Kitten Stitching

Gifted Gorgeousness January Link-up Post

and Days 10 to 14 of the DUCJC.

Gifted Gorgeousness is my first ever 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.

This month I am also taking part in the DUCJC in memory of SoCal Debbie so I have many projects to show you!  

Day 1 was a giveaway prize - Little Snapdragon by Dyan Allaire:

Day 2 was a gift for my cousin to celebrate her new baby - Hobby Horse by JBW:

Day 3 was a giveaway prize -  Poinsettia Place by CCN:

Day 4 was a giveaway prize - Friends are like Angels by Lizzie*Kate:

Day 5 was a giveaway prize - Sunflowers and Acorns by Beehive Needleworks:

Day 6 - not a GG piece!

Day 7 was a giveaway prize - Strawberry Sampler by The Sampler House:

Day 8 was a gift - Hallowe'en Town by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery:

Day 9 was a gift - Sugared Almond Cottage by The Nutmeg Company:

Day 10 was stitched on gifted fabric - Book of Spells by The Goode Huswife:

40 count Jewel Butterbeer from Under the Sea Fabrics

Day 11 was bought with Birthday money - Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch by Brooke's Books:

28 count tan evenweave

Day 12 was a gift - January Wordplay by With Thy Needle & Thread:

over 1 on 32 count Star Sapphire linen

Day 13 was stitched on gifted fabric - Autumn by Lizzie*Kate:

over 1 on 28 count blue evenweave

Day 14 was a gifted kit - Elizabeth Shephard by The Scarlet Letter:

30 count linen supplied with kit

Wow!  This is definitely the Year of the Gift for me!  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.

Finally, I will be running the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop on Valentine's Day.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

 

It's really very simple, all you have to do is email me a picture of something you have stitched which is suitable for a stitching friend on Valentine's Day.  It could be a heart, or a pair of cute creatures, or the word "love" or anything which warms your heart. Really anything you think a fellow stitcher would like to receive in her email Inbox.   It can be something you've stitched in the past or something you've made especially for this year.  It could also be quilted or sewn this year as I know some of my followers do other crafts too.

Send me the email by 10th February.

When I have all the emails I will randomise them and send one to each participant on 13th February.  Then on 14th February you must post the picture you receive onto your blog under the heading

 Secret Stitching Sweetheart. 

There will be a list on my blog of everyone joining in, so check out all the blogs and find out who got your picture and identify yourself  in their comments as their

Secret Stitching Sweetheart. 

Does that make sense to everyone?  I hope so!

If you'd like to be involved then leave a comment on this post, I'll be putting little reminders up from time to time and will email on 9th February to make sure you send the pic in time.