'Tis the Season to be Stitching

Fa la la la la la la la la

And here's what I've been stitching this week.  First up is some stocking fillers for my female in-laws.  I bought these little diaries with an insert for a photo and stitched each of their initials from the Sajou Alphabet Carol provided us for her iStitch Mystery SAL last year.

These were a really quick stitch, a couple of hours for each letter and they make a nice little extra gift.  One is for MIL, two for hubby's sisters and one for his brother's wife.

My evening stitching has been split between the Scarlet Letter English Transitional Sampler and the Mirabilia RR September Sapphire Fairy.

English Transitional Sampler

September Sapphire Fairy

I've also stitched a couple of cards that I can't show yet because they're still in the post!

Not much else to report - it's busy, busy, work, work, sleep here.  The Scarlet Letter sign-ups have slowed down (phew!) and we're going to start a second blog in the New Year so all the extra people can post for themselves.  We've had the first prize draw already and one lucky person won 10 skeins of AVAS silks.  I'm stitching with these for the first time and they are gorgeous.  I've used several lengths already and have only just realised I've not had a single knot!

Finally, I hope you're following the Advent Calendar Blog Hop each day.  The trees are having a late spurt and we have one vote for "shoes".  It's so much fun reading about everyone's Christmas traditions.  Our tree is up at home, it looks beautiful from one side but the other has a large undecorated area exactly the size of the Small Boy's reach despite being behind the boy-fence LOL.  Photos will be from the "good" side only this year!

Advent Calendar idea, iStitch and IHSW

I has this fab idea the other day - an Online Advent Calendar with a different blogger posting a picture each day.  I would have a future-dated post on my blog with 24 little door pictures and a link to a different blog each day.

Each participant would be allocated a day (or 2 depending on how many sign up) and on that day they would make a post called "Advent Calendar" and post a nice festive stitchy picture.  Preferably of something they have stitched themselves.  Maybe some information about the picture and a Christmas tradition their family have.  Or if you don't celebrate Christmas in the traditional way then something about how you do mark this time of year.  I would then copy the picture into my blog so we have a central place to see all the lovely Christmas/Winter Solstice stitching.  How does that sound?

To sign up, just send me an email with your blog name and any days you can't do (if you're off skiing or shopping the German Markets for example).  Also, any days you would particularly like (something special to your culture or your family).  Once I have a few people I will send out the date(s) you have been allocated.  By signing up you give me permission to copy that one picture, just one time and repost on my blog.  Me and me only.  Other people can include links to the calendar but please don't copy pictures without the owner's express permission.  My email is in my profile.

Stitching news - I promised to talk about the iStitch Mystery Sampler which I have now finished.

The more eagle-eyed of you (and those that have stitched the design) may have noticed the slight difference in my finished piece.  The final block was for a Sajou initial and Carol gave us a whole alphabet to choose from.  Unfortunately the letter "J" is an awkward one.  It is not symmetrical at all and often looks unbalanced to my eyes.  I waited until other J people had stitched the piece but I still wasn't feeling the letter at all.  I tentatively emailed Carol asking for help, would she mind sending me the bonus chart so maybe I could use that?  Bless her, Carol sent me a rose!  I don't know if it comes from one of her other designs (which are all lovely BTW) or she charted it especially for awkward people but it's lovely.

Carol is my New Best Friend and Favourite Designer now, how many other designers would not only not be offended by whinging about their design but also send a replacement chart idea?  If you missed out on the SAL the chart is now available here for a very reasonable price.

The box was a Christmas present last year, it's from RUCraft and came filled with a selection of DMC threads.  It's been quite popular as one of the magazines gave it away with new subscriptions this year.
The fabric is 36 count evenweave and the thread is a blue from De Havilland threads many moons ago.  It is silky and smooth, one strand is fine for 36 count so I have loads left!

I'm signed up for the TUSAL as well as the WIPocalypse and my own JustNan-athon plus my "12 in '12".  This is being amended as you read.  Too many BAPs!  I also found this great idea on Heather from It's All Geek to Me's blog.  Theme-a-licious, each month will have a different theme.  I've added them all to my page about 2012 projects (see top bar).  They are all achievable for me except the Mad March one.  To join us just go to this post and sign up.

Finally, IHSW was last weekend and I did indeed stitch but can't show you anything because it's all for other people so you'll just have to take my word for it!  My tea-dyeing was a triumph though.  I know other people do use tea to dye fabric but how many make a cuppa first?  It seems a waste not to use the tea itself so as my tea-drinking brother was coming round I saved his teabags then used them to dye the fabric.  How tight-fisted am I? haha.  At least I let him have his drink first not make him drink it after the fabric had been soaked in it!

ps new follower Purple Stitcher - there's a problem with commenting on your blog, email me and I'll try help!

Finally I get to use the computer... Madame Muriel reports...

Honestly, everything in this house is timetabled!  The television, the computer, the bathroom, leaving the house etc etc.  So I finally get my hands on the computer to let you all know how I'm coping so far from home.  As you can see, I'm surrounded by Englishness!   You don't even want to know what the ingredients for that pickle are.  Or the "salad cream" either.  It doesn't even go on salad half the time, she has it with chips!  Which is the proper name for french fries I've been informed.  What I call chips are either crisps or for playing poker.

I've had my myth-busting hat on and the first one is that "English people are not friendly".

I am happy to report English people are very friendly - once they know you.  "Knowing you" consists of meeting you for the first time via an introduction from a person they already know.  You can't just start chatting to people in the street without a formal introduction.  Unless you are an old person in which case you are permitted to make personal comments about babies and pregnant women only.  Dog walkers may also exchange nods and "good morning" if they have their dog with them.

Life here is very sociable, I've met so many people and drunk so much tea and nibbled so many biscuits I've lost count.  My hostess is very busy running the town it seems.  The current Government (who are only mentioned via clenched teeth) are very keen on the "community" running things, not central Government.  The community seems to consist of my hostess and several retired ladies who my hostess describes as "herself in 20 years time".  Her ambition is to join the WI.

The first week there was a most enjoyable stitching lesson with a young woman and her baby.  The young woman is keen to learn to cross stitch and has already completed a Helen Philipps heart under my hostess's tutelage.  They are designing a birth sampler for the said small baby using a number of fairy charts from an issue of Cross Stitcher magazine.  My hostess is arranging the charts in a pleasing manner and the young woman will stitch them.  Eventually.  When they stop running the school.  The young woman is chair of the PTA.  I feel very old sometimes.  She is young enough to be my host's daughter never mind my granddaughter!

This weekend has been "finishing weekend".  My hostess has the bad habit of reaching the final few stitches and putting the project away instead of getting on and finishing it.  So we had a flurry of activity today.  First up is the iStitch Mystery SAL all completed and framed in this lovely DMC wooden box which my hostess uses to keep her bead collection in.

The details have been blocked out in the top picture to protect the design's copyright.  The 2nd picture has been adjusted by Carol but the top one wasn't.  In case you were wondering.  My hostess will explain the story behind the stitching and the box next time she blogs.

These cute cards are from Cross Stitcher magazine, my hostess made a New Year's Resolution to stitch every Cover Kit in the month of receipt.  However she hadn't bargained on CS changing it's design brief so much in the course of the year.  Far too many of the cover kits have just not appealled to her so she has used other designs to make the most of the materials.   Sadly the quality of these has decreased too and my hostess had to ask for replacement cards for this project.  The originals were torn and dirty.  Shocking.  Anyway she stitched these owls from a different issue and decorated the cards using felt-tip pens.  She feels the green one needs something more and will source some sticky flowers next week.

This delightful design is by San Man Originals from the Spooky SAL board.  Hallowe'en is very under celebrated here.  We didn't even get a single trick or treater call at the house!  Something to do with being at the end of a dark country lane ...  This design has been framed with some rather nice ribbon to disguise the fact that the frame is too big.  The ribbon comes from the most easterly knitting shop in England.  Frankly everything here has the suffix "most easterly" - it seems to be their only claim to fame.  They even have the most easterly prison just up the road!

I fear my allotted time at the computer is at a close now, I have to go supervise the bathing of the small boy.  I must say it has been lovely to be around small children again, my last three hostesses did not supply surrogate grandchildren.  Although the little dog did his best with the spinster, frankly she was childlike in behaviour only!

Progress on iStitch and the Mystery solved

Here is my progress on iStitch's SAL.  The theme has now been guessed correctly, the piece is based on a printer's tray, with each block being a little stamp.  It'd be great if all the designs were available as stamps!

I solved the Mystery of the Gift Voucher.  I phoned Willow Fabrics and asked them who had purchased it.  Unfortunately their system doesn't show this information BUT when I was chatting I mentioned I thought it could have been a magazine competition win, this rang a bell and she went off to check.  Yes, Cross Stitch Collection awarded me £10 for my useful tip on what to do if you spill beads on the floor.  This tip was published in Issue 202 released this week.  So, not a secret admirer but very nice anyway.

I also received the chart for Home of a Needleworker from Nicola (the Obsessive Cross Stitcher) with a lovely surprise, a fresh new skein of each of the colours!  There is something special about new threads all co-ordinating together.  How very generous of her, I will be passing the chart on when I've stitched it.

My presents are still rolling in.  My Sparklies fabric arrived, the Tigerlily is perfect for Passione Ricamo's Autumn Fairy but the Monarch is scaring me!  I thought it would be nice for Nora Corbett's Trick or Treat Fairy being in two shades of pink and purple.  But the piece I have has lots of yellow in it.  It's amazing but I'm a newbie for such wild fabrics.  The Purpleberry Spludge is the wildest I've used so far and that's subtle compared to this.

So, any ideas of what to stitch on it?  Or do I just frame it as modern art?  The ladies over at the Mirabilia Yuku Board are coming up with some great ideas but the more the merrier!

Vote for me!

I have been told it is okay to say that.  The Gift of Stitching online magazine is having a tape measure competition this weekend.  Last issue they printed some little patterns ideal for covers and asked people to post their finishes here.  You won't see them until Sunday 29th August then you can vote for your favourite.  Which will be mine of course!  Truthfully I don't expect to win, I stitched on aida and stuck it to a square tape measure, no fancy finish or anything.  But it does have nice colours and it's all "stitched-from-stash" so very eco-friendly.

This is my second attempt at finishing:

It's a notebook cover made from one of the fabric samples I was given earlier this year.  But I think the fabric was too thick to be used in this way and the corners are rubbish!  The picture is too exposed on top and will get battered during use.  So this was my next attempt:

Our local papercraft store was having a 20% off for Bank Holiday weekend and I bought a stack of cardstock, all postcard sized and ideal for mounts.  The colours go nicely together and I could cut a shape out of the middle to frame it or just stick it on top.  I also bought some more frames from a charity shop (honestly, I'm obsessed with them) including 2 square ones and a gold hinged triple set which will look great with Christmas designs in.

The rose is a freebie from Free Patterns.  Great name, does exactly what it says on the tin!  You have to register to download the patterns but you can opt out of getting emails afterwards.

The final picture is Part 2 of iStitch's Mystery SAL.

This is stitching up really quickly.  There are links on the blog to all the completed Part 1s.  I like my white and blue but I also like all the other colour schemes too.  I know at least one person has decided to redo her's in variegated having seen how good they look.  I did think about stitching it twice, next time over 1 on 28 count.  That led me to think about stitching a design alot of times in different ways.  Which led me to think about the Crazy 15 Challenge, 15 starts in January, which I opted not to do in favour of "11 in '11".  Which made me think I could choose a small project and stitch it 15 different ways, starting one on each day in January.   This requires more thought.....

So, in conclusion - Vote for Me, and let me know which one of those finished for the rose you prefer - the notebook (if I sort those corners out) or the simple picture mount.

I won something and need your help!

I won something!  Raven posted recently about a sampler she's stitching and noticed a small error when she posted the photo on her blog.  She invited people to try "guess the error".  I think stitching people are just too kind to point out errors in other people's work and only two of us tried.  Raven sent us both a gift certificate to use at Down Sunshine Lane, a lovely online needlework shop.  One of the things I like about the stitching community is our reluctance to criticise each other's work.  I used to attend alot of model soldier and model airplane conventions (don't ask).  The guys there were so critical of each other's work - "actually I think you'll find they didn't use that particular buckle until November 1916 whereas your figure is from early 1916".

So now I have to decide what to buy....  I have enough pennies to buy two of the following:

Prairie Moon's - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

 

Debbie Draper - Ribbons.  This one comes with floss:

Victoria's Sampler - Christmas Village

Victoria's Sampler - Santa's Village 

 

Ink Circles - Masquerade 

 

Prairie Schooler - Santa's Night

What do you all think?  I'm going to try do a little poll in my right hand side bar.  Wish me luck!

Other news:  I have finished Part 1 of iStitch's new SAL.  Here it is:

I'm stitching it on 36 count white evenweave over 2.  The blue mass is a hand-dyed silk from De Havilland threads.  I have had it forever since I used to go to the Olympia Shows in London pre-kids.  It was all neatly plaited until I cut it loose.  Now it looks like my hair when I've had it plaited for a day or two, except my hair is not currently blue.  My hair is dark brown, orange (where the red is growing out) and white.