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Saturday, 3 March 2018

Zodiac SAL - Pisces



Welcome to the  Zodiac SAL.  I will be posting on the first Saturday of each month with information about that month's sign and a linky for anyone who wants to join in.  The linky will stay open until the end of the month.

Last month we had four people link up with me, please do visit them now if you missed their posts before:


Pisces is the Latin word for "fishes" and a Water sign covering those born between 19th February and 20th March.



Pisces is associated with Aphrodite and Eros, who escaped from the monster Typhon by leaping into the sea and transforming themselves into fish.  In order not to lose each other, they tied themselves together with rope.  The Romans adopted the Greek legend, with Venus and Cupid acting as the counterparts for Aphrodite and Eros.


Pisces People: What They’re Like
Pisces people are sensitive and intuitive, and can become easily overloaded by crowds or overstimulating environments.  It’s often hard to pin these people down, because they’re so keen on swimming away to a place where they can experience some downtime and meditative R + R.  Pisces can gain a reputation as flaky because of the way they swim in and out of your life.  When they do surface, Pisces make charming and magical friends, especially because they view life through rose-colored glasses.  These fantasy-fueled folks need to keep at least one fin on solid ground.  At their best, Pisces are attentive and inspiring.  You can find Pisces artfully composing a photo, listening to music or guided meditations in their Zen dens, people-watching in the shadows of an underground club, or holding hands under the table at a romantic restaurant with a sunset view.



Famous Pisces People & Celebrities:
Albert Einstein, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Adam Levine, George Washington, Carrie Underwood, Kesha, Steve Jobs, Ansel Elgort, Kurt Cobain, Eva Longoria, Drew Barrymore, Eva Mendes, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, Victor Hugo, W.E.B. DuBois, Dr. Seuss, Jack Kerouac, Henrik Ibsen, Hubert de Givenchy




For the stitching part of the SAL I have chosen a series of designs from the Donna Kooler book 365 Tiny Cross Stitch Designs. I am stitching them all on one piece of 32 count Millenium Blue fabric. Here is Pisces:


Here is the whole piece so far:



I am also stitching the Satsuma Street Zodiac and here is Libra which represents my older son and my husband:

stitched on 28 count black Jobelan

My Mother-in-law is a Pisces and I am rather disappointed to realise that I have never stitched her anything!  Somehow I have never come across exactly the right piece for her.   She has a special Zero Birthday next year so I am thinking of a family tree design.  One we can add to as her grandchildren are now producing great-grandchildren!

This design would be perfect as I could have a branch for each of her four children and then add leaves or flowers to represent each of their children.  Only one son has grandchildren and he has six of them so the tree is rather weighted on his branch!



This is the place for you to link up if you want to join in, please link to the actual blog post, not your blog homepage and include your name so we can see who has joined in.

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Finally, don't forget the  Easter Blog Hop.  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!

Wednesday, 28 February 2018

February WIPocalypse Gadgetry

WIPocalypse
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.


๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡

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.





Monday, 26 February 2018

Let's Go Round Again

AKA the new phase of the rotation starts on the 26th of each month.

Why the 26th?  Because there are 26 letters in the alphabet and I'm stitching an Enchanted Alphabet conversion.  The original design is by Lavender & Lace and features some beautiful coloured letters and the frilliest child in the entire world.

My conversion features black and lots of it!  Eventually there will be more spiders, bats, ghosts and pumpkins but for now it is mainly DMC 310.  This month I added a T:

stitched on 32 count Tiger Lily by Sparklies


The colours are a bit off, the fabric is brighter than that.  Only 6 months to go and I can start on the embellishments!

Because my February rotation has restarted I have put away my Chatelaine.  I was really pleased with the progress I made this month and have almost completed the stitching on the central garden.  The first task next time will be to complete the Dense Rhodes Stitches and then lots of grey pavement. Hopefully I will be able to move on to one of the corner gardens!

This is where I left off last time I stitched on it:


And here is where I am now:

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast by Crafty Kitten

Some close-ups of the speciality stitches and the metallics:


All those gaps are going to be beads!



And just to give you some idea of the scale of this piece, here is the full design!



On the theme of going round, my Temperature SAL is still going round.  It appears that I have not mentioned this before!  I discovered this SAL via Katy who linked to Hetti's Blog XX Stitches in Blue XX.  I have wanted to do a Temperature SAL for a while and I just love this one!  Hetti has designed a mini sampler with each 5 x 5 block representing a different day.  Each month spirals out from the centre of the piece.

She recommends some variegated threads to go with the temperatures but I used a different chart as our daily temperatures do not vary much with the average being between 8 and 20 degrees.  I am using the maximum temperature to choose the colour for each day.

I completed a block and started the first row of the next block. 

stitched on 22 count white hardanger

A new lowest high temperature of only 2 degrees C (35.6 F) and another snow bead.

Blues are the coldest days moving through turquoise into green.  The warmest days are that olive green which will move to yellow, orange and red (if the temperature goes over 25 degrees).  If we don't get above zero on any day I can use purple!  The white beads represent a day when it snowed.

๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡

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.


Friday, 23 February 2018

February Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

This year I am showing my Just Nan 12 Days of Christmas blocks for the Smalls SAL and also my 30-a-day projects.  All smalls also by Just Nan.  It's a Nan-a-thon year!

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

This is Noah's Rainbow which I had completed last month but hadn't got the charm yet:

stitched on 32 count white evenweave

Last week I completed Painted Lady:

stitched on 32 count white evenweave

I made a few changes to this one as it was charted for green fabric.  The main Celtic Knotwork was an olive colour so I changed it to 3041/3042.

I used the charted beads but reversed the colours for the ones in the centre of each side compared to the ones in the middle of the flowers.

I also used a charm from my stash as I did not have the official JN butterfly


Then I started Potpourri:

stitched on 32 count white evenweave

All of these smalls were started last March for March Madness.  Here is the collage I did back then:


I have completed all the ones on the left hand side and I am now starting the ten on the right hand side.  So I started looking at what I have left in my Just Nan stash.  There are enough smalls to do Stitch Maynia this year!  So that is the plan.  For the whole of May I will start one of the smalls each day and do a minimum of 30 stitches.   I am averaging one finish per 3 weeks so it will give me enough smalls to do the 30-a-Day for the next 3 years!


๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡ ๐Ÿ‡

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.



Monday, 19 February 2018

February IHSW


This weekend was International Hermit & Stitch Weekend and once again I was working on Sunday!  Never mind.  I got lots done today instead.

On Friday I went to my Crafty Coffee Morning and took Mrs Peggotty's Alice with me.  Here is where she was last IHSW:


And here is where she is now:

stitched over one on 25 count blue evenweave

The purple on the right is the start of her skirt.  The top right green stitch shows the extent of the two pages I am stitching.  In order to complete this in a year I need to stitch two pages per month but there is plenty of time to catch up and Linda had restarted her's last time I checked!

The second piece I have been stitching this weekend is my focus for the month; Gardens of London by Chatelaine.  Here is where I started on Friday:


And here is where I stopped today:

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast by Crafty Kitten

I have finished all the plain xxxx in this part and have started the speciality stitches.  Close up of Rhodes Stitches and Algerian Eyelets:


The next IHSW will be 16th - 18th March so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook.



Finally, our thoughts are turning towards Spring which means only one things - Chocolate Eggs!
NO - Easter Blog Hops!  As usual 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.






Thursday, 15 February 2018

Happy Dance with the February TUSAL

Tusal


It's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog.

Here is my TUSAL jar with two current projects:


What's that you say?
The borders on Dracula have joined up?
Does that mean a finish?

It most certainly does!

This is Dracula by Dam Good Crafts (chart no longer available)

stitched on 32 count Amortentia from Chromatic Alchemy

The fabric was a gift from Tiffany and looks absolutely stunning with the solid black stitching.  I plan to photocopy the finished piece and make that into a book cover as I did with Book of Spells.  Then I will frame the original piece.

The other piece in the photo is my Chatelaine, Gardens of London:

stitched on 32 count Cotton Clouds Belfast by Crafty Kitten

Making nice progress going round and round with various shades of green!

Finally, the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop was a great success, I believe everyone now knows who their Secret Stitching Sweetheart is and hopefully has some new friends.  Here are the collages of the designs sent in, some absolutely gorgeous stitching and a cute dragon too!



Don't forget to leave a comment on the original post if you want to be included in the Five Hops Challenge this year.