Finally Fully Finishing Fun for May

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 did quite well this month, I dug out the scrapbooks and papers to get some recent finishes FFO'd.

The first one, you got a little sneak peek last post:

This is the Drawn Thread freebie for the #bewellandstitch movement.  I stitched it one strand over two on 35 count Sand Linen.  Then I scrapbooked it onto a page which already had the April design from With Thy Needle.  I think the way the backing paper brings out the yellow in the fabric and you can just see the stripes too.  The ribbon came from Giovanna, an Italian blogger (not for quite a while though) who sent me a whole bunch of ribbons for trimmings.

The second recent finish was Trimming the Tree by Blue Ribbon Designs.  I had planned to mount this with the older BRD in the series but it is smaller and the fabric is a darker blue so they looked odd together.

Instead I used this page from a National Geographic calendar and left space for the next one in the series.  I also labelled the fabric in the packet as "For BRD only".

For my next FFO I needed to rummage through my frame stash.  I found the perfect frame which already had a project in.  Several years ago I tried to sell some cross stitch at a church craft stall.  I discovered the same as when I tried to sell my painted rocks.  People don't want to buy cross stitch.  They want to commission something you don't have.

So I took the cute design out and framed Fox Few by Plum Street Samplers instead:

It is on my kitchen dresser along with Fox Forest by The Workbasket:

So what did I do with the cute design which was in the frame? 

Scrapbook!  Along with an even older finish.  The little cottage was originally in a small plastic frame to hang on a tree but I mounted it in a Christmas card instead.  The little bear was the cover kit from Cross Stitcher magazine issue 207 and was designed by Andree Langhorn.

And a finish to round things off.  Not a fully finished piece yet as I need to source a snowflake and four identical frames to do all the seasons.  This is Winter in the Square by Just Nan.  I have stitched just 20 stitches per day on this and it took 123 days in total:

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha Linen

Finally, Stitch Maynia has continued.  Here are the most recent projects:

6th May - Spring Pillow

7th May - True Blue Heart

8th May - Holly Berry Frosty

9th May - Garden Maze (I was stitching this one throughout April)

Stitch Maynia Starts

I am taking part in Stitch Maynia once again with my Just Nan-a-thon as per previous years.  Stitch Maynia is a stitching challenge along the same lines as the Crazy January Challenge or March Madness.  It just happens in May.  Back in 2018 I started 32 Just Nan Smalls starts and then in 2019 I stitched on each one on it's anniversary date.

Over the course of the last year I have completed 8 of them so I have space for 8 new starts.  I started 4 of them in April as part of Rachel and Tiffany's Spring Into Summer New Starts and then another one on 5th May.  I am stitching these as my Bath Time stitching so I post pictures the following morning.

So here are the photos for the first five days:

1st May - Beach Roses

2nd May - Lady in Red Heart

3rd May - Love & Roses

4th May - Rose Lady (the "Lady" will be a ladybird charm)

5th May - Sparkling Iris

As we have started another new month, my rotation has started again.  The first day is spent on Christmas stitching.  My project for this year is JBW Designs 12 Days of Christmas and we are up to Five Gold Rings:

stitched on 40 count white linen

It does look a little incomplete but that's because I am leaving the beads to after Day Six.  There will be red ribbons and a bead attaching each ring to the wreath so it makes sense to do those at the same time.

Then the next three days are spent on Hallowe'en stitching.  This year I am working on the Scary Apothecary series by Hands On Design.  This is Bitter Brew:

stitched on 28 count Radioactive linen from Chromatic Alchemy

The orange is blended rather than use a variegated.  It took ages!  I stitched the word Bitter so could at least just fill in around it, but Brew had to be counted very carefully.  Not too much to do next month so I should finish it then.

Finally I got an extra little finish sneaked in on the last day of April.  Here's a clue:

Because I also FFO'd it straight away and will show you on the 10th for Rachel's FFO Gallery.

The People Chose Fire

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  Each month I ask for suggestions for themes and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  This is what they have chosen:

May - Fire

June - Dragonflies
July - to be advised

I am finding Fire to be a tricky one!  I used the search box at the top of the blog and it brought up the Pixel Power Gandalf I framed recently:

The runes spell out Gandalf's speech while facing the Balrog on the bridge in the Mines of Moria - "You cannot pass. I am a servant of the Secret Fire, Wielder of the Flame of Anor. The Dark Fire will not avail you Flame of Udun. Go back to the shadow. L.O.T.R."  I charted those myself.

Obviously dragons breathe fire and I have stitched a few of them in my time!

This is a current WIP, although not in my "20 in '20" - Little Snapdragon by Kustom Krafts:

Many years ago (2011)  I designed this little card for a friend:

The fire has gone out or Santa would burn his toes!

I do have a wonderful Firewing Designs chart in my stash and I even have the fabric to stitch it on.  This is Messenger:

And this is one of Joan Elliott's Elemental Goddesses - Fire:

Now it's over to you.  All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Fire, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog. Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

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Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll. Any thing, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll. Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Blue, or Holidays, or Warmth etc. Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

Looking forward to reading them all!

April Stitch from Stash and Pie

April has limped along to a finish, but at least we have Stitch Maynia to look forward to!  More of that later.  But first, Pie:

Discworld started the month here:

and went to here:

So much fill-in and all the backstitch too!   I put it down to being able to sit outside and stitch for an hour or so each day.  There are no distractions out there and I was able to really focus.

I even got this sweet little boat stitched:

This shows how much I have left to do.  There is one whole page, four half pages and a lot of islands in the middle of the sea (plus another boat).  Then I have to do all the longstitch lines which I left until last to avoid catching on them as I stitch.

You've seen my progress on everything else except for my Chatelaine.  I spun my Tiny Decision wheel and Gardens of London came up.  I last stitched on this in March 2019 although I did add some Algerian eyelets during the Longest Day Marathon.  Here's where it was last March:

and here it is now:

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Cotton Clouds from Crafty Kitten

I spent most of my time on the Upper Right Garden but did add the sparkly Rhodes Stitches to the outer border of the Upper Left Garden:

The first job I had to do was frog all those pink Queen's Stitches.  I am using a mixture of the charted threads and a DMC conversion.  In the first Garden I used 962 but in this Garden I had used 961 which was what was on the chart but was too bright for my liking.  So it all came out and was restitched in 962.  Then I finished the Algerian Eyelets in the middle, then some sparkly green.

Then on to those adorable Tiny Jessica Stitches, aren't they sweet?

I finished off with the green sparkle Rhodes Stitch around the outer border and a tiny start on the Lower Right Garden.

Both these Gardens are now complete except for beads and backstitch.

Stitch from Stash looks good this month:

April
Nothing	£0.00
Total	£0.00

NO unnecessary spending is going to be the Order of the Day for the foreseeable future. I do love the new Mirabilia, Princess Elliana.  Princess Elliana was tired of quarantine and escaped from her blanket fort, dragging all her bedlinen with her!

I just love her, she uses all the new DMC colours plus a whole bunch more.   But when Nora shared the original artwork, I fell in love with those colours even more!  So if I ever get her, I may be doing a conversion.  The fabric will be Sparklies' Purpleberry Spludge - great name, great fabric.

Finally, Stitch Maynia!

Backn in 2017, I started 23 Just Nan Smalls for March Madness:

Then in 2018 I started 32 more for Stitch Maynia:

In 2019 I stitched on the same 32 on their anniversary:

And this year, I will be stitching the 24 from last year plus the 8 new ones. Should be good fun!

April WIPocalypse Oldest WIPs

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.

Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "20 in '20" for this year.  This month I stitched on 6 of them.

My Discworld Mappe went from here:

to here

Lyndisfarne - Discworld Map

(Project 5)

Nora Corbett - Gathering Eggs
(Project 6)

JBW - 12 Days of Christmas

(Project 10)

Hands on Design - Bitter Brew

(Project 14)

Just Nan - Winter in the Square

(Project 16)

Amanda Butler - Alice in Wonderland SAL in Cross Stitcher magazine

(Project 17)

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

April – Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO.

That's an easy one - no change since last year!   My oldest UFO is from the 1990s - Ernie Bishop's Noel Banner:

Since I took that photo I have completed the O for my Longest Day Marathons:

Close-up of the L:

Last time I got them out I realised I had used the wrong Perle for the hardanger on the E so that's all got to come out too.  These have been added to my WIPocalypse this year.  I have 8 projects started pre-2016 and have added 3 to my list this year (the ones in bold).

Finally, here's the full list if you are interested:

Ernie Bishop	Noel Letters	01/12/98
Craft Collection	Art Nouveau Head	14/04/11
Samplermakers	Spring Sampler	01/03/12
Yiota's Xstitch	Coffee Fairy	24/04/12
Papillon	Around the World	27/04/12
Scarlet Letter	English Transitional Sampler	11/12/12
Joan Elliott	Faces SAL	05/06/14
Kustom Krafts	Little Snapdragon	01/01/15