A blog trying to focus on all the nice things in life, those moments when everything turns out right. Finding the perfect fabric for that chart you love, the ideal sampler quote, just the right picture in all the 1000s of magazines you own. Meeting people who share your interests and obsessions and totally understand why you NEED that chart when you already have enough to last until you're 104
This year my Smalls will be the Stoney Creek 12 Days of Christmas 2019 Ornament series which I started on Boxing Day 2020 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.
August was Eight Maids A'Milking, well only one maid and no cows:
stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave
I added August to my Tiny Modernist Calendar:
stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers
I continued with The Primitive Hare Celebrations series, catching up with Beltane from May:
stitched on 35 count Cream Linen
Finally, I got some photos of the Chinese Thread Box I made for my friend's Birthday in July. This is made entirely by folding paper, no glue or tape and there are 31 boxes. I had hoped to put some skeins of DMC in the boxes but it made them too bulky to close so I popped in stickers and charms instead.
The whole box:
There are 16 boxes this size:
8 boxes this size:
4 boxes this size:
2 boxes this size:
and 1 large box which forms the base of the piece:
This is the tutorial I followed to make it:
My paper was a little thicker than they used, so I didn't make the fancy flower shapes on the top 16 boxes!
IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month. It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend. You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.
I had Friday off work this week so I decided to complete my 7 day rotation on Mirabilia's Fairy Idyll and get her to here:
stitched on 32 count Vineyard Murano from Crafty Kitten
This is such an enjoyable piece to stitch, you can see the material of the dress forming as you stitch. Someone did a conversion and said there are 9 shades of cream/yellow in the dress! I haven't used the darkest shades yet.
On Saturday I moved on to my Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas design. My goal is 3 blocks on this for the year and there's only 4 months to stitch (not stitching Christmas in Dark October!) so I need to get cracking.
I decided to stitch all the Olive Green background for Day 2 first and here is where I finished:
stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen
You can see the number 2 and the first Turtle Dove appearing already. There is a minor counting error in the top right corner so the backstitch round those leaves will have to be fudged when I get there.
Our Summer SAL is coming along nicely, only one band and the beads to go. This is Follow the Needle by Just Nan:
Stitched on 28 count Lilac Brittney evenweave
Finally the next IHSW will be 17th - 19th September (my Birthday weekend) so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.
Welcome to the August Gifted Gorgeousness link-up. The link-up date continues to be the 15th and I will keep the link-up open until the end of each month so you have plenty of time if you are late posting.
The format remains exactly the same, there is a list of rules on the main sign-up page if you want to check what is required but basically anything connected to the word "gift" is allowed, whether it was a gift TO you or is a gift FROM you.
Deb sent me the charts for the Stoney Creek 2019 Ornaments which were my Stitchmas project this year. I started all 12, one per day and will be completing one per month. August is for Maids a'Milking:
stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave
The WIPGO Board chose Fairy Idyll for this month. The chart (and extras) was a gift from a friend. I am continuing with the expanse of her yellow/cream dress:
stitched on 32 count Vineyard Murano from Crafty Kitten
My current evening piece is Gathering Eggs by Nora Corbett, the chart was a gift from a friend. This is where she is now:
stitched on 35 count Vintage Country Mocha Linen
I just have to go all the way around with the turquoise, fill in the corner squares and add beads!
Now it is your turn to show us your Gifted Gorgeousness for the month. Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "August Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month. And link to the actual post, not just your blog. It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.
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Finally, some more Gifted Gorgeousness but of the papercraft variety. I had two friends with Birthdays recently so I made them Exploding Cards! These fold flat to fit into an envelope but pop-up into a box shape when you take them out.
I added some charms to the first one:
This is the second one:
The supplies all came from this website - Craft Box UK
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).
Even less FFO'ing this month than last, just one small framed piece! This is another freebie from The Primitive Hare for Lammas, the First Harvest celebrated on 1st August. Framed the same as Ostara and Litha in the same multi-frame. The goal is to have all eight done by the end of this year.
My regular followers will know that I love to make plans and lists for my stitching. And that I do a pretty good job of sticking to them. The Primitive Hare Celebrations were an addition to my original plans and here's another one:
I subscribe to Cross Stitcher magazine because I was migrated over when Cross Stitch Collection ceased publication and frankly, I am never going to get a better price for it! As soon as this month's issue arrived I knew I had to stitch the miniature greenhouse from the front cover. Who doesn't love a little 3D greenhouse?
I found some random grey/blue 28 count evenweave in my stash and made a start this afternoon. I plan to stitch all the white and then go colour by colour for the rest of the design. It's a Cheryl McKinnon (of Tiny Modernist) design so that makes two of her designs I am stitching now. The Calender is also one of her designs.
stitched on 32 count Summer Sky Belfast linen from Silkweavers
Finally, we have been given permission to hide painted rocks in the shop where I work again. So I've been painting a batch of book-themed rocks each week. It's lovely to see how happy the children are when they find one. To see my rocks, check out my Serendipity Rocks Blog
This is the sixth Scary Apothecary from Hands on Design. This one is Coffin Paint and is stitched on the same 28 count Radioactive linen from Chromatic Alchemy as the rest of the series. The plan is to stitch half this month and finish it next month to tick another box off on my WIPGO Board.
What's on my Shelf?
This is a new feature I'm going to include on my TUSAL post until I run out of books! I started a Page on my Happy Dance blog for my Stitching Library and realised what a huge task it was so decided to break it down to one book per month. For the next four years...
I chose this month's book to go with The People's Choice of Books.
Title: Embroidered Books Author: Isobel Hall Publisher: Batsford ISBN: 9781906388133
This book is a little different to the previous ones I've shown because it's not cross stitch! Instead it includes a wide variety of techniques and instructions to make embroidered books. You could easily use any of these to mount and display your stitched small pieces.
There are only two sections to the book. The first is Book Construction:
This section includes detailed instructions about how to make a small book, how to stitch the sections together and how to bind it. As well as suggestions for the different papers and fabrics to use.
These two styles of book could be very easily used to display cross stitch pieces:
Concertina Book
Carousel Book
The second section is Techniques and Materials:
This section talks about the different ways to decorate and embellish your book and the cover.
There are instructions for using different paints, wax, marbling effects, inks and crackle paint.
This is one of those books that is a pleasure to sit down and read even if you never intend to make anything from it!
Finally, the website on the back of the book redirects you to Pavilion Books who do a great range of craft books. They also have a free download for knitting lightsaber socks! I know I have some keen knitters among my followers, so here it is:
Regular followers will know that I host a number of Blog Hops throughout the year, each with a different theme. Four of them are the same each year but the Summer one varies depending on what I feel like! Last year I felt it would be nice to see how well we know our Stitching Friends, the Hop was such a success I thought we'd do it again this year.
Several years ago I designed a little ornament for an exchange on this theme - Stitching Friends are Friends who Count. It's a pun on being important to us and counting crosses! Over the last 18 months, more than ever, we have found the value in our stitching friends who have kept us company online when we couldn't meet up with our real-life friends.
I had 8 people sign up for the Hop and assigned each one a blog for them to visit and write a little piece about their stitching friend. I asked them to choose a design they thought their friend might like. Just for fun, I asked people not to reveal the name until the end of the post! So why not see if you can guess each one as you go?
These are the participating bloggers, in no particular order:
As per last year, I am going to feature a surprise friend myself! This blogger did not sign up for this particular Hop but does take part in some of my other Hops and also in Gifted Gorgeousness.
She comes from "A Land Down Under" She loves to stitch for Christmas
She has a forest of Christmas Trees in ornament form
She stitches more ornaments than anyone else I know
She has a wide extended family with lots of new babies, it seems
When she does stitch a larger design, she goes for a giant full coverage design!
She takes part in our 12 Days of Christmas SAL
So, the piece I would choose to share with her would be this one -
This is my monthly Stoney Creek 12 Days project. We have reached the Eighth Day and a Maid A'Milking.
Finally, I hope you enjoyed hopping around and trying to guess who each stitcher was talking about. My next Hop will be the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop at the end of October so stay tuned for sign-ups.
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:
August - Books
September - Sewing
October - Leaves
Books, one of my favourite things! But do they translate to stitching? Of course they do! We have designs which feature rows of books, designs which literally look like books, designs which are inspired by book characters and designs which are made into books.
In the first category I have this little spooky Bookshop as part of my conversion of the CCN Main Street. This is Grimoires:
stitched on 32 count Murano in Charcoal Slate from Sparklies
One of my favourite book cover designs was this version of Dracula, this was a freebie from Dam Good Crafts but is no longer available:
Back in 2014 I stitched a Teresa Wentzler freebie dragon for my son's teacher. The original design was holding a crystal ball but I found a conversion to a book online:
Although you can't download the design any more, there is still a page with the Gallery and various ideas for colour schemes - Futurecast Gallery
Joan Elliott included this little Reading Fairy in her Year of Magical Stitching:
stitched on 28 count Jazlyn in Aurora by Crafty Kitten
My last one for today is just a snippet from a chart I would love to stitch the whole thing. The part was stitched for a Baby Round Robin back in 2014:
Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Books, 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 Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc. Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.
