Gifted Gorgeousness April Link-up Post

   

Welcome to the April 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.

Once again, for the first fortnight my focus has been Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow.  The plan is to stitch this for two weeks each month until it is finished.

"Steaming" along nicely with Block 11!  I decided to stitch the outlines of the blocks and shapes so it's a case of filling in or colouring in the gaps next time.

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

I am continuing with my Dark 13 project which is Mani di Donna's Halloween Sewing Basket.  The plan for this one is to stitch it on the 13th of every month.

stitched on 32 count grey linen

At the end of last month I stitched a little bit on the Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas which was a Christmas present:

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

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 "April 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, I had a couple of questions asked in the comments by people who are "no-reply" so I couldn't email them to respond.

Stitchin Rose asked about hanging pictures on my bare brick wall as apparently she has one too.  
"How do you hang pictures on the brick?"

Answer - the same as any other wall which has been plastered or wallpapered - bang a nail in!  The bricks are just ordinary house bricks not those super hard masonry bricks.  You can also drill a hole, put a rawl plug in and use a screw instead of a nail.  In my older house I used a lot of picture hooks with very thin pins but the house was so old you could literally press a drawing pin into the wall with your bare hands!  This house is a little bit more solid so hammer and nails it is.

Beth asked "What is SAL?"

Answer - a Stitch a Long.  Anything where a group of stitchers are stitching together.  It could be on the same project or it could be on a theme.  My February WIPocalypse post explains a bit more.

I love answering questions, but please leave an email so I can get back to you and make sure you see the answer!

Finally Fully Finishing Fun for April

   

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).

Once again I only have one FFO for this month but my goodness, you are all going to be very impressed with it!

Back in December 2019 I started the JBW 12 Days of Christmas designs on Boxing Day and completed one per month throughout 2020.  The plan was to make four small banners with them.  But then I bought some 12 Days scrapbook paper and thought I would make a scrapbook instead.

Here's the photos of the finished item:

On the back of the album I have a little tag with the details of the stitching.

These albums are so much fun to make!  They do use a lot of paper, tape and glue and take about an hour per double page.  There are loads of tutorials online and once you've made a couple of albums you can watch the "walkthroughs" and work out how to do layouts for yourself.  The pages for this one were entirely based on the papers I owned, I didn't follow a tutorial at all.

Finally, here are some of my favourite YouTube channels for scrapbook albums:

My Creative Spirit

Scrap and Create

Paper Pixie Ink

Tamara Morton

Rosa Kelly

Creative Paper Studio

The Quiet Cat Paper Company

and today's new find:

Lunar Sun Creations

A Dozen Years of Hard Blogging!

 

Today is my 12th Blogaversary, a dozen years of blogging fun and hops around our community.

So, here are the stats:

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12 years

1298 posts

707 followers

22,956 comments

1,611,435 pageviews

WOW

This time last year I was focusing on my Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow project as I am continuing to do this year.

It went from here:

to here:

The current block has these three cute ghosts!

Chatelaine Gardens of London went from here last April:

to here:

One guardsman and quite a lot of border!

My Spooky conversion of CCN's Main Street went from here:

to here:

Three shops added, three more for this year hopefully

Mirabilia's Fairy Idyll grew from here:

to here:

I am hoping to focus on her once I finish Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas went from here:

and gained one and a bit more days to here:

Finally, a Happy Birthday to my Blog's twin - Susan from Yellow Flower Meadow!

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2023

Welcome to the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop for 2023.  I am sure you all know how it works now - hop around the list of blogs and collect the letter each one has for you.  They spell out a message which you can leave in a comment here for me.  I have moderated comments so no-one will see them until 14th April.  Just to give everyone a chance to play along.

Sewing After Seven

Jocondine

Aimetu's Stitching
Le Couer Celtique

Tales of a Stitching Mouse

An Arizona Stitcher

Elfin Stitches

Needle, Pen & Sword

A Patchwork of Crafts

Mary's Thread

Tickled Pink in Stitches

BAP Attack

Guava Gems

Life Outside the Washing Basket

Tiff Stitches a Blog

Yellow Flower Meadown

Stitching Grandma

Dragon Stitches and Stuff by Astrid

and back to me for this letter:

I don't have a current Easter or Spring stitch at the moment, but here is the seasonal display in the corner of our living room with some previous finishes:

And here is my trio of framed pieces

 

Finally, don't forget to leave an encouraging comment on each blog you visit.  There wouldn't be a Hop without all the lovely participants.

The People Chose Subversive

  

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

April - Subversive

May - Embellishments

June - Rainbow

Subversive - seeking or intended to subvert an established system or institution.

Subvert - undermine the power and authority of (an established system or institution)

Pretty radical stuff, eh?  There is a lovely article here - Nursing Clio - Subversive Samplers which talks about a sampler stitched by a young girl called Patty Polk in the early 19th Century.  Patty's sampler looked very traditional but contained the words “Patty Polk did this and she hated every stitch she did in it. She loves to read much more.”

Another early example is this one from the V&A Museum's collection.  I was lucky enough to see this in person back in 2014.  Elizabeth Parker stitched this long essay on a bedsheet.  It is described as "a very moving act of repentance sewed by a young girl who was badly abused by her employer, suffered from depression and found salvation in the Bible."

More information  - here

These days "subversive" can mean anything from swearing to political commentary to craftivism.

This is a piece I stitched back in 2011 for a Railway Protest:

This is one of my favourite pieces, stitched for a challenge back in 2013.  Anna the Stitch Bitch challenged us to do something with a Plum Street Sampler design of a bird atop a tall flower and the motto "To Thine Own Self Be True".  I decided to be true to mine own self and added a tattoo themed design which co-ordinated beautifully with the bird.

If you're looking for some humerous snarky subversiveness, then this is a great Etsy shop - Cross Stitch Traveler.  Here are just three of my favourites:

Now it's over to you.  All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Subversive, 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.  Anything, 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.