Solo September - Sort Of

Justine has hosted a series of OAAT months this year and we are currently in Solo September.  Because of my rotation I can't truly OAAT but I can do Focus on a Finish instead.  This month's focus is the Sugar Skulls by Brooke's Books.  I am stitching these on the recommended perforated paper as a wedding gift for my niece.

I've started on the Senorita Skull and have hit a snag.  I'm using 3 strands of B5200 which I'm also using for Ghostly Mandala and the Christmas Cubes.  And I have about three lengths left.  I ordered some during the week from a mega-cheap eBay shop and it duly arrived.  Except they sent 6 skeins of Blanc instead of 1 Blanc and 5 of B5200.  I rarely use Blanc and need the B5200!   The nice lady apologised and will send the replacements tomorrow.  So by Tuesday I can crack on with my white.

In the meantime I've started the flowers for her hair.  I would have stitched the black Kreinik too but it's playing Hide and Seek with my black PTB somewhere!  My list said I had some but it wasn't in the Kreinik box.  It wasn't in the bag with the DMC metallics and I couldn't remember when I had last used it.  Blog to the rescue!  A quick search for Black Kreinik and I discovered I had bought it for Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch.  Which means it may be with the charts and once I have time I can search for them.

I think this pink Kreinik may be glow-in-the dark?  055F

In the evenings I have been focusing hard on Ghostly Mandala by Ink Circles and now have only this corner to complete:

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland by Crafty Kitten

This is the next Christmas Cube by Primitive Hare, excuse the blur, I didn't have the macro on.  I'll take a proper one when it's finished:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha from Willow Fabrics

I did a little FFo'ing this afternoon and made another cube.  Four done, five to go and we've got seven weekends until Hallowe'en.

I'm using the same fabric in three different colourways for the backs and sides of the cubes.  Each one is 4 x 4 x 2 inches.

Matt LeB5200 as Dr. Drake Ramoray

Days of Jo's Life Blog Hop

AKA The Big Birthday Blog Hop

Finally, I spent this morning typing out my life story in segments and emailing it to the participants of my Big Birthday Blog Hop.  So if you signed up to take part and haven't had an email, please contact me ASAP so I can double check.  For the rest of you, the Blog Hop will take place on my Birthday which is next Saturday 17th September.  I will have a list of blogs and which year they have been allocated.  You just hop around and enjoy my life story!  Provide your own cake and balloons.

The Nice and Nifty Alphabet Needleworkers

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

N is for Necromancy from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.  I don't think there's too much raising the dead on this blog although I did show a Mummy last month and there will be a Zombie for Z (spoiler alert!).

N is also for Needle as shown in the Brooke's Book's Stitcher's Alphabet piece I am stitching for the Alphabet Club SAL:

Where do you keep your needles?  In a Needlebook of course.  I have Never stitched one of these but luckily I have one made by a dear friend, Margaret, it was one of the first stitched gifts I received in my first year of blogging.

N is for Noah's Ark and I've stitched a few of those, all as birth samplers.

Joan Elliott

From Homes & Garden Cross Stitch book with Noah charted by me, based on the Little People toy.

JBW Designs

N is for Noel (Christmas, not the name!)

N designers include Nora Corbett, and here's another chance to see her four Alphabet Fairies:

Less well-known is Nimue, a French designer with a unique style who designed this lovely Baby Swing:

Stiched on 32 count Sunlit Heath Murano from Crafty Kitten (named by me!)

You can read more about this design here.

I had several Ns on my WIP list earlier this year, all Nora's but now I have None.  I do have a few Northern Expressions Needleworks charts in my stash following a Giveaway by the designer.  Here are a few:

So, on to Bloggers!  On my Blog Roll we have:

Needle, Pen and Sword

Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Needles Everywhere

Needleworker's Samplings

(can we spot a theme here?)

and then there's

Naughts and Cross Stitches

And not a blog, but a great stitching forum

Needlecraft Haven

🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂

Finally, it's September so it's my Big Birthday Month, yay!  Nearly time for the Big Birthday Blog Hop.  Some people requested they be advised of their year for the hop early due to holidays, so I have now done that.  For the rest of the participants, you will be getting an email from me in the next two weeks giving you all the information you need to know.  I still have a few spaces left, so if anyone is late to the party, leave me a comment and I can fit you in!

September TUSAL

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

Here is my ORTS jar posing with the current stitching projects:

Bit of glare on the jar there!

On the left we have Ghostly Mandala by Ink Circles, I have now reached the bottom left hand corner and have approximately 5.5 ghosts left to stitch.  But four of them are big ones!

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland by Crafty Kitten

On the right we have a Happy Dance!  Counting Bats by Just Nan has been my Hallowe'en stitch this year with each band fitting the monthly themes for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog.

I finished the final bottom border today:

stitched on 32 count lavender linen

I didn't have the skeleton charm provided with the original kit so I had to source one for myself.  The original one I tried was too small so I found this one from an eBay shop called Pink Cat Charms.

🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂

Finally, it's September so it's my Big Birthday Month, yay!  Nearly time for the Big Birthday Blog Hop.  Some people requested they be advised of their year for the hop early due to holidays, so I have now done that.  For the rest of the participants, you will be getting an email from me in the next two weeks giving you all the information you need to know.  I still have a few spaces left, so if anyone is late to the party, leave me a comment and I can fit you in!

Summer Pie and a Round-Up of the Month

It's been a busy month, with the Stitching Olympics, the Daily Art Challenge and time off work and then being back at work etc.

Here are some of the things I've worked on this week since my last post.

I completed nearly all the backstitch in the top right corner of Gathering Honey by Jannlynn Designs:

I just spotted one lonely yellow flower at the bottom!  There's also some yellow accents to add.

I completed the 1862 Snowflake by Forget-Me-Not in Stitches from JCS 2010:

I used silver thread instead of beads and removed the petite white beads I had started to add last tine.  You can see the shape of the snowflake much better without them.

stitched on 28 count Millenium Blue evenweave

Nice progress on Ghostly Mandala by Ink Circles, I have nearly reached the bottom left corner now:

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland by Crafty Kitten

I added another letter to The Enchanted Alphabet, this is based on the design by Lavender & Lace but I am stitching the letters in black and adding little spooky touches from various Just Nan designs:

Stitched on 32 count Tiger Lily Murano from Sparklies

My aim has been to finish a cube per week and I've done three so far:

Hallowe'en Cubes by The Primitive Hare

I am using the same fabric but in three different colourways.  Hopefully I can finish them by Hallowe'en and then start on the Christmas ones!

That fabric and the wadding was the bulk of my expenditure this month:

Backing Fabric	£24.95
Charms	£11.83
3 Victoria Sampler Charts	£  7.50
Kreinik (Skulls)	£  6.50
Perforated Paper (Skulls)	£  7.44

Total                                            £ 58.22

I also bought a chart which will be the prize in the Tenuous Shoehorn Summer Linky Party.  Remember that?  I still have to pick a winner, I'll let you know when I do!

And now for Pie:

Gathering Honey was my focus piece for August and I managed to stitch on it for nearly a fortnight!  The Olympic Challenge meant a lot of pieces got a day or two and also that I stitched on more than one piece in several days.  So there are more than 31 days there!

September could see me reduce to six/seven projects throughout the month, depending on how the Sugar Skulls go.

Finally, the Daily Art Challenge:

Day 26 - Eyes

Day 27 - Sport

Day 28 - Doodles

(I drew or doodled this on graph paper!)

Day 29 - Monsters

Day 30 - Fun

(Round Robins are the ultimate fun project!)

Day 31 - Time

August Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus

This year I have two Small Challenges:

1. The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog

2. The Christmas Ornie SAL Blog

For the Hallowe'en Blog I have done something a little different this year, I've chosen a band sampler by Just Nan called Counting Bats and each band corresponds to the monthly themes on the blog.  For August we had Spooky Words and this band completes the Counting Bats rhyme:

The whole piece, nearly finished now:

For the Christmas Ornie SAL we had Christmas Clothing as the theme:

The only change I made was to stitch the pompom with satin stitch rather than cross stitches.

Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare

All six so far:

 

We had a Fifth Friday at the end of July so I started the second Byzantine Ornament by Teresa Wentzler and finished it for the Gold Day of the Olympic Challenge:

I used the same fabric, threads and bead as Byzantine Ornament I

I completed the Mill Hill Trumpet I started for the Olympic Challenge:

I substituted green Magnificas for the petite green beads and some red for the charted cranberry which I didn't have.  I stitched this on 14 count Christmas Green aida rather than the perforated paper provided so I could use two strands instead of three,

One for the scrapbook

I continued with the 1862 Snowflake from JCS 2010 and started adding the beads.  I am not sure I like the centre fully covered with beads and may just do the crystal ones and remove the petite white.

stitched on 28 Colonial Blue evenweave

*******************************

I've continued with the Daily Art Challenge on FB.

Day 23 - Abstract

Day 24 - Bed

Day 25 - Door

Finally, several people have commented on how organised I am and wonder how I ever keep up with all the SALs.  I have a simple diary, one double page per week and I write down all the SALs in the notebook section at the end and then each day I jot down which projects I worked on.  I do have the X-Stitch app on my iPad and I keep that up-to-date with all my charts and WIPs but it is easier to use pen and paper.

Why am I so organised though?  I worked for an international insurance brokers for 17 years in the North European Documentation team.  I had six major clients, each of whom had several fleets they were responsible for.  Each fleet had 20-50 vessels with an typical value of US$ 20,000,000 each vessel.  As well as the renewals for each fleet, things were constantly happening throughout the year - new additions, sales, values increased, values decreased, voyages into dodgy areas etc.  I had to keep track of all of this and make sure the documentation was accurate and up-to-date, also making sure the client paid on time and we paid the underwriters on time too!  If you are not organised you don't last long!  

Of course when you stop doing a job like that, all that brain power has to go somewhere.  When I gave up work I felt like my brain could suddenly do what it wanted to do, rather than spend all it's time working for someone else.  It's so liberating  not having to work for someone else and be free to think about anything you want.  Now I work part-time so I still have the freedom to use my brain energy how I want to.  Although, like most people I do find myself thinking about work-related things on my days off!  Fortunately it's all about books now rather than Marine Insurance.

Just to prove it - here's some book art:

Please note - this was a proof copy not a real book. The pages are only folded, not cut or glued. No books were harmed in the making of this project.

Instructions can be found here - Instructables.com

August WIPocalypse Olympic Round-up

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.

The focus of my WIPocalypse will be my "16 in '16" which are 16 projects I particularly wanted to concentrate on in 2016.   The full list can be found on my WIPocalypse page where you can also find my secondary list "16 Series in '16".

My main goal is to keep to my rotation of one small every Friday and the rest of the month working on my focus piece until it is finished.  I also have a number of SALs I want to keep up with:

The Alphabet Club - a different letter on the first Saturday of each month

Gifted Gorgeousness - post anything gifted on the 15th

Hallowe'en Ornie Blog - a different spooky theme each month

Christmas Ornie Blog - a different festive theme each month

Smalls SAL - last Thursday of each month

**************************************

I have worked on 3 out of 16 projects since my last WIPocalypse, plus 4 from my series list.  I also set myself some goals and took part in the Stitch Maynia Olympic Challenge on FB.

Challenge 1 - The Pentathlon (5 events).  This will be my four weekend projects plus the evening stitching project (currently Ghostly Mandala)
Medals - I will award myself a Gold Medal for each completed project in the Pentathlon, a Silver for any WIPs and a Bronze for any additional projects started in that category (if I finish the Ghostly Mandala for example)

The Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books:

Gold Medal!

Counting Bats by Just Nan:

Gold Medal!

Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare:

Silver Medal

IHSW: Trumpet by Mill Hill:

Silver Medal

Ghostly Mandala by Ink Circles:

Silver Medal

Challenge 1 Medal Haul - 2 Gold and 3 Silver

Challenge 2 - The Marathon.  This will be my focus piece.  Which will either be Gathering Honey or Little Snap Dragon, depending on how I feel!
Medals - I will award myself a Gold Medal for any completed piece, a Silver Medal for 8 days of stitching (Mon-Thur for the Olympic weeks) and a Bronze Medal for any additional projects started in this category (if I finish the first one)

Gathering Honey by Jannlynn:

Challenge 2 Medal Haul - 1 Silver


Challenge 3 - The Olympic Rings - Blue, Yellow, Black, Green and Red.  I'll showcase those colours as and when they appear in my stitching
Medals - I will award myself a Gold Medal for five colours, a Silver Medal for four colours and a Bronze Medal for three colours.  They must form a substantial part of the focus area, not just two stitches in the corner!

Blue - Little Snap Dragon by Kustom Krafts

Yellow - Gathering Honey by Jannlynn (see above)

Black - Counting Bats by Just Nan (see above)

Green - Gathering Honey by Jannlynn (see above)

Red - Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare (see above)

Challenge 3 Medal Haul - 1 Gold

Total Medal Haul

3 Gold Medals

(Byzantine Ornament 2 by Teresa Wentzler)

4 Silver Medals

(1862 Snowflake by Forget-Me-Not in Stitches)

According to the Olympic Medal table that makes me closest to Switzerland, who got 3 Golds, 2 Silvers and 2 Bronzes.  Here is our flag:

And our National Anthem:

Swiss National Anthem

Only there seems to be some debate about that.  Apparently people quite liked the tune but didn't like the words so they had a competition to write a new national anthem based on the old music.  More details can be found here.

*****************************************

Finally, the Art Challenge continues:

Day 20 - Colours

Day 21 - Shoes

Day 22 - Animals