Serendipitous Stitching

Friday, 6 January 2017

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas....

I stitched some
Brown behind a Drummer
Dark Red on a Piper.
Yellow Plume on a Lord.
Brown Hair on a Lady,
Brown on a Cow,
Water for a Swan,
Black for a Goose,
Gooooooooolllllllllllllddddddddddd on the Rings,
Blue on the Birds,
Brown on the Hens,
Grey on the Doves
and completed the Partridge, but not his Pear Tree!

And here is how the full piece looks after the SAL:

stitched on 32 count white evenweave

Honestly, this SAL was so much fun! I did the "hard-core" version where each day I stitched the blocks referred to in the song. So on the First Day I stitched on Block 1, on the Second Day I stitched on Blocks 2 and 1, on the Third Day I stitched on Blocks 3, 2 and 1 and so on until I stitched on all 12 of the blocks on the Twelfth Day.

On work days I had to stitch things like the little green and red corner decorations in order to do something on every block but I always managed a full length on the specific day. For the nine non-working days I stitched a full length on every block and then moved onto my focus block. Originally that was the Angel at the top and then it became the Partridge.

The plan is to finish the Partridge block for the January theme on the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog and then complete one block a month for the rest of the year. I'll work on the border and the other Angel inbetween.

I have absolutely loved OAAT on this, it's even been my evening stitch during my son's bath-time. That's when I stitch all those long boring borders. But it does mean there's not much to show or blog about this time! It also took up a LOT of time each day, which is why I am so far behind with emails and blog reading.

I have been keeping up with the Ten Stitches a Day challenge too. I do my ten first thing in the morning and post immediately. Here is how it looks after 6 days:

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha linen

Finally, I will be running the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop on Valentine's Day.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

It's really very simple, all you have to do is email me a picture of something you have stitched which is suitable for a stitching friend on Valentine's Day. It could be a heart, or a pair of cute creatures, or the word "love" or anything which warms your heart. Really anything you think a fellow stitcher would like to receive in her email Inbox. It can be something you've stitched in the past or something you've made especially for this year. It could also be quilted or sewn this year as I know some of my followers do other crafts too.

Send me the email by 10th February.

When I have all the emails I will randomise them and send one to each participant on 13th February. Then on 14th February you must post the picture you receive onto your blog under the heading

Secret Stitching Sweetheart.

There will be a list on my blog of everyone joining in, so check out all the blogs and find out who got your picture and identify yourself in their comments as their

Secret Stitching Sweetheart.

Does that make sense to everyone? I hope so!

If you'd like to be involved then leave a comment on this post, I'll be putting little reminders up from time to time and will email on 9th February to make sure you send the pic in time.

Sunday, 1 January 2017

January WIPocalypse Introduction

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. Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

January - Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

Each year since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "17 in '17" for this year. For 2017 the list includes a number of SAL pieces which will be stitched each month for various SALs, some WIPs I really want to see finished and two BAP long-term projects I treated myself to last year for my Big Birthday. Here is the full 17:

Chatelaine Designs - Gardens of London
Lyndisfarne - Discworld Map
Imaginating - Hallowe'en
Oberlin - Witch
Joan Elliott - 12 Days of Christmas
Brooke's Books - Stitcher's Alphabet
Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet
Nora Corbett - Letter M Fairy
Teresa Wentzler - Byzantine Ornaments x 3
Jannlynn - Gathering Honey
Kustom Krafts - Snap Dragon
Dragon Dreams - Dragon of the Winter Moon
Joan Elliott - Mermaid
Drawn Thread - Spots of Seasons x 3
The Workbasket - Fox Forest
Just Nan - Spring in the Square
Dam Good Crafts - Dracula Book Cover

I have been totally focused on project number 5 from that list for the Stitch Maynia 12 Days SAL which started on 25th December. Here is the 8th Day's progress:

Each day I start a new block and stitch one length of thread there and then stitch one length of thread on each of the previous days' blocks. You can see that Day 1 and Day 2 are building quite nicely now.

After I have stitched each of the daily blocks I focus on the Angel at the top:

She is a finish! Kind of, I haven't attached the beads or stitched the metallic around the border. My next immediate goal is to focus on the Partridge in the Pear Tree for January's post on the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog. The Angel is for December's theme, only one day late!

I started another SAL today; this one is for the Ten-a-Day group, also on FB. The idea is that you chose a design of roughly 3,600 stitches (60 x 60) and stitch a mere ten stitches each day to finish it within the year.

Clare had chosen Just Nan's Spring in the Square which I had in my stash so I decided to follow her lead. Here are my first ten stitches:

stitched on 32 count Light Mocha linen.

I had to search for the group on FB this morning to post my progress and unfortunately the logics behind the internet decided that meant I wanted to see Tena adverts all day! Thank you very much to the person who named this SAL with such humour. When you are watching FlossTube you really don't want to keep seeing the Tena Man advert every new video!

Measi has made one change to WIPocalypse this year. Instead of following the moon cycles, we will now post on the last Sunday of every month. She is still doing the Discussion Topics which I am very pleased about. I love a chance to chat and to find out more about my fellow bloggers too.

Finally, I will be continuing with the ever popular Blog Hops this year. We will have Valentine's, Easter, the return of the Summer Postcard, Hallowe'en and the Advent Calendar. All at the appropriate time of the year. I will be posting about the Secret Stitching Sweethearts for Valentine's Day very soon so watch this space.

Eacg

Saturday, 31 December 2016

New Year's Eve Pie

I have been doing really well keeping up with the 12 Days of Christmas SAL during my time off work. Here is the work for the 6th Day of Christmas:

and the lovely Angel:

And here is the 7th Day:

I had a full day at work today and only managed 30 minutes stitching during my break. I stitched a little bit of dark green on Day 7 and those little green corner stitches on each of the other days! So I did technically stitch on every block today, even if it was just 1 stitch in the corner.

It is customary at this time of year to look back at achievements and make plans for the coming year. I have already done my WIPocalypse Review and my Smalls Review so now it's time for an overview. I completed 45 different projects this year, from the small to the large. Elizabeth Shephard was probably the largest individual design I finished this year and the Stitch for Syria the smallest.

Just in case you missed any finishes, here's a full run-down:

I have prepared some pie for you all. Firstly, here is December's pie, not many ingredients this month!

And here is the annual pie divided by designer:

You can see that Nora Corbett is way out in front with five different designs (4 letters and a cottage). The Sugar Skulls and the monthly Stitcher's Alphabet have earned Brooke Nolan her second place and Just Nan comes third with various Hallowe'en designs plus Spring Typography.

I have tracked my spending this year, even though I wasn't Stitching From Stash. December was another good month:

CSC Subs	£8.72
Sparklies Fabric	£22.50
Total	£31.22

My total for the entire year was just under £500 divided as follows:

Charts	£151.10
Fabric	£146.38
Magazines	£87.77
Threads	£86.31
Beads	£24.45
Storage	£4.05

But I did spend £156 on just two projects for next year! My Discworld Map was £70 for the chart, fabric and multiple skeins of DMC. The Chatelaine was £86 for chart, fabric and speciality threads (excluding the ones that were gifted to me for my Birthday).

Finally, after a terrible year of news and world events we got 3 pieces of good news today. My cousin's new baby arrived today, she has been named after me (well, technically after my middle name which is a family name) and it's a new initial so I have an excuse to buy Nora Corbett's M Fairy now to match her cousin's fairies from this year!

Have a very Happy Old Year's Night

and a very Peaceful New Year's Day

Thursday, 29 December 2016

December TUSAL and Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus

This year I had two Small Challenges:

1. The Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog

2. The Christmas Ornie SAL Blog

For both challenges I chose a larger piece which could be broken down into segments to meet the monthly themes.

For the Hallowe'en Blog it was Counting Bats by Just Nan:

stitched on 32 count lavender linen

And this little Bad Bat Fairy based on a Lucie Heaton design:

And Just Nan's Ghastly, Ghostly Ghouls to cover 2 months:

And for the Christmas SAL it was the Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha linen

I stitched six of the Daffycat Reindeer for the Christmas SAL for the months when there wasn't a suitable cube:

I also made use of the Fifth Fridays in three months and stitched three of the Teresa Wentzler Byzantine Ornaments:

stitched on 28 count burgundy linen

There were other smalls throughout the year and by clicking on the label "Ornament SAL" you can see them all.

The next SAL is the 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 project:

Joan Elliott's 12 Days of Christmas for the Stitch Maynia FB Challenge

On the First Day of Christmas this is what I stitched:

On the Second Day of Christmas this is what I stitched:

On the Third Day of Christmas this is what I stitched:

On the Fourth Day of Christmas this is what I stitched:

On the Fifth Day of Christmas this is what I stitched:

Here is the whole piece so far:

And here is a close-up of the Angel:

Each day I stitch one length of thread on each of the blocks and then spend the rest of the day stitching on the Angel. In the evening I stitch more border!

Finally, I have put up the new Sign-Up Page for Gifted Gorgeousness and added a new logo for 2017. I have noticed that a few people still have the link to the 2015 SAL in their sidebars. Neither the 2015 nor the 2016 will link now, I have retired those pages so please link using this new photo and the new page link. I hope that lots of you will join in again next year, the rules are pretty free and easy and there are sometimes giveaways too.

Monday, 26 December 2016

On the Second Day of Christmas I Did Stitch Upon

Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. Plus a bit of Herald Angel!

stitched on 32 count white evenweave

This is a project full of 12's. I started in on the 12th of the 12th, it's called the 12 Days of Christmas and I am stitching it for the SAL of the same name in the Stitch Maynia FB group.

The Herald Angel is going to be my piece for the final month of the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog so I started her first and got quite a lot done before Christmas:

Then for each day starting with the First Day of Christmas (ie Christmas Day or yesterday) I will stitch the relevant days.

On the First Day I stitched just the green on Partridge in a Pear Tree:

On the Second Day I stitched the dark grey on Two Turtle Doves:

and the black in the Partridge along with his pear:

and some more Herald Angel:

The plan for the Third Day is to stitch a little bit of the first three days and then more of the Angel. Then each day I will stitch a little bit of each day then focus on the Angel until I finish her and then the Partridge to finish that block for the January theme on the Christmas Ornie SAL blog. Apart from Days 7 and 9 when I am working all day. Those days I will just stitch on the relevant day and maybe the Partridge if I get time.

The boring borders are going to be my bath-time project until they are done. They don't look much but there is a row of metallic on either side of that red.

As today was the 26th of the month, it was time for another FB SAL - the Now I Know my ABCs for Cross Stitch Finish Line. For this monthly SAL I am doing my adaptation of Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace. I am turning it into a spooky version as you can see:

washed-out daylight photo of 32 count Tiger Lily by Sparklies

The letter G took me a couple of hours this morning and then I stitched on the 12 Days all afternoon. Bliss! It also explains why I have emails and blogs going back several days to answer. I will get there!

Thank you to everyone who took part in the Advent Calendar Blog Hop this year, I did keep up with commenting on that one! It was lovely to see all your stitching and read about all your precious ornaments and decorations. It's nice to hear more about how you all celebrate. The direct links to the various posts are on my blog now so you can easily find the posts if you missed them during Advent.

Finally, I had a Final Finish on the Friday before Christmas:

Christmas Cubes by The Primitive Hare

Talk about last minute! But they are all done and have been on display over Christmas for all to see.

Saturday, 24 December 2016

2016 Online Advent Calendar

Here is our Online Advent Calendar, it will be updated every day.

Scroll down to see the latest picture and a link to the poster's blog.

Pop over to each blog to see how they celebrate.

This year I have asked each blogger to tell us about their favourite decoration, maybe a family heirloom, something their children made or one with a special memory.

Thursday 1st December