Finally Fully Finishing Fun for March

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).

Last month I showed you the Just Nan Christmas Memories Ornament I had finished as a simple pillow with the intention of adding a trim to it.

Here is the pillow:

And here it is with the ruched ribbon trim:

Close-up of one corner:

What I did was to get a roll of ribbon and sew a running stitch down the middle of the ribbon with a matching thread colour.  I then ruched the ribbon still on the reel by pulling on the thread, ruching it towards the cut end.  I threaded a second needle with the same colour thread and stitched the cut end to the pillow.  Then I made small stitches to attach the ruched ribbon to the pillow.  As I progressed around the pillow, I did more running stitches with needle 1, then ruching, then attaching with needle 2.

It worked really well and it meant I didn't have to estimate how much ribbon I needed in advance, I simply kept unreeling it until it went all the way around.

It took me 90 minutes at my crafty coffee morning which I thought was a good use of the time.

The next two finishes are just framed pieces.  The frames are charity shop specials, painted with black emulusion and then varnished to make them shiny again.

First project is my Mirabilia Cameo from last year:

This is quite an ornate frame to suit the more ornate design:

The second frame is more plain and the design was finished back in 2013!

This was from Pixel Power although I can't find it on their website now.  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.

Because I broke the glass, I put some batting behind the fabric and made it slightly padded.

🐇 Good Friday - Friday 10th April 🐇

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Annual Easter Treasure Hunt.    If you would like to take part this year, just leave a comment here.  The week before Easter I will send you a letter of the alphabet which will form part of the mystery phrase.  On Good Friday you will post that letter along with a photo of something seasonal that you have stitched (could be Easter or Spring or just something cheerful and sunny or floral).  We all hop around like little bunnies to find the Mystery Phrase!

Here's a link to last year's hop so you can see how it all works - Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2019

The People Chose Coffee

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:

March - Coffee

April - Modern Samplers
May - Fire

Well, I've had my first coffee of the day and have another ready to drink while I type this up.  The first question must be - are you are a tea or coffee drinker?  I have always been a coffee person.  When I was a child and couldn't sleep my Dad would make me a drink by boiling milk in a saucepan and adding a little coffee powder to it.  When I got old enough to make the choice I would always go for coffee.  Now I still like a Cappucino when I am out but instant is good enough at home.

When I think of Coffee designs, Beth Twist of Heartstring Samplery is my first thought.  She did a series called Magical Elixir all about Coffee.  Her Coffee Quaker was the most popular design with lots of people using coffee-coloured and coffee-named threads to stitch it.

I really need the Coffee Quaker!

This is my Spooky Coffee scrapbook page:

The top design is by Witchy Stitches.  I stitched it over one on some coffee coloured evenweave.

The bottom design is a freebie from Plum Street Samplers called Brew Ha Ha.  Again, I stitched this over one.

Several years ago I was sent a kit by Yiota to review.  I chose Coffee Fairy:

which I started on this amazing fabric:

stitched on Monarch from Sparklies

This one is currently waiting it's turn with my older projects.  I had a phase of starting several large projects at once and now I am trying to reduce the number by focusing on them in size order!

You can also use coffee to dye fabric, but it turns out that I have only used tea.  So I will save those pictures until we get Tea as a theme!

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

February WIPocalypse, Stitch from Stash and Pie

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 7 of them.

My Discworld Mappe went from here:

to here:

Lyndisfarne - Discworld Map

(Project 5)


Nora Corbett - Gathering Eggs
(Project 6)

Mrs Peggotty's Queen of Hearts

(Project 7)

JBW - 12 Days of Christmas

(Project 9)

Hands on Design - Bat Balm

(Project 13)

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:

February 29 – In honour of “Leap Year,” tell the story of a time you had to make some sort of a “leap” in stitching – taking the chance on a new style of stitching, attending a meetup or class, etc.

I guess the biggest leap I took was starting a blog up all those years ago!  I always say I only started so I could take part in the TUSAL but in actual fact it was so I could post about anything I wanted instead of derailing Forum posts by saying "but look at this thing I stitched"!

I also took a leap this year and started a new project on Leap Day.  I just rummaged through the folder I keep purchases in and found this one.  It is by Plum Street Samplers and is entitled Fox Few.  One of a series of piles of animals.  I stitched one fox:

stitched on 32 count khaki evenweave

(which is more green in real life)

So how did that last minute decision affect the pie?

Over half the month on Discworld this time.  This is the portion I focused on this month:

Lots of land and all the backstitch too.  The plan for March is to fill in all the land on the right of that photo.

How about Stitch from Stash?  I joined a survey website last year called Prolific.  They send me various different surveys to fill in online and I earn between 10p and 50p per survey.  You can cash in the money once you have £5 earned.  I had managed to get mine up to £20 so I cashed it in and bought this gorgeous kit which was less than half price on Lakeside Needlecraft's website!

Lakeside Needlecraft - 12 Days of Christmas - Bothy Threads

I don't usually buy kits because I have no intention of using the aida but it was the only way to get this design.  I saw someone stitch the First Day as an ornament and it is absolutely stunning so I have invested in it!  I also bought four skeins of DMC I needed to top up my supplies. 

February
Bothy Threads	£20.15
4 skeins DMC	£2.72
Total	£22.87

Finally, I do subscribe to a couple of magazines but this month I signed up for the Press Reader app.  It's a fee app and if you have a Library Card you can sign in with that and get free magazines!  You can't download them but you can screenshot and keep relevant pages.  Just Cross Stitch have decided they will no longer mail to the UK so I will be switching to their digital service.  I wanted to see if Press Reader would let me download the whole issue but it won't.  It's good for browsing but I like to keep my magazines for future use.   However I have already saved a couple of pages from WOCs and Crazy which are also on the app.

Check it out and see if your Library is registered.  If not, then ask them whether they belong to another magazine subscription program.  It's a great way to support your local Library too.  It was the Library Manager who let me know about the App.

February Smalls

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be my JBW 12 Days of Christmas ornaments which I started on Boxing Day 2019 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.  I completed the Second Day in February:

stitched 1 over 2 on 40 count white linen

I completed and fully-finished a Just Nan Small.  This one is the Christmas Memories ornament:

stitched on 28 count Platinum Cashel linen

I have added a ribbon trim to this but you will have to wait until Rachel's FFO Gallery to see it

Then I started the next Just Nan; Crystal Heart:

stitched on 32 count Lavender Murano

Finally, the lovely Clare from Aimetu's Stitching is asking for some help with her smalls.  Each year Clare decorates a tree for her church's Tree Festival with stitched ornaments.  I have donated ornaments in the past and this year she is asking us to join in again.  The theme is A Bouquet of Flowers.  All she needs is the stitched piece, she will fully-finish it for you.  Just leave a comment on Clare's blog to get involved.  This is the Joy Tree from 2 years ago:

February IHSW

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 started the weekend working on my Alice in Wonderland SAL, designed by Amanda Butler for  Cross Stitcher magazine.  I showed that in my TUSAL post yesterday so here's a quick reminder of the block I completed:

stitched on 32 count yellow Belfast

The White Rabbit only took two days so I used my Tiny Decision app to choose what to work on for the rest of the month.  Mrs Peggotty's Queen of Hearts came up.  in 2018 I stitched Alice and the Flamingo by this designer and loved her.  But the Queen is proving a different kettle of fish.  I started her as my bathtime stitch but progress was very slow and she fell by the wayside.

Last time I showed her was in September 2019 and she was here:

stitched on 22 count white hardanger

This is the portion I've been working on this weekend:

And here is what she looks like now:

I'll work on her for another five days and see how much boring background I can get done!

I did have quite an Alice themed month as I bought a new book for stitching inspiration:

As well as stitching the Alice in Wonderland sampler I decided to stitch just the backstitch on some random linen and make a little book up:

This page isn't finished yet.  I want to chart the gloves from the book and add a charm or maybe some ribbon.

The inspiration for doing this is a FB group about slow stitching.  Run by Paula MacGregor, it's all about making little fabric books from things in your stash.  There's embellishments and freehand embroidery and little buttons and so on.  Of course, mine has to be cross stitched themed and the Alice SAL seemed the perfect subject.

Here's a link to the project website if you want to learn more - Paula MacGregor - Ellen's Legacy

Finally, the next IHSW will be 20th - 22nd March 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. 

February TUSAL

It's TUSAL time!

The project on the left is the Alice in Wonderland SAL by Amanda Butler for Cross Stitcher magazine.  The border was published in issue 353, and the first two blocks in issues 354 and 355.

stitched on 32 count yellow Belfast linen

I thought I'd show my thread holder.  I printed a playing card, covered it in sticky backed plastic and punched holes down each side.  I have just used the colours which appear in the border because I am working on that each evening.  Whereas the blocks themselves get two or three days dedicated to them so I use my master set of threads.

Here are the first two blocks completed:

I am a little disappointed that the rabbit is not the Tenniel version:

But is the Tim Burton version:

I do hope she doesn't do too many different illustrators for this SAL.  I don't want to have to chart my own designs for it!

Here is the whole piece:

I finished all the larger motifs between the blocks plus the green leaves and I am now working on all the roses, hearts and butterflies.   One colour at a time.  The vines will come with the beads at the end.

The second project is also Alice themed but I will save that for the IHSW post tomorrow as I'll be working on it some more tonight.

Finally, Mini asked me to let you all know that she has a Gifted Gorgeousness Giveaway on her post here:

Miniz Diary