July 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.

This weekend I focused on my Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow, Block 5.  I didn't quite finish it but did have fun with the coral in the corner and those great sunken skulls.

Here is where I started on Saturday:

and here's where I am now:

stitched over one on 25 count Cassia Rose from Chromatic Alchemy

I'm using a gently variegated thread from Jodyri for the coral and it looks rather nice.

I put a few more stitches in my Summer Just Nan Mermaid Heart:

stitched on 32 count grey-green linen

And a lot of fiddly details on my 3D Bookshop from Living on the Rainbow: 

stitched on 28 count Tan evenweave

Just the white and then I can start making it in a 3D shape!  I must remember to make a floor base for it too.

Finally, the next IHSW will be 19th - 21st August 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.

Gifted Gorgeousness July Link-up Post

     

Welcome to the July 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.

My main gifted project is my Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow which is my focus project for the year.  Last GG I had started on Block 5 which is almost all full-coverage:

Here's where I am now:

The background does take a LOT of time to fill-in!  Here's the whole piece so far:

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

I'm going to be stitching this one into next month and then move across to Block 8.

Just Nan Tea with Honey was a gift as it's a Travelling Pattern.  I FFO'd this in time for Rachel's Gallery:

stitched on 28 count dusky pink linen

My current Just Nan is Mermaid Heart which was also a gift.  My son chose it from my Wish List on SewandSo a few years back.  Hubby got the embellishment pack too which I was pleased about as I hadn't realised it was sold seperately and I doubt you can get it now.

stitched on 32 count grey-green linen

(more like the called-for Rue Green than this shows)

Little Snap Dragon by Kustom Krafts was also a gift and I completed the dragon himself in June:

stitched on 32 count Murano Evening Sky by Crafty Kitten

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 "July 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'm going to be taking sign-ups for my Summer Blog Hop on the same theme as last year - Stitching Friends are Friends Who Count. Have a look at this post for last year and let me know if you'd like to take part this year.

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop

Finally Fully Finishing for July

   

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).

I finally broke my "just one thing" streak and have a whole hat-trick of fully finished objects this month!

First up is a professionally framed piece from 2019.  I had intended to get it framed for Halloween 2020 but we all know what happened in early 2020 so that didn't happen.

Very difficult to photograph with the glass in place!  I went for a very simple plain black frame and enough of the lovely fabric showing.

This is my Halloween conversion of Lavender and Lace's Enchanted Alphabet.  More photos can be found here - Lavender & Lace - Enchanted Alphabet

The next finish is a simple home frame job.  The frame came from Wilko's and was very cheap!  This is Stitch It Picasso Dragon #2

The final fully finished piece is my Just Nan Tea with Honey:

I stitched this as six seperate pieces and then whip-stitched them into a cube.  I mounted the sides and bottom on thin card but wasn't sure about the top.  I wanted it to be used as a pin cushion but if I mounted it on card it would bend in when I stuck pins in.  So I used thick mat board with a 1 inch square cut in the middle where the pins will go!  I put some nice wadding between the card and the fabric so it feels soft.

It looks pretty much the same from all four sides!

I added my initials to the base:

I stuffed it with my son's old school socks!  They roll up small and have a nice weighty heft to them.  I used them for the Tiny Modernist Greenhouse too.  Nice to have a use for them when they are too small/holey to wear!

What a productive month that was!  August will probably be back to one now.  Unless I get the 3D Bookshop finished.  Although I did get some charity shop haul last week so maybe I will match those to some stuff in the box.  I might even get the scrapbooks out again!

Finally, I'm going to be taking sign-ups for my Summer Blog Hop on the same theme as last year - Stitching Friends are Friends Who Count. Have a look at this post for last year and let me know if you'd like to take part this year.

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop

 

 

The People Chose Pets

    

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  Now we are working through the choices.  This is what has been chosen:

July - Pets

August - Outer Space

September - Sea Creatures

I know a lot of bloggers have pets, they feature quite often on blogs, possibly more than children do because they are less likely to object to being talked about online!

We don't have any at the moment but if we did it would be a cat.  Both my family and my husband's family had cats when we were growing up.  As well as the usual collection of rodents and goldfish.  We did have a dog for a while who was part guard-dog, part nursemaid and part dopey creature who loved the sound of the cine-camera so every film has her tail in it!  She got out one day, met the dogs over the road and had 8 part-doberman puppies who were adorable with huge feet!

Here's a favourite photo of me holding our kittens, I remember this moment very clearly.  I was about 3 or 4 and those kittens were wriggly!

So it's probably not a surprise to learn that most of my pet stitching is cat based!

This gorgeous kitten design is called Max's Moon and was a Bucilla kit:

This was another kit and features a Lesley Anne Ivory design:

This gorgeous pair of cats are looking down at a design from Tra-La-La which was sent off to be made into a quilt for the Cats Protection League:

And just to prove it's not all cats here, this one is a guinea pig based on the colours of my son's favourite toy when he was little:

And now it's over to you.  All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Series of Pets, 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 Elephants, or Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.   Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

June Stitch from Stash and Pie

  It's time for some end of the month Pie!

Continuing to hit my 14 days goal on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow.  This month I completed Block 1 which went from here:

to here:

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

Then down to Block 5 which is pretty much full coverage:

I'll continue with Block 5 in June and then go across to Block 8, if I actually finish it.

So far the number of days is:

Block 7 - 13 days

Block 6 - 16 days

Block 2 - 19 days

Block 3 - 20 days

Block 4 - 15 days

Block 1 - 17 days

Block 5 - 11 days and counting

After my 14 days on Hawk Run Hollow the WIPGO board chose Amanda Butler's Alice in Wonderland design.  I discussed my issues with this in a previous post so suffice to say I completed the final block charted by me from the Tenniel illustration and decided that enough was enough - do the border and call it done!

stitched on 32 count Yellow Belfast Linen

Lots of lovely details in the blocks and the borders

Beaded details in the crowns and clothing

Gold metallics for the watches

"Off with his head!"

Having completed this one I went back to my Little Snapdragon from Kustom Krafts as I was keen to finish the dragon himself.  This only took 2 days so I spent the rest of the month on Nora Corbett's Virgo.  I really want her to be a finish this year so I am popping her in wherever I have a space!

stitched on 32 count Murano in Evening Sky from Crafty Kitten

stitched on 32 count Virgo Murano from Sparklies

I'm doing a slight conversion to more purple colours.  The dark pink in the border is an unlabelled Stef Francis mercerised cotton.  The butterflies are a Stef Francis silk.  They are a little bit close in colour but the silk is more variegated and has some blue tones.  I used a Kreinik silver metallic for the backstitch as that makes them stand out a little more.

Her hair will be the big challenge as there are several shades of pink to convert.  I am thinking of using 3041 and 3042 as my base and seeing what looks good with them.  Watch this space!

Now May is over, I'm back to a rotation for my bath-time stitching and here's the pie for that:

The Dragon from Stitch It Picasso was a finish and will be shown for the FFO Gallery.  After I'd completed that one, I did my Day for the 12 Days and then went back to the 3D Bookshop  from Living on the Rainbow.  Here's where I finished:

stitched on 28 count Tan evenweave

Once I outline the bottom two sides there are a lot of colour changes with a few stitches for each colour.  The plan is to stitch colour-by-colour now.

Finally, on to Stitch from Stash:

Year in the Woods is the Carriage House Sampling series I signed up for the auto-ship from Sparklies.  I also needed a whole batch of DMC.  I tend to stock up once a year.  This time I bought 42 skeins.  The Shannon Christine charts were an impulse buy as she brought out a 12 Days of Christmas series.  How could I resist?

June TUSAL and my Stitching Library

  

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

You can see Nora Corbett's Virgo there, I've been adding the pinkypurple to the border today.  Also shown is Just Nan's Tea with Honey which is in the throes of being FFO'd.

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...

Title: Beaded Cross Stitch Treasures - Designs from Mill Hill

Author: Gay Bowles

Publisher: Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. 
ISBN: 9780806955278

What a fabulous book for anyone who enjoyed The People's Choice at the start of the month!  This book contains as many varied beaded projects as you could ever wish for.

The minis stitched on perforated paper or plastic canvas will be familiar to fans of Mill Hill

But have you seen an entire sampler stitched in beads with only a few cross stitches?

Valentine's Hearts

An Autumnal Sampler

Beautiful snowflakes using bugle beads

Spookiness for Halloween

Christmas Ornaments

And this amazing Christmas sampler!

If you are not a fan of beading, any of these could be stitched in DMC.  There is a conversion chart available online.

Finally, I'm going to be taking sign-ups for my Summer Blog Hop on the same theme as last year - Stitching Friends are Friends Who Count. Have a look at this post for last year and let me know if you'd like to take part this year.

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop