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Monday 18 March 2024

March 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 year I am trying something different for IHSW - an A-Z Challenge!  These usually take place in April and people stitch one letter every day except Sunday.  I don't want to swap projects daily so thought I could do 2 or 3 letters per IHSW instead.  

March is E and F.  I wasn't working Friday again so I started there with E for English Transitional Sampler from Scarlet Letter.

I went from here:


to here:


Close-up of the part I was stitching:

stitched on 32 count cream linen

This is a huge piece started back in 2012 when I started things with no plan for how they would fit into my rotation or be finished.  It shows.  All that Holbein stitching has to be filled in with satin stitch.  There's another big row to do above it, then some Bargello under the big red outline and some other stuff at the bottom!

Next up on Saturday was E for Elliott - Joan Elliott's Faces SAL, another oldie which I do plan to finish this year.  It's ten years old so it's about time.  It's on my WIPGO Board.

It went from here:


to here:


Close-up of the part I worked on:

stitched on 28 count Snapdragon Jazlyn from Crafty Kitten

I could have continued with that one on Sunday for F but decided to stitch Fairy - Coffee Cup Fairy from Yiotas X-Stitch.  Here's where that one started:


I added a good chunk of cream to the cup:

stitched on 28 count Monarch evenweave from Sparklies


On Monday I decided to do one more F for Fairy Idyll by Mirabilia.  Here's where she started:


and finished:


This is the section I worked on, adding the yellow to the drapes:

stitched on 32 count Vinyard Murano from Crafty Kitten


Another very successful IHSW.  It's fun to get a chance to work on some of my older pieces for more than just 30 minutes for the Longest Day Marathon.

Next month I have a choice of 2 projects for G and 3 for H.  Although that might change when my WIPGO numbers are called.  There are a couple of Hs on the list.

As a general rule, I want to choose the oldest project for each letter.


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






Friday 15 March 2024

Gifted Gorgeousness March Link-up Post

  


Welcome to the March 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 focus piece last month was stitched on gifted fabric.

Cricket Collection - Spring

stitched on 32 count Marie's Daffodil linen from Chromatic Alchemy


This one was a gift from the designer and the fabric was a gift too.  

Steady Thread - Tree of Life Temperature SAL


stitched on 28 count Meadow Mist linen from Silkweavers


I record the temperature each day and then stitch the leaves on the Sunday morning.


My Dark 13 design is stitched on gifted fabric, a beautiful 40 count linen called Witch's Brew from Zweigart.  My plan is to stitch one letter per month until we reach October and then complete it during Dark October.

stitched on 40 count linen called Witch's Brew from Zweigart


IHSW starts today and as part of my A-Z Challenge I have reached E and F.  So today I will be working on English Transitional Sampler by Scarlet Letter.  The kit was a gift.  This is where I am starting:

stitched on 35 count 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 "March 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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🐇 Good Friday - Friday 29th March 🐇

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 2023

Sunday 10 March 2024

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).

I decided to do something different with my latest Christmas Ornament finish.  Rather than make a 3D ornament, I mounted it over some wadding on a piece of card.  We display greetings cards from strings hung from our beams on the ceiling.  They are out of the way and make a lovely colourful display.

Just Nan - Snowberries


Fewer people send physical cards now so we usually have at least one string empty at Christmas.  I thought it would be nice to fill it with ornaments.  When Christmas is over, the card folds the other way to protect the stitching and beads in the storage box.




    

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current projects:


stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen


On the left we have The Primitive Hare Hocus Pocus Cabinet and on the right is my evening stitch - September Strawflowers from The Sweetheart Tree.

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen



🐇 Good Friday - Friday 29th March 🐇

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 2023



Tuesday 5 March 2024

March Plans

At the start of the year I made a list of 24 projects I want to stitch this year for my "24 in '24".  The order I stitch them in is going to be determined by the WIPGO Board.  Jessie-Marie calls two numbers each month and those will be the two projects I stitch that month.  One small and one medium.

In February, the numbers 3 and 24 were called.  These related to the collection of Alice in Wonderland Bottles from Rainbow Hunter and Spring by Cricket Collection.  I completed one of the Bottles in February and the other one today.

Here's the Cheshire Cat:

stitched on 32 count Antique Blue linen


For March, the numbers are 1 and 10.  These relate to September Strawflowers from the Sweetheart Tree and Hocus Pocus Cabinet from Primitive Hare.

Hocus Pocus Cabinet is a PDF I've had for quite a while (2018) and it's easy to forget about PDFs compared to paper charts.  So when I compiled my list I went through all my Paid For PDFs and added quite a few to the "24 in '24".




I decided to use a nice piece of 32 count Vintage Country Mocha for this design.  There are only a few dark, muted colours in the design and I'm using my own conversion rather than the charted GAST and WDW.  Because "Stitch from Stash".

I started with all the black outline of the bottles and the brown labels so now it's a case of filling in the middles.

The variegated brown is from Jodyri Threads and is called Cafe au Lait.  I'm really pleased with how this is turning out.

stitched on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha linen

There are two designs included in the PDF.  If I finish the main one in plenty of time, I will start the smaller one.


My Small for the month will be this one from The Sweetheart Tree.  I'll be starting this one tonight.


It's only tiny, 3 x 2 inches, and I do have the nice charm.



🐇 Good Friday - Friday 29th March 🐇

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 2023



Thursday 29 February 2024

February Stitch From Stash and Pie

 Have you enjoyed your extra day of stitching time?  I know a lot of people were doing a Leap Day start but I managed to resist that temptation.

Here's what I did stitch over the whole month:




Look at how focused I was!  Apart from my Dark 13 and A-Z Challenge I stitched on the same project every day for the whole month.

The WIPGO board chose Cricket Collection Spring as my focus piece.  I started this on 1st February and made awesome progress.  It does look almost finished but that's because I concentrated on the letters and large areas of colour.  There are a LOT of colours in this one so I left all the flowers until the end so I could stitch all the little bits colour-by-colour.

stitched on 32 count Marie's Daffodil linen from Chromatic Alchemy


The plan is to finish this one off if I complete March's piece before the end of the month.


In the evenings I worked on the Alice in Wonderland Bottles from Rainbow Hunter on Etsy. 


I completed Alice and made good progress on the Cheshire Cat. 


stitched on 32 count Antique Blue linen



My plan is to continue with the Cat until it is finished and then start on my March Small, as it is a very small and won't take long at all.


I was doing very well with my spending again, a nice zero spend for the second month when Circle Cross started releasing peeks of her new design.  Alice in Wonderland Blackwork themed!

I couldn't resist so instead of a Leap Day start, I had a Leap Day purchase!



Who could resist?  It's teacups seen from above the scenes from the book in order to tell the story in pictures.  She's promising a Through the Looking Glass version too!

So here's my actual spend:







Finally, I'll be doing an Easter Treasure Hunt again this year so stay tuned for more details about how we'll be hopping like bunnies around the blogs again.




Sunday 25 February 2024

February WIPocalypse SALs

 Mary comments


     WIPocalypse

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 "24 in '24" for this year. This month I stitched on 3 of them and had 1 finish.


3. Rainbow Hunter - Alice Bottles

Finished Alice

Started Cheshire Cat


23. Cricket Collection - Spring



24. Cottage Garden Samplings Halloween Sampler



Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

February – What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

Obviously, WIPocalypse!  My other SALs are

Fully Finished Gallery - show anything you have FFO'd on the 10th
Gifted Gorgeousness - post anything gifted on the 15th
Smalls SAL - last Friday of each month
The TUSAL - post on the New Moon each month

The A-Z Challenge is a sort of SAL with Rachel where we're working through the Alphabet with our WIPs.

I don't tend to SAL actual designs as I have my rotation planned and it rarely fits in with other people's plans.  But if you are stitching anything that I am stitching do let me know and we can call it a SAL!

I also tend to avoid Mystery SALs having been bitten once or twice.  I wait until most of the piece has been released and then see if I still have FOMO and want to start it!


Finally, a Mary has been leaving lovely comments here.  But Mary is "no reply" and does not have a blog listed on her profile so I can't respond to her direct.  It's not Mary from Le Couer Celtique, or Mary from Mary's Thread or Mary from Mary's Stitching Spot!  So if you are Mary, please drop me an email and I will save it so I can reply to your comments.












Friday 23 February 2024

February Smalls

 

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Rachel

For my Smalls stitching this year, I have chosen 12 smaller designs and numbered them for my WIPGO Board.  Each month one Small will be stitched in the evening timeslot and hopefully finished within the month.

This month the WIPGO number was for the Alice in Wonderland Bottles Collection from Rainbow Hunter on Etsy.

Here's the set:

I started with Alice, of course, and finished her within a fortnight:

stitched on 32 count Antique Blue linen

I am pleased with my fabric choice for these, it makes a great background and the colours show up really well.

I started the Cheshire Cat next and here's where I am:


Because the Smalls post is quite early this month I still have a few days to go and should hopefully be able to finish it by the end of the month.




Finally, WIPGO hasn't been called for March yet so I have no idea what I'll be working on next month yet!









Monday 19 February 2024

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.


This year I am trying something different for IHSW - an A-Z Challenge!  These usually take place in April and people stitch one letter every day except Sunday.  I don't want to swap projects daily so thought I could do 2 or 3 letters per IHSW instead.  

February is C and D.  I usually work Fridays so don't include that in my Hermit Weekend but as luck would have it, I worked earlier in the week because of the annual stocktake.

So for Friday I stuck with my Focus Piece which begins with a C - Cricket Collection Spring.

I went from here:


to here:

stitched on 32 count Marie's Daffodil from Chromatic Alchemy

On Saturday I looked at my spreadsheet and decided that Coffee Fairy from Yiotas XStitch would be my project for the day.  This was a kit that was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.  The design is full coverage but a huge amount is background so I decided to use this piece of mad fabric and omit the background.

Here's a really bad photo of where I started from:



And here's where I finished and a much more accurate photo of the fabric:


stitched on 28 count Monarch evenweave from Sparklies


For Sunday there was only one D - Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas, this is where I left off last month when it was B:



to here:

stitched on 32 count grey linen


I also managed to squeeze in 7 more leaves for my Temperature SAL from The Steady Thread:

stitched on 28 count Meadow Mist linen from Silkweavers

A new high of 17 degrees and yellow for the first time.


Next month I have a choice of 2 projects for E and 3 for F.  Although that might change when my WIPGO numbers are called.

As a general rule, I want to choose the oldest project for each letter.


Finally the next IHSW will be 15th - 17th 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.