Finishes Update for October

Graphic from Princess Sassy Pants & Co blog/website

Well hello there.... I thought it was time I got myself organised and posted an update on some of my recent stitching especially as I have a mini finish, a unexpected finish and one big finish earlier than originally planned!! Yee hah!! Happy Dances all round...

Ok.. so I guess I'd best get started!

First up... I didn't end up doing a Smalls post last month as I didn't really have anything new to show - I showed my only "smalls" finish for my GG post earlier in the month - link is here to the September GG post.  Note... yesterday should have been my posting for October's GG post but I forgot to take the photo yesterday of what I bought and started for my birthday (love getting money for my birthday - more stash enhancement!)  I will take a photo tonight and post it tomorrow - I promise!!

So... what can I show you today....

Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino)
Fabric: 28ct plain purple fabric
Threads: all DMC
Started: 1 January 2017
Finished: 1 October 2017

Yep! You are reading correctly... I have finished "Halloween Happiness"!  I had planned to finish this on Halloween night (ie put the very last stitch in / attach pumpkin button on the 31st October) but I was so close at the end of September that I just had to keep stitching....

I still need to work out if I am going to frame it or finish it as a flat fold... but I am happy to say it's done!  I really enjoyed stitching this piece and love so many different elements of it - the witch is still my favourite character though!

My next finish for October was a design that I started for the Zodiac SAL that is being hosted by Jo (Serendipitous Stitching).  Again I missed that posting date... the Zodiac SAL will follow the same posting regime as the Alphabet Club - ie the first Saturday of the month.  But I can never get myself organised these days to get the laptop out and post on time...

This design is one that I have wanted to stitch for a very long time... A number of years ago the Peekaboo Pals Zodiac series was published in the World of Cross Stitching magazine and I collected them all and filed them away with the plan to one day stitch them!  Jo's Zodiac SAL is the perfect excuse to start them... 😁

Peekaboo Pals Zodiac - Libra / October (Deborah Flynn)
Started: 25 Sept 2017
Finished: 8 Oct 2017
Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Fairy Tale" Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: DMC
Chart: World of Cross Stitching magazine, issue 141

Timing is also perfect for starting with Libra as I am a Libran... so it was really great fun stitching this during the astrological month of Libra.

I have no idea how I will finish all of them but they are cute... I now need to start the next one so that I can have another finish before the next posting date rolls around!

12 Days of Christmas (Plum Street Samplers)
Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodyri Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)

Ninth Day
Started: 2 January 2017
Finish: 15 October 2017

Another one bites the dust!  Day 9 is late... but is now finished!  Can't believe that there are only three more squares left to go with this one now!  I am going to a stitching retreat at the end of the month so plan to take this WIP with me in an attempt to try and get Day 10 finished!

That's all the finishes up to date for now... I have a couple of starts that I haven't shown you so I will try and come back over the next couple of days to update you on them.

Til next time, happy stitching
Hugs xx

WIPocalypse September 2017 Update

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 6th year (amazing!).  The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world! 

At the beginning of January I picked out 17 WIPocalypse projects to work on in 2017.  The full list of my 17 projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2017 page.

Well here we go again... late as usual for my update.... 😌

12 Days of Christmas (Plum Street Samplers)

Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodyri Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)

Day 9 has been started but that's all... still have 7 ladies to stitch before month end!

Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino)

Fabric: 28ct plain purple fabric
Threads: all DMC

The spooky words have been started... I stitched on this last night and finished another word and started on the "Happy" but haven't taken a photo so that might have to be for next time otherwise this post will never get done!

Christmas Eve Couriers - Comet (Nora Corbett)

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Arabian Nights" - Stitches and Spice
Threads: as charted

Last time you saw "Comet" was back in October 2016 and he was looking a bit sad then...

and now he still looks sad but there is some progress!  The ribbon is all done now as well as the white spots on his body.  I have started adding the Caron Waterlilies to the tree and then it's onto the border and scattered snow (or should I say beads!)

This month's question is:

Which floss (or color of floss) do you absolutely adore and want to stash constantly?
Goodness me how hard is that to answer....

I love the variegated threads from Jodyri Designs and have slowly been building up a collection of them.  I also love silks.... and have recently purchased a grab bag from Silks 4 U which I am looking forward to trying out.  I have some NPI silks that I bought for my Chatelaines and they are beautiful to stitch with but so expensive to buy!  Some of the other over-dyed threads are gorgeous as well but my collection of those so far is meagre and needs to be increased dramatically!

My favourite DMC colour is hard to pick... I love the hot pinks and bright purples but then I see the gorgeous soft pinks and greens that I am stitching Queen of Peace with and I love them....  I absolutely adore seeing orange and purple together which is probably why I am drawn to Halloween designs so much 😋

So that's it for this update! The next check in is on Sunday 29th October 2017. If you want to see what everyone else has posted for September drop into Measi's blog and check out the September link up page.

Til next time, happy stitching!

Hugs xx

August WIPocalypse Update

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 6th year (amazing!).  The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world! 

At the beginning of January I picked out 17 WIPocalypse projects to work on in 2017.  The full list of my 17 projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2017 page.

12 Days of Christmas (Plum Street Samplers)

Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodyri Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)

July 2017:

August 2017:
The target for August was to finish Day 8 - well... guess what! I managed to finish it last night (that's the good thing about posting late I can show you a finished block!)

Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino)

Fabric: 28ct plain purple fabric

Threads: all DMC

July 2017:

August 2017:
Finished the creepy "L" tree in August.
Working on the creepy "H" tree... didn't quite get this finished in the month of August.. but it will be done by the end of this week!

Deer & Grapes Mystery Sampler (Jean Farish)
Fabric: 32ct Lugana "Autumn Glade" - Stitches and Spice

Continued to stitch on the deer during August...

July:

August:

Question of the Month: How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

A stitching drought (or a missing stitching bug) is something that I haven't experienced for quite some time.... luckily!  I do sometimes have the odd day when I can't decided what to stitch from my many WIPs - on those days I will look for something that is either close to a finish or something that might be related to a SAL challenge that I want to get ticked off the list.  Or if that fails... a new start also gets the stitching juices flowing again!! 😃

Next posting date: September 24, 2017
Topic for next time: Which floss (or color of floss) do you absolutely adore and want to stash constantly?

So there you go.... a little bit of an update on my stitching throughout the month of August.

If you want to see what everyone else has posted this month, drop into Measi's blog and check out the August link up page and if you're on Facebook, remember to also check out the Facebook Group for updates as well.

Thanks for dropping by... til next time, happy stitching
Lots of stitchy hugs xx

June & July WIPocalypse Update

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 6th year (amazing!).  The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world! 

At the beginning of January I picked out 17 WIPocalypse projects to work on in 2017.  The full list of my 17 projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2017 page.

Well, here's a thing.... I am woefully late with my June & July update... oh well, I'm here now!! Better late than never!! 😌

12 Days of Christmas (Plum Street Samplers)

Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodyri Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)
Stitched on Day 6 and Day 7.... and managed to finish both!

Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino)

Fabric: 28ct plain purple fabric
Threads: all DMC
June: stitched on the green words, frogs, "L" with the lizard
July: stitched on "A" with ghost, "L" that is a little tree

Deer & Grapes Mystery Sampler (Jean Farish)

Fabric: 32ct Lugana "Autumn Glade" - Stitches and Spice

Progress as at 27th May 2017

Progress as at 26th July

Moutons de Saisons - été (Collection Tra La La)

Fabric: 28ct Cashel Linen "Fairy Forest" - Stitches and Spice

Progress as at March 2017

Progress as at June 2017

I haven't answered the questions this time around... but if you would like to see my stitching spot have a look at my last video... I did a quick video while sitting in stitching spot - complete with stitching buddies!!  Link is here

Sometime in the near future I am planning on doing a WIP parade video so I will link that here as well and you will see my oldest WIP... A couple of years ago I did find some old WIPs which technically you could say are my oldest WIPs... but they are resting!  If you want to look at that post the link is here.

So there you go.... a little bit of an update on my stitching throughout the month of June & July.  The next check in is on Sunday 27th August 2017. If you want to see what everyone else has posted over the last couple of months, drop into Measi's blog and check out the June link up & July link up pages.

Til next time, happy stitching!

Hugs xx

May's late WIPocalypse & Smalls Updates!

Oh my goodness... I am so late posting for these two monthly events that I will probably be kicked out off the blogging world!! 😢

Oh well... better late than never! So let's get on with the show!

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

I didn't finish one itty bitty small in May... pitiful attempt I know!  The only thing that I can offer you is an update pic on my Halloween & Christmas year long stitching.... not a true smalls finish... but I did manage a couple of small goal finishes on those 2 projects!

Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino)

Fabric: 28ct plain purple fabric

Threads: all DMC

Finished the N tree with the hanging bats and black cat for May's Halloween Ornie blog theme.

12 Days of Christmas - Plum Street Samplers
Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics
Threads: Jodryi Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)

Day 4 was completed on 2 May 2017

Day 5 was completed on 18 May 2017

I added a bit of gold petite treasure braid on the crowns (stitched a half stitch over the top of the existing cross stitch as a highlight) it doesn't show up in the picture though...

So that is my meager Smalls update for this month....  To see everyone else's Smalls posts for May pop over to Heather's blog and check out the link up post.  I missed the cut off date.... never mind wasn't much to show for this month anyway!

Next Month – The next Smalls SAL check-in will take place on Friday, 30th June 2017 (no guarantee when my post will appear though!). 

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

WIPocalypse is run by Melissa over at Measi's Musings and is now in it's 6th year (amazing!).  The object of the WIPocalypse is to stitch on projects that you want to complete before the end of the world! 

At the beginning of January I picked out 17 WIPocalypse projects to work on in 2017.  The full list of my 17 projects can be found on my WIPocalypse 2017 page.

12 Days of Christmas (Plum Street Samplers)

Update pics above

Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino)

Update picture above

Deer & Grapes Mystery Sampler (Jean Farish)

Fabric: 32ct Lugana "Autumn Glade" - Stitches and Spice

Threads: DMC 

Started: February 2015 / Restarted January 2017

April post update pic:

Progress as at 27th May 2017:

This piece is just growing in leaps and bounds each day now.... I am stitching a minimum of 20 stitches a day on it so it will definitely be a finish by the end of the year (maybe sooner!)

Question of the Month – Which designer’s projects do you absolutely love, but are too intimidated to try?

There is only one answer to this question... HAED's! Heaven and Earth Designs - Full Coverage piece scare the bezeers out of me!! 😨

I do actually have some HAED designs in my stash that I bought many years ago before I realised that I would never be able to finish one in my life time!! They are stunning to look at and I admire all of those stitchers who tackle them and I am in awe of those stitchers that finish them... but they are not for me.  I am struggling to get back to a small full coverage kit that I started earlier this year!! 😊

So there you go.... a little bit of an update on my stitching throughout the month of May. Next month's check in is on Sunday 25th June 2017. If you want to see what everyone else has posted this month, drop into Measi's blog and check out the May link up page.

Til next time, happy stitching!
Hugs xx

Smalls Check In - March 2017

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

Late again.... I had planned to get this post up over the weekend but time got away from me and here we are, it's Wednesday and I am finally getting myself organised and posting! Oh well... that's life!

So what do I have to show for the March Smalls post?  Mainly all mini finishes this month - no real stand alone Smalls, but a finish is a finish, right?

Halloween Happiness (Sandra Cozzolino)

Fabric: 28ct plain purple fabric

Threads: all DMC

Finished the EE's complete with their spiders and cobwebs.  Technically this is one whole design but I have broken it down into parts for another SAL so each part is a mini-finish in my book :o)

Update pic of the whole project so far below

12 Days of Christmas - Plum Street Samplers

Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Gold Digger" - Colour Cascade Fabrics

Threads: Jodryi Designs (Wuthering Heights, Sense & Sensibility, The Olde Curiousity Shoppe, Midnight Hour)

I managed to get both Day 2 and Day 3 finished in March.  Day 2 should have been finished in February but it sneaked over into March by a couple of days...

Day 2

Day 3

Lakeside Fantasy SAL - Durene Jones

Fabric: 28ct Jobelan "Silver Springs" - Colour Cascade Fabrics

Threads: DMC, Border - "Heliotrope" Cottage Garden Threads

December is finally done!! I have started January, February and March but my March goal was to finish at least one of the blocks during the month, so I concentrated on December for a few days.  So without further ado... let me present "Girl with Robin" (sounds like a famous painting, doesn't it?)

and last but not least....

Snow Story: Warm Hearts - Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 32ct Belfast "Into the Blue" - Stitches & Spice

Threads: Weeks Dye Works as charted

I showed this one on my WIPocalypse post but it also belongs here as it is a Small in its own right - I just decided to stitch them on one piece of fabric.

So that's it from me for this month....  To see everyone's Smalls posts for March, pop over to Heather's blog and check out the link up post.

Next Month – The next Smalls SAL check-in will take place on Friday, 28th April 2017 (no guarantee when my post will appear though!).  

See you next month! Happy Smalls stitching

Hugs xx