Whine & WIPs = Finish #20!!

Guess what...

web image

"Witch and Friends" is finished.....

I started this way back in 2014 for the Hallowe'en SAL Blog.   When I left it at that stage it looked like this:

October 2014

I then picked it up again on and off during the last couple of months of 2014;

End of 2014

and then again for the Crazy January challenge in January 2015;

January 2015

I was so close to finishing last year but unfortunately I got distracted... and as I heard someone say on Flosstube earlier.. I fell down the rabbit hole with this one!! :o)

So on 8th June I picked her up again... and stitched and stitched and stitched.... each night over the last week I kept thinking I will stitch on something else, but then I kept thinking "no, she is almost done!" so I kept going... and now she is done.... :o)

Finish #20
"Witch & Friends" - Donna Giampa (Vermillion Stitching)

Witch & Friends.... finished 16 June 2016

This lovely lady and her delightful friends is stitched on a Stitches and Spice fabric with DMC threads.  The design was published in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2013 magazine.

Besides stitching and finishing "Witch & Friends" I also finished a block on "Jingles"... and I have picked up "Prancer" again.

Finish #21
"Jingles - Joy to World"

There is only a couple more blocks left on this so I would like to try and get back to it again soon... but who knows!

Nora Corbett's Christmas Eve Couriers - Prancer

I have now finished the Krienik at the bottom and started on the border.... then it's the tail and onto the beading!!

So that's it for this update.... The "Whine and WIPs SAL" has certainly helped me touch some of these old and much neglected WIPs... not sure which WIP I will stitch on next... I certainly have enough to choose from. :o)

Til next time... happy stitching
hugs xx

Day 18 & 19 - Crazy Starts 18 & 19

Well, here we are again....  Today's update is another multi-tasking update (and I can do that because I am a woman!!) LOL!

Last weekend was the first IHSW for 2015 and I did manage to actually get my needle and floss working correctly....  coincidentally, January's IHSW collided with my stitching days 16-18.  I have already shown you what I stitched on Day 16 (Faces of Joan Elliott Mystery SAL) and Day 17 (Lizzie Kate's Jingles) and the link to that update post is here: Day-15-16-17.

So that covers Friday and Saturday, what about Sunday?

Sunday was Day 18 of Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2015 (DUCJC2015) and I was again working on a WIP - "Witch and Friends" designed by Donna Giampa.

You last saw my lovely witch and her furry friends back in October when I was quite happily spout how clever I was that I could shoe-horn this design into 3 months worth of Hallowe'en Ornie Blog themes!  Well, umm, yes..... she didn't get finished before 2014 ended and I failed dismally in that challenge last year!  But I did manage to stitch on her after my October update (although I didn't post any further updates) and this is what she looked like before I started stitching on her again on Sunday evening.

"Witch and Friends" - Donna Giampa
Status at the end of 2014

After a couple of hours on Sunday evening, "Witch and Friends" now looks like this:

"Witch and Friends" - Donna Giampa
Status as at 18/1/2015

Not a lot of progress, but I did manage to fill in the bottom half of the owl, some more of the bottom kitty and start on the green cloak.  She is now back in the stitching basket until next month when I pull her out again.

So that rounds up the IHSW part of this post.... onto Day 19's update!

Monday (last night) was Day 19.... and another night of WIP stitching for me.  It is scary how long ago it is since you have seen this one...... almost 12 months ago!!  Day 19's WIP was my "Mini Mandala II - C" designed by Martina Rosenberg (Chatelaine Designs).

The last update on "Mini Mandala II - C" was actually on 25th February 2014.... and I hang my head in shame to say that I haven't stitched on this design since my last update!!

"Mini Mandala II - C" - Chatelaine Designs
Status as at Feb 2014

So after a little bit of love and stitching last night, this lovely design now looks like this:

"Mini Mandala II - C" - Chatelaine Designs
Status as at 19/1/15

I have included the photo from the chart pack which shows that I have a fair way to go yet!!

Tonight will be another WIP night and I also need to take a photo of my very colourful ORT's jar so that I can post my TUSAL update tomorrow.

Til then, if you want to have a look at any of my previous updates for the FB CrosstitchCrazy Event and Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge 2015 (DUCJC2015) the links are below:


Day 1 - Winter Witch  Day 2 - "Eek!"  Day 3 - "Prancer"
Day 4 - "Autumn Fab Fob"  Day 5 - "Comet"  Day 6 - "Koala"
Day 7 - "Sneak Peek - Halloween"  Day 8 - "Printemps"  Day 9 - "été"
Day 10 - "Joyeux Noel"  Day 11 - "Feeling Festive"  Day 12 - "New Year's Magic"
Day 13 - "Grumpy Kitty"  Day 14 - "Happy Howloween"  Day 15 - "Happy Owl O Ween"
Day 16 - WIP "Faces of JE Mystery SAL"  Day 17 - WIP "Lizzie Kate's Jingles"

Til next time, Happy Stitching!
Hugs x

Hallowe'en SAL Update

There aren't enough days in the weekend

~ Rod Schmidt ~

Hi there!  I know I have been very re-miss with my monthly updates for the Hallowe'en Ornie 2014 SAL Blog.... that's because I haven't really been doing any Halloween stitching lately!  I sort of got stuck in May when my job changed and I went back to working 5 days a week - less time at home to stitch translated to less stitching being done!!

But today I do actually have a Halloween styled WIP to show you all!  My last update on the Halloween SAL blog was back in April with the cute little Owl I stitched on plastic canvas.

May was a bit tricky because I couldn't find a monster that I liked enough to stitch.... so I moved on and started to look around to see what I could stitch for June & July.....

I have been eyeing off a design in the 2013 Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue for quite some time... and I decided to stitch it this year.  Of course, me being me... I took ages to get organised to start... but my train of thought for this design went along the lines of:

May - monsters: nope, no monsters
June - free choice: yep, design is my choice!
July - pumpkins: excellent, this design has a pumpkin
August - ghosts: oops, no ghosts in my free choice design....
September - black cats: yep, there are black cats - 3 actually!

Yippee, my free choice design covers off three out five months.  So while I am still behind in this SAL, my free choice designs does sort of help me get back on track... all I have to do is finish it before the end of the year!!!

So here it is... my latest Halloween WIP:

"Witch and Friends"
Designed by Donna Giampa

As I mentioned earlier, this design was published in the 2013 JCS Halloween magazine.  You can see the finished version of the design on the front cover of the magazine below:

Next month's theme is "Trick or Treaters".  I have found a design for this one... but so far I haven't managed to start stitching October's theme.... but that's ok, after all the month has only just begun!!!

Hallowe'en Ornie SAL
2014 Themes
October - Trick or Treaters
November - Bugs, insects or spiders
December - Free choice

Still to stitch:
May - Monsters
August - Ghosts

Well, that it for another stitching update.  Can't promise you what I will have to show you in my next post... it will be a bit of a lucky dip I think...

Til next time, happy stitching!